"Birth Blankets"

Okay so I got to thinking one day... "what good is a birth pillow really?"

I mean you get a little pillow and put some info on it about the birth day but what then. They never really use it and it usually just gets stored (or tossed).

So I came up with a more useful idea, something that would be able to be used AND display all the fun facts. And from that idea was born the "birth blanket"

Here is Bear's birth blanket. I still have the final touches to go as far as the border goes. Just satin trimming. But I am LOVING the blankets.

Moe's colors are more calm and his satin backing is cream. The quilted side is green, blue, cream and light tan (I think).


The quilting fabric can be bought at Hobby Lobby if you do not feel like creating your own quilt (not you Mols :)) and the backing is just satin and I took it to a local "monogramming" shop. Pin faces together and sew leaving a small opening to turn right side out when done sewing. Turn right side out then sew'er up. Then comes the satin blanket trim. I will be doing that soon... so ask me later if you need to know how that is done.

The boys LOVE them (ignore the pouty face!). And the blankets are big enough that they cover the boys!

And all this time I thought I was learning the Alphabet!

I have been working with Bear for a while with his alphabet. Not INTENSE or anything just sing the alphabet and go through alphabet books with him. He has a couple posters up on the wall with the alphabet on it and we will go over that from time to time. (we are now venturing into shapes and it is so fun to hear him identify a shape)

Here recently (about 3 weeks ago) I collected a fun nugget from a fellow blogger and started doing alphabet crafts with Bear. So since then he has been able to specify what letter is which when it is presented to him.

(mind the ugly border thingy and the ugly wall... this room has yet to get a coat or 20 of paint!)

Also when we would say the alphabet we would also sign it just for fun and b.c what will it hurt for him to know sign language right. I am by no means a proficient at sign language but we did start him out on baby sign and now that he is learning alphabet in sign language, I feel we are creating a window of opportunity for his future that may not have otherwise been there.

When we are driving I will say the alphabet to him while signing. (YES the other hand is on the steering wheel!). He gets a kick out of this and when I am done he will put his hands up in the air and start moving his little fingers all about while saying the alphabet.

He can identify most of the hand signs when we make them and ask him what they are. We do this out of order mostly also so that he is just not memorizing placement. We also do this with his letters. We will pick out a word and have him spell it from the paper for us.

Conveniently enough J and I usually have on tee shirts with writing on them so when he is sitting on the potty and I am placed on the tiny stool in front of the toilet (for a quick break while he does his business) he will read off the letters on my shirt. I will get him to trace the letters with his fingers. He is cruising right along in this learning season.

I recently bought 3 curriculum books from Mardel geared toward toddler/preschool age children. I found one that is PERFECT for Bear. It has the alphabet in it but ALSO it has pictures with the alphabet that you can match AND it has a picture of the HAND SIGN right along with it! I say Thank YOU JESUS for such a fun little gift.

He has also been playing Memory and loving it. J and I have a collection of children's games b.c we LOVE to play games and children games are always more fun AND we love having our nieces over and getting involved in their world through games.

So Bear has a new game that he plays now. We only take about 5 picture pairs out of the box and use only those so as to not overwhelm him. Then we lay them face up and ask him to find the matches. Or we will pull out one of the matches and ask him to find the other one. He LOVES this and will do it over and over again.

We switch up the 5 pairs and for a bit of a challenge we split the pairs and keep one set in a pile and the other set we lay out in rows on the table before him. I will flip my card over and ask him to look for the match. He will flip cards over and if it is not a match he will say "nope" and flip it back over and continue searching until he finds the match. When he finds one that fits the criteria he will examine both cards and look at me and CHEER so enthusiastically. As do I.

I am loving this new phase of life.

It is funny to see Moe baby right along side him learning also. He will mimick his bubby in everything he does. So we are sure to spread some of the learning on to him as well. I have just been working with him in word recognition. So far he has it down but there are still some words that he is having difficulties saying. His vocabulary has bloomed in the past 2 months, we are so proud of him!

He has been so used to whining for everything he wanted. We have NEVER condoned this behavior but for some reason it was easier for him to whine than to speak (yes I know... duh!). We did teach him baby sign also but he would rarely use it. We would ask him to use his words and he would then sign. But now that Bear has been talking all the time he is picking up on WORDS galore and doing great with them.

about time

This post could be totally dedicated to time and how I feel like I DON'T HAVE ANY! But it isn't.

What it is about is the fact that there are some of you out there who are apparently interested in what is going on with our little ones and I really do want to honor that and keep you up to date better. But again... I feel like I NEVER HAVE ANY TIME to sit down and THINK about a post that updates you on all the littles and their little lives. So if anyone wants to find me a childcare provider that I TRUST please... by all means! :)

I snuck away for some alone time for about 15 minutes. Sorry I wasted the other 2 hours getting all 4 new tires on the Sequoia, an oil change, and eating dinner. Now here I sit at Schlotzky's using their free Wi Fi and getting a bit of calm before heading to Starbucks to meet the Ladies group that will be meeting in 15 min.

Yes I know... I just used up a whole 5 minutes to tell you about that! HA! Okay so what you are really here for...

Which by the way, for "anonymous", yes, the reason I blog about Bear most is b.c he is OURS now.. and mainly b.c we are not supposed to "publicize" our foster children. STINK! They are WAY too adorable to keep them to myself!

I mean I have posted pics and facts here and there of/about Moe and Miley BUT it is so hard to pick and choose what I can give you all without giving it all away (seeing that my blog is not set to private... I am debating doing that so we can be a bit more open ... AND not sharing pictures is KILLING me!)

Moe is easier to share about b.c we have a great relationship with his father and he does not mind... SO that is simple. Miley Bird is a bit more touchy... but I will do my best.

*****************************************UPDATES***********************************

Moe Baby... He is now 18 months old and a booger bear these days. :) He has such personality and he is learning that he can use it to manipulate BOTH "sets" of parents in his life.

He has been having unsupervised visits with his father and they are going great!

Both father and son are adapting so very well and they are loving being a "couple" :). I have talked to Daddy F several different times about how this is making him feel; having a bit more freedom. He has expressed that it is so strange to be with his son and nobody be around "hovering". I can only imagine the new realm of freedom that opens up in that aspect.

Daddy F has been coming to church with us and attending Life Group with us. He has expressed how much he enjoys it and feels like he is getting a lot out of it. I am so beside myself at how this ministry has extended beyond the children! So amazing, God's plans!

He has also been coming out to our home so that I can help him learn to cook and do many things he would otherwise not have a chance to learn. He has come out and I have showed him how to bathe Moe and lead him through his bedtime routine... brush his teeth, read to him, pray over him etc..

He has learned how to get him to the restroom "on time" and how to wipe him afterwords. I mean these are things he just does not know and has no reason to "know" them. He has never been a father before. All I can say for him is that he is WILLING and READY to learn and is digging in deep and secure in learning these things for the best interest of him and his son.

Moe was removed at 6 weeks old (only 2 weeks after the mother dropped him off with him and left) so he has not really had a chance to do much with his son other than what CPS has allowed. Now that we have had these more leanient rules with CPS we have felt God tugging on our hearts to go a step further (as HE usually does... and we USUALLY obey)... "invite him out... have him for dinners, games, breakfasts)". We are to show him the LOVE of a FAMILY and what it should look like. What his son NEEDS is not a "full" family, but LOVE like a family. AND believe me when I say his father LOVES him! NO reservations!

So anyway... we have been seeing this new adjustment take place and it is kind of scary, and freeing all at the same time. Scary in the sense that I have NO IDEA where "my son" is when he is with his father. But freeing in that I can TRUST him to know that he will take care of Moe AND I get a small break from one more toddler.

Not that I don't LOVE Moe; I couldn't love him more if he were my own. It is just that here lately he has been a bit .... difficult. I believe his 2 year molars are already surfacing. Or at least in the beginning stages. He has been VERY moody and VERY irritable lately and I am just so tired of NOT KNOWING what is defiance and what is "he really doesn't feel good". So when to punish and when to medicate and love on is VERY confusing to me right now.

On top of Bear is being a toot as well these days so they spend their days ARGUING about everything and screaming at the top of their lungs when things are tense (which here lately they just ARE).

I am also convinced that Bear is also cutting his molars. Not saying that my children cannot be bad unless it is due to teething. NO they totally have that capacity! It is just that they always teeth at the same time. Moe is an early teether, he cut his first tooth at 5 months old and Bear was 9 months. So they are side by side.

Bear has had a couple nights that he would just cry in his bed. Like a painful cry. I was baffled until I thought about the teeth. I took him some orajel and some motrin and he fell asleep almost immediately. As I was applying the orajel (in between trying to not get my finger bit off) I felt some pokies back there.

Tonight I did the same to Moe; I orajeled him and felt the same hard pokies in the back of his gums. SO BOTH MY TODDLERS ARE TEETHING RIGHT NOW! And they are NOT NICE!

We are dealing though and it is getting a bit better with every day that goes by. Just stressful in the moment to say the least!

But on a positive note, Moe is one little boy with a lot of personality. He loves learning and is into EVERYTHING destructive :).














He loves to just tear paper. I recently bought a book of Toddler curriculum and one of the activities that it talks about in there is a tear box. Get a box and put just scrap paper in it. Like old magazine pages, just old gift tissue paper, wrapping paper etc... in it and let them stand/sit by the box and just tear paper. It is a normal thing for a toddler to do and it helps them in some developmental way (I cannot remember specifics but I can look at the book if anyone really wants to know).













He loves playing with rocks and putting things into other things. Like rocks into jugs and dirt into a pail or a cup. Just so long as he is trying to figure out how it gets in there he is good as gravy.

*Now for our Miley Bird. She is so very precious to us and we enjoy her smiles and laughter everyday. She is starting to figure out that she doesn't HAVE to sleep just because we lay her down in her crib. She is starting to voice her concern about sleeping during the day :). She is still doing great on her schedule and is still only drinking 4 ounces every 3 hours.

Miley is now 3 months old. She is growing developmentally and physically at a very fast pace and we are so thrilled to be entering this new phase of her life. She is still a petite little girl but can hold her own against the wobbly brother that she happens to have.



She is now rolling from tummy to back and trying very hard to roll from back to tummy. She is a very talkative little miss! We love listening to her and imagining what she must be talking about. Her "brothers" can make her smile at the drop of a hat and laughter is always soon to follow. She has been trying to "sit up" when she is lying back like in her car seat. She leans her little head forward as far as she can.

She is very observant and such a social butterfly. If there is ANYTHING going on around her she will forfeit drinking her bottle to pay close attention to what is going on. We typically have to feed her in her room so that she actually eats.

We still know nothing further on her case really. It is kind of a tough case and many intricate details that will need to be looked over and worked out.

We are VERY open to adopting our little bird but we will see what GOD's plan is. We are adding some prayer in there though. :)