Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Care Bear by Day...






Princess by night...

Elizabeth had a busy Halloween! Her Day Care had a party, where she dressed as a Care Bear. Then tonight, my friend Jeanette had a Halloween party and trick-or-treating in her neighborhood. I really did not get any good pictures of my active little princess, but Jeanette took some with her camera, so if she got some good ones, I'll add them to this post. Elizabeth loved going house to house and watching all the big kids running around. She kept saying "Go, go, go!!"

By the way, yesterday was our 11 month anniversary :)

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!!!



Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Visit from the social worker


Today Elizabeth had her monthly visit from her social worker, Karly. Things are progressing very well. There has been no appeal from Elizabeth's birth parents, so next month we'll be signing adoption placement papers, and the next step after that...Finalization!!! Yippee, I can't wait!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

It doesn't get any better than this!

I love picking up Elizabeth from Day Care and Sunday School. That first second when she sees me is priceless. Today, for example, when I picked her up from the Sunday School nursery after Church, she gave me a huge smile, said, "Mommy!" and toddled as fast as her little legs could carry her accross the room and into my arms. If there is anything better than that, I don't know what it is... :)

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Sunday

Here's some Elizabeth cuteness to start off your new week...









Today we did one of our favorite things, we went for a ride on the "choo choo" at Balboa Park. I took these pics of us. Terrible of me, I know, but cute of her, I thought :)



Saturday, October 18, 2008

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch!

Elizabeth and I went to a Pumpkin Patch out in Lakeside today. We had a great time, we went on a hay ride, and to a petting zoo. Elizabeth loved the hay ride, and all the pumpkins, but was not too impressed with the petting zoo. She was a little afraid of the big animals up close, so we didn't stay in that area too long. It was a perfect Fall afternoon, and we both enjoyed eating yummy homemade pumpkin bread on the ride home :)










Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Some good news and a little sappiness

This is cool- late yesterday I received a call from Elizabeth's adoption social worker, she said that we may be able to sign adoption placement papers before the 60 days are up (that we have to wait in case birthparents want to appeal their termination of rights). We just would not be able to finalize the adoption before the 60 days, but I could sign the adoption placement papers. So this may speed up the adoption a little. The 60 days are up on 11/9. I can't believe it, something with this process may actually happen sooner than expected? Nice!
Warning- extreme sappiness ahead-proceed with caution--
I still look at Elizabeth and can't get over how perfect she is. I will never, ever know how I got so lucky. Seriously. I'm just in awe.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

15 months old!

My little pumpkin turned 15 months on Saturday:)


The weather has finally cooled off, yay!! It finally feels like Fall. I'd love to take Elizabeth out to Julian (about an hour east of San Diego) to get a real taste of Fall (and apple pie!) one of these weekends. There just always seems to be too much going on lately to be able to get away. This weekend we had a birthday party to go to on Saturday, and today after Church and naptime, we went to visit my friend who had a stroke last month. She is now in a nursing home and has made some progress. Only time will tell how much she'll come back from this.

On another note, I can't believe it's Sunday night already...Wasn't it just Friday???

Monday, October 6, 2008

Growing up!!






My little girl is growing up so fast!! She is getting better at using a spoon (although, as you can see, she's still on a learning curve...) Her walking is also improving every day, and she is walking as much as she is crawling now. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, too. Her favorite new words are "key" and "beach." She is becoming more and more interested in her books, too. She especially loves one that Grandma recently sent her called "Good Night Maine." She also loves "Good Night Moon"! She has a couple of teeth coming in, and late last week, she got one of her molars. That didn't make her too happy, but some Tylenol helped :) It seems like she is changing and doing something new every day now. It is so much fun to watch her grow and learn new things. But no matter how old she gets, she'll always be my baby :)

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Video of Elizabeth walking (a little)!

Here is a very short clip of Elizabeth taking a few steps. She can do more, but I never seem to have my camera ready at the right time!

P.S: It's hotter than $#%% here today, which is why she is just in a diaper...

Adoption process

Well, Elizabeth has been with me for 10 months now, and while we still have a ways to go before finalization, we are getting closer! Here is where the process stands now: In September, her birth parents' rights were terminated. They get 60 days to appeal, if they choose to. Anything can happen, but I really am not expecting them to appeal the decision. They last saw Elizabeth in February and have not been present at any of the court hearings. In a lot of ways I really feel for them. They both have many limitations, and have had no family support. From what I've been told, they were both in "the system" as children, too. They sure made one incredible little kiddo, though... Anyway, once the 60 days is up, the actual "adoption process" starts. I already had my homestudy completed, so it should go fairly quickly (let's hope). With the holidays approaching, I'm anticipating the adoption will be finalized sometime this winter, after New Years. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, of course (God, please don't let there be any unforeseen circumstances). I still worry about some great-aunt popping out of the woodwork. Even if one did though, it is hard to imagine that the court would give Elizabeth to a complete staranger after she has lived with me for almost a year. Still, it feels very unsettling to have so few rights and so little say in my daughter's life (legally, anyway) as her "foster mother." But that's ok. It's all part of the process, and I'll go through whatever I have to for this little girl. The important thing is, she isn't aware of any of this process. To her, I'm her mother, no question. She is in her forever home, safe and secure. Have I mentioned how much I love this kid?
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...