And Then Everything Changed

  As many of you know, D and I are in the process of growing our family through another adoption.  We had our homestudy this weekend and got some very exciting news.  Because of our previous adoption experience, I had expected that we would be matched with a toddler at our homestudy.  Apparently our first adoption was a unique case for the agency here and there aren't any toddlers in the program now, which means that we will be adopting an infant.  A baby!  We're on the list for a baby that hasn't been born yet.  We don't know when we'll get our referral but it should be some time this year and we've also opted to accept either a boy or a girl.

  D and I are very, very excited about this, which is a really big change for us.  We were really happy when we were matched with a toddler in our first adoption because we never really wanted the dependency of an infant.  An active toddler was someone we could interact with immediately and  fit our active lifestyle.   We assumed that our second adoption would also be a toddler and we began preparing ourselves for the unique challenges and joys that this adoption would bring to our family.  So we were pretty unprepared when we were told that we would be adopting an infant and we were very surprised to find ourselves excited about it. There's so much that we missed out on in Sky's life because she was a year old when we adopted her.  We'll get to see this baby's first teeth, first steps, first words.  This baby will have good nutrition from the beginning and won't have scars that we can't explain.
  The more D and I talk about it, the more convinced we are that an infant will be the perfect addition to our family now.  D and will be calmer parents than we would have been if our first child had been an infant.  While we've never been through the baby stages before, we'll be a little less likely to freak out at the first fever.  We also think that Sky will have an easier time accepting an infant than she would have had accepting another toddler.  A baby will take up our time and we're expecting to have to deal with jealousy from that, but it will be a while before this baby will be playing with Sky's toys or wearing clothes she thinks of as hers.  She'll also get to be a real big sister, helping (or "helping") mommy and daddy with the baby, which will help with her to feel like more like a big girl.
  Another benefit of having a baby is that we'll be hiring a nanny.  We talked about my staying home after the adoption and while technically we could afford it, most of my income goes into savings and pays for our vacations and we're not quite ready to give that up.  Plus, I love my  job and might not be able to come back to it in a few years if I decided to.  Having a nanny will give us the immediate connection to the Marshallese culture that we've wanted for Sky.  She'll be able to learn the Marshallese language and will be able to learn about their traditions and culture through her nanny, and hopefully we'll be able to pick up more of the language as well.
  We'll keep you posted as the adoption progresses.   A baby!  I'm still so excited I want to jump up and down about it!  I'm off to online-window-shop for baby gear!

Comments

  1. Just got your comment on my blog, and love that you had just written this on yours! So funny. I'm so happy that you've found yourselves surprisingly excited about an infant. Congratulations!

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