Showing Will to My Boys

I brought Will home from the hospital to my parents' house in the San Diego area. The thing about adopting from another state is that you have to do a bunch of legal paperwork and the one state has to say, "Yep. It's alright with us if you take that kid outta here," and the other state has to say, "Sure thing. Go right ahead and bring that baby in." It took ten days for Matthew's clearance to go through. But our family was altogether so it really didn't matter a great big deal.

With Will though, I was desperate to get him home to his daddy and his big brothers. 

That night, Troy took the boys to their baseball tournament. My heart wanted to be with them so badly, to see them play their little hearts out in their games. But I was over the moon to be holding my newest little short stop (or lacrosse player or cooking whiz or cellist). My brother and sister in law came bearing gifts, namely, formula and a bouncer and some clothes--among other things. My mother-in-law came over to see her 12th grandchild (11th living). My dad got home from work and got to meet his newest grandson. 

It was almost 9:00 by the time the boys got home and I finally got to Skype with them.

Of course, I'd already updated Troy on all that was going on but the boys were in for a pretty big surprise. Will made a squeak almost immediately. One of the boys asked if it was Hannah (my niece). "Oh. Um. Yeah, Hannah's here," I told them and moved my tablet so they could see her. This ended up being a bit of a problem because, a few moments later, when I showed them Will, they were confused.

It was late.

They were tired.

We were Skyping.

All these things led to confusion. And they somehow thought that Will was Hannah. Even though I'd just shown them Hannah. And even though Hannah was nine months old. And even though Hannah is decidedly a girl.

Once we cleared everything up and explained that I was holding their new brother, Matthew did a happy dance in the middle of the kitchen floor. Garrett just sat quietly. He would later write in his school autobiography that he was, "in happy shock."

After I said goodbye to my kids and wished my husband Happy Birthday again, I realized how exhausted I was. I'd slept less than four hours the night before and had an incredibly exciting/emotional/crazy day. I knew that the next morning would be filled with paperwork on my end. Scanning documents. Providing signatures. Phone calls and emails to lawyers and the hospital. Reviewing documents. I couldn't wait to introduce Will to people but I knew all that paperwork had to come first or I'd never get home to the three people who were the most eager to meet him. I announced our boy on social media and then I pretty much died of exhaustion. Until my newborn alarm went off a few hours later.