That

Well something like 30 people voted on the last post regarding our "main" photo for our birth mother letter, and the votes were overwhelmingly for Picture 2.  Nothing personal rest of the Internet, but we're going with Picture 1.

Me and My Mooks

We chose this one because of the eye contact, and the fact that it looks so vibrant.  The one drawback is the bit of space between me and Sabrina, but I think that's outweighed by how much the picture seems to engage the viewer.  The main photo is meant to be a visual greeting from us to a potential birth mother and I think this one gets to that feeling.  The second picture is adorable, but it shows us as a happy family; I don't think it brings the viewer into the photo quite like this one does.

We went over these and about 80 other pictures with our adoption counselor today and narrowed the field down to about 18 candidates to be included on our letter.  Those and about 20 others will go onto our eventual adoption website.  We're already done with the letter text, so I hope to take the next two weeks to put together the actual brochure.  After submitting our final bit of paperwork, we hope to be live by the end of November.  Then the real journey begins, and I'm so glad I have you guys to share it with!

This or That?

With the text of our "Dear Birthmother" letter approved, it's time to work on pictures.  I've uploaded a bunch to a sharing site and we'll discuss them with our adoption agency sometime later this week.  The most important one is the "Main Profile Pic" which will grace the cover of our letter.  Here is the one we used last time, after I don't know how many tries...

Nice, but what's my left hand doing?

We've narrowed our personal choice down to two photos.  Please weigh in with your comments on which one you think you'd like better, with the mindset that you are a birth mother looking for a family to potentially place your as yet unborn child with.  Why do you like one better than the other?

Picture 1

Picture 2

*Pictures taken by our good friend John Morey from John Morey Photography.

Well?

Well?  Well things are rolling along here with Project Baby, the Sequel.  We were notified that our home study has been approved by the court, which means for the next 18 months we are legally able to adopt a child.  We've finished our medical clearances, and sent the first draft of our birth mother letter to the agency for approval and guidance.  We still have to watch a video and take an exam that will teach us how to parent in an interracial family in case our second child is not the same race as one of us.  Yeah, I know.  The way I figure it, I have an interracial parent/child relationship, but Gregg doesn't, so he should have to watch the video alone while I head to a Labor Day BBQ or something.  It's a hoop.  We'll jump through it.

We won't be done with preliminary gigantic monthly payments to the adoption agency until November so technically nothing can happen until after that.  Right now we're gathering pictures for our letter, and a friend of ours who is a photographer is coming over in two weeks to do a photo shoot with us for our main picture.  If you've been with me a while you'll remember what our last letter looked like.  This one has to be four pages instead of two and frankly will look a little nicer I think.  Last time we matched off of our letter in three weeks of being in circulation, so we want to make sure this one hits the mark as well.

It's funny; we've been performing the steps necessary to reach our goal of having a baby for some months now, but it's only since our home study has been approved that I have those butterflies banging away in my stomach telling me a baby could join our family as soon as the beginning of the year.  Of course it could take a lot longer, but we've crossed a threshold that has started those old feelings creeping up on me again.  We have a ways to go and a forest of red tape to cut through, but we're definitely on the way again...

Who You Callin' Ho?

Our daughter loves Santa Claus.  No, she LOVES Santa Claus.  At 20 months old, she can't have made the connection that Santa brings us toys and gifts.  She just likes Santa.  A LOT.  "Anta", as she calls him, has his face plastered everywhere this time of year, and kids take notice.  He's basically the toddler world's Oprah.  He listens to your sob story, then rewards the crowd with shouts of "You get some Lego's!  And you get some Lego's!" to the screaming adoration of his fans.  Whenever we see him in one of his many ubiquitous forms, be it in person or on a dessert plate, Sabrina points him out and shouts "Ho Ho Ho!". 

Arizona fills up with old people from the north this time of year, and I have to say, I've never seen his sleigh going 20 miles under the speed limit with the left blinker on for three exits causing me pain and anguish on my morning commute.  He doesn't whip out the checkbook to pay for one gallon of milk in the express lane at Safeway.  Heck he's so busy he never even has time to ramble on and on with no clear ending in sight about something he did in the '50's while he fumbles with his Miracle Ear.  He's almost the anti-snowbird.

Two weeks ago when we went to visit him at his winter castle in Superstition Springs Mall we had to wait in line for 45 minutes to get an audience.  Throngs of children played happily around the Styrofoam ice mountain while hidden cannons shot a fine spray of soapy foam "snow" high into the air.  Like real snow in American cities, it burned their eyes if they got it in them.  For many of these kids, the happy times stopped when they realized they were next to see the Fat Man.  They stood frozen, like one of his reindeer in the headlights, when it was their turn.  One by one, their parents created meal tickets for some future therapist as they wrestled them down onto Santa's lap, literally screaming with holiday cheer.  I silently dreaded that while Sabrina was pointing at the train saying "Choo Choo" now, in a minute I'd be one of them.  And I admitted to myself that after standing here for almost an hour listening to the genius 8 year old behind us ask his father over and over how it could possibly snow in Arizona (Really kid?  Really?) that no matter what, we were gonna do this thing.

Turns out there was nothing to worry about.  When I plopped her down on Santa's lap, she gave him a hearty "Ho ho!" followed by fist bumps.  Yes, I have a one and a half year old that fist bumps Santa.  She gave him a hug and a kiss, we took an incredibly overpriced picture, and off we went.  While she had a good time, little did I know this was the creation of one of Santa's super fans.

This morning as we arrived at day care I had forgotten that Santa was going to be there too.  For someone who's gonna have the world's eyes on him in little more than a week, he sure does whatever he can to get out of work.  No wonder he's so fat.  Anyway, when we walked in and saw him, the uber fan was excited.  There were two other parents and four kids in front of us, and they had no intention of sitting on his lap.  They were in deep negotiations when from her perch in my arms Sabrina waves and yells out "Hiiiiiiii!" at the top of her lungs. 
"It's not our turn yet Sweetie these kids are in front of us we have to wait."
"Hiiiiiiii" followed by dramatic (and loud) air kisses to Santa.  I almost expected her to scream "Hey remember me I sat on your lap two weeks ago at the mall".
The daycare director came over and said "Well Sabrina what are you going to tell Santa?".  This set off a loud chorus of "Ho ho ho!" which was repeated several times.  At this point, all the adults in the room are laughing and the parents in front of me said "Um, why don't you go ahead of us...".  Sabrina decided this was her cue and wriggled away from me and ran to Santa.  They had a good bout of "Ho ho"s together while shaking jingle bells.  We snapped a few free* pictures (*if you don't count the thousands of dollars a year it costs to go to daycare in the first place) and went off to class.  There was of course a loud scream of "BYE!" as we exited.  She babbled extensively until I left, no doubt about how she'd never wash this hand again or something along that line.  Ah, youth...

Daycare Santa!

"Chase"-ing the Perfect Picture

It's time to take a picture for our Christmas cards.  How hard could that be?  Round up the troops and snap away.  Except next to Sabrina, the next biggest ham in our family is our Black Lab, Chase. 

First, gather the gang...

Take One, all three of them have that "Do we really have to do this?" look.  That won't work; they look like rejects from Christmas Vacation.

Chase, already bored, decides he's finished and gets up to leave.  I don't think so.  Sabrina meanwhile, has suddenly discovered she has feet.

Chase is corralled and brought back to the fireplace.  As the camera snaps, he decides it's been 4 1/2 seconds since the last time he kissed Sabrina on the lips.  Her lips apparently taste like beef liver, because licking them is one of his favorite pastimes.  Sabrina, bonded to her loving doggie brother, will usually (Note: At this time, I dangle a shiny object off screen for those of you who are better parents than me to look at so you won't read the rest of this sentence which concludes...) open her mouth so he can clean it out like you lick frosting out of a bowl.  Don't send me letters because I know all your kids are disgusting too.  And yes, she thinks it's funny.

"OK enough shenanigans!", we shout.  Let's do this thing.  In response the next photo we get is what I'd call "Epic Holiday Photo Fail".

I'm not sure what's going on here; nearest I can tell Chase is giving Ripley the "Ha ha I got out of wearing my Santa hat by being impossible while you got stuck with the goofy collar" tongue tease.  The feet Sabrina recently discovered a few photos back are being relieved of their shoes.  Arrrrgh.  Seriously?

Finally, we take what we can live with, although I am temped to send this one to the dog lovers in our family.  Happy Holidays!



(In reading this post, I  have to say Ripley's boredom with the whole thing really irritated me because while he stayed still during the entire process, he never quite lost the "I must find some way to stop Christmas from coming" look on his face.)



Wordless Wednesday

Because every once in while you just have to do it.
(Damn those are words!)
(Damn those are too!)
(Da--ah geez...just enjoy the pictures.)

Ball Popper...the current favorite toy.

Hunting for eggs with Papa.

My Easter sun dress.

Easter Family...can you tell whose back is out?

A Toothy Grin

I've been off blogging for about two weeks now...whoops.  Things have been busy lately.  We (well mostly my sisters) have put together a big surprise 40th birthday party for my sister Kathleen, and we snuck in a bunch of relatives from back East.  For most of them it was the first time they met Sabrina, so for a few days her feet never touched the ground as she got passed from one new person to the next.  If that was not enough, she got her first tooth on the day of the party, November 7th.  Parties, gatherings, restaurants, a new tooth, and not one minute of crankiness out of her.  If anything she was in her element; she loves attention and parties.  She loves to hear the phrase "Who's gonna wear a pretty dress today?".  That's my girl!

Tooth number two made it's appearance yesterday.  For the most part, she still hasn't really complained, at least not the way I've heard it described by people who have kids that have gone through this already.  It has affected her mood a little though.  Today we were going to have our first "official" portrait of the family done.  We wanted to wait until Sabrina could sit up good on her own before doing pictures, and she's been doing that for a while now.  So we went to Target's portrait center.  She was in a good mood, but she absolutely refused to smile.  In every shot looks like she's going to kill someone.  Not a crying face, but an attitude face.  An "Oh no you don't" face.  After 30 or so tries, we decided this wasn't going to work, so we're going back to try again on Tuesday.  This blog is full of smiling pictures of the girl, and when it comes down to paying for a shot...no dice! 

Jaws

Friday Fotos (Lazy Way)

With my Aunt from Long Island

Sabrina and Papa

Big Smiles!

Chillaxin' in the Crib, MTV Style

Yeah I know it's the "lazy man's post" when you just throw up random pictures. Seriously though, that last one has definate attitude.

A 7 Letter Word for Love

Wow...The girl has hair!

Cuteness...It does a body good.

Sharing a nap with Papa. Then again, it was Sabrina who caused the fatigue in the first place! This has been a rocky week for sleeping.

Erykah Badu, eat your heart out.

Random Picture Dump

First dress.

Loving her Daddy

Tired from her first shopping trip.

Dress shopping...they're really piling up!

Saving my favorite one for last.

Potential Website & BM Letter Pics

Random stuff and a thought from The Boys

Just a few things real quick...

• We finally finished our first draft of the Birth Mother Letter (BM Letter) and sent it off to Lane for review. He said he will look at it and get back to us next week. Since I helped write it it's way too long since I'm very wordy. If you're still even interested in this blog you've figured that out already. The section called "About Bobby--by Gregg" made me tear up. That goober really does love me...hee hee. No, I'm not publishing it here, but I will let you see it once it's completed.
• We uploaded some pictures to MyPhotoBucket that we are considering for the letter and website. Lane will help us pick those out too. I have a lot more to scan in and put up. You can see them in the post above.
• A note from The Boys...Ripley and Chase
  Ripley
  They are adopting a baby. It's human. We want a kitten.
  Chase
  I love jumping! I love playing! Who cares what they do can we go to the Dog Park PLEASE!!!