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!

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!!

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.