Bryan is officially 3! Here are a lot of pictures!

Since I last posted, Bryan has had two birthday celebrations and I have had way too much cake!

Here are all the good pictures I had on my camera from the past week or so.

Daddy was the one everyone wanted this particular night

One of the few things I bought Maya on major clearance before I actually met her. I took a leap of faith that it would fit her when she got home and it does!

Yep, more and more teeth are coming. 7 teeth have broken through and everyone swears the 8th is anyday. It looks like it has broken, but not yet. Maybe today...

Maya will stand up on anything or anyone including that very mobile brother of hers

I bribed most of Bryan's class to look at me for a picture before they could have a cupcake. They looked. I guess I should have made them smile too!

Anthony and Bryan...Anthony is Bryan's buddy. They bonded on day one and both are obsessed with Thomas and now CARS too. They actually liked Buzz Lightyear at the same time too.

Maya took part in the celebration at school as well

It was icing mania. The bright red and blue icing was pretty, but never again at this age...what a mess!!

Maya loves the phone. Her cousin Zachary who you will see below called 911 last year. I could see Maya living up to his tricks. Let's pray not, but she is real slick!

Bryan looks so cute and innocent here. He looks like a GAP model, huh? His coat is new. I got it brand new on ebay.

Bryan taught Maya how to suck on a freezer pop

How am I doing, Bro?

Mommy had to clean up last week. I put the kids in front of the books knowing that would keep their attention a few minutes at one point...here's what happened.

CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF DESTRUCTION!

This was Bryan sleeping the night before his 3rd Birthday. He is still attached to his Taggie. He has two, the light blue is the original and the green and blue was made by Nanny.

Bryan never goes to bed alone. That night he needed Harold, Toby, Lightening McQueen, Thomas, James and Percy. Pretty good that I know all the names, huh? That's nothing, I know everyone he has.

Now, the question is..when I go back to work, will I remember anything technical? Will I know a blood pressure cuff from a tourniquet?

Hard to say, wish me luck, I may go back soon.

Everyone was singing to Bryan and he was touched

Make a wish!!!

The Cars Cake

My dear friend, Jen is feeding my other dear friend(Sue)'s baby here

The false 911 caller, Zachary

My Godson, Derek is looking blue

Maya had cake, again, and she LOVES IT!

The post cake picture

Bryan got so many cool gifts, so many!!!

This is his keyboard from Aunt Lisa, he loves it.

Nanny and Maya

He sang Happy Birthday and played at the same time. He is a talent for sure.

Mom Mom and Maya take a stroll.

Maya loves to walk, loves it, but only holding your hand so far.

She started climbing steps yesterday( No, I am not happy!) We have a split level! But also, we do have gates, Thank Goodness!



Silly Poppy

Cheryl's baby , Cailin

So...Mommy, THIS is the baby that was in Aunt Cheryl's belly listening to stories about Mr PGN for months!

Cailin, Bryan, Logan and Maya's first photo together

and the second...please notice my lovely daughter flinging her non-skid plate right off the table

Bryan will turn THREE on Saturday!!! Today is his school party!!

First of all, I want to give a huge shout out to Holly and Zo(Gia's blog)!!! They are in the beginning process of adopting, AGAIN!!!
They were offered Gia's biological little baby brother(they think via ultrasound). The baby is due in about 2 weeks which would make him and Gia only one year apart.
We are VERY happy and excited for them. I have a feeling a year from now, Holly will be blogging less. Two kids is a bit different(but great!)

We cannot fathom starting that paperwork again, but we know from getting our little Maya that it is WELL worth it!

Good luck Holly and Zo and big sis, GIA!

Speaking of paperwork, we have begun the process of re-adopting Maya Grace. We have retained a lawyer and need to have criminal and child abuse background checks done....AGAIN. That includes fingerprints, which I am scheduled to get done at 2pm today. It also includes a homestudy update and we should hear from a social worker within a week or so in order to get that done.

At the conclusion of the re-adoption, Maya's name will be changed for good. Right now, her legal American name is Andrea Lear Amadoro. That's how they do it...her given Guatemalan name, Andrea, with her adoptive parents last names(Amadoro is my maidan name)...so you can see how we would like to change it to what we actually named her.

Re-adoption will also give her all the same rights that Bryan has as our child just incase of a tragedy.

Re-adoption is basically crossing your "t's" and dotting your "i's". Once it is done, then we will just have to change her name on all the insurance stuff and get her a new social security card...fun stuff...then that's it as far as I can remember.

Today is Thursday which means it is just Maya and I. Bryan goes to school on Thursdays and Mommy and Maya get time together(clap, clap, clap!). We started our day by taking Riley to Petsmart at 8am. He is being groomed right now and we will pick him up at noon.

At 2pm I have my fingerprints.
At 3pm, we are having Bryan's birthday party at school. I have CARS cupcakes and goody bags ready to go. Daddy's getting off early and it will be fun.

Bryan's actual birthday is Saturday. He is having a party then, too!

I am sure I will have pictures..He is so excited!

Wish me luck driving Miss Maya around all day...the car is NOT her favorite place to be. Sometimes my singing helps her. WATCH OUT AMERICAN IDOL!!

BIG BIRTHDAY WEEK

I cannot believe that our little boy will be 3 this Saturday. When we were warned time would fly, we had no idea how fast. Not everyday has been a cake walk, but he is our first and forever baby. Everytime that we tell him that, he responds, "I am not the baby, I am the big brother!" Someday he will get it. It was just yesterday that we were waiting for him to take his first steps.

Yes, time flies.

My birthday follows Bryan's on the 28th(this Sunday). I am a little older than him. I was born in 1975 if that helps. No biggie, but at least there should be cake and leftovers if all else fails:)

My Mom's birthday falls on January 31st. I will not tell you when she was born, just know that she looks great for her age:)

Below are some updated pics.

On our second trip to visit Maya, we met Mindy and Kris. They were visiting their daughter for the first time, Mikayla. They have had some sort of web page that I have followed and we have "talked" throughout, but now they finally have a blog so you can all see Mikayla too!

I am trying to list it with the other blogs...hope it works. Mindy and Kris have a little boy already who is obsessed with Thomas...hmmm...see any similarities?? He is about a year older than Bryan and will be joining Mindy and Kris on picking up his baby sister really soon. They hope to get their PINK appointment today...FINALLY!!

Here is their blog until I get it working here:

http://theousleyfamily.blogspot.com/

Mikayla Faith

This is what Mikayla looked like when we met her at 3 months old

Maya is dressed and ready for some new visitors.

Beth, Ashley and Michael came to visit. We have been friends with them since about 1999 but they live almost an hour away and everytime we try to get together, one of the kids is sick. Ashley and George work at the same Loreal location.

Maya is wearing the outfit Beth and ashley bought her when she came home from Guatemala.

Beth with Maya

That is Ashley laying on our new carpet. We had it installed Thursday and it is much better than what we had!

Michael Jolly

(Bryan liked his sweatshirt)

Bryan just wants Thomas to get his picture taken all the time

He still loves Thomas but has requested a Lightening McQueen Birthday and of course, that is what he will get!

Last but not least, CAILIN ANN KOTCH...she is beautiful, not even a baby pimple

There's a New Baby on the Block and some recent photos of the kiddos

I am so happy to announce that my friend and neighbor, Cheryl (MOMMY TO LOGAN), had her baby on Monday, January 15th, 2007. Her name is

CAILIN ANN KOTCH

and she was born 7 pounds, 8oz and 19.5 inches. I planned to get down to see her in the hospital but my Maya has been sick (AGAIN!) so I stuck with Maya. I was even afraid maybe I was getting sick but I think it was more lack of sleep from being up with Maya because she slept lastnight and I am a happy, healthy mama today. Cheryl will be bring CAILIN home today and I will be posting pictures of her after I meet her.

We are so happy for them:)

I like this picture A LOT! Bryan is finally okay with pictures if he is in the mood, just as long as you show him the photo on your camera afterwards!

My co-worker, Melissa, gave this to Maya.

Seriously? Is it legal to be this cute??

Even from the behind....cute...

Side view of our out of shape Retriever that we love, RILEY with Maya

Looking back at 2006...

To all my blogger friends: When I have time, I try and look at your blogs.
I got the idea below from you.

I am going to sum up the year 2006 with a few pictures and words.

Thanks fellow bloggers for the idea!!

Everyone, please enjoy!

January 2006-Looking back at my calendar from last year, I see that at the beginning of January we were awaiting immigration approval in order to proceed with an international adoption.

By January 19th, we had immigration approval(CIS approval) and began waiting for the referral of a baby girl frm Guatemala.

At the end of January, we celebrated Bryan's 2nd Birthday, THOMAS style.

On the 27th of this month , he will be turning THREE!

He decided in January to starting helping Mommy and Daddy in the kitchen.


February 2006- I remember checking my caller id, cell phone and computer constantly this month. We knew a referral would be coming any day and just could not wait to hear that our daughter was out there.

By the end of the month, she was, we just were not told about her yet!

Maya Grace was born on February 24th, 2006.

Thank God we had our sweet valentine at home to help us through the wait!

George and I were both working a lot.

We enjoyed our little Bryan who began talking non-stop.

It really snowed in February!

I remember that Bryan was not feeling well, but we dragged him out to see the snow. We did not stay outside too long.

He was not so sure about the snow last year. This year, I have a feeling that if it ever snows, he will enjoy it a lot.

March 2006-On March 10th we finally received our referral!!! I was at work assessing a patient. I remember the patient very well. The patient I was interviewing was hit by a train when he was young and lived. As a result of the accident he is still having surgeries today. He was a very, very nice man. My cell phone started to vibrate while I was doing my assessment. I excused myself from my patient for one moment and took THE CALL. I sat at the post-op area and wrote down her name and what we were to do next. We needed to get to a computer, see her pictures and information and then call our agency back to accept the child. Although, I wanted to race to the computer in the hospital's library, I went back to my patient to finish his assessment. I could not contain my smile. I promised myself that I would not tell people at work right away, knowing that sometimes things do not work out at the beginning of this process. Yet, my patient knew something was up. He asked me, something good???? I said, yes something GOOD!!! He asked if I just found out I was pregnant and I said no, but not too far off and I whispered to him my news telling him not to say anything to any nurses!

At this time, I was working 4 mornings a week at my job, so by the time I was done with this patient, my shift was over. I called George and told him the NEWS! I told him to start staring at his computer. I raced to the library, sent him THE EMAIL and then called him again and we looked at her pictures together.

We KNEW this was our beautiful daughter and we decided to call back our agency that day and get the paperwork started on this child.

As I walked away from the library, I dialed my Mom's number on my cell and she then raced to her computer and saw her granddaughter's picture for the very first time. I was in still in shock so I think she cried of happiness for all of us!!!

By the end of the day, the majority of our very close support system knew and we went to bed so happy. We knew we were proceeding with caution for the first 8 weeks, but we were ready!

MAYA GRACE -OUR ANGEL SENT TO US FROM HEAVEN

She was 6 pounds at referral.

By the third week in March, our lawyer had our Dossier and Power of Attorney over in Guatemala.




This was a picture sent to us on March 25th of our Maya, now starting to look like the Maya we know. She is 1 month in this photo.




Not forgetting about Bryan, we took him to his first swim class. He is a fish.

April 2006-April was a roller coaster.

On April 21st, we were given some worrysome news. Maya Grace weighed in at only 6.8 lbs at her appointment on April 18th and was not thriving with her foster mother. She was 1 month, 3 weeks old when we got the news. Our agency called and spoke with me. They warned that she would not look well in the photos they were about to send.

They explained that her first foster mother was not able to take care of Maya anymore. Our little angel was then placed in the care of Debbie, her 2nd foster mother. We were assured that Debbie was wonderful and had taken some nursing classes on being a foster mother. The doctor changed her formula and put her on weight gaining vitamins.

Easter 2006-Bryan was excited about making a mess with the colorful eggs at Nanny and Poppy's house

Maya received her first basket from the bunny . In the basket is a bunny blankie that Maya uses on a daily basis now. The pink box contained the dress and shoes that Maya wore EMBASSY DAY in Guatemala. My Mom bought it for her on March 10th(referral day) and she wore it on Embassy Day!!! You have seen her in it on her adoption announcement.




The news on Maya's health with her first foster mother came after Easter and gave us a huge scare. She has no cheeks in this picture.

Here is Maya Grace in Debbie's arms.

We have told Debbie many times that we believe she SAVED Maya's life. Maya will always know about Debbie, always.

Here she is on April 28th! Hello cheeks!

Here she is 7.1 lbs. She only gained weight from here on end.




May 2006-In May, once mandatory DNA tests were done, we went to Guatemala to meet our daughter. We met her on Memorial Day 2006. In 2003, we had found out we were pregnant with Bryan on Memorial Day. I think it is my lucky day somehow.

This wonderful photo of us meeting our forever daughter was taken by Holly. Most people reading this know Holly! We are so blessed that Holly volunteered to meet us in the Marriott Lobby at what I believe was 9am that day. We hardly knew Holly then and what a great thing she did. Within hours, our family and friends back in PA and NJ got to to see us meet our daughter through Holly's photography skills. We are forever thankful.

And here is the photographer herself...Holly G. and sleeping beauty Gia

We visited Maya for the first time when Candy and Kya were living at the Marriott

It was an amazing trip. We went from nobody having any idea what we were going through(except a few of you huge supporters back in the USA) with this adoption...to meeting person after person after person who shared our exact fears, happiness, stress , heartache and other emotions. We were not sure if we would visit our daughter when she came to be, but we definitely made the right decision. We met many, many people!! I have not 100% stayed in touch with everyone becuase I am so busy with two now. I do, however, watch Stephanie's blog. Steph is in the very middle of this picture. She is an Occupational Therapist and also adopted a MAYA GRACE! She is a single mother and simply sweet. She reminds me so much of my friend back home Melissa (the one who was surfing with Santa at Christmas time!)

This photo was taken moments before we had to hand our daughter back to Debbie for the first time. I was overwhelmed and George was extremely emotional. If this blog is still around when Maya can read, then we want you to know, Maya, that Daddy cried, Daddy cried long and hard. It was one of the hardest things we have ever done and although Mommy can cry on a whim, Daddy does not, so know that you were with us even when we left you.

My brother graduated Penn State last MAY!! YAHOO!!

JUNE 2006- At the beginning of June I was on a high from meeting Maya. It made everything easier for a week or so. Then we went back to waiting for our Pre-Approval so that we may enter the last dark and dreary wait of PGN in order to get Maya home. We were optimistic at this point that Maya would come home in August or September.

We kept busy working and spending time with Bryan. We took Bryan to go see Thomas the Tank Engine in Lancaster, PA. He cannot wait to go again, but it probably won't happen until this June.

This was the end of his pacifier days. It was also the end of his naps. He became a big boy over the summer.

JULY 2006- On July 5th, we did get Pre-Approval. We did not start our PGN wait until July 18th.

Here is Bryan at the beach. It was so nice to see him enjoy it!

...and Daddy too!

Our agency continued to send us pictures and doctor's reports so that we knew our daughter was okay.



August 2006- In August we started to think...anyday now, anyday, we could be going to get our daughter...then the next day would come, and the next. We knew in reality that it could be much longer but felt optimistic.

We got the kids rooms ready while we waited.

Bryan helped

We went to Sesame Place and had a BLAST!




SEPTEMBER 2006- September was the same story as August, but we knew that we needed to see Maya soon regardless of when she was soming home. We visited Maya Labor Day weekend. It was a wonderful visit. She changed so much. She got her first two teeth while we were with her at the Marriott!

I remember being so tired, yet so happy and at peace when we got to Guatemala.

Gia was living in Guatemala back then and was very close to coming home. She came to visit us with her Mommy and we dressed them up...so cute!

She's daddy's little girl

This time she was eating everything you gave her. This girl can eat, even back then when it was all MUSH!

This was taken right before we had to give our baby back to Debbie....for the last time.





Okay, this time, it was me that cried, and I cried a lot. She had changed so much and it was so hard to come home without her. It was completely unnatural and I knew that I could not leave her like that. The only thing that got us through, was knowing she was in the loving hands of Debbie and her family.

Back at home, Bryan was enjoying the nice September weather with Nanny, Poppy and Riley dog.

Bryan helped Mommy more in the kitchen when we got home.




OCTOBER 2006-When we left Guatemala in September, we hoped to get news that we were out of PGN immediatly and get back on that plane to get her. It did not exactly play out like that. We were very upset at the beginning of October and were very close to hiring adoption supervisors to investigate our adoption. A few days before we would have hired them, we got OUT of PGN. It was October 10th, 2006 when we knew that our daughter would be home very soon, forever. We still had to wait for "THE PINK SLIP" to get an exact date, but we knew it WAS happening and that made things MUCH better.

This picture was included in our last agency report.

Bryan was Thomas the Tank Engine for Halloween and he loved getting candy without eating his dinner first!

Right before Halloween, we went on a hayride at a pumpkin patch. This October there will be 4 of us in this picture!

NOVEMBER 2006- Remember the movie, SWEET NOVEMBER??? Well, it sure was. On November 2nd we got word that we needed to be at the US EMBASSY in Guatemala on November 8th at 7:15am...and we were!
Maya did come home with a little cold which ended up to be RSV and pneumonia. So, it was rough start, for sure. She was in the hospital for a few days but came home on Thanksgiving Day which was one of the best gifts ever.

George, Maya and I on Embassy day in Antigua.

We came home forever on November 10th, 2006 . My Mom had decked the place out in pink, it was beautiful. Bryan was excited among other emotions, and Riley was too.

Maya and Bryan are together, FINALLY!!!

One of the first of MANY pictures of our forever family



DECEMBER 2006- Maya Grace was Baptized on December 3rd. We had a small celebration . It was very nice. A lot of people met her for the first time and she handled that VERY well!

Jeff and Cathy stood by us

Ho-Ho-Ho......Christmas was the BEST SO FAR!!!!!

We had a great year. It was emotional but well worth it. Thank you all for your love and support throughout this process!!!!!!!!!!!!!!