An entire Year!

While I was sleeping.... aka...recovering.... a very happy anniversary came and went!

F has been home with us for an entire year!!!!



We first found out about our little tude (attitude!) in December of 05. We were visiting K, who was 4 months old, and took E (9 months old) with us to Guatemala to have a mini Christmas with K. Our facilitator told us that E's mom was pregnant again....and wanted to ask us if we would keep the two brothers together. Yes... we saw an ultrasound of a little boy! Of course.... we were floored! I mean, here we have one infant son home...visiting one... and one due in March!!!
Well...it took all of a day to decide that we would get paper ready when we got home.

Did our entire dossier in 2 weeks!!!!!! Minus our home study update of course...but damm... I was proud of the two week timeline!

We got a call on Feb 22 that a baby boy was born!!!

I was on a airplane two days later!!!!

While I didnt get to meet him... E did while he was with his Madrina! So... the first pic of I have of F is with his older brother E!!!!!!! He was only 3 days old....but I'll say he was cute... even though I personally think newborns look like little aliens.

We would finally meet F while he was 4 months old in June!

It was our first time having the three boys together.... in one hotel room... for a flipping week!!!

Yes... it was E (15 months), K (10 months) and F (4 months). I know that we made many friends that week at the Marriott!!! They will tell you how funny it was to look at us with baby boys everywhere! E was and still is our little showman.... K was grieving and clinging to me while screaming at everyone else... and here is little F... just happy to be there... hanging out... calm, cool, and collected! He was happy as long as he got his pacha's and his clean diapers! He was just a calm and happy little guy.

We wouldnt see F again till Oct of 06. We were picking up K. K was grieving horribly and I felt so bad for little F. K would scream for hours....and we barely knew we had another baby with us. I do remember that F was eating already and that he loved wings from Pollo Campero! He still had a lack of hair...but he was cute. He was still calm, cool, and collected even though K was having such a hard time.

F's first birthday was spent with his foster family. We sent down a birthday outfit, a cake mix, frosting, a candle, and a new toy. It was heartbreaking as we were no where near able to bring him home. We were not able to travel again to see him...and having more experience, felt it better to not disrupt his life for our well being, we would not see him till we traveled to pick him up in June.
Oh what a fiasco that was!!!!!!
We had gotten two I-72's from the USE because someone (our inept facilitator or his staff) filled out our I-600 incorrectly!!!!
After 5 weeks it had NOT been resolved.... I had enough!!! If it kept going like this, we were going to have a major problem of a NOID...and really....who the heck wants to go through that????

So... I was out with my mom grocery shopping.... time came around to call the Immigration Department at the USE.... I called, gave them our name, and they told us that our appointment was Tuesday!!!! Our facilitator had SAT on our pink slip for TWO weeks!!!!! NO ONE told us!!!!! Here it is Thursday.... and our appointment is Tuesday!!!! Our son is 17 months old! We cant show up Monday, rip him away from R and expect him to be ok on Tuesday for the appointment!!!! Plus, we are taking our two other boys with us... we have foster families to contact, friends to call.... oh my!!!
I immediately contacted our completely useless agency.... they knew nothing about it... and we were told not to travel....
Well.... I had plane tickets and a hotel room by Thursday night... Sat morning, we were on our way to Guatemala!!!!!!

Damm facilitator didnt tell R (the foster mom) that we were coming.... so... the bastard (nicest word I feel I can type right now) only gave her 30 min to get everything ready. Poor woman... that was just wrong!!!!!! So... Friday night... here comes our 17 month old son... and his bawling foster mom.... I felt so bad for both of them... but we had dinner... and told her she had unlimited visiting time with us.... and she seemed better after that.

F was not better after dinner though.... he was downright scared, angry, and screaming.

After going through K's transition... I knew what to expect.... but it still breaks your heart while you are going through it.
I walked the floor with our little guy all night. Neither of us slept....neither of us let go.
Now... when I say little guy... I mean little guy!
We were told that F was X number of lbs... so we figured he would ware the same size as E and K! Great news!!! After all... we were told that the birthday package we sent for him the clothes were way to small... so we bring 18 and 24 month clothes! Well.... F wears 3-6 months! Yep! Our 17 month old son wore 3-6 month old clothes... who the heck would have known????

So... a phone call to E's Padrino, and off I go shopping!!!! Got some really cute clothes! It was fun going to the Korean bodegas!! I highly recommend them!



So... we spent time with all three foster families.... and we were there for 10 days. Took trips to the state of Jalapa (where their families are from), Antigua, Chichicastenango, Lake Atitlan, and Panajachel. The boys did great!

Looking back... it was a great decision to take our boys with us. While F took a while to warm to us, he warmed to his brothers in no time. They were very doting with him also...which helped a lot.



Well... he came home at 17 months old... he is now 28 months old!
He is no longer calm, cool, and collected!!!
He is our little, sneaky, attitude guy!
He is so smart and tries to do everything his brothers do even though they are older than he is... but if E and K can do it... so can he!!! He is still a cuddle bug...but he still favors daddy... mommy is working on that though! He is in love with Spongebob and Elmo. He is tiny...but makes up for it in attitude! Whether it is enthusiasm or talking back to us... he gives it his all!

We are sooo blessed to have F as our son! We absolutely adore every minute that we have had with him!
Thanks to R and her family for raising him soo well for the 17 months that he was with you!

R was soo proud of herself for teaching F to snap his fingers at us when he wanted something! Seriously... this little guy would snap at ya if he wanted something!!!! It's soo funny to see him do it!

Well... if ya made it this far... here is F in pics!!!!

4 months old

First Pic as a family of 5!!! (June 06)

Oct 06

June 07 on his Pickup trip

F's 2nd Birthday!

F at Red Robin last week!!