13 months and a new baby!

Busy. That's the word that best describes day-to-day life around here these days. Two months ago we got a call that went a little something like this "We have a one year old that needs a place to stay, will you take her?". Um, yes.

Has it been all fun and games? I wish I could say so, but honestly most days I just try to make it through to the end of the day in one piece. If there is anything that I've learned it's how much room I still have to grow in so many areas. I always thought I was a patient person until I had a baby. And then another one. It is a challenge to parent an emotionally fragile child when there is little time to recuperate. The only way I'm able to do it is by relying on God's strength and patience and remembering how deeply I'm loved.  (and by drinking coffee)

But is there joy too? Of course!

And even at the end of a hard day I still wouldn't trade it for anything. It's not about whether it's hard or easy for me. Because it's hard. It's really hard. I have a daughter that I have raised since birth. A daughter who snuggles on me thinking I'm her mama. A daughter who I will someday watch drive away in a car and my last glimpse of her will be her face watching me through the window of that car as it drives away. I have another child who has been torn away from everything she has ever known. Who wakes up screaming just wanting to hear my voice to know that I haven't disappeared. She has been so brave, but I can tell that she is just grasping for something that she can control because everything else is out of her control.
So is it hard, yes. But is that a reason not to do it? No.
It's about loving children unconditionally because God loves me. So I can and do choose to also give my life to loving others even when it isn't easy or convenient to do.

But back to that joy part. When no one is biting anyone (it's not me doing the biting if you were curious) or screaming and flailing on the ground (again not usually me) life is...manageable... But there are also these moments where I feel so full of life and such a deep inner joy and it's in those moments that I know I have the best job in the world. I hang on to those moments so I can remember them during the difficult moments. I have so much more wealth in life than I could ever deserve! I have a loving and personal God, a loving husband who is my perfect and true match, I have a house (with running water, heat, and more room than we need), I've never worried about having enough food, I'm in good health, I have a family that loves me, and I have two perfect babies that I get to love as my job. My job is to love babies. How great is that?! It really is my dream job. I have so much I'm thankful for.

Right now I'm thankful for my babes.

Baby Bear is starting to walk by herself. She will take about 10 steps by herself and is getting more adventurous by the day. She has just very recently started a word explosion. Last week she could say a few words. Now she can say: bear, bean, dog, bread, dada, baby, bye-bye, hi, all done, ball, book, bird, walk, up, down, and she'll try to imitate just about any word if you ask her to. I think she is starting to put two words together at 13 months. I'm sure I've heard her say "buh-bye da" twice now when we wave goodbye to Justin in the mornings. Today she said "hi gah" when I told her to say hi to grandma. I'll have to start listening more closely. She has been putting two signs together for quite some time but this is the first we're hearing the words so it's exciting! Tonight she also correctly identified the letter 'z' on the first try. What a smart baby! She can point to her belly, head/hair, nose, and my eyebrows. She has been doing the animal sound for sheep for a while and just today she started saying "mboo" for cow and also trying to make an elephant noise. So cute! Birds are her favorite things. She laughs pretty hysterically when we see them at the park. I didn't know she could laugh like that! She also thinks chickens are the cool thing. She spent 10 minutes smiling and waving and giggling at a chicken statue in a restaurant. She also likes to only read (and lick) the touch and feel pages with the chickens in both her touch and feel books. What a funny little thing. The other day she matched two roosters in a matching book.

And what about that new baby? Curly Top is 18 months old. She is a clever and happy little baby. She loves to snuggle and be the center of attention. She loves to help Baby Bear. She feeds her her cup, chases her, tickles her, hugs her, kisses her, holds her arms out and says 'up?', holds her hand, brings her toys, puts cheerios in her mouth, she pets her and pats her, and just generally loves her. Until Baby Bear has a toy she wants or my attention. Then...to bad for you Baby Bear! She is doing remarkable for being completely uprooted. Her language has come a long way in the two months we're had her. She picked up a lot of baby signs just from watching Baby. She used to throw tantrums about twice an hour but now it's only about twice a day. She is doing remarkably well learning to wait her turn and share. Better than most children her age I'd say! She's also learned that if Baby has something she wants that she can bring a new toy to Baby so that Baby will drop the desired toy and go after the new toy! Talk about smart!

The end.

Also, we don't have any idea how long we'll have curly top. One more week? 10 more months? Who knows. Not us. Not the caseworkers.

Baby Bear has another court date in October. Since she hasn't started unsupervised visits yet in this period we're assuming that she'll be with us for another three months after her October court date. But that is just an guess not a fact.

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.

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

Home Sweet Home - Stairs

I've been pretty neglectful of the work needing to be done on the stairs. They still aren't done, but now they are on my almost done list instead of my to do list. They've come a long way from their original condition. We were going to carpet them with the rest of the upstairs but did not like the price tag so we opted to stain and paint them once we saw that the wood underneath was in good condition. It's been fun to take on home improvement projects and see the final results. Well, really it's just more fun to look at the after pictures and just tiring during the process.

Mmm looks real clean right? Cat hair central.

Our stairs were furry like a muppet monster, but not in a cute way

Goodbye carpet. Hello cat hair in the air!

Justin makes ripping out this carpet look easy. But it was not. The little sticks attached to my body couldn't even come close to helping. Thank goodness for my awesome husband!

3 months later...
Pull out staples, sand, vacuum, wipe, stain, finish, sand, wipe, finish, prime, spackle, sand, vacuum, wipe, paint! Just 15 easy steps!

Nadine started the handiwork

Almost there

Maybe someday I will finish...

Still on the to do list is to finish the railing then paint the tops and bottoms of the spindles. Another project is tackling the upstairs railing that you see in the first picture. I'm really looking forward to having that done, but not so much doing it!

Home Sweet Home - The End (Almost)

Last week we spackled, sanded and primed. This week we finished painting. What a relief! Observe the finished results. Of course we still have a bit left to do like finish the railings and stairs, but I'd say our house is now ready for a home study!

Before...obviously

After!

This room just keeps changing