I worked from home yesterday and today…AWESOME! And I am going to work from home about 1-2 a week for the next few weeks!!!
Our house passed inspection, so the move is a go!
Joshua’s adoption finalization is May 28th! That evening, (starting at 4:00 ish) we’re having an open house/ adoption finalization party at our NEW house in Gardner. Email me at watermelonjessie at yahoo dot com if you didn’t get an invite, as I’ve been forgetful lately.
My friend Katharine called today and said she and some other church folks could help me pack!
This has been an AWESOME day!!!!!
And, my blog hit 10,000 visitors!! Woo hoo!
I am happy and freaked out at the same time. I was just realizing tonight that we move in LESS THAN 1 month…our movers are set to come to our Lawrence house at 1pm on Wed. May 21st and move all the furniture and heavy stuff to our Gardner house. We are set to close the paperwork at 10:00 am on Wednesday May 21st. I think I’ll have to find a babysitter that day..
I still have a lot to pack. Donald’s aunt is going to watch Joshua for a couple weekends so I can pack and clean, which I am very grateful for, but I just am stressed by everything that’s going on. I’ve been trying to stay in good spirits even though I’m going back to work earlier than I would like, but it’s what has to be done. Part of loving Joshua is making sure we have enough money to pay for his adoption, our new house, food and clothing for him, etc.
I’ve been trying to work on things around the house, but my days (and nights) have been filled with feeding, rocking, making formula, burping, changing diapers, changing clothes. I just get him settled and it’s time to restart it over again. I am happy to do it, but I’m concerned as to how I’m going to do everything and care for him at the same time. Monday morning we have OUR house inspection, so I need to get our house cleaned up for that. *Another sigh.*
Thanks for listening to me vent.
Donald and I talk about Joshua all the time. He is our favorite topic of conversation. Everything he does is facinating: from facial expressions to bodily functions.
I can’t believe it’s been 9 days since he was born!
I went to Wal-Mart today and brought Joshua. 3 ladies commented on how cute he was and asked how old he was. It was pretty neat. Once you put a car seat in the cart, there really isn’t much room for anything else! Oh, well, cuts down on the amount you pile in your cart, so you end up spending less.
When he takes naps I look at photos of him, if I’m doing something else I’ll peek in on him just to watch him sleep.
We had a fun moment today. He had wet his little bassinet and he was LIVID. I got him undressed and washed him up, and he INSTANTLY calmed down when I was holding him. That felt really nice, made me feel like mom!
Our attorney advised us the birthmom is going to court Monday at noon. I’m not EXACTLY sure what is going to happen, but I thnk that she has to declare before the judge under oath that she does not know who the birthfather is. After that, we put announcements in the paper for a few weeks asking if anyone has a claim to the baby (ie, the birthdad) to come forward. If no one comes forward, an attorney represents the birthfather and his rights are terminated. That same day the birthfather’s rights are terminated, we go into court and Joshua’s adoption is finalized. That will be a VERY fun day! Our attorney said that the judge is really nice and makes the adoption finalization pretty smooth.
Here’s hoping no one comes forward after we place those announcements in the paper!
Our leave is unpaid. That’s what our company has done with other adoptive families. Our H.R. rep even called home office, and that is the procedure. Sick time is only available to an employee that has an illness or cannot work; adoption doesn’t qualify to be paid for sick time. Under FMLA, we do have our 12 weeks leave, but it is unpaid.
So…I emailed my boss to see if it would be worth it to research all the different companies that pay their employees for their adoption leave out of their sick time. The point may be moot because in 2009 they’re starting a much better “Paid Time off” system that rolls sick, vacation, and personal time together. If that new system had been in place, I would have had almost a month of paid time off to use with our baby. I’ll go with what my boss says. If he thinks it would be like beating a dead horse, I’ll just not worry about it. I would like to see if I can try and get it changed as there are at least 2 people from work that I know of that are wanting to adopt this year.
I’ll have to figure out how to do my research to see what companies pay for adoption leave out of an employee’s sick time bank…
On the baby front, he is doing well! Our doctor, who is the sweetest guy EVER, said that Joshua is “perfect.” Well, we knew that! He gained 9 ounces and 1/2 inch since his birthday! Wow! I think he gets annoyed with me sometimes because I keep kissing him…his cheeks are just TOO cute!
Check out on the top right…there is a flickr link to photos of Joshua. I am not the most computer savvy, so I don’t add photos to my blog as much as my hubby does. At least you can get your Joshua fix through Flickr!
Our H.R. rep said she’s checking with our Home office to see how other offices have handled adoption leave and if the leave can be paid out of my sick time. She advised that the answer may not change (that it might still be unpaid leave since it’s not a medical condition) but she’ll at least give us an answer tomorrow. Well, if it doesn’t pan out the way we wanted it to, at least we know we tried all our options.
Joshua takes really good naps. He likes looking up at the ceiling fan. I need to get out some books or pictures for him to look at. I can tell he’s able to focus on me or Donald and he is looking at us. After a bottle, he likes to snuggle right up against our necks. He is the BEST baby ever!
Our adoption leave is totally unpaid, because it’s not a medical condition. So, I was only going to take a week or so unpaid off work, but it looks as if that isn’t going to pan out. I am going to have to go back to work on Monday, April 28th. Hubby is going to take some intermittent leave on Mondays and Tuesdays for the meantime. The expenses are just high right now and it’s cheaper for Hubby to miss work than for me to miss work.
*Sigh* I was hoping to be home a little longer with this little guy.
Man, if you don’t want to read about babies or kid stuff, you may not want to read my blog anymore! That is all that’s on my brain. I dream about Joshua, I see him when I close my eyes, I can even smell him sometimes! This is a trip!
Well, in the world of too much information, Josh had a HUGE poop in his diaper early this morning. Yellow, rotten, cottage cheese type stuff. It was awesome! He also peed all over the wall! (Dad missed that, but he was very proud!) We have a little boy in our house!
We tried the powdered formula again but with a different nipple (a longer and skinnier one) and he’s done alright with the powdered stuff. Donald did get me signed up on Enfamil to get coupons and stuff since he seems to like it the best.
I like this parent stuff. It’s fun! Tiring, but a lot of fun.
Joshua was not happy last night, he is a SCREAMER. Tried switching to the cheaper powder Parent’s Choice Formula for the first time yesterday night. He was gassy and just upset. So, I went and bought cans of Enfamil, (which is EXPENSIVE) and he seems a lot happier with that. (Enfamil at room temperature is what we used in the hospital.) So, I guess that’s how they get you to buy the stuff…they give you free samples at the hospital, the baby gets used to it, and then you have to buy it! He was up at 10:00pm, 11:00pm, 2:00am, 3:00am, (then we switched to Enfamil) - he was up at 5:30am, slept until 8:00am, which was a NICE nap for mom! My mother in law was up with him some of those times, so that was nice.
Can you mix different types of formula, or is that unsafe to do? Like, if I put some enfamil in a bottle, then put some prepared Parent’s choice in a bottle, would that slowly aclimate him to it? Or should I just go all out and switch it in a few weeks? The Enfamil is super convenient, but MAN, $8.00 for 4 cans (I think the cans are 8 oz, they might be 12 oz.) The powdered Parent’s Choice is $10 for a can of powder that makes 60 ounces or so.
Any ideas?
Man, I give kudos to all you moms that BIRTHED your babies first and then had to care for them! I am tuckered out and I didn’t even have to push this little one out! Wow…
…I was up with Joshua all night, Donald slept on this super fantastic cot. The nurse was laughing at how Donald was out and just snoring away. Donald is a pro at swaddling though, so that’s his job for now. Last night I was up at 11pm, 2am, 5am, and Donald got up to do the 8am feeding. Last night Joshua was on my shoulder after I was burping him and he turned his head to look at me, it was so cool! And then last night while I was giving him his bottle, he turned his whole head so he could look at me better! I just love this little guy, I can’t believe it. I am tired but I am so happy at the same time. I think it’s finally sinking in. Can’t wait for these first sets of papers to get signed today!
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