Wordless wednesday - Sisters

Love my girls! Sisters

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - Festival

Ice Cream:


Listening to Music, chilling in the stroller:

http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/

Wordless Wednesday - Back to being a Surfer Dude

Wordless Wednesday - Back to being a Surfer Dude

Baby D News

A few weeks ago we were told that dad wanted to relinquish baby D to us. They set up a meeting for the week we were in Hilton Head so we couldn’t attend. I think it is just as well as dad didn’t show up. He had decided that he didn’t want to relinquish anymore. I never really got my hopes up. The same thing happened with Miss M. Relinquishment was going to happen then it didn’t.

What I don’t get is that he doesn’t want to take the parenting class that is part of his plan. Both of them were dropped from the first session for no-shows and now neither wants to re-enroll in the class. If it is part of the plan, they need to take the parenting class. If they don’t, one of three things can happen:
1. They ignore that progress hasn’t really been made and they delay Baby D’s status change from reunification to termination at next court date (I think this is unlikely)
2. They relinquish
3. It goes to Termination of Parental Rights (TPR).
I have serious doubts that mom will relinquish so even if he did, it wouldn’t really expedite anything. It is already September so getting a sooner court date is unlikely, though I think that is what the social worker is pushing for. It may have expedited it in the sense that mom rarely shows for visits, so they could get an emergency hearing to review status for no-show of visits.

I am still trying not to stress over it too much, we have now had her over 7 months. We are now just 2 ½ months away from the court date that seemed so long from the last court date. She is going to be 1 in 1 ½ months. Hard to believe. Most days I don’t even really think about the status of the case, her permanency, etc. I just go on about a VERY busy life of being a mom to three, working full-time, wife, etc. Of course, several vacations thrown in and now the dude playing flag football and back in school has helped really speed time up and make it seem like it is flying by.

In other Baby D news, she had her nine month appointment a month late at ten months and her most recent stats are: 16 pounds 3 ounces, 27.25 inches, 42.5 cm head circumference. Healthy 5th percentile for weight, 25th for length and 8th for head. She is my tiny doodlebug. She was pretty good for the appointment, loudly screamed her protest of the doctor looking in her ears. She has an earwax problem, so usually there is lots of cleaning involved. But the doctor at urgent care the weekend before had cleaned them out really good. She was so tired by the end of the visit that she slept through her one shot. That is a new one for me; usually I have the loud fits for those. She then slept through a trip to Wal-Mart and the way home. Sweetie pie!

Taggie Blanket - I made it!

When we first started fostering Miss D, a group that I volunteer with gave me a monogrammed coordinating taggie blanket and burp cloth. She has loved this tag blanket to death. But, also Miss M takes it from her all.the.time. I have been meaning to dust off the machine for a while since I haven’t really sewn for a long time. I brought it out last week to make tutus (I only had to sew the elastic together) so I figured I needed to make this taggie sooner rather than later for Miss M. Oh don’t worry I bought enough fabric to make six, who knows what I will do with six or when I will have the time to make another 5. I have a problem when I walk in Joann’s Fabric. I buy fabric for all these great projects that usually don’t come to fruition. I still have fabric for the reusable sandwich bags I keep meaning to make.

Well, the taggie ended up being a pretty good bargain if I make at least two. They sell for around $15 for a small ten by ten. Miss M’s is sixteen by eighteen (not including ribbon) and I included this really, really cool flower embellishment.* All for a measly $20.04, 2 hours time, and 562 pin sticks on my fingers. I really think she will love it though. I did luck out and had a cool button Christie gave me from our tutu making session and my friend Kathy left her paisley ribbon for me because she said it is so me, yes I am a 70’s child and I love paisley.

I followed this tutorial and I got sidetracked looking at all the ribbon on that site. Mine doesn’t coordinate as much as that one, I just bought the fabric that was cute and on sale and the fleece was 50% off so I lucked up and I really like the purple tie-dye. As usual, I think I will be a lot faster the second time. I think I might need to invest in some finger protectors though before I make another.

I had been eyeing the taggies for sale on Pearhug Studio, so if you want one and aren’t motivated to make one, hers are really cute.

For the flower embellishment. I cut the extra fleece in three squares each progressively smaller. Then I cut those into circles with a wavy border. I then cut one small piece to look like the center of the flower. I stacked these and added a large button. I sewed these directly onto the fabric for the tag blanket. I think the flower is a really cool touch and Miss M will love it and stop stealing the babies blanket.

The finished blanket:

The finished blanket with the purple fleece showing:

The flower embellishment:

*Miss M is past the choking stage I probably wouldn’t include it if you had a much younger child. I did reinforce it super duper well, though.

Playgroup Beach Trip

We went to Kure Beach with our playgroup on Saturday. There were 30 of us that went to the beach and it was so much fun. We ended up renting a place with our friends and then two other couples also spent the weekend. Most people just went down for the day. It is nice living close to the beach; we used to do 3-4 day trips a year when money was tight when the dude was a baby. We would get up, start driving around 8 be at the beach by ten a.m. and stay a few hours before heading back home. The Fort Fisher recreation area is nice because there is free parking, easy beach access, bathrooms, a snack bar (seasonal), picnic tables, and showers. We did this trip as a playgroup last year and had a lot of fun. Everyone wants to make it an annual trip.

It was communal parenting at its best. Everyone shared snacks, umbrellas, kept an eye on everyone’s kids and just had a great time.

The weather was beautiful and we spent 6 hours out on the beach Saturday. The waves were a little rough with Katia (the hurricane) being off shore, but the sun was shining and it wasn’t even too windy.

Of course, Miss M ate a lot of sand after seeing baby D eating it. They loved playing in the sand and getting tons of attention from the other adults and lots of the older kids, too.

One couple brought this huge tube and the kids had a blast jumping on the tube and riding the waves. They bounced off it and kept getting back on for more. The dud loved it, he was out in the water most of the day. The kids slept like champs that night.

Tubing in the Ocean (next to the boy in the blue rash top you can see the back of dude's head):

More Tubing:

Today we got up and got Britt’s Donuts. (I posted about a trip there before). They were so yummy, I can see why they are so famous. Here are my kids with two other families’ kids, one of them is Christie, a fellow blogger, new friend, and playgroup member who I also stole the pictures from since my camera cord is MIA. She also adopted from foster care.

Donuts (the best shot we could get with my friend Kim's three ages 7, 3, 7 months, Christie's two ages 5 and 7, and my three):