Another Visit at Grandma and Grandpa's House

We visited over at The Archer's parents' house again this past Tuesday, and Sir E was feeling quite comfortable. He even let Grandpa get close to him. He's still a little timid with Grandma, which is unusual because Grandma is one of the gentlest people I know.

Sir E is Now Living at the Castle and We're Just Thrilled!!!

Sir E came to live with us on Wednesday, May 21st. We are SO excited! There are big changes around our house, and it will be a bit of an adjustment, but so far, so good.

Here are some new photos. Don't you just love the sweet little romper he's wearing? We are finding that with his eczema, the rompers are better, because he can't get under it to scratch. So we've been buying more rompers.

More Photos

A Trip to the Grandparents' House

Yesterday, we were able to take Sir E to meet his new grandparents...The Archer's mom and dad. He also met The Archer's sister and nephew. They watch The Archer's brother's little girl too, so Princess R was there as well. Sir E did SO well! It took him about 20 minutes to kind of warm up to everyone, but after that, he was chasing Auntie R and she was chasing him. He was playing with a Mother's Day balloon, and dogpiling on Sir C and Cousin E. He also was crawling up Daddy (The Archer) to get at the blinds, because he loves to play with blinds.

If you click on any of the photos here on the blog, you will be able to see them much larger.

Sir E Comes to the Castle for a Visit

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and we were delighted to be able to bring Sir E to our little castle. We let him run around and explore, and learn some boundaries. He wanted to touch and see everything. He loved the ceiling fan in our dining area. He kept wanting to touch the movies we have on the shelves of the entertainment center, and we would tell him no. So then he would move to touching the DVD and VCR players, and we would tell him no. So he decided to test us by knocking on the entertainment center, in between the movies and the players. It was kind of like he was saying "Can I touch this? Let's see how much I can get away with.". He'll learn, and he will feel safe.

We knew that Sir E would need to take a nap while in our little castle. We knew that putting him down like we would a child we babysit, would not work. The pack and play and the bedroom were just all too new. So we put on a Praise Baby DVD, and I held him while sitting in The Archer's "comfy chair" (the recliner). He started to relax a little, but was still in full upright position. Then, as I sang to him the songs that were being played on the TV, he would look at my mouth, and then look at the TV, and look at my mouth, and at the TV. He seemed to be fascinated. I know that The Archer was praying, and so was I, that Sir E would be able to relax enough to fall asleep. Gradually he allowed me to position him to where he was leaning against me. Then we turned down the volume on the tv, and he laid there in my arms and relaxed some more. I rubbed his face gently, and I could feel his breathing even out more, even to the point of a gentle snore, even though he was still wide-eyed. Eventually, after about 45 minutes, he was able to fall asleep in my arms. He was twitching a bit, so I think he wasn't totally relaxed, but he slept, and stayed asleep in my arms, or lying on my chest and tummy for about and hour and 15 minutes. The Archer was able to capture this time in a photo. I'm not thrilled with how I look in the photo, but I sure do love how Sir E was snuggled up and cozy, as we napped together.

We were to have dinner over at our friends' house that evening, so we took Sir E with us. We realized that it was a little overwhelming for him, because they have 3 young boys (one who is Sir E's age), and because it was a new place again. So The Archer and I took him back to his foster mom, while Sir C stayed at our friends' house and played. Sir E did SO well, considering he had a LONG, new day. He was pretty fussy at the end, but it's definitely to be expected. I would be fussy too! But it was a good learning experience for The Archer and I. We know that the transition is not going to be an easy one, so we ask for your prayers that Sir E will be able to transition into our home without too much fear and anxiety. Thank you so much for all of your prayers! We appreciate and love you!

The Archer, the Fair Queen, and the Two Knights

Sir C Met His Little Brother Yesterday

Yesterday was Sir C's first time to meet Sir E. The visit went really well. When we first got there, I sat down on the floor, as did The Archer and Sir C. Sir E seemed to recognize and remember us. It wasn't long until Sir E had come over to me and laid his head on my shoulder and snuggled up to me. If that doesn't get to a mommy's heart, I don't know what does!

It wasn't long before Sir E warmed up to Sir C. He just loves to climb all over us and just lie down and be close to us. How amazing is this after just one visit!
Sir E played with The Archer too. He thought it was fun to touch The Archer's beard. We took so many pictures and also took video, which we hope to upload here soon, if I can figure it out.
I got to feed Sir E his lunch, and change his diaper. Sir C laid down and played with Sir E. Look at how Sir E looks at Sir C. Isn't it sweet?

Here are some more pictures from our visit yesterday:

More Pictures

We met Sir E today!

We finally got to go meet Sir E today! You wouldn't believe how nervous The Archer and I were! It felt so weird, to think that we were going to meet our son. We had gone to a really cool toy store in a neighboring town, called Games Unlimited. They had SUCH cool toys and games! I think we'll be back when we want to get some great family toys and games. We actually ended up buying a toy figure for Sir C, because he is into knights and archers, and things like that. So we bought him an archer.

We got Sir E a really fun little Fisher Price Musical Zoo Train, as well as a gorgeous (if a stuffed animal can be called gorgeous) plush giraffe that is about 18 inches tall. We're saving the giraffe for when Sir E comes to stay.

So we met our caseworker over at the foster mom's house. She was SO excited for us! She has been wanting this just as much as we have. It was kind of funny, because she had written down the wrong address, just transposing the numbers a tad. We knocked on the door of this house where an older gentleman answered the door...I think he could easily be called an old codger. He said, "Well, what can I do for you?" Our caseworker said "We're looking for "P"....(the foster mom)". He said "Do I LOOK like "P"?" It was all rather amusing, and it really helped to ease our nervousness a bit.

Well, we finally ended up at the correct house, after a short phone call to "P". Two precious little boys answered the door with her...one was "J" and one was Sir E. Immediately, I knew that I had HELD Sir E before!!!!! I had met this foster mom at the place where Sir C goes for PT/OT! Believe it or not, I had met her last summer, and had actually spoken with her about her role as a foster mom. I had asked if I could hold the baby, and asked what the story behind him was. She wasn't allowed to say much, but she gave me a tiny background. And it all came back to me as I thought about this little boy, before we met him! God knew the WHOLE time!!! Isn't that amazing???

Anyway, we took 78 pictures while we were there! Not all of them were great, because Sir E kept wanting to grab the camera, or he was just on the go all the time, and the camera captured his actions a little too late. But we did get some really good photos. Here are a few of them:

Our Target Baby Registry

We've begun a Target Baby Registry. You can view it here:

Baby Registry for Michael & Angie Ochoa

We will add to it as we are able to.

A Precious Little Life

Well, we met with the caseworkers last Friday, the 2nd of May. I think they knew what our answer would be, even though they asked us to think it over and give our answer on Monday. We were ok with that, because we didn't want to make an emotionally based decision, and we wanted to have the time to pray and really ask God for super clarity, and any red flags.

But, we didn't get any red flags. We really feel that God wants us to take Sir E into our home, even if it's just for a short time. We pray that he will be our son, and that we will be allowed to adopt him.

So are you ready for a picture or three? Here's Sir E:

We get to go and meet him on Wednesday, so we will go shopping for a little gift to take. We also get to take the camera, so there will be more pictures soon. We're working hard on getting our home ready for Sir E to come, so we're trying to get rid of loads of fabric, craft things (that I won't be using), clothing, etc. Please keep us in your prayers as we work on all the things that we need to get done before Sir E comes to live with us.

We will be adding more to our registries soon, so that you can get an idea of the things we need. Any gift cards for Target or Babies 'R' Us or Old Navy will be GREATLY appreciated.

We love you!

The Archer, the Fair Queen, and the Elder Knight

News of a Meeting.

We are excited because, even though we thought we wouldn't get to meet the other caseworkers until next week, we will be meeting them tomorrow (May 2nd)! What this means for us, is that we will get to see pictures of our little guy tomorrow, and find out more about him. The Archer is getting off of work early so that we can go. We have a wonderful friend who is going to hang out with Sir C, even though he so badly wants to go. Thank you Mrs. S, for being so flexible and being willing to hang out with Sir C.

We want to let you know that we will have three baby registries, even though we are asking for no showers until after the adoption has been finalized.

We are registered at Babies 'R' Us, and we will be registering at Target. We also have an Amazon.com baby registry, where we are listing our immediate needs (besides diapers of course!).