At last!

[sal_amanda]

I'll try to do the short version.  Got a call as I was leaving work Friday from Adoption STAR about a situation in Ohio for a baby boy born that day.  I was assuming it was a profiling opportunity, but then she told me we were already picked. 

What?!?!?!?!

So there was scrambling to get ourselves prepared for a trip this weekend.  We left yesterday and then got stuck in construction that lasted through three states.  And no, that's not an exaggeration.  It sucked. 

But we finally got to Cincinnati and, after checking into the hotel we were staying in last night, we went directly to the hospital.

And that is when we first met our son, Henry Xavier.  We got to hang out with him for a little while, and then came back this morning to do all the paperwork and whatnot.  We met the birth mom very briefly and we exchanged thank yous.  I'm hoping we'll have some more contact in the future, even if it's just letters, but I'm not sure. 

Nora is handling it all reasonably well.  When we got there this morning, we got out the stroller that she herself has not ridden in for a very long time, but she insisted on riding in it.  She was really distraught over it, so I let her ride in it when we went in and made a big deal out of her passing it on to Henry.  We had a discussion today about things that big girls can do that babies can't.  And she has defintely taken her role as diaper changing helper very seriously.  She really likes to open the tabs on the diapers. I'd like to keep things as normal for her as we can.

Not helping the normalcy factor right now is our inability to leave Ohio yet.  We have to wait for the courts to grant us permission to cross state lines with Henry.  So thankfully, we have friends who are very generously letting us stay with them.  Seriously, that's unbelievably awesome.

And Henry is also awesome.  He's a good baby, very sweet, very adorable. 

I should honestly be going to sleep right now...