It did not go very well.
Ah well, maybe next time!
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Bananas!
Last week, in honor of Dominic's six-month birthday, we decided it was time to start him on bananas!
It did not go very well.
It did not go very well.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Adoption Day
We have a son!
Yes, I know, that's old news. Dominic's been a part of our family for over five months now. (Side note: has it really been five months? Time flies!) But today, we can draw a close to the adoption process we started a year and a half ago - Dominic is now legally our son!
Around lunch time today, Brian and I picked Dominic up from day care and went downtown to the King County Courthouse. We had a 1:30 court time to go in, answer a few questions in front of the judge, and have the papers signed and finished. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it didn't seem like it would be too crazy of a time.
1:30 was apparently the general time that particular court opened for the afternoon, and they were hearing a lot of different types of cases. The majority, in fact, were do-it-yourself divorce cases (ie, people representing themselves without lawyers) - not a happy bunch! Lucky for us, they took the adoption case first so we were able to get in and out.
As soon as our case was up, the first thing they did was to swear us in. I think that's the first time I've ever been under oath - and maybe that's a good thing? The whole thing barely took 5 minutes from there: our lawyer summarized the facts of the adoption, the judge indicated he had reviewed all the necessary documents, and that was about it! He signed some papers, let us take a picture with him looking "judicial", and with that Dominic was our legal son. Definitely a lot quicker and more painless than I was imagining!
And now, life goes on. From all appearances, nothing's changed for us. I'm sitting at home typing this post; Dominic's across the room playing with some toys and Brian's puttering around doing random chores. But we now enjoy full legal parenthood for Dominic, along with all the rights and responsibilities that entails. And we can finally call the adoption process complete - at least until number two, that is!
Yes, I know, that's old news. Dominic's been a part of our family for over five months now. (Side note: has it really been five months? Time flies!) But today, we can draw a close to the adoption process we started a year and a half ago - Dominic is now legally our son!
 |
| Waiting for the judge to hear our petition. |
1:30 was apparently the general time that particular court opened for the afternoon, and they were hearing a lot of different types of cases. The majority, in fact, were do-it-yourself divorce cases (ie, people representing themselves without lawyers) - not a happy bunch! Lucky for us, they took the adoption case first so we were able to get in and out.
 |
| Thanks, Judge Name-I-Don't-Know! |
And now, life goes on. From all appearances, nothing's changed for us. I'm sitting at home typing this post; Dominic's across the room playing with some toys and Brian's puttering around doing random chores. But we now enjoy full legal parenthood for Dominic, along with all the rights and responsibilities that entails. And we can finally call the adoption process complete - at least until number two, that is!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Movement Milestone #1: Rolling Over!
It's been a busy time the past few weeks. Lots of updates forthcoming on here!
As you already know from the title of this post, the real reason that is prompting a quick update right now is the news that Dominic can officially roll over! He was very close to it last night and this morning. When I picked him up at day care, they said that he had rolled over from his back to his tummy in his crib...however the poor guy wasn't able to roll back off of his tummy. Luckily, he figured it out right after we got home!
Our little guy is 5 months 4 days old, and is already becoming mobile!
As you already know from the title of this post, the real reason that is prompting a quick update right now is the news that Dominic can officially roll over! He was very close to it last night and this morning. When I picked him up at day care, they said that he had rolled over from his back to his tummy in his crib...however the poor guy wasn't able to roll back off of his tummy. Luckily, he figured it out right after we got home!
Our little guy is 5 months 4 days old, and is already becoming mobile!
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Pre-Adoption Seminar + 4 months
Earlier today, Dominic and I had the great experience of stopping in for one of our adoption agency's pre-adoption seminars. For those of you that have been reading our blog since the beginning, you might recall that one of the first things in our adoption process was going to a pre-adoption seminar.
I know what y'all are thinking right now. No, we're not starting the process again (yet)! Instead, our agency asked Andy and I if we wanted to stop by a seminar to tell our story as adoptive parents. Because of work and scheduling, it was just me and Dominic heading over to Seattle to talk in front of a few potential adoptive families. Overall, it was really fun. On one level, Dominic got a lot of attention so it was exciting for him. For me, it was interesting to see adoptive families in the same spot that Andy and I were in just 12 months ago. A lot has changed since then considering we have a 4-month old at home now!
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Speaking of Dominic being 4 months old now, his 4-month birthday was yesterday! Andy took him in for his latest pediatrician appointment, and the little guy is doing great. He's about 25" long, 13lbs 15oz, and cleared to start trying real foods! This weekend might involve an experiment with rice cereal. The only downer was that he had a fresh round of shots and wasn't overly thrilled for a little while. However, he handled it like a champ and is all better now.
I know what y'all are thinking right now. No, we're not starting the process again (yet)! Instead, our agency asked Andy and I if we wanted to stop by a seminar to tell our story as adoptive parents. Because of work and scheduling, it was just me and Dominic heading over to Seattle to talk in front of a few potential adoptive families. Overall, it was really fun. On one level, Dominic got a lot of attention so it was exciting for him. For me, it was interesting to see adoptive families in the same spot that Andy and I were in just 12 months ago. A lot has changed since then considering we have a 4-month old at home now!
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Speaking of Dominic being 4 months old now, his 4-month birthday was yesterday! Andy took him in for his latest pediatrician appointment, and the little guy is doing great. He's about 25" long, 13lbs 15oz, and cleared to start trying real foods! This weekend might involve an experiment with rice cereal. The only downer was that he had a fresh round of shots and wasn't overly thrilled for a little while. However, he handled it like a champ and is all better now.
Post-Placement Meeting #2
It's been a busy time the last few weeks, so we're behind on updates! Here's a post that I started back in February covering our 2nd post-placement meeting. Yep... finally finished it.
Last week, we had our second official meeting with one of the OA&FS counselors (Katie). It went really well and was in a way sort of relaxing. Compared to all of our pre-placement meetings that were all about anticipation, planning, details, money, paperwork, etc., this was a breeze! In essence, we're at the stage where we're just waiting for the legal items to get wrapped up before a court date where we will be granted custody of Dominic. At the moment, he's a ward of the adoption agency during this interim time for the legal stuff to get sorted out. We don't have a court date set yet, but we hope that will find its way onto our calendar in the next 4-6 weeks!
Some other interesting things that came out of our meeting with Katie involve the future adoption steps we might take. With the knowledge that the average waiting period for adoptive families is a little under two years, Andy and I have debated about when to restart the adoption process all over again. The earliest we can get rolling again for the ~6 month paperwork period is in November, or at least 1 full year after Dominic's placement. It's tough to think that far in advance, but here would be the potential timeline for us if we wanted to move as quickly as possible:
Last week, we had our second official meeting with one of the OA&FS counselors (Katie). It went really well and was in a way sort of relaxing. Compared to all of our pre-placement meetings that were all about anticipation, planning, details, money, paperwork, etc., this was a breeze! In essence, we're at the stage where we're just waiting for the legal items to get wrapped up before a court date where we will be granted custody of Dominic. At the moment, he's a ward of the adoption agency during this interim time for the legal stuff to get sorted out. We don't have a court date set yet, but we hope that will find its way onto our calendar in the next 4-6 weeks!
Some other interesting things that came out of our meeting with Katie involve the future adoption steps we might take. With the knowledge that the average waiting period for adoptive families is a little under two years, Andy and I have debated about when to restart the adoption process all over again. The earliest we can get rolling again for the ~6 month paperwork period is in November, or at least 1 full year after Dominic's placement. It's tough to think that far in advance, but here would be the potential timeline for us if we wanted to move as quickly as possible:
- Nov 2013 - Begin adoption process (2nd time around)
- ~6 month paperwork period
- May 2014 - Entry into the waiting pool
- Potential wait time: 0 months to 2+ years
- Average wait time: < 2 years
There's definitely a lot to consider here. For us, we're not going to think too much on this one as we have several months until November as well as Dominic's legal finalization to wrap up.
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