The next adventure...

Tomorrow we take our first family road trip!! We will be traveling to Vermont for a long weekend to visit family and to attend my 20 year high school reunion! I'm excited to go, but a bit nervous about the looooong car trip! I've been reading up on how best to handle such trips, and I hope I'm prepared. Lots of new toys and snacks, and of course, we'll be doing a lot of stopping so the little ones can stretch.

Part of the reunion is a family day at the "Sandbar" on Lake Champlain (Vermonters will know where I'm talking about!). So Tyler will get to try out his skills in a natural body of water for the first time. Not sure how he'll react to the sand and the seaweed, but we'll see. I'll be sure to document it all here afterwards! Here are a couple pix of him modeling his new life jacket - and playing with a balloon - that I bought him for going in the lake. Not taking any chances!

Swim update

Tyler did much better at his swim lesson this past Saturday. He was less clingy and and actually allowed Mitch to put him through some of the moves without complaining!

Later that day, he and Daddy went to the town pool where the adventure continued (though I don't have any pictures of it, I heard the tales!). Meantime, Evan enjoyed more floor and exer-saucer time!

Break dancing???

Sorry these are sideways! I can't seem to fix them... hope no one gets whiplash craning their necks to see them... I just HAD to include them - THAT FACE!!!

After such a busy day, nap time sometimes just happens...

Floor time

Occasionally, when the coast is clear (i.e., when Tyler is napping!), Evan gets to indulge in a little floor time. This morning, he had a grand old time rolling around and playing with his toys. He even sat up for a few seconds before slooooooowly toppling over!

Tyler, on the other hand, when he's awake, has an entirely different idea of floor time:

Poor George!!!

Dinnertime fun

Whilst one learns to eat with utensils...



... the other learns how fun it is to spit while eating pureed green beans:

Just another dinner hour at the Bath house :)!

Saturday morning swim lessons

"Baby and Me" is the name of the class at the county recreation center where we have gone every Saturday morning for the last 5 weeks. We are intent on having the boys learn how to swim and not be afraid of the water. The class is for 6-18 month olds, but we only have Tyler enrolled on this go around. Evan is technically old enough, but I am not ready for him to go in the olympic sized pool! Just because I don't want them to be afraid doesn't mean I won't be :)!

Tyler looks confident before getting into the water, and is definitely getting more comfortable...

but is still mostly unsure and clings to Daddy for life:

It doesn't make a lot of sense because when Daddy takes him to the local pool, or Grammy takes him to her neighborhood pool, he is quite the daredevil.

These pictures aren't necessarily evidence of that, I just happen to think they're cute!

Back to the lessons...

I think Mitch is the only daddy in the class without a tattoo... There are only 3 sessions left. I really think Tyler is picking up on a lot of what is being taught, even if he refuses to demonstate it during class, because he has taken to kicking his feet in the bathtub. So hopefully he will come away with some skills that will hold him over until he is old enough to take the next class which I believe is the "Pee Wee Paddlers" for ages 3-5!

In the meantime, Evan waits patiently on the sidelines until Mommy has the nerve to let him take his own swim lessons...

I don't think he's in too much of a hurry... But I'm sure it won't be long before both boys are jumping off the high dive. That's when mommy will really have a heart attack!

and then along came Evan...

There we were. Happy as could be with our new little bundle of joy. Sleep deprived, but happy! Tyler Douglas Bath had fulfilled our lives like we never imagined. We figured at some point he would have to have a sibling so eventually we would adopt again, but no need to worry about that right away. At that point, we had about all we could handle and were quite comfortable.

And then things got a little crazy...

When Tyler was about 2 months old, I discovered I was pregnant. Yes, pregnant. Me - who couldn't get pregnant. I was pregnant. To say we were shocked is an understatement. To say that was an understatement, is an understatement! I wish I had taken a picture of Mitch's face when I told him. Not that it helped, but I had had all afternoon to think about it by the time he came home (and had taken at least 3 pregnancy tests by then) and I really threw him for a loop. How could this be??? There must be some mistake...

10 more home tests and a trip to the doctor confirmed it. We were going to have another baby - and much sooner than we had ever imagined!

As much as I had previously longed to be pregnant, I had truly accepted and moved on from the fact that I couldn't be and I was completely torn (I have spoken to other women this has happened to and am glad to know that this is a normal reaction). Would Tyler ever feel that he wasn't good enough so we had to have a biological child? Would we get kicked out of FPA? Would people think it was selfish of us to adopt when we really could have biological children? And most of all, how could I possibly love another child as much as I loved Tyler?

And I worried that something might be wrong. If I had had such trouble getting pregnant, it must mean that something could go wrong. Weeks of worry and some invasive tests later, we found out that nothing was wrong. I was carrying a healthy baby boy. I could finally relax - well, as much as any pregnant woman with an infant at home and a full time job can relax! - and enjoy my good fortune. After all, how many people can claim 2 miracles in one year??

As elated as I was, I was also humbled. I remembered quite well during my struggle to get pregnant how sad I would be when I saw other pregnant women walking down the street. So as much as I wanted to beam and skip as I walked along, I tried to contain myself and be sensitive to who might be looking at me with the same broken heart that I had once had. As if pregnancy hormones don't make you emotional enough, I had to wrestle with that too!

My doctor tells me I was the happiest pregnant patient he had ever had. He always questioned me as if he was trying to get me to admit that I really was miserable! Sure, I had aches and pains and other trials of pregnancy to deal with, but I tried never to complain about it because I knew how lucky I was. And I REALLY DID love every minute of it!!

Not due until January 3rd, 2008, the little bugger decided to show up a little early. Seven days before Christmas, I went into labor at 1:30 in the morning. Since he was 2 1/2 weeks early, we were not prepared! I didn't even have a bag packed for the hospital (anyone who knows me has a hard time believing this is true) - it was on my "to-do" list for later that day! I'm sure it would have been quite comical for an outsider to watch Mitch and I scrambling around the house as I tried to pack my bag, and a bag for Tyler, who would be staying with Grammy and Grandad, all the while dropping to the floor every 3 minutes with a contraction. Ok, not my fondest memory of the pregnancy, so let's move on...

Twelve+ hours later, at 1:50 p.m. on Tuesday, December 18, 2007, Evan Thomas Bath was born via C-section.

I suppose most mothers worry that they won't have enough love to go around when another baby comes along. And as I'm sure any mother could tell you, I needn't have worried.

Tyler's story

After a long quest to have children, we realized it was not going to happen - and were told as much by the "experts". After the shock and the sadness and the soul-searching comes clarity. It became very clear to us that what we wanted was to raise children, even if we couldn't create them ourselves.

Adoption. A wonderful thing, but something Mitch and I didn't really know anything about. Time to research! We assumed that you just call an "adoption agency" and sign up... Unfortunately, it's a bit more complicated than that! But through our research and determination, we learned about private adoption - a process by which you find your own birthmother! Sounds like a stretch, but read on!

In November of 2006, Mitch and I attended a workshop facilitated by a wonderful organization called "Families for Private Adoption" (http://www.ffpa.org/). We learned all about the process - advertising, state laws, questions to ask potential birthmothers, ETC! It was all a bit overwhelming, but we were determined and inspired after hearing some pretty amazing stories from others. About 2 weeks later, we placed our first advertisement in multiple newspapers, had family posting flyers wherever possible, left our cards everywhere we went, sent out emails to everyone we knew, and set up a 1-800 number that would ring to my cell phone. We had a tremendous outpouring of support from friends and family. About 2 months later, on January 21st, 2007, as we were standing in the check-out line at the grocery store, my cell phone rang.

Her name was Jessie. She was 7+ months along and decided she couldn't keep the baby. She had seen our ad in the "Thrifty Nickel" newspaper. She wasn't what you would assume - a knocked up teenager who was being forced to give up her child. She was just a few years younger than me. She was a mother of 5. I won't share her entire complicated and somewhat tragic story as I feel that I should protect her privacy. The initial conversation was sort of rushed, and I can honestly say I think it was the most nervous I have been in my life! We agreed that Mitch and I would drive to Ohio the next day to meet her and her boyfriend (not the baby's father) for lunch. What a day that was. We were about half way there when a terrible snow/ice storm came through and we had to turn around and go home. We spent 13 hours in the car, drove about 600 miles and went nowhere. I was so scared that Jessie would just go to the next ad in the paper if we didn't make it that day. But she said to me on the phone, and I'll never forget it, "Don't worry honey, I'll wait for you". The following weekend brought beautiful traveling weather and we made our way to Ohio for our first meeting with Jessie. There was an immediate connection, and by the end of lunch it was a foregone conclusion that she would allow us to adopt her baby.

Between then and the day of Tyler's birth was an absolute whirlwind of attorneys, social workers, paperwork, not to mention preparing our home and ourselves to welcome a new baby! On March 8th, I drove to Ohio for the day to take Jessie to a doctor's appointment. The doctor decided that he would induce her the following day! I had thought we'd have a couple more weeks because he wasn't due until the 25th! I was in shock and I think I remember crying to Mitch on the phone "I don't think I'm ready!" But truly, is anyone ever ready? How can you be prepared for such a thing that changes your life on so many levels?

The following day, March 9, 2007, at 12:23 p.m., a beautiful and perfect baby boy was born. And except for the delivery nurse, I was the first one to hold him. I sat in a room for the longest time holding him and just staring at his little face. In an instant, he was my son, and I was a mother.

This picture was taken shortly after Tyler was born, by one of the nursing students who assisted with the delivery.

Several hours later, Daddy arrived.

Ours is not a typical adoption story. Within 5 months of making the decision to adopt, we brought our son home. We wish all couples seeking to adopt could be as fortunate as we were.

After bringing him home, there were several more months of attorneys, social workers, and paperwork. On November 21st, 2007 - a year to the day from when we placed our first advertisement - Tyler's adoption was finalized.

How it all began...

At first, it was just me and George. George is my cat that I adopted when he was 7 weeks old. Then along came my prince, Mitchell, whom I married in 2000. Then in 2001, there was a precious stray cat hanging around that we had to take in - Felix. Many years passed, and then we adopted our first son - Tyler - born on March 9, 2007 (more on his story later). And then a mere 9 months and 9 days later, our second son, Evan, was born.

So that's how it all began - and now it's me and my 5 boys! George is now 12 1/2, Felix is about 9, Tyler is 16 months (today!), and Evan is 6 1/2 months. Um... nevermind how old Mitch and I are! :) Being the only female in the household has its advantages and disadvantages, but I'm madly in love with all of them, and I wouldn't have it any other way!!

So here is my crew - minus the cats (as skilled as Mitch is, he can't hold EVERYONE at once!)