Visit from KK and GPB!

We've had a wonderful time this month. KK and GPB came to visit from NY, Wyatt went to his first baseball game (well, first one he will remember since he was only 2 months old the first time) and Tucker is on his way to being a CRAWLER :)

July

Everyone has been working hard this month. Tucker has mastered sitting up and is now scooting himself across any surface he can. He can move several feet this way. Turn around for a second and he's in a new place entirely. Wyatt is doing great with writing his letters and is able to read all combos of numbers almost. He especially loves to read the speed limit to Mommy :) Good thing he can't see the speedometer from the back!

Sitting Tucker and Bobby "Wyatt" Fisher

It's HOT and we've been staying inside a lot lately. At least we've still been having fun! We had a great 4th of July at Lake Benson with the boys and friends. Although we were really hoping to stay and see the fireworks the kids were SO tired we decided to leave just before they started and headed home hoping to see them from our house. Wyatt crawled in bed and was able to see them through the trees but after about 2 minutes he was fast asleep :( Poor guy - and we were trying so hard to get him through it this year! There's always next year...

Wyatt and Tucker have been "hanging" out a lot lately. It's like Wyatt suddenly realized he could actually play with Tucker and it's been so much fun to watch - well, fun for us, not sure how Tucker feels about all the poking and prodding! Actually Wyatts been really gentle for the most part and Tucker hero-worships Wy from the way he follows every move he makes.

Tucker is changing every day! Lots of smiles and talking! He's really been into blowing major raspberries lately and at the most inopportune times..like when his mouth is full of food! He thinks it's so funny to blow a bunch of bananas on Mommy! He is eating quite a few solids now and there seems to be nothing that he doesn't like (not a big surprise there!) He has only had 1 questionable reaction and that was from "mixed berries". Otherwise he's a big fan of sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce and mixed veggies! We are still mixing his food with spoonfuls of oatmeal which he seems to like better than taking it straight.

He's still our happy little camper - sleeping through the night and bringing such joy to every day. He's really strong (as you can see in the photo) and even since that was taken is now well on his way to sitting up by himself. So far we pretty much keep a boppy around in case he takes a tumble but he LOVES being able to stay upright and see all that's going on. He can really enjoy school a lot more too now that he's sitting up and can root through all the bins like all the other babies are doing! He's on 1 of 2 boys in a class of 8. Right now the girls are all ganging up on him, taking his toys, but pretty soon they'd better watch out! He just smiles at them now and laughs when they take something. I don't think that's going to last too much longer..ha.

For a baby who never really liked to be on his belly much he pretty regularly rolls right over as soon as we put him in his crib. He does an excellent job of soothing himself to sleep. We've been so lucky to have 2 good sleepers (well, except for naps but that's another story).

Over this past weekend Jason decided to show Wyatt what a real chess board/pieces look like. He's been carrying what he calls his "chester" piece around since he found it at the beach house that we stayed at in May (yes, if you are reading this and you own the beach house - my son stole a tiny, plastic chess piece..haha). Anyway, Jason pulled it out, explained what each piece was and where it was supposed to go. Wyatt was pretty interested in it and really took to it. They played for a while and then put it away. The next morning, Wyatt went into the front room, pulled out the board and pieces on his own and proceeded to set it up exactly the right way.

Wii are in love

We've just returned from a quick trip to Charlotte to visit with Jason's mom and stepdad. It was nice to get out of town even if it was only for 24 hours! The kids did really well in the car on the way there. It turned into a nearly 4 hour trip with stops and traffic! We hadn't seen them in several months so it was really nice to visit. Both Wyatt and Tucker were raring to go when we arrived at nearly 8:30..well past everyones bedtime!

On Saturday Grandpa "Johnny" introduced us to Wii! It's really fun! Wyatt enjoyed playing as well as Jason. Tucker enjoyed watching. It turns out however we are grossly out of shape. Jason scored as a 60+ year old would, and I was in the 70's. Oh well, perhaps we just need more practice! Now we'll have to hunt one down to buy...

Wyatt and Grandpa "Johnny" playing Wii.

We're back home now and busily getting the house in order. I took a few pictures tonight of the boys and thought I'd share...

Tucker up on his strong arms! He is so ready to crawl :)

Brothers before bedtime

More June Fun

Oh, it's so hard to believe it's nearly July! We have been so busy these past few weeks the time is just flying. I have had to work a day last weekend and a day this past weekend. I asked to split the weekends so we could all spend Fathers Day together but it has made for a very long 3 weeks! We are traveling this upcoming weekend to Charlotte to visit Michelle and John and we are so excited to get out of town and to visit with them.

Wyatt is having lots of fun. We've managed a few weekends at the pool. He is still not extremely excited about the pool. He has fun but I think he'd enjoy it a lot more if a) he knew more about how to swim and b) had some friends to play with! So we're going to work on that!

Conversations w/ a 3 year old: A few mornings ago I was helping Wyatt get ready for school and he said out of the blue, "Mommy, I like you a whole lot". Of course I thought that was so sweet. I told him (like I always do) that he was my favorite Wyatt in the whole world. Then he said, "there is only 1 Wyatt and 1 Mommy and 1 Marsha. I thought it was kind of neat that he mentioned her in our conversation. I have always explained that Mommy's belly was broken and we then talk about how he grew in Marshas belly and how she wanted to pick out the best family for him. So I guess these conversations from the past came back to him and he asked me why my belly was broken. I said, "well, God made Mommy this way". He paused thoughtfully then looked up and said, "Mommy, maybe your belly was broken because you ate too much!" Ok, sentimental moment passed - now I'm laughing out loud. I love conversations with him. It's like a gumball machine, you never know what's going to come out but it's sure to brighten your day!

He is doing really well in school. This week they are learning about the WORLD so he is very excited to school his friends not only on Earth but all of the other planets. It's the perfect subject for him! He's still not sleeping great at school but he is taking more naps than he had been in months past. All of his friends are picking up "girlfriends" and "boyfriends" which is really hysterical to hear them talk about. At one point Wyatt had 2 girlfriends. He said he would make them follow him around but sometimes they wouldn't listen to him. HA. Just the beginning my son. Now he only has 1 since one of them has moved up to the "big girl" classroom.

Tucker is doing really well too. He is turning over and over and over! We've put him in the exersaucer and he really enjoys that. He will not stay on his back but for seconds before spinning over. He wants to crawl so badly it's killing him! He gets very frustrated b/c all he wants to do is GO! He's very social at school and LOVES watching all of the other babies crawling around. He will crane his head to watch ANY baby or little one wherever we are. It's really funny to watch! I think he's just so excited to see someone just like him!

Tucker exhausted after eating his squash :)

We attended the IAC picnic this weekend! It was so wonderful to look around and see all of the families touched by adoption. We weren't able to go last year so this was our first one in two years. I (Wendy) have been talking to many of these AP's (that's adoptive parents to those of you who are not familiar with adoption lingo :)), following the ups and downs of their adoption(s). It's so nice to have other folks who totally understand (b/c they have been there) to garner greater understanding of unique issues that may present themselves while going through the adoption wait, and of course after when you're placed finally with your lovely little one. So we met lots of happy families - I've honestly never seen a happier bunch of folks in my life. I think it's because when it finally does happen it's like your world opens up, the sun shines brighter and life just seems a lot more rich and full. Below are some pics of the fun we had! There was even a magician with the kids LOVED!

One of only 2 family photos we have! Gina from the agency took this! I liked it so much I decided to use it at the top of our blog :)

Tucker getting the best seat at the picnic!

Happy Dan the Magic Man entertaining the kids. He was hilarious!

4 month doctors visit....

It's so hard to believe but our Tucker is already 4 months old! He's been busy this past 4 months! His doctor visit went well. Dr. Ferrall said we had a very healthy BIG boy :) I was surprised his weight didn't go up more but he's still in the 85% percentile for weight at 17 lbs. His height shot up quite a bit to 25 3/4 inches long! Everything else checked out fine. We talked a bit about his wheezing/snorting and the rash he's had on his belly but Dr. F didn't seem too worried about either. Hopefully the cold or whatever is causing the breathing issues will work itself out and his skin seems to be clearing up on it's own. Unlike himself though he cried throughout the appointment once Dr. Ferrall started poking and prodding. I was actually surprised b/c he rarely cries. ( I think he just remembers his last appointment and what followed seeing the doctor - seeing the nurse with the many needles!!!) So by the time the nurse came in he was already pretty upset. He had to drink a nasty rotovirus shot and then got 3 sticks in the leg. Poor baby! He calmed down quickly after it was over. I took him home after that and we had some good snuggle time. Luckily he didn't have any adverse reactions to the shots and was back to normal by Tuesday! 2 more months before our next visit ...the big 6 month visit!!!

Fathers Day!

It's been a big week around our house! Lots of changes in our littlest member! Tucker has mastered turning over, sitting in a high chair and eating his first (and later his second) helping of rice cereal!! Wahoo! We are on our way to adulthood LOL.

He really likes being able to join us for meals now. Although he's still a tiny fellow in that big chair!
Today is Fathers Day and so far we've had a lot of fun. Grandpa Lloyd (wendy's dad) came this morning around 10. Wendy gave him a digital photo keychain! Now he can carry our pictures with him everywhere he goes :) GPL and Jason and Wyatt took in a quick game of "Go, Diego, Go" with Wyatt winning first! Yes, EVERYONE wins in our house (Wyatts rules) so it's just a matter of in what order you win. Nice rules if you ask me.
While Grandpa was here we decided to give a fussy Tucker his first taste of REAL food. Well, sort of anyway. Rice cereal..WAHOO! He loved it! He didn't find the texture odd and was all about going for that spoon. Now if we could just teach him to remove his fingers from his mouth before trying to eat :) Jason opened his presents after Tuckers nap (it's hard to tell where they stop and begin these past few days)! He is eating every hour and a half and then nodding off. He must be growing!!! Wyatt was proud to have Jason open the presents he picked out. 3 gnome stakes for Jasons gardens and a turtle planter (the significance of that is we used to call Wyatt turtle b/c of how he held his head up all shaky - like a turtle!) We also gave him a really neat digital photo frame for his desk at work. Now he can have all the photos he wants w/o taking up too much space on his desk.

So it's been a fun day! It's still really hot and humid here although not in the 100's thankfully. We need the rain but what little we got last night only made things sticky.

Hot..hot..hot

Well, it's been 100 degrees for the past few days and we're already tired of being inside! This week we did manage to do a few fun things..KK and GPB sent the boys a present! Wyatt was THRILLED to open the box and find that his was a set of blow up planets!! It only took us 2 days to blow them up :) then we hung them in Wyatts room. The sun is HUGE and the rest of the planets are to scale. They look awesome hanging from his ceiling! He really loves it. We lost power for a few hours this week so hanging the planets was how we tried to ignore how hot the house was getting!

Wyatt and his planets!

Hanging out on Wyatts bed

Wyatt can say Daddy literally "hung the moon"

Tuckers gift was a really cool mat! It has a neat water feature that he loves, lots of crinkly pieces, a mirror and a monkey! He is really enjoying - and so are we! New toys make us happy too. It gets old seeing the same things every day :) Thank you KK and GPB!!!

Tucker learned to turn over on Friday!!! Since then every time we walk away he flips over. He did it 3 times on Friday when Jason walked away. He would come back into the room and Jason would find him on his belly, but it took him longer to show US his trick. We finally caught him in the act on Saturday. He's getting really frustrated now though b/c after he turns over he sees things he wants but can't get to them!! Our previously very chill baby is getting pretty upset these days! It's only a matter of time and I'm sure he'll be zipping across the floor - but not too soon! It's bittersweet seeing him change and grow so fast!

Tucker enjoying (aka trying to eat) his new playmat!

Settling in..

The trip was fun but we're getting back into our routine! Wyatt has been doing really well lately and we've seen a lot less of those terrible tantrums! And it's so nice to not hear the word "NO" so often :) He is still obsessed with the planets!! On our way to school the other day we were both snacking on yogurt covered raisins when he told me they looked like planets. Well the entire way to school he was telling me which planet he was eating and what it tasted like! Mars was hot and dusty, Pluto was C O L D. It was very funny. So dinner tonight was more of the same. Funny how you can turn a salad into the solar system. So besides being really interested in the planets he's really been enjoying his "art" lately. He takes himself very seriously. He called me into the kitchen a few days ago and voila..a beautiful picture of the sun! He rarely draws actual objects, preferring a more avant garde approach to his art (HAHA) but there it was, big and beautiful!

Wyatt's beautiful sun. He even colored the middle with orange :)

Tucker is SO close to turning over from his back to front. If only he would lift his big noggin he'd go spinning over. He has been quite chatty the past few days! All he wants to do is get going! It's almost like hes going to crawl before he sits up. I think he's going to be our curtain climber. He is doing great at grabbing his toys. Discovering his hands could actually DO things was pretty exciting to him. He has 2 favorite "loveys" that he holds onto for dear life when he's tired, otherwise he'll play with anything he can get his hands on these days. Of course, his favorite thing is Daddy's head (as you can see in the picture below). Noone can make Tucker laugh like Jason can. He actually giggles when Jason does this...

They are so silly together!

Beach Trip

We just returned from our family beach trip. We had so much fun. It was so relaxing and once the wind went away, the weather was quite beautiful. This was Wyatts 3rd time at the beach and Tuckers first! Wyatt had a blast spending time with his friend Sam on the beach! They had ample opportunity to build many castles and play in the surf. Our beach house was just the right size and could not have been closer to the beach. It was great to not have to walk very far with all of our stuff!

This is Wyatt and his friend Sam - I made them sit like this :) But arent they cute??

My beautiful boy Wyatt

Tucker did wonderfully on his first trip! He is such a good baby - never complaining! He even has an awful cold/cough and never complained. He slept through each night except the ones where he started coughing so bad we had to wake him up for a steam bath and even then we would look into his crib and he'd be looking up at his with his silly, goofy grin that he greets us with every morning, his little body wriggling with excitement that someone was about to pick him up :)

Happy Tucker on the beach. He was not terribly excited about the wind and loud ocean!

Daddy & Tucker - Tucker still doesn't understand "smile" when I'm taking pics :)

Mothers Day & My Birthday!

What a wonderful day to have a birthday. I can't imagine a better gift on my birthday than spending time with my beautiful boys (and husband !!) I feel so incredibly blessed and lucky. We had a really nice, relaxing day. Wyatt and Jason made me dinner (see pics) and it was so yummy! We made homemade ice cream too which was great!

Wyatt with his cheesy smile!!

Tucker & Mommy

Wyatt and Daddy working hard on dinner

Wyatt LOVES helping in the kitchen. Isn't he adorable in his chef hat?

Our new life as a family of 4 begins...

In honor of our most recent addition I thought I would start a blog. Seems the best way for everyone to keep up to date on our BOYS :)

That's right! On the night of Saturday, February 9th we received a call at 11:30pm. Jason was still awake watching basketball (a rarity that he is up that late) and the birthmom that we had been casually talking to for about a month went into labor and gave us a call to tell us to get on a plane!

A little background on the situation - At the end of December we received an email from a young lady who was looking to place her unborn child. We hit if off via email and began talking nearly every day..just casual conversations mostly. She contacted our agency and began the paperwork process, although we never officially matched due to a number of reasons. So we went forward and decided to not mention this possibility to anyone..the HARDEST decision ever! We had a matched that failed after a 4 month relationship and everyone was devastated - neither one of us wanted to put ourselves or our family and friends through that again, so we decided since it was so "up in the air" to not tell anyone. All the while we had a really nice email relationship with this birthmom. She and her husband were certain they wanted to place this child due to already having 4 young children at home. She was officially due on 1/26 but said she normally went early..so we were always prepared for THE phone call. Well, 1/26 rolled around and although she was having contractions and other issues no baby came. A week later still no baby. Another week later - we get the call! She called us apologizing for calling so late. Of course we didn't care if she called in the middle of the night - we were just so excited it was finally happening. The agency called a bit later to let us know that she decided she wanted a closed adoption. We weren't sure what to think but were prepared to still move forward. But it would mean that IAC also couldn't call the hospital to get info, we would have to wait for a social worker to contact them. More waiting! But we forged ahead.

We were up all night (nearly) only getting a few hours sleep before getting on a plane to Indiana, Indianapolis. We had no idea if she'd had the baby, how things were going, were they still wanting to place?? So we flew with a lot of excitement and anxiety - which is difficult when your companion is your 3 year old son! We woke wyatt up at 5 and told him we were going on a trip on a plane - he was thrilled! We had decided to also not share the real reason with him until later. (When our last match failed in the hospital Wyatt had been introduced by the birthmom to his "baby sister" just 2 hours before changing her mind - it was awful to tell him she was not coming home with us. There was no way we were doing that again).

We had a quick layover which gave me a chance to call our social worker - she had heard NOTHING so we were very stressed. When we finally landed in IN we called again. She had heard this time...THE BABY WAS BORN AND WAS HEALTHY! The birthparents had not seen the baby and were ok with that. They did not want to meet us b/c the birthfather felt it would be too hard. We also found out that she was checking out of the hospital that afternoon and that the hospital was prepared to give us a suite on the maternity ward for the babys entire stay. I was blown away, gesturing to Jason that everything was ok while Wyatt was getting antsy after a 2 hour flight. Then it hit me..we didn't know the sex of the baby or any other details!! I said to our counselor, " WHAT DID SHE HAVE"????? She said, "OH, it's a boy!!" She forgot that we didn't know the sex! So then I got all the details, quickly got off the phone and excitedly told Jason everything. Finally when we got to baggage and Wyatt saw the carseat that we had checked with our luggage and asked what it was for, we explained to him that we may be bringing home a baby with us. The idea didn't seem to bother him. So we thought we'd explain more as the day progressed and not hit him with too much at once.

So we got a rental car, loaded up and took off for the hospital (and first to get something to eat). Thank goodness for the GPS my Dad got us for Christmas!!! It was an absolute LIFESAVER for this trip. So we made it to a Wendys where we quickly ate (we ate at a Wendy's on the day Wyatt was born too :)) and headed to the hospital. After about 30 minutes we were escorted to the maternity ward waiting area. I have to stop here and say that Community North hospital in Indianapolis is the most gorgeous place I've seen! I mean the waiting room had a WALL of stone fireplaces! A social worker finally came out to get us. I had such butterflies and was so nervous. The staff seemed so excited to see us! They took us into a birthing suite where we waited for them to bring the baby. Then 3 nurses came in with the cart and this gorgeous little baby with dark hair and the chubbiest cheeks. He was breathtakingly beautiful. He seemed too precious to even dare touching. We all just stared at him and finally someone said, "PICK HIM UP!!" The nurses had been taking care of this little fella since he was born and they were as excited as we were that he was finally meeting his family. From somewhere a photographer showed up and started taking pictures of our first few moments. I still wonder what happened to those pictures and where that person came from??? Oh, to hold this little baby was such a dream come true. That moment, and those few days in the hospital turned out to be picture perfect.

So we spent the rest of the afternoon with this tiny little miracle, marveling at all of his hair, his nearly perfectly shaped head, and miniature fingers and toes. His birthparents were checking out of the hospital and would not be able to sign the paperwork until the next afternoon at 5. Although we felt good about their committment to the adoption, nothing would be "final" until then. So we spent the night being waited on by the staff and "living" in this gorgeous suite! Wyatt LOVED the little family sleeping area complete with flat screen tv and dvd player. He has NEVER watched that much tv/movies in his life so he was pretty excited and comfortable - which made life so much easier for us. The staff also made things so wonderful! With our first adoption and also 2nd one that fell thru the hospitals were not comfortable with adoption AT ALL so that made for some very uncomfortable days - but not here! Jason and I joked that it is the closest that we'll ever get to the actual process of delivery! They waited on us, stayed and learned about our adoption journey and offered us lots of wonderful support. So our first night was exciting but long - getting used to being up all night was new to us! Wyatt had slept through the night since he was 6 weeks old :) But getting used to this again was something we couldn't wait to do.

Oh - about his name - when we got the original email from his birthmom and began regular contact - we decided we needed to be prepared with some names in case this all worked out. She was certain she was having a girl but we wanted to plan for both just in case! There was a program I found online that you could enter in all the names you liked and it would pair them as first/middle with your last name. It was awesome! We quickly were able to pick names for both sexes, so we had a few of each narrowed down. But it still was not easy! We spent that first day (sunday) getting to know him and trying to get over the reality of what was happening! We tried a few out but couldn't make up our minds. Late that evening we asked Wyatt what he thought about 2 names...sawyer or tucker? He said he liked Tucker..so it stuck! Although I have to be honest and say that it still didn't feel right until another day had passed. (Looking back I know it was the perfect name). So Tucker it was!!

We waited all day Monday - anxious, scared, excited. Everyone kept reassuring us all would be ok but having gone through a failed match at birth we were really worried nonetheless. The agency was to meet with Tuckers birthparents at 5:30 Monday afternoon. We had spent 1 night and 2 days with this gorgeous little baby boy who already had a hold of our hearts. We left the hospital around 5 for several reasons. We needed to not be with Tucker if for some reason his birthparents changed their minds, and we were so anxious we needed to get OUT and expend some energy. So we put Tucker in the nursery (where he hadn't spent any time hardly) and left. With tears in my eyes I told her our nurse we were hoping for good news and to be back in a few hours. I knew that if the outcome were not what we hoped I could not bear to go back into the hospital. We went to the mall up the street that had a great play area for kids. Wyatt loved it! So after we had dinner (it was around 6:30 at this point) we went there for a while. Both Jason and I were so nervous and kept glancing at one another fearfully. We finally decided to leave around 7. I think we both felt something had gone wrong b/c we hadn't gotten a call yet. I couldn't take it any longer and decided to page our counselor. She called back about 15 minutes later and said everything was FINE! She had left our cell at the office and had been trying to reach us at the hospital, where we were of course NOT. WHEW! I felt like an elephant had been lifted off my shoulders. I shook my head, "yes" to Jason and then got off the phone. Tears of absolute joy came rolling down. It was done. No waiting period existed in Indiana. Tucker was to be our baby. Wyatts little baby brother. Finally.

We took Wyatt back to the suite and I went to go get our son. Our son! The nurse in the nursery looked at me with a questioning look and I told her, "he's our baby!" I started crying (of course, I'm such a sap) and so did she. She gave me a hug and then handed me our baby. Not since holding Wyatt for the first time had I felt such an overwhelming sense of joy and love. Taking him back to our suite and spending time with him now was totally different. We were beginning our life together - as a family of 4.

Then the fun started! We were able to call our family and friends who had NO IDEA we were holding our new baby or that we were in another state! I had the most fun calling my mom. Jason was putting Wyatt down and the baby was fast asleep. I called and casually asked how she was. I asked if it was snowing there (it was probably around 60 in NC)? She was really confused when I told her it was snowing where we were (and we live in NC about an hour away). Finally I told her where we were and why. She was so surprised she couldn't believe it. It made me so happy to call her with such happy news. She had been so incredibly supportive during the loss of our last match. And she proceeded to call me 2-3 times a day until I made it home :))

Now I should say we kept him in the room a second night in a row b/c we were so happy and excited. But we didn't. Ha. We were so tired, emotionally, physically. Lack of sleep, stress and sleeping in a room not our own with people coming and going had taken it's toll. At around 8:30 we agreed to send him to the nursery. It was hard to let him go but we knew we would have him with us for the rest of our lives. Finally - sleep! It was great to wake up (somewhat refreshed) and ready to leave the hospital.

On the last day (Tuesday) Tucker had the big C and then after a few hours of monitoring him we were able to finally make plans to leave. At this time snow had been falling heavily all day long! We were worried we wouldn't be able to leave but the big snowfall they were expecting slowed enough for us to check out and then check in to a hotel just around the corner. I was going to have to stay until we got clearance for Tucker to cross state lines so I wanted to be in a place where I was at least familiar and also close to the hospital if there were any emergencies. Jason and Wyatt were to leave on Wednesday. It was Wyatts birthday on 2/14 and we had family flying into town. What a crazy week!

I'll never forget our first night in the hotel. Wyatt was doing a "happy dance" and Jason and I were so tired but so happy to be "on our own" with the baby finally. Being in the hospital was great but it's different when you can leave and actually walk around with the baby outside of your room :) We ordered take out from On the Border and to this day when we eat there we always recall our first night in the hotel with Tucker snuggled in his carseat, warm and loved.

The next morning I took Jason and Wyatt to the airport. It was about 30 minutes away, of course the snow was coming down, so I was a bit worried about the drive, especially coming back on my own. I had my trusty GPS but was still nervous. After dropping them off (I could tell Jason was really sad he was leaving us) I headed back to our hotel. The drive was AWFUL! The washer fluid was frozen and everytime I used my wipers to wipe off the snow everything would get dirty and then I couldn't see! It was really scary. 2 times I had to pull off (once on the side of the busy interstate) to clean the windows with snow. Dumb southern girl in a big snowy city is what I am sure I looked like. How do these people stand this weather!!! AGH! Finally we made it back to the hotel and I was certain I didn't want to leave for the next week (or 2!)

We settled in and got into our own routine. Tucker was eating a lot and often so mostly we fed, watched tv, watched the weather channel to see how much snow we would get each day (ha). We had to go out each day and I knew people were glaring at me! Normally I would not take an infant out in public but we had no choice. Once we had to switch his formula, then back again, and it seemed I was constantly needing something new for him.

I watched "Juno" while in the hospital. One of my friends had suggested I watch it and well, I had nothing else to do! So Tucker and I took in a movie. Well mostly me b/c he slept through most of it :) It was ok movie about adoption. The main character was a really sarcastic, cool, girl in high school and adoptive couple very yuppy and not entirely happy with one another. So not the perfect picture of open adoption but, hey, it's getting the message out there that it exists!

Finally, after 10 days of hotels, snowy trips to Target, eating out every day, washing clothes in the sink, endless television (thank god for that americas next top model marathon :)), we got the call at 11:30 am. I was taking a nap along with Tucker and my cell rang. My mom had already called me, I had talked to Jason and work. There was noone else left to call me! It was the agency and they wanted to know if I was ready to go home. YES, YES, YES!!!! By 1:30 we were on our way to the airport. Luckily along the way were little angels who helped us with bags, getting out of rental car, etc. When I didn't have help I just dug in, threw everything together and dragged what I could as far as I could. We made it finally!!! On a snowy, 10 degree day, we made our way home.

The flight home went w/o a hitch. All flights were on time and Tucker slept through both flights. Everyone around us commented on how good he was. And of course several people told me how good I looked to have a 10 day old (HAHAHAH). One of the many wonderful things about adoption! I actually shared our story with several people along the way. Hey, whatever I can do to educate folks and make the world a better place for my children, I'm all for it! So when we touched down in Raleigh at 7:30 it was the most wonderful feeling. Jason and Wyatt finally found us in the baggage claim area. Jason was carrying Wyatt who had fallen asleep in the car (it WAS his bedtime) but he quickly woke up. He didn't seem to know what to say at first. He looked at Tucker in his carseat and then at me. It was almost like he hadn't been sure Tucker was ACTUALLY coming home with us (mostly due to the other situation that hadn't worked out). So we all climbed into the car and went home. What a great feeling to be at the end of one journey and beginning another one.....