Born

Our little guy was born today, October 15, 2010. At 3:03pm, weighing 8 lbs 8 oz! And 20 inches! He's a big boy but are just glad he's here! The birthmom said labor and delivery went really well. We get to see him tomorrow and placement will be on monday morning. We'll post pictures as soon as we can!

Admitted

Our brithmom texted us last night at about 9pm to tell us that she was having hard contractions every 3ish minutes, lasting 45-50 seconds. She said she'd wait until they got really bad before she'd go into the hospital. Fastfoward a sleepless night to this morning at 8am- I texted her and asked how she was doing. She promtly called me and said she was admitted into the hospital about an hour earlier and that she'd probably have the baby sometime day, most likely tonight. She told us to plan on making the 4 hr trip tomorrow so we'd be able to see him. It looks like placement will be on Monday.

I can't explain how excited we are!!! Imagaine a chicken running around, with or without head, that'd be us. I feel like we aren't ready at all but don't know what to do to get ready. We are in our house, the a/c just got fixed and the baby room is painted but the rest of the house is a mess. We can't beleive it's today, our little boy will be arriving today!! We'll keep y'all upated on how things progress and of course post pictures when we get them!!!

October 8, 2010

We are closing on our house today! I know I may be counting our eggs before they are hatched because we've been given a million close dates, but I won't have time to post later so I'm doing it now. We should have closed a month ago but it's been one hairy mess after another. We are just so glad this day has finally come!! We are having a cleaning house party tonight and a move in party tomorrow (our uhaul has to be back in the pm, we've had it since sept. 30).

I can't begin to describe how excited we are to just be in! As we did the final walk-through last night I had to remind myself of all the reasons I love this house. I really do love it and can now start dreaming of life inside it.

We found out our birthmom won't be induced next week (like we thought earlier) but will continue on to the due date, October 18th. I feel like I've been so consumed with this house stuff that the baby stuff has taken a back burner. Now it's baby focus time! We can't wait to paint the nursery and start preparing everything! While we were watching conference last weekend we were commenting how at last conference, in April, we had just buried William and could never have drempt that we'd be "expecting" a little boy in 6 months. It's incredible! Heavenly Father is very aware of us! We are so excited that Will will be getting a little brother any day now!!! We have a couple names picked out but are waiting to meet this little guy before we make the final decision (and no it won't be Truck).

We'll post on here as soon as we get any word on his arrival. A big THANK YOU to all who have been so helpful these last few months and especially this past month with moving, being homeless and getting into this house!!!

September Update

It's been a crazy month so far.

1st week: I made a quick trip home for our annual "Weston Sisters Weekend." It was so much fun. We've gone to Swiss Days up in Midway the lasts two years and are going to try Women's Conference in April at BYU. It was a great trip but much too short.


My sisters and mom threw me a surprise baby shower while I was there. It was a total surprise! It was so much fun! Thanks!!


2nd week: Had surgery up in Houston. I hate surgery and I hate recuperating (I'm still doing it). But it's for the greater good, right? Hopefully now my body will be able to carry a baby full term.

3rd week: In the 1st week I should have said we closed on our house but we didn't, we still haven't! I'm about as frustrated as I can get. Everyone keeps blaming it on the mysterious "third party." Who are they? And that it's a foreclosure. We better close by the 30th b/c we have to be out of our apt by then! I'm a bit nervous but can't really do anything about it. My advice, don't ever buy a house.

On-going throughout the month: Keeping in contact with our birthmom! She is so incredible! We love her! We've gotten to see her once and she's getting so big! About 4 weeks!!! I can't believe it. Adoption is incredible! When we were first chosen I wanted her to deliver early but now I'm hoping she goes two weeks over. I'm sure some of this is due to the fact that we're not in the house yet but a lot of is due to the fact that I feel very inadequate to be a mother in 4 weeks. I don't know how to be one. Will never left the hospital, and was taken care of by a nurse. I just need a nurse to move with me I guess.

I hope to be posting in a week that we've closed on our house and that we're moving in; cross your fingers! And that I'm totally prepared to be a mom :)

Here's the quilt I made, but it's getting quilted right now so here's the before picture. The nursery theme is vintage sports. Also we made a countdown chain in anticipation for this little guy!

CHOSEN!

About 3 weeks ago we received an email from an expectant mother through LDS Family Services. She told us she liked our profile and was interested in getting to know us better. We were very excited, to say the least, and started corresponding with her. She lives about 3 1/2 hours from us, is expecting a little boy in the middle of October, and has been searching for parents for this little boy for a long time. We only got emails from her once a week and it was hard to gauge how interested/serious she was about choosing us. So this past week I asked our case worker to ask her case worker what she was thinking, etc. We also sent her an email asking if we could take her to lunch or dinner this weekend, to meet her. Our case worker let us know that she was interested in us but she was also looking at another couple. She decided to do a face-to-face visit yesterday with both couples to help her make a final decision.

Of course we were super nervous. I think I tried on a dozen outfits and kept telling Anth how I wish I knew what she was looking for so I could change everything about myself to become just that. Anth told me I didn't have to change myself, that she'd pick us for us and if it was the Lord's will for this to happen, it would. We also talked about the other couple, how they wanted a baby as badly as we did so it'd be ok if they were picked; there'd be another one out there for us. (Anth has been incredible, he always calms and talks me through everything.)

We got up at 5:30am and left shortly after for the long road trip. It was a good trip and we made it just on time. Before we went into the room with the birth mother we were told her sister, mom and dad were with her. We were told they'd ask us questions and we could ask them questions. (Anth told me later he was the most nervous at this point, he was shaking. I was nervous but had worked it through that I would do my best and just be myself and if she didn't pick us it wouldn't be because she didn't get to know us.) As we walked into the room there was a very peaceful feeling. We had a wonderful visit. The birth mother is incredible! She has been through a lot and has turned to the Lord and her ward for help throughout this experience. It really was a delightful visit. Afterward I had nothing to regret, either saying or not saying. After our meeting we were getting directions to the temple and the case worker came out and said the birth mom had one more question. She asked if we were still interested in going out to eat and if we'd like to meet them for a late lunch after they met with this other couple. We said of course we'd love to. After we left her we were so excited because she couldn't want to see us again if she was going to pick the other couple, right?! We enjoyed the temple and met up with her and her family at Macaroni Grill. When we got there she handed me a note, saying it was a thank you note for coming all the way to meet her. I put it in my purse but then her father leaned over and told me to open it right now. I opened it and it was a card with little baby feet on it. On the inside it said "Choose the paint, get the hand-me-downs ready, 'peanut' is coming your way. I'm so happy I finally found you!" I freaked out! I can't describe the feeling. We were all a bit emotional and the best word to describe how we felt but doesn't come close to really describing it, was happy. We all just felt pure happiness. It was such a neat experience!

As we talked with her and her family she described how she's had a very difficult time choosing a family to place her child with and how at the beginning she wanted to have a powerful confirmation that a certain couple was "the one." As the months passed and she never felt anything for any of the prospective couples she got very frustrated. She got to the point where she just wanted to feel "ok" about a couple and that would be good enough. She had recently chosen us and the other couple and wasn't going to do a face-to-face and was leaning towards picking the other couple. She had a strong feeling that she should meet with both of us and it would help her make the final decision. The whole family commented how from the moment we walked into the visit/meeting they felt a very peaceful feeling and the birth mom knew when she met us that we were the parents for her child. She told us that she has been very emotional and confused throughout the pregnancy but when she met us and decided to place with us she has felt peace and clarity.

Our ride home was much better than the ride there, I'm pretty sure we flew. Cloud 9 is amazing! This little boy is due on the 18th of October. We can't really believe this is happening but know that the Lord is very aware of us. We told the birth mother that with her choosing us, she has answered a lot of people's prayers! Thank you to everyone who's prayed for us and who is excited for/with us! We don't really know how everything is going to work out and will update our blog when we get new info.

Our House

Well it will be on September 7, 2010! Here are some pictures of the house, purple carpet and all!

I don't have a picture of the front, I forgot to take one. I'll put one in when I get it :)

Here's the front door/entry:

Here's the kitchen and eat-in-dinning:


Here's the formal dinning and living room:

Here's the stairs:

Here's the half bath:

Here's the master bedroom and bath:
Here's one of the upstairs bedrooms and the storage room:
Here's the upstairs bathroom:

Sorry I don't have any of the backyard, but it has a great wood deck and area for raised garden beds. I'm glad I have these pictures so when we start painting, etc we can do before and afters. We know this house needs some work but are excited to update a bit at a time (we are keeping the purple carpet for now because it's new and really not too bad, I promise Anth).

July

Can't believe it's August! Here's our last month...

4th of July weekend we went up to Houston to see Wicked with some great friends. It's an incredible show but I think we enjoyed the company more. From the singing in the car, 20 Questions, bathroom stop at Buc-ees's (they have the worlds nicest bathrooms!), shopping, walking around Houston, and more driving; it was fun weekend!



The next weekend we flew to Utah for a Weston Family Reunion up in Bear Lake. It was beautiful and our favorite part, cool at night. We had lots of fun hanging out with family, being at the beach, riding the water wienie, playing games, etc.



On Friday we were able to place a head stone on Will's grave. I didn't think it was going to be hard, just more closure but it brought back everything, like it was yesterday. It was pretty hard to leave him there, but wonderful to know he's in a beautiful place.




Saturday morning we sent all the men-folk with the children to Manatonka Cave so the women-folk could throw a baby shower for Rachel and Adalaide. Rachel and Paul adopted Addi about a month and half ago. She's such a blessing and we are so excited for their newest addition. It was so fun to be able to celebrate her arrival! It was a very quick trip to Utah but much needed.



The week after we got back Anthony was made Bishop of our ward. Yes he's only 27 and yes it's very overwhelming but we love this ward and are excited to be apart of it! His parents came for the sustaining, setting apart and a visit! We had a great time with them but I think they realized that July isn't the optimum time to vacation in South Texas, not with the heat and the humidity :)

Sara Anne came for what has now been phrased her "annual Corpus vaca." We had a blast! We made a quilt top, went to the beach, aquarium, pool, the bay, and every other fun thing to do in corpus. Thanks for coming!!



Since then we've looked at a bunch of houses. We almost got one but it wasn't right so we decided to wait for a bit and then start looking later this fall. Three days later our Realtor called us to come see a house. He said he usually doesn't call his clients but when he walked through this house he thought of us and wanted us to see it. We put in an offer, it was accepted, we've done the inspections, and we still want it! We close on Sept. 7! It's very similar to other one but this one has purple carpet throughout, my sister Rachel would love it! We'll post pictures when we can and hopefully everything will continue to run smoothly.

On the Adoption front: We've had some action on our profile and there are some possibilities but it's still too soon to tell anything or get too excited, or to start buying anything. We are grateful to everyone who's shared our profile/story with anyone and know it'll happen when and how it's supposed to. We have faith that the Lord is very aware of us and our desires to have children. So thanks again to family and friends!!!