So Much

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happiness

I'm pregnant.

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

Pointing Something Out

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

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

Crazy Day

Sick babies. Vomits. Blow out poos.

But I won $500 in a contest.

High highs and low lows. Crazy day.

Sick of Sick

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

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

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

Getting Picky

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

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

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

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

The Pets Get Neglected

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

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

Sorry kitties. I still love you. I promise.

Sleep Update

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

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

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

Twins

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

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

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

Mommy Jeans

Conversation with Husband tonight--

Me: Should I keep these new jeans?

Husband: Yeah! They look hot!

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

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

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

Silence.

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

A Little Extra Help

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

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

The Cool New Stuff Elise Does

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

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

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

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

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

Oh! And she loves blueberries.

Mismatched

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

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

Tele-phony

My phone rings today.

Me: Hello?

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

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

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

(Uncomfortable silence.)

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

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

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

MLK Day!

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

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

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

Good times.

Kind Words

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

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

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

I Dreamt I Held You In My Arms

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

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

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

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

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

Red Sauce

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

Over Cast

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

In Case You Didn't Know

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

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

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

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

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

Running For Office

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

Smartypants

Elise is in the middle of a learning explosion.

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

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

Baby Steppin' At 10 Months

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

Stomach Virus

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

So long, weekend plans.

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

Happy Saturday!

Barf Bath

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

Guess she has a stomach virus.

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

New Year's Resolution

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

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

Barfaroni

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

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

Vomit. All over. Super nasty.

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

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

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

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

Elise's First Step!

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

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

Yay, Baby Baby!!!

Another Week

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

Flashlight

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

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

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

Stink City, Baby Steps, Report

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

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

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

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

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

First Cookies of 2011!

Second annual family photo and cookie bake!

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

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

Happy 2011!!!

So Long 2010!

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

Shots

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

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

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

No Word

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

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

Ugh.

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

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

Will They Stay Or Will They Go?

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

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

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

Disappearing Act

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeeeeouch!

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

Baby's First Christmas

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

Georgia and Henry had a good Christmas, too.

Happy babies.

A Few Random Things

* Double stroller rocks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dancing Machine

Elise has started dancing!!!

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

Lots of New Foods

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

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

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

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

Lots of New Foods

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

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

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

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

Lots of New Foods

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

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

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

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

My Own Personal Double Rainbow

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

Hola, Roseola

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

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

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

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

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

Grey Poop-on

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

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

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

God. Damn. It.

It looked like spicy mustard.

Major Mommy Fail

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cast

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Love

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

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

He smiled. "Elise!"

Under the Baby Weather

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

Teeth and More Teeth

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

Lordy lordy lordy. Three teething babies.

Elise's First Tofu

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

Transracial Family

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

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

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

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

It's 3 to 2 Again

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

Another Foster Brother

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy 9 Months Elise!

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

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

9 months. Oh, Elise!

Yesterday's Missing Post

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

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

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

Foster Friend

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

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

Babies grow up so fast.

Giant Poo

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

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

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

Oh. My. God.

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

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

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

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

Poor baby.

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

I, however, am traumatized.

Georgia's First Day

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

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

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

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

New Foster Baby

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

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

Virtual twins again. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Sorry About Your Socks

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

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

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

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

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

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

Like A Baby

"Toy Story 3" made me cry.

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

I love that man.

Snot Nosed Baby

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

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

Fangs

Elise's biting is getting out of hand.

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

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

Ugh.

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

:(

Elise's First Word!

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

Elise says "Hi!"

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

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

Dear Formula Makers

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

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

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

I bet condensed milk spit up is the worst.

Thanksgiving Weekend

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

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

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

Maternity Clothes and Cantalope

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

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

Stand Up to Be Tall

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

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

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

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

Baby's First Cheese

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

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

Four Front Teeth

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

Third and Final Day with Farah

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

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

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

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

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

Farah Day Two

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

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

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

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

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

Little Foster Baby

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

Climbing and Eating

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

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

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

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

Gettin' Her Nails Did

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

Elise Takes a Tumble; Newborn Foster Baby

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Onions, Super Taster, Aunt Flo

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

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

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

Baby's First Toothbrush

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

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

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

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

Pregnancy Top 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Baby's First Parsnips

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

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

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

A Natural Leader

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

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

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

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

Mommy Fail #1

My first big mommy mistake.

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

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

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

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

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

No Tomatoes

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

Stinky tomatoes!

Toast and Bruises

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

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

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

Hello Fearless Drool Spice

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

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

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

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

Baby Cats Commotion

Baby + Cats = Occasional Craziness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8 Months Old!

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

Hello Pumpkin

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

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

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

Baby Shoes

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

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

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

#3

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

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

Baby Posture

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

Click! and Zucchini

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

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

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

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

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

No Twins

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

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

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

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

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

Well, back to our regular routine for now!

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

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

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

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

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

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!

Yogurt!

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

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

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

Halloween Sales

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

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

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

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

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