First Day

 I realized I haven't shared our story of how Emme came to us.  Like almost all adoption stories ours was a miracle.  Our story really started years ago, but I will start with the day we found out. 

Our case worker called on Sept. 1st and asked if she could bring some papers to sign because they were getting audited.  We had just barely moved to a different location so we thought nothing of it.  Adoption papers are never ending.  She asked how things were going and I said it was hard.  Waiting is hard.  She agreed, but said she believed in adoption karma and if you do all you can you will be blessed.  She then gave us the papers to sign.  We both quickly read through and initialed each line, but started to get a little confused towards the end.  See below....

We both looked up in shock and as I saw the tears in our case worker's eyes I knew it was true.  We were getting a baby girl.  I kept saying "I'm in shock!  I'm in shock!"  Could this really be true?!  Was our trial of 5 years really coming to an end?  and fast....

We were able to call Emme's aunt {J} and make arrangements for a few days later to meet her and {M}(our birth mom) in Idaho.  Yep, that's right!  Idaho!!  How cool is that?  

At Olive Garden a few days later Gregg and I arrived first.  I've never been so close to throwing up from nerves before.  We were so scared {M} would meet us and not like us.  The minute they came around the corner and we met, all nerves went away and all we felt was the comfort of the spirit.  We loved {M} from the second we met her.  Her and I have so much in common, and I could see how the Lord prepared us for each other.  We made plans to meet again so Gregg and I could meet the whole family.  It was nice to get to know Emme's birth family.  We felt very lucky.  {M} let us know that she had thought about it and wanted Gregg and I to be the first to hold the baby.  How amazing is she?  How did we get so lucky to have {M}?

We then had a week to prepare for baby and work out arrangements at work.  We both had butterflies all week.  Then back to Idaho we went.  Emme was born c-section bright and early.  Gregg and I waited in the recovery room and could hear Emme screaming.  It was so exciting.

Me waiting in the recovery room.

 

 

They wheeled her out and she was all scrunched up and mad as heck.  Her cry was as cute as can be.

My first time holding her.

Gregg's first time holding her.

Mad at the doctor while he was doing his tests.

Showing {M} Emme for the first time.  

{M} was pretty sick from the c-section, poor thing. 

Feeding Emme later that day.

{M} taking a picture of Emme.  

Gregg and I have truly been blessed.  {M} has such an awesome family.  We felt so comfortable with them.  We're thankful we live in a time that adoptions are open and Emme will know her birth mom and the amazing person she is. 

Little Ru

A lot of Emme's wake times are spent with me putting something on her head and then us having a mini photo shoot. She's not always a fan, but with I think she's starting to get use to the flashing and clicking.  I love my newest little model.  Herc's pretty glad there's a new kid in town to take his place.

Busy Mode

I'm in complete busy mode and I love it.  I wouldn't want it any other way.  I look forward to holding this girl, deciding on outfits, choosing bows, trying my hardest to make her smile, and giving mounds of kisses.  Yep, I wouldn't have it any other way.  She took some time to get here, but I can say she was definitely worth the wait. 

Our Miracle

Little Emme
Born to her beautiful Birth Mom 
Placed in our arms with Love

It's What Fun Is

My cousins from France wanted to get in a trip to Lagoon with the fam before they left to go home.  It ended up being the week after my surgery so I wasn't allowed to ride anything, but I had just as much fun watching and taking pictures.  Let's all admit that photos look better big.  So from now on I'll probably have big photos on our blog.

Kels, Cam, Gregg, and Quinn are on the back row.  That dude in front of Quinn has awesome hair. 

Can you find them?

Do you have a ticket?

This is becoming a tradition.  See last year.

I love how you can see Cam's face.

This was a harder shot to get than it looked. 

Ryan and Al getting their cuteness on.

How can this pic not make you smile?

We miss this boy and his family. 

Mak with some other girl.

Darling S.  She was pretty sleepy all day. 

You Will Read, and You Will Like It

Yep, I'm obsessed.  If you haven't read Hunger Games yet...DO!!  Gregg and I have been waiting a year for the final book in the series to come out.  The countdown is over and it came out yesterday.  I was at Borders first thing.  The lady at the register dug out a 50% coupon from the trash that she let me use so I bought Gregg one too so he wouldn't have to wait for me to read it.  It's that good.  Someone told me Costco had all three for 30 bucks, which is an amazing price.  GO. Buy. ENJOY.

Holy Heart

Where do I begin?  I really have no idea.  I've been debating back and forth whether I should post about my most recent hospital experience.  I decided to post in case someone who reads our blog has what I did and they can get well too.

I've always felt like a pretty healthy person.  Little did I know the last three years would suggest otherwise.  Now I can truly say I'm healthy and better than ever.  Well, as soon as I get back in my exercise routine. ;) 

I've had odd migraines since I was in six grade.  They happen very rarely, but when they hit they were horrible.  Symptoms included...Loss of memory, loss of feeling, unable to understand other people, talking and writing in gibberish, and on top of everything I had the normal migraine signs. Ya know, losing vision, excruciating pain, sensitivity to light-sound-smell.  They lasted about 6hrs and would fade into just a pounding headache for a few days.  Well, guess what?  Apparently these are NOT normal migraines.  They mimic mini strokes and little did I know I was a ticking time bomb.

The night we moved out of our townhouse I got one of these awesome migraines.  In fact, I had been getting them closer and closer together.  While washing one of my cousin's hair at work a few days after I brought up my horrible migraine which I rarely do.  I don't usually talk about how crummy I feel.  Who wants to hear about that when they're getting their hair done?  Another lady getting her hair washed overheard me talking.  Her stylist came up to me a little later and asked if her client could talk to me.  I said of course, but had no clue why.  Little did I know she would potentially save my life.  She told me she had overheard me talking and couldn't keep still until she talked to me.  She explained what I had was a hole in my heart.  This causes the kind of migraines I was having because of dirty blood escaping through the heart and going straight to my brain.  How did she know?  She had the same thing, but didn't learn what is what until she herself had a stroke.  She kept saying over and over that I needed to go get checked and how serious she was.  She scared me enough that a few days later I was in the doctors office.  They sent me to a cardiologist.  I had tests done over about a month and sure enough, I had a hole.  One of the tests shows levels of potential "dirty" blood getting to your brain.  On a scale of 1-5 I was a 3 holding still and a 5+ while bearing down.  No wonder I had dizzy spells all the time.  The doctor said I was at huge risk for having a stroke if I didn't have surgery.  He also told me if I had gotten pregnant and not known it could have been deadly.  Many women have died during labor due to stroke.  Even if we knew about it I would be on blood thinners during pregnancy, but it wouldn't help the risk during labor or right after.  Huh, who knew I'd been so protected. 

Surgery was supposed to be simple.  They went through a vein in my groin and inserted a little device that blocked the hole in my heart.  We found out the size of my hole was 10mm which is almost a 1/2inch.  Cause for concern of a clot getting through starts at 2mm.  Pretty scary!  Everything went great, but I ended up getting "red man face" and they had issues getting the vein to stop bleeding.  After a full day of endless blood, pain, and two shots in the incision I was finally good to go home.  Let's just say numerous people have seen my privates and I now know what it's like to use a bed pan.   I've also decided there are some nurses who need more training.  I've had a few echos since surgery and my heart is doing awesome.  Because of my age it has been healing fast and I have no restrictions.  My odds of having a stroke are very very low now. 

In a way I feel very blessed that this happened when it did.  I felt like Heavenly Father was telling me "You've had this your whole life, but NOW is the time you need to know about it and get it fixed,"  Gregg has given me many beautiful blessings that tell me of His plan for me.  Most of the things he said were sacred to me, but one I wanted to share was when he told me I would be healthy and now ready to be a mother.  I'm so thankful I have followed the sweet quiet promptings of the spirit.  I'm also thankful for a husband that has always been by my side and taken care of me through the downer times. 

*This is pre-surgery even though I already look like I've been through the ringer.