So Much

It feels like a million different things are going on right now and I can barely think straight. Brain dump:

1. I have a terrible head cold. Elise and Husband have it too. Georgia and Henry have smaller colds, but I had to go get Georgia from day care today for pink eye. Is it not possible for us to all be healthy at once? Is that asking too much?

2. I'm about 5 1/2 weeks along. No morning sickness yet. Maybe I got it all out of the way with my first pregnancy! Yes. That's it. No morning sickness this time.

3. But just in case, I'm eating all of my favorite foods now. Let the first thing that I throw up taste just as good coming up as it did going down!

4. Georgia and Henry are obviously still with us. For now. So far, none of the relatives or family friends are turning out to be suitable people for the kids to live with. But they are still checking stuff out. So we wait. Or KEEP waiting is more like it.

5. Elise is turning into a little parrot. Last night, as I picked Georgia up off the floor, she puked over our bed and I said-- not particluarly loud or angry-ish-- "God damn it." Then Elise said, "Gah Da Neh!" Husband and I looked at each other and I said, "Did she just say 'god damn it'?" "Yes," Husband said, "Yes she did."

Then today, I FINALLY got both socks on her feet before she could pull one off again and I said, "Ta-DAH!" Then Elise said, "Tah-DAH!" perfectly.

Time to un-potty my mouth for reals. (Damn it!)

6. Now that I have a baby on the way (oh, and the rumor is that Georgia and Henry's mom is pregnant, too, and that baby could get removed from her right after it's born) it is REALLY time to start some potty training. Elise is, like, half potty trained. She'll use the potty if you take her. I just need to get her to tell ME when she needs to go. And Henry isn't potty trained at all.

If by some crazy chance we end up with 5 kids under 3 years old in our house all at once, they will NOT all be wearing diapers. Good lord.

Happiness

I'm pregnant.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pointing Something Out

Elise started pointing last night and she's been doing it all day today. Its so cute to see her eyes following the direction of her chubby little index finger and hear her say, "Aaaaah?!" as if she's excitedly asking a question. A lot of the stuff she points at seems random, but she did show me one of the cats in the window during lunch today and later she pointed at my nose and her nose in turn so maybe she's learning anatomy.

It's so cool to experience all of the different ways that she's learning to communicate.

Crazy Day

Sick babies. Vomits. Blow out poos.

But I won $500 in a contest.

High highs and low lows. Crazy day.

Sick of Sick

Elise has a fever. Georgia has explosive shit-up-the-back diarrhea (which happened in the middle of dinner, mind you) and lots of vomits. Even my cat Sausage was puking today.

I need to be decontaminated. Somebody please spray me off with a firehose and then scrub my skin with bleach.

And poke my eyes out while you're at it. I'm sick of seeing sick.

Getting Picky

Elise is starting to become a picky eater. Well, I don't know if "picky" is the right word because she hasn't stopped eating any food permanently. What she'll do is taste everything she's being offered and then decide on the one thing that she likes best and eat only that. Last night it was beets. She would only eat beets. Tonight she only wanted her juice.

Elise has figured out that she can easily spit food right out of her mouth and there is no need to swallow anything that she doesn't want to swallow. Tofu? Spit it out. Bread? Spit it out. Green beans? Spit it out. Sometimes I think she spits food out just because she CAN-- she'll eat several bites, spit a few out, then eat several more bites. It's a game. Or she's testing limits. Or exploring her own body. I don't know.

Whatever it is, she's eating noticibly less food lately. She's making up for it in breast milk, but I wish she'd eat more solid food instead. I love breast feeding her, but my body was getting used to making less and less milk, and now she wants to feed all the time again.

I guess she's gearing up for toddlerhood. Temper tantrums and picky eating, here we come. Yikes!

The Pets Get Neglected

When you add a child to your family after you've already had pets, the pets get less attention. Waaaaaaay less attention.

Our four little kitties wait for those babies to go to sleep. Then they swarm me. They used to want to be left alone, but now they beg for attention. And as soon as I look their way now, they melt. They turn into purring machines. The mere possiblilty of attention makes them happy.

Sorry kitties. I still love you. I promise.

Sleep Update

So, we're a couple of weeks into the Elise-sleeps-in-her-own-bed lifestyle change and things are starting to go much better. Last night Elise only woke up one time, and that was to feed. This is ideal. Amazing. Magical, for me.

She's been having good nights and bad nights. For a while there she was waking up over and over and over again. All night long. But I think I've got it figured out now. We've come to an understanding. Elise goes to bed at 8:30, gets up around 2:00 or 2:30 to eat, then wakes up around 6:30 or 7:00 to start the day. I can handle that.

Henry and Georgia sleep though the night. All of the kids wake up around the same time in the morning. I tell you what, with three little bitties in the house, a solid sleeping schedule is a gift from heaven.

Twins

Tonight while our family was out in public someone saw Husband and me with two baby carrier car seats and said, "Oh! Are they twins?!"

This is funny because not only do Elise and Georgia look nothing alike, they aren't even the same race.

Then the lady said, "I guess not!" when she saw into the carriers. It was cute. She was giggly about it.

Mommy Jeans

Conversation with Husband tonight--

Me: Should I keep these new jeans?

Husband: Yeah! They look hot!

M: I'm not going for "hot"-- I'm a mom now.

H: Look. You need to get over this 'I'm a mom now so I can't wear sexy pants' thing.

M: I actually just bought more pants because I don't want to shave my legs. Ever again.

Silence.

H: I'm glad you feel secure in our relationship.

A Little Extra Help

Both of the foster kids were evaluated recently because we suspected that they are behind developmentally. Sure enough, they are. Georgia is behind in her social and cognitive skills and Henry is behind in his social, cognitive, and speech. I suspect that he is behind a little bit in his gross motor skills, too, but I guess it wasn't enough for the therapists to be alarmed.

Anyhow, they'll both be getting weekly therapies to help them catch up. I'm so glad that these services are available to them! Georgia and Henry have both made huge improvements in their skills since they've been with us, and I'm sure that they would keep improving, but now they'll be getting professional help and hopefully they'll reach their developmental milestones even faster.

The Cool New Stuff Elise Does

Elise is learning new stuff nearly every day. She's blowing my mind. Seriously.

She does the sign for "more" now, and she'll even sign "more" and then "food." Baby sign sentences! Holy crap!

Elise says, "no, no, no!" She was making these n sound babbling words that I helped her morph into "no, no, no!" We don't tell her "no" a lot, so I don't think that she has much context. Even still, I'm afraid I'll end up regretting that one.

Her new favorite song is the Itsy Bitsy Spider. She loves the hand motions that go with it and she especially likes holding her hands above her head for "out came the sun." She tries to do the spider part, too, sometimes.

Elise is starting to prefer trying to walk over crawling. She stands up and tries to walk a lot now. She can only take a few steps, but she's very determined.

Oh! And she loves blueberries.

Mismatched

We were récently selected as a potential adoptive family for a little girl and our family was going to be one of the few that her case managers considered at the final matching meeting. But then Husband and I were given some information about her that made us decide to back out.

It seems like we often get really close to getting matched. But no dice. I'm trying not to get discouraged. :(

Tele-phony

My phone rings today.

Me: Hello?

Speaker: Hi, this is So-And-So calling on behalf of Your Case Manager. I was wondering if we could come for a home visit at __ time on __ day this week?

M: Sure! That's fine. Say... I've been trying to get in touch with Case Manager for a couple of weeks now. Is she in the office? Or maybe on vacation?

S: She's in the office. She was out last week but she's back now.

(Uncomfortable silence.)

M: Okay. Well. I'm sure that she'll be in touch with me soon, then. Thanks.

What the friggedy is THAT?! Having some random person in your office call me so you don't have to talk to me? Case Manager! Have a heart, please! I get that you're busy. I get it. But after telling me that Georgia and Henry might move soon, then we don't hear anything for over 2 weeks? Just a quick update would be nice.

Husband said that if they trained case managers to be extra nice to the foster parents and try to see things from our perspective, there would be an even higher turnover rate and nothing would get done. Maybe he's right.

MLK Day!

Happy MLK Day! We began a new family tradition today. Husband and I decided that on MLK Day each year we will have a family outing to a museum and learn about the world around us together as a family.

Originally, I wanted to go to our local black history museum, but it was closed today. I can't figure out if that is weird and ironic or totally appropriate. So we went to a museum dedicated to our state's history instead. It was cool-- good exhibits. My sister and brother-in-law met up with us at the museum, as well.

The kids did a good job of behaving, considering how little they are. I think that their favorite part of the trip was snack time, though. I brought graham crackers for a snack, which Henry loves. And anytime Georgia gets a bottle, she's happy. Elise got to play on some stairs that were near where we sat down to eat. She REALLY loved climbing the stairs. Cried and cried when it was time to go.

Good times.

Kind Words

Today we were observed by a case manager while we played with the kids at a park. Not Henry and Georgia's official case manager, but the one I mentioned has to write up a report on the kids for their case file. No, not the official case manager-- we haven't heard from her in two weeks, despite the fact that she herself said that she would be in touch with us in less than one week. So we have no idea what's going on with their case. No idea about the relatives and whether the kids will be moving soon. Ugh.

But anyway, after the observation was over Report Writer talked to us for a bit and he said some nice things. He said that we're doing a good job with the kids and that he can really tell that we enjoy parenting them. I thought that was nice. Positive feedback. Recognition.

I guess he didn't notice how much dirt Georgia had stuffed in her mouth when I was busy chasing after Elise.

I Dreamt I Held You In My Arms

Elise has been sleeping in her pack-n-play exclusively since this past Monday. It's been rough. Rough on her, rough on me, rough on Husband. I miss having her next to me in bed at night. But I know she's safer in her own bed and we'll all get better sleep eventually.

Eventually. Not now. Elise is not sleeping well at all.

Monday night was hard. Lots of waking up, crying, angriness at not being picked up. Tuesday night was worse. Wednesday night was the worst of all. I said to Husband before we got into bed Wednesday night, "I think this will be the peak. Tonight will be really hard." And it was. CONSTANT crying. Elise barely slept that night.

But things are getting better now. We still have a ways to go before she's sleeping through the night, but there has been definite improvement. Last night Elise slept uninterrupted for two good blocks of time-- from 9:30 to 1:00 and from 3:00 to 7:00. Yay! She didn't even get up for her 4am feeding.

So, here's to hoping tonight is just as good or better! Mommy needs some sleep...

Red Sauce

I have discovered a sure fire way to get Henry to eat something-- pour ketchup on it.

Over Cast

Henry got his cast off today. Yay! He was so excited that his cast was coming off that he wasn't even scared of the saw. You should have seen his face after his arm was freed-- what a happy little boy!

In Case You Didn't Know

If there is one universal truth of parenting, it is this: kids are disgusting.

Kids do disgusting things, and 75% of the time those things will happen at the dinner table before you've finished your own dinner. You'll witness your kid sneeze a huge gob of snot onto his plate. Or slobber half-chewed food down his chin and all over his shirt. Or he'll vomit all over the table. Or have diarrhea out the legs of his shorts.

Yes, you will witness all of those things as a parent. At the dinner table.

You think it won't happen to you. But it will.

And you know what? You'll clean up that disgusting, foul smelling, chunky, slimey mess. And then you will finish every last bite of your dinner. Because you're hungry. And because that's what parents do. They clean up shit in the middle of dinner and then go back to eating as if nothing ever happened.

Running For Office

Sometimes when we go out, Elise takes it upon herself to greet every single person that we pass by. "Hiiiiiiiiii!" Wave, wave, wave. You'd think she was running for office or something.

Smartypants

Elise is in the middle of a learning explosion.

Aside from walking, she's suddenly started learning all kinds of new ways to communicate. She uses the sign language sign for "milk" very consistently now and she started using the sign for "food" today. Elise began clapping her hands two days ago. She makes the kiss sound "mmmm-bwah" when we're giving kisses. And she tries and almost says "uh-oh" when she drops something (it's more like UUUH-mmm right now).

Also, Elise is copying people's words like crazy. She does her best to get the tone and the inflections right, even if the sounds are a little off. For example, tonight I was telling her that a cat says "MEEE-ow" and Elise would say "EEEE-oh." Very close, little copy cat. Very close.

Baby Steppin' At 10 Months

Elise made 5 steps in a row today! It's so amazing to see her walking. She was still in my belly less than a year ago. (Happy 10 month birthday, Baby Elise!) Now, she walks into my open arms. Amazing!

Stomach Virus

Hot on Elise's heels, Henry started throwing up today. A LOT. Couldn't even keep fluids down until the end of the day. Vomit everywhere. We changed his clothes no less than 4 times today.

So long, weekend plans.

These fantastic plans were for nothing more exciting than a trip to Costco, a visit from a case manager, and a couple of walks around the neighborhood, mind you. But my boring mommy weekend was demoted even farther down the fun scale and instead I spent my Saturday dodging explosions of vomit and wishing I could go just 30 minutes without someone wiping their snot covered, tear stained face on my shirt, arm, leg, or the back of my hand.

Happy Saturday!

Barf Bath

Elise took two baths today, neither of which had been planned. Well, really, she took four baths if you count the massive amounts of vomit that poured over her lap.

Guess she has a stomach virus.

Oh, and also, she's worked up to taking two successive steps while keeping her balance. My baby wants to WALK!

New Year's Resolution

I resolve to make sure that Elise will sleep through the night in her own bed.

I have one year to accomplish this goal. I think I can do it.

Barfaroni

Husband and I were watching some Louis C.K. stand-up on Netflix last night when we heard Elise wimper. I paused the movie and started to go help her but then the crying stopped. So I turned the movie back on. A few seconds later, crying again. Pause the movie. Crying stops. Hmmm. That's not like Elise-- when she starts to stir, she usually sits up and thereby wakes herself up all the way. So I went in the bedroom to check on her.

I heard this wimpery gurling noise. Yikes! So I run over to grab her out of the pack-n-play-- the lights are off so I can't see-- and I feel wetness all over her clothes. I scoop her out and as I'm rushing to the light switch and calling for Husband, I hear stuff hitting the carpet.

Vomit. All over. Super nasty.

Poor baby. She puked again today after breakfast, but not as bad. She's mostly just really cranky today.

Maybe she caught an illness. Or maybe it's one of the new foods she's had lately. She's eaten pineapple and pasta recently. Yesterday she had cherries for the first time. Maybe it was the cherries.

Oh! And speaking of new food stuff, Elise likes having a sippy cup of water with dinner now. I think because she sees Henry with his cup and so she wants one, too.

Hopefully the puking is done and she'll feel better tomorrow.

Elise's First Step!

Elise took her first step today! She's been lunging at things for days now, but this evening she took one step and kept her balance. Then I squeaked because I was so happy and it scared her and she fell over.

I had predicted her first step by the new year. I was a few days off. Close, though.

Yay, Baby Baby!!!

Another Week

Looks like Henry and Georgia will be with us for at least another week. No decision yet about whether the relatives are suitable placements for the kids. There are some concerns about the relatives that require more investigating, and no solid decisions can be made until the end of this week at the earliest. So in the meanwhile, they stay with us.

Flashlight

Why are boys obsessed with flashlights? Husband has a massive flashlight collection. So does Brother-In-Law. Bo was obsessed. And now Henry is, too.

I don't get it. I can't imagine needing more than one flashlight at a time. Okay... maybe one big maglite and one small one to carry in your car or on your person. Or in Henry's case, one to chew on and one to throw across the room.

Well, atleast this will make birthday shopping for Henry a piece of cake.

Stink City, Baby Steps, Report

Happy Poo Year! I don't know WHAT it is that these kids have been eating, but GOOD LORD! Stink City! Seriously nasty. Georgia drinks formula and formula poo is always stinky, but there's no excuse for Henry and Elise lately.

Elise is trying to walk now. She lunges at things and has even tried to take a step here and there. Yay! She's so close.

In fact, she tried to take some steps while a case manager was here today gathering information for a report that he has to write about Georgia and Henry so that all the case managers can figure out how to best handle their situation. (Why on a Sunday, by the way? What made him want to do this on a Sunday?)

The case manager came over to observe the kids and ask us a bunch of questions. It wasn't the kids' normal case manager-- I guess they get someone who is not intimately involved in the case to write the report so that it's more impartial. Nice guy. Gave us little bits of information here and there that we hadn't heard yet. Being a foster parent and dealing with all of these foster care workers is like a constant fishing expedition. I literally ask the same questions over and over again to lots of different people until I finally hear something useful. That's the only way to get any real answers, I've discovered.

Still no word on whether they'll be moving soon, by the way.

First Cookies of 2011!

Second annual family photo and cookie bake!

Starting last year, Husband and I began two New Year's Day traditions. We take a family photo and we bake cookies together. At the beginning of 2010 I was pregnant and Bo was with us. This year, Elise is almost 10 months old and we have two more little bitties. Our family is so different now!

I was careful to make cookies that even the babies could eat. They were made with oats and bananas and vanilla and spices. No sugar. Just lots of yumminess. The kids gobbled them up.

Happy 2011!!!