Great First Day of School!

When I went to register Ladybug for preschool earlier this summer, she got to spend some time playing with the kids that were there for daycare while I talked to the Director and the teacher.  She loved it that day, and she loved it today on her first official day of school!  I thought there was a slight chance she might cry on her first day (ya never know how little kids are going to react...), but really I thought there was a much bigger chance that she would forget I exist and be completely oblivious to me leaving the classroom to go home this morning.  The latter happened, and I'm not surprised at all.  I'm relieved it wasn't scary for her.

When we first walked in, it was a bit noisy with all the kids there.  I looked back at Ladybug, who was studying the room with big wide open eyes and a very serious face - a face that almost looked a tiny bit frightened.  Then we walked with her teacher over to her cubby so she could put her things down.  About 30 seconds later she had gone over to play with the little washer and dryer and seemed just fine.  No tears. Nothing.  Before I left I called her name, she looked over her shoulder, and I snapped a picture.  She then turned back around and kept on playing.  Well,  I took that as my cue to scram!  She obviously wasn't having any second thoughts about this pre-school gig, so I vamoosed, with our little TANK Peanut in tow. 

So when I arrived to pick her up two and a half hours later, imagine my surprise when she quickly came over to me - big smile, no words at all, and just wrapped her arms around me and wouldn't let go.  As I scooped her up she was completely wrapped around me, arms and legs, giving me a nice tight hug.  It was great.  I could see how happy she was to see me, but best of all I could tell she had so much fun in school.  After the big hug, she immediately showed me her thumb - the teacher had drawn a smiley face on it.  The whole way home she sat there in her car seat with her thumb up, and a smile on her face.  She told me about the things she did, and just kept on looking at that thumb, smiling!  I'm so glad her first day at school was a good one :)

At home, showing me her smiley thumb!!

Talking / Growing

We knew Ladybug had recovered from the 'bug' that kept her QUIET and resting in bed for two days when her little three year old attitude kicked in again sometime last Sunday  :)  ......and when she was again talking non-stop.  Yep, we thought, she's not sick anymore!

Peanut is growing so much.  I thought I was safe buying 12 month size clothes at consignment the other day.  When I held them up they looked big to me, and I thought there would be a little room to grow.  After all, he had just grown out of 9 month clothes, so the next size up is 12 mos.   HA HA HA!!!  Yeah right!  He's bustin' out of those clothes, in every way.  Bummer, all the stuff I bought was so cute.  Anyway, I now know he'll need the 18 month size in most of his clothes, and there will be room to grow in that size for sure. We have been calling him our "Little Tank".  He's such a happy baby  :)   He'll be 9 months old in less than two weeks. 

He really likes scooting around in the walker.  He goes into the living room and pushes himself around on the berber carpet, just babbling and jibber jabbering away!  He also seems to like the vertical blinds in the kitchen.....

Stuck In Bed

Friday during the day Ladybug wasn't eating very much, but I didn't think much of it because sometimes she's just picky.  Then later we noticed she just wasn't as bubbly as usual, she had a dry cough, and she felt warm.  Sure enough, she had a temp of 101.3.....  We kind of wanted to keep her at a distance from Peanut, so we put a spare TV in her room and put a couple of her favorite DVDs on.  We knew she would eventually drift off to sleep.  She did, and I snapped a picture.....cool washcloth on her little forehead.  She was miserable.  The next day her temp was still 101, and she threw up a few times too.  Today she seems a little better, but still has the dry cough - her appetite is a little better, but not much.  Hopefully tomorrow she'll be much better.

Up A Tree

We had some big low hanging branches on a tree out back......and yesterday hubby got the job done!!  He ended up using a chain-saw.  It was a little scary having him up on top of a ladder with that thing.  But all was fine - no lost limbs....... well, no human limbs.  The tree lost a couple  :)

Exactly Two Years Ago Today.....

.....we welcomed fourteen month old Ladybug into our home!!  Yep, 8-19-08.....it's been two years.  She had short curly hair, four teeth, and her baby bottle in hand.  I remember how nervous we were after we hung up the phone, having just agreed to take in our first foster child.  We were reluctant at first because we really were hoping for a baby, but we thought "what the heck", we need to get our feet wet sometime so let's jump in the deep end and go straight into the TODDLER years.  Yeah, why not.....  There was nothing stopping us other than our own fears.  So then it happened; we said "Yes, we'll take her".  When she arrived, it was more like SHE took US!!  The rest is history.

We'll never forget those first moments, that first day we met her.  We couldn't have known then that she would someday be our daughter. (by the way, been waiting for adoption finalization since MARCH!!!!)  It's a little goofy, but looking back on it, that was our 'delivery room' experience.....hahaha  the moment we first saw our child!  Of course the years we spent getting to that point, being scrutinized and fingerprinted, checked out from head to toe, being the subject of FBI checks and local background checks, etc....all that was my 'water breaking' and some seriously long 'labor pains'.  LOL!!   I was 'pregnant' for a LOOOOONNNGGGG time!  So, what a wonderful relief it was to finally be in that 'delivery room'....nervous and excited......though instead of a doctor handing us a tiny pink wrinkly babe, a DCS case-worker brought us a little walking wonder, a beautiful little fourteen month old baby, who had short curly hair, four teeth, and her baby bottle in hand..... :) 

Nowadays she's still our little walking wonder, but it's more like she a TALKING wonder....non-stop talking....all day....into the evening.....right up until bedtime.....bedtime is GOOD....bedtime means my ears get a rest.....but then it starts all over again in the morning.....more talking, more questions, more "mommy look at me"....more "I want this, and I want that..."  Did I mention she's a real talker??!!  The other day, when I could get a word in, I said to her "boy, you're quite the talker aren't you?"  Smiling, and with a sort of proud look on her face, she said "yes, I am"  and continued on with more talking.......  I just laughed.  It's too funny.  That girl wears me out!!  And so it goes.....   ( talk, talk, talk.....yak, yak, yak.....jibber, jibber, jabber.....and on, and on, and on......)    LOL!!   Ya gotta love it. 

Look at me Mommy, look at me jump!! 

Just Look At Her Go....

Recently we made a tough decision, one we had put off making for quite a while.  I'll start off by saying that nothing could have prepared us for the experience of having three very young children / foster children, two of which are only eleven months apart, and going from one child to three children in the course of 6 weeks.  We managed the best we could, but in the end knew our limitations, and we felt that SnugBug - the third child we took in - was getting the short end of the stick, so to speak.  There are SO many details to this situation, but I'm not going to go into all that here.  Just know that we struggled with this decision for several months, and acted out of love.  We know we did the right thing.

SnuggleBug came to us at twelve months old, when Ladybug was two and a half, Peanut was 6 weeks old.  She had special needs and continues to have these special needs, though making plenty of progress since she came to us.  For months we thought perhaps she would do best in a home where she would be the only child, or the youngest by several years, but we were apprehensive to act too hastily.  Finally getting to my point, sparing the very long story and numerous details....she is now in a new foster / pre-adoptive home where she is the only child.  She is FINALLY getting the constant one-on-one attention she has needed for so long!!  (and she's doing great. her new foster mom is also a 'stay at home' mom, which is the best possible scenario for Snug.)  We truly could not give her all the nurturing and attention she requires, and that was not at all fair to her.  Thinking back, we remembered that we had Ladybug for 16 months before we took any other children in.  She had plenty of issues, but we were able to work with her one-on-one for a long time, which made a big difference.  We're extremely happy for SnugBug now that she's the main focus in her new home. 

Her new foster parents are great.  We all got to know each other during her transition from our home to theirs.  They've sent us several pics since, and we've talked on the phone and emailed......we will all remain in contact as time goes on and plan on doing our first playdate in about one month so that the girls can maintain their relationship as they grow. 

On the day she officially left our home, her new foster mom brought two necklaces.....one for the girls, which is a heart that says 'big sis' on one half, 'little sis' on the other half,  each keeping "their" half, and a necklace for me that is a silver circle with the letters LOVE.  The verse on the card attached said "Love doesn't make the world go round, Love is what makes the ride worth while".   She and her husband told us we're now part of their extended family, and we feel the same about them.  We are so blessed that we got to be involved in this beautiful thing that happened - what started as a tough decision ended as a wonderful new start for SnuggleBug.  We have no doubt she will absolutely blossom before their eyes, that she will thrive in her new environment!!

I told my husband that day after they left:  When I watched her walk down the sidewalk holding her new mom's hand, she looked so happy and confident. It was a bittersweet moment in our lives, but knowing in our hearts it was truly the right thing, I couldn't help smiling.  We're so happy for her, and for her new foster parents. And as we watched them walk away, the only words that popped into my head were "Wow, look at her go......just look at her go".  God bless you SnuggleBug....we'll be seeing you soon!  :)

   Here I am in my new home - I just ate pancakes!

How do you like my new rocking chair?!

Milestones

I was very excited yesterday to be able to witness the first time Peanut rolled from his back to his tummy, all on his own!  He was trying so hard and was so happy when he did it.  Now he's doing it a lot more.  He's on his way! 

He also has his first two teeth coming in :)  They "broke the surface" about a week ago.  These little milestones are exciting for us.  We are thoroughly enjoying his babyhood!

Good Gracious, Just How Much Liquid Can A Diaper Hold?!?!

Last night Ladybug, my niece M and I were outside on the patio by the kiddie pool.  Ladybug had been running around the yard, while I sat with the hose and proceeded to spray her as she zoomed past me, screaming and laughing, squealing "stop!" with a humongous smile on her face as she ran past me twenty more times :)  Her clothes were soaked, and as she headed toward the kiddie pool she asked me if she could put her bathing suit on.  Uh, yeah right...what's the point?  It was a little late for that.

It was just about time for Snuggle Bug to arrive home from a two hour visit with her mom.  I heard knocking on the patio sliding door, and when I looked there stood SnugBug with a smile, waving her little hand hello.  I opened the door and she rushed outside with an urgency, pointing straight ahead.  I made sure she didn't fall down the steps, then watched her quickly waddle over to the pool and get right in, fully clothed in her cute summery outfit.  There she sat in the water, with a relaxed and happy look on her face.  She thought she was pretty cool.  After a few minutes we just took her clothes off, except for the HUGE WATER-LOGGED DIAPER.  It was a hilarious thing to see; this monstrous water balloon hanging between her legs, down to her knees!  I was holding Peanut at that time, and I sent hubby in for the camera.  So stinkin' funny.  These photos are priceless.

Don't you just love our fancy pool??  It's so big!!  I practice my dives in there when the kids are napping....do a little backstroke, float around on my raft.....  yep, we're spoiled. 

  

At The Park

After dropping SnugBug off at a two hour visit with her Grandma a couple weeks ago, we spent some time at a park that's just a couple blocks away.  It was so hot and HUMID that day.  I was a sweaty mess of course, but Ladybug had a great time.  Peanut was pretty happy too.  Because it was so humid and there was no breeze,  I held him on my lap and sat on one of the swings, slowly swinging back and forth to get some air moving.  It helped to cool us a bit, and he loved being on the swing.  We watched the ducks waddle by. 

Ladybug was full of energy and running all over the place, climbing on everything and sliding down the curly slide, sliding down the really TALL slide, and pretty much having a blast.  She climbed up a pole that was shaped like a cork-screw, probably about 7 or 8 feet up.  She climbed completely on top of this thing and there was nowhere else to go but down.  She was just looking at me like "now what?", then started to go back down.  Within a couple seconds she managed to get down; however, this was solely due to a little thing called gravity!!  She fell all the way down, landed on her feet but fell to the side and kind of bonked her head on the ground.  She cried, but not right away - it took her a couple seconds to process what had just happened.  I hugged her and checked her out, and about 30 seconds later she was telling me "but I will try again" and climbed right back up.  This scene pretty much sums up Ladybug's personality.  She does not give up easily, on anything, ever.  Good for her!  That's our girl  :)