I Made It! Such a relief...well, sort of!

Long lost blog readers!  Remember me, probably not...remember my last post, probably not...well I'll give you a minute to scroll back down and give it another read if you'd like.  Don't worry, I'll wait...

waiting...

waiting...

waiting...

Oh good!  You came back!  Thanks! :)

Well, I think God read that post and LAUGHED at me.  Not just a giggle, but a great big old belly LAUGH!

I am so happy to say that I finished up with my last day of class yesterday, but my brain hasn't caught up yet because it keeps wondering what homework I need to be doing right now and then it remembers and says "WHEEEEWWWW!" I'm DONE! :)

Now back to that laugh...later that same day (of my near drowning post) we received a call from DCFS asking if we would take not 1, but 2 little girls (2 year old and 10 month old) for a long term placement!  (I'm pretty sure He was thinking~lady you haven't see anything yet!)

I was extremely nervous about taking them, only because I still had 3 weeks of classes left to get through including a major research project), but I also knew that "3 weeks" was a short-term problem not a "forever"  problem.

We accepted and our lives have already been blessed in many ways by these two girls' presence in our lives!   For me, it brought almost instaneous "healing" from the residual effects of infertility and a feeling of this is where we should have been all along.  For Luke, it brought "sisters" (although he is now beginning to realize that he may not have had it so bad being here by himself ;)

For Scott, it gave him a week of being a "stay-at-home" dad instead of a week of vacation :)

We have also gotten a lot of questions/comments about "how is it going's" and "I bet you're a lot busier now's"

To answer the first question, going from 1 to 3 kids, to be perfectly honest, felt like the most natural thing in the world.  Yes, there are more fights, especially when a 2 year old gets thrown into the mix, but I can't really say that it has been much "harder" than Luke all by himself is at times.  It's always better when we can get simultaneous tantrums going...then everyone gets it out of their system at the same time! :)  The biggest problem has been my own self-induced sleep deprivation due to many late nights completing assignments paired with Luke's early (5:30-6 a.m.) wake ups and that would have been happening whether the girls were here or not.  It has been hard at times, but it has also been very good too!

To answer the second comment, I always think "Ummm, have you never met my boy Luke?!"  He is busy enough all on his own...just ask anyone who has ever babysat for us! :)  Honestly, the two girls together are still easier than my dear, sweet Luke all by himself at times.  So, other than much more laundry and actually having to keep on top of my dishes, it's really not too much "busier" around here either! :)

Today marks three weeks of being a family of five and the plan is to just keep enjoying all of them while we've got them!  Because, really, aren't all of children just on loan to us from God anyway?  

Welcome to our family Bis Sis and Little Sis!  We love you!

Whew!!!!

Just coming up for a momentary breather!

The last couple of weeks have left me feeling like I am just barely treading water.  My summer classes have started and besides the long days away from home, there has been quite a bit of homework to do every evening too along with busy, busy weekends.  One class will be ending next week, but until then...I still have a lot of work to get done within the next week!  I will not deny that I am very much looking forward to that class dropping so that I can actually have my mornings at home back again...at least until school starts back up again!

Classes are going well and I haven't drowned yet, so I'll "just keep swimming" and look forward to next Thursday and getting some time back!  (Until then, please don't judge my house or my eating habits! ;)

Until my next "breather"!

"Why not do I have..."

*This post may go places that cause some readers (if I have any left ;) much discomfort and for that I apologize, but it IS true to form of what has been happening in our little world as of late.  You've been warned! :)

This is how many of Luke's questions start out when he can't have something that he wants.  I usually like answering his questions, but as of late his BIG question has been stirring up lots of things that I thought I had a fairly good handle on as of recent years.

Over the past month or so, the ending to his question is "...a brother or sister to play with?  I want one!"

WHAM!  Infertility has stuck its ugly head up again and it came at me in the body of an almost 5 year old.

It gets even better when the question comes in this form..."Mom, do you have a baby in your belly?"  I always say "No, my body hasn't ever done that or worked that way."  To which he replies, "Get one in your belly Mom! "Why not can you get one?"

Oh how I wish this terrible thing would only have ever affected Scott and me...I hate that it's ugly fingers are now affecting my child!

I tell him how blessed we are to have him and that he has cousins who he can treat like brothers and sisters, but  when time with any of them is too far and in between, even ones who live close, he doesn't really buy it.  Plus, they all have their own siblings and with that comes him naturally being held at a different status by them...he is a "cousin" not a "brother" even though he himself would love for that feeling to be different on everyone else's part.

It hurts when he sooo wants someone else to play with (besides me of course :) and there just aren't any good options at these points most of the time.  Either people with kids around the same age aren't home; or the parents are at work/kids at daycare; or it comes up late in the day and going to a friend's house would take a bit of a drive which would mean getting there around supperish time, or a spur of the moment type of play date is not overly welcomed due to schedule conflicts, etc, etc, etc.

There also seems to be an abundance of pregnancies announcements/births, as of late, which are wonderful things to celebrate, but which also takes us back to his second question and why I don't have a baby in my belly.   He tells me "it's not fair" and "[insert name here] don't need another brother or sister.  [insert name here] already has one...can I have it?"  or "Can [insert baby's name here] be my brother/sister too?"

How do you explain to a 4 1/2 year old that the world just doesn't seem fair sometimes and that sometimes there is just not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it?!

I'm so glad that he is growing up, but I hate that he is now getting big enough that our grownup problems can now in their own unique way upset him too!

I'm sure there are many benefits to being an only child, but being forced to be/have an only child due to infertility is definitely NOT one of them.  Sorry bud!

Thank You Mom!

Thank You for...

*always being there when we need you most...

*printing off all of the pictures on your camera and giving us even the most random ones..."well your elbow was in it so I thought you might like it"...of course, I am kidding with that line...but the "random" ones are sometimes the best ones too or at the very least-good for a laugh...

*showing us that life is about helping others, not just serving ourselves/our own agendas, although you may grumble from time to time about it-you still always step up to help others whenever they ask it of you...

*demonstrating for us that church is just a natural extension of our lives by showing what it means to serve it and that it is not just an obligation that we are supposed to fulfill each week-even though we may have grumbled about this one from time to time as kids :) ...

*loving your grandkids and always welcoming them into your heart and home...

*all the times you remember to tell all of us girls about things, instead of telling 1 or 2 or us something 3 different times and forgetting to tell one of us ;) ...

*babysitting!!! ...

*being you!

We love you! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

My name is...

(or has been)...

"Anita"

"Anita Jean"

"Neet"

"Anita P"

"Mom"

"Aunt Anita"

"Mrs. S."

and most recently added to the list...

"Luke's Mom"

It feels strange walking around school being referred to as "Luke's Mom" by the littlest people in the building and not "Mrs. S", but it also feels really nice! :)  Luke never attended a 'daycare' and the kids he always played with were either cousins, friends' kids, or kids from church...all of whom called me by something else on the list above so this has been a new experience for me.

It's a name I am very proud to carry! :)

Animal Farm

It seems that this is what we are becoming.  Technically, our house is sitting on the place that was always the "family farm", but it hasn't really been much of a "farm" farm for many years now, however, if Luke has his way...it may just get there again someday.

I would just love to hear someone try to argue that my child does not LOVE animals.  Since Scott and I have lived here, we have always had cats.  Do they get much of the glory that comes with being a "pet cat"?  No, at least not from us.  They help keep the mice at bay and they are pretty much free to go on as they please.  We keep them fed and watered...then they're somewhat on they're own.  Luke, on the other hand, refers to these cats as his "kitty friends", "catty friends", or "my buddies" on most occasions and insisted that they have a house, despite the fact that they can get into the old house or any of the sheds/barn/old buildings on the property.  So, last fall, Scott built them a house and we painted it.

Scott has always had a deep fondness for rabbits and finally got back into raising them a year ago in February. As expected, Luke took to them immediately and has been loving on the new litters of baby rabbits that we've had.

Then last August, we decided to add a dog to the mix, Chester.  Appropriately enough, we picked him up on the day of Luke's 4th birthday!  He loves the dog and even had to open the van door before we left for town today, just to say goodbye to Chester.

I write about all of this because today we picked up a fish.  Luke has been wanting one for quite awhile and we used this as an incentive for helping with things around the house.  He finally earned it yesterday and today we brought home a fish!  As I've said before, Luke LOVES it!

When I remembered that we also have a can of worms sitting on the porch (he brought them home from the sitter's and we're hoping to use them for fishing at some point), which we refer to as our "worm farm" and he refers to as his "worm friends" I decided that I better write about our ever growing "farm" before the next animal arrives...whatever that may be! :)

And when I say that Luke loves all of these things, I mean he loves them.  He always refers to them as "my [insert type of animal here] friends" and is constantly trying to give them hugs and kisses.  I would not even be shocked to find out one night that he tried to give one of his "worm friends" a kiss and tell it goodnight.  He also always makes sure that all of these animals know he will miss them too, if he is leaving.
He is nothing if not sweet!  That's for sure! :)

So...quite by accident, we are apparently becoming some sort of animal farm, I guess! ;)

Luke's 1st Race!

Luke was very excited this morning to run in his first "race"!

He has been watching me train and has watched or heard about me running in several "races" now and is constantly asking me if he can come with me when I run.  Most of the time, I have to tell him no because the distances are either too long or with the races...I've been afraid that they will be too much for him.

Well, today, my cousin and her family hosted their 2nd annual event in honor of their baby boy who died after struggling to live for about 8-9 months.  We were unable to make it last year due to my first 1/2 marathon being scheduled for the same weekend, but those of us who did the 1/2 wore the t-shirts from the event in his honor during our 1/2.  This year, Scott and I didn't really decide until last night that we were for sure going and then when we looked over the list of races (10K, 5K, 1 mile fun run), we decided that maybe the whole family would just do the 1 mile race, since Luke has been wanting to run in a race for awhile now.  He was excited and nervous when we told him that he was going to get to do a race! :)

After our hour-ish drive, we finally found the right location and got out of the van...in the pouring rain...

We got registered, grabbed our bibs/chips, and got ready.  The race was delayed for quite a bit due to lightning and then finally we got the go ahead.

Luke took off and I stayed with him (Scott fell behind to stay with one of my cousins to help her along the way) and Luke RAN THE WHOLE MILE! :)

At one point, the rain started to come down even harder and he came to a stop.  I asked him if he was okay and told him that we had to keep going.  He looked at me and said, "Mom, this is fun! I like running in the rain!"

We finished somewhere between 12 and 13 minutes (I think?), which I thought was great considering that's what my time tends to average out to per mile on my really long runs.

He loved it!  As soon as we crossed the finish line, Luke said, "Let's do that again Mom! When's the next race?"

I'm so excited that he was so excited about it and Scott and I have discussed some other possibilities for him, but I think it would be okay if the rain kept its distance the next time! ;)