Parenting Check-In

Jazibel

Good Morning Everyone,

How was your weekend?  Any new developments, challenges or accomplishments?  Please remind us of your LO(s) age as well.

QOTD: (Borrowed from the Pregnancy Check-In)  Are you planning anything special with your LO(s) today? What is your favorite holiday(s) that you are looking forward to spending with your LO(s).  Any special traditions you look forward to passing along?

Bonus PIP :-)

ATXmommas

We had a great weekend! Our little one is just getting cuter by the day!

After hearing @JGY & @stringy813‌ talk about swimming lessons, I started looking into lessons that he can start this summer. I think it would be a great activity for him and Z to do together. He has a lot of fun in the bathtub with us and even dunked his little head in the water a few times on Saturday.

He also started rolling from back to tummy over the weekend. No more leaving him on the bed for a sec while we brush our teeth or whatever!

He's also getting a little more engaged with toys. We usually give him a small soft toy to play with and he likes playing with it and putting in mouth.

I'm also starting to research BLW. I have so many questions that I want to be prepared in advance! I know I'm going to solicit feedback from those of you who have done it pretty soon.

Home study for second parent adoption was supposed to be on Sat, but the person conducting the study had to reschedule. We're on for the 29th.

That's it for us!

QOTW: nothing today, but we did buy him a special "My First St. Paddy's Day" outfit - see PIP.

I'm typically not a Halloween person, but I do think it will be fun with a kid. Christmas was magical for us as kids, and it's probably the holiday I'm most looking forward to making special for him.

2brides

We really don't do anything for this holiday. We made sure the kids had green shirts for dress down day at school and L bought soda bread for them to try this morning. But no green milk/leprechauns/tricks. They are also home for their 1084672th snow day of the year. :P

Christmas is probably the biggest one in terms of traditions (kids can't go downstairs until we get downstairs, Santa gifts are unwrapped, other gifts are opened one by one, etc.)

We also do an Easter egg hunt with a treasure map that the kids love (thankfully, L is very creative!)

Jazibel

We had a good weekend all in all, with some bumps along the way. 

I worked Saturday from 10:30 - 9pm.  So I missed Kaden's bedtime.  We ended up having the roughest night we've had in FOREVER.  He woke about 7 times after 11pm.  I stopped counting after 5.  I'm not sure if it was because I was gone all day.  (But I've traveled twice since he was born for about 4-5 days each time and he didn't do this to EV).  We think it was an upset stomach/gas. I gave him papaya enzymes but didn't have any other remedies/medicine at home.  We did bicycle legs, etc.  Needless to say I was an exhausted mess by the morning (I'd only slept 4ish hours the night before, due to staying up way to late with EV).  He finally slept from 6:30-9:15.

Yesterday we ran errands as a family (something we rarely do because of EV's work/school schedule). And had my Brother-in-law and his wife over for BBQ.  I wrote more in the Pregnancy Check-In and I'm sure I will write more in many posts to come.. But they announced their BFP!! They're 5 weeks pregnant after trying for nearly 2 years.  We are so thrilled!!!

Kaden is growing tall, he's in a size 8 shoe, which we just bought on Friday and he's outgrowing his 2T clothes!!!  Yikes.  He had a blast with his aunt and uncle yesterday.

They've also offered to babysit overnight Friday - Saturday of this week.  It will be Kaden's first overnight and our first date night in soooo long.  I'm super excited.  The fact that EV's on break from school for 2 weeks makes it even better. 

QOTD:  Maybe a green outfit for today. @ATXMommas - I love Ash's outfit, the clover on bottom is too cute!

I love Halloween, and Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'm looking forward to passing along lots of traditions, including Easter egg painting, etc.  Holidays that weren't very special as an adult are fun again with kids (like fireworks on 4th of July). 

trisholio

I have to say it was a rough weekend.  Saturday night M threw a huge fit at bedtime and Sunday morning woke up with marks on her face from smacking herself and hitting her face on her bed.  We have no idea what caused her to flip out so badly, she has never done that before.  We had to report it to our caseworker and fill out an incident report.  It makes me feel so bad and makes me worry the agency is going to think we are bad foster parents.  The sensible part of my brain knows that kids throw fits and they are going to get hurt, but it is different when you are under a microscope all the time.  

Sunday was a little better, we got up and went to church as a family.  It was nice and I feel like I got a lot out of the service.  We are looking forward to making the effort each week to attend church.  It is important to my wife and I both.

I feel like I have been pretty down the last few weeks.  I knew being a parent/foster parent would be hard, but I didn't realize how hard.  So it is more of an adjustment than we expected.  I also battle depression which gets worse in the winter.  This winter has been really bad and really long.  I am ready for sunshine, warm weather and to be able to get out of the house a bit more.  Enough whining for now :-)  Thanks for "listening" everyone

JGY

@trisholio, I think you deserve an individual post to recognize how amazingly well you are dealing with such difficult things.  I'm sure your hearts broke for M, and it's the worst possible time to have to worry about what someone else is going to think about the situation.

I can't even imagine battling depression with all that you have going on, but you are doing a seriously great job.  Hats off to you.

 

JGY

Let's see, Gabe will be 1 in exactly 1 week!  HOW DID THIS HAPPEN????

We don't do anything for St. Patrick's Day, but I did find whatever green we had to put on him today at his daycare's request.

I think my favorite holiday with Gabe is going to be Thanksgiving (it already is my own favorite holiday).  Because I am not a person of faith, I especially enjoy holidays where I don't feel like I'm treading on anyone's turf, or not celebrating the true meaning of the holiday.  Plus I LOOOOOVE to cook; it makes me feel very thankful for what we have, and being with family is the most important thing.  My family also has a nice tradition of hosting anyone that we know who doesn't have anywhere else to go.  I'd love for Gabe to carry on that tradition when he grows up.

In addition to all of that, I think Thanksgiving is a wonderful "Teaching" holliday.  Because along with all the great, happy, feel-good stuff, there is also (much) room for reflection on how humans treat each other, both well and poorly.  And discussions about respect for other cultures and other peoples' space has a great place on that day too.

Bonus PIP - Gabe's birthday cakes, I finally ordered them:

 

Jazibel

@trisholio - so sorry you had a tough weekend   Parenting is so difficult as is, and you and your wife are graciously opening your home to two little girls with all the regular toddler/baby antics plus extra stuff that you may never know the meaning of.  My heart breaks for those girls and I am so happy for them that they've found a home with you.  I hope that your Foster Care agency/worker is understanding and helps to removed the pressure of "being under the lens".

Here's to sunshine and warm spring weather.  I think we all need a little more Vitamin D.  I hope your depression takes a back seat soon.  Big HuGs to you!!

trisholio

JGYJazibeljrtmom thank you so much for your support.  Some days I feel like I can handle everything and other days I feel like I have no idea what I am doing.  I think I am hard on myself and expect to know how to handle so many different situations, and all at the same time. Kids are difficult at any age and I have no idea what these girls have been thru or seen in their little lives, but I know it has already affected them and that breaks my heart.  

But each day I make the choice to love them as much as I can, do the best I can and try and learn something to make the next day better.  Thank you all for being a sounding board and helping me to feel normal and not like a horrible person that complains all the time :-)

JGY

@stringy813 it's amazing to see that they totally ARE capable of sleeping through the night, and it makes it all the more frustrating when they don't.  But I'm glad things seem to be trending better for you guys on the sleep front. 

I had thought we were getting back into the more manageable pattern of waking 2xnight for quick nursing sessions and then back to sleep.  But then last night/this morning at 4am, he was just UP.  Funny thing was, S was also up (she's developed some insomnia) and texted me from downstairs when she heard him making noise.  She asked if we wanted breakfast.  So there we all sat, the whole family (dog/cat included), eating eggs at 4:30am!  I suppose if you're all up, you might as well spend quality time together, right?

 

Mystjava

Hi everyone... been busy, trying to prep for my LO's 4th bithday!  Yep, he turns 4 at the end of the month.  we're having a lego themed party, but the sad part is that almost everyone we've invited have declined to attend,  I was hoping to have at least 4 kids around his age to be there, but so far it will be two. (sad face).  On a happy note, he's looking forward his big day.