We are officially up to our eyeballs in adoption paper work. Our case worker gave me 7 tasks to work on over a two week period. There are so many forms to fill out and sign and tasks to accomplish that it is really helpful to have someone that knows what they are doing walk along side of us and help keep us on track. She knows the best order to do things in so that we can finish our home study/dossier paperwork in as timely a manner as possible. It is not a walk in the park, I’ll tell you that. But, I am so not complaining either. If we have to fill out a million forms, get finger printed, do background checks, send this form here and that form there and pay a bunch of money to bring our kiddo home, then so be it. We are in! Needless to say, though, it is due to summer business and loads of paper work that has made it so quiet around here.
Speaking of summer business, I have to tell you what has been happening around our house. First of all, Mom is tired. I am not sure if I can listen to one more complaint about boredom, one more fight where the two ear old is making the seven year old cry, one more “hey Mom, what would be better a BMX bike with no gears or a bike with lot’s of gears?”, watch one more episode of Mythbusters, or hear the age old question, “what are we going to do today?” one more time. Summer break is breaking me. It’s time for school to start.
Since last Friday, my brother has been staying with us while he is doing orientation for a new job up in our area. So, we put Bethany in the pack-n-play in our closet and gave Mike her room. Everything was going just fine until yesterday. I think it is safe to say that I was a little frazzled yesterday afternoon. I had PTA stuff that had to get done and I did not want to be bothered. I put Bethany down for her nap in her “special bed” as we call it, told the big kids that I didn’t care what they did as long as I didn’t have to see or hear them, then sat down at the computer. About 30 minutes later, I heard Bethany’s voice upstairs. She had climbed out of bed. Argh! I took her into her bedroom and put her in her crib and said “go to sleep!” It was quiet for about an hour. The next thing I knew I was hearing Bethany’s voice in the hall again. Apparently, if you can crawl out of a pack-n-play, you can crawl out of a crib. Just like everything else in her life, she has to do it her own way. Josh and Hannah, never crawled out of any kind of bed. For the first six months in a big boy bed, Josh wouldn’t even get off the bed until I came and got him. We have always known that Bethany was different, so we had planned to keep her in her crib until she was trustworthy around the house, which was looking to be by about age 8. Last night she stayed in her pack-n-play after I told her not to get out of bed. (It probably had nothing to do with the fact that she stayed up until ten o’clock and had no nap yesterday, so she fell right to sleep.) It took her about ten minutes to appear in the hallway at naptime today. She’s back in bed, I pray it lasts. Looks like after our beach trip this weekend, we will be putting Bethany into a big girl bed. Please pray for us.
The other day, during a rushed trip to the bathroom, as we were heading out the door, I was forced to question my entire marriage. I walked into the downstairs bathroom and noticed that the toilet paper was empty. Knowing that it was one of the kids that failed to replace the roll, I came into the hall and asked who used up the toilet paper and didn’t replace it. Josh owned up to it quickly but added that he doesn’t even know how to change the roll, so how was he supposed to do it. As I was showing him how the little spring loaded thingy worked, Shad walked by and said, “and be sure to put it on so the paper comes from the top of the roll not the bottom.” What?! After seventeen years of marriage, I had absolutely NO idea that he cared one way or the other. I cannot remember ever having a conversation about this subject. I have even read blog posts about couples having arguments about this issue and thinking, smugly, that we have never had a fight about the toilet paper. I honestly thought neither one of us even cared. I know I don’t care. I just slap the toilet paper on however and don’t give it a second thought. When I questioned Shad about that, his response was, “I’ve just never said anything.” My first thought was, of course, that he has been secretly mad at me for the last seventeen years because I have been putting the toilet paper on the roll wrong half the time. What else am I doing wrong??? Who is this man??! Should I just pack a bag and get my own place? Who’s going to take the kids? What is happening?????!!
After using the restroom, we left the house in such a rush, that I kind of forgot about the toilet paper issue for a couple of days. Later, I was thinking about it when I was trying to fall asleep the other night and I had a realization…he’s right. It does make sense to have the paper roll from the top and not the bottom. All those middle of the night trips where I couldn’t find the end of the paper were not necessary. Why? Why did her wait seventeen years to tell me this? **Sigh** I think once the shock wears off, I will get over this. Yes, I will. Pray for me.
Finally, on Saturday, our beautiful, sweet, smart, goofy Hannah turned 7. I took her and her friend to the mall, bought Hannah some Toms and both girls a tiara, then we went had had pedicures. After that, we came home and celebrated her birthday with family.
Hannah, you are such a caring, compassionate and mature girl. In some ways you are totally a seven year old and in other ways you are more like 14. You are always quick to help you little sister with anything and you are teaching her how to be a big girl. I could not think of a better roll model for Bethany. You are a lovely girl and we are so blessed to have you in our family. Happy 7th birthday!
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