Rabbits Try and Dig Hole to Korea

The rabbits are still quite angry that so much attention has been given to Mary Jane and Betsy Jo (and not to them!) that they are undertaking a massive digging project.  According to an unnamed source, three rabbits are plotting to dig all the way to the other side of the world -- which they believe is Korea -- so they can sneak Mary Jane back there.  Alas, this is wrong on many counts.  North/South Korea is not on the opposite side of the world as Dewey Street.  Furthermore, Mary Jane was born in Victorville.  And honestly as her father, that kind of insults Mister John that the rabbits have such a lack of geographical knowledge and care for a little girl who some day will be in charge of feeding them.  One must respect those who will ultimately be in authority over you.

Mister John has already filled a brick into that whole which seemingly has perturbed at least one rabbit.  A particular brown furred rabbit sniffed at and hopped away from the brick with a great deal of disdain.  While no rabbit has claimed responsibility for this whole, Mister John checked Phillip and Root Beer Float -- who both have predominantly white fur -- and witnessed no dirt marks on either their fur or their claws.  Ruby Jane, the self-proclaimed "Brown Bear" denied any digging of the hole and did not want to be subjected to any sort of spot check.

Miss Jill has stayed away from all of this conflict by saying it's not within her purview to make a comment.

Happy Birthday, Mary Jane!

One year ago Miss Jill and I were sitting around in Victorville... waiting, waiting, and waiting for the word.  Finally hearing a late afternoon update that the birthmother would be delivering in the evening.  So in a wise move, we actually went to sleep around 6pm and then around 9pm we were awakened by a call from the hospital.  Off to Desert Valley Hospital we went...

Just before midnight, Mary Jane came into the world... I don't have any pictures on this computer with those but if you scroll back to last year at this time, I should have some.

We held her three minutes after she was born.  When she instinctively grabbed my finger when I touched her hand, I knew that she was ours.  O happy girl!

Thinking of Last Year

Last year Jill and I drove up to Victorville in expectation of being parents that night.  Not so fast, my friends!  We waited for another full day.  But not before we had our last non-parental dinner together at Outback Steakhouse.  There's the answer to a trivia question some day.

I'm sure this is a dark day in the bunny history lore.  Even Cherry Bugg right now stares at Mary Jane and sulks as she realizes she has moved down a notch -- now two -- in the family pecking order.  Poor Chee.

The Surprise Call

Now to backtrack a little bit here. Unknown to many people, we were matched as potential adoptive parents with a woman in Arizona. At first we thought it might be too soon as Mary Jane was just a few months old. But as we thought about it, it would be perfect for MJ to have a younger sister quite close to her in age. So we moved forward with the adoption process.

Yesterday Jill and I were at my sister's for a family barbecue. I was going to tell them at some point but then we were beaten to the punch by a phone call. The birth mother Jenn called us to say that her water had broken. Egads! Well, no hiding that surprise bit of news anymore. Nothing quite like telling your family that you're going to have to leave early because you're going to adopt a brand new child in another state in just a few hours.

Oh yes, nothing like a long drive out on the 40. It's not a bad ride... just quite full of desert, that's all. Quite coincidentally Mary Jane was born in a desert town as well, Victorville. The temperature at Betsy Jo's birth was still 102. Ouch. Conversely, it was a mere 55 or so in December for MJ's birth. We arrived just in time to hear the good news about Elizabeth's birth.

Oh, she screamed a lot the first night. But wouldn't you? Yeah, after nine months of security to be tossed out into the world of lights and noises... goodness, I'd scream as well!

Pictures will be downloaded as soon as we can get Grampa Kendall's computer for such things. More updates in a bit.

First Blurry Family Photo!

Yeah, either the nurse was drunk or Miss Jill and I did an excellent job of moving back and forth to either disturb the photographer or to keep little Mary Jane quiet.

Check out those gloves! Michael Jackson, you ain't got nuttin' on me!

Home!

Wow, the long and winding road has finally returned home. And quite soon I may add. After other possibly failed adoptions in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, it was quite a relief to add a child in California and thus avoid all the inter-state paperwork which would take over a week (depending on the state, day of the week, and incompetent bureaucracy.

Mary Jane is now sitting in the a small swinging-rocking thing with music playing. Beats the heck out of me what it is called; I only use great nouns and adjectives for term papers. Otherwise it's a whatchamacallit.

The bunnies have already hopped freely into the house and wondered what that noise making creature is. Ah, that will be the monster which will chase you in years to come!

I have no downloaded pictures on the computer yet. Boxes and bags still remain laying around on the ground. Nothing like re-coordinating things after a trek... albeit a shorter one.

The nursing crew at the Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville were great. They helped us with whatever we needed and even allowed us to stay in a room there. Hey, at least the TV had ESPN but I didn't watch it much. No WiFi though thus the slower response in saying, "It's a girl!"

Now I think I'll pull a Miss Jill and take a nap.

Mary Jane Eats, Sleeps, Cries!

And Miss Jill and Mister John are learning how to deal with a newborn infant! More pictures as soon as we return home. Until then... nothing but hearsay. Or something like that.

OK, time to go back to the hospital and help out my wife.

Jill Naps

From what we have heard, it will be a long night so night as well sleep now...

I already napped so I am doing what I do best this time of year: I'm typing up Decathlon notes.

I Don't Know My Metric System

Four centimeters? Good? Bad? Is that like an inch?

And what's taking so long? Shouldn't birth mothers be all "Snap, let's get this thang done!"

Back from the Park...

Not much on the adoption update for now. Knowing that we still might have many hours to wait (and it's not like we can sit right in there in the waiting room), we drove out to the park to hang out and waste a few hours. It was actually quite scenic in a chilly December sort of way. Very few people in the park which was the size of Central Park (as we were told). As you may or may not see to the left, there is a sizable lake created by a beaver dam. Originally this whole area was a lake but the man-made levee broke and when the levee breaks, mama, you gotta move. That is until the beavers come in and establish a natural order. They decree that there shall be no flowing rivers through here!

We also hiked around for quite a while, wondering about the hours to come. There's nothing quite like standing around and waiting. It's easier to wait when being out and about. At least that way there's some some of physical release. A nature hike of catharsis? Something like that.

In any event, we are due to call the hospital again shortly. Hopefully the poor birth mother will be further along. She was induced yesterday morning and it's into tomorrow afternoon! Yikes. Or as Shaggy would say, "Zoinks!"

Mojave Narrows Regional Park... for now...

The birth-mother still hasn't proceeded to full labor yet so we're driving out to the local regional park for lunch. Some trees, some lakes, some wilderness...

Yeah... just more waiting. But that's ok... gotta think long term. Like when our child will be 15 and stomps their foot and says how mean we are. (Wait, our rabbits do that every day!)

Victorville, Day Two

We have been up here for almost a full day now. The birth-mother has been induced so it is just some amount of time until the child is born. But until then we are in this purgatory of sorts. Just sitting here... waiting... waiting...

At some point we need to go to the CHP and figure out how to deal with the child seat in the back of the car. Silly small things when you look upon them are not so silly.

Meanwhile we are both sitting in the hotel room with laptops tapping away. Alas, we only have one plug so we have to rotate our power cords. So if this computer suddenly dies... well, I guess I'll type this all up again at a later date.

Now the most important question people have is: how will the bunnies deal with this?

I'm not sure they will. Cherry Bugg is quite Chee-centric and no one else comes before her. I'm sure she'll thump at the thought of a child. Oh well, at least Chee will not have to give up any extra carrots for a year or so. Then again I wonder how much the Chee will like carrot-flavored baby food.

At some point today we will receive the call and we will... sit in the waiting room? I'm not actually sure. Miss Jill might know more of what will happen next. But there will be some waiting. Some hand holding, some prayers, some hard-level Sudokus.

WHOA! The phone just rang. Nope... a friend of Miss Jill's just called. But yeah... that's a bit of tension when you jump at any sudden ring of the phone.