Open heart Surgery!

So, I am sure that if you know Laylah, then you have met her little lamb too, Lambie. Where can these too bee seen seperate? Only when it is time for a shower or she is eating---either way he is never far. We have been through a ton of these little gund plushes, and frankly, after they have survivied about 6 months of being wagged everywhere she goes, they are pretty much done with.lol. Well she has one that used to say the Lord's prayer---now it just drones something inaudible out and looks like a ball of dirt since it can only be surface cleaned because of the battery pack inside---which by the way is not replaceable. So, I decided to do the deed---once laylah was settled comfy on the couch to watch Barney, I cleaned the kitchen cabinet and began the surgery. I took one of our smallest and sharpest knives and gently split Lambie (this one's name is Lamb actually) down the center seam of his chest. I was engrossed in picking out fluff and stuffing to find the battery pack when I heard a little gasp of shock. I dropped the knife into the sink quickly and pretended to be stroking lamb. Too late. Laylah asked me, " What are you doing to Lamb? Oh no Mommy, stop, what are you doing? I pretended to wash his face with the dish rag.lol. Yes, I am scared of a two year old.Smile. i removed the pack, sewed the incision, lol, and shipped lamb down to the basement to wash, and I must say---he has made a full reecovery and will be reunited with his owner tomorrow, whne I feel like going down and getting him off the clothes line(where he is hanging by the ears.lol)

THE FIRST BATH

Jayden got his first bath! He is just about two weeks old and we decided to go for the big dip. He did absolutely fabulous. I was so proud of him. it just shows how every baby has a very different personality. He laid in his little hammock and blew bubbles and made coos while I bathed him. Overall, he was very happy until I washed his hair. His head full of hair was smooth and straight until I washed it. Then he looked like a little wet rat with locks of hair sticking up everywhere and a spike in the middle. Lol. Daddy was able to brush it back into cooperation after jayden was dried and dressed. Thank goodness.

Procrastination

Listening to NPR, I heard about the dangers of procrastination and then multitasking. They must have been preparing to write my life story. Laughing out loud! Jay is almost two weeks old. It would be great if I cracked the plastic off of his baby book and got started with filling in some of those blanks, wouldn't it? it just seems that everytime I start to do that, I think of something else more pressing, or one of the kids needs me, or I have housework to do. Wow---I hope I get to it before the boy turns 18. Smile.

I'm losing it!

It may not seem like a big success to you but I have gone from 399.5 pounds to 380. I am estatic and feel highly motivated to chop off some more pounds, and then some more. I would like to get down to 160. I don't know if I will be able to, but I sure as heck am going to try. I feel so blessed to have lost the 20 lbs. total that I am down now, that I don't know what to say about it but, 'Praise the Lord, I'm losing it"

Big gains on the baby front

Jay is doing great. He is now one week and four days old! Yesterday at the doctor's office, we were thrilled to find out that he has increased his weight to 5 lbs, and 14.2 ozs, and increased one inch in length, making him 18 inches long. He is thriving! He is wearing preemi clothes and being spoiled by everyone, so he's feeling great. Even big sister Laylah is doing her share of spoiling. Jay has started (third night in a row) to sleep through the night. Once he is feed at midnight, he sleeps through the night till 6 am. That is a pretty good stretch for a one week old.
Laylah, has made progress also. She is now 29 lbs. and 10 ounces. She has successfully gained back her weight lost from a stomach virus she had in May. She is developing new skills everyday. I bought her a princess coloring book and markers that only mark on the paper of the book, and showed her how to color in the lines and ever since then she has been working hard at her coloring book everyday and trying hard to stay in the lines. She is very intersted in helping me with everything I do, sp I am constantly forced to brainstorm for ways that she can help me when I do something. So she has been, helping to feed the cat, throwing away papers and junk mail, and putting wet socks and undies in the dryer. She is thrilled to say the least. Where did my baby go?

Amnesia

If you don't believe in GOD I have all the proof you need. The fact that people have more than one kid is proof enough. No sane rational person will willingly put themselves through the sleepless nights, dirty diapers, gas etc a second time if not for GOD. Not to mention women who give birth to more than one. They most be crazy to have forgotten the pain of delivery. You honestly forget about all of the bad and if you don't you idealize it. If that is not the work of a higher power I don't know what is.
Honestly though our knew foster child wonderful. ( When and if he is adopted I will share photos and his name. Until then he is staying with us and I want to protect his confidentiality.) He is a normal new born he eats, sleeps and cries. I am so happy to look at him and also scared. I feel like we are living on borrowed time. There is a good chance we will be able to adopt but nothing is certain until the last T is crossed and the last i is dotted. What scares me most is the attachment Laylah is forming with him even now. I know that if he leaves it will be so much harder on her. I just keep telling myself if it is meant to be it will be. I have prayed every night that it is meant to be though.
Enough sadness he is doing fine. Robbyn told me today he is eating well and being a good kid today. He is back to his birth weight and his cry has gone from a mild squeak to a powerful yell. We have our first planning meeting tomorrow and we will meet his first mom. We will see how that goes

Wal Mart SUCKS

I know I will offend some people with this but Walmart is horrible. Not for the reasons many other hate it (Giant company with a bad record of human/civil right, that pushes small business to bankruptcy) I don't care about that, well maybe a little. My biggest gripe is that no matter the neighborhood, newness, size, or part of the country it is in Walmart is horribly under staffed, and under stocked. Just as you get used to a product or something you go to Walmart to pick it up and the shelf is empty. You can almost never go to walmart and get everything you need in one trip. I am not saving money if i need to spend gas to come back or go to another place to get it. I used to think it was just the walmart near me but NO. I have been to many in all sorts of places and it is the same. The shelf's are literally empty time and time again. I prefer Target any day. They may be .10c to .30c more expensive but 9 times out of ten i can get everything in one trip.

The above tirade was finally brought about by my utter frustration with walmart yesterday. Upon picking up our foster child we went to walmart to buy somethings because we only have girl things. The selection was poor and we could not find the formula we needed or the diapers (DIAPERS OF ALL THINGS) We went across the parking lot to my good old TARGET and found what i needed and more.

The CALL

As many of you know or don't know we are doing foster to adopt. Since last Sept we have done our classes, had the home study been approved and put on "The list" We originally were only going to do girls but after much discussion we decided that we will do boys also. We told our resource manager on Friday 7/11 and on Monday 7/14 we GOT THE CALL. There was a new born boy waiting for us at the hospital. We went to pick him up and now he is home with us. For right now we are fostering and we are hoping that in the future he will go for permanent custody and we will adopt him.

We finally finshed

Robbyn and I have had a game of Lord of the Rings Risk for years. We have never been able to finish a game. It just takes so long and it is more confusing than regular Risk. Well Robbyn decided that we should play last night after the baby went to bed. WHY WHY WHY. We played for 5 1/2 hours, but we finally finished. It was almost 2 am before we got in bed. We both woke up hurting all over. What do we think we are YOUNG. We can't hang like we used to that is for sure. I am glad we finally finished the game.
FYI I won. I kicked Robbyn's BUTT

Robbyn and I are constantly looking for fun family things to do. We love activities and also want to give Laylah as many experiences as we can. I know she is just two but it is never to young to start, so we went strawberry picking. We went to Patterson's http://www.pattersonfarm.com/ went strawberry picking. Just getting there was an adventure. During my vacation in June we planned to go but they did not begin until the day of the Parade the Circle http://www.clemusart.com/events/paradethecircle.aspx and we were busy that Sunday. There is just a short window where you can pick your own berries and I did not wan to miss it. The next Saturday we went to take Laylah's professional shots for her Birthday/ family pics. The farm is not to far from where we took the pics. The site says to call for availability so i called after we took the pictures and they said they were done for the day. Apparently they only have picking early in the morning and the are done by 9 or 10 at the latest. I was determined to get it done so I asked what time in the morning do they begin she said 8 am. Well we got up and got there about 5 am and picked 5lbs of berries and it was great. Then came the next great adventure. I decided to bake a pie. I am not a baker by any means. I can make a box cake and that is about it. I trolled the Internet and found a great recipe and did it for the 4th and it turned out great.