I know that I am WAY overdue on this post. We moved onto a working farm in the middle of harvest time when Isaac was a week and a half old. My life for 2 months consisted of 6 am mornings (with plenty of middle of the night feedings :), take care of my kids and nieces for an hour or two, and then start processing the first of the buckets of produce coming in from the garden. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work, and then I'd go to bed around midnight. I definitely could not have done it if it wasn't for the fact I had not actually delivered Isaac.
After those 2 months, honestly, I'd just gotten out of the habit of the internet. And I had more time with my kids and to do so many other things that I didn't miss it. I kept telling myself I needed to write this post, but then I'd do another sewing project that had been in the wings for the last 2 years instead. Or, I'd tackle that cleaning/organizing project I'd been putting off instead. Now however, my daughter Kathleen decided to climb out of her pack-n-play during nap time yesterday, and when I came in she was showing Karissa how to do it too. When I put her back in, she promptly climbed up to the top again and started to fall over to "get down." At which point, I pulled out the mattresses I'd made to go in them (2 cribs and a twin bed won't fit in their current room that they are sharing), and they are on the floor now - much sooner than I had hoped. So, I'm sitting here during nap time finally writing this post because now it seems VERY productive to do this as I teach them (make that Kathleen how to stay on a mattress during nap time)...we'll see how this goes :).
So, on to the last four months, Isaac, etc. Isaac is SUCH a joy. I love him so much. I am so fortunate that I have been able to nurse him, however, I have had problems after having emergency gall bladder surgery last month. But, that has been such a blessing. I loved him from the beginning, but truthfully and honestly, that love was a more distant kind of love than I felt when I first held my biological children for the first time. Looking back, I think as much as I loved him by choice, I think he felt more like a precious nephew to me than my own son, just because he was so new. I hadn't carried him for 9 months. I loved him as much as my other children, but the connection between us hadn't formed like it has now. Now, he really, truly feels like my son, just as much as Josh does. He makes me laugh and we have a history and memories now. He is so much more than my precious baby. He's my son.
Adoption has been such a blessing. But even if there's an instant connection, you need time to really forge a bond with your adopted child, and they with you, even from infancy. When you are pregnant, you have 9 months to forge that bond and feel your child move. With adoption, you receive a precious child, already born. So, I think that's been a good realization for me, especially if or when we adopt again. At the beginning, you choose to think of this child as yours, you choose to give them all the same rights and privileges as your biological. And then, over the next few months or years, that choice becomes a fact of life that you feel in your mind and heart as strongly as you do your others if you have biological.
So, that's been where we've been on the adoption front. We've had one more meeting with Isaac's birth mother that went really well, and we're hoping for a second one soon. We've also had 2 follow-up post placement visits as well. Both of those went really, really well and we enjoyed seeing our social worker again very much.
I hope that at least gives a little bit of information on us. I hope you also enjoy the pictures!
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