I'm not going to lie.

We are exhausted. To the point that we have made ourselves sick. I had to go to the doctor last night b/c I have an ear infection. Ryan hasn't been eating or drinking fluids like he normally does so he now has been vomiting and all sorts of stomach/bowel issues.

BUT…..it is all worth it. We have made some giant steps in the past couple of days.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers. And for the wonderful friends who have helped out! Keep those prayers coming as we adjust and get on a schedule. I am back to work which is hard on me….but even harder on Ryan!

Here's the facts of our first full day of parenting:

we didn't sleep at all last night
the kids slept great (12 hours straight)
made positive steps forward in kindergarden registration and MD appts
went shopping at kid Gap, Old Navy, and Target for clothes for X. I will not deny that Gap Kids was more for me than her.
in order to get a hold of X's hair……I had to break out my CHI. She loved it…..and so did I.
starting to figure out a possible routine to try out
we are all about Hannah Montana. Did you know there is a Hannah Montana Wii game? Guess what we'll be getting instead of Halo 3??

Okay, I know everyone is dying to know What is going on!

Here's the scoop:

10am: We get the call from AP

10:01 We agree to take the children

10:30 I call Angela to cancel my trip to Houston

11:00 I call Cortney (friend and coworker w/ 2 small children) and ask her to meet me at Babies R Us.

11:30 We go to Babies R Us and buy bottles, formula, diapers (the
right size), clothes, pack n play, and every other essential we could
get our hands on.

12:15 Shopping at Target for 5 year old girl clothes, toys, High
School Musical DVD (a lady at Target told us it was
essential…..then I remembered my nieces love
for it)

1:00pm Arrive home and frantically put together stroller, high chair,
baby monitor, boil nipples, and other things that exhibited a chicken
w/ its head cut off.

2:30 AP case manager arrives, we go over paperwork.

3:00 CW arrives with X and E.

3:01 Sweet little X's face was overjoyed when she saw her new bedroom with bunk beds and a doll house.

3:45 Try to give E a bottle. He doesn't want it…..or me

4:30 Paperwork is complete and CW leave us alone.

4:31 We panic a bit and look at each other as to say “what in the world have we just got ourselves into”

5:15 We eat dinner as a family

5:30 Try, again, to give Edward a bottle. He doesn't want it….but does want me to hold him

6:00 Ry, X and myself play a quick game of Candyland.

6:45 (Attempt) to give E a bath……I got one in the process as well.

7:00 X takes a bath…..she loves the duck hoodietowel

7:15 Ry starts High School Musical for X and I attempt the bottle again with E.

7:16 My dear friend (and conviently a Pediatrician) Natalie calls
to see how everything is going and I share my bottle issues. She
suggests that he may not like the nipple of my bottle. The Nipple, of course! Why didn't I think of that.

7:17 I dig out a bottle previous FM packed and transferred the formula from one to other.

7:18 UNBELIEVABLE! It's worked. He took the bottle!

7:20 He's asleep.

7:21 I attempt to lay him down in the pack n play.

7:23 Okay….that didn't work.He's back up.

8:00 Monica (another coworker…and angel) brings over a infant car seat and crib.

8:15 My arms are killing me (from holding this 20 lb boy) and I
realize I must let him cry it out. I turn on some Baby Einstein
lullaby music (purchased today at Target) and lay him down…..then run
quickly for the door.

8:18 E's out like a light.

8:30 X (excitedly) gets into bed, we read a couple stories and she too, it out like a light.

8:35 Coffee is ready (haven't had a drop yet today….I was going on
pure adrenaline but now my caffeine headache is a monster!)

I cannot thank everyone enough for your prayers. It is truly on the Lord's strength and guidance that we are able to do this.
I'm sorry I couldn't respond to everyone's text msg, calls and emails today….but thank you so much!

I promise I won't be giving these hour by hour recaps everyday…..I justed wanted to share the excitement with everyone!

P.S. No pictures yet……definitely tomorrow.

I woke up this morning and starting preparing dinner.I working on a lot of new crock pot recipes in preparation for when I work and have kids.

I thought it was funny this morning……making my chicken run around with its head cut off.

We just got a call asking us to take a 5 yo girl and 10 mo boy. Today.

Now who's left looking like the chicken?

Yesterday I turned 29. I {seriously} couldn't have had a better birthday.

I had friends come over to scrapbook in the morning: Natalie, Breanna, Amanda, Lynn, Nancy & Julie. We had a lot of fun and I was so proud of Julie & Lynn! They jumped right into scrapping for the first time and did awesome.

After the scrapbook party our dear friends Kara & Ian came over. We grilled out dinner and ate on the deck. It was a gorgeous San Antonio evening. Ryan decided to pull out one of our treasured bottles of 2001 Joseph Phelps INSIGNIA.

This was a wine that we sampled in Napa Valley back in 2004 and immediately snatched up 5 bottles. It's optimal drinking time is 10 years after its vintage but we've been itching to have some all these years. I guess my 29th birthday was a good enough reason!

The wine was fantastic…..and so was the piece of cake I brought home from work that Kara and I devoured. Yum.

Thank you to everyone for all the Birthday wishes, text messages, phone calls, cards and gifts. I am blessed that this is my life at 29.

My super tech, Molly, brought me this unbelievable cake in to work today. She was so proud to tell me it had raspberry filling (she knows my affinity to nonfat raspberry lattes). It was so good I had to take 1/4 of it home to get me through the weekend!

Large.

Unexpected.

Appreciated.

Seriously thank you, Julie.