Update's on my family :D

The way I figure things, you can never update enough! So I figured I would once again tell you all where my family is at and what has been going on.

I guess I will start with me. I have been trying my best to do all that I can do as a mom and wife. We have a very strict schedule now. I am up by 7am (most mornings) and I usually do a few things around the house, check fb and my email outside while sipping my Diet Dr. Pepper, and then go in the house and begin waking the girls and prepairing us all for the day ahead. I put the girls down promptly at 8pm and prior to that we of course eat a home made meal and spend some family time together. Shaunn and I recently made the decision to become foster parents so we are finishing the application portion of that right now. I have also started cleaning and organizing things to make the house baby proof. I turned the spare room into the "baby" room. I put one of our toy shelves with the tubs in that room and put only baby safe toys in it. The other toy shelf has all big girl toys and I will eventually put that in the girls room when we do get a baby so that we don't have to worry about choking hazards. There are certain things that will have to wait until we are almost certified like buying locks for our closets to lock meds and cleaners, buying a fire ladder for upstairs, drawing up a floor plan with emergency exits clearly drawn out, and prepairing for our food storage evaluation. I am truly excited about this. I feel like God has this in his plan for us and I'm going with it.

Shaunn continues to work very hard. He is now running two stores which provides us with a little more income. He has started trying to tint his windows which has proven to be a pain in the neck for him but anything to keep him busy is a good thing! Shaunn has done so well at work lately that he managed to make full bonus this time around so much of that money will be put into savings for Christmas so that we can give back to our loved ones that do so much for us during the year.

Tomorrow is Brey and Natilee's open house at school! We get to meet their teachers and see their classrooms! I am so excited for my girls. I think this will be very beneficial for both of them. Brey is saying more and more words. We recently bought them flash cards that have pictures of objects (ball, cup, plate, shoe, etc.) and animals! They love these cards and we enjoy spending time with them while teaching them. I also purchased (finally!) a shapes puzzle and Brey spent most of the evening plugging the shapes into their homes. We also recently purchased a swing set for our girls and they absolutely ADORE it. It is very exciting providing them with all of this stuff.

Natilee is such a little monkey! She is now about 24 pounds and still short as can be! She is a pretty mellow child unless she is being touched by her older sister...then she screams as loud as possible which, by the way, is super annoying. She is suddenly acting very finicky about food. She wont eat meat and doesn't really eat much more than pasta, cereal, peanut butter and jelly, and fruit. I am forcing her to at least try the stuff on her plate but aside from making her try it and hoping for the best I'm not sure what else to do because of her mental age. Oh that brings me to a recent nuerology appointment. I gave you her height and weight already but I ddin't really touch on some of the things we spoke about. Natilee is developmentally at about a year old. She is physically 3. This is very sad for us but we are confidant that some day she will catch up with her physical age.

Our little family is doing quite well right now. I hope the rest of the year goes smoothly and without too much chaos. I hope everyone else is having a good year!

-Lainy

A wonderful blog!

An old high school friend of mine has an amazing blog! She does a lot of reviews on different products ranging from house hold cleaners to baby furniture! Right now she is doing a baby shower bash!

She is featuring reviews on baby items and doing some really amazing give aways! Right now she has a beautifull crib set by CoCaLo Naturals. I am hoping to win this give away because I am currently working hard to become a foster mom and it would be lovely to have such a beautiful bedding set for the babies we get. Go check her out!

Hard decisions and new found hope

Some times in life we are handed difficult decisions. Our wants have to take the back burner for the good of our families and the situation in general. I have always wanted a descent sized family and after having two children with disabilities my dreams were crushed to some degree. My husband and I both want more kids but being faced with a 75% chance of bringing another child into the world that would have some sort of disability with out knowing the severity of that disability put a damper in our plans. There are a lot of people that would call that irresponsible and selfish. My husband struggles with the thought of having another child that would more than likely be disabled so we came to the conclusion that actually having another baby was probably not going to happen.

I was devistated by this. The thought of not having more kids really upsets me. I was discussing this with my daughters therapist and she mentioned fostering. I did some research before my husband came home and found that it was something I was STRONGLY drawn to. I sort of feel that this is my calling. Shaunn and I have been discussing this now for a few days and I have an orientation on Tuesday evening to get the process started. He still has some concerns and I'm glad that he is so grounded because I have to admit at times I am full throttle and if I want it I will do anything in my power to get it.

Most of my family and friends have been VERY supportive and I appreciate their faith in me. Other's question my ability to handle this. They question me as a mother. Those folks have truely disappointed me. I think given my circumstances I am doing a good job. I have my moments but I think for the most part I do my best to give my kids all they need and more.

I look forward to the opportunity to have more children. To have more chaos. Disabled or not any child that I come into contact with will be loved and shown what a REAL family should function like. One thing that has some people worried is my ability to let go when a child is reunited with their birth parents. I have no doubt in my mind that it will be VERY difficult. I know full well that I'm facing heart ache when it comes to that. I also know that as long as I view it as a positive for the child that I will survive.

I'm so anxiouse to begin this process. I can't wait to get the first call telling me that a little one needs me. I'm not very good at anything. I'm not an artist, or a work horse, or skilled in any department to be honest. One thing I think I am good at is being a mom. I am good at taking care of children and I'm good at providing them with a loving nurturing home. I have a passion for it. I always said that I was born in the wrong era, I should have been born when it was natural for woman to stay home with the kids and be home makers.

If you are one of the folks that is skeptical about my abilities or my strength in general when it comes to being able to handle this, please give me some credit. Know that I will not blindly go into this with some fairy tale picture in my head. These kids have been through a lot. This will be hard. I WILL get educated as much as humanly possible prior to taking on any children.

Keep in mind that a lot of you that are skeptical are the same folks that questioned me about having the two kids I have. I was told I was too young, that I should abort, and that I should surrender my children to be adopted before they were even born. I may be young, but I'm not an idiot. I know what I'm capable of and what I'm not capable of. If I get to the point during training that I don't feel I can handle this, I will stop the process. If you love me then support me and be there for me instead of being negative and telling me what I CAN'T do. I can do ANYTHING I put my mind to.