Gorgeous girls..........

Seriously, could these 3 sisters be any more beautiful?

Baby "C" - what a joy!

Meet "C" - isn't he adorable??? And he was so cooperative, at only 5 weeks old! He was definitley the best baby ever!

Inspiration explanation................

So now brings me to the point of how these 2 little ladybugs truly inspired me.............After Lilli was born, I was a picture-taking nut! By the time she was a year old, I had close to 2,000 pictures of her (crazy, I know).

B and I had a photographer come to the house to do family portraits for the holidays, as well as our Christmas cards. The pictures were beautiful, but the price was outrageous! (Truth be told, B still doesn't know how much it really was - I have a tendancy to cut all prices in half when he asks what I spent - sshh!)

I also hated the fact that my camera was so slow, and half the time I would miss the really good shots. So I researched some cameras, had a heart attack over the price - but I bit the bullet and finally bought one.

I loved it! Everyone told me what a fab job I was doing with Lilli's pictures, how I really had an "eye" for it, yada, yada.

So I took some photography classes. I got the basics down, had a teacher who was really great and encouraged me to keep going. But it didn't end there.......not only did I love taking pictures, but I really wanted to learn how to make my own photo cards too.

I had spent a fortune on birth announcements, Christmas cards, party invitations, thank you's, etc., for Lilli, so I really wanted to learn how to make my own. How hard could it be, right?

Well - harder than you think. And definitely more expensive than I thought! So I bought what I needed, and found a really great teacher. I learned alot on my own too, which drove B insane, because I have spent countless hours in front of the computer (which is why I now have to wear glasses too!)

It is now my new side gig, which I really enjoy doing. So now you will get to view some of my work!

Connections...

We have 2 amazing birth stories for our children. Some of the details are completely different, yet some are very eerily similar....................

Lilli and Alec both had birthmothers who were 39 at the time of delivery.

They were both the 5th child for each of their birthmothers. (F had placed a little boy for adoption 16 years ago).

J and F (their birthmothers) were both adopted themselves as infants.

It amazes me how their stories parallel each other in many ways, and amazes me even more that these 2 angels are actually mine........

Mommy times 2............

I won't lie....I was scared out of my mind to have 2 kids, who were 17 months apart. I knew it was going to be alot of work, that B and I would probably be at each other's throats, and that Lilli was not going to handle it very well. But I was ready.

And you know what? It really isn't that hard - at all. I am not a screaming maniac like I pictured I would be. I still have time to watch tv and go out with my friends (I actually go out more now, because I NEED IT!) The house isn't perfect, but so what. I am usually exhausted every second of the day, but I can deal with it. Lilli loves Alec, and vice versa, and B and I work really well together.

There are still times when I want to rip my hair out, run away, have a drink by 9 am, or a combo of all 3 - but I wouldn't have it any other way - honestly.

I consider myself to be the luckiest person alive. I am not sure what I did to deserve these 2, and I am thankful for them each day.

People ask about our story all of the time, because they really have not heard of anything like it before. I love talking about it. I am so proud of my kids, and of the way that they both came into my life.

I have heard some say "I don't know how you do it", or "you are such a good person for giving them a great home.", etc.

I don't look at it that way at all. These 2 saved my life. They made me a better person. They taught me the true meaning of unconditional love, and I wouldn't change one. single. thing. about my life.

You see, it was never really important for me to be pregnant - I just wanted to be a mom. And because of Lilli and Alec, my dreams have finally come true..............

Home sweet home......

Although I loved having some alone time with my little man, I missed Lilli more than I could have ever imagined. We had never been away from her for more than a weekend, so 13 days was just way too much for me to handle. It was definitely the hardest part for me.

I literally sat in the hotel room and waited for the phone to ring, with our attorney telling us to "come on home!!"

You would think that we should have been living it up in CA, considering it was cold as hell back home. But we didn't. We were in a very weird part of CA..........in the middle of desserts and mountains. We were about 2 hours away from both LA and San Diego, and I really didn't want to travel that far with a newborn. So instead, I spent countless hours just staring at my little guy, and I soaked up all of the alone time that I could - I knew it was going to be far and few between once we arrived home...........(looking back, I do kind of regret not being able to see more while we were there. I kind of wish we did things, but then again I will never get that baby time back!)

The flight was 5 hours long, and my angel slept the entire way. He was so good, and I loved all of the compliments that I got about how good I looked for just having a baby!

When we arrived home, our entire family was waiting for us, and had the house decorated in blue (this was unusual to see as Alec is the only boy in the family!!).

I couldn't wait to see Lilli. I threw open the door and ran over to her. She looked at me like she had no idea who I was....very anti-climatic!

And then she got to meet her baby brother for the first time........

Cali...........

We were in CA for almost 2 weeks. It was the longest 2 weeks of my life. If you are not familiar with how an out of state adoption works, it's a little like this...........

In our situation, the state of CA had to review all of our paperwork from our homestudy, everything our lawyer had done, J's parental rights needed to be terminated after 72 hrs, and we had to meet with a social worker. Once the state cleared us, we then had to wait for the state of PA to clear us based on the same paperwork and info.

This is called ICPC - basically means you cannot transport a child over state lines until both states agree.

This process could take 2 days, it could take 2 months. It all depends on how well both states work together and what kind of people you have working in the state offices. This is why you really need to hire an attorney who knows what they are doing and who is familiar with the law.

B and I had an amazing hotel suite where we could bond with Alec. Everyone was so kind to us. We were able to meet with T to go to dinner, and it was so nice to have a face to go with a name - especially since we had been speaking for almost 2 years without meeting!

We got to spend ALOT of time with J and her family. She even made us Thanksgiving dinner since we were away from our family for the holiday! The kids were wonderful, and Alec looked EXACTLY LIKE THEM!! We feel so lucky to have had that time with them, and have a ton of pictures to show him when he is older. (I obviously will not share them here, because I want to respect their privacy.)

When we left J and her family for the last time, B looked at me and said "I am going to miss them so much. You would think they would be so sad to have Alec leave, but I think we are more sad to leave them." And it was totally the truth.

When I last called T to thank her, I asked her if we could adopt J too! I absolutely love her with all of my heart.....