you are my sunshine {love}

two weeks ago was 3 years since i've known my red-heads.

i remember when i met the girls. they hid under their blankets and wouldn't talk to me. i wasn't sure we were going to click. i'm very good with children so i knew that i could get them to warm up, i just didn't know if i would have a connection with them the way i have with other kids i had been with before.

looking back, that just seems ridiculous. they are my joy.

let me start with the adults. all of them are like family to me now. but especially lora, lora, lora. she is me in 30 years. if you've been around us together, you know that this is completely true {and somewhat scary}. just this past friday, we were on a typical rachel/lora adventure with the kids that included a broken down car, stopping traffic for an hour plus, a baby that screamed for...about an hour plus, and a few other things i will not include because believe me, you don't want to know. and we just sat in the front seats of that car and laughed. and laughed. and laughed. so we wouldn't cry. she's my second mom. i can talk to her about anything, she would do anything for me. she gets mad when i'm hurt. she's proud of what i have accomplished. and mainly, she's just about as crazy as i am and we totally deserve each other.

sarah and i are completely different in some ways and creepily similar in others. i was always closer to lora than her {probably because she's normally at work when i'm there. duh. the point of a nanny.}. but when she and the kids suffered their blow, our relationship turned to friendship and i do believe that is one of the blessings that came from the tragedy. now she is one of my best friends. she is also almost as crazy as me and that may be why. :) her friendship means so much to me whether we are eating pizza at reds games or crying on the sofa. she is always there for me and my family whether it's watching hope for jessica, visiting my dad in the hospital, or bringing me 2 dozen roses when i have a broken heart. i am incredibly blessed to know her. she is the strongest person i know.

the twins. oh those girls. if lora is me in 30 years, izzi is me 20 years ago. promise. they are nuts. izzi and i can have a throw down and 2 seconds later, she is telling me i am her favorite person in the world. i actually prefer to spend time with them over most adults. they are the funniest little girls i have ever met. my mom has always said i should keep a book of all of the things izzi says. i could make a million dollars. just two weeks ago when i was laying on the couch, crying my eyes out because of the slipped disc/pinched nerve, maddi was sitting in my nest {when i lay sideways on the couch - the area between my bent knees and the couch - her favorite place} rubbing my leg and telling me it was going to be okay. :) they are my absolute joy. especially during our daily dance parties when they are laughing so hard that they can't breathe. these have been the best 3 years of my life.

and then there's the baby. who really isn't a baby anymore but regardless, i will most likely always call him the baby. i can't really wrap my head around how i can love someone so much who isn't even mine. i am so lucky to have known him every day of his little life, {i would show you our first picture together in the hospital but that was 140 pounds ago and i don't want to scare you.} he is the smartest, bossiest, sweetest little man i know. when he learned how to say my name, i cried. when he first said 'lub you rachel' i cried. when i smashed his little finger in the door {something that he cried about for all of .2 seconds} i cried for about 12 hours until someone finally told me to get a grip. every single day that i've had him, i have sung 'you are my sunshine' to him multiple times but always when i rock him before his nap {and yes, he still lets me}. about a month and a half ago, i started singing "you are..." and he sang "my shunshinnnne" and obviously i burst into tears. :) i am wrapped around his finger, completely in love with his little face, and may or may not fake cry on occasion so i can hear him say, "rachel, rachel, rachel, rachel, rachel........sowwy" cause it's just so cute i can't stand it. when i am broken, he saves me.

so much has happened in the last 3 years, good and bad. but sarah found me for a reason. i called her back for a reason. and i can't begin to explain to you exactly how yellow they have made my life. but i thought i'd try. :)

xx