IT'S OFFICIAL!

Happy Gotcha Day E and A Robertson: July 26th, 2010!

It's official, the kiddos are Robertsons! Thanks so much for your prayers and support! We're so excited!

Special thanks to our families, who have been so supportive... even from such a distance. Thanks to the Rockwell's and Howell's for supporting us by babysitting regularly and being our substitute family out here. Thanks to K Peterson for always being willing to help out and support when we need it most.

Thanks to ARBC for ALL your UNBELIEVABLE support! This church has been such a blessing for us, especially being so far from home. You all accepted E and A with open arms and have made them feel so very welcome and loved. We feel very supported and loved here and we thank you so much for that.

Thanks to everyone else for your support as well. We love you all.

Josh, Heidi, E, & A ROBERTSON!

Gotcha Day Party!

Everyone is welcome to join us for a celebration of E & A's adoption! Monday, July 26th from 5p-7p at our home. Just a casual party... grilling hot dogs and brats to celebrate the end of a long process and the beginning of a new "official" family!

Please do not bring gifts! Let your presence be your presents!

If you DO plan to attend, please RSVP to this post by commenting:

-click comments underneath this post

-then click anonymous

-type your comment along with your name!

-click "publish your comment"

Thanks everyone! Don't worry about rsvp-ing no's... God Bless and we hope to see you there!

Josh, Heidi, E & A

ADOPTION DATE SET!!!!

HEY! We have a date set!!!! The adoption will be on July 26th! Yay! We're so excited to finally have a date set!

I will put another update on here to let you know when the big celebration PARTY will be!!! Thanks for your prayers and support!!!

Josh, Heidi, E, A!

REALLY?!?!

Just wanted to let you all know (because we mostly expected to have the date set by now) that we DO NOT have a date set yet! Ahhh!

We had our usual visit from the kiddos' caseworker last week and she informed us that our background checks sat on someone's desk at social services for THREE WEEKS before they sent them in. Which means, we're officially three weeks further behind than we thought... which means it could be that long before we even have a date set.

We're completely frustrated but not surprised. This is so typical of the system. We will keep you all updated.

Josh, Heidi, E, A

Adoption date nearing!!!!

Hello All!

Just wanted to update you about where we are with getting a date set for adoption... As of yesterday, Josh and I have officially done ALL we can to finalize all the pre-adoption paperwork! Now, we just have to WAIT (love it) for everyone else we've been working with to do their jobs as quickly as possible! We're really hoping for late June or early July to work out for the adoption!

I also wanted to let everyone know that as soon as the date is set, we will be planning a HUGE party for anyone and everyone who wants to come and help us celebrate! This is a huge deal to us and to the kids. Hey MN people... that means you too! We'll have family in town so our house is full... but I'm not even kidding when I say that we can EASILY turn our huge backyard into a pretty awesome campground for anyone else who wants to come and help us celebrate! We even have a fire pit and a pool! :) I'm serious! Keep it in the back of your minds!

Hope all is well with you and... trust me... I will let everyone know ASAP when the date is set!

Heidi, Josh, E, A

Light at the end of the tunnel!

Hello Friends and Family!

I hope you're all doing well! Life for us has been crazy busy! I'm so incredibly thankful that I'm feeling so good now that I'm in the second half of my second trimester because otherwise I don't know how I'd survive the "organized chaos" of our lives! Even being as organized as I am, the amount of paperwork and appointments that have been required of me in the recent months can get really overwhelming. If E gets a small scratch from climbing a tree in the backyard, that requires two phone calls and 3 pages of forms to fill out! So those "little" things plus caseworker visits, court phone calls, A's hearing tests, A's eye appointments, A's therapy, E's preschool screening, E's ortho follow up appointments from his leg, and much more.... it's a lot to deal with! Please pray for my own diligence as this week has been a lot of appointments and next week will be worse. Thankfully, I've hired a lovely girl from our youth group to come over for an hour or so next week to give me a chance to make phone calls during the day and fill out some paperwork without being interrupted.

We feel so blessed to have these kiddos and are really excited to be nearing the end of our 6 month waiting period... it's over on June 9th! I had a court phone call with the judge, the kiddos' lawyer, and their caseworker today and they said they're really hoping to finalize in late June! Woo hoo! Now that we're nearing this much-anticipated day... more and more paperwork is filing in for us! Haha... it never ends! It's all worth it though and we can't wait to make these kiddos official Robertsons! :)

We also had a friend take some family pictures for us, which I have posted along with this note. I hope you enjoy! Oh, and little baby girl Robertson is in her 26th week now! She is moving and kicking and punching like crazy and I'm loving getting to feel it. Josh and I love to WATCH her moving around in there... She's certainly active!

Thanks for you prayers and support... we love you and miss you Minnesotans!

Heidi, Josh, E, A, and baby girl

Baby News!!!

California!

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to share some pics from our trip to CA... we visited my grandparents for a few hours so the kids could meet them for the first time. I don't have those pics yet. We went to Disneyland, SeaWorld, the beach, and the San Diego Zoo! It was a blast! The kids did so great!

Enjoy the pics... you can click on each one to enlarge if you'd like. Oh, and we're 19 weeks along now. The baby is about 8.5 oz and approx. 6 inches long (this is an average estimation), and mom's belly is becoming more and more noticeable as the weeks pass!

We love you and miss you...

Heidi, Josh, E, A, and Baby

Last E Update

E has pretty much fully recovered from his broken leg! We got rid of his walker last week because he was being too wild with it! He's walking and functioning completely without it now. Thank you for the prayers and support during that time!

E is also LOVING preschool! He started last week and was SO excited!

A is doing really well in her therapies and her therapists are all commenting on how they cannot believe how fast she learns things and how much she progresses each and every week! Yay A!

Hope you're all well... Talk to you soon!

Heidi, Josh, E & A

Also, the baby is the size of a turnip now... and mom is getting a little round bump! Pics below...

-E on his first day of school!

-A being the princess that she is!

-Mom's baby bump!

E update 4

Hello All!

Just wanted to let you all know the latest on E... We had his follow-up appointment yesterday and they said the bone is healing very nicely and he's free to start walking on his leg whenever he feels ready! His leg muscles are really out of practice still so we're moving slow in trying to use his leg. He's really excited to be able to get in the bathtub again since the doctor said his incision is looking great also! Yay!

Also starting next week, E will finally be able to go to preschool! Even though he probably won't be walking without his waker by then, he's doing SO well being really independent with the walker so we think he's ready! He's really excited!

Thanks to all the people who helped us out this week... Kellie, Kathy, Connie, Kelly, and Danny. I don't know what we'd do without the support!

E update 3 / A's glasses!

Hello Friends and Family!

We have good news to report for both kiddos...

E is doing SO great in his recovery! Today, I suggested that he see if he can scoot himself across the living room floor to be able to start playing with some of his normal toys again and he's actually really quick! It's amazing how well they adapt! He hasn't been on pain meds since early Tuesday morning, hasn't been on Tylenol since Thursday, and hasn't needed any anti-swelling meds since yesterday! I honestly think that if we gave him permission, he'd start walking. However, the doctor said no weight on that leg for 3 weeks. :( He's in good spirits today... and seems more like our normal E. Eating well again, and BM's are finally getting regular again.

Holly and Emmalee left today to go back to MN... We were so grateful for their presence here! Emma was so helpful pulling E around in his wagon outside and playing endless games of Candyland. :) Auntie Holly helped keep E sane as well as the rest of us! Cleaning, organizing, playing, pampering... it was all included in Holly's service to us. We love you and can't even begin to express our gratitude.

As for our other little stinker... A got glasses! She is doing SO well leaving them on. The first day was rough, but now she leaves them on and she definitely knows how cute she is! When I put them on, I say, "Oh, A! You're so beautiful!" and she crinkles her nose and gives a huge smile! We're proud of her and are so excited to start seeing her flourish in her development now that she can see!

We are also so blessed to have such great support during this hectic time from our church... There's a whole list of ladies coming to help me for a little bit each morning for the next two weeks with bathing E, lifting E, helping me keep an eye on A while I'm occupied with E's special needs. I really can't let either of them out of my sight since she is little and he is getting a little too confident for our comfort! We are so grateful for these ladies and also the ones who will be contributing meals. I'm hoping to feel better eventually in this second trimester, but so far I'm still very tired and nauseous. Their help is priceless in this time when we're all trying to adjust and function and I'm trying to keep the baby healthy by relaxing a little.

Thanks for your prayers. Enjoy the pics.

Heidi, Josh, E, A, Baby

E update 2

E is doing very well. He slept solid from 8:30p to about 7:15a without asking for meds or to use the bathroom. So, Mom and Dad got a decent night of sleep! Today, he is still in good spirits and isn't complaining about too much pain. We're happy the meds seem to be working well and today we'll be only giving them to him when he requests to see if we can start weening them down to just tylenol/ibuprofen. We'd love for him to have some BM... they say pain meds can often constipate so we're pumping him full of fiber-rich foods and hopefully as the meds get further and further apart he'll start having his regular BM. His leg has quite a bit of swelling so we're icing and trying to keep his leg as elevated as possible when he isn't walking.

He's excited about his bday presents that he received and they're helping to keep him occupied without being able to move. We're pretty set in that area for a while thanks to his bday!

We're trying to get set into a routine as far as using the bathroom, washing up, trying to think of creative ways to allow him to do some of his favorite activities without using his legs, etc. I'll be happy when it all seems natural, but for now, it's a lot of hard work and patience on everyone's part.

In the mean time, the coming of my second trimester unfortunately did not bring along wonderful feelings of comfort, but continued nausea and exhaustion. I do my best to try and keep spirits up and not get really stressed out since it's bad for the baby. Josh is a wonderful father and husband and is doing a great job of carrying the family right now as far as emotions are concerned. His patience with all of our "neediness" is remarkable!

My mom and sister are so helpful and we're so grateful that Josh was able to go back to work since they're here to help me with this most stressful transition week. Mom is leaving today, and Holly leaves Sunday. After that, hopefully routines will be set and things will be easier at home. We're hoping to take some people up on their offers to help in the next few weeks with some outings with the kids I'll need help with and breaks for me.

Thanks for the prayers! I'll keep the blog updated at least every few days for the next week.

Heidi, Josh, E, A

E update

Monday Morning 2-1-06: E broke his femur right above his knee on Saturday night. They took him to the hospital close to our house and then transferred him to Children's Hospital for surgery. He's been here ever since. We're hoping he'll be able to come home tonight, but he isn't doing well this morning (pain, and developing a fever). Right now we're waiting to see the physical therapist who has to "clear" him to leave based on what he can tolerate with movement. We're not anticipating that to go well so we'll see what happens. We have our computer today so that we can be keeping people updated. In the mean time, we are so grateful to have my mom and sister here to help out with A and with pretty much everything else we need right now. What a blessing! Also, it's E's bday today... :( Poor guy.

Monday evening 2-1-06: E is home from the hospital. We got home tonight at about 6:15p. Just in time for his birthday dinner and cake. He was in really good spirits and even asked to get down from the couch and use his walker. (something he screamed about in the hospital). He cannot walk on his own (even with his walker and won't be able to for at least 3 weeks. Being pregnant, I cannot lift him so I am grateful for my mom and sister being here for a few days to help as Josh gets back to work.
We'll have a day of firsts today... figuring out how to bathe, how to entertain an active boy who can't move, best ways to get in and outside the car, etc.
We appreciate your prayers and offers for help. We'll let you know if we need anything.

Tuesday morning 2-2-06: E had a really good night! He had pain meds around 8pm and didn't wake up at all last night until 6:45 this morning saying he needed to go to the bathroom and that his leg hurt. We didn't expect that, so we're happy. Today will be an interesting day of figuring out how the next few weeks may look. We appreciate your prayers.

Happy 2010!

Hello All!

It was so great to see many of you on our trip back to MN for Christmas! It was a great time, but we're happy to be back into our normal routine. We were so blessed by many of you. Thanks, Nana and Bumpa and Grandma and Grandpa for the hospitality, thanks Uncle Jim for the horse rides, thanks Holly and Charlie for breakfast our first morning, and thanks Josh for cutting Josh's hair (and E's)! Oh, and thanks Dad for teaching E the phrase "Right on the keester!" He says it ALL the time. :) Thanks to everyone for all the support we felt bringing the kids home!

I just wanted to let you know that our trip went well and we're happy we were able to see so many loved ones!

I also attached a picture of each of our kiddos... All 3! Haha... the new little baby is about the size of a kumquat this week so I attached that picture cause I think it's funny! :)

We love you all and can't wait to see you again soon.

Heidi