Archive for December 2011
BACON WALNUT BRUSSEL SPROUTS
Growing up Brussel Sprouts were always a tradition that was served up with Christmas Dinner mostly because my gramma loves them. I’ve never really minded them but the plain ol’ way they were always served (just tossed with butter & a lil salt) didn’t make them overly appetizing.
This year I had my gramma here at our house for Christmas & it’s the first year I’ve cooked up a Christmas dinner for her. Fortunately, a few days prior I had stumbled across this recipe via a link I followed on Pinterest & it turned out amazing. Definitely a new fav that’s for sure. Honestly, even if you don’t even like Brussel Sprouts this is worth trying. Bacon just makes everything better, doesn’t it?
Ingredients You’ll need:
* 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
* 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
* 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
* 6 slices pre-cooked Bacon
* 2 Cups Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and shredded
* 1/2 cup toasted chopped Walnuts
* Salt & Pepper to taste
What To Do:
* Mix Vineager, Oil & Brown Sugar together in a small bowl & set aside
* Saute the Brussel Sprouts, pre-cooked Bacon & chopped Walnuts together with about 1-2 tablespoons of Olive Oil in frying pan for about 5 minutes or until Sprouts just start to become tender.
* Remove from heat, stir in dressing mixture & serve as a side dish.
* Enjoy!
The baby was due on the 18th which was 5 days ago however he’s apparently decided that he’s in absolutely no rush to meet the world. Can’t say I really blame him but I would like to snuggle him up & soon!
He’s pretty well ALL I can think about. Day in, day out I just have baby boy on the brain to the point I’m completely forgetting other very simple things. I’ll be glad when this is all over & I have him in my arms at the hotel & know that the risk disruption is over & he really is my baby boy.
Last week after our match became official I decided to get on painting the nursery & over the weekend Roy worked his assembling magic & got all the nursery furniture put together. Then I began the decorating….
I’m quite please with how it all turned out & think the little guy will be quite happy in there. You know, once he’s finally willing to sleep in a big bad crib & all.
On Monday we had our first contact with the birth mom through a conference call. She seems pretty sweet, kinda shy, didn’t say a whole lot. It was definitely awkward & I was a nervous wreck babbling away while trying to answer her questions.
She wanted to know how we felt about having a boy & I told her we were very excited to experience raising one & had been looking forward to having a son for quite some time.
She confirmed that we were a Military family & asked how often we moved around. I explained that Roy has been in just about 8 years now & we’ve only moved once. The Military doesn’t move people around as much as they used to.
She asked what our girls were like & I told her how sweet they are & how much they’re looking forward to having a baby brother.
She asked how we disciplined & I explained that we really aren’t into corporal punishment. We prefer to do time outs. We give warnings then follow up with a consequence. Typically a time out or loss of privilege. We believe being consistent about our expectations is important & have been complemented by many people about how well behaved our girls are so we must be doing something right. Doesn’t mean they don’t still have their moments however.
She told us that she was glad she got us as we were apparently her first choice. I had no idea & was quite flattered to learn this. She really picked us! She also filled us in on how her doctors appointment that she’d just been to had gone & told us that if the baby wasn’t born by next Monday they would induce her on Tuesday the 27th. So far it’s looking like baby is going to hold out for that too.
I’ve got a big suitcase packed with all our baby necessities as well as a backpack with my clothes, laptop, chargers, etc. Then a separate backpack with Roy’s things.
We’ve decided that I will fly out ASAP as soon after we get the travel call. Roy will wait for his sister to fly in from Utah so he can hand off the girls to her. She’s going to care for the girls, the pets & the house while we’re gone. Then he will follow up as soon as he can after me. He’ll stay until baby is discharged to show his support at the hospital & whatnot, then head back to relieve his sister & take care of the girls & everything while I wait out the ICPC in NY. My gramma, who was going to fly to FL for Christmas is going to continue on to NY & meet me there to stay until either she’s due to return home or until ICPC lets us return to FL.
That’s out plan anyways. It’s not the most ideal but it’s the best we can do being that we don’t live close to any family & our close friends are all going to be away for the holidays. We contemplated bringing the girls with us but just think it will be far too hectic having them possibly at the hospital & then cooped up in a small hotel room for weeks. So this is the best plan we can come up with, & since his sister is traveling to us from Utah, it’s going to take her a while to get to us, which may cause us to not make it to NY in time if we both wait for her arrival to FL first. So that’s why we’re separating. I ran it by our adoption worker & she said considering the circumstances this will be ok.
If the baby doesn’t end up coming until she’s induced on the 27th then we’ll just pick up gramma from the airport in Orlando on Saturday. We’ll have Christmas here all together & then have Roy’s sister fly out on Monday. Then Tuesday Roy, Gramma & I will head to NY all together & continue with things as planned.
The reason we’re not having Gramma stay with the girls instead is because she doesn’t want to be stranded at the house. She’s not comfortable driving our vehicles, nor trying to figure out how to get around in a foreign town & she doesn’t like the idea of not being able to leave or get anywhere should she need to. Roy’s sister however, isn’t worried about any of that & we’re fine having her drive the van. Plus, Roy’s sister also has the added benefit of knowing how to use the GPS feature on her iPhone which gramma does not. So we’re just going to take gramma with us & it’ll be nice having her there with me to help with the baby & whatnot after Roy heads back home to look after the girls.
It’s been quite the ordeal as well finding a hotel with availability, around where we need it, due to it being the holiday’s & with Brooklyn being so close to Times Square where they big New Years event always takes place. I would LOVE to be able to go be a part of that & watch the ball drop in person but there’s just no way it’s a good idea to go with a newborn baby & there’s no way either that I’m going to leave gramma with him & go to the event alone. So even though I’ll be just a few miles away, I’ll still be watching it from the TV screen.
We did finally manage to find 2 decent hotels. One that’s close to the airport & one that’s closer to the hospital. I have both of them tentatively reserved but am trying to work out a better rate with the manager of the hotel closest to the hospital. It’s a much nicer hotel & every room comes with a kitchenette, plus they offer a continental breakfast that even includes omelets! Because of how long we’ll be staying I feel we deserve a price cut & the staff says if we speak with the manager he can probably approve something. The trouble has been getting hold of said manager though. The other thing is that this hotel currently has no space for New Years Eve so we’d have to leave & go to the other hotel for that one night unless space suddenly became available. We’re on the wait list however, & should have priority since we’ll already be staying there. I just don’t want to cancel the other reservation for the hotel closest to the airport until I know for certain everything has been arranged & squared away with the one we prefer.
I have been a bit MIA regarding the blog for the last month & apologize for my lack of posting. Not a whole lot has been going on necessarily besides getting ready for the holiday’s & feeling in a bit of a funk due to the lack of activity with our adoption agency.It was really starting to feel that we’d never get a baby… or at least that it was going to take a LONG time. The thought was pretty depressing to say the least, despite the fact we’ve only actually been actively waiting with our agency for just shy of 3 months.
Then yesterday morning I got a call, totally out of the blue, wondering if we wanted to be considered for a possible match situation with a birth mom that really liked us as well as another family, however the fee was a bit over our set budget.
I made some phone calls to see if we could find access to the extra that would be required & then responded saying yes we wanted to be considered. I was advised that the birth mother specialist with the agency would contact me with more info soon & then we waited, and waited…. and waited.
At 4pm I finally emailed our worker asking for a status update & a short while later she replied back that the birth mother’s specialist wanted to have a chance to verify everything with the birth mom & finish some paper work before he called us so we could expect a call from him in the morning. It sounded promising but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
The morning came & the morning went. Still, we didn’t hear anything. The suspense of waiting for answers was killing me and around 1:30pm I emailed our worker again.
By 3pm I hadn’t heard back from her nor the birth mother’s specialist so I took things into my own hands & called the agency asking to talk to the birth mothers specialist directly & I got put through to his voicemail, which really started me thinking that this was heading south fast since apparently no one wanted to give me answers I figured they either didn’t have any or it wasn’t going to be good news.
Less than 10 minutes later he called me back & announced that the birth mother did in fact pick us!!!
We’re matched!!!
He then proceeded to fill me in on all the details:
* It’s a boy!
* She’s due Sunday December 18th
* It’s her first baby
* She’s in New York
* The adoption rules will be based on Florida’s Laws which is excellent news for us because it means once she signs the papers it’s irrevocable. She won’t be able to sign them however for 48 hours after delivery unless the baby is released earlier.
* Baby will be full African American
* She picked us because she knew she was having a boy & asked to be shown profiles from couples who specifically wanted a boy. Out of the profiles she was shown she really liked our picture although I have no idea which one.
* She definitely wants pictures, letters & emails post placement which we’re more than happy to do. I do this already with Alanna’s birth mom.
* She isn’t certain that she’ll want post placement visits but would like the option left open. We’ve decided to be ok with that so long as she understands we’re Military & could end up stationed pretty well anywhere so she would likely have to come to us. I also specified not more than yearly & the specialist really doesn’t think she’s overly concerned about it & likely won’t desire it but just doesn’t want the option to be closed.
* Sadly, for me anyways, she doesn’t want anyone (not even her family) in the delivery room. She wants to do it totally alone & I’m pretty bummed to once again miss out on this beautiful moment but I do understand & am certainly not going to let it be a deal breaker.
So, at this point that’s about everything I can say. I’m beyond excited & am not sure how I’m going to sleep between now & then. The timing is absolutely awful though. My gramma is due to be arriving on the 24th to spend Christmas & New Years with us & now we very well may not be here. She’s ok with having her ticket rerouted if possible though to bring her to us in New York where she can stay with us & meet her newest great grandchild.
Roy’s sister has volunteered to fly to Florida & stay with the girls as well as look after our pets for us & this would be a tremendous blessing. We were advised not to bring the girls to the hospital with us because we want to give the impression that the new baby is our primary focus at that time & having to worry about two 4 year olds climbing all over everything would be quite a distraction, not to mention having them cooped up with us in a small hotel room for a week or two along with the newborn wouldn’t be a whole lot of fun for anyone. So, I hope it all works out that his sister can in fact make it out here to do this for us.
The issue though is that everything has to happen at a moments notice. Once we get the call that she’s gone into labor we have to book our flights to New York ASAP & have his sister book her flights here ASAP & arrive BEFORE we have to leave. Preferably with enough time to get her to our house (we live an hour from the airport & she’s never been here before!) & show her around so she knows where to find everything & so on.
We may well be spending Christmas at a hotel in New York as well. I hear it’s beautiful this time of year & am actually super excited about being there but am saddened that we might be separated from the girls for Christmas. Regardless though, this will definitely be a Christmas we’ll never forget & this little bundle will be the best Christmas gift EVER!
I’ll keep you all posted….
