3 and almost 4 months

We missed our 3 month check up due to vacation and illness. So Durant had a 3/almost 4 month check up and here is his update.

Weight: 14.5lbs and in the 50th percentile
Height: 24.5 inches in the 25th percentile
What a rolly poley

He is working on rolling over. He can get to his side but needs an extra umps to get all the way over.
He chews on everything especially his feet(early teether yikes!)
He is working on laughing. His giggle turns into a fuss quickly. But I did get 1 belly laugh out of him.
He loves to sit up or stand
He blows raspberries
He loves to scream. We don't have a quiet kid.
He sleeps 7 hours straight wakes for a feeding and then sleeps for another 6 hours
He is eating rice cereal (first time tonight)
And he is ready for his first Christmas..
We head to Ohio for Christmas with the in-laws and then off to CA we go for Christmas with our California family.
We can't wait to see all of you!

2 months and a plane ride

Durant David Isaac is 2 months.
12lbs 7oz
23 inches long
25 percentile for everything (little peanut)
Things he loves:
Sleeping
Eating
Being talked to and sang to
The band Branches
Bring rocked
His swing
Ceiling fans
Things he can do:
Hold his head up for awhile
Cooing
Big smiles
Sticks his tongue out
Pull his hair
Tracks objects
Searches for mom

Durant and I made a trip to CA to meet all almost all of my family. We were there for 3 weeks and had a blast. Our trip at a lot of first for D. First plane ride, first time at the beach, first time meting everyone, first time sleeping 6+ hours, first time in San Diego, first Halloween, first baby shower, first time to Apple hill.... LOTS OF FIRSTS!!!

I'm glad we got to spend time with the family and of course, D was spoiled rotten. All 3 weeks were full of activities. I got to throw my BFF a baby shower! And we even made the trip to San Diego to remember Gigi who past away last month. 

D is such a great traveler. He slept the entire 5+ hour plane ride. Both ways! He even slept the entire drive (8+ hr) to San Diego. Both ways! He is such a happy, easy go lucky boy. 

It was such a great trip. The count down is one for our return 12/26!

Papa and D

Aunt Missy and D

Uncle Zak and Aunt Alli

pulling his hair in his sleep

plane ride!

Happy Halloween

BFFs baby shower. Cant wait to meet D's BFF when we come back

Nonnie and us at the beach

Happy Boy!

1 month old

This post is a bit late seeing how Durant is almost 12 weeks old. But it is our dream that when Durant is of an appropriate age, we will print this blog out for him to read. We want him to know where we came from and how much we is loved.

Here is his first update letter to the adoption agency and some pictures from birth-1month old.

Dear Birth Mom,

Hope this letter finds you well. It is hard to believe Durant is 1 month old. Time has flown by! He is growing like a weed. It has been so cool to see his transformation over the past 4 weeks.  I swear he changes over night. He is developing well and meeting all of his milestones.

We took Durant to his pediatrician and he weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces. He is 21 inches long. He eats like a champ! He has put himself on a routine, eating 4 ounces every 4 hours. He will let us know if we have let him go longer than 4 hours!

He gets stronger every day. He is able to lift his head for a few minutes. He has even started pushing up with his arms. He has a fierce grip and is good at holding on to things. He kicks his legs a lot! He tends to push/kick himself all around his pack-n-play if he isn’t swaddled.  He does a great job tracking objects and faces with his eyes. He likes to study faces, especially Nathan’s. He must like his beard.

Durant has a beautiful smile (when you can catch him smiling). Even though his smile is just a reflex he does it quite often. His face lights up in a flash. We have tried to capture it in a picture but I think he sees the camera coming and so he purposefully stops. J
Durant has met Nathan’s side of the family and has met everyone at church. He was dedicated at the church this last Sunday. He was given his first bible. Also, he and I will be going CA to meet my side of the family. Everyone has enjoyed meeting and spoiling Durant. He is a very happy baby and we love him dearly.

We hope you are doing well and enjoying the last bit of summer! We will be writing again soon. Enjoy the pictures!

God bless!

-Nathan, Meghan, and Durant

 

 

(I use to suck these finger)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(gangster baby)

 

(Dad is trying to brain wash him already)

September 27 2013

September 27 2013 is another important date that our family will always remember.

This day Durant's birth father's parental rights were automatically terminated!

The state of Ohio allows the birth father 30 days to claim his child before his parental rights will be terminanted.

We are lucky that we only had to wait 30 days. Some states require longer. I believe NJ is 120 days....YIKES!

This means that our adoption will have no inturruptions from a bioligical family member. We still have monthly home visits from our social worker to make sure we are "sutiable parents." And we will continue to have these visits until we finalize in about 5 months...

So we wait until we finailze.

Perez Family of 4

We just returned from Ohio, after being there for almost 2 weeks. This time with a happy ending.

Saturday (8/24) at 3:15pm we got a call from our adoption agency. Nathan was getting ready for work and of course I made him stop getting ready while we took this call.

Our agency had a possible match of a baby born. This baby was born that morning and birth mom needed to find a family fast. Because it was the weekend, the agency didn't know how much he weighed, how long, or if he was healthy. All they knew was that he was in Cleveland, OH (who would have thought Ohio again) and it was a boy. They needed a decision ASAP because if we were to pass they needed to find another family fast.

Side note: She chose us because she liked our profile and because we were "cool". -who would have thought.... us... cool?

After talking to Nathan for a total of 2 minutes, we called the agency back and accepted. Even though we were going in blind, we felt like this was the baby God wanted for us. Nathan had to go to work that night. I left to go get boy baby things. And the very next day we left for Ohio....again.

We met Nathan's cousin in Columbus to drop off Buddy and we headed to Cleveland for the hospital. On our way we got a text that the baby was healthy. We got to the hospital about 5 pm. The baby had jaundice and had to be under the photo therapy lights but we were able to hang out with him for 30 mins and then had to meet the birth mom.

 

We met with the birth mom and her other children's father (who has been her main support). Our meeting was very short. She said she already knew what she wanted to know about us. They did admit that they were going to have an abortion but didn't have the money, which is why they chose adoption. We thanked them repeatedly for choosing adoption. It is amazing to think that if they just had $400 we would not have our boy. We left the hospital that night knowing we had an agonizing 48 hours to go.

 

We came back the next day to spend the day with our son but were denied access because the social worker didn't have the birth mom fill out the paper work allowing us to see the baby. So we hung out in Cleveland that day. Tuesday, 8/27 the birth mom signed the custody papers at 12 pm. We signed ours an hour later and Durant David Isaac became ours.

 

We have a few more dates that we need to pray for.

The birth father has 30 days from placement (8/27) to come forward and take for custody.

Also, we have 7 months before it can be finalized.

But for now, We have our son, in our home, and he is perfect.

 

Thank you all for your support, love, encouragment, and prayers!

 



Wanting to save the world 1 baby at a time

This past week, exactly 1 month from the birth of our fist match, we were given the opportunity to parent another baby.

At first, we were thrilled, overjoyed, ecstatic, excited and happy. That was until we learned more about this baby.

The precious baby boy was born August 4th at 29 weeks old. He weighed 3lbs and was 15 inches long. His mother had been addicted to heroin and once she found out she was pregnant, she decided to get clean and was put on methadone.
The baby was is healthy as to be expected for a 29 weeker. He will not be released from this hospital until he is 36 weeks.

When we learned all we could about this match, I started doing my research.
What are the long term effects of methadone addictions?
Long term effect of premature babies?
 How could this affect us?
After learning all that I could, I realized I wanted to save him. I want to save all the babies who need a home.
Although, after talking with Nathan we decided to pass on this baby.
Heartbroken, I pray that this birth mom finds a family to love, support, and care for him.

So we continue to wait for the baby God has picked for us...

Whoever said "forgetting is easy" is wrong

Well it has been a few weeks since our hearts were broken so I thought I would try to explain everything.
We were in OH for 9 days. 6 of those days we spend with the birth mom. We were by her side all day. We provided support and were a comfort while she endured 60 hours of labor. We really got to know each other. We made plans to meet yearly, sending gifts and pictures of the baby, and we heard her plans of getting on with her life.
After 60hrs the doctors decided on a c- section. I was honored to be asked to go into surgery with her. She wanted me with the baby as soon as she was out. It was truly a miracle to witness the birth of, what we thought would be, our child.  The baby was born at 1:44pm weighing in at 8lbs exactly and 18 3/4 inches long ( it's amazing that I remember all of this).  She was gorgeous. She scored low on her APGAR so she was sent to the NICU. Nathan and I were able to go with her. I did not leave her side. I was able to feed her her first bottle, change her first diaper, and give her her first bath. I was already in love with her.
After spending 4 hours in the NICU she was ready to go back to the maternity ward.
The next 72 hours was spent hanging out with the birth mom, taking care of the baby, trying all her headbands out,  falling more in love with this baby, and watching Nathan's heart grow for this little girl.
When people say you can't get attached until after the waiting period is over have never adopted a baby. How can you NOT love this tiny person who is so willing to love you back?
On the last day we left to go back to our hotel. We kissed the baby goodbye, not knowing we would never see her again. That evening I was texting the birth mom trying to express our appreciation, love, and gratitude for her. She was responded by thanking us for loving the baby and told us how comfortable she was with her decision.
At 8 am the next morning we got a call from the adoption agency explaining how the birth mom was struggling with her decision. We were told not to go back to the hospital until we were called. After breakfast we drove to the hospital and sat in our car in the parking garage. We sat listened to music and prayed and prayed and prayed. The time dragged on and on and on. Finally, at 1:48pm we got the call the birth mom had decided to parent the baby. To say I was devastated is an under statement.
It was a horrible drive back to Nathan's family's house. I cried the entire 2.5 hr drive and then cried some more. Nathan has stayed strong for me. I know he is just as heart broken.
Since coming home, I have packed away the nursery and have sent a letter to the birth mom trying to express our understanding.
I know I am suppose to forgive her and that God has a reason for this horrible experience but right now, as I sit here crying, it is REALLY hard to understand Gods timing or reasoning.
We know that God has a baby for us and someday he will give us that child but my heart it still broken and my angry/jealousy is overwhelming.
My family has been so supportive and been a great distraction. But now that things have settled down I find myself crying over everything and my heart aching all the time. I know it will get better and I pray that I will rely on my Savior and I know He will get me through this. But right not forgiving and forgetting are never easy.
Until next time...
By the way, I know we introduced this baby on Facebook and we gave her a name. After a long discussion we have decided to keep this name for our first daughter when ever she comes. The birth mom has given her a different name.

A little of this a little of that

Tomorrow we find out if the birth mom is ready to be induced on Wednesday.
We have been trying to prepare as much as possible.
Baby is packed
We are almost packed
Pack n Play and car seat are ready to go
and the nursery is complete
Here are a few pictures of it. Thanks to a friend we were able to put the finishing touches on it last week. I am in love with it. Hope baby girl loves it too.



Please continue to pray for the birth mom. She has been in a lot of pain and now is so big it is hard for her to walk. And pray that tomorrow we will hear good news.

Unbelievable Courage

A couple of weekends ago, we made a trip to Ohio. We had this trip planned for a few months. We were going to help celebrate Nathan's grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. What an accomplishment! I can only pray Nathan and I will be able to celebrate our 60th.

But this trip was extra special. We got to meet the birth mom.

Of course days leading to this I was a nervous wreck. What if she doesn't like us? Will our outfits make her hate us? (Yes I really did think that) What if we say something that we are not suppose to? What if she changes her mind? It's so hard to prepare for something like this. How do you "sale" yourself without sounding self centered?

So we made the trip to Northern Ohio and we took her out to dinner (yummy chipotle, her choice)!

She is the most sweet, kind, caring, funny, loving, comforting, courageous, strong, and brave person I have met. We were able to visit for 3.5 hours ( and the agency was concerned because our initial phone conference was short). We talked about our childhoods, what we like to do, a plan for the hospital, plans for after birth, and of course laughing at Nathan's cheesy jokes. The time flew by.
We came as strangers and left feeling like we were great friends!

It has been amazing to see Gods hand in this entire adoption. Not only did he answer prayers for a fast adoption. But He blessed us with a birth mom in a state that we have family. Also, He blessed us with a GREAT birth mom.  She has told us numerous times she is at peace with her decision on choosing us.

As the due date approaches (July 3rd) please pray for us all. For her delivery, for our quick travels to OH, for the pain that she has been in, and that she remains at peace with her decision. Ohio state law is that she has 72 hours to change her mind. We pray that she won't and I can't even imagine the pain and sadness she will endure within the next couple of weeks!