Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites:

I have lots of favorites.....like lots and lots of favorites.  My husband has told me I may not have anymore favorites.  But I just love lots of things.  These are the things I am loving to most right now!

1. The Olympics

I LOVE the Olympics.  Ever since I watched every moment of the '92 Barcelona games I have been hooked.  I watch it all.  Every sport, every event, every day all day.  Tonight are the Opening Ceremonies and you know where I will be, on my couch not missing a moment.  Even though DishTV tried to throw me off by allowing my box to die with 5 days to go, we have recovered and are ready to go.  We wont talk about everything on my DRV that is gone, that's a whole post in its own.

2. Overdrive

Did you know there is an amazing place that you can go and borrow books, for free?!? Ha! Ok, yes I know about the library and I take the kiddo there often.  But I seem to always just buy a book if I want to read it.  Now I have found the app that lets you download the digital copy from your local library for free, it's a rental just like a regular book.  No sadly they don't seem to have all books but you do have the choice of an audio book if you're an audio book love like me.

3. Tula

I've had this guy for a while, probably 18 months or so.  I didn't start using it until C was about 1 and probably 20 lbs, sooooo I never tried it with an infant.  I purchased the infant insert and the rest was history.  This baby loves to be snuggled and I love snuggling him.  I can wear him for hours and he just cuddles in.  If you've ever thought about it.....do it.  Please excuse the blurry toddler, because well, toddlers!

4. Duplos
Well the time has come, our boy has fallen for duplos.  He has loved Mega Blocks since he was 8 months old but for his birthday we got him some duplos.  I finally opened all the boxes and oh my goodness, he is in love.  The two year old can sit and build forever.  Right now everything is a robot or a rocket, everything. I love seeing his imagination go wild.  Anyone know if the Lego store has duplos?

5. The Fosters

One of you old me to watch it, so I listened.  I binged, and binged! I finished 3 seasons and the current episodes in two months, maybe less.  That might not seem like a lot for you professional binge watchers but that is amazing for me.  Rarely does a series hold my attention long enough that I watch more than one season.  Give it a try.  Go in knowing that it is not fully accurate and gives both extreme pictures of foster care.  But the cast is wonderful and you'll get sucked right in to the story line.

How do you say goodbye?

How do you say goodbye? I'm not certain this will happen and I won't know for sure until court next week.  It's one of those cases, so up in the air only the judge knows the end result. How do you say goodbye to a sweet baby? One that won't remember you at all due to age.  When we started this journey it was to assist families in our community during their time of greatest need, and that's what we've done.  Our relationship with this sweet baby's bio family is strong and I hope that when he leaves (there is no doubt he will, just when is the question) we can still be in his life for a while in some capacity.  But even with that we will say goodbye. So how do you do it? How do you prepare yourself, your spouse, your other children?
Comment below.

Our first placement

How in the world has it been two whole months since I last wrote? Sleep deprivation must be the reason.  After navigating some extra preplacement requirements we welcomed our first sweet little one into our home on June 29th.  Y'all, babies are exhausting. I feel like I should remember this but I think your brain must store that in a special spot never to be remembered or else there would only be one baby per household.  This baby is the sweetest.  He's happy unless he's hungry, starting to smile, and loving some cuddles.  My main concern has been making sure Carter is adjusting well.  So far, so....okay? He does great most of the time, but when I have to feed little bear we see the little jealous side come out.  But we are dealing.  Navigating visits has been much easier than I thought I would be, for now.  Our case worker has been doing all the transport and supervision which has made this less stressful than I was anticipating.

Since its been way too long let me fill you in on a bit of what we've been up too! This is super random so hold on :)

Carter turns 2!!!!

My baby turned two so we rolled out the red carpet for Elmo.  All of our friends and family came out to celebrate and despite the weather we had a great time!!

C with my husband and my dad!

He totally understand the present thing now!

The only picture from Mother's Day :(

Loving his new Usborne dinosaurs books.  Y'all these books are amazing!!!

We took a little road trip for Memorial Day to see the matriarch of my husbands family, our 94 years young grandma!!

Because roadtrips require Starbucks, and cake pops. 

C with my hubby and his greatgrandma!

Summer Fun is in full swing!

Pool time!

C's first movie.....Finding Dory with his girlfriends!!!

Water table love!

and finally.....International Mud Day, this was a toughy for this momma that hates dirt but my boy loved it. 

Ok, that's enough about my month.  Hopefully we are back into the swing of things.  Id love to hear from you especially about how you navigate things like visits with other littles as well.

Stranded: 3 Books

I love the opportunity to link up with my favorite bloggers.  Their prompts and challenges always get me thinking outside of the box.  I love the stranded island series, what three things would you take with you.....you know if you knew ahead of time that you were about to be stranded.  This months topic.....books!!

1. The first thing I would take is my yearly Bible.  I know this is pretty obvious and maybe even quite generic but if I am going to be stranded there's no time like that to get a bit closer to Jesus.  

2. The next book I would choose is something funny.  It would need to be something I havent read before since nothing is quite as funny the second time around.  I have been meaning to read Bossypants for quite sometime but I always get hooked on another drama and never have gotten around to it.  So Tina Fey's Bossypants would be my next choice. 

3. Finally Id have to pick something that could help me grow so that when someone finally rescues me I could at least say that I have learned something.   I read How to Talk so Kids Will Learn as a teacher and it really gave me thing to think about.  So I think reading How To Talk SO Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk would be a great next step in the realm of parenting. 

Hopefully these three books can get me through being stuck on an island.  I am hoping this island is about 74 degrees and that I am there no more than a few weeks of boy could things get miserable for anyone else stuck with me.  Next month tag up and share the 3 netflix series that you would would take, obviously if I am stuck on an island there better be wifi. 

Happy Thursday! What a week it has been here.  Crazy weather, a sick momma, and an even sicker grandpa. Grandpa had a 7 hr surgery on Tuesday to fix what they call a Triple A, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. So far he is healing well. I however have come down with the crud, possibly brinchitis maybe not. Cancelled play group today which was super sad because as much as C loves his friends, I love their mommas even more. I try to hold play group at my house once a month but nobody wants my germs. So today was spent just hanging out w C, cleaning, and preparing for a possible house guest. Our church has a new worship pastor beginning this summer but for now he comes in every few weeks and sometimes needs a place to stay so we make sure theres a cozy place ready if he needs it.

Trying a new meal this evening from one of my faves. @mixandmatchmama Serving this with yellow rice and black beans! Ill let you know tomorrow how it turned out.  
http://mixandmatchmama.blogspot.com/2016/04/bbq-chicken-tacos.html

The First Call.......

Well it came.  The call we've been waiting for.  The reason we started all of this to begin with.  Two calls in fact on the same day.  I guess I could say I'm proud that we didn't rush, that we asked the correct questions, that we discussed it with each other, that we made a good decision.  But the decision we made, for both, is that it wouldn't be a good fit for our family.  But instead of feeling ok, that we stuck to the very few requirements we both agreed on, I feel sad.  Helpless.  I have prayed for these two children so much in the past three days.  I am hoping they have found the place where they should be.  I will continue to pray for them, their bio families, the families that will foster them and for the long paths they are now on.  And I will continue to wait, for another call, for another chance to say yes.

Approved!!!

I wasn't quite expecting to hear that today, I thought for sure we were another week or two out.  But that's the information I got. My case worker had the signed report on her desk this morning.  All I have to do is sign it and we will be open.  So many things are going through my head right now.  When will the call come?  Will it be a good fit?  As I sit here and play all of those questions in my head I also have to pray....best case scenario is that the call won't come because no children are taken into care. However, I understand the world that we live in.  So until the call comes I will pray for the littles and their parents and hope that in their time of need we can be here to help.