Some special visitors and visits

Here is the first of many updates in an attempt to catch up my blog. . .

The day after Halloween, we found out we were finally opened for foster care again. That same day we got a call for a newborn baby boy. He stayed for 3 weeks and then went to be with some members of his family. He was such a sweet baby and Madeline and Will liked having a new baby around. Unfortunately, this happened right when the terrible pregnancy nausea hit really hard. I was so sick I had to take Zofran 4 times a days just to be able to eat and drink anything! Nathan was amazing about helping with the baby during this time. I am so blessed to be his wife!
Not long after, Madeline had her first visit from the tooth fairy! She was so excited as most of her friends had lost many teeth and this was her first at the age of 7:)

Now, in many old posts, there are mentions of Madeline being sick off and on. It turns out she was having reoccurring strep that was not a common version so it was not showing up on the throat cultures in the doctor's office. They finally decided (after having it 6 times in 6 months) that she needed to visit the hospital to remove her tonsils. Here she is waiting to go back. She handled everything so well and the surgery went very well for her!

The recovery was a little harder as she got tired of eating ice cream and Popsicles after the first day:) Who would have thought that would ever happen! It was helped by the many care packages she received from family and friends:) Here she is with the pink poodle from Nana. She had to stay inactive for 10 days which was hard on this girl. I did the best I could to keep her occupied, take care of a newborn, and deal with feeling so sick myself:( So far, she has not been sick again! Praise God!

It's funny how this time in my life is such a blur. I would never wish such bad "morning sickness" on anyone. It was very hard not to be able to take care of everyone in the way I wanted too, but God got us through the hard times as He always does:)
After this foster baby left, Nathan and I had to sit down and discuss our options. We finally decided that foster parenting is just not right for us right now, with the impending arrival of another baby this summer. We will miss it, but feel confident that this is the best decision for our family at this time.