Dominic's Homecoming Countdown

"I am ONE . . . Watch Out, World!"

2006-09-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

I think that is what our little man would say if he could speak. Dominic has a fabulous first birthday! He loved his balloons and his very own cake. He doesn't really understand the concept of gift and he doesn't realize how many cool new things he has but I am sure he will notice them soon. He is a very, very happy baby and we are a very, very happy family!

Dominic has learned how to stand up all by himself. It is the cutest thing! He will be in the middle of the room and he will suddenly sprout up, just like a little flower! He realizes that he is standing up and he gets a big smile on his face . . . then he lands on his rear end. It is really funny. He stands up more and more all the time and I'm sure that he will figure out how to take a step soon.

We think we might have 2 "words" from him right now. We have decided that he refers to me as Mamamamama, give or take a few ma's. He usually says this when he sees me or when he wants me to hold him so we guess that is his name for me. The new word we might have is "Tee" which we think is for "Kit-tee." "Dadadada" is creeping up into third place and we might even be hearing "Bah" for balloons.

We had our post-placement appointment with our agency and everything went really well. Megan loved meeting Dominic and he loved showing off for her! We had a nice long talk about our love for Guatemala. Frank and I really love the country and we hope that we will be able to add a sibling from Guatemala to our family someday.

Life has been crazy now that I am back to school full time. I am thankful that I am busy because it keeps my mind away from the fact the I am not with my little boy. We have a really great situation and he is right across the street from my school all day long. He has 2 other little boys to play with. I think that the socialization is great for him. He makes so many different sounds at home and I am sure that he got them from the other kids. He really does well at Jeff and Michelle's house. Michelle hasn't had any problems getting him to sleep (knock on wood) and he adores her. I will admit that my favorite part of the day is when I go to pick him up. When he sees me, his entire face lights up and he races over to me as fast as he can. I get a big hug and a baby kiss and lots of smiles. I don't think there are many things in this world that make me as happy as this does.

This will be our last blog entry. It has been one full year since Dominic was born in our hearts. Thank you so much for following us on our journey. When I think back to the email I received last September 16th, it give me chills to think that the beautiful little boy in the referral pictures is now my son. After months of staring at pictures and praying for everything to be completed, we are now together as a family and no one can ever take our Dominic away from us. You will never now how much your kindness and support has meant to me. Thank you for reading and thank you for your prayers :)

Dirty Laundry

2006-08-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

I won't try to hide our dirty laundry from you because Dominic had so much fun playing in it and these pictures are very cute. It doesn't take much to entertain this kid. He had so much fun rolling around in this stuff! The past few weeks have been pretty eventful for us! We actually made it out to a movie while Grandmom and PopPop were babysitting. Frank had several of his former students stop by to visit and meet Dominic. My aunt Diane and my cousin Jessica came to visit with Travis, Jessica's little boy. He is almost 2 and he showed Dominic all kinds of "big boy" tricks! It was nice to get together and for the boys to finally meet! Last Thursday, Dominic decided to show one of our super duper baby gates who was boss and ended up taking a ride down our deck steps. I wasn't home, but Frank said he cried for about 2 minutes and then wanted to play again. He is a tough little dude! Frank took him to the ER just to make sure that everything was OK and Dominic was fine. The worst part was the little cut on his face. You can see it in the picture but it is much better now. (His PopPop gave him a new nickname: the Guatemalan Deck Diver!) On Friday, we had a very nice visit with his greatgrandfather Val. We went out for lunch and played in the house. We spent the weekend at the beach and, drumroll, please . . . Dominic stood up for the very first time, all by himself! He did it about 8 times for his Nana but I only saw it twice. One time he stood up right in the middle of his baby pool! He can go from sitting, to kneeling, to standing . . . it is so cute! Today Dominic and I had a great lunch with two of my former co-workers, Nancy and Joe, at the Cheescake Factory. (I have been eating lunch out WAY too often! I need to get back to my 30 minute 8th grade lunch period!) We sat there for about 2 hours and Dominic was a perfect little angel! He is getting much better about going out to eat and traveling. He is such a good-natured baby and he is so happy all of the time! He expresses his happiness with clapping now and he is getting very good at it! His first birthday is right around the corner! Here is Dominic with my second cousin, Travis . . .

Summer is flying by . . .

2006-08-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

It is August already! I have been going in to school for inservice meetings and workshops and I am trying to get myself ready to go back. My first day is Dominic's first birthday! We have done some practicing with going to day care and Dominic seems to be doing great. I am sure it will be much harder on me than it will be on him. Heck, he will have other kids to play with and tons of toys around. What a life! :) I am very lucky that Dominic will only be across the street from my school. Our guidance counselor lives across the street and his wife stays home with their son. We are so lucky that she will be taking care of Dominic. They are both very kind and caring people. If he needs me, I am just a few steps away!

Dominic is doing great. Here are a few of his recent developments:

claps hands and even claps his hands when you tell him to
dribbles soccer ball while crawling
kicks soccer ball when standing
understands the words "ball" and "truck"
says the words Mama and Dada (but might not connect them with us!)
is trying to say kitty ("kah") and ball ("bah")
races up the stairs when the gate is down (and giggles because he knows he shouldn't be on the steps!)
holds and drinks a few sips from a sippy cup (and then throws it on the floor so I will pick it up!)

Congrats to Betsy on her new house (awesome!). Happy 1st Birthday to Savanna and Carlton! Yippee to Erin on her beautiful baby girl referral. Congratulations to our friends Ryan and Angela on the birth of their little boy, Dylan. I'm so happy for everyone!

Other new things? We took Dominic down on the beach for the first time. He was a little frightened of the ocean and wanted to eat the sand. We were only there for about 20 minutes. Maybe next year! We just got a new car that has lots of extra room for the little guy. It's a Chevy Equinox. It is a bit bigger than my Focus (I cried when I traded her in!) but it will be better for our family in the long run. Dominic has spent time with both sets of his grandparents and he celebrated his Grandmom's birthday with dinner at Applebees. His Nana and Grandpa visited last week and helped us with some major landscaping in our back yard (THANK YOU!). And . . . Dominic has started watching pre-season Eagles games with his Dad. We might be creating a monster!

Enjoy the pictures!

Growing so fast!

2006-07-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

We took Dominic to the pediatrician the other day, just for a weight check. He is up to 16 lbs. 13 oz. He gained 1 lb. and 4 oz. in 5 weeks. We were really happy with that. If he makes it to 19 lbs. by his first birthday, he will be "on" the American charts. Right now, he isn't in a percentile. We aren't too concerned because according to the Guatemalan charts, he is right on track. He feels like he is gaining a pound a day!

I can't believe how quickly he is growing. My baby isn't a baby anymore! He is really turning into a little boy. He LOVES toy cars and trucks and making messes! Aimee had Chrissy, Luke, Dominic and me over for a really nice little lunch yesterday. Luke is almost 3 months and you can tell by the pictures that Dominic is way out of of the infant stage. They were very, very cute together! Dominic was fascinated with Luke's crying . . . looks like he was trying to make him feel better :)

I think his favorite thing by far is the water. We went to visit our friend Susan on Sunday and Dominic played in the baby pool for 2 hours! He loves it. The other pictures are from his bath. He tries to stand up all the time. It is VERY hard to keep him down. He has mastered shaking his head "No" which is probably not a good things. He probably just knows it because I have to say NO to him all the time. He is ALWAYS looking for trouble! No wonder I am so tired all the time!

What a face! We are really enjoying every second that we have with him. I know that we are really lucky to both have the summer off. I think that Dominic is really growing attached to us. It will be hard not to be with him during the day once we got back to school; I hope I make it! So many people have done it and I have many good roles models to follow so I know that I will be OK. Dominic spent the night with his Grandmom and PopPop so we could go to the movies and he did just great. He is very good about staying away from home! (We saw "Dead Man's Chest" . . . what did you think? I liked the first one MUCH better. I did like the fights in this one . . . I HATED the ending . . . how could she DO that!!! So bitter :) )

Congratulations to Meredith and Mark on the birth of their 9 lb. son, Mark :) He is adorable! Tomorrow, the three of us will be traveling to my friend Kim's baby shower. I will finally get to see her belly and she will get to meet our little guy. From there, we are heading to the the beach with Nana and Grandpa for a few days.

Stay cool and safe :)

Dinner With Dominic . . .

2006-07-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know how he got my cheeks . . .

2006-07-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

Here is one for all friends who have adopted or are in the process. We went to the social security office the other day to apply for Dominic's card. We waited forever and Frank finally got to the counter to apply. My job was to entertain Dominic. We played on the chairs, crawled on the floor, ate some snacks, did some high-fives . . . and so on. A woman who had also been waiting was watching us. "What a CUTE baby!" she said. "He definitely has your cheeks and nose and his father's coloring!" I had to laugh. I said thank you and that we thought he was cute, too. It isn't too far of a stretch for someone to think that Dominic is our biological son, and I didn't want to embarrass this woman, but I did tell her that Dominic was adopted. After about five minutes of telling me how LUCKY Dominic was (and of course I told her that we, in fact, were the lucky ones) she told me that she always finds that adoptive children start to look like their parents at some point. Really? I don't think she knows too many adoptive families! :)

Anyway, the good news is that we now have Dominic's social security card with the official name change. We have the PA birth certificate, too, and we are just waiting for the new certificate of citizenship. We went to immigration and filed that paperwork. We were told that it could take 8 months to a year. All that time for a NAME CHANGE on a document!

Here are two new pictures. My son has realized that I am obsessed with taking pictures of him and he has developed a "SAY CHEESE" smile. It is very funny and very CHEESY as well! Stay cool :)

Happy Fourth of July!

2006-07-06T03:58:00.000-07:00

As the pictures above illustrate, Dominic is now into everything and anything, leaving my little time to do much of anything, including this blog! Here is a quick "Top Ten" of highlights since my last post.

Top 10 Things Dominic Has Been Up To

10. Dominic learned how to give a "High Five!" He is very good about it except when he is tired; that's when we only get a "High One."

9. Dominic went to visit his Aunt Meg in her new house. It is very, very cute . . . he can't wait to play in her nice big basement!

8. Because he loves water so much and gets dirty so first, his Nana gave him a kitchen sink bath . . . he LOVED it!

7. Dominic spent his first night without us! He slept over at Grandmom and PopPop's while we were at a wedding with our friends.

6. Without ANY help, Dominic can make it up our entire flight of stairs!

5. This little water-bug graduated from his tub seat and now takes a bath without any restraints.

4. Dominic had his very first haircut! He was very well-behaved but looked so sad. He looks so handsome with his new cut!

3. While wearing his adorable "Proud to be Guatemalan and American" outfit, Dominic celebrated his very first Fourth of July while visiting the beach.

2. Dominic stayed up very late to see delayed fireworks but ended up falling asleep after only a few big booms.

1. Dominic celebrated his 10 month birthday and surpassed the 3 month mark of being home with his forever family! We love you, Dominic!

I'm sure that I missed a few things but the general idea is that he is doing great and keeping us busy. He is making lots of friends and developing quite the personality! Today we are on our way to an appointment at immigration to apply for his new Certificate of Citizenship. I don't think that this adoption paperwork will ever end!

Congratulations to my friends Kathy and Rick on the birth of their beautiful little girl, Kayla. It won't be long until Meredith and Kim have their little ones as well! Please keep Angel and Stacy in your thoughts as they are both facing some difficult times.

Happy Fourth of July! Hope that everyone is having a great summer!

Our Energizer Bunny Runs Out . . .

2006-06-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not having written in over a week but it is very rare that our little Engergizer bunny ever slows down! I decided to capture 2 of those rare moments on film. I made him sit in his high chair for some oatmeal last week and he fell asleep after the third bite. It was so funny!He took a little nap with Dad last week after Dad got home from work. It was very, very cute. Dominic is doing pretty well except for the all-night crying fest we had with him last Wednesday. It was NON-STOP crying. He would only sleep in my arms or in our bed. We took him to the doctor on Thursday and, of course, nothing was wrong with him. How embarrassing :) The only explanation, according to the doctor, is his teeth. His second tooth is now all the way through. So, we keeping using the Ibuprofen and help him the best we can!

Dominic is very much on the move now. He can hold on to furniture and walk a few steps. He can make it the entire way up the stairs, which is the cutest thing that I have ever seen! We took him swimming at our friends' pool on Monday and he really loved it! We put him in his little tube and he took off running in the baby pool. He has learned how to climb out of his bath seat so I think we are just going to use the tub. He has spent some quality time with a few girlfriends over the past week. He visited with Megan, Sara, Alyssa, Madison AND the twins, Maggie and Carrie. He loves girls! I have many kissing pictures already.

Frank threw me a very fun surprise 30th party on Saturday. I had found out about it beforehand . . . OOPS! It was so nice to have so many great friends and family members there to celebrate with me :) THANK YOU, everyone!

You-know-who just woke up from an amazingly long nap . . . I have to go keep up with my little bunny :)

Such a Big Boy!

2006-06-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

Dominic has been very busy lately! This past week, we took a trip to Frank's school to meet all of the kids and teachers. He was a celebrity for the day! He has been quite the school traveler since he has been home. He visited my middle school, Nana's pre-school and all the classes at Grandmom's school! The kids, big and small, all love him! He made quite a few girlfriends at Frank's high school . . . should I start worrying about older women? Saturday night we went to 2 graduation parties for students of Frank. Dominic had the chance to meet a Guatemalan buddy at one party. It was really neat!

Today was a VERY big day for Dominic. It was his baptism. He was a very well-behaved little boy. He did fall asleep in his mom's arms for a few minutes. Unfortunately, his nap didn't last very long and he was a little cranky when the holy water woke him up! He looked so handsome in his little white suspender outfit. We had a nice lunch with the entire family at a nearby restaurant and celebrated with cake at our house later in the afternoon. Some of our good friends stopped by to congratulate Dominic as well. We know that Aunt Meg and Uncle Steve will be wonderful Godparents!

Dominic has been pretty smiley lately, even though some new teeth are on their way. He had his 9 month appointment at the doctor's earlier in the week. He has grown an inch and gained over 2 pounds since he came home. I don't know how he gains any weight because he NEVER sits still . . . he is always on the go! He is a great eater, a super-fast crawler, and an amazing stander-upper. He has been having lots and lots of fun with us and of course we have been having lots of fun with him! Daddy is done school this week and we are so excited for summer to begin. Enjoy the pics!

What I've Been Up To . . .

2006-05-31T18:14:00.000-07:00

It's me, Dominic! I've been pretty busy lately but I thought I would take a few minutes to tell everyone about what I've been up to. I'm getting really fast with this crawling thing but I would much rather be walking. I spend most of my time standing up; I'm not fan of sitting down. I spent Memorial Day weekend down the shore patrolling the beaches. It was a tough job, but luckily I had my Daddy around to help me. I got my first real taste of the sand and it didn't bother me too much. The water was really cold but I put my feet in so that my Dad would know that I am tough.

When I got home on Tuesday I spent some time working out in my new pool. Mommy put it on the deck for me. It's pretty hot here already but that's pretty typical for where we live. I like to splash and I have a nice frog kick. I'm feeling some pressure from the 'rents because they were both swimmers at Bloomsburg. They met there. My Daddy says that if I don't learn how to swim, I might not meet a nice girl like my Mommy. Needless to say, I've been practicing. I have also been practicing climbing out of the pool and I am REALLY good at that. I don't think my Mommy likes that very much.

At the end of the day, I just like to sit back on my pillow and watch my Baby Einstein videos. I find them completely captivating, especially when my tummy is full and sticking out like it is in this picture. Mommy tried to get me to look up but I can't take my eyes off the tv. Those videos are good stuff! I have about 6 of them but I can't really tell the difference between them yet. I am learning lots of things about animals and colors and music and art.

Other than those few things, I have been keeping my Mommy very busy because I have more teeth coming in. I whine and complain quite a bit. Hey, she should be thankful because I am helping her forget that she is turning 30 tomorrow. I'll just cry through her birthday and it will seem like it never happened! That's it for now! More later!

The Dominator has been BUSY!

2006-05-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

Well, we have had a very busy week around our house! Dominic got his first tooth, learned how to crawl and learned how to pull himself all at once! It is a pretty funny combination. One minute he is crying because his little gums hurt and the next minute he is racing all over the place. Between baby proofing, distributing infant ibuprofen and chasing after him, we haven't had much time to relax. Last night, we took him to his greatgrandmom's for pasta. He loved it! We are enjoying the nice weather and, of course, enjoying our little boy! More soon :)

A Busy, Busy, Busy Weekend!

2006-05-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

Dominic had a very, very busy weekend! Last Thursday, he and I left for our first road trip to the beach. We stayed with my parents for three nights and Dominic was SUCH a good baby! He did very well sleeping at the shore; he slept in the crib that I used as a baby! He actually slept through the night on Thursday. Frank came down Friday night and my brother followed on Saturday. Dominic LOVED the beach. He is going to be a total sand-eater this summer! We went to "taco night" with Nana and Grandpa. He didn't eat any tacos (0r drink any beer) but he demonstrated his ENTIRE collection of new-found monster noises at the restaurant. We went out for breakfast, walked on the boardwalk, and took lots of pictures. Don't let the "serene" dune picture fool you . . . he was face down and screaming in the sand right after I took the picture! We also celebrated Nana and Uncle Steve's birthdays. On Sunday, we came home and went to Grandmom and PopPop's where we celebrated Mother's Day. On Mother's Day, Dominic was able to see all of his grandparents, aunts and uncles!He even had the chance to visit with his Great-grandmom and his Great-aunt Linda. Mother's Day was wonderful for me this year. I am so happy to finally be a mommy :)

On Monday, we had to put the little guy through some serious torture. He had to have 10 vials of blood drawn to make sure that his vaccinations are up to par. This was not a pleasant experience by any means. It was actually pretty horrible for Frank and me. The technicians could not find his tiny little veins. They tied up and pounded on his arms until they found something. We are really hoping that his shots in Guatemala were OK and that we won't have to have them done again. The rest of Monday was very nice. Amy brought little Alyssa Rose to visit. We took the kids (doesn't that make you feel old, Burkel?) to the mall. We were actually able to eat and do a little shopping. Dominic and Alyssa were very, very cute together . . . not that we are pushing anything :)

Cousin Maureen finally had her little girl! Her name is Kiera and she was 9 1/2 lbs! Mommy and baby are doing great. We can't wait to see them! Lani sent me some new pictures of Maggie and Carrie. They are getting so big and so cute :) Luke is home from the hospital and doing great with his Mommy and Daddy. Aimee, Dominic and I went to visit their family today . . . we had a very nice time! We also received some adorable little outfits and a hard-to-find book in the mail today from Stacie; it was so nice!

So I wonder . . . how did I ever teach full time? Maybe the better question is . . . how will I start again in September? I really love being at home and soaking up every second with this beautiful little boy. I am really looking forward to the summer when Frank can be home with us, too. Unfortunately, being at home has given me time to peruse Ebay once again. This is not a good thing! I finally have over 100 stars though! Erin, maybe I will find one of your yard-sale specials!

I guess that is about it from now. Note to all my blog-buddies: I LOVE all the pictures and stories! All of them! Savanna is adorable. Gabe is getting so big! The Tots are AMAZING and partially mobile! Kiley is so sweet and Miss M is on the move. I am so glad that all of these babies are home and happy! Enjoy the rest of the week :)

Three Fabulous Firsts!

2006-05-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

In honor of Dominic's 8 month birthday, I'd like to review 3 of his "firsts" since he has been home. Each day he discovers something new and he is growing so fast! He has such a big personality already and he is so much fun to love! On to three fabulous firsts . . .

First of all, Dominic took his first LONG car ride. It was about an hour and 15 minutes long! We went to visit his greatgrandfather, Val. Dominic was wonderful in the car on the way to our visit but was a little cranky on the way home. We had a wonderful time at Val's house. Dominic played on the floor and was very excited to finally meet his greatgrandfather. His Nana met us there. As you can see in the picture, it was hard to get all three of them all to look at the camera at the same time!
Secondly, Dominic visited the grocery store AND sat in the cart like a big boy! He really likes the grocery store, especially when he gets to hold things while we shop. Frank and I shop together and take the baby each week. He is still a LITTLE too small for the cart, but we have him secured pretty well with his special seat. We do need to keep him propped up with a bag of pretzels or a box of croutons though!

Thirdly, Dominic went to a park and on the swings for the first time! You can clearly see that he is hanging on for dear life in the picture, but trust me, he LOVED it! He is obviously a little too small for the swings but he had lots of fun! We went to the park with my friend Marcy and her adorable baby Nate.

That's all for now! Many exciting firsts are on their way! Enjoy the weekend :)

Our Mover and Shaker

2006-05-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

As you can see, Dominic is doing really great! He is a very, very happy little guy! He is not a fan of sitting still, though! We don't have a cuddlebug . . . he is a mover and shaker! Scooching around the floor is probably his favorite things to do. Once he gets his act together and can move his arms and legs at the same time, he will be unstoppable! He made a nice weight gain and his last doctor's appointment and he is starting to eat more foods. He is such a blessing and we are so lucky and happy to have him in our lives!

Dominic has a new friend now, too! Our great friends Chrissy and Perry had their little (well, not exactly LITTLE at almost 9 lbs!) boy yesterday. He is beautiful! Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Now we just need cousin Maureen to have her baby, too . . . we hope that it happens any day now!

We are learning that Dominic isn't afraid of too many things. He is totally nosy and loves exploring! He isn't even afraid of really big dogs! He met Pat and Aimee's Ozzie and he wasn't even a little scared . . . Ozzie is a BIG dog! His cousin dog Maddie licked his face too, but that didn't scare him either! He is a brave little boy.

Not much else to report here . . . the weather is really nice and we have been outside a lot. I am happy to report that Kylie IS finally home with Dennise and Brad. I can't wait to see pictures! More later :)

Pleasantly Surprised!

2006-04-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

As many of our loyal fans know, we spent some serious time waiting for our immigration approval. Technically, you should have it before you accept your referral. We were worried about major law changes in Guatemala so we accepted our approval while we were waiting for it. And we waited, and waited, and waited . . . it took about a month longer than expected. I have gotten it through my head that things from immigration take a long time. So when we were told that we would receive Dominic's certificate of citizenship 45 days after returning from Guatemala, I laughed and starting looking for the phone number I would need to call when it didn't show up. Well, well, well . . . guess what DID show up today, much earlier than expected! We have Dominic's certificate :) He is 100% a United States citizen! His little picture is on it . . . very cute! We are in the process of having his first and middle names changed through orphans court. Supposedly in PA we can change his name through the county court system. We should be able to order a PA birth certificate with his new name in 4 weeks. Of course, I have my doubts but we'll see. Once we have his new birth certificate, we will have his first and middle names changed on his certificate of citizenship. Ah, yes . . . I don't think that this paper chase will ever end.

Dominic is doing great. He is starting to take naps at the same time everyday, which is a beautiful thing. He loves hearing himself make noises. We were out and about today. He decided to test out all of the different screaming noises he could at Bed Bath and Beyond. I thought it was funny. So did one cashier. No one else was amused. He is starting to make different sounds and I have heard the letter "M." I am REALLY working on "Mama" or "Mommy" with him. When I say either to him, he laughs hysterically. I don't know why but I am glad that I can entertain him so easily. After seeing and hearing about all the fun Carlton and Dylan have in their Jumperoos, we brought one home for him. He LOVES it . . . I'll take some pictures soon! Have a great day!

Feeling So Loved!

2006-04-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

We are feeling VERY loved tonight! My co-workers had a beautiful baby shower for us! Dominic had the chance to meet everyone and he adored the attention! He went from loving arms to loving arms without a peep. He did get a little cranky toward the end but I was impressed because he only napped for an hour the entire day. He giggled, grinned and gurgled for almost 6 hours! It was so nice to see my colleagues and get to talk to everyone. I am very blessed to work with the kindest and most supportive people in the world. From the moment we made our adoption intentions known, we received nothing but support, prayers and love! There were tons of little babies at the shower but I still think Dominic is the tiniest! He has lots of fun, as you can see in the picture. He had a chance to flirt with the pretty girl babies and see how the big boys play. We were truly showered with so many beautiful gifts. Dominic has an entire library of books now! It was really a wonderful afternoon. By the way, if you are looking for a good baby book, make sure that you read "Love You Forever" by yourself BEFORE you try to read it to a baby! I BALLED MY EYES OUT! It is SUCH a beautiful book and it is perfect for ANY person, child or parent. I think I am being emotional for now :)

Dominic had a great first Easter. He made it through mass without a peep, but of course he would NOT sit still. He was very good. We went to Grandmom and PopPop's for Easter dinner and he had a very good time. Frank and I both had stomach issues AGAIN over Easter and luckily Nana came to visit on Monday. Dominic had lots of fun playing with her all day long! Below is a picture of Dominic's first Easter. (Yes, the bib is a little too big!)

Congratulations to little Miss M . . . she has learned how to crawl! Savanna is doing great too; Betsy is trying to get her into a crib to sleep instead of on her mommy's tummy!. Erinberry has her paperwork together and just needs her immigration approval; that referral will be here before you know it! Carlton won a battle with bananas while his dad wasn't looking. Dylan had a very, very bad fever but I think he is doing better now. And those two Tots are all over the place too! My burning question . . . are Dennise and Brad home with Kylie? If anyone knows, please let ME know (Betsy is wondering too!)

Hello from Princess the Cat!

2006-04-18T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's me, Lisa and Frank's favorite feline. I need to vent for a minute. I don't know about this new guy. He came into my house and took over my crib. He sleeps in it all night! I tried to cover it with cat hair to keep him out of it but his mommy just washes the sheets. He has so many more toys than I do and his are bigger. I tried to take some of them and hide them with my toys but his drool made them way too slippery. The thing that really drives me nuts is when Lisa puts him in my Pack n' Play when she needs to go to the bathroom or wash dishes. He HATES the Pack n' Play . . . he just screams and screams when he is in it! He did take ONE nap in it though; check out the picture. I tried to give him the evil eye to wake him up but it didn't work. And what's with all the milk he is getting? Lisa KNOWS that I LOVE milk. Not only does he get tons of it, but she feeds it right to his mouth! I am getting used to all the noises he makes. It drives me nuts when he cries. I cry all the time and I don't get what I want . . .why does it work for him? Well, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. I need to go exercise . . . for whatever reason, Lisa has been giving my TONS of treats. I'm thinking that she feels a little guilty . . . hey, that works for me!

Enjoying Life!

2006-04-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

This little guy is much happier now that he is healthy and home! We are getting into a routine and all is well. He is as happy as a clam! You would never think that he left the home he was in for over 6 months. Formula is probably his favorite thing right now; he has been eating like CRAZY! I guess that he is making up for lost time. Honestly, he is really only cranky and crying when he is hungry. He has been eating a little bit of baby food but he REALLY loves his Grandmom's mashed potatoes. I brought home some Rita's last night and he whined until he got some. From there we moved on to YoBaby yogurt and he really liked that. He has had lots of visitors. He spent the day with his Nana on Friday and we were at his Grandmom and PopPop's for Palm Sunday dinner. I would say that his favorite toy right now is his exersaucer. He loves it. He also loves throwing things on the ground so that we need to pick them up! I took him for his first pictures today; they will be SO cute!

I never had the chance to write too much about Guatemala. Frank and I had the chance to visit Antigua Guatemala. It was amazing and definitely a highlight of
the trip. Our tourguide was recommended by our agency and he was FANTASTIC. We had a private tour of the amazing place. If you are traveling to Guatemala and you have the time, please try to see Antigua. If you would like the name of our tour guide, let me know. His website is www.mayabalam.com. It was an experience that I will never forget! Dominic was a great world traveler, considering how sick he was and that we had not clue :) We shared our flight from Miami to Philadelphia with Janet Reno; she let us take her picture with Frank and Dominic. It was very cool!

That is about it for now . . . I need to clean up while the Prince continues his nap! Thanks so much for all of your prayers and kind thoughts :)

At Home Pictures

2006-04-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

Healthy Again!

2006-04-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

We came home from the hospital Tuesday night and we are all healthy . . . finally! I just had Dominic at the pediatrician office for a post-hospital check up and he is doing just fine! He actually gained 5 ounces while he was sick! This poor baby has slept in 4 different places over the last week and a half. I feel terrible for him! He is in a good mood today and taking a nap right now. He finally feels well enough to go in his exer-saucer . . . I think that the diaper rash was really bugging him! Anyway, we are all getting used to each other and trying to get a routine together. I am so glad to have us all home :)

Our Poor Little Guy!

2006-04-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

Our little Dominic received a nasty present to welcome him home . . . the rotavirus. He's been in the hospital since Saturday morning. He has been quite a trooper considering how bad he feels. I had the same thing while we were in Guatemala. Frank got it Saturday night and Grandmom has it now. Grandmom took came to the ER with us to help on Saturday. Grandpop took Frank home from the hospital yesterday. Nana and Grandpa spent the afternoon with Dominic and me in the hospital yesterday. Frank is with him now and I am taking aquick break. Please pray that he feels better soon. I really want to bring him home FOR GOOD. He LOVES flirting with all the nurses and they are absolutely loving him back. Thanks for your prayers!

We are home :)

2006-03-31T19:40:00.000-08:00

We are finally home! Our little world traveler is safe in his bed and we had a WONDERFUL trip :) Everything went smoothly. Our Embassy appointment went well and we weren't there too long. Dominic did a GREAT job on the plane . . . it is not easy to entertain a 7 month old for that long, especially when he won't sleep! We had some great help from grandparents in Guatemala and a wonderful reception from a great grandparent, grandparents, aunts and uncles in the airport. Dominic went to the doctor's office for the first time today and did very well with some needles (only a few big screams!). We are all trying to get adjusted here and we couldn't be happier. I will write more about our trip soon . . . right now I need some sleep :) Enjoy the pictures and I'll will write more soon!

WE LOVE PINK!

2006-03-21T18:45:00.000-08:00

The News We've All Been Waiting For!

2006-03-21T18:31:00.000-08:00

We are PINK! We received our pink slip today and we are off to Guatemala this Sunday morning. Our embassy appointment is Tuesday at 7:15 am. We will be flying back to Philadelphia on Thursday with OUR SON! Can you believe it? FINALLY! Thank you to everyone for your love, prayers and kindness. I think we are ready to go here . . . just need to put everything in suitcases and get to the airport. We have lots of gifts for Dominic's foster family. We are very excited to see them again even though I am sure this meeting will be very hard for his foster family. They are so kind and they love him so much; we hope that we will be able to contact them in the future. Friday will be my last day in school until next year so I have lots of things prepare. We are so, so, SO happy! Again, thank you so much to everyone for your love and support. I'm sorry that we didn't get to call each of you personally with the good news, but I know that Dominic's fan club checks the blog on a regular basis! I'll post before we leave and, of course, when we come home! :)

Officially Our HIJO!

2006-03-15T18:28:00.000-08:00

That means son in Spanish! We finally have the birth certificate for our little guy with OUR last name on it . . . it is beautiful! I can't stop staring at it! Our lawyer in Guatemala received it yesterday but it is dated 3/8/06. I think waiting for the pink slip is A MILLION times worse for me than waiting to get out of PGN because now we are so close. For my blogging friends who have been through this, PLEASE tell me how you survived until PINK! And if you don't mind, please pass on your standard response for "So when are you going to get him?" Oh, and if you could share your experiences with timing AFTER the shiny new birth certificate was done, I'd appreciate it! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE keep praying for us . . . we are getting closer and closer! Thank you for your support and kind thoughts . . . we appreciate it so much!

I think she might be jealous already . . .

2006-03-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

If you know me, you know that I love my cat. Frank and I adopted our first baby, Princess, after we moved into our house 3 years ago. She has the run of the place. She is very sweet and very, very spoiled. She can pretty much do whatever she wants to do. When I am home, she is by my side nonstop. Frank and I constantly talk about what she'll do when Dominic is here. We've started to put all of his things together, and Princess thinks they are all for her. As I was checking my email a few minutes ago, I heard a loud thump from Dominic's room. There she was . . . relaxing on the freshly washed sheets that we just put in his brand new crib. A few days ago, she cried and cried because she couldn't figure out how to get in it. I guess she's been practicing while we are at school. I have a feeling that things will get interesting when he comes home and there are 2 babies here to spoil :) Enjoy the picture! I will post news as soon as we get it!

"I'm 6 Months Old!"

2006-03-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Dominic's 6 month birthday. We received new pictures and a medical on Tuesday. He looks great! He is just 13 lbs. (tiny, tiny, tiny!) but in great physical and mental health. I'm glad that we decided to get the infant car seat because I think he will need it when he comes home and on the plane. Our second package arrived to Guatemala on Thursday. Dominic's new birth certificate was supposed to be ready yesterday. Things are moving . . . it shouldn't be too long now!

This is a very busy weekend for me because it's musical weekend. The kids are doing GREAT! I really love the show and I love watching our kids shine. This morning I am washing some of Dominic's clothing so that it is ready to go to Guatemala. I had a beautiful shower in January and I assumed Dominic would be pretty big when he came home. Well, he has plenty of clothing for the fall, but not much that will fit his little 13 lb. body now :)

My dear friends Lani and Ryan had their twin baby girls! Their names are Maggie and Carrie and everyone is doing great. Dennise is back in PGN and Karen is PINK! Betsy and Savanna are home but a little bit sick . . . I hope that they are feeling better soon!

That is all for now! Have a great weekend!

WE ARE OUT!

2006-02-27T16:54:00.000-08:00

After 67 days and a three-week kickout (but who was counting?) we can finally say that we are out of PGN! We received the official paper via email this afternoon. I could tell you how happy this makes us, but I am sure you can figure that out! Now, when everyone asks, I can REALLY say that Dominic will be home soon! What happens next? The birthmother signs off for the final time, his new birth certificate will be issued (the one with our last name!), and we will be submitted to the Embassy for our pink slip. The pink slip will tell us when our Embassy appointment will be held. It shouldn't be too much longer! I really don't know how long the birth certificate will take, but it is not from Guatemala City, so that will help things. Apparently, it takes a bit longer if the birth certificate comes for GC. Also, there has been some delay at the Embassy so it will take a little longer than the previously-usual 48 hours to get our pink slip once we are submitted. I am not even throwing dates out there, but we are definitely in the last leg of the race. Now we have some fun things to do around the house to really get ready. We've been waiting for this day to officially put his crib together, so that will be our next project. Please keep us in your prayers . . . it won't be too long now!

What a Doll!

2006-02-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

Dominic is doing great! We received 4 new pictures over the weekend as well as a foster care update. He is starting to eat solid food and he is a happy, happy baby! He is sleeping "through the night until 5 am." Funny . . . that is about when I wake up too :)

I've been busy as ever with our school musical and latest round of standardized testing. Yuck! Once the show is over, I'll have some time to catch up with people and fix some things up around the house. Frank and I still need to put shelving in Dominic's closet and put his crib together.

Good news here that I don't think I posted. Marcy had a very healthy baby boy, Nathaniel. He is so cute! Kim and Mark are having a baby! Woo hoo! Chrissy is having a little boy . . . any bets on red hair? I finally got to meet Amy and Tony's Alyssa . . . she is so sweet!

Still in PGN. Our agency and facilitator are both pushing for news. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers . . . we need it! :)

Been Tagged . . . AGAIN!

2006-02-22T16:23:00.001-08:00

Well, I’ve been tagged twice now, once by Dennise and once by Julie. So here goes . . .

Four jobs I've had in my life:
1. Hostess
2. Waitress
3. Swimsuit Salesperson (After 5 years on the boardwalk, I can make everyone look good in a swimsuit!)
4. Teacher

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. The Wedding Singer
2. She’s All That
3. The Goonies
4. Silence of the Lambs

Four places I have lived:
1. West Lawn
2. Bloomsburg
3. Shillington
4. Near Philadelphia

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. ER
2. Law and Order SVU
3. Grey’s Anatomy
4. Desperate Housewives

Four places I have been on vacation (in order of favorites):
1. Jamaica
2. Las Vegas
3. Austria
4. The Jersey Shore

Four websites I visit daily:
1. www.weather.com (Yes, teachers want snow days too!)
2. www.ebay.com
3. www.guatadopt.com
4. All my favorite blogs!

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Pizza
2. Sour cream and onion chips
3. Spinach dip
4. Chocolate cake

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. Someplace warm
2. Someplace sunny
3. Someplace with a swimup bar
4. With Dominic

Four other bloggers to tag...
Karen
Erinberry
Erica
Becky

Another Package!

2006-02-18T15:17:00.000-08:00

I had tons of fun shopping at Target to put another package together for Dominic. We sent him some very cute "springy" outfits (see picture), a stuffed animal and a teething ring. We also sent his FM a picture from our visit. One of Frank's colleagues helped us write a very nice letter in Spanish. Of course, we asked his FM to give him MILLIONS of hugs and kisses for us! Lots of activity in adoption-blog-land right now! Congrats to Betsy for getting PINK! She is going to get Savanna next week. Karen is finally out of PGN and the protocolo was signed;Marissa is officially her daughter! Dennise is in PGN after too long of a family court wait. Things are happening out there! I can't wait until some more things happen our way :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2006-02-14T15:49:00.000-08:00

Finally . . . a little bit of good news! After 3 weeks of waiting, our case is back in PGN. Things are up and running. Pray for us that we sail through this time . . . For Valentine's Day, Frank gave me the cutest gift. It is a "Waiting Mom" bracelet. Dominic's picture is in it and his birthstone decorates it. It even has a cute little "MOM" charm on it. . It's so cute and it made my day :) Now I can see him all day long on my hand. Check out http://casaverdebeadclub.com. They will soon have a entire line of adoption-specific jewelry. Hope everyone had a very happy Valentine's Day!

The View from Dominic's Room

2006-02-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

We had a MASSIVE snowstorm this weekend . . . I am sure most of the people reading this are exhausted from digging out! The view from Dominic's room was so pretty and peaceful that I had to take a picture. Stay warm and dry! If you are living in a place that is warm and sunny, I am green with envy :)

I'm 5 Months Old Today!

2006-02-05T07:04:00.000-08:00

What a crazy 2 weeks it has been! After we received the ever-so-wonderful news about getting kicked out of PGN, Frank got into a black ice accident with my car. Frank is fine, thank goodness. My little red car? She's been in the car hospital since the accident. I am hoping that we get her back this week because I HATE my rental! On Friday, I had endoscopic sinus surgery to clear up my nose. I have been getting ear and sinus infections over and over for years and I finally did something about it. I don't want to be sick when Dominic comes home to us. The surgery was outpatient and went really well. I finally took a shower today and I am feeling somewhat back to normal! Today is Dominic's 5 month birthday! We received an update on Thursday. He is now a whopping 12.6 lbs! He is still doing really well. We also received a few updates from our lawyer via our agency. She reminds us not to worry . . . PGN kickouts are very, very normal. She said that the civil registry we need the document from is very far away (8 hours). She spoke with them last week and said we should PROBABLY have the document this week. I am not holding my breath. Dominic is being loved and he is healthy. That is all that matters until can come home. This entire process is the most random, unfair thing I have ever been through. So many people fly through it . . . others get caught. I can't even begin to give an estimate on when Dominic will be home. We are both praying that everything comes together soon!

A Few Thoughts About Patience . . .

2006-01-30T19:00:00.000-08:00

"The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen."

Ralph Marston

"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"Consider the hour-glass; there is nothing to be accomplishedby rattling or shaking; you have to wait patiently until the sand, grain by grain, has run from one funnel into the other."

John Christian Morgenstern

"I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end."
Margaret Thatcher

Bummer!

2006-01-25T14:02:00.002-08:00

Well, we were hoping that we would get some good news when we returned from our trip but we didn't. PGN is requesting another document. Not from us . . . from there. Our lawyer doesn't have that document yet. So I guess you could say our file has been kicked out of PGN. Once we get the document, it will be resubmitted and go from there. So we are at a standstill and Dominic won't be coming home as soon as we had hoped. I know that lots and lots of people get kicked out and resubmitted, but of course I am sad that it happened to us. It is really hard after meeting him . . . we know how wonderful he is and we want him here! Now, because I always TRY to look at the bright side of things, here we go.BRIGHT SIDE OF THINGS LIST #1. Someone has actually looked at our file in PGN. That is good, because it sounds like things aren't moving very quickly there. #2. We really haven't been in PGN that long because we went in right before Christmas and they were closed until January 6th. #3. Our visit trip will definitely gave us an IR-3 visa; Dominic will enter the USA as an automatic citizen. #4. He needs to get a little bit bigger for that long plane ride! His foster mom will help him "ripen" a bit more, and he won't be too scared (or whiny!) on the plane. Wow . . . I'm good! I just managed to make my miserable self feel better! We'll get there. When God decides it's time for him to come home, he'll come home. . .BUT your prayers and good thoughts might persuade the Big Man to do it soon! Thanks for checking in . . . it might be a bit before I post again because I don't have much news now. I'll leave you with a picture because I have over 70 from our visit!

From Our Visit . . .

2006-01-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

We're Back!

2006-01-20T17:09:00.000-08:00

We pulled into our driveway around 1 a.m. this morning and I have been bouncing off the walls ever since! Our visit with Dominic was amazing. He is the cutest, happiest, sweetest little boy that I have ever met. Our flights went smoothly and we got to the hotel around 3:30 p.m. We were supposed to call our lawyer and she was going to call the family to bring Dominic to us. When we walked in the lobby of the hotel (which was BEAUTIFUL!) we noticed a woman, a young man, a little girl and a baby sitting on the couches. They looked at us. I turned to Frank and said "I think that's him! I think that's Dominic and his foster mom!" Frank said that he didn't think so and we went to the desk to check in. The waiting family kept staring at us and finally the woman brought the baby our way. I looked at her arms and I knew that she was holding little Dominic Carlos. "Carlos?" I asked her. "Si! Si!" she said as she smiled and put this beautiful little boy in my arms. Dominic's foster family is wonderful. It is so blatantly obvious that they ADORE him and treat him like gold. It was so very hard to take him away from them. Our lawyer joined us and translated feeding, sleeping and general survival details to us. She told us that our case was still in PGN and that PGN had just started to pick up from the holidays. Everything was still moving smoothly and she would relay news as soon as she had it. After a tearful goodbye, our lawyer and the foster family left. Dominic came upstairs to our room with us. He was laughing and giggling and showing us that he is a very, very happy little boy. Unfortunately, we had learned that he was teething and running a temperature. He became upset when he realized he was in a new place with new people. After about 2 hours, he was fine and was nothing other than pleasant for the rest of our visit. We had so much fun with him. He is a very funny little boy! The hotel was amazing and everyone was so kind. We met many, many wonderful people who are on this journey as well. We spent lots of time in the adoption room and learned so much about taking care of this very special little boy. When his foster family came back for him, we made our goodbyes short and sweet. We gave them lots of gifts for the family and for future babies in their care. I am so glad that we made the decision to visit Dominic. I recommend it to anyone adopting if it is within their means. Fortunately, we were so lucky to be given the gift of free flights from Aunt Linda. I would not trade those 2 days with him for anything in the world! I feel like I "know" this baby now. I know how he likes to be held and when he likes to eat. I know that he LOVES to watch people go by and is very content to sit and stare at everything going on. I know that he likes to make funny noises with his lips and that his giggle is the sweetest sound that I have ever heard. He adores Frank and fell asleep many times clutching Frank's pinky finger. He doesn't cry when he wakes up at night and loves to sleep with his arms stretched out. Today is hard on us both because we now know the reality of the pictures we have been staring at for 4 months. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and please say a prayer that we exit PGN soon. We need this little boy to come home with us! Thank you for all the kind wishes and thoughts . . . our trip was a success!

So Close!

2006-01-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd write today because I know that I will be running around like a maniac tomorrow before we leave. I can't even begin to find the words to express my excitement about going to meet Mr. Dominic. I am about to explode! Frank, on the other hand, is a bit nervous (travel + baby = scared). He's excited, but I think we need to get there and actually have Dominic for a few hours before he'll relax. I think we have everything ready, including lots of gifts for his foster mom and lots of fun stuff for him! Our lawyer will meet us Tuesday at the hotel. I called the hotel today to arrange for our shuttle from the airport. We still need to pack our suitcases. Sidebar for people adopting . . . get the vacuum bags from Bed, Bath and Beyond. You stuff them with stuff and then put the vacuum hose in them to suck the air out. AMAZING! You can fit so much stuff in them and they become flat. Anyway, I think we are ready. Video camera is charged, cameras have batteries, baby clothing is being washed, lots of snacks are being packed, and the immodium has been purchased (bad times in Punta Cana!) Oh . . . by the way, our adoption facilitator thinks we will be out of PGN soon. I'll ask our lawyer while we are there. Ok . . . this is it until we come back! I'll try to post a picture as soon as possible :) Please say a prayer that we have SMOOTH SAILING! Yippee :) PS Congrats to Betsy! She's OUT! Savanna will be home soon!

4 Months Old Today!

2006-01-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

Just a little update! The little guy is 4 months old today. We received and update yesterday. He is still healthy and he's getting all of his vaccinations. He is still just a little over 11 lbs. and he is a little bit longer. We are still officially in PGN. Unfortunately, PGN has been on vacation. Not much movement on our case, but we expected that. All that matters is that he looks happy. Guess what! In this picture, he's wearing the outfit we sent him AND laying on the blanket we sent him! I LOVE that! We will meet him in 12 days, I don't think I could be more excited! Stay warm and healthy!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

2006 is here! We don't have any new news about Dominic, but our week vacation was so much fun and so full of great news! We celebrated the Christmas holiday with both sides of the family and had a wonderful time. As always, we were spoiled rotten. We had wonderful visits with my grandfather Val and Frank's Aunt Mary. I had dinner with two of my oldest friends, Mandy and Chuck. I made it through "King Kong" but I did sob like a baby for about the last half hour (I might have been the only person in America who DIDN'T know how it ended before I saw the remake!). We went ice skating at the River Rink (see picture). For New Year's Eve, we had a traditionally great time at Perry and Chrissy's house; unfortunately, our good friends Pat and Aimee were really sick and we didn't get to spend New Year's Eve with them for the first time in about 7 years! My dear friend Amy and her husband Tony celebrated the early arrival of Alyssa Rose on Friday the 30th . . . Mommy and baby are doing great! Angela & Ryan, Kathy & Rick, and Meredith & Mark gave us MORE good news; Dominic is going to have a GANG of friends in the near future :) My blog friend Dennise and her husband have been visiting their little girl in Guatemala all week and will be home soon. My other blog friend Betsy is hanging in there and should be out of PGN very, very, VERY soon. Julie's baby Dylan is doing great and he enjoyed his first holiday with his forever family. Frank put a beautiful new floor in our kitchen and we are almost done with Dominic's room. It's been a great week. Tomorrow is back to work! I think you all know why Frank and I are VERY excited about 2006 . . . whether it's one month from now or 11 months from now, I can't wait! Goodbye 2005 . . . I wish everyone happiness, joy, and health in 2006!

Merry Christmas, Baby Dominic!

2005-12-23T15:18:00.000-08:00

12/23/05

Dear Dominic,

Merry Christmas! Your future mommy, daddy, and kitty wish that we could be with you this year. You look so very healthy and happy in the new pictures we have. We can tell that your foster mom is taking great care of you. She told us that you are a cheerful baby and that you are eating very well. You get up about twice a night for more food and you love to be propped up in your cradle. We can't believe how big you are getting and how strong you look!

Your room is almost ready for you! It looks bright and happy. Uncle Mike helped us paint it. You have lots of gifts waiting here for you. We can't wait until you can see them! We will be spending Christmas with all the people who already love you . . . your future grandparents, greatgrandparents, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, second cousins and friends. Everyone is so excited to meet you . . . especially us!

This Christmas, we'd give anything to be with you. We pray for you all the time and count down the days until we will meet you. Our visit will be here very soon!

Feliz Navidad, little baby! We'll be together next Christmas!

Annual Ornament Picture

2005-12-18T06:26:00.000-08:00

Here is our 2005 Christmas ornament picture. The ornament has a great story behind it. After we moved into our house and adopted Princess, the most wonderful cat in the world, Frank decided to start a cute tradition. We took a picture of the three of us by the tree. He went out and bought a Christmas ornament for the picture. He wanted to surprise me with the ornament for Christmas. When he went to put the picture in the ornament, he realized that instead of "OUR FAMLIY" it said "NUESTRA FAMLIA." Frank and I do not speak any Spanish; I taught German for three years and he took Italian in high school. Well, it's the thought that counts and it was a really good idea on Frank's part! He decided that it would be cute just to give me the Spanish ornament. And that's where the tradition began. Little did we know a few years ago that those ornaments would represent the language of Dominic's homeland . . . what irony :) This year, I should receive my "Nuestra Familia 2005" ornament. For now, the fourth part of nuestra familia will only be home in our hearts.

On the Way to PGN!

2005-12-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

Our lawyer just came back from her vacation and we received an update. Our dossier is ready to be picked up from family court on Monday. From there we will be entering PGN . . . the final stage. I have NO IDEA how long it will take us to get out of PGN. Once we are out of PGN, Dominic will legally be ours. We'll just need to wait for the final paperwork to be done, his birth certificate, and his birth mother's final sign-off. Then we get a pink slip that tells us we are cleared to travel to Guatemala, have our Embassy appointment, and bring him home. I am very happy that we have made it this far and I hope that the final part of this journey goes smoothly. I am expecting some delays with the holidays. Everyone is on vacation; I know I can't wait for mine! Regardless, we will get to meet Dominic in a month and we can't wait! For now, we need to get his room done and get our house organized. We have a pediatrician appointment tonight so that we can determine what we will need to do when he comes homes (vaccinations, routine exams). I am very busy with school and we begin musical auditions tomorrow. Being busy makes time fly, but I have a little hole in my heart that won't be filled until this special little baby come home with us! Be safe and continue enjoying this wonderful season!

We Have PREAPPROVAL!

2005-12-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

We have jumped through another hoop! This afternoon, I received a BEAUTIFUL e-mail message from the US Embassy in Guatemala. It informed us that our case officially had preapproval. I was shocked; I actually cried a little bit! I was hoping and hoping and hoping that we would receive preapproval by Christmas. It has been taking most people around 45 business days because of embassy back-ups. Well, we received our preapproval in a RECORD time of 19 business days! Honestly, I'm shocked!
You are probably wondering what this means. You might even think that may have given us a more definite answer regarding the date of Dominic's homecoming. Well, sad to say . . . we don't really know much more about that. I think I have become a Guatemalan-Adoption-Guru over the past several months and the process makes sense to me. It doesn't make much sense to anyone else. Frank doesn't even really get it, but I try to keep him up-to-date.
For those of you who WANT to make some sense out of this, check out http://www.guatefam.org/process.htm. Go to the RELINQUISHMENT: THE BASIC STEPS section. I would say we are probably around Step 13. We still need to get out of Family Court and into PGN.
Please continue to keep us in your thoughts . . . today's news was big but we still need some more big things to happen :)

It's WARM in Guatemala!

2005-12-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

After a cold and snowy start to the morning, we received some new pictures of our little guy from his warm and sunny country! Dominic is now 11 lbs. and his pediatrician says he is in good health. We're finally seeing some expressions . . . maybe even a hint of a smile! We were sent 5 really great pictures. He's getting big and strong. We really REALLY can't wait until he can come live with us. Only about a month and a half until we get to meet him, and then hopefully it will just be a short time until he comes home. Enjoy the pictures and stay warm :) Keep us in your thoughts; thanks for all of the kind words and prayers.

In a Holding Pattern . . .

2005-12-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to update everyone with the latest . . . which is nothing! We are in a not-so-exciting holding pattern right now. Not much is happening and I don't think too much will in the next few weeks. This isn't a bad thing, just part of the process. Of course, there is nothing we can do on our end here but wait. We are waiting for our embassy pre-approval which will probably take a few more weeks. We also need to get out of Family Court and then we are on to the final phase, PGN. I know that all that info is probably just plain old confusing to all of you, so thanks for bearing with me! Hopefully we'll have some new pictures soon.

Right now, Frank and I are just trying to get things organized around the house and get ready for the holiday season. My brother-in-law Michael has been helping us get Dominic's room ready. I'll put some pictures of his room up when it is done. We are going with an airplane theme . . . it's really cute! Other than that, we are plain old busy and just waiting and waiting and waiting for some news. As my close friends and family know, I don't DO well with waiting . . . but I'm hanging in there!

I don't think I mentioned that we received the actual hard copy of the DNA results right before Thanksgiving. In the results were 2 pictures of Dominic and his birth mother. Those pictures were hard for Frank and I to see because his birth mother must feel so sad. Dominic, on the other hand, looks like he is oblivious to it all (and I am sure he is!). Anyway, she looks like she is trying to smile in both the pictures. We will tuck them away and share them with him when he is ready. I'm not sure that we will ever show them to anyone else.

Our package made it to Guatemala. Yes, I still have an extreme fear of things getting lost in the mail, but this shouldn't surprise you!

Happy December! Enjoy the beginning of the holiday season :)

Going for a Visit!

2005-11-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

Exciting news! We are going to visit Dominic on January 17th. Frank's Aunt Linda gave us enough frequent flyer miles to travel to Guatemala for a visit! We can't begin to thank her. We had a hard time finding a flight that would be covered with miles, but we managed one that leaves very, very early (6 a.m) on January 17th and comes back late on January 19th. We can fly out of Philadelphia, too. So even though we don't know exactly when the little guy will be coming home, we know that on January 17th we will get to see him for the first time. We've booked a room at the Mariott in Guatemala City and it sounds like we will get to spend the majority of our time with Dominic. We should get some good practice in the airports and in the hotel for when we go back to bring him home. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer after our visit. That's the good news for now. Hope that everyone has a very safe and happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your turkey :)

What a Little Turkey!

2005-11-14T15:58:00.000-08:00

New pictures! A pleasant surprise for a Monday! We also received a picture of Dominic with his foster mother holding him. She looks very kind and caring;we can tell he is in good hands! Today's report was written in a paragraph. It says that he is a very cute child (but we knew that one!) and he is always alert, especially to sounds. He usually sleeps through the night, but if he doesn't he is only up for about half an hour and then he is back to sleep. He likes to lay on the bed and play with his hands or be held. He is eating well and he takes a bath every morning!

We sent a package for him today, too. It included two outfits (one being a Baby's First Christmas sleeper), a very, VERY soft green blanket, a disposable camera, a necklace for his foster mother, a letter of for his foster mom (in Spanish, thanks to Marcy!) and a picture of us. Hope it makes it there!

It's a Match!

2005-11-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

The DNA results came in today and the probability of maternity is 99% . . . in other words, we have a match! One more step down; just a few more long ones to go! Now we wait for three things: get out of family court, get US Embassy pre-approval, and get in and out of PGN. It sounds like the US Embassy pre-approval is going to take about 45 days. After that, we have no idea how long PGN will take. We were originally hoping that we may get to bring Dominic home between February and March . . . fortunately, we are still in the time frame. Of course we REALLY want to bring him home now, but he will be worth the wait in the end :)

Some Progress . . .

2005-11-03T17:08:00.000-08:00

We found out today that both the DNA test and the court hearing/social worker interview did indeed take place on Monday. That is good news and means that things are progressing as they should . . . Next big event should be the DNA test results. We should have them in the next week or two. If we have a match, the results will go to the US embassy in Guatemala. We then need to wait for pre-approval from the US embassy. Apparently, this could take up to 60 days. The Embassy is very behind right now and they are supposedly just processing cases where the DNA results were submitted around September 12th. The Embassy just hired 3 new employees to help speed up case processing. After that, we should enter PGN, where we wait to get approved or we are told we need to fix something. Once we get PGN approval (which could also take a few months)we will be very close to bringing Dominic home.
It is very, very hard to not know when this will all be done. I am sure that everyone can understand. There is nothing we can do but wait and hope that everything goes smoothly. It's really hard to explain to people why this process takes so long. Every case is different. Some move fast and some are very, very slow. I don't know where we will be. This process is frightening and thrilling at the same time. I won't lie . . . I am EXTREMELY afraid that something terrible will happen to our documents. I am EXTREMELY afraid that our case will get held up some where. I am EXTREMELY afraid that it will take a very, very long time to bring our baby home. The worst part is there is nothing we can do about it.
A long time ago, I asked my Nana to cross-stitch my favorite prayer for me. If you have never seen it, let me tell you that my Nana was an AMAZING cross-stitcher!It was the last handmade gift I received from her. It is the most beautiful thing that I own (next to my engagement ring, of course!). We have it hanging in our dining room, and I look at it every morning before I leave the house. The Serenity Prayer reminds me to let God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. So I am going to be wise and understand that there is not much that I can do right now but hope for the best, enjoy every day, and continue loving my life :) Thank you for all of your prayers and kind thoughts!

Look At Those Eyes!

2005-10-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

In our latest set of pictures, we finally get to see Dominic with his eyes open! We think he looks pretty content. He must be . . . at least eating-wise because he has gained almost 2 pounds in a month! He is up to 8.14 lbs. He is a bit longer,too . . . now he is 52 centimeters. His physical says that he does not have any mental, physical or health problems. Every time we see new pictures, we want to bring him home even more. I wish we could "pause" him until the paper work in done so that he wouldn't grow at all until we could get him. I know . . . wishful thinking! As long is he is staying healthy and being loved by his foster mom, we will be happy.
The DNA test has not been done yet. It should take place on Monday along with the social worker interview. His birth mother needs to sign off 4 times: to transfer custody to the attorney and request that child be placed for adoption,for an interview with a social worker from Family Court, before a physician for DNA sample collection and for her final signature on the adoption deed before the notarial attorney. Let's hope that all goes well Monday and that she is able to sign off. I can't imagine how it must feel to give your baby away forever. I know it wouldn't ease the pain, but I wish that we could meet her so she would know how much we already love this little boy. Let's also hope that the DNA is a perfect match . . . Thanks for thinking of us! We'll write the next time something exciting happens. Enjoy these new pictures and have a happy Halloween! Enjoy the extra hour of sleep this weekend, too :)

Finally . . . We're Approved!

2005-10-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

Normally, I don't make Frank take my picture while I am holding a paper, but this one is pretty important. We FINALLY received our immigration approval on Friday. Thank goodness! After waiting and waiting and waiting, it arrived in our mailbox. A.F. Megan received her copy on Friday as well and she immediately sent it on to Guatemala (I think it was Fed-Exed this time!).
Needless to say, we are relieved. Now process round 2 begins. This is the part that should take 4 to 6 months. The next big event will be DNA testing. Our documents will go to Family Court and on to PGN. PGN, from what I have read, will be the tough part. If they don't like the way something looks, we will need to have the document done again and sent back. Keep your fingers crossed that things go smoothly for us! F
That is about all that is new right now. A.F. Megan heard from lawyer Carla that Dominic is just fine after Hurricane Stan and that he is doing great! We can't wait to get another batch of pictures! Keep us in your thoughts!

That's How We Feel Right Now, Too!

2005-10-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

I don't think Dominic enjoyed this last physical . . . he looks pretty cranky! I know that I am a little bit cranky now, too! The good news is . . . Dossier #1 was found and is now in Guatemala with Carla the lawyer. That is excellent! Of course, we only found this out AFTER Aimee and I spent a day driving to Harrisburg. We did have a fun time, though, and time with a great friend is NEVER wasted time! We ended up getting a $400 refund back, too. That covered getting Dossier #2 certified.
The bad news is that we still don't have our immigration approval. Every day that passes without it frustrates me more and more. Supposedly it was processed on Friday. I am really hoping that it arrives by the end of this week.
That is about it for an update right now. I wish that we had more to report. When this LAST piece of the puzzle arrives in Guatemala, and our documents start to go through the adoption process there, I think we will all be a little less cranky. Thanks for reading! Hope everyone is staying warm and dry :) Please send your thoughts and prayers out to the people of Guatemala. Many villages have been devastated by Hurricane Stan and the country is in a state of emergency. Hopefully, the little man is doing OK! We haven't heard otherwise . .

Things Are Getting Better!

2005-09-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

What a way to end the week! Frank and I just received new pictures of Baby Dominic. They made me cry; I think he is so beautiful. Frank wants to bring him home NOW! He just had his second physical and he is doing great! His weight is just over 6 lbs. now and he appears to be perfectly healthy. We weren't expecting pictures so soon, but they DEFINITELY reminded us that all of this chaos is worth it!

Our dossier is still MIA. Amazingly enough, Frank and I have been able to recreate the entire set of documents in just 2 days. We were only able to do this because people are so kind. We met an amazing young woman who works for our state representative and she has been willing to do everything in her power to help us. Our doctors, our school district, our friends, everyone has been so helpful and kind to us. We are so thankful. Because of all of these people, we have been able to do the impossible. We recreated a dossier that took 3 months to build in 24 hours.

So the dossier will travel to Harrisburg on Tuesday. Thankfully, Aimee has volunteered to go with me and keep me company. What a great friend! :) Tuesday afternoon the dossier will be overnighted to NYC and authenticated. It should take about a week until we get it back to Megan, our adoption facilitator. She is amazing. She called the president of the shipping company for us and it appears that we will be refunded for our losses. She is truly a remarkable person.

We are still without our INS/homeland security approval but it should be here any day. We KNOW that is not lost :) The Power of Attorney is in Guatemala and in Carla's hands. That is great news!

I have a few shout-outs . . . a million thanks to our family and friends for consoling us this week! Thank you for all of your support! Thanks to two of my best friends in the world, Lani and Chrissy, for giving me some of the BEST news I have heard in a long time this week! I am so happy for you both! Thanks so much to Marcy for lending me her ear on Wednesday (and over and over and over again)at school AND running around to help me out. You are a great friend and I owe you a million cups of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee . . . only Decaf for pregnant ladies, though! Thanks a million to Susan, Aimee and Aimee's mom for helping us with those witness statement without blinking an eye :)

Hopefully more news is yet to come. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers during these next few months. Thanks so much to everyone for your kindness! Keep checking here for more news. :)

Oh Where, Oh Where Could Our Dossier Be?

2005-09-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am trying to maintain my sense of humor, but it is not easy right now. Our dossier, which includes the original of every document we need for this adoption, is lost in the mail. The funniest thing is that is not lost in Guatemala; it is lost here in the USA.
What does this mean? Well, a few things. The courier company (I won't mention any names, but PLEASE contact me before you ship something so you NEVER use this company!) has no idea where it is. It was mailed on the 21st. It should have been in Guatemala days ago. According to the company, it might be in Ohio. Ohio? I don't think that is anywhere near Guatemala.
Megan (our "agent" so to speak) and Carla (our attorney) have been working on this situation for several days without saying anything to us. They have been trying to protect us from what might be the inevitable . . . making a new dossier.
I think I have the new dossier under control already. I THINK I could have all the documents notarized and I could take them to Harrisburg for the state seal on Tuesday. From there they get mailed back to the Consulate of Guatemala in New York. From there, they try to make it to Guatemala for the second time. We pretty much lose 3 things: TONS of money, TONS of our own time, and a HUGE PIECE of our sanity.
Isn't this EXCITING? No. It isn't. The only good news is that this should not hold anything up, if we move quickly.
Say a prayer that we get a call that tell us our dossier has been found before I go back to Harrisburg on Tuesday! :)

Thank You!

2005-09-27T18:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a close up of the little guy. I don't think he likes having his picture taken! He might not have the patience for a camera happy mom like me. Thank you so much to EVERYONE for all of the kind and supportive e-mails you sent! I have heard from so many people and I haven't had the chance to write everyone back yet. I promise I will! Frank and I are so lucky to have so many wonderful, supportive family members and friends. Thanks for the good wishes, prayers, and crossed fingers!
We finally have our Power of Attorney paper completed, thanks to a drive to Harrisburg last Friday for a state seal and to Aunt Linda for visiting the Guatemalan Consulate in New York. The paper is on its way to Megan, our adoption facilitator. From there is goes on to our attorney in Guatemala and to the Consulate. This is a key paper and a big part of this process. After that, we wait until we get approval for DNA testing. We need to make sure that Dominic's birth mother is really his birth mother. This is a safety precaution. People do steal babies and try to give them up for adoption to earn some money. So sad, but so true.
Other than that, we are at a standstill. We are still waiting for our INS approval. That is the last piece of this puzzle, at least from our end. I rush to check the mail for it everyday!
It was so great to hear from so many of you! I miss you all so much and I can't believe how long it has been since I have seen some of you.
More news as soon as we have it! THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND THOUGHTS!

Faster Than We Expected!

2005-09-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? After a summer of collecting documents, getting fingerprinted, notarizing papers, begging friends and family to write nice letters about us, begging more family members to help us get documents authenticated AND having our home and personal lives "studied," we are ALMOST done our adoption papers. The funny thing is that someone decided to come along BEFORE we finished everything! We are proud to present Baby Dominic.

Funny things happen when you least expect them. Frank and I were so excited to finally be almost done with our dossier. The dossier is a huge collection of documents that gets sent to the country you are adopting from. This dossier included about 20 documents that needed to be stamped and sealed by the Secretary of State in Harrisburg and by the Guatemalan Consulate in NYC. We had just gotten our dossier off to NYC to be authenticated and we were waiting for it to come home so we could ship it could be off to Guatemala.

The last big document we need is our approval from Homeland Security/Immigration. Our adoption facilitator called the Homeland Security Office last Thursday (9/15) to see how long it would take to get back to us. After she called immigration to check on our status, one of her lawyer contacts from Guatemalan contacted her and told her she had a very cute baby boy waiting.

Our adoption facilitator got in touch with me right away. Now, for those of you who don't know too much about international adoption (which is probably most of you!) some groups in Guatemala are in the middle of trying to pass a law in their Congress to change their adoption procedures. This news is not so great for us. Right now, things are "on hold" as far as the news laws go in their government, but the threat of this law passing is not good for the adoption process. People in the middle of adopting from Guatemala are moving fast so they don't get stuck in a potentially messy situation.

Considering everything that is going on in Guatemala, our adoption facilitator and the Guatemalan attorney worked together to get the ball rolling. Even though we are not officially done our paperwork, we have accepted this referral and we are scrambling to make sure that everything gets to Guatemala ASAP.

Please remember that until we actually bring this baby home, things could change. For one, his birth mom could change her mind. If that happens, we'll wait for the next referral. Hopefully, we won't need to do that. We are still waiting for our immigration approval to officially be done all the paperwork. After that, we are looking at 4 to 6 months before we can travel and bring Dominic home.

This little guy was born on September 5, 2005, at 8:30 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs. and he is a little more than 19 inches long. All of his stats are "normal" baby-wise, and he appears to be in buenas salud (good health). Doesn't he look cute and fat? I wish I could hug him and kiss those chubby cheeks!

It will be a LONG 4 to 6 months for us. We'll use this blog to keep everyone posted. Right now, things are looking good. I am sure we will have both good and bad days in the next few months. Please keep us in your prayers and hope that this little guy can come home to us!