Hello Baby Girl!

Sloane Ryan was in a little bit of a rush, it seems! She was due May 25th but we had a feeling after meeting with her birth mom last week that she might be a little ahead of schedule - and she was! We got a call at 5:15 on Saturday morning May 15th (5/15!) that S's water had broken and she was at the hospital. We had packed our bags and planned the fire drill, thinking that we could make it to Roosevelt in 3 hours. Even though we made great time (2 hours 45 minutes! no speeding, promise), Sloane made better time. She was born at 7:38 so we missed the actual birth by about 15-20 minutes. We got to hear some of her first cries over the phone which was really awesome.

We did arrive at the hospital in time to give her her first bottle. It was such an amazing experience to have S. place Sloane in my arms and call me her mommy. It's impossible to describe that feeling. It's happened to me twice now and all I know is that it brings tears to my eyes every time I think of it. I don't have a picture of it, but I know I'll never need one because it's a permanent fixture in my mind's eye.

Sloane was 6 lbs 15 oz, 20 inches long, and perfect in every way. She has a little ring of dark hair with blondish peach fuzz on top, long slender fingers and feet, and a pouty lower lip. She's very alert yet peaceful when she's awake, which isn't often!

From the first moment we met Sierra and her mom back in February, we felt a connection with them. It just felt like this was meant to be and it's been that way all along - in the "almost too good to be true" way! Happily, that feeling was reinforced over the course of the weekend. We felt like we were with family (in the good way!) and we were so impressed with everyone's support and love and how easy everything was. We shared all kinds of stories and laughed and passed Sloane around so everyone had a chance to fawn over her. It was pretty amazing! We are really excited to have everyone as part of our extended family. You could really feel the love they have for this baby and we felt embraced as part of their family too. We have a lot to live up to! It reminded us so much of being with Tagg's family, and we hope to have an equally special relationship with them.


The hospital gave us our own room - SO much nicer than our last experience! Not that we didn't like sharing a recliner but having 2 beds was pretty sweet. And even though hospital food is, well, hospital food, they were kind enough to bring us meals while we were there. Tagg had a bit of a cold so he wasn't able to make it up to the hospital which was a bummer - especially because we missed him so much - but we were able to focus and appreciate the quality time we got to have with Sloane and her family.

They got her the most darling going-home outfit! Even though it was a little big, she looked adorable in it. Yellow and bees seems to be a theme for us! They got her a cute little teddy bear which Tagg thought was Sloane when we brought her home! "Sloane Bear." He tries to give it binkies and put blankets on it which is cute. It was really an amazing experience and even though it was certainly hard for everyone, you can see all the love and joy present in everyone's faces.

There are really no words to describe how blessed we are to have had such a wonderful experience with adoption - and then have it again. Like Tagg's birth parents, Sloane's are amazing, intelligent, peaceful, lovely, and mature young people. Their courage has given us the gift of family and there is really no way to say thank you for that. We just have to make them proud and give them the opportunity to fulfill all of their dreams knowing that Sloane and Tagg are loved and cared for.