Whirlwind

Since welcoming our precious angel to our home, we've been BUSY!!! He's on an every 3 hour schedule w/bottles & meds then Shane and Shelby were on a week vacation from school.

• Monday was dentist appt for big kids, visit w/Grandma & church for the kids.
• Tuesday was a Grandma visit + a urology ultrasound appointment for Shelby + a visit w/the urologist
• Wednesday was the baby's cardiology clinic appointment and his pediatrician appointment
• Thursday was a visit w/my Grandma and friends came over that night
• Friday was a class from 9:30-12:30, a WIC appointment for the baby and a meeting w/our tax preparer
• Saturday we made brunch w/my Grandma, went to a friend's party then church
• Sunday was a Grandma visit for Shelby, the baby and I while the boys did football stuff then different friends came over

Meanwhile, we are all settling in with this adorable bundle of joy and are looking forward to his Social Worker appointments this week, his case goes to court, my girlfriend is doing professional pics of him and life is good :)

He's Here!

Our latest treasure is here at home with us -  6.5 pounds, 17 inches, 2 months old, and a true miracle baby - more later. I love him so much already!!! :)

Coming "Home" Soon

Saturday, Sunday and today all included visits to our latest bundle of joy. He is absolutely incredible. He has grown so much in just the last five days, it's awesome to see. He's eating more from the bottle - we are all praying he won't need the NG tube for long. I've done the CPR videos, met w/the dietician, met w/doctors, replaced the NG tube, I meet w/heart doctors tomorrow and the new plan is a Wednesday discharge. He does so many sweet flicker smiles - they melt my heart every time. I can't wait to see him without all the tubes and wires all over!!! Shelby's just besides herself of course with excitement over him coming "home." I'm eager to find out more of his story from the CPS investigator.

After I left the hospital today I visited w/my Grandma, did homework w/the kids, made an early dinner, respite came over and Steve and I had a date night - it was awesome. We went to a church to watch the movie Courageous, renewed our vows, ate cake, had our picture taken - and it was all free!!!

So in love already w/this precious blessing. Can't wait until Wednesday!!!

Miles and Miles to go....

Wow, what a busy day full of driving and big appointments:

• Got the kids up and going and out the door
• Went to the hospital to love on "my" lil man
• Drove to pick up my Grandma
• Took her to the Neurologist to find out her MRI results - they were bad and although I was expecting to hear it, it was still hard
• Brought Grandma back home
• Left to pick up Shane
• Got the oil changed
• Got gas
• Got snacks
• Went home for half hour - phone calls, organized, computer, etc.
• Went to church, picked up a few more people
• Drove for 2 hours to the MSM (middle school ministry) winter camp (saw a gorgeous vibrant rainbow en route)
• Dropped off my crew
• Drove back home - it didn't take a full two hours - yipee!!
• Arrived home to Steve and Shelby - Shelby's respite worker was sick so she couldn't come this afternoon and meet the bus so Papa came and saved the day and was able to hang out w/Shelby until Steve got home. Steve took Shelby to pick up her new glasses then they had a date out to dinner. Steve and I were supposed to have a date night at church for a Valentine's Marriage thing but a. respite was sick then b. I found out someone at church doing child care was willing to let Shelby come but then c. driving to camp took longer than I thought so we would've been an hour late so we didn't go. We all talked about our days, I did a few things on the computer and now - at 9 p.m. I am going to play wii for a bit w/Shelby before I CRASH!!!

Total time in the van...too many hours to count!!! ;) Actually, over half the day!!

No Words

There are no words to describe how breathtakingly precious "my" new baby is - oh my goodness. I was able to love on him for 2 1/2 hours in the hospital tonight, snuggle him, take pictures, feed him, soothe him...it was wonderful. I know more pieces to his story but it is by no means a full picture yet. I've talked to his nurse, one of his cardiac doctors, the investigator handling his case, a hospital social worker and a cps social worker. I have an insanely busy day tomorrow but I've managed to carve out an hour to spend time with him. I simply can't wait to see him again. The plan is to bring him "home" next week! :)

We got "the call!"

While shopping at Family Christian Bookstore, I received a phone call for a baby boy who is medically fragile and needs a home. Shelby has an appt this afternoon, and Steve will pick her up from the appointment allowing me to go to the hospital to meet the new bundle of joy!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!! :)

Mom's Birthday

Today would have been my mom's 61st birthday. She loved Mexican food so we picked up my Grandma and took her to a Mexican restaurant none of us have been to before in my mom's memory. It's been hard w/my Grandma's memory issues - trying to keep my mom's memory alive.

After we got home, our friends came over and we all watched the Super Bowl together - very mellow/low-key.

Meanwhile, waiting for the phone to ring to get "the call" - however, on the other hand, grateful it hasn't rung because that means no baby is in crisis and also, we have a busy week w/3 appts for my grandma, one for Shelby and I'm scheduled to take Shane and some buddies to a winter camp 2 hours away on Friday.

Anyways, I've been thinking a lot about my mom and my dad - I actually put both their death certificates in the safe today - and thinking about choices my dad's girlfriend has made. Always tried to get acceptance/love/affection from him in life and that never quite worked out too well. In death, per his will, I was completely ignored...well, until his girlfriend dies. Since my dad and I were never very close due to his alcoholism/verbal + emotional abuse, I always hoped to have a warm and loving relationship. Steve thought it odd that I was upset about his death. Not only did his death make me parent-less, it also took away any possibility in achieving what I so desperately wanted in life. Then to get rejected once again in the will..... it's not about the money - it's about acknowledgment I think and feeling that once again, for whatever reason, I didn't measure up.

Saturday Summary

Today just flowed really well:

• Got up (Shelby woke us up 2x last night to go potty - ugh!); Shane and I walked to his school and did our 5K training
• got home, stretched, drank water
• Helped Shelby make muffins, put them in oven
• Gave Shelby her shower, I took mine as well
• Shelby and I did our bible study on her comfy new (hospital) bed
• Fed Shelby breakfast
• Finished getting ready for the day
• Loaded up the car
• Headed for Nanny's - with books, games, paperwork, etc
• Had a nice visit w/Nanny - ate lunch, went over paperwork, played a game
• Left, went to Safeway to pick up a couple things for her. A very nice lady showed me which red wine is a good one - thank goodness for her help - another shopper and I were very grateful for the help!
• Got gas
• Got home, fixed Shane and Steve lunch
• Sat down to read on my kindle for literally a couple seconds before Shelby needed help in her room
• Shelby and I played wii, I tidied up the game room while she sang on her new wii game
• Shane and I played pool
• Texted Darlene
• I worked on dinner
• We ate, got ready for church, did some chores, left
• Church was awesome
• Talked to Nanny en route home
• Got home, watched Pit Boss with Shelby (one of the only shows on with little people - Steve and Shelby are technically considered "little/dwarfs" but aren't as short statured as the people on that show)
• Doing computer stuff then going to put Shelby to bed, try to read for a little bit and head to bed myself

Super Good Day!

• Awesome night's sleep
• Didn't have to make Shane and Shelby's lunches this morning
• Kids had a good morning
• After they left, I did bible study, took my shower, started working on organizing my piles
• Leanne (best friend) came over
• We took Oreo to the vet and he got his stitches out
• Leanne and I got to spend more time together after we brought Oreo home
• I left to pick up Nanny and she and I went out to a delicious lunch
• After dropping her off home, I left and found a ladybug on my windshield - it made me smile :)
• I went to the library and found a bunch of great books for both Nanny and I
• got home and started making calls
• Talked to Steve about a marriage retreat I found out about through Moose's new daddy's facebook pg
• Talked to the solar panel guy who's supposed to figure out why our solar panels aren't working as well as we were promised (next month we're supposed to get a $700 SMUD bill - ouch!)
• Talked to NSM and made an appt for Shelby to go in next week to get new chest straps and new batteries for her powerchair
• Left a voicemail for UCP to do home visits w/new respite people
• Respite came for Shelby and they went shopping at the mall
• While printing out camp applications for the family weekend at Shelby's favorite camp, my printer informed me it was out of ink so Shane and I went to Wal-Mart. He bought himself something using a gift card and Christmas money. I bought my ink.
• I called Nanny
• Steve got home and we discussed Oreo's vet visit, Shane's new "toy" and the phone calls.
• I worked on my piles and paid Nanny's bills, balanced our checkbook, talked to Darlene, helped Steve make a huge salad for dinner
• Shelby sung to me while I filled out the weekend family camp application AND the summer camp application
• I faxed the pediatrician the form she needs to fill out for camp and faxed the application to the awesome admissions lady
• Shelby and I played a game of Sorry
• We did bible study, and prayers
• Shelby went to bed
• I'm doing more computer stuff then I will read for a bit then I'll head off to bed too.

I love being productive!!!

What A Month It Was

Wow - January 2012 - what a wild ride that month was:

• We started the year in San Francisco with our best friends.
• We took a huge road trip to Bakersfield...to Tucson...to San Diego then home - all for the purpose of attending my dad's funeral.
• I saw my Aunt (my dad's sister) and my Uncle (my mom's brother) for the first time in the same year in my whole life.
• Shelby had her Shriner's appointment
• Shelby had her O/T eval for getting a lift and overhead track system
• Shelby received a hospital bed
• Shelby ordered new glasses
• Shelby had her I.E.P. - actually it was a 2 part since the A.P.E. teacher wasn't at the first meeting
• Nanny had her Neurology appointment
• Nanny had her MRI
• Nanny had a two hour dentist appt - twice - ouch!
• Nanny had a wonderful visit with both sons - for the second time in over 40 years (the first was almost 4 years ago shortly before my mom died)
• Nanny had her hair/nail appointments
• I actually had my own doctor's appointment!
• Oreo (one of our dogs) had surgery
• Shelby and I got to babysit Moose (the last foster blessing we were blessed to love on)
• Shane got to spend a weekend w/Papa 
• Shane and I started our walk/run training program for our 5K
• Steve signed up for Eppie's Great Race - he'll be doing the kayak portion
• I heard "February" whispered to me in regards to when we'll get the call for our next foster blessing - I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!