Labor

Some people have joked me that we won't be having 9 months of preparation that other parents get when they know they are having a child. They say we might have 9 minutes! Well, even with the last ones we had at least a few days.

I realized today though, during this most recent journey, we definitely aren't going through 9 months of preparation and hours of labor. However, it seems we might go through days, weeks, and maybe months of labor. We hopefully will know more this week where this newest journey is taking us, but it appears that the next few days and weeks especially will be full of transition and in it's own right, labor. This week has been emotionally and mentally exhausting...It's a lot to think about how to integrate kiddos into your house, your family and your life. It's a special kind of challenge when the kiddos are even older, as these little ones are. They have actually  had some routine and some structure for the past 8 months so they have habits, routines, things they are used to in daily life.We have spent a few visits getting to know them and their routines and they have spent time getting to know our life and our routines. At this point, they don't know where this is leading - They just know we are friends and that we were watching them the past couple of times they have been over.  Today they were over nearly all day. They spent lunch and dinner here and even took naps really well. We didn't get to play outside much since it was 100 degrees today and it was a sweat fest just walking outside. We did drag out nearly every toy in the house and found a few that we hadn't even opened yet.

When I dropped them off we talked about them spending the night on Friday night and being with us all day Saturday. She said "Yes!!" Wow. Smile. While I am excited, I am still freaking out on the inside. We have nothing for kids this age, including a bed for the little guy. So this week's part of  labor: switching the big bed to the other bedroom, finding him a bed and then moving the baby & toddler stuff to the basement since we won't be needing it for a while.

I talked to their current family tonight about my concerns about their transition and feeling like I'm going to be pulling them away. They told me not to worry - They think with lots of visits they will do really well and that they have been so flexible so far and it won't be as bad as I fear.  They told me once we talk to their worker and we decide for sure this is what we want to do they will start talking about their "forever family". I shared with them that something would have to be significantly wrong for us to say no to any kiddos who came to us. They joked that their worker will pin us down and ask Yes or No: are you a permanent family option? I told them, our answer to her will be Yes.

A few things I want to remember about this part of our journey:
They went outside with us to say goodbye to my parents and wave at them as they drove off on their motorcycles.

He hated the 2 flies that have taken up residence in our house. One buzzed his ear: "Owie...Go away bug!!"

When he went to lay down for his nap, he got up twice, turned the light on but went down well when Brad told him it was time for naps. After his nap, " I took a really, really, really, really, really, big nap!"

They wanted to know what was downstairs because they hadn't been yet. We toured the basement and then they decided "the next time" they came over, we would play with some of the other toys.  That made me smile a little..that they thought there would be a next time.

As I was driving them home, I asked what the favorite part of the day was. She said it was playing in the mini ball jumping pit that we blew up in the living room.

As we were driving, we went over rumble strips: "Why does your car do that?". I explained that it was so we knew the stop sign was coming up. She asked where the stop sign was. By this time we had stopped and gone past it while we were talking, so she wanted to know when the next one was coming. I told her it would be a while, but we would go through several stoplights. As we got to the next one, I told her it was coming up. "Ok! Everyone quiet so we don't miss the next one!".

They both love dill pickles - Yep, we are going to get along just fine.