Fun week

Hawaii has a kind of cool tradition of having Huge Gigantic celebrations for the 1 year birthday. I mean giant. Like big inflatable bounce house and hundreds of guests type parties. It started as a celebration of a child making it through the first year when infant mortality was much higher back in the days of yore.

Our little cousin Melody celebrated her first birthday in high style this week. Her parents rented out the entire Waikiki Aquarium and all the guests could wander around the aquarium for awhile, then head out to the courtyard for dinner. It was a really cool idea because there were kids and adults of all ages, and everyone had a great time! There was an amazing Jellyfish Aquarium exhibit. I am trying to convince Cris to build one in our living room.


We also got our travel packet in the mail. Lots of info about all the PAPERWORK we have to bring with us. surprise, more paperwork and documents. Still no word on travel, but i am pretty much settled in for a long wait. Knowing that I will probably have a long wait to travel doesn't make it any easier to wait, but at least i don't think i'm going to travel soon, and then keep getting delayed.



Also, you guys should check out this program Celebrating Adoption. It is a group of awesome photographers who offer free photo sessions to adoptive parents within the first year of the adoption. There is a participating photographer who lives here on Oahu. I already contacted her, and let her know that we would be traveling around September, and she is going to set us up with a free photo session. The base session price is $180, so that is awesome. The prints are expensive, but I think it will be worth it to get some great pictures of our girl.


One of the attendings in my dept at the hospital is hosting a baby shower for me and one of the other residents who is due in September. She sent out an invitation, that was not so clear about the fact that we are adopting, and I can't tell you how many people came up to me yesterday and were like "you're not even showing....when are you due?" and "congratulations! how far along are you!" It's so funny because I got a lot of kind of ignorant responses when I answered excitedly that we were adopting. I think it just catches people off guard. It doesn't really offend me, just makes me feel a little awkward. anyway, I'll probably have to get used to people making silly remarks.


I have been so excited to see lots of referrals and travel dates and families united in the last month or so! Congratulations to everyone! And hang in there, Lulu and Ella's referrals are on their way! soon we will be celebrating seeing their cute little faces.

Just waitin' for news...

We were really excited to get our Travel Packet in the mail yesterday. Basically a binder of information about travelling in Vietnam, and what to expect during our trip. We will actually be the first family from our agency to travel to the Thanh Hoa Province. We haven't even started thinking about packing yet, although i'm sure that will be a huge job when the time comes.

We had a Great time at cousin Melody's first birthday last night. Melody's parents rented out the Waikiki aquarium for her birthday, and it was so fun to check out the exhibits. Our favorite exhibit was the jellyfish tank. Melody looked super cute. It has been so fun to watch her grow from a tiny baby into an adorable 1 year old.

I'm trying to figure out a way to convince Cris to build a jellyfish tank in our house.

We are just about to get started on our big yard project. There is a LOT of dirt to dig out and a big rock wall to be built. The contractor thinks it will take about a month, and hopefully we will get started sometime in August.

I'm also really excited about the baby shower my friends at work are planning. It is scheduled to be July 29th. It is so crazy that we have made it to the point in this adoption process of having a baby shower! Soon our house will be filled with baby items in preparation for a tiny girl. We can't wait for our little house to be overrun with jumperoo's and baby toys.

Update Update Update

no, not travel news....but, as those of you who have been in the stage between referral and travel know, nothin' beats a photo update (well, except for travel dates of course)

Today i opened my email to find a Medical Report (finally!) and one month photos of our baby girl. In addition, the original birthdate we were told was the day after our anniversary, but her medical and new photos have our actual anniversary listed as her birthday...how cool is that?

So, she is an itty bitty tiny little peanut. At 5 weeks she tipped the scales at 6 lbs 9oz, and 21 inches long (3% weight, 20% length-on american growth charts). Her hair is getting crazy! We love it. and, best news yet, she is a healthy little gal, with all normal bloodwork.

i would love to post the whole pic, but i think i'm still gonna stick with little partial pics until she is officially ours.

SURPRISE!! New photos and an update!

happy happy day! We got new photos and a medical report (FINALLY!) for Juneau.

It is confirmed that she is just a tiny little peanut. At 5 weeks she weighed in at a hefty 6 lbs 9 oz. She is 21 inches long. (That's 3% for Weight, 3% for Head Circ , and 20% for Height)

Cris plotted it out on the VN growth chart we found and I think it put her in the 5%.

The rest of the medical report was pretty unexciting.

For example:

Digestion organ: Normal

Respiratory organ: Normal

Bone Moving part: Normal

Other organs: Normal

So anyway, it appears she is a healthy little gal. All blood tests were normal.

We are happy and in love with this little person.

Hopefully we'll get to see her smile in her next set of pictures!

Still no word on travel. It's unbelievable how much she has changed since the first time we saw her. Hopefully we will get to bring her home SOON!!!!

Oh, and check out the top left corner of the photo: They have her birthday listed as May 17th! We were initially told May 18th was her birthday, but often they estimate birthdays based on the date the child arrived at the orphanage. It looks like her Birth date has been changed to May 17th on her medical reports also...

How wonderful that our baby was born on our anniversary!

Happy Fourth of July (Almost)

we are excited about the fourth of july holiday, because it means no work and all play! I actually get two days off work (gotta love the army), so i am going to spend tomorrow decorating and organizing my new office. even though we are surrounded by the beach, we don't actually go very often, so maybe there will be some sun and surf in our immediate future.

cris and I have been doing a little research into adoption and attachment. Thankfully our baby girl will be pretty young when she finally makes it into our arms, but we are still anticipating some mourning and attachment issues in the beginning. We have been loving this little girl for over a month now, but she has no idea we even exist! she will certainly have some adjusting to do when we show up at her doorstep. anyway, we have gotten some pointers from other adoptive parents and from our reading that we will be passing along to our family and friends as we help her learn that we are her family forever.

Less than a month until my littlest sister Betsy gets here! Everyone else in the family is jealous that we get to have her with us for the next few years while she studies Dance at UH. We can't wait! Hopefully we can lure some other family members to hawaii this year with the promise of cuddles and kisses from a new tiny baby.

This weekend we sent off the graduating senior residents with a friendly "roast". Last year my class (aka the Gyno-Girls) dedicated our own ballet version of "wind beneath my wings", complete with leotards and tutus.This year we went 80's style with a little New Kids on the Block and "the right stuff". it was equally as special. Sometimes i have to wonder if cris ever thinks to himself "who is this crazy woman i married" as i flit around the stage in front a room full of fellow physicians in a pink tutu.

Fortunately, he handles it with grace!

Here is a little photo of the 2006 "wind beneath my wings". Stay tuned for 2007 "The Right stuff" photos. And if you're REALLY lucky maybe a little video.

Happy Fourth of July (almost)

Hello to our faithful readers, mom and dad stickley (hope you're enjoying that bowl of whole wheat cheerios!)
we are excited about the fourth of july holiday, because it means no work and all play! I actually get two days off work (gotta love the army), so i am going to spend tomorrow decorating and organizing my new office. even though we are surrounded by the beach, we don't actually go very often, so maybe there will be some sun and surf in our immediate future.

cris and I have been doing a little research into adoption and attachment. Thankfully our baby girl will be pretty young when she finally makes it into our arms, but we are still anticipating some mourning and attachment issues in the beginning. We have been loving this little girl for over a month now, but she has no idea we even exist! she will certainly have some adjusting to do when we show up at her doorstep. anyway, we have gotten some pointers from other adoptive parents and from our reading that we will be passing along to our family and friends as we help her learn that we are her family forever.

Less than a month until Betsy gets here! We can't wait! Hopefully we can lure some other family members to hawaii this year with the promise of cuddles and kisses from a new tiny baby.

This weekend we sent off the graduating seniors with a friendly "roast". You may remember that last year my class (aka the Gyno-Girls) dedicated our own ballet version of "wind beneath my wings", complete with leotards and tutus.

This year we went 80's style with a little New Kids on the Block and "the right stuff". it was equally as special. Sometimes i have to wonder if cris ever thinks to himself "who is this crazy woman i married" as i flit around the stage in front a room full of fellow physicians in a pink tutu.

fortunately, he handles it with grace!


2006 "Wind beneath my wings". I will post some pictures of "the right stuff" if and when they become available.

geeezzz...such a slacker

that's me. i've become a total blogger slacker. I know it's not really a good excuse, but there's not much to write about these days. No new updates on the june-bug (or, as cris prefers to call her The Juni-nator). She did finally see the doc, but we don't have a medical report to show for it quite yet. She is a month a week and a day today.

We are sending a little package to vietnam for her.
We included - 5 cute cotton onesies, 2 soft blankies, 3 cotton hats, 1 soft rattle, 1 small soft "glow-worm" (remember those things?!!), some candies for the nannies, and a photobook.
The glow-worm was my mom's idea. It plays 6 different lullabyes when you squeeze it. She thought it might be good to have something familiar (like a lullabye) to help soothe her when we first bring her home. We are going to buy an extra glow-worm in case we don't get the orginal back.

As June comes to a close, so does the 2nd year of my residency! Thank goodness! OB/GYN is a 4 year residency, so it feels great to be 1/2 done. The last two years have been a whirlwind of action, including delivering over 500 babies, 50 c-sections, hundreds (probably thousands) of clinic patients, 5 amniocentesis, several hysterectomies...... and lots of other exciting things. The first 2 years are very OB heavy, and the 2nd 2 years are GYN heavy...so lots more surgery this year.
Also, part of the awesome thing about becoming a 3rd year is getting my own office. That's right, ladies and gents, i have my very own office to cram full of pictures of the june-bug.
And while i'm on the subject of residents- Please be kind to your friendly residents. We are stuck in the hospital 80 hours a week, sometimes working 30 hours straight (with no sleepy-time). Sometimes we are tired and grouchy etc....so please keep this in mind before saying "do i have to be seen by a resident??"

in somewhat boring news (but exciting to us!) we are having major yardwork done. Our property is on a graded lot, so we are having the front and side yard dug up and a big huge retaining wall. Which is great news b/c we can fence the yard and let the doogles run around outside whenever they want. In hawaii there is no such thing as an "acre" of land, because it costs like 5 million dollars for an acre. So everything is in square footage. We will be increasing our yard from like 2,000 sq feet to 4,000 sq feet, so that is pretty awesome (at least by tiny island standards). All of you with those big beautiful yards back home are SOOOOO lucky.

so that's pretty much it for an update. lotsa families in vietnam, and i am loving reading about them.

Jenna, i look for Ella's picture everyday on your blog (along with like a million other people who can't believe you still don't have a referra!) Can't wait until the day finally comes. I can totally empathize with the "referral any second now" when "any second" ends up taking months.....so frustrating. but hang in there!