Samara in the hospital

I haven't had a chance to mention that Samara was in the Hospital 2 weeks ago. She had a high fever so my doctors office told me to take her to the ER. I rushed out of the house with her at 1am and left my phone. After lots of test to make sure it wasn't anything too serious, and an IV in her head they transferred us downtown by ambulance and admitted us. It was 5am at this point and I could not get ahold of Ethan!!! He was dead asleep and I didn't know anyone else's number. I felt so lost without my cell phone. I think I am going to memorize some other people's phone numbers. Anyway it turned out that Samara was fine.........she did have a high heart rate for a couple of days and a fever.......but nothing too serious. Being stuck in a hospital for 2 days was very humbling........I can't imagine having to deal with a truly sick child or even family member. I was so stressed dealing with the ER docs and all the test the wanted to do on my sweet baby............I can't imagine dealing with those things on a daily basis. I had a much better experience with the hospital this time..............but I was much more vocal about what I expected too. Anyway I am so glad we were not stuck in the hospital too long and that we were all well enough to finalize her adoption later that week.

Samara's sealing and blessing

Its official, Samara is legally our daughter! We Finalized the adoption on November 18th (more to come on this). Then we took her to the temple on Saturday November 26th. The Boise Idaho Temple is closed so we drove 2 hours to Twin Falls. My Parents, Ethan's parents and Ethan's sis came. The temple experience was very spiritual. One of the best parts of adopting is taking your newly adopted baby to be sealed to you for all eternity. Silas was able to attend, and really kept us on our toes. Silas hates surprises so I made sure to prepare him for the day by telling him step by step every minor detail of what would happen. I am sure you can see where this is going. When we got to the Temple we took the kids to the nursery to be watched while Ethan and I changed into white clothes. No problem there....Silas did great, everything was going according to plan. Then the kids joined us in the Sealing room and as soon as I saw Silas I could tell he was ANGRY about something. Silas quickly hid behind the bench Ethan and I were sitting on and would not come out. I crawled onto the floor behind our bench to try and talk to Silas, the women that brought him up told me he was mad that they had him take his shoes off. I felt so bad that I forgot to discuss that part with Silas. Every temple is a little different though they either have you put white protective covers on your shoes or have you take them off and I completely forgot to tell Silas! I know my child and he does not like to have things sprung on him.......he gets mad if I take different streets on the way to his preschool. I told him I was so sorry for forgetting and pointed out that no one had shoes on. It still was not enough to make him feel better.......he wouldn't let me touch him and he only does that when he is very upset.  Finally after what seemed like forever the Sealer asked one of the nursery Women to go get his shoes. Once Silas had his shoes on he was Happy!!! Woohoo! After the temple sealing we went outside to take pictures. Silas was very busy running around and did not want to get in the pictures. We are very lucky that we got a few with him.

Samara did great at the temple. When we walked in my hands were so full with multiple bags and Samara so I handed Samara off to my Temple escort. Samara loved this women and instantly started talking to her, she was cooing and smiling. I have to say everyone that was watching this was almost in tears..........it was just so sweet.

Ethan's side of the Family

My Parents

These pics are from Samara's blessing day. We blessed her in church on Sunday November 27. She had CRAZY hair that day. I couldn't get it to lay down!!!! I can't believe how fast Samara is growing. She is such a sweet happy baby. She loves to smile at everyone. She tries hard to talk.....it is so cute to watch her work hard to move her lips and push sounds out.

I almost forgot to mention the best part of our trip to Twin. On the way home Ethan drove the first half and was having a hard time staying awake so he asked me to drive the rest of the way. I was feeling really tired myself and decided I would call and chat with a friend to try and stay awake. I left the gas station that we had stopped at.......I called my friend.................and looked at the highway signs carefully to make sure I got on the right way. I drove and chatted away for 30mins paying zero attention to the signs around me. Ethan woke up and instantly said pull over you are going to wrong way. I laughed at him thinking "wow he is soooo delirious". I told me friend I had to go, and instantly told Ethan he was wrong. Well friends he was right.....I had driven 30mins in the wrong direction!!!! I couldn't stop laughing about what I had done........Ethan on the other hand was so tired and was not able to see the humor in the situation. Don't worry though........he does now. Well atleast he did till I locked Samara, my phone, and car keys in the car at a gas station today. Thankfully Ethan was able to leave work and come over and bail me out. He had a very worried look on his face today though and said "Em are you ............ok" really slowly. LOL. I am fine............just extra ditsy right now I guess.