March 13th 2021
- Taylor -
It's been three months since little Alessia was born and we've all become one cohesive unit. Karlie set up her office here and has been working more, so I've been spending my days with Auggie and Selena and it's been nice having someone who knows what I'm going through every day, plus seeing the babies grow and learn together everyday makes my heart burst.
Auggie is nine months old and I can hardly believe how much he's changed. He's pulling himself up and getting ready to start walking and lately he's starting waving bye bye to Karlie when she takes the girls to school or goes off to work in the morning. Rosie turned six last week and seeing the difference in her now versus the little girl I first met, she's come leaps and bounds. She has an adorable little group of friends and we've had a few playdates which Ro loved, and she's doing amazing in school. We're so proud of her.
A few days into the New Year we finally recieved the date of our adoption hearing, but surprisingly it wasn't just for Rosie and August. Since we didn't know we could even adopt Lilah until the middle of December, we expected it to take a while before we got anywhere near this point. However, we were already approved for adoption and with no living family to contest us adopting her, the social worker managed to fast track the process. So today we go to court and our kids officially become ours.
"Mommy, do I look pretty?" I look up as Rosie comes running into our bedroom and I give her a soft smile, "you look beautiful, Roo." I kneel down in front of her, taking in my baby girl. I can't believe we're here. "Mama said no crying, it's a happy day, mommy," she scolds me as I wipe my teary eyes and I laugh, "I know, bug, and I couldn't be happier."
There is nothing I want more than to make our family official and when we come home today that's what we'll be. No more social worker visits or worrying that someone is going to appear and move one of our kids. This is it, our forever.
"Mom?" I hear Lilah calling down the hall and I kiss Rosie's cheek before getting back up, "in here, Lil." I call back to her and then I hear her running down the hallway until she gets to our door, "I can't find my necklace," she looks totally panicked, "which one?" I frown as I glance to Rosie, the little blonde running back out of the room to go and find Karlie in Auggie's nursery. "The one Nia gave me for Christmas, I can't find it," I nod as think back, "did you take it off when you used our shower the other day? It might still be in the bathroom."
She nods and doesn't say a thing as she basically sprints across our room into the bathroom. "Got it, thanks mom," she sighs as she comes back out, standing in front of my vanity to put it on.
Lilah and Antonia remain a happy couple five months into their relationship. They spend a lot of time together and we've even started stretching our rules just a little and giving her more freedom to spend the night and extend her curfew. She's been responsible this far and we'll keep trusting her unless she gives us a reason not to.
"Are you nervous?" She turns to look at me as she asks the question and I sigh, nodding as I give her a gentle smile. "I'm nervous and excited," she nods in agreement as she perches on the end of the bed, "I'm scared they're going to change their mind." I take a seat beside her and take her hand, "they won't, honey, today is just for them to hear you and Ro say that this is what you want one more time before everything is finalised. They have no reason to change their mind, I promise."
Lilah nods but I can still see the nerves in her eyes as I wrap her in a hug, "when we come home today, you'll officially be our daughter and all of the past hurt will be over. Nobody can ever take you away from us, Lil." After the whole thing with Ronnie, she's been terrified that someone is just going to turn up and her whole world will be turned upside down again. Today means all of that fear becomes squashed because we'll be her moms and she will be 100% ours, all three of our kids will.
