Our baby turns 2

Not the weekend I had planned…the stomach virus is going around our house, and when you have lots of kids, it is never an easy feat.  Our baby boy turned 2 today-yey Jack Henry!!  But the illness made a dent in our birthday plans.  We had planned to go the Louisville Zoo on Saturday for character day, and then on Sunday to the Josephine Sculpture Park for the fall festival.  We had to cancel the zoo, but I took the “healthy kids” to the fall festival and Tammy stayed home with the sick ones, as she is sick herself.  I have to say that I felt a little lost with only 3 children in tow.  When you have a large family, you find ways to keep track of them.  I count them CONSTANTLY.  And with 3 that feels kind of ridiculous, especially since Robert is 16 and towers over me  J

Having your baby turn 2 is also a bizarre feeling when you have cared for this many babies.  We took care of LOTS of babies during our 7 years of fostering.  They varied in age, developmental level, levels of in-utero drug exposure, and levels of physical trauma and neglect.  We loved them all very dearly, and it hurt my heart when many of them left to go onto other relatives or returned to their birth families.  I eventually learned that they carried the love that we gave them everywhere they go in their lives, and I could only hope that we made a difference in their futures. 

So..we are back to the drawing board on many levels in our family…to be continued………