It's official!

As of today, exactly 8 months from the day Shad came into our lives, he is now officially our SON (on paper, anyway. We really knew a long time ago.) Here is proof:

Our awesome friends Jessica and Kayli (and baby Ella of course!) came to the court house with us.

Jessica was able to film the last part where the judge made it official. I still have to pinch myself sometimes to think that I really was so lucky to become his mom! I don't feel like I did much to deserve it. We have been so blessed with Shad in our lives and can't imagine what our world would be like without him! He was always meant to be a part of our family and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving us the opportunity to become his parents in such an amazing way. Anyway, here is the video. Enjoy!

The hardest thing

This morning I had to say goodbye to my two sweet boys for two loooong weeks. :(  This is one of the hardest things I have had to do, but I know I will be ok. It will go by so fast because I am picking up extra shifts and I have a large To Do list of things I haven't had the time to do for a while (like finish by blog book!) plus I have a butt load of homework to get done by Sunday night and more next week too.

 Last night Shad was being so silly, so Alina filmed him laughing. I just can't get over his laugh!

I may be posting some random videos and pictures of Shad soon so I can get my blog book all caught up. Stay tuned!

3 months ago

3 months ago today, my life changed dramatically in a matter of hours. On December 27, 2012 I became a mother. I didn't have 9 months to prepare myself, a baby's room, or any thoughts about what it would be like to be a parent. Instead I had less than three days from the time Sasha asked us if we would be the parents of her baby boy until he was in our arms. I didn't really think it would happen that quickly. It was all a blur. But the moment we saw him being taken from that home by DCFS, Jared and I both knew this little boy was meant to be our first child. And I think Shad knew it too. Although I never knew it would be this hard to be a parent, I also never knew how amazingly rewarding it can be too. I wouldn't change one thing about our new life with this little boy in our family! We love him so much!

And I don't know about you, but I think he kind of likes me. ;-)

***Ignore the fact that I have no makeup on {do I ever these days?!} and have three chins...

Hats

Today I feel like complaining a little bit about my many {figurative} hats. They include:

Wife
Mom
Nurse
Student
Sole provider of income for our family
Accountant
Housekeeper
Cook
Sunday School teacher
Visiting teacher

All of these things combined keep me super duper busy. Sometimes almost to the point where I am about ready to throw in the towel. But those top two hats are what keep me going. I love my two boys more than anything in the world. Jared and I both graduate next May and then Jared will start getting some sort of income, so that gives me a small light at the end of this tunnel. {Then there will be the long tunnel of residency, but we will worry about that one when we come to it.}

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, I am a busy woman these days. I may not be the best at any of these roles, (especially housekeeper and cook lately) but as long as I give my all to the most important ones, somehow I keep making it through. Thanks for listening to my little rant session. Here's a picture to make up for it:

(One of the reasons I get out of bed in the morning)