June 28

Today I got to go and hold my sweet new baby girl! It was SOOO exciting! I’ve decided that I just can’t wait until July 15th and since she’s only 45 minutes away, I needed to go and see her!

Today was a great day! My mom came with me to visit her which was very special. We drove down and when we got there she had fallen asleep and was taking a cat nap before her occupational therapist came to work with her. I got to meet her nurse Amy who tends to be the one who is with her the most. It was good to hear that she would most likely be able to switch to coming to care for her in our home on days I need to be gone. It was very informative to watch her therapist go through her exercises and see the areas she has been growing stronger in and learning about the ways I can work with her to strengthen the weaker areas. Because she had all of this going on while I was there, I didn’t get much snuggle or play time with her but it was good just to be there and be learning some of the things that I really need to know.

I’m guessing by now you’re all wondering what her name is because I’ve vaguely referred to her as “L” in my respite post and since then haven’t mentioned her name. At first it was privacy because she wasn’t for sure going to be ours and then it was because we’re still trying to decide. And we’re still deciding at this point but we’re thinking of changing it. Her given name right now is Lania (pronounced Laina). We will probably be changing her name to Laila. Not too different but when we already have two Alainas in the family, Lania gets kind of confusing, especially after watching Jack’s cousin’s Alaina for over a year. So we’re thinking we’ll have a little Laila Ann Hamstra so that’s what I’m gonna try referring to her as.

One other bit of fun, exciting news was that we heard today that there was a court hearing this morning and the judge officially made the order for her to be moved here on July 15th!! Woohoo! I love that’s official in that way now because you just never know until the judge says it’s so. So the process goes now that she will come to us as a foster to adopt placement and “technically” we should have to foster her for six months before being able to file for the official adoption. However, the caseworkers are working to get us SNAP approved (which is a foster/adoption thing) in which a panel will look at our case and approve us to file sooner. We’re definitely not going to rush as we go through this process of learning how to care for her and we’re going to take advantage of the support of the caseworkers right now as we’re learning but we’re hoping that maybe this whole Story of Laila will come full circle and while she didn’t end up getting to be our Christmas present last year, maybe her adoption being final will be done by that time this year :)

Here’s some fun pictures of our sweet girl

Another exciting thing about today was that her foster mom gave me a bedding set from one of her other daughters for me to use in Laila’s crib! Have i mentioned how completely amazing she is and how I’m so thankful for her?!?! So, of course I made Jack move Laila’s crib into her room today and I got it all set up :) It matches perfectly!! THEN, I got a call that she’s actually going to be coming here tomorrow for the day so I’ll get to show it to her! Too much excitement today!!