Meaning of Benicio Jose

I forgot to add yesterday that one of the biggest reasons we had for choosing our baby's name was its meaning. Benicio is a derivitive of Benedict, which means blessing, and Jose is a derivitive of Joseph, which means God will add or God will bless (depending on which book or website you look at). We thought those meanings made his name extra special. God certainly has added blessings to our family-in ways I never thought possible. Jose is also the name his first mom chose for him, so it is dear to my heart.

Introducing....

Benicio Jose

Will is here, so the baby has an official name now! I can't figure out how to put the accent mark over the e in Jose though. Will is planning to call the baby Ben for short. Mommy already has her own nickname for him.

When Will saw Benicio for the first time, all he could say was, "He is so tiny. Oh, my gosh, he is so tiny and so cute." It was adorable. I told him he could hold the baby and he was said, "I don't know. He is sooo tiny." To which, I, of course, said, "You are going to hold him because you get to help take care of him." Once Will had him in his arms, he was fine. I think it was love at first sight.

Going to go enjoy our first day together with the baby now!

What a journey!

Today I gave our new son his first bath (a sponge bath, of course, since he's only 9 days old!). I had to stick his head under the sink faucet to wash his hair because he has so much of it. The funny part is that he HATED getting his body sponged down. He screamed the whole time. But, he was fine with me sticking his head under running water. That didn't bother him at all. He just stared up at me with a "what the heck are you doing, crazy lady" look, but he never made a peep. It seems that the water on his head would bother him more than the sponge bath, but it definitely didn't!

Today the housekeeper came to the door to clean our room while we were here. She saw the baby and couldn't stop ooing and ahhing over him. While she was cleaning, her cell phone rang and she answered it and spoke in Spanish. The baby was fascinated. I don't speak a lot of Spanish myself, but I did understand that she told her son (over the phone) that the baby in the room she was working in was very small and cute. The best part is when she asked how old and I told her 9 days. She looked at me and said, "You travel when you had baby only 9 days ago?" So I told her that we were from Indiana and that we were adopting our son. She got all teary eyed and then offered to get me anything I need. She even said she would go to the store to just call her if I needed anything. What a sweetheart!

Tomorrow morning Will arrives to meet our son for the first time (hence the bath mentioned above). I have an adorable little outfit that says, "My Dada is the best" for the baby to wear. I can't wait for them to meet! And, of course, once he sees the baby, we will announce his name officially. We have two choices and Will wants to see him before deciding on which one.

Look for the new name post tomorrow!

Home-well, sort of...

Yesterday our sweet baby got to leave the hospital. I could hardly believe that they let me put him in the car and drive away. A part of me kept thinking that someone was going to chase me down and tell me there had been some mistake. After years of wanting to be a mom, it was almost unbelievable to finally hit that moment when it was just us, driving away from the hospital with my son snoozing in his car seat. Of course, he was dismissed from the hospital at exactly the right time so that I could drive with him in rush hour traffic in Houston. I've never been more thankful that I lived her before and am familiar with the roads. My precious cargo made it even more important to drive safely!

Last night was sheer bliss-even if he did wake up every hour to hour and a half until 2 AM. I loved every single second of cuddling, feeding, and even changing diapers. At 2 he finally decided to sleep for almost four hours, so I got to sleep more than I thought I would.

Right now, he is asleep in the Snugli on my chest. Having him here is joy beyond measure and oh so precious. Today is a bittersweet day, though, because it is my first full day with my son out of the hospital, but it is also the day that his sweet big sister, Ariana, should have turned 7 months. What joy to hold my son, and what sorrow that my daughter can't be here too.

Will should be arriving tomorrow or Monday to meet our son. I can't wait for them to meet. He is going to be such a great Dad! Plus, he needs to be here soon so we can give our son a name finally! Poor baby is going to think his name is Peanut or Buddy if we don't figure it out soon!

Still haven't gotten the go-ahead to post pictures, but I'll ask again tomorrow.

He's absolutely perfect!

At about 6:30 PM on April 24, 2008, I finally got to hold my precious new son for the first time. He is simply perfection-all 6 lbs, 13 ounces and 19.5 inches of him. He has a TON of black hair-more than I've ever seen on a newborn. He is so alert and already nosy-he looks around everytime the door opens or any one talks. Too cute for words! I got to feed him his last two feedings, and he did great. I am soooo in love and floating on cloud 9. God has truly blessed us beyond measure with this precious baby! Still not allowed to post pics pending some more paperwork and red tape, etc. I hope we'll be able to soon!

It's a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not too much time to blog right now, but we wanted to announce that we are the proud new parents of a bouncing baby boy, born on April 18, 2008. I'll post more details later when I'm not so busy being a new mom!!

Our new adoption journey

Eventually, when there is news to tell, this blog is going to be about our journey for a domestic adoption. Right now, we're still putting together a final family profile to show to prospective birthparents and trying to make sure we investigate every agency and every possible situation before we jump in. After what happened with our daughter in Guatemala, we are being extra cautious and are on a tighter budget! If you haven't read her story, please visit her blog, In Memory of Ariana at www.adoptingariana.blogspot.com

I'll post more here if and when we have news.