First Placement

We got our first foster placement today. It's an emergency placement of a sweet four-month old baby boy. He has siblings that have been adopted by other families and he may move to one of those families but for now he's with us. I don't quite know how to feel. On the one hand I'm really excited to have a baby in the house again. On the other hand the fact that he's here with us means that another family has been broken apart. I feel kind of guilty for being so happy to have him here.

We got the call that the baby was coming around 5pm and he was here by 6:30pm. I made a quick run to Target before he got here to get diapers and formula. I got the wrong size diapers – I was imagining that the baby would be tiny and malnourished. This baby is HUGE. I'd guess he weighs over twenty pounds and he wears nine month clothes. He has the chunkiest thighs I've ever seen!

As soon as he arrived, Cash turned into big brother extraordinaire. The social worker who brought the baby over had to stay and go over his paperwork with us. Cash walked into the room we were in, pointed at her and said, "When is SHE going to LEAVE?" He wanted to be alone with his new baby! He spent the rest of the night patting the baby, fetching diapers and quizzing us about every move and sound the baby made.

West immediately regressed into baby mode. He wanted to put a diaper on, drink his chocolate milk from a bottle and have a pacifier. I nixed the diaper and bottle idea but I did let him have a pacifier and some extra cuddle time. That seemed to help.

Now we start the whirlwind of doctor's appointments, court dates and social worker visits. It should be an adventure to say the least!

Wordless Wednesday

I Would Eat Them On A Boat

Cash decided he wanted green eggs and ham* for breakfast the other day:

(I don't know why he's holding a piece of sandpaper.)

When West heard that Cash was getting green eggs and ham for breakfast, he decided he wanted RED eggs and ham* because red is his favorite color. The results resembled the internal organs of a farm animal:

*All breakfast foods pictured were made by Travis.

Teaser Tuesday: December 1

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"The bright side was that with the exception of the set of shredded sheets upon which she lay, they had kept the destruction to a minimum. The downside – well, she really could have gone a couple of lifetimes without seeing him from this angle."

-p. 112 You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore

O Christmas Tree

We actually got all of our holiday decorating done over Thanksgiving break! I dread it every year – I love the finished results but the process is tedious at best. This year the boys were so excited and wound up it was like we were working with two Tasmanian devils in our midst.

West concentrated on putting his ornaments on one particular branch:

For the finishing touch, the boys each took a turn placing the flamingo angel at the top of the tree:

Thankfully Reading Weekend: Sunday

This was a great weekend! I got about halfway through You Suck: A Love Story today even though I was busy with church in the morning and shopping in the afternoon. I'm thankful for Thankfully Reading Weekend because it made me more aware of how I spend my "downtime" and I was able to get off the computer and spend more time reading than I normally would. Sometimes I think I need a 12-step program for my Internet addiction!

Thankfully Reading Weekend: Saturday

I started the morning by running six miles with my running group. Today's course was one of the hilliest I've been on and my legs felt like jello for a long time after I got home. Jello legs are very conducive to reading – it was really hard to get off the couch! I finished Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore and I've started the sequel, You Suck: A Love Story.

We also got the Christmas tree put up – no easy task when the boys are involved. I'll post pictures of that later in the week.

Thankfully Reading Weekend: Friday

Today was a busy day – we took the boys to Fun Run in the morning to burn off their excess long weekend energy. Then West and I took a really long nap. After we got up, I took the boys to McDonald's for dinner and playtime so we wouldn't be under foot while Travis shampooed our carpet. Now its nice and clean and it will look so much nicer when we set up the Christmas tree tomorrow.

I managed to sneak a little reading in throughout the day today. I'm working on Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore for the Conversati-OM book club meeting on Monday. I'd like to also read the sequel, You Suck because I think most of the other members of my book club are reading it too. It's extra credit! If I somehow finish that this weekend as well, then I'll start The Zookeeper's Wife which is the All Souls book club selection for our December meeting.

Thanksgiving Train

All aboard the Thanksgiving train! Conductor Cash will take your ticket.

Happy Thanksgiving

From my two little turkeys: