William Tell Overture - Mom's Version

A friend sent this video to me, and I just had to share it. I think all moms will totally understand it. I think it is hilarious! The piece is done by Anita Renfroe http://www.anitarenfroe.com/

So much for cleaning the bathroom today!

OK - so I finally got the kids bathroom scrubbed out - nice and shiny bright. After dinnertime tonight, all three kiddos got in the bath for some quality scrubbing - especially after we went to the apple farm today and picked apples. Little Man mostly trudged through the dirt, falling every 5 steps because he wouldn't put down his apple. Then we played in the "pea pit" - a very large sandbox but instead of sand, it is filled with dried peas. Really cool actually, but it left the kids with a greyish dust all over.

Anyway, bathtime tonight - got everyone scrubbed, hair nice and clean, all sparkly smiles. I turned around to grab towels, and when I turned back, Little Man had done his business in the tub - and it was everywhere. I have never yanked children out of the tub so darn quick! I had three nekkid babies sitting on the floor at my feet, and I was trying like mad to empty the tub of toys and poo. My wonderful husband was downstairs, grabbing clean jammies and changing out laundry, and our house is so darn soundproof he couldn't hear me yelling for him to come back upstairs pronto!

I finally got the tub emptied of everything, and then one by one, re-washed my little darlings and handed them off to hubby to dry, diaper and put jammies on them. Once everyone was re-cleaned and dressed, hubby gave baby a bottle while I re-scrubbed the bathroom. I swear, that bathroom hasn't been so clean since I don't know when!

You know the movie Hope Floats? One of my favorites! However, the whole time I was dealing with this mess, I kept thinking "hope is not the only thing that floats!"

KoolAid Pickles?? What's next - bubble gum applesauce?

OK - what's with the new craze of KoolAid pickles?!? My grandma made some recently, and I must say - why? As I'm biting into this extremely red pickle, I'm tasting cherry - cherry? - who knew a pickle could taste like cherry? Yuck!! Maybe this has to be an acquired taste. I don't know. It struck me as very wrong that a dill pickle would look and taste like a cherry.

I know - this has nothing to do with foster parenting, or my kiddos, or parenting in any sense of the word. But KoolAid pickles? I'm still wondering who in their right mind came up with this idea? Did the glass of KoolAid spill into the jar of pickles and someone said - ooo, yummy, let's make more! I can just imagine what grape flavored KoolAid pickles might look and taste like! No, wait, I can't - it sickens my stomach just thinking of it! Please, anyone that might know me personally - please don't gift me with a few jars of homemade KoolAid pickles. I might just have to make you a Christmas Fruitcake.

Adoption Agreement Changed

After much thinking and counsel from other adoptive parents, we have decided to make a significant change to the adoption agreement for Little Man. Mind you, I truly don't believe that the bmom will sign a willing relinqueshmnet and adoption agreement, but in the outside chance that she does, we want to be covered. And after this last year of battles, and mind games, we are clearly convinced that Little Man should not be exposed to bmom until he is at a legal age to decide himself on his involvement with her. I just simply don't trust her, and fear the side effects of even one visit per year with her will have on Little Man. So, we revised the agreement to take out visitation, but keep in letters and photos twice a year, sent through a third party. I just got the copy from our attorney today, so that means her attorney should receive it by Monday, and we'll see what kind of reaction from bmom comes out of it. Frankly, I'm tired of her games, and just ready to be done with all of this. I'm tired of what it's doing to Little Man. He had an extra "visit" with her this week, for an additional taping for the Circle of Security that is going on, and he was a mess that night. He woke up almost every hour crying, and only settled down when I went in and hugged and kissed and talked to him. He doesn't need this anymore. Thankfully, the tpr hearing is only two months away, and hopefully that time will fly by.

Term Date Finally Set!!!

We finally got a termination hearing date for Little Man's case - October 15. It's so nice to now have a date to look forward to. I really doubt that bmom will be willingly relinquishing before that date - she has fought everything tooth and nail, no matter how many therapists testify that she is not capable of parenting Little Man. So, when October 15 comes, he will finally be legally free and we will be able to start the adoption process. He will probably be close to three years old when the adoption is finally done, and he's been in foster care since he was 9 days old. It amazes me how long the state can drag out a case. I know for a fact this has taken a lot longer than necessary for at least two big reasons - the social worker failed to follow through with paperwork and court orders, and the bmom knowingly committed fraud against the court on several occassions.

But, good things come to those that wait, and we know that when this is all said and done, it will be a very good thing!

Rainbow in the Sky

Tonight was one of those strangely beautiful hot summer nights - a small spattering of rain, and the sky a strange color. We had a beautiful rainbow, and I wish I could have captured it better with my camera, but this was the best I could do. One of these days, maybe when the kids are in school, I'll take a couple of photography classes.

Future Bloggers!

I just had to take this picture the other day - after diaper changes, I found both boys at my computer. I grabbed the camera for a quick photo op - I'll have to frame these for the future work desks someday when they are out in the "real world" with jobs of their own!

Little Man's funny sayings

I thought I'd take a few minutes to share some of the things Little Man says - more for my own record keeping, but I thought you might all get a kick out of them! He can be so funny sometimes, and he really makes me think about what I say around him, because he's such a stinkin' copycat!! So, some of his most used phrases:

"Oh my goodness, mommy!"
"Wait - jus' a minute"
"That's a no-no!" (usually used when I catch him red-handed with something he's not supposed to have! My thoughts - if you know it's a no-no, why is it in your hands?!?)
"Twinkle twinkle yittle star..." (he actually sings the whole song, and uses the right voice inflection!)
"I wanna rock a nigh-night" (used when he wants to cuddle and rock while I sing him a goodnight song)

There are more, but at 11:00 at night, that's all I can think of. I'll add more to this list as I remember - or hear - them! He actually talks really, really good for 28 months. He sometimes talks non-stop, and often says the same thing 10 times in a row. Which is why I think Little Guy is not really talking much yet - he can't get a word in edge-wise!

Why Foster? Why Adopt?

I posted a comment on another bloggers site http://watsonschreiber.blogspot.com/2007/06/adoption.html, and after posting, realized this was something I wanted to explore on my own as well.

Why, when faced with infertility, did I not go straight to the thought of adoption first?

For me, it was a process of learning - of finding out what God truly wanted for my life. I knew I always wanted to be a mom, and I always thought - of course, I'll give birth. But then, when I found out I couldn't - it rocked my world. Coming to the place where I knew I was supposed to foster and adopt was a long road, but one I know God wanted me to travel. It was the only way He was going to teach me what I needed to learn, and that is that He has so much more in store for me than I could have ever dreamed possible.

We went through a lot in our process to have a family. After finding out I was pregnant in November 1996, I lost the baby the very next day - the pregnancy was an ectopic one, and not able to continue naturally. We then tried for the next three years to conceive, to no avail. After seeking out a fertility specialist and undergoing several tests and procedures, including two failed in-vitro procedures, I was given the words "unexplained infertility". We were heartbroken, and it took us another several years to grieve and come to the point of adoption. And wouldn't you know it - the very weekend we attended our first adoption orientation, we became pregnant. That was Valentine's weekend, and we unfortunately lost the baby to a miscarriage on Easter weekend. That was in 2003, and it was horrible. It took another two years before we could even talk about adoption. There were a lot of prayers and crying times in those two years. But God started opening our hearts, and opening doors, towards being foster parents and adopting that way. And now we know - this is what God's plan is for us. But I also believe that God was right there with us during our 10 years of struggling to have children, teaching us through the pain and heartbreak. He has given us a testimony, and has given us an ability to reach out to others in our situation and given them a shoulder to cry on and an understanding heart to help heal.

So, again, why didn't we go straight into adoption? Because we needed to be taught some things, and we didn't know that being adoptive parents was our calling.

Overly Emotional

This has been a crazy week – very emotional – I think this whole stretched out Little Man case is really getting to me. The older he gets and the more verbal he gets, the more he tells me and acts out. We couldn’t figure out why he’s been so overly whiny this month, and then we realized he’s having a “body memory” of last June when he moved in with us. So we’ve been taking time right before bedtime to just sit quietly and talk with him and reassure him that he’s not going anywhere. It seems to be helping. But it just breaks my heart when he mentions “I go to visit” or “I go see momma” – it makes me feel like I’m not his real mommy. So needless to say, I’ve done a lot of crying this week. The court case we had on Monday (the mom’s appeal of the March court decision not to allow Little Man to return home to her) did not end in a decision – the judge is supposed to e-mail his decision sometime this week to the lawyers. So I feel like I’m sitting on pins and needles to wait to here if this judge – a totally new judge to the case – will allow Little Man to go home to his birth mom.