Lucy at 9 ¾ Months.

I normally do age updates for my babies each month. But I haven't written a single update about Lucy since we got her five months ago. I feel like I've been living in some kind of a time warp where time travels quicker than I can keep track. I can hardly believe that she will be one year old in just a few short months. 

We have had an insane year since we started foster care. Ten children have come through our home (except for the last one, who stayed ;). We ran on a crazy treadmill of doctor appointments, visitations, and social worker phone calls for over a year. We are still recovering mentally from the five-kids-six-and-under situation (and Mark's appendectomy) we had over the holidays.

We didn't realize the toll all this had taken on our family until we stepped off the treadmill. 

Now we are enjoying being a family again. We are getting to know our boys again. We are bonding with our new daughter. We are focusing on being peaceful. 

People ask me, "How does it feel to have a daughter?" and "How does it feel to finally have one that is yours forever?" Honestly? It hasn't really sunk in yet. After having so many babies and children come through, it's hard to just snap out of Foster Parent Mode. But as time goes on, I have more and more moments where it hits me that she's really mine forever. I get to daydream about what she'll look like when she takes her first steps. Or says her first words. Or rides her first trike. 

Okay, so far this post turned out to have nothing to do with what Lucy is up to at 9 3/4 months. She going to read about her nine-and-three-quarter month and wonder, "What is all this about?" So here is her update: 

She is a bit behind as far as gross motor skills, so we are trying to help her learn to roll over. She is a champion sitter-upper, but she isn't motivated at all to roll over. She actually can roll over when she wants to, but it's pretty rare that she wants to. Her physical therapist isn't too worried and thinks she will grow into it eventually.

She claps her hands and shakes her head when we say, "Lucy! Clap!" or "Lucy! Shake!" She's on to us though, because now when we say "Lucy!" she'll start clapping and shaking her head, as though she knows the routine and just wants to get it over with.

She is just starting to get attached to me, which is a huge deal. When she first came to us she wouldn't let me know when she needed anything. She could be hungry, tired, bored,  or lonely, but wouldn't let us know. Now she cries when I leave the room and lets me know when she wants to be held by looking up at me and waving her arms around. She cries when she's hungry and tired. We only just started letting other people besides me hold her, but she gets uneasy after a while and starts looking for me. Major good things!

Her brothers absolutely adore her. They sing silly songs to her, play with her, are excited to show her new things, and beg "Mom, can't she sleep in my bed tonight?" This girl has the best big brothers ever.

Funny story: Lucy had a developmental assessment a few weeks ago. One of the activities the tester did was to place four objects in front of her (a ball, a doll, a car, and a cup) and then tell her to pick up one of the objects. The activity was more for a 12-month old, but the tester wanted to see if she could do it anyway. Each time Lucy picked up the doll. I tried the activity again, moving all the objects around, and she again picked up the doll. I tried it again at a friend's house and Lucy reached for the doll every time. To most people with daughters, this is all probably very obvious. But this was one of the first moments when it truly hit me that I have a girl.

Lucy, we are so looking forward to enjoying all of your firsts together with you. We can hardly believe you're really ours! 

First time at the beach

 Cold toes - she really didn't like the cold water!

Playing with food: she isn't fond of any food that isn't her milk, so we are doing having her play with food in hopes that some day she'll eventually eat it. It's quite a messy affair.

Saturday morning brother snuggles

Easter 2013

Dying Eggs

Easter Sunday

Boston

Last week Mark took a business trip to the Boston area. We saw this as a great opportunity  for me and the kids to tag along and soak up some of the history of the area. The plan was for him to work during the week while I went around to different places with the kids. I was really nervous about bing on my own with three kids around Boston, but I decided to suck it up and do it anyway. It was very hard, but I'm glad I did it. The upside is that I'm cured of my hesitation of going places (besides the grocery store) with three kids!

Before the trip I saturated the kids with as much early American History as their little brains and bodies could stand. I'm so glad I did because it made the trip that much more exciting for them.

We crammed a lot into our seven days in the Boston area: 

Boston Museum of Science

Boston Children's Museum

Museum of Fine Arts

New England Aquarium

We walked half of the Freedom Trail to see Paul Revere's House, Old North Church, Faneuil Hall, and Quincy Market

Boston Duck Tour

Plimoth Plantation (including Grist Mill, an old granary)

Plymouth Rock

It dumped a foot of snow the day before we arrived, and snowed all during our first two days. Kicking, squishing, and stepping in snow was one of the highlights of the trip for these kids.

Getting energy out in the rather small hotel room.

(Above and below) At the Boston Children's Museum. If you live anywhere in the Boston area I highly recommend this place. It was the coolest children's museum I've ever been to and it was the kids' absolute favorite part of the trip. If we're ever in the Boston area again, we're definitely coming back here.

Plimoth Plantation. This is a large village that shows how the original pilgrims lived in the 1600s. It was a very cool experience because the village was populated by actors who played the parts of the original Mayflower landers. They talked just like people from that time and actually did real things like tended gardens, mended fences, and ground corn flour for bread. My kids tried to talk to them about things like grocery stores (as in, "Why don't you just buy your flour at the grocery store?"), airplanes, and concrete, but the people always looked puzzled, like they'd never heard of these things before. Great acting, I tell ya!

I got to meet an Internet friend in New Hampshire. We met on a message board when we were pregnant with our firstborns seven years ago. We've both been through an awful and amazing journey the past few years. It was wonderful to finally meet each other and have our daughters meet.

On a Boston Duck Tour. The kids actually got to drive it while it was in the bay!

At the Museum of Fine Arts in front of their favorite paintings. I've been wanting to take the boys to an art museum for a while, and this seemed like a great opportunity since this one holds a lot of paintings by artists they are already familiar with. It wasn't a very good experience because the boys were extremely energetic and had a hard time keeping their hands away from the art. They spent much of their visit with their hands in their pockets.

New England Aquarium touch tank. Touching the stingrays was one of the boys' favorite parts of the whole trip.

Flying somewhere over the Midwest. I shudder to think of what made this water all these beautiful colors, but it sure made for an awesome view.

Finally home again. After a long day of flying, driving, and unpacking, Lucy passed out on my back. 

I have to say that it was SO wonderful to come back home after being away for nine days. I love traveling and seeing new things, but I always love coming home even more!

30th Birthday

My 30th birthday was a few weeks ago. It feels a bit strange to be thirty years old. Being thirty means I graduated high school twelve years ago (how did that happen??). I've been married nearly nine years. I graduated college eight years ago. I've been a mother for six and a half years. I do grownup things like buy cars and teach children. My kids are getting old enough where I vividly remember doing things as a child that my children are doing now, and that is surreal. But wasn't I a kid, like, just a few years ago? How is it that I'm a grownup and have all these little people who think I know everything (at least for now)? I feel like an impostor pretending to be in my thirties.

In the months leading up to my 30th, I wondered how I would celebrate. Would I have a huge 30th bash? Would I have a romantic dinner out alone with my husband? Life happened and we never got around to planning anything. But in the end, I had the perfect birthday: my sweet sister-in-law brought me a happy birthday mocha early in the day. I had a picnic lunch with my peeps at my favorite playground ('my' favorite because of the beautiful blossoming trees all over the place). I sipped my mocha, read a book, and watched as my children frolicked happily (seriously...there was frolicking). In the evening I dressed up the little people in their finest and our family of five went to a nice restaurant for dinner. The kids' present to me was behaving well through the meal. Afterwards we came home for cake and a very special happy birthday song sung by my sweet kids. It was simple, yet wonderful. And maybe I'll start to feel like I'm in my thirties one of these days.

Our New Daughter Revealed

We've been waiting for this day for over three months: the day that our daughter would be one giant step closer to being ours forever.  

While the adoption will not be truly final for about six more months, the decisive court hearing was yesterday. The outcome of that hearing all but guarantees that she will be given to us for adoption! Now we can start calling her by her new name and share her photos. 

So, with great joy, we would like to introduce you to our new daughter-to-be...

Lucy

(Click here to view slideshow on YouTube)

San Francisco

My latest field trip with the boys was to San Francisco. (Thank you Daddy for staying home with Baby M!) The main purpose was to attend a San Francisco Symphony youth program, a forty minute program where the musicians played snippets of classical music for schoolchildren. We got to sit in the terrace, right behind the orchestra, which was very cool. In all honesty, I think I was much more excited about it than the boys. After just ten minutes they kept asking if it was time to go yet. But I'm checking off "Fine Arts Field Trip" for the year! 

The trip was a series of mishaps. But everything ended well and we all had a great time. We ended up at the Golden Gate Bridge because I missed a critical turn trying to get to the Exploratorium, the kind of turn that if you miss it, you either go over an incredibly big bridge or have to drive around in a twenty minute circle to get back to where you need to be. We made the most of it. We got a snack, checked out the bridge exhibits, hiked around a bit, and then got back in the car.

Here the boys are at the Palace of Fine Arts, right next to the Exploratorium. Or what used to be the Exploratorium, anyway. When we (finally, after getting lost several times and driving around in circles) got there we realized that it was closed. Yes, closed. To my kids, who were beside themselves with excitement at the idea of going to the Exploratorium, it was like finding out that Disneyland was closed. They were seriously disappointed. But after the tears subsided, we made the best of it and explored the grounds and climbed some awesome trees.

Plan B: Golden Gate Park. Made use of the concrete slides, climbed to the top of some crazy tall rope climbing structures, made some new friends, and did the usual playground things.

Our San Francisco tradition: stopping at Krispy Kreme donuts on the way home after a long day of fun.

Flashlight

Tommy got an electrical kit for Christmas. It was full of batteries, wires, small motors, lightbulbs, and lots of little gadgety things. He loves putting them together to figure out how to make things go. 

I give you his latest creation: a flashlight.

Discovery Museum

The boys and I have been going on a lot of adventures together while Baby M stays home with Daddy. Here we went to the Discovery Museum in San Jose. It had been about two years since they had last been here. They had a ton of fun. It was bittersweet for me though, because I realized that they've outgrown most of the things to do at the DM. I'm looking forward to bringing Baby M here when she's old enough to discovery everything for herself.

Me: Tommy, can you smile, please?

Tommy: I am! 

Making corn husk dolls superheros.

The water room was their favorite part of the museum. They stayed here for about two hours total.

Ben's 5th Birthday

Ben had an awesome birthday:

Birthday cereal: Cookie Crisp. I wish I took a video when he saw the cereal pour out into his bowl: "Wow! It's like little cookies! ((gasp)) And they have chocolate chips!!"

Helped me make his cake: chocolate with green icing. Part of the perks of being the birthday boy is licking the batter off the utensils.

Finished product

Opening presents surrounded by his favorite people: brother and cousins (other cousins are around, just not in the photo)

Dad putting together Ben's gift from Grandma. Perfect for the monkey that Ben is.

Point Lobos

It's been a month since our family downsized considerably. Back in late January our two foster children left in the same week, leaving only our two bio kids and our soon-to-be-adopted seven month old daughter. Since then, we have slowly been getting back to normal life. Part of that return to normalcy and the freedom of 'only' having three kids has been getting out for family trips more often. 

These pictures are from when we went to Point Lobos back in January. Better late than never, right? 

Happy 5th Birthday Ben!

Ben: You are a goofball. You so love making people laugh. You'll do anything to get a laugh, even if it means literally flipping over and falling on your face. You love making your baby sister laugh. You are incredibly sweet and loving. 

You like hiding in the house and seeing how quiet you can be. You even invented a game called "Sneaky" where you and Tommy tiptoe around the house and try to sneak past me. I, of course, pretend that I don't hear the thud, thud, thud of your footsteps or the giggles coming from inside the pantry and act so surprised when you jump out and say "Here I am!" 

You don't like us joking with you. You get very angry when we say we're going to the cooked-spinach restaurant when we're really going to your favorite restaurant. You'll say, "Mooooom, I don't like you teasing me like that!". 

Books: Berenstain Bears are your favorite books. You go straight for the BB section at the library every time we go, and will sit for the whole time picking out your maximum allotment of three BB books. You also love anything with action, so I've been letting you get some (selected) comic books from the library. 

Food: Turkey sandwiches are your favorite food. You hate spicy food, or anything that is even remotely spicy, like pepperoni or the mildly seasoned chicken at Chipotle. 

Toys: Your favorite toys for a long time have been weapons. Specifically, you love the Nerf guns you got for Christmas. You love it when I announce it's time for a shootout and we all play Nerf guns together. I have to admit that I really enjoy our Nerf gun shootouts. You've also taken a recent interest in Transformers.

Activities: You really enjoy playing soccer. Since your dad and I are sports-clueless, we've been showing you the little we know and you've taken off with it. You have natural agility and an intuitive sense with how you move your body. We've been saying for a while that we need to get you into sports, and now we're finally doing it. You will be starting soccer in the spring. You don't know it yet, but you'll probably be over-the-moon excited when you find out.

Shows/Movies: You like action-packed, intense movies. Your favorites are How to Train Your Dragon, Robin Hood (old Disney version), and Kung-Fu Panda. 

We love you, Benji! You are such a joy to our family. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of boy you grow into over this next year.

Ben's 5th Birthday Interview

So how do you think it'll feel to be five?

Really good. I’ll still think I’m 4 and a half.

What kinds of things can you do now that you’re almost five that you couldn’t do when you were littler?

Climb really really high. Like on top of the redwood tree. On top.

What is your favorite color?

Blue and green. (Do you have a favorite between those?) Light blue.

What is your favorite food?  

Candy cane.

What is your least favorite food?  

Mushroom soup.

What is your favorite book?

Berenstain Bears.

What is your favorite toy?

Really cool Transformers. Actually, no. I mean really cool water guns.

Do you have any friends? Who are they?

Of course. Gabriel and The Halls. And Hannah. and Kurt & Meghan. 

What is your favorite thing to do?

To go to fun places with with you and Dad, like Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

What is your favorite thing about yourself?

That I can climb so well. 

What is your favorite thing to do outside?

Play tag with Dad.

Where is your favorite place to go?

The Jungle.

What do you want to do for a job when you grow up?  

Take care of my kids. (But what will you do for a job?) Get money for working at Oracle.

Where do you want to live when you grow up?  

I want to live in this house when you guys move out.

Do you think you’ll get married when you grow up? Who do you think you’ll marry?

Yeah! (Who?) You know. (No I don’t). Claire, of course.

How old will you be when you get married?

86. (86 is really old to get married. It might be better to get married when you're a bit younger.) Oh. How old was Dad when he got married? (26.) Okay, then 28.

Where do babies come from?

God and their mom’s tummy.

Is there anything you’re afraid of?

Tommy scaring me. And spooky caves.

If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why? 

A sick baby dog. So people could take care of me.

What do you love most about your siblings? 

(Tommy) Because he picks me up and hugs me and is really kind to me when he leaves for somewhere.

(Baby M) She’s so cute!

What do you like learning about?

Baby puppies.

What makes you very happy?

Tommy being really kind to me and picking me up.