Part 3 - WELCOME HOME!

Andrew slept for most of the way home in the car. And after a not-so-quick stop at the service plaza to eat a late (and much needed lunch), we finally arrived home around 4pm.

I went into the house first. The plan was that I would say hi to AJ and my mom and dad and then get them to go to the door to see Jay enter with baby Drew while I videotape their reactions. This wouldn't be a problem bc AJ loves to jump out and say "BOO!" to anyone that comes into that door. So I went into our house and AJ and Nana were playing in the basement. Papa must be sleeping on the couch in the other room.

AJ was so happy to see me and ran over to give me a big hug. Nana then asked "Where's Jay?". I simply replied "Oh he had to get something out of the car." Little did she know that "something" was her newest grandson....and AJ's lil brother.

As Jay walked in carrying the car seat with a sleeping Drew, I started rolling the video camera. My mom sorta casually looked at the car seat, alittle confused. Looked back at me. And back at the car seat. And then BAM, it hit her - OUR NEW BABY! At that moment she looked directly into the video camera with this look of total shock - mouth and eyes wide open and frozen. I swear she kept that expression for a good 30 seconds straight. Then her voice got all cracky and she quickly and jokingly scolded me for in fact not being with Sarah all day. Haha!

We then introduced AJ to Drew and quickly gave him the Build-A Bear Dinosaur I made a few weeks back as a gift from AJ's future sibling to him. He, of course, loved it!

Then we moved on to the living room where my dad was sleeping on the couch. We simply placed the car seat on the floor next to the couch and let him figure it out. Before he could, my mom said "They got a baby!" Papa literally fell off the couch onto one leg on the floor!

Onto my grandmother - my dad already had plans to pick up Granny to take her shopping so I suggested he pick her up and bring her to our house first. I wanted to take advantage of as many in person surprises as possible - I mean, c'mon - how often does someone get to surprise their family with a baby?!

So Papa went and got Granny and we again videotaped the reaction. Granny put her hand over her mouth, gasping "OH" about 20 times as she entered the living room and saw my mom holding Drew.

PRICELESS.

The rest of the evening was spent trying to make clever phone calls to the rest of our family members. For instance, Jay called his mom and asked her if she could babysit AJ and Andrew that night. Haha. Grandma Sharon came to meet her newest grandson that night, too. We planned to surprise Jay's dad and step-mom by skyping them that night and just showing them Drew, but since their skype wasn't working, Jay told them on the phone. Then later that night we skyped and introduced them to Drew.

AJ reacted really well to his new brother's arrival. But that first night he preferred to admire him from afar, or when he thought we weren't looking. I managed to get a few pictures of those moments.

The next couple of days were filled with more introductions and visits from family and friends. We feel so blessed to have 2 beautiful sons and to have gained them through the miracle of adoption. This is not the end of our family story, but it is the end of our recent trilogy ;-) Thanks for staying tuned and celebrating in our recent addition!