Halloween and more

Kate's crawling all around now and continues to get cuter! She loves her baby food and is such an easy going happy baby.
Farmer Mommy, Flower fairy Chloe and Flower Kate.
The girls with Nana. They adore her.

Team Green or Team Blue?

The ongoing debate in our house right now is whether Kate will have green eyes or blue eyes. I have green eyes and Matt and Chloe have blue. What do you think?

Kate is 5 months old

First Day of School

4 months old!

Kate is 4 months old! She can roll over and hold her head up very well. She is so happy and content and we love her so much!!

My girls

Even though I can see how both of my daughters look like their biological parents, I can't believe how much they truly look like biological sisters in this picture.

They were destined to be siblings. :)

3 months old!

Kate is 3 months old! Yippee! My favorite baby stage is 4-6 months. All the laughing and cooing is worth all the sleepless nights that led up to it. :)

Lots of pics

Isn't she gorgeous!!




Even though my girls are five years apart- they still play together. :)


World's best Daddy! He even has the tie on that Chloe made him to prove it.


This is Kate with her friend Finn. Finn's older brother Nate is one week older than Chloe and Finn is two weeks older than Kate. :)

Chloe's Swim Lessons

Chloe graduated from a level two to a level three. She is getting better and better each day!

Look who joined us for dinner....

Even though she's not eating yet, Kate loves to sit at the table with us at dinner time.

Thunder cake

Chloe was a little nervous about the thunder storm we had this morning. So... we read Thunder Cake by Patricia Palacco and then made our very own thunder cake (minus the tomatoes).

2 months old!

Kate is 2 months old and smiling alot now! In the close-up she's smiling at her big sister Chloe.

Kate's New Crib

Thank you Nana and Papa!
Kate moved into her crib and she seems to like it given she slept well last night. Chloe all of a sudden has a new found interest in her old bedroom now that she is in love with Kate's mobile that projects on the ceiling.

Chloe and Kate snuggling in Chloe's bed

Chloe can't wait for the day that they can have sleepovers. Frankly, neither can I. :)

Kate's story

About 10 years ago Matt and I were told we would never be able to have biological children.

We are now the proud parents of two beautiful girls. I can't believe how fortunate we are and how strongly we believe in the miracle of adoption.

I talked just today with Kayla, our birthmother, and we spoke about how we both had so many "unanswered questions". Through both of our heartache and despair we became each others answers. The adoption process is not without pain but there is also so much joy.... Kayla's going back to school in June and she continues to be so grateful to Matt and me for helping her through a hard time in her life. I almost laugh each time she thanks me. I think... "Really, you're thanking me as I hold this gorgeous newborn on my lap." I'm the thankful one.

Kate is now 26 days old and I am head over heels in love with her. I'll admit it took a few days. I imagine that mothers who give birth to their children fall immediately in love. I needed time. There were times during Kate's 4-day hospital stay that I didn't think she would get to be Chloe's little sister. (Although, Chloe always knew. Somehow she's known for over a year that she would have a baby sister. :) )
But now I can't imagine Kate not being our little girl.

I have been listening to this song by Sarah McLachlan over and over since our first phone call from Kayla in December. I am so grateful for both my Kate and my Chloe. Although it was a hard journey, I'm so glad Matt and I got to go on it.

PS- This sounds like a "Dear Diary" entry- Thanks for humoring me. I just wanted everyone to know how great adoption is!

She's a big girl

Chloe was so excited today because for the very first time she was able to swing all by herself-- as high as she wanted. Prior to today she couldn't quite get the hang of how to do it. But today she finally did! She kept singing "I'm a big girl! I'm not a baby anymore." We're so proud of her!

Happy Earth Day!

For Earth Day Chloe and I made "edible earths" out of cake and melted blue chocolate and a green food coloring marker. Chloe also painted an old cereal box that she wants to fill up with trash she finds around our neighborhood and park. (Her idea- not mine. She must have seen it on a show. :)


Kate helped out by sleeping soundly in her seat next to us.
Happy Earth Day!

SISTERS

I can't tell you how long I've wanted to be able to take these kinds of photos. I can't even stand how stinkin' cute they both are!

Two Weeks Old!

Out little Kate is two weeks old. She is such a good baby and we love her to pieces!

HAPPY EASTER!

We're home and enjoying Easter in beautiful California. :)

Cleared for Home!!!

We're headed home 1st thing in the morning! And not a moment too soon... Chloe's going stir crazy!

Home on Friday

We were hoping to be able to go home today but it looks like we need to wait until Friday. Oh well, more quality bonding time in the hotel. :)

Chloe's baby sister

Chloe loves having baby Kate around. It's like having a real life baby doll to dress up. :) We're relaxing in the hotel room right now and adjusting to being a family of four. We're also excited about the possibility of being able to go home tomorrow instead of Friday!! Keep your fingers crossed for us. :)

Baby Kate is ours! :)

She's officially our little girl. We can't wait to come home to California so she can meet everybody!

Chloe's Birthday and Kate's adoption day!

Wow! Today is quite a day for us. Kayla signs her adoption papers at 4:30 pm today. (2:30 CA time) We will of course be thinking of her all day and hope everyone else will too. Baby Kate (It's now spelled Katelyn instead of Caitlin- more on that later) has jaundice and may need to stay at the hospital until tomorrow. But we're really hoping we can bring her with us to the hotel today. Some of the nurses have been great about us staying there- others not so great. :) Her jaundice isn't too bad- so it's very possible. Thanks for all your love and support. We know you all are thinking of us and we can't wait to come home Friday!

We also can't believe Chloe is 5 today! She has been so fantastic this trip. We're so proud of her.

More from Mississippi

She's here!

Caitlin Joy
8.0 lbs.
21 inches long

born at 10:01pm April 2, 2009

We'll post more later. Lots to tell... Chloe already adores her. :)