A place of their own...

When the boys lived with Diane and Grover, they shared a bedroom. Jacob slept on one side of the room and Kyle slept on the other. They shared a dresser, a closet and play space. When they moved into our house, we decided to put bunkbeds in one of our bedrooms and have them continue to share a room. This was all they had known and we felt it would help with the transititon into their new home. The boys enjoyed sharing a room, who wouldn't though? Someone to giggle with late at night, watch TV with, play with and fight with! The shared room worked well some times put other times it just wasn't ideal. Jacob still takes a nap and Kyle would wake him up! Jacob is an earlier riser and Kyle likes to sleep in. There was no way to seperate them when they needed a break.

Over the past few weeks, Billy and I have been talking about putting the boys in seperate rooms. We have an extra bedroom which they were using as a play room lately. I bounced the idea of their own rooms off the boys about a week ago. Kyle thought it was a great idea but Jacob wasn't so sure about it. I believe his actual words were "No thanks!" Can you blame him? All he has ever known was having his brother across from him or on top of his bed!

This past weekend, the boys spent the weekend at Billy's sister's house. We felt that this was the time to "make the move"! Leaving Jacob's bed and dresser in his old room, we moved Kyle's bed and belongings into the other bedroom. We bought him a new comforter, put his favorite toys in his toy box and put some books on his bookshelf. We set Jacob's room up with his favorite toys as well. Billy and I were very excited for the boys to come home and see their new living arrangements! Well until the boys arrived....

Kyle was SO excited. He was shocked and full of excitement about having his own place. Jacob, who was EXHAUSTED from the weekend fun, was far from happy about his own place. He screamed, cried, jumped off his bed, asked a million questions about Kyle's stuff. Once we finally calmed him down enough so that he could hear us, we attempted to explain to him what we did. He didn't want any part of that either. He just kept repeating "Where Kyle bed, up top?" He needed to see every part of the room that was missing. Jacob also questioned why we put different toys in his room. When he did finally stop crying, he refused to nap on his bed and insisted on sleeping on the floor with the door open. Whatever! I could only imagine what bedtime would bring. Bedtime went 100% smoother and within 30 minutes both boys were out cold.

Kyle is still really excited about having a place of his own. Don't you remember how it felt to finally have a room of your own? That's something that he has never had before. Needless to say, he has fallen asleep with a big grin on his face...a toothless big grin though since he has lost his 6th (I think) tooth! My oh My!

Enjoy the pictures from being tucked in last night!

So many great changes...

Kyle LOVES first grade. He loves his teacher. He loves having lunch at school. He loves Music and Gym and doing work at school. He thinks it so great that his mom works at the school. (He thinks its great that his dad is a principal too!) One day this week, his writing workshop activity was "My mom is..." and some pages to write the responses. Last year, whenever "Mom" was talked about, Kyle would not be talking about me in response. This week was a different story though. His little booklet was mainly about me. The last page was about Diane, his "special mommy" which was so cute!
Tonight while Kyle was waiting to get into the tub, he was watching tv on Jake's bed. I sat down next to him to talk and gave him a hug and a kiss. (Sometimes I don't feel like we do that enough with them!) I told him and I loved him and he said "I love you too Mommy" without any hesitation. A few months ago that conversation would not have played out that way. We have known that Kyle loves us for a while but for a long while he would not reply to us when we said it to him. It is so nice to hear it from him, even if I already knew it!
As we are tucking the boys in tonight, Billy sat down on Jacob's bed to say goodnight and they started giggling and carrying on. Six months ago, Jacob wouldn't even say goodnight to Billy. Billy would say goodnight and Jake would say "No". Tonight it was a different picture. I just smiled and laughed. Loved seeing it!
A year ago the boys didn't really seek out attention from Billy. They would seek me out to help them and didn't really want to go places with him. This bothered Billy so much. Tonight Billy and Kyle bopped out of the house together with a "bye Mom, see you later!". Every morning Jacob comes into our bathroom and asks "Where Daddy at?". What a change!
It's so great how Kyle has truly bonded with us. We have loved him for a long time now and it is nice to know he loves us back! Hard to believe that some doctor said that Kyle will probably not be able to create normal bonds with people. Goes to show, they don't always know what they are talking about!

First Day of School (For Kyle and me!)

Today Kyle and I FINALLY went back to school. We have been enjoying a four month summer thanks to come construction going on in our district. Kyle has been counting down the days until he started First Grade. I am teaching 4Th grade this year which I am very excited about. I am happy to say that Kyle and I both survived the first day of school with smiles on our faces! Kyle said that "Mrs. Wilson made us do too, too much work!" All in all, it was a great day!

Today was also another first for Jacob. He got the ride the bus to school. He has been a

nxiously awaiting this day. Jacob got on the bus at Grandma's this morning. I wasn't actually there when the bu

s came, but my mom did admit that for as excited Jacob was to get on the bus, he was a little leery when the bus finally came.

We are very lucky and happy to have Kyle's teacher be someone who we are friends with. Billy and I worry about Kyle and his behavior at school. He responds well to structure and clear rules and consequences. We know that Mrs. Wilson will be able to meet Kyle's needs and help him have a wonderful year.

The boys are both tucked into bed, sleeping soundly. It's almost time for Mama to do the same thing. Need to get our rest so we can happily face Day 2 tomorrow!

Future Soccer Stars?? Possibly!

The boys are both playing soccer this fall. This is the 3rd sport that Kyle has tried and the 1st for Jacob. The boys are both very active and LOVE running, playing, really any type of activity. Kyle has enjoyed playing each sport so far. He puts a lot of effort into it and trys his best each time. We have been really proud of him for being a trooper through each season. You have to remember this is a kid who after I told him I signed him up for basketball, he said "Oh, cool! Jennifer, what is basketball anyway?"

We have had 3 weeks of games already and while the teams don't get score, you can't help but keep track of goals made. In one game, Kyle scored 4 goals, which were the only goals on for his team. He really has shown some talent with soccer. I think it is the mix of running and competition to get the ball first. He puts everything into each game and works really hard. His coach makes comments on how well he is doing. Now if we could get him to work on not taking the ball from teammates, he would be better off!

Now on to Jacob...well, Jacob enjoys being on the field! Now, as silly as it sounds, there are MANY preschoolers who do not enjoy even being out on the field. Those kids make it known to all that they are not happy! Even though Jacob is playing on a preschool team, he is almost a full year younger then most of his teammates. It shows too. Jake follows the team on the field but doesn't really make any attempt to get the ball and really doesn't understand what to do with it once he does get it. But he is having fun, making new friends and learning to work as part of a group and that is all that Billy and I want from this experience.

I love watching my kids play! The three games have had beautiful weather which makes being there even better.

A big week for Jacob!

Sunday was Jacob's 4th birthday. It was a day spent with family and friends at our house. All Jake has been talking about is wanting an Elmo birthday. I was able to find Elmo sugar cubes (cake decoration things) for the top of homemade cakes. We bought him an Hokey Pokey Elmo, which I thought he may be a bit afraid of. Boy was I wrong! He loved it! Hannah, our friend's daughter, and Jacob giggled and giggled every time Elmo started to sing. When we tucked Jacob into bed Sunday we asked him if he had a good birthday and he happily said "yes!" 

We were able to be a part of Jacob's 3rd birthday last year so it is so neat to see how much he has grown in the past year! His speech alone has come so far. In the last 2 weeks or so, he has started to speak in 5-6 word sentences and have actual conversations with us. He is growing up! 

Today was Jacob's first day of preschool. Billy and I feel really luck to have Jacob attending the preschool he is attending. The school is part of the county MRDD and provides services and education for students with special needs. While Jacob is one of the "typical" students enrolled in preschool, he will still have indirect access to therapy services such as speech, OT and PT. Even though Jake's speech is getting better, Billy and I still worry a great deal about it. Our hope is that with some interventions, Jake will continue

 to make progress. When I took Jacob to school today, he barely even said goodbye to me. I was crushed! I left school in tears but as Billy pointed out, I would have been crushed if he was screaming and crying and I had to peel him off of me to leave. I suppose I will take what I got today! 

where oh where has time gone!

My best friend reminded me the other night that I needed to update my blog! I guess I have been pretty lazy about keeping everyone updated on our crazy world. The summer has flown by! 

The week after our adoption ceremony, we celebrated with a huge bash at our house. The boys had a great time having all our friends, family and important loved ones here to welcome them into our family. Some of our family traveled far to come for the occasion and that means the world to us. Billy and I can't express how blessed we feel that the boys have been welcomed into their new family with open arms. 

The boys went to summer camp at our YMCA. They both enjoyed going and spending time with other kids. Kyle had a sleep over one night and pulled his first all nighter, which he felt the effects of the rest of the weekend! 

We took two weeks and did some traveling. We took the boys to Dearborn, Michigan to The Henry Ford. What a neat place. The boys enjoyed seeing old cars, riding in a Model T car, and eating lunch at the Weinermobile Cafe. Their favorite part though was going to the Ford Rouge Factory where we were able to see F150 pickups being produced. From Dearborn, we headed to Lake Erie for a night. We did some island hopping. The boys loved riding the ferries and being out in the middle of a really big lake! 

After a night of recovery and sleeping in our own beds, we headed south to North Carolina and South Carolina. The boys were able to meet Aunt Diane, Uncle Dion, Mike and James when we crashed at their house for night. We enjoyed spending a night with them. From there we headed to Grandma's and Grandpa's house. We went to the Columbia Zoo and the Fort Discovery Science Center. Jacob had a little mishap with his tongue and a bike pedal but nothing that a little time (and an ER visit) didn't heal! 

On the way home from S.C. we stopped in Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore Estate. What a beautiful "home", if you could call a house of that size just a home. While staying in Asheville for the night, we were able to meet up with a friend and her husband. 

After 2 weeks of traveling, we were all glad to be home! WOW! What a fun, crazy summer!

A family of 4!

Billy and I are officially the proud parents of Jacob and Kyle Dennis! What a wonderful thing to say! 

Billy and I woke up early this morning to get ourselves ready before we woke the boys up. We had to be at the lawyer's office by 7:40 to go over any questions we would have prior to our court hearing. We were both so excited to have today come! 

We woke the boys up and Jacob starting screaming and crying. Boy he doesn't like to have someone wake him from slumber. Kyle popped right out of bed and was ready to get dressed in this cool new clothes (Thanks Erin for helping him pick out the outfit!). Jacob continued to scream and cry on and off for the next 25 minutes! Lucky us!

We got to the lawyer's office and he went over the proceeding again. We spent some time checking out his "tick tock" (Grandfather clock!) and then headed over the the courthouse. Upon arriving, we were escorted into the courtroom where our lives would forever be changed. A few moments later the judge came in and the hearing began. The adoption coridinator had to speak about the best interest of the boys and their future well being. Then it was our turn to answer some questions. The whole time the questioning was taking place, Jacob was asking for fruit snacks! I kept trying to keep him quiet but it just didn't work! After the questions were asked and answered, the judge spoke for a few minutes explaining how he has reviewed all the paperwork and approved all the reports and petitions. Then the judge said those words "From this day forward, the boys names will be Jacob Tyler Dennis and Kyle Reed Dennis. I grant this adoption petition. Congratulations!" (Or something to that effect! I can't exactly remember!) I started crying and I think I may have seen a few tears in Billy's eyes as well! (He is not an outward emotionally person!) 

After a little while waiting for the final papers and such, we were on our way with our boys! What a great day!