Going Private

Hey everybody,

It is time. We finally have the opportunity go private. It is something we have wanted to do for a a while but for adoption purposes we have waited. No that we have our new little baby we are going private. So send us your email and I will invite you. Hurry hurry!!

Sorry Folks

Sorry folks, the doctor just informed us we need to limit visitation for baby Max for six weeks because of the RSV season and his lowered immune system from the surgery. Save your kisses till May.

Hospital Pictures

Mister Max is doing awesome! He finally got to eat yesterday and he kept it all down. The surgeon came in today and said he looked great and we get to go home! We are just waiting for the official go ahead. Hopefully some time this afternoon.

Here are some pictures of our hospital stay and some of our many visitors.

Madeline loved the play center they have for the kids. She got to play doctor with REAL doctor stuff. She also got to be in the hospital's video for the children's play area.

I love this picture. My two babies. One big and one small. I am going to have to frame it.

My grandmother. She just loved him. I love this picture.

My aunt Shelly.

Some pretty cute pictures we got this morning after his bottle. He loves eating!!

Big yawn!

We love him so much and are so happy that he is well and normal!!!

Today is a GREAT day!

What we have been up to...

We have been worried about Max because he seemed to spit up a lot more than babies should. We took him to the doctor in Provo and he said to play with his formula to find the right mix for him. We tried all the formulas he mentioned and they all seemed to come up just as fast.

On Monday we took him to a pediatrician in Ogden because we knew something wasn't right. Parents intuition? We were hoping they would just give us a prescription for acid reflux, but the pediatrician was worried about a condition called pyloric stenosis. That is where the muscle at the bottom of the stomach is so big food can't pass through it into the small intestine. She sent us directly to Primary Children's medical center to have that checked out.

At Primary children's they did an ultrasound and sure enough he had the pyloric stenosis.

They checked Max in that night and put him on an IV to keep up his fluids. They said he looked amazing and that we had been doing a great job of keeping him fed.

We had surgery this evening and he is doing awesome. He is such a champ. We spent all day at the hospital and he was starving, the iv was giving him what he needed but his tummy still felt empty. Poor guy. It has been an emotional roller coaster. We love him so much.

So this is what we did all day while we waited for surgery. We held him all day long. He loved Kendall. Kendall seemed to have a calming effect on him. He is a daddy's boy.

Hopefully we can go home on Saturday. I really want to get our little man home. I am so glad that he is going to be okay and we will have a VERY happy little boy soon.

Loving on our little guy

We are "patiently" waiting to go home still. We are now staying in a condo and it has been nice to just be a family for the first time since we recieved our little Max. He is so precious and we love him so much. He is the sweetest little guy.

He likes to watch me when I feed him. I love talking to him and telling him about his wonderful birthmom and how brave she is. I tell him how long we prayed for him and how special he is.

He is such a special spirit.

Picture Overload

Here are some pictures!! He is a doll.

My parents and sisters came to Utah to see us while we wait.

As you can see he is loved by all!

Changes

As many of you know already, our life has gone through some pretty amazing changes this week. It all started on Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 when a social worker from Heart to Heart adoption agency called us. She let us know that there was a situation where a birth mother with a 3 week old baby boy was being flown in and they wanted to know if we were fine with them showing her our profile. She explained all the details and we didn't hesitate to have our profile shown.

At that point we couldn't help but be excited, but we knew we were not the only ones being shown so we were careful not to get our hopes up too high.

Then at 3:00 we got THE phone call. The social worker said that the birth mother thought we were amazing (shocking). She asked us how soon we could be in Salt Lake prepared for a meeting with the birth mother and a possible 7-14 day stay in Utah. We told them we would be there by 7:00.

That is where the whirlwind started. It is difficult to pack for a 2 week trip, but add to that that you have 45 minutes to do it and you're facing the possibility of having a new baby with you and it is ridiculous. We were not prepared with baby supplies, but thanks to our good friend Courtney we were able to borrow most of the things we would need to survive with a newborn baby boy.

We were on the road by 4:00. We made a lot of phone calls and asked for a lot of prayers. (thank you everyone for your prayers.) We were as excited as we could let ourselves be, but we knew that it was all still just a possibility. Madeline was very excited, she summed up our emotions by saying, "Mom, Dad, we have been waiting for this for years!" We made it to the agency just in time.

We met there with the social workers and they told us some more about the situation. The birth mother, from here on we will refer to her as K, wanted some more time with the baby and asked us to wait until 8:30 and meet them at her hotel. At this point the social worker informed us that we would probably be getting the baby that evening. We had thought it would probably be the next day, so we used the time to go shopping for the things we still needed.

At 8:30 we arrived at the hotel and waited in the lobby while the social workers met with K and the baby. We were very entertained by the 5 year old son of the social worker, who by the way was great to have there to break the tension. About 15 minutes later we were brought in to meet with K.

As much as we had worried about and been intimidated by the meeting, it was one of the most amazing moments of our lives. We walked in to see a beautiful young mother with a sweet little baby boy. No matter how much you prepare for that moment, it will always take your breath away. K got up and hugged us both and said hi to Madeline. After hugging Katy she put the baby in her arms. We talked for a while about the pregnancy and labor and how good of a baby he was. She told Madeline how glad she was that he would have a big sister. We talked for about 15 minutes and a social worker said that it was time.

We gave her the baby to say goodbye, and that was the hardest moment. To see her love for him and how hard this moment was for her was heartbreaking. She hugged him and kissed him. She told him how much she loved him and then put him in Katy's arms. It was painful to see that one of the most wonderful moments in our life came at such a great sacrifice to K. She is an amazing person and we will always be grateful to her for the gift that she gave us. The trust she has that we will love him and give him a wonderful life is a great honor and we will strive to be worthy of that trust. Thank you K, from the bottom of our hearts.

We hugged and left the room. It was surreal walking down the hall with our new baby boy. We had hoped and dreamed of this moment for years and could not believe that the moment had finally come. We sat down to sign all the paper work with the social workers and as we were filling them out they asked what we would like to name him. We decided on Max. It just seemed to fit.

That night we went to our hotel. At about midnight we fed him and he slept the whole night. But we didn't, we were up all night talking about how amazing it was that our dream had come true. He is such a sweet baby and he fits into our family like he was always there. Madeline loves him and she is adjusting to life with a baby very well.

We are so grateful for the blessing we have received through the miracle of adoption. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support throughout this process. The biggest thanks of all goes to K for the gift that we could never hope to repay. You will always have our prayers and our love.

New Baby Max

Sorry for the poor pictures. In our rush we didn't bring our camera cord to upload pics so we are making due with family members cameras.

We will update later with story. Sorry it is coming in bits an pieces but we will get it to you. He is an awesome baby.... he slept all night but Kendall and I were awake all night. We were so excited we couldn't sleep.

Kendall is putting together the story. We don't want to leave any details out.

Thank you to his Birth MOM who is amazing!

Skiing

Madeline and Kendall have been having a lot of fun skiing this winter!

Madeline loves it and is doing so great!

Kendall loves the time he gets to spend with her and the things he hears on the ski lift.

Kendall is teaching her spanish and they will come home with new words learned and inside jokes that only they laugh at.

Madeline will sing and jabber all the way down the hill, usually in spanish.

I love hearing about the great time they had the strong bond they are forming by being together.

Kendall is such a great dad and he just adores Madeline.

Watch closely... Madeline is the tiny one coming down the middle of the screen.

Madeline's Story

Madeline entered the PBS Kids Writers Contest.

She had to write a story and illustrate it.

I was surprised at how excited she was when her teacher asked her to enter this contest.

She finished it in one afternoon and needed no coaxing from me.

She is hoping she wins of course, because there are some awesome prizes.