Eric & Aria are Coming!!!

As many of you know, my good friend and college suitemate Karin Faulkner (and family) has been waiting and waiting on a referral for two sweet babies to adopt from Vietnam. Kevin (their first child) is good friends with Leia Rose. Eric and Aria are destined to be good friends with Annie! This is exciting for me especially because (and I did get Karin's permission to say this) I have been saving all of my extra milk for months now in order to freeze it fresh for the two new Faulkners when they arrive! [So, am I officially a wet nurse now?] So, I'm off to plan a special baby shower for Karin and rejoice with them. Today has been a glorious day for all who know this wonderful Faulkner family. Here are the first two e-mails that announced the news:

Karin Writes:
"WE GOT THE EMAIL(S)!!!!!!!! :) :) :)I’ll write more details later. I gotta run now!!!! I’m totally behind schedule now getting ready for church & we’re teaching the preschool class today!! 2 surprises though: They were born 4 days apart. I was hoping for the same day, so they’d really be like twins. But I’m thinking that’s actually good, because they both have their own unique birthdays — and now just 2 consecutive days. :) And they’re already 4 months old!! That surprises me, but I don’t know the reason yet. In any case, it really doesn’t matter. So they’re 4 months old now instead of 2 months. That actually makes them a little closer in age to Kevin. :) So they’ll probably come home around 7-8 months old.Aria was born June 2 & Eric on June 6. :)Gotta run!!!!! First I woke up Steve to tell him (7am), then told Kevin, then my parents... You’re next!!!! :)Love,Karin"

And from Karin's Blog:
"THE DETAILS: Aria was born on June 2, 2007 and Eric was born on June 6, 2007. They are 4 days apart, and Aria is older! She will like that. ;) ha. And it's appropriate, as we were expecting an Aria before we were expecting an Eric. :) Hmmmm.... but I always say "Eric and Aria" -- rather than "Aria and Eric." Oh well. ;) They are almost 38 months younger than Kevin.So Eric and Aria are "virtual twins," but they each get their own special birthday. :) But in the early years, I'm sure they will share parties. :) I'm glad their birthdays are both in the same month, as it makes it easier to be vague with strangers asking questions, when I don't want to pour out our whole life story (i.e., "They'll be 1 in June.") And yes, we plan to generally say that they are twins. After all, twins are children in the same family who are the same age. Close enough! And when they're old enough, they can decide themselves how they want to answer the question that will plague them in the grocery store for years to come.... "Are they twins?" ;)We received 4 pictures of Aria and 8 pictures of Eric. Unfortunately, we're not supposed to share them online (standard procedure). I also need to be cautious about giving too many details about them online (I know this is a "private" blog -- but I'm still going to be cautious). I think that one picture of each of them was taken around age 1 month. And the remainder were likely taken this week by our contact person who is in Vietnam right now. :)They are almost 4 months old! I was surprised, as the babies are usually "referred" at age 2 months. So there must have been a paperwork hold-up? I don't know a lot of details yet, since our contact is still in Vietnam, and we can't talk on the phone until she gets back. I have lots of questions!! :)We also received a 4-page medical report on each child and will have them looked over by an "International Adoption Specialist" doctor. But they look to be very healthy!! :) These measurements were taken at age 1 month:Aria: 53 cm (21 inches) and 3.8 kg (8.4 lbs)Eric: 51.5 cm (20 inches) and 3.2 kg (7 lbs)These 1-month measurements fall between Kevin's birth & 2-month measurements, except that Eric was shorter at 1 month than Kevin even was at birth. Aria has a very chubby face!! :) She's pudgey! Eric's face is very round and has BIG eyes!! His hair looks fuzzy on top. :)The dates are interesting! Our children have 2 new cousins, due to their Uncle Greg's very recent marriage to Aunt Cathi. Aria has the SAME birthday as cousin Jeremy!!! So now the Walsh family birthdays are.....
April (4 in 14 days): Steve, Kevin, Brandy (the day after Kevin), and Grampy
June (4 in 13 days): Jeremy and Aria (same day), Eric, and Aunt Cathi
September: Karin is all alone! ;)
December (2 in 6 days + Christmas in between): Uncle Greg and Bockba NinaOur anniversary is May 30, so they were born just after our anniversary! Ironically, I have always "feared" that we would have a child born right at the time of our anniversary. ;) We have always gone away for a special romantic trip to celebrate our anniversary and hope to always keep this tradition -- at least for a one-night trip when the children are young. And I feared that someone's birthday would interfere with our romantic plans. ;) ha! BUT.... we can always return home on May 31.... and we still have 2 days until Aria's birthday! ;) ha. We can't have their birthday party on our anniversary weekend anyway, because that's Memorial Day & people go out of town.So on the day Aria was born, what did we do? See: Saturday, June 2, 2007
We notarized our passport copies for our dossier and then had new passport photos taken for all 3 of us to include in our dossier.
Steve completed all the grueling financial forms for our home study update.
We went to Gracie's birthday party! (Does Gracie have the same birthday as Aria?)
Kevin used a public potty for the first time! ha!
Steve got a haircut, and I got my hair done for a couple hours in the afternoon.
We went to an outdoor symphony concert in the rain. :)On the day Eric was born, what did we do? See: Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Kevin went to the eye doctor for a check-up.
We received our receipt from the CIS (immigration), and Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs called about returning our certified marriage certificate.
Kevin had his first "potty party" in the bathroom, where we hung out for a couple hours and he tested out his first pair(s) of "big boy underwear!"Granted, Vietnam is 11 hours ahead of us, and we don't know what time the babies were born. Soooo... it's possible that Aria could have been born when it was still June 1 here.... or that Eric could have been born when it was still June 5 here.THAT'S OUR BIG NEWS!!!! :)