My Smiley Girl

Kristin is 19 months old! And she is walking like a champ!

Her current likes include:

~ walking and dancing
~ throwing things in the trash... even if it isn't trash
~ her paci and blanky
~ starchy foods, cooked carrot sticks, persimmon cookies, flax seed cookies
~ drawing on the refrigerator with permanent marker
~ playing in the dog or cat food
~ being incredibly adorable

Her dislikes include:

~ getting kicked by her sister (apparently she was blocking the TV)
~ taking baths (abhors the bathtub, reason unknown)
~ being quiet
~ being told "no no"
~ being put down (in the literal sense... she still likes to be carried)
~ having markers taken away from her in the midst of her graffiti experiments

Here she is, in all her adorableness...









Kristin has a new fixation with babies. Ever since Baby L has joined us, she really enjoys her role as a big sister. The above photo is her admiring TWO cute babies. Baby L and Baby D... born just 3 days apart! Baby D is the foster son of our friends, Jessica and Luke. I wish I could show closeups of the boys together... Lord willing, someday I'll have the freedom to do so.

County Meet 2008

Okay, I promise this is the last swim team entry for the year. Isaac swam in the Davidson County Meet last Saturday. He swam in the freestyle relay for the first time, and he did his standard 25 freestyle as well. He improved upon his record by 3 seconds coming in at 42.60 seconds! He placed 12th out of 28 boys in his age group, and I believe he was the top finishing 5 year old. (Most of the boys were 6).

I am so pleased with how much Isaac improved his swimming skills this year. It is so worth having peace of mind that he is becoming a strong swimmer! Isaac was actually sad to learn swim team was done for the year... but we'll blink and I'll be back here blogging about his next swimming season.


The cute kids getting ready for the relay... the cutest one is in the back.


Isaac's diving improved a ton this year...


...as did his swimming.


So long Speedo laden photos; until next summer.

Indigenous Wildlife

Do you see what I see?

Here is a closer look...



Mr. Tree Frog has taken up residence in our dogwood tree by our deck. I can't help but wonder if it was one of his relatives that got smashed in the door earlier this year. Sorry, Mr. Tree Frog.

Life would be boring...

...without kids.

For Bloggers

If anyone wants to do a cool blog header without much effort, here is how I did mine:

Go to scrapblog.com

After designing your page (I used a pre-designed page b/c I am lazy), do the following:

1st publish the scrapblog. Then, under "file" export as a jpeg. Save to your computer, then in blogger, upload the picture "instead of title and description" under the formatting option. I changed my template to "Minima Lefty Stretch" which centered the header the best for me.

A big thank you to my friend Jessica for the inspiration and direction...

Bye, Bye, Lucy

Much to our relief, Lucy (a.k.a. Lucifer) was adopted last week to a very nice home. She would have been a great dog for us if we didn't have 4 small children in the house. Hopefully, she will have a wonderful new life, and Lord willing, she won't run away thanks to the invisible electric fence system. We bought the system for Lucy and it worked brilliantly... thankfully the adoptive family purchased the system from us, so we aren't out any money.

Now we are back to being a one dog family. Jezebel remains the queen of the house, and we are her loyal subjects :-)

Sweet Little Man

I am so sleep deprived. Last night was one of those nights that I was lucky to doze here and there. Little Man wanted to be awake, and to be held most of the night.

I have switched him to soy formula and his spitting up has greatly reduced. I had planned on doing this because of my fears of excessive animal protein, but it turns out his digestive system likes soy better anyhow. Unfortunately, soy formula is stinkier than cow's milk formula, and it clumps together more so I have to use the gravy shaker to mix it up.

A couple of things about Little Man:

He smiles a ton! Mostly in his sleep, but last night (when I was longing to be asleep) he looked right at me and smiled big.

When he cries, his lower jaw quivers in the most pitiful way.

While awake, Little Man will pucker his lips making a small "o" shape. I can't get enough of this... way cute.

He has very light blonde eye brows and eye lashes, but his hair is more of a strawberry blonde.

Despite a rocky start to life, he is very strong and is trying to hold his head up on his own.

Little Man gets more kisses than the average newborn thanks to 3 adoring foster siblings and a foster mama who is addicted to smooching his sweet face and soft head.

Isaac the Swimmer

Here is a glimpse of Isaac at his last swim meet. He improved his freestyle time by a whole 8 seconds! It was cold, and late in the evening due to a thunder storm that rolled through. Yet another advantage to living steps away from the pool.

I love the photos of him waiting in the chair. He is always keeping an eye as to where I am, and he gives me the sweetest puppy dog looks. The video clip shows most of his lap, and you can hear Coach Robin in the background praising his swimming skills :-)

Things I am Learning or Re-learning from Little Man

1. Baby boy = getting peed on... frequently.

2. Formula smells really bad, especially when it is spit up on my shirt.

3. Bibs and burp clothes, don't leave home without them. (Kristin spit up less than 10 times during her babyhood... I was spoiled.)

4. You can never have or pack too many diapers.

5. Caffeine is not a choice, it's a must.

6. Bottle feeding is a pain, except when I can pass the baby and bottle to Daddy, Granny, etc.

7. Formula costs would put us in the poor house! Thankfully Little Man gets his from our tax dollars. (Makes writing that check to the government a little easier).

8. Babies grow SO fast! Little Man gained a whole pound his first week with us!

9. You can't spoil a newborn, especially one that needs extra love.

10. Wash at least 2 loads of laundry a day, otherwise it will take over your house.

11. We have too many clothes, toys, gadgets, trinkets... oh, how I wish to simplify!

12. Sleep is a treat.

13. Having a husband who does dishes is a sanity saver.

14. Getting showered and dressed before noon is remarkable.

15. You can love a baby who has no connection to you, as much as you love your own flesh and blood.

There Goes the Neighborhood

Our new neighbors moved in two weeks ago. That's right, Granny and Pop Pop are now residents of good ol' L-town, North Carolina. We are really excited to have family steps away. Again, God's timing in all of this was amazing as their house sold in less than 3 weeks, they moved in right before my step-sister's wedding in CA (Congrats, Lori and William!), and Little Man came into our lives (my Mom has been a HUGE help, playing with the older kids and cooking meals).

This move has put Granny and Pop Pop 2 hours closer to Maryland, too. Since most of our family is up there, it makes for hopefully more frequent visits with those we love so much. When Thanksgiving rolls around, we will actually see family for longer than a day! This is really exciting to think about!

Who is most excited about our new neighbors? Jezebel. She has escaped out of our yard every day since they moved in... all in efforts to go next door and visit. And when she is inside, I frequently see her peering out the side window, waiting to get a glimpse of Granny or Sophie or Toby.








This is what Isaac said on moving day: "This is going to be a VERY special day! Granny is moving in! And do you know what my treat tomorrow will be? Granny will be here forever! I am going to see her everyday!"

Life with Four is Never a Bore

Is going from three to four a challenge? Not really... yet. I sure there will be moments I want to tear out my hair. Right now I am soaking in the newborn sweetness of Little Man. There is nothing like a newborn baby.

I am also enjoying full blown toddlerhood that Kristin has entered. She seems to have grown and matured a ton in the past week. She is handling her new role as a big sister really well. Today she kept giving Little Man kisses over and over again. She has NEVER kissed me or anyone else with such enthusiasm. But Little Man is kiss worthy according to Kristin.

When Isaac and Lauralyn aren't arguing, they are playing well with one another. They still like having a baby in the house, and life for them is pretty much the same as before. Isaac has a swim meet tonight, and has been doing great at swim practice. He showed me his backstroke yesterday, and I was shocked how well he could jet across the pool on his back. He is sticking to freestyle at the meet, maybe next year he will be confident enough to do more. Lauralyn continues to be the princess of everything. She has spent a lot of time with Granny lately which has helped me a lot.

Sleep deprivation is the hardest part right now... oh, and time management. I forced myself to sit down an write this blog because I feared I would keep putting it off. (Both babies are asleep, and the older two are playing outside.) I suppose the most difficult part about fostering so far is the unknown. Will we keep him just a few months... a year or two... or will he be our forever son? It's hard to know how to pray other than asking the Lord to do what is best for Little Man. (Even if it seems that our home is the best place for him, I know better than to claim to be wiser than God. And it is HE who has control.)

I won't be posting closeups of Little Man for his privacy, but I figure shots that don't show him front and center are fine.

Guess Who's Walking!

God's timing is so perfect. As soon as we received Little Man into our home, Kristin has decided walking might be a good thing. She is so proud of her new found skill, and I believe this has really helped her adjust to her sudden role of being a big sister. Jealousy has not been a big issue, as Kristin gets lots of "ooh and ahhs" and "what a big girl!" as she struts around the house.

Check out how cute she it walking! I love how she wiggles her hips back and forth.

BIG NEWS

Check out our adoption blog for more information!