We Have a Baby!!!

Mia is 3 months old in these two pictures.

We received THE CALL from Holt letting us know they received a referral of a little girl for us!

She is exactly 6 months old today!!! She is so beautiful - a tiny little healthy baby and we just can't stop looking at her pictures! We are so excited - just completely over the moon! My heart is overflowing today!

I had played out this call in my head a thousand times and it was basically exactly what I thought it would be. During the call, I was frantically trying to remember everything Marissa said because I was at a loud baseball game without pen/paper but her emails contained all the details she told me on the phone....thankfully! Of course, I was shaking and crying in disbelief and excitement during the call. I'll never forget what I was feeling when she told me she had a referral of a little girl for us and she told me her story.

Mia is truly our Little M - born Dec. 22, 2008, a tiny 5 pounds, 14 ounces, 18 1/2 inches at 8 months gestation. She is meeting all milestones at her 1 month and 3 month checkups. She smiles and coos, has good control of her upper body and head. At 3 months she was 10 pounds 5 ounces, 22 1/2 inches. We will get another checkup in a couple months. It is typical to get quarterly updates which are 3 months old so it will be a guess at how big she is when we travel to bring her home.


I was amazed and thrilled at the amount of information we received about Mia's history. Some parents don't get any information and I know that would be heartbreaking to never know what brought her into Holt's care and eventually to us. We are very fortunate to have received a good amount. For now, we will keep that in our hearts until it is time to share it with Mia. This is best for everyone - no one will have to wonder what Mia knows or doesn't know yet.


Her birthname means Beautiful Decoration. I'm doing ok at the pronunciation but have opted to not print the birth name at this time - Google is amazing - Thanks to the Pictionary Book Thai for Kids which seems to be on my level ages 3-5 I think. LOL


Her nickname is Bai Tong which means Banana Leaf. This is the name the foster mother uses and what Mia will respond to when we meet her. Lucky for us - it's shorter and easier to pronounce. She has been in the same foster home since 1 month of age.


Mark's reaction - oooh she's so cute! Is it really her? Then he promptly asked my parents if they wanted to see Mia's picture. He's very excited.


Matt's reaction - Are you kidding me? aaah she's so cute! He immediately wanted me to send all the pictures so he could choose his favorite to make it his "wallpaper" on his iPod.

Funny story - I took the files to Target to have some prints made and when I went to pick them up, they said, "Oh I'm sorry. The photo people are out to lunch, you will have to wait a little longer. I'm really sorry." I think I actually teared up as I laughed and just said waiting a little longer is no problem. I understand. I left off the - I've learned a lot about waiting and I've gotten used to it part!!! I found the humor in it.

Busy Week with No News!

So the foot thing freaked me out a bit last week but I'm happy to report everything is fine - Matt is great and played baseball Thursday, Saturday and Today (yes - a game on Father's Day). So we're completely relieved (obviously) but we're also very excited for Matt. His team won the league and is in the final game of the tournament tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Mark spent the week at camp. It is always so funny to talk to him at the end of the day.

• Day 1 - I played Dodge ball all day
• Day 2 - I played Dodge ball all day
• Day 3 - I played Dodge ball most of the day
• Day 4 - I played Dodge ball once but I don't remember what I did the rest of the time
• Day 5 - I can't remember what I did

I think he got hit in the head a few times. LOL - because he has an outstanding memory. I do have to say there is nothing cuter than his tired, tan little face with sweaty hair and dirty everything by the end of the day. Here are some pictures:

And as far as our referral of Little M - I know that another agency received information from last week's meeting in Thailand (at least that tells me the meeting took place) so I hope our agency is still processing the referrals because I haven't heard a word. As far as I can tell from the blogs and forums - no one with our agency has heard a word. We aren't freaking out - just wondering if we're really going to get the referral this quarter. At times it seems like it's taken forever to get to this point. I really thought we would hear some time the week of the 22nd so here we are on the Eve of the 22nd. It will kill me to not email Holt tomorrow but I'm going to try to stay busy and hope they call earlier than later!!!

Matt Update

So I was thinking as I drove Matt home from the doctor - it's Wednesday, June 17th in Thailand. I hope my baby's picture is being passed around a table full of people with smiles and hope for this little baby's future (or whatever it is "they" do to approve a referral to be sent to the US). It would be awesome if somehow that file could make it to the US by Friday and the phone calls be made before the weekend. What a great Father's Day gift for all those waiting Dads!

There was a brand new baby in the waiting room with the name of Maya - also one of my favorites - and so close to Mia. The little girl was swaddled in a baby blue blanket and I wondered if the ultrasound was wrong. Funny how I think of goofy stuff like that. A little India girl made me think of a mom who is waiting for her daughter's travel approval. I hope she gets it soon - seems like she's been waiting FOREVER!!! She was SO cute - telling everyone Hi with a crooked wave.

Back to Matt - his CBC numbers look good but the swelling has gotten worse so we're focusing on ice and elevating for another day or so before we go back. It's so strange that a puncture wound can cause this much swelling esp since the wound is fine - cleaned it immediately and did the gauze/neosporin thing so it's ok. The infection is IN the foot if that makes sense without pictures.

As far as the baseball team goes, Matt wouldn't ask the doctor if he could play since asking means the doc could say No. LOL - he's so smart. But with all the rain we've had, the tournament is pushed back 2 days - causing us to play on Saturday and final game on Monday. So now the problem for the baseball teams will be who is scheduled on vacation or summer camp since the season and tournament should have been over by Saturday. Aaah - love the rain!!! But I think baseball teams being short a player or two will be low on the list this week and next...