We're Home (or at least at the hotel)

We made it here late this afternoon. It was amazing how long it took the hospital to go thru the discharge process---the good thing is that they were very thorough in going over the discharge orders with mom and baby, the bad thing is that there were 7 discharges on the maternity floor, so it just took awhile.

It was an emotional and exhausting day for all of us. Sweet baby Maddie is sleeping like an angel at this point. R went down to the Manager's Reception and we had sliders, salad and cupcakes for dinner. They offered beer, wine and soda to drink which is so interesting to us because it's illegal to give away beer/wine in Virginia. Just in case you're wondering----we had soda.

We already had a clothes changing incident because I didn't get the diaper on just right. I was being so careful not to get it on her belly button/cord and it wound up just sliding down her backside and now we have laundry to wash:-)

Going to try and get some sleep since I'll be back up in a couple of hours for the next feeding! More tomorrow.

Discharge today

Today is the day--baby and mom will be discharged from the hospital. It's sure to be an emotional day for everyone so please say a prayer for all of us!

Getting the hang of this eating thing......

Just a small note to show another pic of this beautiful girl. The nurses are saying she's a "quirky eater"--sometimes eating well and sometimes just kind of showing no interest. They haven't expressed any concern over weight loss but I'm getting the feeling that she may require more frequent feedings than other newborns (Anna, are you smiling as you're reading this?)

Will try to post more later today--gotta meet with the lawyer and get some more of the paperwork underway.

The Gift

Today was a gift! A day that I will look back on and remember, despite all the stress, turmoil and complete frustration that I've had in the past few weeks moving towards this day, that they have all been worth it. It's all been moving towards this one perfect moment--the entrance into the world of a tiny, new life.

I feel honored and completely blessed to have shared this moment with our birthmom. It would have been easy for her to have left us in the waiting room but instead she opened her heart and let us be part of this moment in time.


Introducing Madelyn Alicia

Arriving 6/13/11, weighing 6lbs 6oz, 19" long. She entered this world with her eyes open and letting us all know that she had arrived.


Here I am!

We Made it to Arkansas and What a Ride It's Been Getting Here

For anyone just joining in, this is my journal on our trip to Baby Jones #3. Our first adoption from start to finish took 14 months, the second took 3 years, and this one is right at the 1 month mark.

Baby Jones is due by C-section tomorrow at 7:30am so hopefully there will be some pictures to post.

Getting here has been a challenge to say the least and I'm not sure that getting all the paperwork completed here is going to be any easier. We are still waiting on our VA background clearances to come thru so that our homestudy can be finalized and fedexed to us. Our attorney here in AR has handled adoption cases but mostly family cases--does anyone besides me see a huge margin for error here?

Physically getting here was a challenge-our flight out of Richmond was delayed 2 hours because of weather, causing us to miss the connecting flight in Dallas, forcing us to stay overnight at the only hotel that American Airlines could line up at 10:30am on a Saturday night-the Super 8. The discounted rate for "distressed passenger" was $49.99. That's a pretty high rate to pay for what I would consider, "roughin' it". I was spraying everything in the room with Sleep-tite (bed bug spray-many thanks to my friend K!) and was scared to let my bare feet touch the floor.

R and I had a great meeting this evening with the adoption coordinator, the birthmom, and her children. We all met for dinner and had time to sit and converse about families, work, and then she invited me to be part of the birth. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to be part of something so personal but have to admit that I'm a bit terrified. I've already told R that his job is going to be snapping pics when they wheel that wee little one to the nursery so you will all have to let him know how his photographer skills add up :-)

More tomorrow and hopefully good pics!

A girl, her uncle, and a strawberry patch......

The following pictures were taken on Mother's Day at Aunt M's house. (You ever notice how I'm a week behind in posting?) I didn't realize until I was getting them ready to print that they appear time lapsed---I love watching how this scenario plays out multiple times.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! It's hard to believe that I've been a Mom for 6 years---where has all that time gone? It seems that "the wait" to become a Mom was forever and now the time just rolls away as I watch these two little people grow-up.

Isn't that funny how our perspectives are always changing--depending on our life situation?

Here are a few of best Mom Moments in no particular order:

--Watching K at bedtime as her little face is illuminated by her glow worm and she is singing and rocking a lullaby to it.
--Seeing how nurturing G is to K--always trying to help her do whatever it is she is trying to do.
--Snuggling with two little wiggly girls.
--That just clean smell that K still has when she gets out of the bath.
--Seeing G stride confidently into school each morning; so self-assured. Most of you will remember that she cried every time that I dropped her off at preschool.
--Watching them both sleep; no cares in the world, just peacefully dreaming.
--Seeing things for the first time thru their eyes: blowing bubbles, dyeing Easter eggs, learning something new.


Me and my brood at the Mother Daughter Tea (overlook the leopard print dress--the theme was Fancy Nancy and I was trying to channel Nancy's mother:-)