Sugar and Spice Meets Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

What's New!

I finshed my last day of work for about nine months.

We have been busy getting ready, and I really am going to tackle packing sometime today.

We recieved Caleb's Canadian Citizenhip after two days of contacting the MP.

I've updated our intinerary to show what sight seeing trips we will be going on.

Can't wait for Mom and Dad to arrive Tuesday!!

I am posting a letter that I have seen posted on other blogs that gives an idea of what Caleb will be experiencing over the next while.

Dear Family and Friends,

As we prepare for the arrival of our son, we have learned that while decorating the nursery and stocking up on baby essentials is important, even more important is the emotional health of our child. In his short life, he child will have gone through more changes and life altering experiences than most adults could handle. Imagine how much harder the changes will be for him. While he may not consciously remember the events, he will still experience immense loss, including feelings of grief and trauma. He's already experienced the loss of a birthmother and will soon experience the loss of familiar and comforting caretakers as well as the sights, smells, and language of his birth country. His world will turn upside down. He will struggle with feeling safe and secure and he may lack the ability to trust that we will meet his needs.

We have prepared to meet his emotional needs so that he does learn that we will always take care of him and we will always keep him safe. In order to form a strong and healthy attachment we will allow him to regress so that he has the opportunity to go through all of the emotional stages with us despite his chronological age. Although it may appear that we are spoiling him, we have learned that it is best that we meet every need quickly and consistently. Until he has learned that we are his parents, we will need to be his primary caretakers at all times. It is essential that we always hold him, feed him, and do all of the nurturing. You may wonder how long this will take, but the timeline is different for every child. We will have to just follow his lead

We have all been waiting anxiously for our child to arrive but he has not been waiting for us. He may show his grief and confusion in many ways and we are prepared to help him through it and prove that we are a forever family and this truly is his last stop.

We know that we have the best family and friends and we thank you in advance for your support and understanding.

Kari and Bernie