Brad is Fat

Brad is 5 pounds overweight, 25% above where he should be. So the vet sent him home with a backpack full of tools to help with his weight loss: a measuring cup for his food, a toy mouse for him to chase, a frisbee, a book called "Fitness Unleashed" and a pedometer that clips onto his collar. Here he is sporting the pedometer:2000 steps = 1 mile. He has taken 4876 steps since Thursday. Don't be too impressed, though. If he scratches himself it registers as a step.

Partners in Crime

Nine times out of ten, Daniel and Kiki can be found playing in close proximity to each other. They follow each other throughout the house, crawling around like little cubs. It's always cute, even when they fight over a toy or when they team up to cause trouble.

Great News!

Yesterday we officially became the "adoptive placement" for the boys. All that we have to do now is go to court to make it legal. We have a tentative date of August 15 for the adoption ceremony. Our attorney will be visiting us next Monday so we should find out for sure then. Since we are so close, I am now going to refer to the boys by their names: Daniel and Joe! I'm also going to start referring to Baby Girl M. by her nickname: Kiki. We call her Kiki 75% of the time anyway.

500 Babies Take a Road Trip

This past Monday we drove my sister Elizabeth from Kerrville home to Houston. We planned a couple of things to do in Houston and after dropping Elizabeth off we went to our first stop, the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. We hiked one of the trails, and J. had a blast! I don't think I've ever seen him so excited. It might have had to do with the fact that he was glad to be able to run around after a 4-hour car ride. He was fascinated with everything he saw and stopped every few feet to point at something.

We then wanted to give the babies a chance to crawl around and since the Nature Center is right next to Memorial Park we found a shady, grassy area to spread a blanket and let everyone get some exercise. Here I discovered some new taste preferences of the babies: D. likes to eat dirt and pine cones and M. prefers pine needles. Good to know.

Our last stop was the Galleria. By then it was around 6:00 and we were congratulating ourselves on how well the trip had been going. All of our stops had been close to each other and after doing the hot outdoor activities we were ending with a leisurely cool walk through the mall. All we needed to do was find the Food Court. Little did we know. After 45 minutes of many trips up and down the mall, several elevator rides, asking directions and receiving directions that didn't work, and carrying a double stoller down a flight of stairs, we finally made it. And of course by that time J. needed a complete change of clothes. But when we were finally all seated around our table, the babies in high chairs and J. in a booster seat, we were still very happy with our decision to make the trip. (As long as we didn't think about the fact that we still had to carry the stroller back UP the stairs and had a 3 1/2 hour ride home!)

500 Babies Go to the Library

This past Monday afternoon we packed up and ventured out to the library. The first thing we had to do once we arrived was pay our fines. I can guarantee that not a single one of you reading this has ever had a fine as large as ours. Let's just say that the next library in the San Antonio Public Library system will be named "The William and Anna Morrison Public Library". The problem is we have four cards between us, including 2 teacher cards, and we just weren't very good about returning on time the bazillion books we checked out. But all that is now past us, and we are moving forward in our new roles as responsible library patrons.

Here's what the babies did while there:

Who's That Baby?

It's kind of fun to find new ways to take pictures of the babies without showing their faces.

J. is the easiest because I can usually get him to hold something over his face:

The babies are more of a challenge, especially when I am trying to hold them and not be in the picture:


Sometimes I can get some fun spontaneous shots:

And I've tried over and over to get a cute bathtub shot of all three. But this is tricky for a variety of reasons. Here's the only one I've been able to get that doesn't show their faces or their unmentionables:

I really like this one of J., which I probably wouldn't normally have taken if I wasn't trying to hide his identity:

Puffs

Adoption Update

Here's where we are:

A couple of weeks ago we were given the go-ahead to proceed with the adoption of the boys! We sent in our paperwork and just found out that we won't have to get fingerprinted again, which would have delayed everything by several weeks. When the paperwork is finalized we will go to court and do the adoptive placement and consummation of the adoption all at the same time. We have been blessed with how quickly and smoothly the process is going!

The situation with Baby Girl M. is not as promising. We have known for over a month now that a relative has stepped forward to adopt her. A home study will have to be completed and various people will have to approve it, but our chances of adopting her appear to be very small at this point. We have no idea how much longer she will be with us. I try not to think about it because it just hurts too much. All we can do is thank God for each day she is with us and enjoy her while she is still a part of our family.

Diary of the 500 Babies First Night Sleeping Together in the Same Room

7:45 PM
All children are in their respective beds. D. and M. are asleep, J. is still awake. Dad is at softball practice. Mom is not going to finish cleaning up the house from the day's activities because she needs to be able to hear the babies and how can she do that if she is clanging dishes around? She is forced to work on the computer because that is a quiet activity.

8:15 PM
M. wakes up. Mom pats her back and within 5 minutes she is asleep again. J. is still awake. D. is snoring.

9:20 PM
J. FINALLY falls asleep. To his credit, he was laying quietly in bed the whole time.

9:30 PM
M. wakes up again. Her crying wakes up D. and J., who quickly fall back asleep once she's quiet. It takes about 20 minutes to get M. to fall asleep again. Incidentally, Mom and Dad learn it also takes about 20 minutes for Kix to get soggy.

M. wakes up at 10:00 and again at 10:20. Once she's asleep, Mom and Dad decide to take a chance and go to bed at 10:30, making bets on when she will wake up again. Loser makes the coffee in the morning.

2:30 AM
M. wakes up. Mom and Dad are shocked she has slept for 4 hours.

3:30 AM
M. wakes up with a leaky diaper. After being changed, she now thinks it's time to play and takes 30 minutes to go back to sleep.

5:00 AM
D. randomly wakes up. Dad gives him his pacifier and he goes back to sleep.

8:00 AM
M. wakes up ready for the day. Mom and Dad are again shocked she has slept for 4 hours. J. was also awake but was still in his toddler bed.

She did a lot better than we expected. The dilemma is that we don't want her to get used to being picked up every time she cries in bed, but we also don't want her to wake up the boys. We expect it will take time, but it will be better for everyone in the long run if she can sleep by herself.

Musical Beds

Today is a big day in the Morrison household. We are going to transition J. from the crib to a toddler bed and M. from our bed to the crib. Little D. is staying put. I know you're supposed to leave toddlers in their cribs as long as possible, but I am tired of waking up at the foot of my bed curled up like a dog, pushed out of my place by an eight-month old little girl. Right now J. is taking his nap in his new "big boy" bed and seems to be doing well. Of course the real tests will be what happens when he wakes up and what happens at night. We think we can train him to stay in bed until we come to get him. I'll let you know how that goes.

My Dog, the Landscape Architect

You may or may not remember that over Memorial Day weekend Billy finished building a deck for our backyard. A couple weeks later he added a gravel pathway complete with stepping stones. The last part was to be the landscaping between the path and the house, which I completed over the Fourth of July weekend. All I did was put in some caladiums and mulch, but the end result looked quite sharp.

But Darcy had her own opinions about how the area should look. She prefers more of a trampled, messy look, so she decided to do a bit of rearranging: She looks quite pleased with herself, doesn't she?

Just when I begin to think she's outgrown all of the destructive habits she had when I first got her, she does something like this. So now in my SPARE TIME, of which I have an abundance, I will be picking bits of mulch out of gravel. Thanks, Darcy!

New Shoes

Today we went to a kids' resale shop and bought the first pairs of shoes for Baby Boy D. and Baby Girl M. I've always been of the mindset that babies don't really need shoes until they are walking, but now that they are getting older something seems to be missing from their outfits. A couple of months ago we had M. all dressed up, minus anything on her feet. We were told by an acquaintance "don't do the ghetto thing" and "socks and shoes at all times". We politely responded that she overheats easily and that's why she wasn't wearing socks. (Inwardly we were somewhat annoyed by the comment.) But I think now it's time for sandals at the very least.

No Ranting Allowed

This has been the first full week since summer school ended and Billy finally gets a break. (One of these days I'm going to write a post ranting about people who think that it's so easy being a teacher because of the 3-month vacation every summer. But I don't think most of you who visit this blog do so hoping to read a rant.)

So, what have we been doing? Monday was a caseworker visit, I don't remember what we did Tuesday, Wednesday we drove to Kerrville and celebrated my 408th month-birthday with my parents, Thursday was a staffing for Baby Girl M., and today M. had a visit with her mom. So, mostly typical foster family stuff, but nice because I didn't have to do any of it alone.

On Thursday we also squeezed in a quick trip to the zoo and then drove around Alamo Heights and Terrell Hills picking out the house we're going to buy when we retire. Once we got home, however, I realized I could never leave our current neighborhood. Why would I, when we have neighbors with lovely yards like this:

What I want to know is where are the people from the home owners' association who sent us a letter when we had one weed in our yard that was an inch taller than allowed? Or who told us to bring in our empty trash can when in fact it was our neighbors who kept leaving theirs out? (And they still do.) Keep in mind that at least two trash days have come and gone and the junk is still there. And there were two hideous couches that sat out there for several days but have since disappeared.

Wait. This is beginning to sound like a rant. Sorry!

Summer Fun

My photo issues have finally been resolved. It took all of 20 seconds for Billy to figure out the problem with our new card reader. Apparently the card has to be inserted before the power goes on. How was I supposed to know that? Anyway, here are a few long-overdue pictures of the 500 Babies:

Right after I took this picture I started filming a video clip of the kids, but had to stop because D. tumbled over into the water. It wasn't until after we watched the video that we saw what really happened. He fell because M. pushed him over while trying to get his ball.



The glories of water and the glories of Billy's foot.






Fishing. Or, watching Daddy fish.







The suspects after they have been apprehended. I think the shifty-looking one in red looks guilty.

Welcome Audrey Lee!

At 9:10 this morning, Billy's twin sister Tracy gave birth to an Independence Day Sweetheart. Miss Audrey Lee weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and measured 18 inches long.


Welcome to the world, little one!

Routines

I'm not the greatest at keeping up with routines. But lately Billy and I have made an honest effort to put some more structure into our home life because it helps calm the chaos. My favorite routine is the bedtime routine. We implemented one with J. when he first came to us, but over the months we became less dedicated to following it.

But now that the babies are older, we've lumped everyone together and made one combined family bedtime routine. I'm happy to say that we've been much better at sticking to it. The key, I think, is that we throw everyone in the tub together for bath time. This gets both parents involved from the beginning, and it's easier to follow the whole routine when both of us are working together. Baby Girl M. usually dominates in the tub, grabbing toys from both J. and D. Of course this is no different from playtime out side of the tub. If she sees something she wants, she takes it. The boys usually just watch helplessly and/or cry.

After the bath, everyone gets powdered and pj'd and J. puts his toys away. Then we do stories, devotion, and prayers. This part gets a little hectic because D. and M. are either grabbing at the books or fussing. But eventually we get it all done. Billy gets J. and D. settled in bed and I take M. out for a final feeding and then rock her to sleep.

What I love most about this bedtime routine is that it's one of the times when the sense that we are a family is the strongest. And I think that's why routines are so important. And that's why we're going to do our best to stay consistent with them.

Mock Not, Lest Ye Be Mocked

Ok, maybe that's not really in the Bible. Or is it? Regardless, it probably applies to Billy and me because we tend to take full advantage of the fact that kids are fun to tease. But remember, it was the youths who were making fun of Elisha who got eaten by the she-bears, not the other way around. (Don't worry, we aren't being MEAN to them. We love them!)

For example:

"J., do you like to play with your toys?" "Yeh."
"J., do you like juice?" "Yeh."
"J., do you love Jesus?" "Yeh." (Noticing a pattern, Mom decides to have some fun.)
"J., do you like to eat spiderwebs?" "Yeh."
"J., are you good at solving quadratic equations?" "Yeh."
"J., do you want Barack Obama to be the next President?" "Yeh." (Suddenly this exercise ceases to be funny any more.)

We Finally Go Fishing

After trying on two separate days the past couple of weeks, we finally made it out of the house to go fishing. I don't think I would be as motivated to go if we didn't have a tub of worms sitting in the refrigerator. I wanted to use them so the money we paid for them wouldn't be wasted. (That's the Nerd in me. We are doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and last week we learned that most marriages have a Nerd and a Free Spirit. I am the Nerd. Billy is the Free Spirit.) ANYWAY, we went to the lake at the Live Oak Park and Billy was able to get rid of some worms. Unfortunately, he did not get any fish in return.

Other than me sitting in a puddle of soda after it spilled on my chair and Billy rescuing J.'s hat after it blew into the lake, it was a nice evening. But the babies got restless after a while and I think this is one activity we are going to cross off the list until they are older.

(I will post a picture as soon as I figure out what's wrong with the camera. Every time I plug in the USB cable the camera turns off.)

Caterpillars Are NOT Cute

The other day I was disappointed to see a large hole in one of our green peppers. I figured the culprit was either some small unseen insect or an opportunistic bird striking while the dogs weren't looking. Billy suggested we try a pesticide, which I wasn't too excited about. Until today when I noticed this:

You can see piles of caterpillar poop under the plant if you look closely. (Not that you want to, of course.)

Forget the pesticide, we need a shotgun.

Mini-Milestones

Little M. is 8 months old today! To get ready for the day she decided to sleep for 8 hours straight last night, something that has not happened for a very, very, very long time. Little D. is in the process of cutting 4 more teeth. The little trooper is handling it pretty well.

Yesterday J. copied the "ba" sound and eventually used it in reference to his ball. He's made the sound before, but hadn't copied it like that. Hopefully he's going to start making more progress now.

The Six-Dollar Watermelon

Yesterday we learned that ten dollars doesn't go very far at a Farmer's Market. That's the amount in WIC vouchers that J. received for fresh produce for the entire summer. We're grateful, of course, just a little disappointed that we couldn't get more.

Watching J. proudly pulling his watermelon around in the wagon was totally worth the trip, though.

A Meeting of the Minds

"D., let's put our heads together and figure why there's a giraffe in this rainforest."

"The sage in bloom, is like perfume . . .

. . . deep in the heart of Texas."

I'm not sure if this is the plant the song is referring to, but it is a Texas sage and today it is blooming. I have heard it will bloom before a rainfall, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

This picture of my handsome husband was taken on Easter of 2007. Look closely by the garage and you can see how small the sage was.

This picture was taken today. As you can see, the Plantzilla is threatening to take over our home.

500 502 Babies Celebrate Father's Day

Click here and scroll down a bit to see a cute picture of our kids and the Truwe kiddos wearing their Father's Day shirts. What a crew!!

The Name Game

We have begun filling out some preliminary paperwork regarding the adoption of the boys. There is still the unresolved issue of the intervention filed by some relatives, but we have been told to begin moving forward for now.

On this paperwork we have to indicate their adoptive names, which means Billy and I have finally had to make a decision as to whether we were going to change them. Since both boys know and respond to their first names we have decided to keep them. Plus, the names are Biblical and you can't go wrong with a name from the Bible unless it's Ehud, in my opinion. J. actually had a two-part first name, but we are just keeping the "J." part and elongating it. We are giving him the middle name of "William" after his new father and grandfather. Baby Boy D. never had a middle name (we asked his birth mother) so the middle name we have chosen for him is . . . "Otto" after his grandfather. I think there is already a nephew on my side of the family that has Otto for a middle name but with 12 grand kids already there are bound to be some repeats.

I apologize to those of you who don't know their first names. I still don't feel comfortable sharing them. At times I half expect someone to show up at our door to try to take the boys from us. Highly unlikely, I know, but not out of the realm of possibility. Just last night we received a phone call after 9:00 from someone who started asking detailed questions about the boys. It turned out it was a lady preparing a report for court, but because she didn't say who she was at first it caught us off guard. So until we are closer to adoption I will continue to refer to them as J. and D.

Father's Day Preview

Here's a sneak peek at what the babies will be wearing for Father's Day. We made these at MOPS. (Thanks, Jamie!) Actually I made these at home because I messed up the one I made at the meeting. Apparently I am inept at using an exacto knife and equally incapable of using an iron. But fortunately I finally figured it out. (Getting the handprints and footprints were no small feat, either. All I'm going to say is there was an accidental fire and I had to explain to M.'s caseworker that the red in her toenails was not blood.)


The green footprints are Baby Boy D.'s and the purple ones are Baby Girl M.'s. I figured J. could handle handprints. But I learned that a toddler with blue paint all over his hands won't listen to you when you say "Don't touch anything!"

IMPORTANT: If any of you fine people in Kerrville are reading this don't mention these shirts when we see you tonight. It's a surprise! Thanks!

Growing Up

Little by little these babies are growing up! Almost 2 weeks ago Baby Girl M. poked out her first tooth. Within that same week she began sitting up on her own and crawling. She skipped the army crawl that Baby Boy D. used at first. Yesterday she pulled up to a standing position all by herself. Our biggest concern right now is that she still sleeps with us. It's the only way any of us can get some sleep, but we really want to break the habit.

D. scurries around the house like he owns it. He loves sneaking into our bedroom and pulling up on the side of the bed. He'll pound it feverishly and laugh like a maniac like this: "ha ha ha - ha ha ha". It's hilariously cute. He cruises along the furniture, can stand without falling for a couple of seconds, and is attempting to climb. At his 9 month check-up we learned he's in the 10th percentile for length and at or below the 5th percentile for head circumference and weight. I didn't realize he was so small. (I should have known, though, because M. is outgrowing him and she is in the 50th percentile for all measurements.)

J. is working on learning all kinds of new words. But he has decided to keep them all in his head for now. We are eagerly awaiting the day when he decides to actually say them. The closest thing to a word is a sort of "yeah" sound for "yes". But he doesn't always use it. He also thinks nodding your head means "I want that". He enjoys running around the backyard, cleaning up spilled formula, and reading books. He does not enjoy naps.

Click It or Ticket

Today while M. was visiting her mother I took the boys grocery shopping. The HEB on that side of town has carts that seat two children up front so I was excited to try it out with the boys. J. was very tickled to have his brother seated next to him.

As I shopped, I noticed a cart with an unbuckled child sitting in the front. Then I noticed another one. And another one. And another one. Am I missing something, I thought? Why wouldn't you buckle your child in? What if they try to climb out? What if there is a cart accident? I began to keep track, and of the 8 carts I observed with children in them, only one child was wearing the seatbelt. I just don't get it. It takes all of 2 seconds to snap it on.

A couple of months ago we were in Target when some older kids climbing on a cart tipped it over. There was a baby in the front, buckled in. I don't think she was hurt, but it was very distressing to watch. My heart kept racing for several minutes after it happened. I hate to think what could have happened if she hadn't been buckled in.

The Artist

500 Babies Go To Target

Here are the details of the trip to Target I referred to in the previous post:

My plan was to put the babies in the double stroller and J. would ride in the cart. I had pushed/pulled both at the same time before (at Home Depot while Billy was buying wood.) So it should work at Target, right? At first I thought I was pretty cool, maneuvering stroller and cart each with one hand. The kids were happy and quiet, and I was feeling confident. Midway through the trip, J. started getting antsy. It was nap time, after all. He then stood up in the cart, and after I threatened time out without really thinking through how I was going to implement it, I tightened the seat belt just about as tight as it would go, preventing him from standing up. Ha, I thought. Who's next?

A few minutes later D. wanted a bottle, and after M. saw me getting it out she wanted one too. So I pulled over by the gift wrap and fed both babies at once. "Now that's what I call multi-tasking," a shopper commented as he walked by. You have no idea, I thought. After several minutes of feeding, D. was still crabby and J. was getting restless again. So I decided to switch them around, putting D. in the cart and J. in the stroller. At first J. liked it, but as soon as he realized he was even more restrained than before, he started complaining. D. wasn't totally happy, either, but we had to keep going. Then M. started crying, and I knew she wouldn't stop unless I took her out. So there I was holding M. and still with two wheeled vehicles containing one child each to move along. Throughout the next 15 minutes or so, I tried 4 times to put M. back in the stroller but she arched her back each time and wouldn't let me buckle her in. By this time, I'm beginning to feel stuck. Do I try to check out like this? Do I abandon the cart? But how do I get them all out of the store? I said a little prayer and decided to try musical seats again. While holding M., I pulled J. out of the stroller and told him to go tickle D.'s toes in the cart while I switched M. to the front seat of the stroller. Miraculously, she didn't cry. But the "tickle D.'s toes tactic" didn't last long enough because I looked up to see J. heading the other way down the aisle. I snatched him up, put D. in the back seat of the stroller, reclined it, and gave him another bottle. J. went back into the cart and we hightailed it out of there.

Throughout the trip I made eye contact with no one because I didn't want to see the looks of surprise, amusement, pity or whatever else people might think when they see the spectacle that is the 500 Babies.

Don't feel too sorry for me, though, because somehow I still managed to spend over $70 in the midst of it all.

Did You Know? Because I Didn't.

...that when you put Orajel on your baby girl's teeth and then give her a kiss your lips get numb?

...that toddlers can be trained to bring you the phone when it rings?


...that 500 Babies will entertain themselves for hours with paper plates?

...that a mouse can survive several days (ok, possibly a couple weeks) without water when the hole on its water bottle gets clogged? (all right, maybe I'm not so good with mice)

...that it is possible for one person to take 500 Babies to Target and everyone survives the experience?

Summertime is Here!

School isn't out yet, but something about swimming in your backyard just says "summer" to me. And when it's 100 degrees out, that says to me, "It's ridiculously hot so either get in the water or get inside." And when there are giant cracks in the ground in your backyard, that says to me, "It hasn't rained for 8 months, and funny, isn't that about how long you've had gutters on your house?" Sorry. I'll stop now.

Back to the story! Saturday evening we packed up the 500 Babies and went over to Pastor and Jamie's house. J. got to go "swimming" for the first time with Naomi. He did really well, although you can see that he wasn't too keen on sitting down in the water. You can also see his long, lustrous back hair if you look really closely. Billy and I enjoyed good conversation with friends who are right there with us in baby boot camp (Naomi is 20 months and Micah is 2 months!) It's always nice when you can share poop stories with your pastor. We were hoping some of Naomi's language skills would rub off on J. but no such luck this time.

On Sunday we took the kids outside in our backyard and spent some time splashing in the new baby pool Billy bought Saturday. I didn't get very many good pictures because I was trying to hold M., but here is one shot of D. livin' it up in the water:

He had the best time just splashing away. Little M. seemed to enjoy it, too.

Happy summer, everyone!