Friday, May 30, 2014

Baby Boy Arrives!

This is Miss B. She's smart, beautiful, kind, funny and simply amazing. She is the birth mother of our little boy who was born just a few weeks ago. We are so grateful for Miss B. She has blessed our lives so much. She let me be with her in the delivery room when her son was born. It was one of the most amazing days of our lives. Matt and I love this woman and are in awe of the selfless gift she has given us. 





Here is little baby J, our new son. He is handsome and so sweet. We always want him to know how special his birth family is to us. 



We flew north a couple days before baby J was going to be born. Below is a picture of our little family on the plane about to take off. We were excited to meet him.


When we arrived in town where little J would be born, members of his birth family greeted us and made us feel so welcome. Baby J's paternal grandparents fed us dinner with his birth mom. It was nice to spend time with them. Baby J's maternal grandparents came to meet us in the hospital as well. They were so kind and we are grateful for everyone treating us with such love.

Below is a photo of Baby's paternal grandmother. She was also present during the delivery. She has been so good to Matt and I.  I credit this beautiful lady for helping us to get in touch with our birth mother. She is an integral part of this adoption. 




Below are the maternal grandparents of Baby J. This photo is a little fuzzy, but its the only one I was able to capture of the two. We had the opportunity to talk with Baby J's maternal grandmother quite a bit in the hospital. She was another person present during the birth of our son. She was so sweet. We are thankful for her kindness.


My parents were an enormous help through this process. Because of my Dad talking about Matt and I wanting to adopt, we were able to find our sweet birth mother several months ago. Dad worked at the hospitals where our birth mother lives and that is how this story began.
Mom and Dad were also such a big help in taking care of our daughter during this time. They even got our daughter to finally start walking on her own. 










 Our daughter seemed a little confused when she came to the hospital to meet her brother for the first time. But she has warmed up to this big change and even gives him kisses now and then. This is a photo of the very first time she saw him. 



After we left the hospital, we drove a few hours to get to the home of my parents. We tried to be really good about giving our daughter some one on one time to help her adjust to this change in her life. Matt would take her out to the trampoline every morning to play and she loved it.



I think the photo of our two kids below is so funny. It captures what  we believe was the initial reaction of our daughter to her new brother. She was wondering what and why he was suddenly around. One morning she even woke up and asked, "baby?"--It was like she was hoping his vacation in our home was over. 
Over the last few weeks she has totally warmed up to him. Even though her world has changed, she is adapting and even loving her little brother.


We had a lot of relaxation time with my parents. We drove to the lake almost daily and hiked around the surrounding hills. It was nice to have this time together. 





Below are my parents and the two kiddos. 



My grandfather lives down the street from Mom and Dad. He wanted to get a four generation photo while we were in town. 


On our last day in town, we were able to finalize the adoption of baby J in court. We dressed up and headed to the court house. Below is a picture of us just before we headed to the county courthouse in the state where little J was born. Our first ever family photo with the four of us. It was a special day.



Immediately after court, we drove to the lake once more to play in the water before we headed to the airport. Our little girl got all the way in the water and really enjoyed that time. It seemed Matt and I were grinning ear to ear all afternoon because of the special day it had been. 


It's alway hard to leave my hometown. Even Matt said he didn't want to go back home just yet. But we were looking forward to starting normal everyday life as a family again.




When we got home, we saw that some of our friends had decorated the entire front of our house in blue balloons, streamers and lots of trinkets. It was an awesome homecoming for our family.


We are so grateful for these two little angels in our lives. We are especially grateful for adoption and the amazing women who have given us the opportunity to become parents. We will always love and honor them and what they have done for us.