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!

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.

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".

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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.

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.

My favorite part

Weekend mornings: baby
Cooing in bed, dog trying
To wrestle and Play

Missy making a
nest of pillows and watching
"shows" on the iPad.

Birthdays & other celebrations

We've been operating on radio silence for the past few weeks here at the blog, not because nothing's going on but rather, the opposite.

I've been overwhelmed by how much we are still actively engaged in getting the kids settled in. Particularly, Miss M.

Just this last week, we:
Met with Baby A's physical therapist
Approved a visit with the kids' Papa
Went school uniform shopping (Kindergarten for Miss M!!)
Went school supply shopping
Bought birthday presents
Ordered cake & sandwiches
Registered Miss M for school
Met her teacher
And scheduled an appointment for M's physiologist to come to the house.

Oh yeah, and spent Thursday morning at the Urgent Care, because both the kiddos have upper respiratory infections.

Which they did not get from me, although I've been sick too. First with strep then with ragweed allergies. And since I was not EVEN aware that baby's cant get strep, we spent 2.5 miserable hours at Urgent Care. (now taking pediatrician referrals, thanksverymuch).

So yeah. Been busy!

Then we had M & I's joint birthday party on Saturday at our neighborhood pool (rescheduled from late July, when I was in the throes of strep). And although we got to swim & had cake & presents & were surrounded by friends, family, etc., I had to laugh when a drought-ending thunderstorm rolled in & broke up the party (but only 30 minutes early)!

Crazy.
Wild.
Thrilling.
Exhausting.
Hilarious.

That's our world with Baby A & Miss M.

~~~~~~~~

We couldn't do it without help & support from our friends & family.

Thank you for all the hand me downs of clothes, of toys, of jumper roos, of pink shoes for a little girl you've never met.

Thank you for the words of wisdom, for the hugs of encouragement, for engaging with the worlds bossiest little girl, for smooching on that baby, & for understanding when I call in sick.

Honestly, these kids have made question my own sanity & reasons for EVER wanting kids of my own...BUT either way, I'm so amazed by this community of church friends, neighbors, in-laws, old college roommates, grad school drinking buddies, longtime friends & virtual strangers that are supporting us in this fosterhood journey.

You are awesome.
(Please don't stop!)

Bath time!

The last few weeks have really not been worth talking about: lots of gross illness, not limited to but including Strep, Hacking, Coughing & Vomiting, randomly assigned to various family members, including me.

I do have a Halloween post upcoming, but just wanted to share a moment if pure joy. They have been few and far between the past few weeks!
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I tell you what, Baby A sure loves taking a bath.

He loves splashing in the water, grinning at the baby reflected in the spout and tonight he was mesmerized for several minutes by the water slowly dripping from the spout.

So funny. So joyous.

I got caught up in watching him splash & shriek, lost in his cheerful spluttering and squawking.
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Here he is in his Dino towel!

Splashasorus Rex!