This week's random photos

Send your heart to Guatemala for Valentine's Day

http://mayanfamilies-sharon.blogspot.com/2010/02/send-your-heart-to-guatemala-for.html

Oh no, there's a monster on the train tracks!

Rainy day fun and a memory

We are having rain, rain, rain in California and I'm not complaining because we need it so badly. Gabriel seemed to enjoy staying home all weekend and playing with every toy in the house! On Saturday, he brought us some musical instruments from his room and said, "March!" That's the signal that we're expected to participate in a parade. He gets this idea every so often, and it's so cute that we always drop whatever we're doing and play along. I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pictures:


He also played Geo Trax a lot. They are his current favorite and he has to take at least some of the trains and figures into the bathtub and into bed.

At the end of the day, we suddenly realized that things had gotten very quiet. Usually that makes parents fearful of what is going on! But this is what we found:
Made bedtime very simple that night!

Yes, I cut his hair. I had to do it, because it was getting in his eyes. Fortunately, it will grow back just as curly. From the pictures we have, we know he gets his curls from his birthmother. He shares his curls and his name with her--she is Gabriela.

The sleeping picture reminds me of one of my all-time favorites, from his first birthday. We had a picnic in the park (you can do that in California in March!) and he fell asleep on Daddy's lap:

Gabriel's first time in snow!

We live in coastal California, and there is no snow here. So we drove 4 hours up to the mountains near Tahoe and found some. Gabriel easily figured out how to have fun!

first time standing in snow

first snowball fight (gentle)

first attempt at a snow angel

first time sitting in a sled

first time down the hill

a creative new way to ride a sled

what goes down must come up again

king of the snow boulder


first snowman (snowanimal?)

New idea

I was thinking earlier today that I don't have anything to blog about in regard to adoption. But, then it occurred to me that I can just put up some posts about our family life, and maybe this blog will be available to birthmothers someday. So I'm going to try to put up snapshots more frequently from now on.

Here is a boy who loves to bake. I wouldn't say that I bake a lot, but when I do, Gabriel is right there:

Figuring out the new plan

This is what we've figured out so far: we're going to attempt a domestic adoption. We will request a baby girl (not necessarily newborn) of any race. We prefer to work within an agency framework. Some agencies don't want the prospective adoptive parents to specify gender, because ultrasound tests are frequently wrong. We have already discussed that if we match with a birthmother, and the baby turns out to be a boy, we won't walk away. But if that were to happen, I told Kit that I reserve the option for a 3rd child. He gasped. :-)

We are still working on fundraising, so can't quite get started yet.

In other news, I started back to work this week. On the sound advice of my physical therapist, I am limited to 2 days per week for the next 2 months. That really feels like enough, because even the little work I did caused pain and swelling in my arms. Working on strengthening should help that. I am so fortunate that Dr. M who has filled in for me these past months will stay on one day per week indefinitely. He can see as many patients in one day as I see in two! There will be *just enough* income to pay him, my employee, and the rent and utilities. One day at a time, as they say.