Thursday, May 27, 2010

19 Months

...one month closer Little One!

Early in May we met some new friends; Jessica, Jon and Nathaniel. Jessica and I met through the adoption e-mail groups we belong to and our paths kept crossing in one way or another so we thought it was time to meet face to face. It was a fun and relaxing afternoon. It was nice to get to know them and to discuss adoption with them... Oh and Nathaniel is an absolute cutie pie!!

Mom was back at the hospital again with her dry eyes, and ripped cornea, we ended up going back to see her opthamologist and hopefully it won't happen again, but if it does, we know that we can call the doctor, without having to wait all day at the hospital.

We found out that Hobbes has cancer... you can read about it in this post.

Our pre-adoption Class offered a (somewhat) local CLSC...you can read about it here...here (coming soon)...and here(coming soon)..

Work began on mom's kitchen, we worked on the layout, bought the cabinets, have hired a plumber and the installation should begin next week! - You'll have a kitchen soon mom.

With the nice weather (read heat wave in May), we have begun working in the garden we'll be planting this weekend. We are especially looking forward to reaping the benefits. For mom, it will be her first garden ever, so that will make it extra special for us.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Pre-Adoption Class 2

This week we discussed the grieving process in adoption; the importance of parent's grief as well as the grieving process that we can anticipate our child having. It is evident that it will be challenging dealing with issues that we know little about and for which our child will lack the tools to communicate...

The animator shared with us the importance of having a Roots Box as well as having a Treasure Chest. Both Eric and I wrote down that we need to talk to Uncle Tim about making the Roots Box and the Treasure Chest. He said he's got lots of ideas already... We can't wait to see what Uncle Tim creates for you, Little One. I don't think we've mentioned it here before, but your Uncle Tim and Auntie Charleen are very much looking forward to meeting you, Little One!

We liked most of the ideas that were shared about the Roots Box, and we're looking forward to putting our own together for our Little One. I especially liked the tip to plasticize everything (not the originals) so that the Little One can play with them...afterall it is their Roots Box.

Pre-Adoption Class 1

While meeting with our social worker last spring, she recommended that we take a Pre-Adoption course that is offered at a (somewhat) local CLSC. It is a six or seven week course that covers a bunch of adoption related subjects. We're really looking forward to the courses!
Tonights class was basically an introduction to the series, and an introduction to our classmates (there are two other couples adopting from the Philippines (one couple is waiting for their acceptance, and the other has been waiting just two weeks less than us) two couples adopting from South Korea; and one couple adopting from Vietnam).
The main topic of discussion was the evaluation of a "case study", a boy named "Simon". Simon was a two year old boy who was born in Quebec but his biological mom could not take care of him, so he was sent to live with a foster family in a remote part of Quebec (where they only speak french). One day, his foster mom told him that a forever family was found for him, in Tanzania.
We discussed what it would be like for little Simon to travel from one side of the world to the other, how he would feel, how he would probably have sensory overload, how he would probably be scared of a lot of things, including the people who were to be his forever family, how there would be many different sights, sounds smells, clothes etc...
I really enjoyed going through the "case study" it was very eye opening. We have discussed how difficult it could be for our child to adapt to us and to our home and our family and friends, but going through the exercise really helped to bring it home for us. We now have some tools to help us for the inevitable discussions about why everyone can not meet us at the airport.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Hobbes

Following Hobbes' surgery last month, the vet told us to keep and eye on Him to be sure that the Cancer hadn't spread. Last week, I felt that his lymph node under his leg was inflamed, but I wasn't sure, so I brought him to the vet on Monday we were referred to an oncologist. On Tuesday afternoon, at the oncologist's following some tests, we discovered that Hobbes' cancer had spread and that it is extremely aggressive and spreading rapidly. The oncologist told us that even if we did everything we could do (which would cost thousands of dollars) he might still be alive in 6-12 months. Any care that we would choose for him would be palliative. We don't feel that it would be fair to him to put him through chemotherapy and more surgery, so we asked what his prognosis would be if we chose not to go that route. The oncologist feels that he might only live for 1 to 3 months.
For us, getting Hobbes was the beginning of starting our family. Eric had never had a pet and he thought it would be a good way for us to transition from a somewhat selfish lifestyle to one where we have to care for, teach, and worry about another being in our care. He was right of course. Facing losing Hobbes before we adopt is incredibly difficult. As we have dreamed about our life with our Little One, Hobbes was always considered part of that picture. We are devastated, but trying to enjoy the time that we have left with him.

Monday, May 10, 2010

She knows who her REAL mom is

Eric brought me this article to read yesterday morning, you might want to get a tissue before reading the article. Here's the link:

She's been with me all these years