Two Months.

  I love you.

 

And to be honest, at this point in your life, you pretty much love me too.  Of course, I’ve got the mama milk, so I have an unfair advantage.  Speaking of mama milk, you’re starting to get a little baby chub, which only makes you cuter.  I can count the number of times you have spit up on one hand, which is really great – but somehow every time you eat you manage to get us both soaked in milk – we could work on that.  It seems you might keep your blue eyes – they only seem to be getting lighter.  How I ended up with two blue eyed girls is beyond me.  You’re hair seems to be staying dark, though.  You’re sister is practically a blonde now, but I think you’ve got your Mommy’s hair – and lots (lots.) of it.

 

Post bath.  Once I start taking pictures of you, I think you get weirded out by the camera and you just make funny faces.  So I guess you’ll just make silly faces in all of your infant pictures.

 

You have been such an easy baby.  And you are sooooo happy.  You are smiley all of the time (mostly for Mommy and Sylvie, but that’s ok, you’ll be a Daddy’s girl soon enough.).  You’ve started cooing and making a sound that sounds kind of laugh-ish.  I love it when you coo at me, and Sylvie says "Naomi talkin’!”.

 

I think you love your sister most of all.  That is, when she’s not smothering you or bludgeoning you with toys.  She tries.  And she really does love you.  You smile any time she talks to you, and you can’t take your eyes off of her.  You two will be sweet friends.

 

 

 

 

My very favorite part of the day is snuggling up with you to sleep.  I love sleeping with you, and I’m pretty sure you love it too.  I lay you down in the bed at night while I get ready for bed, and when you see that I’m laying down with you, you start making noise and breathing faster – you just can’t wait!  I think you’ve got snuggling in your blood, just like me.

 

You also met your uncle Scott for the first time when you turned two months old.  You like him so much you try to eat him up.

 

I cannot believe you are two months old.  Sometimes I forget you won’t be a baby forever – and then I look at your sister.  I am trying my best to soak you up – but it would work better if you wouldn’t grow so fast.  I love you more than you will ever know.

 

Love you, love you, love you,

                                      Mama.

What better reason…

  to go get a frosty this weekend!!!!

 

 

…as if you needed a reason…

Faux-cation Part 2.

Hangin’ at the pool,

 

Desy was unsuspectingly getting decorated while he slept.  The hazard of having lots of girl cousins.

 

 

The second half of our week we road tripped back home and had fun here…

 

Of course, on our way home we had to stop by Mizzou and introduce our daughters to the splendor that is everything gold and black.

 

 

We had to visit Gumby’s Pizza while we were there.  (Had to meaning: Mommy can’t go through Columbia without it.)

Naomi obviously approves.

 

 

Sylvia also approved

 

of Gumby’s….and of Daddy.

 

 

Got lots of yard work done (thank you Grandma and Grandpa!)

 

Ready for summer.

 

We went to the fountains downtown – Sylvia had so much fun!  She never actually got into the sprays, but she played around the edges and loved watching the big kids!

 

 

Faux-cation 2011 was an absolute success.

Yes, yes, yes, No.

  Any foster parent who’s been fostering for any time at all has had the same experience.

 

  Intake calls with a placement that seems almost too well suited for your family.  A perfect fit, as much as there can be in foster care.  You say yes.  Everything’s a go.  Bringing the kids in an hour.  Start rearranging your bedrooms.

  They call back.  Ummm…well, actually, nevermind.

Yuppers.  We got a call the other night for a two year old girl.  No siblings, mother in the area, just coming into care.  We were really excited and started to prepare our hearts to love her the best we possibly could.

Turned out they didn’t have a piece of paperwork that they needed to place with our agency.  Boo.  We were disappointed, but mostly were just praying they’d find a good, loving home for that little girl.  Not in the plans for us.

 

So we’re waiting again.  You’d think I’d get used to all this.  Not that it hasn’t gotten much easier – it’s just still not easy.  I just wish I could stop myself from getting my hopes up!

Anyone who has fostered for any time at all also knows what I’m talking about when I say I’m getting antsy.  I try so hard not to – just to be present and soak up the way things are now.  But it’s like a jolt of adrenaline through my veins each time the phone rings  ….   Is our whole life about to change?

 

But, soon enough, things will change.  Soakin’ up these two loves I’ve got here with me until they do.

20 Months.

  It seems a little ridiculous to write a 20 month post.  I know that.  But you are at such a great age, and you’re learning so much.  I don’t want to forget.

 

  You are talking like crazy.  All of a sudden, you get it, and you are stringing together two and three words regularly.  My favorite phrase, of course, being “Wud you Mommy”.  You refer to yourself as ‘Yaya’ – "Yaya’s water?  Elmo loves Yaya.”. 

Sylvia: Urse?  (asking to nurse.)

Mommy: No, you can’t nurse right now.  It’s Naomi’s turn right now.

Sylvia: Urse, Please?  Yaya’s turn?

You’ve also added phrases to your vocabulary such as, “No, no Bucko!” and “No way Jose!”, it’s very cute.  When you want me to play with you you say, “Mommy with you.  Come. (you lead me into the playroom) Sit.” 

You mimic everything.  Which is sometimes kind of unfortunate, but can also be hilarious.  You now call your dad and I Brian and Maggie on occasion because you hear us calling each other by name.

  You can mostly count to ten by yourself.  I usually have to give you four and seven, but other than that you can do it all on your own!  Maybe numbers will be your thing, just like your Daddy.  If I say a letter, you usually respond by saying the letter that comes next in the alphabet, but we’ve not made much progress on your ‘abc’s’.

 

  You still love to play with your babies, and you love to diaper them.  Anytime you see a used diaper you say, “Oooohh Weee!  Yuuucckkkyyy!  Peeee UUUUU!”  You also still love to read books, and now you have several of them memorized enough that you tell me what each page is about.

  You pretend to sing the songs that Daddy and I sing you, which is adorable.  You sing ‘Jesus Loves Me' or ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’ to Naomi all the time.  Speaking of Naomi, you loooovvvee her.  When she cries you say, “Naomi sad.  It’s ok, Naomi.”  You worry about her when you think she’s upset, and you always want to know where she is.  She loves you too, of course.  She smiles at you any time you try to entertain her.

 

It’s so much fun to watch you learn.  It seems like you remember everything you see, it’s incredible to see how quickly you pick things up.  You’re starting to look like a little girl, slowly losing your baby-ness.  It makes me sad, but also makes me so excited to see who you will be at two, and three, and four… 

 

I love you, you are so sweet. 

But right now you want me to put some clothes on your baby doll, so I suppose I should go.

 

Love you, love you, love you,

                                   Mommy

Faux-cation Part 1.

Brian is switching jobs (starting the new one as of Monday) and he took this week off in between employers for a little family time.  While we are seriously lacking any funds to do a ‘real vacation’ this week, we were determined to make it a fun week anyway!

We spent the first half of the week in my hometown, having fun with Nana and Grandpa and going to fun places created for frugal, penny pinching folks like us.

P.S. I decided to do this post in two parts because I knew I’d have a bajillion pictures that I’d want to post.  So if you’re not a Popp or a Reed, you’ll probably be insanely bored about half way through this post.  You’ve been warned.

 

Nana and her babies.

 

A bath time pic.  Just cause it’s cute.

 

 

Collecting rocks with Grandpa.

 

Sylvia, obviously thrilled about our quality time.  I see the teen years written all over that face.

 

Lots of trips to the park.  Lots of swinging.

 

 

Nature walks full of discovery.

 

Our monkey on a trip to the Zoo.

 

Riding on the train at the Zoo.  Very exciting.

 

On the Carousel!

 

We ate lots of ice cream on our trip.

 

Anytime Naomi cries Sylvie says, “Naomi sad.”  Naomi’s sad?  Here, have a thumb to suck on.

 

This week’s been a blast so far.  More to come!

Today, on your third birthday.

Can you believe it?  I can't.  X-man is three years old today.

  Happy birthday little man.  Or not so little anymore.  I wonder what you look like now.

People ask me pretty regularly how hard it is to say goodbye when kids leave our home.  My mind immediately goes to X-man, and I answer, "Excruciating."  But not a 'I would never do that ever again' kind of excruciating.  It's more of a 'I can't believe I had the opportunity to love you that much' kind of excruciating.  

X-man, I think about you all the time.  Really.  A lot.  I think about where you may be.  I think about what you may look like.  I think about all the things you've probably learned.  I worry about you.  I worry about you a lot.  I think about whether you ended up with blonde hair, or if it turned out kind of red.  I wonder if you still have that concerned look on your face.  I wonder who is being your Daddy.  I wonder what makes you giggle now.  I want to give you a hug.  I pray for you like crazy.        I miss you.

Maybe we'll see each other again.  If we do I'll give you a third birthday present.  I pray if we see each other again that it's by chance, and that everything is going beautifully living with your Mom.  I pray things turned around and that you all are doing great, and that she is loving you and your brothers to pieces.  

In my mind you'll always be 1 1/2 and you'll giggle when I tickle your knees.  Your legs will always look like little sausages and you'll smell like a mixture of pediasure and baby shampoo (I love it.).  

I hope I see you again.  I hope I recognize you.  I hope all you remember about foster care is our love.