We love sleep and so does Kobe!

Check it out....way back there in the bed is our little sleeping beauty or prince...apparently he doesn't mind missing out on all that action. He's going to fit in well on Saturday morning's at our house.

January trip home...

The January trip to the creche is home! Here is what another adoptive mom wrote about Kobe:

Kristi- I wanted to tell you that Loudince is doing really well.

I hardly recognized him when I went into the baby room.

He has put on weight and looks large compared with the other boys in the room.

I don’t know the ages of all the kids, so I might have been making an unfair comparison. Loudince was sleeping very soundly when I went into the baby room the first time,

so the only pictures I got of him were him sleeping.

I did get one of him eating, but it is a little blurred cause I was far away and trying to zoom in. I wanted to let you know that I got some video

of him getting dressed and bathed one morning.

I will burn it to a DVD for you and send it to you.

Take care and know that Loudince looks very healthy and wonderful!

OUCH!

We went today and got our shots/pills for our trip to Haiti. We are *hoping* to go in June, but for all you optimistic ones have NO intentions what-so-ever of bringing Kobe home in June although not ruling it out in yet another effort of REALLY positive thinking. I had to get a tetanus shot and it hurts!!!! I haven't had one since I was 6 almost BUT NOT QUITE twenty years ago. It's my little secret how I made it through three different colleges (all of which require an updated tetanus shot) without getting one!!! But the point is not that my arm hurts but that A) we must be going somewhere COOL if we have to get shots to go there and B) we get to see our little boy in a few months time!!! Wow what a ride this adoption is. You have these kind of incredible highs and I'm sure some real lows too. But I'm ok with it. It's like a big long roller coaster and who doesn't love a good roller coaster?

EDIT: After re-reading this I realize it sounds like I'm saying getting shots is an incredible high....not so much. Being this much closer, even if it is a millemeter, to visiting our baby really is a high many people will never experience in a lifetime.

Why I Blog!

This is so off the topic of this particular blog. First read this article from Adoptive Families Magazine.... http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1323

So why do I blog? No, it’s not because I have too much time on my hands as people have so nicely commented. I blog because it’s fun. I am excited to be adopting and it helps me sort out all the steps of Haiti adoption. If you haven’t been though international adoption I could see how it would seem silly to have all these steps to go through. In fact the most popular question I get is why does it take so long? We are working with two governments the US and Haiti. We have to go through the steps to bring our baby home; there is no way around it! That’s like saying to a pregnant woman; why does it take nine months? It just does. So back to why I blog, I like to think that by blogging I am doing something to help bring my son home. Now that my part of the paperwork is done I need something to keep my sanity while I wait. So I have busied myself with painting Kobe’s room, filling in his baby book, and blogging. And of course I have folded and re-folded those adorable Bronco jammies we got while in Denver. Someday Kobe is going to read through the posts I save from this blog and he’ll roll his eyes and say “mom you are such a dork” but until then I am going to enjoy the adoption process and keep blogging!

Look Mom No Hands!

LOVE THIS BOY!

It's update time again!

We received our monthly update from the creche today! Kobe was not walking as of December 27th but he appears to be walking in the photos from Granny Bin, so between December 27th and January 4th he started walking....

It says he is friendly and jovial. Tries to play with all kinds of toys and develops much from observation...mommy translation~ Kobe is one smart cookie!! Sorry shameless plug for my son there. It says he has a good appetite and eats extremely well. Yes it really says extremely although my first thought was yeahhhh look at his photos he's not going hungry! Also he is generally healthy.

Now to the document part of the update...this gets pretty exciting so I'm typing faster and faster just so you know..

Babies birth certificate- CHECK
Babies medical certificate- CHECK
Babies photo ID- CHECK

Ok I'll quit, everything is checked off for Kobe and our file is being authenticated as I type in Haiti!! His paperwork is waiting to meet up with ours at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So think positively, hold your breath, and/or cross your fingers and toes but we are headed into the longest waiting part soon~ IBESR. Do what you have to do but please send good wishes our way for a SPEEDY trip through IBESR.

I am feeling incredibly impatient this week. It's the first time I have woken up thinking this waiting is not fun anymore. So I'm trying desperately to busy myself with more activities to get our house ready for Kobe. What's fun is I know two people who are expecting to deliver babies at any moment and they and their families are as impatient as I am!! So hopefully I can hold their babies soon and that will tide me over until we can visit Haiti. Everyone knows that I just like to hold babies, doesn't matter who's baby and everyone at my work knows I'm a baby HOG. I'll admit it I hog the babies when they come in to visit, I do and I will also HOG Kobe when he is home.

U.S. Approval - Check it off the list!!

Yes it's true we recieved our "notice of favorable determination concerning application for advance processing of orphan petition" today in the mail.

What does that mean?

Decision
The USCIS must decide whether the prospective adoptive parent(s) are able to take care of one or more orphans properly, depending on the number of children they want to adopt. Form I-171H, Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition, is sent to the prospective petitioner if the prospective adoptive parent(s) appear to qualify for further processing. This decision, however, does not guarantee that the orphan petition(s) to be filed will be approved. An orphan petition may still be denied because the child does not qualify as an orphan or for other proper cause.

This is directly copy pasted from the USCIS webpage. So now you ask what is USCIS? Well I'm assuming it's part of the Department of Homeland Security and or Citizen and Immigration Services. That is a wild guess.

Just so everyone knows we were approved for up to three children...

Happy First Birthday Kobe!

Kobe is one today. It's a little bittersweet for me. I have noticed how he is getting bigger in his pictures and I don't want to be the "in denial" mom but if he could just stay a baby until he comes home that would be pretty cool. Funny how you can't stop them from growing so here it is his first birthday and not only does he get bigger with every picture but cuter as well.

Raise your goblet of milk and cheers to Kobe, Happy Birthday little guy!!!


***This is in blue because according to my very adorable nieces that is his favorite color, and they would know.

Christmas Day in Haiti!

Eating a sucker on Christmas Day!

Kobe is on the right.

The boy sharing his sucker with the little girl is Peyton and he will live in Bozeman.

All he WANTED for Christmas WERE his 2 front teeth!

Those are the cutest two teeth I have ever seen!

In case anyone is wondering why he isn't smiling in the photos it's

because he is waiting to smile for when we come to visit him.