Meet the K's!

The K's are from Poland. They are in the USA for part of the year for work, and in Poland for part of the year. Often they are separated from one another due to work, but they are such a strong loving family.

S is Baby L's birth father. He is soft spoken and very gentle. I loved watching him with their older daughter L. It was a whole new experience having a birth father involved with this adoption. We have loved it!

I is Baby L's birth mother. She is smart and funny, and also soft spoken and gentle. I love her personality! In the back is L, their older daughter. I love her! She is such a unique girl. She learned how to do Claymation. She knits. She loves cats. She knitted Baby L some adorable booties, hat, and arm warmers for when it is cold. We've used them a lot!

They have a big cat that is scared of little kids, ha! When we went to their home to sign all of the paperwork it ventured in for a second, saw Little A, froze in terror, and then bee-lined it to the bedroom to hide under the bed, lol!

Baby L is a twin. Her twin is Baby E. The K's placed Baby L for adoption because Poland doesn't have any resources for children with special needs. They wanted her to have a full life and be able to progress as much as she possibly could. They knew she wouldn't be able to have the opportunity to do that there. This is a decision that no parent would want to be faced with. I'm so grateful for their courage, and their love for their daughters. It has blessed us immensely! Hopefully we can be a blessing in their lives as well, and be the parents they wanted for Baby L.

Shortly after I took Little A home from CA, Baby L was released from the hospital and Allan took her to visit with the K's. I can't even say how bummed I am that I didn't get to be there for this. Just look at those cute babies! Big sister L made the onsies for them!

In October Baby L's birth family got to come for a visit! It was so great to be able to see them! We had been really looking forward to this visit! It was so fun to see them with Baby L, see the babies together, and see the proud big sisters! Little A was so funny. When we laid the babies down she got so excited and said "Two! Two Babies!" Then she looked at Baby L and said very seriously, "Mine! This my baby!" We all got a good laugh at that!

We visited and had a picnic in the back yard. They brought some delicious traditional Polish treats to share. Little A seriously loved the chocolate covered marshmallow ones (I can't remember what they're called). She ate so many of them!

The girls have gotten SO big! I think Baby E got all the cheeks, and Baby L got the tummy, lol!

Love these girls!

L has been so good to play with Little A both times they've been together. She is a very patient girl! They played on the swings and blew bubbles. We don't have much for older girls around our house, other than books.

October

We had a fun family dinner at Nana and Pops with the cousins. Allan was worried about Baby L getting sunburned so they put a towel on her head, lol! Little A and cousin P thought it was hilarious!

Baby L finally caught one of Little A's colds. She had a high fever at first,

followed by a low fever for a few days. We kept her pretty bundled, and she wore cousin R's cute little fox hat for the length of it.

We took her to the Dr. and the first one thought she was teething (her gums were red and swollen with just the slightest hint of teeth coming through). She didn't get any better over the weekend so we took her back, and they gave her an antibiotic. She got better pretty quickly after that.

Sister love! These two adore each other! I pray every day that it will last!

Baby L got big enough to forward face in the baby carrier. she really loves being able to face out! She never really liked the carrier until now.

One morning I got little A out of bed. She was still super tired, but we had to get ready for Speech Therapy. I told her to go to the bathroom and sit on the potty while I got Baby L. I walked in less than a minute later to find her asleep on the potty, lol! Poor girl.

The Temple Celebration went really well! It was amazing to see all of the youth together! There were so many of them! They did a great job! I'm so proud of them and all of their hard work!

Elder Bednar and some other General Authorities of the church came to each stake and spoke to them, followed by addressing all of them together. What a great experience for the youth!

While I was busy there Baby L slept, and Little A and Daddy had a little sleep over in the basement. They set up the tent,

watched the Temple Celebration online,

and then snuggled up in the sleeping bags and went to sleep. Little A had a ball! She was so excited to tell me about it the next morning!

One day this little cutie wanted to wear TWO tutus, and her Michigan State t-shirt. Haha!

It was SO cute! She twirled and danced around all day. Stopping for a snuggle with Daddy, of course.

Celebrated Nana's birthday at K6's house. K5 came down to celebrate with us and got some baby snuggles in. Baby L is wearing an outfit that almost all 6 of me and my sisters wore when we were babies!

We had another little play date with A's bestie, C. These two are just so funny! I love them!

One particular exhausting day of preschool ended with Little A collapsing on the floor by sister and going to sleep. I was putting some groceries away and came in to find her like this, ha!

Little A is such a proud sister! Every day when I pick her up from preschool (and when I drop her off) she has to show her baby to all of her teachers and class mates. Her classmates are super cute. They all gather around and look at L, give her little pats, and make funny noises at her, ha! These two girls are super stars wherever we go in town.

Baby L turned 4 months old! She's growing so fast!

Her neck is getting much stronger. OT said the torticollis is looking pretty good. She actually loosened up on the one side only to have the other side get super tight, so we're working on the other side now. 14 lbs! The OT took one look at her and said, "Well, we know she's eating well", lol!

My cute girlies all ready for church!

One of our friends from church brought Baby L and Little A some gifts the other day. She made Baby L some beautiful booties (pictured) that matched a dress that my Grandma crocheted for me and my sisters! As well as two cute blankets with matching burp rags!

She made Little A a blanket, got her a doll and to go with her doll two blankets, burp rags, a bottle and a book! The girls were both thrilled with their gifts! Little A loves to feed her baby like Mama and pack and unpack her baby's diaper bag. She also has had her blanket on her bed ever since! She now has 3 blankets on her bed! One that she stole from Allan and I when she was a year old. One that Great Gram got her, and the one from this dear friend!

 Caught this cute little smile! She's such a darling baby!

A dress and shoes that went through me and my 5 sisters, as well as Little A and cousin R!

We had a good snuggle watching General Conference. We didn't really get to hear much of it this year due to the girls, but still wonderful to hear what we did. Little A always loves to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing.

We had a family night about following the Savior. After we played hide and seek with these silly glowing glasses. We were practicing "following the light", ha! Little A loved it! Baby L mostly slept. ;)

Daddy went to get a few things at the store and let Baby L pick out a gift for me. She was pretty excited about it. Haha!

We put Baby L in the swing for the first time. Little A wasn't so sure about sharing her baby swing with sister, but we got through it. She did love helping to push L. Baby L showed pretty much no expression.

Having a little snuggle and reading time on the stairs after school.

Little A is starting to express interest in being more independent. And helping me do things like I help her. This day she was getting some food for me. She also likes to help me put my clothes on in the morning. I'm not a big fan of that, lol!

More cute smiles from this little chunk! She's adorable! She loves to talk and say "ah-goo" or "Ahhhh" over and over.

They love to swing in the hammock together as well. We put the hammock downstairs so we can have a "swing" inside too. It's a lifesaver in the cold months.

More swing time! Little A is learning how to pump all by herself, and getting pretty good at it too!

Baby L decided she likes to swing after all!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Little A this year. She is so full of personality! Whenever I do a photo shoot of Baby L we always have to do one of A too! Also sitting on the blanket, just like sister, ha!

This time A took some pictures of her baby afterward too!

We carved two pumpkins this year. A baby pumpkin for L, that was supposed to be a mouse, and a kitty pumpkin for A.

Little A LOVED her kitty pumpkin. She was so excited to be a kitty to match her pumpkin!

Little A and two of her classmates. These 3 are the 3 musketeers. They do everything together! They are always so excited to see each other.

Baby L was a mouse for her first Halloween. The cutest little mouse EVER!!!

Allan and I were going to be the Farmer and Farmer's wife, but I forgot to get us costumes. So I threw on my witches night out outfit, and Allan went as the handsome Daddy he is!

Baby L slept through most of Halloween, but Little A went to the trunk-or-treat, then went to the story lady's house. After that she said she wanted to go home. However, when we got home there were a bunch of kids from church going through our neighborhood. She decided she wanted to go trick-or-treating with them. So first she followed them to our house, lol! Then we went to 2 more houses, and she was done! She LOVED giving out the candy to the kids that came to our house. She was so excited when some of her classmates knocked on our door.