Two Weeks Later

Our first presents to our sweet baby girl.

So here we are, already two weeks after our phone call. Two weeks since we saw those big brown eyes. Two weeks since our first sneak peak at our daughter. This sweet baby girl......who we affectionately refer to as "Baby K" at our house.....more on that later.....is waiting for us. Or rather, we are waiting, longing to hold that sweet babe in our arms. The wait is comparably short now (only two short weeks until we take off on our adventure) and we are doing what we can to prepare for our newest addition. Here are a few things that we have been up to in the last weeks.

The Basics:
So the not necessarily fun parts but definately necessary have included booking flights (and trying not to think too hard about the number of them, and the longevity of air time and layovers :-), booking accommodations, filling out the necessary forms, copying and certifying even more forms, finishing up our vaccinations and finding a willing candidate to watch over our home and our dog. DONE! So incredibly thankful those are done....and mostly without a hitch.

The Fun Stuff:

The first thing we did when we found out was take a trip to our favorite book store and little J took great effort in choosing the perfect stuffed animal for his baby sister. We have been talking about this special job for some time now and he was ready for the challenge. After removing approximately 15 stuffed animals of all varieties from the shelves and dutifully hugging each selected specimen to deem its suitability a sweet pink rabbit was chosen. A special choice as J has a very beloved bunny himself....who we will be creating a passport for this afternoon because, as J informed me, we can't be worried when we get to the airport and he doesn't have a passport. Baby K's new bunny and blanket will be given when we first meet her. We are hoping that they might act as some sort of transition objects as she leaves the home she has known her whole live to join us.

J taking his first official task as big brother very seriously.

A few months ago we created a special book for Baby K. It has pictures of the three of us, letting her know that we love her, are waiting for her and are pretty excited to meet her. Due to postal challenges it was decided that we wouldn't send it in the mail as we had originally planned. Instead, we had great fun recreating the book in an imovie....this time reading the book to her ourselves. The movie has been forwarded to the baby home. We are hoping that having the opportunity to see our faces and hear our voices might make the initial visit a wee bit less scary....we'll let you know how that goes.

Having never had a girl before we have had some fun going through hand me downs and purchasing a few special clothing items for court day. Up until this point our home has been a whole lot of plaid, stripes and overalls.....the colour pink, little dresses and tights are now showing up on the scene. The hubby and I took some time on Saturday to peruse the girl isles, picking up a thing or two. Even he said it was fun!

The Unexpectedly Challenging:
So, it has been two weeks....and we have yet to reveal Baby K's new first name. In all honesty we were completely surprised (in an incredibly exciting way) that we were having a girl. We had hummed and hawed.....debated and deliberated over boy names....and even settled on one. As for girl names, some discussions took place but nothing too serious. Adoption is an interesting journey. One that has been filled with unexpected challenges. If I am completely transparent, discussing names was almost difficult prior to the referral. Almost like it generated some form of false hope that a referral was on the near horizon. In short, we are down to two names.....may the best man win.....or may God intercede and cause a miraculous agreement. :-)