Adoption Finalization

April 8th saw the 4 of us and many family and friends going to court. It was our turn to visit the Probate Court in Wyandotte County, Kansas to finalize our adoption! Our court time was 4 p.m. and we were done within 20 minutes. Can't remember a word the judge said, but we have it on video. After that our friend Ann took a bunch of pictures, including the judge holding the boys! Here are a couple pictures from court...

4 month checkup

The boys also had their 4 month checkup in March. Both boys weighed 18 pounds, with Evan being just a bit bigger. Ari is taller. Both are on track with their development. They don't have to go back until June for their 6 month checkup.

4 months old

Ok ok! I'm a little behind! Flash back to mid-March. The boys turned 4 months old. Mike's sister works for the Portrait Studio at JC Penney and she took some pictures of them. Here's a few....

3 months old!

The boys turned 3 months old this week! Both are smiling and babbling. We're starting with a medium-flow nipple on the bottles and working on eating 6 ounces at a time. They are slowly starting to stretch their sleeping from 3 hours to 4 hours at night.

GA termination

We just got notice that GA has terminated the birthfather's rights. Another step closer to adoption. YIPPIE!

Two months old!

First day of daycare update

An update on the boys' progress....

They are 2 months old now and have doubled their birth weight. The pediatrician was very happy with their progress at their checkup last week. They are looking around more, holding their heads up better, and eating more. Evan is eating 5 ounces at a time and Ari is eating 4 ounces (usually). They still eat every 3 hours around the clock, though!

They started daycare today. I think they have been held practically all day, which is understandable since they are so cute! The staff has been looking forward to their arrival since last month when we picked up the paperwork to get them enrolled. I'll post a current picture as soon as I get it off the camera.

Update 12/7/2010

The boys are now 3 weeks old! Since the last update, we did make it home. Kansas required some additional information from IAC, us and our attorney and we scrambled around last Tuesday afternoon getting it all together and off to Kansas. By the close of business on 12/1, we had verbal permission to travel with the boys! Since it was cold and rainy that afternoon, we chose to stay 1 more night in the hotel, get packed up and leave Wednesday morning. The drive down took 12 hours. The trip back took 15 hours. The boys slept most of the way. They'd wake up about every 3 hours and remind us they needed food. We'd find a place to stop, feed them, burp, them and change them. Then it was back on the road home.

We arrived home to find it decorated for our arrival! Our friends Sam, David, Scott, Tracy, Scott, Gary, Dee, Mason, and Katelin were responsible. The 3 signs in the house read: "Welcome home Ari & Evan" "Congratulations Mike & Chris and babies make 4!" and "You left as a couple. You enter as a family". The boys have been busy meeting their fan club, including going to church on Sunday.

We have to work with an attorney in Georgia to terminate birth father's parental rights. That process takes about 60 days. Then the adoption process can start in Kansas. We don't know how long that takes, but we think it's at least 60 days and a post-placement visit/report from the social worker who did our home study. Hopefully we can have the adoption finalized by summertime!

Two weeks old!

Can you believe it? Evan and Ari are two weeks old already. We are still in Georgia, awaiting permission to take the boys home. The paperwork took one business day to clear Georgia and get sent off to Kansas. It got to Kansas on the 23rd. Of course the Thanksgiving weekend slowed things down so the packet hadn't made it from the mail room to the correct person's desk by the 29th (three business days and counting). Our adoption counselor scanned and emailed the documents today in hopes they would start reviewing them before the papers found their way to her desk. We have extended our reservation here at the hotel for another 4 nights. Hopefully that's the last time we have to extend it!

The boys had check-ups last week and today. Last week their weights were down to 5 pounds even and the NP started them on a higher calorie premie formula. Today their weights were back up, only 2 ounces shy of their birth weights. They will be on this higher calorie formula for awhile to make sure they stay on track.

We have been trying to stay busy during our time here. Thanksgiving saw us sharing dinner with BM and her family at Golden Corral. The line was out the door and across the parking lot at 3 p.m. It took us 30-45 min to get to the food. it was good, but there was no pumpkin pie or Chinese food. Mike was sad! Yesterday we traveled into Atlanta for a day trip. We went to church at First MCC, then had lunch at Fat Matt's Rib Shack (really good), and went to the World of Coke. it was a little chilly walking around, but a good adventure.

Mike's older sister and his niece and nephew came down for a quick visit last week. They arrived on Thanksgiving, joined us for dinner, and went shopping with Mike on Black Friday. it was awesome to have them visit!

Thanks for all your positive thoughts! Please pray that Kansas doesn't drag the process out and we get permission to journey home tomorrow!

Sleepers

Papa and his pair of sleeping commas. Ari is on the left and Evan on the right. A afternoon of shopping makes a baby tired!

4 days old

So we've taken up residence at the Hilton Garden Inn here in Cartersville. It's our 3rd hotel here, after 1 night in a dumpy motel and 2 at a Microtel, which was nice, but too small. We were going to get a suite here with 2 separate rooms, but it is booked until next week. They offered a regular room, which has 2 beds, fridge, microwave, etc for tonight, then a junior suite for the rest of our stay. But that has 1 bed and a sleeper sofa with only minimal benefits, so we're staying put. The boys have been out of the hospital for 24 hours now and are doing great! Trip to Wal-mart this afternoon gave Mike and BM a chance to try out their quippy comebacks when someone asked if they were twins. "No, triplets, but we left one in the car" was the most popular.

We don't have a good idea of when we're going home yet. The paperwork was supposed to go from IAC to Georgia state today, then hopefully be sent to Kansas Monday. Hopefully they get something back by Wednesday. if not, we'll be here until at least the Monday after Thanksgiving, thanks to the holiday shopping weekend. Ah well. The hotel has a pool and fitness center, as well as a restaurant for breakfast. And they offered free breakfasts since they weren't able to get us in the original suite. Sweet! :)

Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and love. They are greatly appreciated!!

11/14-11/15

A brief recap of the last 10 hours or so....

11:52 p.m. BM calls and reports she is having contractions. Can't decide if she should wake up her mom to go to the hospital. We encourage her to go in and get checked. Contractions are about 15 minutes apart and regular. Chris can't fall asleep so he gets up to sort through some papers that were shuffled around over the weekend, some of which we need to take with us.
12:50 a.m. BM calls back and they are just on the way to the hospital.
1:55 a.m. BM has been admitted for observation. Baby B was playing hide and seek with the nurse trying to place the monitor. Everything looks OK and they are going to monitor her for awhile.
2:02 a.m. BM calls back and reports she is dilated to 3. She wants us to start our trip.
2:40 a.m. We are packed and out of the house, on the way to pick up Mike's mom, who will be making the trip with us. We are also swapping our Escape for their larger TrailBlazer.
3:30 a.m. or so We are on the road from Independence, MO to Cartersville, GA. Only 12 hours to go!
6:30 a.m. BM is scheduled for a c-section. We are somewhere around St. Louis
A little after 6 a.m. BM gives birth to two healthy baby boys. We are crossing from MO to IL.

It's now 10 a.m. and we still have 6 hours of driving to do! Oh my!

Chris

Update 11/11/10

A quick update for our family and friends:

BM had a doctor's appointment yesterday. She is officially 34 weeks and everything looks good. She starts going to the doctor weekly now. In addition she goes to the hospital twice a week for a non-stress test. She has monitors placed, then has to sit still for 30 minutes while they monitor the babies. The sitting still is the worst part, she says! All of this is normal for twins.

She is officially due 12/18 and is scheduled for a c-section on 12/14.

She told her mom that they need to start saving their pennies because they will be coming to Kansas in a year for the boys' first birthday.

Update 10/20/10

Our family and friends hosted a GREAT baby shower last Saturday. We think we had 50 people there who were VERY generous with their gifts for the boys. A double stroller, car seats, bouncy seat and swing, bottles, clothes, diapers, toys, and an awesome hand-knitted blanket (with 1 more on the way) were some of the gifts for the boys. Mike's sister did all the decorations and games. She made two great diaper cakes and a flock of diaper monkies! Our neighbor Dee took care of all the food and it was very good!

We made a quick trip to Georgia yesterday (which also happened to be Chris' birthday). Fortunately there are direct flights from KC to Atlanta early in the morning and late in the evening! And our friend Noli was gracious enough to provide the tickets (Thanks, Noli)! Chris rented a convertible for the day, figuring it would be the last time we could rent one of those for awhile. It was a great day to drive around with the top down!

We met with the adoption counselor and birth mom at the IAC office to complete and sign the match paperwork. Most of the items we had already discussed with birth mom, so it was a formality to get it all on paper. After that meeting, we headed to another sonogram. The last sonogram we saw was on 9/7/10 and the boys were about 2 pounds each. Now they are estimated to be 4 pounds 6 ounces for one and 4 pounds 12 ounces for the other. The technician estimated they should be close to 6 pounds at birth if they are full term. We also had a 4-D sonogram done, which shows movement. Not quite what we were expecting, but still really cool to watch. Baby A was being shy and wouldn't turn his face so we could see it. Baby B was much more of a ham and kept moving around and posing. We left there with new pictures and a DVD with an hour and a half of movement captures on it.

We went out to eat at Olive Garden with birth mom and her family (our new extended family) and had a great time! We made sure everyone had our phone numbers so when labor starts, someone will call us! We are guessing it'll take a couple hours to drop whatever we are doing, pack up, and get on the road, then it's about 12 hours of drive time to Georgia. Hopefully we'll have 14 hours of notice to get their for the birth!

We are less than 8 weeks to the estimated delivery date! Our next trip to Georgia should be for the birth! Thanks everyone for all your prayers and support!

Phone calls

Everyone knows (I think) that we have a special phone for birth mothers to call. We nicknamed it the Baby Bat Phone. One of us carries it during the day so that we're able to answer it when it rings.

Yesterday Mike received two calls. Evan called. His message was "Love you, Daddy!". Then Ari called. His message was "Come "see" us next week, Daddy!"

Guess what phone they used? The Baby Robin Phone! :)

Gotta have a little fun while we're waiting, right? :) Have a great day and thanks for all your love and support! Baby shower this Saturday should be a great time with a house full of people!

Update 9/20/10

The boys' rooms are done! We decided that our spare room was bigger than the room we had been using as a baby room with our foster children. So the spare room got a fresh coat of paint (light green and light blue), some cute pictures, and the cribs/dresser/changing table have been moved in there. The former baby room is set up as a guest room/feeding room right now with the idea that it will become a play room once the boys are mobile. We set up the spare bed in there in case anyone offers to spend the night and feed the little ones while we sleep! :) Eventually they'll have their own rooms.

We talked to a very nice attorney in Georgia about the process of termination of rights. Basically it will take 60-80 days to terminate birth father's rights if he is not identified. Fortunately, we don't have to stay in Georgia that long! As soon as we get permission from Georgia and Kansas, we can legally bring the boys back to Kansas. That should take 10 days to 2 weeks. The attorney will handle the termination process and we shouldn't have to return to Georgia for any hearings, etc. related to the termination.

We also talked to our attorney here about adoption. The initial adoption can be handled here or in Georgia and the boys' birth certificates will be updated with the adopting parent's name when that is done. The boys will always have Georgia birth certificates, since that is where they are born. We can't tell from an Internet search if Georgia will allow us to adopt as a couple or if one of us has to be the initial adopting parent. We'll have to follow-up with the attorney about that when the time comes. Kansas won't let us adopt as a couple, so we then have to file for a second parent adoption so that both of us will be officially their parents. That process takes about 30 days. We will then have adoption decrees that will show we are both their parents. The attorney here didn't know if Georgia would amend their birth certificates to show both of us. Kansas would if they had been born in Kansas.

Matched!!

The open adoption counselor talked with PBM yesterday. We are officially matched! We still have paperwork to complete and a meeting with the counselor and BM to talk over the preferences/logistics of everything, but there is no rush to get that done. One more step down in the process! Yeah! :)

Baby pictures!

Today we went with BM to have a sonogram done. We got to "see" both babies and hear their heartbeats. The midwife said they haven't identified any problems with the pregnancy or the boys. Everyone is super-nice and we are looking forward to our return trip. Might try to come down in October for a doctor's visit. Thanks for all your support, help, and prayers!

Meeting PBM

So we flew to Atlanta today to meet our potential birth mom and her family. What a great day!! Everyone was super nice and very welcoming. It sounds like they've told everyone in town that we are the ones adopting the boys! And apparently we have the show Modern Family to thank for presenting the idea of a gay couple adopting. Here for another day and flying home tomorrow night. Hoping to get to see a sonogram of the boys tomorrow before we leave.