Saturday, September 5, 2009

Little Mannie & Little Miss Sunshine...

This placement is a whole new ballgame, people! Holy moly.. Poor Nantie is running like a madwoman from sun up to sun down. I'm thinking of starting a "Send Nantie For A Spa Weekend Getaway" fund raiser. Are ya'll in?? She is a saint!

Little Mannie is nonstop and in constant need of attention. Way overly hyper at times, as well. He had a massive meltdown after seeing Mom (on the ground kicking and screaming) and we thank God a worker was here to see it. They are reevaluating the number of visits per week to lessen the trauma and that should help settle him down. Poor little guy has a lot of stuff jumbled up inside and doesn't always have the words to express it. It comes out in fits and you just have to wait until it passes.

Then it's back to dimpled grins and giggles.

Little Miss Sunshine is the happiest eensie morning person I've ever met. Is there anything cuter than a toothless grin and cooing first thing in the morning?? Nope! We quickly realized she was being underfed and have doubled the amount of formula and cereal. Although we don't know how much she weighed when this all started we're sure she'll be packing on the pounds here soon. She's a much happier little chicklet for sure.

We were thrilled to hear our mostest favorite-ist worker was assigned to the case (she laughed and cried with us on our journey with Jack and Jill) and are certain she will look out for our best interests. She is concerned we didn't have enough time to grieve and recover from J&J's move and is doing everything in her power to keep us healthy. She has rounded up respite (other certified families for babysitting) and is advocating to get the kids' family certified as quickly as possible.

It's what is best for all and hopefully there won't be any glitches.

All that being said, at the end of the day, both Mannie and Sunshine are sweet children. He is a wonderful helper and smart as a whip. We're hoping to get him into preschool (two 1/2 days a week) and are sure he'll be a social butterfly and blossom. With the right tools in place, the sky is the limit!

Although we anticipate this to be a rough ride, it was the right thing to do. Since the county was unable to find a family that could take both kiddos, our worker said they more than likely would've been split up. Mannie adores his baby sister and I don't even want to think about how traumatic if would've been for him not to be with her.

Keep the prayers for strength and peace coming our way, please!!!

5 comments:

MtnGirl said...

It sounds like ya'll should get an award for putting your grief somewhat on hold to help these two little ones. But, it sounds like you are enjoying them and doing all that you can to help them out. Prayers for you both and Nantie, J & J, and Little Mannie and Miss Sunshine AND your awesome caseworker!

Lisa said...

Wow, what a ride. Prayers go out for you all.

Michelle said...

Just a word of encouragement. We had a little boy who was quite a challenge, There were days that I sat in my room and just cried.. from feeling helpless and truth be told.. just worn out. There were days that I honestly didn't think I would be able to do it..I cry to even think about it, because the ones that are so hard.. are the ones that leave a special mark on your heart when you see them blossom into these wonderful, trusting,confident, loving little people.. and the thought of having a hand in helping them reach who they were meant to be in the first place is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done..and to this day.. 3 years later, he is happy and thriving and touches every person he comes in contact with.. I went from not knowing if I could make it through another day with him to not knowing how I was going to make it through a day without him..My prayers and best wishes are with you and those two lucky little children!! :)

Carmen O. said...

hey sweet melissa! i'm at a loss for breath just thinking of all you are doing. you're right - a three yr old and a six month old are a handful. but they're also two of my favorite ages. so much sweetness and joy to be had! two things come to mind when thinking of little mannie and his difficulty expressing his emotions. one is the jo frost tech using small paper plates with many different faces on them - happy sad tired confused mad silly ...and glue the plates to popsicle sticks so he can grab one and put it in front of his face and thus tell you how hes feeling without having to express it in words initially. another thing is a book that i bought when we were preparing to take vlads siblings, and that was called "creating ceremonies" and has a lot of activities that could easily be used or adapted to help him give place and expression for what hes experiencing.
bless you and your house! a lot of good is happening there.
xo
carmen

Kim @ What's That Smell? said...

Sounds like these 2 are keeping everyone on their toes LOL!

I am so glad they didn't have to be split up, thing DO happen for a reason!!

 

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