Liam: Remembering One Year Ago {Part 3}

 The next 31 hours, we traveled! We stopped for bathroom breaks, gas, and occasional snacks but for the most part, we traveled straight through! Somewhere in the middle of Texas, both Tim & I were exhausted and needed a nap, so we stopped, set an alarm for one hour and then back on the road! Ava was an amazing traveler! When our alarm went off, she woke us up saying,
"C'mon!! I have brother waiting for me!!! Let's go!!" 💙

We watched the sunrise in Coahoma, TX! 

Seeing this reminded me of watching the sunrise the day Ava was born, it was so beautiful!

As we traveled, I was getting all the last minute paperwork complete, arranging our breastmilk donors, communicating with agency on status of baby, and coordinating a place/time we would be able to meet him, etc. We were somewhere in NM, still several hours from Phoenix, when I got this email: 

You read that right...birthmom had named baby... LIAM! 😭I'll never know how or why Ava picked this name but one thing is for sure, this was meant to be this baby's name. 💙I read the email to Tim, through tears, and almost at the same time, we said, "well, this is settled! Liam, it is!" Now to come up with a middle name! 😉

We finally made it to AZ! 👏

At this point, we changed drivers again. For the most part, Tim did most of the driving. We joke that I'm a better co-pilot and he prefers to drive, so we make a good team. 😉I can tell you, I was running low on sleep but high on adrenaline so I was determined to make it there in record time (lol)! We made final plans to meet baby Liam with the agency and determined we would have time to unload our van at our destination in Tempe, freshen up with a quick shower, and then drive to meet caseworker! (By the way, we were staying with some dear friends who opened their home to us to stay as long as we wanted!! We had the most perfect setup there with the some of the kindest people on earth, and could not have asked for a better situation. We are eternally thankful for them, their generosity, and care!!)

It was supper time, but we decided we could wait to eat, we were meeting our new baby, afterall!!! By this point, Liam had been released from hospital and was in what is called "cradle care", where a social worker is caring for baby until placement. Lucky for us, our adoption agency director was caring for him! She asked us to come to her house to meet him. At this point, because he was less than 48 hours old, his birthmom hadn't signed papers (this varies from state to state but in AZ the law is at least 48 hours old) yet, so we were told we could meet him but likely couldn't take custody until the next day. We were bummed about that but excited to at least get to meet him!! 

So...drumroll, here we are, meeting our baby BOY for the first time!! 💙

(these pics are a bit blurry because they were taken from video)

Ava's expressions are my favorite!

First family picture of 4!!

After meeting him, of course we didn't want to leave him, and Ava started asking/begging, "Mom, pleaseeee can we take him tonight!?" ...then, the Director said, "Ava, do you really want to take him home with you? Are you ready to be a big sister?" She immediately shouted, "YES, YES YES!! I have waited FOREVER for this!"...So then she told us that she had good news for us...Liam's birthmom had specifically requested we get custody that evening, and not to wait. She had signed a document allowing us to take him that night!! So, we finished up some necessary paperwork and back to Tempe we went!!

But first...it was getting late, so we decided to grab a bite to eat and call our families so they could meet Liam via FaceTime!

Sleeping through meeting the family. 

First night smiles!

The first night (or 3 😉) I held him all night; sleep is overrated, especially when you have a newborn to hold, right?! At this point, we hadn't shared his name with anyone because we were still deciding on a middle name. I'll never forget this because I think it's the sweetest thing - when we arrived back in Tempe to the home we were staying at, the lady of the home asked if we had picked a name. I said not officially yet, still working on that! Her reply, "Well, no rush, Handsome will work for now!!"💙

Night one went very well!!! We were all on cloud 9!!!

To be continued...