My Final Post

I have realized over the past several months that I just don't have it in me- I'm just not a blogger. I respect you folks that can keep up your blogs with good, interesting posts on a regular basis. So this is my final post. Today was a very big day for our family. We went to the courthouse for Graham's finalization of his adoption. It was really sweet. Our attorney met us there. He is an older gentleman and just precious. When it was our turn we went up to the judge's bench. We each stated our names- Jason first then me. Then I asked the judge if Josh and Lillie could state their names too. I lifted Lillie up to the mike and she said, "L-I-L-L-I-E". Then Jason lifted up Josh- yep he decided to follow in his sister's footsteps and he spelled out, "J-O-S-H." There were several giggles from different folks in the room, and the sweet judge was just smiling very sweetly and complimented them on how smart they are. She was great. Then the attorney asked Jason a series of questions such as can we confirm that the birth parents have terminated their rights and that Hope Cottage has approved us as adoptive parents. The the last question he asked is, "Do you love this child and are you willing to provide a good home for him?" I just teared up. Then it was my turn and he asked me do I concur with the way Jason answered the previous questions. Then he asked me if I love the child and am I willing to give him a good home. I was barely able to choke out a "yes, I do." Then the judge said, "Well, it's not final until I give the little guy a gift. " Then she handed us a little puppy dog beany baby. So sweet. Then we went out into the hall and took the picture that I posted above. And we also got out Flat Stanley for our cousin in South Dakota and took a picture of Flat Stanley at the courthouse :-) We had originally hoped to head to the Arboretum for a family picnic, but the weather was not too cooperative- pretty chilly and very windy. So we settled for some Chick-Fil-A, where we happened to run into our dear friend Tara and her kids and one of her sweet friends. It was really sweet because Tara and her husband have been in our community group and have walked this road with us since we first started praying about adoption.

I originally started this blog because I wanted to share our adoption story with others. So if you know people who are considering adoption please pass my contact info along to them. If you don't have my info then just private message me on Facebook and I'll get it to you.

God bless you all and keep you all. May His goodness and His glory be ever-present in your lives.

Much love,

Courtney and family

My Happy Little Guy

Graham is doing great! We went to a pediatric dermatologist at the end of December. She had us try soy formula and Alimentum- a hypoallergenic formula to see if any of Graham's skin issues were caused by a milk protein allergy. We're back on regular formula now because the others didn't help, but she helped us feel better about using mild steroid creams to treat his eczema. She said as long as we are using it only on the rough patches of skin and not the smooth, healthy skin that we are in the clear. So his skin is actually doing much better.

We had his last post adoption visit by our caseworker at the agency today. We will be eligible to finalize his adoption in the courts next month, but the actual court date will probably be sometime in March. It will feel really good for it to be 100% a done deal!

Graham is also doing great with making strides developmentally. He is starting to roll over form his tummy to his back, starting to eat baby cereal and a couple of baby foods, and he's finally started doing a lot better with reaching and grabbing! He is such a happy baby- and so friendly and social. He loves to smile and talk to everyone he meets. Josh and Lillie are still totally smitten with him. Lillie especially loves being his little second mommy. She did get in trouble this week because she tried sneaking him her chocolate milk when I wasn't looking. That day she got a stern warning. Then two days later she fed him some of her cereal, so she lost a lot of privileges that day- no dessert, no TV, no books or stories at bedtime. That girl is sneaky! We need to keep a close eye on her!

My Budding Competitor

This big kid is way into sports and competition right now. My parents kept the kids for us last month while we did a retreat with our new marrieds group that we lead. Josh got to watch two back to back NFL play off games with his Poppy and he has not come back down from the football high. He will get out his little nerf football and act out games in the house- recently the Cowboys, Frogs, and Seahawks played Oklahoma and the "Coats" (Colts) and "Peetriots" (Patriots). Of course Frogs/Cowboys/Seahawks won.

In this picture Josh is holding a lemon slice. Every so often I like to scrub my kitchen floors with lemons. This day after we cleaned we made fresh squeezed lemonade at Josh's request.

Tomorrow Josh gets to take snacks to his preschool class. It's a pretty big deal to bring snack because you get to be the line leader and you get to sit at a special snack table and choose a friend to sit at the special table with you. Josh is bringing veggie straws and marshmallows for his snack. He is beyond excited. While we were counting out marshmallows and putting them into ziplock baggies I started asking Josh how he felt about turning five and getting to go to kindergarten next year. He told me he is sad and scared because you have to go to kindergarten everyday and so he won't have as much time to spend with his family. Awwww. That just broke my heart a little bit. But I think he is really going to love school, so that makes me feel better.

Foot Stamps

Today while some friends were over to play, Lillie disappeared for a few minutes. When I went to find her I found my bathroom covered in baby powder! Lillie was making "foot stamps".

Lotions and potions

Graham has had skin issues since day 1. We have a cabinet's-worth of lotions and potions now that includes T-Gel shampoo, Eucerin calming wash, Eucerin advanced dry skin therapy cream, cetaphil cream, cortizone cream, jojoba oil, shea butter lotion, aquafor, vaseline, and Neutragena Norwegian fisherman's lotion. At his 2 month appointment our pediatrician told us to treat his eczema with cortizone and vaseline or aquafor. Then at a three month visit to make sure he didn't have an ear infection, the other doctor in the practice told us that cortizone could bleach his skin if it was used for several consecutive days. Then a co-worker of Jason's said that she took her son to a dermatologist for his cradle cap and dry skin and that the cradle cap went away within a few days of using the prescription cream. So I decided to go to that same dermatologist because I just felt like we were fighting a losing battle trying to keep his skin and scalp hydrated and healthy. On Monday morning at 8:35 we arrived for our 8:40 appointment with Josh and Lillie still in pajamas and Graham needing his bottle and letting everyone know it. While I was checking in I could hear Josh talking to Graham, "You don't have a baby in your tummy, Graham. But you could adopt a baby. We adopted you. You didn't grow in mommy's tummy. You grew in a different tummy, but we adopted you." I'm not sure the handful of folks in the waiting room appreciated Josh's explanation. I'm guessing they were hoping to read their magazines in peace and quiet. We finally made it back to see the dermatologist. She said that eczema in infants is usually due to the skin not producing enough ceramides on its own. There are three over-the-counter lotions that contain pheramides: Aveeno makes one, Cetaphil makess one, and Cera Ve. She ordered us a prescription scalp oil, a prescription cream to use on rough patches on arms and legs, and gave us samples of the cetaphil lotion called Restoraderm. I filled the prescriptions right away and got Graham on his new regimen. By Tuesday night Jason and I were both very concerned about the skin on Graham's face and neck. He looked like a leathery, wrinkly old man. It was terrible. So I got online and found out that Restoraderm has shea butter in it- which we had tried on Graham before and he did not respond well to it. So I ran to the store and grabbed some Cera Ve. This morning when Graham woke up he looked like a scaly alligator. Huge pieces of skin were flaking off all over his face, scalp, and neck. His arms, legs, and torso were fine- in fact his legs are looking quite a bit better. So I took him back to the dermatologist today to figure out what was going on. Unfortunately she pretty much said she didn't know. She didn't know if it was an allergic reaction or if it was just the way his skin was sloughing off dead skin. I told her about the Restoraderm having shea butter in it and she said that the scalp oil had peanut oil in it. WHAT?!?! Who gives a 3 month old infant something with peanut oil?? Most pediatricians don't want kids even touching peanuts until 3yrs old or later. That is when I really regretted not going to a pediatric dermatologist. I had called a pediatric dermatologist, but they couldn't get me in until the end of the month. Anyway, she said to stop using the scalp oil as well as any lotions with ceramides and go back to the stuff we were using previously. Then she also gave us a new prescription for a cortizone cream. I asked her about if it could bleach his skin. She acted surprised by the question and said that she had never heard that. Ugh. The conflicting info is frustrating. So I called and talked to a nurse at my pediatrician's office and she said to go ahead and fill the prescription. The more I have thought about it I feel pretty confident that the culprit for the crazy skin-peeling reaction is the scalp oil. Not only does it contain peanut oil, it also has a scent to it. We have not used anything scented for Graham because his birth mom told us that she was allergic to perfumes. But today would have been a great day to have her contact info and be able to ask her some questions. The dermatologist asked if his birth mom had battled eczema as a child or asthma. She said asthma, allergies, and eczema all go hand in hand. We have a brief summary of her medical history that the hospital provided to us, but nothing extensive. Well, I know that was a LONG post on skincare- but thanks for letting me vent. It is just hard to watch my sweet baby boy who I love struggle with all of these skin issues. I feel very hopeful that we will get it all to a healthy place soon. Thanks again for your prayers and support.

Happy Belated Halloween :-)

Josh the gecko, Lillie the ladybug, and Graham the bumblebee had a great Halloween weekend. Our friend Trey set up this backdrop to take pictures of the kids at their costume party. Once Josh lost the gecko gloves and mask he looked more like a surfer :-)

On actual Halloween night we went to the same church in McKinney that we've gone to for 5 years in a row now. Josh and Lillie had a great time playing games, jumping in bounce houses, and filling up their baskets with candy. Josh was actually very diligent to not pick any candy that would be too sticky or chewy for his new sparkly teeth to handle. Graham did great as usual- he is such a content baby!

Two Months and Counting!

Graham turned two months old last Monday on Jason's birthday. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz at his check up. He's truly doing great. Josh and Lillie did manage to pass along a cold to him, but he is pretty much over it and doing fine now. Sweet Josh had to have oral surgery two Wednesdays ago. They ended up putting caps or fillings on all of his teeth except his 2 yr molars- YIKES! Poor guy. Jason says Josh inherited bad teeth from him. Lillie girl is still pumped about her weekly gymnastics class. She gladly shows off her oh-so-impressive arm circles and stretches to anyone who will give her an audience. We all 5 had a great time at TCU's homecoming this past Saturday. It was supposed to rain the whole time but ended up being pretty pleasant weather for most of the time. We're looking forward to Halloween weekend. We still need to nail down plans for the actual night of Halloween- but the festivities will kick off for Josh on Thursday with a party at school. We worked on Josh's gecko costume today. It is 90% ready. We just lack suction cups for his gloves! Then Friday we are hoping to get to trick or treat at the same retirement center we've been going to since Josh was an infant. Saturday is a costume party and a pumpkin carving party. Hopefully some cute Gecko, Lady Bug, and Bumblebee pics coming soon!