Happy Valentine's Day

Taken yesterday before her Doctors appointment

Olivia not feeling well the morning after her shots...

Well, we had our six month shots yesterday. It was so sad. Olivia had such a good doctor visit. She was laughing and playing with the doctor. She was very healthy, other then her little tear duct in her left eye that still hasn't opened. This gives her a perpetual runny/pink eye. Then she knew something was up when the doctor left and we stayed. As soon as she saw the nurse come in with the shots she started screaming her head off. She remembered this from the last time--two months ago. I didn't think that was possible at this age, but she is a very smart and alert baby.

So we came home and went right to bed. I have gotten in the habit of giving her Tylenol or Ibuprofen before her shots, which is supposed to help. She slept for three hours and then got up and had a good bottle. She stayed up another three hours before going down for the night. She seemed just fine and slept all night with no trouble. I went in to get her up this morning at 6:45 am and she said "ba, ba, ba" in a very sad voice. That's when I noticed how hot she was. Her temperature was 103! We called Granny and she told us to sponge her off in a tepid tub and give her medicine at once. So we did. Within thirty minutes her temp was down to 100. That was scary!

She drank her morning bottle while in the tub. At least her eating hasn't suffered. She is napping peacefully now and doing much better. This vaccination stuff is so hard to deal with. I still feel as if we hadn't had to do it for the adoption, we would have waited until she was older. The only good thing is that we don't have to do it again for six months!

It's Really Official!

This baby girl loves Yo Baby Yogurt!
She's eating from a spoon!

Who is that big girl in her first pair of jeans?

Birth mother and parents--happy family!

About to be officially the Daddy!

About to be officially the Mommy!

In the courtroom with our lawyer and the agency rep.

Answering our questions before the judge...

The witnesses: Granny, Cousins (Colleen, Mary Kate, Kelsey),
Helen from the Methodist Mission Home, & Auntie Susan
(taking the photos)

The Payne family with Judge Margaret Tanner

Mommy and Olivia with the San Antonio cousins

(Kelsey, Mary Kate, and Colleen)

Best friend/godmother Susan with Mommy and Olivia
after the court appearance!

The set-up for the party...

The Cake!

We are so relieved that it is all official! It is hard to believe that we don't have any more paperwork to fill out, any more home visits to get ready for, or any more monthly check-ups! We are officially a family and on our own! We are truly blessed and amazed by our little girl and how she has enriched our lives.

The court procedure is all a formality. It was very easy and sweet. I cried the whole time, of course. Our Texas family got to be there and Olivia's godmother Susan. We had a little party that night at Granny's house.

On Monday night before our court date we met with Olivia's birth mother. She hadn't seen her since we left the hospital six months ago. It was a good meeting. She is doing well and making good steps forward in her life. She is happy with her decision and so happy to see us as a family. We hope that someday Olivia will be blessed by the decision her birth mother made and will see how much we have been blessed by her.

Many thanks to all of you for your support and prayers. We couldn't have done it without you!

Love--The Payne Family!

We Leave Tomorrow

We leave tomorrow after lunch for San Antonio. We have tentatively scheduled a meeting with Olivia's birth mother for tomorrow night. I am anxious to get that over with. She expressed an interest in seeing her when we spoke a few weeks ago (the first time in over two months). So we have offered to meet tomorrow night since we will be in town. We are supposed to call her to confirm that today. I know that this will be hard for me, but I also know that it is very healthy for Olivia and for her birth mother. We can take new pictures again of us all together, like we did when she was born. I hope that someday Olivia will appreciate our efforts to keep her birth mother involved and informed of her well being.

Then we are off to court on Tuesday to finalize the adoption. Our last home study went well last week and our social worker gave us the low down on court. She said the whole thing lasts less then five minutes and the judge will usually let the family take pictures with him or her. That will be a great picture for the scrap book. I am looking forward to my week off between quarters at school so that I can get to work on Olivia's book. I have been collecting pieces, but haven't started yet.

Tuesday night we have a small party planned at my Mom's house. My Mom and sister, Lee Ann, have really worked hard to put it together and we are so honored. It will be nice to celebrate and breathe a sigh of relief at long last. I can't believe how far we have come since November of 2006 when we started this process. It was too much to imagine then. We couldn't have gone forward with it without the support of our dear friends Kay and Andrew Roberts in Florida who gave us living example of adoption in action--as well as--all of the support from our friends around the world who helped us raise our adoption fees. I wish you could all be at the party on Tuesday night.

I'll post pictures of the big event later next week!

God bless!

More Pictures!

We call this series--Baby with the Blue Bear Blankie...

Olivia and Skeeter

These two pictures are called--Baby on the Floor...

We call this series--Baby on the Couch...

Hello! We are all doing well. We have 11 more days until Olivia's adoption is final! Yee Haw! We thought it was time to add some more pretty pictures.

It's Official!

Well, it's official. We got the paperwork in the mail today from the attorney. Olivia's final hearing has been set for Tuesday, February 5--the first day it was possible to do it, six months to the day since we brought her home. We are so excited, it hardly seems real. We can't believe that after everything we have been through--it is almost over. Olivia will legally and forever be our daughter. Praise God! Everyone is invited to come! We will be taping it and we'll send copies to anyone who wants one.

We miss you all and love you all very much!

Everything is fine...

Olivia is still doing really well. She is eating everything we put in front of her. We have developed a little routine. She has fruit (pears) or fruit juice (apple/prune with water) every other day. Every other day she also has some cereal. The juice helps keeps her regular. She likes prunes too, but they can upset her tummy. I read somewhere that it is the yellow or white fruits that she should be on first (pears, apples, bananas) so we will stick to that for a few more weeks.

We have to have her weighed soon for our last medical report. It will be exciting to see how much she has grown. Someone actually said that she was big today, so that was nice. It was a first! She still wearing 3-6 mos clothes, so she is right in her target area.

It has been really cold here this past week or so and we have no heat in our house. Sometimes it is colder in here then it is outside. So poor Olivia sleeps with a onesie, a blanket footie sleeper, a swaddle blanket, and a woolly blanket her Nana sent her from New Zealand. All of her cousins used it--it is nice that she gets to use it too. The swaddle blanket is the only thing that makes her settle down for bed and it keeps her from rolling all over the bed. She is a funny girl. If we don't swaddle her she ends up with her head down at the bottom of her bed. Her mattress is on an incline to help with the reflux, so she ends up backwards.

We are still waiting to hear about a court date for our finalization next month and our date for our last home inspection. I can't believe it is almost over. It seems unreal. We talked to Olivia's birth mother last week. She had moved to a new apartment and had a new phone number. She wanted to make sure we had her new details. It was really hard for me to talk to her. She wants to see Olivia next month when we finalize the adoption. My instinct tells me to avoid this, but I know that it will be better for Olivia if we maintain an open relationship with her birth mother. I just can't hardly stand the thought of sharing her. Then I have these totally irrational thoughts like what if she tries to steal her or something. I know it is crazy--it's just that I finally feel as if I have totally, helplessly, fallen in love with my daughter. She is a long time dream come true and I couldn't stand to lose her. But I know that holding onto her too tight will not help. Andy's mother is a great example of an adoptive mother. I know it had to have been hard for her to share her children with their birth parents, but when that time came she did it with love and without question. Her children simply loved her even more for it, his father too. I hope that someday Olivia will feel the same way about us.

Andy had a little accident today and cut his hand reaching into the dishwasher. He is fine after nine stitches, a nicked tendon, and a soft cast. But this will mean three weeks of no help with baby from Daddy. He can't lift her. I am really going to miss his help! I haven't even figured out yet how he is going to pull up his pants and fasten his belt when he goes to the bathroom. Oh boy!

I'll work on more pictures this week!

It's a New Year!

Please forgive me for taking so long to blog again. It has been a crazy couple of weeks with the holidays and then I have been sick with a bad sinus/chest infection. But I am up today and taking nourishment as my Granny would say, so I am at it again.

Olivia is still loving her goats milk. She is eating 25-30 oz a day of milk and we have added some fruits--pears and prunes. She loves them! She eats her fruit and sometimes a little cereal through a feeder bottle, she still doesn't like to use a spoon. This is fine with me as she will eat all of her fruit this way and it is much less mess. She is basically just a happier and healthier baby.

She has started to sit-up a little bit, unsupported. In fact she is sitting here on my knee as I type. I put my arm around her, with her back to me, and she is quite content to sit and watch me work on the computer. We do a lot of homework this way.

We have sent off our paperwork to finalize the adoption. We will have our last home visit this month and then the court date should be set for early February. We have asked for February 5, 8, or 12. February 5 is the earliest possible date. When we get her new birth certificate we can apply for her social security card and passport for our trip to New Zealand next summer.

Everything here is going quite well. Andy is happy at church. We love our little house and our town, although we don't get to the bay as much as we would like to. He is spending a lot of time with Olivia and loves every minute of it. He can give her a bath all by himself, change diapers like a pro, feed her, make bottles, and yes, he is even learning the art of washing her clothes. I know you say, Andy is laundry challenged, but he is learning. I can't imagine having a baby with a Dad who was less involved. He is such a big help and Olivia is so blessed to be able to spend so much time with him. This week, while I was sick, he took her to work on Thursday and they were gone for almost nine hours. She didn't fuss too much, drank two bottles (away from home--this is new), and was the hit of the day. They even went to story time for a little while. I was so excited to be alone, I forgot to take a nap and spent the whole day playing cards in bed.

Tomorrow we have one service at church with a potluck afterwards. I am making a meat loaf and baked beans (from a can). Andy is out of school until February and is still not sure what to do with his time. He did find out yesterday that he made a B+, B, and a B-. So he has a 3.43 GPA. This from a guy who was convinced he might fail two classes. I guess that's about all--we are still doing WW and having some success! We are not giving up this time. Read my other blog for more details on that (if you wish), as well as, recipes and cleaning hints (I've gone to homemade cleaning products).

Beautiful smiles...
Olivia had been at work all day with Dad--
and she came back all smiles!

What's so funny?

Now this girl smiles all the time!

She is growing up too fast!
Five months old... she can sit up for a about 10 seconds,
totally unsupported!

Olivia and her cousin Colleen.

Who's that hairless man?

He looks like Andy...
Andy shaved his beard for me (as a gift),
because I have never seen him without it.
It is already growing back.

This is a happy girl with her Daddy!
She recognized him even without his beard.

Olivia's arms are still a little short for this move.

After opening presents at Granny's house,
Olivia and Daddy needed a nap in Granny's office.

Auntie Kerelyn and family from Hong Kong, sent Olivia
this beautiful doll. We named her Esme, which means
"Protector of Grace." They are inseparable.

"Let me tell you 'bout my best friend..."
Olivia & Esme

Olivia loved the lights on the Christmas tree!