One Step At A Time

I’m climbing my mountain….one step at a time. 

Whew.  What a day…week…whatever.  In response to the offline response I got to my last blog post…I’m fine.  I don’t know who reads this anymore plus I’ve already dealt with situation and had to be cryptic to protect the….innocent(?!)…and anyway, I just needed to let off a little steam because I was aggravated (about more than one thing…it just piled up fast…lol) 

Is what it is…love me, hate me, whatever…just get a life and don’t be messing with mine.  With all due respect, I have enough drama of my own…don’t need anymore.

And that’s quite enough of that topic.  LOL. 

Speaking of drama in my own life…we got a kid#3 tonight (just for a week though…it’s a respite for another foster parent who’s out of town) and she’s fine but munchkin is going ballistic with her behavior.  The new kid is a year older than munchkin and munchkin (as I expected) wants to show off how “cool” she can be and is being her snarky, bouncing off the walls, refusing to listen, self.  Despite the fact that she got a talking to before the new kid ever showed up about that very attitude.  *sigh*  Munchkin is just a case…the other foster mom said that this kid can be a little bossy with other kids so hopefully she will adjust fast and give Munchkin a little of her own medicine.  lol.  It’s just for a week though….we can make it for a week.  =)  And neither of them have sisters so it’s nice for them to have someone to play with for a change. 

Today was busy…K-man had the last homeschool co-op day, so we went to that, then we came back and met up with mom and dad for a little bit, and then got a phone call that the new kid was going to be dropped off earlier than expected, so had to work out suitable arrangements for that.  Got home and everybody got situated, then I put my plants into the raised bed that KC and I built outside the basement over the last few days (yayyyyy…love it!  I’ll take pictures at some point…promise….my baby did a good job!)  Then I made the dogs go down to the potty spot and while they were trying to find the perfect spot, I clipped a few briars back with the clippers.  (Please dear God don’t let me have clipped any poison ivy….I can’t take another round of that stuff).  By that time, KC had returned with pizza and then we chilled in the basement for the rest of the evening. 

WHEW.

One step at a time….

Tomorrow shows no top of the mountain in sight…just another day of climbing….

So I’m off to get some rest…but before I go….here’s some of the pages I’ve done lately:

Remember that kit that I used in March that I said got reworked because the other designers quit designing?  Well, here it is in the new kit.  It’s called Front Page and it’s a killer kit! 

Credits:
Kit: Front Page by Sweet Tomato Designs
Font: Pea Sarahloo and Markus the Cow by http://kevinandamanda.com
Scraplift of "Daughter" by Kimberly (gypsyk)

And here’s a layout of our resident Drama Queen…this one was back in the day…but still full of drama…haha. 

Credits:
Kit: City Glam by BeanBunny Designs
Font: Pupcat

And finally, here’s random pictures…the last month or so…iTouch pictures…very random and not so hot on the quality end of things but anyways…..

Credits:
Kit: Beautiful Life by Pixel Perfect Designs
Fonts: Pea Sadie by http://kevinandamanda.com & Conrad Veidt

Need To Find Some Happy

For some reason a lot of the stuff that’s crossed my mind lately has been a little sad or emotional…today I was watching bits and pieces of Antwone Fisher (great story on foster care issues) and this poem kinda hit me in the gut and made my eyes water just a bit. 

Who will cry for the little boy?
By Antwone Fisher

Who will cry for the little boy? Lost and all alone.
Who will cry for the little boy? Abandoned without his own?

Who will cry for the little boy? He cried himself to sleep.
Who will cry for the little boy? He never had for keeps.

Who will cry for the little boy? He walked the burning sand.
Who will cry for the little boy? The boy inside the man.

Who will cry for the little boy? Who knows well hurt and pain.
Who will cry for the little boy? He died again and again.

Who will cry for the little boy? A good boy he tried to be.
Who will cry for the little boy? Who cries inside of me.

So somebody, SOME body, please tell me something happy!?  Between those songs and pages I made for my grandparents and stuff like the poem above…well…I’m about tired of my eyes watering like this. 

The foster care thing is going okay…Little Momma is still taking really good care of Little Bit and has opened up to me slightly.  She is only a couple of months away from aging out of foster care and I’m not sure what the court is going to decide about her and Little Bit, but I hope, for her sake, that it works out for her.  Still don’t know what will happen after Monday, but we’ll see. 

Munchkin only has a couple weeks left of school before graduating Kindergarten…yikes…can’t believe she’s gonna be a first grader in a few months.  Oh no…here I go again…I need another Dr. Pepper.  And a tissue. 

Somebody?  Happy?  Hello?  Any happy out there? 

Update

A couple of pictures from Monday.....
This was a rainbow just before dark on Monday night. It was a full one...you could see both ends of it from one side of the sky to the other...it was beautiful.
and an update on the boy....he's in another placement tonight. I took the stuff over to his social worker this afternoon and she assured me not to worry about it and was very apologetic about the whole thing. He's had trouble this way before, apparently, but had been on good behavior for several weeks straight, so they thought he was doing better. Anyways, I feel really bad for him. You're right, Jules, it does make one wonder what in the world his life has been like to make him like that so very young. It's very sad. But we just can't deal with that.

It was kinda funny, another social worker, who didn't know we had this situation last night, called and wanted us to do respite for a week for a 16 year old girl who had run from her previous placement. I was like...well, we just had ___ last night and it went SO not well, that we had to call and have him moved today, so we're really not up for another unknown respite situation tonight. She was like...OH, no problem....I totally understand! Which was a relief.

Anywho, gotta run again...bathtime for the kids....storytime was canceled for this week b/c it's the week of the fourth, so I had a minute to hop on here, but I gotta go get the kids ready for church.

Later!

Words Escape Me

Wow...been a few days since I posted.

Sunday we stayed at the church all day to save gas since we had choir practice between services.

Monday, I got up and took some more boxes up to the attic and tidied the house up a bit, then packed up the kids (K-man's daycare is closed this week) and went to Morgan's house to help her with her math, and after we did her math and the kids had napped, got in the pool with them for awhile. Then when I got ready to leave, I packed up my kids and my friend, K's, kids (who were over there for the day) and took them back to their mawmaws and brought Morgan home with me so she could go to K's the next day. When we got home, we fixed supper and then Morgan helped me work on cleaning the garage. We've had some MAJOR progress on that....but then after we did that, I had to throw the kids in the tub b/c they were having a REAL GOOD TIME out in the MUDDY backyard, while we were working....

Tuesday. Yeah, well, this is where words escape me. We had set up that respite for this week starting yesterday evening, they dropped him off at 4:30. There has been one night in this house that was probably one of the worst in my life....that was a few years ago. Last night? Well, it wasn't worse than THAT night, but I'd have to say it would be the second. In the almost two years we have been foster parents and having done respite four or five times in addition to the three that stayed here a couple of months or more.....we have never had to call DSS. But I had to call last night and if I don't hear back from them this morning regarding where to take his stuff, I'm going to call them b/c there is no way we can deal with that for another night. It's crazy, he is only six. I feel terrible for him, but I cannot subject the kids in our house to potential danger. If it were just me and Casey, we would deal with it, b/c he can spit in our faces, bite, kick, or whatever and we would probably be okay, but if he attacked the kids like he attacked us just because we said after the movie was over it would be bedtime.....not to mention the literal fight he gave us when we tried to get him to lay down.....well, they're smaller than he is and I can't risk that. We moved K-man into our room b/c the other kid's kicking and screaming was keeping K-man from going to sleep, plus I was afraid if we left the room and he didn't have us for a target, that he might turn on K-man.

There was more than that, it was unreal. I don't really want to say anything more than that, since this isn't a private blog, all I can say is, Thank God we didn't take him a month ago when they asked us. There is just no way. Generally, the first week or so is a "honeymoon" phase, so they're on their best behavior....then after that, you see how things are really gonna be. Heaven help that poor child (and anyone who has to take care of him) if that was his best behavior. I cried. I felt horrible for him, that he could be so young and already so hateful. You know the whole time, it's just a defense mechanism, but it was just sad. And you'd like to be able to help them, but you don't know what to do. He kept saying we were mean, and we were like....wait a minute, we're not hitting you or spitting on you or even raising our voices or getting excited. Who's being mean here? Just because we told you that we are not going to just let you attack us, and that behavior is not acceptable, does not make us the mean ones.

It was a very difficult night. Not to mention the fact that I didn't sleep very much b/c our two kids were on sleeping bags in our floor, since we had to put them somewhere quiet while the other one was carrying on....they tossed and turned the whole night (very unusual for them) and about every half hour, they'd crawl out of the sleeping bags and be cold, and then I'd have to get up and put them back in so they would go back to sleep. And then around 3, the other kid came into our room and like it was the middle of the day instead night, said (in a completely normal tone of voice), "I want my cover back on me." I was like, uh....okay. SO I went in and covered him back up....which made me paranoid about all THREE of the kids coming uncovered. The next time he woke up, I heard him before he got up and went in there while he was just sitting up and covered him up real quick. I finally caught more than 20 minutes around 4:30 or so and actually fell asleep until 6. I just can't do that again.

We had two other older kids that we kept for the night for some friends so they could go away for a night, but they weren't any trouble at all...matter of fact, I barely noticed they were here. They were excellent.

Anywho, I had to come let out a little steam....I guess steam is the right word....I'm not mad about it, but the stress was making my stomach upset. We need God all the time, but some times it seems like we need a WHOLE lot more of Him. Last night was one of those times. I'm thankful for the support we get from our church family. A brother came over when KC called and helped him pray until they got the kid calmed down to where he finally stopped attacking. Even M was right there for whatever we needed last night. Oh and then him and Z helped me find my phone this morning....we had to actually turn the loveseat recliner over to find the phone. That was an ordeal....I have no idea how my phone got hung up in there.

Gotta run...it's time to feed the kids....the little ones and big ones....and then get the little ones down for a nap so I can take all of them to the library for Munchkin's story time. *grin* Hopefully the rest of the day will go smoother.

So yeah....

I went in to work at 6am this morning (which means I left the house at 5:30am...OW) and I got off work at 6:30pm this evening. And since I didn't take a lunch, that would be 12.5 hours today. I needed to work longer since I didn't manage to get caught up before the end of the day came, but when I called home at 6:25, I heard cryin kids in the background and KC answered the phone with: "I HOPE YOU'RE ON YOUR WAY HOME!!!"

I figured I should just close up and get home since my day being 12.5 hours meant his day was at least 13 hours. LOL. I'm not laughing AT him, I'm laughing WITH him, but when I walked out of the building to hurry home, I had to make myself stop grinning....HAHA.

Oh and when I got home, I completely agreed with him...they were over the top with obnoxiousness.....so I put them to bed 15 minutes after I got home at 7:15. And it has been a peaceful night (generally speaking) ever since. They weren't asleep 15 minutes ago when I checked, so it's not messing up their sleep schedule for them to go to bed early, but they're quiet and that's the most important thing for this tired mommy and daddy. Besides, even if they DO fall asleep before 10, that's good since I have to be at work again at 7am in the morning which means we need to drop off the kids to daycare at 6:30. YOW.

Thank God for a good hubby. A hubby who got TWO dirty diapers today. (I'm laughing WITH him.....well...if he was laughing, I would be. HAHAHAHA) Anyways, I am so thankful for his help. Last fund drive when the K-man was delivered to our door, KC was out of town and I had to juggle the two kids with my crazy fund drive schedule all by myself. I am SO glad he's in town for this one.

Anyways, I told him now when he goes to work and wonders why I'm irritated when he comes home after I've been with them all day....he'll not just "understand" but he'll "KNOW EXACTLY" why!!!! HAHAHA. Not that he didn't "know" already, but you know.....nothing like 13 hours with 2 kids plus Shygirl (who ended up being at the house until 4:30 before S&N picked her up...although, according to KC, she couldn't have been better behaved....and she was well behaved Friday night, too...it was just OUR kids that had such a problem) to make a person go completely nuts. HAHA.

Anywho, it's only 9:26 but I'm exhausted and KC's exhausted so I'm going to bed now and I don't think I'll hear much protest from him about following me. LOL.

*grin* Sorry....i just can't help it. *wiping grin off my face now*

Goodnight.

Work...Work....Work

Can I count today as Monday since it's officially the first day of my workweek this week? *GRIN* Probably not, right?

So I'm sitting here at work....fund drive time again, and it's been hopping this morning. Kinda quiet right this minute but that's a good thing since I'm down to one volunteer, my daddy, and me....awww sweet daddy. He came in and folded shirts for us this morning. AWWW.

Only thing about things being quiet, is now I'm sitting here wondering how KC's morning went.....wonder if he made it to church in time with all three kids. LOL.

Shygirl is going back to S&N's this afternoon after church, so KC will be back down to two again....and it was probably nice that she was there this morning so she could help get Munchkin ready to go. I hope Shygirl did her hair b/c KC does SKARY girl hair. HAHAHAHA.

I had everything laid out, clothes, shoes, fully stocked diaper bag, even jackets, and I did their baths last night, so he had everything pretty much ready to go...hopefully he didn't have any drama.

Knowing munchkin, that would be a miracle. HAHA.

Here's some Munchkin funnies from here lately:

Yesterday while she was putting clothes in the dryer for me, K-man walks up and says to Munchkin, "What doin, "munchkin's name here"???
So she says, "I busy workin', jus' HUSH" (ROFL.....wonder where she's heard THAT????)

When we bought a little Bob the Builder play set for K-man for him to play with when we were in Ohio, Munchkin busts out with, "BOBBBB the BUILDER, can us FIX IT? YES, US CAN!!"
(my favorite part? "can US fix it?" hahahaha)

Full House

Tonight we've got a full house. Our friends who adopted Bouncer (they call him Little Man) have him and another girl (Shygirl) and they are going out for a delayed valentines evening, so we're keeping all the kids while they go out.

Shoo....bouncer is still bouncy. But definitely much tamer than he was when he was here. *grin* Our kids are wild with the new ones here...and K-man had a terrible day at school, so he's seriously grumpy tonight. Fun night. *Grin*

Got them watching Toy Story 2 now and things are quiet, so I think I'm gonna go back to Munchkin's room with Shygirl and work on some sewing.

Later!

Would You Like A Mental Slushie?

Compliments of a crazy brain? Uh. I didn't think so. If you don't, you should turn and leave now.
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You're still here? Okay then. Don't say I didn't warn you!!!!

I just got munchkin in bed and bouncer is at his old foster home for the weekend (they wanted to give him a birthday party and their weekend to do that was arranged back when we first got him. So I'm getting some much needed personal time now. It's just lovely.

Especially since munchkin has been a real drama queen for the last two nights. Tonight she cried when I told her she needed to either go find something in her room to play with or go somewhere else to pout b/c we loved her, but we didn't care to watch her pouting. Anyways, that threw her into a royal fit and I put her in her room where she did the whole screaming thing and wouldn't stay in her room. So I kept the door shut and let her scream and cry for about 4 minutes and then I opened the door and got her ready for her bath and stuck her in the bathtub. Did a quick bath and got her jammies on and called KC in for our family prayer and the fit finally wound up and quit about that time, when I finally told her she could hush or I wouldn't rock her to sleep....and she knew I meant business! LOL.

That whole fit thing is just ROTTEN. I H.A.T.E. it!!!!! And she was doing really good until she got sick and I let up on her b/c I knew she didn't feel good. I think maybe that was a bad idea. But I don't want to be mean either. It's such a fine line. And here I go griping again. Sorry. *grin*

Anyways. Personal time is great. Hahah! And we've now reached a NEW height....I type as my personal time is being currently interrupted. It's been an hour and a half since I put her in bed. And I heard a banging in her room. She was wide awake as anything and playing. She knows the rules....if mom has to come back in, the stuffed animals go away and then you have to go to sleep. Well, there's been no problem with that before. Tonight it's a little different story......we're going on thirty minutes now of crying, screaming, kicking fits that involve getting out of bed and going to the door and opening it and just standing there screaming out the open door. Woohoo! Joy! The third time I had to put her back in bed, I started gently covering her mouth so the screams were not quite so ear piercing. I made sure she could breathe out her nose, so I wasn't like hurting her....and then when she calmed down enough, I tucked her back in and left the room. To which she started screaming again but so far, the door hasn't opened again and it's finally silent from the tantrum regions of the house. I'm sure she's just moving to a new strategy of defiance. No way I'll get lucky enough for her to have actually fallen asleep. LOL. *sigh* I'm not mad about it. Slightly frustrated perhaps, but not mad.

Oh get this, just remembered this interesting detail.....remember those 3 kids I mentioned? Two year old twins and a five month old? Well....we dropped bouncer off at his old foster home and guess who we saw! YEP. You got it! Them. Apparently they were taken in to custody and needed quick temporary placement, so the previous foster mom said she would do it for the weekend. Brave soul! SO for this weekend....she's got the bouncer, her own son who is like 14, an almost adopted son who is around 11 or so, a daughter (not sure if she's foster or biological) that looked around 15 or 16, two year old twins, and a five month old for the weekend. WHOO. Glad I isn't her! YOW! So did you count? That was like 7. EHEHEHEHE. Hey. I can laugh. SHE said yes and SHE asked for the bouncer to get to come. Ya'll are welcome to laugh at me anytime I do anything so un-brilliant! LOL. Heaven knows I do it often enough that ya'll should never need medicine again!!!

Guess one (just UNO) shrieking, defiant three year old isn't too bad in comparison, huh?

And thanks for the comments and encouragement on fighting the devil. On that note, here's a good verse, one that is easy for me to remember.....(and pardon if I don't get it exactly right....you'll get the general idea) Resist the devil and he will flee from you; draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh unto you. That is one of my favorites! I'm always open to more ammunition though, so bring it on!!! *Grin*

*grin* Tomorrow is chore day.....I wish our kids were old enough to do chores. I can tell the munchkin to go clean the bathroom all day long and while she'd give it her best effort, I can just tell you, it would likely look much worse after her efforts than before! *GRIN* And same with the bouncer! He's just so distractable, that you literally have to stand over his every move if you want him to finish a task....it's just easier to do it myself! LOL. Not better for him, b/c he needs to learn, but it just takes sooo much effort! And after all day of talking to the wall and nobody listening to a word I say, it's effort that I don't have in me. Please tell me it gets better????? *GRIN*

Ehhhh....what's that you say, Mom? Yeah, I know, I know....I still remember being that obnoxious teenager.....thanks for the comfort there.....LOL.

Anywho.....there's silence for thirteen minutes now. Do you think I should go check on the munchkin? Ahhh....it's friday night. She can sleep in tomorrow. I've had enough fight for one night. Unless of course I hear banging again. Then it's gonna be on. I'm sure ya'll will be able to hear it from whereever your computers are located!

Otay. I'm going to go do something productive with my time.....by the way this is post number 398. AND the fourth day in a row if my deductions are correct (and I don't feel like going back and checking, so if it's not, then I'm sorry). I'm getting dangerously close to 400 posts on the old blog. Maybe I'll celebrate by doing another informal blog quiz....hehehe. And maybe not. *grin*

Like I said....I'm off to something more productive now. Like sleep maybe. HEH! And in MY bed. The floor pallet is GONE. I removed it just in case the munchkin got any ideas about me sleeping in there again. Cuz just so ya know, I ended up on it again last night b/c I didn't feel like waking the whole house up with that battle at 2:40 am.....when I crawled out of my cozy, comfy bed to go see why she was crying again and found her AWAKE and not in any pain, instead she was pointing at the pallet and crying, "mommy, mommy." So being half asleep and not wanting poor exhausted KC to have to try to get the bouncer back to sleep, I mumbled something about I'd do it tonight, but tomorrow night mommy was going to be sleeping in her own bed and then just laid down and went to sleep and the rest of the night was spent in peace. Tonight.....well, I'm sure the battle is already started.....unlike last night though, the bouncer is out of the picture. Perfect timing. I've got two nights to get her back under control. I'll keep you posted!

Happy Friday.....where was I? Oh yes. Productive. Right.

Wordless Wednesday

(Photo from Monday morning drive to work)



(after THE weekend)

Who'da Thunk It?

I actually miss the bouncer. So does the munchkin. I got her from daycare today and she gets in the car and looks over at the booster seat that he was using and says "her version of his name here!?!?" And with a look of complete distress and throwing her hands out in a questioning manner, "GONE?????"

"Yep, sweetie, he had to go back home today. I'm sorry. Maybe he'll come back for a visit again soon."

"*sigh* Awwwright."

Now I can't say I'm unhappy about getting to rest again.....but I do wish there were some way that we could keep him.

The munchkin had a BM visit today. And she wanted to whine and grump around tonight in her bath and at bedtime. But I can understand that. She's all mixed up, the poor thing. *sigh* I think she's asleep now though, and IF she is, then it wasn't too terrible an ordeal tonight. I'm real happy about that! Course I feel like knocking on wood cuz she's getting so good at faking, I'm never quite sure if she's really out anymore. LOL. The little rat. But a cute little rat. Haha.

Oh I wanted to post this funny munchkin story while I'm thinking about it. LOL. We were over at our friends' house tonight and were talking after supper and KC started telling this story which, although it just happened this weekend, I forgot to blog about it. LOL. So I thought I'd write it down.

When she pouts, she pooches her lower lip out in the classic pout face and KC always tells her she better stick it back in or a bird will come along and poop on it. Which sometimes makes her stop pouting and sometimes not.....

Anywho, so we were at the park the other day with the bouncer and we were walking across the field to the ballpark to hit the ball around a little and the bouncer had run ahead and the munchkin was trying to keep up with him and we were following behind them and I'm watching them when I see some birds fly overhead. And I pulled my gaze down toward the munchkin running about 25 feet in front of me, and I see her wave her arms in a panicked shooing motion and hollering at them as they fly over her. I totally cracked up and pointed it out to KC. It was so obvious! She was afraid they were going to poop on her lip!!!!!!!! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! It was absolutely TOO funny!!!!!

Anyways. Nuff stuff about that.

Ya'll folks who commented on my private blog....thanks for the encouraging words. *smiles* And Wally.....who asked if the foot in my mouth was the one with the ingrown toenail......

Pause for a moment while I laugh out loud......

Okay.....anyways, Wally.....I think I'll have to draw the line on answering that question. Ya know....I wouldn't want to give TOO much information out on here. ROFL!!! There are some things that should just remain a secret forever. Like whether or not I've got an ingrown toenail on the foot that was in my mouth. LOL.

And Becky who wondered where bouncer came from b/c she missed that post (and probably b/c it was kinda buried down at the bottom of that post), he was a respite care b/c they're looking for someone to take him permanently. Whew. I'd love to be that person, but I'm just not sure I can hack it.

Well. I'm going away now to get some more rest. I left work early this afternoon cuz I wasn't feeling well, and came home and laid down for about an hour and a half and felt better by the time I had to go get the munchkin and then we went over to visit some friends. I still feel better than I did this afternoon, but I definitely could use some more rest so that tomorrow will be a better day.

Later, ya'll.

And by the way.....a huge thank you to all my friends who care enough to keep up with my little old life. I'm majorly honored! Seriously!

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

It's been one of those days. Guess it's just our turn in the ring.

Can I just go on record to say I hate the devil? Okay. Well. I do.

I'm seriously contemplating a password protected post. But then, that feels a bit like I'm backing down and my hackles are still up too high for me to consider doing that.

Ugh. Wait just a minute while I pause for a quick bit of regret that I gave anyone the address to this blog.

Pause.

Okay. I'm done now.

And I'll do the right thing and do a password protected post for what I really want to say cuz the open mouth, insert foot thing is not something I really care to do TWICE in one day.

Before I continue with the rest of THIS post, however, let me just say one thing:

what-DOUBLE-EVER!!!!!!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Anyways. Church this morning went surprisingly well considering the circus we feel like we're living in lately. I knew better than to try to take bouncer and munchkin to choir practice and mess up bedtime for the bouncer by taking him to the evening service. Not a good plan. So I laid out and let KC (who happens to be the choir director and can't exactly skip) go without me. I kept the circus home of course. And thanks to the sweet MIL who joined me in the ring to help keep the circus from going completely crazy.

Okay. Just erased that paragraph. That one will be on the private blog a little later. Sorry.

Bedtime was the end of my last nerve for the weekend. I had a serious meltdown. The munchkin has crazy attachment issues and apparently b/c I (being by myself with two kids who both needed rocking to sleep) decided the smartest thing to do would be to do the bouncer first so that his bouncing wouldn't keep the munchkin from going to sleep, she decided that when it came her turn to be rocked, she was going to refuse to go to sleep. To the point that, after laying perfectly still and not moving a bit for 20 minutes at a time, and leading me to believe that she was asleep, the minute I laid her in bed, her eyes popped wide open. Like.....5 times in a row. KC got home in time to help me, so he put the bouncer down in like 15 minutes tonight. But tonight was my turn for problems. Finally KC tried and she laid in bed and pretended for awhile, but then I heard her again so I had to go get her to keep her from waking the bouncer. FINALLY she went to sleep (only about an hour and a half process) and now she's in bed. But I cringe every time I hear a noise. That, between all the other issues going on in our lives and in the lives all around us......well. It was just the last straw. But I'll say no more. The rest of that will be on password protect. I'll come back an link later for those of you who have access.

Alright. That's all I have to say on here for now. I'm going to the private insanity to release a little aggravation. I'm sure that will go a long way in relieving some of the stress I feel right this minute.

Later.

*Edited to add: the link to the private insanity post that completes this one is here!"

PS While I'm editing to add, here are some fitting lyrics that are running through my head tonight:

(from the movie "Chicken Little" -- and yes, that did play at the circus that was our house this weekend)

It was a recipe for disaster
A four-course meal of no sirree
It seemed that happily ever after
Was happy everyone was after me
It was a cup of good intentions
A tablespoon of one big mess
A dash of overreaction
I assume you know the rest

One little slip
One little slip
It was a fusion of confusion
With a few confounding things

I guess I probably took the wrong direction
Well, I admit I might have missed a sign or two
I ran a light past your affection
At Humiliation Avenue
I took a right turn at confusion
A left when I should have gone straight on through
I ran ahead with my assumptions
And we all know what that can do

One little slip
One little slip
It was a fusion of confusion
With a few confounding things

I get the feeling in this town
I'll never live til I live down
The one mistake that seems to follow me around
They'll forget about the sky when they all realize
This guy's about to try to learn to fly or hit the ground

It was a cup of good intentions
A tablespoon of one big mess
A dash of overreaction
And I assume you know the rest

One little slip
One little slip
It was a humble little stumble
With a big ungraceful...

One little slip
One little slip
It was a fusion of confusion
With a few confounding things

-Title: Barenaked Ladies - One Little Slip lyrics

We Suddenly Have An Ice Cream Fit

Yes. Both of us. The two "over 3 feet tall" persons in this house. The taller of the two (KC) is having such a fit that he's eating straight out of the carton. But then, he did have the more frustrating of the two "under 3 feet tall" persons to put to bed.

Something went wonky. Ya know that magic pill that made him fall asleep last night in exactly one hour from the time he took it? Didn't work tonight.

THREE hours after taking the pill.......

KC and I finally had to take the munchkin and the bouncer to separate rooms to do bedtime. I took munchkin to the rocker and KC stayed in the kiddie room with bouncer, starting out holding him.

I got munchkin to sleep within about 35 minutes, despite the disturbing "bouncing off the walls" sounds filtering out of that room, but I wasn't sure whether or not it was safe to put the munchkin in her bed yet or not, so me an her.....well....let's just say she wasn't the only one who took a little snooze. Finally I'm getting worried....I haven't heard any sounds over the "white noise" of the fan, so are they asleep in there? Do I need to go wake KC up?

So I carefully get up and deposit the munchkin on the couch, tiptoe down the hall, and very quietly open the door.....and suddenly the bouncer pops straight up on the top bunk. Uh. No. He's not sleeping. I ask KC if he wants me to take over and he says no, to just help him, so I go up to the top bunk and attempt to keep him still long enough for him to fall asleep. At this point, I'm wondering if something happened to the blue pill which I was almost positive that I saw with my own two eyes going into his mouth. Did he spit it back out or something? I finally asked him if he swallowed the blue pill and he said he didn't remember. Great.

Anywhoo.....finally KC says okay, we're going to take a turn with the rocker, so he gets the bouncer, carries him to the rocker and starts rocking. In the meantime, I pick up the munchkin from her spot on the couch (where she is very nearly rolling off) and carry her to her bed. Tuck her in....doesn't even wake up. Perfect. Then I ready the bottom bunk for a hopefully soon asleep bouncer since there is no way KC is going to be able to lift almost 50 pounds over his head to the top bunk and clear as many obstacles as I can find in the dark out of the path from the rocker to the bed.

About 20 minutes later. FINALLY. He's out. And although I missed one or two obstacles and KC almost tripped, we got the bouncer in bed and now both of the "under 3 feet tall" persons in this house are asleep.

Now. I'm gonna finish my five scoops of Edy's Fully Loaded Choc Chip Cookie Dough ice cream and I think this "over 3 feet tall" person is going to go to sleep.

Cuz....for real. I'm exhausted. And have I mentioned that I really haven't gotten much to eat today?

Not going to help my weight there....but we left the party before I had a chance to grab a hot dog and the quick uncrustable pb & j and handful of chips I managed to grab while the munchkin was napping and KC had the bouncer out at the park, just didn't last long enough.

Ah well. Have I mentioned I'm exhausted? Bless KC's heart, I'm sure he's even more exhausted, since he went to the park TWICE with the bouncer in addition to the party. And he has to teach Sunday School in the morning. Poor honey. Oh my. Bouncer and church. Oh dear.

That settles it. I'm going now. I have GOT to get some sleep if there is going to be any hope of making it through tomorrow with the "under 3 feet tall" persons in this household.

AWWWKKKKK

Sweet heavens. He's a great kid, but I'm beginning to understand why they can't find anybody to keep him.

Conclusion: I don't think we have what it takes.

That's a tough conclusion. Especially after he's asked so pitifully if we'll adopt him. Several times. Man alive. The thing is, he doesn't have any idea that we were even considering the idea. All he knows is that a girl that is in his current foster home had surgery and the foster parents needed someone to keep him so they could give her extra care for the weekend. So it's not like he knows. He just keeps asking if he can stay with us forever. Oh man, it's breaking my heart.

He's not driving me crazy, and I think we could handle all his energy, but it's the lack of social skills that we can't deal with. I never even imagined needing to deal with social skills. Delayed reading, delayed speech....not a problem. But this kid is super quick. Too quick. For instance....we went to a previously planned birthday party of a kid at church and took both of "our kids" and right after we finished eating, the kid goes up to a group of the people who cooked the food and told them that it tasted terrible. I missed it. KC caught it and was terribly embarrassed and we decided that it was time to leave. I just don't know that that is something we are capable of dealing with.

And that's hard. Cuz he's a great kid other than that....that and his super energy and lack of focus. And for the most part, he and the munchkin are getting along good.....except she gets really jealous over us giving him any kind of attention. Like when I was putting him to bed last night.....she's acted out a little bit more than has been the norm of late.

Oh and we won't even talk about the pile of green mushy stuff in her boom-booms while she was sitting at the table not 25 steps from the bathroom. ARGH! It was SOOO stinky and nasty. I thought I was going to puke!!!

Oh well. I'm sad. I really wanted it to work. Well. I have to get off here....I need to get all our baths and stuff tonight and it's time to give him his knock out medicine that will make him fall asleep in approximately one hour.

Later.

PS Mix, he hasn't sneezed any more since this morning, so maybe he is allergic to mornings....HAHA! I know I am!!!