Screaming Baby II

Screaming Baby

Day 43

This picture is the sweetest image to wind down our day. It was quite a day indeed!

Let me start by saying that it felt like it was Sunday all day. And it's only 8:30 right now and it feels like this is the day that will never end. To say it's been a long day is an understatement. Maybe it's because I don't feel 100% but man, it's just dragging by!

Gus didn't sleep well last night, which only added to the day. He usually gets 12 hours but he was up and ready to go at 7... and didn't get to bed until after 8 last night. Then his napping for the day was off.

Let's talk about the nap from this afternoon shall we? I brought Gus upstairs around 12:30 and would hear him fuss and stop, then fuss and stop. It went on for a while, and so I decided to go in and check on him. When I walked in... I was met with the most foul smell... poop. 

My initial thought was that he obviously pooped, but that maybe his diaper was just really full and that's why I could smell it. Then I looked and saw him. I gasped and said, "OH MY GOD!" and Steve came immediately to see what was going on. 

Gus was sitting with his diaper off... and had poop all over him. In his hair, on his chest, neck, legs, and his feet had been standing IN the diaper, so they were covered in poop. It was all over his hands, all over the crib, and all over the sheets. It was GROSS!!!!

I went and started a bath and Steve stood with Gus and then I took him to our bathroom... and tried my best not to get any poop on me. Steve cleaned up the mess (I was gagging) and I bathed the boy. He was quite pleased with himself.

All that... and he hadn't slept a wink.

We went downstairs after the poop fiasco and he played for a while. He did a great job with lunch and had 1/2 a container of baby food (blueberry pear oatmeal) and then some water in a sippy.

He kept rubbing his eyes, so we tried to lay him down downstairs, but he wouldn't fall asleep. He kept getting up and playing.

I made some Oreo truffles to take to MI and tomorrow I'm making Buckeyes. I'm making some for my dad and some for Wendy's birthday. :)  They both read this, so there goes their surprise!

For dinner I made the most delicious (and easy) meal in the crockpot. I made roasted chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes, and corn. For the chicken you just take a can of cream of chicken soup and pour it over some chicken in a crockpot and let it cook on low for six hours. I also add a small can of mushroom stems and pieces (I like mushrooms), but you don't have to add them. When you've got about 30 minutes left to cook, you add a packet of chicken gravy to the mix and that's it. It's so yummy!

Earlier this morning Steve got on the floor with Gus and I took some cute pictures of the two of them.

 

Playing with Daddy's face (his mouth)

 

Poking Daddy in the eye...

 

Watching the TV with Daddy (he's not allowed to watch television)

 

Gus loves his Daddy!!

We're going to start packing for Michigan tomorrow so that we're ready on Wednesday. The plan is to try and leave around 4am on Wednesday and then that'll give Gus a few hours of sleeping in the car in the dark. We're hoping that it'll be a smooth trip and he won't hate being in the car too long. One of us will always be back there with him, so it shouldn't be too bad. We should get to Michigan around 4 or 5 pm and I can't wait!

I should say that it's supposed to be in the 70s on Thursday here... and probably cold and rainy in Michigan. At least when we leave Michigan to come back to NC, it'll be warmer here and will feel like spring break!!  :)

Steve's dad and Sue Ann are coming to visit on Thursday when we get back. They'll be here through Sunday. It should make for a nice visit. Maybe it'll be warm here and we can go to the park.

I hope I feel better tomorrow and for sure feel better by Wednesday!!

>^..^<

Day 42

The day arrived... Gus is now nine-months-old! I can't believe that he's so close to being a year already. People don't lie when they say that time goes by so quickly!!

I'm not going to lie... Gus is my favorite person. He is such a cutie and makes me laugh. Lately he's been very clingy and wants me to hold him all the time, and then he wants down, but immediately wants back up into my arms. It's the greatest ever. I think he knows what "Come here" means because if he's across the room and I say, "Gus... come here..." and motion with my hands for him to come to me, he always does. He's so smart!

This morning he played in the Johnny Jumper for a little bit (sorry about the crazy red-eye in these pictures... I can't figure out how to get rid of it)

Then we went downstairs and played for a while. Gus's new favorite thing to do with the exersaucer is to crawl under it and play.

As you all know, today Gus turned nine-months-old so of course I had to take a bazillion pictures to mark the occasion! Here are some of my favorites from the bunch (I took over 100):

After taking these pictures I decided to see if Gus was hungry for some lunch. I am so glad that I tried because he ate 4oz of vanilla yogurt (an entire container) and had some fruit and cheese puffs! Here are some pictures of my messy eater:

I was able to watch a lot of my DVR'd shows today and it was so nice. Wendy came over for a brief visit and it was good to see her. I made a new dessert that I read about on another blog and I took pictures of the entire process. Wendy got to taste the finished work and she approved.

 

1 Stick of softened butter, yellow cake mix, one egg-- mix together

 

This is what you'll have. This is the crust.

After you've got the crust in a pan that's been sprayed with PAM, pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees

 

In the same bowl that you made the crust with, add 2 eggs, 4 cups of powdered sugar and 8 oz of softened cream cheese. Mix these together for 1-2 minutes.

 

This is the way it'll look when whipped up

 

Add to the top of the crust and put into the oven for 40-50 minutes

 

When it's done cooking this is what it looks like

YUMMMMMMM enjoy!!

Now I love sweet stuff but my goodness this is SUPER sweet! Almost too sweet for me to eat! Steve liked it though and it was good with a HUGE glass of cold skim milk!

We went out for Mexican tonight since I have been craving it for a while. We got there and had a 25 minute wait... which I hated, but what other choice did we have? The food was delicious and "hit the spot." We came home, put Gus to bed and watched Gray's Anatomy while we ate our dessert. Now my stomach hurts.

We got a note from our agency that they received our divorce decrees but now won't send the finalization paperwork until they get a certified copy of our marriage license. Since we wed in the Bahamas, the license doesn't look like the ones here in the U.S. do. Steve wrote back and told them that the copy that they have for us, IS the certified copy. It's all we've got. We're hoping they'll realize this and send our finalization stuff to MI this next week. Who knows how long it'll take to process... but we certainly aren't getting anything started by having CAS hold the paperwork over our heads. Yeah... real "Christian" of them right?

Anyway... I need sleep and I still have to do Gus's nine-month blog. See you tomorrow!

>^..^<

 

Day 41

What a day! Gus slept all through the night last night (7:30-6:30) and then I was up with him for about an hour and then he went back to sleep. I expected to get maybe another hour out of him, but he slept until 10:00!! I had to go in and check on him to make sure that he was still breathing!!

I got a text from Wendy about going to lunch around 11:30 with her and then going to Wal-Mart. I needed to get some things from WM too, so I said that I'd love to go. We headed to McDonald's for lunch so the kids could play.

Kaitlyn is almost five and is usually afraid of going into the play area. She doesn't like the slide and was afraid at first today. She asked Wendy to go with her, and Wendy took Gus and the three of them went into the play area while I stayed at the table with Ashley. I was so proud of Kaitlyn. She went down and at first was scared... but then I think because Wendy and I made a BIG deal about it and how proud of her we were, she went again and then again and again by herself and loved it!! I was thrilled to see her so happy and excited to explore the play area!!

After Wal-Mart we came back to the house and Wendy was determined to head up to the FROG and get working on it. She said that last night she thought and thought about it and was picturing in her head where everything should go. I put in Aladdin for the girls and she went up and started around 1:30ish.

I eventually came up to help put things into the attic, but when I saw the room I could have cried. It was absolutely beautiful. NEVER in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that it could EVER be used as a playroom. I had hoped it could, but with all the boxes and things from my classroom, it wasn't possible.

The last thing that Wendy wanted to do was move the loveseat from our bedroom into the FROG. We started the attempt, but it was too big to fit through the door. Fortunately, Steve came home just in time to help and he said he'd take care of it.

The room is finished. It is beautiful and I owe so much to Wendy for doing it. I told her in the beginning that I would love to do it, but it's so out of control, that I couldn't wrap my mind around it enough to know where to even begin. I wish I had before pictures so you could see what it looked like. We're talking my classroom from Oak Grove dumped into the FROG... there was a single path to the back wall and the rest was piles of stuff. Here's the finished result:

It's so gigantic and wide now... I can't wait to actually move some of Gus's toys in there and start using it!! Like I said, I had dreamed of being able to use it as a playroom, but never thought it was possible. Isn't it amazing??

While Wendy was upstairs organizing, I took some pictures of Gus playing. Here are a few from today:

Nine months ago today we found out that C was in labor with Gus. Nine months ago this very minute, we were driving north and our thoughts were frantic. We didn't know what the outcome would be, we didn't know if it was all going to work out or be a big heartbreak. I drove a lot that night because Steve had worked all day and I was enjoying my final week of track out. I can remember driving and tears would just be coming from my eyes... I wasn't even intentionally crying... but I was so nervous and stressed that they just flowed down my face as I drove.

Tomorrow Gus will be nine-months-old. It's amazing how much he's grown and changed in this short period of time. On one had it seems like yesterday, and on the other, it seems like it's been forever that we've had him.

Last night his birth father friend requested him on Facebook. It freaked me out. I don't know why my immediate reaction was, "OH MY GOD" but it was. I called Steve into the office to show him and he said, "OH!" when he saw it. I wasn't sure how I should feel. I'm sorta glad that H will be able to see pictures and see videos of Gus... but it's different when we've had contact with the extended family for nine months and suddenly we have contact with his birth father (still nothing with his birth mother).

I commented on H's page, "Hi!!!" and he wrote back, "Hi Gus!" I don't know what I thought he'd write, but it was perfect. I asked Steve, "What would you do if he listed Gus as his child?" Steve said, "Nothing... he is his child. It doesn't take anything away from me being his dad." That's just what I needed to hear. My husband is so great... so mature... and so at peace with all of this. Not threatened at all, and completely in love with Gus and not worried about the little things. I am so lucky to have him!

So that's the latest. We're not doing anything tomorrow... I'm taking the nine month pictures of Gus, but other than that... I'm going to watch my DVR'd shows and enjoy not watching cartoons all day!  :D

Tomorrow I'll be posting on Gus's blog and will post what he should be doing in the ninth month... I'm always eager to see what he can do and to look back on the eight-month post and see what it said he'd be doing this month.

And to Wendy... I can't even put words to the amount of love and gratitude I have for you. You're incredible and I am so blessed to have you in my life. You love my son like he is your own, and you trust me with your girls like they were mine. You are such an amazing friend and I am so thankful that you came over to my house on Halloween of '09 to introduce yourself to your snotty neighbor. ;)  Love you girl!!

>^..^<

Day 40

 

Good Morning Mama!!!

My little man slept for twelve and a half hours last night! I was so excited because I had GNO last night and didn't get to bed until almost 11. It was so nice to sleep past 7!!

I don't think I mentioned this yesterday, but when Steve got up and went downstairs yesterday morning, the front door was WIDE open. (Scary right?) And then he did a kitty head-count and came up one cat short (Bing Clawsby). He told me that Bing was missing and I started to look for him but he was definitely not in the house. I decided to look more once I was up and Gus was up (this was like 6am). So then when I let the dogs out (around 9:30) I called for Bing outside and he came! He was hiding under the grill cover.

Anyway... I need to say that Wendy is incredible. She couldn't wait to get started on the FROG and I just shook my head and said to myself, "There's no way she's going to get this done..." and then she worked from like 9:30-12:00 and we had to go get K from pre-school. We went to Andy's for lunch, came back here and she went right back up and did more! She worked from like 1:30-almost 4 and then she had to go.

When I brought Gus up for his nap, I peeked into the room and COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EYES. She is amazing! Seriously... she has an eye for organization and could go into business doing this for people. She'd make a ton of money!! She should be a personal organizer for a living because not only does she LOVE IT, but she's GOOD at it!!

Today we locked in the dates for visits with Gus's birth family on both sides. I am eager for them to see him and actually hold him and spend time with him. I just pray that it all goes well. These people are in our lives for at least 18 years, so I'm hoping that we can continue to keep things going so well in person. Sometimes it's easier to maintain happiness when you're doing things online, but in person it's another story.

Fortunately, both sides have been wonderful about being willing to come to us (they live about an hour or so away from my parent's house). We'll be meeting at a cool place called Jungle Java and they have a ton of couches, and then they have a play area for babies that will be perfect for Gus. They have coffee and drinks and food, so it should be perfect for everyone, and better yet, it's free! :)

We'll be meeting with his birth father's family on Thursday night and then I hope we can do something with my SIL since they live so close to where we'll be. Then Saturday we have plans with my cousin Jes and Gus's birth mom's aunt (Gus's Great Aunt and second cousins)... and then Sunday we have plans with Gus's birth mom's family.We're going to be very busy!!

So this morning... after Gus finally woke up he was starving (going 12+ hours will do that to 'ya), and I changed his diaper and gave him a bottle and I came back to my computer to check email and whatnot. He was very quiet so I assumed that he had fallen back asleep. When I went in to see what he was doing, this is what I saw:

You probably can't really tell from the pictures, but he was buck naked and had taken off his diaper. It's kinda my fault because I put him in one that was a bit too big, but I didn't expect to have him naked as a jay bird when I walked in!!

Okay... enough for now. I'll be back tomorrow. I need to figure out how I can blog while I'm in MI next week... I'll see if I can do it. I'd hate to go a whole week and have to catch up and lose my momentum!!

Later!

>^..^<