Saturday, January 24, 2015

Finally Finalized!

I have had a busy week so I am finally getting a chance to blog about some very exciting news!  This past Tuesday, January 20th, we finalized Wren's adoption!

We finalized by phone at Trainor Grain in Wing because Susan Stork was our notary. Our appointment was for 3:30pm Florida time, 2:30pm Illinois time.  Our attorney called us at a little before 2:30pm to let us know court was about to begin and he would be calling back and we should be ready to speak to the judge.  We sat in a back room at Trainor's and used speaker phone.  When our attorney called back we spoke with the judge and Susan had to give her notary information.  Then we were sworn in (affirmed in).  Next the attorney asked us a few questions.  We stated our full names, how long we had been married, if we had a stable marriage, when Wren was born and how long we were in florida, if we have formed a bond with Wren, if we knew that the adoption was irrevocable and Wren would be entitled to our estate as a biological child, and if we wanted to keep her legal name Wren Danielle.  After we answered the questions the judge said he signed the papers and he congratulated us on our adoption completion for Wren!  He told us if we were ever in Tampa we could stop by and get a picture with him at the courthouse with Wren!  Instead we took a picture with Susan since she was our notary for the finalization.  We finished the phone conversation and signed the notary paper which I then mailed to our attorney.  He was going to file the paperwork from the judge that day and we should soon be getting a birth certificate for Wren in the mail!  Then we can file for a social security number for her and we will be completely done with anything adoption related for Wren!  The whole phone conversation lasted about 5 minutes if even! When we got done we came out of the back room at Trainor Grain and my co-workers had food and drinks prepared to celebrate our finalization!  They are the greatest co-workers and have been an encouragement and a support from the very beginning of our infertility and throughout our adoption! You guys are the best, thanks so much for all you have done for us! They also gave us cards and a Willow Tree Angel called "Our Gift" which is the mom, dad, and baby.  It was perfect for the occasion!






It has been an amazing journey.  There were really amazing parts, really hard parts, times that made us want to give up and times that made us want to do it all over again.  We are so thankful for our friends, family and everyone else who prayed for Wren even before we knew her and who continually supported and encouraged us!

We also are thankful for Wren's birth family.  They have given us a beautiful child who fills our lives with so much joy and we will be forever grateful.

Most importantly we want to praise God for orchestrating this entire adoption.  So many times it was evident that God was at work making things happen at just the right time to show us He was in control and would see us through! We are so thankful we have a never failing constant God to depend on whether we are in a hard season or a joyful season.  We are also thankful that God was able to take the pain of infertility and use it to deepen our trust in Him,  provide a home for a child, help a birth mom that needed someone to parent her child, and ultimately bring glory and honor to His name!!

Monday, January 12, 2015

Date Set!

We received a "Notice of Final Hearing" letter in the mail in December letting us know we have a court date for January 20th to finalize Wren's adoption! We are excited to have the date set and be so close to finishing this adoption! The court has allotted us 10 minutes by phone with the judge to finalize.  It should be very quick and thankfully we don't have to fly to Florida for just 10 minutes in court!

Our lawyer should call us on January 20th a little before court is about to begin and give us a number to call into court.  She will be appearing on our behalf.  We then call in having our ID's and a notary present with us.  We are supposed to be getting a paper in the mail any day now that we will sign in front of the notary during the hearing.  The notary will swear (or affirm) us in, then the judge will ask us a few questions about the adoption and finally we will sign the papers.  I believe thats how the process should go! Once that is done Wren will be our legal daughter!

Please pray for a smooth finalization! Thanks for all the prayers whispered on our behalf throughout the last few years.  God has blessed us so much and Wren is the answer to lots and lots of prayers!!

Friday, January 9, 2015

5 Months!

Five months!! It has gone by so fast and when I see other newborn babies it makes me wonder how a baby can grow so much in just a few short months!  It's exciting though to enter new stages and watch as Wren learns new"tricks"!
WREN DANIELLE (5 MONTHS!)
Miss blue eyes!
SLEEP
Wren has officially moved from a rock n' play in our room to her crib in her own room! The first night went really well and she slept pretty good.  I only had to go give her pacifier back a few times toward morning.  She had been taking naps in her crib during the day so I think that helped her transition.  The second night though I was so worried about her for some reason and kept checking on her all night!! Jesse kept telling me just to move her back into our room because she was too young but we got through it and she has continued to sleep in her crib.  She usually sleeps great and only needs a paci back a few times more toward morning.  Recently though she has had some really rough nights waking up almost every hour due to a cold and stuffy nose.  It makes for some long nights but I hope soon she will get better and begin sleeping better.

DEVELOPMENT
We went to the doctor today just to check out Wrens cold and make sure there wasn't any RSV or ear infections since we will be going to Wisconsin Dells next week.  She weighed 16 lb. 7oz. so she is up about a pound from last month.  It's a good thing we went too because she has a double ear infection which could be much of the reason she isn't her normal self lately.  Her cold was just a cold though so we are glad its nothing worse!  She is on antibiotic for her ears so hopefully she will be a little more chipper soon! At least this doctor visit didn't include shots :)

It seems like Wren is really growing up because she has been learning so many new things.  On December 24th Wren rolled over on her own for the first time!  Of course we took videos and cheered every time she did it!  She rolled from her belly to her back.  She has been so close to rolling the other way for a long time and finally today she did it! While we were waiting for the doctor today she was laying on her back on the table and suddenly rolled toward me.  Luckily I caught her or she would have rolled off the table and then I realized she had rolled from her back to her belly for the first time! (that I saw anyways) She will have to keep gaining strength because a lot of times she tries to roll that way but cant quit get over but now that she has done it once I'm sure she will be rolling all over the living room before I know it! Speaking of strength she should be getting some serious abs! She loves to lay on her back and lift her head up and pull her feet to her face and chew on them or her socks.  It has become her "go to" position.  This means socks are almost a lost cause.  I thought they didn't stay on well before but now she is always pulling on them so they definitely don't stay on! She has also been doing better at grabbing toys and holding them.  She tries really hard to put her paci in her mouth herself and sometimes she succeeds but she still isn't able to put her paci back in while in her crib during the night.  I'm hoping that's something she learns very soon!

Warming her feet by the fireplace! (Her new favorite position)
Nom, nom, nom, love eating socks!
Wren has been wanting to sit up and be able to see things but doesn't have the strength and balance to sit up by herself, which is one of the problems with her becoming discontent.  I decided to get out our high chair and give that a try because she can be strapped in by the shoulders so she won't fall forward.  She did like that if I put toys on the tray and she can play and watch me work. Wren has had an interest in watching us eat food so we decided to let her try some a few weeks ago.  First we cut up some apple and put it in one of those mesh bags so she could just suck the juices out.  She absolutely loved it!! Problem is she doesn't have good enough grip and control to keep it at her mouth so she would get frustrated and want help holding it to her mouth! Since we had the highchair out we decided to try some baby cereal.  I think she went through a growth spurt and seemed very interested in food and even started drinking up to seven ounces per feeding.  So we decided to try the rice cereal first.  She made some funny faces and even gagged a little at the texture.  She would eat it sometimes but never really seemed to like it that much.  Then I got out some of the squash we froze from our garden this summer and tried that.  She definitely liked it more than the rice cereal but still didn't seem to have a real interest. So we decided to wait a little while to begin feeding her baby food every day or in place of a bottle.  Wren also went back to drinking 6 ounces every three hours instead of seven so she must be done with the growth spurt for now.  I did feed her squash again the other day and she ate the whole bowl so maybe now she is ready to give it a go.  I think I will try feeding it to her after her morning nap each day and see how it goes if she continues to want it or decides she just likes the bottle for now!
Loving the juice from the apple
New flavor = YUMMY
Not so sure about the rice cereal
More on her face or in her tummy???
Such a big girl in her high chair!
"Look mom, I can even grab my feet
when I'm sitting in here too!"
PERSONALITY
Wren is a squealer!! She gets so loud and the older she gets the more she squeals! She can also have an attitude making her very touchy at times.  The slightest inconvenience can cause a major fit of angry squeals and cries.  Thankfully she gets over it after a little bit though! She definitely has a little drama in her :) It can be frustrating at times but also pretty cute. She is pretty good most of the time but way less content mainly because she can't move around much and get where she want's to go. She wants to be held or have me sitting right by her entertaining her with toys or giving them to her every time they get out of her reach.  Thankfully she still loves to sleep so that gives me a break from the squeals and constant need of attention so I can get some things done around the house. Her recurring colds are also a big part of her discontentment so the times she gets feeling better we, for the most part, have our content little girl back!

THINGS WREN LOVES
As she always has she loves her sleep and some days takes really long naps during the day as well as sleep all night.  Other things she loves are attention, toys, bath time, being held, when we sing to her, and also a new one is cuddling.  The older she gets the more she enjoys snuggling with Jesse or I after she wakes up, before bed, or after she finishes a bottle.  I love the cuddles so I'm glad she is starting to enjoy it more too! Wren has also really started to notice Myli and will try to grab her hair if she is nearby or she will watch her walk around the living room.  Good thing Myli likes the attention of having her hair pulled (gently) so they get along great! Oh and as I said before she loves to eat her feet!!

Always love bath time!!! Looking very chunky here but I
think mainly because of how she is looking at the camera!
THINGS WREN HATES
Usually I would say tummy time but because she can roll over from her belly to her back she is a lot more content when I lay her on her belly to play! She will even stay playing on her belly for awhile before she rolls over.  I think because she knows she has the option to roll over she doesn't mind being on her belly as much.  Sometimes I even have to roll her from her back onto her belly after she rolls herself over because she can't get her toys and starts crying.  We only have a few more months to get rid of her flat head so the more tummy time the better!  She also hates having her nose wiped or sucked out but what baby doesn't hate that?  Things will be much better once this cold season is past and she isn't constantly snotty or stuffed up!

FUN THINGS WE DID THIS MONTH
Earlier in the month Wren's new little cousin was born! She weighed only 5 lb 4oz! She is still so little!! It made Wren seem huge.  It's exciting Wren will have another girl cousin her age to grow up with :)
Baby Emerson and Wren!
Such sweeties!
Next came lots of Christmases!! To start off we had the big Zimmerman family Christmas with Jesse's grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!

Hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma Zimmerman!
Gift exchange :)
Then we headed up to Minnesota with Jesse's family to be with his mom's family for their Christmas! Wren was able to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt for the first time!


She also enjoyed swimming at the hotel hot tub (it was about the temp of bath water so don't worry) on the way to Minnesota!
Floating!
Daddy time
Next we had my side's family Christmas! She got presents from grandma and grandpa and did a gift exchange with her cousins! Lots of siblings and cousins make for a fun time at Christmas!

Cousin Love!
4 Little cousin girlies all born in just a little over a year!
And no they would not look at the camera!!
BIG blue eyes :)
Yay for presents
Sporting her new boots made by Aunt Erinn, so cute!
Our little Santa Clause!
As her shirt says she is "on the nice list"!
Last we had Christmas with Jesse's family.  Much different than my family because she is the only grandchild! This means lots of spoiling though!
Lots of gifts to open
New boots!
Spending time with Grandma Zimmerman!

RANDOM PICTURES
As I have shown on other posts Myli loves to sleep
right next to or on top of Wren! I guess she keeps her
warm in this cold weather :)
Myli usually isn't to far away when I get the camera out!



Bumbo time!
Looking cute in her Christmas dress!
Holding her head up and doing tummy time! Getting so BIG!
Happy girl
Wren and Mommy all ready for Christmas!


Sucking those fingers, thankfully it isn't an ongoing habit
WEEKLY PICTURES