Snuggles and Man Bags

Had to share these first few pictures because the cuteness is unbearable. The first night Cora was home I woke up in the middle of the night and D wasn't in bed. I went to Cora's room and she wasn't in there- and neither was Cora. Then I went into Savvy's room and found all three of my ladies snuggled in bed together. I had to run downstairs and grab the camera-- it was just too cute. Savvy's reaction to Cora being home was the cutest thing ever. When she first came home she sprinted into the house, saw her new sister and ran over to give her a kiss. The first thing she said was "Can we keep her?!" We tried explaining the adoption process even before she came home, emphasizing that we wanted Cora to be part of our forever family, but it was up to a judge to decide if her birthparents could provide a safe home for her. We said again and again that no matter what happened with Cora that Savvy and Miles weren't going anywhere, and they were part of our family forever and ever. I think the message made sense to Savvy on some level, because a few times after Cora came home she'd say "I sure hope she can stay forever." So, back to that first night she was home, Savvy got to snuggle Cora in her bed, and then the next morning I brought her into preschool with Miles. Her teachers asked how she liked having a baby sister and she told them "I love Cora! She's better than Halloween." For a girl who loves candy the way Savvy does, it's saying something. I literally have never seen her as happy as she was to meet Cora. She wanted to help feed her and change her and entertain her. She amazed D and I with her complete lack of jealousy and desire to help. Thank God for small miracles.

The other pics I threw in were of Miles and his man bag. :) He has been obsessed with Savvy's purses over the last few months and wants to pile them all on like messenger bags and then push his shopping cart through the house and into the "elevator" (our pantry). D, being the rockstar sewing queen that she is, decided to whip up a tiny messenger bag for him out of a pair of my old jeans. She consulted a pattern online and then came up with the cutest little man bag ever. You should have seen the look on Miles' face when he first saw it- it was priceless. Now he has his own bag to cart around the house, and he can push his menagerie of stuffed animals around with his head held high. :)

Introducing...

Originally our plan was to get all our homestudy paperwork up to date with our agency and then turn everything in after Savvy started kindergarten in July. But then D found out her position with her job would likely be leading to a layoff notice (which for the State of California just means that you'll have to move to another position within state service), and we decided it might be wiser to start the adoption process in January- since there'd be a small chance she might be able to take leave while still at her current position. We finished the remaining paperwork and turned everything in at the beginning of January- then were surprised when our homestudy was completely up to date and we were back in matching on February 5th. With Savvy we waited 4 weeks for a placement, then 3 weeks when we went back for Miles, so I joked that surely this time around it would be 2 weeks. :) Instead, it was 2 days. 2. Days.

We'd emailed our old social workers to share new pictures of the kids and to let them know we were back in matching in case they knew of a possible match. As it turns out, the social worker who chose us to parent Savvy emailed us back to let us know she might have another placement for us. A couple days later we finally heard back with the details on the baby she had in mind. We learned our little one was 3 months old, had Apgars of 8 and 9, and that her legal situation looked really promising. We immediately knew that this was our daughter and said "yes," though we had to wait a couple weeks for our official disclosure meeting, and then another week before we could finally meet her and bring her home.

That morning we were freaking out a little- wondering what she'd be like, wondering how our other two kiddos would do with the change, and hoping that the transition would go well. We drove to her foster parents' house, her foster mom opened the door, and their our daughter was in all her smiling glory. :) We snuggled her for a bit, then drove her home, after a quick stop at Nona's house. She was a great baby that first day and that trend has continued. She rarely ever cries, smiles most of the time, and is totally flexible and easy. She reminds us a lot of how Savvy was as a baby, and the transition from two kids to three has been pretty seamless so far. I think the transition from 1 to 2 was ridiculous-- but this time around it's been gravy. It did take a little getting used to on the sleep front. No matter how much you think sleep won't matter- it does. But you adjust- and we have.

Before bringing our new little one home, D and I had discussed a bunch of names- but we could only really agree on one: Coretta. We love Coretta Scott King and what she stood for: civil rights, gay rights, and in her last decade of life: being a vegan. She's as much of a unicorn as our family. :) We loved Cora as a nickname, and felt it would go well with our other two kids' names. Of course we figured that we might change our minds once we actually met her (as we did with Miles, who we originally thought we'd name Jackson), but after meeting her, the name stuck. She was, and is, our little Cora. And we're so happy she's home. :)