Animals, animals everywhere....

This has to be one of the best educational toys I have ever seen. I found it at a local children's resale stores and my kids play with it ALLLLLLLL the time. Right now they are behind me listening to the noise the Bison makes over and over and over and over and laughing their heads off. It sounds like, well, a big stinker. LOL! The Giant Hornet sounds like a really long brrrrrrrrrrrrrr and they think it's just hysterical. It teaches about continents, countries, and animals and it holds their attention FOREVER!






We'll soon have some butterflies in the house. We have watched the larvae turn into large caterpillars and they are now in their pupa stage. The other day my friend asked how long they would be in this stage and I honestly had no idea. I said I'd have to look in the little booklet it came with. Shaye (remember, she's 4) said, "Mommy, it will be a pupa for 10 days." Sure enough, I found the little book last night and it said 7-10 days. It's official....my 4 year old knows more than me when it comes to zoology! LOL!

Anthony Michael

How can my heart not ache for him?

We had a great visit with Lisa today and baby Anthony is precious (HUGE nose, but precious. Heh.) Lisa truly is an amazing woman despite her past history with her pregnancies and birth children. She has stopped smoking, is clean, and Anthony's dad seems to be a hard worker and is love with his new son. It's hard, but seeing the situation with my own eyes gives me a little hope. Everything is in order and she has the things she needs for a baby. She was attentive, however out of the 4 hours we were there I think I held him 3 hours and 45 min. She changed his diaper and made him a bottle and she actually looked like she knew what she was doing. Her neice is there with her and they are getting a lot of help from family members, so I can only hope that this baby is on the path he was meant to be on.

But I did whisper in his ear that I wish he was mine.

I'm so incredibly sad tonight

Shaye and Laela's birthmom gave birth to a little boy yesterday (April 10) at 9:27am. 7 lbs. 7 oz. They have named him Anthony Michael. I believe Laela was born at 9:27 in the a.m., so how weird is that? We have known about the pregnancy since last summer and we are about 98% sure that our decision to adopt this child was not going to happen. Because of that, I haven't really given it that deep, soul searching kind of thought. Now that he's here, I have just been crying since we found out at noon today. How can we not adopt this child? But honestly, how can we? How is it possible to be sane with 4 children 4 years old and under? My heart is speaking "bring him to us". My head is telling me to hope for the best for the baby that he gets placed into a loving home.

The saddest part is that it sounds as if the baby may possibly go home with mom and dad (dad was at the birth, has been there since, and Caroline said he actually sounds like a nice guy). Dad kept thanking us for calling and C said he sounded really happy. We know that CPS is investigating right now, but I am really scared that this little boy will get lost in the system. All it takes is for them to do a couple of home visits, determine it's ok, and that's life.

I'm just sad. Sad for my family. Sad for my children. Sad for this baby. Sad for myself. Sad. Sometimes life just doesn't seem fair.

One of the funniest things I've read in a long time

From my friend Heidi's blog:

http://twotwoyearolds.blogspot.com/2009/04/more-lessons-learned.html

OMG WE'RE IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got the call this afternoon that Shaye will be starting her kindy year at a local Montessori charter school that goes K-8!! I am BEYOND stoked about this. We applied at 2 campuses and the one she got picked for is really awesome and I am very happy about it!!!! Oh, man...I am so RELIEVED!! Naia and Laela will also get to go there since they have sib priority. Can I tell everybody what a huge relief it is knowing that your education hopes and dreams for your child is coming to fruition? WHEW! Oh, I pray this is the right decision. It feels right. :)

Naia will stay in our private Montessori preschool until she starts kindy. And we may enroll Laela this August in pre-school, but she won't be going to kindy until 2012, so we may wait for awhile to enroll her.

GAHHHH!! I'm so excited I can barely stand it!

My baby is becoming a big girl!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Last night the kids were so excited about setting our Leprechaun trap they could barely sit still. Our "bait" was Lucky Charms (I mean, what ELSE besides pennies or shoes would a Leprechaun like?) Shaye woke me up at 6:30 this morning and insisted that we all get up immediately to check the "trap". We didn't snare any little sprites, but what they found under their tripped trap was shamrock cookies, shiny pennies and quarters, a special coin that fell out of the Leprechaun's pot of gold, and Leprechaun glitter was everywhere!!! They are tricky little fellas!! There was even a note that said: Top o'the morning to ya! Thanks for the treat, but us Leprehauns are a wee bit too clever for ya. Better luck next St. Patrick's Day. Love, Leppie (ok, so Caroline gave him the name, not me! LOL! Shaye insisted his name was Johnny though!)











Ok, I know this is a gross topic, but Laela is almost out of diapers!! She is now pooping and peeing in the potty and absolutely REFUSES diapers. She will only wear pull ups and, oh my GOD, if you don't let her wear a pull up she FREAKS the hell out!!!! Six months ago I said that she was going to be our hardest child to get out of diapers (her stubborn streak is fierce!) and crazy enough she's turning out to be the easiest!!! I remember when Shaye and Naia were potty learning that it took a lot of patience on my part. Neither of them really cared about using the potty, but once they did they did great. Laela has been actively trying now for months and I've been the bad Mommy trying hard to just keep her in diapers. Maybe I just want her to stay my baby for a little while longer?

A tale of a birth father....

Today when I went to pick Shaye and Naia up from school, Shaye's teacher Ms. K caught me in the lobby and said, "I have to tell you another great Shaye story" with a huge smile on her face. One of the kids said something about her having a dad and this is the dialogue that went on at the lunch table:

Little friend "G": something blah blah blah dad something something Shaye blah blah blah (not sure how the convo started)
Shaye: (very non-chalantely as she was eating her cream cheese sandwich at the lunch table): I don't have a dad. I have a BIRTH dad named Danny. And I have a birth mom named Lisa.
Little friend "H": OoooOOooooo...Danny is a beautiful name.
Shaye: Yeah, and Naia has a birth mom. Her name is April. And Lisa is Laela's birth Mom, too.

Ms. K said the conversation went on and on and Shaye explained the whole story about her adoption and how she has a Mommy and Mama and who grew in who's belly - all the while talking about it like it was any other story. I have to say that I was actually stunned!! I knew that the subject would come up eventually about a) the fact that she has two Mom's and b) that she was adopted. I just never realized this would all start in PREschool. Of course we talk to them about their adoption and birth parents all the time (pictures and video included), but I have always wondered how much of it has really made sense to them. I guess it makes sense as it would to a 4 year old! I have always prayed that she would handle it EXACTLY the way she did. Ms. K said that if she ever wanted to bring in pictures of her birth parents to share, she could do that and they would talk about adoption. I love her teacher and how they all make our family feel "normal" and our kids feel safe to discuss their story at school.

What a warm and fuzzy way to start a weekend!!!

Neurosis vs. Virus

Ok, so my neurosis with school "shopping" began years ago, but we got our first letter in the mail from our school district saying that Shaye is #9 on the waiting list for an alternative school that we enrolled her in as back up. It's not the Montessori school we want her to go to, so I'm not stressing. In fact, I'm a little relieved she didn't get picked (random lottery) because this school really is an awesome school and if it were not for Montessori, this would be the school I would want her to go to. It's an Open school and I was really, really impressed. Being #9 on the list is actually not bad and I would expect by the end of summer to be getting a call saying she can actually start kindergarten there. This school is a highly sought after school, so it really gives me hope that she WILL (fingers crossed!) get in on the random lottery Montessori school (please Universe if you hear me!!!!) Of course our solid back up plan is to just keep her in private Montessori for her K year. We're getting close to finding something out. These next few months of spring/summer are horribly suspenseful ones.

In other news, how can a virus stay in your body for two months??? I have been sick since about mid-January. It's probably the worst cold I have ever had in my life. No fever or chills or flu-like symptoms, it's just a really BAD cold. It started with horrible, and I mean excruciating - almost migraine like - headaches. I think I had a sinus infection, but before I could see a doc it cleared up. Now it has moved into my chest and the coughing spasms have returned. The other day I coughed violently for an hour straight. I was about to call Caro and tell her that I was dropping the girls off with her mom and going to the ER. It was that bad. I guzzled a ton of Delsym (I know, SO BAD!) and took some Mucinex (sp?) and was a bit better. I have to say this Mucinex stuff is the BOMG DIGGITY!!! If you have a really dry hacking cough, take one of the extra strength tablets and you will be good as new.

Happy weekend!

Proud Mama

Shaye has been so cute over the last 3 days. She started a job on Thursday called The Hundreds Board. Basically, it's a board that is numbers 1-100 and she has to put them in order.



Her teacher said she was extremely focused on the job and was concerned that she couldn't finish it all in one day, so they kept it under an easel in the library area so she could continue on Friday. On Friday, she pulled it out and worked on it again and still didn't finish it (it really does take a 4 year old quite some time and a lot of concentration to go from 1-100). So, today I asked her what job she picked at school today and she said, "Mommy, I am so proud of myself. I finished the hundreds board today." The kindergarten teacher had been working with her in her classroom and said that she is doing so well and she was very, very focused on completing her job.

I am so proud of you, too, my little angel. xoxo

Long live Edith Massey!!!!!

http://www.goear.com/listen.php?v=367161b

Just found this online and had to share. Hey punks, get off the grass!!!! God, I loved her. The Queen of Baltimore...