Family Friday: Expecting A Baby!

 Recently I came across all my old diaries from years ago

and enjoyed reading what was happening in past years.

The brain is a crazy thing and we tend to remember the extreme highs and lows.

However, it seems like the simple sweet and sometimes sad things of everyday life

are lost to our memory till we find a way to bring them back again.

So I decided that I would start some posts highlighting old diary entries

and what was happening in our lives!

4/17/03

I am pregnant for the fourth time! We have McKenzie, who will be 4 next month, Jordyn, who will be two next month and our angel babies, Chloe and Emma, who went to see Jesus on November 25th. I was 11 weeks pregnant with our twins when the Lord saw fit to take them to heaven.

Despite our sorrow over losing the twins, we were overjoyed to find out I was pregnant again in January! It was especially uplifting to get past 11 weeks, helped ease my fears.

I was horribly sick until my 14th week, which was 2 weeks ago. I have lost a lot of weight.

I have been feeling little flutters since about week 8.5-9, I think. Seems like it was a lot sooner than McKenzie and Jordyn.

We will be finding out in 6 weeks if we are having a boy or girl, on May 28th. I am really not sure what I think this baby might be. Alot of times, I figure it is another girl, but then sometimes I think it might be a boy. I have bought one little boy outfit and I stopped myself from buying little boy shoes! I am really anxious to find out, mainly because I can't wait to name the baby and start bonding in that way. We are positive on the boy name, it is Noah. We aren't really agreeing on a middle name. I like Noah Michael Thomas, but Peter isn't sure about that.

We like two girl names, Sydney and Sierra. But not sure about middle names.

Do YOU know which child I am talking about, in this Diary entry??

That's right!

Happy 17th Birthday, Sierra!!!!!

We love you!

Fostering Friday: What Does He Call You?

Welcome to Fostering Fridays! 

Our hope is that you will be able to get a taste of what it's like to foster by reading our experiences and thoughts!

Ever wonder what foster kiddos call their foster parents? Or perhaps why they call their foster parents a certain name.

There can be many different reasons, in all honesty. 

We had a little boy for two years in our home. We had known him since he was tiny as he was in our daycare from the time he was a baby. His mama always referred to us as Aunt and Uncle. After several months in our home, I was driving him to school when he said, "Aunt Heidi? Can I call you 'Mom'? Cause 'Aunt Heidi' is a lot to say...?" He had been calling my hubby "dad" for months at that point, but he had never had a dad in his life and he latched onto Peter like a lifeline. 

Our little boy we have currently started out calling me "Mom", "Mommy", "Heidi" and "Mama". He heard people call me by all of these names and he knew he would get my attention if he called me by one of them. So I answered to whichever one he chose to use at the moment. He has now settled on "Mama Heidi" which I find absolutely adorable and his bio mom thinks is cute as well!

I know of teenagers who call their foster parents by their first name. Some who ask to call them mom and dad.

Sometimes it is the caregiver that asks the child to call them a certain name like "Mr and Mrs Jones", (sounds awkward and not at all like a family to me but it happens), or they tell the child that they can call them by their first name or "mom and dad" like the rest of the kiddos in the home.

So there are many different reasons why kiddos latch onto calling their caregivers certain names. The main one being that they follow the lead of the other children in the home.

Till next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi