A little background....

We have gotten several congratulations from everyone and a few curious emails.  I hope this entry serves as a little background for how we came to adopt Charlotte.

My sister had a baby last December when I was 5 months pregnant.  She wasn't able to care for the baby so the baby was placed in foster care.  My family worked very hard to find someone who could take her until my sister worked everything out.  For several reasons, we weren't in a position to take the baby at that time.  We knew there was a possibility she would eventually be put up for adoption, so we began thinking about if we wanted to do something like that.

In April, a couple weeks before I gave birth to Cooper, we received a phone call from family saying that the baby would be put up for adoption.  We contacted the social worker and let her know that we were interested in the baby's future.  The social worker told us that the baby wasn't being placed up for adoption quite yet, but she took our information to keep us posted.

Around mid June, the same week we moved and I got the phone call about my promotion, we got the news that the baby would be placed up for adoption.  At this point we knew we wanted to be mommy and daddy to this baby girl.  After all, we wanted more children, we definitely wanted a girl, and she is our niece.  We knew that if we couldn't have children of our own, we would adopt, so that was never an issue for us.

The adoption process requires significantly more in terms of showing that you're a fit parent, than just getting pregnant and giving birth does.  Many adoptions take quite a long time, sometimes up to 2-5 years.  I'm not sure why our process has moved so quickly, but we feel lucky.  Our home study took place mid July, and Charlotte came home at the beginning of August.  The adoption will likely be finalized in January 2009, but it could happen as early as November 2008.

The social worker flew her out from Colorado to bring her home to us.  We weren't able to travel until August 15th, but it was necessary to bring her home to us sooner.  We were so excited to have her come home so quickly, and although our parents and immediate family has known about it, adoption has come as a surprise to many of our friends.

So here we are with two children under 8 months old.  Yesterday was very overwhelming, especially at bedtime when they both started getting fussy.  Today has been wonderful!  They seem to be on slightly opposite schedules, so they aren't ever eating or sleeping at the same.  She also is able to fall asleep on her own, so naps and bedtime are a little less time consuming.  Cooper is still a little young to fall asleep on his own, although we are seeing signs that he is getting close to doing the same.

She is eating solids, so we have a lot to learn in that department.  After they went to bed last night, Chris ran to Babies R Us to purchase a high chair.  Then, Mikael received an early morning phone call from Chris on how to prepare baby cereal.  We honestly feel out of our element with this.  I am so, so thankful to the foster mother for providing us with a tentative schedule/routine for Charlotte.  We would be really lost without it.

She is also eating formula, so we are learning to do that.  Luckily I produce more milk than Cooper needs, so we are mixing her formula with some of my breast milk.  We are starting slow though to make sure she can handle my milk okay.

It's truly amazing.  She shows many of the same queues as Cooper for sleep, hunger, cuddle, etc.  We are taking time getting to know her and memorize all of her features.  She really loves the dog, and every time we put the kids on the floor together, the suck each other's fingers, play with toys, touch each other, and pull on each other's clothes.  We are so thrilled watching her roll over so quickly and move all over the floor where ever she wants to go.  It's so fun to watch.

She is a very content baby and seems to be pretty laid back.  We feel very lucky to have two very happy babies.  We are having a lot of fun and dealing with everything really well, considering how much we have going on right now.

We are a little more tired than usual.  Charlotte woke up at 6:00 am since she isn't used to the time change yet.  We are used to sleeping in until 9 or 10 am with Cooper.  Chris got up and fed her while I walked Scout and Cooper slept.  Then I went back to bed with Cooper for a couple hours.  Chris stayed up, played with Charlotte and then put her down for nap and laid down himself.  Then I got up and fed Cooper, played with him and put him down for a nap, while Chris caught up on sleep.  Then Charlotte got up and I fed her and played with her.  Once Chris got up we both were able to get a shower and eat something before both kids were up for a little bit together.  Now it's only 2, and Charlotte is napping, while Cooper is playing.  Quite a change from just having one baby!

Tomorrow we have to go buy a double stroller and go to Costco for baby stuff.  We also are going over to my coworker's house to test drive his Lexus.  He is moving to Oman and needs to sell his car before Sept 1st.  The company helps him out, so we could get it for $10,000 less than buying it at the dealership.  Plus we're having problems with the Eclipse and it can't fit 2 babies anyhow.  It will be our first outing with two babies...should be interesting.

Life never slows down.  I'll keep posting updates when I can sneak in the time.

(We are very happy to hear that Maile is doing well after her scary trip to the ER with a hairline fracture to her skull.  We are thinking about you guys and wishing a swift recovery Miss Smiley Maile!!)