Christmas in July

Late Tuesday afternoon, I heard a faint, "Mommy" and went in to get Ian up from his nap.  I softly spoke my usual "Good morning" and "Did you have a good sleep?" as I snuggled him close and held him tight.  

After a few minutes of just loving on him and waiting for the sleep to wear off a little more I said to him, "There is a surprise for you in the kitchen.  Do you want to come see what it is?"

He pulled back and looked intently into my eyes as a smile began to creep onto his angelic little face.  He excitedly asked, "What is it?"  Mirroring his excitement, I said, "Let's go see!!"

I carried him down the hall into the kitchen where my mom was waiting, holding his surprise.  We got a little closer and I swear his eyes sparkled and his smile grew more genuine as he sweetly whispered,
"Is that MY baby?!?!?"

Yes, we are foster parents again!

We got the call on Tuesday afternoon around 12:30 p.m. and we picked up an almost 3 month old baby boy less than two and a half hours later!

It has been a crazy day or two, to say the very least!!  Mike and I went to a Katy Perry concert Monday night (which is another post altogether that I will save for another day) and then we stayed downtown overnight afterward.  

*** Crazy little side note here... Monday afternoon, as I was packing to go that night, I thought that I should wash the car seat cover and the baby bedding.  It had been almost six months since we set up the extra crib and I thought the bedding might be dusty.  Little did I know that our next child was coming into the state's custody that very same day!!!  My Mom thinks it must have been Mother's intuition=) ***

Anyway, we got up Tuesday morning, had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel and then headed over to my parent's house around 10:30 a.m. to pick up Ian.  Mike had taken the whole day off (another amazing coincidence!!!) so we were home and he was mowing the lawn when we got the call.  We were given very little info, but felt that we were ready to help for as long as this precious little one needed us.  

Needless to say, Mike stopped mowing and we said we would be there at 3:00=)

Mike's Mom was already scheduled to come out at 2:00 p.m. to sit while Ian napped so that Mike and I could take in a movie and extend our date a little longer.  Well, when she got to our house, we informed her that our plans had changed a little and we were going to have to skip the movie=)  So she stayed with a sleeping Ian while we went to meet our newest little guy.

I can't say a lot about our new family member or the case, for privacy reasons, but I will say that he is a beautiful baby who looks almost exactly like his new big brother Ian.  Mike teared up when they first brought him out to meet us because of how much they resemble each other.  It brought back some powerful emotions.  My "freak out" came when I put him to bed that night.  Seeing him in Ian's baby clothes took my breath away for a second - he looked like my baby Ian all over again!!

And speaking of bedtime, I think our little one must've had some catching up to do because he slept 11 hours straight that first night!!!  We eventually woke him up because Ian couldn't stand it any longer and wanted to hold him!

Ian is being really sweet with the baby.  He doesn't use his name but refers to him instead as "my baby".  He speaks softly to him and says things like, "It's okay baby" when he fusses, he puts the binkie back in if he spits it out, and I even caught him softly counting to the baby today as I was making a bottle=)  I never thought it was possible, but I think seeing him as such a sweet, nurturing brother has made me love my precious little Ian even more!!!

We are working on a name for this little guy so he won't always have to go by baby, but until then, "Ian's baby" seems to fit pretty well=)

Like I said before, I can't give too much info on the case, but at least for now, it looks like we will have this little sweetie with us for awhile.  It'll surely be a bumpy ride, but we are excited to see what happens next and we are so grateful to have him for as long as we can!