Welcome Home

Even though I knew Christmas night would be my last good night's rest for a while, I couldn't sleep. I was way to nervous and excited. I was having a baby...tomorrow. I was up at the crack of dawn. We had kept a good bit of stuff from Chase's babyhood, but it had been in our attic for about 6 yrs. Christmas night we pulled down everything we could find and deemed useful and began the cleaning process. I didn't have any unscented detergent so the first order of business the next morning was to purchase some. The second order was to find an attorney so we could actually bring the baby home. It was the day after Christmas and I was not sure that was going to be an easy task.
Fortunately, the attorney that was reccomended to us opened her office that day. She did not intend to come in but her staff was there. They called her at home and she graciously put aside her plans to help us. She is an adoptive mom as well so she knew how important this day was to us. We scrambled to locate and clean all parts of the car seat and get him an outfit to come home in then meet her at the hospital by noon. We met in front of the gift shop and the next thing I know Chris disappears and returns with a stuffed blue puppy. You have to know what a rant he goes on regarding the over abundance of toys at our house to appreciate the sentiment in this action. We also got a very important "I'm the big brother" shirt for Chase.
As it turns out, all that scrambling was unnecessary , as that day was hurry up and wait. Mostly wait. We finally got to leave the hospital around 6:30pm with our new baby.
Meanwhile back at our house, Chris' dear family Mom, Dad, and 2 sisters had been working all day. Not only had they looked after the big brother but they had also washed massive amounts of baby clothes and gear and unburied the Christmas disaster as best they could. We could actually function with the new baby because of their hard work. It was just incredible.
When we finally arrived home family and friends had gathered to welcome the newest member of our family and shower him with gifts. It was such a happy, warm feeling. I had the opportunity to see love in action, and that is an amazing thing. There without any planning (and I am a PLANNER) was an impromptu party to celebrate our joy and it could not have been any better. Though not as tired as if I had physically given birth, it was a long emotionally exhausting day. It was great to be home and surrounded by the most important people in life.