So Long 2010!

Elise's first New Year's Eve! It's 11:45, and of course she's wide awake. Georgia and Henry are sleeping. Elise is always afraid that she'll miss something.

Shots

With the help of my sister, I took Henry and Georgia to the doctor's office today for the required just-put-into-foster-care check ups. Elise came along, of course. It was a big, stressful production. We were there for 3 1/2 hours. Blah.

While we were there, I found out that the only immunization that Georgia had ever received was one shot that she got right after she was born and while she was still in the hospital... I don't even know what it was for... and Henry had NEVER had any immunizations at all. I'm not surprised, but man oh man oh man. How can you have babies and just not take them to the doctor EVER? So Georgia and Henry both got the same immunizations that 2 month old babies get and now we have to play catch up. They'll be going back every month for more shots until they're on schedule.

Still no word from the case manager about whether the kids are moving soon.

No Word

Well, Henry and Georgia's case manager never got back to me today about whether the kids will be leaving soon to live with relatives. I guess nothing was decided yet.

One of the hardest parts of being a foster parent is the constant state of limbo you're in. Everything seems to happen suddenly, and as the foster parent you are always the last to know what's going on. You don't hear about anything until it's near a state of crisis. Sometimes it seems like the case managers forget that what happens with the foster children effects a lot of other peoples' lives, too, and one boring day-to-day decision for the case manager can send a foster family into a state of upheaval.

Ugh.

In her defense, I do really like Henry and Georgia's case manager. So far, anyway.

People have asked lately how we manage having the two foster kids along with Elise. And I say, "The kids are easy. It's the adults that we have to deal with in the foster care system that make it difficult." 100% true.

Will They Stay Or Will They Go?

Met with Georgia and Henry's case manager this evening. Apparently they're investigating possible relatives for the kids to go live with. They kind of have to do that-- family always has the first rights to step forward and claim the kids in foster care. It's best for kids to stay with their own family when possible. And also, it saves the state money because they don't have to provide as many services.

Of course, the case manager needs to make sure that the relatives have a suitable home for Georgia and Henry to live in. I guess we're supposed to find out more tomorrow. Judging from the tone of Case Manager's voice, she doesn't especially like any of these possible placements for the kids. But when it comes to parents and families, they don't have to be GOOD caregivers, just ADEQUATE caregivers. Will the kids starve or die of exposure to the elements while in your care? No? Then since you're related, you can take them.

Although I believe that Case Manager wants the kids to stay with us, it's not about her personal preference. So the kids may very well get moved to a relative's home soon. I'll let you know how it pans out.

Disappearing Act

I thought tonight that I had lost my wedding and engagement rings. I cried. I wouldn't have expected that to be my reaction, but there you have it. I cried.

I called my parents because we stayed at their house recently, and they started looking for the rings. My dad called back after a while and suggested that I look at pictures that we took over the holiday to see when the rings stopped appearing on my hand.

Here's the thing. I don't take my rings of that often. I'm not one of those take-my-rings-off-and-play-with-them people and I don't remove them to do dishes. There are a very limited number of circumstances that lead me to take my rings off. The most common one is to put lotion on the babies. So I felt pretty confident that was the reason WHY my rings were missing... but WHEN did they go missing?

In fact, I noticed that they were missing when I went to put lotion on Henry after his bath this evening. I reached to take my rings off and they weren't there. I was in shock. Then I cried.

Anyhow, Husband looked back at the pictures from yesterday and today and told me that I had the rings on at Sister's baby shower on Sunday but they weren't in the pictures from this afternoon. I decided to check my pants from yesterday and there they were. In the pocket of my jeans. Thank god. How I went from yesterday evening to this evening without noticing that I didn't have my rings on is a mystery.

No it's not. I'm tending to 3 kids under 2 years old. It's a miracle that I haven't left the house without a shirt on yet.

I'm just glad that I have my rings back.

Yeeeeouch!

Did something to my back. Lifting babies??? Oh, it hurts...

Baby's First Christmas

Elise's first Christmas (which actually started yesterday) was very wonderful indeed. Lots of love, lots of food, lots of presents.

Georgia and Henry had a good Christmas, too.

Happy babies.

A Few Random Things

* Double stroller rocks.

* Georgia has two teeth now. Have I mentioned that before?

* All three of the kids now say "Hi!" and wave. Everyone's first word was "hi." :)

* The gap between Elise's front teeth is the cutest space of nothingness that I've ever seen.

* Strangers in public keep saying to us, "Looks like you've got your hands full!" when they see all the kids. Yep. We sure do.

3 Babies is More Than 3 Times the Work for 1 Baby

Tired. I love these little guys, and I'm tired.

Dancing Machine

Elise has started dancing!!!

She's in love with this mechanical dancing Santa that wiggles its butt. Husband's mother showed it to her. She watches the Santa, smiles, and wiggles her butt, too. :)

Lots of New Foods

Elise has eaten lots of new foods lately. She had steamed broccoli the other day. Not a HUGE fan, but when I added a piece of cheese into her mouth she ate it just fine. Then today she had saltine crackers, beets,... and a french fry.

I wasn't planning on giving her fried food anytime in the even remotely near future. But we were at dinner at a restaurant, Husband was feeding Georgia on one side of the table, and I had Henry and Elise on either side of me on the opposite side of the table. As I was helping Henry and was turned away from Elise, she used her go-go-gadget arms to grab a fry off of a plate that I had deliberately pushed to the middle of the table, supposedly out of her reach.

I let her eat the fry. She looked superdy dooperdy cute. I couldn't take it away.

But that's the last french fry she'll get for, like, 12 years. Hope you enjoyed it, Baby Baby.

Lots of New Foods

Elise has eaten lots of new foods lately. She had steamed broccoli the other day. Not a HUGE fan, but when I added a piece of cheese into her mouth she ate it just fine. Then today she had saltine crackers, beets,... and a french fry.

I wasn't planning on giving her fried food anytime in the even remotely near future. But we were at dinner at a restaurant, Husband was feeding Georgia on one side of the table, and I had Henry and Elise on either side of me on the opposite side of the table. As I was helping Henry and was turned away from Elise, she used her go-go-gadget arms to grab a fry off of a plate that I had deliberately pushed to the middle of the table, supposedly out of her reach.

I let her eat the fry. She looked superdy dooperdy cute. I couldn't take it away.

But that's the last french fry she'll get for, like, 12 years. Hope you enjoyed it, Baby Baby.

Lots of New Foods

Elise has eaten lots of new foods lately. She had steamed broccoli the other day. Not a HUGE fan, but when I added a piece of cheese into her mouth she ate it just fine. Then today she had saltine crackers, beets,... and a french fry.

I wasn't planning on giving her fried food anytime in the even remotely near future. But we were at dinner at a restaurant, Husband was feeding Georgia on one side of the table, and I had Henry and Elise on either side of me on the opposite side of the table. As I was helping Henry and was turned away from Elise, she used her go-go-gadget arms to grab a fry off of a plate that I had deliberately pushed to the middle of the table, supposedly out of her reach.

I let her eat the fry. She looked superdy dooperdy cute. I couldn't take it away.

But that's the last french fry she'll get for, like, 12 years. Hope you enjoyed it, Baby Baby.

My Own Personal Double Rainbow

Having three kids under 2 years old can make going out very difficult. We bought a double stroller tonight. I'm giddy.

Hola, Roseola

Elise is getting over a case of what I presume is roseola. She had a fever for a couple of days, her fever broke, then she got a rash on her head and torso. The rash is going away now.

Elise was kind of cranky during her fever. The fever was never very high and I just assumed that it was related to teething. Then her fever went away and I thought she was all better. The afternoon that her fever broke, just as I was finishing up feeding her lunch I noticed a rash on her face. I thought that she must be having a reaction to something she ate (we'd recently given her peach yogurt for the first time), so I called her doctor's office to find out how much antihistamine to give her.

After I gave her the medicine, I noticed that the rash was on her scalp and her back and tummy. Not her arms or legs. Just her head and torso. That's a sign of roseola. Then I read about how with roseola kids get a fever that goes away and then they get the rash. Yep. Elise caught it for sure.

The rash didn't bother her. Not itchy or anything. She didn't seem to notice it at all.

Apparently, most babies get roseola at some point. It's just a little virus. No big deal. And now her rash is going away. She'll never even remember it happened.

Grey Poop-on

I thought that shit-up-the-back only happens to little babies. Tiny babies who are still mastering control of their digestive system.

Nope. It happens to 1 and 1/2 year olds, too, as Henry proved tonight.

It went all the way up to his shoulder blades. It happened while we were eating dinner. At a restaurant. And I didn't have a change of pants for him.

God. Damn. It.

It looked like spicy mustard.

Major Mommy Fail

Elise fell out of the bed last night. I will feel horrible about this for the rest of my natural life.

I had a really, really stressful day yesterday. I took Henry and Elise to get Henry's cast put on. They fussed and fussed. I took them to get some other stuff done for Henry that he needed. He fussed and fussed.

Then I got pulled over on the way home. Speeding. It was one of those stretches of a very busy road that for some godawful reason has a speed limit of 35. I was apparently going 50. Along with everyone else. But whatever. That's no excuse.

Officer Tall-And-Reasonably-Attractive informed me of my speed as the kids were in the back screaming. Screaming! That is why I was not paying attention, I guess. I just wanted to get them home and comfortable and NOT SCREAMING.

Officer Tall-And-Reasonably-Attractive noticed Henry's cast. "Did you break your arm, buddy?" I answered for Henry. "Well, he's my foster son. Somebody broke it for him." Then I realized that the only auto insurance card I had in my glove box was recently expired. By this point, given all of the screaming baby stress of the day, I was about ready to cry. But I didn't.

Anyway, the P.O. took pity on me or something and gave me a very teensy tiny ticket. No points on my license or anything. I just have to go present my current insurance card to the appropriate government office within the next 30 days. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Henry spent the rest of the evening fussing, occasionally scream crying, and being very clingy to me.

So that was my day. Then at night, Elise was crying, crying, crying and not sleeping. I was up so late with her. Teething? I don't know. But I was so tired. So drained, emotionally and physically. And then at 5:30 she fell out of the bed.

I was beside myself. "Help! My baby! Husband! My baby! She fell! It's my fault!" Tears, tears, tears. I think I was as upset as Elise. We have carpet in our bedrooms, so she wasn't hurt badly at all. She didn't fall in some awful way. There were no marks. She wasn't crying a pain cry. Just a what-the-hell-just-happened cry.

Now I'm committed to making sure that Elise doesn't sleep in our bed anymore. She's too mobile. And I'm a rotten mommy. Ugh. I can't believe that happened. I'm just glad she wasn't hurt.

Cast

Henry got a cast put on his arm today. While he was in the hospital, the doctors did a full body scan with x-rays since they suspected he'd been abused. Sure enough, they found he had a broken arm. He had a temporary cast on while he was in the hospital, and today we went and got him a real cast.

I took Elise with us. Me, Henry, and Elise.

Elise and Henry took turns fussing and whining in the waiting room. People were giving me annoyed looks. Whatever. Believe me, if babies came with off buttons, I'd have turned the noise off. Not an option, grumpy old lady who is glaring at me over the rims of her ugly glasses.

Then once we got in the back, Henry was scared of every person he met and everything that was going on. He had to get more x-rays done. Didn't like that. And once the doctor came in, he kind of lost it. The doctor had actually seen him while he was in the hospital and I think Henry remembered that and it stressed him out.

Henry ended up with a red cast. I've never broken an arm or a leg, so that was the first time I've seen a cast put on.

He's pretty annoyed by the cast. He keeps trying to pull it off. He should be getting it off in three weeks, though. I can't wait to see how they cut them off!

My Love

Before Husband and I moved in together, we lived far apart in different states. We could only visit each other on weekends. When I'd go to his apartment, I'd often wait until he was busy and then hide little love notes all over his house for him to find while I was gone. We were talking about this today.

This evening Husband said, "Do you know the most precious way you ever showed me you love me?" I thought he was going to bring the notes up again, but I shook my head no.

He smiled. "Elise!"

Under the Baby Weather

Elise has been sick today. Sleeping a lot. Fever. Poor little lady. She doesn't even want to play. Just wants me to hold her. I feel yucky, too. At least we're in it together.

Teeth and More Teeth

Georgia's first tooth popped through today. Henry has teeth coming in. I think Elise might be working on her 5th tooth, but I'm not sure.

Lordy lordy lordy. Three teething babies.

Elise's First Tofu

Elise had tofu for the first time yesterday. I think that she was a bit weirded out by the texture at first. Squishy and crumbly at the same time. She ate it, though. I mixed it with butternut squash and diced, steamed apples. Yummy!

Transracial Family

We've fostered black, white, and multi-racial children. Our family definitely gets a lot of double-take looks when we have children that are of a different race than Husband, Elise, and I.

Mostly I try to not notice people noticing us. Not because I think they're thinking anything bad. On the contrary-- when I do make eye contact, I often see sappy, sympathetic looks. And it makes me feel weird. I know that people are making all sorts of assumptions and even if those assumptions are spot on, I don't like that an assumption was made in the first place.

I've had people look at our family and then ask me, "Are you a foster parent?" I know that no one means anything by it, so I'm always polite... but I do feel like it's a kind of rude question for a stranger to ask. What makes them think that these aren't my adopted kids? My best friend's kids that I'm babysitting? My step kids and Husband is really my friend or my relative?

One thing that being a foster parent has taught me is that you shouldn't make assumptions about people.

It's 3 to 2 Again

Georgia's brother came home from the hospital today. So today was very busy. I'll tell you all about "Henry" some other time. Right now I need to rest.

Another Foster Brother

Looks like we'll be getting Georgia's brother placed in our home very soon. He's about a year and a half old. Three babies under two years old! Yowza!

Brother is in the hospital right now. Suspicious injuries, which the doctors believe are due to trauma. Georgia was removed from her parents' care because of her brother's injuries, even though they don't think anything bad has happened to her.

When I was so busy the other day, one of the things I had to do was take Georgia to get x-rays of her whole body to make sure that she didn't have any broken bones. She was fine.

Husband and the babies and I have been visiting Brother in the hospital. He's doing well, he's just very quiet and depressed looking. Scared of men. And once he decides to like you, he's very clingy. Poor little guy. I can't even imagine what he's been through.

All of the nurses at the hospital adore Brother. In fact, during our first visit, nurses from different areas of the pediatric wing of the hospital who had spent time with Brother went out of their way to come and meet our family and tell us how grateful they felt that we would be taking care of him. It was very nice.

Brother should be released from the hospital soon, and then we can bring him home. I'll let you know when that happens.

Happy 9 Months Elise!

9 months old!?!? Oh, Elise! You're growing so fast!

I've now officially been un-pregnant for as long as I was pregnant. How is it that this time with Elise has gone by so fast, but my pregnancy seemed to drag on FOREVEEEEEEeeEERRRrrrr?

9 months. Oh, Elise!

Yesterday's Missing Post

Dammit. I wrote a post yesterday and thought it published, but I just noticed that what I wrote isn't there.

Well, to summarize, I said that I had a very busy day. Lots of things happened yesterday, but I only talked about yesterday morning in my post. I took Elise and Georgia out by myself and brought them to back-to-back doctor's appointments with two different doctors at two different locations. It was a loooooong morning, but I managed it. And the babies managed it. We survived. And I'm very proud of myself, because you know what? It was hard work.

Also, I can't remember the measurements, but Elise was in the 30th percentile for height, 30th percentile for weight, and 55th percentile for noggin size.

Foster Friend

We saw Aurelius's old foster mom today. Apparently she uses the same day care where we've enrolled Georgia. A's Foster Mom has two little girls now. The girls are part of a bigger sibling group that got split up. Sad.

A's Foster Mom said she got a picture of Aurelius emailed to her just the other day by the relative that Aurelius went to live with permanently. She said he looks so big now. The last time we saw Aurelius was just about this time last year. I'm sure he looks completely different by now.

Babies grow up so fast.

Giant Poo

** Talking about poo here. Consider yourself warned.**

Today I was home with Elise and Georgia. They were playing on the floor together when all of a sudden Georgia let out this loud, screeching scream cry. Not "wah wah" baby cry. More like "something is terribly wrong" cry.

I tried to comfort her. I figured that maybe she just got scared for some reason. New people, new noises, new smells... who knows. But she was inconsolable. So I started going through the mommy check list of possible reasons for a baby to cry. I pinched the front of her diaper. Not wet. Fever? Not warm. Hungry? Just ate. Anyway, eventually I checked inside her diaper.

Oh. My. God.

She was pooping a MASSIVE poo. A baby's little hiney hole should never have to endure what was going on inside Georgia's diaper. I was totally, totally shocked.

I started little leg exercises, hoping to help her with pushing it out. No luck. I rubbed her tummy. That didn't help. She's still scream crying, by the way. I rubbed her back while she curled up on the changing table and cried.

Finally, after quite a while, I did what I felt had to be done. I grabbed a baby wipe, covered my hand, and helped her get the world's biggest baby poo out of her butt. I was gentle, but I helped the process along.

Once the giant poo was out, Georgia INSTANTLY fell asleep on the changing table. Instantly.

Poor baby.

She's been fine ever since. We got some apple-prune juice just in case we need it, but I think that she's alright for now.

I, however, am traumatized.

Georgia's First Day

Well, last night was rough. Georgia was awake a lot. I'm tired.

She's really sweet, though. A peach. Georgia is an easy baby for the most part. And she and Elise seem to enjoy playing together.

Each time we get a new foster care placement, Husband and I have to stop and rearrange our lives. Everything changes.

Hello again bottles. Hello formula. Hello double diaper duty. Hello twice as many cuddles. Hello kissable baby toes times two. Hello goodbye.

New Foster Baby

Got a new foster care placement. A little girl, a bit younger than Elise. Bloggy name: "Georgia."

Don't know much about her yet. She's been sleeping since she got here. I wonder if Elise will enjoy having a new playmate.

Virtual twins again. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Sorry About Your Socks

Yesterday, I had some holiday-themed socks on Elise and someone complimented them.

Which got me thinking about how she'll only ever get to wear them for a month or two. She'll outgrow them soon, so there's no packing them up for next year. This is it. Cute socks, your days are numbered.

Which got me thinking about how I am constantly wearing holes in the toes of my socks. I don't know how it happens. I keep my toenails cut very short, but my toes are shaped funny or something. I get holes in the big toe spot of my socks after a month or two.

So, if Elise inherits my messed up toe shape, she will never be able to pack up her socks for next year. Her holiday socks will barely make it through the holidays. And if she turns out to be a runner, then she'll need new socks every few weeks.

I hope Elise likes to wear flip flops or sandals. I hope she likes warm climates. Otherwise, she'll spend a fortune on socks during her life. IF she gets my toe shape, that is.

This is the kind of thing that goes through my head when someone says, "What cute socks!"

Like A Baby

"Toy Story 3" made me cry.

I admitted this to Husband, and he said, "Me too. Twice."

I love that man.

Snot Nosed Baby

Elise has caught a runny nose from one of her baby friends. Last night was awful. She kept waking up because she couldn't breathe well. And when she'd eat she would try to breathe through her nose as she breastfed-- it sounded like someone was trying to suction mud off of the bottom of a deep, wet lake. Her poor little nosey.

Elise has been such a healthy baby. I know that this one little cold isn't a big deal. It just sucks to see your little one feeling so crummy.

Fangs

Elise's biting is getting out of hand.

She hardly bites anyone but me. I think she bit my sister once, but other than that, I'm her only victim. HOWEVER, she bites me like crazy. She bites when she's mad, she bites when she's happy, she bites when she's bored.

I tell her "no." I sit her down away from me and/or stop the feeding session if I'm feeding her. She doesn't care about any of it. She goes right on like nothing happened. How do you discipline an 8 month old?!

Ugh.

This has got to stop. It really hurts. Especially now that she has four teeth. The pinching has calmed down a bit and now she's on to biting.

:(

Elise's First Word!

I'm fully convinced now that Elise has said her first word. She says it in context, unlike "dada," which she babbles all the time and doesn't seem to associate specifically with Husband.

Elise says "Hi!"

She uses it as a greeting. She sees a cat or a baby or Husband coming home for lunch and she says, "Hi!" She often waves when she says it. She rarely says "hi" at random times.

I think that "hi" is a good place to start. Friendly. She'll be able to form alliances. Perhaps she'll turn out to be a diplomat.

Dear Formula Makers

One of the things I hate about formula is that it so often leaves stains on fabric when babies spit it up. Elise spit up all the time when she was smaller. She spit up like crazy! But her clothes aren't stained from breast milk. What ingredient in formula leaves stains, I wonder?

With all of the advances they keep making in baby formula science, you'd think the companies would have developed a stain-free, pleasant smelling product by now. Good Start brand formula is the stinkiest. It smells awful. Ethan used Good Start, both the regular and soy formulas mixed together. The regular smelled like crayons and the soy smelled like dehydrated potato flakes. Breast milk is sweet. Why doesn't formula smell and taste sweet?

I know that formula now is about 100 times better than what people used to give babies in place of breat milk. They used to feed them sweetened condensed milk and stuff like that. Poor babies.

I bet condensed milk spit up is the worst.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Elise saw her baby boyfriend, all of her grandparents, one of her great uncles, all of her cousins and uncles, and all but one of her aunts. She got LOTS of attention.

Elise actually had three days worth of Thanksgiving. This year we spent Thursday with Husband's dad, Friday with Husband's mom, and Saturday with my parents. It just so happened that it was most convenient for everybody to do it that way. And it was AWESOME for us. No running from house to house, a few hours here, a few hours there. Instead, we got quality time with everybody. And I was sure thankful for THAT. Scheduling our trips can be tricky sometimes, but this weekend was perfect.

We also found out this weekend that one of Husband's cousins is pregnant. Yay! Elise's Great-grandma will now be twice as great!

Maternity Clothes and Cantalope

I'm glad that my sister can use some of my old maternity clothes. Maternity clothes and baby clothes just don't get enough use if only one person wears them.

Also, Elise had her first taste of cantalope yesterday. Since it's a fruit, she liked it. I hate melon. All melon. But Elise thought it was great. I'm proud of myself for not being the kind of parent that limits what my child eats based on my own personal taste preferences. (Personal beliefs, however, are different. No meat for now. Sorry, Elise.)

Stand Up to Be Tall

Elise stood up all by herself on Wednesday, Thursday, and today. I don't mean that she let go of some furniture for a second. I mean that she was in the middle of the floor and without any help or support she raised up and stood there.

She sits with her legs to either side like a squatting position. Then she un-squats and stands up. My girl's got some kinda thighs on her! Strong!

I thought it must be a fluke at first, but Elise keeps doing it. She's got it figured out.

First steps by the New Year. That's my bet.

Baby's First Cheese

Elise had her first cheese yesterday. I read that it's best to give babies a mild cheese at first, so we got American. None of that "cheese food" crap, either-- we got Baby Baby REAL cheese. And she totally liked it.

I realized today that since she's had both bread and cheese, I can make her baby grilled cheese sandwiches. AWESOME!

Four Front Teeth

Welcome, welcome! Toofie # 4 has arrived. Elise now has all four of her front teeth. Her smile looks so different and it's changing every day! Her top teeth have a little gap between them. I assume it will close up when she gets more teeth in. But it's so cute. She's the cutest baby bunny I've ever seen.

Third and Final Day with Farah

At the end of the last day that Farah was with us, we packed up her few belongings and brought her to the adoption agency so that she could meet and go home with her new family. We thought we'd just be dropping her off, but the case manager asked us to meet the adoptive family and answer any questions they might have.

Wow. What a beautiful moment to be a part of.

Farah is the first child for her parents. They looked nice, middle-aged, and well off. They were so happy. The dad didn't know how to burp her-- it was cute to see him bumbling and trying to figure out how to hold her.

Husband and I feel so special to have gotten to see this whole process, from leaving the hospital with the baby, to Farah saying good bye to her birth parents, to meeting Farah's forever family. Not many people aside from the case managers get to see so much of the private adoption process. What an amazing experience.

For all of the crummy parts there are to being foster parents, experiences like the one we had with Farah make it all worth it.

Farah Day Two

Keeping Farah gave us insight into the private adoption process that we didn't have before.

On the second day that we had her, we were to bring Farah to the adoption agency so that her birth mother and father could see her one last time. They would also be signing the papers terminating their parental rights that day. There's a day between leaving the hospital and signing the papers so that the birth parents can be sure about their decision. I like that rule.

We saw Farah's birth parents. We didn't meet them-- they walked right past us on their way in to see the social worker-- but we saw what they looked like. They were both tall. Thin. Young... I'd say college-aged.

Little Farah slept through the whole thing. The only time she'll probably ever meet her birth father, as he didn't see her in the hospital when she was born.

I feel so sad for the birth parents. But at least they were empowered to make the best decision they could for their baby, unlike most of the parents of children in foster care, who have their kids taken away. So it's sad, but not half as sad as it could be.

Little Foster Baby

We recently took a newborn foster baby into our house. The agency here that helps manage kids in the dependency system (foster kids) also does private adoptions. We were asked to be foster parents to a new baby who will be privately adopted. It was just for a few days while all of the paperwork gets straightened out so that the adoption can go through.

This is our 5th foster care placement and our 6th foster child. Here's what happened the first day that the baby was with us.


After lots and lots of phone calls to get everything set up, Husband, Elise, and I met the case manager at the hospital. The same hospital that Elise was born in just 8 months ago. Before the baby could be released, the nurses had to go over basic baby care information with us (don't shake your baby, clean the umbilical cord stump with each diaper change, etc.) but they breezed through it because it was pretty obvious that we'd just heard that same speech not too long ago.

My only questions were about feeding a newborn formula. I've given formula to lots of older babies, but never a newborn so I wasn't sure how much to give.

The baby is very cute. I'll call her "Farah" on this blog. She has a tiny little newborn cry and skinny newborn legs. Elise was a little jealous, I think, and acted kind of needy when Farah was being tended to.

Since I'd already taken care of a newborn baby before, a lot of the nervousness was gone. I feel more confident with Farah than I did with Elise. Plus, I wasn't recovering from childbirth, so it didn't feel like getting up to check the baby was a major effort on my part. About half way through the first day I thought to myself, "I forgot how easy newborn babies are to take care of!"

Then about half way through the first night I thought, "I forgot how hard it is to take care of a newborn baby!"

Climbing and Eating

Today was a day of firsts for Elise. First successful climb. First time feeding herself.

For a week or so now, Elise has made little high-stepping motions with her legs when she's wanted to climb up onto something. For example, she'll pull up from the floor to the edge of the couch. Then she sees a cat on the back of the couch, so she makes some I'm-trying-to-climb-but-have-no-idea-how-to-do-this movements with her feet. Well, today there was a tupperware box on the floor-- the kind you use to store sweaters under your bed or whatever-- and she climbed it and sat ontop. Yay! Baby Baby king of the mountain!

Oh! And today Elise had her first kiwi. Not impressed. She didn't spit it out, but she sure didn't like it. Serious stinkface. We'll try again tomorrow.

This evening I was feeding Elise little pieces of bread, and when my head was turned she reached and grabbed one out of my hand. I watched to see what she'd do and she brought it to her mouth and ate it. Guess I was taking too long. 'Scuze me, missy! Necessity is the mother of invention, right? I guess she needed bread, so she figured out how to get it to her little mouth.

Gettin' Her Nails Did

Elise now sits still and lets me clip her nails. Fingers and toes. All in one go. While she's wide awake. She'll just sit there and watch. It's pretty cool.

Elise Takes a Tumble; Newborn Foster Baby

Elise had her first big fall this evening. Husband even had his hand on her, but she twisted free and fell off the couch. We don't have carpet in the living room. She bonked her head pretty hard.

Husband and I freaked out. In retrospect, she was pretty sleepy before she fell. After she hit her head she was upset for a while, but as she calmed down she started getting drowsy again. Husband and I were like, "Is it safe to let her go to sleep? Oh my god! Don't let her go to sleep! WHY IS SHE GOING TO SLEEP?!?!"

We kept her awake for a little bit. No vomiting. No disoriented looks or unusual amounts of fussiness. She was alert while she was awake. So eventually we let her nap. But we monitored her the whole time.

She's fine. Although I plan to blame any future misbehavior on "that time your Daddy dropped you on your head."

Also today, we got another foster care placement coming up. The case manager who helps keep our foster license current was visiting our house today and she was telling me that they need to find a temporary home for a newborn that's going to be placed with its adoptive family soon. There will be a couple of days between when the baby will be discharged from the hospital and when the adoptive family can take the baby. So I volunteered to let the baby stay with us.

If the birth mother goes through with signing over her parental rights, then we'll pick the baby up from the hospital. Wow. I can't even imagine what that birth mom must be going through tonight.

So, this could be another situation that changes at the last minute. We'll just have to wait and see.

Onions, Super Taster, Aunt Flo

Elise had her first onions tonight! I diced some onions up real small and sauteed them in olive oil this afternoon. I sprinkled some into her green bean, carrot, and rice cereal dinner. She definitely tasted them. Elise made a stink face at first, but then she ate them just fine. No tummy upsets so far, so I think she's tolerating them.

I suspect that Elise may have a heightened sense of taste. Last night, Husband and I followed the instructions for a test to see if we're super tasters, normal tasters, or non-tasters. It basically determines with what intensity you taste certain flavors, as indicated by how many taste receptors you have on your tongue. Well, both Husband and I are super tasters. So I figure Elise must be, too. Cool!

In other me related news, my period started today. Sigh. Welcome back, old friend. Eight months period-free after the baby was born. Party's over.

Baby's First Toothbrush

We bought Elise an infant toothbrush. Have you seen these things? It's a rubbery tube that has soft little rubbery bristles on the end. It came with flouride-free, safe-to-eat toothpaste for babies.

Elise was pretty much like, "Yum! Toothpaste tastes great! But please stop rubbing my gums now."

I'm not sure how much benefit Elise will get from toothbrushing at this point in her life. But I figure it can't hurt. And it will also get her used to adults helping her brush her teeth. Bo was not used to an adult brushing his teeth and so we had a hard time making sure his teeth were clean. A 3 year old just isn't coordinated enough to do a good job of cleaning all the surfaces in his mouth.

Husband has less than perfect teeth and I have bad gums, so Elise definitely needs to take really good care of her mouth.

Pregnancy Top 5

Tonight Husband asked me what I LIKED about being pregnant. He certainly got to hear me complain enough, so I guess he was trying to remember the good stuff.

I told him that I liked the very beginning. I liked when I first found out I was pregnant-- that was exciting (once I got over the initial shock).

I liked the time before I started showing, when I felt like I had a wonderful secret that strangers couldn't know just by looking at me. I felt special.

I liked the time before I started showing when my boobs got really big. That was pretty awesome.

I liked when I first started feeling Elise kick. Eventually it got old. But at first it was cool.

And I liked when my water broke. It was soooo exciting! I wasn't in pain from labor yet and it was just this wonderful feeling of "we get to meet her soon!" It was a very happy time.

Those are the parts I'd want to do over again if I could do JUST those parts.

Baby's First Parsnips

I made Elise some parsnips tonight. Peeled them, sliced them, steamed them, then put them in the blender, just like carrots. She liked them.

I must admit I've never been an eater of parsnips. I'm sure I've had them cooked in dishes, but my family never had roasted parsnips with dinner when I was little or anything. I hated cooked carrots when I was a kid... have I mentioned that? Spinach, brussels sprouts, broccoli-- I'd eat all of that stuff. But cooked carrots grossed me out. I can eat them now if they aren't too soggy. I like a bit of crunch left in them.

Anyway, I read that the ancient Romans thought parsnips to be aphrodisiacs. Hope that worked out for them. Elise seemed uneffected.

A Natural Leader

Today was a good day, hanging out with family. Elise also made lots of new friends this afternoon.

We went to a mall with an indoor kiddie play area. Elise got right to exploring, unconcerned about all of the bigger kids. After a short while, a group of 3 kids took an interest in Elise. They were probably between the ages of 2 1/2 and 5. She let them pet her head and they let her tumble over them.

Elise would crawl across the ground and they would crawl after her, going where she wanted to go. Four little kids crawling across the ground, even though three of them could get up and walk. It was funny to see Elise being the leader of her own little pack of kids.

One of the moms there even picked her up and played with her. Elise is a charmer!

Mommy Fail #1

My first big mommy mistake.

I found a cat toy under my bed earlier and rolled it to the middle of my bedroom floor. A plastic ball with a bell inside. Elise was crawling around on my floor and she discovered the toy. Jingle, jingle. She was shaking it and having fun so I let her play with it.

While she played I set to cleaning out a bag I used to carry to work. Oh, look at this! And I remember this! I was engrossed. Then the jingling stopped.

I peeped around the edge of my bed and saw Elise sitting there WITH THE ENTIRE BALL IN HER MOUTH! She was trying to close her lips around it but it was too big and I could still see the clear blue plastic.

There's no way she could have swallowed it... but I don't think she could have gotten it back out of her mouth without some help. Oh man, I felt bad. Thank god it was something too big to fit down her throat. Something with a bell, so I could tell she was up to no good.

I distinctly recall on more than one occasion when I was little when my mother called to my sister and me from another room, "What are you girls up to? It's too quiet in there!" Well, we weren't swallowing cat toys, but we were probably doing something just as silly. I'm thinking about outfitting Elise with a bell all the time now. I know the cats will appreciate it, too.

No Tomatoes

When we go to the grocery store, I always take Elise through the produce section and let her smell everything that's fragrant. Onions, peaches, ginger... whatever's there. She smells it and often opens her mouth as if she wants to eat it. Today was the first time she seemed to dislike a smell. I held a tomato to her nose (as I've done before) and she turned away. I tried to put it to her nose again, and she turned her head back the other way.

Stinky tomatoes!

Toast and Bruises

Elise had some whole wheat toast today. Loved it. I ripped up little pieces for her to eat. She still doesn't get how to feed herself finger foods. Humorously, today she brought her hand with food in it to her mouth, but simply stuck a finger in and let the food drop on the floor. So close, Baby Baby.

She is collecting bruises like little battle scars now. Her forehead, her knees. Her skin is so pale and that makes them easy to see. She's tough, though.

I am not. She's still bruising me with her mean lobster claw pinches on my neck, arms, and breasts. So I guess we match.

Hello Fearless Drool Spice

Elise has got the hello thing DOWN! She waved hello all day today. This morning I woke up and she was already awake in her pack and play. I said, "Hi, baby!" And she waved at me. My girl is so smart!

Elise is developing all sorts of skills. Today she started letting go of the furniture once she pulled herself up. She stands there for a second and then falls on her butt. She wants to walk so badly!

Another much appreciated new found skill is this: she can suck her drool back into her mouth. Yes! How lucky am I? A baby who doesn't like to drool! She's done it several times. For example, earlier I was holding her over my head when a string of spit started to drip down-- and then all of a sudden SLURP and she'd sucked it back up.

What else is new? Oh! She's had nutmeg now. I put it on her pumpkin yesterday and today. I want her to try spices and lots of different flavors. I think we'll introduce mushrooms and onions as seasonings soon. Oh! And mint. Very exciting!

Baby Cats Commotion

Baby + Cats = Occasional Craziness

I was in the kitchen today with Elise on my hip when I heard a familiar cat noise. Sometimes one of the cats will "catch" something and make this very certain sounding cry to announce his or her joy. Of course, usually they've only found a misplaced hair tie or a rubberband off a stack of mail. But they mew and mew to let the whole house know.

Well, my old lady cat, Beanie, was making the noise in the living room, so I peeked around the corner to see what she'd found. Holy cow! She had a lizard!

Beanie has no teeth. She was trying to bite at the lizard to no avail. In trying to bite it, she would take her paw off for a second and the lizard would scamper for a few steps before she would catch it with her paw again. I don't know if the lizard was hurt or just scared, but it wasn't running very fast.

I needed to save the lizard and to do that I had to set the baby down somewhere. Fast. I started saying in a loud, firm voice (not quite yelling), "NO! NO! Beanie! NO!" This made Elise scared and she started screaming and crying. Which attracted the attention of my meanest cat, Toesie.

So now I had two cats trying to eat the lizard and a baby crying in my ear. The high chair was just out of reach. I fended off the cats from the lizard with my feet while my hands were busy strapping the baby into her high chair and my mouth was yelling at the cats to keep their attention sort of kind of diverted. I'm yelling, the baby's yelling, the cats are mewing.

By the time I got everything under control and bent to scoop the lizard up, it was in total shock and went with me completely willingly. The panic subsided once I tossed the lizard out the front door. The baby calmed down immediately and the cats patiently stared for the next hour at the spot on the floor where they expected the lizard to reappear.

Murders prevented today: 1. You're welcome, lizard.

8 Months Old!

Today is Elise's 8 month birthday. I say it every month, but I can't BELIEVE that so much time has passed already. She's such a cool little person and I feel so lucky to have been able to spend all of this time with her.

Hello Pumpkin

We're working really hard on learning to wave hello. And Elise is doing well-- she's starting to understand. I'd say that as of now she waves about 25% of the time. We give her tons of positive reinforcement. She does best at waving hello when she's looking at herself in the mirror. Elise LOVES Mirror Baby. She even kisses her reflection now.

Today Elise had pumpkin for the first time. I cheated on this one. I bought a can of it. Not the pie mix, just straight pumpkin. No sugar, salt, preservatives or anything. So it could be worse, I just feel a little bad that it's not fresh.

Elise liked it, though. But she likes anything orange, so I was pretty sure she'd eat it. It's going to taste awesome when I mix it with her vanilla yogurt.

Baby Shoes

There are a lot of things that I just didn't "get" until I had Elise. Take baby shoes. I used to think that putting shoes on a baby before it could walk was silly. I put it on par with Halloween costumes for dogs. I would think, "Oh, you just want to dress something up?"

I still think that $80 shoes for a two month old are an insane waste of money. However, now that it's cold I see the value in a pair of baby shoes for my 7 month old. They are an extra layer of warmth. She doesn't lie passively in a blanket in my arms when we go out. Her little feet kick everywhere and I need them covered by more than a pair of socks.

Now I understand baby shoes better. Turns out that they can be about more than just dressing your baby up... Unless you're buying baby Air Jordans, and then you're just being materialistic.

#3

Third tooth! Elise's third tooth has busted through. Top front left. The right one doesn't look like it will be far behind, but it hasn't officially ruptured her gum yet.

I can't wait to see what she looks like with a mouthful of teeth!

Baby Posture

Husband pointed out the other day that Elise has really good posture. It's true! She sits up so straight and tall. I guess it takes time before one starts to slouch.

Click! and Zucchini

A couple of days ago Elise figured out how to make click noises with her tongue. It's pretty cool. If you click at her, she'll do it back. She does it over and over again, so it's not a fluke. If only we spoke Xhosa, she'd be saying her first words now.

As for words, Elise says "da da" all the time. Nonstop! It's a toss up whether "ma ma" or "ba ba" will be next. She'll shout MA! or BA! at random, but she doesn't babble those sounds the way she does dadadadadadadadada.

She hasn't associated her sounds with any particular object yet, so I don't think dada counts as a word. We're trying to help her make the association. She'll shout DA DA! and Husband will jump into her field of vision and say something like, "Here I am!" or, "Here's Dada!" She'll get it eventually.

In food news, we keep giving Elise new foods every three or four days. She had zucchini today for dinner. Liked it just fine. So we mixed in some yellow squash and some rice cereal. Squashy dinner.

It seems like new things are happening all the time with her. Starting at 6 months, babies get very exciting. They go from cute and helpless to becoming these fearless explorers. It's amazing. Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.

No Twins

The twins won't be coming to stay with us after all.

If there's one thing you should know about working within the foster care system, it's that things can change at the last minute. And they often do. We got a phone call half an hour after they told us the twins would be arriving at our house, letting us know that the plans had changed.

Honestly, one of the hardest things for me to deal with is all of the uncertainty that goes along with the foster care system. Things can change so suddenly and unexpectedly. But then I think of the kids and how they must feel even more unstable because they don't understand what's going on at all.

In this case, the twins are getting to stay in their current foster home, which is probably best for them. So that's good.

I've heard lots of other foster parents talk about situations where they thought kids would be coming to stay at their house and then something happens-- a relative agrees to take the child or whatever. I guess that's a pretty normal scenario. This is the first time it's happened to us, though.

Well, back to our regular routine for now!

Two New Foster Kids Tomorrow, Also Let Me Tell You About the Last Two

The foster care placement office called us today. We agreed to take in three and a half year old twins tomorrow. Girls. This should be interesting.

They have older siblings being put in a separate placement. I think it's really sad that the kids in foster care are not only being separated from their parents, but sometimes families get broken up even further and siblings get separated from each other. We're only liscensed for two kids at a time-- they never even asked us to take the whole family of kids, since we wouldn't be allowed without an update to our license.

Our last foster kids had older siblings, too. "Dolly" was almost 2 years old and "Ethan" was 2 months old when they stayed with us. Having so many babies in our house at one time was rough. It lasted less than 3 weeks, as a relative agreed to take all of the kids. I think it's good that the kids got to live together again.

I'm really glad that we won't be making bottles or changing diapers for these twins. When Ethan and Dolly were here, between them and Elise I felt like I was on a constant feed-diaper-feed-diaper-feed-diaper treadmill, with a few baths and books and changes of clothing thrown in there. Three year olds are more self-sufficient. And you can have real conversations with them. I hope that taking care of the twins feels less monotonous.

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!

Yogurt!

Elise had yogurt for the first time on Monday. Of course she liked it. Of course! I ate yogurt like crazy when I was pregnant. And I still eat a lot of yogurt. She probably thinks breastmilk is SUPPOSED to taste like yogurt.

We gave her vanilla flavored Yo Baby yogurt. She made a little bit of a stinkface at first, but then she ate it right up. She always acts uncertain at first with a new food, but she still hasn't outright rejected anything but green beans.

Elise's breakfasts just got a whole lot more delicious!

Halloween Sales

Now that we're living on a tighter budget because I want to stay home with Elise for as long as possible, I've decided to take advantage of all of the after-the-holiday sales that I can find. If we buy stuff on sale 364 days early, we can save some money in the long run. I love me a good sale, anyhow.

Today I got Elise a Halloween-themed outfit in the size she should be wearing this time next year. Pants and a t-shirt. $1! Beat that! And tonight Husband and I picked out a costume for her to wear next Halloween. She will be a little brown puppy dog. So cute.

I think I was a witch for my first Halloween. I've seen pictures. Maybe the pictures were from my second Halloween, now that I think about it, because I looked maybe 2 years old. I was a witch this year, too. I wasn't going to dress up at all, but then I bought a witch's hat and dressed in all black. Husband came up with a last minute costume and I didn't want to be the only one not dressed up. I have a strong suspicion that I will be a witch again next year, too.

Elise will be 19 months old next Halloween, which is still too young to care what her costume is. Or to even realize that she's wearing a costume. Eventually she'll want to be (fill in the name of the main character of whatever popular new children's movie is out), but for now I get to pick the costumes and I'm sticking to cute and cuddley.

And who knows. Maybe by this time next year I'll have her trained to fetch my slippers.

Baby's First Halloween

My sweet Baby Baby celebrated her first Halloween today. No candy. She DID get some cinnamon on her breakfast of oatmeal and apples, though. LOVED it!

Elise was a monkey. I'm not crafty; we bought the costume. It was super cute.

We went to our friends' neighborhood, which makes a big production of the Halloween festivities. We didn't trick or treat, but we walked Elise around to see the costumes and the decorated houses. She had a great time.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I swear that Halloween costumes are getting skimpier and sluttier every year. Last year it was the moms. I saw several middle aged ladies walking around in what I could only assume were the very outfits that lead to their childrens' conceptions. This year it was hands down the teenaged girls.

I kept asking Husband, "Where are their PARENTS?!" Mostly it was little short skirts and thigh-high stockings. Weird sexy Raggedy Ann costumes or whatever. Then we saw this one girl. There is NO WAY her costume didn't come from an adult store. No way. Trick or treat indeed! You look like you're 15 and I CAN SEE YOUR ASS! I don't like Halloween costumes that make me feel like I'm breaking some sort of law just by looking at them.

Elise. You were a cute little monkey for your first Halloween. Strangers oohed and ahhed over your adorableness. If I EVER catch your teeneaged ass hanging out of a Halloween costume, I am going to make you WISH you lived far, far away in a tree in a jungle somewhere. No one will be mistaking MY daughter for the trick on Halloween.

I Can't Remember Baby CPR!

Before Elise was born Husband and I took an infant CPR class. I felt very responsible for doing so. I thought at the time that the class would prepare me for the worst case scenario.

Tonight Elise was eating a delicious dinner of lentils, carrots, and yellow squash. There was texture to her food, but no big pieces.

Elise has started experimenting with her airways. Snorts, screams, sucking air in, blowing air out. It was only a matter of time. I knew when her face started to turn red that she did not have a big enough piece of anything in her mouth to totally obstruct her breathing. I knew that she'd be able to work it out. But it's horrible to see your little baby's eyes tear up as she's coughing and trying to catch a breath.

I gave her a few seconds of coughing, then realized that she needed my help. As I'm unsnapping her straps for the high chair, all I can think is, "I don't remember baby CPR! I don't remember baby CPR! Keep coughing! Don't stop breathing! I don't remember baby CPR!" I leaned her forward and pounded on her back and after a few thumps, she spit a throat-full of food onto the floor. Her coughing sounded different after that and I knew that she was getting more air. She kept coughing for a while and drooling food everywhere.

I think I could have pulled it together if I had to. If she'd have stopped breathing, I think I could have remembered what to do. Plus my phone was right next to me, so I could have called 911 and they'd have given me instructions.

Maybe I'll just go re-read the steps for baby CPR, to be sure that I remember them...

Coconut Milk!

Elise had coconut milk tonight! If she knew what thumbs up meant, she'd have done it.

I mixed some coconut milk in with a serving of sweet potato and some rice cereal. It smelled goooooooood. Made me wish I was having curry for dinner.

I ate a lot of curry and a lot of coconut soup while I was pregnant. Plus I love candy with coconut in it. So, Elise was clearly already familiar with the taste.

I'm thinking banana/mango/coconut for breakfast tomorrow. Oh, man, that sounds good. Elise, you are in for a treat!

I'm going to be sad when she becomes a toddler and gets all picky about her food.

Tune In Tokyo

I guess because they stick out and they're a different color, Elise has developed a fascination with my nipples. Specifically, she's started to grab and pinch them. She'll be nursing, pull off all of a sudden, and then, as if my nipple is just another one of her toys, start playing with one. Great eye-hand coordination, kiddo.

I heard somewhere that nipples are darker than the skin on the breast in order to help the baby find its food source. The contrast is like a bull's eye. Well, Elise has NO trouble finding mine. They feel like they're being used for target practice.

Mango Baby Food

Elise had mango for the first time yesterday. She loved it!

I must admit that I'd never bought a fresh mango before. I'd bought mango already prepared in things like pastries and there's this fruit cocktail that Husband and I love. But never a fresh mango. I asked one of the grocery store workers from the produce section to help me pick a fresh one out. None of them were ripe, but he found me the ripest one he could. In retrospect, I maybe should have let the mango ripen a few more days than I did before preparing it. I didn't know. Like I said, I was new to fresh mangoes. But Elise loved the mango baby food anyway.

Fruits are easy to make into baby food. You either just mash them, or steam them and then mash or puree them. I mean, obviously you can bake apples or peaches or whatever, but you don't have to do it that way. Which is good, because I love making food for Elise but I don't have an infinite amount of time.

One drawer in the freezer is full of Elise's food right now. Just keeping the stores of food up takes a good bit of time. I need to make her more pears right now because she's completely out. Plus she's low on green beans, carrots, oatmeal, and I don't know what else. Ugh. I should put half as much effort into thinking about what I should be eating. I'd be so healthy.

Day Care Nightmare

A little baby died recently at a day care center in my city. From the charges that were filed and the description of the baby's injuries, my guess is that the worker walked away for a second while the baby was on a changing table or something and it rolled off. An accident, but totally preventable. How horrible.

Although I've worked at a day care center, and we've used a couple of different ones for the foster kids, the center where the incident took place was not one that I'm familiar with. Thank goodness.

I went to day care when I was little. I survived. I know that bad things don't usually happen like that. But when I heard about that baby, I couldn't help but feel glad that I am able to stay home with Elise for now. It reminded me of when my lactation consultant told me about how she had to help a mother dry up her milk whose 2 month old baby had died during its FIRST DAY AT DAY CARE. She tells me this as I'm holding my tiny, days-old baby in my arms, crazy hormones still rushing around my post-partum body. If there had been any question about whether I'd go back to work after my maternity leave was over, that would have sealed the deal. Nope. No way. I was prepared to sit on the couch and cradle Elise until she started kindergarten after hearing that.

So check back with me in 5 years. If Elise is being home schooled, you'll know that I've heard one too many my-kid-was-hurt-at-school stories.

She Has Her Daddy's Toes

Now that Elise is getting bigger, some of her features are becoming more distinct. Last night I noticed that she definitely has her Daddy's toes. Mine are fat and curly-- sort of the shape of jelly beans. Elise and Husband have long, straight toes, like stalks of asparagus.

When I was pregnant I would say to Husband, "I hope she gets your feet." And Husband would say, "I hope she gets your boobs." So far so good.

Co-Bathing

I love taking baths with Elise. I'm normally not a bath person. The thought of sitting in a slowly-cooling tub of my own filth usually doesn't do it for me. But under the right circumstances, I can enjoy the occasional bath.

When I was pregnant and feeling really queezy or if Elise was very active in my tummy and it was driving me crazy, a bath would make me feel better. Sometimes I take a bath now if the only time I have to get clean is while Elise is napping and no one else is home. I want to be able to hear her cry, so I don't run the shower, I take a bath instead.

But my favorite reason for a bath is if I'm going to take one with Elise. Babies are slippery when they're wet so I never took a bath with her when she was little. But now that she can sit up it's not so scary. She splashes around like crazy and really loves being in the big tub instead of her baby tub.

Elise has the most beautiful little naked baby body. In a weird way, I'm proud of it. I look at her naked, from head to toe, and think, "Wow. Husband and I created that. She's perfect." I know that as she gets older, the imperfections will start to show. Maybe she'll inherit my baggy knees or bad teeth. Maybe she'll get migraines like Husband. And then when she's much older, she has to watch out for the cardiovascular disease that's common on both sides of my family. But I can't see those things now. I can't see anything but soft, round, cuteness.

When I take that cuteness, smelling like baby soap, and wrap her in a fluffy towel, then look at her sweet little face, still smiling from the fun and excitement of 15 minutes of non-stop splashing, it makes me realize that sitting in a bucket of my own butt-water was totally worth it.

Plum Baby Food

Peeled, chopped, steamed, and pureed Elise some plums today. She liked them. She always likes fruit.

I want to let her taste every interesting fruit I see. I just don't know when it's safe to introduce most of it. It's easy to find information about when the best time to introduce bananas to a baby's diet is, but star fruit and lychee are trickier. I'm sure I can figure it out if I look hard enough, but that makes it more difficult to be spontaneous at the grocery store.

When Bo lived with us, I often enjoyed giving him new fruits to try. He loved fruit and he'd already tasted most of the basics, but I always liked giving him something such as kiwi and then seeing his face go from a look of skepticism to one of pure joy.

Elise doesn't really get delighted by food yet. I know she likes something because she'll eat it very fast and she'll hold her mouth open for the next bite. I guess that's what adults do, too. You like something so you keep eating it. That's why the peach cobbler ice cream in my freezer is nearly gone.

Babies Movie

We watched the movie "Babies" tonight. The documentary that follows 4 different babies living in different parts of the world. It was interesting. You see the similarities and differences in how babies are raised in 4 unique cultures. And the babies are all adorable, of course.

Elise was very tuned in to the baby noises in the movie. She's at that age where she's especially interested in other babies. Elise didn't care to stare at the TV, but she did react to the sounds the babies would make.

"Babies"-- the movie for babies.

Yawn

I am a sleeeeeeepy mommy. Elise hasn't been sleeping well the past couple of nights, and I've been breaking all the rules by picking her up in the middle of the night and putting her in bed with me. Feeding her. Whatever she wants. I'm too tired to care. Babies want consistency, but mommies NEED sleep.

Elise got her second flu shot yesterday (babies have to get two flu shots at least 30 days apart the first time they're vaccinated) and I wonder if that has had anything to do with her weird sleeping habits yesterday and today. It seems like she's sleeping longer during the day, but less at night.

Elise's sleeping habits are forever changing. As soon as I think I've figured out her routine, she changes it. Lately, we lie down at 8pm, and it takes her up to an hour to fall asleep. Then she wakes up around 11pm and fusses for a long while. She wakes up at about 2:30am to eat, and again at about 5:30am. She goes back to sleep for a bit, then we're up for the day around 7am. She used to sleep straight through for long stretches, but she's up every few hours now. I don't know why. It's practically like having a newborn again.

Of course, now that I wrote that all down, it's bound to change.

Lentil Baby Food

Elise had lentils for the first time tonight. I cooked some today and ran them through the blender with extra water to thin them out. We have a LOT of lentils right now.

At first it didn't look like Elise would like them. But I think it was the texture throwing her off, and after 5 or 6 bites she got used to it. Pureed lentils are still a bit chunky and gritty. Kids are funny about textures. But when you think about it, Elise has already tasted all of these flavors before in my amniotic fluid and breastmilk. It's the texture of each solid food that's new to her.

Once I mixed in some peas and carrots, she was good to go. That's a real meal-- lentils, peas and carrots. Her food actually smelled really good tonight.

Oh! Last night I decided to do an experiment. I gave Elise some sips of water from my glass. Just to see what she would do. She drank them really well. But then she started biting the glass, scratching her teeth back and forth. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Good lord! What a noise. Back to the boobie for you, young lady!

Finger Foods Update

So far, Elise has had solid chunks of banana, avocado, and (steamed) apple. She hasn't figured out how to feed herself yet. Even when I put the food in her hand, she doesn't bring it to her mouth. Everything else goes in her mouth, but not the food.

She mashes the chunks of fruit with her little gums. It's so cute to see her chew. She's doing quite well at chewing up the food before she swallows it. No major choking episodes yet. She gags more on barley than she does on the chunks of fruit.

Elise is a good eater and always has been. We've never had any food issues with her. I hope that as she grows, she stays open to trying new tastes and has a healthy appetite for nutritious foods.

Adoption Recruitment Event

I got an email a few weeks ago about an event where prospective adoptive parents can meet kids in the foster care system who have already had their parental rights terminated and who are waiting to be adopted. I had heard about these kind of events before, but Husband and I had never attended one. We decided to go see what it was all about.

The event was held in a family-style arcade. First, the prospective adoptive parents went to an orientation. The organizations putting on the event told us about themselves, then we got a quick FAQ presentation about how the day would unfold. One of the speakers talked about how some of the older kids in attendance had been to these events many, many times and didn't want to go to them any more because they were tired of being disappointed and feeling like no one wants them. At the time, I let those words wash over me and tried not to think about them too hard. Now, they haunt me and make me want to cry. I can't even begin to imagine that feeling. They've already suffered terrible abuse and then they are made to feel like they aren't good enough to have a permanent, loving family. Ouch! My heart!

Each adoptive family was put into one of three groups, and the waiting children were divided into three groups by age. Little kids, tweens, and teenagers. The families "visited" with each age group and participated in ice breaker games that got the adults and children interacting with each other. The event coordinators did a really good job with this part of the day.

After that, everyone was given some free passes to play video games. It was another opportunity to interact with the kids. Afterward, they served lunch before the event ended.

We talked with a lot of kids-- mostly older kids, actually. We've inquired about a few of them. Who knows. Right now I'm still reeling from the emotions I have at seeing so many kids waiting for a chance at unconditional love and permanancy.

Baby Sleepover

Elise spent the night at her baby boyfriend's house for the first time on Friday. Don't worry-- they were thoroughly chaperoned. No hanky panky. No monkey business. Although we did catch Elise slobbering on Andy's sock today, that's not a euphamism. She really was just chewing on his sock.

We had a really busy weekend visiting friends, visiting family, and attending an adoptive parent recruitment event. I'll tell you about the event later. I'm really worn out from the weekend. The point of the event was for potential adoptive parents to meet children who are ready to be adopted and see if there is any connection. It was very well done. I'm glad we went.

It's waaaaaaay past Elise's bedtime right now, and she's still bouncing off the walls. I think that all of the excitement from this weekend has thrown her schedule off. I have a feeling that it will be a loooooooong night...

Long Day & Elises's First Peas

Today was a very busy day. I'll tell you all about it later. When I'm more alert.

Also, Elise had peas for the first time today. Went better than I expected. She made a few faces but she didn't reject them.

Oh, lordy, I'm tired. Good night, moon!

Our First Foster Daughter

Our first foster daughter, Cecelia, arrived about two weeks after Bo did and she stayed with us for a month. Her parents' rights were already terminated and she was waiting to be matched for adoption. When the state agengy called us about taking Cecelia into our home as a foster child, they suggested that this would be a good opportunity for us, because as her foster parents we would be considered as a potential match for her adoption. It wasn't until later, when she was matched with another family, that we learned that this other family had known about her and been sort of "pre-matched" with her for years. Husband and I felt like we had been tricked, even though we still would have taken her in as our foster child even if they had been completely honest and told us that there was no way we'd be matched with her. Why lie?

Cecelia had been living with a foster family for years, and then right before she was going to get matched with a new family for adoption, something happend in her foster family and they needed to move her to a new home. (It had nothing to do with her, by the way.) That family that they already knew Cecelia would go to for adoption wasn't a licensed foster family, so she couldn't go live with them until the official matching took place. Bureaucratic red tape. So we were sort of a transitional, month-long foster family for Cecelia.

Cecelia was really nice-- VERY well behaved. She was a bit whiny and used her tears to manipulate situations, but what little kid doesn't? She and Bo were both 3 years old when they were together living with us, although Cecelia was 8 months older than Bo. And she was a good deal bigger than him.

I think they both liked having a playmate. Bo got kind of confused when Cecelia started transitioning to her new adoptive family. He didn't understand why she got to go hang out with new people and he couldn't go, too. Bo talked about her for a long time after she left. We told Cecelia's new family that we would love to do play dates and let the kids hang out, but the new people weren't into it. Based on stuff we heard from other people, the new family was trying to break ties with as many people from Cecelia's past as possible-- kind of pretending that she had no history before she joined their family. I personally don't think that's very healthy for Cecelia, but it's not up to me. I hope she's doing well.

I got pregnant with Elise right around the time Cecelia was transitioning out of our house. So Elise never met Cecelia and I doubt Cecelia ever found out that I'd had a baby. Aurelius, our first foster son, and Cecelia are the only foster siblings that Elise didn't meet. We have pictures of them, and Elise will see them some day. All of our kids have been really cute. I guess we got lucky that way.

Really, I feel lucky overall. Especially after seeing what the kids in foster care go through, getting bounced around and losing ties and connections as they are shuffled from one place to the next. Nobody's life is perfect right? But my childhood looks positively magical compared to they stories I hear on a regular basis as a foster parent. I read Cecelia's case file and while I can't tell you any of the details, let me just tell you that as fucked up as Cecelia's early childhood was, it was 100 times better than what happened to her own mother. So just think about that. Her mother, who was horribly abused, tried to do better for her daughter than what she went through and it STILL wasn't safe and good enough for her to keep her child. That's the kind of thing that makes me want to cry.

That's the kind of thing that makes me want to do the absolute best for my children that I possibly can. I know that Elise (and any other children that come into our family) may not appreciate it for a long time. Maybe not until she has her own kids. Or maybe not ever. But to me, loving my children isn't about lots of toys and cute clothes and trips to McDonald's and Disney World. Some of my foster kids had all of that stuff before they were taken away from their parents. Loving my children is about making them feel safe and loved every second of the day. Raising them to be good people, who are kind and loving to others. As long as my babies have kind hearts and know that no matter where they are and no matter what they're doing, their mother loves them and will be there for them if they need her, then I'll feel like I did a good job as a parent.

Dinner Nap

For two nights in a row now Elise has fallen asleep while eating dinner. Is there something in the barley? Is eating becoming hard work for her? One minute she's chewing away, then next thing you know, her mouth is open, her eyes are shut, and her head is cocked to one side.

Baby narcolepsy is adorable.

Barley Baby Food

Barley. Mixed results.

I made the barley baby food last night by putting some uncooked barley in my coffee grinder and turning it to powder before I cooked it. But here's the deal. The cooked barley powder still puffs up quite a bit. So its texture was sort of like a mushier version of couscous. Lots of little puffy bits.

We gave it to Elise tonight, hoping the texture didn't totally turn her off. The first few bites were plain barley, and Elise had trouble keeping the food in her mouth. The little bits just slipped around in her baby drool and some got swallowed and some fell out. So then we added the barley to some avocado and sweet potato mix, and the rest of the food held the barley together and she could swallow all of it. So it worked in the end, but plain barley wasn't going to cut it.

Now we've given Elise all of the easy-on-the-stomach grains: rice, oatmeal, and barley. So far so good. I'm just waiting to see what those little beads of barley look like coming out the other end...

Finger Foods!

Elise started finger foods tonight. We gave her little chopped up pieces of banana. She didn't actually feed herself-- they were too slippery for her to pick up. But I fed her pieces off MY finger and she chewed them with her little gums.

She made a horrible face at tasting the first piece of banana. Twisted her head and straightened her back, but no arm flapping. She's had banana many times before (mashed up), so I thought her reaction was strange. At first I thought, "Oh, she's not ready for this." But then I saw her chewing. She ate the piece of banana. So I gave her more. She did fine after the first few bites.

Also today, Elise watched Husband eat lunch with this weird intensity. Then she started chomping her jaws and smacking her lips. So we're going to start her on small lunches. We're thinking finger food lunches. We'll offer Elise some more banana pieces tomorrow at lunchtime. See how that goes.

And I Was Worried About the Teeth...

I was so worried that Elise would start biting my nipples once she got her teeth in. Boy, were my fears misplaced. She's been PINCHING me!

It really hurts. Elise grabs at my breast as she's feeding and squeezes and pinches. I've tried moving her hands away, giving her my shirt or my bra or my hand to hold, telling her "no," and yelling "ouch" so she knows it hurts me. She's very persistent and just goes right back to pinching no matter what I do.

I actually noticed a bruise this morning. I'm not kidding-- she's hurting me! I think my strategy will be to just keep taking her hand away and saying firmly, "That hurts Mommy." Hopefully she'll either figure out that I'm not happy with what she's doing or she'll get past this phase.

From erogenous zone to lunch boxes to punching bags... thank you for your service, boobies.

She's Doing Everything Big Today

Elise is ready to get on with her life. Today she tried very hard to be older than she is.

Screw crawling. She's pulling up on EVERYTHING. She wants to walk. Most dangerous is her obsession with her laundry basket. Today she was pulling up on it, standing there holding the edge and pulling clothes out one by one. But her balance isn't that great yet. Sometimes she would fall backward and land on her butt. Sometimes she would fall forward as she bent at the waist and bop her forehead on the edge of the basket. Fortunately, no tumbles INTO the basket. I kept waiting for that to happen.

Then at dinner she wanted extra food. First she ate a serving of carrots and a serving of green beans mixed together. Her two least favorite foods. But she ate them all. Then I gave her a serving of butternut squash, her very favorite-- you should see how fast she can eat it because it's really amazing. Three servings of food for dinner is her norm, and then she's usually done. But tonight, after finishing her squash, she held her little baby bird mouth open and waited for more. And waited. So I fixed her another serving of squash and she ate it all.

But she kept spitting up right before bed, and even though she'd nursed several times since dinner, the spit up was all orange like the squash. So I fed her too much. Oops. Maybe she's not ready for a whole fourth serving. Maybe a little rice cereal in with her dinner or something like that, to add some more calories but not feed her too much.

She's a big girl. And now she's trying to grow up even faster. Slow down, Baby Baby! Mommy can't keep up with you!

The Carrot Dance

I steamed and pureed some carrots for my little baby bunny today. She ate almost all of her serving, but it was kind of rough going. She'd occasionally make faces and do a little "carrot dance," which consisted of her straightening her back, whipping her head to the side, and flapping her arms.

Elise never gagged like she did with the green beans, but she clearly finds the taste of carrots to be all but overwhelming. I remember HATING cooked carrots as a child. Raw was okay, but cooked grossed me out. In retrospect, I don't know if it was the texture or the taste. But I'm not surprised that Elise was a little freaked out by her carrot baby food.

In other news, Brother-In-Law shaved Husband's hair into a mohawk today. It looks pretty awesome. One day Elise will see pictures and say, "Dad had a MOHAWK when I was a baby?!" I can't wait.

Happy 7 Months, Baby Baby!

Seven months old today! My perfect little baby. I can still calm her when she cries by singing "Hush Little Baby" and she still smells like baby soap and milk. But she's growing fast. Crawling. And she's been able to go from lying on her belly to a sitting up position for about a week now. She's learning how to pull herself up, almost onto her feet. And she talks and talks and makes all of these great sounds.

Elise is my heart.

Nuts!

My sister is having a boy!

Oh, she could have had her pick from piles and piles of baby girl clothes. I have a much smaller selection of gender-neutral onesies and pjs. But my sister and Elise's little baby cousin are welcome to whatever we have, of course.

Baby clothes don't get much use-- babies grow so fast. There are very few exceptions to the rule that all of Elise's old clothes still look brand new.

This will be the first boy that has descended from my parents. I have two sisters, then I had a girl. Weird. A boy. I hope he's effeminate and gentlemanly.

Baby Menu

Now that Elise has a good number of foods that she's tried (she had pureed baked white potato tonight for the first time, by the way), I've started to make her a weekly menu. I want to make sure that she gets a good variety of foods. Also, it helps me plan for what foods I need to make more of that week.

I make sure that Elise has at least one fruit, one vegetable, and one grain every day. She usually gets two different foods for breakfast and three different foods for dinner. So, for example, she might have banana and oatmeal mixed together for breakfast and then for dinner have butternut squash mixed with apple and a side of green beans. The next day will be entirely different foods.

I'm careful to only mix together the foods that I actually think would taste good mixed together. So no pear and yellow squash stirred up in the same cup, although they might be served together during the same meal. I've seen adults mix baby foods together in combinations that I know for a fact they wouldn't eat themselves. Babies have taste buds, people!

So far, no serious complaints about my cooking.

Cry Baby Cry

Elise did not sleep well last night. I'm blaming this on the teething. Don't know if that's true or not. I just know that I'm tired. And I hope that tonight is a better night.

Elise's First Pears

Elise had pears for the first time yesterday. She liked them. No major response, good or bad.

Every time she has a new fruit her tummy goes into overdrive and she poops with just about every diaper change. Then she adjusts and it's on to the next new food.

Elise's Baby Boyfriend had papaya the other day. I don't think Elise is ready for anything that fancy yet. She has a kind of delicate stomach. Especially with regard to fruit. Maybe in a month or two. We'll have to work up to papaya.

Lightening Up

I weighed myself last night and (drum roll please!) I AM BACK TO MY PRE-PREGNANCY WEIGHT!!!

Just under 7 months. I could have done it a lot quicker, if I'd really watched what I ate and was better about exercising. But whatever. I feel lucky that most of the weight came off on its own.

Of course, my body doesn't look the same. I might weigh what I used to, but my hips are forever slightly wider, everything is jiggly and untoned, and my abs could use some serious work. So it's time to start toning up. Weights, crunches, push ups, in addition to our regular walks.

Having a baby really takes a toll on a woman's body. My advice to anyone thinking about getting pregnant is to get in shape first. Easier pregnancy, easier delivery, easier recovery. If Husband and I ever decide to try for another biological baby, you can bet that I'm training for that event like it's a marathon.

Head Banger

Now that Elise can scoot around on the floor, her little head is in constant jeopardy. She falls to one side or the other as she tries to crawl and sit up. And most dangerous of all is her new-found ability to pull her upper body off the ground by grabbing hold of furniture or a person.

Just yesterday, she crawled over to her dresser, walked her hands up the drawers until she was in a position like she was kneeling... and then lost her balance and fell headlong into the dresser and bumped her head. Boy did she howl after that. Poor baby!

We had to lower her bassinet, too, because she started to pull up on the sides. Now she sleeps in the regular playpen part. I tried putting her in her crib the other day during a daytime nap, but she rolls around so much and kept hitting her little noggin on the wooden bars. So the playpen is fine for now, as she can't hurt herself on the mesh sides.

Maybe I should get her a football helmet for Christmas, to keep her tiny head safe.

Jogging Stroller

We bought a jogging stroller yesterday. Husband and I were dropping stuff off at Goodwill and saw a great deal on a jogging stroller, so we decided to get it. Husband and I actually used to run, before I got preggers, so maybe we'll be able to get back into it. Very exciting.

We're still doing well with our goal of walking for exercise. We walk about 4 times a week, and we've just increased the distance to 2 miles per trip.

Not only do Husband and I want to get into better shape, we want Elise to think of exercise as a regular part of life. Something you do out of habit. We went on walks a lot with Bo while he was living with us, too. We want our kids to think of an evening walk as something that's nice and relaxing, and so we show Elise by example and make it a part of her routine as often as possible.

I want Elise to be healthy and strong. I try to do everything I can think of to make sure that she has as many advantages as possible. I quit working so that she wouldn't have to go to day care. I breastfeed, make all of her food, read to her every day. I can't forget that she's observing, too. Learning patterns. Developing a sense of what's normal and comfortable to her. It may seem like taking walks every night is mostly for me right now, but I think that in the long run they will benefit Elise, too.

Maybe one day when I'm old she'll return the favor and check me out of the nursing home every once in a while to wheel me up and down the street. "Hear the dog barking, Ma? That's a doggie! Ruff! Ruff!"

Once Bitten

First boobie bite.

Probably my fault, in all fairness. We were out in public and I was trying to pull a blanket out of Elise's mouth and stick my nipple in real quick. I think she was trying to bite the blanket and not my boob, BUT it hurt either way.

Has a child ever bit his or her mother's nipple clean off? Normally that would be the kind of think I'd google, but really, I don't think I actually want to know the answer to that question.

Also, I saw another lady breast feeding in public today. I just don't see it very often. I was happy. I wanted to give her a high five or something, but it probably wasn't an appropriate time for that.

Busy Day

We were very busy today, Elise and I. Got up early, Elise had some nanacado for breakfast, then we met a baby and mommy friend for a walk. Elise likes taking walks and often narrates the entire event as it unfolds.

Later on, we had someone come look at the house. Although they stayed for a decent amount of time to look around, I can tell that they are not our buyers. I have a certain idea in my head of what our buyers will be like, and the people today are not it.

After that, Elise had her first taste of butternut squash. Loved it. She ate her first serving really fast. Then I gave her some more mixed with green beans, which she liked also, but toward the end her toofies started to hurt and she got very upset. Poor baby. A teething ring and some Orajel helped, but ultimately she just needed to sleep it off with a nap.

Right before bed, Elise did some fantastic crawling. Her skillz improve every day. It's really amazing to see. You can practically watch her muscles growing.

And that was our day. Now Elise is asleep, so I'm going to go watch a movie.

Elise's Morning Song

Every morning I sing Elise a wake up good morning song. I've been doing it for a while. I love how she almost always laughs or smiles when I sing it to her. She starts her day off with a happy attitude; she hardly ever wakes up crying.

To the tune of "Happy Birthday" I sing:

Good morning to you!
Good morning to you!
Good morning sweet baby,
Good morning to you!

One day Elise will be a teenager and I'll go in her room and sing her that song to wake her up for school and she'll tell me to shut up and roll over and put the pillow over her head. But for now, my Baby Baby enjoys our silly morning ritual and so do I.

Third Time's a Charm!

You'll never guess what Elise ate for dinner tonight. Green beans!

After her first two tastes (and rejections) of green beans, I thought it was practically a lost cause. I mean, she REALLY hated them. But I figured that it couldn't hurt to try again, so tonight I mixed in lots of rice cereal and milk and offered her some greenie beanies.

Chomp!

Ate 'em right up! Then I made her some more, mixed with yellow squash.

Chomp!

So, it just took a few tries. Yay for Baby Baby!

Also, she started eating oatmeal yesterday. I made Elise some baby oatmeal by taking whole grain rolled oats (not the quick cook or instant kind, but the regular old-fashioned oatmeal) and turned it to powder in my coffee grinder. That way, when I cooked it there were no big chunks. You just have to stir, stir, stir to avoid clumps while it's cooking.

Elise likes oatmeal! She's such a good eater.

Chomp

How do I know that Elise is still my Baby Beastie? Because when she bit my finger the other day and I yelled, "OUCH!!!" she laughed. Evil. (Of course, that's what I get for putting my finger in her mouth to feel her teeth.)

Tooth #2

Elise's second tooth is already making an appearance. Two teeth, just like that. Both are bottom front.

Everyone, please say a little prayer for my nipples. Thank you.

Our Second Foster Son

Our second foster son, "Bo," is Foster Son from earlier posts. He is the foster child that has been with us the longest. Aurelius was with us for one week, but Bo was with us for one year. Bo was a part of our family. He went to all of our events-- holidays, wedding receptions, baby showers. He was with us for my entire pregnancy and the first couple of months of Elise's life. We miss him.

Bo was often very difficult. He could be so good and sweet, or completely out of control. He yelled, hit, spit, kicked, threw things-- you name it. He was 3 years old, so even at his worst he was fairly easily contained. But it was a huge emotional stress on us when Bo was being bad.

His behavior improved dramatically while he was with us because we were strict, consistent, and gave him lots of postitve reinforcement. Husband and I learned so much from our experience with Bo. We refined our parenting techniques and learned how to work together.

Bo was a really funny kid, and what I remember most about him now that he's gone are some of the funny things that he's said. Like the time he insisted that I show him where we put the batteries in for the chair at the dinner table. He refused to believe that chairs don't use batteries.

Bo went back to live with his mother at the end of the year with us. She got her life straightened out and was able to get him back. That's the best thing that can happen for a foster kid. I hope that Bo's mom's life stays on the right path. I hope that he gets to grow up with the stability and positive influences that he deserves. That all kids deserve.

The Swarm

Today when we were out Elise got swarmed by three little girls. They looked 7, 8, and 9-ish. The girls wanted to "pet" the baby. And they did. They pet her hair and her arms and they lifted up her dress and looked at her belly.

Little girls are weird. Was I weird like that? Probably not. I was around littler kids often enough that I don't remember being fascinated by them. In fact, I probably had the opposite reaction. More of a "hide before someone makes me change its diaper or look after it" sort of reaction.

One thing that I hear a lot from little girls is, "I like your baby!" It's equal parts cute and strange. I think what they usually mean is more along the lines of "I like that there is a baby right here for me to look at" and has not so much to do with Elise as an individual. I like your baby. Do they look at other babies and think, "I don't like that one"?

Today, Elise was asleep in her stroller and a little boy coming the other direction said, "That baby's not real." His mom assured him that Elise is a real baby. But she DOES look like a little doll when she's sleeping. I can see where the confusion came from.

Elise Is Riding the Chew-Chew Train to Toofie-town!

Baby's first tooth!

I thought teething would be worse. Maybe it gets worse. Maybe her other teeth will be more painful. But this first one didn't seem like much of a big deal at all. The past few nights Elise has been waking up around 11pm, fussing a bit, and then after I feed her, going back to sleep for the night. I broke my "no feedings between 9pm and 5am" policy because I could tell that something was really bothering her. I thought that maybe she was going through a growth spurt or maybe she had a mild sickness. Nope! She was teething!

So today after Elise's afternoon nap, I felt along her gums on a whim and discovered the hard little bump of an erupted tooth. Bottom right front.

God, she's growing up so fast.

I love her so much.

Oh, also today, Elise had her first serving of yellow squash. She liked it well enough and ate it all. Yellow squash is pretty watery after it's been frozen, so I had to thicken it up with some rice cereal. She's such a good eater!

Now that she's having two meals a day, she's starting to breastfeed a little less. My boobies feel fuller now, as they are trying to adjust to less demand. It's slightly uncomfortable sometimes. Not so bad as the engorged feeling that I had when my milk was first coming in, but I can tell that my body is changing yet again to accomodate my baby's needs.

I just hope she doesn't start biting my boobies.

The Tale of Elisey Baby

Today I read Elise "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter. While I think the message (listen to your mother) was lost her, she did love the pictures.

Elise has 30-some books. That sounds like a good amount until you realize that it takes about 5 minutes to read most of them. "The Rainbow Fish" starts to lose its charm at the 500th reading.

I've been reading magazine articles and websites to her. Trying to expose her to new words. I think that's a better plan than those Baby Einstein videos.

Baby's First Breakfast

Elise had her first breakfast this morning. She's a really good eater, so Husband and I decided we'd start giving her two meals a day.

I made her some rice cereal with breastmilk. Cereal seems like an appropriate breakfast food, right? She gobbled it up. She didn't eat as much as she does at dinnertime, but I kind of expected that would be the case.

My freezer is filling up with baby food. It's definitely time to start giving her more meals, otherwise I'll run out of space for my mommy food.

Post-Pregnant Body and Elise's Favorite Baby Food

One pound to go until I'm back to my pre-pregnant weight! Woo hoo! Six and a half months after delivery and only one pound to go. I'm sure it would have come off a lot quicker if I exercised more regularly... but I'm happy that the weight came off either way.

Husband and I have committed to regular walks around the neighborhood as of late. It's nice how the neighbors coo over Elise.

I still have a bit of a dark line above my belly button. I don't think that's going away. And my umbilical hernia still isn't healed.

But did I mention ONE pound!? And that's probably all breastmilk. That's what I'm telling myself, anyhow.

Oh, and also, Elise has a new favorite baby food. Apples and bananas mixed together. She gobbled it. Super loved it.

Do you know that song "I love to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas..."? That was Elise's dinner song tonight.

Today I made Elise some butternut squash baby food. I cut a squash in half lenghtwise, scooped out the seeds, put it in a baking pan with a couple of inches of water in the bottom and with the cut part facing down, and baked it at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. Then I scooped out the "meat" and pureed it. It smelled good. I hope she likes it when it's time to give it to her.

I don't think anything will compare to those apples and bananas, though.

Baby's First Applesauce

Elise ate her first applesauce today. Yum yum yum. She made a face at first, but then she ate it right up. Who doesn't like applesauce?

I like my applesauce cold. I remember the first time it was served to me warm. I was elementary school aged and we were at a restaurant-- I think it was some kind of steakhouse type of place. I ordered applesauce and it was brought heated up and it BLEW MY MIND. Why would anyone want to heat it, I'd wondered. I thought it was gross. I didn't eat it.

I heated Elise's applesauce tonight. Does that make me some sort of hypocrite? Probably. I'll make up for it when you're bigger, Elisey-poo, by sprinkling lots of cinnamon in and serving it ice-cold. Yum yum yum.

You Must Think I Was Born Yesterday

Elise was not so easily fooled by stirring some sweet potato in with her green beans. Even when there was a LOT more sweet potato than green bean, Elise acted like we'd just tried to feed her a spoonful of dog poo.

Oh well. We'll try again later.

Future Husband, Green Beans, Crawling

Today was a big day for Baby Baby. Not only did she spend the day playing with her future husband, but she ate green beans for the first time and she crawled for the first time ever.

Green beans were a big thumbs down. She literally gagged. I read that you have to introduce foods 4 or 5 times before kids will like some flavors, so we'll try again soon. Maybe we'll give her green beans and sweet potatoes mixed together tomorrow. For tonight we just let her have some nanacado instead.

I think Elise was showing off for her Baby Husband when she started crawling today. She only gave one little shuffle at a time, but she did it twice so it wasn't just a fluke. So exciting!

Love At First Sight

Elise met her future husband in person for the first time today. I think it went well. They even held hands. :)

Spill Contained

I managed to avoid a BP spill today! I had to change several diapers in a fairly short period of time, but no baby poo escaped. Yay!

The second I noticed Elise pausing during playtime, I thought, "Here it comes!" Then she got this look on her face like she was trying to solve a really hard math problem, so I snatched her up and she farted the whole way to the changing table.

When I opened her diaper it looked like someone had spooned mashed sweet potatoes down her pants. Seriously. It looked the exact same as it did going in. Did her body even process it? It was like she was one of those baby dolls that you feed water and two seconds later the water leaks into the diaper. Straight through. Except that the last time she'd eaten solid food was, like, 18 hours before that-- so I guess her body did SOMETHING with all of that food.

I changed her diaper, dressed her, then repeated a few minutes afterward. Several algebraic equations later Elise was done and I didn't even have to rinse out any onesies or wipe poo off of anyone's elbows today.