Introducing Baby!!!

We got our first call on Friday. "We've just taken a sweet, 9-month-old into care. Do you want to take her?" BR and I were running around like the baby doctor just told us to go to the hospital. We tried to keep our composure and get more information about her from the caseworker and then sprung into action. We nested like crazy for an hour or so and then went to pick her up. It was so exciting to meet her...I can't really even explain it. We had no idea what she looked like or what she'd be like but she was going to be a temporary member of our family! I tried to keep my focus in the office to ask the right questions and sign the paperwork. Birdie was instantly taken with Baby and vice versa. We loaded her up in the car and headed to get Beatle from school. I know that she was hoping for someone a little older, more of a playmate, but she was way excited to meet her new sister and has been SO awesome with Baby.

Birdie and Baby are only 2 1/2 months apart. They wear the same size clothes and diapers so to streamline my life, I've just decided to treat them like twins--nap, bathe, eat, change diapers at generally the same time. The learning curve for having two little ones was tough--on Saturday, I got a little panicky that this was my future for a few months--but each day keeps getting better.

Baby is a really sweet and beautiful baby--a total cuddle bug! She already is coming to life more (thanks in part to her getting tubes in her ears this morning). She was left in a carseat far too often and lacks some motor skills most would have by now but given time and practice, she'll be catching Birdie in no time. She's an intelligent child and I know her mom loves her very much, she was just making poor choices for Baby.

Birdie has had her bouts of jealousy because she is a mama's girl. One time, she squeezed in between me and Baby and tried to push her out of my lap. The other time, I made Baby a bottle and Birdie wanted it so bad (but we've just broken the habit so these could be tricky waters to navigate). Birdie flung herself on the floor while I was feeding Baby and she finally pulled herself together and stood up. She took Baby's pacifier and turned it over in her hand and started walking around with it. Next thing I know, she's opened the trash can lid and tossed it in!!!

It was a little odd taking Baby to Wal-Mart last night. Every sideways glance I got, I wondered if they recognized her and we've even had a few near misses with the mom.

I'm so blessed to have such wonderful, Christian foster moms to talk to and be mentored by; it's made this experience far less scary!

Welcome to Rantville:
Since I'm the author of this blog, I get the opportunity to comment on TWO of the most frequent things I've heard since people have found out that we are foster parents. "Oh, I've always wanted to do that but my husband just won't." Personally, I don't get it when guys are all macho and want fruit from their own loins like their loins are SOO good! Any way you slice it, biological or adopted (or foster!), they are putting a stranger in your arms and you get the privilege of spending your life getting to know them better (or just a few months). But that said, after this weekend, there is absolutely NO WAY I would recommend doing this if your husband isn't on board with this just as much as you. So, I can respect that. I just think that maybe you ought to pray that God would burden your husband or take it away from you. Secondly, and this one burns me up, "I would do it but I just know I couldn't give them back." This gets me on different levels: first, it just sounds like a cop out but secondly, are you implying that you are more warm-hearted than the apparent calloused foster parent population? If you have had problems having children of your own and have experienced a lot of loss that way, then I don't know if fostering would be good for you because the goal of this is that THEIR parents get back on their feet to unify THEIR family. Truly, I'm already attached to Baby; I don't know how to care for her like I'd want mine to be cared for without giving it my all but to me, my broken heart is well worth a soft place for these innocent children to land during hard times.

One is Fun!

Happy Birthday Birdie!!!

You were well worth all of the trouble a year ago today! (Easy to say now!) :)

Tooth Fairy Blues and Other Schenanigans

We had our first meeting for Beatle's Upward Basketball team. (Brent and I are the coaches and Birdie will be a mute ref riding on Brent's back in the backpack, I suppose.) At the meeting, all of the Kindergarten players got their uniforms. They are the cutest little rag-tag group of toothless players. I suspect that like Beatle many of them jumped into their uniforms the moment they got home and didn't take it off for about 24 hours. Beatle ate in hers, slept in it, the whole nine yards. Cute! First practice is Saturday morning.

Beatle lost a tooth last night! Her first one, the dentist pulled so this was pretty big. She had worked it out mostly; it just needed a finishing tug from me. I am quite sure I am the loudest tooth fairy ever. The girl's room is so messy (she's an artistic type) ;) that the thing's darn-near booby trapped. There were pencils on the floor, toys everywhere and the curtains on her bottom bunk were drawn. She's got about 85 pillows in bed with her and of course she switched where she originally put the tooth. I had done a kettle bell workout the night before with a fitness instructor that I swear is bent on killing me so I'm dying as I'm squatting and reaching under all 85 pillows. I finally had to go get a flashlight and try again. Finally! Eureaka! The tooth! All the while, I'm wondering why we parents go to such great lengths for this stuff. And that notion was only compounded when she seemed unimpressed by the dollar under her pillow; thinking she should have gotten two since this was the second tooth she lost. Kids these days, right?

Timing is everything, isn't it? Birdie will kiss these days but it's usually open-mouthed and she goes for the nose. My mom had no idea what was going on when Birdie leaned in for a smooch at Christmas. Beatle was hanging upside down from the recliner so Birdie walked over, leaned down and gave Beatle a kiss on the nose. We laughed and a few minutes later, Beatle flipped over again and Birdie came over to do the same thing. Right when she had her lips wrapped around Beatle's upturned nose, she spit up. It went all in Beatle's nose, up her forehead and into her hair. Beatle freaks--she's screaming, laughing, snorting and dry-heaving all at the same time. I was laughing hysterically and trying to get Beatle to at least the hardwood in case she totally lost her cookies. She held it together--BARELY. All the while, Birdie's just looking at us like, "What?"

We are officially a foster home, we just lack foster kids. :) Our case worker came late last week for our final walk through and got us all revved up when she said she could have brought children with her that night. We were kind of in a daze and thought this was going to move at mach-speed but it's been a week and...nothing. So, I guess we're just waiting for the right child--still bathing this all in prayer but technically, it could be any day, I suppose.

We have so much to celebrate this weekend! Both sides of the family are coming down to party with us and we couldn't be more excited! We will be celebrating Birdie's 1st Birthday Saturday night!!! And then, Beatle gets baptized on Sunday so we will celebrate that Sunday afternoon!!! On my friend Amanda's Christmas Card, they included a verse found in Psalms 126:3, stating "The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with JOY!" As I meditated on that, I thought that was so fitting for our lives in general and especially when we have such great things to celebrate this weekend so Beatle and I put that on our glass door with window chalk! I'm pumped!!! Party on, Wayne!!! :)

Snow Daze!

Ok, I partially retract some of the naughty things I said about January in my previous blog. One of the reasons I dubbed it Bland-uary was because I've lived in places that get the cold and all of the yucky stuff but not much snow. But we actually did get 6 inches of beautiful snow a few days ago! We had a ball!




We found out we have a great backyard for sledding; the gentle slope is perfect for kids. Beatle and Birdie had a ball doing that!



Birdie absolutely HATED the snow. She didn't mind the winter activities as long as she didn't have to touch that cold, wet stuff. And then, when she went face first into it...well, she wasn't a happy camper.

Bland-uary

There are few things in the world I just hate. Snakes, scrubbing toilets and Mary Poppins are definitely on the list but the month of January is just a few notches away from joining them. It's such a bleak month and the cold slap of reality blows in with the North wind. Whether you're exercising more, eating better or going back to work or school, it's time to buckle down and "get real" as Dr. Phil overuses. If you know me at all, you know I don't like to get real. I like to plan for my next vacation, be spontaneous or play up some mundane thing in a day to make it exciting so January is a real drag for me. However, I do have something new to celebrate in January and that's Birdie's birth! We've had her almost a year and it's just hard to believe. That being said though, with Beatle, I wasn't ready to leave the first year. When she turned one, I was totally nostalgic. With Birdie, I'm ready to party! :) She's been a good baby but we have been loving her blowing kisses, saying "bye-bye", pointing to things she wants and WALKING!

She took two steps when I was on the phone with my mom one night and I thought I could count those but then she didn't do anything else for a few days. We were doing our Christmas before we left town and I had the video camera out, Birdie just stood up and took 4 steps and hasn't looked back since. I didn't tell my sister that she was walking yet so the first night we were in Oklahoma, we grabbed some dinner and Suzy was just chit chatting. Timing couldn't have been better; she was just talking to me about my previous blog and how Birdie hasn't started walking yet. Her mouth flew wide open, sandwhich in hand, when Birdie took about 8 steps toward me. It was awesome! :)

Christmas was fun in Oklahoma. Beatle's asked that we quit calling it "Home" because it confuses her. Loading our prizes in the Matrix was harder this year, with an extra seat taken in the back by Birdie but we managed. I'm sure we looked like hillbillies but Brent reminded me as we were driving through Norman one day, Birdie's tights drying out the window as a result of a leaky diaper that we're just running AR's name through the mud driving around with our Arkansas tags. Haha! No one has to know that our country roots sprout from Oklahoma.

Here are some Beatle-isms from Christmas: One day she wouldn't answer me when I was asking some questions and I finally said, "Beatle, answer me!" and she said, "Sorry. My answering machine is broken." I told my brother that those are statements that make parents want to laugh and whoop their kids all at the same time. On Christmas Eve, she set out the milk and cookies and dusted her hands off and said, "There. The dirty deal is done." And then when we were chit-chatting too long she said, "Chop-chop people! Santa is on his way!"

BR and I took a quick vacation and left the girls in OK while we went for a day of snow-skiing in NM. One day, you exclaim. One day is better than none and getting in over our heads financially for more. It may not make sense to others but we had the best time! We needed that time with just the two of us--we jabbered for those 9 hours of interstate with NO interruptions. It was great!

When we got back, I swear Birdie had chunked up in those three days! It was so funny! I commented that I must be starving her and my mom, in typical Nana fashion, said she thought I was. I quipped that she could just stay with my mom then and mom jokingly said, "No, no, no. (nervous laughter) She looks good thin." :) My mom's house was completely wrecked and she kept going on and on about how she didn't know how I did it all. (She did it too once upon a time!) Birdie is at a very busy stage but it was really nice to have some appreciation for the hard work I put in every day.

I hope to blog more in January. This month is so boring, what else am I supposed to do??? :)

The Busiest Season of All!

Birdie has just totally stalled out. I really, really thought that if she hustled, she could be walking by Halloween. Then, we just knew that it would be happening by Thanksgiving. Without a doubt, by Christmas. Welp, here we are still--to much of a chicken to just let go and take a step of faith with only 11 days until Christmas. :) She zipped right through the other stages but we're lingering on this one.

In other news, she pulled the bloody Christmas tree over on herself! I was horrified. We were having a play date with friend and her baby. I was trying to be a good hostess and get the mom a drink and get lunch in order. Birdie usually stays away from that corner of the house because the fireplace is over there too. But while in the kitchen, I hear a tremendous CRASH with lots of tiny clinks. The other mother felt so bad because she kind of watched it happen because they let their daughter play with the tree. I just thought I was going to throw-up because of all of our treasured ornaments. I was trying really hard to play it cool in front of this girl because I didn't want her to see how neurotic and reactive I am--we're not that close yet. I was completely relieved to find that not one of them was broken! I was telling this story to a friend and for some reason, she was hung up on if Birdie was ok. Weird. :) Yes! She was.

This time of year is way too busy! Why can't we have some of these parties and events in April??? I just don't get it. I was relieved when the weekend was over just to get a second to breathe. I, honest to goodness, don't know how I did all of this last year--working and about to pop with Birdie. I know that my house was a wreck a lot and I guess I just had one 4 year old to take care of after work but still...it seems crazy.

Sunday morning, I was getting Beatle and her best buddy (yes, there was a sleepover in the mix) ready for church and I pulled out this old-fashioned green and red plaid dress that someone gave us for Beatle to wear. She was starting to turn her nose up at it but then said, "Ok, I'll look like I'm a baby doll." Her friend jumped into her black velvet dress with a brown faux-fur jacket and leopard shoes. Beatle's face fell and she said, "You look like a fancy baby doll and I look like an orphan baby doll." bahaha. I love that girl!

An elf called us this weekend! I had signed up for something called "Santa Switchboard" here in town; where Santa calls kids up and talks for a few minutes. We never got a call! Beatle was telling me how "everyone" in her class got a call from Santa, Mrs. Claus or an elf. So, I called in a favor from my Uncle Damon in New Mexico, who does great voices and usually reserves them only for pranks. He did a wonderful job as Snowy the Elf! I'm told that on the other end, he panicked a little when Beatle was telling him she wants a hound dog for Christmas and started asking to speak to Mrs. Claus. :)

As y'all know, Beatle accepted Christ last July at Summer Camp but we wanted to wait for baptism a little while so she, at her young age, could recognize the difference between the two. We both agreed that she's waited long enough and she's ready for the next step. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Beatle went forward to announce that she had made that decision in the summer. We were in the receiving line after church and Brent made a wise move and just let me stand with her so it wouldn't be about "the minister's kid" but all about Beatle. I think we're going to try to do a twofer for our family and have Beatle baptized on the weekend of Birdie's 1st birthday in January so everyone can just make one trip to celebrate both big events.

I better get back to busy! We've got one week only (and a weekend that, frankly, looks busier than the last) to get ready before we go home for Christmas.

There's Good Ooeey Gooey and Bad Ooeey Gooey

Oh, I am so sick of us kicking around the stomach bug. We can't be giving it to each other...there's too much lag time between cases. But the first incident was BR on Halloween and it's been in our house on and off for us all since. Icky...I know. Beatle woke up not feeling well on Thanksgiving day. Always in it for the food, she was trying to muscle through and said, "Mom, it's ok. It's just the squirties." We tried to quarantine her as much as possible and warn everyone to keep their distance but alas, several people are down in Oklahoma now probably because of us. When we go back for Christmas, there will probably be Wanted signs hanging around with our pictures on them. "Wanted: For Carelessly Spreading the Squirties". We were 10 miles outside of Hot Springs on our way home when Birdie started throwing up and of course BR starts working himself into a tizzy. It's one of those crisis moments where you have to get the person to lock eyes with you and talk to them in a calming voice, reminding them to breathe. We pulled over but, honestly, I didn't know what I could do for her there that I couldn't do a million times better in just 15 or so minutes. We threw a blanket over her chest and helped Beatle, the whites of her eyes now a brilliant yellow color, whiz on the side of the road. (Honestly, for girls, the best way we've found to assist them urinating on the side of the road is one parent grab her feet and the other under her pits and just let her hang in an "L" position in mid-air. Quick, to the point, and no dribbles!) bahaha! I can't believe I'm really just laying all this madness out. Beatle tooted while in mid-air. I had her pits and I got tickled so hard, it took everything I had to hold her up. What a crazy life sometimes. BR and I get equally freaked out at times to add more but here goes nothing...with our home being open for foster kids soon.

Back to the squirties for a moment, we were praying last night and I was praying for Birdie who doesn't feel well and "for everyone back in Oklahoma that is now sick because Beatle sat on their lap when she had the squirties. Amen." She laughed an embarrassed laugh and said, "I can't believe you told Him that." Like He didn't know! :)

Birdie's cutting more teeth and she goes around clacking and grinding her top and bottom teeth together. Ewww! It is the grossest sound ever! It just doesn't sound right. We keep trying to give her things to chew on but she'll still do it or find things, like our stone coasters to grind her teeth on! Ahhh! Like nails on a chalkboard!

Big News! Yes, you are blog-worthy. :) My sister got engaged at Thanksgiving! He asked in front of all of the family at Thanksgiving dinner--one of those "What are you Thankful for?" moments and KAPOW! a ring appeared. It was so special that we all got to be a part of it! We love Zac and I'm excited he'll be a brother-in-law someday. Beatle's crazy about him, too. And it will be all Birdie ever remembers--Uncle Zac. I'm so happy for my sister, SUZY, who has found a good man and the love of her life!!! I couldn't help that night to see my brother over her shoulder when we were all reveling in their exciting step. My brother and his fiancee were standing side-by-side and I thought how cool it is that love comes at all different times and all different ways--that my little sister and big brother are probably going to get married in the same year (neither couple has set their date yet because of military responsibilities and illness in the family). My brother and sister are 13 years apart. Wow! And the best part is, my girls are getting an awesome uncle and wonderful new aunt! I love both of them a lot! What an exciting time! Now...I just need to be made into an aunt! After the respective weddings, of course. ;)