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 :)

17 months..a little late! Oh, and the best summer ever!

Delaney Jane, you are 17 months old :)

Wow, what a summer! We have had so much fun together and I've cherished every second. I go back to work August 1 and I'm not looking forward to leaving you!! You are at such an awesome age. I feel like you have grown and changed so much in just a few short months. I wanted to document all the important things you have learned this summer, so here it goes...

You now know 9 of your letters(A,B,C,D,E,I,O,T, Y) a few colors, (Red, blue, purple), can help me count to 10, you know your name and can say all the names of family members. You LOVE animals, all kinds! You know most zoo animals & farm animals. The funniest thing you've said so far is what you call a horse. For some reason, you call a horse, ***hole..we have no idea why! You just say it so innocently!! On the flip side, you also say "I love you, Thank you, Please,&  Excuse me"(when you burp). You love Hank and Sadie and can say both of their names :) You love all over Hank ALL the time and you hug him and say "Oh, buddy.."

You know most of the foods you eat and can request them by name. I love how you say "avocado!" It's so cute :) You can feed yourself with a spoon and a fork pretty well, and you have started helping me when you get dressed(putting your arms and feet in). You try really hard to put your shoes on by yourself; you have no problem taking them off!! Your favorite things right now are Minnie Mouse, Sofia the First, Elmo & Baby Signing Time. You request each of these movies/things by name.  "Minnie, Fee, Elmo & Sign are what you call them.

 You love the theme song for Sofia and the Disney Junior song called "Be who you wanna be." You ask to play it and you sing "be..be..be." You can play all kinds of games on my phone and the iPad. You love the Wheels on  the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Ring around the Rosey! You choose ABC games the most on the iPad(this teacher is proud!!) Your favorite book right now is Goodnight Gorilla. You can help me read it by telling me all the animals and you point to the moon, balloon, keys, zoo etc.. You pick up on so much so quickly!

We have had a great time at gymnastics this summer. You are a natural! You love to sing the welcome and goodbye song :) You are good at following the teacher's directions and have mastered most skills they have asked you to try. You LOVE walking on the beam by yourself!! You can hang on the bars, do a forward and backward roll, climb through obstacle courses, swing on the rings, and jump on the spring board. It has definitely been well worth our time and money. I loved watching you interact with the other kids too.

 You have also learned a lot in motor skills. You can climb steps with a little assistance, you can climb up and go down a slide, you can do your roller coaster by yourself, ride your 4 wheeler, and you are so close to jumping. You keep trying it over and over again. You are very determined :) Everywhere we go you say hi to people and tell them your name "Laney!!" One funny thing you say all the time now is "Hey, mama." I think it's because that's what I say to your Gigi on the phone, but you also greet me that way, so it's so cute! I have people tell me all the time that you are so verbal and social. And you are still the happiest and smiliest baby their ever was :) Except I guess you aren't a baby anymore!!

We have definitely hit heads some this summer. I like that you are wanting independence and are strong willed...I know you will be such a hard worker! But, shew..it's a battle when you want something and I don't allow it. You do respond pretty well to discipline..we haven't had any major meltdowns!! You are very much a Mommy's girl, but we have left you a few times with Nana and you have done just fine :) We also finally put you in the nursery during church and Sunday School. You usually cry a little at first, but then  you are just fine. When I pick you up, you are always so happy and the teachers say you were great! I am so glad. I want you to love going to church and learning about Jesus.

We go to your 18 month checkup the middle of August, but we think you weigh about 21-22 pounds and are probably 31-32 inches tall. You have gotten a lot of teeth this summer! I think you are up to 8 or 9.  You are an okay eater, not really picky, but you don't eat a lot. You would drink milk all day long if I let you! You haven't been the best napper this summer, but you did cut out your morning nap and now just take an afternoon one. We have been putting you to bed around 9 this summer, but I know we will put you down earlier once school starts.

We are still amazed that God chose us to be your parents! You are an incredible miracle and we love you so much!