Growing

E has gotten his first two teeth over break. They are both bottom front teeth. E is eating baby food twice a day. He loves to eat!

He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me

We have only had this little guy for about 2 1/2 months but it feels more like 6 months. Not because it has been rough, but because it is hard to remember life without him. He is a part of us now and we all fit well together. Alea is so great with him and he with her (minus the hair pulling on his part). I knew that I would probably love all the children that came into our home but it is different to love someone compared to completely falling in love with someone. I have completely fallen in love with baby E. The other day as I was loving on E and telling him that I loved him I saw on his face that he felt the same way. That almost knocked me over. I training they talk about loving on the kids that come into our homes but it almost like a lift the lid and pour in the love type way of thinking. I knew I would love, or at least try to love, all the kids in our home but I knew that many of them would not love me back. It never really occurred to me that one of them would love us back the way that this baby does. I knew pretty early on that I was going to get my heart broken by this baby leaving us one day, but at least I know that is going to happen and can tell myself I am preparing for it (although how can you really prepare yourself for loss). Knowing that this baby loves us too and that he can't prepare for the loss of us breaks my heart right now.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Every Christmas Eve we go to Davin's parents house and open gifts. The kids always get so much stuff. Alea got a new bike, helmet, clothes, and stuff for her American Girl dolls. E got a toy from Davin's sister's family and a stuffed animal and clothes from his parents. He isn't old enough to care about the paper or understand it all yet but he did like playing with the new toys.

The kids opened presents in age order so E got to open his present first each time. My nephew looked at me and said, 'this is the first time that my family hasn't had the youngest kid. Now your family has the youngest kid.' I said, 'I bet you didn't see that one coming, did you?' He looked at me and at the baby and said, 'NOPE!' I had to giggle at his reaction.

Santa spoiled Alea and E Christmas morning too. Alea got a sewing machine, clothes and some other fun crafty items. E got toys, stuffed animals, and clothes. 

After we opened gifts, E fell back to sleep. He slept pretty much all day. H has been having tummy issues today and pretty much just wants to sleep. I got to hold him and snuggle him a lot today. That was nice.

I made homemade spaghetti sauce a couple of days ago so today had homemade spaghetti, green beans, garlic bread, and salad. Yummy.

We had a couple of nice days. We have eaten pretty much none stop and just sat around like bumps on a pickle the rest of the time.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Train Ride

Last Saturday we went on a train ride on the Arkansas-Missouri railroad. The trip just went from Springdale to Fayetteville. We got to see Santa and Mrs. Clause. The ride was hosted by CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) so all of the people on the train were either foster children or foster families. It was a nice train ride. It was sad to see the group of about 9 year old boys and another group of teenage boys sitting together because they were obviously from a group home and didn't have a family to be there with. They all had fun but through my eyes it was sad. I have some cute photos from the train ride but I can't upload them on my iPad so I'll have to add them later.

What a difference a year makes

On our first snow day last week I was holding the baby and looking out at the snow with him. I was talking to him about his first snow and then we just enjoyed the view out the front window in silence. I looked at him and thought about how things have changed in one year. If someone had told me last December that this year I would have a baby or be a family of four I would have told them they were crazy. Now here I am snuggling to a baby (and typing with one finger) and am totally in love with this little guy. It made me think about how we got to this point and that took me to God. Even though foster care was in our long term plans I never saw it happening right now. God did. It is so amazing to be called and to see what your path looks like when you follow God's calling for your life. There is no way anyone who knows how I felt about having another child would question whether or not we were called to this journey.

And 5 makes 7

I just got the call that my district is out tomorrow. That makes 5 snow days and 7 days home with this storm. I haven't heard from Alea's district yet.

Day 6

We are on our sixth day at home. The roads are still terrible. They cancelled school today too. This is our fourth snow day (with a weekend in the middle). It is suppose to get to 36 degrees today so I think the thought is that some of this ice might melt and we will be back at it tomorrow. There has not been a single plow out on any road other than the main two or three in town. Last year was very rough without a single snow day so I am grateful for these days. It does seem strange that we still have a few weeks until Christmas though.