Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays! We've recently had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends. So much love. So many presents. So much has happened.

I'll write more later about what's happened over the past week and a half, but before I forget to mention it, we did NOT get that house we put an offer on. There were multiple offers and another offer was accepted. So we're still house hunting. Blah.

Things My Kids Say

* Lately Henry is fond of yelling, "MA!" when he's calling me. There's something really funny about it. Ma. I never imagined myself a "Ma."

* When Clark drops something he says, "Oh, man!" Adorable.

* For some reason whenever Elise says thank you to me lately, she pronounces it "skank you." Am I to take it as an insult? Is she that clever? Yes, I believe she is. At least, it's within the realm of possibility. But I know how I can see if she knows what she's saying. I will say, "No, no. Skank YOU!" and see how she reacts. That'll get her.

Offer!

We're going to put an offer on a house. Fingers crossed! It needs some work, but it's much bigger than our house now. It's a foreclosure in a nice, safe neighborhood that's zoned for good schools. I hope I hope I hope we get it.

As an aside, and with regard to the word "offer"...

She offered her honor, I honored her offer. All night long I was on her and off her.

I read that in a dirty magazine once. For some reason I never forgot it.

Today's Notes

* Elise is sick and feverish today. I hope everyone in the house is healthy by Christmastime. Probably won't happen, but I hope it will.

* I ordered some new glasses today. Seeing glasses, not cool sunglasses or trendy hipster glasses with flat lenses. I need glasses to see far away. I've had my current glasses for I don't even know how many years. The thing is that my current glasses fall off my head whenever I lean forward. This was pretty much a non-issue before I had a pack of children, but now I spend half of my day bending down to wipe a nose, tie a shoe, zip a jacket, retrieve a toy, etc, etc, etc. My glasses literally fall off my face about 20 times a day. Hopefully my new glasses will fit my head better.

* We might have found a house to put an offer on. Husband and I will make a decision tomorrow if we want to go for it.

More House Hunting

Spent this past weekend house hunting again. I think we're getting warmer. I hope.

My Baby Teenager

Elise calls the blue teddy bear that she got on Adoption Day by the name Blueberry. This morning as we were getting ready to take Henry to school, Elise stomps up to me.

"Mommy. Can I take Blueberry with me?"

"Yes."

"Mooooooooommy! WHY?! Why can't I take Blueberry?"

"You can."

Blank stare.

"Yes, Elise. You can take Blueberry with you. Yes."

Blank stare.

Finally she huffs and then turns and stomps off.

If this is how she acts when she's two, I can't even imagine what she'll be like when she's 14. Hopefully by that point she'll have continued to mature and she'll act more like a 40 year old. Fingers crossed.

A Few Notes

* Every time Henry sees a picture of Tinkerbell he exclaimes, "It's Elise!"

* Clark refuses to eat lately unless he's feeding himself. You can take the fork or spoon from him and put the food onto the utensil, but he must put the utensil into his own mouth. Yay for being independent. Boo for every meal now taking twice as long.

* Elise often makes up her own songs. She was free-style rapping in the back of the van the other day. It went like this: "Bugs are hurting me/ bugs are burning me/ punching and running and running so much/ punching and running and running to lunch..." Not bad for a two year old.

* Poor Georgia is all congested from catching a cold. First time she's snored since she's had her tonsils removed.

Yuck Day

It was cold and rainy today. Georgia got sent home from school with a fever of 101 degrees. I feel like crap. I think Elise feels like crap, too, because she whined ALL DAY.

I'm ready for tomorrow. Next.

Three Blind Mice

Clark's new favorite song is "Three Blind Mice." Of course, his little 14 month old baby mouth can't perfectly enunciate all of the sounds to properly sing the song, but he has the tune just right and it's pretty obvious what he's singing. Even though he says "eee bine my" your brain immediately recognizes it as "three blind mice."

He likes morbid songs, I've noticed. "Ring Around the Rosy" and "Three Blind Mice." Weirdo.

Busy Weekend

Whew! What a weekend. We were house hunting. We've decided to put the house we own now up for rent and look for another home to buy that is closer to our family. We've been preapproved for a second mortgage. Now we just have to find a house that we like. No luck this weekend.

Scraped Knees and Mommy Milk

* Clark got his first scraped knees today. Fell down while walking in to pick up Henry from school. The scrapes weren't too bad and he didn't cry for too long. That's why Mommy carries Neosporin in her diaper bag.

* I've been trying to get Clark to quit nursing non-stop during the day. He's been nursing a lot lately and I want to get him on more of a schedule. This afternoon Clark signed and said the word "milk," but instead of nursing him I pointed to his sippy cup and told him, "You can have that milk." He yelled, "NO!" I said, "Yes. Have your milk in your sippy cup." He yelled, "NO!" So I said, "Do you want me to put juice in your sippy cup?" He looked at me, calmly said "no," and then jammed his index finger into my boob and yelled, "THAT!"

Henry's First Cleaning at the Dentist

Henry had his first cleaning at the dentist's office today. He's had lots of other visits to the dentist for check-ups and fluoride treatments and that sort of thing, but this was the first time they scraped his teeth with that metal hook and used the electric toothbrush in his mouth. He was scared at first, but he settled in quickly and he did awesome. Once again, I was told what wonderful teeth he has. He does. Very healthy and nice looking. My cutie pie.

Word Explosion

Clark is having his first language explosion. Words, words, words. I've had several strangers lately comment on how clearly he speaks and what big words he uses. I was in the waiting room of the speech therapist's office the other day, looking at a book with Clark. A lady walked in the door as he was pointing out a "ro-bit!" (robot), and I thought she might have a heart attack, she was so excited about his language capabilities. Also, many people have noticed how he answers yes and no questions accurately with his cute little "yah" and "nah" and I've had a lot of people comment on it within the past few weeks.

One thing I especially love is that lately he calls frogs "ribbits." I don't know why, but it melts my heart.

You Have No Idea How Much I Lub You

Tonight Clark waddled over to me, wrapped his chubby little baby arms around my neck and said, "I lub eww."

So that's it. My life is complete. I have heard all of my children tell me they love me. *happy mommy tears*

Scary Santa

Today we took the kids to meet up with Susannah and have pictures done with the mall Santa. The kids were terrified of Santa Claus. Which is probably good, right?

Here, sit on this fat stranger-man's lap and smile.

Um, no. Not cool, Mom.

We made it work. Eventually. After some tears and lots of reassurances. I only pushed the issue because Henry and Georgia's big sister was there and everyone wanted their picture taken together. I'm hoping that the importance of having the family photo as a keepsake outweighs the terror that occurred leading up to the photo being taken.

Strange First Impressions

I have had many unusual encounters with strangers who discover that I am a foster or adoptive parent and then tell me some REALLY personal stuff about themselves. I guess they feel that I will be somehow more sympathetic or understanding or knowledgeable about their circumstance. Perhaps they don't meet many people who they feel might be able to relate to their own life story. I have had complete and total strangers tell me:

* His older brother adopted him after his parents died.

* She lost custody of her oldest three kids because she was in and out of jail and making lots of bad decisions. She now has custody of her two youngest kids, and she gets to see the oldest three regularly.

* She lost custody of her son because she is homeless and has a drug problem. She's pregnant now.

* She became pregnant after she was raped. She put that daughter up for adoption because her rapist was threatening to hurt her and her family if she didn't do it. It was a closed adoption. It was years ago, but she still thinks about her daughter all of the time.

* Husband and wife have been waiting over four years for a match for an international adoption. They're losing hope that it will ever happen.

* His youngest two siblings were placed in foster care and later adopted. He never heard from them again.

Seriously, what do you say to those things? Those deeply personal things? I just try to be supportive. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. It must have been terrible," or "That must have been really hard. I'm glad to hear that things are getting better for you" are becoming my standard lines. How bizarre that I even have standard lines for this kind of encounter. This I-don't-know-you-but-I'm-laying-bare-my-deepest-sadness-and-regret kind of encounter.

I do hear happy stories, too. People who smile and say, "I'M adopted! I love seeing other families like mine. Good for you guys!" Honestly, those are mostly younger women. Teenagers and 20-somethings. I like those kinds of encounters best.

Patty Cake!

Today after I buckled Clark into his car seat, I passed him one of his frog stuffed animals and then climbed into the back of the van to buckle Elise. When I turned around, Clark had the two little froggy "hands" in his hands, and he was clapping them together. As he clapped he sung, "Paaah ma, paaah ma... MAIN! Paaah ma, paaah ma... MAIN!" which sounded suspiciously like "Patty cake, patty cake... MAN!" and was sung to the right beat.

I can't remember exactly when each of my kids started doing specific, cool things or how they played with their toys at certain ages. But Clark is only 13 months old, and aside from starting to learn the song, I was pretty blown away to see him clapping the little froggy's hands. He was doing it all on his own, too. Just entertaining himself. I hadn't been singing the song to him recently or showing him how to clap the frog's hands. It was neat to see him playing that way, similar to how the big kids play with their toys.

Georgia Speaks and Speaks and Speaks

One of Georgia's speech therapists said that she wants to re-test her soon (rather than waiting for her next 6 month evaluation) because she's doing so well with her speech post-tonsillectomy. "She's our super-star!" she said. So exciting! I'm so proud of you, little lady!

Elise's Big Girl Bed

Elise's bed has been upgraded. No more toddler bed. She's in a twin-sized bed now. She asked for it, so Husband and I figured she was ready. She wanted a big bed like the one Henry has.

Henry's bed is on a big frame. A BIG frame. The frame has drawers underneath of the bed and the bed is raised up kind of high, although not as high as a loft bed. We put a step stool by his bed so he can get down easily, although he climbs up and down pretty well. He's a very tall 3 year old. We didn't put Elise's bed on a frame at all. We have one for her, but we just set the box and mattress on the floor in case she fell out the first few nights in her new bed. She hasn't fallen out yet.

Georgia likes her little toddler bed and keeps asking us if she can sleep in her "little bed," so I don't guess she'll be getting a big bed anytime soon. No need to rush it.

Thomas the Train

Clark now recognizes Thomas the Train and shouts, "TOMMY!" whenever he sees him. Mommy, Daddy, and Thomas. The most important people in his life.

Christmas Tree Is Up

We recently bought the fakest, scraggliest, dinkiest, ugliest 6 foot tall plastic Christmas tree ever. And I don't mean that in a charming way. Not like, "Check out my hipster Christmas tree. It's not cool but it is." No. It's pretty awful. But the kids love it. And they got to hang up their own ornaments, so there's even a bit of personal pride in their eyes when they look at the stupid thing.

The most common threat for time outs has now gone from "if you jump on the couch one more time..." to "if you pull on the Christmas lights one more time..." Merry Christmas! Now sit in time out until I say you can get up.

Diabetic Sausage

My old boy cat, Sausage, is diabetic. Has been for years. He's in remission, knock on wood. Cats can do that sometimes, and he's one of the lucky ones that can control his diabetes with the proper diet. There was a point where we had to monitor his glucose level every day and give him insulin shots sometimes more than once a day. But we managed to get it under control.

Now, Sausage is on a steroid medication for his stomach/intestine/liver issue and, unfortunately, it can cause problems with a cat's glucose levels. So I have to prick his ear and feed his blood to the glucose meter every so often in order to make sure that he's still in remission.

There's a trick to getting blood from a diabetic cat. You wet a washcloth, put the washcloth in the microwave for about 20 seconds to get it warm, then hold the warm washcloth on the cat's ear for a few seconds. The warmth brings the blood vessels to the surface and helps the blood flow out of the puncture more easily. Then you poke the cat's little ear with a lancet, near the edge where there are visible blood vessels. A drop of blood forms, you put it on the test strip, and the glucose meter gives you the result.

Sausage is amazingly cool with the whole process. Ear poke and all. He was even good when we had to give him insulin shots. Either it really doesn't hurt him or he somehow knows that it's for his own good... or maybe he likes all of the kisses and cuddles I give him afterward as a reward for his bravery. Anyhow, he doesn't even flinch.

I checked Sausage's glucose level this morning and it was well within normal. Yay, kitty! Keep up the good work. Insulin (without insurance to cover it) is expensive.

You Did It to Yourself

Okay. So when Clark runs at me to hit me (in anger) and I take a step backward and to the side as he swings and then he falls over on his face, do I feel bad that he got hurt, or happy that he learned an important lesson? A little bit of both, friends. A little bit of both.

Killin' the -cillins

For a second time in the history of Clark, he has broken out in a rash two days after starting a round of amoxicillin. The doctor who treated him (during yet another trip to the urgent care clinic) said that he doesn't think that Clark is allergic per se, but he clearly has a reaction to amoxicillin and there's no point in giving it to him again in the future. Agreed.

Sick All Around

Happy Thanksgiving!

Despite being sick as a dog, I have sooooo much to be thankful for this year. Most of all my family. My beautiful, beautiful family.

I'm very sick today. Clark is still super sick. This sucks. It sucks so much that I don't want to write anymore right now. Good night.

Still Sick

Well, after 3 doses of antibiotics and a constant stream of Tylenol and ibuprofen, Clark's fever is now down to 102.8. Poor Babu. It's been a rough day.

Clark's Latest Ear Infection

Tonight Clark was running a temperature of 103.6 degrees AFTER getting dosed up on ibuprofen, so I took him to the urgent care clinic. I walked in about 5 minutes before they closed (just before 10:00), so everyone was being a total dick to me. Sorry to keep you from your crappy tv dinner and your TiVoed reality shows, urgent care staff, but my 13 month old is screaming and sweating and slapping my face in anger because he's in pain and don't give a shit about the fact that you've been working all day, I have been working NON-STOP for the last 2 1/2 YEARS to raise 4 beautiful toddlers who have more manners and more compassion than you do when it comes to addressing strangers. God dammit, people. Like I planned to ruin your stupid night by keeping you an extra 10 minutes. Sheesh.

Clark has an ear infection. Or that's what they told me to shut me up and get me out of there, anyway. Got some antibiotics. Hoping that it helps. It's going to be a long night.

I No Longer Fear Playgrounds

Like pretty much every kid on the planet, our kids love playgrounds. Every weekend: "Can we go to the playground?!?!" And most weekends we take them.

Until recently, going to the playground was torture for me. Having four kids scurrying in four different directions is hard enough, but then add an entire landscape of wobbly shit to fall off of, and I'm ready to lose my mind. Of course, there's zero chance that they all want to play on the same piece of playground equipment, so someone was always just out of sight and almost certainly about to break a limb, eat a bug, or burrow into a pile of mulch.

The big kids are finally finally finally old enough to sure-footedly climb up slides, realize when their balance is faltering on ladders, and understand that they can't traverse monkey bars alone. I no longer double-check that I have my medical insurance cards in my wallet before we head out for the park. I even manage to have a little bit of fun taking Clark down the big slides.

One day I'll be able to bring a book and wave at the kids from a bench while they run and climb and play. That day is soooo far in the future that I don't think about it to too often. But one day it will happen. One day...

Stuffins

If my house were to catch fire and I was able to get all of the people out, then all of the animals out, and STILL have time to safely run inside and retrieve some personal possessions, I would first save the teddy bear that I've had since I was a teeny baby. A brown teddy with arms and legs that move. His name is Radar, which is the name of Big Bird's teddy bear, in case you didn't know.

When I die, no one will care about that stupid bear. I know this. It isn't a potential heirloom. It's not some lovely piece of jewelry or a handmade quilt. It's a dirty old teddy bear. But it's mine and I love it and it's the 10th thing I would pull out of a burning house, if it ever came to that.

So today Husband and I got the kids some "now we're a family" stuffed animals. Toys to commemorate the occasion of Henry and Georgia's adoption. As someone who still has a stinky old teddy bear from her babyhood, you can see why this was significant to me.

Henry picked out a monkey. He really likes monkeys lately. He already has two sock monkeys and another monkey stuffed animal, and he chose to add to his monkey troop. Elise got a blue teddy bear with white stars. Blue is Elise's favorite color. Georgia picked out a toy that I mistook for a cat but is apparently a dog... however, she thinks it's a cat, too, and that's why she liked it, so a cat it is. It has a pink collar and long eyelashes-- very girly. Clark picked out a polar bear. AKA, a rawr.

I don't know if these toys will survive the kids' childhoods, much less make it to the homes they live in as adults... but just in case they grow up to be stuffed animal loving dorks like their momma, they will have special "we're a family" toys to treasure.

Cute Clark Words

Clark has started calling anything with sharp teeth a "rawr." Bear? A rawr. Crocodile? A rawr. Lion? A rawr. Dinosaur? A rawr. Guess what a rawr says. Rawr.

He also knows the word "bubble" now. He likes blowing bubbles, so that one comes up a lot. And when he eats something he likes, now he says, "Mmmm. Good!"

My 5 Seconds of Fame

Yesterday was National Adoption Day and because our adoption was finalized during our county's ceremony, we were briefly on the local news during its segment about the event. Everyone I saw today said, "I saw your family on the news last night!"

I had no idea so many people watch the local news every night. Is that still a thing? People still do that? Watch the evening news? I get all of my news from the internet after the kids go to sleep. Wow. News from the TV. Weird.

Finalization! Forever!

We're a forever family!

I'll tell you more about the adoption event later (it's been a long day and I am super tired), but I will share with you my testimony in court today, when I was asked the circumstances of our family coming together and why we want to adopt the kids:

(Henry) and (Georgia) were placed in foster care almost two years ago. They've lived with us that entire time. They instantly became a part of our family. We love them and we want our bond to them as their parents to be a permanent one.

I know that's exactly what I said because I practiced it over and over before court today.

Also, I made sure that the first thing I said to Henry and Georgia after the judge signed the court order approving the adoption was "I love you." It's the first thing I said to Elise and Clark when they were born, too. My first words to each of my children when I became their mother.

Tomorrow's the Day!

Elise has been telling everyone all day long, "Tomorrow is Adoption Day. Gigi gonna be my sister!" Seriously. Total strangers. Anyone who will listen. It's very cute.

I had a dream on Sunday when I took a nap. It was about our adoption day. I couldn't get everything ready in time and we were super late. Before I knew it we were an hour late to the adoption ceremony. And still I couldn't manage to get there. I misplaced Georgia's shoes. Then I parked my car somewhere and either it got stolen or I couldn't remember where it was, but it wasn't where I thought I'd left it. Everything was confusing and stressful. Then I saw the kids' guardian ad litem and she told me how disappointed everyone was in our behavior and how she wasn't sure if the judge would still let us adopt the kids. It was the adoption equivalent of a stressful pregnancy dream. Isn't that silly?

Our last night as a foster family! YAY!!!

Clark's Vocabulary

Clark is developing quite a vocabulary. He can still imitate like crazy. For instance, if the big kids are all screaming, "I want milk!" at the dining room table, Clark will inevitably start yelling something that sounds nearly identical.

He says hi and bye bye and no and yeah and all of those kinds of things. Up and down. Mine. He's made up his own sign for brushing teeth (which he LOVES to do, by the way). He says car. Hat. Milk. More. Mommy, daddy, baby. He's always pointing out babies. He kind of says babby-- it's cute. Cat. Cracker. Night night. Poo poo. Eye. Nose. Hair. Book. Star. Ashes ashes from the nursery rhyme. He's started calling bottles of water or juice "bobby." He's never had a regular baby bottle in his life, but for some reason he calls adult bottles bobbies. Don't know where he came up with that, but I think it's kind of cool. He'll say "bobby" and sign for more when he wants a sip of your water. He rubs his hands together when he sees a sink because he likes washing his hands. He still says, "Dat?" for "What's that?" Mmmmm when he likes the taste of something. Apple. Banana. Cheese. He pumps his fist up and down by his head for "train."

I'm sure that there's more but I can't remember them right now. He's cool. I feel like I can almost have a conversation with him.

Potty Party!

Not to be outdone by Elise's new Poo Poo Princess status, Georgia peed on the potty TWICE today. This is amazing. Miraculous? Maybe. It certainly feels like a small miracle has happened.

The big kids all got new undies this weekend. How's that for a little motivation? Nice new undies to show off every time they use the potty. And, of course, using the potty is a family activity, so everyone will notice that they are wearing new undies. If you saw the size of our main bathroom, you'd be shocked that six people can fit inside of it, but we can. And we do, often. Not intentionally. It just happens.

The sound of our toilet flushing is now music to my ears. Diapers, I will not miss you. Not one little bit.

Poo Poo Princess

Now that Elise has overcome her unexplained fear of pooping on the potty, she not only willingly tells us that she has to poop, but she actually likes it. She said to me, "Mommy! Pooping feels good!"

Clark Update; Poop Victory

Clark now has 8 teeth. Bam. Just like that. 7 and 8, back to back.

He also has a terrible case of diarrhea. The kind that is basically just brown water. Poor kiddo. He's just as happy as can be, though. Not particularly hungry, although he's drinking a lot of water and nursing like mad. Peeing plenty, so he's not dehydrated. But leaking out the hiney-end like you wouldn't believe.

And speaking of poop...

drum roll, please...

ELISE POOPED ON THE POTTY!!!

Five times. She has diarrhea, too.

She was resistant for the first poop. As usual. Super stressed out when I made her sit on the potty without a diaper on. Like, I literally thought her head would explode. She was shaking and whining but her tummy was so upset that she couldn't hold it in. She finally pooped and I clapped and told her how proud I was, and she was proud of herself, too.

Husband took her to the potty the second time, and he said she just sat down and pooped. No big deal. As if it was part of her every day routine to take an evening poop on the potty. By the fourth poop, she was kicking me out of the bathroom by saying, "Mommy. I need my privacy. Go in the other room."

I'm so happy about this. She's nearly potty trained. Oh! And she doesn't need a diaper for daytime naps anymore, either. Yay!

I just remembered something Elise said to me earlier today. She asked, "Mommy? Clark was in your tummy?" I said yes and she said, "Why?" I wasn't sure what she was asking so I said, "I was growing him in my tummy." Then she laughed and said, "I grow poop in my tummy." Ha!

Today Stinks

I had a crappy day. Instead of boring you with a recount of every little thing that went wrong, I will just share the day's highlight.

Clark threw up this morning. Twice. Little baby throw ups of curdled breast milk. He hasn't done that in forever. It was such a tiny little amount each time, both before breakfast, and I thought that it must be something funny in my milk. I literally apologized to him, thinking I must have eaten something last night that didn't agree with his tummy.

He wasn't very hungry today, but he did eat. Ate breakfast. Ate lunch. Ate a snack. I even forgot about the morning pukes, as nothing else out of the ordinary happened.

Then, on my way home this evening with all four kids in the car, Elise looks over to Clark and says, "Mommy? Clarky throwed up."

"Is he okay?"

Elise stares at him for a tad too long, then finally says, "No." I was at a red light by that point, so I throw the van in park and put on my hazard lights and climb in the back to look at him (he's still rear-facing so I couldn't just turn around and see him). He's COVERED in vomit, still silently puking his guts out, and clearly not getting any air. By the time I jam my hand into the pile of puke on his chest and loosen his car seat harness, he manages to take a big gulp of air and then proceeds to splatter vomit all around himself with a gigantic cough.

Anyway, despite being in crazy rush hour traffic, I eventually manage to get the car pulled over so that I could clean Clark up as best as possible and wrap his vomit-soaked clothes in a plastic bag. The smell was SO bad. So bad. Even the other kids commented on it. "Stinky, Mommy!" This from children who think that poop jokes are the height of comedic genius. I didn't even know that toddlers could find something disgusting. I didn't know that I could find something disgusting anymore. I thought I was all disgusting-ed out, what with the amazing level of grossness that the other three have already achieved.

Anyhow, Clark seems fine now. Guess that big puke got rid of whatever was bothering him. But now I can't un-smell that smell and I've felt a little queezy ever since. Please, please, whatever it was that made him throw up, please let it not be contagious. Or if it is, please let the other 3 kids not catch it. My nose can't take it.

Tooth #7, Etc.

* Clark's 7th tooth has arrived! He has four up top and three on the bottom now. Clark the shark.

* Clark's favorite song is Ring Around the Rosie. He even chimes in for "ashes, ashes" and "DOWN!" If he ever sings it on his own (which he does sometimes) you'll hear him saying, "Ay-sha, ay-sha... DOWN!"

* One of the side effects of having a 13 month old while you're also raising three toddlers is that one of the baby's first words will be "Mine!" Clark not only says it, but he uses it in the proper context. If he wants something that someone else has, Clark will snatch the item away, clutch it to his chest and yell, "Mine!" Also, if someone tries to take something from him, he does the same thing. Rude, but so so cute.

* Today I got some of the paperwork that we need to sign for the adoption to take place. Only one week away! I started crying while I was driving yesterday... it just hit me all of a sudden and next thing I knew my throat was all tight and I was weeping. We're almost there. Forever. Mine forever.

* Yay, Obama!

On The Edge of My Chair

Watching the election returns. Don't let me down, America!

Ain't That Some Shit

Georgia pooped on the toilet last night. The girl who will sit on the toilet for 15 minutes straight and not pee, who seems completely unready to potty train, pooped on the toilet last night.

So between Elise and Georgia, we have one nearly potty trained girl.

Yay, yay, yay for Georgia! Keep up the good poops!

We Forgot to Mention...

As our adoption day approaches and various different people in the state department are working to process all of the necessary paperwork, I keep getting phone calls about things that I need to hurry up and do RIGHT AWAY because oops-we-forgot-to-mention-that-you-absolutely-must-have-this-done-or-the-adoption-won't-happen-on-time. Don't you people have checklists? Or some sort of standard protocol? Why does everyone keep forgetting things until the last minute? It's really strange. And super annoying.

The latest disaster phone call was on Friday, when I found out that the kids must have a new physical exam done by their doctor-- ASAP. Without the physical exam paperwork, some other paperwork won't get processed and then the adoption will have to be put on hold until next month. Their most recent physicals are less than 8 months old, but that isn't recent enough for some reason. I don't know if all pediatrician's offices are the same, but the ones I've used all schedule children's well visits months in advance. I had to call and BEG for the doctor's office to fit me in. I talked to a nurse and two office administrators before I could get squeezed in for tomorrow.

Bonkers.

I just keep telling myself that after the adoption is done, I won't have to deal with this craziness anymore. It'll all be over soon.

A Letter of Love

Georgia's birth father wrote her a letter, to be given to her when she's older. It wasn't in an envelope. Of course, I read it. As her mother, of course I read it.

I was nice. I thought I might cry, but I didn't. It was simple and to the point. Georgia's birth father surrendered his parental rights, rather than participate in the TPR hearing. I think that mostly her birth father wanted her to know that he loves her and that the decision he made had nothing to do with not wanting to parent her. He also wanted her to know that she could find him in the future and he'd be happy to hear from her.  I'm really glad that she has that letter. I know it will mean a lot to her.

We Voted!

Husband and I voted today!

We took Henry, Elise, and Clark with us. We tried to explain what we were doing, as best we could. I told the kids to think about how Mommy and Daddy try to take care of them and protect them and make good decisions for them. Then I told them that there is a person who tries to make good decisions and protect everyone in the whole United States, called the president. I told them that we were going to help pick who we think that person should be. Also, I asked them to think about when we all sat down and made the "time out list" that had all of our house rules on it. Things like no jumping on the bed, because we might fall off and bump our heads. I explained that there are lots of other rules that adults have to follow, too, and we were going to help pick which rules we think are good rules.

We showed the kids the ballots and let them watch us bubble in our choices.

Mostly I think they were just happy to get an "I voted" sticker at the end.

Clark's Favorite Story

Clark has a favorite book now. Every morning and many afternoons, he goes looking for the book. When he finds it, he brings it to me, throws it in my lap, then says "more." After I read it, I must read it again or risk a temper tantrum. If I don't read it a third time, he will take the book from my hands and throw it at my face. If I don't read it a fourth time, he will cry inconsolably for a very, very long time.

The book is called Rain Feet.

It's a simple book with only a few pages. Clark likes pointing to his own feet when I show him the boy's feet. He likes pointing out the car on the second page. "Cawr!" He likes showing me the hat that the boy wears in the rain. Clark says "Haaah!" and pats his own head. Then on the last page, Clark always looks at the picture of the boy, asks "Dat?" and waits for me to tell him "That's a boy."

This series of events goes on and on and on until Clark gets bored. I know the words to Rain Feet by heart. I feel certain that I will never forget them. Like the pledge to the flag or the lyrics to my favorite song, I have simply said the words too many times for them to ever escape my memory.

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. I love it now way more than I did as a kid, because I love seeing my babies dressed up and having so much fun. And then I love eating all of their candy after they go to sleep.

Today Henry and Georgia both had Halloween parties at their schools. Of course, I had to buy candy and drinks and chips and stuff like that to contribute to their classrooms. Well, yesterday Elise caught wind of the fact that they were going to have classroom parties and she got all excited and thought she was going, too. I felt awful. So I told her that we were going to stay home and throw a surprise Halloween party for Daddy when he comes home for lunch tomorrow. Had to be quick on my toes with that one. But she totally bought into it and got super happy. So this morning we made decorations-- paper pumpkins and tissue paper ghosts and cottony cobwebs-- and lit some candles and found some Halloween music to listen to online. I think Elise had fun.

Tonight we went trick or treating. The kids really liked it. They especially liked seeing dogs dressed up in costumes. Ha!

We had to avoid some of the houses on our trick or treating route because the kids thought they were "too scary," but if no one was in a grim reaper costume or bloody zombie costume then the kids were mostly okay.

This year Henry was a ninja, Elise was a cartoony lion, Georgia was a fairy, and Clark was a more realistic lion. Elise has always been an animal so far. First she was a monkey, then a dog, and now a lion. Last year Henry was a cowboy. Georgia was a cow. Clark was a teddy bear.

This year I was a tired mommy.

Georgia's 6 Month Speech Evaluation

I just got the report from Georgia's 6 month re-evaluation at her speech therapist's office. Lots of improvement!

The office miscalculated her age and said that she's several months older than she really is, so they compared her performance to kids who are older than she actually is now. At her age, a few months really do make a difference. Since she was compared to older kids, she's actually doing better than the report shows. And even with the miscalculated age, over all Georgia's speech skills are "on level." Yay! She's at the low end of "on level" according to the report, but I think that if you adjusted for the correct age, she would be just a little below the 50th percentile. That's my guess, anyway.

She still has considerable problems with her articulation. The report indicates that she can't even hold her mouth in some of the positions that a person needs in order to form certain sounds properly. For example, she can't effectively go from puckering her lips to stretching them out to puckering them to stretching them out again. We have lots of "silly faces" to practice making at each other in order to help her put her mouth into the right shapes.

Like Henry, Georgia made a lot of progress over the past 6 months. So proud of my babies!

Getting Picky

Damn it. Clark has finally figured out that he can reject food. He hasn't yet discovered how to spit food out, but instead he reaches inside of his mouth and pulls the offending taste right off his tongue. And lately, nearly every taste is offensive. Literally all he ate for dinner tonight was cheese. Last night all he had was mashed potatoes, but I managed to sneak some spaghetti squash into his taters and he didn't notice. Now if I can just figure out how to fold carrots into slices of cheese, and add spinach into yogurt, he might not develop malnutrition.

Poo Poo and Other Conversations with My 1 Year Old

* Clark told me three different times today that he had pooped in his diaper. He says, "Poooooo pooooo!" in this funny little way of his where he barely moves his lips. Ventriloquist style.

* Clark has started saying and signing "more" whenever he wants something. He points at what he wants then says that he wants more, even if he hasn't had any yet. It can be that he wants food or a book or to be picked up... it doesn't matter, he'll use "more." I think that to him the word more means "I want."

* Clark has also been learning sounds. He knows what sound a cat makes, what sound a cow makes, what sound a bear makes, and what sound a train makes. He really likes trains. I don't know if he's just picking up on Henry's love of trains, or if Clark has his own unique love for them, but either way, the boys both think it's the funniest thing when I shout, "ALL ABOARD!"

Congrats to Jen!

Congratulations to my friend Jen, her husband, and their son Andy! Their baby girl arrived yesterday, and everyone is happy and healthy from what I hear. Good work, Mama!

Vocab Word of the Day

Lately I've been giving Elise a new vocab word every day. She's doing AWESOME with them. She knows the meaning of enormous, dawdle, dwelling, fetch, and lots of other words. And every day she asks for her next word. She's super into it.

Today Georgia was crying in the car. She was irrationally upset about something, probably because she's still on a hair-trigger from her recent surgery.

"Relax, Gigi! Relax!" Elise starts saying. And then, "Do you know what relax means? It means to calm down. Calm down now. Relax."

Elise came up with that one on her own. I was very impressed.

Tonsillectomy

Georgia is now tonsil- and adenoid-free. She had surgery earlier this week.

She had her tonsils removed because she was having sleep apnea, where she would stop breathing while she slept. She would snore up a storm, too, but that alone isn't a reason to get your tonsils removed. Sleep apnea is potentially dangerous and very bad for your health and mental well-being. Georgia's tonsils were naturally big-- no infection or anything, just huge tonsils. And her adenoids were removed because they were constantly inflamed, which caused everything to get backed up and then her ears would get infected, her nose would run like crazy, and lots of drool would puddle in her mouth and often run down her chin.

Because she is so young, Georgia had to stay in the hospital overnight after the surgery. There is a risk of dehydration in young children after tonsillectomies because they will often refuse to drink. Husband stayed in the hospital with Georgia, good daddy that he is. I took the other kids to the hospital to visit Georgia after her surgery. One of the nurses on the pediatric floor actually recognized me and then remembered Clark. (This time last year Clark was still in the hospital. What a nightmare that was! So glad that is behind us now.)

Georgia's voice is still kind of raspy, several days later. She's still having trouble eating some solid foods. She's drooling a lot because swallowing seems to hurt her. But overall she's doing all right, considering the circumstances. And hopefully she's still young enough that she won't remember any of it.

Driving Me Car-razy

Elise keeps asking to drive the car. I keep explaining that she's not old enough.

Today she said, "Mommy? I'm in my 3's soon. I can drive then?"

Two In the Adoption Oven!

We have been approved to adopt Henry and Georgia. MOMMY TEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy, happy mommy tears. :_ )

ADHD?

I went with Henry's class on a field trip recently, and seeing Henry with his peers really highlighted for me how INSANELY short his attention span is. I mean, I knew it was short, but I chalked a lot of it up to "he's a boy" and "he's just learning to hear properly so he's probably being overstimulated" and that sort of thing. Really, those ideas are probably true. And maybe he'll grow out of it. Maybe. I'm not so sure now. He's too young to know for certain, but I'm keeping the possibility of attention disorders in the back of my mind.

Clark's New Words

Clark is talking like crazy lately. I think I've mentioned before that he often says "thank you" after someone hands him something. More like "tay cah" but close enough. Well, today we were walking to the entrance of a playground and Clark points at a parked car and yells, "Cawr!" "Right, Clark! That's a car!" And then he points to the road where cars are driving by and yells, "Cawr! Cawr! Cawr!"

Awesome.

Later in the day we were grocery shopping. He always points out the bananas. "Nana!" But then he turns to the pumpkins and says, "Pup-ah!" So I asked, "Pumpkin?" and he gets very excited, "Pup-ah!" Smiles and pointing. He's starting to learn so many words. My little label maker, naming everything we look at. I love it.

It's Science

I know what I'm getting Elise for Christmas. A pocket protector.

I was reading the kids a book of nursery rhymes tonight when Elise stopped me mid-Itsy Bitsy Spider. The illustration on the page had caught her eye.

"WAIT! Mommy. A spider does NOT need an umbrella."

Thanks, Poindexter. I'll be sure to write to the editors and let them know that a correction is in order.

20%

Henry has been going to private speech therapy for about 6 months now, so he was reevaluated recently to check his progress. When he was first evaluated, his speech and language skills were in the bottom 1% compared to kids his same age. This time, his test results show that he is at 21%. Yay, Henry! Most of that progress was made in the last 3 1/2 months, after he got his ear tubes. The hard work is paying off!

Henry still has very poor articulation. His articulation skills are below that of a 2 year old, and he's 3 1/2 now. We've still got a long way to go, but I feel good about Henry's test results. Encouraged.

Not a Fluke!

Elise did the sit-on-the-potty-wearing-a-diaper poop again! YESSSSSSS! Oh, please let this be for real. Please let this be the start of fewer poopy diapers that I have to change. (When you have four little bitties, the thought of having TWO whole kids potty trained is enough to make you want to cry for joy.)

Super Pooper!

We've FINALLY made progress with Elise regarding her can't-poop-on-the-potty issue.

First of all, I've realized that she has some very strange and unexplained issues with seeing things inside the toilet bowl. If the toilet has anything other than clear water in it, she won't even sit on the seat. We were out somewhere and they had the kind of toilet bowel cleaner that turns the water blue. Nope. Not happening. She screamed and wouldn't let me sit her on the potty. If there's a discarded piece of toilet paper that hasn't been flushed down, she won't sit on the seat. A hair? Nope. The toilet has to be flushed clean before she'll sit on it. It's a thing with her. So I guess seeing some poop in the toilet, or the THOUGHT of possibly seeing some poop in the toilet, is disturbing her.

Well, tonight she had to poop. She sat and sat and sat on the potty. Husband read her stories. We talked to her. It went on and on and on. Finally I asked if she would still sit on the potty if I put a diaper on her and let her poop into the diaper while she keeps sitting on the toilet. She agreed. (I've asked her to do this in the past and she refused.) Her conditions were that I put the diaper on her, stay in the room but turn my back to her, and don't talk. So I did. And she pooped in the diaper while sitting on the potty.

YAY!

Then I told her that we were going to dump the poop out of the diaper and into the toilet because I wanted her to see what it would look like and see that it's not a big deal. She got really stressed out. Eventually she let me, though.

She was really proud of herself when it was all over. Now I wait to see if this was a one time deal or if she'll possibly do it again.

Sick Party

Elise is sick. Tonight she had to miss out on something that she'd been looking forward to all week, so we had a "sick party" instead. Everyone got hot chocolate and we all watched some Go Diego Go. As difficult as two year olds can be, there are some definite perks to that age group. They're easy to bribe and Christmas shopping is, like, the easiest thing in the world.

Wrecking Ball

Clark is going through a throwing phase. Big time. If it's not nailed down, he will push it over, knock it to the floor, or throw it across the room. He's also started slapping my face. It's weird, because he's still his happy little self-- he'll smack the glasses right off your head with a great big smile on his face.

Plan for Good Behavior: Step 1, House Rules

Today we implemented our first step in trying to correct the kids' bad behavior. They have gone off the rails lately (Thomas the Tank Engine, why are you always in my head now?), being so defiant and snooty. Time to nip that craziness in the bud.

This morning at breakfast we had the kids "help" us think of things that qualify for a time out. We don't have a ton of house rules (turns out there are 6), so they're pretty familiar with what gets them thrown in the baby clink.

1. No hurting other people or animals. No hitting, pushing, shoving, pinching, kicking, pulling, or scratching.

2. No jumping or bouncing on the bed or the couch. [We've had too many accidents to let them jump on the furniture.]

3. No yelling when there is a roof over your head. [That way this rule applies to any "inside" place, including inside the car.]

4. No running when there is a roof over your head.

5. No putting things in your mouth that aren't fresh food. Do not put toys in your mouth and do not eat food that you find on the ground. [Georgia especially has a problem with this. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.]

6. No ignoring Mommy and Daddy. You must follow directions. No being defiant.

We talked a lot today about our "Time Out List" and for some reason it seemed to help their behavior a little bit. It's as if they suddenly saw that we weren't asking a million different little things of them, just a few big rules.

99 Problems

Well, just 4 problems really. Behavior problems. Man. What has gotten into these kids lately?

Husband and I are developing a plan of attack. I'll let you know what we come up with...

My Personal Pingu

Clark looks ridiculously adorable when he walks. Elise and Georgia did zombie hands when they first started toddling around; they held their hands out straight in front of their chests. Clark bends his arms at the elbows and hold his hands up by his chin, making little arm flippers, and puffs his chest waaaaaay out. He looks like a penguin when he waddles around. Good thing I don't eat fish or I might accidentally throw some tilapia at his head.

Speaking of penguins, the kids love "Pingu." I love it, too. Do you know about this show? It's claymation from Switzerland. "Pingu" is on Netflix, but here's a short from youtube:

Interior Disaster

We were recently given some used but good-quality furniture for the kids' rooms. I'm very, very grateful for it. HOWEVER... I can't figure out how to fit all of it into our house. I feel like some kind of hoarder, shuffling piles of toys around to make room for stuff that I probably don't really need but want to keep anyway. Henry's bed has been in a different position in his room every night this week, as I try to figure out where everything will go. Of course, this delights Henry. Surprise! You're sleeping over here tonight!

I remember being a teenager and rearranging my room just for the fun of it. Now, I rearrange a room and my back is sore for the next 24 hours. At least now I can go drink a beer when I'm done...

Flu Free

The kids now all have their flu shots. Clark and Elise got theirs last Friday and Henry and Georgia got theirs today. I believe in vaccinating my children. Modern medicine is an amazing miracle and I have every intention to use it to my utmost advantage. Thank you, science.

Henry does not take shots well. I assume it's because of his history, having had emergency surgery when he was small and being stuck in the hospital with a PICC line in his arm for an entire week. So I don't blame him.

As soon as Henry figures out what's coming, he starts to flip out. Today, he started yelling "No! No!" as soon as the nurse asked him to lay down on the exam table. She held his legs and I held his arms and I talked into his ear while she gave him his shot. He screamed. Then when it was over he sat up and kept pointing at the nurse and yelling, "She hurt me! She hurt me, Mommy!" That was sad. It made me feel bad. I just tried to explain that getting a small boo boo now would protect him from a big boo boo later. I'm pretty sure that he could have cared less.

Then Georgia got her shot and she didn't even whimper. Not a sound. She raised her eyebrows and looked down as if to say, "What the...?" But that was it. I vote Georgia "most likely to get a tattoo." I just hope it's a heart with the word "MOM" in the middle. Or "MOMS"... that would be cool. I'd support that tattoo.

Birthday Party; Bad Behavior

Had I posted on Saturday, October 6th, I would have told you that Clark had a lovely first birthday party that day. We celebrated with family. Simple affair. Ball pit, pizza, angel food cake with blueberries and whipped cream. He was very happy and had a great time playing with his siblings and his cousins.

As for today, I will tell you that Henry has been having some behavior issues lately. He is normally the most well-behaved of the kids, but lately he's been very defiant. Especially once he's already been put in time out. He yells, throws a temper tantrum, and says things like, "Be quiet, Mommy!"

My first thought was, "He's totally copying other kids at school. This is not like Henry. He's learned this somewhere." Then I realized that maybe I'm being one of those moms that's in denial about the true nature of her children. So I talked to Henry's teacher under the pretext of hoping that Henry isn't having the same behavior problems in school that he's started to display at home. As soon as I described his new behavior the teacher confessed that Henry has seen another student act exactly that way and is clearly copying the bad behavior.

Ha! I knew it!

The teacher said that she tries to remove the misbehaved student as soon as he starts acting up, but sometimes the other kids see what he does. She said that Henry doesn't act like that at school (not yet, anyway), but that if we keep having problems at home to let her know and she'll talk to the principal. I'm not sure what the principal can do about it, but you'd better believe that I'll let her know if Henry keeps up with it. I've been pretty strict with Henry when he starts the bad behavior and it's already starting to wind down. Hopefully he's just testing those boundaries. Boundary set. Don't even try it, kiddo.

Clark's 1 Year Old Check Up; Mash Up

No posts for a few days. You know. Busy. 

I fully intended to post on Friday, October 5th. What I would have told you is that Clark had his 1 year old doctor's check up. He got 4 shots, plus a flu vaccine. Took them like a CHAMP. Whimper, whimper, got a mommy hug, and then he was fine. Totally pro. He's amazing. 

It made me imagine a comic that goes like this:

A baby clocks out of his baby job at the local playground and then toddles down the street to a place called The Monkey Bar. The baby sits down with some friends, who are all tossing back tequila slammers, and says, "You call those shots? You call THOSE shots? I had my one year old check up today..."

Maybe it's only funny to me. 

Anyhow, Clark is currently 31 3/4 inches long (97th percentile) and 23 lbs 5 oz (80th percentile). But for kids (of whatever age) that are his same height, his weight is in the 35th percentile. So even though he's bigger than most kids his age, he's actually kind of skinny for his height. Nevertheless, he's still gigantic overall, and despite starting on solid food, his growth doesn't seem to be slowing down much.

What I wanted to share for today is Elise's new favorite song. It goes like this...

Old MacDonald had a dog

Name-a name-a name-o

Fee fi, N-G-O

Fee fi, N-G-O

Fee fi, N-G-O

And name-a name-a name-o

She sings it non-stop. You'll notice how she combined several children's songs and stories into one place. There's "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," "B-I-N-G-O," and the phrase "Fee fi fo fum" from Jack and the Beanstalk. Nice work Elise. Good mash up. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLARK!!!

One year old. One year old! Happy birthday, you sweet little ball of cuteness! I love you, Clark.

Today Clark woke up to everyone in the house singing "Happy Birthday" and then he received his birthday present-- a giant box of wooden blocks. He loved them! Later in the day we bought a birthday balloon, had lunch with Daddy (Clark got TWO Buddy Fruits with lunch!), made a birthday cake, Skyped with all of the grandparents, and then had cake after dinner. It was a good day.

Oh, Clark. I can't believe you're already one year old.

Clark doesn't have quite as many words as Elise did at this same age, but he definitely has the comprehension. He answers yes and no questions by saying "yeah" and "nah" (I love the way he says "naaaah") and it really seems as though he actually says what he means.

Thank you for being such an awesome baby. And also for not destroying my vagina on your way out of my body. You're a gentle giant, Bubba.

Birthday Eve

I can't believe that Clark is almost 1 year old. Happy Birthday Eve, Babu!!!

Who Nose How It Got There

Tonight for dinner we had fake beef tips, vegetarian baked beans, organic mixed vegetables, and biscuits with honey. Clark will eat whatever you give him, but, not surprisingly, the bigger kids didn't even touch their mixed vegetables.

EXCEPT...

Toward the end of dinner Elise is sitting at the table picking her nose.

"Do you need a tissue?"

"Yes. Mommy, there's something in my nose."

"Ok, let me help you..."

I get a napkin and have her blow her nose into it. Mucous.

"It's still there, Mommy."

So I look. Sure enough, there's a giant booger.

"Blow again."

Nothing.

"Ok, Elise. I'm going to pinch the other side closed and you just blow all of your air out of this side," I say, blocking her unobstructed nostril.

She blows. And sweet mother of GOD... is that... half of a LIMA BEAN?!?!

"Elise? Was this just in your nose?"

Giggles. "I put a bean in my nose!"

So then we had the conversation that I hoped I'd never have to have with any of my children. The why-we-don't-put-stupid-shit-up-our-nose conversation. I must admit that I wasn't prepared for it. And certainly not during the height of Elise's "why?" phase. Please, Elise. Please. I hope you've learned your lesson. And I hope that the other half of the lima bean isn't still wedged up there somewhere.

TPR Finalized

The court has officially ordered the termination of parental rights as to Susannah, Henry, Georgia, and Eve's parents. (Baby Allison is being handled separately. I'll explain that some other time.)

Henry and Georgia legally have no parents right now. Isn't that strange?

Bopped His Beanie

Clark is not one of those lazy babies. Now that he knows how to walk, he walks. He doesn't crawl around on the floor if he doesn't have to. He doesn't fall over and get discouraged and start crawling away in defeat. He stands himself back up and walks, dammit. He's figured out how to stand up without pulling up, so no matter where you've set him down, he can stand up and start walking.

The downside to all of this walking is that he's still pretty wobbly and he falls a lot. Today he fell into one of the knobs on our entertainment unit. The edges of the knob are squared off. His forehead hit the knob full-force. It was awful.

He backed away from the drawer with a literal DENT in his forehead. I put ice (actually frozen spinach) on it right away. He hated that. I think he screamed harder at the cold on his head than he did about the injury. He got a big (BIG!) bump on his forehead, but as of yet it doesn't look terribly bruised. Maybe the ice helped, or maybe it will look worse tomorrow.

Poor Bubba. He didn't let it slow him down, though. Walk tall, little guy!

I Don't Know Why I Was Surprised

Today we took the kids to a pumpkin patch. There were tons of beautiful gourds, all shapes and sizes. There were pony rides, a table where kids could do crafts, and a bounce house. After the pumpkin patch, we all went shopping and the kids got toy cars. It was a lovely day.

At dinner I asked the kids, "What was your favorite part of today?" I ask them this sometimes as a memory exercise, to make them think back about what had happened during the day.

Elise shouts, "The pony ride!"

Henry shouts, "The cement truck!"

A cement truck drove by while we were in the pumpkin patch. Apparently that really stuck with him for some reason.

Cufflinks

That's right. Cufflinks.

We've gotten all of the kids special keepsake birthday presents when they were little bitties. Because what 1 year old cares what he/she gets for his/her birthday? Husband and I got them each something they can appreciate later. Something that will maybe be special to them one day when they're older.

We got Clark some cufflinks. With his initials engraved on them. Now he just needs some cuffs.

She's Lucky I Didn't Destroy Her

Today I was trying to make Elise sit down and she bit me on my shoulder really, really hard. As hard as she could? Maybe. The pain it created literally reached the very edge of my I-don't-care-who-you-are-I'm-about-to-make-you-regret-that-last-decision threshold.

The bite started to bruise immediately. She didn't break the skin, but there was a knot there the rest of the day, presumably a puddle of blood under my skin. Also, she must have bit a nerve because I had this wacky pain in my elbow for about an hour afterward. Not down my arm and terminating at my elbow, but just, BAM!, my elbow hurts, too.

There had better not be a second time, Elise. There had better not be a second time.

Shopping Mama

I went to a consignment sale today and got tons and tons of clothes for the kids. Necessary stuff. No extras. They're all growing again, so I needed clothes in their new sizes. I got a few Christmas presents, too. I bought a lot of great stuff for super cheap. I actually volunteered to help set up the sale so that I could shop a little bit before the general public was allowed entry. It was totally worth it.

Volunteering for the sale was the first time I left Clark for any length of time. I was gone for about four hours.  Husband was watching him (and Elise). I was sad to be without my little sidekick, Bubba Clark. While I was gone, Husband texted me pictures of the kids and they had big smiles on their faces. I was sad that they weren't missing me as much as I was missing them. But I only felt that way for a second.

I got a lot of super cute clothes at the sale. Henry's only three years old, but he's wearing 5T now, so his clothes are all big kid clothes. He's going to look like a little man. I can't wait to see the kids in their new outfits!

Gym-tastic!

After a short break between sessions, the kids' gymnastics classes are finally meeting again. They are so happy. So, so happy. They love their little baby tumbling classes.

I know someone who has a daughter who is a competitive gymnast. It sounds stressful. At 8 years old, she was being told that she needed to lose weight. Yikes. I hope that if any of my kids stick with gymnastics for any length of time that I can find a place that builds up their self-esteem rather than giving them life-long body issues.

You're Going to Break My Brain

Dear Lord. As if "Why? Why? Why?" wasn't bad enough, today Elise started (repeatedly) asking, "How?"

She may have finally broken me. I don't know how much longer I can keep up this charade of pretending to know why and how the world works. How? Because I said so. That's how.

Chatterbox Version 2

Clark is developing quite a vocabulary. He says daddy, up, down, nana (for banana), hi, bye-bye, uh-oh, and no. He also asks what things are by saying, "Dat?" He doesn't say mama very often, so I'm not counting that one yet. Clark loves to throw things and yell "DOWN!" which really sounds more like "dow" but I know what he means. And tonight after I put him in his pack&play for bedtime, he was crying "Up! Up! Up!" which was very sad.

I think he's going to be a big talker like Elise is. She even tries to teach him words. When he asks what something is, Elise loves telling him the correct word. She says it over and over again for him, very slowly. "Window. Window, Clark. It's a windoooooooow..."

Clark knows where my nose is when I ask, "Where's Mommy's nose?" And I got him to point to my ears earlier today, but I don't know if he'll still remember that tomorrow.

Clark has also used his words to express his displeasure. I've started giving him a little bit of cow's milk in a sippy cup, and he'll drink it but he clearly doesn't like it very much. Usually he just makes a face or shakes his head. Today he started throwing his sippy cup off the side of his high chair and saying, "Bye-bye!"

Why? Why? Why?

The infinite why loop has begun with Elise. Why? Why? Why? I try to give her real answers. No cop-out answers like "because I said so" or "God made it that way." Science. I answer with science. Albeit, at an age appropriate level.

We had this conversation the other day:

Elise: Look, Mommy! A blimp!

Me: Wow! Look at that! You don't see one of those every day!

E: It goes into outer space!

M: I believe you're thinking of a rocket ship. It kind of looks like a rocket ship. That's good thinking. But it's a blimp and blimps stay closer to the earth.

E: Why?

M: They aren't made to go into outer space like rocket ships.

E: Why?

M: Well, if you want to go into outer space you take a rocket ship. If you want to float around advertising tires or insurance or whatever, you take a blimp.

E: Where's outer space?

M: Past the clouds. Out where the stars are.

E: Why it called outer space?

M: Well, there's a bubble of air around the earth. If you're outside that bubble, you're in outer space. It's just a way to say where something is. Like, I'm inside the house or I'm outside in the yard.

E: Why a rocket go to outer space?...

And on and on and on. It's exhausting really. It honestly makes me tired sometimes. And random people who we've never met before find it very amusing. Elise often goes on one of these kicks in a packed but silent waiting room, where she has unwittingly put herself and all of my stupid answers on display for upwards of 10 complete strangers.

Check this out, and start on minute 7:

Excellent Observation

Now that Henry is in big kid school, the space of time in which I have to pick him up for the day is a pretty narrow window. Once class gets out, he needs to be picked up. Period.

Yesterday I was hustling Elise into the van. "Come on, come on! We need to go get Henry! We're late!"

Elise stops and looks at me. She sighs. "We're late EVERY DAY, Mommy!"

Yeah? No one asked you. Hush up and get in your seat.

Georgia Has Eczema

I took Georgia to the doctor's office today because of a dry, scaly patch of skin on her arm. She was diagnosed with mild eczema.

From what I'm understanding, eczema is basically just sensitive skin. Her skin is really, really dry all over, and this little patch of skin on her arm is extra super dry. She doesn't scratch at it and it doesn't look red or otherwise irritated, but no amount of lotion or moisturizer was helping the dryness to go away. The doctor prescribed her a cream that should help. He said that most children outgrow eczema by the time they reach adulthood, so she'll probably get little patches of it here and there for years to come.

Georgia seems to have very sensitive body tissues in general. She threw up constantly as a baby (GERD), she's prone to diaper rash, she had chronic ear infections before she got her ear tubes, she has enlarged tonsils and adenoids, she's prone to sinus infections... and now she has eczema. Poor Gigi!

Dat?

Clark is turning into such a cool little dude. He's pretty laid back and mostly happy. He's friendly and inquisitive. And so quick to laugh. I love him so much.

At the zoo while we were on vacation, Clark was smiling and waving to all of the animals. "Hi! Hi! Hi!" And his little hand was flapping up and down. It was very cute.

Clark has started asking what everything is. "Dat?" He'll point at something and ask what it is over and over until you answer him. He also likes to grab things off of tables or out of drawers to ask what they are. Oddly enough, he often puts the items back. He's kind of an OCD baby that way. He'll even follow after Henry sometimes and clean up his blocks or cars after him. I guess Clark just likes putting things into containers, but it's weird to see an 11 month old cleaning up after himself.

First Big Family Vacation!

We took our first big family vacation recently... with four kids under four years old. Yowza!

Actually, everything went remarkably well, all things considered. We drove, so the first day was kind of rough. We arrived at the hotel around midnight and the only way we could get the kids to stop whining about being woken up was to tell them that when we got up to the room they could jump on the bed for two whole minutes. They're not allowed to jump on beds at home, so that was an extra special treat. That and the Froot Loops cereal that was available for breakfast every morning. We never have sugary cereal at home, so it was like they were getting candy for breakfast.

The kids' naps were all messed up for the whole trip, they had a lot of anxiety about sleeping in a new place, and they were less than thrilled about some of the restaurant choices. But, like, I said, over all everything worked out better than expected.

Everywhere we went was pretty much geared toward the kids. An aquarium, a zoo, and other places like that. I picked restaurants that were family-friendly but that also got really good reviews written about them on the internet. I made an itinerary and schedule for the trip and we mostly stuck to it. Mostly.

The kids had so much fun. At one point all of the kids were watching a live animal show and Clark was yelling and clapping, Henry and Elise were oohing and aahing, and Georgia was staring at the animals with her eyes bugging out of her head and I seriously got a little teary-eyed. The kids were all just so happy and I was so thankful that we could take them on this nice vacation and show them cool, interesting stuff.

Even though we picked things that we knew the kids would like, Husband and I had a great time, too. The places we went were definitely attractions that everyone could enjoy. It'll be cool when the kids get older and we can go to historical sights or parks where we can hike, but for now zoos and aquariums are just fine.

It was a wonderful trip. I love to travel, but it's been a while since Husband and I have been able to go anywhere, what with all of the pregnancies and babies and foster kids. I'm seriously a happier person right now, after our vacation.

Time to start planning the next trip!...

10 Amazing Years!

This weekend Husband and I are celebrating the 10 year anniversary of when we got back together as a couple, officially and forever. 10 YEARS!!! 10 years and 4 kids later. Wow.

I love my husband so much. I won't even try to put it into words. I already put it into babies.

Normal Brain

I mentioned before that Henry had an EEG done. He has trouble recalling words and so he was referred to a neurologist. The neurologist ordered an EEG and also an MRI to make sure that the physical structures of his brain are normal.

Results are in. Everything checked out okay. Yay! The neurologist recommended speech therapy, which Henry already goes to, and so basically we were told to just keep doing what we're doing.

Happy Mommy Heart

Today Clark gave Elise a hug for the first time. Man. That's the kind of shit that mommies live for.

Last Night's Sickness

So, I don't think I was "sick" sick last night. I got my period today, and I'm pretty sure that my body was just generally feeling like crap. Also, I was having weird cramps that didn't really feel like cramps but instead felt like someone was stabbing me in my left ovary. Forcefully. With a very dull knife, thereby creating the maximum amount of pain.

I'm not exaggerating about that. I could barely stand when the pain was at its strongest. Husband kept asking if we should go to the hospital. Ibuprofen helped, though. I didn't have a fever or vomiting, I could go to the bathroom okay, and I didn't feel extra pain when I pushed around on my stomach, so I assumed last night that I wasn't having an emergency. Like I know anything about the way the human body works. But that was my reasoning.

Hopefully this isn't indicative of what my periods will be like from now on. Short menstrual cycle and two days worth of acute pain. Hopefully my body is simply saying, "For reals, Mother Nature? Haven't I done enough? I do NOT want any more babies in there, so just knock it off, okay? This menstrual cycle thing is totally pointless now, so please stop wasting your time."

My period a few weeks ago was nice and light and pain free. Why am I all grumpy and ouchy and gross this time?

Man. Having babies messes your lady stuff up.

Mommies Get Sick, Too

Sick tonight. Blah.

Elise Has an Ear Infection

Elise developed a fever after her vomiting and diarrhea issue last week. I assumed the fever was related to whatever stomach bug she'd caught. The fever didn't go away after the puking and pooping stopped, though, so I was starting to think that maybe the fever was a separate illness. I had planned to take her to the doctor's office today if she was still feeling under the weather. Then yesterday her fever spiked up to 102.5 (under her arm) and even with Tylenol it only came down to 101.7. I took her to urgent care.

Ear infection. Maybe a bit of a sinus infection and/or upper respiratory infection, too. Poor Elisey. She was miserable and now I see why. She was so fussy and whiny and yesterday she kept saying, "Mommy, my brain hurts."

A few doses of antibiotics later, she's back to her old wacky self.

Sweet Six Teeth

Clark's 6th tooth has finally arrived! God, I love gap-toothed baby grins. Adorable.

I learned a few months ago that kids' teeth don't start squishing in close to each other and losing those gaps between each of the teeth until they're about 3 years old. Isn't that weird? What's up with that, evolution? Anyhow, it's nice to not have to floss baby teeth. So I'm not complaining.

Also, Clark's latest favorite thing to eat is mandarin oranges. He LOVES them. I tried giving him some grapefruit, thinking that he might like that kind of citrus, too. Nope. Too sour, I guess. More for me!

About the Size of a Cocker Spaniel

I weighed all of the kids today at the vet's office. They have a scale for weighing big dogs there and the kids all took a turn getting their weights measured. I don't remember the exact weights, but it was roughly this:

Henry: 38 lbs
Elise: 28 lbs
Georgia: 33 lbs
Clark: almost 24 lbs

I put these weights plus the heights that I recently measured into a growth chart calculator and this is what I got:

Henry: 85th % for weight, 98th % for height
Elise: 42nd % for weight, 43rd % for height
Georgia: 91st % for weight, 87th % for height
Clark: 72nd % for weight, 83% for height

I Hate Sleep Training

I usually put Clark to sleep at night by bouncing him in his reclining bouncy chair. This works really well, but it's probably a bad habit because eventually he's going to outgrow that chair. I decided last night that he needs to start getting used to laying down in his pack&play when it's time to go to bed.

The start of any new sleep training move is always the worst. The baby resists and resists and resists. Many tears are shed. Baby tears AND mommy tears. At least, that's how it works in my house.

We started putting Clark to bed last night around 8:00 and he didn't finally lay down to sleep until almost 11:00. Husband and I were taking 10 minute shifts, back and forth, for what felt like an eternity. It was awful. And Clark was stubborn! He was literally sleeping sitting up. He refused to lie down. Clark would sit there with his eyes closed, wobbling from side to side, his head rolling around on his chest. He fought it until the bitter end.

And tonight wasn't much better. A little bit. But not much.

Good thing I'm just as stubborn as he is. You want to sleep sitting up? Be my guest, silly baby. Be my guest.

Go Clarky; Airplane Attack

* Clark can take 3 or 4 steps now before he falls down. He's learning fast! And he's so proud of himself. Big smiles and giggles every time he walks. It's adorable.

* Today I took Elise and Clark to an airport. We watched some planes taking off and landing, which Elise was totally excited about. At one point, a small plane was taxiing down the runway, then it turned toward the window that we were looking out of and started coming toward us. This surprised Elise. She saw the plane and yelled, "HOLY GOD!"

I have no idea where she heard that phrase. But it was pretty funny when she said it. Crazy baby.

Need Sleep

Elise woke up at 12:44 last night puking and diarrhea-ing. It lasted off and on all night. I can't even count how many times I scooped her up and ran with her into the bathroom. I changed her bedding twice and her pajamas three times. I'm sure I got a few hours of sleep in there somewhere, but it feels like I only slept for about 3 minutes. And then today was full of bad luck and various misadventures, including me crying in public (more out of utter exhaustion than anything else).

Elise is doing fine, though. Had her last puke in the kitchen this morning and now she's back to her old self. I, however, will probably take weeks to fully recover from this. Weeks.

Happy 11 Months!

Clark is 11 months old today! I can't believe it! Sweet little chubby cubby... I love you so much!

To celebrate, Clark decided that today was the day that he'd finally learn to climb. He's been thinking about it for a while now. Eyeing the couch. The dining room chairs. The side of his pack 'n play. He put a real effort into it this evening and finally climbed up onto Georgia's toddler bed.

So here we are again. I have a baby that's just strong enough to be dangerous. Almost walking. Able to climb. Time to put the phone number for the urgent care clinic on speed dial and hope for the best.

Georgia is Better; Hiding

* Georgia's leg is better. Don't know what that was all about. Glad it's over with, though.

* Henry, Elise, and Georgia all love to hide under blankets. They often pull their blankets off their beds and either run around the bedrooms with blankets over their heads or they'll all huddle on the floor underneath one blanket. What's funny about it, though, is that they always refer to the activity as "going hiding," like it's some big adventure. Here's a super common conversation in our house:

Henry: "Elise! Wanna go hiding?"
Elise: "Yes! Georgia! Let's go hiding!"
Georgia: "I'm going hiding! Mommy! I'm going hiding now."
Elise: "Mommy! We'll be right back. We going hiding."
Me: "Okay. Have fun hiding."

And then they throw a blanket over their heads.

I built them a blanket tent with a sheet and two chairs from the dining room the other day. It was literally too much excitement for them to handle. I had to take it down before someone got crushed by a knocked-over chair.

Baby Lumps

Georgia's left leg got hurt somehow. This morning her ankle was all swollen and warm. She had what looked like a bug bite that got scratched until it bled that was located central to the swelling, so Husband and I assumed that it must have something to do with the reaction her body was having. She could walk, didn't act like it hurt at all. But it was weird, so we called a nurse.

The nurse said to try Benadryl first, which we did, and it seems to have helped. Or at least the swelling is mostly down. But you know me, I assume the worst. So I'm keeping the scratch covered with a band aid, just in case of MRSA or something crazy. Just in case.

Being a mother has made me totally paranoid about sicknesses and injuries.

Height

I measured the kids' heights recently.

Henry= 42 inches
Elise= 35.5 inches
Georgia= 37 inches
Clark= 30.5 inches

That means that Henry should technically be wearing size 5T, although his little butt is so skinny, there's no way he fits into size 5T pants. He is a big 3 year old. Tall. But I swear, he has the butt of a 6 month old.

Elise is starting to transition out of 2T clothes and into 3T.

Georgia is about to start outgrowing her 3T clothes and start moving into 4T. She's one of the biggest 2 year olds in her day care class. At least Elise will be able to wear some of her old clothes. Save me a little money.

And Clark is wearing 18 month clothes. I think his growth is starting to slow down, though, because he was 30.5 inches a month ago, so that means that he hasn't grown much lately. He's too busy learning how to walk and he forgot about growing taller, I guess.

Where Do Lemurs Come From?

Today Elise saw a toy baseball inside the lemur enclosure at the zoo.

"Mommy! A lemur egg!"

Parenting: I'm Doing Something Right

Today Elise was blowing bubbles outside with Clark. Fun, fun, giggles, smiles, giggles... then DISASTER. Elise knocked over her bottle of bubble solution and somehow every last drop poured out onto the ground. Elise had a yelling, crying, flopping hissy fit. I said "I'm so sorry" about a million times. Also, "I understand. I wanted to blow more bubbles, too." And, "If there was anything I could do to fix it, I would." And so on and so forth.

After a few minutes she calmed down and we went back inside of Georgia and Henry's speech therapist's office. She sat down next to me in a chair and said, "Mommy. I'm sorry I got mad."  I hugged her and said, "Thank you. That was very nice of you to apologize."

But here's how I felt on the inside:

Henry In Preschool

Henry has started preschool! Not just day care, but actual preschool, where they prepare kids for kindergarten. Usually you have to be 4 years old to enroll in preschool, but because of Henry's speech delays he was eligible to start preschool at 3 years old.

Husband and I both took Henry to school on his first day. I was a little nervous for him. No mommy tears, though, because he's already been going to day care and I know that this preschool program will be a million times better for him. But it was a new school, new teacher, new classmates... I thought about him all day long and worried that he was having a good time.

No need to worry, though! He was smiling when I picked him up. I think that the 8 BILLION toy cars and trucks that they have in their classroom put him at ease. Every day when I take him to school, Elise asks to stay and play. I generally linger a few minutes, but Henry's always fine when I leave and happy when I pick him up. Every day has been a good day. And his teacher has already commented on what a sweet boy he is and that he has such a nice disposition.

I'm so glad that it was a smooth transition for Henry to big kid school.

Butt Biter

When Clark stands up he is just as tall as the underside of my butt. I know this because he pulled himself up on my pant leg and then tilted up his little chin and took a great big bite of my ass. It hurt. He may be learning how to walk, but luckily I already know how to run.

Baby Steps! Baby Steps!

Clark took his first step! Tonight I stood him up on his feet, he took one step and kept his balance, then he tried to take another step and fell down.

My little Babu is walking! I can't believe it.

Zip Lip

Tonight Elise kept asking me to do something over and over and over again, but I couldn't because I was busy. Her chatter was driving me bonkers, so finally I showed her how to zip her lips. It was something new, so she found it interesting and I found it to be a suitable momentary distraction.

After my instruction, Elise happily drew her fingers across her mouth and pressed her lips together. She stood there and stared at me, stony-faced, for a few seconds. Then she drew her fingers across her mouth in the opposite direction, unzipping her lips.

"HA! HA HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Then she zipped her lips back up again and stared at me.

She is so weird.

Waiting for the Tooth

No post last night. Clark was Grumpy McGrumpersons. Tooth #6 is working it's way through his tiny little baby gums and he was having a pretty rough time. Thank god we don't remember our teething experiences. Poor little Bubba.

Also, Clark has started throwing what appear to be baby temper tantrums. Screaming, flopping, slapping cry-fests. Usually about food or milk. I'm cutting him some slack because of the whole teething thing, plus he's started standing unassisted (I have to set him on his feet, but he can keep his balance) and so I think his little brain is gearing up to learn how to walk. Sometimes kids get really grumpy and weird right before they hit milestones, so maybe that's contributing to his moodiness.

Of course, his moodiness is contributing to MY moodiness. It's a vicious cycle.

Oh, Nice Diaper Bag!

I get a lot of compliments on my diaper bag. It's not actually a diaper bag, though, it's a small piece of luggage. Seriously. Last time I had to get a new diaper bag, I looked and looked for something big enough to carry all of the diapers, pull-ups, wipes, changes of clothes, books, and snacks that four toddlers require. I couldn't find anything big enough. Even the bags that looked big on the outside weren't very big on the inside. So, I ended up looking at carry-on sized pieces of luggage and I found something I liked. And it was totally reasonably priced. I swear, call something a baby-(fill in the blank) and it costs twice as much. Screw you, diaper bags! I bought something I can still use even after my babies are potty trained. Take that, capitalist baby machine!... or baby capitalist machine!... or capitalist machine regarding babies! Whatever. You know what I mean.

Cat Update

There's no telling what's wrong with my old lady cat, Beanie. She's either in the throes of kidney failure or she just has a crummy infection that's making her dehydrated and throwing all of her kidney values off. It's proooobably the latter, because she seems to be getting better. She's eating now, although she still isn't eating quite as much as she usually does, and she doesn't seem all lethargic and moody anymore. I have to take her back to the vet in a month and get her blood work done again, to see if her kidney values have improved. Fingers crossed.

Elephants are Hilarious

Today I read Clark a book that talked about different kinds of animals. He's little, you know, so I read it over and over and over again. Every time, he thought the elephant was hilarious. Don't know why. He just turned into a jiggling ball of giggles whenever he saw the elephant.

Scootin'

Clark has started walking behind one of his push toys. Mommy tears! Why? Because that means he's almost not a baby anymore. He's teetering on the edge of toddlerhood. Mommy tears!!!!!!

Desires, Poo Poo Pants

* Clark has three favorite foods now: cottage cheese, yogurt, and Buddy Fruits (any flavor). Buddy Fruits are these little squeezable packages of pureed fruit that I keep in my diaper bag in case Clark needs a snack or a supplement to a restaurant meal, since his diet is still kind of limited. Clark knows what the packaging of Buddy Fruits looks like and he LOSES his SHIT when he sees one. Bonkers. Screaming. Until the fruit is being squeezed into his mouth, he's inconsolable. To a lesser degree, he's like that with yogurt and the tub of cottage cheese. I have to carefully coordinate the presentation of Clark's meals lately, making sure to give him his food in the order of least desirable to most desirable, otherwise he won't eat things like broccoli or carrots or bread.

* Riding home from grocery shopping with the kids today, they were all in the back of the van talking to each other. Mostly it was like this:

Henry: "A digger!"

Georgia: "Momma! A digger! A digger, Henry?"

Henry: "Yeah, a digger. Elise! I see a digger!"

Elise: "Oooh. Where the digger?"

Blah blah blah. Silly baby talk. Then:

Elise: "Hey! Daddy poo poos in his pants!"

And the kids all explode with laughter. For, like, two minutes they just laughed and laughed.

This Is My Entire Day... With Double the Kids

More Cat Drama

My old lady cat, Beanie, is sick again. She hasn't eaten for over two days, she's vomiting, and she has diarrhea. Clark and Georgia and I took Beanie to the vet's office this morning (that was my whole morning-- a 10 month old, a two year old, and a geriatric cat that's leaking out both ends of her furry body). No telling what the problem is. The vet took blood and urine samples and sent me home with a bunch of medicines to give her while we await the test results.

It seems like Beanie and Sausage are in a race to see who can drain us of our savings first. Not sure who's winning at this point. Cats, man! Cats!

I Can't Even Hold My Eyes Open

Crazy day. But I'm too tired to talk about it. Clark has been a lousy sleeper lately. I can barely function... ZZZZZZZZZZ...

Bummer

Husband and I met over 20 years ago in a 7th grade English class. Because 7th graders are assholes (at least, I'm assuming that to be the reason), the teacher made an assigned seating chart.You know, so kids couldn't sit next to their friends. Little did he know, he sat me next to my future husband. (Awwwww.)

As the teacher rotated the seats around throughout the year, Husband and I actually got seated next to each other more than once. Husband talked to me about guns and weapons and military vehicles. Not in a hyper-masculine way. Just in a hey-I-think-this-is-cool-so-maybe-you-will-too kind of way. Whatever the motivation, it worked. I ended up having his babies.

That teacher never had any children of his own, but without him, Elise and Clark might not be here.

The CIRCLE of LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE...

Anywho, our old 7th grade teacher committed suicide a few days ago. Bummer.

Hair Dresser's Adoption Story

I often end up talking to strangers about their adoption stories or their experiences as foster parents or foster children. No kidding, it happens A LOT.

Recently, I went to a new hair dresser for a hair cut and in the course of the conversation she ended up telling me that she was adopted from foster care. She had an interesting story. She seemed kind of sad. Most of the people that I talk to don't seem sad, but she did.

The hair dresser had lived in a foster home that had a lot of other children. She really liked her foster parents but they weren't interested in ever adopting, so she was waiting to be matched with adoptive parents. She lived in the foster home until she was five years old. While she was there, she became very close to a little boy that was about her age. The foster parents pushed for them to be adopted together.

The girl and her friend did get adopted into the same family. There was an older sister in the family who had been adopted several years before; she didn't like the two new kids. The hair dresser was old enough to remember the whole adoption experience. She said she felt scared and unhappy for a long time. She missed her foster family. As an adult, her brother (the friend from the foster home) is still the person she's closest with. It sounded like they have a special bond.

The happy part of her story is that she got to grow up with her friend and that her foster family had cared enough about them both to keep them together. I'm sure there's so much more to her story than what she told me-- I hope she can find a way not to be sad forever.

I Heart Mr Rogers

I introduced Elise to Fred Rogers today. My local library has some Mr Rogers' Neighborhood dvds and I ripped a few of them a long time ago, when we first started fostering. I let Elise watch one of the dvds this afternoon while I was making dinner. She really liked it.

I love Fred Rogers. There aren't many people that I haven't personally met that I can truly say that I love. But I love Fred Rogers. He's an amazing person.

“Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.” 

― Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

Flo Rida

There's actually a rapper with that name. Flo Rida. As in Flow Rider. He's from Florida, so the name has two meanings, I guess. But "Flo Rida" ???  I believe you're supposed to be thinking about the flow of his lyrics, but all I can think about is a lady who has her period. Her flow. Riding it out. Flo Rida.

Welcome back, bloody blood.

It's been about 10 1/2 months since Clark was born. It only took 6 months to get my period back after Elise. Clearly, this time my uterus was like "What the fuck was THAT?! 9 lbs 5 oz? I am CLOSED FOR BUSINESS. Will reopen after some remodeling. Thank you, Mgmt."

Welcome to my grand re-opening.

Here's the weirdest part. Before I had Elise, I didn't really get period cramps. Not much. Not like some ladies. Then after I had Elise, I definitely got them. You know, those TWO periods that I had before I was pregnant again. But whatever, I was getting cramps. I had read that can happen, that your period can be completely different than what you're used to after you have a baby. But this time, ZERO cramps. Zero. So Elise flipped the period cramp switch on her way out, then Clark flipped it back when it was his turn to shimmy past. Awesome.

Well, getting my period makes me hungry. So I'm going to go ride my flow with a post-dinner bowl of spaghetti and a tall cold one ("one" being a huge glass of chocolate milk). Laterz, my homeslices.

Creativity with Monsters

Usually when I ask the kids what something is named, they simply label the item. For example, "Elise, what is your doll named?" "Doll." "That's what it is, but does it have a name? You're a girl but your name is Elise. Does the doll have a name? Like Elise or Annie or Maraca or Twinkle?" "Doll."

Today we went to a kiddie play place arcade thingy and when we cashed in our tickets, the big kids each got to pick out a toy monster. I asked them if their monsters have names. Georgia named hers Dinosaur because I guess it looked like a dinosaur a little bit. But I was impressed that she didn't just spit back the word "monster." Elise named hers Pink because one of the colors on the toy she picked is pink. And Henry named his Truck, presumably because his favorite thing in the world right now is trucks.

Pretty cool that all of their little baby brains took a leap forward today.

Top Three Good Things About Today

1. Cooking with (lots of) fresh basil from our CSA haul this week. God, I love basil. Clark had some basil today, too. This morning I made eggs scrambled with tomatoes, basil, onion, and garlic. It's one of Husband's new favorite things to eat. The big kids like it okay and Clark tried it and gobbled it up. Like father like son.

2. Preparing lunch while Henry sat at the kitchen table and quietly colored with crayons. I don't get a lot of quiet time with the kids, especially with Henry or Georgia. It was really nice.

3. Meeting up with the kids' GAL and her having nothing remarkable to report about their mother, their sisters, or the case in general. Finally. Calm.

Every Range of Emotion

Henry and Elise (but mostly Henry) are obsessed with things that go-- cars, trucks, trains, helicopters, construction equipment, you name it. Lately monster trucks have taken the spotlight.

Tonight, catering to their fanaticism, I was showing the kids videos on youtube of different monster truck events. I found the "Robosaurus," which is this huge contraption that is made to look like a giant dinosaur and it breathes fire and picks up cars and crunches them. Kind of cool, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing.

Henry got scared while we were watching Robosaurus. He sat on the couch with a blanket over his head, peeking out of a crack he had made near his eye and squeaking at the especially dramatic parts. Georgia was barely watching and seemed totally unimpressed. Elise watched for a long time with a quizzical expression and then finally said, "Um... he looks like a kangaroo."

Nom Nom Nom

Clark has had lots of new foods lately. Beets, pasta, bread, blueberries, black beans, eggs, tofu... I can't remember everything. He pretty much just eats whatever now. Except for stuff like peanut butter and honey and those things that you're supposed to wait on until the baby is older.

We're starting his sumo wrestler diet early...

Ain't Ya Daddy

Update on the Susannah daddy thing. Remember how there was some new guy claiming that he's Susannah's biological father? He showed up in court at a hearing recently claiming as much. Well, turns out that it's physically impossible. He should have done his math. He was off by a couple of years. Seriously. So her biological father is still legally "unknown" and this new guy won't be disrupting the TPR process.

Whew!

Teddy Tuckins

Jesus H Christ. Elise sleeps with these three teddy bears-- a big white bear named Mama Bear, a little white one named Achoo, and a little red one she refers to as Other Baby Bear. Well, for the past two weeks, it has not been enough to just sleep with the bears in her bed. The bears have to be tucked in at the same time that she is being tucked in. The bears have to be tucked in a very, very, VERY particular way. So particular that I never get it right. EVER. And she has a goddamn meltdown about it nearly every day. Sometimes twice a day because there is both nap time and bedtime, after all. I line them up and tuck the blanket under their chins. Wrong. I pile them together and wrap the blanket around them. Wrong. I do EXACTLY whatever nonsensical thing Elise tells me to do to tuck in the teddy bears and it's still wrong, wrong. wrong. I even suggested that maybe we're having so much trouble making the teddy bears happy because the teddy bears don't actually want to be tucked in-- they'd probably rather just sleep on top of the covers. WRONG!

Dear God, let Elise outgrow this phase quickly.