What's New?

I know I don't update my blog as often as I used to, but let's face facts, I'm just a little busier now that Lili is home. LOL! Still I want to keep everyone updated when I can on what's happening in the World of Weeks and there are some new things happening as of late.

Before I fill you in on the "what's new?" what hasn't changed is Lili's continued growth. I spent some time yesterday pulling most of her 12 month outfits out of her dresser and putting them away. There are a few that still fit her and of course she can still wear most of the dresses, but for the most part she is easily in 18 month outfits now.

Ben decided to share his head cold with Lili and since she hasn't been feeling well, we've gone back to her wanting to nap with either Dave or I holding her. She was pretty restless the first couple nights of her cold, but is now starting to sleep better. Today is the first time in the last several days that she's actually let me lay her down in her crib without immediately waking up.

Because Lili likes to share, she shared her head cold with me. No wonder she wasn't napping well :-( This stuff is terrible. I'm hoping it doesn't take me long to get over it because I have lots I need to get done.

A few weeks ago I posted some information about our oldest son, Ryan. While things are still up and down for him right now, we are seeing some positive improvements. We've been working with the agency that provides services for him and have asked them to move him to another home that is better suited to meet his needs, but they have not made a final decision in regards to a move for him. In the meantime, we are seeking services from an agency in the Chicago area. They have a wonderful reputation and actually have homes for adults with Autism. I've been in contact with them and they will be putting together a team to come down to meet Ryan and to talk to us, hopefully in the near future. While we would rather he be living closer to us, the most important thing is that his daily needs to being met in a such a way that he is allowed and able to meet his full potential. Unfortunately, the agency he's with now does not have the necessary services in place that will allow that to happen for him, so a move in the future may be necessary.

Now for the "what's new?" For those who have been reading my blog, you are already aware that we have plans of adopting at least one more time in the future. Since Lili's brothers are older, we really wanted her to have a sibling closer to her age. In addition, we didn't want her to be the only child in the family who is adopted. Lili is going to have various feelings about her adoption as she grows and while we hope that they are all very positive feelings, we are also realistic and know that she is going to have feelings about things that we really won't understand completely. They will understand each other in a way that Dave, her brothers and I won't and we feel it is important for Lili and her future sibling to have that common bond with each other.

Of course the dilemma has been where Lili's sibling will be from. The U.S. has closed adoptions from Guatemala because Guatemala is not Hague compliant and while they appear to be working on a Hague compliant system, there is no guarantee they'll have that system put in place in the near future. In addition, there are still questions surrounding what the adoption process will look like, so with sadness we've decided that an adoption from Guatemala, at least in the near future, is not going to happen for us. So, we have researched and discussed then discussed and researched more trying to decide what country could possibly touch our lives in the way Guatemala has. Finally, we have decided that we are going to pursue an adoption from Ethiopia. Since an adoption from Ethiopia will most likely take about the same amount of time as our Guatemala adoption took, we plan to begin the process in the next few weeks. We have selected an agency and are waiting on paperwork from them. We have also decided that we will be adopting another baby girl, so Lili's outgrown clothes will get more use in the future.

That's "what's new?" in the World of Weeks.