We are so excited...for a couple of weeks there we were worried that Joshie was behind in a few areas but our worries have abated.  Joshie is crawling forwards now!  He can also eat Cheerios off of his high chair tray...he is also what I call a "baby vacuum" which means we need to start actual vacuuming of the floors every few days or so.  He loves to imitate too...when we click our tongues, so does he.  When we blow raspberries, so does he.  When Grandpa asks him how the car-car goes, he gurgles appropriately.

His 9-month appt. is this Wednesday; I am so anxious to see how much he has grown and what he weighs now.  Will update more then!

Blessings, Michelle

My bday was Saturday...a constant reminder that in 4 years I will be "over the hill", ack!

Daddy let me sleep well into the afternoon that day; it was bliss.  An Amaretto Sour would have complimented the evening, but instead, Mom fixed us all an enormous amount of food; we made absolute pigs of ourselves!

More pics coming soon!  Stay tuned!

Blessings, Michelle

Last night I remember laying down for a quick nap while Joshie was napping.  When I woke up, it was 10pm and I panicked not knowing if anyone had cared for Joshie.  I peeked into Joshie's room and he had his PJ's on and was fast asleep.  I noticed an empty bottle sitting on the coffee table in the living room/family room where Brad normally watches TV.  I also noticed Joshie's toys everywhere in that same room.  I automatically figured my dad, Grandpa had taken care of Joshie whilst I slept.

This morning, my dad asked me if I had cared for Joshie last night and what time had I gotten up for my nap...I said "No, I thought you did" and he said he didn't.  So when Mr. Brad got up for school we both cornered him.  Not only did he get Joshie up from his nap, but he had changed his diaper, put his PJ's on him, given him his nightly bottle, and played with him on the floor until bedtime at 9pm.  He did all this without being asked!  Do I have 2 great kids or what?  Neither Grandpa or myself heard Joshie fuss the entire time; he was playing happily with "brother Brad"!

Kudos to you, Bradley...I love you!

I guess you could say "our story" actually started back in 1999 after an SA revealed no sperm. We started with donor sperm and medicated IUI's. I had one or two chemical pg's and we changed clinics once and the second clinic we attempted IVF but I only had 3 follies with the highest dose of Follistim, so we converted the IVF to IUI and I got pg. However, on the day of our first U/S we saw 2 sacs but they were tiny and when they rechecked my beta, it had dropped significantly. They told me I was miscarrying both babies...we were devastated. That was in Aug. of '06 and I was so tired of all the shots and IUI's the whole works. We just wanted a baby.

So that led us to adoption. I belong to several fertility/adoption message boards so we started to do some research in the beginning of '07. We decided to go ahead with a homestudy because the agency we really wanted you had to have a homestudy. Well we did the homestudy and then was rejected by the agency. I felt like we were up against several things...one, the most important, was my dh's felony. Several agencies denied us because of that. The ones that did allow it were way out of our price range, like Adoption Network Law Center.

So I bought a book called "The Complete Book of Adoption" or something like that, and started researching more agencies. Sometime during that time we decided that race was not a problem...we wanted a baby, no matter what shape or color etc. That book had agencies listed by state and we found one very near to us and they said no problem with the felony. The cost was very reasonable and since we were open to biracial and/or full AA babies, our wait time would be minimal. So we started gathering things the agency required. Btw, that agency is Adoption and Beyond out of Overland Park, KS.

Meanwhile, I kept reading and hearing about this successful adoption attorney in Florida. I asked around and heard great things about him. So we emailed him to get on his list. Mark Miller is his name, adoption is his game, LOL. Seriously though, the first situation he sent us was for a biracial baby boy due in July of '07. My interest was piqued and we applied. Later we found out that we were the only applicants but the emom still wanted to meet us first so we flew to Jacksonville for a weekend visit.

She selected us the very day we met her. Then we began to worry if we had enough money to pursue the situation. Mark's retainer was $10k we begged our families for help.  We right now still owe him around $5k but as soon as we get our income tax we will pay him. (Adoption tax credit)

We ended up driving to Jax when we got the call that emom was in labor. We got there after delivery but by just a few hours. Birthmom asked us to bring our older son; she wanted to meet him...so he came with. Everyone just got along great...we knew at last we had our baby. Birthmom had picked a name for Joshie that she could treasure but knew we would change it...however, we ended up compromising and kept one of her names...Michael. But we call him Joshie and she also calls him that now too.

I still can't believe how fast everything has gone. We started our homestudy in Jan. of '07, was matched in April '07, Joshie was born in July '07 and the adoption was finalized Nov. '07.

The one thing I find sad is that biracial and full AA babies are really hard to find homes for. Our son is beautiful with light milk chocolate skin and a full head of soft curly tendrils of hair.

To finish up my story, our fertility clinic sent us a letter asking what did we want to do with our last vial of sperm. I paid $300 for it, so I told them we would do a final IUI in June of this year if we can swing it...but with Clomid, so not a huge chance of conceiving. However, we may adopt again as Joshie gets older...I'm almost 36 so I don't want to be too old, so we will just wait and see.

There you have it; sorry so long.

Today Joshie went from his tummy to a full sitting position!  He also grabbed the edge of the coffee table and tried to pull up to it...then he really suprised his mom by holding his own bottle while Mommy was on the phone.  Then Mommy ruined it; he had grabbed the DVD player cables and was attempting to chew them...Mommy took them away and Joshie screamed, sobbed, and basically showed signs of a temper.

A much-needed nap calmed him right down...

Now that we are all finally over the flu, will the Easter bunny come to our house????  Dh says maybe next year we will all have our own Easter egg hunt.  If that's the case, I want my order to go in early:  a solid milk chocolate bunny!  Of course, I wouldn't be able to eat anything else that day because my calories would've reached their limit, haha. 

News report for Bradley Ray:  He has lost 4 lbs. within a week....yay Brad....way to go!  He is really trying hard to stick to his diet.  He has skipped dessert pretty much all this past week.

Received a letter from our nephew who is in basic training in the Army.  He is anxious for graduation.  I was pretty impressed that he could run 2 miles in the sand in under 15 minutes.  Also he can do 62 push ups in like 2 minutes.  I'd never make it if it were me....anyway, we are proud of you Shaun, you go!

Ah yes, the flu strikes yet again...Joshie plagued with projectile vomiting and Bradley plagued with a fever and cough.  Grandpa stayed around and helped with cleaning up the vomit and the baby too.  Daddy came home yesterday and decided to bounce Joshie around after a feeding and he puked in his bed (Joshie not Daddy).

We need to be well!  We also need a new exterminator...we are living in sweet ant central right now.  They supposedly sprayed our house 3 times in 2007 and the ants keep coming back.  "Oh the ants go marching one by one hurrah hurrah..."  That is our song for today.

Blessings to everyone!

The Kirkland's

We are here!  Our first debut!