Hoopdie Doo

Ugh...I need a new car...

1999 Ford Ranger Pick Up.

Lez Be Friends

200!  It's like "300" only without the sweaty gladiators with painted on abs...

Over the last few weeks I've been contacted by two lesbian couples who stumbled upon the blog while searching out information on agencies that could assist them in adopting a baby.  One couple is in Queen Creek Arizona about 15 or so miles from us, and the other is in Wisconsin.  We're actually becoming good friends with our AZ neighbors and had them over for brunch last weekend.  Unfortunately we were out of the traditional lesbian staples of Grape Nuts and pork rinds, but they seemed to enjoy Gregg's waffles and eggs anyway.

This week another blog friend, Michelle and Nick from Michelle's Path, are awaiting the birth of their soon to be adopted son, half brother to their cute little girl Kayla who they adopted in 2008.  The girls over at Baby Blueprint are finally pregnant, and some of our other blog friends are dealing with new contacts or TTC challenges.

I guess what I wanted to post today is that this blog started almost two years ago when we made the decision to begin our adoption not having any idea what to expect or anyone to turn to for advice.  We felt pretty alone, and it was scary at the beginning.

Now here we are on Those Two Daddies 200th post and we've come full circle.  We're about to finalize the adoption of a little girl who completely owns our hearts; feeling a love I never ever thought possible, love so strong just thinking about her brings a tear to my eye.  We're part of a circle of friends and families that share the bond of having children, trying to have them in a multitude of ways, or just thinking about it and deciding to make the leap.  Somehow we know what we're doing (or fake it well; half the stuff we did we made up as we went along!) and it's our turn to help others.  I'm so glad for everyone that has shared comments and posts with us and who actually read the drivel I've posted the other 199 times.  Some of you even came back after reading a post and didn't leave shaking your head over bad jokes.  Glad to know you all, and glad to be part of the circle.  You guys rock!

Marching to Finalization

Well everything is set.  Our finalization hearing in Los Angeles County Court will be on Friday March 5th.  That will finally be the end of this long legal process!  I called the court yesterday and found out they were going to set our date today.  The guy I talked to was so nice.  They only do Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Coming from Arizona Friday works best because it gives us time to do the hearing, meet up with Sabrina's birth family, and visit friends we have not seen in a while.  I guess they are not supposed to allow you to pick your own date, because when I asked for the first available Friday he said "Call me back tomorrow morning before we open so we can talk off the record".  OK...so I did.  He let me pick the date and time I wanted.  I would have done earlier, but March 5th is the first available Friday morning.  The really amazing thing is, it will happen exactly one year from when we had our first contact with "Lucy" and learned about Sabrina's impending birth.  Freaky huh?  It even made Sabrina stand up and take notice...(which she's been able to do for about a week now, in 30-60 second intervals)

Oh well nothing lasts forever!

No, Please, Take Your Time

Here we are now in January of 2010.  Sabrina is closing in on 9 months old and her adoption is still not final.  It should have been done when she was somewhere between 6-7 months, so we've been trying to get this finished since the end of October.  First our lawyer (who actually, I love and think does a fantastic job) took a long time to get us the documents we needed to sign.  Since he's in Northern California and we're here in Righteous Town AZ, we couldn't just go get them.  We signed and sent them in and got them back about mid December.  (I'm sure they were slowed down by the War.  No not that one.  The War On Christmas.  You need to watch more Fox News...)  I had to get some copies, then sent them off to the adoption agency.  They were closed the last two weeks, so they only just sent their part off to the court yesterday.  Once they finally get there, we'll be able to get a date for the hearing.  I'm telling you, if you had to do all this to have a baby every time, the History Channel's "Life After People" would be happening in one generation.  I just hope we get it all finished before the end of the month.  I can see it now, "Sorry Sabrina you can't go to the Prom, we have to go finalize your adoption".

Jingle Bell Stop

Well the holidays are finally over.  The tree is down and at the recycling center, the halls are undecked, and the local radio station has stopped playing bad Mariah Carey Christmas songs and now just plays bad Mariah Carey in general.  I have to admit I'm glad.  This year I really tried to keep up the Christmas spirit all the way from Thanksgiving until the 25th of December.  It's not easy.  First, there are really only about 40 or so Christmas songs and they are played ad nauseum for a month.  I'm sorry, but you can only take so much.  By the time the new year arrives, you want to kick the stuffing out of one of Santa's elves.  Second, every time you turn around someone else wants money for something.  "You have to give to help the homeless"; "Please donate to the Salvation Army"; "If you don't send money we're turning off the electricity"; blah blah blah. 

Monday things will be back to normal.  For our last day of vacation we went to the Railroad Park in Scottsdale.  It's a fun park I've blogged about before, and the only drawback it has is that it's full of people from Scottsdale.  We met my sister Tricia and her daughter Lily.  We had fun riding the train, the merry go round, and playing in the playground. 

Family Swing Time

Happy Cousins

Once we got home, Sabrina wanted to play around a bit before dinner.  She gave Chase some lessons in how to play with plastic bowls.

"What?  We're just playing."

"Pay attention Chase"

Now a bath, then bed.  Ah, finally Those Two Daddies can have a glass of wine and relax!  Hope you all had a great New Year's!

"What do you mean I have to put my PJ's on?"

2009

'Nuff Said.

Wiggles Part 2

Thanks to Whacked Daddy, my New Year's Eve post has been delayed.  He pointed me to this YouTube video.  It's Anthony of the Wiggles, my secret reward for being a father.  Don't bother to turn up the sound it really doesn't matter what they're talking about.  Just revel in his dreaminess.... Sigh.

But It's Still Sacred, Right?

Just in time for Christmas Karl Rove, the hypocritical asshole Senior Republican Advisor who engineered W's re-election strategy of mobilizing the Christian right against such issues as gay marriage and abortion, has been granted a divorce from his second wife Darby.  (Darby sounds like a name for a racehorse, but in a party filled with Tripps, Mitts, and Saxbys, well it kinda fits.  Still, Republican women love those out of date clothes with big fabric flowers on them so I bet she looks like she crossed the finish line first.)  "Karlby" were married for 24 years, a record in Republican political circles.  However, they apparently spent Christmas together (for the sake of the children I'm sure) and lying sack of shit spokesperson Dana Perino said "They maintain a strong friendship, and they both feel that that friendship is a source of comfort and inspiration for their friends and family".  Aww, how cute.  I often look at two people who can't stand each other and think Wow, how inspiring!  I'm having a crappy day, but I take comfort in the fact that Karlby are such great friends.  In a break from GOP tradition, Karl did not leave his wife for another man.

Now I may be wrong, but when you've carried the torch for Jesus and told the sheep faithful that you were doing everything in your power to protect marriage from the godless homosexuals, it seems to me that divorce would be unthinkable.  I mean, he's wrecked two marriages now.  That's two more than I've trashed.  How do you get to use the argument that two men or two women cannot get married because they'd ruin it after you've failed twice?  Or even once for that matter?  None of this will matter a bit to the culture warriors bent on keeping gay people as subclass citizens.  I don't hear any mega church preachers calling for them to reconsider, offer counseling, or even trashing them in the media for destroying a sacred institution.  Nope.  I guess it's OK as long as you're not gay, but we already knew that.  Is that hypocritical?  In the words of another great genius of our time...

You Betcha!
*wink*

Babe in Toyland

Well Santa made his first trip to our house last night, and by the look of things he had no trouble finding the place.  Sabrina made a pretty good haul between the things we got her and the loot she accumulated from her grandparents and her aunts and uncles.  I think the best gift was a big wooden toybox my father made for her.  It's beautiful, has lots of room, will last forever, and unlike everything else she got, requires no batteries and makes absolutely NO noise at all.  The rest of the stuff (except for the clothes) all makes loud musical flourishes and nonsense sounds.  Things without speakers can be pounded against the floor quite effectively for ear blasting sounds.  Most of it had to be put together of course.  I'll leave you with pictures of our day while I try to find Tab A to insert in Slot B...

This stuff is for me?

Rip, then tear, then rip, then tear

Chase, you can have this one.

Let's all open this one.

Christmas night, helping Daddy put stuff together.

The Child is Nestled Snug in Her Bed

Mmm, Cheese!

Cheese...you are what you eat!

Well my Christmas Eve plans didn't come to pass.  I wanted the perfect night; Sabrina on my lap as we sit by the stockings hung over the fireplace with hot cocoa while Gregg reads us The Night Before Christmas and carols play.  Sabrina had other plans.  She only took one nap today, then went out with Papa to Costco and who knows where else shopping while I stayed home and cleaned the house.  When they got home, I fed her a meal and then she was still in the mood to play and way too wound up for sleep.  So we played for a while, then I could sense the tired mood coming on.  However, it was already 6:30 and there was no way I was putting her in for a nap now.  So off to the tub, where she decided tonight was kick and splash most of the water on to Daddy night.  Fought for 20 minutes to get the Christmas Eve pajamas on, then on to a bottle.  After the bottle...zonk.  Out cold.  Oh well, it was almost 8 anyway, so down she went.  I have a feeling early to sleep Christmas Eve's are something that I should enjoy while I can!  Gregg and I will have some wine and finish up our Christmas preparations, and in the morning I'll post pictures of our first Christmas together.  I hope you're all enjoying your night!  Happy Christmas!

Watch It Wiggle

I've recently discovered one of the hidden benefits of fatherhood.  The Sprout Channel.  It's geared to younger children with shows I like, like The Goodnight Show, The Sharing Show, and The Sunnyside Up Show.  Educational, fun, and Sabrina loves it.

They also show The Wiggles.  It plays in the background while I do her hair or make breakfast.  Until  I took a closer look at the "Blue" Wiggle, Anthony. 

I sat down to get a better look.  He's captivating.  That smile just lights up his face.  Great cheekbones and whoa--he's Australian?  Australian men are very sexy.  The way he moves while he's dancing...I'm hooked.  I find myself watching the clock in the morning, waiting for Wiggle Time.  Sabrina had to learn to give herself a bottle because my attention was on Anthony and his dance moves.  That Yellow and that Red Wiggle keep trying to upstage him, but they can't hold a candle! 

All of this was fine until today, when I realized my obsession with Anthony was, well creepy.  Here's poor Anthony trying to entertain and educate kids, and me watching him thinking what beautiful music we could make together.  I'm sure he gets tons of fan mail, so I'm not worried he hasn't returned my letters or acknowledged my 1-800-FLOWERS gifts.  But I think it's time to change the channel.  It just seems wrong to be learing at the guy that's making my kid smile.  And so, in a world populated by Purple Dinosaurs and giant 6 foot tall canary birds, the bright spot that was the Blue Wiggle will have to fade away.  I'm sorry Anthony, but it's for the good of the children.

Plus there's always BET and the Wendy Williams Show.  How YOU doin'?

Holly Jolly Update

Well things have been busy, with getting ready for Christmas and all.  We're just starting to see the full brunt of our adoption debt, so it's kind of a tight one but we don't really care.  I'm off from work this week so that means no day care for Sabrina either.  Seems when you're out a whole week you only need to pay them $109 to not show up.  How fantastically festive of them.

We've been trying some more finger foods.  She loves her Baby Mum Mums crackers.  They are a rice rusk cracker that basically disolves in her mouth.  We found some Cheerio type things made of the same stuff.  I guess maybe we're going a little slower then most on this but that's my fault.  I'm so paranoid about choking.  She likes cheese too; we give her small pieces and she eats it right up.  All these new foods have apparently fueled her up because this week she started crawling.  If the last few days are any indication, we better batten down the hatches.  She started by sort of pulling herself along with her hands and dragging her feet behind her.  Now she sort of pulls herself up on her knees in the classic crawl.  I'm not sure how long that will last; I think she'll be standing and walking soon.  She's been pulling herself up to a stand for about three weeks now; I've caught her on her two hands and two feet trying to figure out what to do next more then once.  Her favorite targets so far?  Ripley's feet (he looks at her with a look of annoyance, gets up and moves two feet over.  She crawls over, they repeat this across the room), Chase's nose (he licks her face, she bites his nose--they're both gross), the trash can, and a dining room chair.  Nothing double sided tape won't fix.

Also this week I got my H1N1 shot at work.  I was going to bring Sabrina but they were only doing 3 years and older.  Gregg is mostly opposed to it; I'm for it.  What do you guys think?

The Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney With Care

Stockings Hung...Check

Train Chugging...Check

Now let's go see some houses with Christmas lights!

Go Elf Yourself!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

It takes a minute to load, but I think you'll like it!

Elfin' Lights!

A blatantly posed Christmas picture...