Summer 2010

It is August 1, and I am wondering where has the summer gone?  We have had some great moments and some sad moments.  This summer we had to put down our cat, Louie.  She was 17 years old and a great companion and friend.  She even put up with Carolyn, as you can see from the photo.  She is truly missed in our family.

Despite the sadness, we have shared a lot of laughter and a lot of memorable moments full of family activities with Carolyn.  We went to the Fort Wayne Zoo, visited some county fairs and went to a couple of weddings.  We also plan to do our yearly trip to the State Fair.  Carolyn is growing and learning everyday.  She isn't walking, she is running!!!  She loves to explore and she seems to be learning new things daily. Carolyn loves to swim, eat ice cream, and dance!!  She has been doing a lot of all of these things this summer.  She also enjoys eating her cereal off the kitchen floor.  That was a mess to clean up, but you can't help but smile.  She is a true blessing.  Troy's parents came for a short visit in July and watched Carolyn while we went to dinner for our 13th wedding anniversary.  My parents came up this past weekend for a garage sale and to spend some time with their little girl.  Carolyn practically jumped out of my arms in order to see her grammy!!  She screamed, laughed and smiled and just wanted to be with her grammy.  Carolyn is in the clingy stage right now.  Her favorite thing right now is to hug your legs, of course when you are trying to bake cookies or clean the kitchen.  It is cute and it kinda tickles.  She also is loving giving out hugs right now and I don't mind getting those at all!!!  She is starting to talk more and her favorite words are daddy, momma, and kitty.  Carolyn also got to spend some time with her big cousin Parker this summer, who came to stay with us for the baseball camp at BSU. 

It was fun watching them interact with each other.  Carolyn really looks up to him.  It has been a true miracle being able to be Carolyn's parents.  At one time, we didn't know if we would ever be parent's and now we are chasing after a 14 month old that wants to put car keys in an electrical outlet!  There will always be an ache in my heart for never being able to have a biological child, but I wouldn't give up any of my time that I have had with our little miracle.

This past June, we turned in our paperwork to begin the adoption process again.  Some people might think that we are crazy starting the process again so soon, but we aren't getting any younger and you never know how long the process will take.  It could take weeks, but it could also take years.  So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we begin the journey again through adoption and hopefully will be able to add to our family a baby boy or girl.  If anyone ever wants to talk to us about adoption, we would love to tell you our story.

Cindy

   

One Year!

We can't believe that we are saying this but tomorrow our little girl will be one year old. We have been so blessed this year and learned alot as parents.  From suddenly having to learn how to change diapers to just keeping up with a little girl on the move.  Talking and walking have started as well as her smile that is now showing some teeth.  She has traveled on a plane and had an overnight hospital stay.  She has learned how to dance and how to wrap her Grandpa's around her cute finger.  As parents we have totally shifted our priorities and now ask " how will this effect us as a family" quite a bit more often.  Carolyn is perfectly fine and shows no signs of her six week NICU stay.  She has grown in to a vibrant one year old and can be independent at times but at the same time she only wants one of us for a place to take a nap on the weekends.  As parents we have challenged our immune systems, learned how to conquer stubborn car seats, be ok with being thrown-up on, and finally learning how to go to work on four hours of sleep.   Through it all we have loved it all.  Now we are heading on a new adventure.  On to year two!  We have many changes planned.  Hopefully an new home and a new baby sister or brother for Carolyn.  Through it all we will keep you updated, but probably not enough for everyone.  We will be having a party on Saturday to celebrate the first year and look forward to watching our little girl keep growing!

First Christmas 2009

It has been a while since we have updated everyone on Carolyn. On December 21, Carolyn turned 7 months old. The time has flown by! She is doing great and is very curious little girl. She is changing everyday and is a social butterfly. She rolls everywhere and it will be only a matter of time before she starts to crawl. We take her everywhere with us. She has enjoyed BSU basketball games, Christmas shopping, and even Salvation Army bell ringing. This winter, Carolyn has also enjoyed passing to us all of her colds. I don't think I have ever had this many colds and hopefully sometime soon, we will be healthy again.


Last year at this time, marked one of our worst Christmas' ever and coping with the possibility of never being parents. This year marks our best Christmas!! It is amazing what can change in a year. Last week, I was transfering information to my 2010 calendar and it hit me how fast the adoption was and how Carolyn was meant to be in our family. We started the adoption home study process in March. We found out about the possibility of adopting Carolyn on May 7 and her birthmother selected us the next week. Carolyn was born on May 21 and we had about a week and a half to prepare for her arrival and most of that time we were on vacation. Everything seemed to fall into place and God knew we were going to be her parents. The first six weeks, in the NICU, were very hard and stressful at times and we wondered if she was ever going to come home. With many prayers and support from friends and family Carolyn is now past all of that and doing great!! Christmas was fun this year and we look forward to creating new traditions with our new family. Who knows what 2010 will bring to us. We plan to start the adoption process again in May. Carolyn deserves to have a little brother or sister.


We hope that everyone had a great holiday season and see you in 2010! -- Cindy

Four Months!

I know that it has been a while since we have updated the blog but we have been busy since the last blog. We had the adoption finalized, started day care, Cindy went back to work and the new adventures we have been experiencing everyday.

First the adoption finalization, We had a great trip to Indy for the finalization. We were the first case to go in the afternoon so we were done quickly and had enough time to stop by the Wishard NICU to visit with the nurses that took care of her. They were all excited and happy that Carolyn was doing well.

Day care has gone very well. It has been good for Carolyn to see some other people besides us but it is still hard to give her up to have someone else take care of her during the day. They have had special days where she paints with her feet, I am sure she has some help, and show and tell on Fridays, more show than tell at this point. She has very good caretakers and they look forward to seeing her each day. Cindy has made the adjustment of returning to work and we both have learned how to maximize our time at home with her. Weekends can be busy trying to catch up on stuff around the house but we have made some time for special trips. At the end of August we went an antique tractor show in Portland, IN. She loved being out side and was very patient while getting her picture taken with Dad by some of his favorite tractors. Just last weekend we went to see Troy's grandma in Lebanon. Great-Grandma Hershman loved the visit and she spent most of the time holding Carolyn.

We have enjoyed watching Carolyn grow and develop. She is now rolling over on her own and is starting to try to communicate with us other than crying. She really does not cry much unless she is hungry and then let's you know that she needs food. We are starting small amounts of rice cereal when she starts to get hungry.

We are now starting on month five. It seems so long ago that we were driving everyday to Indy to see her. She has shown no ill effects from her extended stay in the hospital and we realize how lucky we are to have such a healthy little girl. We actually had a reciprocal experience a couple of weeks ago. The adoption agency called us to see if it was OK if another couple could talk to us about Carolyn's circumstances due to their own circumstances with a prospective placement. We were honest with them about everything we went through and what they may face in the early stages of the placement. The final thought that we left them with was not to be scared and that in the long run it could be the best thing that they could ever do. We believe this every day and thank God for the blessing he placed with us.

August 2009

I can't believe that Carolyn will be three months old this week on August 21. It has been a busy month of August. We had our final home study meeting last week and we are one step closer to finalizing the adoption. September 3 is the big day. We will be going to court and receiving the finalization papers for the adoption and in the eyes of the court we will officially be a family.

Troy's parents have been in Indiana this month and have been working at the Indiana State Fair. We have taken three trips to the fair, so that Carolyn can hang out with her Grandma and Grandpa. She did great on the trips and really enjoyed the tractor parade, that she saw twice! Grammy and Grampy Cook have also came to see Carolyn and she has had many other visitors. She really enjoys being around people and watching everything that is going on.

We have determined that Carolyn is a really active baby and gets upset when she can't do something. She started to roll over last week and I have taught her to stick out her tongue at people. We think she might be related to Gene Simmons!! :) She is smiling more and communicating with us by cooing and happy screams. Everyday she is interacting more with us. My mom says that the big belly laugh will be happening soon. Since she is an active baby, she really fights taking naps, because she fears she is going to miss something. I feel that nap time will always be a challenge. She had her First Steps appointment this month and everything seems fine with her development. She is doing great!!

My leave will continue the rest of this week and all next week, then back to work. It will be a tough adjustment for both of us. I wish we could afford for me to stay at home with her, but I know that we are doing the best that we can with our situation. Luckily I found a daycare that is close to work and I can drop in at lunch, if I want to.

Thanks again for the support and prayers for Carolyn. She is really doing great and happy.

I hope that everyone has had a great summer!

Cindy

Oh's the places we will go!

One of the first things that Cindy and I talked about when we decided on starting a family was what we would do if we wanted to go somewhere. We have some very good friends that gave us some great advice after we were married. "Get the kids use to going with you if you want to go places. They will adjust and it will be better for you when they get older and you go on longer trips." Carolyn has already been out and about, but not that many public gatherings and no trip over an hour long. This past week we took two trips that were longer. First to see my 92 year old grandma in Lebanon, IN. She has been waiting for us to bring Carolyn by she was very excited to see and hold her. It can be a little scary to watch someone that old try to hold a baby but Great Grandma Hershman just fell in to her old ways when we put Carolyn into her arms. Carolyn did really well with this five hour total trip.

Last Saturday we drove to Lafayette, IN for a wedding and visit with our friends Ryan and Julie, and daughter, Taylor. Carolyn decided to take a nap on the way over, which in turn set us up for a good evening. This was an overnight trip and one of the things that I am figuring out that I think of myself and an experienced traveler due to my job. I tend to over pack just in case I need one thing. Athletic training has nothing on baby's traveling. At one point I wondered if we were going to have to wear the same clothes for the weekend because we were running out of room to put our overnight bag. Pack-n-play, swing, sling, stroller, car seat(of course) diaper bag, and Carolyn's overnight bag. This also includes every outfit, burp rags, baby wipes, Tylenol, gas medicine, one case of diapers, and of course, our camera. I did forget one thing, the sound machine for the pack-n-play. Thank goodness for radio static.

Carolyn did great at the wedding despite us getting there a half an hour early and was really good at the reception. She reached her max patience after the cutting of the cake. At Ryan and Julie's it did take a little coaxing but she did go to sleep and actually slept for a good five hours before getting hungry. The next day we went back to the church Cindy and I were married in 12 years ago and had a family photo taken in the entry way. It doesn't seem like it was 12 years ago and this new adventure that we are going on as already flown by. We made it home with no problems and I think that we just wore Carolyn out enough that we didn't have any trouble getting her to sleep Sunday night. Now if we can just get her the baby earphones for next years Brickyard 400.

This week has been Daddy and me week with me off and Cindy going back to work for a week. I had already had this week off with a plan of doing a few things around the house and some fishing and golf. So far, my week has not included those events, and I have had a great time regardless. Yesterday we went to visit everyone at CIO, the orthopedic clinic where I use to work and many of the folks there have provided us with some tremendous support. Carolyn did really well and did all of the baby stuff while there(eat, pee, poop, look cute). Today it is a short visit at the athletic department for those who missed her last week and then on to the Cindy's department, the Career Center for her first official visit there. So we are on the go. Grandma and Grandpa Hershman will be up here in the next few day for the start of the Indiana State Fair and Grandma's birthday is Saturday so we will have to come up with some fun stuff for her on the weekend.


And that's the way it was. (that one is for Walter)




Take care,

Troy

Open House!

Hi everyone! I am sorry it has been a few weeks since the last update. As I have said before I will update when I can or if something significant comes up. We had Carolyn's open house this past Sunday at the First Baptist Church in Muncie. I told her it was her party and she could cry if she wanted to, she did. We had about 40 visitors and a good balance of people through out the afternoon. Gayle and Mary Ann did a wonderful job of getting things ready despite just finishing Vacation Bible School two hours before. The women of the church baked cookies for the open house. They did outstanding job and we had more cookies than expected. But lucky for me I like cookies! Carolyn did well for most of the time but 30 minutes left in the open house she was wiped out. So we put her in her sling and she went right to sleep.It was good to see people that we had not had a chance to see since we got Carolyn. Especially surprising was to see my Aunt Tina and Uncle Dean with my cousin Julie and husband Matt with their nephew Levi. It was great to have them there to meet Carolyn.

We are especially grateful to Cindy's

parent's, Terry and Carol and Cindy's sister Mylissa for their help in setting up. Our friends Ryan and Julie and their daughter, Taylor were unbelievable in their support by bringing a registry for guests to sign, taking pictures and keeping our niece, Lauren and nephew, Parker entertained!

We are now getting into a schedule of eating, sleeping, and pooping. But Carolyn seems to demand our attention at times, so we have learned how to prioritize what needs to get done. It is amazing how you use to value something so much only to found out with kids that tasks or items are not that important anymore. She is growing everyday and there has been something new each week that she is starting to figure out.

Carolyn has had many visitors over the past two weeks and a couple of visits to the athletic training room. She even came to my athletic training camp a couple of times and was welcomed by my athletic training students. Babysitters will not be a problem. We are trying to get her out as much as possible and get her use to the world that she will be living in. During this time we have also secured daycare for when Cindy goes back to work at the end of August. It was easier than we thought but have figured out that it is a bit of a racket in how you are charged. They hit you at your weakest point: What is best for your child! But the daycare we selected is an infant to non-potty trained toddlers only facility so she will have plenty of opportunities to work on her social skills

Tomorrow we have our final home visit from the adoption agency and then a big outing to see Great Grandma Hershman in Lebanon on Thursday. Saturday to Lafayette to our first wedding, if things go well, if not just Cindy and I will be attending while Julie and Ryan babysit.

These past few weeks have been a great learning experience. Learning to function without sleep, learning to be patient with someone screaming in your ear, learning not to bite your spouse's head off when she asks you for a simple task that was not that big of deal a month ago.

Cindy and I have been married for 12 years this past Sunday. I can think of no other events that has been as challenging or rewarding since we have been married. It has been everything that everyone described to us and more.

Troy