It's been a whirlwind day in the emotional sense. I want to capture this day for Lia. This day when we became a family of four. This day when I let a bit more of the breath I've been holding out.
Waiting for the phone to ring on our court date was awful. The "what ifs" started stacking up and by 10 am I had to leave the computer (stalking my email) and go find something productive to do. I decided cleaning the mass of toys out of Lia's room might prove therapeutic. I was right. Soon I was gathering boxes for goodwill and moving things into other spaces, all to make room for the baby girl that I couldn't stop thinking about.
At 10:41 am I was in my room and heard my cell ring. The world stopped for a second and I thought, "Let this be it." I then realized I might miss the call and bolted for the stairs. I leaped (no kidding) over boxes and ran to my phone. I saw the number I'd been waiting for. "HELLO!" I yelled. Literally yelled at Ashley. She asked if I was okay. Yes, just running for the phone like a crazed lunatic, that's all.
And then I heard the words, "Congratulations you passed court." And I teared up, but with a beaming smile on my face. Hand to heart. Relieved. We are a family of four.
I called Kevin and said, "HI!" and he replied, "So, we passed?" YEP. We passed.
Let's be honest. We've all had those moments as moms when we laugh at ourselves for being that mom. I was that mom not once, but TWICE today.
First, I let my child do something I swore I'd never let him do. And this wasn't the first time. It was the third. I swore that I would never be that mom and allow my child to have this done...
That's right, The Full-Face-Paint. Why am I anti-Full-Face-Paint? Because it's freaky, that's why. But, as we know, Micah likes to dress up in costumes (Train Engineer, DJ Lance Rock, Spiderman, etc., etc.) so the Full-Face-Paint is like a dream come true for my little man. Of course I'm going to give in and let my child look freaky for a few hours. He loves it. And, if he's ever in the lead role in Cats, he'll have me to thank. *smirkbb*
To give you the full experience of my second time being that mom today, I'm going to give you some background. For weeks we have heard the tell-tale jingle of the Ice Cream Man's truck circling our neighborhood. For weeks the Man has not come down our street. For weeks we have looked for him, talked about him, discussing whether or not he'll finally show his sneaky face. Some mornings Micah would wake up and ask about the "Meeeyun," and I would explain that he only comes at night - after dinner.
Well, tonight was our night. After dinner Micah and I were cleaning up when Kevin heard the elusive jingle and the "ding-ding" of the bell. He yelled about the Man and I grabbed all the cash I had on hand ($52 to be exact because you never know how much you'll need if you actually find the Man), grabbed the kid and started down the street.
We walked by a mini-van with two kids inside listening to some pumpin' music (I giggled inwardly) and then we heard it. Coming closer. "Ding-ding." THE MAN. Holding my shoe-less child, I broke into a full-on run. No shame friends. I was running for the Man. We got to the end of our street and THERE HE WAS! THE MAN! I put my child down and, no joke, broke into joyous fist-pumping action (thank you Lori Rooney) and proceeded to hail the Man (who turned out to be a woman) down by waving my arms like a lunatic.
Micah chose a Batman Popsicle. Kevin had an Orangesicle. I had a big, proud smile.
Oh yeah, I was that mom today. And it was a good day.
Oh how I love baby feet! Squishy little baby feet. You can imagine how excited I was to get a picture of Baby Bob's squishy little baby feet from a traveling mom the other day! It was actually a picture of her squishy legs and squishy feet. It kind of looked like this... except squishier.
(These are Micah's legs from one of the three pics we got while he was waiting for us in Ethiopia. I love this picture!)
So, if you're wondering how the baby I referred to as "teeny-tiny" is now squishy, well, so am I! My guess is that she's getting excellent care at the House of Hope. I think the report that she gained 5 lbs in just over a month is actually true! Apparently she is about 12 lbs right now. I can't imagine how much she'll weigh when we finally get there. Yay for baby fat!!
Speaking of getting her home... court on Monday. *deep breaths*
Today I had to give myself a Parent Pep-Talk. I was in the middle of a meeting for an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for Micah and I felt tears coming.... should I back up and explain? I think so.
(I wasn't sure if I was going to blog about this because it's personal to Micah, but I think it could help other parents, so here goes...)
Micah is developmentally delayed. Okay, typing it - the tears are threatening. But, it's OKAY. (<--Parent Pep-Talk.) He is delayed in speech/language and fine motor skills. We've suspected these things for a while and we are so lucky that we signed up for the Parents as Teachers program back when he first came home because our Parent Educator helped us get where we needed to be. We knew that most 3 year-olds have a pretty large vocabulary, and Micah does not. He communicates really well, but not verbally. His receptive language ability is well within the average and there is no question about his intelligence level, but he has a difficult time getting what is in his head out through speech/language.
So, he was screened when he turned 3 and today was the meeting for his IEP. Back to the Parent Pep-Talk. It's just simply not easy to hear that your child is not developing typically. Especially when you KNOW how smart he is. And of course I wanted to fall into the, "What could I have done differently" trap, but I have done pretty well avoiding that so far. Today when the tears were threatening, I had to remind myself how smart and inquisitive our child is. How he has worked around his speech issues to find a way to communicate with us. And that it is time for him to get the help he needs. And that this isn't our fault.
The good news is that he will now be in an integrated preschool classroom four days per week. Seven of the children will have an IEP and seven will not. He will get 90 minutes of speech therapy per week and 30 minutes of OT for his fine motor development as well. I could not be happier about this. And, I feel REALLY good that we took the initiative to have him screened. We followed our Momstinct/Dadstinct and we were right. And that is a GOOD thing. (Still in pep-talk mode here.)
Micah is about to go through a big adjustment. Okay, I'm about to go through one too. Instead of lazy mornings at home, or Micah & Mom Fun Days on Wednesdays, Micah is going to be at preschool four mornings per week - getting the services he needs. It's good, but my mama-heart hurts just a little bit at the thought.
A recent Micah & Mom Fun Day, which we also like to call "Adventures."
"All Aboard!" (He has no trouble saying this - and even got to say it on the train speaker last time we went to the zoo. Big moment for Mic.)
Another big moment - when the train engineer let him sit ON the engine. Happy boy.
If I could pick one person as the cheerleader for our adoption... wait, not just our adoption, but SO many people's adoption, I would pick Erica Shubin. Erica BELIEVES in the miracle that is adoption and she has given her time, her support, her encouragement, and her faith to many of us as we struggle with the financial side of adding a family member through adoption. It's no easy feat, but having Erica on your side makes things easier. She'll be there if your plane tickets have to be changed at the last minute, or if your fundraising has to be kicked into high gear (like ours did), and she'll also just be there if you need to talk, or want ideas. Her heart is HUGE and she's a giver.
My point? Let's give back! Erica's family has decided to add another member through adoption - from Ethiopia! They started their fundraising this week with a FaceBook-A-Thon and have a goal of raising enough money to get their adoption process started. If you can, please donate just $5 to this amazing family. If you can't donate - help spread the word!
I truly believe that when you put good out into the world, it comes back to you. Let's make that happen for the Shubin family!!
