High Heat and Birthday Bash

Yikes! It was over 100 degrees here today! I'm not liking this overly hot weather at all!

We went to our very first child's birthday party today - that is, a child that is not related to us! One of the couples that we went through our foster training with was placed with a child soon after they were licensed last October. And now he's 1 year old and the TPR should be done on September 1 so they can officially adopt him! The party was a Hawaiian Luau, and in their backyard, and they have a pool, so we were all able to at least get wet and slightly cool off when it got too unbearable. However, the water temperature of the pool was probably close to 90 degrees! But at least we could cool off some. Our two little ones seemed to enjoy the pool. And I did the underwater test with both of them. They passed! They both went under without a problem, and our oldest went under twice. I'm trying to get them ready for swim lessons. We're hoping to get our 16 month old in lessons within the next month.

Tomorrow we are headed out to the lake to celebrate three family birthdays - my dad, my grandma, and my brother-in-law. My parents have a place at the lake, so we'll be able to swim and relax in comfort! The only saving grace with this hot weather is our easy access to swimming!

Here I am - Finally!

I just realized how very long it's been since I've posted an entry here. Yikes! Can you tell I now have 2 children under 2 yrs of age? Life has been crazily busy!

We now have two foster children in our home - and the oldest of the 2 is 99.9% outs to adopt! I can't say 100% until the paperwork is complete and the judge has signed off, but we're very close! We are excited and nervous at the same time.

Little Man came to live with us on June 4. It was a rocky start - the first week or so I'm not sure who cried more - me or him. But we seem to have gotten over the really rocky parts and are now reaping the benefits. His little personality has really started to shine these last few days, and he seems to be a lot more comfortable in his new home and confident that we aren't leaving him. I really need to sit down and write out the whole story for you all, but right now I'm tired and heading to bed. I've also got some cute pics to share (no face shots yet!) so I'll try to get those posted. I can't promise anything though - I never imagined how busy life would be once we added Little Man to our home. But it's a good busy, for the most part. I'll say one thing for sure that will help you understand my frustrations the most - I HATE PARENT VISITS!! I know, I'm supposed to be fostering for a plan of reunification (oh, please, whatever) but when I really can see the writing on the wall, it's very hard to be positive and optimistic about parent visits. Anyway, enough about that for now.

So sorry to be gone for a while from my blogging, but hopefully over the next few days I can catch up and share some fun and some not so fun stories with you. Until then...goodnight!

Little Guy finds his feet!

I just love this picture! Little Guy has recently realized that his feet are connected to his body and he can play with them whenever he wants. It's his newest toy! It is so fun to watch him play and entertain himself. He hasn't quite brought the feet to his mouth yet, but he's getting close. He's getting to be such a big boy! He turned 6 months old on June 29, but because of his preemie status, his adjusted age is 4 months old. Plus with his medical problems at birth, he is a bit behind developmentally, but he's in OT once a week, and that seems to be really helping. We'll get him caught up in no time!

Playground Slide

I took the boys to Franklin Park today after Little Guy's OT appt. The OT office is a 15-20 minute walk from my house, and the park is another 5 minutes from that. Little Man has to be strapped in the stroller during the 1 hour OT appt for Little Guy, so he was ready to run and play by the end of the hour. He had great fun running around the playground, and especially liked the slide. I got some great pics of his hair full of static electricity, but you can see his face, so I picked this one to share with you all.

Strawberry Picking

I took the boys to one of the local strawberry fields today. I met my mom, my sister and my niece up there. We had a good day for the first official day of summer. Boy was it hot! I don't think Little Man had ever had strawberries before - he seemed to enjoy them. He really enjoyed playing with the hay between the rows. My mom is recovering from a stroke she had on April 21, but she is doing well. She enjoyed being out with us to pick strawberries, and when it got too much for her, she just sat and played with the boys! They like Grandma! So we had a good day. I got a big box of strawberries, and now just have to find time to do something with them. But I got lots of great pics!

A New Sandbox

I found a sandbox for the boys today at Other Mothers. It's one of the green plastic turtles with a lid. I got it for $10, then bought 250 pounds of sand for another $15. And Little Man loves it! So it was well worth the money and the grunting it took for me to fill it. But it's a great thing for Little Man to play in - I remember playing for hours in a sandpit that my dad had dug for me. Of course, we lived on a 20 acre farm, so we had plenty of ground to dig in, but the sandbox was my favorite! And now I can pass that fun down to the boys.

Little Man visited today

We spent the first part of today visiting with Little Man, trying to get him used to his new home. The foster parents brought him by at 10 am, and at around 12:30 or so they left for a couple of hours so he could spend some time with us alone. He fussed at first, and kept going to the front door where they had gone out. But then I cuddled with him and fed him a bottle, and when he was done with that, he was all smiles. We got hugs and kisses and laughs and he did great! They all left around 3 pm, and on Thursday will be back for one more long visit before they actual move in. It's all so exciting! The picture is of him playing hide and seek with us. I'll post pictures of his adorable little face as soon as I'm legally able to.

Camping with Little Guy

We camped out in the middle of the woods this Memorial Weekend - a traditional family event for us. We camp in an area that is used by the Air Force for survival training. The weekend before we got there, the Air Force was conducting Prisoner of War training. A few hundred feet from where we usually park our trailer they had set up their camp, complete with prison. I had DH James and Sam get in the prison for a picture. The whole camp was actually a very elaborate set up, and was interesting to see.

Then we did our own self portrait - you can kind of see Little Guy's red head at the bottom!

And we survived it ourselves by camping with an infant in the middle of the woods! Little Guy did great - luckily our little single axle travel trailer has a propane heater so we were able to keep him and us toasty thru the night - even as the rain came pouring down on top of the trailer. Little Guy especially loved being toted around in my front pack - we took several walks that way, and he settled right in during them. It was good to finally get home though. We went up on Thursday and came home on Sunday - a long weekend with a little one!

Reaching Out & Grabbing Things!

Out Little Guy is finally actively reaching out and grabbing things all on his own! I know, I know - so you say, Big Deal! But we're so happy! He's almost 5 months old, but really, his adjusted age is 3 months old due to his preemie status. So to me, it's exciting to see how he's doing! I know I can't show you his face online yet, but here's his pudgy little hand reaching out for a toy attached to his cradle.

Sweet Sleeping Baby

I love taking pictures of Little Guy when he is sleeping! He is so seet to look at! Here's a shot of his cute little pudgy hand - arm splayed straight out while he was sleeping the other day. Just too sweet!