Funniest Misunderstanding of the Year

See the St. Patrick's Day Parade pics in the previous post...

Me: "So, Milo what was your favorite part of the parade?"
Milo: "Um...I think it was those girls dancing."
Me: "Which girls?"
Milo: "Those girls that were dancing with those poles!"
Me: "WHAT?!!!"
Milo: "Yeah, those girls that were wearing lots of makeup and dancing with poles!"
Me (and Spencer now): "WHAT?!!!"
Isabel: "The BATON girls Milo. Those are called batons!"

Folks, his favorite part was the baton twirlers. Not exactly what I thought he was talking about.

A little of this. A little of that.

After some harassment and cajoling (J.Mo! Grami Tami!), I must apologize for the lack of posts and pics. We've been setting in to life with three kids pretty well. :) However, can I just say that the paperwork etc. that has to be completed and followed up on and filed and marked off and faxed and mailed and confirmed after an adoption is like having a part-time (some days full-time) job?! Also, the big kids got pretty sick last week and now Keeler has it. :( They are on the mend though and he is doing much better today.

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Speaking of Keeler, he is SO cute! :) And whether or not he will be a redhead is still a point of great debate. Although the pics on the blog make him look like he's a redhead already, he's really not. I'd say the votes are about 50/50 right now. We're guessing either red or white blonde like Issy. Either way, the boy has the whitest eyelashes and eyebrows! To be determined I guess. What do you think??

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Also, for those who are curious (I would be), the paperwork related to Keeler's placement with us is pretty much done! That means there is no going back on this one. :) We finalize the adoption in family court in approximately 6 months (however, to answer your other question, his birthmom cannot change her mind--that window has passed). And, yes, we do still have near daily contact with his birthmom. She is doing pretty well and has said that she loves getting the emails and pics that we're sending. :)

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So, a little of what we've been up to...the St. Patrick's Day Parade (our preschool had the cutest float and the kids got to ride on it while we walked along side), watching Keeler grow, visiting Grandma and Grandpa, playing with Season and her cute kids while they're here from OR, watching Keeler some more, playing with friends and neighbors, waiting for Sagie's baby to get here, going back to preschool after spring break and all of that DARN paperwork etc. that I mentioned before. :)

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Oh and all of you Utah folk--we're coming for a visit in a week and a half! Yay!

Posing with my favorite leprechaun and fairy after we finished our tour on the float. Keeler slept through the whole thing...love that Moby Wrap!
Practicing their "parade waves". They thought the parade business was super sweet but thought it was a little lame that they weren't allowed to throw (read: pitch overhand with all the force they could muster) the candy at the innocent bystanders.

Getting ready to start the parade!


Just hanging out on the couch...he's totally working on getting his thumb into his mouth. Say what you want but thumb-sucking is encouraged around here (Milo was the easiest baby--best self-soother!). Cara could you come over and teach Keeler like you taught Milo?

Just plain cute. This one is relatively "old"--approximately 1 week after he was born.

Just hanging out. Wide awake. Talkin' some college b-ball with Dad.

Trying to stay awake after a long bath.

Snuggled into his blankie in the swing. He heard about the storm today and decided to stay in.

The kids had already been outside to play and tromp around by 8:30 this morning! Afterwards, they had a "hot chocolate party" with their tea set and their stuffed animals.

The.Full.Story.

First picture with Keeler after we got into our room.

Wow. Writing this whole experience out has been much more intimidating and difficult than I ever thought it would be. Trying to convey the spirituality of this experience and the intensity of it feels almost impossible. Trying to convey our happiness and the dreamlike quality of all of this definitely feels impossible. We'll give it our best shot.



Did you know that, over the course of the last 9 months, we've had contact with 13 birthmoms?! Well, we have. Crazy right? I agree. So does our agency. That's a very high number. We were picked by two other moms before this mom. "What?!" you say! Yes, two others before this one. The first one, "J", you all remember. That broke our hearts. And hers. Another birthmom, a younger girl, had contacted us around the same time as "J". She expressed her desire for her baby to go to us; however, when faced with deciding between "J" and "A" we prayed about it and, ultimately, decided that we would go with "J". In the weeks following, we maintained contact with "A" (and still do) and learned that she would eventually change her mind and become engaged to the father of her baby.



My point in telling this portion of the story? Adoption is a long haul. It is difficult. It is heartwrenching and gutwrenching. There are very big ups and very big downs. Many couples do not have contact from any birthmoms for months and months and months. Some, like us, go through several contacts before they get the right match. When the beginning of January rolled around, I was tired. We'd been way up (getting matched with "J"!!) and we'd been way down (finding out our baby girl with "J" had a fatal birth defect). The holidays had been a strain. Much of our extended family was struggling. We were drained and we were beginning to wonder if this adoption thing would every really work out. I wanted a window to the future and I wanted it yesterday!



Then, along came "D". Well, along came an email from her really. (I'll take a moment to detour here and say that our LDSFS profile really got minimal traffic in comparison to our Parent Profiles profile. This was the first and only contact we'd had via their website.) On a Tuesday, I received an email that had been forwared via LDS Family Service's website from a birthmom who stated that she was about 33 weeks pregnant, that there was a possibility that she was carrying twins, asked if we could be ready sooner rather than later for a baby and if we would accept twins. For some reason, when reading this email, I felt like I had been...zapped. I felt all lightheaded and felt short of breath--and felt like this was IT. I tried to get a hold of myself and tap out a response. I was beyond anxious when I realized that the email she'd sent me had been sent on Friday but it had taken the site administrator several days to forward it to us. What if she had contacted other families? What if they had responded to her first? What if we'd lost our chance with her??



That evening, Sage and Melissa came over for our Biggest Loser festivities (don't judge-it's our only "thing"). While they were here, D responded to my email. Again, when I read it, I got all shaky and short of breath. I kept feeling like something was telling me that this was THE ONE. That night, I hardly knew what to do with myself. I just kept thinking, "This is it. This is finally it. I know it is." I was so convinced (and freaked out) that I emailed my adoption-BFF-via-blogging, Jess, and told her that there was something about this one. Spencer tried to stay more reserved (read: more sane) as we began corresponding with D via email.



Over the next few days, D took quite a bit of time to review our adoption website and to ask us some additional questions. Within a week, she told us that she wanted her baby to go to us. Over the next several weeks, we continued to correspond with her and continued to do our best to get to know her. D's story as to how Keeler came to be and why she chose to relinquish him is hers and we will respect her privacy by not sharing it here. She has a very full, active and busy life and during those weeks, it was apparent to us that she was doing her best to try to continue her own life while still trying to make the best decision possible for Keeler. Although I continued to have an underlying sense of peace about this being THE ONE, I still feared that it would not work out or that something would be wrong with the baby. We did our very best to be faithful, to pray, and to trust in the Lord's plan for us. As her due date neared, all bets were nearly off as I felt like I was hanging on to my sanity by a thread. :) A skinny thread. We told some of the pending delivery but not many. It was hard to see people want to be hopeful for us--or not want to get their hopes up. We hardly knew how to feel and didn't know how to tell others to feel.



We did our best to distract ourselves. We listened to a CD of adoption-related songs sent by the previously mentioned Jess, we hung out with friends, we clung tight to our family, we worked, we went on adventures with the twins. And. We. Waited.



On Friday, February 27th, I worked a night shift. And what a night shift it was. Baby after baby was born. Baby after baby was admitted to the NICU. D's due date was the 28th and something in me kept saying that this would be the day. When I finally left work that morning around 8:15am, I was exhausted. I was to return that night and I could not wait to crawl into bed and sleep. When I got home and tried to open the door, someone on the other side was trying to open it for me at the same time. And really struggling--I mean comically struggling. I thought, for certain, that it was Milo. Until the door finally opened and Spencer shoved my cell phone in my face--open with a text message displaying. "What?!!!" was all I could say. I thought maybe he was going to give me grief about an "inappropriate" but funny (who me?) text from a friend (ahem, Sage) or something. But, there it was. "It's a boy. 8 lbs 1.6oz. Healthy so far."

My brain immediately ceased function and I began shaking uncontrollably. What did this mean? He's here but is he ours? Did she change her mind? Is she really going through with it?? I slipped out the back door to call her. She confirmed that he was doing well, she was doing well (although relatively speaking--she was hemorrhaging) and she wanted us to come to the hospital as soon as possible. She also apologized for delivering so quickly (13 minutes after she got to the hospital) because she knew how much we'd wanted to be there--and had wanted us there.



I pulled out the packing list that I'd written out weeks before (thank goodness because I was seriously in a state like no other!) and we began throwing things into various bags. You should so wish we had a nanny cam or something because I'm sure it was hilarious. We were like a bunch of bumbling slapstick comics or something! We kept tripping over each other, repacking the same bag, and just generally not knowing what to do with ourselves.



My mom met us on the side of the freeway (not joking) and took the kids. We'd packed them a bag and left it at my mom's a few weeks before--just in case. We kissed them and told them we were "going to visit a friend who just had a baby" and we were off.



When we arrived at the hospital, all of the nurses were grinning and waiting for us. They were all yelling out "congratulations!" and "she (meaning D) is so sweet!" as we made our way to her room. When we entered her room, we both did our best to focus on her first and on meeting her fiance. She looked so small (and so pretty) in her bed. All I wanted to do was hug her and thank her (and maybe cry some). After some brief introductions and visiting, we turned to Keeler.


There he was in all his 8+ pound glory! Big hands, big feet, swollen face and no conehead in sight! He looked huge--compared to our little 3 pounders, of course. We both just stared at him for a few minutes and then, after asking the nurse for permission (what??), I picked him up and handed him to Spencer. The look on Spencer's face was priceless. There was no reservation, no hesitation, and no with-holding. It was the same look he gave our own biological children almost 5 years earlier. (He later said that he couldn't believe how, in that instant that he looked at him, any ambiguity was gone and he just knew that he was ours.)

Being held by Spencer in the light of the giant window in our room (looking west to the mountains).

We spent the next 6 or so hours in D's room with her, her fiance (not Keeler's biological father), and Keeler. We were able to visit, become more well-acquainted and just absorb the spirit that was there. While she chose not to hold him, she did watch us very carefully as we held him and talked to him. As we got to know her, all of the pieces fell into place. We felt an immediate and deep connection and sense of protectiveness that is impossible to explain. We heard her whole story and gained even more appreciation for her, for the decision that she'd made, and for the weight of this decision for her. We came to know her fiance and came to be deeply grateful for him, for his love of D, for his support of her and of her decision, and for his sense of humor. :)

Rebecca, the adoption liaison, and kind-hearted-wants-to-hear-your-whole-story-also-an-adoptive-mom.

Parker Adventist, the hospital where Keeler was delivered, has an incredible adoption outreach program and, as a part of that program, we were given our very own hospital room and were able to have Keeler room-in with us. We were also fed (for free) during our stay and offered the support of their adoption liaison, Rebecca.

Spencer flopped right down on the bed with Keeler as soon as we got into our room--and started "talking" to him.

Later that afternoon, we moved Keeler into our room and spent the next few hours examining him, sending out texts and emails, and just enjoying the moment. We did some skin-to-skin, fed him some donor breastmilk (provided free of charge by the hospital!!), and took some pictures. It all felt so incredible and so surreal. We also visited D again and her fiance came to visit us in our room. (We also began the struggle to name this child--oh boy. HOURS on the internet for Spencer and much writing on the whiteboard in the room for me.)

Skin-to-skin time. Tired much Erin?

That night, around 9pm, I finally sacked out. I'd been awake for some obscene number of hours and it was not pretty. :) Spencer handled all the feedings that night and, the next morning, he said, "It feels like we're cheating! This one is so easy." It's all relative right? One baby. Full term. No oxygen. No monitors. No alarms. No reflux.

Our rockin' caseworker (and former high school classmate) Dan.

Sunday was the day that "D" left the hospital. We had one last meeting with her, our caseworker, her caseworker, her fiance, and Keeler. We thanked her (tearfully) for the choice that she'd made and told her over and over what a huge difference she'd made in our life and our family. As she left the hospital that day, she struggled but she did not waiver. She wished things could have been different, I think , but she did not regret her decision.

All dressed up and ready to meet his brother and sister.

That night, we had my parents bring Isabel and Milo to the hospital to "visit" us. We've talked with them for months about the possibility of us adopting a baby but had not told them that it was a likely possibility. My friend Summer lives just minutes from the hospital and got to meet the little guy just before the kids arrived. As I was introducing him to her, it REALLY started to feel real. And it felt pretty darn good. :) Sage timed her arrival for a few minutes before the kids so she was able to take all of the incredible pictures of them meeting their baby brother for the first time.

Sage visiting with Keeler for a few quick minutes before the twins arrived.

When they walked through the hospital room door with me they both yelled out "Daddy!" to Spencer but then stopped in their tracks when they saw him holding a baby. One of them asked whose baby he had and when I told them that it was their new baby brother, they both let loose these HUGE smiles and gripped my hands even tighter. As they examined him, held him, and helped to feed him they could not stop smiling. Every few minutes they would just grab each other and collapse in a big huge hug. They were SO excited. :)

The whole fam together for the first time.

My sister, my nieces, and my parents were also able to meet Keeler that night (who finally had a name about 5 minutes before they all arrived!). Milo cried the biggest saddest tears when he had to leave his baby brother. It brought tears to my eyes too.

Snuggled up and ready to go home!

Since leaving the hospital with Keeler, we've stayed in touch with his birthmom and have reveled in our relationship with her. She is an incredible person and we hope to maintain this close and open relationship with her throughout his life. She started this process wanted a closed adoption but has since opened up to wanting more and more contact (even calling us "long lost friends that it feels like I finally found"). We did not anticipate how much our relationship with her would mean to us and how much it would factor into our feelings for him. It is really incredible.

Milo and Isabel colored pictures for Keeler and had grandpa write "Welcome home baby brother!" on them and tape them to the door.

This welcome sign and the picture collage frame were waiting for us when we got home. Those darn Pierces are so NICE and so CUTE!! :)

Milo and Isabel bought a birthday cake and decorated my parents' house to welcome Keeler home!

Keeler is healthy, perfect (thus far), a good eater, a good sleeper, and a boy with many adoring fans. Milo loves to kiss him, teach him Kung Fu, and talk to him. Isabel loves to ask questions about him and his birthmom, hold him, and give him his binky if he's crying.


This journey was not easy but, when the time was right and the situation was meant to be, it all lined up and worked out just as it was meant to. We were and are aware of the Lord's hand in every single step of this process. We know that Keeler was meant to be in our family and that he simply had to take another route to get here. Coming through D was an important part of his role here and an important part of D's life and her purpose here--those are her words and thoughts (although we completely agree).

Coming soon...the full story

So this week has been crazy. So busy. So, so busy. Since we weren't really sure this was going to go through, we didn't really make solid plans for putting our life on hold. We've been busy wrapping up loose ends, visiting the doctor (well child visits), going to preschool and signing papers to finalize the placement of Keeler in our home (yay!!!). Our papers and Keeler's birthmom's relinquishment papers will be filed in court tomorrow and then it is, essentially, a done deal!!!

After that, I promise to tell the whole story. Well, most of the story. Complete with more adorable pictures.

In. Love. That's what we are.

Pajama Party!

This weekend we had the twins' 5th birthday party AND we had tons o' visitors from Utah. Grandma Cathryn, Spencer's sister Melissa, her twins (Lyla and Olivia), and Spencer's brother Josh and his son (Royan) all came to meet the new addition and to celebrate the twins' birthday.

The Pajama Party didn't quite measure up to the Camping Party of last year but it was tons of fun. Given the circumstances, we kept it pretty small--family, neighbors, friends-so-close-they're-family, and one other friend each. The kids all layed in the sleeping bags while we read pajama themed stories, they played sleeping bag tag, we decorated pillow cases, and they played pin the pajamas on the penguin. Loads of fun and barely controlled chaos. Just the way it should be right?

*Make it through the end of the pics and there is even a bonus pic of Keeler. Don't worry, more posts and pics about him to come soon.

6/8ths of the Anderson family cousins. So fun. So wild. So cute. Like the holds the big twins have on the little twins? Nice.

Isabel in her new nightgown (complete with modesty-insuring-bike-shorts underneath), Fancy Nancy legwarmers & ballet slippers, and her new baby doll and carrier (like mom's).

Holding up the "pin the pajamas on the penguin" game that Uncle Josh drew.

Just before total chaos took hold (also known as "present opening"). I tried to get a second chair and they politely declined. They wanted to share the chair so they could sit together. :)

They both stared so intently at their cakes while we were singing. I'm pretty sure they were both strategizing their air stream so as to maximize their odds of getting all candles out.

Milo decorating a pillowcase. One of the boys drew a target on his. Only, when he told us that, we somehow thought he said toilet. We've been laughing about it all weekend. His parents set us straight today. A target is funny but a toilet was way funnier.

Zach, Milo and Cooper laughing hysterically over Cooper's placement of the penguin's pajamas.

Isabel in the midst of "sleeping bag tag".

Milo decorating his chocolate cake.

Isabel decorating her banana chocolate chip cake (best ever--you need this recipe!). Note the cute, cute aprons courtesy of Grandma Kim.

Adorable. Don't know what else there is to say. Adorable.

How dads feed babies.

This week, my parents stopped by to visit Isabel and Milo and to cuddle Keeler for a bit. When they walked in, Spencer was nowhere to be found. When they asked Milo where he was, Milo replied, "Oh, he's just in the bedroom nursing Keeler!". *cue the hysterical laughter*

(I could insert a whole other hysterical diatribe here about how we sometimes have dads at the hospital who "just want to see what it feels like" and try to get their baby to latch on. To their man boob. Hair and all. *BARF* I am completely not joking.)

So funny. I guess we need to have a little clarification with the kids as to what it's called when you feed a baby with a bottle.

A whole hand...

Today, Milo and Isabel turned FIVE!!!

Yes, that means that they now each have one whole hand! (Remember when cute Milo brightened my day by saying that?)

I love my sweet tender little boy. He is completely in love with his baby brother and is still sad if he has to leave him for any reason. Milo wants to be "an animal saver" when he grows up and he even put paw prints and monkey stickers all over his "star of the month" for preschool. He loves school, loves Star Wars, loves kung fu (and busts out some wicked moves at completely random times and/or locations), loves riding his bike, and loves to read stories.

I love my spunky little girl so much too. Isabel is loving being a big sister--she is fascinated by all aspects of Keeler and has tons of questions. She's said some of the sweetest things about his birthmom and how thankful she is that his birthmom gave Keeler to our family. Isabel wants to be "a singer and a baby nurse and a mommy" when she grows up. She loves to sing (obviously), loves babies, would color or paint all day every day, loves to ride her bike, and loves to read stories too.

We feel so blessed to be Milo and Isabel's parents. They teach us so much and are such good kids. We thank our Heavenly Father for them every single day.

Happy Birthday Milo and Issy!!!

Fine then Blogger. The pics will be their own post.

Pics and a Name!!

Keeler Manuel Anderson

Keeler's Needle is a rock formation on Mt. Whitney. We all know how Spencer feels about rocks and that Grandpa Manuel loves to climb those 14,000+ foot peaks! We love the correlation and meaning. :) WHEW! That was a tough one to find though...

Milo and Isabel (and Grandma Kim, Grandpa Manuel, Stacy, Kiana, Mya, Sage, Summer, Mike, Kennedy, and Sophie) got to meet baby Keeler today.

Milo and Isabel are beyond excited. The meeting was almost too amazing to put into words. They are so excited and completely in love. They've said so many hilarious things that I've had to start a list...to be a post someday soon.

We get to go home tomorrow. Our birthmom is amazing, strong, sweet and incredible. She has gone home and all should be completely squared away later this week (no signs of trouble though--this seems rock solid.)

Love to all and thanks for all of the texts, emails, phone calls, and Facebookin'. It means so much to us to know that everyone is celebrating with us!!

Now for the good stuff...cell pics for now. Real ones to come.

Blogger is not cooperating. ARGH. Pics will have to come later I guess...or check Facebook in the meantime.