Hallelujah! We got a break this weekend from Miss M & Baby A! An honest-to-God break.
Their former foster parents (who I've taken to calling their 'foster grandparents') wanted to borrow them for an overnight visit, for BOTH Friday & Saturday. Amazing!
They picked them up from daycare Friday afternoon & brought them back Sunday afternoon.
Greg & I got two whole days to sleep and wake up on OUR schedule, eat when WE were hungry, shop at Target in an extremely leisurely pace, putter, do some chores, go see a movie, etc. It was divine.
But darned if by Sunday morning we didn't miss those munchkins.
We were so glad to see them, even though we had to put them to bed early (baby A fell asleep during dinner, in his high chair) & this morning was rough for Miss M.
We're glad to get back in the swing of things, rested up & ready to rumble.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
S(lee)plicity
Miss M often has a hard time falling asleep. We have an elaborate bedtime ritual that involves bedtime stories, fresh sippy cup of water, rubbing her back, double-checking the nightlight, etc. And then often she'll come complain of not being able to sleep, after she's been in bed for 10 whole minutes. It's frustrating, to say the least.
However, I've added a new technique to my arsenal, courtesy of "Yo Gabba Gabba."
Courtesy of a song called, "I can't sleep", we learned to visualize "happy thoughts". So last night, we laid together in the semi-dark of her bottom bunk and made the following list of things that make us happy:
Rainbows (her)
Kitty cats (her)
Riding bikes (her)
Walking Lola (me)
SWIMMING (her)
grapes (her)
Strawberries (me)
Coloring (her)
Swinging in a hammock (me)
Swinging in a kids' sized hammock (her)
New clothes (both)
Donuts with pink frosting (her)
Singing loud in the car (both- its our new thing)
Sweet sweet sleepy girl, now GO TO SLEEP!
However, I've added a new technique to my arsenal, courtesy of "Yo Gabba Gabba."
Courtesy of a song called, "I can't sleep", we learned to visualize "happy thoughts". So last night, we laid together in the semi-dark of her bottom bunk and made the following list of things that make us happy:
Rainbows (her)
Kitty cats (her)
Riding bikes (her)
Walking Lola (me)
SWIMMING (her)
grapes (her)
Strawberries (me)
Coloring (her)
Swinging in a hammock (me)
Swinging in a kids' sized hammock (her)
New clothes (both)
Donuts with pink frosting (her)
Singing loud in the car (both- its our new thing)
Sweet sweet sleepy girl, now GO TO SLEEP!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Update on Baby A
Baby A shouldn't be here.
He was so drastically abused before he and Miss M entered DHS, that his survival and now, recovery is nothing short of miraculous.
He had/has brain damage from his abuse and as a consequence, is delayed in some areas of his development, particularly, his physical development.
He is 16 months, but doesn't walk yet.
The right side of his body was paralyzed; and is still delayed.
But! Since he resumed physical/occupational therapy a few weeks ago, he has progressed immensely!
He used to refuse to hold his own bottle, but now handles a sippy cup with ease!
Baby food? Pssh! He devours whole bananas & gobbles down gram crackers!
Weak right side? Still a little, but he can clap, and eat, and grab with both now.
Crawling? Yes, with a vengeance, but he's 16 months! He should be walking. But now, within the last week, he's started pulling up, on everything!
It's so startling, to walk by his room after nap time and see him standing in his crib, like, "hey lady, you gonna let me out?"
He is a joy and a delight and so smart. He is thriving and we couldn't be more thrilled.
Soon I imagine he'll be walking and we'll really be in for an adventure!
He was so drastically abused before he and Miss M entered DHS, that his survival and now, recovery is nothing short of miraculous.
He had/has brain damage from his abuse and as a consequence, is delayed in some areas of his development, particularly, his physical development.
He is 16 months, but doesn't walk yet.
The right side of his body was paralyzed; and is still delayed.
But! Since he resumed physical/occupational therapy a few weeks ago, he has progressed immensely!
He used to refuse to hold his own bottle, but now handles a sippy cup with ease!
Baby food? Pssh! He devours whole bananas & gobbles down gram crackers!
Weak right side? Still a little, but he can clap, and eat, and grab with both now.
Crawling? Yes, with a vengeance, but he's 16 months! He should be walking. But now, within the last week, he's started pulling up, on everything!
It's so startling, to walk by his room after nap time and see him standing in his crib, like, "hey lady, you gonna let me out?"
He is a joy and a delight and so smart. He is thriving and we couldn't be more thrilled.
Soon I imagine he'll be walking and we'll really be in for an adventure!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Little Liar
Turns out our girl Miss M has developed a lying streak. Last week she told me that she got to visit her "real Dad," on a day that she doesn't usually go for visits. At first I was just confused, but my suspicions were further raised by the fact that she said they went to go visit her "real mom" in the hospital. Which is pretty impossible considering her mom is in jail.
Then yesterday, I when I picked her up from daycare, the first words out of her mouth were "I've been a good girl today." I already had Baby A in my arms, so I rather distractedly said "I know, that's good baby" and herded her towards the car.
But later at home, she kept repeating that sentiment that she was a good girl so I probed a little bit deeper and asked her "why were you a good girl? What made you be a good girl?"
To which she replied, unhelpfully, "I don't know." Hmmm, okay.
The puzzle was unlocked this morning when Greg got back from taking her to school. Turns out they had a substitute yesterday and Miss M was NOT a good girl at all, in fact she ran away from the substitute at one point, down the halls of the school!
Me thinks the little girl doth protest too much!
Good to know that although she has a tendency to lie, she's not very good at it. I hope that we can nip the lying thing in the bud, but she doesn't seem to really grasp the concept of WHY lying is a bad thing or understand the idea of consequences...she's very dismissive of our attempts to explain it. I hope that restarting therapy will be useful in this aspect. Until then, we've got our eye on you, Missy!
Then yesterday, I when I picked her up from daycare, the first words out of her mouth were "I've been a good girl today." I already had Baby A in my arms, so I rather distractedly said "I know, that's good baby" and herded her towards the car.
But later at home, she kept repeating that sentiment that she was a good girl so I probed a little bit deeper and asked her "why were you a good girl? What made you be a good girl?"
To which she replied, unhelpfully, "I don't know." Hmmm, okay.
The puzzle was unlocked this morning when Greg got back from taking her to school. Turns out they had a substitute yesterday and Miss M was NOT a good girl at all, in fact she ran away from the substitute at one point, down the halls of the school!
Me thinks the little girl doth protest too much!
Good to know that although she has a tendency to lie, she's not very good at it. I hope that we can nip the lying thing in the bud, but she doesn't seem to really grasp the concept of WHY lying is a bad thing or understand the idea of consequences...she's very dismissive of our attempts to explain it. I hope that restarting therapy will be useful in this aspect. Until then, we've got our eye on you, Missy!
Elebration!
This past weekend we took Miss M and Baby A to the Tulsa Zoo. We went for "Elebration", which is the zoo's annual celebration of the elephant herd's birthday- group celebration I guess.
They have special events set up throughout the day and we were fortunate to get to see a painting demonstration, by the elephants!! I think that Greg and I enjoyed it more then Miss M, who lost interest about 15 minutes in. Fortunately, I had a bag of snacks ready for just such an occasion; I am getting better at this mom thing!
After we watched the amazing painting pachyderms, we went to ride the train and check out the new sea lion exhibit & visit the penguin exhibit too.
Miss M's favorite part of the whole day though, was when we went to the children's zoo and she got to not only pet, but brush and care for the resident sheep and goats.
It cracked me up because she was so fearless about it, she just walked right up to those goats and gave 5 or 6 of them a good brushing. She was fearless!
Baby A on the other hand was just pretty chill whole day; he liked looking at all of the animals but was, of course, just along for the ride. Haha.
On our way out, we did stop at the gift shop and buy a few souvenirs; we definitely got Baby A a zebra onesie that had a tail on it (!). And Miss M of course opted for a hot pink and purple combo "Wild Girl" binoculars.
I love giving the foster kids a" first" experience; it's one of the few purely fun parts of this fostering parent gig. For example, the boys had never been to the lake before nor have they ever been to an art museum or a Drillers (minor league) baseball game. Miss M had never been to a zoo, so it was pretty cute to see her freak out over animals she had only seen in books- like the lions & tigers. I hope she has good memories of our adventure to the zoo; I know that Greg and I sure enjoyed ourselves!
They have special events set up throughout the day and we were fortunate to get to see a painting demonstration, by the elephants!! I think that Greg and I enjoyed it more then Miss M, who lost interest about 15 minutes in. Fortunately, I had a bag of snacks ready for just such an occasion; I am getting better at this mom thing!
After we watched the amazing painting pachyderms, we went to ride the train and check out the new sea lion exhibit & visit the penguin exhibit too.
Miss M's favorite part of the whole day though, was when we went to the children's zoo and she got to not only pet, but brush and care for the resident sheep and goats.
It cracked me up because she was so fearless about it, she just walked right up to those goats and gave 5 or 6 of them a good brushing. She was fearless!
Baby A on the other hand was just pretty chill whole day; he liked looking at all of the animals but was, of course, just along for the ride. Haha.
On our way out, we did stop at the gift shop and buy a few souvenirs; we definitely got Baby A a zebra onesie that had a tail on it (!). And Miss M of course opted for a hot pink and purple combo "Wild Girl" binoculars.
I love giving the foster kids a" first" experience; it's one of the few purely fun parts of this fostering parent gig. For example, the boys had never been to the lake before nor have they ever been to an art museum or a Drillers (minor league) baseball game. Miss M had never been to a zoo, so it was pretty cute to see her freak out over animals she had only seen in books- like the lions & tigers. I hope she has good memories of our adventure to the zoo; I know that Greg and I sure enjoyed ourselves!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Focus
This little lady may not be able to sit through a whole episode of Cat in the Hat or listen to a story longer than a "Bear book" (Bernstein Bears, obvs), but she's got all the focus in the world when it comes to painting.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
The Worst Night of my Life
We began considering foster care In Fall 2011, shortly after I was diagnosed with PCOS a hormonal imbalance that can potentially cause infertility.
We knew that it would take us time to get pregnant on our own, if at all, and we felt like foster care and adoption were part of the overall Plan for our family anyway; why not move forward and begin to make a difference in kids' lives, regardless of whether we had our own kid or not.
Thats the objective context; the actual context is that I still desperately wanted a baby of my "own" & despite my PCOS, had been carefully tracking my cycles, etc. Until July, when Miss M & Baby A got placed with us (& our world...imploded).
~~~~~
What began as "back cramps" after a Labor Day cookout ended in the ER at 4am.
What began as a shivering, wrenching, bloody ordeal in the privacy of my home ended with 15 minutes in triage, 5 hours waiting in an exam room for the only ER doctor, still bleeding.
What began as a missed period, or two, (damn wonky PCOS) ended as a pregnancy so new I couldn't tell them how far along I was.
The doctor said, "Congrats- you are/were pregnant- now let's see if it's still viable."
3 ultrasounds and the longest hour of my life, to find out my first pregnancy was indeed a miscarriage.
What began as weeks of laughing off Miss M's questions about whether I had a baby in my belly, and a sense of "I should really take a pregnancy test" ended 10 hours after being discharged with Greg admitting he thought I was pregnant too- but kept talking himself out of it.
What began with apologetic phone calls to parents for advice ended with family and friends descending on our house in support- to stay with the sleeping foster kiddos, to take the kids for the day, to bring dinner, to bring flowers, to bring muffins & hugs.
What began as disbelief ended in hope: "there may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning".
~~~~
Am still at home recovering; have an appointment with my OBGYN tomorrow to follow up.
Miss M & Baby A were my only motivations to get out of bed today.
I know miscarriages are common & often unexplained, but any words of encouragement are much appreciated.
We knew that it would take us time to get pregnant on our own, if at all, and we felt like foster care and adoption were part of the overall Plan for our family anyway; why not move forward and begin to make a difference in kids' lives, regardless of whether we had our own kid or not.
Thats the objective context; the actual context is that I still desperately wanted a baby of my "own" & despite my PCOS, had been carefully tracking my cycles, etc. Until July, when Miss M & Baby A got placed with us (& our world...imploded).
~~~~~
What began as "back cramps" after a Labor Day cookout ended in the ER at 4am.
What began as a shivering, wrenching, bloody ordeal in the privacy of my home ended with 15 minutes in triage, 5 hours waiting in an exam room for the only ER doctor, still bleeding.
What began as a missed period, or two, (damn wonky PCOS) ended as a pregnancy so new I couldn't tell them how far along I was.
The doctor said, "Congrats- you are/were pregnant- now let's see if it's still viable."
3 ultrasounds and the longest hour of my life, to find out my first pregnancy was indeed a miscarriage.
What began as weeks of laughing off Miss M's questions about whether I had a baby in my belly, and a sense of "I should really take a pregnancy test" ended 10 hours after being discharged with Greg admitting he thought I was pregnant too- but kept talking himself out of it.
What began with apologetic phone calls to parents for advice ended with family and friends descending on our house in support- to stay with the sleeping foster kiddos, to take the kids for the day, to bring dinner, to bring flowers, to bring muffins & hugs.
What began as disbelief ended in hope: "there may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning".
~~~~
Am still at home recovering; have an appointment with my OBGYN tomorrow to follow up.
Miss M & Baby A were my only motivations to get out of bed today.
I know miscarriages are common & often unexplained, but any words of encouragement are much appreciated.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Horrifying
So little kids are the grossest ever.
Between Miss M's extended tummy troubles (due to school lunches, we think? Maybe?) & Baby A THROWING UP yesterday in the pediatrician's exam room (how long has this been going on? Uh, just now)...I'm thoroughly grossed out by bodily functions of humans, especially these little ones. Ick.
Between Miss M's extended tummy troubles (due to school lunches, we think? Maybe?) & Baby A THROWING UP yesterday in the pediatrician's exam room (how long has this been going on? Uh, just now)...I'm thoroughly grossed out by bodily functions of humans, especially these little ones. Ick.
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