Matt's mom was here for a month. She came to help with decorating the house and I begged her to stay longer when the babies arrived. She was a great help and blessing to us. After she left, real life started to sink in. Suddenly I had to take 4 kids everywhere with me. The babies are awesomely behaved and total troopers when it comes to sitting in the car waiting for their big brother and sister in all their activities, although it's wearing off quickly. I had laundry piling up (clean and dirty) and the house looking...well... much like 4 kids live here. We had friends from Aliyah's school bring us meals which was amazing because I honestly couldn't think past taking care of the kids. Putting a meal together just wasn't happening. In fact, our first meal after they stopped coming and grandma left was a pot of stew I think I called it. I was telling Matt that basically all I could literally do was throw stuff in a pot. Mario was always sitting on my feet or digging through cupboards right under me.
A month went by and I survived the days without grandmotherly help until my mom got here last week. What a blessing! She had a lot of fun with the kids and helped so much! I got a breather even if the breather was just to slow down a little in the work. She held the baby a lot so I wasn't wearing her in the sling as much. The bottles were always washed, laundry was cycling through much faster and dishes were being done. We had fun hanging out and stayed up way too late enjoying each others company. (Miss you mom!)
Last week Matt's mom (Dianne) and grandfather came to visit from Utah. They picked up Dianne's cousin and her husband from Australia in Sacramento and stayed for a day to visit. It was great meeting her cousin and learning more about the extended family we have in Australia.
Kids update:
Well we've decided to give them these sweet babies "nicknames". If we get to adopt these Angels, these will be their names.
Avery Capri
We had a hard time naming her. We both loved the name Leila Grace but it's way to close to Aliyah and after calling her Leila for a week I just couldn't do it. I was losing Aliyah's name, it was becoming Leah or Lela. Anyway I was too confused to make it work. Matt's sad he didn't get a Leila (means dark haired beauty and is a Portuguese name) so he joked with Aliyah he would call her Leila, short for Leilani (her middle name). Anyway I came across Avery and loved it and it just seems to fit her. We struggled with a middle name for a while then Matt was rattling off names he liked and Capri was one of them. I'd never heard it before and loved it right away.
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| Aliyah brought down her cradle and made it all comfy for Avery to lay in. She actually liked it. |
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| Aliyah loves to make Avery smile. She's laughing a lot now. |
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| Avery trying to roll over. (update: Avery is rolling over and squirming all over her bed now,) |
Brock (?) We're still working on the middle name It has actually taken a really long time to name both these kids. But most people get 9 months right? I'm not sure if it was harder because we knew them and were getting to know them more each day. Plus we had to name 2 kids so they had to fit. Well I came across the name Brock somewhere and really liked it but I didn't mention it to Matt because I didn't think he'd like it. One day Matt said "what about Brock?" I was a little surprised but thought it was cool we'd both come up with it on our own. We've gotten mixed reactions from people, it's an unusual name but that's what I like about it.  |
| Brock is such a happy kid, he's got a great personality, always smiling and cuddly. |
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| Somehow Brock's shirt got all messed up, he must have been trying to get out of it? We're not sure. |
On Sunday morning I asked Matt if he'd take some pictures of the kids while they were all dressed up. He got the camera & his equipment ready and waited for the kids to come down.
Well church is at 11:30, Brocks nap time is around 11. We'd put him in bed around 10:30 & when I got him up at 11 to get him ready for church, he was so mad!
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| I gave Brock his sippy cup but he drank it really fast, so I took it away since he was done. This was his reaction. Hahahaha I love this picture, look at the boys faces. |
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| And... the photo shoot is over. That didn't go over so well. Plus Michael was super slack this day. Normally he's in his suit and tie every week. |
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| Aliyah loves being a big sister and is always looking for ways to help. |
Photo shoot with Brock and his hat.
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| I just love his smiles, I think because his whole body smiles along. He usually shrugs his shoulders while he's smiling as if he's so happy he just can't help it. |
Brock has settled in very well. He loves the older kids and they love him. He's an investigator. He'd rather try to figure out the mechanics of drawers, doors, tables and chairs then play with toys. He loves to be outside kicking a ball or picking flowers so he gets along well with Michael & Aliyah's interests.
Avery is rolling over and staying awake longer during the day. She's in the sling on me a lot because she doesn't like her swing for very long and she gets bored with her chair. I like having her close to me for the bonding though so it's fine with me.
Michael and Aliyah are loving having these babies around. I've never heard them wish they go back or anything like that. They pray that we get to keep them and so do we. We feel like they were meant to be in our family and hope things go that way. We'll know more in a few months.
