Running Behind as Usual

Now that September is officially over, here's the update for the month :)

This month our baby turned 2! Caleb had a really cute Thomas the Tank cake that Grandma picked out for him. He started the terrible two's immediately before he blew out the candles on his cake and has been exceptionally rotten ever since :) It's a really good thing that he's cute.

Nathan and I took over 36 hours of foster and adoptive parent training while our Mom and Dad Rohrer, Uncle Zack, and Karrie and Clay babysat Caleb and Libby for several late nights and long weekends. Nathan and I still have some final classes in CPR and First aid and a few more reams of paperwork to fill out before we start the home study process.

We nursed two orphaned and malnourished kittens back to health and enjoyed playing with them, but are happy to have our living room back to being "kitten-free".

We had a lot of fun with the kids and endured further naughtiness from Caleb.

And we finished off the month by driving to the Detroit airport to pick up our newest Siberian boy kitty Yaguar straight from Moscow.

We are all looking forward to Mom and Dad's visit in a few days as well! I'm afraid we won't have all of the projects done that we had planned to do before they arrived, but we'll put them to work when they come.

Also, if you haven't read your facebook lately, Matt and Libby are expecting their first baby next spring! I've been having a hard time being quiet about it. In addition to all the regular craziness, Mom and I are working on the nursery decor for the new baby. I have been very busy and have cooked up all kinds of surprises for the new room. I can't wait until the baby shower to show Libby officially. And speaking of Libby, Libby Jr. that is, she kept asking us when Aunty Libby is going to have her sister. We had a hard time convincing her that Aunty Libby's baby is her cousin not her sister, and, horrors, it might even be a boy! She's finally caught on and now every few days, she says, "I wonder when Aunty Libby is going to have my cousin? I think it's a girl cousin." This is usually followed by, "When are you going to have a sister for me, Mommy?" Grrrrrrr. If only it was that easy :)

Click here for the rest of the photos from September.

Goodbye August, Hello September

The Walls and Border Before Paint

After the success we had in painting our bedroom, we foolishly decided to paint the stark white living room and dining room the same week. It did not come together quite so nicely as the bedroom. I started by buying the paint color too dark and having to purchase more in a lighter shade called Camel. It took us most of the week of extremely late nights, but we finally finished it (and got to watch a LOT of Olympics in the process)! It looks so much better without the hideous 70's inspired border and heavy drapes. I still need to touch up the woodwork in a few spots and install the new hardware on the windows, but the worst is over. We still need to paint the dining room as well, but it can wait! I've had enough painting this summer to last me for a while. Painting with the kids and cats wandering around and making messes behind my back (or right in front of me for that matter) is exhausting and frustrating. I think I need a live-in nanny :)

After Paint! (curtains not back up yet in photo)

FireplaceNew Fan
Wall of Family Photos

The next weekend project was to clean out the basement. We went through all of the kids old baby clothes and paraphernalia and organized them into plastic bins by sex, age, and size. What a job that was! It look me most of the week to finish sorting through my "weekend project".

The mess in the playroomLibby playing with baby clothes

I finally got the basement cleaned out just in time to set up the kittening box for our very pregnant foster kitty, Sunflower. Unfortunately, she decided that she should give birth in a litter box instead. I spent all afternoon playing midwife to the poor kitty as she was having a difficult time. Most of her babies were presenting breech, and she was exhausted. We knew she was having seven babies from the X-rays that we took several weeks ago. Number seven, however was just not coming out, even after 4 hours of labor and still no progress. Finally, at 1 AM, I called my friend Karrie and we took the poor cat and all 6 kittens to the emergency vet. After several more hours of waiting, additional X-rays, two injections of pitocin, and warnings that the cat may need a C-section, she delivered the last baby. It was stillborn after all that time. By the time I got home and into bed, it was 4:30 AM.

Sunflower in her nestSix perfect little babies!

Caleb woke up bright and early a few hours later, and we headed over to Mom and Dad Rohrer's house to celebrate Labor Day. The kids had a blast swimming around in the pool all morning. Caleb learned how to float on his back and was actually jumping right off the diving board all on his own. Libby was a little less enthusiastic about jumping in, but with Uncle Zack's encouragement, she was soon jumping off the side to him and practicing floating and putting her face in the water.

Libby Having Fun


Floating, Laughing Caleb


Loving the back float!


Olympic Diving Gold!


Libby being towed by Zack on a noodle

Flying Caleb

Caleb went down for a nap after a few hours in the pool, and Libby got to go to the park with Grandma and Papa where she fed the ducks and was nipped on the fingers by an over enthusiastic goose. When she came home, she curled up in Papa's chair and said she was cold. When we took her temperature, she had a 103.4 fever. She continued feel lousy all afternoon. We let her sleep as long as possible, but finally packed everyone up and headed home early in the evening. By the time we arrived home, both kids were running 104 and 105 degree fevers. We are assuming that they have Hand Foot and Mouth Disease since it starts with a fever and continues with lesions and blisters in the mouth on the hands and feet. Both kids have the lesions in their mouths already and have a faint rash so far on their hands and feet. The virus is supposed to last for around a week and then goes away by itself. Both kids are feeling somewhat better today, although they are both still running fevers. They are enjoying being pampered and eating the ice cream and popsicles that Nathan brought home for them tonight. Hopefully, they will be over this bug and back to themselves soon!

Big Foot in better days


Caleb playing with the squirt gun (note the marker art on his arms)

For more pictures from the last few moths, click on the links for July, August and September.