Breaking the Silence- Part 2

If you missed the beginning of this story, check out Part 1 first.
From the beginning, we knew Butter Bean's case would be incredibly complicated. This is very rare to know so much about a child's case before they enter your home. Normally, you are lucky if you know both their full name and DOB. How we knew so much about this case is part of that 95% of the story that won't be told here. But in the first 2 months of the case, we were in court 5 times for adjudication hearings. Most of you probably won't understand how ludicrous and unusual this is.  When our foster parent/social worker friends hear this, their jaw normally falls to the floor. It was at one of those adjudication hearings that we were told Butter Bean could be "going home today" due to that fun technicality. After we advocated for Butter Bean to the dismay of some, certain unnamed parties got their act together and the technicality loophole was no longer available.  
After we survived those court dates, we thought the case was like a "normal" foster child case: we take care of the child while the parent(s) work the plan to get them back until the next court date when the next steps are decided. That was a complete rookie mistake. Nothing ever follows the "normal" path. And this was no exception. Then until "the incident", we were told that Butter Bean could be leaving at any point. They would try their best to give us 1-2 notice, but that might not be possible. Because of details I can't share, this development actually made us very happy because it was great for many people including Butter Bean. However, we grew increasingly bitter over the short notice. Especially as we waited month after month wondering if/when he'd be leaving our home.
And if that wasn't enough, Rudy was diagnosed with cancer. He had surgery and they were able to remove all of the cancer.  Now he is back to his normal life of constantly trying to convince you to go snuggle in the bed and believing every cardboard box that comes into our house is his new toy! 
Thankfully, we made the conscious decision to just keep living life and planning as if he'll be with us. We took a trip to the beach for my first Mother's Day weekend. It was an incredible trip and so amazing to actually be celebrating that day! We also went to the mountains over Memorial Day, where Butter Bean went swimming for the first time.  At first he wasn't so sure and then he LOVED it! We celebrated Father's Day with one of the hubby's favorite Southern dishes: chicken and waffles. And we had 4th of July gathering at our house complete with fireworks, which Butter Bean giggled at! But my favorite memory of all was Butter Bean's 1/2 Birthday party! Yes, we are *those* parents. It was a great day that was shared with so many people who have given us endless support and fully embraced Butter Bean.
Stay tuned for the Part 3 which explains "the incident".

Beyond Cute

There was some talk about little boys wearing suits.  And they are so much cuter than my mind could imagine.   The suits were fresh out of the box, so ignore wrinkles, tags and graphic tees!

Artichoke and Zucchini were excited to look "spiffy"!

Rudy was jealous.

Such sweet boys!

 

Birthday Party for the Dog!

With Zucchini's birthday coming up in August, there has been quite a bit of birthday talk in our house.  Artichoke was especially curious about when everyone's birthday was.  And boy did he get excited when he found out that Rudy's birthday was only a few weeks away. "Are we going to throw him a party?  Everyone should have a party for their birthday!" How do you say no to that?  So we began planning his party.

It was decided that balloons are essential to a successful birthday party.  So we decorated the front porch.  Can you spot the birthday boy supervising?  Don't worry he was consulted to make sure he agreed with the balloon placement!

And only in the foster parenting world do you have to post a sign like this.  Thankfully, the boys can't read yet so we didn't have to discuss the unique set of rules we operate under.

Back to the balloons.  We also hung them inside the house.

 And we even picked out some other birthday party decor.

The other essential for a birthday party?  CAKE!  After much discussion, it was decided that we needed two cakes.  One for the humans and one for Rudy.  "Because humans can't eat dog food and dogs can't eat human food."  So yes, we were "those people" who ordered a custom cake for their dog!

And here is Rudy's "cake".  The dog bakery was all out of doggie cakes on the day we visited.  So we all agreed that he would like 2 cookies just as much.  Artichoke picked out the pizza because "it looks yummy".  Zucchini picked out the sunglasses because he is obsessed with accessories- hats, glasses, shoes.  He loves them so much that quite often we let him take his nap wearing his hat and his shoes because it is too big of fight to take them off!  So it was pretty fitting that he thought Rudy needed some sunglasses!

We invited some of Rudy's human friends to join in the fun.  Artichoke wasn't so sure about having his dog friends come over.  It was pretty clear when the boys came to our home that they had very little exposure to dogs.  So I thought it was a HUGE step for Artichoke to express this concern to us.  We assured him that only Rudy's human friends would be attending and he was so relieved.  We are now gradually meeting Rudy's dog friends.  Artichoke does take some solace in remembering that "Rudy's dog friends are nice because Rudy only likes nice people!"

A good time was had by all despite the weather being crazy hot!  And this was a great test run for the hubby and I before tackling Zucchini's 2nd birthday party.  Hopefully that one will be a success too!

Happy [Soon To Be] Mother's Day!

Although I am very anxiously awaiting the little one(s) to enter our lives, I am thankful that I am still only a mother to Rudy at this point.  The cold I caught this week turned into a nasty bug that has made for a very relaxing weekend full of one of my favorite things: sleep!  And to make it even better, we are dog-sitting an adorable chocolate lab puppy, Gulliver.  So there are extra dog snuggles to go around!

Not Quite Potato Chips

... but Kale chips are pretty tasty.

Previously I heard about the deliciousness that was Kale chips.  I didn't really pay too much attention since I'm not a huge chip person.  But since starting the Ideal Protein diet, I am looking for any and all recipes that are on plan.  And thankfully Kale chips are!  Woohoo!

I followed this tutorial, which was quite completely.  Although I did change a few things up.  Here's my version.

Kale Chips
Kale
Olive Oil
Seasoning

Preheat oven to 350.

Wash kale.  Completely dry kale.  Dry again to be sure.  Rip kale from stalk.  Rip kale into bite size pieces. Place on cookie sheet that has been sprayed/lightly greased with olive oil.  Spray kale with olive oil.  Sprinkle with seasonings of your choice (garlic powder, garlic salt, onion powder, salt, etc.).

Cook until they are the consistency of paper.  Mine took around 8 min.  But smaller pieces will take longer.  Wait until they are cool to package up.  We learned that hard way that you will otherwise you end up with soggy kale and that's just no fun.

Feed leftover kale stalks to your dog.

So Proud

If you have ever met our little man, you know that he is an attention whore.  Everyone is his best friend (even if they don't know it yet) and they must be showing their love constantly.  Because of this, he isn't a fan of other dogs competing for his affection.  This weekend we were dogsitting and either Rudy learned some manners or he fell in love.  Thankfully since he is neutered, I don't have to worry about which one it is!

Caption Needed

Foster Friday: Exciting Weekend Plans!

Because there is so many different aspects that I want to share in our journey to becoming foster parents, I decided to start a Foster Friday series. So every Friday you can look forward to learning more about the process, the system, and the reality of it all!

This first edition is going to start off with our very exciting weekend plans. We have been planning this weekend since September! Yes, the anticipation has been building for well over a month. I know you are going to be jealous that you can't join us, but life sucks sometimes. What are our fabulous plans you ask?


Sleep! Yes, we are going to spend the weekend sleeping in that comfy bed! But we are most excited to sleep in on Saturday morning and probably take a nap Saturday afternoon too. Why is this so exciting you may ask? And what does this have to do with foster parenting?

1. We are done with MAPP classes!!! Last Saturday was our final class! Woohoo!

2. We are enjoying our childless life while we still have it! We definitely know that our "Sleep-In Saturdays" are definitely getting closer and closer to extinction as we move further in the process of foster parenting. So instead of prematurely mourning our loss, we are going to embrace and celebrate the sleeping we still have left!

So our weekend is going to look like this:

And a little bit of this:
And definitely some of this:
What momma wouldn't be happy about sleeping all weekend?

New Look, New Adventure

So I've been quiet for a while, actually it has been quite a long while. But the good news is that I'm back and at the beginning of a new, very exciting adventure. More on that in a minute.

First I need to catch you up on everything that has gone on to get us to where we are today.

I took REG, my first test of the CPA exam. The experience sucked. The questions kept getting harder, which is a good sign. But only luck would have gotten me a correct answer in the last testlet since I had no clue what they were talking about. So I waited a horribly long time and found out that I passed. *insert crickets chripping* Weird, right? It wasn't "I PASSED!!! Woohoo I'll conquer the world!" It was just "I passed. So what's for dinner?" Literally. And that got me thinking, do I really want to be a CPA? Is this really going to make me happy? If not, then what would make me happy?

So there was some questioning the purpose of life in there, but I determined I wasn't pursuing the CPA for the right reasons. I was doing it because I have worked in accounting for close to a decade (man I'm getting old) and I thought those three letter should be at the end of my name. In reality, Redhead in Raleigh CPA wouldn't make me any happier than Redhead in Raleigh. So the CPA journey ended, and that surprisingly made me happy!

I decided my job was too much work and not enough fulfillment and challenge. So I threw my resume out there on days that were particularly grueling. I got a bite, an interview, and an offer I couldn't say no to. Leaving my job was awkward to say the least. People I expected to support my decision did anything but. And those who I never expected support from were standing by my side. Funny how things work out like that. Good news is that the amazing offer has continued to be amazing and then some. I enjoy my work. I believe in my new company. And I even like the people I work with! Three sentences I've never been able to say at the same time before!

Work was taken care of, but there was a still a void in my personal life. I am lucky to have an amazing husband who was feeling the same way. What would our next step be? Follow the traditional path and get pregnant? Nope, it just didn't feel right. Most people don't know what to make of that sentence but that's the only way we can explain it. It might be right down the road, but today it isn't for us. But the weird part is that we want a child to love. So... drum roll please... we are becoming Foster Parents!

Even Rudy is excited to be the "Big Brother"!

Instant Smile

My weigh-in yesterday really put a damper on my mood. But I decided to use my bad mood to my advantage and tackle R3 (C Corps). I had been dreading this section because it just doesn't click at.all! So last night I spent 3.5 hours trying to make some sense of it. I figured since I had a bad day I might as well work on R3 so that I don't ruin a good day!

But then I saw this guy and instantly smiled!

Family Time in OBX

The past week was spent with my family at OBX. We all had an amazing time! Hoping this will become an annual tradition.

We surprised my mom with a session with the amazing Tina Dean for some family pix on the beach! Here are some of my favorites!

Me, Kevin and Rudy

Lace, Barlow, Mom and Dad enjoying the view

Me and the brothers

The original 5

The whole crew

What a cute couple! So happy my brother found such a great girl!

The 'rents

Old Man Barlow

Last but not least, my favorite picture!

5th and 4th

On Saturday July 3rd, Kevin and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! We ate at an incredible Italian restaurant (quite a feat in the South) and then saw Pilobolus (very cool). It is crazy to think it has already been 5 years since our wedding seems like yesterday. But thinking over the crazy ride the past 5 years has been, I'm so happy that Kevin was by my side through all of it! Here's some of my favorite pictures from our wedding!




Sunday was obviously July 4th. Rudy and I marched in our neighborhood 4th of July parade (pictured below). And then we headed to the Durham Bulls game! It was the perfect mix of all things American (nice summer weather, baseball, fireworks and too much food- hot dogs, fries, nachos, popcorn, ice cream, beer)!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

First of all I have to start off with one of my favorite pictures of Rudy. This was the first time he discovered the deliciousness of beer, Corona specifically!

I also wanted to share an awesome recipe that we are having tonight. I made this previously for Supper Club and got rave reviews and it has turned into one of my favorite salads. Doesn't it look yummy?

Click here for the Southwestern Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette recipe. This website has awesome stuff, so look around while you are there!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Apparently, Rudy's love for Corona started early!

Who Says Dogs Don't Eat Homework?!?

Who knew my Finance project was so tasty?

Rudy Thinks He's a Cat!

What a Fabulous Day!

First of all, how amazing was it to witness history!

Photo taken by Kev during the election at a campaign stop in Raleigh. He shook Obama's hand right after this pic!

Then to make the day even better, it snowed! And it wasn't a wimpy souther snow. It was 7 inches of snow! Because we are in the south, it was declared a snow day! Seriously, got to stay home just like back in elementary school!

The view from our front porch.

Of course our little guy was quite excited about the snow. Here's Rudy waiting to go outside and explore.

What I have something on my face?

But I don't want to come in!

Momma's Little Boy

Our growing boy has finally figured out the way to his mother's heart!

Snuggle time!

And I promise there will be some posts actually about Kev and I in the future. It's just hard to resist posting our cute puppy!

#70 Organize Bedroom Closet

Kev and I have been working quite hard to get our closet organized. When we moved in the boxes were merely emptied into this room, well most of them anyway. And since my ass has done some shrinking over the past year, there are quite a few items that don't fit. Hence the creation of Mount St. Elissa.

After about a week of working on and off it is almost done. Currently we are awaiting our new hangers to be delivered. But in the meantime, I'll leave you with the Before pictures. Thank God we have a cute puppy whose favorite room is our closet. Otherwise why would anyone have pics of a dirty closet?

Oh yeah! How you doin'?