Chavalah Lyn

HERE SHE IS!!!!!!!!! More beautiful than ever! WHAT A GIFT! Thank you, Jesus!!! You'll notice a tiny "lock" at the top of her hair! She definitely has curl and her hair is so thick, I seriously think I could actually put a barrett in. I think I may try taking one tomorrow to try it out!

I held her for 3 1/2 hours tonight and rocked her and both nurses that I saw and met tonight got tears in their eyes and said, "This is the longest she's ever been held since she was born, we are SO THANKFUL she is going home to an incredible 'angel' like you." I felt a bit awkward, but I can totally see what they mean. I can't even BEGIN to imagine what these dear nurses see day in and day out!

She needed her mama tonight! When I got there I told them I'd like to try and feed her when it came time for feeding and she ate one whole ounce the first time I fed her! YEA, Chavalah!!!! Mommy was so proud! Their goal is 1 1/2 ounces! So, three hours later, I fed her again, and she drank another full ounce, a tiny bit more, and they again were just amazed! Goes to show how much these little ones need to know who their mommy is early on! If she continues to do this well through the night, they may remove the feeding tube! We'll see!

She was actually 5 lbs 12 ounces (much bigger than I thought) and she is 19 inches long. They didn't weigh her tonight before I left, but they told me she was closer to 5 lbs right now. But we'll gain that back! I got to change two of her diapers too while I was there! It was so fantastic!

Truly UNBELIEVABLE..........New Chapter in the Baltzly's Book

I really am not even sure of what to say here for you fellow readers! Most of you know the story of my life since about 6 years ago when we attempted getting pregnant the first time! And several have asked and begged me to write a book of all the unbelieveable bits and pieces to our story. While I'm not announcing that I've officially decided and started to write my book, I AM writing to tell you our next "chapter" has just started!!!

Tuesday night we got a call that Ezra's biological mother gave birth to another baby. We were notified as Ezra (obviously) is a biological brother, and the state likes to keep siblings together if at all possible. What do you think our answer was!?!?!?! Can you guess!?!?!!? OF COURSE, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To make things even better we found out we are getting a baby SISTER! Yes, a girl! The bad news is she's still in the hospital for a few reasons from withdrawal. She was born July 28, 2008 (one day after our 6th wedding anniversary), she was born 5 lbs 6 ounces (4 ounces more than Ezra's birth weight). I hear she has BLACK hair (like her brother), and is just as tiny. Apparently, she's lost quite a bit of weight since birth as a result of not sucking, so she is on a feeding tube until she learns how to suck and also on an antibitoc IV, so please be praying for her! Earliest we're looking at coming home is Monday.

My head is spinning, and I'm speechless! Can this really be happening?

I just got off the phone with the CPS worker and she said she put both Benjamin & I's names on the list of people that were ALLOWED to come visit her! So, guess where I'm headed RIGHT NOW!!!!! To the hospital to meet our new baby girl! I'll try and post a bit later with pictures!

Wild and Crazy!

Just captured this video today. Ezra is getting SO BIG! Laughing all the time. Talking more and more. At the end of the video you'll hear him saying his version of "Ready, Set, Go." Too cute!

Boys & their PJ's!

There's just nothing better than getting a warm bubbly bath. Getting all clean, then crawling into a clean pair of pj's! That's exactly what we did tonight, now they are both set to sit and watch Lassie as a family, then head to bed!

Happy Saturday night!

Quick Update

Laine has been doing something special with daddy all summer and that is planting two sunflowers in two different spots and watching them grow LITERALLY every day. It's been the sweetest thing to watch. Thanks Aunt Elisabeth for the seeds! They have been the coolest things ever. We have had NUMEROUS compliments on their beauty! Just adds something different and unique to this desert! :) Gotta love that.

Laine is just recently into this notebook thing. After going through almost one complete ream of computer paper with all of Laine's beautiful drawings, we finally had to come up with a different solution to that much paper, so we decided to pull out a junkie old notebook and let him GO TO TOWN! I can't tell you what an old junk notebook has done for our lives. It's brought about more sweet memories than can be documented and one of the happiest boys yet! :) Laine takes that EVERYWHERE with him. And I mean everywhere. Every morning he will go out to his sunflower and pretend like he's documenting its progress in his notebook. I will lose Laine in his notebook for over an hour at many times. Usually I try to eaves drop in on his conversations and they are some of the sweetest. I really want to try and snatch a video clip of one of those conversations. If I have luck getting one, I promise I'll post, but I'm not sure I'll get one cause it makes a beep when I start the video. If I can turn the sound off I'll try.

The video also in this blog is of Ezra. We were outside one night and we have dogs that live across the other side of our house street (we live on a corner) and they bark frequently when we're out in the front. Thank goodness we can't hear them when we're inside. Anwyays, Ezra's newest thing is dogs. He is SCARED TO PIECES when they are physically around him and will squeal a horrible scream for help, but when they are distant, and he can't see them but hear them, he will imitate their bark and go NUTS! He also is really into this jiber jaber stuff. I LOVE IT! My heart melts every time I hear him jiber jaber. He points his fingers and really wants to tell you something. You can just feel it! :) So that's the video clip!

Benjamin & I are taking off for a few days to get away. We'll be back end of the week, so I'll post when we return! Have a great rest of the week!

Adoption License Update

We had our 2nd and last of two meetings with our adoption licensor (sp). She has everything she needs to complete our certificate packet! Once she's typed up and written our home study from the information she's gathered from us in the last few days, she'll be sending our packet to the Pinal County Courthouse for the judge to sign! Once he's signed, it is an official certificate that we can use to give our attorney to send in our Petition To Adopt "Amado" and set up our Adoption Hearing!!!! So, just one more step closer. Still several steps, but things are MOVING! Our licensor is going to call or e-mail when she's physically mailed our packet to the courthouse and she said we should have our actual certificate to adopt usually between 2-4 weeks. We're praying for it to be faster! :) Thanks again for your continued prayers through this entire process!

Weird Moment!

I'm having a weird moment and I have to share! I'm getting a taste of what life will be like in a few short weeks when Laine starts Early Kindergarten. Right now, it is 8:58 as I type this and it's dead silent! Yikes! David is at preschool for the day, Laine is at Vaction Bible School all this week from 9-12, Ezra is sleeping and Benjamin is gone (usually he'll be here sleeping, but he had an appointment). I've already had a chance to think about what I'm going to have for dinner (a first if thought of before 6:00 PM), I actually went to my freezer and pulled out what I needed without being chased out into the garage by Laine asking, 'What are you doing mommy?" I'm now sitting in perfect peace to drink my cup of coffee without someone screaming or asking me what is for breakfast or "where is a bowl?" :) This is great, all the while, I'm weeping inside because I truly am going to miss Laine when he starts school!