Welcome Home Pictures (from the airport) Aug. 1st, 2008

Hey everybody, I am glad you all are here to meet me!

So this is my Great Grandma that Mommy kept telling me about. Here is my cousin, Lyndsey, and Aunt Tammy with welcome signs and flowers for me and Mommy. I know what to do when you all get all those cameras out!

Ok, so this is a little late in coming. It is only 2 weeks late, ha! ha! I am a busy new mom, what can I say? We arrived about 6:48 p.m. in Louisville on August 1st. If you read the previous post you know about all the fun we had the night before and our delay in Atlanta. I was so glad to finally be home and for everyone to meet Arabella. Since I had been out of the country for 2 months in Guatemala with Bella, I was even more ready to get home. We were coming down a long corridor and I could see my family and friends in the distance, and I got overwhelmed with emotions. We had to go around a little corner before we reached them and I stopped to pull myself together. They all had huge smiles, flowers, signs, stuffed animals, and various other goodies for Bella and us. It was wonderful!

Since I had been gone for 2 months, I was so happy to see all my family. We visited at the airport for a while, then we went to get a quick bite to eat together before heading home. Everyone had a great time getting to know Bella, and she even let a few people hold her.

It didn't go so well on the way home in the car; she didn't like riding in the carseat. She only rode in one part of the time in Guatemala; most babies don't there. It isn't law and most people can't afford them. She is doing much better riding in it now.

We got home after dark, but we had a yard full of pink flamingos with pink bows. Our mailbox had balloons on it, as did the chair on our front porch. There were "Welcome Home" and "It's a Girl" signs on the front door, too. Finally when we got in the house, there were balloons, streamers, and signs all over the place. I was so relieved to finally be in my own house after 2 months and especially because Bella was with me. We gave Bella the tour of the house. She loved her room; she rolled around and kept rubbing her feet on the fluffy rug in there. I sat down in the glider with Bella on my lap in her room, and the tears started flowing. I have waited so many years to be a mom and for this nursery to actually have a baby occupying it. So much of the time during infertility treatments and the adoption process you feel like you are limbo. Even after you begin the adoption process, you feel like you are planning for a make-believe child. Not until they are yours and home does it all feel truly real.

We are adjusting to life with a busy girl, who is trying to walk and into everything!

In the next post I will tell you about our first baby shower and then her birthday party.

Thanks for going along on this journey with us!

Love and blessings,

Tonya