Mom! Dude!

Before Andrew's birth, we were lucky enough to meet, get to know, and spend some quality time with his birth parents. On the day of our first meeting, at 4PM in a city 2 hours away, my car began acting a little funny, but nothing that I thought a full tank of premium gas wouldn't cure. We wanted to leave the van with the car seats for my parents, who were going to watch Alex and Austin that afternoon and evening, so we could have quiet, peaceful time with the parents without the distractions created by a two year old and a 5 month old. So, off we go on the interstate. As we are gathering our speed on the interstate, the car starting acting very sluggish. We had left on time, but I'm afraid we'll be late if we turn around, go back home and switch out car sears and vehicles. Pete swears that the car will be fine. I actually prayed, out loud, 'Dear Lord, please get us to there to meet these parents on time. I don’t want to be late, I don’t want to break down, I ...

We returned from our Sea World adventure happy, relaxed and proud of ourselves for tackling that adventure without any real mishaps. At least, no criminal, legal, financial, medical or majorly life altering mishaps. Dirt, dishevelment, embarrassment, tears, frustration...well, all that just goes with the territory, right? So summer begins. We celebrated Father's Day with a trip to St. Augustine, Florida (one of our favorite cities), where we visited the fort, shopped and rode the river boat on the Matanzas River. On July 3, 2007, Austin's adoption was final and we celebrated with a party/BBQ at the house. We invited our usual group of friends and family to join us, and as usual, it was a lively bunch. July 4th that year fell on a Wednesday, which I hate because I only the THE DAY of the 4th of July off from work, and without it falling on a Friday or a Monday, I never get a long weekend out of it. So we didn't do anything on the 4th of July itself, just used it as a bon...

Our big fun was over Memorial Day weekend when we spent three nights in Orlando to go to SeaWorld! What a blast we had! We almost decided at the last minute to not go, though, because Alex was cranky and Austin was crying non-stop with a tummy ache. We actually had the reservation agent on the phone Thursday evening and were about to cancel and get a refund, but we decided to say a prayer and hope for the best, and forged ahead. God must have a funny way of testing our resolve, however, because He really gave us one for the road. It was Friday, about 12 noon. We wanted to get on the road between 12 noon and 1PM, hoping to do most of the driving while the boys napped in the van. Pete was ready, the boys were ready, the van was completely packed, Mom had come to say good-bye to the boys, and my dad was there to say good-bye also. Pete was busy putting the final diaper bag and cooler in the van while I jumped in the shower. And it was while all this was going on, me in the shower with th...

Alex was now 2 years old....and talking. Because we, his parents, had taught his how to talk. Apparently, however, we never taught him how to SHUT UP! EVER! The child talked non-stop. He went on a bug kick. He loves his bug book, and decided to re-name every family member by a bug name. Daddy is now "roach", mommy is now "lady bug", Austin is now "beetle" and Alex himself is now a "grasshopper". He even gave our social worker, Candace, a bug name when she came to the house to do the final homestudy visit for Austin's adoption: Candace is now "lightning bug". When he told her that, she just melted. He can really charm the ladies, this boy. Not long after the bug kick, it became a fruit kick: but mostly, we're all apples or bananas. Or something called a "rootie-tootie". Don't ask, coz I don't know what that is, except at one time or another, all last month, we have all been "rootie-tootie's". I t...

So life begins as a family of four. Alex adored Austin...calling him “Ossin” since he couldn’t quite pronounce the “T” sound yet. More often he calls him “Ossin baby brudder”. He loved to hold Austin on his lap, asking “Alex hold Ossin, peez?” He would pet him, kiss him, talk to him, cuddle him and burp him. He loved to watch Austin get his diaper changed, explaining to me, “Mommy! Ossin doo-doo diaper!” Loved to help with Austin’s bubble bath, and let us know everything Austin did: “Ossin eyes open!”, “Ossin goin’ night-night”, “Ossin burp!”, “Ossin crying!”. He made sure to point out all of Austin’s body parts: “Ossin fingers”, “Ossin toes”, “Ossin mouf [mouth]”, “Ossin ears”. And as soon as Alex would wake up in the morning, his first question, every time, was “Where Ossin?” and “What Ossin doin’?”. We were truly blessed for the acceptance and affection Alex had (and still has) for his baby brother, especially since we had no real time to prepare Alex for Austin’s arrival. So began ...

So we arrived home with our newborn. And just so Austin would know exactly what kind of West Virginia and Tennessee hillbilly families he was joining, he arrived to his new home with, of all things, a broken toilet sitting on the front porch. When Pete had gotten the call on the 20th about Austin's early arrival and us being chosen as his adoptive family, he was in the process of installing a new toilet in our guest bathroom, which was now going to be the "boys" bathroom, and where potty training Alex would begin very soon. Potty training tends to work better with an actual flushing toilet, so when our clogged and broke down beyond repair, Pete (the family handyman) was installing a new one. But when we got the call, toilet be damned! You can wait....we still have the master bathroom toilet, and Alex can keep peeing his pullups for a few days....we were off to meet and bring home our new son! But we had to put the broken old toilet somewhere until trash pick up day...

So we made it home with Austin the afternoon of Thursday, February 22, 2007. Since we were driving right past his place anyway, we stopped along the way home to see the boys' godfather, one of Pete' best friends, "Uncle" Joe. After that, we came straight home. After putting Austin and Alex both down for naps, and then staring with awe and wonder at both boys for what seemed like hours, we began to settle in and sort through all the paperwork that the hospital and our attorney had given us upon Austin's discharge. Now, it's important to note that over the course of the 48 hours he remained in the hospital nursery after his birth, we asked tons of questions of the nurses and our attorney, Jack Gibney, as well as Austin's birth family. We had been assured a number of times that he was healthy, came from a healthy birth mother, and that the birth mother had been drug-alcohol-and cigarette free, with a healthy pregnancy and no known physical or mental hea...

.....and like so much of the time, "the best laid plans......." and all. But happily, they were interrupted with good news. Tuesday, February 20, 2007, 12 noon, the phone rings at our house just at Alex and Pete are walking in the door. Pete grabs the phone and a woman's voice said, "you need to come get your son." Pete, bewildered, looks around for Alex, who has just wandered into the family room. Pete asks, "excuse me?" and the woman's voice says, "Your son. Your new son. He was just born. You need to come get him." Pete is still a little befuddled and asks, "who is this?" Caroline answers with her name and title and says, "I talked to your wife last week about a baby...didn't she tell you?" Pete says, "Yes, but ...what? That baby...we never got a call....were we chosen? What?" He's not sure even what questions to ask. So Caroline cuts in and gets serious. She goes on to explain that we had been pre...