Little Tidbits about Amaya

1. You pronounce her name "Ah-my-ah", not "Ah- May-a"

2 Amaya's birthmom is from Bolivia and the birthfather is from Mexico, so she is our little Latina beauty.

3. Amaya's name came from part of her heritage. Birthmom actually belongs to the indigenous Aymara tribe that lives at the base of the Andes Mountains in Bolivia. We looked up Aymara names and loved the name Amaya and thought it would be a great way to honor her heritage.

4. When I first found out our birthmom was in labor, I immediately called Jon at work and loudly and excitedly told him, "She's in labor! She's in labor!". Isaac came racing out of his room where he was playing and with a panicked look on his face yelled, "What does that mean?? What does that mean?? MOM, what does that MEAN?!!" Poor kid. He knew it had to do with his little sister. He just didn't know what the word 'labor' meant and I can't imagine where his mind went trying to figure that out.

5. She shares the same middle name as her grandma, D'ann.

6. She is SUCH an easy going baby. Isaac was so easy going too. How did we get so lucky? And by writing that, did I just now jinx myself?

7. We had been telling Isaac all the things he could do as a big brother, such as feeding her, burping her, rocking her, etc. During the first hour of her life, Isaac did all of those things, and he was very insistent about it. As we drove away from the hospital after that first visit, he asked, "NOW am I a big brother?" Even though we had already told him he was a big brother, we think in his mind he didn't think he was officially one until he did all of those big brother things. So cute.

8. We're having fun using the word "kids" as often as we can since we have never been able to use the term before.

9. Jon calls Amaya his princess and I LOVE that.

10. He used to refer to me as princess, but on the way home from Utah he told me I had been upgraded to "Queen" since Amaya was now the princess. Then on second thought, he demoted me to Princess 2 (P2). Amaya is, of course, Princess 1 (P1).

11. Lots of people ask how long it took us to get Amaya from the moment we were approved. In all honesty, it only took about 2 1/2-3 months from the time we were actually approved to the time our birthmom first contacted us, but really this feels like a three year journey for me. It was three years ago that I was told my ovaries had failed and I would probably never get pregnant again. From that point I have definitely been very emotionally and physically tested as I've tried to find balance in my life and body once again. I had to emotionally heal from the scar of infertility, and then we had lots of paperwork, appointments, interviews ahead of us as we started down the road of adoption, which took us about a year to complete due to a few hangups. There were so many times I wondered if things would really work out. Would we ever meet the next member of our family and when?? And would Heavenly Father really TRULY guide our adoption? I know that sounds so silly, but there were definitely times I wondered if He knew about my aching heart.

Well, of course..duh, He did know and not only that, when the time came for us, He orchestrated it all so seamlessly that both Jon and I have just...well, marveled really...at how it's all fallen so perfectly into place and how many details and commonalities we share with our birth family are so much more than coincidences. It is so apparent to us that she's supposed to be with us and we're supposed to be with her. Anyway, bottom line for me: My prayer was answered. Maybe not as soon as I wanted or how I initially wanted, but it turned out better than I had imagined. I'm sure that was part of His plan all along.

Well, anyway, we're back home now. Amaya and Isaac are both adjusting really well. Isaac is such a great big brother and loves to rub her head and say, "Hi Amaya" in a sing-songy voice. It's cute, but hard to describe through writing. Last night he was in the rocking chair holding her and I looked over to see him bent over whispering secrets in her ear. It was a good teary momma moment, for sure. I am so happy.