Welcome

Lydia June Wedan

Born November 28, 2008

8 lbs. 0.8 oz

21.5 inches

stepping into toddlerhood...

...with his first Happy Meal! A monumental day for every child!

National Adoption Month

("Real" moms have cheerios stuck to the pages of their half-read magazines...)

In the midst of Thanksgiving, Christmas Season, 1st birthdays and baby-coming, I want to take a few minutes to recognize National Adoption Month. Last year in November, we were waiting to be matched with Brett, and I wrote this and this post. I'm not going to repeat myself, but, now, my perspectives have evolved as we have experienced being an adoptive family first-hand, and I have shared tid-bits of this on our blog throughout the year.

I need to add one "what not to say" to my list from last year. We have heard one version or another of this over and over again since we announced our pregnancy: "Oh, ha ha, my cousin tried to get pregnant for 8 years. They adopted a little girl from Korea, and then they got pregnant! Seems like it always works that way!"

This is where I look sheepishly at my son and thank God he doesn't understand what was just said. I realize that I may be reading too much into this statement, but it sounds to me that this person is making the following assumptions: (1) Building a family through adoption is not equal to having biological children (2) Adoption was not the desire of our heart (3) It is common for couples who try to conceive and then adopt to become pregnant (actually it happens only about 3-5% of the time). We feel incredibly blessed that God has heard the desire of our hearts to have both adopted and biological children. (We have all the "blessings" we can handle for a while now, Lord!)

Anyway, now that I have that off my chest, here are a few surprises that have come along as an adoptive family:

I expected to be stared at when we were out in public, but have been surprised by how often we are approached by strangers who want to talk about adoption. Most are very friendly. Some have thanked us as if we are heroes. Some are just nosy. It's the nosy ones that I still need practice in my responses as Brett gets older and begins to understand.

I'm surprised at how quickly I have *forgotten* that we ARE conspicuous when we are out in public, and am thrown off when we are approached.

Why can't I find band aids that match my son's skin tone? I'm convinced he will be wearing spider man band aids when he is in high school! When I go to a Target or Walmart, why are 95% of the hair and skin products for white people even in neighborhoods where white is the "minority"?

I'm surprised at how I treasure every little piece of information I have about Brett's birth family, and wish I had more.

While adoption is at the heart of our family, it is only a small piece of who Brett is. A recent conversation Bryan and I had: Me, "I'm going to start being more flexible with what I give Brett to eat. He hasn't had any reactions to anything we've given him yet, and it's not like food allergies run in either of our families." Bryan, "Joy, it doesn't matter if food allergies run in our families."

all baby

38 weeks

My doctor says I'm "all baby". All I know is my ribs are aching to have some space again!

nesting

Sister is coming ready or not! So, with 2 weeks to due date, it's time to get ready.

I have my bag packed for the hospital, and one packed for Brett if we need to take him to a sitter. The bassinet is set up in our room. A few pink outfits are washed and newborn size diapers are color-coded in the red basket under the newly borrowed changing table. I haven't gotten as far as I had hoped on my sewing, but I did get a quilt made. Since Brett and Sister will be sharing a room, I picked out fabrics that coordinate with Brett's lime green, blue, and red baseball theme. I delegated sewing of Sister's crib sheets to my mom. Still hoping to get a dust ruffle done.

With Brett, the crib was set up 7 months ahead of time. Number Two's crib is in the garage and will be set up sometime after Christmas...

Our house seems to be shrinking.

11 months

Brett is 11 months old!

His personality is charming and social, and a bit strong willed. The nursery workers at church describe him as "assertive", "busy", and "concerned about others".

He has become more confident in his mobility, but is not standing or walking independently yet.

We have noticed a dramatic increase in his receptive language, doing "clap", "touchdown", "give me five", and sometimes "say bye-bye" on command. He also understands but does not always obey one step directions like "come here", "no", "lay still", and "stand up".

Brett has become more interested in videos (thank you Lord!) and books, and amazingly will sit for up to 10 or 15 minutes to be read to.

What a lot of fun we have every day!