I can almost hear that pitter patter...

...of slippered feet on the hardwood floors! 

We spent this weekend getting ready - and though I am sure I will not at any point really feel "ready," I do feel like we are in a great spot after the past two days.

Yesterday, my sweet friends, Tricia and Pauline from STRIDE hosted a lovely babies shower for me.  A few of my mom's friends joined with some of my friends and family and we celebrated the new additions to Caolon's and my little family.  It was such a nice time and we got several things that we have been feeling we needed - a car seat to bring Leo home from Colorado in, bath supplies, diapers, toddler dishes, etc.  We also got quite a few extra things I didn't even know existed - including this adorable little electronic puppy that talks and says my son's name!  (He's the green guy sitting on the dresser in the picture here.)  Kid toys have come a long way since I was little!

The best part of the weekend, however, was having my very talented second-mama, Kathy (Leo's Nana), and my dad (Leo's Pops) from Colorado stay for the night.  Kathy has been working hard at her sewing machine for our little guy.  She made him a beautiful quilt and curtains for his nursery.  Then she and my dad spent the evening yesterday, helping us organize and decorate Leo's nursery.  Guys, you have no idea how helpful this was!  Prior to yesterday, I had been piling anything Leo-related into the room in boxes and bags and closing the door.  It has been giving me anxiety as I really had no clue where to even begin organizing everything.  And the curtain issue is also stressful - I just couldn't decide what I needed or how to start looking or anything.  I am SO thankful to dad and Kathy.  They really worked their magic and Leo's nursery looks so cozy and inviting now.  I have been going in there repeatedly throughout the day to sit in his rocking chair and just soak it all in.  Where I had previously been feeling overwhelmed with all that needed to be done, now I'm still feeling overwhelmed, but it's with gratitude towards everyone who has given us a gift or a hand.  We have so much support and so many great people in our lives.  Little, Leo, you are going to be so loved.

 

We have a date! :)

We got great news this week!  Our travel approval and confirmed dates!  We will be meeting and picking up our son in just about 3 weeks!  Of course this news has thrown me and my hyper-sensitive pregnant emotions into a frenzy.  On the one hand I'm so thrilled to finally be at this step and on the other I'm thinking of the hundreds of things we still need to do before we can leave for China!

But despite the anxiety, I think I will just, for now, focus on the fact that very soon I will be snuggling with this little guy:

 

 

Our travel itinerary is still in process, but what I do know is that we will be leaving from Denver on November 10th and (after a couple layovers - Seattle and Tokyo) arriving in Shanghai on November 11th.  We will get our guy on the 12th and spend a few days sightseeing and completing adoption process stuff in Shanghai.  Then we will fly to Guangzhuo where we will do a little more sightseeing and complete steps to obtain Leo's passport so he can fly home.  We will spend one night in Hong Kong (though, sadly, with no time to see any of the things we love of that city) and then fly home November 21st.  We have two more layovers on the way home (Tokyo and Minneapolis - why Minneapolis?!?!?  Who knows!) and then land in Denver the afternoon on the 21st.  We will then spend a couple of days in Colorado with Nana and Pops so that Mom and Dad (that's Caolon and I - how cool is that?!?) can get a little rest and try to recover a bit from the crazy jetlag that accompanies any trip from China (but I'm guessing even more so when that trip involves a nervous toddler).

So there is a lot for us to think and dream about now.  Here's hoping the next three weeks go by fast!

And then a surprise...

The week after Tennessee, we found ourselves on Casper Mountain chaperoning youth at the Summit Youth Group retreat.  One week of sleeping in a cabin full of teenage girls always leaves me feeling run down, but this week it felt even more so.  Each day I found myself feeling more and more tired and toward the end of the week, I was also feeling shakey, queasy, and just overall...not quite right.  It wasn't like the flu or a cold or anything else I have ever experienced, so by midweek, I started to get a little nervous.  Wednesday morning, halfway through camp, I managed to find some alone time with Caolon and I told him I thought I might be pregnant.  Of course, there was nothing we could do from there, and he told me to try not to think about it too much, but I think we both knew it was true.

Saturday evening, once we'd gotten home and sent all the youth back to their parents, we went to the store for a test.  I couldn't wait until the morning (as recommended by the package) to take the test.  But it turns out, I didn't have to...

Well...obviously this was shocking news.  We had been "not preventing" and trying to conceive for several years and now that we had decided to pursue adoption and fallen in love with our son, we become pregnant?  Does God think He's being funny?  How can this be the right timing?

We took the test to Caolon's parents to share the news with them and after a nice long panicky meltdown on my part, we finally started to accept the idea that not only were we going to become parents, but we would become parents of two children within five months of each other.  Eep!!!

Tennessee

Three weeks, one headcold (for Caolon), and some very lazy/loungy afternoons at home later, we were back in an airplane and on our way to Tennessee.  My stepsister lives there and we were accompanying my DisneyDad on a trip to see her.  This trip was great fun and the best part was meeting my sweet little niece, Ariana.  Soon her Poppa will have a little Leo grandson to spoil, too!



Best Vacation Ever!

Two weeks after becoming Leo's pre-approved parents, we were on a plane to Hawaii with my awesome Colorado family!  The trip had been a dream of my dad's and we were finally getting to go!

The ten days we spent on Oahu, staying at Disney's amazing Aulani Resort, were some of the best days of my life.  Our days were spent soaking in the sun, splashing around in the ocean, lounging in the lazy river at our resort, eating massive quantities of shave ice and drinking tastey tropical cocktails, and sightseeing around the island.  The entire time, I couldn't help but dreaming about what it would be like to have Leo with us.  I'm pretty sure "Nana," "Pops," Auntie Heather, and Auntie Hols were thinking the same thing!



The view from our room.  Aulani was breathtaking!

Us feeling closer to Leo on the map at Pearl Harbor.

Nana and Leo next to Leo's name in the Olelo room.

Our group by Spitting Cave.

All of us showing our true colors.  :)



Meet Leo!

So our paperwork was approved and we were logged into the system to be eligible for a match by May.  Between the months of March and May, we were referred a few children who seemed very sweet, but whom we felt were not our child.  Each time it was hard to say no, looking at those sweet little faces and knowing those children needed homes.  But each time, God was telling us to keep waiting.  The shared list at the end of May did not have our child on it as we'd been hoping, and as much as I knew the right one just hadn't come along yet, it was so dishearting to think we were going to have to keep waiting for the next list to be released in June.  I am not exactly patient, so the idea of having to wait another month for a match that may or may not come just seemed excruciating!

One week after the disappointing shared list not yielding a match for us, we were getting into bed when the phone rang.  It was 9:30 p.m., so we were a little surprised when we saw that the caller id was not from a number we recognized.  Caolon went ahead and answered anyway and it turns out, the call was about our son!  China had released a surprise shared list and there was a little guy on there that our agency thought we might want to see.  They read us the description and he sounded perfect, so we asked them to send us his file.  We were giddy when the email came through and we opened the first image to see this picture:

 

One look and I knew he was our boy.  We read through his information to find that he was born with a small hole in his heart, that has since closed on its own, and that he was a bit developmentally delayed (most likely due to being raised in the orphanage).  Both of these needs were things we felt comfortable with and able to support him in.  We found out that he was 16 months old at the time and that the agency described him as "a lovely boy who is adored by all."  He was perfect! 

 

We spent the next couple of days having our doctor review his file, writing our letter of intent to let China know we wanted to be his parents, and pray, pray, praying.  Everything checked out with the doc, so we submitted our letter.  A few weeks later (when we were in Hawaii on a magical vacation with my Colorado family), we got the email indicating that we had been pre-approved as this sweet little guy's parents.

 

We have decided to name him Livingston, after Caolon's grandpa, Dayle Livingston Butner.  His middle name will be his Chinese name, Shengshi.  So here is our sweet little Livingston Shengshi McNamee.  (Leo, for short!)

 

 

 





Many small hours later...

Well, once again, I have been a blog neglecter!  It turns out I might not be cut out for maintaining a regular blog.  However, I started this thing as a way of documenting our adoption process and now that it is nearing completion, I am realizing I want to finish what I started.

Oh yes, our adoption process is almost over!  Next month, we will be flying to China to meet and bring home our little boy!  We are so excited and so much has happened since May that there is no way to capture it all in one post.  I think I'm going to take a card from my friend and fellow adoptive mommy, Katie, and spend the next couple of days going backwards and posting on our process and all that has happened in the past six months.

Be patient with me folks, I promise this story is a good one. :)