Not the Sharpest Tool...

New Girl's light doesn't burn too brightly sometimes. 

I sent her an email yesterday with all of my FMLA paperwork that I need to turn in to my HR dept with every placement. 

I said, "Hi New Girl...  I've attached some FMLA paperwork that I need to have for my work (It covers me for missing work for foster care-related home visits, dr. appts, etc.)  Everything is already completed.  If you could please just sign and date the last page and email it back to me, I can get it into my HR dept."

New Girl's response:  "I assumed you needed me to sign your FMLA paperwork?  I have attached it."

Ingenious assumption considering that is exactly what I asked for in specific detail.  Hence the "if you could please just sign and date the last page and email it back to me" portion of my original message...

Seriously...  New Girl doesn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed or the shiniest apple in the bunch.  Her light doesn't seem to burn quite as brightly as the rest of us.  I think I might have confused her a bit because I also went on to mention that I would have all of the paperwork that she needed completed by Friday.  I now know not to send emails on two different topics or New Girl will get lost along the way.  Poor New Girl...  :(

I will chalk this up as another life lesson in demonstrating patience and hope that I can deal with her on a daily basis without asking her if she needs me to help her locate her lost marbles.  That probably wouldn't go over very well.  ;-)

Little "What's His Name..."

Things are going really well so far with my little Chunky Monkey.  :-)  He's a very easy-going little guy.  Only cries when he's hungry or needs a diaper change.  He loves being on the move, so we go for walks, lots of rocking, swinging on the porch swing, etc.  I've been tempted to start running red lights because he HATES to be stopped in the car.  ;-)  He coos and babbles, smiles at me, and loves when I sing to him (poor child is clearly tone deaf or he would know that I can't sing ;-)

Most of his initial appointments are scheduled...  Pediatrician, ECI, WIC, home visits from my agency, etc.  I'm still waiting on his caseworker though.  I haven't heard a thing from CPS since they dropped him off on Sunday.  Not a huge shocker, but it would be nice to know if they ever located his mother or if he's going to have visits at all.

The one thing I have had some trouble with has been when it comes to giving people Monkey's name.  It would sure be nice if I knew how to pronounce it!  I have asked multiple people how on earth you pronounce his last name to no avail!  There seems to be this random letter thrown in there that is throwing everyone off.  I went so far as to track down my company's translator, and even she couldn't help me!  As I've been setting up appointments over the past few days, Baby Boy's name has been "First Name, Middle Name, Let-Me-Spell-It-For-You."  Definitely rather embarrassing to tell people that I don't know my own child's last name.  Let me tell you, you get some pretty interesting looks.

Fortunately, I found out today from the WIC office that Monkey's last name was misspelled on all of the CPS paperwork.  The random "L" in the middle of the name that was throwing everyone off is, in actuality, an "I".  Definitely helped out in the pronunciation department.  :-)  And while I am certain that I am butchering the name in the cultural sense, at least I can attempt to say something before I end with the S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G of my little Monkey's name.  ;-)

Chunky Monkey...

Baby P (who I think I might dub "Chunky Monkey" for the blog :)

has been an easy baby so far...

2-months-old and in 6-month clothes!



Got some good smiles out of him this morning...

Loves to babble and coo...

Loved taking a morning walk...

Very quiet crier (which is nice,

but I have to sleep with the baby monitor on High so I can hear him!)

Slept for 4 hour stretches last night, so not too bad...

Heading to daycare when he wakes up to get him all registered.

Luckily, I'm Facebook friends with the Director,

so she knows he's on his way.

There was only ONE SPOT LEFT and he got it!  :-)

Let the CPS madness begin!!!

:-)

Baby On the Way!!!

BABY ON THE WAY!!!

I repeat...

BABY ON THE WAY!!!

2-month-old baby boy in route as I type!!!

This is one VERY HAPPY Mimi...

:-)

 

Stepping Stones...

So this week's Saturday Crew activity was to decorate our own stepping stones.  Christy and I had done this once when Buddy and Ka-Diva were about three years old, and they loved it.  Heaven and I thought it would be fun to get handprints of the kids and let them decorate their stones.  It didn't quite work out the way we'd planned, but we had fun anyway.  :)

The day before, I picked up Heaven and the kids, and we made a little trip to Hobby Lobby to buy our supplies.  You would have thought that Booger had never been in a craft store before.  "What is that?!?  I want to see it!  Can I touch it?  I want to try it!"  We looked at just about every single item in the store, and Banana and Booger even had a fashion show!

Cha-cha-cha CHIA PET!!!

Pretty girl!!!

Our little cross-dressing Booger Bear...

(Poor boy had a run-in with the potty the night before and got a WHOPPER of a black eye.  :(  It was rather mortifying taking him in public.  We were certain someone was going to call CPS on us.  I would have been so embarrassed to have to tell the cops that, "Yes, Officer...  I am a licensed foster parent."  UGH!)

The big day arrived, but started off a little rough.  Booger Bear is deep into the Terrible Two's, and he started of the first 10 minutes at the house in timeout twice!  He is quite the little drama king when it comes to his timeouts, but he does them.  He totally knows better, and he knows that Tammy doesn't put up with physical stuff.  No warnings.  Straight to timeout.  So what possessed that boy to put on his "mean face" and take a little swing at me, I have no idea...  But he knew what was coming the second I gave him "the look" and led him by the hand to the "timeout" corner.  "I WANNA BE A NIIIICCCCEEE BOOOOYYYY!!!  I NO WANT TIMEOUUUUUTTT!!!  I WANNA BE A NIIICCCEEE BOOYYYY!!!"  (sob, sob, hyperventilate, whimper, cry...)

After his two minutes were up, and I reiterated why he was in timeout, and explaining that we do not hit ever, got my "I'm sorry" and my hugs and our "I love you's" out of the way, he went back in with all of the group and exclaimed "I was in timeout."  So what on earth possessed that child to then kick at me not three minutes later?!?  Repeat of the first timeout.  But he was a "nice boy" after that.  :-)  I know it's frustrating for Heaven and Kelly because Kelly's grandparents let Booger get away with murder, and he knows it.  Fortunately, it only takes one or two reminders that Tammy doesn't play those games and he's usually a little angel when he's over here.

So after all of the initial "who's in charge" timeout sessions, we got to work on setting up the stepping stone supplies outside on the patio.  It was a gorgeous day for it!

Turned out a weeeee bit messier than we'd anticipated, but Banana was super-cooperative (until we decided to take her picture. ;-)

Fortunately, Mimi is always prepared (isn't that the Foster Mama motto?), and Banana got a good scrubbing in the baby bath.  I have a feeling Heaven was probably finding clay in places for a week though.  ;-)

Buddy and his masterpiece...  He was very meticulous with his work.

Ka-Diva proudly displaying her own masterpiece...

Booger Bear working on his very own stepping stone.  He is very excited to be a "big boy" now and to be able to do a lot of these projects on his own.  :-)

Heaven's many attempts to get Banana's footprints just didn't turn out quite as planned.  I'm sure she was mortified to have a messy stepping stone because she's a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to her artwork.  :-)

The kids all seemed to take the same approach to decorating their stepping stones as they took to decorating Heaven's birthday cakes.  Buddy loaded up on the "sprinkles."

Booger was sitting next to Buddy and trying to copy his every move with the "sprinkles."  (Booger has been Buddy's shadow since Day One :-)  On top of decorating with the "sprinkles," Booger also attempted to eat them (just like he did with the birthday cake.)

Ka-Diva once again took the neat, clean, minimalistic approach and turned out the one and only perfect handprint of the day!

The finished products out of the molds...

A 3-D view of Buddy's stepping stone...  I wouldn't recommend stepping on this one though.  ;-)

As we were in the process of getting everyone cleaned up, I stumbled across Buddy as he pulled "Green Eggs and Ham" off of the bookshelf and began reading it (in its entirety) to the Booger Bear.  Gotta say, I was a very proud Auntie!

The kids loving on Kitty Cat Tommie...

IDK what was going on with the boys and their goggles.  ;-)

Poor Banana was worn out!  She laid in that position and only opened and closed her eyes for 20 minutes straight.  :-)

And by the end of the day...  Mimi was worn out too!!!  :-)

Just another successful adventure of the "Saturday Crew"...