The email I sent announcing we were home from Haiti... Some of you might remember receiving this on February 7, 2005?!
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 11:14:47 AM EST
From: Heather
To: [Do not show addresses - 62 recipients]
Subject: Home from Haiti!
All,
Kyle and Owen are home! They are the most adorable, beautiful, lovable babies imaginable!! We are all four head over heels for each other. When we arrived at the orphanage and held them for the first time Kyle and Owen snuggled up close, looked us in the eyes, and their attitude was basically, "what the heck took you guys so long?! Let's get 'outta here!" On the drive from the orphanage to the hotel (only a 5 minute ride) Kyle fell instantly asleep in my lap (despite that it was one of the only times he had ever left the orphanage) and Owen cuddled up close to his Papa. At the hotel they had their first bath and got fed good formula and got to wear cozy comfortable clothes. Slowly they started to smile and have a light in their eyes. Each day since they come more and more alive. They now like to snuggle all day long, they can play with toys (just a few!--more than a couple will completely overwhelm them!), they both smile a LOT, they gurgle and babble, and they love to eat eat eat eat eat. On Wednesday Owen cried for the first time. On Saturday morning, once we were home, Kyle cried for the first time at about 10am ... and then later laughed for the first time that same afternoon. They now laugh all the time, especially when they're eating! They are sweet, sweet boys. You are all gonna love 'em!
I could go on and on and on about their amazing personalities and incredibly resilient selves, but I am running on about 2-3 hours sleep per night and I can barely email. Braydon and I are 100% co-parenting these twins (Owen has a strong preference for his papa, Kyle has a strong preference for his mama), and we feel so great about our new life with our babies. Our trip to Haiti was intense (to say the least) -- the most intense travel experience of our lives... To say that Kyle and Owen were real troopers is quite an understatement. We dealt with some pretty crazy situations while we were there (lots of stories for when we can see you in person!) The country is impossible to imagine until you've been there. Our hearts are just sick about the state of the situation there, and thinking of the orphanage experience our boys were in (and the millions of others are in) makes me cry now -- sometimes several times a day. As we're starting to really bond with them, thinking of what Kyle and Owen have gone through is very hard, but being with them is very easy. We have two Haitian-Americans here with us now who we're sure will heal well and will have every opportunity we can possibly provide them. We feel blessed. Doubly blessed! They are just amazing, incredible little guys. And they are truly the happiest little babies you could ever, ever, ever imagine. [You'll see for yourself soon enough hopefully!] Their only fears seem to be that they will run out of food (major issues re: food for them), or that we will leave them (or someone else will take them away). Kyle loves the bath. Owen loves standing up and working on his walking. They both love snuggles and kisses and the more affection the better! They also have an incredible connection to each other which is just amazing to witness. Tomorrow we will go to the doctor to have lots of tests done and we'll make sure our boys are on the right track to get as healthy as can be.
So, as I said, I could go on and on but I really am blurry-minded and need to log off. I just want you to know our adoption is complete and we're all safe and deliriously happy. I also want to tell you how much we appreciate your thoughts and support-- we want to show off our boys (!), see you, talk to you, email with you but right now we're totally consumed with getting these babies adjusted and on track. So-- for those of you who can visit us----- for the time being, please hold off on visiting us -- I will let you know when Kyle and Owen are ready for some company. My parents are coming for a couple days this week (we need help with laundry and dishes and coffee making!!), and we'll see how that goes with the boys. If all goes well we'll hope to start welcoming visitors next week or the week after. In the meantime, we're doing INTENSIVE bonding here, working on our attachment to each other, and focusing on a lot of understanding about what a home is, what a family is, what parents are, what love is. We're trying to respect our boys' experience and do what is best for them right now. We know you can understand that.
This is absolutely the best thing we could possibly do with our lives. We're thinking of you and we can't wait for you to meet our new additions!
Love, Heather (and Braydon!)
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Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 11:14:47 AM EST
From: Heather
To: [Do not show addresses - 62 recipients]
Subject: Home from Haiti!
All,
Kyle and Owen are home! They are the most adorable, beautiful, lovable babies imaginable!! We are all four head over heels for each other. When we arrived at the orphanage and held them for the first time Kyle and Owen snuggled up close, looked us in the eyes, and their attitude was basically, "what the heck took you guys so long?! Let's get 'outta here!" On the drive from the orphanage to the hotel (only a 5 minute ride) Kyle fell instantly asleep in my lap (despite that it was one of the only times he had ever left the orphanage) and Owen cuddled up close to his Papa. At the hotel they had their first bath and got fed good formula and got to wear cozy comfortable clothes. Slowly they started to smile and have a light in their eyes. Each day since they come more and more alive. They now like to snuggle all day long, they can play with toys (just a few!--more than a couple will completely overwhelm them!), they both smile a LOT, they gurgle and babble, and they love to eat eat eat eat eat. On Wednesday Owen cried for the first time. On Saturday morning, once we were home, Kyle cried for the first time at about 10am ... and then later laughed for the first time that same afternoon. They now laugh all the time, especially when they're eating! They are sweet, sweet boys. You are all gonna love 'em!
I could go on and on and on about their amazing personalities and incredibly resilient selves, but I am running on about 2-3 hours sleep per night and I can barely email. Braydon and I are 100% co-parenting these twins (Owen has a strong preference for his papa, Kyle has a strong preference for his mama), and we feel so great about our new life with our babies. Our trip to Haiti was intense (to say the least) -- the most intense travel experience of our lives... To say that Kyle and Owen were real troopers is quite an understatement. We dealt with some pretty crazy situations while we were there (lots of stories for when we can see you in person!) The country is impossible to imagine until you've been there. Our hearts are just sick about the state of the situation there, and thinking of the orphanage experience our boys were in (and the millions of others are in) makes me cry now -- sometimes several times a day. As we're starting to really bond with them, thinking of what Kyle and Owen have gone through is very hard, but being with them is very easy. We have two Haitian-Americans here with us now who we're sure will heal well and will have every opportunity we can possibly provide them. We feel blessed. Doubly blessed! They are just amazing, incredible little guys. And they are truly the happiest little babies you could ever, ever, ever imagine. [You'll see for yourself soon enough hopefully!] Their only fears seem to be that they will run out of food (major issues re: food for them), or that we will leave them (or someone else will take them away). Kyle loves the bath. Owen loves standing up and working on his walking. They both love snuggles and kisses and the more affection the better! They also have an incredible connection to each other which is just amazing to witness. Tomorrow we will go to the doctor to have lots of tests done and we'll make sure our boys are on the right track to get as healthy as can be.
So, as I said, I could go on and on but I really am blurry-minded and need to log off. I just want you to know our adoption is complete and we're all safe and deliriously happy. I also want to tell you how much we appreciate your thoughts and support-- we want to show off our boys (!), see you, talk to you, email with you but right now we're totally consumed with getting these babies adjusted and on track. So-- for those of you who can visit us----- for the time being, please hold off on visiting us -- I will let you know when Kyle and Owen are ready for some company. My parents are coming for a couple days this week (we need help with laundry and dishes and coffee making!!), and we'll see how that goes with the boys. If all goes well we'll hope to start welcoming visitors next week or the week after. In the meantime, we're doing INTENSIVE bonding here, working on our attachment to each other, and focusing on a lot of understanding about what a home is, what a family is, what parents are, what love is. We're trying to respect our boys' experience and do what is best for them right now. We know you can understand that.
This is absolutely the best thing we could possibly do with our lives. We're thinking of you and we can't wait for you to meet our new additions!
Love, Heather (and Braydon!)
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