Too Long... But Good News!

It has been a long time, but we have been oh so busy! Our house is well under way, and Brandon is finishing his thesis, and all is wonderful--just busy. But Cadence's adoption was finalized a few weeks ago, and that is very newsworthy!

Hanging out with K

We went down to Utah this weekend! Not only did we get to see my grandma (below), but we also went to lunch with K, Cadence's birth mom. It was awesome! She is such a great person, and we're so happy we still get to hang out with her now that Cadence is born. And she's so pretty--hopefully Cadence inherits that :)

Cadence has just been delightful lately. She smiles all the time, and loves to "chat" in her baby talk. She's so much more fun when she's awake now than ever before! Her cute little personality is beginning to shine. My mom and I spent hours trying to get Cadence to do cute things for the camera, like smile. Here's a decent one:

And she also loves to blow bubbles and drools ALL THE TIME now. We're going to need to start using those bibs so she's not drenched!

She's also a healthy little chunk and we love it! We couldn't help but laugh at her naked rolls, so I've included a great Buddha picture, too. Oh, and in the last week we've had 2 nights when Cadence slept from 9 to 6:30 the next morning!!!!! It's awesome!!

One month!

As promised--I'm trying to add to our special adoption blog at least once a month. Of course, there's always the more frequent updates on our usual blog, but I think it's nice to have a dedicated adoption post every now and then! At this point, we're not actively pursuing adoption--we're just trying to enjoy little Cadence--but when we do pick back up with adoption, I don't want the blog to be cold!

So first, a little bit about life with baby! We love it--although it's a big change! Cadence is growing so, so fast! Here are some photos of her growing like crazy:

Hour 1:

Week 1:

Week 2 (at the doctor's office):

Week 3:

Week 4:

Beginning of Week 5 (now):

My my my! She is so much bigger and so alert! She's trying really hard to smile at us and we love it! She's really been everything we could hope for. We feel so blessed to have her and can't believe how fast the month has flown by. Moreover, we feel so blessed to have K (Cadence's birth mom) in our lives. We love hearing from her and sending her pictures, letters, and little packages. She has become such an important part of our family.

Other than adoption, we've had a lot of other crazy things going on. It's been very, very busy! Brandon has started his new job and we're working on building our house--all with our new addition in tow! And, of course, we still have our sweet and lovable pups, which are taking very well to their new little sister. They especially love her pacifiers (eek!).

Introducing... Cadence Avery Miller

Cadence Avery Miller was born at 2:35 PM on Saturday, June 5, 2010. She weighed 7 lbs. and 12 oz. and was 18 inches long.

We took her home today :)

She's fast asleep on the quilt her birth-mom made her in this picture. We just wanted our birth mom to know how awesome we think she is and how grateful we are to her! She's an amazing person and we love her so much!

Hope

"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. 

That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude." 

~Elder Wirthlin

"Come What May, and Love It"

This just sums up how I've been feeling lately--and how I dealt with my years of "loss". And I think I love this quote so much because it also reflects on birth moms. I was watching the "16 And Pregnant Finale Show" (bad, bad, bad idea to watch that series in general, since it almost always makes me cry) and I just got so impressed with the one girl that picked adoption (queue the crying). Meeting our birth mom and getting to know her has made this whole process--and the reality of adopting a baby--even better! The selflessness she is displaying so we can have a child is amazing--and I KNOW there are lots of blessings in her future. And she just makes me want to be THE awesomest adoptive-mom because I owe her so much and I want her to never doubt her decision. Plus, she's so easy to like and be friends with-- Ahhh! I just love her, she's great.

We are so excited to see her this weekend!!

PS-- Six weeks until she's due!! Can you believe it?? So exciting!

News...

We're going to be parents!!!

It's pretty  much impossible to type out how incredibly excited and happy we are! We are "expecting" a baby girl at the end of May and we're beyond thrilled!

In addition to saying how amazing we think adoption is, we want to say how wonderful we think the baby's birth mother is. We are completely humbled by her decision to choose us as the baby's parents and we really admire her. Plus, she's just a lot of fun, really sweet, and very thoughtful. It has been an amazing experience getting to know her and we are eternally grateful to her.

Yippee!