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Friday, July 3, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Where Does the Time Go?
Wow! Where does the time go? It's been over one month since I last posted an entry. It's not for lack of desire, but for sheer lack of time. I am working (albeit from home) every hour during the day that Jackson is asleep. That leaves early mornings, evenings and weekends for housework, laundry/ironing, shopping and family time and absolutely zero time for blogging or even Facebook for that matter. It's as if I've dropped off the radar. If it isn't a mobile upload on the fly then sadly I don't get to it.
Things are absolutely great here in the DuBose household. We've settled into a wonderfully comfortable rhythm (sleep deprivation aside). Jackson is such a joy and we are having so much fun! He still isn't sleeping through the night, but I don't feel as bad in a physical sense as I thought I would. He is usually up for an hour to an hour and a half, usually waking at two. He is just not a sleeper. He takes a couple of naps during the day which recharge his batteries and then gets what must be ample sleep for his internal clock because he is up and raring to go in the best of moods each morning. When Jackson does sleep through the night our day begins in full force at five a.m. It's a very good thing I'm a morning person! I will be sad to see the end of my Ethiopian coffee. I'm sad to say only two pounds remain.
Jackson is up to nineteen pounds. That's a far cry from the eleven pound baby we brought home from Ethiopia two and a half months ago. He LOVES to eat! Jackson also has six teeth at present. The two front teeth on the bottom were the first to arrive. The four top teeth (front and eye teeth) all popped in the past week. Yep! They are popping like beautiful, white kernels of popcorn! This extreme teething may well be contributing to his sleeplessness, but it has not affected his jolly mood in the least. He is so much fun!
Jackson is also scooting backward on his belly for very long distances and trying very hard to talk. His first word will most likely begin with either a "c" or "g" because he says these consonants over and over in rapid fire succession throughout the day. He is fascinated with our dogs and Gunnar is his shadow, so perhaps "Gunnar" will be his first word. Jackson has also learned how to scream--loudly. He screams just for the heck of it. He cracks himself up. He'll scream, look at you and then smile and/or laugh. And then he does it all over again. He's a riot!
In my "downtime" I've been working on the re-adoption process we must go through in this country. The United States does not recognize the Ethiopian courts so we must go through the arduous and somewhat expensive process of a stateside adoption. All states are different. We are lucky that Florida does not require an attorney so I am attempting to do this myself. It has been a challenge to say the least because there are no written instructions, rules, regulations, guidelines, requirements, etc. A family from central Florida who adopted from Ethiopia last year was kind enough to share some of their document templates and links to government documents to be filed but I had to make yet another trip to the courthouse this morning (my second this week) to provide another batch of information/documentation. It wouldn't be bad if you could ask someone a question and get a straightforward answer, but they will not answer not even the most basic question at the courthouse. Their pat reply is that they are unable to provide legal advice, even if it is not legal advice you are seeking, but rather simple direction or clarification. Not to mention the fact that we received someone else's request for additional information in the mail which I had to PERSONALLY return to the courthouse in order to receive OUR request for additional information! It's frustrating.
Also in my downtime I've been preparing our three-month post placement report. The Ethiopian government requires follow-up reports from adoptive families and social worker visits three times in the first year and every year thereafter until the child reaches 18 years of age. This also requires documentation and legwork.
So perhaps you're beginning to see the picture as to why I have so little time to blog. And I really, really miss it. It's not only a great way to document the goings on in our/my life, but has proven to be a wonderful means by which to sort my thoughts as I write. I keep thinking it's going to get better; that there will miraculously be more hours in my day tomorrow, but that has yet to happen. I'm just thankful I was able to get photos uploaded to Facebook today. Yea! It's the little victories that mean so much!
Oh well, I'm going to go wake my sleeping baby. Don't want that nap to be too long...
Until next time...
Things are absolutely great here in the DuBose household. We've settled into a wonderfully comfortable rhythm (sleep deprivation aside). Jackson is such a joy and we are having so much fun! He still isn't sleeping through the night, but I don't feel as bad in a physical sense as I thought I would. He is usually up for an hour to an hour and a half, usually waking at two. He is just not a sleeper. He takes a couple of naps during the day which recharge his batteries and then gets what must be ample sleep for his internal clock because he is up and raring to go in the best of moods each morning. When Jackson does sleep through the night our day begins in full force at five a.m. It's a very good thing I'm a morning person! I will be sad to see the end of my Ethiopian coffee. I'm sad to say only two pounds remain.
Jackson is up to nineteen pounds. That's a far cry from the eleven pound baby we brought home from Ethiopia two and a half months ago. He LOVES to eat! Jackson also has six teeth at present. The two front teeth on the bottom were the first to arrive. The four top teeth (front and eye teeth) all popped in the past week. Yep! They are popping like beautiful, white kernels of popcorn! This extreme teething may well be contributing to his sleeplessness, but it has not affected his jolly mood in the least. He is so much fun!
Jackson is also scooting backward on his belly for very long distances and trying very hard to talk. His first word will most likely begin with either a "c" or "g" because he says these consonants over and over in rapid fire succession throughout the day. He is fascinated with our dogs and Gunnar is his shadow, so perhaps "Gunnar" will be his first word. Jackson has also learned how to scream--loudly. He screams just for the heck of it. He cracks himself up. He'll scream, look at you and then smile and/or laugh. And then he does it all over again. He's a riot!
In my "downtime" I've been working on the re-adoption process we must go through in this country. The United States does not recognize the Ethiopian courts so we must go through the arduous and somewhat expensive process of a stateside adoption. All states are different. We are lucky that Florida does not require an attorney so I am attempting to do this myself. It has been a challenge to say the least because there are no written instructions, rules, regulations, guidelines, requirements, etc. A family from central Florida who adopted from Ethiopia last year was kind enough to share some of their document templates and links to government documents to be filed but I had to make yet another trip to the courthouse this morning (my second this week) to provide another batch of information/documentation. It wouldn't be bad if you could ask someone a question and get a straightforward answer, but they will not answer not even the most basic question at the courthouse. Their pat reply is that they are unable to provide legal advice, even if it is not legal advice you are seeking, but rather simple direction or clarification. Not to mention the fact that we received someone else's request for additional information in the mail which I had to PERSONALLY return to the courthouse in order to receive OUR request for additional information! It's frustrating.
Also in my downtime I've been preparing our three-month post placement report. The Ethiopian government requires follow-up reports from adoptive families and social worker visits three times in the first year and every year thereafter until the child reaches 18 years of age. This also requires documentation and legwork.
So perhaps you're beginning to see the picture as to why I have so little time to blog. And I really, really miss it. It's not only a great way to document the goings on in our/my life, but has proven to be a wonderful means by which to sort my thoughts as I write. I keep thinking it's going to get better; that there will miraculously be more hours in my day tomorrow, but that has yet to happen. I'm just thankful I was able to get photos uploaded to Facebook today. Yea! It's the little victories that mean so much!
Oh well, I'm going to go wake my sleeping baby. Don't want that nap to be too long...
Until next time...
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