Happy Birthday Babies

Last week we celebrated the twins second birthday.  I cannot believe how fast the last two years have gone.  I remember so distinctly the few days leading up to placement.  It was on Friday, June 19 that we first got a call from our case worker.  She told us that they had a birthmom on her way to the hospital who hadn't placed.  And she was having twins.  Can we show her your profile?  Of course we were open to any situation and answered yes.  The boys were born early Saturday morning.  We got a call Saturday afternoon letting us know the birthmom was close to making her decision, but wanted a conference call with us.  Could we talk to her on Sunday?  Of course.

We spoke with her early afternoon, and then left for church.  Not long after we got to church, we got another call--she wanted to tell us herself that she had chosen us.  Happy Father's Day to Dan.  We hopped on a plane (thanks to a friend who flies for Continental and got us on stand-by) to Vegas, drove to Salt Lake, and were able to meet with the birthmom on the morning of the 22nd.  After signing all those papers--they were ours, and we finally got to meet them about 4 that afternoon.

And now look at them.

They have brought so much joy into our home, not to mention days full of chaos, but we love it all.

Brady is and always has been the big brother.

He has always been the leader, but he has also started looking to Carter and saying "no, no Carter" when he knows Carter is being naughty.  He is physical and active.  He loves to throw balls (and boy does he have an arm), jump from the kid slide to the bean bag, and climb on furniture or the outside of the stairs.  He can throw a tantrum like any other two year old, but loves to give hugs and kisses.  He has developed a great friendship with Tyler, and the two of them love to wrestle and play together.  While behind on speech, he does have about 30 words and is starting to repeat things back to us.  Dadda, Tyler, momma, book, choo-choo, car, and more.  He just started raising his hand and saying "me" whenever you ask a question.  I still can't get over his dimple and curly hair--watch out ladies.

Carter is my sweet baby.

He is usually calm and mild-mannered, although lately he has been letting you know when he is not happy.  He also hasn't been putting up with Brady's bullying, and fights back.  I have had to break up several hitting/biting matches.  Poor Carter is the one right now with teeth marks on his chest.  He loves to snuggle when he is tired.  He must have his taggie.  He is a thumb sucker, to the point his left thumb is raw and sore.  We joke that Carter is the engineer--he will sit with toys for a long time, and seem like he is just trying to figure it all out.  He has been having a bit of separation anxiety lately, and doesn't like Mommy leaving him places.  Carter is still a bit behind Brady, including speech.  He has about 20 words.  Doggie, woof-woof, Dad, Mom, choo-choo.  I hear mom about a thousand times a day.  He also signs more, eat, and please.

We had a super low key birthday,  We wanted to get some trikes, but still haven't picked them up.  Thank goodness grandma sent them presents so they had something to open.  We went out to dinner, and then had cupcakes back home.  And Tyler is the greatest big brother.  Happy Birthday boys!