Cupcake's First Vacation

While Cupcake was living with us, Nana and Papa went on vacation at a resort close to our house. We were able to go and visit them a few times while they were there.  

Relaxing by the pool with Papa.

 Nate, Ayla, and Papa coloring together.

 They quickly moved from coloring to wrestling.

 Looking cute as we head to see Nana and Papa again.

 Relaxing together on the balcony while everyone else was napping.

 We took a trip to the pool. Cupcake fell asleep and slept through her pool time, but she didn't seem to mind.

 While she napped, Nate swam and played. When the music started to play, he had to get up and dance.

 We ended our evening with a trip to Cracker Barrel. I got to sit next to this sweet girl (my niece Ayla).

 And what did Cupcake do while we ate? Slept, of course!

Nate and His Cupcake

Soon after she came home, our foster baby wore these pajamas which had cupcakes on them. While she was wearing them, Nate started calling her Cupcake and it officially became her nickname.

Picking Up Our Foster Baby

On June 13, we got the call that we had been waiting for. The little baby girl was ready to be discharged from the hospital and it was time to go pick her up. As soon as I could leave school, Dave, Nate, and I went to social services to get more information and sign the paperwork. We found out some more information about her situation while we were there and got to see a few pictures of her. Before we knew it, the paperwork we needed was in our hands and we were ready to go get her. 

We were told by our social worker that her mom would be at the hospital and wanted to meet us. Unfortunately, they did not have a social worker to go with us. Talk about adding butterflies to my stomach. Thankfully, our experiences with Nate's birthmom helped ease some of my worries. We dropped off Nate at Grandma and Papa's house and we were on our way to the hospital. 

We got to the hospital and got clearance to go on up. By the way, walking into a hospital with an empty carseat is quite entertaining. You get some funny looks from people. :) We met with her doctors and the nurses that had been caring for her and then it was time to go into her room and meet her and her mom.

When we walked in, the foster baby was sleeping in her mommy's arms and her mom started crying. I tried my best to put myself in her shoes. It's hard to imagine watching strangers come to pick up your baby, all while you have no control over the situation. We talked for a few minutes and then her mom left. Dave and I knew that after seeing the interaction between the mom and the baby that she wouldn't be in our home for long. After her mom left, we got about 45 minutes alone with the baby before it was time to leave.

The first few cell phone pics we took of the baby girl.

We left the hospital and went and picked up Nate. He was excited to meet the little lady.

 I made sure to get some pictures of them together.

 I love her facial expression in this one.

 The first few days were an adjustment, to say the least. She was used to being in the hospital on their schedule. It felt surreal to have this little girl in our home. We had no idea how long she would stay, but we were excited to be on this new journey.

Surprise!!!!

The day that we got home from our anniversary trip, June 8, we got some very surprising news, something we were completely not expecting. 

I decided to take a pregnancy test after we got home. We had a running joke in our house that if I was ever late with my cycle, that I could take a test and I could start within 24 hours. I knew it had been a while and figured it wouldn't hurt to get a test out of the way and get any cramps over with before we brought the foster baby home.

Needless to say, I was not expecting a +!

It had been 7 years since my miscarriage, 7 years without birth control.  We had been told that we had unexplained infertility and pregnancy was not in our future.

Pregnancy was the last thing I was expecting and quite honestly, the last thing I wanted. I had closed the door on getting pregnant and having biological children and I was 100% okay with that. Yet here I was with a positive pregnancy test starting at me.

I had no idea how far along I was and quite honestly, I thought it was a faulty test or a problem with my hormones. We would quickly find out that instead, God had different plans for us.

Anniversary Trip: June 7

So, it's been forever since I've blogged. Like FOREVER. 

And during that time, so much has happened. I've put it off forever, yet I miss having our lives in blog form.

When I last left off, it was June 7 and we were waiting to hear as to whether we would be foster parents. We had word about a baby girl that was in the hospital, but we were getting mixed signals about when and if she would be coming into our home. During the time that we were waiting, we had our 10 year anniversary trip planned. At one point, it got canceled because we had word that she would come home that weekend. Then, the plans changed and our anniversary trip was back on. We ended up going for just one night, but it was so nice to get away.

Finally on the road to DC.

 Dave eating his yummy steak that night. I had the most delicious french onion soup.

 Enjoying the sights on our walk back to our hotel after our tasty meal.

 The next morning, we got up to explore the city. Always love exploring with Dave.

 We took a tour of the Capital building.

 We explored the National Art Gallery.

 My favorite painting that I saw that day.

 Dave dragged me down to see the White House.

 Our last stop was the National Aquarium.

Even though our trip was shorter than planned, I am so thankful that we were able to get away and have some time just to ourselves. Our lives were getting ready to get very busy!

Maybe, Just Maybe

This is what I posted last Friday, June 7.

     Monday, 2:30: Baby is being discharged in 24 hours. Cancel anniversary plans.
     Tuesday & Wednesday: Silence
     Thursday, 9:30: Baby had medical setback and should be discharged within 3-5 days.      
     Anniversary trip rescheduled.
     Friday, 8:30: Call saying baby was ready to come home. Anniversary plans canceled for the       
     second time.
     Friday, 9:15: Neurosurgeon visits baby and cancels discharge plans. Baby will be in hospital for 
     possibly another week. Anniversary trip is a go again!

     Can we say roller coaster ride??

Dave and I did end up going on our anniversary trip and I'm so glad that we did. It was wonderful to be able to spend time together and get away from the crazy week that we had experienced. 

We didn't receive any new news on baby girl over the weekend or on Monday. On Tuesday, I sent an email, asking if there was an update and I was told that the baby was not doing well. Just breaks my heart to know that she's all alone in the NICU. I was given the baby's social workers number and today, I called and left him a message.

I wasn't sure when I would hear back from the social worker and I honestly didn't expect to hear back from him today, but thankfully, my phone rang this afternoon. :) Baby girl is doing better and could possibly come home tomorrow. This all depends on how she's doing and what the doctors decide when it's time for them to do their rounds in the morning. We also found out her name, something I won't post on here, but it feels good to finally call her by name. 

So, tomorrow we continue to wait. Will tomorrow be the day? Maybe, just maybe.