Friday, December 30, 2011

How can I clean the house (or do anything) with all this cute oozing out of my computer screen??

I should be working hard on cooking and cleaning since we are hosting our 5th Annual New Year's Eve party tomorrow night. But instead I am just sitting around, looking at the pictures of our baby. I even poured myself more coffee to sit down and have a good long look. The two new pictures we got yesterday are SUPER cute.

Anyway... here are this week's stats on our little Lark (and now I think I know how to correctly report them...)

10lbs, 13oz
23 1/2 inches (although I quite prefer 1 foot 11 inches, ha!)
Head circumference: 15 inches

We aren't sure of her actual birth date, but she is around 6 months now! I'm also not sure if they take all measurements every week... so this is all I have to go on. I'm hoping her head circumference is a little bigger, and I'm betting it is, since she looks very healthy and proportionate in all her pictures.

Our friend Jen just left yesterday to return to Ethiopia. One of her boys is sick and needs a feeding tube. She decided she needed to be there, so she made a hard decision to start her maternity leave early and go be with her babies. We're hoping this speeds up her process and she can come home with the boys quickly! Godspeed.

2012 is going to be a doozy! Happy New Year, friends and family!


Friday, December 23, 2011

This week's stats:

Every Friday we've been getting a little information about our Jelly Bean and two pictures. Well, batch #3 came today (can you believe it has already been 3 weeks since her referral?? Crazy!)

Age: 5.3 months (is that how you say it? or should I be thinking weeks? Obviously new to this...)
Length: 1'11"
Weight: 9.7lbs
Head Circumference: 14.9"

She is less than the 3rd percentile in everything, but still on the charts- which is good/expected for these little guys. Also, she was most likely pre-term.

We have decided to keep her Ethiopian name as her first name (which I can't post on here yet), but she will go by her middle name unless she decides to go back to her given name at some point in time. We thought that by keeping her birth name as her first name, as opposed to the middle name, it wouldn't diminish her heritage or story in any way. Just our point of view.

J. Lark Rougé 


So, we'll call her Lark. Hope you like it, 'cuz now it's stuck. :)

(No news on our #2... was really hoping to hear before Christmas.)

Happy Holidays!



Friday, December 16, 2011

Jelly Bean Update

Sorry to keep you in such suspense (that is- if anyone is actually regularly following this blog!). We have gotten a little more information about our girl, who for now we will refer to as our Jelly Bean. She is beautiful, chubby, and perfect.

Earlier this week we received all the official paperwork for the referral. This is great news, although I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the amount of info given. A lot of blanks. Her name is spelled 2 different ways in multiple places. Her most recent medical info we have was from when she was 1 month old- now she is 5 months. We also have to come up with a few thousand more dollars in the next 7 days to "accept" her referral. It was an oversight on my part... I thought we were all finished with fees until the trips to Ethiopia. I know it will happen- but this has added to our stress levels over the last few days.

We are hoping to get regular updates on her health with pictures, so we will see how often they come. We did receive pictures of her when she was first taken to the orphanage, and they are quite sad. She is so little. And thin. Those chubby cheeks we see now were in fact concave. But it shows she is strong and has come a long way.

It is getting harder now. We want to know EVERYTHING, but know we most likely will never know her entire story. We want to cuddle and hold her. My cousin's adorable baby boy is around the same age as our Jelly Bean, and I can't even begin to imagine him without a mom for this long. It breaks my heart. But every day we are getting closer!

 And still waiting for our baby boy- which we should hear about any day now....

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

We have a girl!

I'm a little too excited to write a blog post, but I wanted to keep you informed:

We got a referral for a beautiful baby girl!!! She is approximately 5 months old and perfect. I wish I could post her cutie face, but we can't post pictures until everything is legal and we pass court (but if you see me I'm sure I will gushingly show you her picture on my phone). We only know some of her story, and I'm not sure that I will share it all on this blog, but she has already had quite a life in her 5 months.

We are still waiting for a referral for a little boy, and we've been told this is in the works as we speak. Either way, we have the best Christmas present ever of seeing our baby's face. I thought surely we had months to go before getting to this point!

More to come................

squeeeeee!