The Boys

A pic of the bathing beauty before I post pics of the boys. :) Cupcake LOVED baths.

 Playing with Pop-its with Papa.

 I love these pictures of the VBK boys.

 Riding bikes with Papa K.

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.