Dossier, Away!

Our dossier is on its way!
I dropped it it off last night a few minutes before the store closed. So far, it's gone...a few miles. Lol! It's supposed to arrive on Tuesday though! I thought once I sent it off, I would be done. But this morning I received an email saying that effective immediately, we needed to wire $500 to our facilitators at the same time we sent our dossier! So, tomorrow morning we're off to the bank. There's been a flurry of changes in Littlekid's country's adoption process, and I am hoping and praying that there will be NO MORE changes until after we are safely submitted!
A lot of work and stress went into that pile of paper, especially in the last few weeks. Some documents had to be redone 3 or 4 times, including a last-minute homestudy rewrite. We very nearly didn't get the redone homestudy in time, but our social worker "happened" to find an extra signature sheet. It was an intense day - I was waiting for an email from the SW telling me if I could come get our homestudy, or if we'd have to wait several more days. Brennan and I had to leave in the afternoon, and I still hadn't gotten the email before we left. At 4p I couldn't stand it anymore and I called Ken and had him check my email - and our homestudy was done! We left our friend's house and had the homestudy in hand 30 minutes later! I couldn't believe how everything came together at the last minute. I shouldn't have wasted so much time worrying about it :).
It's nervewracking and relieving to have the dossier gone. Now all I can do is wait *patiently* until we are submitted. Hopefully, prayerfully, it won't be long until I am holding my little boy!

Brennan's 15 Month Stats and Adoption Update

Brennan had his 15 month appointment this week! He had a nice growth spurt - he grew two inches in the last three months! He moved from the 8% in height to the 23rd! He's now 30.5 inches and 23lbs 14oz. My little chunker! He's caught up to his age-mates in every way except speech. That makes sense, because his oral-motor development has always taken the longest! He's right where he should be; his doctor says you'd never even know he was a preemie! He has added two more signs, so he now knows more, eat, milk, please, duck, bath, go, and all done. He knows there's a sign for daddy but he can't quite figure it out yet.

Today we went downtown and got our background checks for our dossier. Brennan had a great time flirting with the clerks! Afterwards we went out to eat, which we rarely do. B had a blast. His little head was whipping around looking at everything. I let him stand in the booth next to me, and he thought he was all that. I could barely stand the cuteness.

I need to redo my medical document *again*, and we're waiting for our redone homestudy to come in the mail. If all our documents are given the okay, then I will have everything apostilled by the end of next week! If our apostilles are approved, do you know what's next? OUR DOSSIER GOES OVERSEAS!! I really hope the rest of our documents get approved, or I will probably loose my mind. The last few weeks have been nuts. I am so glad we are almost finished! I just want to bring my boy home already! I got another picture of him recently - it's not a good picture of him, but it shows just how tiny he really is! I can't wait to fatten him up.

Some may know his name already, but stay tuned for the official reveal!

A little about Brennan

What I learned from having your wisdom teeth out:
1. Oxycodone is good, Oxycodone on am empty stomach is BAD
2. You can eat crackers without chewing, as long as you have enough saliva
3. The best time to brush your teeth is after the drugs kick in
4. Even if Day 2 isn't that bad, Day 3 can be killer
5. Coughing hurts
6. Drink lots of water, but don't choke on the water (see #5)

I also learned that I truly cannot relax "guilt-free". Even when I am recovering from surgery. I had planned on relaxing while I was recovering, a day or two of movies and laying around with NO GUILT because that's what you're supposed to do when you have holes in your mouth. I couldn't do it! Oh, I laid around, and watched some DVDs - but not without feeling guilty. How ridiculous.

Brennan is up to some super cute stuff! This week he learned to shake his head "no". When he is about to do something naughty, he will look at me and shake his head, and then proceed to do it! He's probably getting very mixed messages as I struggle to tell him "no" through my laughter.
Today I found out Brennan knows a lot of things I didn't realize he knew. For example, he knows where his foot is, and can correctly follow "Take off your shoe", "Put the hat on Mama" and "Take your hat off". These are all things he should know at his age, so I tried them all out today and he knew them all! Who knew my boy was so smart :). 
Brennan has an huge rubber duck that he adores, and we often play hide-the-duck. So today, I scooped him up and said, "Let's go play with your duck!" And he said "Duh! Quack quack quack!" I was so happy! He's been starting to say "duh" for duck, but I was never really sure if that was what he meant or not because it's one of his typical babbling sounds. And today he said it when he couldn't even see the duck! It was great to hear. And his "quack" is so funny, it sounds a little like Donald Duck.

Oh I love that little boy. I can't wait until I have TWO BOYS!!

Getting closer...

Happy (late) birthday to my sister Alyssa and my favorite husband Kenny!

At this point in the adoption process, months are just something to GET THROUGH and come out on the other side that much closer to our child. But January is full of birthdays! I need to slow down a little bit and be thankful for all my loved ones born in the wonderful month of January! For example, my dear, darling, wonderful husband, who is (and always has been) my rock. Without him, I'd be lost. Love you Monster!

Now, on to less mushy things. We are getting so close to Littlekid, I can hardly stand it! It's no longer something off in the distance; it's a REAL kid, and we're REALLY going to get him. We should have our dossier submitted in mid-February, and I hope to travel in March sometime! We could be in his country in two months! It's possible! I have had to restrain myself from packing. Of course, I was ready to start packing the moment we committed to him! I'm keeping myself busy making infinite to-do lists - Ken says I need a list to keep track of my lists! I'm also getting the boys' room ready. They have a walk-in closet, which was/is full of boxes of clothes, books, orphanage donations, and toys! Everything is now completely organized and I am quite proud of it - even though it is still a closet full of boxes! There's 3 boxes of BOOKS alone - the next stage of books (ages 2-3), a box for ages 4-5, and a 'big kid' box! Yeah, I plan ahead. While I was organizing, Brennan helped by putting clothes from the sell box into his dirty clothes basket! It was more for me to clean up, but it kept him busy for a good 10 minutes so I just let him go. :)

~*~
Brennan now does 6 signs and recognizes a few more! He's picking them up more quickly, and would probably know more, except I haven't really been teaching him more. :) Right now we are working on mom, dad, water, blanket, cat, and where duck. I'm going to add on grandma, granpa, car, dog, and change (like diaper change). Now that he knows that signs mean something, he watches my hands more closely when I am signing and tries to copy me. I was only going to teach him a few signs to help us communicate better, but he still doesn't talk so I might start signing a lot more. That means I need to expand my vocabulary! I'm also working on learning Russian (hard!) and sometimes my brain just hurts. I've stopped speaking any Russian to Brennan, because I'm focusing on teaching him sign language and ENGLISH, for crying out loud. But maybe one day we will be a trilingual family!
Brennan is a little smarty pants, even without words. My favorite current Brennan trick is how he claps for himself when we say "Good boy"! It's too cute. He's also quite naughty! He's not allowed to play with the cat food, which he KNOWS. But he'll go over there and oh. so. slowly bend down, and if you don't tell him "No", he'll pick up some cat food...and then he usually gives it to me anyway! It's so funny how he knows he is doing something he's not supposed to, but he tries to get away with it! He's already smart enough to look and see if you are looking; I am going to be in trouble when he gets older!

This Thursday I am having my wisdom teeth out. I have never been put under, and I hate teeth, so I am really not looking forward to this! Luckily I have an awesome husband, and parents who live close by and will help me with Brennan while I am on pain meds. Actually, I am secretly looking forward to Saturday, because B will be gone all day and I will be able to lay around the house, (mostly) guilt-free! Pray for my surgery and that I don't chicken out!