Skip's Half-Sibling

Another very momentous event that I neglected to blog about was that Skip met his half-sister, Hannah. About six months ago our social worker gave us the contact info for Hannah's father (he is not related to Skip because Hannah and Skip just share the same birth mom). Anyway, we decided not to reach out to them until Skip's adoption was official because we were worried that if someone became upset that two moms were raising Skip somebody in the family might start trying to get Skip back. Hence the delay in contacting them.

But obviously Skip's adoption is official now and we arranged a beach play date that was really fun. As you can see from the photos, Skip and Hannah look VERY much alike. Their coloring is exactly the same and so are their eyes and chin. It was very cool to meet Hannah (who is only two weeks older than Zadie) and also her dad, Danny. Danny is a very nice guy who has his work cut out for him as a single dad. Through Danny we hope to get some photos of Skip's birth mom so that he will have them for the future (we've never met her and unfortunately don't have any photos).

All in all, it was a great and significant day for us. We look forward to future get-togethers!

Two Toofs for Skip

This is the longest I've ever gone without posting a blog, so I'll try and do some quick updates. First of all, Skip got his first tooth/teeth like six weeks ago. Sorry for not better chronicling that milestone, Skip! His two bottom front teeth started to peek through right before he took his first step, but I just couldn't get a good photo of them so I never blogged about it.

But I just wanted the record to show that he got his first tooth/teeth at 10.5 months, almost exactly the same time as Zadie and just barely before he started his first steps.

Skip Takes His First Steps!

I'm way behind on my blogging, but I wanted to do a quick entry to announce that Skip has begun taking a few steps. I can't say he's really walking around just yet, but he's having a great time letting go and trying out his new skills. Very cute. I can't believe what an early walker he is!! Zadie better watch out because he's going to be running with her soon. Pretty good for 10.5 months!

Skip Takes a Few Steps! from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

Zadie Sings Hank Williams

Zadie Sings Hank Williams from Kate Kuykendall on Vimeo.

My dad always sings "Hey, Good Lookin'" to Zadie (just like he did when I was a kid) and so now Zadie is pretty good at singing the lyrics herself. Hopefully you can hear her well enough here. She initally refuses, so you have to stick with the video for a minute, but I didn't want to edit that part out because in the very beginning of the video Zadie says her name and it is SO cute when she says her full name.

Oh, the background behind this video is that my mom was in Seattle last week as her dad was dying and she was feeling very sad, so we filmed this for her and then didn't actually get it uploaded in time to send it. This is why she sends it out especially to Mama Niece and Daddy Hal.

Sick Puppy Dog

Zadie is one sick little puppy dog. Thursday night we noticed she had a bit of a fever and the following morning she woke up and was clearly not feeling well. It was my Friday at home with the kids and I freaked out when I saw her temperature get to 104.1. I raced to the doctor's office and started worrying that her brains were cooking inside her skull, but the doctor assured me that they were not.

The doctor said her throat was a little reddish, but strep throat was going around and she'd give me a prescription just in case it happened over the weekend. She also said there's a virus of little sores in the mouth, too. I'm so glad she gave us that prescription because in the evening Zadie started drooling (another sign the doctor told me to look out for) and crying about her tongue and her throat. She kept asking me to put a Band-Aid on her tongue!!

Tori ran out and filled the prescription for antibiotics, but it didn't have time to really kick in and last night I would estimate Zadie slept only one or two hours. The rest of the time she was literally wailing and saying "Owie" over and over again. It was truly awful.

We've been really fortunate that, aside from the 24-hour flu more than a year ago, this is really the first time Zadie has been really sick. I wish it were the last because it's awful to see her in so much pain that she can't sleep and there's nothing you can do. I really hope Skip doesn't get it.

Today I had a work event most of the day, but Tori said that Zadie snapped out of it for a few periods and then would crash and burn again, but this time was able to sleep. I brought her popsicles and she was pretty darn excited about that.

On a side note, I was so impressed with Skip's ability to sleep through all of Zadie's crying. He finally woke up at about 5:30am, but he slept through the rest of it.

Here's hoping that tonight goes a lot better than last night! And that no one else in our family gets sick!

Goodbye, House

We've completely moved into our new place now and we gave the keys for the old place back today. I've been going over in the evenings to do the cleaning (trying to get that hefty deposit back in full!) and I've been feeling very sad and nostalgic about our old house. As most people know, I tend to get very attached to things and can be a bit on the sentimental side. Besides, Tori and I had both lived there longer than we've lived in any place since we were 18 years old and it was the home we lived in when both Zadie and Skip were born and all those first memories happened.

Anyway, I've been saying lots of goodbyes to all the things I'm going to miss about our old house.

Goodbye, coolest tree in El Segundo...

Goodbye, red door and red mailbox (yes, I'm pregnant in this photo)...

Goodbye, garden that Linda put so much love into...

Goodbye, big backyard and home of many barbecues and gatherings.

Goodbye, house.

It's Official!

Today we went out to Monterey Park for Skip's final adoption court hearing. Everything went great and he is now officially ours. The judge, the court reporter, and all the other miscellaneous people in the court room were overwhelmingly positive and kind and everyone raved about what a good and adorable baby Skip is (the seersucker suit was a hit!). They were so effusive in their praise that Tori and I both got teary-eyed (as you can see in my picture with the judge).

Our time in the court room was pretty brief. We swore under oath that we would love and care for Skip as our "natural" child and that we were aware of all the rights and responsibilities that came with that. And of course we have regarded Skip as our "natural" child since the day we brought him home from the hospital. We also had to agree to something about Skip being entitled to a future inheritance, but don't be counting on any big money, Skipper!

After our appointment we went out for some celebratory Sichuan food in San Gabriel and then tonight Aunt Susie, Jim, Hank and Steven came over for celebratory pizza. Although of course he has always been ours in our mind, it's a big relief to have the official paperwork completed.

We feel very lucky to have you, Skip!