Busy Bee Mommy & Daddy

By now you probably have realized that my blogs have been very minimal since the duke joined our little world. I never realized how much time and energy it takes to take care of an infant--so HATS OFF to all those mommies out there. I am loving every minute of being home with the duke (and my waistline/stomach is too--eating ALL DAY LONG and it is expanding--this must stop) because he changes every day and I am eating it up. He is cooing more and the laughs/smiles make you melt. Robert gets a kick out of all the sounds he makes and during the day I try to send him videos so he doesn't miss a beat. The duke is getting more active and he is staying up more during the day too so that means not much work time for this mommy. Its ok though because when Robert comes home he instantly turns into "Super Daddy/Hubby" to take care of things around the home and to watch the duke when I need a moment to do a few things--he really is the best!  We are very appreciative of his grandparents too as they come over to give lots of loving and to give us a good nights sleep.

The duke went on his first and very quick outing to meet Santa. He was dressed in his sweet little Santa outfit and had his pacifier in the whole time. I placed him on Santa's lap and asked Santa if he minded if the pacifier stayed in and Santa said "he looks to be enjoying it so we can keep it in". It was so sweet. NeNe and Grandma Barbara attended the photo session and got some more cuddles once we were home.

On Monday, December 8 our little one went in for his first medical procedure. He was circumcised (he will hate me for posting this when he is 16 but oh well!). Now, I know that some people do not agree with this procedure but we felt this was best for our son so please keep all negative comments to yourself--thank you! The doctors and nurses were so sweet and gave us a good talking to before we agreed to go forward. The doctor was his doctor at birth and he was so happy to see our little duke again. The doctor was bantering back and forth with Robert and they were laughing while I was sitting there thinking "you better just make sure my boy is ok". So once we agreed the doctor went on back and completed the procedure. It was super short and he came in praising our little boy. We went on into the room and my boy was not happy at all--this was to be expected. He was given a little Tylenol and passed to daddy because mommy could not  handle the crying and was upset herself---my anxiety was passed on to the duke which was not good. Once handed to daddy he was good to go. We headed home an hour after the procedure and we have been doing well since. He is healing well and is back to our happy go lucky baby boy.

Ready or not here is my next list of things I have learned....

• there is a minimum of three clothes changes a day for the duke(sometimes mommy)
• when he wants to eat, HE WANTS TO EAT
• he loves music and his mobiles--yes he has two
• he enjoys riding in the car
• he is ticklish on his belly
• he loves to be talked to--reading books is a good way to do this!
• he doesn't mind peeing(or pooping) on you
• at times he likes to be naked
• burping is a rough subject
• he loves his pacifier

Life continues to be fantastic and we love the duke so much. He has brought so much joy into our lives and we think to everyone he meets. Please continue to pray with us as we navigate the world of adoption. We do not know of the date of finalization as there are a few things that need to be handled legally but we know that God has a plan and we just need to buckle up and enjoy the ride. Keep the prayers going!!

Just in case I do not get a moment to blog before Christmas, we hope you all have a wonderful holiday season....MERRY CHRISTMAS from Robert, Jill, The Duke and Roddy.

Has It Really Been a Month?

Wow, it has been exactly one month since our precious little boy has been in our home(and hearts!). It has gone by soooo fast and I want time to stand still. I know now when mommies say to soak it up because they are right, time just slips away.  Every day I look at him I see something different. He has pudged(is that even a word?) up so much from his birth and he is becoming so much more alert. He will look at me in the eyes now and I just fall more and more in love with this sweet boy every day. He has us (and everyone he meets) wrapped around his little fingers.

 Since I love list, here are a few of the Dukes favorite things:

• I love to eat but on my own terms....I will eat 2.5 to 4 ounces each feeding but don't make me eat more than I want or I will clench my lips tight!
• I love listening to music
• I enjoy watching my mobile go around and around while laying in my crib
• I love when people sing to me or him right close to my head--it is so soothing
• I love to be swaddled and this is when I sleep the best
• I enjoy waking up mom and dad every three to four hours at night
• I sleep best in mommy or daddy's arms but I like my rock and play too--as long as it is in their room (no crib sleeping for me yet)
• Tummy time is becoming more fun but only for a few minutes at a time
• Mam pacifiers are the only ones I will use--I might be a little stubborn
• I love snuggles (especially with my mommy)

Our sweet boy keeps us on our toes but we love every minute of it. We love our sweet boy and are so thankful for our little gift from God.

1 Sam 1:27

Ten Things The Duke Has Taught Me

1- Sleep is something I love but it is now a thing of the past
2- Zipper Sleepers are the best outfits in the world
3- Soy Formula makes for a gassy (and stinky at times) baby
4- Snuggles are amazing (I will do this all day, every day)
5- Boys pee like water fountains (he has peed on me, nene, and a nurse at the doctors office)
6- 3:30am feedings are fun (ok, not really but when his wide eyes look at me and he smiles, I melt)
7- we will never eat at regular meal hours again
8- grunts and coos are music to my ears
9- laundry/bottle washing never ends
10- He is loved by so many.  The gifts and hand me downs have filled our home and we are extremely grateful. 

Everyone I talk to about the duke tells me they have been praying for us and him. I get chills every time I talk about the phone call. My God has orchestrated this entire union and we know He is continuing to compose a beautiful story for our family.

We love our boy and ask that you keep praying with us.

There is a BABY in our house

Tuesday is a big blur but I will try my best to give you the details. Around 11am I got a call at my office from our adoptions worker and I thought the call was for an email I sent in refernce to an 11 year old. She said we have a two day old and wanted to know if you would like to be the placement. I said 'A baby?!?!' And she calmly reminded me to calm down and think it over.  I told her I would call her back in 30 minutes with an answer. I was flustered and my heart was doing flip flops.

I called Rob and told him. He was in shock too. I gave him ten minutes to think it over...Yep,10 minutes. I talked a few things over with my boss too so we could have a plan if we said yes.

Ten minutes quickly rolled by and I called Rob back. We talked and decided to go for it. We were not prepared for a baby but let's do it!

To back up a moment, on Monday I was very emotional and cried out to God to give us what we need and for me to not go after what I think He wants for us. To me this little bundle is God's answer to my prayer.

Back to Tuesday.  We said yes so I called our worker who told me the baby was a boy (I forgot to ask the first time we talked). She told me to expect a phone call that afternoon so we could go pick him up from the hospital - never in my dreams did I think we would have this experience!

At this point I called my mom and at first she didn't believe me but I assured her I was telling the truth. Once she knew I was serious she could not contain her joy. She went right to work on trying to get stuff for us because we were not prepared - our 9 months was 3 hours!

At 2 pm we went to the hospital.  We were given his stats and had a short info session on how to not freak out--the doctor could tell we were nervous. Finally, I got my hands on him and immediately fell on love. He is our boy! We put him in the car and headed home. We never thought we would have the moment to bring our child home from the hospital.  That moment was amazing.

Life has completely changed but for the better. We love each sleepless night, poop/wet diaper, snuggles and more.

We cannot wait for our boy to meet everyone.

Thank you for your prayers, keep them coming! 💙

One Year Has Passed...

To be honest, I was not really sure about what I wanted to share on the blog today but figured that friends and family might want to know what we have been up to in the adoption world. It has been one year since we started this journey to expanding our family. Man, it has flown by!!! It has been a roller coaster for sure but I feel Robert and I have grown so much as a couple and individuals. I could not imagine going through this with any other person but my husband. He lifts me up, dries my tears, and keeps me giggling. He is going to be an awesome daddy!!

Over the past few weeks we have been inquiring about children from all over the USA and we have received responses that our information was received and we will be contacted if chosen. Over the past ten days we have been contacted about three children we inquired about.....one is Arizona, one is Pennsylvania and one in SC--all boys!!! HA HA!!

We have been given basic info on the children and after discussions and research of "syndromes" and "diagnosis" we have decided that we are not the forever family for these three precious children. The hardest part is telling someone no but we have to do what is best for our family--we have learned our lesson.

In November we will be attending two events to meet children in SC and who knows, we might just make a connection with some children. We are keeping our options open and if we meet a child who is older than our age range but "clicks" with us we will not say no. Wish us luck!!!

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Foster Home License updating is still in limbo. We are technically "licensed" but we are trying to open up our age range and waiting for our license to be transferred from the regional office to the county office. We were told today by our worker that a new staff member has been assigned to help the office handle the licenses for our region so there might be a back log or slower response time until he/she is in place--at least she is checking on it!!

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Please pray with us about a nine year old little boy in SC. We have read his info and inquired but do not know if the worker is going to look at our info or not. The info we know feels like a match for us but we place this in Gods hands and pray that He will guide the worker to make the right decision--also pray that we will be at peace with whatever decision is made.

Thank you all for sticking with us through this process by being supportive and encouraging.  

Trippin' Truesdales

This weekend was a busy one but we had a good time. On Saturday, we went to a "Tea and Talk" at DSS with other adoptive families to discuss what we all have been feeling and voice concerns, etc. Thank you to a fellow adoptive family for getting this set up and for setting up a Facebook group for our Region so the families can interact and get advice from each other. I love a list so I made my Top 5 of what I learned at the meeting:

(1) Frustration is HIGH
(2) Workers are not calling/responding to families
(3) Waiting for some has been years (one family has been waiting for 6 years)
(4) We are not alone
(5) DSS needs to make some major changes or they will lose amazing adoptive families

At the beginning of the meeting a worker from another Region told us about her experience with the adoption process and gave us encouragement BUT she also showed us how lacking our Region is with communication and knowledge about their own jobs. It was awful hearing that some workers in our Region contact their families they work with once a year and this is to update their file--um, no ma'am this is not acceptable!!! Others stated that when they would receive communication that the messages would be short and almost dismissive. Obviously, the Region we are a part of needs an overhaul and some workers need to reevaluate if this is the type of work they need to be in or not---this is about children and families and if your heart is not in that then you need to go. It was very discouraging to hear the negative feedback about how other families have been "treated" during this process. I mean it is already a high stress, over emotional time period when going through the adoption process so the last thing your need is for your worker to cause you MORE stress/worry. My take-away from the meeting was that each family needs to MARKET themselves and be their own ADVOCATE.

After two hours of discussion, Rob and I had to leave b/c we were heading to Myrtle Beach for a little fun to end the Summer. We jumped onto Highway 17 and and in about two hours we were at our destination. The drive was great b/c we were able to go through towns we have never been to and we are planning to go back and visit them again. Our reason for going to MB for our last Summer Fling was b/c I had a free ticket to Medieval Times and since we love going we couldn't let the ticket expire. Our Knight was the Red and Yellow Knight---we have been choosing our Knight for the past few years but I think we are going to have just let it be random draw from now on because our Knight always LOSES!!! Even though our Knight did lose we had a great meal at the show. After the show we headed to get Krispy Kreme Doughnuts--yes, we did just eat a great meal at MT so these amazing Doughnuts were saved and will be eaten this week--and then back to the hotel for the evening.

Today(Sunday) we went to Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues. If you have never been then you really need to go. It was a fabulous meal and wonderful worship. The band, Gospel, was amazing! They kept you smiling and your hands clapping--when you weren't stuffing your face with chicken and waffles or banana bread pudding--my fav!! FIVE stars to to the Gospel Brunch at HOB in Myrtle Beach--thinking this might need to be our new Sunday tradition for the Moak family vacation. A little shopping was completed at Broadway at the Beach before we headed on back to the house.

I love spending time with my husband b/c we learn more about each other and we get to have fun. Life is an adventure and every moment should be treasured. Oh, one more silly thing.....we decided to start using a hashtag for Facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. when we go on trips. Our hashtag is #trippintruesdales!

Later Gators.....

How Are They Doing?

Until this week I have been given updates on the kiddos due to having had phone conversation with the kids worker about various things. It has been really tough for me this week b/c I am no longer a part of their lives. I wish that things would have been different but.....

I think about them everyday.

I miss them.

Are they ok?

How is school going?

Did we do the right thing?

I wonder if they think about us.



.....will the hurt ever go away....