3 months!

Hip hip hooray, Baby Bear turned three months! She is such a different little lady than we brought home from the hospital. She is SO aware of everything around her. She is chubby, and happy, and smiley, and cute, and awake a lot. Just in the past week her sleeping has vastly improved. She went from fighting naps for up to an hour at EVERY naptime to going to sleep on her own in just a couple of minutes. And she went from waking up 4-5 times a night to just 2-3 currently. The little baby that used to take up to 2 hours to be put to bed is gone and has been replaced with a baby that has been falling asleep almost instantaneously when I put her in bed for the night. Sometimes I just stare at her waiting for her eyes to pop open again, but they never do anymore. What happened? I don't know, but I like it.

(The pediatrician told me that she was probably sleeping when I wasn't watching her...)

Baby Bear loves to look at toys that move or light up. And she can reach for them and keep touching them until they make music.

Not sure who likes this toy more...

But she prefers faces to toys (even Mika's face). She loves to smile at herself in the mirror and smile and stare at our faces in the mirror. She loves to talk to us every chance she gets, and also talks to herself when she wakes up (oh just kidding, these past few days she screams when she wakes up). It's so cute (the cooing not the screaming). She LOVES to be sung to. Her current favorites are "You are my Sunshine" and "Patty-Cake". She loves when we slap her little hands while singing Patty-Cake. She also now really enjoys standing on her legs. She has such a good temperament. She is so easy going, hardly a crabby day except for maybe here or there (and the whole fussing at nap thing). We feel so lucky to have such a happy little thing. Even when her little eyes pop open at 7am after a really long night, it's impossible to not smile at that tiny happy face that's looking up at you just so happy to see you and waiting to be picked up and loved.

We met with both our caseworkers today and little Baby Bear will be with us through at least January then possibly another 1-3 months before she goes back to live with her mom. I'm really nervous to relinquish her into mom's care. I hope that this is what is best for Baby Bear. That will be a hard day for me when it comes.

Dog and baby= trouble

If you are wondering if it is a good idea to get a new dog and also acquire a newborn baby at roughly the same time, let me spare you the trouble of wondering and let you know that it is in fact not a good idea. At all.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

These used to be the contents of a diaper bag

Exhibit C

This used to be a roll of toilet paper on a shelf

Exhibit D

Look carefully at what is in her mouth...

More often than not she is doing something I would not like her to be doing...like sneaking onto our kitchen table to eat food, jumping into the baby's seats to steal pacifiers and bibs (she once took the pacifier while the baby was still in the seat), finding wet baby washclothes in the bathroom and bringing them onto the dry carpet, romping around like a crazy dog while chewing on a baby sock...things of that general nature. I think somebody needs more attention.

Hurricane Sandy

In the year and 3 months that we have owned a house we have lived through 1 earthquake, 1 freak snowstorm, and not 1 but 2 hurricanes! All of which are atypical to our area. We probably need more homeowners insurance...

Hurricane Irene left us with a flooded basement and only momentarily without power, Sandy left us without power for 4 days. Thankfully we have a gas water heater and gas stove, so we still had hot water and could cook. We could have had it much worse. Our house was still intact at the end of the storm.

 The first day we had fun roasting mini marshmallows on toothpicks over our candles while we all played scattergories. The next day we decided it was time to start eating everything in our freezer. It was a delicious day if slightly uncomfortable for the fact that there was no place to store leftovers but in your belly. The third day it was just cold and uncomfortable and we spent the day at Justin's office which by then had electricity.

There were trees down everywhere. Huge trees. Trees on roads, trees on houses, trees on electric poles. This is a picture of Justin's office. He was one of the lucky people to get a tree branch in his office. This hurricane really made me wonder what all the birds and squirrels do during hurricanes. Do they go to the ground or do they hold on to the trees for dear life? Next time I will be watching them to find out.

Mika finds new ways to be naughty everyday. She gets especially creative when she is cooped up. Here she is with her face in the baby's formula can. I yelled her name and she jerked her head up but the can didn't come off...

2 months!

That's right! Baby Bear is two months old already! Time is flying so fast despite the still sleepless nights. She has some pretty crazy ideas of what it means to 'sleep like a baby'. In her mind 'sleep like a baby must mean - fight to go down to sleep for an hour (or more) and then only nap for 20 minutes once you do fall asleep and refuse to go back down, and then wake up every 40 minutes to hour and a half at night while wiggling and squirming around and making more noise than you'd think possible from such a small sleeping thing. Silly Baby Bear. I don't know where she gets these ideas! Sometimes she has good stretches of sleep at night.. but mostly not...

We did a trial run of a hypoallergenic formula about 2 weeks ago and like magic she started only waking up once a night around 3:30. I felt like a new person getting so many hours of sleep in a row and started thinking how easy it is to take care of a baby that sleeps!  Once the formula ran out we started using her old one again and in a few days she was back to her squirmy wake-y little self. We just put her back on the hypoallergenic (last night) and right now she is taking a marathon nap (she's at 1 hour and 50 minutes as I type)!!!!!! It could be coincidence, but I'm just glad she is sleeping. I might have to wake her up from her nap for her next feeding. That's something I haven't done since she was 3 weeks old. Hopefully this means good things for her.

Despite her lack of sleep and some reflux issues, she is a VERY happy little girl. It doesn't take much to make her smile. All I have to do is look at her and smile and she gets the cutest little gummy grin. We can even get her to smile when she is crabby. She is just starting to make happy little squeals, and she may or may not have had her first tiny little laugh today!  She is the best little baby and we love her so much!

1 Month!

Baby Bear turned 1 Month last week! I can't believe how fast that happened! Here she is celebrating her bearthday (can you tell how much bigger she got?).

Some things that Baby Bear does now that she's older:

• Smile a lot - She's a happy little girl most of the time and if you try really hard you can usually make her smile.
• Roll over accidentally - She's pretty good at using her giant little head to throw her off balance while she's laying on her tummy which then rolls her to her side and then to her back. It's really funny. 
• Is okay with not being held 24 hours a day - she used to cry every time I put her down day and night, but now she is sometimes content to sit in her chair for 10 minutes before she cries.

I guess that's pretty much all that she does that she didn't do when she was a wee lass. 

Some things that I get to do now:

• Get 3 hours of sleep in a row at night - this is still a rare occurrence, but I'm hopeful that any day she will decide to sleep longer and not wake her bitty self up with her baby gas.
• Brush my hair daily - Not so long ago it was a lucky day if I had time to brush my hair
• Make meals in the crockpot - Finding time and energy to cook has been the second hardest adjustment after lack of sleep. But I've found that as long as all the ingredients can be poured into the crockpot from cans and require no prep work whatsoever - it is totally doable. Other favorite meals include take-out, and frozen chicken patties, and frozen pizza. I really miss real food.
• Drink coffee - I've never liked coffee but I like it now! 

This is Justin after a night of Baby Bear duty. He assured me that he was not sleeping and was actually "working", just with his eyes closed. mhmmm.

Meet Baby Bear

We can't post pictures of our cute little wiggle worm so instead you'll be seeing her replacement. And because we also won't be using her real name we'll be referring to her as Baby Bear. Meet baby Bear:

We got a call from our agency while we were taking our dog for what would be her last walk in three weeks (poor Mika). When we got home from our walk I had a voicemail on my phone asking if we would pick up a healthy 2 day old baby girl from the hospital the next day. Of course we said yes! We ran around the rest of the night getting newborn baby supplies. Less than 24 hours later (and a sleepless night from all the excitement) we were at the hospital being discharged with a tiny little newborn. I remember seeing her in her little bassinet for the first time. She was wearing a little dress that her mother gave her and she just looked so tiny and peaceful. The first day was kind of unreal. We just held her the whole time and she only let out tiny little "ehh"'s and never cried. She made so many little squeaks and noises while she slept. 

Now she is three weeks old. She is the sweetest little thing. She has found her voice by now and likes to use it a lot in the evenings. Last week she also started making a cute little noise other than crying. It sounds like a happy little "oo". She loves to smile as she falls asleep, and lately she's been smiling more and more while she is awake. It's hard to tell if it's on purpose, but we like to pretend it is. She likes to eat every two hours day and night, so it's a little tricky to get a good nights sleep. By the time she eats and gets changed and is rocked back to sleep it's usually an hour later which leaves only an hour for me to sleep before she wakes up again. It's pretty tiring. As someone who prefers to get 10 hours of sleep a night, this is a difficult change for me but I'm learning to adjust. We're still adjusting to life with a baby, but overall we are really enjoying her. Everything she does is so cute (except the screaming...although sometimes she makes little snorting noises when she gets really worked up and that is a little bit cute).  At this point we're still not sure how long she will be in our home, but we're just glad she is here and safe. 

Mika does not like when Baby Bear cries. Mika will start whining when the baby cries, and she'll go over and lick her feet. If we're not watching carefully Mika prefers to lick Baby Bear's head when she cries to try to comfort her in her sadness.

Mika trying to comfort her as she cries

Mika is such a good little girl. We really lucked out on her temperament. She's really good with us and all the kids that she's met so far. She loves to snuggle and play, and I think she'll be a perfect companion for older foster kids that are having a hard time. But poor Mika is so sad that she no longer gets all our attention, but thankfully our roommate Bri loves Mika and plays with her all the time. We also taught Mika to brush her own teeth. If only we could teach her to use the toilet too. 

Mika

Little Bundle

Guess what new little bundle is living in our house!!

If you guess Baby Snuggly, you're right! Healthy newborn baby girl.

How can something so little hold so much cute? I'm not sure.

More later!

For privacy reasons you cannot see her face but you can be sure it's really really cute!

"The Call"

Yesterday we got "the call" while we were out shopping. I felt my phone buzzing and looked to see that it was our agency calling. After months of waiting this still didn't feel real. It didn't feel like our lives were about to change completely once I answered. I didn't feel panicked. I didn't really feel anything except the tiniest twinge of excitment after waiting so long. The caseworker prefaced the conversation with "I know this is a little out of your age range..."  It turned out that they were seeking a place for a teenager who was getting out of residential treatment. We ended up turning it down, and I do not feel good about it. I know that we are not emotionally ready to parent a teenager and that it probably would have been a bad fit for everyone involved, but it really does not sit well that I would be able to turn someone in need away so easily just because they are too old or too difficult. I want to be the type of person who would not turn anyone in need away, but I was not that person yesterday.

However, we do have a recent little addition to our family. Our little fox had a three day stay at the hospital and they didn't want to release her back to the pound so of course we said we would take her home while she recuperates. Then we have to bring her back to get spayed when she is healthy enough.

She's such an affectionate little thing. She loves to snuggle more than anything else in the world. To my dismay she loves to give kisses ALL the time. At the end of the day I feel like I'm covered head to toe in dog licks. There is a highway in Hawaii called Like-Like (pronounced like "licky-licky") and we joke that that would be a fitting name for her. She is also super curious and playful now that she is starting to feel better, and it's so fun to watch her. She loves to bat her dog treats around and then pounce on them instead of eating them, or she will "bury" them in a towel. I've also poked my head into the next room multiple times to check on her and I have caught her staring at herself in the mirror on more than one occasion.

We think she's a good fit for our family and hope she is as friendly and tolerant with kids.

Our baby fox

On over the weekend we met a friendly, curious, and very happy little dog at the pound. She really likes to jump into your lap and be pet.  She also loves to wag her tail and give kisses. We don't know anything about her other than that she was a stray and she is probably a chihuahua mix (with corgi or terrier we're thinking).

When we visited her on Monday she was not the playful little girl we first met. She's very lethargic and clearly not feeling well. They think she has pneumonia and they are taking her in tomorrow. The picture below illustrates her sad little demeanor. She just wanted to lay in our lap and not move.

But on the bright side, we might be able to bring her home for her recovery depending on how long the vet thinks it will take. I hope we get to bring her home soon.

We're still deciding on a name. Right now the people at the pound call her Petal. Vote for your favorite (or least favorite):
Twinkie
Eggroll (we picked this as one of our favorite dog names before we met her, and then she happened to be tan and long)
Feneca (she looks like a fennec fox, and it rhymes with where we live)
Skippy
Waffles
Sprinkle
Tootsie

How big can one little tomato plant get?

One little cherry tomato plant can't get that big. It will have plenty of room if we just plant it on the side of our house. WRONG! Who knew tomato plants got so big? Probably someone with some gardening experience...(which would not be me).

But we do enjoy eating all those little tomatoes!

Goodbye Smokie

Goodbye little Smokie. You were a good boy.

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

Happy 5th Birthday Charlotte!

What life is like with too few teeth

I don't know why this still gets me every time, it's not like it's a rare occurrence. I have the most handsome dog ever.

Garlic Shrimp

The weather has been too hot for my liking lately. It makes it really difficult to cook because it heats up the house too much. While searching for some new grill recipes I came across Food Networks recipe for garlic shrimp. I've made it twice since because it's just so tasty and super easy to make (since we just have a bag of frozen shrimp in our freezer)!

Step 1: Put some things on tinfoil. (1/2 lb shrimp, 1/4 stick butter, a bit of lemon juice, 2 garlic cloves, some parsley, a bit of red pepper flakes, a dash of salt) The recipe says unpeeled shrimp but I peeled mine anyway and it was delicious.

Step 2: Fold up your foil packet
Step 3: Grill to perfection. (or use a toaster oven like I did) I had to stir mine around half way through in the toaster oven because the outside ones cooked faster than the middle.
Step 4: Drool a little bit because it may be the most delicious thing you have ever smelled. Then serve it over rice (the shrimp, not the drool...just so we're clear)

Oh yum yum yum Bread Coating

I find so many good recipes on pinterest! I recently made bang bang chicken following Table For Two's recipe. It was so Delicious!!! I highly recommend it! The best part was how wonderful the bread coating on the chicken turned out. I've tried so many different bread coating variations and this one is by far the best I've tried so far. I can't wait to use this for other types of chicken that need a bread coating (or jalapeno poppers).
Recently I was trying to think of ways to use up leftovers in my fridge and freezer. Near the top of the list to use up was a jar of spaghetti sauce, but I'm not really a big spaghetti fan...but what is this? Half a bag of ravioli in our freezer? Mmmm now the wheels are turning on how I can make this just a bit more unhealthy. Yes! Coat it in bread crumbs and fry it! I previously posted about fried ravioli, but all their crumb coating seemed to fall off no matter what coating I used. This new coating stayed on very nice and it was so crispy and delicious! It was even delicious reheated in the microwave even though it was soggy.

Bread Coating:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup panko
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried basil

Egg part
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

If whatever you're dipping is already wet or sticky dip it in the bread coating first, then into the liquid, then back into the bread coating. If whatever you are cooking is not sticky, put it in the egg first then the bread, then the egg, and then the bread again. Then put into the fridge for 20 minutes before frying to help the coating stick. And there you have it. Yum!

For the raviolis I did half panko and half seasoned bread crumbs and then omitted most of the rest of the seasoning for the bread coating mix.

Now you can wash your car and your dog at the same time!

All systems go

Our agency let us know that all our paperwork is now in! We were previously approved for respite foster care back when I was working, but when our roommate moved in we needed to submit all her documents and new financial information before re-approval. So hopefully we're now approved for full-time foster care which is a little scary (or more like very scary) but also exciting at the same time. Back in January our agency told us at that time it was typically about 1 month from approval to placement. Justin thinks we'll get a placement in 2 weeks. My bet is a placement in less than 10 days from approval.  Or maybe it will be 3 months from now. My heart is probably going to skip a beat every time our phone rings from now on. Is this the call?

This is something we definitely want to do, but when it comes down to it it is scary to think that we will soon be left with someone else's child (or children) whom we know next to nothing about. We could be happily eating dinner, out running errands, or sleeping comfortably in bed and the next moment we could be getting a phone call asking us to pick up 2 children in an hour. I feel like there is still so much to do. 

shmokie

Beary good things to eat

Recently I really love bears. Here are some things we made this week.

Hello Again

Hello. Good to see you again! It has been a while since my last post. A couple weeks ago the first new addition to our house moved in! No, not a foster child if that is what you are thinking, but a roommate. My job proved to be a greater financial strain than an asset so we had to find a new solution if we wanted to be able to do foster care (which we definitely do). We decided the best way for me to be able to provide as much attention and emotional healing for our foster kids would be for me to be home as much as possible, so we started considering a roommate as opposed to me working an outside job. We are beyond blessed to have found an absolutely wonderful roommate! She is a nursing student at a local college, loves kids, loves Smokie, and has a great personality. Now we're just waiting on two more pieces of paperwork and a meeting before we will be open for full time foster care.

It's such a relief to be done working in that now we can start foster care, but I really miss my little guys. The part I love most about working with kids is watching them grow and change. I really wish that I could be present to watch how their little futures unfold. I already got to witness a drastic change in my 7 year old client. When I started I was told he was lower functioning, he likes to scratch people, and is mostly nonverbal. My first few weeks/months it was a constant battle to get him to focus on anything other than stimming off the TV. Very seldom would he even put the remote from the TV down without becoming upset. I was scratched many times over. He avoided tasks more often than not, either running away into the kitchen, shifting his focus to the TV, or perseverating on things and being unable to move forward.  By the time I left he was sitting for 2 hours at a time engaging in work tasks. He would choose doing more work when given the choice between TV and work! AND to everybody's surprise, including his parents, he can read and spell! He is such a smart little guy! By the end he was also able to calmly ask for items that he wanted instead of getting upset. One of his favorite activities was cutting and pasting worksheets. In his world things have to be exact and if he cut off the lines even a fraction of an inch it was enough to send him into near hysterics. One day he was having an off day and he cut off the lines ever so slightly, I had my coolest 'no big deal' attitude ready and mentally prepared to prompt him. I could see a nervousness in his eyes as he realized he cut off the lines. He started to let out an agitated cry when all of a sudden something switched and he calmly turned to me and said "tape please". I can not tell you how excited I was!!! What a skill for him to be able to stop himself from getting worked up AND be able to reason through what he needs to ask for!!!!!  He had so much potential hidden away that he wasn't able to express without some one on one guidance.
My other 3 year old guy was the cutest little bundle of joy. Always in a good mood. Whenever Justin and I would share our favorite parts of the day mine was usually something cute that this little guy did. I can tell that he is a clever little guy and very affectionate and I'm sad I won't get to see his progress.

We're Official!

Lots of official news in the family this week! My sister and her husband finally received the official referral for my new niece from China. She is 5 years old and adorable!

We also received news yesterday that our homestudy has been approved, and our house is now officially open for foster care! Yay! We will just be starting with respite care on the weekends until we figure out a better plan with my job.

Pink Tree!

Finally a picture of a pink tree! Our street is lined with these wonderful little trees.