Another jaw-dropping tale from the "other" house...

This just in: Carly has been having sleepovers with a boy at Shannon's house. Conner let it slip, but Carly confirmed it. Carly and a young fellow named Scotty have been sleeping in the same room, over night, without a parent present. You do not let teenagers have sleepovers! Especially young ones who are experiencing what hormones are capable of for the 1st time! Yes, I trust Carly and I agree that deep platonic relationships with the opposite sex are possible and healthy. However, why can this child not come over, spend time with Carly, and leave at bed time? I trust Carly, but I don't know him and neither does Carly's Dad! I do know he is a 13 year old boy. I also know what a lot of 13 year old boys were doing when I was 13! Why are we putting
Carly and Scotty in this situation? What sort of messages is this sending to Carly? I want Carly to be comfortable around boys, but not too comfortable. I want her to like boys, but not ACT or BE LIKE boys. I want her to know and understand the differences between herself and boys. I want her to see herself as a lady and not "just one of the guys" like her mother has always enjoyed doing of herself. I want her to be respected by boys and to do that, you have to act in a certain way. When will this stop? Does Shannon still see Carly as a 3 year old? I mean, Joey LOVES his little 3 year old friend Ava and if she ever spent the night I think this would be totally appropriate. They are 3 and innocent! At 13 I know that this Scotty character is not always thinking, "Oh Carly's such a great buddy. I haven't noticed that she's transformed into a young lady at all!"
It is time for Trey and this woman who calls herself Carly's mother to go for coffee...lot's and lot's of it because a lot of conversing needs to take place!

"Keeping the Party Alive with Baby #5"!!!

I know I said I thought that "slow down" was a great idea. ("Slow down" is so not our style!) But, my heart had been aching...I was trying really hard to ignore it. I should have know that baby fever was going to strike. At the same time the family started feeling incomplete. Through a lot of prayer God never made me feel like He wouldn't like for us to get pregnant again. Additionally, I've always said that I don't have a problem with hand-me-down clothing, nor do I think it's unacceptable to overuse bunk beds:) There was a big, empty, spot in Joey and Ailey's nursery where another crib (which was dis-assembled and in the storage room) would fit beautifully. Everything inside of me was calling for us to do it again...."just one more time". I talked to Trey about it. He knew...he had known...I had started making mention of "not feeling done" immediately after Ailey's birth. We had originally decided on July, but we always figure it will take a couple of months...why, I don't know! So we let the "trying" begin and 3 weeks later I was the proud owner of a positive pregnancy test! I don't know why, but every time it takes my breath away to see those two little lines "smiling" up at me. I did my little happy dance, alone, in the bathroom. I thanked GOD for blessing us once again. Then, I exited the bathroom and grinned like a silly girl for the rest of the day. I didn't wait long to tell Trey. He was laying down next to Ailey while she giggled and played and turned to me to say, "She's getting so big!". I replied with, "Big enough to be a big sister?" He laughed, "haha, no". "Oh, well, she's going to be one:)". He was happy and proud as usual:) We kept to ourselves for a little while this time around. Just felt like the right thing to do. Finally we told Carly and Conner. We were super nervous to tell them. We didn't get the best reaction when we told them we were pregnant with Ailey, but something in their hearts had changed because they were both so super excited, "couldn't wait to tell their friends", etc etc. I guess they realized that no matter how many new babies come in to our family, no one is replaceable:). So the adventure begins! I'm so excited about this baby. I'm so happy to be fortunate enough to have all my babies so close together. I am enjoying watching Joey and Ailey interact already...I can't wait to see the three of them together giggling and sharing their childhoods. And as always, Carly and Conner are such sweet and caring big siblings. When we told Trey's uncle that we were expecting #5 he said that the "Duggars were afraid we would steal their TV show"....but, I think there is a surgery coming up next March that says we won't:) Our dream of adopting is still very much alive! Call us crazy, but I'm loving every minute of this sweet and precious, children and baby-filled time in our lives.

bio-mom's laughter

Yesterday Carly's cell phone rang while I was making dinner. It was her Mom who probably didn't know that Carly was at her overnight for horse camp. I went ahead and answered by saying, "hey! It's Jennifer. Carly's at her overnight for horse camp." We then proceeded to have a FIVE minute phone conversation in which I brought her up to date on what was going on with the kids and she even asked if I would take Conner to a doctor appointment! (She used to throw complete fits if I preformed ANY motherly duties.) I made her laugh twice on the phone and even shared in her excitement about her new apartment in Tega Cay. It was SO nice! Then, this morning, I made her LOL via text. ME??? Making Shannon Kaminski LAUGH???? It feels so good when we have these moments of shared, peaceful, happy, co-parenting:) I know if the kids could witness these moments it would make them glow with happiness and a great sense of security.