Families Are Forever (Corbin's Sealing)

One very rainy day in April, we were able to take Corbin to the temple and seal him to our family.  We were so excited to have our little family in the temple.  I loved that Emme was old enough to understand a little of what was going on.  She talked about going to the temple for weeks before the sealing.

Poor Corbin was teething and had diarrhea.  He had explosion after explosion and I was so worried it would get on his white suit, but it never did.  He cried during the whole sealing and come to find out later, the nursery worker mistook some rice cereal in his bag for formula.  Little man was starving.  I so wish I could go back and change that part of the experience.

Emme was her usual busy self and couldn't be bothered with holding still.  Luckily I had lots of family to help out and most everyone understood. She loved walking the temple halls and pushing all of the elevator buttons.  She even pushed the button that called for help.  Good times.  Good memories.  She looked so pretty in her "Elsa dress."

It was a beautiful experience overall and I'm so happy Corbin is eternally ours.  I could feel the spirit very strongly throughout the temple and I know our family is loved.  I won't share everything, because a lot of it is very sacred to me, but I will say that I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know us personally.  They know and love my children so much.  I am hugely imperfect, but I know without a doubt that my savior loves me too.   It doesn't matter where we were born, the color of our skin, or if your baby grew inside you or in someone else.  He LOVES us and has created a way for us to be eternal.  He knew we would make mistakes and He knows we are imperfect, but He loves us anyway and has created a way for us to come back to him.  He does not want us to fail.

Adoption is so hard for a lot of people to comprehend, but I'm thankful that Christ gets it.  Emme and Corbin were destined to be part of our family from the beginning.  I am so thankful for the blessings adoption and infertility has brought to us.  No one can ever take away the knowledge we have gained through these experiences.  

The rain stopped for a short little while and we were able to get a few pictures outside of the temple.  Don't be fooled though.  It was freezing!

Corbin Becomes an Alexander

Back in April we were able to take Corbin to court and finalize his adoption.  There is a supervisory period for six months after a child is placed in your home in which the agency has custody and they make sure you are bonding with the baby and everything is going as it should.  It's an exciting day and one we look forward to.  

As we were walking into court our lawyer realized we were missing a document from Idaho where Corbin was born. Our caseworker moved and we got a new one during supervisory so somehow no one noticed it was missing.  We were able to go through the all the motions of finalizing, but his adoption didn't become "official" until a day or two later when the judge finally received the missing paper and signed off on it.  

It was hard to celebrate like we had planned because the adoption was put on hold.  We were a little worried we'd have to change the date of the temple sealing, but luckily everything went through in time.  It was just a little glitch. 

With our cute judge. 

We love our lawyer.  He has also adopted two kids.

Our kids were so over it by the time we were done.  

Our caseworker.

Gregg's sister was able to be with us in the court room. It was nice to have her there.  So funny that Corbin wouldn't smile for anything.

Corbin's Story:: Placement Day

Gregg and I arrived at the hospital early in the afternoon and spent the whole day with M and K.  I will always cherish our time together that day.  We laughed, took walks together, ate lunch from Arby's, and just plain got to know each other better.  

We wanted to make sure M and K had as much time in the hospital with Corbin and never wanted to overstep our boundaries.  I mentioned this to M a few times and her reply was, "I love you guys and love when you are here."  We are so lucky.

Since M had Corbin C-section, they stayed in the hospital longer than usual.  They really wanted M to stay one more night, but she was done with hospitals and convinced her Doctor to let her go home  a night early.  The first thing she told us that day was, "we all get to go home tonight!"

M's caseworker came to have everyone sign papers so Corbin could be released to Gregg and I.  I'll never forget his face when he entered the hospital room and saw how comfortable we all were with each other. I was playing angry birds with K (M's son), while M had gone for a walk and Gregg and K (Corbin's birth dad) had gone to get something out of the car together.  It was a look of, "this is not something I see very often."  If you didn't know our story you would have guessed we were all close family.  Which is exactly how we like it.  He later mentioned how lucky we were to have M and how our situation was very rare for a placement day.  We agreed.  She is so good to us as is her family.  We are so blessed to have them in our lives.  

After everyone else had left and M and K had their "fancy" hospital dinner, the nurses started discharging us.  It was such a different experience from Emme's placement day.  We have all come so far since then.  There is a trust between us now that was only a hope when Emme was born.  We only knew each other for two weeks back then and now we have three years under our belt.  This time around our goodbyes were thankful and tearful, but very calm and relaxed.  Gregg expressed his love to them and we all got emotional.  M told us how much she loved us and was so happy she could add to our family.  She said watching Emme with Corbin made everything worth it.  We hugged, shared another laugh and M and K left while we waited for a nurse to become available to escort us out.  It was beautiful and peaceful. We will forever be grateful to our children's families.  We truly love them so much. 

Corbin waiting to leave the hospital.

Corbin's Story::The Second Day

Corbin's second day of life was filled with lots of visitors.  It was a very memorable day because we were able to have all four siblings together.  It was crazy having us all crammed in a little hospital room, but we loved it.  

Gregg taking a turn feeding Corbin.

Corbin getting snuggles from his big brother.

Love from K's mom.

M was adopted and this is her biological sister.  Her boys look so much like Emme.  We love it.

So fun to watch these three together.  Emme and her sister B are only a year apart.  In true toddlerhood, Emme had just stolen her baby and was about to poke her in the eye.  

M with all of her children.  K and Emme are so much alike.  They were not keen on picture taking.

Papa (M's dad) with Corbin.

I love this picture of Emme saying goodbye to M's mom.

Gregg captured this photo without me knowing. I will forever cherish it!

Corbin's Story::Meeting Corbin

Read Corbin's Story::The Birth here

Later in the day we brought Emme back to meet her brother.  She had been anticipating this event for months and was so excited.  When we got to the hospital room Emme walked right up to M and said "where is my baby?"  To this day she calls him her baby.  Luckily, M thought it was great that Emme took ownership over her brother so quickly.  It was only fitting that Emme be the first to hold Corbin.

Proud big sister.

She is always talking M's ear off.  

My first time holding Corbin.

Gregg's first time holding Corbin.

M's son and Emme and Corbin's brother came to visit at the same time. He's such a sweetie.

Getting changed by M.

Emme and her older brother are trouble together.  I love watching the bond they have.  They are always immediate friends whenever they are together.

Corbin's Story::The Birth

Read The Phone Call here.

Read Corbin's Story::The Start here

The Hospital

We all were prepared for M's c-section that was scheduled for 7 AM so Gregg and I arrived at 6:30.  When we arrived at the hospital we found out poor M was told the wrong time and wasn't scheduled until 9:00.  I felt so bad for M and K because they had arrived at 5:30 AM and had a very long day ahead of them.  The extra hours did give us time to hang out with just M and K though and we were able to grab a little breakfast before all the business of the day started. 

Just the four of us. I love M's hands on her belly. 

The hospital Corbin was born at was different than Emme's.  M wanted us to be the first to hold Corbin, but it just wasn't possible the way this hospital was set up.  Emme's hospital had a recovery room where we waited and once she was cleaned up they brought her out to us, then M joined us shortly after she was finished in the operating room. 

 This hospital didn't have a recovery room so they kept M in the same room the whole time until she was able to go back to her assigned room.  Only one person was allowed with her in surgery and only one person was allowed to have a wrist band other than M.  Meaning only M and one other person would be able to go into the nursery and be alone with the baby.  We all personally thought they should make an exception, but what do you do?  The hospital offered me the other wrist band, but I knew without a doubt K needed it and deserved it.  He supported M throughout her pregnancy and  he was by M's side the entire time in the hospital.  Not to mention he was the father and we wanted him to have as much time with Corbin as possible.  K was such a sweetheart the whole time and only left M if Gregg and I were there to be with her.  He even slept on the horrible chair/bed every night.  

So needless to say Corbin's birth was a lot different than we were expecting, but it was still beautiful and exciting. 

The Birth

Newly born Corbin.  They had just passed him through the window from the operating room.

Getting our first glimpse.

This nurse was awesome.  Here she is telling us the birth weight.  

7lbs

9oz.

Showing us Corbin up close.

The nurse came out to tell us he was perfectly healthy.

K's mom showing us pictures.

K holding Corbin in the nursery.

So sweet!

Bundled Corbin in the nursery waiting for M to get done in surgery.

M's first time holding him.  She was checking to see how much hair he had. 

After we checked on M and made sure she was doing okay, we left so her and K's family could have time alone with Corbin.  We made plans to bring Emme back later that day.  We didn't get to hold Corbin by this point, but we knew we would have an opportunity later and also knew this would be a special time for M and K.