...When The Journey Takes Us Home.

As a family we have been given such a gift!!! We are going home to see my sweet southern family!!! I haven't been home for two year and most of my family have never met my girls....so yeah, EXCITED!!!!!

So now I am packing...preparing...and figuring out how to deal with 3 hyper girls on a small airplane! Trying to get this house cleaned up...yeah, I don't think it's gonna happen in time. Also, getting to the store to pick up our last minute items...

I am also trying to talk myself into eating healthy on the trip, and reminding myself to drink my water!!! All that good Southern Food will be everywhere...oh dear!!!

We are also have a few family dinners, parties, and get-to-gathers!!! So yeah, we are really excited!!! I just hope we can see everyone...always a few me miss seeing as there is so seldom enough time....

We are almost ready to go....

It's About That Time...

POTTY TIME!!!

My baby girl is starting to show signs that she is ready to go potty. She has some sensory issues so it is going to be a bit of a challenge. Her pediatrician and physical therapist have told us not to expect too much, too soon. So we are going to take our time, but we just can't let her fall further behind...not without trying.
We believe in her and she will do it~ in her own time.
So here we go...

I wanted to start the same way my good friend April did with her precious princess: brainwashing...uuuummm I mean learning. So we bought a few movies & books and our potty watch.

Potty Time Training Pack: A Friendly Reassuring Way to Help Your Child (Google Affiliate Ad)

Then we got our little living room potty corner ready... 

The froggy potty goes in the bathroom, but he is just so cute...memories, huh Tiff?  I have the little movies & books, potty, wipes, training pants, cloth "pull-ups" for nap and babylegs for easy ups! I also put some little toys out but changed them for puzzles and therapy toys. We now do our therapy play during potty time to save time.

I am just in love with cloth diapers!!! You can see plenty of that on this blog, but new favorite thing?? Cloth training pants and cloth pullups!!! They are so cute!!! We use trainers during the day and leak-proof clothies-ups for night and nap. 

Like I said, too cute, right?!? 

I almost forgot our hot pink travel potty seen below in blue!!!! I love this thing!!! It has a nice bag, folds up small and fits in my bag. No more TP lining public toilet seats! Even the big kids need it when we travel...

We also have our babydoll that goes potty and we sing our little songs. We enjoy lots of time playing potty, and trying to earn stickers!  We have also learned to flush.. Now if we can just get it all together.

  Please feel free to comment your potty training tricks in the comments below. :) 

Because We All Need A Little Calm...On This Journey!

Yes I am talking about the calming jars! If you have spent any time on Pinterest (my new fave!!!) you have seen these little jars. I loved the idea! Umm...HELLO?!?!?!? G-L-I-T-T-E-R!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the stuff!!! Yes, I love that is sticks to everything, too!

Okay calming down...that IS what this post is all about right?!? So I knew for my girls we would need to use the plastic ones and that I would need some REALLY good glue to keep those suckers closed!

I made them in my girl's favorite colors: Blue for my beautiful 6 year-old, Purple for bubbly 3 year-old, and pink for my baby girl who is nearing the terrific 2s!!

This is them all shaken up!!! 

I wish I had made the middle one a little smaller..

About half way...

All calm and hopefully the child as well... 

These pretty little jars or bottles are mostly used for time out, but we use a modified time out for our girls ranging from special needs to "high" needs so I knew this would not work for that so we just use them for calming moments. They are great for in the car although after having one flung at my face...we may be making some a little smaller for the car.

 I needed a calming jar after that!!! 

Our Overnight Visit!

Soo we had our overnight visit this last weekend.. It went so well!!! We got in town around 3 AM and drove over to my good friend's house. Next to our bed we found a gift bag filled with tons of snacks, treats, drinks, toys, art stuff, and games for us on the visit!!! She is the best & she knows who she is... *Love ya!*

We left her house early that morning to go pick up the girls and it started RAINING!!!! So we had to think fast and thought: 

where we could get breakfast and let the kids play in the play area... It was a huge success!!! They had so much fun and we loved the more quiet environment and smaller play area.

Soon it was time to check in to our hotel, play some games, have lunch, read some books (yes, in asl as well), and let the two youngest girls have a nap!

We made our first really big "oops" as new parents when we started to lay the girls down realized that we forgot the milk!!! The baby always has a milk before bed and the foster-mom warned what ever we did make sure she has her milk!!! We found out why....also that she has a great pair of lungs!!! LOL! So off hubby went around the corner to buy milk! She quieted right down and drifted off to dream as I made a mental note to never again forget the milk!!!

The oldest, my beautiful N. and I looked at some family pictures as well as our wedding album while her sisters slept....then she colored pictures, and I read to her as she held her Hello Kitty.  I love spending that precious time with my big girl before she is off the school soon after coming home.

After a couple of hours it was time to wake up and we got  a call from the social worker that she needed to come observe us with the girls...it was then that I realized how small the hotel room really was!! I was so nervous! I don't think I will ever get used to being scrutinized.. The visit thankfully went well, and she had some good info and some really nice things to say about our not so little family...it was encouraging!

It was then time for dinner, and some more time just being together...playing, and watched a movie.

Bedtime~ 3 baths, 3 sets of PJs, 3 toothbrushes, 3 braids, 3 books, 3 kisses, 3 I love you, 3 hugs, and one little hand that had to hold mine till she fell asleep....

They slept so well through the night! I was so proud of my girls...

The next morning we went to church at the foster-mom's church... It was good for everyone there to say goodbye, and wonderful for us to see all of the people that loved my little girl, and prayed for us~her family all of those years! The whole church gathered around our new little family and prayed for us...it was amazing!

We got some lunch on our way home, and our middle daughter fell asleep in the car.. It was just the cutest thing!

After lunch was naptime and hubby went to get cupcakes from the store for my birthday! The girls loved the cupcakes!!! There is nothing in this world like a big smile covered in pink icing!

We cleaned up, got some dinner, and went to the park! My girls love the park!!!

We had such an amazing 2 days we didn't want it to be over....

It was then time to take them back...it was the hardest for my oldest who is only 5 and her whole little life is changing... She just cried on hubby shoulder, & just about broke my heart.

After she calmed down a little all we could do was talk to her and try to assure her of our love and that we wanted her...and that we would come back the next weekend. Choking back the tears holding my little girl...not wanting to let her go~ I somehow let go and made my way to the door. Sometimes I think I can still feel that lump in my throat...

Dropping off our middle daughter after her audy appt the next morning was just as hard as her little eyes filled with tears... She clung tightly to hubby, not wanting him to put her down. We know it is just for a little while...and we cling to God's Word which God promises us:
"Leave your orphans behind, I will protect them." Jeremiah 49:11 NAS


We just can't wait till next weekend! All of this will be over and new challenges will begin, but we will have wonderful memories from our visits. We are so blessed!

After the appt. we went and had lunch with a dear friend in the area since we didn't get to talk much the Friday night before.. It was wonderful catching up and showing off the pix of the girls. I am so blessed with not only a new family, but great friends to share it all with... 

~Meeting Our Girls~

We sat in the van our hearts pounding...waiting on the social worker to arrive to show inside and introduce us to two of our girls. I smiled, looking down at my hands tightly clutching 2 stuffed animals we had brought for the girls.
I seemed lost in that moment, wanting to take it all in...

At last the worker arrived and I somehow made it across the yard with shaky knees and a pounding heart. Our worker knocks and a sweet little 5 year old girl with long brown hair and big brown eyes comes flying around the social worker to give me a hug! It seemed in that moment the whole world just whirled around me with happiness.as I knelt down hugging my little girl...

She then ran up to Hubby showing him her little picture book we had sent her and announced that she knew who he was, gave him a little hug, and asked if he wanted to see her toys & books. She was so excited as she started playing school...we were her students and she seemed to just love that attention. It felt so natural. It felt like home....<3

A few minutes into looking at toys & books I got another surprise~ the youngest came toddling up to me with her arms up wanting me to pick her up! We had been told that she was very shy and attached to foster-mom so not to expect much, boy were they wrong! She took turns running from me to James; giving us her little toys & playing peek-a-boo. She is just so cute with her shoulder length hair, soft brown eyes, and tiny little frame. ~All smiles and giggles! <3

After about 2 hours we got back in the car to drive to the other house with our hearts full of love! We couldn't stop smiling!!

We arrived and were brought into the playroom were we met our middle daughter.. We introduced ourselves in asl..giving her the stuffed animal we brought for her and her foster-mom showed her our pictures in her book. Then it kinda *clicked* who we were and she was so surprised and happy to see us! She hugged Hubby first and LOVED his beard (So I guess I'm out voted!) and sat his lap and showed him the little book. She played with her toys and then brought over a brush to "fix' my hair...then wanted me to fix her beautiful long thick hair with her soft almost almond eyes sparkling with delight as I brushed her hair while she brushed her doll's... <3

We were so impressed at how many words in asl she knew and how easy it was to communicate with her..she is so smart! It was a little harder taking pictures of her; because she is deaf she is very visual so any distractions and she looks away. That is okay, the ones we did get are sooo cute! She then went and got her shoes and told her foster-mom and the worker that she was going home now...meaning with us. They told her she could go right then & that she had to wait and seemed okay with that, although I'm not sure I felt the same...
I want her to come home...I want all of them home.

We could not have asked for a better first visit!! We are just so blessed!!!
      You know they say there is no such thing as ~love at first sight...I think they are wrong. I knew in that moment that my heart would never be the same...it is now in little pieces and I gave away three that day.

I guess you could say I loved my daughters at first sight....

The Trip Out To Meet Our Girls!

So the day finally came for us to take the first 7 hours drive to go meet our girls...

So we loaded up the van!!! We had a LOT of stuff!!!

Only about half of it......LOL!

I think one of the best parts of getting ready to go for me was packing my diaper bag for the first time... 

It sounds funny, but it all just felt so surreal. I had dreamed of that moment for so long... I felt a little little like a real mommy...

Also, a good friend bought the girls some goodies to pack in the bag....big thanks to their "Auntie." 

We had such a great trip!! More to come later.... <3