New Blog!

Please visit our new blog which will consist of Sydney updates, Adam's photography, Jessica's ramblings, and just about anything we can think to write! The address is below and there is a link on the right side of this page under "Links"!

www.adamjessicasydney.blogspot.com

Good bye, my sweet (blog)!

We want to thank everyone for visiting our blog (4,000 + times) to keep up with the adoption. We have decided that it is time to move on so I will not be updating this blog anymore. We are definitely going to keep it active because we plan to have it printed in book format so we can remember everything (so don't worry family!). I will be working on proofreading everything and adding pictures. I do have some good news. We have a new blog that will hopefully be as fun and informative as we have tried to make this blog.

Sometimes it is hard for even me and Adam to separate Sydney's adoption from her future life. But when the day is done, adoption is how she joined our family not who she is in the family. It is our hope that some of her younger friends and even our newer friends will not know that she is adopted. Not because there is ANYTHING wrong with being adopted or because we just want to keep it a secret. It is because we want everyone else to view her the way we do and never, even unintentially, make her feel different. Soon, we will have the task of figuring out how to tell her that she was adopted and we will probably have to deal with questions, as she grows, that may or may not have answers. We want her to have the opportunity and privilege of telling people and talking about it if she wants to. All of our babies are so special and it isn't because of how they joined their family. We couldn't love her any more or less if that had been me laying in the hospital bed. We love remembering the time during the adoption and we love talking about it just like people talk about how many hours they were in labor! But, we are trying to train ourselves to stop saying "we adopted her!" out of excitement that you can get a precious baby that way. It won't be good for her to hear that all the time and though it may be to early for her to understand if we don't start now, then when? Thank you so much for your support and prayers. The encouraging comments were what kept us going during the stay in Utah and the homecoming was memorable. We can't wait to see what God has in store for Sydney and for us! We love you. You can keep up with our latest doing on our new blog. I will be posting the address later today!

Love-

Jessica (Adam and Sydney)

A Family Picture

I thought I would show all three of us. One that actually dodged the delete function on our camera.

We went to the doctor yesterday for her 4 month check up and she weighs 14 pounds and is 25 inches tall (or long). We can start cereal now so we will post some pictures of that adventure. All three of us have a cold (we are all in different stages though) and we are super tired. Adam got in at 10 last night from Minneapolis and he was so sweet to take care of the baby so I could go to sleep. Her eating patterns are way off when she is sick and she actually had to be rocked to sleep. He did an excellent job.

It is funny what you become when you have someone depending on you. You take on all kinds of challenges that you would have never attempted before. We are now photographers, videographers, butlers, maids, nurses, child development specialists, garbage men, chefs, personal assistants, comedians, safety officers...I could go on.

4 Months

This is a recent picture taken by Adam. Oh my! She looks so big. She will be going for her 4 month check up and shots this Wednesday. I am not excited about that, but it has to be done. I have started on her scrapbook, which will be an addition to her baby book. Baby books just don't hold all the pictures.

Proud Parents

Adam and I have formed our own small cheerleading squad similar to the Spartans of Saturday Night Live. Sydney is doing all sorts of smart and fun things. And we jump and cheer and act like the idiots we truely are. This evening she rolled over. As she is nears her 4 month birthday, we are trying to get her to do all sorts of things. This evening I was working with her on how to roll over and I left her to practice while Adam and I were on our laptops on either side of her. Suddenly, Adam said, "What was that?". Out of the corner of my eye I saw her move and there she was smiling proudly as she moved from her stomach to her back. Ok, so that is half way. But she can go from side to side so that counts for 25 % plus the 50% she accomplished tonight. I think a 75% turn radius is respectable. Perhaps I should be giving it in degrees? But honestly, I can't think of what that would be right now. She is keeping me up at night and I mostly hum Baby Mozart during the day now. We are going to develop our own sign language system and get that started. I hear there are benefits. It is worth a shot.

Ribbit.

We are starting a towel collection.

The Easter Funny

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Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Rememory

I feel guilty that I haven't posted more photos of Sydney. We seem so busy and, well, it is really Adam that controls the photos. He has to do all sorts of fancy things to them before they are ready for use. It is like getting a professional portait done everyday and including the looong wait times for the prints. What is a picture really? There is no way that it can convey they cute noises she is making. It won't show her kicking her legs ninety-to-nothing. It won't show her sigh when she gets her bear blanket and pacifier to go to sleep. I guess we get all those moments and bear the responsibility of filing them away in our memory. I have always had a bad memory, but I can tell that I have changed. We had lunch with my mom and her friend at work the other week and they were talking about the sweet baby smells and how you never forget it. Then her friend said, "and the hot baby smell". I was thinking what is that? That doesn't sound good! To my surprise my Mom chimed in that she remembers it. They explained that it is the way a child smells when they have been outside playing. You never forget it. I was given the impression that it is a good smell (or at least a memory making one) so I can't wait to smell it.

My memory skills (or rememory, as my friends and I used to say) aren't the only thing that has changed. I find myself less worried about silly things and more focused on the important ones. I go through my day with purpose, but I constantly remind myself to stop and enjoy the moments I have with my family and take a few mental pictures for my rememory. Before being a mother, I would yell "BUG!" and wait for Adam to run through the room with a shoe to conquer it. "No, don't use MY shoe!", I would say. Yesterday, to my surprise (and I think Adam's) I yelled "BUG!" and as Adam ran up behind me I removed my own shoe and took care of the situation. There are things you just have to do when you are a mother, things you avoided in the past but you meet head on now.

100th Post

I am now posting the 100th post to the blog!!! I can't believe I am so chatty...
Sydney is now napping and sleep at night in her room. It was harder for Adam to make the change than it was for me or Sydney. I think she likes her bed and the colors in her room are more entertaining than ours. We are trying very hard to get her to sleep through the night but she is so sporatic right now. Last night she only waked one time to eat. I loved it! Tonight it could be 2 or 3. The thought makes me quiver. I am going to have business cards printed up. Jessica Q. White, Walking Zombie...