State of Obvious

Eric's mom passed away peacefully this morning just before 10:00 am. She is the Queen Bee of our little hive, and we love her. She fought to the end, tried to talk and comfort us as she made her way home. I am home with the kids, Carly of course is oblivious. Josh had a very hard time yesterday but today seems to be calm. Earlier his morning, before she passed, he was taking a bath with Carly and I came in to the bathroom to find him near tears. He said "My life will never be the same. I didn't know what to say except "Yes, honey, that's true." I expected tears and distress when I told him that she had passed, but he just nodded and his little eyes filled with tears. He leaned against me and then was ok after a moment or two. I am sure the coming days will hold many ups and downs for this little man. Eric is holding up, trying to be strong for his dad. I wish I could have gone to the hospital to help them, grieve with them, but I know that for now the best th...

For those of you who keep up with my/our life through this blog: Eric's mom is currently in the hospital. In typical Annie fashion, she had been falling down and such for 3 days but kept it to herself. She had also been unable to keep any food down and was bringing up blood. She thought she had the flu. Well, on Thursday she fell in the back room (probably after letting the dogs in or out) and couldn't get up. It took her a while to get Sam up to come help, as he was sleeping (and we all know he can sleep!), and they are not really sure how long it took for him to hear her. Sam couldn't get her up either and called Kelly (Scott's girl) to come over and help. Kelly and Sam together couldn't get her up and so they FINALLY called the paramedics. She was taken to a local hospital and lets just say, we're not happy with the care she got there AT ALL. At first they were not worried, had her scaled as a 9 (1 being worst I think). A specialist, who actually knows someth...

There are things they never tell you beforehand when you adopt a child, things like: When you need to get ids/social security numbers/file taxes they will want you to prove the child is yours. This is AFTER they have spent months making it impossible to do so. Oh, and a birth certificate - ya, you can't have one of those until after all the fall-de-rall AND it will take 6 weeks to 6 months. BUT! you need this birth certificate to get papers and or numbers that prove the child is yours... Confused? Ya me too. In other news, our taxes are filed. Oh, but we'll have to amend our return. Because they want a social security number for Carly. Pin a rose on my nose.

Somehow it snuck up on me. About three hours ago I left my twenties behind. Its odd, really. I have felt like I'm 20 for the last ten years - and now I'm not even half right. Some goals for the fateful year: Say what I mean and mean what I say. No really! Its cliche but one of my biggest faults, in my opinion. I want everyone around me to be "happy" so I keep my real thoughts mostly to myself. I probably will never be very expressive but hopefully when I do say things they will be 100 percent truth. And I will follow through. Key word: hopefully. Figure out who I am. Most days lately I don't feel like I have a clue who I am, what I want, or even what's wrong. Eric looks at me with that "oh no, not again, she's upset" look more and more; and it feels like my choices are all slightly off. Be less selfish and more selfless. Sounds the same but its really not. Be more grateful. Take a class. I'm thinking Spanish. Lose my love handles...

1 year, 6 months, 26 days - From the day Carly was born to the day we finalized the adoption $2000 - the amount of the homestudy and placement fee (a mere pittance compared to the normal cost of adoption. Had Carly not been a "special needs" case it would have been $4000 - still a bargain in the adoption world) 2880 - the number of diapers we changed from day 1 to gotcha day assuming she made 5 dirty diapers a day 4lbs 12 oz - Carly's weight when she came home from the hospital 6 years, 11 months, 24 days - From the day Josh was born to the day Carly was born 8 zillion - A rough estimate of the tears shed because we couldn't have a baby 8 zillion and 1 - A rough estimate of the tears shed because Carly came to us 1152 - Hours of sleep lost (assuming an average of 2 per day) from Carly's birth to gotcha day assuming 2 sleepless hours per day.....I would estimate this number is actually much higher These numbers mean nothing, and at the same time everything. They ta...

Mom "Uncle Scott is really hyper, I think he had too much sugar" Josh "Maybe he's lactose intolerant"

Today's the day! Carly is ours FOREVER!!!!!! The judge signed that paper today that makes Carly ours, and we couldn't be happier! It feels a little unreal! For now I'm going to post a picture from the judge's chambers. I plan to compile a little history, summary type thing and post it soon. Oh happy day! Carly helping sign the finalization: The newly minted family with Courtney, our agency rep, and Judge Young: