It's so painful

We finally received the photo that belonged with July's update (which we spoke about in the last post), and it's the best photo of Chloe we've received. In all the other photos we have of her she looks scared or angry (as you'll see when we post them...which will be soon, hopefully), but in this new one she's happy and smiling (with her tongue sticking out) and it turns out she has the most adorable little dimple in her left cheek. It's good to see her happy.

But, it's so painful to see these, knowing it's at least 2 months before we can be there to pick her up (and likely 3). It's harder and harder each day. It feels as if the day we travel out there keep retreating a day with each day's passing; like we're standing still. One step forward, one step back.

July Update

It's August, already, moron.

I know, I know; but we never received the July update from our agency. We got it today, finally, and as of July 24, our beautiful, little Chloe was 3 months and 22 days old; she was 57cm long (approx. 22 inches) and 6kg (just over 13 pounds). Her head circumference was 35cm, too, (approx. 14 inches) though I have no idea if this is normal or not. She appears to be normal.

One thing I find worth mentioning is that I was nearly the same size she is now when I was born. Granted, I was a humongous baby.

On the update, we read that she sleeps through the night without waking up unless she wants a bottle or has "diaper discomfort". :) She also naps after every meal, so she's already starting to resemble her future father!

"She drinks milk whenever she wants to drink" was written under EATING HABITS, but I'm not sure what this means, really. I take it as being good. Nothing has changed medically, and she's not on any medications. Both good.

All social, movement, vision and hearing milestones she should've had were met. Of course, this is both good and bad news for us. Good, in that she appears to be healthy and is growing as she should; bad, in that we have missed yet more milestones.

I suppose as long as we don't receive an update that says she's learning how to drive, or has taken the SAT, right?

Formula

We, as almost-parents, are expected to send formula over to our near-daughter. We're happy to do it, of course, but the only way we can actually manage it is to ask someone traveling to Ethiopia to pick up their child(ren) to bring some formula with them, from us, for our quasi-kid.

Julee was given a list of emails of folks traveling over later this month, and the first person she emailed just so happens to live 20 minutes away. Small world. Turns out at least two other couples from Utah are going through the same adoption agency.

We've asked this couple to also take some pictures of our psuedo-baby if they would be so kind. They said they would be happy to. :)

Though we've not looked at the pictures much lately (you know, trying to not get too attached to her just yet in case something unmentionable should happen and we weren't able to....you know...), we still like seeing new pictures of her. Soon, hopefully soon, we'll get this blasted police clearance and we'll be able to officially accept her in court...then, we will post these lovely pictures of our beautiful soon-girl.

still with the waiting

So what is it exactly that we are waiting for? Why haven't the pictures of this beautiful baby been posted on this blog?

Well, we're waiting for official release papers from the police in Addis Ababa. This release will allow us to officially accept baby Chloe in Family Court in Ethiopia and begin the process to adopt her; however, we still not received this release. It's been since the first week of May, when baby Chloe was 1 month old, and still nothing. To say we are perturbed is mild. But, there's really little we can do but keep calling our adoption agency, and hope they keep calling their liaison, whereupon she will put the screws to her people, etc.

On a positive note, our soon-to-be daughter has three cribmates, the parents of whom we've recently been in contact with. These three families seem very kind and are interested in keeping in contact throughout our children's lives. So, I suppose some kind of cribmate reunion (or several) will be in our future. I think this is a great idea and will help all four cribmates keep in touch with a part of their pasts.

Hopefully, pictures soon. Once we get those papers, she's as good as ours and the pictures will be posted. We can't wait to show her to you!

dead arms

We got our immunizations today for our travel to Ethiopia. We won't be traveling for months yet (likely November or December) but these need to be obtained ahead of time. So, we're both sitting here with dead arms, especially the right one. We can't lift our right arm above the shoulder, and typing this is harder than I thought it would be.

When we were at the doctor's office getting the shots, and finding out about the risks of each vaccination (especially Yellow Fever, which can cause Yellow Fever in a very small percentage of those who get the vaccination...which means, death, of course), we invariably had to update our doctor on the status of the adoption, going over all the information we have (the investigation, the ban, the lifting of the ban, the waiting on the police release (to come in another post soon), the waiting, the waiting, even more waiting yet). Driving back to work, I thought more about the future and having Chloe and what it will be like (or what I hope it will be like), and the strangest pang above my stomach and below my lungs came to me. It's an eagerness; a yearning; a pining, even. We both want her here so bad; to hold her and have her fall asleep in our arms; to listen to her sleeping (we have been told she's a snorer); to get the rest of our lives as a family started.

But, now, instead, we have the pain of the vaccinations (5 in total for each of us: Hep A and B, Typhoid Fever, Yellow Fever, and Polio...my god, Polio!!!). We take this pain knowing each throb is necessary, and brings us one step closer to having this thing come to an end.