Growing!!

This is a very short post :) As I was putting Delaney in her pj's last night, I noticed that one of the outfits we put on her at the hospital that was HUGE now fits snug :) How crazy is that?? So, of course, I took a picture to show the difference. Thanks to our sweet friend Meredith for this adorable outfit ;)

Hospital picture. The outfit literally swallows her whole!! :)

Last night :) It definitely helps that she stretched out for us! HA! But she weighs at least 2 more lbs here than the previous pic!

We just love our sweet Delaney Jane! We have a busy weekend so be looking for pics from our fun filled weekend!!

Staying at home

We have had a busy week!! Well, busy in the life of a stay at home mama and a newborn ;) HA!! Saturday afternoon our sweet friend, Abbey came by to meet our baby girl. She brought us some diapers! YIPEE :)

On Sunday we had some friends come by and help us hang up Delaney's name in the nursery. Tim & Selinda have become such sweet friends after they invited us to the beach with them last summer. They were so sweet to take time out of their Sunday afternoon to help decorate the nursery.

Tim is going to build a frame around the name and I think it's going to look really cute!!

I kept these lanterns from my shower! I saw the idea on Pinterest.

 I've got a few more things to hang up and we are waiting on the changing table and bookshelf to get here. Hopefully we will be finished soon!

On Sunday my sweet friend Emily came by to love on Delaney! Emily has been praying for us since the beginning and she was just so excited to come meet our little miracle. She kept getting tears in her eyes just looking at how perfect Delaney is. Isn't it wonderful to see God's faithfulness?? :)

I love this cradle! Vanessa had it for Hannah and she loved it :) Delaney is pretty peaceful in it as well :)

On Tuesday my friends Emily and Allison from school stopped by! Emily couldn't believe how much she had grown and Allison was so excited to meet her. They cooked a yummy meal and brought Oreo Balls! YUMMY!!!!!!!

Allison is one of our sweet interns! I just love her ;)

After they left my hilarious friend Hope from A-ville stopped by with her son Caden! I miss Hopey so much ;) She just loved on our sweet girl and kept offering to babysit!!

We had a little scare here yesterday. Our poor little sweetheart had diarrhea several times and was running a low grade fever. She still was eating regularly and having wet diapers so the doctor told us to just watch her overnight. She slept off and on but really wouldn't get settled so we spent part of the night in the recliner with her sleeping on my chest ;) It wasn't the best nights sleep I've had but its all part of being a mommy :) This morning she still had a tiny fever but hadn't had any more loose stools but I went ahead and called the doctor anyway. Because she is so young, they wanted to see her because of the low grade fever. So we made our weekly trip to the doctor :) HA!

My big girl at the doctor!! She weighs 7'11!! She is gaining so much :)

 We are so glad that the stomach bug didn't hit our home really bad because apparently my class at school, and several teachers have had it and it is so bad :( I would really hate to see our sweet girl that sick at such a young age. This weekend Vanessa, Adam & Hannah are coming in. I am so excited to see them :) We also have a fun night planned at my friend Emily's house Saturday night. The girls are getting all "crafty" while the boys watch some basketball!! I hope you guys have a fabulous weekend. It is hard to believe Delaney Jane will be 5 weeks old tomorrow!! Time is already flying by!!

Delaney Jane is 1 month old!!!

Delaney Jane you are 1 month old today!! I cannot believe it has been a month since we got the phone call that changed our lives forever. You have grown so much in the past few weeks. You now weigh 7 lbs 5 oz and are 19 inches long.

You are still in newborn clothes and newborn diapers. You are eating about 3 ounces every 3 hours.

You keep changing daily! I think you become more beautiful every morning. You have such a sweet personality and are very rarely fussy. You let me dress you up and put hair bows in your hair!!

You love to ride in the car! I hope this means you won't mind road trips because we have family spread out all over :) You still enjoy swinging and laying on your belly. Hank is still enamored with you and wants to know where you are at all times :) It's very cute!!

I think you look so big in this photo. You may have long legs!!

Your hair looks like it is getting lighter, but you still have plenty of it :) I hope you don't lose it!!!

There are some days when I just stare at you in awe wondering if you really are mine... I know there are still some legal issues we have to go through, but you, sweet girl, have been ours from the beginning. God knew what He was doing and I believe we are your forever family. I cannot wait to see how much you grow and change in the next month!!

We love you so much sweet girl!! You are so beautiful and so loved by everyone who meets you :)

Timeline of Events

I thought I would take the time during this post to recap our infertility timeline. Back a few months ago, I documented roughly everything we have been through since we started trying in June 2008. The last date I had entered then was December 8th when we sent our last check to our agency. Well, God had such a bigger plan for us because on December 9th, 1 DAY after sending off the last check, we got the phone call about our sweet baby girl. Two months later she was born!! And here we are tomorrow, celebrating her 1 month birthday :) I copied and pasted the old post up until Dec 8th, then added in the last few months dates that were important. It's still crazy to see God's timing in all of this. As I've said before, if I had known 4 years ago this was the plan, I'm not sure what I would have thought. I do know that I couldn't imagine my life as a mother to any other child right now. If we had not been there, who knows where she would be :( Her little life, and ours has been changed forever :)

June 22, 2008 : Allen agrees to start TTC
December 2008: 1st doctor visit
February 2009- HSG (made sure tubes were open)
April 2009- Changed doctor
June 2009- Started rounds of Clomid and IUI's (took several breaks during this time)
February 2010: First laparoscopy to check for Endometriosis (had mild case)
June 2010- 1st appt with an actual fertility specialist. They decide to try HMG shots
July 2010- Another round of HMG shots
August 2010-Jan 2011: Took a break from everything (This was the point where once a week I got a phone call announcing someone was pregnant.)
Jan 2011: Decided to try one last round of shots (Started getting curious about adoption.)
(took a break for a bit)
April 2011: 2nd laparoscopy (still had some Endometriosis. Removed and very hopeful!!)
June 2011: Poured out my heart to Allen about our childless family :( Prayed about and decided to pursue domestic infant adoption. Contacted a family friend who works for Lifeline Children's Services in Birmingham, AL.
June 24, 2011: Turned in application to Lifeline
July 2011: Approved and began home study paperwork
August 2011: Fingerprinted and went to open adoption seminar
September 2011: 1st home study visit (We traveled to Nashville)
October 2011: 2nd home study visit (She came to our house.)
November 2011: Started getting overwhelmed and felt we would never finish. Paid for home study and finished up all the necessary paperwork for both agencies...bi racial questionnaire, desire of child form, etc...
Started working on our profile. Found a really good deal on photo books on Shutterfly so worked diligently to finish before the deal ended!!
November 29: Amy looked over our profile, we made a few changes and ordered the next day!
November 30: Profile books ordered
December 7: Profile books arrive at Lifeline
December 8: Sent last profile fee check (When this arrives we will officially become a "waiting" family)
December 9- We receive a phone call from Allen's Mom about a potential birth mother who is willing to let us adopt her baby. We don't hear back from them for over a month. This was a very stressful time for me. 
During this time we did receive word of 2 possible birth mother profiles through our agency that we could look at and decide if we wanted our profile shared. Both were very discouraging to us and we felt so torn. :( However looking back now, I know God was preparing our hearts for this blessing :)
Jan 25- We got a phone call from Allen's mom stating that she had spoken to the BM's mom and that she was still very interested in the adoption and that she may have the baby sooner than March 1st!! We started preparing for a baby at this point. I lined up a sub and got all the necessary paperwork filled out just to be on the safe side. (We literally had just finished painting the nursery the weekend before :)
Jan 30- Found out about the doctor's appt scheduled for the next week. BM wants us to come and meet her
Feb 6- Doctor's appt where we got to meet BM and see our little girl for the first time!!
Dr scheduled a follow up visit for that Thursday to check everything.
Feb 9- On our way to the doctor's appt Allen got a phone call from BM's mother saying she was not going to the Dr visit. We weren't told why and we began to worry :( She re scheduled for the next morning but was unsure if she would show up for that one either.
Feb 10- Allen talked to the mom again and said she couldn't get a hold of BM by phone and she wasn't answering the door. She feared her boyfriend was back in the picture and that was why she was avoiding her. We were devastated. I spent all day at school trying not to worry, but I feared the worst and was just certain we were going to lose this baby. (What we didn't know at the time was that our precious baby girl was born at 10:22 a.m.)
Feb 10- 10:30 PM While at a friend's house playing Xbox and eating pizza, Allen receives a phone call from the BM's mother saying that the baby had been born, that she was in the NICU because drugs were found in her system, and that the social worker wanted us to call her. Allen calls the social worker and our journey begins. That night we pray fervently that God protect this baby and our hearts!!
Feb 11- The morning started out horribly as I feared the situation wasn't one in which we should venture down. Allen comes home and says we can go the hospital to meet our daughter. We get ready and head over to the hospital. After figuring out who we were, the NICU nurses let us back and we set eyes on our daughter for the very first time ...

 Feb 20- Delaney is discharged from the hospital and we take our baby girl home :)
March 10- Tomorrow our little angel will be a month old!!

I don't know why I ever doubted God's plan or His timing!! We  knew He had a much bigger plan than us and it has been more than we ever dreamed possible.And now that we can see some of the plan, it's neat to go back and look at how He was working even when we didn't know it.... Like for example, we started the adoption process in June, when she was conceived. We spent 9 months from the time of starting the process till her birth, waiting, just like a normal pregnancy. Isn't that neat how God works all of that out??

I know that our story is far from complete, but I do know that God answered our prayers...We prayed for 3 1/2 years for him to bless us with a child, and we now have that blessing. God is so good!!

Sweet Delaney Jane

I hope everyone has had a great week! We have enjoyed spending time with this precious little girl :) Today was her first day completely off of the Phenobarbital. She has done great! She was on such a low dosage the last few days anyway, that I don't think we'll be able to tell anything :)

Sunday afternoon we ran to return a few things to Babie R Us & Target (again :) We took turns going in again!! While we were out there my sister sent a message saying they were driving through Knoxville. I called her and it just so happened that they weren't far from where we were at! For those who don't know, she is a recording artist. Her and a guy named David Leonard started a group called All Sons & Daughters and they are currently touring with Chris Tomlin in Canada!! So she will be gone pretty much the whole month of March. We were able to stop and hang out for a bit and she was so excited to get to see Delaney again. She loves this little dollbaby :)

Monday we just hung out around the house. I am slowly but surely working on getting birth announcements and thank you cards sent out!! I really can't stand to not have that done :( Monday afternoon Pam & Bekah came by! They hadn't seen Delaney since the day she came home from the hospital!! Pam was SOOO excited to finally hold this sweet little girl. She has been praying for years for us to have a baby because she wants so badly to babysit ;) HA!!

Monday evening some sweet friends from school stopped by and brought us dinner! The Meal Train thing is incredible and we have had so many people help out :) We have eaten some incredible meals!! I don't wanna go back to cooking!! HA!!

Debbie & Jessica have been friends of mine since my internship year! They were so excited to meet Delaney :) Jessica brought her 3 sweet girls!!

Yesterday we had a pretty low key day. Our sweet friends The Hardy's bought Delaney a Phillies outfit and wanted to bring it by. We will definitely be cheering the Phillies on together this Fall!

Cameron wasn't too sure about his Mommy holding another baby :) Love this face!!!

After they left we decided to venture out to eat! I know we shouldn't have her out in public yet, but I really wanted to take her somewhere small and not very busy. Joel & Kendra and Tina, Shane & Izzy met us to eat Mexican :) It's our favorite place to go!!

Kendra LOVES to hold her :)

Tina, Izzy, Kendra & Delaney

Memaw, Papaw & their girls :)

I had to share these pictures with you! Delaney was wide awake for quite a while yesterday, so I decided to take a few pics ;) She is such a cutie!

This one is so sweet with her hands on her little belly :)

LOVE the b&w :)

Check out her silver shoes!!!

Delaney continues to grow and change everyday! We feel so blessed that God has given us this precious gift. We are so glad He chose us to be Delaney's parents! We hope all of the legal stuff works out and that she will "officially" be a Goins very soon. Thank you all so much for all of the prayers and encouragement! We have just been overwhelmed by all of the love everyone has shown us the past month!! Stayed tuned later this week for Delaney's one month update! I can't wait to take her picture and chart her growth/progress :)