Getting cuter and sweeter every day

The kids are changing so incredibly quickly. Zari, who we got at 9 pounds, is now 12.5 pounds and looks like a totally different baby! He is smiling and babbling a lot now, and he does tummy time to practice holding his head up. He also likes to practice sitting up and standing up with our help. Teanna has quickly learned the rules of the house like no going up the stairs and no throwing toys. She now gets up every morning and says "good morning!". Her favorite things to do are patty cake and ring around the rosie. She says please and thank you, "hi Zari!" and "peekaboo!". We have also discovered new favorite foods- hummus and yogurt! When we give her hummus on a cracker she will lick the cracker clean and then ask for more hummus. They are both so adorable and sweet, we are in love with our instant family!


A funny face from our Zari man


Teanna looking oh so sweet (and yes the braids are back- not by our doing!)


Smiley guy


Teanna LOVES Dada


Z rockin' the plaid shorts

A couple more pics!

"uhhh... John? I think you left a baby in the sink again!"


Zari already starting to plump up!


Teanna being adorable


Priest Zari in his gown

Picture time

Two tired kiddos


T.T. ready to hit the beach


John with his hands full


Can you spot the baby in this picture? It's like Where's Waldo!


Here he is!


Tired Caitlin with two cuties

Crazy hair lady

It has been two weeks since I have updated, think I've been busy??? : )

About a week after Teanna moved in, I left for work and got a picture text message from John that looked like this:



The braids were ready to come out, so he spent an hour picking away at them, and this is what we got!

Needless to say, I was afraid! I don't even know how to do my own hair, and I didn't want to make a spectacle walking around town with a little girl who looks like Don King!

The next morning, I gave her a bath and while her hair was still wet I attempted two pigtails. It actually came out pretty cute, and I was pretty impressed with myself.



Since then, we have added the single bun and the four puffs to our repetoire. It really isn't hard to do. The only hard part is getting this very active toddler to sit and let us do it.



I have also had some days when her hair is just washed and it looks really cute natural:




So this is just a plug for those who are afraid to do AA hair! Do not be afraid! We have heard that a lot of foster and adoptive parents who only accept white children state that they are afraid to do AA hair. John and I say, if we can do it, anyone can!

2 under 2

We had a wonderful first week alone with Zari and then added his big sis Teanna! She is definitely bringing the action. She is starting to talk and keeps us entertained with the things she comes out with (most recently, pointing upstairs and shouting "TO BED!" when Zari was crying). The two of them are a handful but we are trying to get into a routine that will work for everyone. They are both good sleepers, which helps a lot.

Also, Zari gained a pound in the last week! That makes a total of 3 pounds gained in the last 3 weeks! This little guy will not be little for long ; )


Trying to catch Zari's smiles on camera is tough


Little sweetie


Catching some zzzzzs wherever we can


I think we already put another chin on him!


Teanna is reunited with her brother!


The little mommy

Introducing baby Zari!

We finally got the word on Monday night that Zari was going to be discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, and that he would be discharged to US! After hearing nothing for so long we were shocked and sooooo excited. We met him Monday night, and then went back Tuesday to pick him up. So far he is an awesome, happy baby. He is sleeping and eating great and isn't fussy at all. A dream come true! We can not wait to get his sister here on Monday!


He was so excited to finally be here, he couldn't even stay awake!


Tiny little 9 pound guy... we can't wait to chub him up!


John ready to catch some puke

Riding the roller coaster

This past week has been so full of ups and downs. Last Friday, after we gave Elijah back to his Mom, we went back home to have a quiet afternoon. We were sad from saying goodbye to our little guy and we were trying to keep each other uplifted. At one point we joked about DCF giving us an hour break before calling us with more kids. As it turned out, we weren't that far off! It was four hours before they called us again. When the phone rang we assumed they were calling us to let us know Elijah made it home ok! Nope, they started telling us about two little ones who needed a home and they asked us if we would be interested in them! We were pretty shocked. We weren't sure what to say at first... we were planning on taking a week or two off in between kids, not to mention the fact that this was TWO babies and we were only planning on taking one at a time. So we took a few hours to think it over. After going over every scenario in our heads (What do you do with a toddler while you feed an infant? Where will the second baby sleep? How will we fit the carseats in John's 2 door car? How will we get any sleep?), we decided that this was a challenge we wanted to take on. I reminded John that he was supposed to be the "rational" one, so if he thought this was crazy he should just say so. Instead, he said, "well isn't this why we became foster parents?" So from that moment on, these kids were ours!

The weekend went by and on Monday we called the placement worker back to say we would take the kiddos (by the way, they are a 1.5 year old girl and a 5 month old boy). Once they knew they had us, DCF had what can only be described as a "communication breakdown". To make a long story short, we were told "they are coming tomorrow" followed by "they are coming next week" followed by "we have no idea when they are coming" followed by "they are coming tomorrow" again. The worker would answer my calls but could not answer the most basic of questions. She kept telling me she would call the person who did know and call me right back. After being told this about 12 times and never being called back, I finally realized this was a crock. They could not give us the caseworker's name or number. They could not tell us where the kids were or what their plan was for moving them. They could not tell us the kid's dates of birth, clothing sizes, weights, or anything useful at all. We tried "going up the chain" and talking to supervisors and then their supervisor, and every time we thought we were talking to the right person we'd get the classic "I'm about to find that out RIGHT NOW, let me call you back in half an hour" followed by no call for days. Well now we know that that line from a DCF worker translates to "I do not care about your question or these kids and I'm in no hurry to do anything".

It is frustrating being treated like crap by DCF workers, but it is even more frustrating to us that no one seems to care about these kids. After being told how much they NEED us to take these two, and how they called us because we were just the PERFECT family for them, we just want to get started taking care of them. We want them to be clean, and warm, and fed, and on the road to bonding and attaching and building trust. And with DCF doing nothing, we have no idea when or if this will even happen.