A night at Fiesta Fun

Grandma & Grandpa Reid took all their grandkids to Fiesta Fun for the evening. Hunter was so excited that he woke up very early that morning. I told him that he had to take a nap and he said that was fine because if he took a nap then it would be closer to the time we got to go to Fiesta Fun.



Hunter, Grace & mom went on the bumper boats. The kids had fun spraying their cousins, uncles, and grandpa. It was a nice way to cool off in the 107 degree heat!

Hunter making silly faces with his cousins.

Hunter and Grace with Grandma

Grace looking gorgeous

Steven is finally home.

Hunter holding Steven right before we left the hospital. Hunter is so in love with his new baby brother. He has already taught Steven how to color & has read an animal book to him. Grace thinks he is pretty fun too. Bruce and I are a little scared to have to learn how to juggle three kids. Good thing Bruce is taking all of next week off of work to help!

Steven looks so cute without all his wires and tubes. We are all in love with our little babe!

Family picture

Goofy shot!

Steven's first diaper change at home.

There is an end in sight.

Every day this week just got better and better at the hospital. Yesterday I walked in around 1:30pm and Steven's feeding tube was taken out. Apparently he took it upon himself to get rid of it earlier that morning (he did the same thing with his air and IV). So, since his tube was gone they said he could bottle feed every feeding and he was doing great!

I was at the hospital yesterday from 1:30pm to 11:30pm (with a two hour break for dinner). It was a long day but I got a fairly comfortable chair this time and I got to feed Steven three times. If he continues to eat well today he gets to come home tomorrow!!!! That's about five days earlier than we were expecting.

I did have two visits while I was there. My caseworker Katherine happened to be upstairs when I called her so she came down for a visit and later that night my sister-in-law Jen came to visit. It was nice to have some company.

A great day!

To start off our great day, Steven ate two full bottles!!! Yea! We are making some progress.

Steven's birth mom Tawni came to the hospital along with her grandparents, aunt, and sister. We had a good visit. It was so nice to get to meet them all. Tawni has a great family.

Steven with his biological grandparents Ed & Alice. Alice gave us a blanket, booties, and a hat that she made for Steven. Ed & Alice are both so sweet!

I thought May was crazy!

I would have never thought that the month of June would be busier than May! Trying to keep up with Hunter and Grace at home and spend time with Steven is really wearing me out. Luckily I have great friends, family & neighbors who have been helping us out. It's very humbling to be receiving all this help.

Steven has his air tubes back in his nose. :-( His doctor said that he is really healthy but in order to bring him home he has to be breathing without help and eating from his bottle eight times a day. We have a long way to go! The nurse last night told Bruce that his guess would be that Steven won't come home for another week and a half. We are so lucky that this was a local adoption!

a family visit

We took the kids to visit with Steven on Thursday night. Grace held him for a few minutes and she seemed a little freaked out about the tube in his nose. Hunter held him for about ten minutes and he loved every minute. Hunter loved that he could meet his new little brother. It was good for the kids to finally meet Steven and have him become a reality for them.

What a happy big brother!

sleepy little guy

Ten tiny toes

I had a good visit holding Steven at the hospital this morning. We got to cuddle and I sang to him. Despite my horrible singing voice, he seemed to enjoy it.

All snuggled up and content in my arms.

A Good day

So I just got back to from the hospital and Steven is doing so much better. He is down to just a feeding tube, which he only needs about half of the time (the other half he has been bottle feeding). He is starting to bottle feed but still is trying to get the hand of it. From what the nurse said today his pneumonia is gone, so that is great!

I keep forgetting to bring the camera and today would have been a good day to get pictures because he looks so much better and was awake a lot. I'll try to remember it tomorrow.

upadte on Steven

So I got to get Steven's medical information today. He has pneumonia and is on antibiotics for the next five days, but other than that he is progressing a little each day. I got to hold him for about and hour and a half. Bruce and I are on our way to see him in a few minutes. It's hard for me to find a balance between home and the hospital. I'm a little stressed out, but luckily I have good family and friends who are willing to help out.

Baby Steven is ours!

Steven Paul Baer
DOB - June 6, 2008
5 pounds 7 ounces

We signed papers today! We went to the hospital this morning. After our birth mom signed her papers, we signed ours. So now the adoption is official. Steven is in the NICU and we have no idea how long he will be in there for. He seems pretty healthy for being 6 weeks early but we won't know his medical state until tomorrow.

At the hospital Bruce and I got to hold him for about an hour each. He seemed so content in our arms...like he knew that he was loved by us. Steven cried once but most the time he would just sleep or make this little baby lamb noise. It was so cute.

Steven was born!!!!

I can't believe it! We got a phone call this morning from our caseworker telling us that our new baby Steven was born last night. We aren't sure what time he was born, so we don't know if it was June 6 or 7. He was five pounds 7 ounces and the last we heard he and the birth mom were doing well. Tawni, (the birth mom) had to have an emergency c-section. Steven is about six weeks early, so we are happy to hear that he is doing well.

We should be having placement as early as tomorrow, but most likely not until Monday. :-)

Hunter with his birth mom Kristi. He had such a great time being the center of attention!



Hunter blowing out 4 big candles! He had a dinosaur party with lots of his friends.

Crazy Month of May

Grace's 2nd birthday party. Eating cake with her cousin Brooklyn.

Grace and her birth mom Alexandra.


We had the busiest but fun month during May. Grace, Hunter and Bruce had birthdays. We had Grace's birth mom and her mom come for a visit. Hunter's birth mom came for a visit. Bruce's parents came for a visit and there was Mother's Day. Good stuff...just busy. Luckily I can breath a little in June, but then in July our new baby is due...so there goes being busy again!

Trying this out!

OK, so I thought I would jump on the blogging bandwagon. We'll see how this goes.