Tuesday, August 31, 2010

He's Healthy!


Evan had his 3-year check-up with Dr. Camille yesterday.  He did amazingly well.  This is the first time he hasn't freaked out when we walked in the door.  I think all of the "talking" we did before the visit really helped- and the pretend doctors instruments from Ma and Papa helped too!  He only cried a little when he got his shot- we were so proud of him.  Dr. Camille said he is a very healthy boy and he weighed in at 39 lbs and 38 3/4 inches... We have a big 3 year old on our hands! 

And for an adoption update....  We hope to have the first draft of our home study in our hands by the end of this week...  I know in most people's terms we are probably moving along quickly- but it sure seems slow to me!!  Check out Evan's "Adoption Rocks" t-shirt in the above picture...  It was one of his birthday gifts...  He loves talking about his baby sister in Africa when he wears it..  Too cute!! 

Friday, August 27, 2010

3 YEARS OLD!

Our baby is 3 already...  Where did the time go???  This was the first year he really understood what his birthday meant and he was such a joy to watch.  It's amazing how much he's come out of his shell within a year's time... We love this little guy soo soo much!!
He was so excited when he woke up and saw his birthday banner hanging from the fireplace!
Family picture before the party started :)
His monkey cupcakes- this guy loves Curious George and also sleeps with a couple of monkey stuffed animals every night...  Drew helped with the decorating- it took awhile, but it was so worth it to see how much E enjoyed them!
The birthday boy!
Opening gifts- he didn't need much help at all this time... :)
Laughing at the card from Grandpa Brad and Grandma Charna- it sang the Chicken Dance song- he thought it was hilarious!
His big gift from Mommy and Daddy :)
What a spoiled little boy!  He got so many nice toys and clothes...  This was taken right before bed- He wanted us to leave everything "right there so he could play with them in the morning".  Too cute!!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Summer Randomness!

Here is a glimpse at what we've been up to the last couple of weeks...  We have been so busy!  But we are loving every minute of this summer... and spending lots of time outside and with family and friends...
Evan and Elias at the church picnic- Evan's first experience with a snow cone :)  He loved it!!

Holding and petting a baby alligator at the church picnic...

Evan posing with Johnny Appleseed at the TinCaps game on Cal's birthday :)

Zoo Day with Aunt Laura...

Friday Night Live at Jefferson Pointe....  Enjoying the Chipotle chips!  We've done this the last 3 Friday evenings...  it's becoming a new summer tradition...  so much fun :)

Evan and his buddy Elias- watching Tyler (Elias' daddy) get dunked in the dunk tank at the church picnic :) Natalie and I were cracking up watching them laugh and have fun.  I love how they are holding hands!!
Picking green beans from his garden at Ma and Papa's house....
Loving the Splash Park one Friday evening before Friday Night Live....

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Timing of It All..

There are two questions that I get asked more than any other:
  • When do you expect to have your child home?
  • How are you doing it financially? Or along those lines - how much does Ethiopian adoption cost?
I'm going to tackle the first question in this post, with the second to come later on. Here's an overview of the expected timeline for our adoption from Ethiopia:

The timeline can be broken up into 3 main pieces:
  • Paperwork and Homestudy (approximately 3 months)
  • Waiting for our referral (approximately 6-9 months)
  • Court and Travel (approximately 4 months)
We started in July, so that puts us out to approximately September, 2011. We've got a 14 month pregnancy on our hands. Whew, seems like forever away...

  • Paperwork and Homestudy - This includes getting birth certificates, having physicals, police checks, in-home homestudy visit, references, and endless signatures that all had to be notarized.
  • Waiting for Referral - After sending our paperwork over to Ethiopia, we are then waiting for our referral, which is our "match". We'll get a picture, name, age, and medical information of our child. Once we accept the referral, knowing that the child will be ours, we are then just waiting for the courts to make it legal.
  • Courts and Travel - A new rule in Ethiopia requires us to travel over to be in Court to legal declare our intent to adopt our child. This will likely be a few months after we get our referral. We'll get to spend some time with the child in the orphanage, and then go to court in Addis Ababa (the capital city). Then comes the hardest part - we come back home. We have to come back home after going to court to legal make our child a part of the Baker Crew, to give the paperwork time to get through the system and to the U.S. Embassy. Approximately 1-2 months after traveling to Ethiopia the first time, we'll go again to pick up the daughter that God has planned for our family from the beginning - what a great day that will be! (sidenote - in Adoption lingo this day is called your "gotcha day").
That's the general overview of our timeline, which we're leaving in God's hands. Hopefully these approximations are longer than what we'll experience, we'll certainly do everything as fast as possible on our end!

Drew

Monday, August 9, 2010

A Whole Lot of Playing!

Well, we have kept very busy these last couple of weeks.  Lots of playdates, errands, and fun family time.  I am trying to take advantage of this weather as much as we can because I know it will be cold before we know it!  I have included a few pictures of what we've been up to (although I haven't been very good about taking them lately!).

And for an adoption update- we have finished gathering all the paperwork for our homestudy and had our home visit a week ago.   Now we are just waiting for our homestudy agency to write up the homestudy and we can proceed with the dossier preparations.  In the meantime, we are starting to gather all the paperwork for the dossier.  It will still be awhile until this paperwork part of the process is done, but we are definitely making progress.  And each day we are a little closer to seeing our little girl!  So exciting :)   
Playdate with cousins Keaton, Kane, and Jack!  This is the best picture I got (and Keaton wasn't even in it)- the boys kept us on our toes and I didn't have much time to snap pictures! Thanks Holly for having us over! 
Playdate with his best buddy Ryan- playing on the big sand pile!  These boys have the best time together- and Marlene and I have a pretty good time too :)
Playing in the sprinkler one night with Daddy...  one thing is for sure- these 2 have so much fun together!