Sunday Best

Hope went to her first day of church.  We dressed her in a summer outfit because it is going to be getting cold later on this week.  Paige was a great help and dressed Hope while I curled my hair.

When we got home we had to dress Hope in another outfit because she had a diaper blow out.  I was glad that we made it home before this happened.  I did have an extra outfit in the diaper bag but those kinds of clean ups are best at home.

Braden went back to the doctors on Monday for more x-ray's of his hand.  It is healed...Yes.  So, no more yucky huge splint.  The doctor did give him a fun velcro strap to wear during sports.  It buddies his two fingers together to protect his little finger from getting jambed and rebreaking the bone in his hand.  Braden said it felt so good to have it off.  But that his fingers and wrist were very stiff.  The doctor told him that he would see him next time he broke a bone.   Oh, he better not.

Sleeping in her swing.  She wakes up if it stops.

A fun thing to remember....Parker was talking to me the other day and said,"We use to have 7 people in our family.  But now because of Hope we have 8.  And maybe when Hope is bigger, like 5 or 6 years old, we will get another baby and we will have 9 people in our family".  How do you not disappoint a 6 year old.  I told him that I think 8 is enough .  He then said," But what if Heavenly Father says someone else in our family is missing"?  Man, how do I answer this one???  I told him we would just have to wait and see.   But really,  If Heavenly father wants us to add to our family again, it had better be an older child.  I'm getting to old to do infants.

Little Sister

Everyone needs a turn holding their little sister.  Parker even got brave enough after awhile.  Paige has her the most though.  As soon as she walks throught the door from school she picks up Hope, if she is awake or not.  Paige has already taken her on a few stroller rides around the neighborhood with her friend Brinn.  She also changes her clothes and her diapers- NICE.

This is a picture of the Tinker bell quilt that Grandma R. made.  She had it on the quilt frames the day she had all of her granddaughters over.  So the girls that were big enough helped tie it.  Grandma crocheted around the blanket and burp clothes... so darling.

Hope, 1 day old.Hope, 2 1/2 weeks old.

Hope's birth mother has a teddy bear just like this one, so she can see how big she is getting.Hope's with her best friend Ellie.  Okay, Hope doesn't know it yet, but we have decided that they need to be best friends.  They live next door to each other, close to the same age, and both are adopted.

HOME Sweet home

We are home!!!  We made it home about 1 A.M. Wednesday morning.  Loren flew into Florida to help me get home with baby and luggage( He's so sweet).  He took a red eye and arrived about 9:00 a.m.  took a 3 1/2 hour nap and then we headed back to the airport. Loren agreed that I probably wouldn't have made it back if he wasn't there to help out. We were both exhausted Wednesday morning.  I was awake to see Braden and Paige off to school but fell asleep and woke up at 9: 35.   Zach and Ethan are supposed to be to school by 9:15.  I ran to Zach's room to get him up-he wasn't there.  He and Ethan got up and out the door to school on their own without waking Loren or myself up.  What awesome kids.  I am so grateful to be home with the rest of my family.  Two weeks away is toooo long.
We had a few visitors.  Grandpa and grandma R came with lots of gifts to spoil their new grandchild.  Grandma made receiving blankets, burp clothes and a darling Tinker bell quilt.
Susan and John (birthparents) sent us some avacodo's from their yard and the sweetest letter.  They made it here before we got here . Now to find things to do with avacodo's.
Hope needs me, so I will post pictures later.

THE MAGIC PHONE CALL...

I got the magic phone call today.  Of course it came when I was out shopping for diapers.  When I got back there where 3 messages waiting for me all of them from the adoption agency.  I can't believe that I can actually go home.  Loren is making arrangments as I'm typing this.  Yes kids, I'm on my way.
Parker told me on the phone last night that I better be home in a few days or he would freak out.

Sunday, sweet day of rest

Hope slept a lot better last night and has taken a few good naps today.  Which means I actually got some sleep too.
  Loren and I looked up church buildings before we came, thinking that we might make it to church.  However, with Hope's early arrival we decided it best to keep her way from all of the people and the germs.  But some sweet member here put a book of mormon in the night stand drawer. So I've been able to read some today.   We have been so blessed to be able to bring sweet little Hope into our lives.  And even though it seems like it's taking forever to get home, I wouldn't change it for the world. Hope's birth mother has lived a very colorful and hard life.  It has opened my eyes to just how blessed I am to have grown up with the gospel in my life.  And to have friends and family that love me.  I hope that our family can bring these blessings into little Hope's life as well.

Needing a nap

Hope sleeps good the first part of the night and then not so well the second half.  Last night after her 2:00 a.m. feeding she decided to be awake ever hour.  She usually sleeps about 2 hours at a time during the day.  But not today.  45 minutes to 1 hour is the best she's done.  She just wants to be held but I can't sleep that way.  This is going to be a long day.  No nap yet.

Still in Florida

No magic phone call today.  Looks like I'm here for another weekend.  We did laundry today.  Okay, I did laundry and Hope watched.  She was awake for about 1 hour.  She grabbed a fist full of her own hair and started to cry.  She thought someone was hurting her.  I couldn't explain to her that she did it herself.  But it would have been nice if I could.  I had to carefully open her hand and moved it away.  She stopped crying, instantly.  I remember Braden doing the same thing when he was a baby.  Those silly tiny hands hang on to anything.
My camera battery died last night, so no new pictures until I get home.

Hanging out

This picture hangs over the sofa in the hotel room. Hope loves to stare at it.
Loren made it home late last night. All of the kids were glad that he made it back.  Loren said that the house was kind of a mess.  So I guess that means the kids will be helping clean up the next few days.
Hope and I are just hanging out together until we get the magic phone call.  I washed her hair under the tap today.  She has a lot of it.  It is curly when it is wet.  My camera has a low battery and I forgot to bring my charger.  I hope it lasts until I make it back.
It rained pretty hard last night.  It was amazing to watch it and hear it tap,tap, tap on the things around me.

Loren's on the way home

I dropped Loren off at the airport this afternoon, he is headed home.  Hope and I are still here for a few more days, it looks like.  Ethan shouted " horray" when he heard dad was coming home.  The others were excited too.  Paige however, would have been jumping for joy if the baby were coming too.

those tiny feet found their way out again.

What?

We just found out that we could be here for up to 7 more days. What? I know that's what I say.  So Loren is getting a flight home for tomorrow to be with the kids.  Neither of us are to happy about this news.  But there isn't anything that we can do, except wait, and wait and wait.

Hope, one week old today

Hope had a doctor's appoinment today.  They wanted to check her out because she was born 3 weeks early.
She now weighs 6 lbs. 1 ounce and has grown almost 1 inch.  The doctor called her a very active baby.  She loves to wiggle and squirm.  She rolls to her side already.  She kicks at her blankets until she is uncovered and then she stretches out, relaxes and then falls to sleep.
We are hoping to hear from Kathy (our case worker) saying that we are clear to return home.  Pray for us.  We miss our children.  Even though we know that they are in good hands.

Video of Bath Time

Pictures, Hitchhikers, and Going Stir Crazy

Well, Still in Florida.  Don't get us wrong...it's a nice place to visit.  Not so nice being stuck in the hotel room waiting for beauracratic wheels to turn.  The adoption agency got he run around with various social services departments today, trying to expedite the paperwork required because DCF got involved to begin with.  Kathy, with the agency, finally just sent all the info she had about her interaction with various Florida state agencies to Utah.  Maybe they'll have better luck navigating the various layers of beauracracy here.  I'm sure it's probably the same in every state.  So no coming home today, or tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Hope has a 1 week check up appointment at a pediatric clinic here.  The hospital wanted to be sure Hope was seen early this week due to the circumstances of her birth.  That's fine with us since we have to have a physician's letter saying it's okay for her to fly to bring her home on any major airline anyway.  So, we're killing two birds with one stone.  Hopefully, the out-of-state treatment won't become an issue with the insurance. 

On the way back from dinner last night we found out that we had a hitchhiker.  As we were walking to the hotel we saw several small lizards skittering across the sidewalk.  Traci left the sidewalk just briefly to get a closer look at one.  When we got back to the hotel, Traci went to get something from the diaper bag she saw a tiny lizard in one of the outside mesh pockets.  We shook it off in the hall at the hotel, and apparently it found someone else to go bother, because it was gone in the morning. 

We are getting pretty tired of these four walls.  Can't wander too far from the hotel in case the adoption agency needs some paperwork done.  We're starting to get a bit stir crazy so please continue to pray for our swift and safe return.  More pictures below. 

First, a couple of pictures of our hitchhiker.

Hope, in a new outfit, in the crib at the hotel.

A few sights near the hotel and hospital.  The Tampa Bat Bucaneers stadium and a New York Yankees baseball stadium.  Don't ask me, I have no idea why.  :)

Hope's first bath

We gave Hope her first bath last night.  She loved it.  She stayed awake for quit awhile after.  She actually slept for 31/2 hours last night.  That was nice.  She stayed awake for almost 2 hours this afternoon.  I couldn't believe it.  She just layed next to me and wiggled and kicked and looked around.  I held her and talked to her for awhile and she got very still but never closed her eyes.
I can't believe it is Sunday.  The days seem mixed up to me.  Just staying in the hotel and taking care of Hope seems strange.  No real routine. 
We are greatful to all of our friends and neighbors who have jumped in to help us out.  We are very blessed to live in the ward that we do.  And we can't wait to get home.

Hope has the hickups.  She gets them a few time a day.  They are so big and loud.  I feel sorry for her but she doesn't seem to mind.

Something is wrong with this picture

I checked on Hope last night before I went to bed and had to take a second look.  Something is wrong with this picture....Her arm was sticking out of the neck hole on her night gown.  Size 0-3 months drowned her and she gets herself all tangled up in her clothes.  I guess it's a good thing that I brought along some premie outfits. I had a really good laugh at Loren last night,too.  He was changing a diaper and I hear,"Oh man, Hope just pee'd on me."  She got Loren and her blanket.  We have to be fast when changing her or we get get surprises.

She holds both her binky and bottle like she is protecting them.  It is cute.

The Kids are at Aunt Tina's for awhile.  We figured poor Uncle Rob needed a brea.(It is probably hard going from a single bachleors life to instant single father of five). We are hoping that all of our paper work is completed on Monday, so we can head home on Monday.  I miss my noisy kids and all that goes with them. 

We thought that Florida was humid when we arrived,  but now we know better.  It rained all day today and now we know what humid and hot are all about.

Baby Love

We are so in love with Hope, she is such a good baby.  We are starting to remember the no sleep part of having a new born. Loren and I took turns getting up with her last night.  she was up to eat every 2 hours on the dot.  Of course she took a 3 hour nap this morning. We had more parer work to fill out and some that needed to be noterized, so we took a small trip to a bank.  Hope sleep through it all.  We are still waiting on paper work to be sent and approved so that we can come home.  We talked to Susan today,  she was having a hard time.  After we told her that DCF hasn't been in anymore contact with us, she felt a lot better. 

Hope discharged from the hospital

Hope was discharged from the hospital today.  We were able to take her to the hotel with us, but there is still some red tape to get through before we can bring her home to Utah.  

The birth parents signed papers in the hospital reliquishing their parental rights.  The adoption agency representative said beforehand that it would be up to the birth parents whether we could remain in the room while that was happening.  Apparently, in some cases the birth parents can feel pressured or threatened by having the adoptive couple in the room.  They agreed to let us stay in the room, and it was really hard to keep from falling appart emotionally while we watched these two brave, loving people make this difficult decision.  The pain and grief behind it was shared by all in the room.  This is a great couple who are trying to do what is best for their child.  We will always love and respect them for that. 

Somehow, the Florida version of DCFS got involved through a "report" being made of Susan having given birth to a child.  This means that they had to send a representative to the hospital to check out the situation.  He showed up and was a bit confused, since due to the adoption placement there really wasn't anything for him to do.  However, since the report was made the DCFS agent has to give us a letter of "no interest" in the child's custody.  The paperwork to transfer legal custody of Hope from the agency to us cannot begin until we get that letter.  Being late in the week, we may not see that letter until early next week.  We'll just have to sit tight and see what happens.  We think we know who filed the report but it's probably best not to dwell on that, except to say that sometimes medical professionals are not always "professional."

We're sincerely hoping that we can bring Hope home within a few days.  More pictures:

Hope Marissa is born

Tuesday at 10am we got a call that Susan, our birth mother, had been sent to the hospital to be induced.  This was about two weeks prior to her scheduled due date, but the doctors saw something that suggested that Susan needed to have that baby that day.  During preparations for a normal delivery, Susan's blood pressure dropped dangerously and they proceeded with an emergency c-section.  During that transition Susan recalls hearing one of the doctors say that "they might lose one or both of them."  What a scary thing!

In the meantime I called Loren to let him know it was time to come home to pack for a trip to Florida.  However before he even got home from work, Hope Marissa was born.  She was born just minutes after the emergency c-section was started.   Apparently things were hit and miss for both mother and child for a time, but thankfully both are doing very well at the moment.  Hope weighed in at 5 pounds 14 ounces, and measured 18 1/2 inches long.   So she's much smaller and shorter than any of our other children (or Susan's) were.  We are eternally grateful that neither of them were lost during this experience and thank heaven for wise and well-trained doctors and nurses. 

Loren and I scrambled to pack, make arrangements to watch the kids and make travel plans on the spur of the moment.  We ended up traveling from Salt Lake to Tampa, FL via three separate flights: first to Vegas, then to Houston, then finally to Tampa.  What should have been a 4 1/2 hour trip ended up taking about 14 hours.  That's what happens when you have to do this kind of stuff at the last minute.  I definitely have decided that trying to sleep on a plane (or on the airport floor) is not advisable.  We left Salt Lake at about 8:20pm on Tuesday and arrived in Tampa at 11am on Wednesday.  Despite being exhausted, the first thing we wanted to do was to see Hope and Susan.  After quickly freshening up, we went to the hospital and spent several talking with Susan, and of course holding Hope.  Meeting Susan was a bit unexpected, because we were told that she probably would not want to have contact with us.  However, when we arrived in Tampa and called the agency, we were told that Susan and John (the birth father) were waiting to meet us.  Unfortunately, by the time we made it to the hospital, John had left for work, so we are planning on going back to meet with him this evening. 

Anyway, on to what you were expecting to see in this post: PICTURES!

We also had some "professional" pictures taken by the hospital photographer, and we bought a package that included the four cutest poses.  Between the two of us, Loren got to change the first dirty diaper and as you can see I got the first feeding. 

So far it seems like Hope is a very calm baby.  Susan says she only crys when she's hungry or needs a diaper change.  Sure enough, while we were there she started crying and both things were needed.  Hope will probably be released from the hospital tomorrow.  After that, we're not sure what's next. 

We have lots more pictures to share, but that will have to wait because the red eye flight is finally starting to catch up with us.  We're going to crash at the hotel until it's time to go back to the hospital this evening.  More to follow.

Hope was born yesterday around 11 o'clock. She weighs 5 pounds and 14 ounces.

Parker's 6th Birthday

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY PARKER!!!
    Parker woke up at 6:15 ready to open presents.  We were going to get up early any how so Braden could be there when Parker opened them.  But wow that was early.  Ethan was so excited about the present that he got for him that he started to open it himself.  We stopped him and he was kind of embarassed but he'll servive.  He quickly handed it to Parker to open.  It was Lego Indianna Jones for the Wii.  They had plenty of time to play it before school.   Parker had a party with a few of his friends after school.           

                                                                   

       Eat Cake!! and icecream. This is the part they all like the best

Play a shoe game and a bell game.  Then the really fun penny in the flour game.  This was a blast.       What a FUN day!

Playing cars after the party.  They all help build the track and maked the cars go.