Nervous

We'll find out today what the longterm plan is for Little Man. Your prayers are appreciated. Would you also pray for a baby we got a call about? Don't know if she'll stay with us or if we'll have mom and Little Man with us. Who knows.

Someone I know has a sign in her kitchen that says, "God bless my whatever." That 'whatever' is my mantra nowadays. :)

Wild Wednesday

Nothing much new here with the Misters and me and Jilly. Although, John is learning massage in his modalities class, and I am selflessly helping him get some practice time in. His teacher was a massage therapist for 14 years before becoming a PT. In fact, two of John's classmates were massage therapists. They learned some Swedish massage techniques, so last night, my sore legs got some much kneaded (yuk, yuk, get it?) help. The night before I had done some heavy weight lifting for my hamstrings and quads, so the massage helped a lot.

Wednesdays are busy for me because I leave work early to drive to Tacoma to pick up Little Man from his visit. Besides falling behind on the house, I do not have dinner planned. Thankfully, the dinner fairy (aka my mom/Mimi to Little Man) is bringing us Papa Murphy's tonight!

John has a patient evalulation today, so this is a busy/stressful day for him. It is really cool to hear him talk about what he's learning and how he interacts with the patients. I'm so proud of him.

My goal tonight (after meeting up with two friends at this great coffee place) is to get both bathrooms cleaned and lunches made. Accomplishing little goals has become a goal in itself.

Blessings

This past weekend gave me an insight into how much has changed and has been going on since Little Man arrived a month ago. He has really settled in and so have we. For the first couple of weeks, I was a little overwhelmed with things as far his crying and tantrums were concerned. Now, (thanks in part to “The Happiest Toddler on the Block”) I am learning to speak his language and not take the outbursts and hitting personally. He is blossoming and soaking up so much—songs, ABCs, sounds, words. He has been part of our little family for a month, but also a large extended family with two sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who care about him.

After Mass on Sunday, we went downstairs for a breakfast benefitting the Cub Scout pack in the parish. Two of our nephews along with their parents were working the breakfast. The three younger kids came over to our table to say hi. All of them were so sweet to Little Man and our nephew D said, “Hola, ‘A’!” And when we were leaving, he said, “Adios, ‘A’.” D’s effort to speak to the the little one in his own language was sweet. After he finished his breakfast, he, “Pepe” (John’s dad) and I sang “Froggy Went a Courtin’,” which is one of Little Man’s favorite songs. He comes in with “Ahh-HUHHH!” He sounds like a little donkey. :0) This little boy has so many people who care for him and for this temporary time, has a full family. It made me realize how lucky I was to grow up having my parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Yesterday when I was talking to my sister, she said that her daughter who is nearly four wanted to ask me about our little boy. She got on the phone and said, “Hi, Aunty Lou. Can you tell me about the little boy?” It was so sweet . I hope that someday, God willing, they can meet.

Last night I mentioned to John’s mom that we are stretched pretty thin as far as time goes, but so far, we’re not feeling overwhelmed. This is thanks to our family and friends who have helped us out so much: my mom and dad made us a meal last week; people are praying; people have graciously given advice and help; another friend offered her running stroller to us! (shortly before she called, John and I had JUST talked about looking on Craigslist for one). It is also due to John cleaning up the kitchen and taking care of Little Man so much.

In a nutshell, this month has taught me at least one thing---family and friends are the best.

Enjoy this photo of Mr. Hollywood and a (very patient and sweet)dog.

Homey

Former RC member on NPR

I have gotten behind on keeping up with the LC visitation and am trying to catch up. Yesterday, I saw that Genevieve Kineke was recently on NPR talking the recent Vatican visitation's 7 points to the Legion. When I arrived in RI in 1991, Mrs. Kineke was a young mom with 3 children. She was very much involved in RC for 10 years and enthusiastic about her faith and RC. I remember her fondly. Her experiences and reflections on the mess of RC and LC are really enlightening. I highly recommend her website Life After RC. The interview is about 1o mintues long and very interesting.

In typical Legion fashion, they only responded to point #7. Another former member and friend said, "Sometimes I feel like they're in the Twilight Zone."

Genevieve is a writer and has a book out that I really want to read. Check it out at her other site here.

Note--The way things are/were handled in both RC and LC were disordered and wrong. It is in itself a negative topic. So, I hope that those reading this do not label me as negative. Please put the blame where the blame belongs.

Trucks and Bees

This week keeps getting better. Little Man had a nice visit with mama last night. We still don't know what will happen and if/when he'll go back to her. When we got back from Tacoma last night, I got his dinner ready and John sat with him while he ate so that I could get my work out in. When I came home, I got him ready for bed and we said the ABC's together a few times. He was happy and so talkative. Most nights, he wants to read this book which John and I both really like, too. The drawings are lovely and soft and makes me feel like I'm in the country back in the day.

The other one he likes is Mr. Bumble. This is a very cute book about a clumsy bee who has a lot of trouble filling up his pollen bucket. With hard work and the help of some fairy friends, he becomes an excellent worker bee. The illustrations are lovely as well. In the front of our picture window at home is a small maple tree. Each spring it is alive and buzzing with honey and bumble bees. I was showing Little Man the bees and saying, "There's Mr. Bumble!" He said, "Mummle!" I think the kid's a genius. :)

To end on a self-focused note, the audit that I was stressing about is over! It was scheduled for two days, but the auditor had all the information he needed and finished around 3pm. I am very grateful to my coworkers who helped me get all the material ready.

AND our tax return finally hit our bank account. WOO-HOO!!

Update-May

Well, Little Man has been with us for nearly a month. We drive two days a week to Tacoma for visitation, and I’m trying to keep straight which social worker is which and for what purpose. He continues to do well, but John and I are learning to help him with his emotions with love and discipline to help him feel secure. It has been a big challenge to deal with the amount of crying and screaming he does on the weekends sometimes. But, I think he's just so used to doing that to get a reaction and to feel secure, that it has become second nature.

It would be fun to get his second year photos taken while he is still with us. My idea is to have a photo of each child on the wall so that we have something to remember them.

In other news, I got my Vibram 5 Finger Sprints a at REI little while ago and have been walking around in them. On Sunday, we had a 5K training run, so I did two miles in my regular shoes and the third mile in the Vibrams. At first, I had to get used to the feel of the road under my feet. After the first few minutes, I enjoyed it immensely. My pace increased and my running style changed since I was running the natural way which is landing on the ball of the foot with the heel barely touching the ground before springing back.

Since different muscles are used when wearing these shoes, it is a good idea to take things slowly so that injury does not occur. I'm not sure if I'll wear the Vibrams for the entire Half Marathon, but I know that I will not be wearing my heavy, over-pronation corrective running shoes for it. My bunion will thank me.