We're still a bit in shock, but we are so happy to have both of our beautiful boys home safe and sound! Announcing the arrival (8 weeks late) of Hunter Scott McNiven, born on June 23rd in Arkansas. He was officially ours on June 30th and became part of our forever family on August 8th in the Rexburg LDS temple.
Way back last fall, shortly after we were matched with Isaac's birth parents, we received a very surprising message. It was from the birth parents we were originally matched with, who miscarried earlier in the year. The birth mother was pregnant again, and they really wanted us to be the adoptive parents. We were totally unprepared for this news, and didn't know what to say. My immediate reaction was "of course we will!", but this was a huge decision and needed to be carefully considered. The biggest question was finances. We were financially prepared for one adoption, but this wasn't exactly a "buy one get one free" kind of situation. After much prayer and fasting, Tyler and I decided to move forward with both adoptions. If it was meant to be, somehow everything would work out.
Once we made the decision to do both adoptions we started our adoption fundraiser. The fundraiser was such a blessing and helped us tremendously, but we still didn't come anywhere close to our needed amount. To this day I still do not know how we made it all work. Somehow the money was there when we needed it. We had little miracles here and there that gradually added up. I've heard people tell tithing and fast offering stories before, how after paying a generous fast offering or faithfully paying tithing somehow the money was there. That is truly what happened to us. This also helped us to know that these babies were meant to join our family.
Keeping Hunter's upcoming arrival was a much easier secret than Isaac's. Once Isaac came, no one asked us about future adoption plans, so we quietly prepared for another baby. When we found out that we would be having two little boys we were absolutely thrilled. Not only were we fully stocked with baby boy clothes, but we loved the idea of these two little ones growing up together, two peas in a pod.
As stressful as Isaac's arrival was, Hunter's adoption was so smooth. His due date was July 6th, but the evening of June 22nd we received a message that our birth mom's water broke and she was in labor. We were not expecting it because it was a few weeks early, and since we had just returned from camping for a week we weren't prepared at all! We quickly threw our suitcases together, tearfully dropped Isaac off at my parents' house, and at midnight started driving to Salt Lake to catch our flight. Since our travel was so last minute we had to take different flights, and the only available flight for me was a 1st class seat. Nice and cushy, but definitely not worth the extra money! We were both on our layover at 9:40 AM when Hunter was born, and we got to the hospital at around 1:00 that afternoon. Isaac was almost two days old when we saw him for the first time, so it was exciting to see Hunter at only a few hours old. His delivery was almost 12 hours long, so he was pretty swollen and bruised. We called him our little Chinese potato! We had a lovely afternoon with Hunter's birth family. They are such wonderful people. Hunter's birth father speaks English fluently so we felt like we were able to get to know them pretty well. Hunter and his birth mom were discharged the next day, and we spent the next week hanging out in the Bentonville area waiting for our court date. We were able to meet up with the birth family two more times, and we were truly sad to leave them. Our court appearance went so smoothly, and then we were on our way home! I was so homesick for Isaac I couldn't be more anxious to get home. We Skyped my mom a few times, but every time I just started crying when I saw Isaac because I missed him so much. It didn't help that Isaac was teething the whole week we were gone, so he was pretty miserable.
So that's basically the story! Hunter is a bit of a tender soul, but he really is a sweety. He was a super slow eater at first, but once we figured out that his stomach is more tender we switched formulas and he's doing much better. Life is so crazy with two babies! It's really hard to say if it's easier or harder than having twins. They are very different developmentally, but they are still completely dependent on us so it is very busy all of the time. Isaac started rolling over the week after we got back, and he's about to get his third tooth! He knows he's a big brother and is in a hurry to grow up. He also likes to hold his own bottle. :) Isaac loves watching Hunter and always holds his hand. I am so excited to watch these two grow up together. Our lives are crazy but so full of love and happiness. :)
Our awesome birth family.
Mama and baby's first meeting. Love at first sight.
Chinese potato! He changed so much in those first few days.
This kid had even more hair than Isaac did! It hasn't fallen out yet, but Isaac's fell out at around 2 months so I'm preparing myself. :)
It's official! Our judge was so sweet. We had such a great experience with her.
While we were hanging out in Arkansas we had a friend take a few newborn pictures.
Last night before going home! We made sure to pack the important things. :)
First picture as a family of four. It was such a sweet reunion with Isaac! I couldn't believe how big he seemed after being with a newborn all week.
Isaac has turned into such a clown. He smiles like this all the time. He has such a fun personality! Also, I love baby chubs. :)
Five months and five weeks
Finally started to smile last week!
Bedtime routine with dad
Life is good. :)
