Sloane's Birthday!

Sloane Ryan was in a little bit of a rush, it seems! She was due May 25th but we had a feeling after meeting with Sierra (her birth mom) last week that she might be a little ahead of schedule - and she was! We got a call at 5:15 on Saturday morning May 15th (5/15!) that her birth mom's water had broken and she was at the hospital. We had packed our bags and planned the fire drill, thinking that we could make it to Roosevelt in 3 hours. Even though we made great time (2 hours 45 minutes! no speeding, promise), Sloane made better time. She was born at 7:38 so we missed the actual birth by about 15-20 minutes. We got to hear some of her first cries over the phone which was really awesome. Sierra was incredible - there are going to be a lot of people who are jealous of the 4 hour labor! She made it all look so easy!

We did arrive at the hospital in time to give her her first bottle. It was such an amazing experience to have Sierra place Sloane in my arms and call me her mommy. It's impossible to describe that feeling. All I know is that it brings tears to my eyes every time I think of it. I don't have a picture of it, but I know I'll never need one because it's a permanent fixture in my mind's eye.

Sloane was 6 lbs 15 oz, 20 inches long, and perfect in every way. She has a little ring of dark hair with blondish peach fuzz on top, long slender fingers and feet, and a pouty lower lip. She's very alert yet peaceful when she's awake, which isn't often!

From the first moment we met Sierra and her mom back in February, we felt a connection with them. It just felt like this was meant to be and it's been that way all along - in the "almost too good to be true" way! Happily, that feeling was reinforced over the course of the weekend. We felt like we were with family (in the good way!) and we were so impressed with everyone's support and love and how easy everything was. We shared all kinds of stories and laughed and passed Sloane around so everyone had a chance to fawn over her. It was pretty amazing! We are really excited to have everyone as part of our extended family. You could really feel the love they have for this baby and we felt embraced as part of their family too. We have a lot to live up to!


The hospital gave us our own room - SO much nicer than our last experience! - fed us every meal and really went out of their way to make us feel like part of the experience. Tagg had a bit of a cold so he wasn't able to make it up to the hospital which was a bummer - especially because we missed him so much - but we were able to focus and appreciate the quality time we got to have with Sloane and her family.

They got her the most darling going-home outfit. Even though it was a little big, she looked adorable in it. Yellow and bees seems to be a theme for us! The whole family was so thoughtful with their gifts for her - little grey Converse sneakers from Sierra, a hand-quilted blanket from grandma, blankets that match her butterfly room from Sierra's mom, a darling bracelet that's a miniature of one that Sierra has (her friends made them, which was really sweet), tiny Indian bracelets from Shayne's mom, a cute little teddy bear from Shayne (which Tagg thought was Sloane when we brought her home! "Sloane Bear"), and oodles of darling clothes. It was really amazing and we know that every time we wrap her in one of those blankets, it will be like a sweet hug from them. It was really an amazing experience and even though it was certainly hard for everyone, you can see all the love and joy present in everyone's faces.

It's almost unbelievable to think that we have been this lucky twice! There are really no words to describe how blessed we are. Sierra and Shayne are amazing, intelligent, peaceful, lovely, and mature young people and you can see how much they love each other and this little girl. Their courage has given us the gift of family and there is really no way to say thank you for that. We just have to make them proud and give them the opportunity to fulfill all of their dreams knowing that Sloane is loved - and loves them.

Sunday Dinner

Spring is here! The pond is on, the grass is green, there are balls to be thrown, flowers to be picked, birds to be pointed out, burgers to be grilled...it's awesome!

Grama let me roll HotWheels down the slide, Bompa tried to feed me lots of ice cream cones, and Uncle Kevin fetched balls out of the pond for me for, um, about an hour. Suh-weeeet!

Hopefully, I'll get over my cooties soon so I can hang with all my favorite cousins and aunties.

Luckiest People In The World!

Yep, that might be us! As most everyone who would bother to read the blog already knows, we're getting a baby - and soon! So here's the scoop...in January, I got an email from a gal I used to work with asking if we knew anything about the adoption process. Turns out, her niece was 5 months pregnant and had decided to place. Oddly, we had just started the adoption process again, so of course our first reaction was "we want the baby!!!" We tried to be a little less selfish and obvious than that, but we weren't too successful...luckily!

We first met the birth mom on February 8 at Starbucks (nice!). She's very beautiful, intelligent and is a really amazing girl. Incredibly smart and driven and confident, dark hair and lovely green eyes, and her mother was darling. Personally, I love that all of her emails are well-written!

We had such a great connection with her from the first minute that we all felt like this was meant to be...while secretly hoping it wasn't too good to be true! She's from Utah and having a girl, due at the end of May. We got to meet her boyfriend, the birth father, a few weeks later and he's wonderful too - very sweet, handsome, well-spoken and respectful of her which we really liked. He's also tall.

On March 3rd, we found out that they want us to have the baby! We were soooo (how many o's are too many?) incredibly excited!!!! How lucky that we get to have this fabulous experience twice! Our birth mom sent some 3D pix of the ultrasound. She's a little cutie! We thought it was so incredible that she would include us in this moment even though we couldn't be there in person.

A couple of weeks later, we got a little sobering news. The birth father is half native American and there are some laws (ICWA) in place to protect native American babies from being taken out of their communities, so we were all subjected to some potentially random laws that meant the baby could or would be offered to other family or tribe members with blood connections before we would be eligible to adopt her.

At this point, we already felt like she was our baby and part of our family so this was, uh, super scary! And (note to self), do not Google anything like this online because all you hear are the horror stories of babies being taken away when they're 1, blah blah blah.

We were as much concerned for the birth mom and dad as they had committed to such a difficult, heart-wrenching decision and were balancing their pain with hopes for their future - college, careers, marriage and their own family when they're ready. They both handled the situation with more maturity and consideration than we could have ever hoped for. Our freak outs, on the other hand, were happening on many levels!

Anyway, we found out just last week that the tribe has given its legal blessing to the adoption. Our little girl's birth parents have been wonderful and engaged and darling throughout the whole thing and we're really, really looking forward to another great experience with them.

Most of all, we're settling in with the fact that our family is going to grow - in 5 weeks! We have her room ready, are still debating a couple of names, and I am trying to temper my "gotta buy cute stuff for my little girl" thing. Tagg's learning to say "big brother" and "baby sister" but with his new cousin baby Harper, we're not sure he's really getting the concept that this baby is going to be living in the next room and stealing some of his attention!

Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support! We so love knowing that our family and friends support us and our family - unconventional though it may be, you would never, ever know it based on the amount of love and acceptance that surrounds us. Our kids may not know it yet, but they're really lucky to have all of you embracing them with your love. And so are we! Big hugs and kisses to all (and don't stop with the prayers, good thoughts, etc. till it's all a done deal ;-).

Easter 2010

In spite of the snowstorms that FINALLY decided to show up on and off over Easter weekend, we had a really great holiday.

We did a Sunday dinner the week before at Grama and Bompa's house and the weather was actually really nice. Ashley brought her Easter bunny (really cute!) but she and Tagg were way more excited about being able to run, run, run in the front yard than they were about the poor rabbit.

We dyed Easter eggs with Nana and Aunt Biff (Tagg's nickname for Tiff) while Daddy watched the Final Four.

Tagg did his best to root the Mounties to victory but ultimately he was no match for Duke.

Since we woke up to about 3 inches of snow on the ground both Saturday and Sunday, we did our Easter egg hunt inside.

Tagg is getting so good at counting - even though the number 4 was conspicuously MIA that day - and with his colors.

He was completely uninterested in the chocolate and the new swimming suit that were in his Easter basket but was happy to help me eat strawberries (good boy!) and of course yogurt and eggs were on the brunch agenda so he was happy!

Tagg had a runny nose all day and by the end of the day Auntie Leese had diagnosed him with conjunctivitis so we got a visit from the Easter bunny in the morning and by that night we were paying a visit to the doctor. And in between we had brunch, painted the living room, cleaned the house, infected the entire family with germs and had Easter dinner. No wonder we're exhausted!

A Day at the Park

Thank goodness it's getting to be Spring. We still have to wear a coat to the park and the grass is still brown but at least the slides aren't covered with snow! Tagg loves the slide. He likes to sit at the top and say "Ready, Set, Gooooo." Of course, he also likes to pick up the wood chips from the playground and throw them on his head. But hey! everyone's idea of fun is a little different!

Hey Cuz!

Amy, Bailey and Hunter came to visit in February. We had a ball with them! We went snowboarding twice and had great weather both times. The kids are getting really good! And Bailey and Hunter were really good about playing with Tagg, even when he's running around with no pants.

Amy and Bailey got to come with us to one of Harper's many baby showers. Harper's getting big enough that she's actually coming in handy as a drink holder! Don't kick, little girl!

Home Movies

Tagg's Christmas Dance.
Yes, it's the Wiggles. What can we say? He loves 'em.

Rockin' Out in My Dud.
Hopefully this is not a career preview!


Talk, Talk, Talk...
Whatever, how many words do YOU know?!


Ready, Set...GOOOOO!!!
(for those of you who don't translate toddler, there at the end, he's asking for his flash "cards". Yeah. It took us a minute too!)