Victoria's Goodbye

Victoria was crying in bed because she wanted to talk to her parents one more time.

Hi Mommy & Daddy

The girls wanted to send a message to their parents tonight.

Dress Up

It is not an uncommon thing to see dress up clothes strewn all over our living room. The other night while I was at work I got a few pictures sent to me from Matt. These girls love each other very much. Don't get me wrong, they definitely fight, but over all they enjoy playing with each other very much.








They sure are cute, aren't they? :)

Appointment

Last night I came home from work and Matt had a funny experience with Jasmine last night. He said he was giving her a bath and she told him that her bum was sore and red. So, he told her he would get some ointment for her to put on when she got out. She said I don't want an appointment. He tried telling her not an appointment but an ointment. She said to him, okay, get me the appointment! They really are so cute. :)

Mr. Mom

Our lives have been just a tad bit crazy lately aside from getting the girls. This year I got a second job working for H&R Block during tax season. I have really, really enjoyed it but working 60 hours a week has really begun taking a toll on me. Matt and I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal because in all reality, a person can do most anything for a short amount of time. Well, throw 2 little girls into the mix and things get down right insane! Matt has had to become Mr. Mom. He is doing such a great job at it. I really will say I'm very very proud of him. He always used to say before we got these girls that he would not bathe, change a diaper or any of those "personal" things to any kids besides his own. LOL!! Boy was he in for a rude awakening! Matt now gives baths almost every night, unless I'm home, he wipes bums, he does the diaper thing at night, he puts powder and diaper rash creams on those little bums and basically everything else he said he'd never do unless it was his own kid. I will say it usually grosses him out to some small degree, but truly, he does a very good job of it. I am extremely grateful for him doing that, and I know the girls enjoy it too because he always makes a big deal of it and they just think it's hilarious. I now know that I won't have to worry about being in "that" marriage where the husband never helps with the kids. If anything I feel completely opposite with me not being there to help, but not by my choosing. I really hate missing those fun times with the girls in the evenings, but I just keep telling myself 8 more weeks, 8 more weeks, 8 more weeks. I know that Matt is saying the exact same thing to himself. :)

Jasmine & Victoria

On February 2nd Matt and I became the proud new owners of two little girls. Oh, I mean the proud parents, well sort of. Let me start at the beginning so you can understand. When Matt first moved here to North Carolina he worked for a company named ArcOne. After being there a little while he moved into an office with a man named Mark. They quickly became friends and Mark and his wife Wendy started welcoming Matt into their home. Once I moved down a few months later they welcomed me as well. Before we knew it we were their new kids. Mark and Wendy have a daughter and a son. Their son Nicholas is in the US Army. When we first moved here Nicholas was serving his first tour in Iraq. He was married and had two little girls. He came home for a while then before long he and his wife Casey, who is also in the Army, got deployed to Iraq again. While they were gone Mark and Wendy kept Jasmine and Victoria. Matt and I made it a pretty regular habit to go to Mark and Wendy's to play with the girls and just hang out since they were our home away from home. During this time the girls were 3 and 1. When Nicholas and Casey came home a few months later on leave Wendy couldn't keep the girls any more, so Nicholas was able to get released from the Army. This past summer Nicholas decided that he wanted to get back into the Army. Before he could do that he needed somebody to sign guardianship papers for his girls, stating that if he and Casey were gone at the same time these people would take care of their kids. Mark and Wendy were unable to do it anymore and were telling Matt and I about it at dinner one night. Without saying anything to Matt I told them that we could take the girls. They looked at me like I was crazy. So I told them again we would be more than willing to watch the girls. So, while at dinner Mark called Nicholas and told him. After dinner Matt and I were going to Mark and Wendy's house. We were in the car and I told him I was sorry and probably should have said something to him about it before hand, but I truly felt an absolute calm come over me when I told them we'd do it. Surprisingly, Matt was completely okay with it. I really just felt like this was something that we were supposed to do.

Well, 8 months later and here we are. Nicholas got deployed right away. We knew that it would be quite a while still before it was time for Casey to get deployed. Matt and I got a room ready for the girls just in case. I always knew it would be a possibility that we'd get the girls, but in the back of my mind I just kept thinking it wouldn't really happen. Then, a major ginormous earthquake happened in Haiti. I got a phone call about 2 days after that telling me that I was "on call". I thought on call for what? Wendy reminded me I was on call to get the girls. Let me tell you, I about had a heart attack! When I called Matt he was as cool as a cucumber.

Casey has now been sent to Haiti for 3-6 months and we now have Jasmine and Victoria who are 5 and 3. All 4 of our worlds have been flipped upside down! We're definitely in an adjusting period but overall we're doing very well. Matt and I are eternally grateful for the out-poring of support that we have received during our transition. I know people just felt bad since we have no clue what we're doing!

I've definitely decided that there is a reason why Heavenly Father gives us newborns first and not semi-grown children!!!! Babies don't talk back, the just lay there and are generally okay. (I know that's naive of me, but you get the point) Kids on the other hand are just crazy! We were at church the other week and someone came up and asked if we were still planning on having kids. I looked at him and told him no, when we give the girls back I'm just getting a puppy. He said, you know it's a commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. I looked at him and said I'll breed the dog. I'm semi-serious. ha ha! Matt and I truly love these sweet little girls so much and truly are so blessed to have them in our lives. We've just forewarned Casey and Nicholas that we plan on screwing up on their kids so when we have our own we'll be awesome at it already. :)

We definitely are learning as we go and we're somewhat starting to get a routine going. One of the hardest things for me has been getting myself up on time! It's very difficulty to get up and motivated to get ready for work any more when I despise having to go. Because of this we are all scrambling around the house all morning until we're out the door. I really need to start doing better. We'll see.

Okay, so I know this was totally long and probably still very confusing to some, but that's at least the gist of the story. Now that it's established I will try and be a good pretend mom and take lots of pictures and post them and remember the funny things they say and do so I can post them and their parents can see them and enjoy it too. Whew!!!

We're in the now!

Well, I finally decided it was time to make a blog. So much has been happening in our lives and it's really hard to tell the same story twenty times over, so I'm simplifying. I am going to try and do this regularly, but yeah, I doubt it will actually happen. I guess it depends on how bored I get during the day. So we'll see how this goes...