Making A Home

Christmas Happenings 2009

 
Chunky Monkey (Ellie) left us on the day before Christmas Eve.  We got a call the evening before saying the judge had decided she should go with her birthmom to an inpatient treatment center and they'd be picking her up the next morning.  It was fun having a baby around here for a while, though I'd forgotten how much juggling it takes to work in all the naps and feedings around homeschooling and activities, especially with the holidays coming!

Christmas Eve we went to a candlelight service at our old church (we were part of a church plant this Summer, and rather than have a service of our own, we rejoined the old congregation for the service.)  It was really nice.  Lots of Christmas music, a short sermon and testimony, and Sam's favorite part... Fire!  I was nervous about taking the 3 kids to the service by myself since Brian had to work that night, and truth be told, I probably wouldn't have been brave enough had Ellie not left the day before... handling 2 high-energy kids and 2 babies would be more than I could manage in a service like that.  But a friend loaned me one of her teenagers to sit with us and it went wonderfully. 

(Hallie - age 6, Sam - age 8, Natalie - age 2)  This photo is a Christmas miracle in itself.  All 3 children... cooperating and smiling for the photo???  Amazing!

After church, we went to a friend's house to celebrate the season.  We had yummy snacks and coffee and fun conversation.  (And the next day, all of the other guests, or some from each family at least, started coming down with the flu!!  I dont' know how we avoided it!) 

On the way home, we swung by the family gathering (the family get-together goes WAY too late for my children to stay up, so we forgo the Christmas Eve family festivities for church, etc), so they could see the children in their Christmas best.  It was unfortunate I didn't get to see much of the "Seattle Relatives" this Christmas - I'll have to work that out better next year somehow.

We opened all of our (household) family gifts on Christmas Eve morning, including stockings (our kids know they are from us, but it's a fun way to do little gifts) and gifts from the children.  One of the highlights for me was the fancy new camera from my dear sweet husband.  For that reason, Christmas Eve morning will be a seperate post... because I have to get the photos of that off of the OLD camera!

Christmas morning I was up early to throw together an egg casserole (bacon, egg, cheese and potatoes - it's my favorite)... then we were off to my mom's house to share it with them and my brother's family, along with my mom's homemade cinnamon rolls.

The rest of Christmas unfolded in a flurry... gifts with my family of origin...

(My mom found Mario Chess for Sam for Christmas... it just doesn't get any better than that for him... unless maybe he could play it on a train.)

 

Dinner (rolls with meat and cheese, chips, various salads and Christmas cookies) at Grandma's with the extended family, and gifts with the same.

 
(More Christmas posts to come...)

  

Charlotte's Web Party

"SPIN SPINERETTES!!!"

A few weeks ago, we went to a production of Charlotte's Web at a local theatre.  It was part of an education series, and a bunch of other homeschooling friends attended with us.  Then afterward...

We had a party!  (Surprised?  We always seem to have an excuse for a party!)  My apologies for the lack of pictures... it was the same day we were supposed to be getting Ellie (she actually came the following day), so I was a bit distracted, and had to leave the party early.  You can find more photos and details here and here.

People brought themed snacks:

Manure Piles (no-bake cookies)
Charlotte (2 big spiders made of bread dough)
Farmer Zuckerman's Slop (chex mix)
Pigs in the Mud (pink marshmallows in chocolate pudding cups)
Pigs in a blanket (hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough)
Rotten Eggs (devilled eggs)
Runts Candy (Wilbur was a runt in the beginning of the book)

We had nearly 30 kids in attendance and they all had a great time.  Tami brought games to play, and Shawn brought fun felt barnyard playsets for each of the little kids.  I love my friends.  They are so creative.

In Which Nay-nay Turns Two (Updated) ***

My baby is 2.  My little tiny chubby-cheeked baby is now a big (chubby-cheeked) TWO YEAR OLD! 

Our celebration was kind of rushed yesterday.  First thing in the morning she opened her gifts. 

- A ride-on toy

- A bird flashlight

- A princess doll

- A train (from Sam)

- A "magic" baby bottle (from Ellie)
- A Bouncy Ball (from Hallie)

For breakfast, she chose waffles and sausage.  (Her speech is still pretty delayed, but usually if we give her a list of choices, we can understand which one she's saying.  In this case it was "Wuff.")

For lunch, PBJs, Cheetos Puffs (her favorite chips) and home-canned peaches.

We practiced "blowing" for blowing out the candles (she can blow well), but when the fire and smoke was actually there, she freaked out and made me blow them out for her.  She has a lot of pathalogical fears... water (she screams through every bath, and Great Wolf Lodge was an "adventure",) Ladybugs (she screams if she sees one, and gets paralyzed if one is on her), playground equipment (she's getting better about that one), and somewhat understandably... chickens... since one took a nip out of her popsicle this Summer.

Carrot cake (from a mix... won't do that again) with cream cheese frosting, flower sprinkles and orange sugar (the children are color-coded in our house, and she's orange.)  Then it was time for her nap, and then off to a visit with her birth grandma and siblings.  I was bummed that they got to take her for half her birthday, but I do understand why they'd want to.  She left about 3:15 and didn't get back until almost 8!  (Way past her bedtime.)  So I gave her a snuggle, looked at the card and book and dolly they gave her, and carried her and her new dolly off to bed. (I didn't find the little musical toy in the diaper bag until this morning.)

While she was still on her visit, my aunt dropped off a birthday present for her (very thoughtful!), but I think I'll have her wait to open that until this evening when my mom and stepdad come over with gifts from themselves and my grandparents... Birthday: Act 2, Scene 2.

She's a sweet kid.  And she fit so seamlessly into our family.  Pray with us that her tribe will allow us to adopt her.  Her next court date is January 6th.

***I should probably explain the jammies... If it looks like Natty's pajamas are on backwards, it's because they are.  We've taken to putting them on her backwards, because when we don't, she unzips them and ends up cold, crying and naked in her bed!***

Snow Day

We finally got our first snowfall.  It was beautiful... but I would have preferred more.  I really love snow.  Especially when we don't have to be anywhere.  I can just hang out at home with my husband and children, work on projects (like finishing those Jammies for Christmas!  At our house, while we are out on Christmas Eve, the "Jammie Elf", who the kids are very aware is me, leaves a new set of pajamas - flannel pants and a matching t-shirt - under their pillows for them to wear to bed that night.  Very convenient for those cute matchy-match pictures on Christmas morning!)

This year the children all have snowpants and boots, so I really do hope we get a lot of snow.  They were very excited to go out and play in it... for about 5 or 10 minutes.  I have to wonder if it's worth the effort of getting them dressed, then washing all the clothes and mopping up the snow puddles.  I think they only go out so they can come back in for hot chocolate.

When the snow started Sunday, I took stock of our rations, knowing I wouldn't feel like going out to the store.  We were low on bread, so I baked some.  Mmm.  Warm bread and butter on a snowy afternoon.  Then I baked one batch of Christmas cookies.  A knock on the back door revealed one of our neighbors, delivering Christmas goodies!  I am so far behind, I haven't even started my treats for the neighbors... I haven't even started our Christmas cards or gotten our picture taken!!  (I usually have our cards out December 1st!)

Then I made homemade pizza for movie night.  This week's selection: How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  As we were reading Jotham's Journey before bed, the snow started falling heavily again.  I do love this season.

And then on Saturday...

Hallie was still throwing up.  So was Brian.  But Sam... oh, Sam woke up with the energy of... well, of a kid with Asperger's/ADHD who spent the whole day prior on the couch!  Man, that kid was squirrelly.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with him.  I heard him banging around in the kitchen and upon inspection, found him collecting ingredients... flour, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder... and 3 satsuma oranges sitting in a glass.  Any guesses? 

He said he wanted to make cinnamon orange muffins.  Good guesses on the ingredients, but I wasn't quite sure how he was going to make those satsumas work.  I asked what recipe he was going to use and he said he was just going to make it up.  Now, I admit, he's pretty good in the kitchen, especially for an 8 year old boy.  But I just couldn't see this turning out well (not with the piles of "sick laundry", the disaster of a kitchen, and everything else I had on my plate from dealing with a house of sickies and trying to get ready for Christmas.  So I found and printed a recipe from the internet and set him to work. 

They were delicious!

About this time, I got a call from my dear friend, Tami.  Tami, who has the gift of... oh, I don't know... everything you could possibly think of to be helpful, encouraging, and take a load off a fellow mom?  She's got a lot of gifts, that one.

She called to make sure I was keeping my sanity and to tell me she was bringing lunch... and dinner!  I assured her I wasn't sick and was still quite capable... but I'm also not stupid, so I accepted and thanked her profusely!  At lunch time she showed up at my door with a big, steaming pot of baked potato soup.  (And a movie to keep Sam occupied, bubble bath for me, and hand sanitizer to fight off the germs!) And just before dinner, she dropped off a frozen lasagna, frozen green beans (I think from her garden this summer, they were delicious!) and pudding cups for the kids.  

And with all the time that freed up, I finished washing all the laundry and sewed Christmas Jammies for the whole family (ok... minus 1.  I still have to finish mine.  Hopefully today.)

Hiding...

The baby girls are asleep in the girls' room.

The other 3 are sequestered in the boys' room...

Sam and Hallie started in with the stomach flu at around 3 this afternoon.

And their dad came home from work at 4:30 with the same thing.

Brian puked in his car on the way home.  Eyyw.  I told him I wouldn't drive it again without a certificate of sanitization. 

I'm hiding from the germs.

Well, that's a suprise...

Ellie (what we've come to call "C") has had 2 visits with her birthmom this week.  On returning her from her Tuesday visit, her social worker (a new one now) came back to the door a minute later and said "I forgot to ask you, do you have cats?   Because her mom says she's allergic to cats and that her eyes are red from being in a house with cats."  We do.  "How many?"  Four.  "Oh... uh... I'll let the supervisor know." 

She's been with us for a week now and we've seen NO sign of allergies, but I had a feeling we'd be hearing from someone in the next few days wanting more info and considering moving her.  Instead, I got an e-mail (sent to the whole list of local foster parents) asking if anyone would take a 6-month old baby girl that needed placement TONIGHT because of an allergy to cats. 

I sent back a reply, basically stating: 1) she's shown no symptoms of allergies and 2) a foster parent should never have to find out in that way and without notice that a child is being removed from their home.  Then I set to rounding up and packing Ellie's things.  It was only a few minutes before the phone rang - it was the placement desk with profuse apology, saying she had no idea no one had told me, and she was very sorry.  And also, that the social workers were upstairs "right now" discussing the situation, and thinking maybe they'd jumped the gun a bit.  Less than 5 minutes later, there was a retraction e-mail sent out saying baby would not need a new home tonight.

Not too long after, the SW's supervisor called me, with apologies, saying she didn't know things had been handled that way either, that Ellie would stay with us that night and they'd look into things over the next couple of days, but I gathered ultimately, if mom decided to raise a stink, they'd move her to avoid trouble.

This morning, Ellie's SW called, also with an apology.  (I was seriously impressed at everyone's willingness to apologize.)  She said an appointment had been made with Ellie's doctor... over 30 minutes from my house... to have him take a look and see if she was showing any signs of an allergic reaction.  So I scanned my schedule for the day, braced myself to take all 4 kids into a small doctor's office, and printed google maps directions.

Her doctor looked her over, and ultimately sent me on my way with a letter stating that he didn't see any signs of allergies.  I'll drop off the letter to the SW in the morning (along with transcripts from her last appointment, which state clearly that mom WAS breastfeeding), and unless something else comes up, that should cement us being able to keep this baby at least until the next court date, a few days before Christmas.  (No, we're not planning to keep her long term... this last year with Natty has been difficult, not knowing whether she's staying or going.  I don't like high legal risk cases.  Too emotional.)

Baby, day 2

To answer Colleen's question: She came with a dirty bottle and formula (and the SW said she was sucking on it pretty hard when she found her), so we know she was used to a bottle.  But being breastfed in addition to bottle feeding IS a big concern... not for nipple confusion, but because it's assumed mom was using drugs... which would account for the lack of appetite (and fussiness, and stiffness) if they are still in C's system.  I'm charting her eating, drinking, diapers, sleep, etc, so we can recognize improvement if and when there is some.  This morning she fought tooth and nail to NOT drink a bottle, then was crying hard 30 minutes later (understandably) because she was REALLY hungry.  Finally, she took 6 oz.  But she really won't eat until she's starving and has no other option. 

But last night... (are you ready for this?)  BOTH little girls slept through the night!  Natty and C!  From 8 until 7:30! 

And since I'm not sure you can fully get the effect when she was wearing her jeans, I snapped this one last night after a change...

Chunky Monkey

This is "C."  Our newest foster placement.  She's 6 months old, and it took her a week to get here - the social workers kept going to get her and she'd never be where she was supposed to be.  Finally yesterday (early evening) they found her birthmom driving her around in the car, presumably to keep the social worker and police from catching up to them.

C is very sweet, super cute, and HUGE!  Big tummy, humongous thighs... this is one great big bundle of baby love.  (She wears the same size diapers as Natty... who will be 2 in less than 2 weeks.)

Things are going pretty well so far, other than eating.  She was dropped off last night at around 5.  I got several tablespoons of squash into her about an hour later, but she wanted NOTHING to do with the bottle... even the model (and the brand of formula) that came with her.  She slept pretty well, waking only for a wet diaper (around 11) and FINALLY a bottle (about 5 oz) at around 3:20.  She awoke for the day at around 6:30 (much earlier than the rest of my crew), but she wanted nothing to do with food at that time.  Around 8, I got her to eat a couple of tablespoons of rice cereal, then talked her into another 4 oz of formula at 9:30.  At lunch time, she took less than a tablespoon of squash... and won't touch the bottle again.  (For the math challenged, that's a total of 9 oz of formula and about 1/3 cup solids in the last 23 hours.)

She's pretty alert, good at grasping for toys, but can't sit up or roll over yet, nor even lay on her tummy for play (the times I've tried, she cries... I think her chubby belly gets in the way and makes it uncomfortable.)  She has a developmental screening on Tuesday, so I'm curious to see the results of that.  In the meantime, we're enjoying babytime over here.  The big kids are tired of her crying already, but Natty is absolutely enamored... "BABY!!" :)

Sam gives thanks...

(Still couldn't find it, so I relied on his incredible memory to recreate it...)

Thanksgiving
Hallie (my sister)
A good home
Nay-nay
Kake (Cake... he insisted)
Sunny Days
God
I love Mama
Vases
I love my sister
Not again!
Gates (because they keep bad guys out.)