Changes- Part 1

This will be part one of a few posts about Changes. I know I said that I was going to blog again starting "Here and Now"..... but to understand here and now, there needs to be some explanations about the past several months.
I am not going to go into details right now because I need to get off the computer and get some things done. But there have been a LOT of changes. A lot of it is connected in one way or another. The basic rundown is

1. Barbara (Caelan's birth mom) and her parents
2. David (Caelan's birth dad) and his mom Anna
3. Caelan has special needs
4. I am quitting my job

A (very) few people know everything about everything. Some people know a little about some of it. Some people didn't know anything at all about any of these things until this moment. I will fill in details of it all very soon. Sorry to throw it all out there and then leave..... enjoy the rest of the posts!!! (Which is why I have to get off the computer now is because I have spent a lot of time uploading stuff.... FUN!!)
Hugs and Love to everyone!

Getting Ready

One day during the first week of school, I was there the same time as the School Bus and we decided to see what he thought about it and lifted him inside. No go. He got really upset, said "No, no, no. You want to ride Ma's car." So that is one of the (many) reasons I was a bit anxious about it. Jack had said that he would come by the house on Monday to pick up Caelan and if it didn't work out, we would keep trying. And Mrs Ross sent home a little book about riding the bus. So we talked about how much fun- how exciting!- it will be to ride the bus to school! Yay! So here we are, Caelan is combing his hair while I was putting his shoes on and waiting for the bus to come.

A Painting

The first week of school (which was only 3 days) they talked a lot about School Buses.... one day they glued windows on a bus, they sang about the bus, read books, etc. Well, one day they also painted a School Bus. Here is Caelan's first school artwork! I hung it on the wall next to his room for now. I will put it in a notebook along with everything else soon.

The School Bus

If you zoom in on the picture above (just click on it, then click again)- you can see him sitting behind Jack, the bus driver peeking out the door at me. He was SOOO excited!! He was chattering away... I caught the words "Ma" and "Bus"

My sweet little boy- climbing off the BIG School Bus! He is so small on it- he can hardly see out the window when he is in his seat!

Walking up the driveway- carrying his backpack. And the mail... he likes checking the mailbox. And insists on carrying in some of it.

and no I was not this excited and relaxed about the bus.... I had to work up to it. AND I seriously had an anxiety attack after he got on it the first time to go to school. Jack (his driver) is GREAT and very supportive. After the first day riding, and knowing he likes it so much... I am ok with it now. (sort of... ha-ha!) He is only on it a short while going to school but a LONG time coming home... about 45 minutes because he is the last drop off.

First Day of School

September 6, 2011

First Day of "School"

He looked soooo cute!! And was excited to talk about going to school... I wasn't sure what he would think once he actually got there and especially after I left him there. But he did great! He has had so much fun and loves going! He talks about his teacher Mrs. Ross all the time. And it is really cute because he says "School House" not just school.... I think he must have gotten that from his Richard Scary's Great Big Schoolhouse Book. One of my favorites as a kid- he loves it too.

The Missing Child

Hmmm..... where could that Caelan boy be?? I don't see him anywhere! Why is the shower curtain all lumpy like that on top of the changing table? Oh! It's our silly boy!

(PS.... sorry for the rough ending!)

My Little Baseball Player!

I've always been a baseball fan.... not like a huge hard-core fan who keeps up with all the games and teams... I just enjoy the sport itself, going to games, playing softball.... so when Caelan pointed out a "bay-ball bat and bay-ball" in the store one day, I was excited. I had an old t-stand in the garage and finally set it up one day a few weeks ago in the back yard. He had a blast and did great!!

Bruce

BRUCE

aka: Brucie, Bwuce

**before I start this.... NO, there is nothing wrong with Bruce and nothing has happened to him!

We have three cats. Ries.... rescued at the age of 4 weeks and bottle fed, named after our old Fire Lieutenant and friend Jon Ries. She is 9 1/2 years old now. (wow... haven't thought about how old she has gotten until right this second). Super smart and the only girl. Bruce was our first boy and we adopted him about 6 months after we got Ries. He was found abandoned in a parking lot, near death, and was nursed back to health by the vet. He already had his name when we got him. Then we got Dillon about 6 months after that and he is our second boy.... he is an orange and white, very thick (and plump) cat who was feral for several months before being rescued by Alley Cat Allies in the DC area. Dillon is extremely shy but seriously the sweetest cat in the world.

So back to Bruce.... when I first saw him, I immediately loved him. His hair was sticking out in every direction.... and he was not very graceful- he bonked his head while he was running around the room. I can relate to this cat!! So home with me he went!

We have always referred to Bruce as being... "Not as smart or graceful as Ries" because we didn't want to hurt his feelings by simply calling him a klutz or saying he is dumb. He tries really hard to be a brave kitty, too. He also has a jealous streak.... particularly when it comes to where I give my attention. He thinks that I am HIS mommy and his mommy ONLY. If he sees me petting one of the other cats or giving them attention, he will wait til I'm not looking and then bite the daylights out of the other cat. Hmmm... maybe not so dumb after all, huh? On that note, he can also be a bit of a bully.... he will push the other two around a bit. He wears a bell on his collar... he thinks it is because he is super special and "gets to wear" a bell. In reality, the bell is there so the other cats can hear him coming. Yep.

Bruce is also absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Turns out, this tossed-into-a-parking-lot-near-a-dumpster cat is part Maine Coon. Purebred Maine Coons carry a pretty hefty price. We paid fifty bucks in adoption fees. They are often referred to as the "Gentle Giants" of cats because they are so big yet have such a sweet and gentle nature. There could not be truer words about Bruce....

When Caelan came along, I was worried about the cats' reactions. I figured Ries would be the "caretaker" of the three.... that she would express concern over this baby. Dillon I knew would simply adjust. Bruce, I was intensely concerned about. I knew about his jealous streak.... what if tried to hurt the baby? I knew about his other issues... what if he stressed out and started peeing all over the house? Ugh.

So we brought Caelan home... I was so far off in my assessment. I was sitting in the recliner holding Caelan. Brucie jumped up onto the arm of the chair and leaned over to check out what I was holding. Bruce sniffed Caelan's head, every inch of it. Then he very slowly, very gently, reached his paw over and placed it so gently on Caelan's head. The look on Bruce's face was so sweet. And he has made every single step with Caelan since then. He showed protectiveness over Caelan from day one- when Caelan was a baby and would cry, Bruce would be sitting there meowing at me and I would literally be tripping over him as "we" had to go check on the baby.

Caelan LOVES Bruce. They have the sweetest relationship. He plays peekaboo and hide-and-seek with him, Caelan pulls Bruce into his cardboard house with him, wants to show him things and share with him, and likes to brush him. And being a little kid.... Caelan pulls poor Brucie's tail, drags him around, lays on top of him (bear in mind Caelan now weighs 40 pounds) and uses Bruce's fur as "handles" to "help" Bruce go where Caelan wants him to go. And Bruce STILL makes every step with Caelan.

Bruce has never once nipped at Caelan or shown the slightest twitch toward scratching or harming Caelan in any way. He has wimpered a time or two as Caelan lays on him or tugs a bit much, but never a move more than that. Bruce has the option of staying away from Caelan. There are plenty of places in the house that he can go to get away. But he doesn't. He chooses to stay right alongside Caelan.

Caelan refers to Bruce by his name, "Bwuce"..... he refers to Ries and Dillon as "cats." If Caelan has a book or sees pictures of random cats, he refers to them all as cats.... unless there is one that looks like Bruce, then he gets excited and says "There's Bwuce!" Caelan always says Goodnight to Bruce. ("goodnight bwuce") before going into his room each night. He greets him in the morning as well. I love to watch these two together. And I cannot wait to see how they grow closer over time. There is nothing like the love of a pet. Especially one like Brucie.

Below are just a handful of pictures of these two.... as I looked over a couple of years worth of snapshots, I realized that if Caelan is not interacting directly with Bruce, Bruce is still somewhere very near his precious boy Caelan. And because of that.... Bruce earned his very own, very lengthy post.

Christmas 2009, Bruce with Caelan as he checks out what Santa brought

Caelan and Brucie sharing a balloon... they both love balloons!

Caelan snuggling with Bruce

...... more loving on Bruce

and since we are always telling Caelan to "stop laying on top of Bruce" Caelan has started pulling Bruce on top of him instead.... and of course, Bruce just goes with the flow!

Thank you Bruce for being so awesome to our boy...
and thank you God for blessing us with this amazing, throw-away cat. We pray for many more years with him!!

Here and Now

Hello Blog Readers!
I miss blogging.... I really do! I had been so far behind and I felt like I had to "update" things before I started trying to keep current. Which is why there were pictures posted and titled from months before.... and trying to sort through a year's worth of pictures and try to "update" things was just overwhelming. And then more and more time kept passing... it became an endless cycle.

Sooooo...... I decided that instead of falling more and more behind- which I finally realized is also robbing people of the present..... that I will start again, Here and Now. Where we are in life today. And if I go back in time occasionally that's fine.

I have access to all of our photos again (I didn't for about the past six months) and will start making a concerted effort to blog more regularly. It may not always be about Caelan and it may not always have pictures with it... but I will post.

For my mom. For my sisters. For ALL of my family. For Caelan's birthfamily. For our friends. For random strangers who stumble upon us. For me.

In the meantime, here are links to two Face Book photo albums that I just uploaded the past couple of days.... hopefully it will work!

Caelan's 3rd Birthday http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2126382312649.2109927.1038643382&l=aca4fcf0d4&type=1


Greenwood, MS with my sisters and the boys http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2125263684684.2109882.1038643382&l=be9bd2b719&type=1

Sleder's in TC to see Brent Burns: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2119361737139.2109652.1038643382&l=aea23395b7&type=1


And since I have figured out how to do this!! I will add some more older ones!

Random pics of Caelan http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1514875065350.2070745.1038643382&l=bc19fa85cb&type=1

LAST year's Pumpkin Patch visit: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1514796903396.2070739.1038643382&l=c29b32eda6&type=1

LAST year's Corn Maize visit with the Ansorges: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1514826344132.2070742.1038643382&l=81268fc33e&type=1

And finally.... LAST Halloween.... http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1529906681131.2071840.1038643382&l=85551799c6&type=1

And actually... that's about all I even have on Facebook...
sooo... Here we are, NOW!!!

October 2009- Brittani and Wanda

This is Brittani- she and Wanda came down for that weekend and stayed for just the two days. Brittani had just turned 5 a month before they came down. I love these pictures of her- she looks so much like Rip. She had soooo much fun on the beach!!

The next picture shows her "ready" to go to the beach- complete with matching purple fuzzy purse and hat, and pink fuzzy shoes! She was so funny!

I taught her how to stomp into the ocean- boxing the waves and stomping on them! Then we would hold hands and wait for the waves to come so she could JUMP over them! I remember doing that as a kid- so I had to make sure she has that memory too!

We went out one night- Brittani was sooo tired from all the fun and curled into Wanda and zonked out! I love this one of them.

**** Please pray for Brittani!!! After Rip died, Brittani became a ward of the state since Wanda didn't have "official custody" of her (even though she has raised her since NICU!!). The courts have recently, and very unexpectedly given custody to Catherine- this is a reaalllyy reeallly bad situation! Wanda didn't get to say good-bye; she does not know if or when she will see B again. She is appealing and fighting for custody. We are all heartbroken, devastated. So please, pray for Brittani and Wanda!!!

October 2009- Random Pix

He "helped" unpack...

Playing under the patio table, peeking through the chairs~

That is the sweeetest, cutest little boy in the whole entire world!!

October 2009- Sand

Caelan LOVED playing in the sand! And obviously tasting it.

October 2009- Beach

Caelan has been to the beach a couple of times up here but the beaches here are so different- he has never been to the "beach" beach... to the Gulf. The water was a bit cool- particularly because it was windy from time to time. But I'm thinking he liked it!