The Little Man

I know that you have been eagerly-anticipating my assessment of the first month of “7”. But I just cannot wrap my brain around it.

If you don’t follow me on FB, you may be a touch confused. So I shall momentarily explain.

So I have gone and dropped off the planet again. But this time it's legit. We have a baby. 

Not our baby.

A foster baby. 

And he is teeny tiny. 

And he eats every 3 hours, if not more often (today it has been more often, which is good b/c he needs it)...and yes, it includes the night. He doesn’t wake up and demand to eat, but we have to get up and feed him. The feed tube makes that easier, as anyone who has tried to bottle-feed a sleepy baby can attest.

All this to say, I'm running on not a lot of sleep. You can call me Jerry.

(There's a really funny Seinfeld clip where Jerry's staying in Kramer's apartment...well, I found it on Youtube but I can't get it loaded here. Feel free to take a look for yourself. It's only 20 seconds long. Good luck.)

Anyway, The Little Man is soft and cuddly and smells of spit up formula. He's been bathed 4 times but he still kinda stinks.

But he sleeps like a champ…so that makes up for any lingering funk.

I wish I could share details about his 3 months thus far. But I can't. Just trust me when I tell you that it's sad.

And I wish I could share pictures of him with you. But I can't. Just trust me when I say that he's the cutest thing ever...excepting maybe my biologicals. (I have to say that.)

So yeah...that's what I'm up to. That and trying to homeschool the PBA. And keep the house somewhat clean. And going to various and sundry appointments for all 3 children who are currently living with me.

I’ll be honest…it’s not the best week of homeschooling we’ve ever had. Not the worst, but definitely not the best.

Oh and packing to go to family camp this weekend. As an aside I über thankful that we were offered a room in the lodge instead of doing the tent camping we'd planned on. I mean tent camping with a 3 month old that's on a feed tube SOUNDS fun but I'm just not feeling it.

Call me crazy.

And while we are on the subject of thankful I am thankful for the gifts of a pack n play, clothes, blankets, burp cloths, car seats, bedding, and various other accoutrements, as well as and loaner equipment like a baby carrier and a bouncy seat.

And a HUGE shout-out to our Hope Group friends who assembled the crib while we went downtown and picked up the sweet boy at the hospital. We were with them when we got the call for placement and immediately asked what they could do.

Mr. AR (not wanting to burden anyone) said we didn’t need any help.

I, however, have stopped pretending to be Super Woman. I piped right up and said, “We are going to Target to buy a crib. Come to our house in about 20 minutes and put it together for us while we are gone.”

I cannot fathom what we would have done without them….especially since we did not get home until midnight. Putting a crib together at Midnight sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

And most of all, we are so overwhelmed with all the prayers. We appreciate the prayers for us but even more the prayers for The Little Man.

If you are so inclined to jon us, here’s how we are asking people to pray for this situation:

• Pray that he will eat well and bulk up so the feed tube can be removed soon 
• Pray that he will respond well to bring held
• Pray that he will thrive by leaps and bounds 
• Pray that God's will be done in his life 
• Pray that his parents will pull themselves together so they can get their sweet baby boy back
• Pray that our family can be Jesus to him and love him like Jesus does

So I really should be writing an article right now but instead I'm telling you lovely people about my current little microcosm.

And I may or may not also be sitting here watching The Little Man sleep. Which might be why I feel as though nothing is getting accomplished around our house this week.

It's funny... At ages 27 and 29, I had the energy to have babies but didn't take the time to hold them like I could have.

Now I don't have the energy (yeah I'm little tired... I'll own it) but I am more inclined to hold a baby. Maybe I'm trying to make up for the non holding he's had up to this point.

But for the record, it's not just me doing the baby-holding...all of us, PBA included, have greatly reveled in holding a sleeping infant.

And speaking of the PBA I am just so thankful to them for all their help. True... neither of them have stepped up and changed a diaper yet (the first formula The Little Man was on did make those diapers pretty toxic ..."hazardous waste coming through !") but the new formula he’s on makes them WAY better. The boys just have no real frame of reference...

To be fair, their only diaper changing experience was a stuffed bear in their safe sitter class this summer. Who knew this experience would come in so handy so soon?

Well I suspect God knew, if anyone's really asking.

And the PBA's help has made me realize that large families are so doing the right thing... Those older kids are helpful! I wish I'd had a couple of them when the PBA were little. I highly recommend it to anyone. I'm certain that it's not that The Little Man's a novelty or anything...

Well I have rambled on long enough I suppose. I do need to get to writing that story. And packing for camp. And most importantly...snuggling that baby.

Thx for stopping by...please know that my seeming-hiatus is in no way an indication of how I feel about you lovely people. I hope to be back with regularity soon. (And no, this has nothing to go with my bathroom habits. Clearly I am spending too much time with the children...arm-pit farts have begun to be funny to me, if that tells you anything).

And maybe I can even get The Little Man to guest write for me. (For those of you who love literary terms, that may be a hint of foreshadowing…).

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