Five years!!

 I cannot believe its been five years ago our two youngest came to SD on 3-23-2012. We had waited so long to get matched with so many let downs, near matches, and lost paper work.... then its finally reality!

How wonderful and happy we were but it came to a huge reality when we brought home two very verbal children. Each has their own personality and lots of adjustment to make. They came with lots of challenges and our lives will never be the same. Don't get me wrong. We love them both but some days weren't so cushy....actually it took at least a year for us to really get adjusted.

Andres was in love with the acreage and me right away and told us all what he thought. Aaliyah however I believe hated me. She wouldn't speak to me for more than a couple months and only hung on Dan. These are two kids that were expected to just jump in and be our 4&6 year olds ...to us complete strangers.

As time went on everyone adjusted to each other. Aaliyah took a switch and started to lean on me and

rejected Dan. Andres threw us for several loops with his raging behaviors. Though his behaviors are like a grizzly bear and he goes hot and heavy but when hes done in about an hour or two its like nothing ever happened, and turns back into his little teddy bear personality. Miss Aaliyah is like a cat scratching the chalk board. She didn't hit as hard but kept a grudge and purposely irritating us for up to days:0

How time has evolved!

As I walk downstairs where there bedrooms are I scan over the room and realize all the destruction these two kids have done over the years. Andres doesn't have any dressers anymore since he trashed them to no repair. The wall between the kids room has been repaired from a hole they both dug  into the new plaster for a peak hole between rooms. The family room light fixture has been replaced after they decided to hang from it with their monkeys with Velcro hands. We have a different set of couches as the others have been beat up. My recumbent bike seat has a tape repair as somebody or..."Nobody" sliced through it. Our big screen TV hangs on the wall but we haven't watched it for sometime. We don't want to wake them when they go to bed. Somehow "nobody" broke the power switch on it lol.

Andres initially did not want to talk to anyone new and would lock himself in his room if anyone new came over. He is now a very social young man. Aaliyah used to talk to any stranger on the street and start a big conversation but hate to talk to us. Well she's still kind of that way. LOL

It has been an adventure and continues to be every day. We have gone through lots of medical issues with Aaliyah. Some weren't expected but then we expected the unexpected with these two.

Tons of adjusting meds on our little guy and doctor visits.

We thought we knew basically how to raise kids before these guys came home....after they got here we learned we knew nothing lol.

NeVaeh was a completely different experience for us. She had developmental things to work on but she didn't challenge our sanity.

When these guys came home she took it in stride. When the going got rough she ran to her room and was happy.

These guys have grown so much in the past five years. We can have peace some days. Their behaviors have improved and transformed into different ones. We all as a family have learned how to live together with a bit of sanity. The kids are getting smarter and do fair in school. The love between these two are inseparable. They have the normal love hate relationship between siblings but they stand up for each other...right or wrong. Keeping these two together has been invaluable.

Would we do it over again...Of course!! We love our kiddos and every child deserves their own family and a home they know will be forever. Will we do it  again??

I want to but Dan said we have enough lol. I guess. then probably no.

How time fly!! This is our normal crazy family!