Update

It's been a big couple of days on the adoption front. The line between parenting and adopting is very, very blurred right now as 99% of our day is spent focusing on eating, sleeping, pooping and playing. In the back of my blurry frontal lobe I had some vague recollection that we still had more paperwork to do. Yesterday our social worker came out for our first post-placement meeting to indeed remind us that we need to fill out our name and send in more money to approximately six more government agencies. Excellent.

Just so you know, when our social worker did his first home visit back in April it was preceded by three days of deep-cleaning of our house. I also took the time to make a carrot cake from scratch including cream cheese frosting with real vanilla beans. The whole process took about three hours. It was worth it. God, I loved that cake.

This time around I vacuumed the middle of the floors on the main level of the house and made sure that Jaden's changing table didn't have feces on it (not joking...). I thought that was enough for us to be in the clear. How times have changed.

For those interested we have several steps left in the adoption process. We need to finalize the adoption in our state's court system which allows us to apply for a birth certificate for Jaden. We will then apply for a passport and a social security number. Finally, we will apply for a Certificate of Citizenship. After all of that -- Jaden should be able to pay taxes, register for the draft and begin the process of identity protection. Thank goodness. How long will all of this take? A year or more. Honestly. But, really, what else do we have to do?

We also went to the Place that Pokes Babies today. Yes, another doctor's visit. This time it was to a place that specializes in international adoptions. Jaden is nearly 21 pounds now thanks to his love affair with all things edible. He has popped four new teeth in the past week as well. But, the big event was the blood draw. I never really need to hear that cry again. Ever.

We are all back home now. Jaden is sleeping in his crib dreaming about Cheerios and wheels, Dustin is conducting a very official phone call in the office and I am ready to take a nap. After I fold some diapers, clean some bottles and contact our local immigration office.