About Me

My name is Nicole and I'm from a small town in Iowa. I'm not writing this for anyone other then myself, but shoot if someone wants a moment of crazy, then feel free to look in. I'm married to my WONDERFUL and equally crazy husband Jason We've been together since I was in high school, so we are one of those amazing clichés. He is a steamfitter/welder/does things I can only imagine. Up until June 2014 I was a teacher, you know "that" teacher that everyone hated because she wouldn't let you get by with anything. Yep that was me, and I loved nearly every minute of it!

Our story to parenthood started shortly after we got married. In October 2010 we actively started trying to have babies. Talk about a fun time! And then the negative tests came rolling in again and again, month after month. After a year of trying we explored infertility treatments, and we got the bill for $2,000 worth of blood work that insurance wouldn't cover and decided that road wasn't an option. -side note- Why insurance will pay for you not to have a baby (i.e. birth control, etc.) and they won't pay for you to have one is ridiculous to me! So our journey continued, wishing and hoping for a baby.

Foster care has always been near and dear to my heart. My older sister was adopted out of foster care before I was born and I've dealt with countless foster children while working in the education field. Every story is tugged at my heart. It really wasn't even a discussion we needed to have. I brought the idea of fostering and hopefully adopting eventually up to Jason and it was pretty much an automatic yes. So in February of 2013 we became licensed foster/adoptive parents for the state of Iowa. It was extremely exciting receiving that paper in the mail!

Our world changed on March 22, 2013. I received a call at work for 2 little boys; 7 months and 3 1/2 years old. Before they could even give me a description of the kids I said yes. I didn't wait for medical background, family history, reason for coming into care, nothing! I just said yes! After all, it was the first placement call we had received ever, and I wasn't going to say no. We loved on those boys from day 1. The oldest suffered from Autism and was pretty low functioning on the spectrum (non-verbal, not potty trained) and the baby was a bit delayed, but all in all they were both healthy happy boys and we adored them!

April 1, 2013 threw a wrench in everything, a good one though. I had been on spring break from school and was still taking the boys to daycare so I could get some things done around the house. I walked in the door and smelled the most foul smell coming from my candle. I thought that was odd, because I had just bought it a little over a week ago and I loved it then. Then it dawned on me, "When was my last period?" I broke out the calendar on my phone, looked back and realized I was a little over a week late. I had been so busy with the boys that I hadn't even realized it. I ran to Walgreens, bought a test and took it. I don't even think it was out of the stream before it flashed pregnant. I was overjoyed and overwhelmed all at the same time. Layne Randall was born on November 23, 2013!

So here we are, present day, we still have our 2 "originals" who we finally adopted on October, 29, 2014 and Layne as well. We added baby boy number 4 on May 26, 2015; Jayce Thomas. As crazy as 4 boys 6 and under will be, I think it will be equally as fun! I stay home with them now and surprisingly am loving every moment of it. This blog I'm hoping will be my therapy, because talking to 4 little people that really couldn't care less what you say to them and how you feel about it all day long can wear on a person's nerves.