Day 1

Some pictures from our first full day with Tatum.

And Tatum Hope makes 4

It is official. We are a family of 4.  Last night's adoption placement ceremony was beautiful and we are thrilled to finally have Miss Tatum in our arms.  And Tatum is so so blessed to have the birth family that she does.  They are a very special family and I am so unbelievably happy that we were able to meet them.  They wrote her letters complete with their favorite scripture verses and I am confident that they will be praying for Tatum, Bennett and our family for the rest of our lives.  What a blessing our children's birth families are to us.  I've teared up a lot today as I thought about them and Bennett's birth family and the suffering that they experienced for the sake of these children. To witness that kind of love has been one of the most beautiful and emotional parts of our adoption journey.  I love their birth parents in such a deep way that I would never have thought was possible. And so we ate up every minute that we were able to spend with them last night.  We visited with them for several hours and so we did not get home until late last night.   And ever since then we have been trying to get the hang of being parents to kidzzzz...plural:)  So far so good!  Tatum eats every 3 to 4 hours so she had a great night.  She is such a dainty little thing.  She is bigger than Bennett was at this age but she just seems so much more fragile.  She is very content and spends most of her time sleeping.  She is just a precious and sweet!  A really happy baby.

In breaking news, we have changed her name.  We had told the agency last week that we would love it if her birth mother chose her middle name.  But then a few days passed and we did not hear back so we chose Marie as the middle name given that was her birth mother's and my middle name. But then yesterday, a couple hours before we were getting ready to head over to meet her, the agency called and said that they were able to connect with the BM on her name and she loved the name Hope so if we were still looking for a middle name, that would be the BMs choice.  She had no idea that we had picked Marie, so we made a gametime decision and went with Hope.  I absolutely love it.  It represents all the reasons why her BM made this adoption plan for her and I just think it is so so beautiful.  It's perfect!  So Tatum Hope she is!

Enjoy a super quick video of our lil' darling.

We made it to TX

We arrived safe and sound about 7:30 am this morning after a 15 hour drive.Bennett slept like a champ which made the drive seem quick. We are all taking naps to catch up on some zzzzzs before heading to our agency tonight to meet and welcome Tatum into our family. Should have her home with us by 9 or so tonight. Then the picture fest will officially begin!

A Special Delivery

We got a very exciting phone call on Thursday!  We got the call we have been waiting for.  We got the call to tell us that we were chosen to be parents to a little baby girl in Texas.  Today the papers were signed making it official so tomorrow we will be hitting the road for Dallas.  We will meet our precious Tatum on Wednesday and she will be placed with us at an Adoption Ceremony which we are so excited for.  We are anxiously awaiting this moment and are hopeful that we will get to meet her birthmother and thank her for this most special gift and hear about all the dreams she has for this little girl.  She has given us the greatest gift we will ever receive, the gift of our daughter. 
She arrived a little early, just like her big brother Bennett as she was born between 34 and 35 weeks.  But she is healthy and got the hang of eating right away.  At birth, she weighed in at 5 lb 9 oz and at one week old she was up to 5 lb 11 oz.  She is such a little peanut. 

She was discharged from the hospital on Sunday, January 29th and has been with our adoption agency's caregiver, Jeanette ever since.  Jeanette has sent us daily pictures and updates of her and describes her as a good sleeper (PTL!), and a very mellow and sweet little girl.  She spits up a lot but it does not seem to bother her. 

We feel so incredibly blessed to call her ours and we just cannot get down there to meet her fast enough!  We love her so much already and so I cannot even imagine how we will feel when we finally have her in our arms.

We love you little miss Tatum and we are comin for ya honey!  Tell the state patrols to watch out because momma and daddy are hittin the road!

A Small Dose of Winter

Pat, Ben and Kaylee enjoying our short and mild winter

Awkward Family Photo

We are hoping to make the cut for the 2012 Awkward Family Photos List.

Visit with Santa

After a 2 hour wait in line........

It was finally our turn to visit Santa

And I don't think he lived up to the expectations.  Pretty much the same pictures as last year:)  Poor Santa gets no love!