20 Things I Love About Babies!

My all time favorite thing about babies are their fingers and toes!  They are sooooo cute to me.  I love all the little creases, the tiny little nails, and the cute way they curl and tuck.  I love it when they hold their own hands or clasp them together.  The way they hold your fingers when they eat or accidentally fold their arms.  And I obviously can't stop myself from taking pictures of them! 

For the last week, we have gotten to enjoy a wonderful little boy.  We were doing respite care for another foster parent.  This little guy was adorable.  His smiles and cuddling are just what I needed. The most memorable moment was when the little guy discovered that his fist could reach his mouth!  His tongue would barely touch his fist and his head would jerk back and he would throw his fist forward like it was the most bitter tasting thing he had ever had.  He did this several times.  Wayne and I couldn't help but laugh.  What a sweet moment to share with this special boy.

This experience just reaffirms my thoughts and reasons behind doing foster care.  It was easy for me not to become too attached in this situation.  Don't get me wrong, I definitely bonded with him, but because I knew he would only be in our home a week, I was able to hold my heart back.  Ellie on the other hand, couldn't distinguish between bonding and attaching.  She did both.  I was very hard for her to say goodbye, even knowing she could see him again soon.  She kept asking if he could just stay with us permanently.  I hope this gets easier for her.

So now we wait for the next call!

Salt Lake City Supercross

It was that time of year again for the SLC Supercross!  I was so excited to get away with my hubby for the weekend.  We were supposed to leave early Friday morning so we could have plenty of time for Ikea, but no luck.  Thursday night after Ellie's bath, about 8:30ish, I was combing her hair and notice something that wasn't supposed to be there.  Some unfriendly little critters had moved in on her head.  I refuse to say their names because they make me itch!  Wayne headed to Walgreen's to pick up the necessities for getting rid of them.  I shaved Jake's head (there was no way I was taking the chance of him getting them) and got him to bed while Wayne sprayed beds and furniture. I then cut Ellie's hair to make it easier to get the critters out.  Wayne shampooed her hair while I started all the laundry.  I sent Wayne to bed around midnight since he had gotten up around 3 earlier that morning.  I made a little bed on the bathroom counter for Ellie (so she could sleep) and I proceeded to pick eggs out a few strands at a time for the next several hours while rotating loads of laundry.  By 5:00am I simply couldn't stay awake any longer.  I took a shower and made it to bed about 5:30.  I was supposed to be at Ellie's school at 7:00am for a mother student breakfast, but that didn't happen.  I did make sure Jake got out the door by 7 and fell back asleep for just a little longer.  I think I got about 3 hours of sleep.  There was no way we were going to be able to leave for Salt Lake by 9.  I called the school to let them know and a couple others that had been at our house.  I then went through the rest of Ellie's hair (3 more hours!).  My amazing mother said she would still watch my kids so I could go. 

We didn't leave Kuna until 3:00pm.  Needless to say, I slept on the way down.  We finally got to the hotel at 9:00pm.  By the time we said hello to all our friends and family staying there too, I didn't get to bed 'til midnight.  I was hoping for a much better day the next morning.

Saturday morning we went and looked at some campers (no, we didn't buy) then headed to the races at noon.  We spent the afternoon walking the pits where we saw plenty of Monster & Rock Star girls with implants and riders with sexy "booty"tocks!  The main racing started at 7 and with a little luck of someone else (not me) the snow and rain held off.  Even though it was very cold, the racing action was great. The points are really, really close this year and we couldn't have seen better racing.

Sunday morning came and it was time to head home.  The weekend came and went too fast.  I wasn't looking forward to coming home and putting my house back together.  We picked the kids up and made it back to Kuna in time to give the kids a bath and put them to bed.  I never really got caught back up on sleep.  Hopefully tonight will help.  And just to clarify...Ellie's critters are gone!!!!!!  I talked with the school today and she will get to go back tomorrow.  We still don't know where she picked it up because no one else in her class had them.  We are thinking possibly church, but I don't think we will ever know for sure.

Anyway, here are some of the pics I took.  I didn't have my good camera since it was supposed to snow.  I debated taking it but talked myself out of it.  I regret it now, but oh well.

This is Eli Tomac (looking at me) and Kevin Windham.  Windham is one of my favorites!  The line for his autograph was way too long for me.

Even though Trey Canard (another favorite) is on the injured list, they still had his bike there for people to see.  When we walked by, they were letting people in to sit on it.  Only Weldon was willing to do it.  Tayler only wanted to stand next to it. 

Here's some of those implants I was talking about!

Ryan Villopoto took the win!  It's looking like he will also take the championship.

Ryan Dungey was last year's champion.  He's got a nice "booty"tock!

Kevin Windham 

Chad Reed, another great "booty"tock! 



Bet you never did this on your 2nd grade fieldtrip!

You would think that the day after Easter I would blog about it.  But I have something far more interesting to blog about.  Today I went with Ellie on her fieldtrip.  First we went to Celebration Park in Melba, right on the Snake River.  They learned how to hunt mammoths with atlatl spears. This was really fun.  A follow up family trip will definitely be in the future.  Then we learned how to make tools with rocks. To finish the experience up, we learned about the lithographs on the rocks.

The next stop was Cleo's Nature Trail.  This was a unusual place to say the least.  The kids were given a list of random things to find while we were here.  Here is just a sample of what the trail contained.

 It's not fair that the male peacocks are so beautiful!

 This spot had statues of Albert Einstein, Abe Lincoln, and Benjamin Franklin.

I had to make the next pic bigger so you could see the faces.

Devin was getting very tired and was trying to sit anywhere he could.  When he saw this bench, he immediately went and sat down.  I had to take a picture because of what the sign behind him said!

Ellie found this along side the path and said, "Mom, look. You can see its 'booty'tocks!"  I think she meant buttocks.



Some of the things I didn't take a picture of were a rainbow, a tomb, a graveyard, a troll bridge, unique license plates, hundreds of garden statues grouped by type, and safari animal statues.  We even saw a heard of live deer run through.  This is one fieldtrip I will never forget!

Score: The Door 1 .......... Ellie 0

None of you should be surprised that something happened to Ellie yet again.  After a broken arm, stitches, and hundreds of bumps and bruises, who else would it be!  In fact, just this winter she busted her lip apart and she went to the doctor (no stitches that time).  So when the school called this time, all I could do was laugh.

I wish I had some great story about how Ellie was pulling of a double back flip off the monkey bars or that she went down the big slide standing on one foot and blind folded, but that's not the case.  A teacher went to open a door at the same time Ellie did on the other side.  I the gash above her eye is where the part of the door handle that you push down with your thumb hit her.  And the mark below her eye is where the handle part hit her.  We are considering ourselves very fortunate that it missed her eye.  The teacher felt horrible.  Ellie made sure to go see her after she was stitched up to let her know she was alright.

Ellie was not happy about having to get stitches again.  The doctor also said we should expect some throbbing headaches over the next 24 hours and a generous sized black eye.

The before shot.

After 4 stitches!

Initiation Over

Wow!  What a day.  Let me catch my breath . . .

I didn't know so much could happen in one day.  We headed off to the store to buy our necessities.  While there.  We received some phone calls.  One was from the assigned social worker.  She indicated that a family member had come forward saying they would take the kids.  They were doing the required background check and would know more later today.  A few minutes later, I got a call from the placement worker saying she had made an appointment for the boys for in a couple of hours.  I then got a third phone call saying that the family members would be meeting us at the department to take placement of the boys.

We quickly finished our shopping, went back home, had 20 minutes to feed them & grab their belongings, then headed back into Boise for the appointment.  I met the family, exchanged the boys' stuff, and drove home.

All I could do after that was take a deep breath.  Wayne and I debriefed and talked about what we learned, which is definitely a lot!

So now it's the waiting game again.  We have been asked to provide respite care in May.  We are excited about that and look forward to that experience.

"The Call" Came

"The Call" came yesterday.  We accepted placement of a 2 & 3 year old boys.

The entire process took longer than I expected.  We first got a call just before 5:00 and they asked us if we could place them.  A worker had not been assigned yet or gone to get them.  So they new very little.  I was told they would call back when it was time for me to meet them at the department to pick up the boys.  Since I was in the middle of making dinner, I told them that would work out perfect.  I finished making dinner and headed up stairs to rearrange the room (it was setup for younger crib aged kids).  All I can say is thank you Julie!  I am prepared for boys.  The next call came about 6:45.  I was told I need to buy carseats on the way in for them because they would not be coming with some.  I arrived at the department around 7:30 to find to very energetic boys waiting for me to arrive.  It's a good thing they have lots of toys there to keep kids entertained.

The boys are very sweet.  Busy and curious, but sweet. Their first night was as good as could be expected for kids sleeping at a strangers house.  They are still sleeping this morning, that's how I'm able to find a minute to blog.  The department gave us vouchers, so we are off to the store soon to buy them clothes and diapers.

Waiting for the Stork to come!

Yes, we are waiting for the stock to come to our house.  Let's just clear the air up right away.  I do not have a uterus.  It is impossible for me to have babies.  And just in case your mind is really wandering to it's limit, let me put a stop to that.  No, Wayne did not get anyone else pregnant!  We are happily married.

So remember I mentioned I had been cleaning like a mad woman over spring break, it's because we were having our foster care home study done that week.  That's right foster care.  We have signed up to be foster parents with the Department of Health and Welfare.  We took our 27 hours of training classes in March (Wayne too!) and are currently awaiting our first placement.  We have signed up to take 1-2 children at a time, ages 0-3.  We picked this age range hoping that we could ease into it a little bit.  And we picked 1-2 children because Wayne so kindly pointed out to me that's all we can fit into our car! (Note: They could have licensed us for up to 6 if we wanted to broaden our age range! But I'm not that crazy!)

Since we have known this was going to be happening, over the last few weeks I have been buying some essentials.  I bought a crib, a toddler bed, and a stroller.  We are also asked by the department to have on hand or access to things like diapers, formula, and clothes since placements often don't happen during store hours.  And children often only come with what is currently in the diaper bag, if they have one.  So I thought it would be important to grab a couple of outfits in each size to keep on hand.  I grabbed a few thing at a DI swap at church and stumbled upon a 25 cent sale at a thrift store.  I thought I was doing good.  Julie mentioned she still had clothes from her boys and was willing to pass them on to me.  Of course I said yes.

My pile of clothes before Julie:

My pile of clothes after Julie:

I have been knee deep in plaid button ups and striped polos for the last 3 days!!!  I've decided Julie has a weird obsession for those things!  I finally got them all put away into boxes yesterday afternoon.  We are completely prepared for boys.  I'm guessing that means our first placement will be a girl!

Now it's just the waiting for "the call".  I think this will be are hardest part for me. I'll admit, patience is not my finest attribute. But I'll deal with it.  Every time the phone rings my heart skips a beat.

Ellie is super excited!  When the worker came to do our home study, Ellie was very quick to tell her that she wanted a baby.  When the worker asked about a 3 year old, Ellie told her "That won't work!"  The worker then asked, "What about a 3 year old and a baby?"  Ellie replied, "That will do."  I wouldn't describe Jake as excited, but maybe interested is a better word.  He is more concerned with the changes in general.  Like the other day, he mentioned something about us having to cancel some of our camping trips this summer since we will have extra kids, which he was perfectly fine with.  When I explained that we could just take them with us, he was delighted.  We have tried to prepare our children with the changes that might take place but we simply can't.  Every situation is so different.

Wayne is very quite about the whole thing.  He's not much of a talker in general.  He is definitely supportive and on board with it.  We wouldn't be this far into if he wasn't.  Remember, he's already invested 27 hours of classes.  I think he will love the children that come into our home just as much as I will. 

So with that said, YES the stork is coming!  Hopefully with many children!  Our first placement will definitely be blog worthy. But I need to mention, I will not be able use the foster children's names or give out any info about them.  I'm not legally able to. You will probably just get a letter (like J for Jake) instead of a name.