BIG news!

It's been a crazy few weeks around here! For awhile, we were just rollin' along with the babies, watching them achieve milestones and grow up, with a few looming dates in our minds, some more specific than others. The updates, in date order...

1. "sometime in October" Josie was supposed to go to live with family. We've now been told that could be several more months--like 6 to 9! We are thrilled to have her as long as possible, but knowing that we won't get to keep her, that is pretty hard on us, and on family and friends who really love her dearly. This is an expectation we knew about, though, so we are prepared. In the meantime, what fun the holidays will be with the two of them around!

2. October 16th--Derion's 4 month birthday and also court to find out if his parent's rights were terminated, and they were! Finally, something has happened the way we expected it to! This means we are a big step closer to the adoption process, and we couldn't be happier! He is such a sweetie, growing well, with less health problems than were expected in the beginning. He's really quite a normal little guy, even a little ahead on some developmental milestones.

3. December 31st--Our apartment lease terminates. We had to decide what to do, extend it a little while or try to buy a house. We started hunting in September, and really hadn't found anything, so we decided to wait until Spring. Of course, soon after that, things fell into place and we found THE PERFECT HOUSE! It's exactly what we wanted and right now, if everything goes right, we are set to close December 10th. So maybe if any of you far-awayers are in town over Christmas or New Years, you'll come visit!

We included some pics below of the little ones, so you can see how much they've grown!

My grown up babies!

So, over the labor day weekend, we loaded up the car and headed to Wichita. Miss Buchi had to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's this time because there simply wasn't room for her. Two babies=lots of stuff to pack. Here's the run down: Swing, playgym, portacrib, babies suitcase, mommies suitcase, two backpacks, diaper bag, auxillury tote bag for baby supplies that didn't fit in other bags, plus 2 babies in carseats. Buchi was probably glad to be at camp Hayden! We were worried about how hard it would be to keep the lil' ones happy in the car, but suprisingly, they both slept the entire way...they'd stir when we went slower to pay a toll, etc--we were kind of like the Speed bus--"don't slow down! They'll wake up!" but we made it.

Molly put us up for the weekend--it was great to see her and celebrate her birthday. We also caught up with Wichita friends and family. It was truly amazing to see C.C.'s niece, little Grace at two weeks old--it just doesn't seem like hardly any time ago that Josie and Derion were that little. They're so old and interactive now. They totally know when it's daytime and they want to interact with everyone!

Here's a picture of big boy Derion--almost 3 months old!

the future

We've been watching the Olympics just like everyone else and it got me thinking about the future of these babies and the role we have in their lives. We may not get to watch most of them grow up, but it's amazing to think that in a few years we could be watching the Olympics and hear one of their names and know we had a small part in getting them to where they are. We just hope that after they leave they'll still have the kind of support and nurturing they had at our homes

she stays!

Josie girl is ours for at least a little while longer! We'll keep posting updates but we should have her until early September at least.

It's so funny to watch these babies grow and develop. Josie is a week older and you can see derion doing things she did just a week ago. Right now he's a super sleepy baby and eating and growing like crazy. She's very into playing in her playgym kicking ang grabbing the hanging toys. We can't wait to see how they change tomorrow!

new addition

No, we are not crazy and we did not get another baby...yet! I did however get a new phone that I can blog from, and I am doing it right now! Technology is so cool!

In other news, we're waiting to see if miss josie will leave us on Wednesday. If she does we will miss her terribly, bu know she will be fine!

Here's a picture from the new phone!

Happy Birthday 1 Month Old!

Princess Josie is one month old today! Yay! Mommies celebrated with dinner--Chili's Takeout--ok--we didn't have time to cook...both kiddos had visits today, and Josie had court--we probably won't have her more than a month or two more, but we're having fun while it lasts!

We're loving that people are voting--we'll have to keep this poll thing going. Thanks for participating in our lives!

TWINS! (sort of)

Many of you already know what's been going on at our house, but for those of you who didn't, I really apologize for not keeping everyone more up to date. It was...really hard losing Jake and I just couldn't make myself send those emails and make those calls over and over again. To everyone local, it was obvious we didn't have a noisy 1 year old with us, but we knew everyone was heartbroken for us, and the nice things that were said just made us cry--and our people just don't like to cry in public...(right...) Just yesterday we got a card and some pictures from Jake's father and grandma. I can't even begin to express the thankfulness and relief that I feel in my heart. If this man cares enough to send us a note and pics, I feel like Jake is in a good place--that kind of kindness just speaks well for him, and if we can't have him, I'm glad that someone like that will be raising him. I cried and cried when we opened the letter, but I feel an ENORMOUS sense of relief and finally some closure to the whole thing. So, thanks to Jimmie and Jean, and to all our friends and family for your love and support. We couldn't do this without you!!!

So anyway, we'll try to keep more up to date with this venue (and calls and stuff too, if you don't mind the sounds of crying baby in your ear...check back often!

So, ON TO THE TWINS! What? Are we CRAZY?!?!? The answer is...YES. But we'd already decided that if a baby came along that we thought we could maybe (CAUTIOUSLY) think we could adopt...we'd take them. I just didn't think it would be two weeks after we got Josie!

I was at work when I got the "call me now" text that I figured meant that Josie was leaving us, and C.C. told me "they called about a little two week old boy...I said 'yes'" I was shocked, and finished the day again in a haze...excited, but feeling a little "What the heck have we gotten ourselves into?" Derion is a sweet little guy, 1 week younger than Josie and very active and alert. We're getting a little less sleep, but we're doing ok, working out a rhythm slowly and it gets better each day.

The kids are doing well, they seem to get comfort from being near each other most of the time. At the doctors yesterday, they switched formula for both of them and that already seems to be clearing up a whole host of problems for both of them. (I won't go into details...trust me, you don't want me to!) They are both good babies, really only crying when they're hungry, so we've been pretty blessed so far. Here are some pics of the two of them!