First visit at our House

Saturday morning began baby's first overnight with us.  She did fabulous!  She was a little nervous when we first arrived at our house, looking around in each room trying to figure out where she was.  We took it easy the rest of the day and just had lots of snuggles, playtime and I wore her in the Moby wrap a good bit.  She relaxed considerably after a hour or so.  We got lots of real smiles out of her! She slept great during the night, although I didn't because I kept worrying about her waking up.  Haha!  She absolutely loved watching all her brothers play and she squeeled and kicked her legs in excitement a lot.  She is such a happy and good baby so we really had no problems.

On Sunday, my mom came over to help me since the boys were getting dropped off for their first day visit at our house.  We knew it was going to be crazy especially for Nehemiah who isn't used to sharing his stuff.  We put my iPad and Nehemiah's special blanket on my bed and had prepared him to go in there to calm down as needed.  He was sent in there 2 times, I think.  He had also gone though his toys and picked out a few that he just wasn't ready to share yet and we put those up in my closet for the day.  All of the boys were so excited to be together, it was cute but a little insane at times.  :) After some playtime and lunch, we headed to our local park to run off some energy.  Next we headed back to our house, for a little more playtime.  I fed baby and gathered all of her stuff up from the weekend.  Then it was time to drive the kids back.  Thankfully, my mom volunteered to stay with Nehemiah so he didn't have to make the 3 hour roundtrip car ride.

There were some tears and tempers flared but overall it was successful.  We have to start somewhere with them getting used to each other in our home.  It will definitely be helpful to get some tips from the counselor tomorrow.

On the car ride taking the kids back, we had some good conversations.  Oldest boy and I talked a little about how it was going to be a hard adjustment at first for everyone but that we'd work through it together.  We talked about how the grown ups will handle the issues and that he didn't have to try and correct the other kids.  We talked about how it will be to share a bedroom because he has his own room at his foster home. He said he wants the top bunk.  :) I encouraged him to finish the school year strong and to do his best.  I gave him huge hugs when I dropped him off and told him I love him already and couldn't wait to see him again.

Then I took the younger two further down the road and had some sweet conversation with middle boy.  Until now he's been kind of oblivious to what is going on and I know he still doesn't understand fully, but I did tell him that one day all of us were going to live at my house.  He said, "We are?!?" with a huge grin on his face.  He loves Joseph and calls him "Jo-fish." So cute! I talked with him about getting smiley faces from school for good behavior.  He talked about being a Rescue Hero and I used that opportunity to tell him that rescue heroes need to listen carefully and follow directions.  I got super big hugs before I left.  I dropped them off at a Wendy's with the other foster mom and I was crying before I even made it out the door.  This is so hard.