Sunday, April 25, 2010
Today was beautiful and Jack decided it was the perfect day to take C to the zoo. The Fort Worth Zoo is amazing, we secretly love to go ourselves. We had so stop by our favorite store Buy Buy Baby and pick up a duplicate super cool stroller that Mom had and then we were off. It was "family day" at the zoo so it was much more crowded than usual, but C seemed to enjoy watching the people, he didn't get too excited about the animals, but seemed to enjoy the fish and sea turtles as well as the snakes. Watch out Nanny, we know how much you like snakes!
We packed a picnic lunch and had a fun day together. Both C and Jack slept on the way back from Dallas. Both were tired from a few exciteing days. After a quick stop at the grocery store it was off to eat some Vietnamese food froma neat little restaurant Jack stumbled upon. C was content with Cheerios and Nilla Wafers. After dinner we walked around the Vietnamese market and had some frozen yogart. C loved it.
It was a glorious day spent together.
Monday C has his first dentist appointment and Early Childhood Intervention will be come over for C's regular playdate.
Nanny, Nanny, Nanny
Monday, April 26, 2010
C and I (Melinda) went to Nacogdoches to visit Nanny while Jack was tied up with the VEX Robotics World Championship. Congrats go out to his team as they won the UNITE award.
C was the center of attention at Nanny's house. Several friends stopped by for a visit including crazy "Auntie Norma" or "Auntie Mame" as she decided she wanted to be called. We ate lunch with BB one day and they both had fun clapping and laughing with each other. Then it was back to Nanny's to play, play, play. C is standing by himself and almost to the point of walking. Nanny had lots of new fun toys to play with and bought an adorable choo choo train at Wal-Mart while we were there. You know you are in Nacogdoches when you run into Grandma at Wal-Mart, we were excited to see Mrs. Nelson shopping too.
Nanny bought a super cool umbrella stroller and we went on several walks. C loved to wave at the other walkers and joggers as well as just being outside BUT most of all I think he enjoyed being with Nanny. His face would light up when she entered the room and he would scream when she left or at least try to follow her around the house. We are already planning our next visit - soon.
Mom, thanks for everything.
C and I (Melinda) went to Nacogdoches to visit Nanny while Jack was tied up with the VEX Robotics World Championship. Congrats go out to his team as they won the UNITE award.
C was the center of attention at Nanny's house. Several friends stopped by for a visit including crazy "Auntie Norma" or "Auntie Mame" as she decided she wanted to be called. We ate lunch with BB one day and they both had fun clapping and laughing with each other. Then it was back to Nanny's to play, play, play. C is standing by himself and almost to the point of walking. Nanny had lots of new fun toys to play with and bought an adorable choo choo train at Wal-Mart while we were there. You know you are in Nacogdoches when you run into Grandma at Wal-Mart, we were excited to see Mrs. Nelson shopping too.
Nanny bought a super cool umbrella stroller and we went on several walks. C loved to wave at the other walkers and joggers as well as just being outside BUT most of all I think he enjoyed being with Nanny. His face would light up when she entered the room and he would scream when she left or at least try to follow her around the house. We are already planning our next visit - soon.
Mom, thanks for everything.
Losing Our Girl - LP
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
We just found out yesterday afternoon that our nineteen-month-old girl is going home with relatives tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. We are heartbroken, but we also feel good that there were so many family members (four sets -- from both sides of the family) that have been working hard to get her into their homes. She will be loved and cared for by her family there.
She will be forever etched in our hearts. We never held back one ounce of our love. It is especially hard because she is the daughter that we have been wanting for many, many years (not to take anything away from my two great, adult sons). For a short while, she was "my girl" and it brings tears to my eyes just writing it. She was going to be Melinda's little dancer and daddy's girl. She even called us Mama and Dadda for the last month. She will be deeply missed and I am sure we will grieve more after she leaves Wednesday.
This comes just two weeks after losing our beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Scarlett, so it has been particularly rough for Melinda.
We still have our thirteen-month-old happy-head boy, CO -- at least for now and are happy to have more time to bond with him.
We have already told Covenant Kids (our foster and adoption agency) to wait on placing any more foster children with us right now unless they are cleared for adoption already or "low legal risk" placements (see earlier blogs for what this means). Since we have a happy baby boy right now (and maybe forever), we are looking for a birth to eight-year-old girl for adoption.
Again, while we are sad about her loss, we are excited that she appears to have lots of family that loves her.
We just found out yesterday afternoon that our nineteen-month-old girl is going home with relatives tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. We are heartbroken, but we also feel good that there were so many family members (four sets -- from both sides of the family) that have been working hard to get her into their homes. She will be loved and cared for by her family there.
She will be forever etched in our hearts. We never held back one ounce of our love. It is especially hard because she is the daughter that we have been wanting for many, many years (not to take anything away from my two great, adult sons). For a short while, she was "my girl" and it brings tears to my eyes just writing it. She was going to be Melinda's little dancer and daddy's girl. She even called us Mama and Dadda for the last month. She will be deeply missed and I am sure we will grieve more after she leaves Wednesday.
This comes just two weeks after losing our beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Scarlett, so it has been particularly rough for Melinda.
We still have our thirteen-month-old happy-head boy, CO -- at least for now and are happy to have more time to bond with him.
We have already told Covenant Kids (our foster and adoption agency) to wait on placing any more foster children with us right now unless they are cleared for adoption already or "low legal risk" placements (see earlier blogs for what this means). Since we have a happy baby boy right now (and maybe forever), we are looking for a birth to eight-year-old girl for adoption.
Again, while we are sad about her loss, we are excited that she appears to have lots of family that loves her.
Date Night (M&J ONLY) / Church / Tapestry Foster Care Support Group Meeting
Friday, April 9, 2010
Date Night
Valley View Baptist Church in Coppell (a mega-church not too dissimilar from Fellowship Church -- where we attend) began a new ministry offered to all Covenant Kids (CK) foster parents. Friday night from 6:00 - 10:00 they provided free babysitting exclusively for CK kids so the foster parents could have a date night. When they sent out the invitation three weeks ago, we quickly signed up.
Since we started this journey with our respite child over a month ago, Melinda and I have not had a single night alone (a huge switch from the last several years)! After dropping our thirteen-month-old boy CO and our nineteen-month-old girl LP promptly at 6:00 PM, we went to see the nearby mall, quickly ate delicious Panini and visited the 30-screen multiplex theater to see the action-packed Matt Damon movie, "Green Zone."
While the dinner and movie were great, so was the free time together. Melinda and I recalled that we had not seen an entire movie without falling asleep since our respite child. This would be quite a change since prior to this journey, we regularly watched DVD's at home our entertainment center and we keep falling asleep exhausted during every attempt since then. That being said, there is no way we would trade our Melinda and Jack version 2.0 Life for the old, less animated one. We love these kids.
Date Night (which the church is now considering doing once a quarter - yea!) meant new socialization for LP and CO. They did great and stayed up until we arrived right before 10:00. Needless to say, they were exhausted and slept late on Saturday (which was basically chill out and run errands day).
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Fellowship Church
With all the excitement over the prior three weeks (including the Easter weekend), we had not been able to get organized enough to get to our own church until this Sunday.
The first thing we have to do (and had to do with our respite child, too) is get them registered in the youth area. This means filling out a form that then gets entered into a computer and name tags and unique code stamp labels are generated and printed. One set goes on the back of the child and the other goes with the parent. We then take them to their respective classes and we go to the main service. If there is major problem with a child, their unique code is flashed on sign in the main service auditorium and you need to come to their room. Usually a very efficient system, but it took nearly 20 minutes to get them both entered due to some computer glitches. Next time, it will take just a few seconds to pull their names up and print out the tags.
This gave us more socialization for both kids (who cry for us for only 20 seconds before starting to play). Both kids again were reported to do very well. Yea!
Tapestry Foster Care Support Group Meeting
Irving Bible Church (IBC) has, as its mission, adoption and foster care support through a ministry it calls Tapestry (see http://tapestry.irvingbible.org/). This is a HUGE resource of materials and personnel offered free to anyone considering or active in foster care or adoption (either through CPS or private adoption). They work closely with all 35 foster / adoption agencies in the area and come highly recommended as a support service by CPS. No matter what your religious affiliation, anyone considering foster care needs to look over these great resources. Evidently, their reading room is huge and they have a large staff supporting all these things.
Once a month they have a foster care support group. We have been wanting to go, but just could not seem to schedule the time until this Sunday. Fortunately, IBC also offers free, on-site child care while you are in the meeting. They have the exact same computer registration system as Fellowship Church did, but there were no computer problems this time.
The meeting was interesting as we heard about the victories and heartaches in this very informal, round table discussion. Like most support groups, we listened, contributed and asked questions -- getting first hand information and experiences. They are offering a Tuesday night, 8-week, intensive training class for which the two of us just signed up.
Once again, the kids did great - three events in a row! Woo Hoo!
Date Night
Valley View Baptist Church in Coppell (a mega-church not too dissimilar from Fellowship Church -- where we attend) began a new ministry offered to all Covenant Kids (CK) foster parents. Friday night from 6:00 - 10:00 they provided free babysitting exclusively for CK kids so the foster parents could have a date night. When they sent out the invitation three weeks ago, we quickly signed up.
Since we started this journey with our respite child over a month ago, Melinda and I have not had a single night alone (a huge switch from the last several years)! After dropping our thirteen-month-old boy CO and our nineteen-month-old girl LP promptly at 6:00 PM, we went to see the nearby mall, quickly ate delicious Panini and visited the 30-screen multiplex theater to see the action-packed Matt Damon movie, "Green Zone."
While the dinner and movie were great, so was the free time together. Melinda and I recalled that we had not seen an entire movie without falling asleep since our respite child. This would be quite a change since prior to this journey, we regularly watched DVD's at home our entertainment center and we keep falling asleep exhausted during every attempt since then. That being said, there is no way we would trade our Melinda and Jack version 2.0 Life for the old, less animated one. We love these kids.
Date Night (which the church is now considering doing once a quarter - yea!) meant new socialization for LP and CO. They did great and stayed up until we arrived right before 10:00. Needless to say, they were exhausted and slept late on Saturday (which was basically chill out and run errands day).
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Fellowship Church
With all the excitement over the prior three weeks (including the Easter weekend), we had not been able to get organized enough to get to our own church until this Sunday.
The first thing we have to do (and had to do with our respite child, too) is get them registered in the youth area. This means filling out a form that then gets entered into a computer and name tags and unique code stamp labels are generated and printed. One set goes on the back of the child and the other goes with the parent. We then take them to their respective classes and we go to the main service. If there is major problem with a child, their unique code is flashed on sign in the main service auditorium and you need to come to their room. Usually a very efficient system, but it took nearly 20 minutes to get them both entered due to some computer glitches. Next time, it will take just a few seconds to pull their names up and print out the tags.
This gave us more socialization for both kids (who cry for us for only 20 seconds before starting to play). Both kids again were reported to do very well. Yea!
Tapestry Foster Care Support Group Meeting
Irving Bible Church (IBC) has, as its mission, adoption and foster care support through a ministry it calls Tapestry (see http://tapestry.irvingbible.org/). This is a HUGE resource of materials and personnel offered free to anyone considering or active in foster care or adoption (either through CPS or private adoption). They work closely with all 35 foster / adoption agencies in the area and come highly recommended as a support service by CPS. No matter what your religious affiliation, anyone considering foster care needs to look over these great resources. Evidently, their reading room is huge and they have a large staff supporting all these things.
Once a month they have a foster care support group. We have been wanting to go, but just could not seem to schedule the time until this Sunday. Fortunately, IBC also offers free, on-site child care while you are in the meeting. They have the exact same computer registration system as Fellowship Church did, but there were no computer problems this time.
The meeting was interesting as we heard about the victories and heartaches in this very informal, round table discussion. Like most support groups, we listened, contributed and asked questions -- getting first hand information and experiences. They are offering a Tuesday night, 8-week, intensive training class for which the two of us just signed up.
Once again, the kids did great - three events in a row! Woo Hoo!
Wild Easter Weekend
Friday, April 2, 2010
We got up before 4:00 AM to get on the road by 5:00 AM, but it took us until almost 6:00 AM to get the kids in the car and actually get on the road. The kids made the transition from asleep in the bed to asleep in the car seats with 10 minutes (so, that went perfectly).
Leaving at 6:00 AM meant that we got to my parents’ house later. We were right to assume that they would wake about 7:15 AM, so we had about 1 hour and 15 minutes to try to entertain them. It went pretty well, though we had to resort to giving them some toast to fill their “starving” bellies. Our goal was to get them there just in time for breakfast (which they gobbled up when we DID arrive).
Mom and Dad had plenty of toys for them, some cute clothes and a "Pack 'N Play" for our room so that CO (the one-year-old boy) could sleep in there. We brought another Pack 'N Play for LP (our 18-month-old girl) -- no, wait... that isn't a Pack 'N Play that we packed ... it is a pair of folding lawn chairs! Oops!
Since we were short one place to sleep for the kids, that meant that Mom and I had to run to Wal-Mart in town to get a set of bed rails for the bed (which actually worked out better than the Pack ‘N Play would have). We also needed teething rings and some bath toys (the sponge letters that stick to the walls with water). Of course, she could not resist getting one more toy for them. We also had to go into town to get a laser printer for Dad. He wanted to print from his netbook, but the old printer was so out-of-date that the printer drivers were no longer available.
That afternoon we went on an Easter Egg hunt at John Bob Cody's house (along with about 40 kids and plenty of adults). CO successfully ate grass and dirt. LP kind of figured it out, but kept popping open the plastic eggs and wanted all the candy inside (which we were determined to severely limit). Both kids seemed a bit out of place since we knew almost no one there and they definitely knew no one. Also, CO was just too young. They looked cute though. We had to leave very soon after the hunt because both kids had missed their nap and were getting grumpy. Fortunately, the kids slept pretty well at night.
Saturday and Sunday (April 3 & 4, 2010)
Melinda took the kids to Elaine's house Saturday morning. I followed several hours later because I needed to set up Dad’s new printer and I also had to work on the end-of-the-month paperwork for Covenant Kids and we were a bit behind.
She had filled the living room with toys. LP had her side and CO had his side of the room. Melinda said that was the case under the Christmas tree, one side was for Melinda and one side for her sister Christi. The kids immediately ran and played and Nanny was in the middle of all the fun. Nanny sang songs, had a tea party, and had both kids mimicking her actions. Shortly after I got to Elaine’s, our good friend Norma came over to visit and all of us enjoyed the kids giggling and laughing.
Elaine had plenty of toys, a Pack 'N Play and a small child's bed for LP (which she loved - just her size). The kids went through diapers like crazy this weekend and LP had some serious diaper rash, so I made an 8:45 PM run for diapers, Maximum Strength Desitin and Bar-Be-Cue (we were starving!)
Sunday morning we did Easter eggs again, but this time LP really got into it and had a blast. CO still ate dirt, grass and added small roots to his diet. We got plenty of pictures and video. We left late Sunday morning, Nanny cried as we left (something Melinda said she always did when Chance and Courtney left Nanny's house) and headed home. There was some screaming for a while since their car naps were pretty short so we stopped for Taco Bell and they ate some grilled chicken from a burrito.
We got home, did our usual walk, ate and prepared for bed - an exhausting day that took us until Monday night to finally clean up.
Lessons Learned
We got up before 4:00 AM to get on the road by 5:00 AM, but it took us until almost 6:00 AM to get the kids in the car and actually get on the road. The kids made the transition from asleep in the bed to asleep in the car seats with 10 minutes (so, that went perfectly).
Leaving at 6:00 AM meant that we got to my parents’ house later. We were right to assume that they would wake about 7:15 AM, so we had about 1 hour and 15 minutes to try to entertain them. It went pretty well, though we had to resort to giving them some toast to fill their “starving” bellies. Our goal was to get them there just in time for breakfast (which they gobbled up when we DID arrive).
Mom and Dad had plenty of toys for them, some cute clothes and a "Pack 'N Play" for our room so that CO (the one-year-old boy) could sleep in there. We brought another Pack 'N Play for LP (our 18-month-old girl) -- no, wait... that isn't a Pack 'N Play that we packed ... it is a pair of folding lawn chairs! Oops!
Since we were short one place to sleep for the kids, that meant that Mom and I had to run to Wal-Mart in town to get a set of bed rails for the bed (which actually worked out better than the Pack ‘N Play would have). We also needed teething rings and some bath toys (the sponge letters that stick to the walls with water). Of course, she could not resist getting one more toy for them. We also had to go into town to get a laser printer for Dad. He wanted to print from his netbook, but the old printer was so out-of-date that the printer drivers were no longer available.
That afternoon we went on an Easter Egg hunt at John Bob Cody's house (along with about 40 kids and plenty of adults). CO successfully ate grass and dirt. LP kind of figured it out, but kept popping open the plastic eggs and wanted all the candy inside (which we were determined to severely limit). Both kids seemed a bit out of place since we knew almost no one there and they definitely knew no one. Also, CO was just too young. They looked cute though. We had to leave very soon after the hunt because both kids had missed their nap and were getting grumpy. Fortunately, the kids slept pretty well at night.
Saturday and Sunday (April 3 & 4, 2010)
Melinda took the kids to Elaine's house Saturday morning. I followed several hours later because I needed to set up Dad’s new printer and I also had to work on the end-of-the-month paperwork for Covenant Kids and we were a bit behind.
She had filled the living room with toys. LP had her side and CO had his side of the room. Melinda said that was the case under the Christmas tree, one side was for Melinda and one side for her sister Christi. The kids immediately ran and played and Nanny was in the middle of all the fun. Nanny sang songs, had a tea party, and had both kids mimicking her actions. Shortly after I got to Elaine’s, our good friend Norma came over to visit and all of us enjoyed the kids giggling and laughing.
Elaine had plenty of toys, a Pack 'N Play and a small child's bed for LP (which she loved - just her size). The kids went through diapers like crazy this weekend and LP had some serious diaper rash, so I made an 8:45 PM run for diapers, Maximum Strength Desitin and Bar-Be-Cue (we were starving!)
Sunday morning we did Easter eggs again, but this time LP really got into it and had a blast. CO still ate dirt, grass and added small roots to his diet. We got plenty of pictures and video. We left late Sunday morning, Nanny cried as we left (something Melinda said she always did when Chance and Courtney left Nanny's house) and headed home. There was some screaming for a while since their car naps were pretty short so we stopped for Taco Bell and they ate some grilled chicken from a burrito.
We got home, did our usual walk, ate and prepared for bed - an exhausting day that took us until Monday night to finally clean up.
Lessons Learned
- Don't pack the lawn chairs
- We don't need to take a Pack 'N Play now that both parents have beds for the kids
- Leave at 5:00 AM, not 6:00 AM so there is more sleeping going on during the travel
- Don't pack toys (since the parents have plenty)
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