STAMPED!!! The beginning of our paper pregnancy...

The future big sister in the crown that she made at the gym daycare...and has proceeded to wear all day every day for the last 7 days.

We've been approved!!!!!! We're stamped and approved to adopt through LDS Family Services! What a relief! We're so excited and--while fully realizing that this could be a long wait--we're hopeful that it will be sooner rather than later. As our caseworker says, this is the beginning of our "paper pregnancy". One of the big catches is that we have no idea how long the gestation will be. (Yes, it is kind of a goofy way of saying it but it makes sense too.) LDSFS will immediately begin including us in their profiles for birth mothers to view and our online profile will be activated in the next few days. YAY!!! :)

The letter that Milo wrote to Dr. Guenther, his pediatrician. Sorry, the picture is so small. It's worth clicking on it to read his captions and see the picture.

Milo's surgeon left us a message today and said that he wants to proceed with some additional tests. I'm assuming he wants a pH and impedance study. (Again, this will be our third one.) They'll give Milo a mild sedative and put a tube down his nose into his esophagus. The tube has some special sensors on it and is attached to a data collection box. It's a 24 hour ordeal and, in the past, has been a little stressful for all of us. We had one done in October that came out after only 6 hours. :( We're really hoping that this one will be successful and that they'll get all of the info that they need.

Milo also gave his pediatrician a letter/thank you card this week. He drew such a cute picture of himself in his hospital bed and then had me write out the things he wanted to say. He wrote Dr. Guenther's name on the envelope (with me telling him the letters) all by himself and carried it around all day until it was time to go see him. Dr. Guenther was so cute and enthusiastic about opening it and reading it out loud. It was too cute!

Isabel a.k.a. Little Miss Muffett (Note that she's wearing a whole slew of skirts. She's taken to wearing multiple skirts so as to maximize the puffy factor.)

Isabel is a HUGE fan of cottage cheese. Except, she calls it "cottacheese". The girl cannot get enough of the stuff. She loves it plain, with cinnamon, with fruit, or any other way you can dish it out. Today she was eating some at the table with Milo (who was totally fake-eating his--he can't stand the stuff but always wants to "just try some" with Isabel). She jumped up from the table and said, "Milo, I have a much more better idea!" then marched over to their step stool and plopped down on it. She giggled and then announced, "Look, I'm little Miss Muffett just sitting on her tuffett eating her curds and whey!". They cracked up about it for the next 10 minutes.