8 months

Kylea, you are 8 months old!! We are so incredibly blessed to have you in our family :) What an amazing story...your daddy and I have adopted biological sisters! The Lord had a great plan for you and Delaney and we are so glad we are part of it!! We gained custody of you on September 14, and you were 8 months on September 18. Obviously we've only gotten to know you the past few days, but here is what we know about you already...

You are a great eater!! You will eat all kinds of fruits and veggies, yogurt, and some table food. We haven't introduced meats yet. You take a bottle about 4 times a day anywhere between 4-5 oz. You can hold your own bottle which is great for car rides!!

We think you weigh around 22 lbs and we aren't sure on length. You are wearing 12-18 month clothes, a size 4 diaper, and between a 2 1/2-3 size shoe. You have just the slightest bit of hair on your head :) You love bath time and meal time!! You didn't like the car very much at first but you've done pretty well. You either fall asleep or watch Delaney intently!!

 Your sleep schedule varies, but right now we are putting you to bed around 8:30 and you wake up about 6, but go back to sleep until 8 or 9 in our bed! You have slept the past 3 nights all night in your pack n play!! YIPPEE :) We are hoping to transition you to your crib very soon. We just wanted to take it slow so you didn't feel anxious. You aren't the best napper right now. You would rather me hold you instead of sleeping in your pack n play. It looks like you will take a short nap in the morning, and a longer one in the afternoon.

You love watching Hank & Delaney and I can tell that you all will be best buddies. You are already pulling up and crawling and starting to cruise furniture. You can pick up small pieces of food and feed yourself, and also hold a sippy cup! You babble all the time! You have such a sweet raspy voice ;) You like listening to music and watching the world around you. You seem like a pretty laid back kid. Right now though, you are 100 % attached to me(which is a huge plus!!), but it makes it hard for me to leave the room. You have opened up to lots of people though :)

Last night Tanya brought dinner over and we got to visit with her and Harrison. After that your Auntie Amanda stopped by! She couldn't wait to squeeze you!! She loves her girls :)

 Today you got to meet your Pop!!! He was smitten from the first glance :) He loves his grandgirls! You are so blessed to have lots of loving grandparents who are going to spoil you rotten!

 You remind me a lot of Delaney in some ways, but are also very different! I compared your and Delaney's 8 month pics and I do see some similarities. You definitely look like sisters!!

We can't wait to see how you grow and change in the coming months!!

Sisters :)

Thank you so much for all of the prayers!! Everything has gone very smoothly! Saturday was such a great day :) D & I ran a few errands and then we all took long naps.

 My stomach was in knots all day just anxious about bringing home our new little one. My heart was and still is so heavy for the entire family..I couldn't imagine giving up a child, even if I knew it was the best thing for them. We were just so worried that it would be a tough night..We ended up going to Allen's parents house where Judy brought Kylea. We visited for a bit, talked about schedules etc.. and then had a quick goodbye. I held Kylea most of the time and she seemed to bond with me almost instantly!

We took a few pics of the girls in their big/little sister outfits and then headed home. Obviously, trying to get a family picture is going to be a little trickier now :) Poor Kylea hates the car seat and screamed all the way home :( I don't think Delaney knew what to think!!

Our first night was a little rough. She started out in her crib but only made it 45 minutes. Then she ended up sleeping with us. I DO NOT do well sleeping with little ones in bed :( But we knew that this was an adjustment and that she needed that security :)

  Sunday we all woke up and actually got ready and headed to church!

We got there in time to stop by for the end of Sunday School. We wanted everyone to meet Kylea. When we walked in they had all sorts of presents for us! Can I just say I LOVE our SS class.

They are some of my best friends and have been a HUGE encouragement through both of our adoptions. I couldn't imagine not having a church family to pray with and celebrate with :) They are bringing us dinner all week too! What an awesome blessing! Both girls made it through church, so we thought, why not go ahead and just immerse her in our Sunday lunch habits by taking her to Mexican!!?? So we did :) We love eating with our buddies The Blakney's & Slones!! Now we really are a crazy bunch with 5 kids ages 3 & under!! I am so glad God blessed these families in our life right now so we can raise our kiddos together :)

 Sunday afternoon Allen ran to the store and the girls napped. I got some one on one time with Kylea while D napped a little longer. She is such a sweet and happy baby. Right now she isn't happy if I'm out of her sight, which is understandable! It's a huge praise that she has already bonded with me so quickly :) And she loves her big sister and Hank!!

 Another ritual we have is our nightly walks! We bought a double stroller but don't have it yet so we just took the girls in separate strollers :) We are also so blessed to live in a beautiful neighborhood with incredible neighbors! They have all been anxiously awaiting Kylea's arrival and we were so excited to show her off! I am so glad we live in a place where our girls will grow up with lots of friends their age!

 Sunday night Kylea was up several times, but we did sleep some!
Yesterday was my first day home with them by myself. I was a little bit nervous, just because I wasn't sure how Delaney would do, and just getting schedules/eating/napping down was gonna be tricky. It went pretty well with only a few arguments(And I had to put D in time out once :).

 I did get K to nap in the pack n play which was a huge step! We played and ate and napped! Then I decided I wanted to take the girls on a walk in the wagon. It's on our front porch and I can't carry it down the steps and have both girls with me, so I ran outside real quick to take it off the porch, and when I got back up to open the door, I discover it was locked!!! Delaney was standing there looking at me with a big grin. I calmly looked at her and said, "Unlock the door for Mommy please..." She looked at me with a huge grin and shook her head no...Oh my word, what a rotten thing!! So I tried to get in(we do not have a spare key out on the porch, but now we will have something I guess!!) So after trying a few times I ran and got a neighbor. He tried using a credit card to get the door open but with no success!! At this point I'm flipping out:( Delaney is fine, Kylea is screaming, Hank is barking and I'm losing it. I finally tell my neighbor we need to call 911! So I call and tell them what's happened and they send somebody. Then I called Allen from the neighbor's phone(mine was locked inside the house) and told him what had happened and he hurried home! The fire dept came and tried to jimmy the lock too...still nothing!! At this point Delaney had come to the door several times, once asking me for some goldfish!! She clearly didn't think anything was wrong!! Poor Kylea just crawled back and forth in the hallway.. I felt so bad for her!! Eventually they did get the door open and I ran in and scooped both girls up in my arms, thanking God they were both ok!! Not a great mommy moment, and definitely not one I expected to have the FIRST day I have them alone:( But they are okay, so we can laugh about it now!!

We had a nice evening and another walk then I gave the girls baths separately while Allen entertained the other. Oh, the joys of establishing roles in this parenting 2 kids thing!! I put both girls to bed and finally sat down. A huge praise was that Kylea finally went to sleep in the pack n play in our bedroom and actually slept all night!! WOAH!! Huge :) She woke up a few times and made some noise, but was able to put herself back to sleep! I was amazed :) We will probably move her to her room this weekend. All in all it has been a great few days. We really didn't know what to expect and we still have lots of adjusting to do :) But Delaney has really become such a big girl in the last few days and is sweet(most of the time) to her sister and a huge help. I'm so glad I can still cuddle her like a baby at night though.

Allen had to go to work early this morning so I needed to take Delaney to her babysitters. I was a little unsure how I would get them both dressed, out the door, and in the car by myself, but I did it!!! They were so sweet in the car :) K sneezed a few times and D would look at her and say, "Shew, Kylea!" She's a hoot!! Her vocabulary is just expanding daily!! I know she's having a great time with Miss Cindy today and I'm enjoying some bonding time with sweet Kylea. My Momma is coming Friday and I cannot wait! Thanks again for all of the prayers! We are so blessed to have 2 precious little girls to call our own :) It's gonna be a crazy few years, but we know they will be the best of friends :)

Big News & 19 months old :)

For those of you who haven't heard the news....DELANEY IS A BIG SISTER!! Yes, that's right, she already has a sister :)

Kylea was born on January 18, just 11 months after sweet little Delaney Jane! Shew....anyways, we were contacted when she was born, but at the time, the birth mom was planning on raising her. For the past 7 months she has been in the grandparents & aunt's care, with occasional help from the birth mom. In May, the grandparents contacted us and asked if we would be interested in adoption. We of course said, "ABSOLUTELY!!" So, for the past 3 months it has been a back and forth, up and down, rollercoaster ride! We had to wait for the birth mom to have a few court dates and figure out what the rest of the family wanted to do. Meanwhile we just waited and prayed, and prepared a little at a time for the possibility of another little one joining our family. We painted our other bedroom in July(Thanks to my great friend and awesome paint partner, Emily Clawson) and started decorating (Thanks to my best buddy Amanda who seriously needs to design nurseries and coordinate birthday parties:). There were a few moments of uncertainty, but around the beginning of August, it definitely seemed like it was a go on both sides. We felt like it would happen quickly, but we were wrong. Week after week went on and it seemed like the communication wasn't happening. We couldn't get the right people in touch with each other and BOY was it frustrating!! Finally, on August 11, we got together with the grandparents, Aunt, and Kylea and got to meet her and they were able to meet Delaney for the first time! It was a wonderful night and we left there feeling pretty good about the whole situation.

We spent the next few weeks completely finishing the nursery, buying clothes, searching for double strollers and monitors, and praying fervently that Kylea would legally become ours soon. From the legal side of things, this scenario was a little different than Delaney's.

Obviously, we have had Delaney since she was born and we became her legal guardians when she was 3 days old. Birth mom and dad both eventually surrendered their rights. Kylea is a different story. She is almost 8 months old and the birth mom was not on board with us adopting her. However she continues to lose her rights and really doesn't have a lot of hope of ever getting them back(sad, I know :( So we were advised by our lawyer, that the best path would really be for her to willingly surrender and agree to an adoption instead of us going through a big long process of terminating her rights. We understood but were pretty skeptical. However, after speaking to her parents, and our lawyer, we got a phone call last Friday morning, September 6, that she had agreed to the adoption and was signing papers this Friday, Sept 13! We were so amazed! We have spent the last week savoring our last moments as a family of 3, and preparing our home for another amazing little girl.

 Delaney is not entirely sure about having to share her mommy & daddy, but I know eventually they will be best friends! We had another opportunity to visit with her tonight.

Her Aunt brought her by to see the house and let her be around us to familiarize herself with everything. We are hoping she adjusts well and that there isn't a lot of issues. Here are some things we know about her so far...

She was born January 18, 2013 and weighed 5'5. She is now almost 8 months old and weighs over 20 lbs!! She is a CHUNK! Almost as big as Delaney at 19 months!! She is bald as a cueball and sweet as sugar. She has a sweet raspy voice and is SOOOO strong. She loves to jump and is already pulling up and crawling. She may be walking before we know it!

Please pray for us as we sign the papers tomorrow and pray for everyone involved. We still have a few more steps before the adoption is final, but we will gain custody tomorrow, and she will be with us starting Saturday. I will be taking a leave of absence from work until late October to give her some time to adjust and bond with all of us. We know this will be a transition for Delaney too since she's a Mommy's girl, but we have faith that everyone will do great!  We are so excited about this opportunity and are amazed at God's faithfulness and outpouring of blessings upon us!

 As we think back 5 years to the beginning of our infertility journey we never imagined this was God's plan. I know that I couldn't imagine my life with a better man and 2 sweet girls to call my own. We are so blessed!!

**Oh, and just so I don't leave her out, Delaney Jane turned 19 months old this past week and she is a little spit fire ;) She is around 22 lbs and 32 inches.

 She is spouting out complete sentences all of a sudden, and is trying to start potty training. She used the potty a few days ago after telling me she needed to go potty.

Some of her favorite things right now are her "blankie", Elmo, Minnie, & Sofia. She loves her extended family members so much, and talks about them all the time("I see Unc, Nick", Hannah, Nana, Gigi, Pop, Papa, A-Lu, Uncle T) and so on and so on... Even when she goes months without seeing them, she still pretends to talk to them on the phone and recognizes them instantly from a picture.

She knows almost all of her letters and some colors. She sings with the sweetest voice and enjoys Twinkle twinkle and Ring around the rosy. Her favorite movie right now is an Elmo movie...she seriously screams, "ELMOOOO" when he comes on the screen EVERY TIME :) It's pretty precious!

She is really a big girl all of a sudden, but at night I still rock her and hold her like an itty bitty baby. She will always be my first baby girl, and we are so excited about expanding our love to Kylea! I will post pics as soon as she arrives Saturday because I have BIG SISTER & LITTLE SISTER shirts for them to wear :)