Thr first 5 weeks

Wow! What a wild ride! I think the boys have adapted better than expected, and better than Ken and I! We are exhausted! They are energetic, they crave knowledge (what's that?) and stability...even though they 'buck' the rules, they know what their schedule is, and remind us when we've gone astray!

James and Nathanael love to go for stroller walks, which has me wearing Taylor on my front and pushing them in a double stroller - quite the workout. One of our biggest trials has been bedtime, and naptime. the boys have alot of trouble unwinding. We've had to try out several sleeping arrangements. Nighttime has worked out better than nap. We have their beds pushed together, and although we put them down in separate beds, they usually end up sharing one by the time morning comes.

The boys had three scheduled visits with their bio parents. After the first one, James did not talk for over an hour, followed by screaming and kicking. He was fine by the next day. So, the next week, I tried to prepare him to let him know he was going to see his parents. They did not show up, and once again, James stopped talking for awhile. Third visit - again, the parents did not show up. Can you imagine? So the visits have been suspended until at least the court date in November. The boys have been in the 'system' for 9 months, and the state wants to determine a permanent plan within a year, so we'll see what they do. taylor is a separate case, so they may reinstate visits for him. It's a crazy system. So legally, where are we as far as possible adoption? Not really sure. The next court date may shed some light.

Taylor is such s a good baby. Really. And thank God, because nathanael is our wild child. Taylor smiles all the time, and rarely cries. Nathanael however, has alot of temper tantrums, and just plain tests us. But then he turns around with a sweet little grin and you just have to hug him!

When James came to us, he tested as having a 65% speech delay. We had him retested last week, and he tested AT age level! We are so proud of him! He has really come out of his shell and is friendly to people in stores, church, etc. This is the same boy who ran and hid when knew people came to the house. What 5 weeks can do!

We did do a visit with their great grandmother, who had kept J&N for 8 months before coming to us. she is a very sweet lady, and the boys were really happy to see her, but quite confused for a few days afterwards...asking where was granny, and whose house was she at. Poor little thing, James is the only one who I think really understands just enough to be confused.

Gosh, there are so many things that have happened, I guess I'll just leave it at that for now.