Our life with Mia =)

Hi everyone!!

Well, all of the family is gone, and now its just me, Dan and Mia. Mia is now two weeks old! The first two weeks were, well, rough. Mia has been a sweet little baby, but 3 days after we brought her home, I got miserably sick. Then as soon as I started feeling better, Dan got sick (of course!) He's starting to feel better and I feel great, other than the sleep-deprivation, which I don't think is going to go away! Thankfully, my wonderful sister Emily stayed with us for almost the whole time, she left yesterday morning. I really don't know how we would have gotten through it without her help. Dan and I swapped the night hours and Emily did the morning shift so we could sleep!

My wonderful friend Carissa signed us up for mealbaby, which is pretty much a meals on wheels for new parents. It has been such a blessing because sleep deprivation +illness+new baby = very bad cooking!  We have also had so many visitors the past couple weeks, its been so nice to see our friends and have company. Its funny how the days, hours etc all kind of blur together with a newborn. We are falling in love with Mia more every day. Sometimes I just stare at her and cant believe shes our daughter and we have her for the the rest of our lives. She's so beautiful and sweet. Well, we have gotten alot of questions, so below I'm going to answer some of them!

What type of stuff do we still need? Well, thankfully we have been given alot of the big stuff. We have a carseat, bassinett, swing, crib. We bought a cute little dresser from Target to match her room, and I found a changing table at Once Upon a Child in perfect condition. We have been given soo many clothes too! For the stuff we still need, we are registered at Target. We would love to get a stroller and we can always use diapers and formula (Similac). We are flying through both of them!!

How are the dogs with her? We were a little nervous because although we adore our pups, they are somewhat, hmm, wild. Amazingly, they have been so gentle and sweet with her. When she cries they get concerned and really mopey. I think Bailey (our little girl dog) is a little jealous, but shes really good with her and tries to cuddle with her every time I'm not looking! Jack, our giant softy, licks her across the face whenever he gets the chance.

How is she sleeping, eating, etc? Its funny because every day is different. Two nights ago, she slept beautiful and woke every 3 hours for feedings. Last night, she got up every 1-1.5 hrs. Shes not a huge eater but she eats more and more! Plenty of potty time too! ;)

Are you going to keep blogging? Yes! I love sharing our journey with you, adoption through parenting!

How are we doing financially? We have paid all of our agency fees, amazingly we had enough money in the bank for it! It was an enormous amount but she was soo worth it. Our adoption isn't finallized, so we still have $4,000 to go. If you havent supported our adoption and feel called to support us, we will be so thankful and blessed by your donation. I'm not going to be shy and say we dont need a little bit of help! =)

What type of contact do you have with the birthparents? We chose to have an open adoption with the birthmother, as you know from previous posts. The first few days were soo hard emotionally because the bmom was constantly contacting me. I felt that I couldnt bond with our little baby and that she wasn't mine. Thankfully, we have set up some boundaries and I feel much better about our relationship. We are going to send her occasional pictures and do visits every 2-3 months for the first year. We really want to maintain a healthy relationship with the bmom and we really care about her. bdad said that he would be involved but I have a feeling he will fall off the grid in a little while. 

Thank you so much for following our blog, a new and wonderful friend offered to do newborn pictures for free, and she is coming tomorrow morning. I'm so excited! Mia is so beautiful and photogenic I cant wait to see her captured through the lens of a good camera. My camera is just ok. Anyhow, I will post pictures from it when we get are finished!!