Friday, March 30, 2012

Please pray for us

I would appreciate your prayers tomorrow from 8 to 3. Pray for my children, tomorrow has the potential to change things drastically for all 3 of them. Pray for my heart, that I would allow God to work, and be joyful regardless of the outcome. Adam and I covet your prayers....we are desperate for them. 

That is my facebook status for tomorrow and since I am way to stinkin tired and emotional to write out the big event I will copy over the email I sent my in-laws explaining everything.
Yesterday was a really rough day, CPS called and they have granted the mom a visit with Izzy next Friday (the 30th). They said that they are giving her a 2 hour visit since this may be her last one for a long time or ever. However, its rough letting someone else drive him 2 hours away, letting her see him and then having someone else drive him 2 hours back, especially just worrying about feedings and meds. They also told us that they aren't sure of this judge and there is a slight possibility that they could give her up to 6 months to get her life together after she serves her jail time. Minimum jail time would be 1 year so in my head I am thinking that there is a possibility that we would have to give up our 18 month old...which is awful. I don't hurt for myself as much as I hurt for Goob and Ribbit as that is their real brother and removing him 18 months from now would be awful for them. I made a lot of phone calls and I am trying to protest the visit since he is so young and since she is the reason he is on meds. 
We went ahead and told Goob what is going on next Friday (if we dont one of the 14 people who are in and out of our house will) and he started crying. At first he said he wanted to go see her. I said you can't because its really not the best thing for you. I explained to him that we are stuck with how to pray for his mom because if we pray that she gets her life together then we lose Izzy but if we pray that we keep Izzy then she continues to make bad choices. He kept crying but got really mad and said in a very rebellious mood " well I am mad because when Izzy is with her she will probably act like a good mom..but when they leave him there she will be a bad mom like she was with me". That right there is discernment that God gave him.....we would have never said that about his mom to him but he came to that conclusion on his own and has been on "our side" ever since. He is so smart for a boy his age and I think keeping his brother has become a priority for him. I have always prayed that God would keep us from being the "bad guys" in his mind, the ones who took him away from his mom.
Anyways, we will keep you updated as things happen. Our agency (bless them for dealing with me) is supposed to be finding some stuff out for us and advocating for Izzy). 
love you guys, Kinzie

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Life Lessons

I've learned a lot the past 3 weeks, things I think God wanted me to learn through my almost 5 week old.

1. I actually do like to sleep, despite what Adam thinks. I used to wake up at the crack of dawn on weekends and have 15,000 things done before Adam ever even knew I was out of bed. However, you couldn't pay me enough right now to get any less sleep.

2. Sleep matters. I am an ogre at both the midnight and 3 o'clock feeding. I don't like who I am and how I treat others. Poor Adam is the only other soul up with me then so he gets the majority of my ranting. However, God spoke to me today through chapel at our school. Those sermons are geared towards our students but I KNOW God put it in place for ME today. We read Philipians 4:1-9

 1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
 2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Final Exhortations
 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. 

 Do you see that? Paul is writing this in prison and is still telling people to REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS!!! I should be rejoicing at midnight and 3 that God has blessed us with another baby. I should be focusing on the positive aspects rather then the negative. I have found that the nights where I pray over Izzy at his feedings, things go smoother. No, he doesn't fall asleep when I want him to but I do find more patience and keep calm. I need to think of things that are true-we are his parents, God ordained us to be...things that are noble--we should be speaking biblical truths over him regardless of what his little brain can retain, things that are right--we should be pouring into him love..like I say with Goob and Ribbit...we want to do 5000 right things for every 1 thing that was done to them...things that are pure--my love for Izzy needs to be as pure as my love for Goober and Ribbit. I admit that I am finding it hard with him b/c there is a chance that he could be taken from me and I am SO MAD at the world about that. I am mad for my kids and for my own selfish reasons but the pure thing is that he didn't ask for any of that and just needs as much as I can give him right now. Whatever is lovely--watching GOober and Ribbit love on him is the loveliest thing ever and I should be one happy momma at how my kids are loving on their baby brother. Whatever is admirable---Adam said it best " we are called to take care of orphans, we were never promised that we would get to keep them"..so what is admirable right now is that we pray for the birthmom, that she would come to know Jesus and that she would turn her life around, even if that prayer means that the end result is losing our baby boy. whatever is excellent or praiseworth----what is excellent is that God gave us 3 kids in under 13 months and what is praiseworthy is that he keeps giving us what we need to take care of them, he modeled unconditional love for us so that we could pass that on to them.

Another awesome lesson came from my bible study group tonight. I meet with 5 AMAZING women every Wednesday night. I was going to skip tonight and sleep but I am so glad that I went (and took Izzy with me). They poured into me and prayed over me. They affirmed me and reminded me that I too have motherly instincts, even if I didn't birth him. I need to stop doubting myself and just take one day at a time. I need to plead to God and pray relentlessly......he needs to be my first answer not my last and only hope. I need to cling to truth and divulge in scripture, otherwise satan will sneak in and put all these worries in my head, which lead to anxiety, which when mixed with no sleep produces an awful mommy.

God definitely used today to rejuvenate my mind. I am so anxious about Izzy's upcoming visit with his birth mom that I can't sleep even when he does. I am so worried about our future and the way it will impact our life and our kiddo's life. I keep wanting to rush forward to the day when she terminates rights or when she is forced too but I need to trust that God is going before me and preparing me for what will happen. I am so lucky to have Adam as my partner, he is much more rational (even with little sleep) than I am and keeps speaking scripture over me and loving me, even when I am being unlovable. (Its actually kind of annoying, I keep telling him to stop being so dagum perfect and screw up...but alas, he is Adam and has a good dose of self control......makes a wife crazy sometimes :).

So thats our update for this week...I wrote this super fast because Izzy is going to wake up for his feeding now at any time. Its probably not well written and with lot of grammatical errors, but we are in SURVIVAL MODE and I was going to go crazy if I didn't share all the ways God is speaking to me through this little 5 week old ball of fussiness!!

More pictures for y'all!

Momma and Baby...there was a blowdryer blowing to keep Izzy warm but I love that it looks like my hair is naturally blowing in the wind.....ahhh, nose to nose.
 Perfect little bundle of fussiness, gas, and love :). Funny note-he is definitely from a Hispanic background...when he gets really upset he shouts "Ole, Ole, Ole"
 I feel like this picture perfectly describes my children, it's like I am looking at my heart (cheesy but true). I love them more and more every day and I am so grateful for them.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Alive? yes Alert? no

I probably won't be posting as much until Izzy gets on a good schedule or decides to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time. I won't be posting as much until Ribbit decides that I can be her mommy along with Izzy and Goober's mommy without going into a holy tantrum. I won't be posting as much until Goober gets some more one on one time with mom and dad and stops crying during the day at school for me. And I definitely won't be posting as much until I get to see and spend more than 5 waking minutes alone with Adam....we actually brushed our teeth together today, at the same time, in the same bathroom....it was super romantic :).

Izzy is definitely healthy, eating regularly and has a good set of lungs. Adam is the best dad and when he has a hard time sleeping he walks him around and sings Jesus Loves Me to him. I held Izzy last night in one arm and held onto Ribbit in the other for about 2 hours last night...I kept thinking to myself that we have got to get a king size bed and that at any moment some sort of bodily fluid would be on me...nope leave that to Goober who vomited right before lunch today...:)

Izzy has helped me learn that I am indeed a girl who needs her sleep in order to be civil but has also made me value my parents more. I mean who in their right mind would have multiple children and go like 5 years without sleeping? :). A lot of times at night when I am trying to calm Izzy I think "he just needs a mommy" thats all. Is that really too much to ask? Adam is always talking about how innocent and helpless he is..its heartbreaking.

Im aware that I am rambling...I'll stop now.
Please pray for us as we have some hard roads ahead with judges, CPS and the birth mother requesting visitation. Goober and I have had some long rough cries lately...he is so wise and God has granted him discernment beyond his years but I pray that he will continue to view us as good people and not the bad guys who took him and his siblings away from their mom. Its rough on him and its hard for me to know that I am somewhat causing him this pain. We could have said No to Izzy but we felt like we were his only shot and that this would be a gift to Goober and Ribbit. We are trying to view it as not necessarily taking time away from them or love away from them but giving them more family that will be around longer than Adam and I will be...we are trying to make something sin turned into 1/2 siblings and make them whole through the adoption process and the love of Christ. Its emotionally exhausting and add that to the physical exhaustion equals lots of tears, forgotten lunches, late homework, lots of extra hugs, bad junk food and sometimes 2 movies back to back so mom and dad can get some sleep.

Here are some pictures that our friend took of us, I will post more later but Izzy is out and therefore I need to be too!!!

This says it all...a perfect portrait of our little 2 year old :)
 Brothers, bonded from the beginning...Goober is so excited to have more boys than girls in our family and says that Ribbit is "boy trapped"!

Besides the whole picking her nose thing, this is a great family picture....The Harvell 5!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Little Man

I don't want to jinx, geenx, jeanx (im covering all my bases since I have no idea how to spell the word that means you don't want to speak too soon in order to screw something up) but I am sitting here...on my couch, while little man sleeps. The past 4 nights he has been crazy man from about 7ish to 10ish. We have switched formulas, changed up some feeding routines and today bottles and so far so good. I have also read everything there is to know about sleeping, babies and colic.

I stayed at home today with both Ribbit and Izzy.....and yes, I still have all of my hair and I can honestly say that I would do it again tomorrow. There was a 10 minute spout of both kids crying, mommy holding them both (don't ask how..it wasn't CPS approved) and a large pit stain developing on my shirt. This ended and we were soon on our way to pick up big brother from school. No, I didn't get a shower today but I did brush my teeth and I actually wore earrings for the first time in about week. I loved sitting on the floor with Ribbit showing her how our play dough stars and flowers had different amounts of points. I also loved that during their nap I GOT THINGS DONE...things that I would never get done normally. I'm not sure if I could ever stay home full time but it got me excited about this summer!!!

I am not the only one excited about summer, Goober is counting down. He cried the whole way to school this morning, all through car line and apparently into the day. His teacher texted me that he wanted his mom and that she consoled him by letting him draw me a picture on a card to give to me at the end of the day. This happens after every large break..christmas, spring break, summer so I knew it was coming. The great thing is that I no longer question whether he is talking about me or his birth mother. One time his teacher asked him which mom he missed (early after his homecoming) and he said "the blue eyed one with long hair"...THATS ME, THATS ME!!!!  We got in a good book reading tonight and lots of I love yous during dinner....oh, and a countdown til summer helped too!!!

Other big news is that my sweet sweet sweet husband not only came home early today (thus helping me keep kids calm during an awful storm) but he also cancelled his yearly trip to Israel.....WOOOPPPEEE. I have never wanted to be the wife that kept her husband from doing his thing so I was thrilled that he cancelled it because he wanted to stay at home and be a dad. Did you know that on average most dads spend 12 minutes a day with their kiddos? Not Adam, the minute he got home tonight he was in the floor with Ribbit playing "pway dough" and helping Goober finish up his spelling words.

He also got some quality time with Izzy....bwa hah ha h ah ahahah ha. He went to pick him up for his 7 o'clock bottle and he pretty much squeezed poop out of him. Like, chunky "excuse me, do you have any grey poupon" poop. It was disgusting and I'm not sure who gagged more, me or Goober. It was all over Adam, Izzy and eventually myself. That little man went straight in the sink....Goober went straight into "run over, gag, run away...repeat" mode....Ribbit climbed in our clothes hamper and said "Mommy, I got in der" about 40 times while posing in different model poses. It was hilarious.. that stuff smells like a garbage and death milkshake and who knows how long little man had been sitting in it...oh, how life has once again drastically changed.

Pushing Mr. "L Phant" for a evening stroll.
 What a good man!
 Little man slept like this through a game of pick up basketball amongst the family.
 Goober and Lolly playing with beyblade....this toy annoys me....only because its all Goober wants to do at the moment and all he can talk about....I guess I should be glad that he isn't enamored with Barbie.




Sunday, March 18, 2012

brushing my teeth

I have a confession. It has been well into the afternoon before I have brushed my teeth, put on deodarant and/or washed my face...I haven't even noticed until people came over or until we were getting ready to leave the house. Oh well, Izzy, Goober and Ribbit don't mind :).

Izzy was fussy for about 3 hours last night...a first for him. After reading and doing everything else we could we are assuming its a 3 week old growth spurt and are just feeding him about every 2.5 hours instead of every 3. Today he was fussy unless I was holding him but eventually wore himself out and took a nice long nap...giving mom a chance to write a lot of thank you notes and cut some coupons. My in laws are here and just like my parents are taking care of the big kids.

We started carrying Izzy in a sling today...so far so good. Adam is so proud to hold his boy in the sling, even though one lady mistook it for a cast and thought Adam had broke his arm, and he walks proudly :). I was holding Ribbit and she looked back, saw Izzy wrapped in the sling and said " look baby Jesus".....sweet thang. I guess I she is paying attention during devotional time.

Ribbit calls Izzy "baby broder" and Goober is somewhat over him.....except for when mom has to constantly ask him to stop slamming doors and/or running crazy around him...then he remembers for a split second, long enough to give him kisses.

People are still graciously pouring into our family and we have received presents in the mail, on our porch when we return and from drop by visitors. We are so blessed and we hope that one day we can bless you all in return.

Here are some more pictures of the Harvell 5....woah, that still hasn't sunk in. Wait, it actually has. The other day we all went to Wal Mart together and as we were walking in Goober was skipping beside the shopping cart, Ribbit was holding my hand and dad was carrying Izzy in his car seat. I noticed one older lady looking at us as though she were saying " woah sister, I'm so sorry"....I think she could see the pure exhaustion in our faces :)....we do look a little crazy, marching into stores and taking over...so yeah, maybe it has set in.

At his Upward Basketball Award Night...so proud of him! He came a long way this season.
 Thanks CC and Papaw for coming to awards night!!
 No, no one told Ribbit to do that....she is just in a phase where she likes to make silly faces.
 MOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM....PLEASSSSEEE   FFFEEEEDDDD MMMMEEE!!
 Hey there big man!
 super sweet!
 This has taken over our kitchen countertops, our nights, our days, our dishwasher, my purse, etc..

Thursday, March 15, 2012

good day

Today, Thursday has been a great day. We are finally getting down a good night routine..i say finally when we have only had little one for 6 days but still. Everyone is rested and happy. Ribbit went to school today, she needs interaction with friends and if she went a whole week without going Monday morning would be rough! Goober is having a day with just mom, dad and baby. Since baby sleeps so much he has had some time alone with both parents this morning and is now enjoying AirBud in the playroom by himself. Adam and I are feeding little one and entering grades (yay) and can hear him laughing out loud and running up the VCR to rewind it back to the funny parts. He does that with the movies he loves and he will watch the same scene over and over and stretch out a 1 hour movie into 2 hours :).
Adam and I have been pretty productive today, painting the last little bit of trim in the kitchen, visiting with guests, doing dishes and playing the kiddos. I even watched the Bachelor Finale while rocking Izzy to sleep....yay for multi tasking..sorta.

Here are some pictures over the last couple of days.

We aren't a huge fan of baths yet....hopefully soon though.
 He is so stinking strong, one of the effects of drugs on babies is that they have a lot of muscle tone already...i mean he can push the bottle away and he can hold his neck up already...our little superman!
 A little more calm...and so stinkin cute!..even with his dukes up :)
 Love from daddy and the heat lamp :)
 Big brother is always around to give kisses, and I do mean ALWAYS...i love that they are already bonding!
My mom's grandma...my great grandmother made these aprons for me and my mom one christmas when I was little. My mom kept them and gave them to Ribbit and I during this visit....aren't we cute? (two days of no shower and no sleep....eh, cute is putting it nicely :)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

what day is it?

I'm not really sure what day it is, yet alone what time..the sun is up so we will call it daytime. It doesn't matter to little one, he does his own thing, as I am sure most 2 weeks old do.
The last 3 nights have ... well, STUNK. Adam and I have finally found a somewhat reliable schedule with him and through the wonderful world of technology we got about 5 hours of sleep last night..on either side of feedings. Adam downloaded an app that played a thunderstorm sound and dang, all 3 of us were out for 3 straight hours. Little one, is hot natured, like his big sister and only wanted a onesie on, nothing else, and for heaven's sake STOP SWADDLING ME!!!
We have tried to keep him cool and well fed (a much needed thing for detoxing babies). We have also learned not to make direct eye contact with him and keep lots of stimuli (goober and ribbit) from screaming around him...all of this will of course get better as those toxins are flushed out of his system.
He is so adorable and makes the best faces...he even tried to kiss on momma during burp session this morning :).

Our family has survived the last 3 days only because my parents were here, otherwise I would be refereeing a fight right now or feeling super guilty about how little I have done with them. Instead they are out watching a movie and eating ungodly amounts of junk food with CC and Papaw :). Oh, and coming home with new toys :). I did take Ribbit in the bath with me this morning and she had the best time washing my hair, we just sat in there and played. Last night I read Goober a bedtime story and pretended to beat up this rather large bear he has, who he swears keeps him up at night :)...just little things to keep the mommy guilt down.

Little ribbit has been doing some funny things lately...like when she came out of her room the other morning and I was feeding Izzy she said " what you doin wit my baby?" and then today she hit me and when I asked her to apologize she waited for a minute and said " Sorry KIN ZIE"...bwa hah ah ah.

Goober has been kissing all over little brother, making papaw sweat it up at basketball, feeding the ducks at the pond and enjoying having the week off from school. I am not exaggerating when I say that God gave us a miracle this week in letting us get Izzy the day before our spring break started so that we could have a solid week with him before chaos.

Our sweet friends who excel at photography gave us a free new born session and pretty much spent the whole morning capturing pictures of our family. We love them and these pictures. There are more to come but these are the ones that they sent us as teasers.

Little and Big Sister, middle child, cute and cuddly, shy hardly ever, curls on top of curls, the best smile, always happy, a morning person, loves to dance, likes all thing Dora, Strawberry Cupcake (shortcake), Play Dough, Princess and chocolate :).
 Big Brother to two, the best little athlete, loves with all he has, gives the best compliments when you need it the most, very thoughtful, loves to sing, will give you anything you need, loves all things dinosaur, cars, sports, camo, frisbee golf, any movie with the word "butt" or "fart" in it.
 Family of 5, I look at this picture and see lots of things. One, I was soo stinking tired that I really couldn't get my eyes to open any wider. I also see a little girl doing criss cross applesauce. I see a 7 year old who begged to sit on the fence post and who dressed himself that morning and did a great job. I see a little baby clinging to his hopefully forever mommy. I see two young kiddos (me and adam of course :) who had no clue that they would be a family of 5 13 months ago :).
 Our newest addition who just laughed and smiled for us, seems to already like going outside, loves to sleep with both hands up at his face and who seems to have super human strength already. Oh, and who has great hair :)
 Psalm 127: 3-5

 3 Children are a heritage from the LORD,
   offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
   are children born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
   whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
   when they contend with their opponents in court.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Today was pretty good. We made it to church, even though we woke up at 8:50 and it starts at 9:30, darn daylight savings...way to mess up the little bit of schedule we had with Izzy.
Anyways, we made it. Izzy was a pro. We forgot Ribbit's bag in an attempt to overcompensate for the baby..oh well, her teachers were forgiving. Goober was happy as anything and just loves his little brother. Izzy was passed around at Sunday School and got lots of love. We have kept him awake almost all day and I am a little excited about tonight, hoping to get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time...last night I slept two hours in the papasan chair with him on the boppy, my legs up surrounding him and my head at an angle that reminded me of my last flight to Israel. Therefore, I took a 3 hour nap after lunch today and Adam catered to the baby.

I'm already dreading going back to work and its only been 2 full days with him here. I love love love love my job but I feel like needs his momma right now, its probably just a guilt thing...I do get 2 whole weeks with him before going back and after that we have about 10 weeks left of the school year and I get him and my two other kiddos for the whole summer!

I don't have the energy to get up and walk across my living room to get the camera card for pictures from today (don't judge me, 3 kids in 13 months :)). But, I will leave you with an older video that I never got around to posting.

Oh, and this sweet lady at church came and hugged on me and looked at the baby, goob and ribbit and said " honey you look good"...I said "thank you". She said "you look real good for however old the baby is"...I said "oh, thank you, but we adopted him". She stopped looked at me and said " gracious, then you look even better!!!"...HAHAHAHAHA

Wait til the end to hear her remember my real name...I was super impressed :).

Sunday, March 11, 2012

First full day as family of 5

Today was exceptionally good..probably because the grandparents showed up at 7 am....yup they drove in from Alabama all night.....good people!
Izzy woke up for 3 feedings and then let us know that he had two awful diapers last night..other then that pretty good sleeping. I took on last night and Adam let me get a 2 hour nap this afternoon so we are good to go. He has been a pretty easy baby..he only cries if he is getting hungry or needs a diaper change. Today we went through 2 outfits and daddy got sprayed twice...i have dodged the pee both times :).
Goober and Ribbit have kissed him, danced for him, sang to him, held him and yes, ignored him during today :). Goober had his last basketball game of the season this morning and so we all loaded up the van and went. Izzy slept through the whole game and only woke up to get a bottle as were leaving. Goober got 5 baskets, an all time high and even dove for the ball to knock it back in the court....he had lots of screaming fans :).
We are slowly getting down a routine...that is our second priority, making sure Izzy gets his meds and that he is detoxing well is our main goal. I may feel different about this statement at 3 am tomorrow morning but I can sleep when I am dead :).
We are reading Baby Wise and What to Expect during the First Year. We are also asking tons of questions and taking lots of advise from friends with younguns so I think we are good to go. It sounds a little weird but it really does feel very natural to have him here and it feels like the most natural way to grow our family right now.

Here are some more pictures from today and some videos.
He wanted to hold him so bad all by himself before his basketball game this morning :)....he is the happiest big brother.
 Cheese....big sister got some holding time too!
 Kisses from everyone :)
 This is how big girl watched all of Goober's basketball game...and yes, my dad does have a black eye, from a car wreck he was in not too long ago..looks real though huh?
 At bedtime tonight, all snug and ready for bed...crazy hair man :)
 Yes these are a bit repetitive but holy moly she loves this card that someone gave us to celebrate Izzy's homecoming. She danced with it for about 30 minutes, and then she and I circled the living room dancing to it and then freezing when it was over for about another 45 minutes. Thanks Clouses for almost 2 hours of entertainment :)

Saturday, March 10, 2012

13 months later

Things were so different this time around. We knew that our home would be full of people today, people that represented the birth mom, the baby, us and our agency. We knew that we would be overwhelmed and that it would be a different day than normal.
Just like last February we stood in our kitchen, the 4 of us this time, and waited for the baby. Goober couldn't wait to see him and the first thing he said was " he is soooo little". Ribbit yelled "hold you" the whole time and was at my feet. It was a very different mood, the childs rights aren't terminated and the man who actually removed him from his mom was the same man who brought him to us. We weren't told that in 6 months we would be his legal guardians, instead we filled out countless papers, asked a whole lot of questions since info was not give to us as easily or as directly this time. We also had to supervise two other children while doing this which means there was a time out and star wars involved. :)
In some areas it was a lot easier, he was happy but needed to be fed immediately. He didn't ask us lots of questions :) and we didn't have to convince him to come in. We had to keep reminding everyone in the home that our kiddos didn't know that this was their 1/2 brother.
They were here for 1.5 hours and then they left this 2 week old with us, very trusting I would say :). We all ate lunch while I bounced baby in his bouncer thingy. Goober screamed the whole time for mommy to hold her but when I did she would steal my food or attempt to show the baby something new (which would involved her leaning in to close to him and putting a blanket in his face :).
Then we explained the entire situation to Goober...he was in shock and kinda looked at us like he couldn't believe it. He ran to the baby and said " he doesn't have my skin color". We told him it would get darker with time. We told him that his mom did a good thing by letting their brother come live with us and he agreed. I think he will think through it later and have more questions. We are trying to get him into equine counseling with a friend of ours..a male, I think that will be awesome for little Goob.

I am writing the rest of this tonight since I was interrupted by a sweet 2 yr old who wanted me to sort candy land cards into colors with her and then a 7 year old who wanted mom to play some WII with him.
We gave Izzy (new code name) a bath (he hated it) rubbed him down with lotion and now he is swinging. He gets his detox meds in the 9 o'clock bottle and then we will try to start a good nightitme routine. We have already had one blow out and one pee up the back...fun fun!
We had two sets of visitors today and they came bearing gifts, both for Izzy and big brother and sister which i thought was exceptionally nice. Izzy even bought gifts for Goober and Ribbit as a way of saying thank you for being so nice to me....a godzilla puppet for Goob and a strawberry shortcake doll for Ribbit!

Here are some pictures from today...with a promise of many more to come!

First nap!
 He is a good little eater!
 Proud parents...thank Goober for the picture :)
 Daddy love
 Mommy's little helper
 God has been so good to us!
 Napping in the swing
 Right after bath out hair gets crazy

 HELLO!!!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Prayer

Tomorrow is a big day...court. We will find out if this will be a long term foster or an adoption placement. It could change to adoption at any time but the mom still hasn't terminated rights. She also hasn't been to sentencing yet for the time she will serve. We will also find out if and when she may get a visitation...our minds are spinning.
Please pray for several things...
1. That we would be at peace with whatever decision is made tomorrow and that we would be able to move towards adoption quickly if that be the case.
2. For our children, we are going to tell them both tomorrow (after court) that this is their 1/2 brother..no more secrets, pray for wisdom and understanding. Pray that satan will NOT come in and steal their joy.
3. That Adam and I will know what to pray. A constant topic between he and I is that we have no clue how to pray for this mom. We pray for her salvation, we pray that she would be a good mother, but we also pray that we would get this baby....we pray for God's will but its hard to pray that knowing the emotional and physical toll it could have later on.
4. For his health, baby boy was released from hospital and is now at foster home, waiting to come here on Friday morning. He is off everything except one antibiotic and he is healthy.
5. For a good plan for the next 2 months of our lives until I have summer break....I have maternity leave but it doesn't cover these next 2 months and I dread getting a sub (teachers understand, right?).
6. For Adam as he finishes his master's degree over the next 6 weeks....with a newborn and 2 other kids and a part time job and a wife :).

Happy news...I just got back from a surprise baby shower. I thought I was going to my women's bible study and instead they totally shocked me. WE ARE BLESSED..got lots of diapers, wipes, clothes, etc. but more important advice, laughter, support and offers to help us when he comes!

Ready to go with Mommy and Daddy to learn how to take care of baby brother...she LOVES wearing a back pack!!!
 See mommy, I have my lunchbox too?...i mean look at that face...melts my heart!!
 Mixing cookies for people coming to help us finish the kitchen before our home study.
 This is how Adam found Goober one night right after we had read to him and said good night..he was " thinking"...still in his football uniform from earlier that day :)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Home Study Round 2

The second time around was much easier. Our adoption coordinator managed to squeeze in a 4 hour home study into 1.5 hours, including a walk through and to catch us up on new minimum standards. Some things have changed but we met most every standard. We do have to get rid of our trampoline (its broken anways) and do a couple small quick fixes.
Baby Boy was dismissed from the hospital today and is now with a foster home who is only interested in fostering infants until a forever home is found. They know that he will only be there until Friday and thats good on both ends.
We still don't know too much more about the situation except that court is on Thursday and we are expected to go get him on Friday. I don't even know his birth weight, current weight or have a clue about what he looks like. But, I know that he is beautiful and that he needs a home.
We have decided to take Ribbit and Goober with us to get him. At first it was just going to be Adam and I but after lots of thought we decided against it. They need to be a part of bringing him home. We are borrowing a friends van to take to get him. We have already bought little gifts for both Goober and Ribbit that we will say our from  Bay Boy.....as a token of his gratitude for being a great big brother and big sister. 
This is Ribbit mocking mommy...always calling both kids honey :).

So until we know more, I'll leave you with pictures of what our sunday school class brought us on Sunday....you can be overwhelmed and amazed at God's goodness...WE ARE!!

 New changing area in our bedroom, I had actually just bought those frames and were going to paint them for Ribbit's room but I think they will fit for our little guy!
 Baby Boy's little home in our bedroom...everything in picture from our sunday school class :)
 Ready to take a bath...maybe even with big sister :)
 Two boppys...not sure how to use these just yet but I'm sure we will figure things out.
 Baby Vegas, some other contraption and a swing
 Infant car seat and two bases
And another swing and play thing in the playroom....I think we are set :)