Melancholy Memorial Day Weekend

What a wonderful weekend. We started it out at the beach, with me and the babies watching the boys play football with their Dad. Then Dad took Logan to hang with him while he played: Our youngest little bruiser!

Little Missy* has my temperament, and so we watched the waves, sat at the bench, played with my pocketbook. I sure do love my Little Missy.

After the beach, we went to Olive Garden, where they took one look at our family of eight and promptly gave us our own private room to dine in! We had a great meal. Stressful, but wonderful just the same. When we got home, we showered the sand out of our hair, then watched a movie and promptly passed out from happy exhaustion.

This Tuesday, the court will most likely rule that Little Missy can be returned home. We are so incredibly happy for Little Missy and her family. At the same time, though, I am as sad as a Mom could be. I took Little Missy in when she was only five pounds, straight from the NICU, back in October. Since then, she has quadrupled her weight. She now laughs and giggles, rolls over in her crib, and holds her legs up while I change her diaper. Her trust and love for us are evident as she smiles and reaches for us when we come near. And boy, does she ever squeal when she does not get her way!

She's an early bird, up at the crack of dawn. Neither my husband nor I are early birds. Still, we drag ourselves out of bed (okay, I drag myself out of bed), change her diaper, and get dressed myself to take her downstairs while my husband and our three-month-old baby sleep a little bit (okay, a lot) longer.

My older boys are enamored with her, and they make up songs to sing to her in three-part harmony. While Jordan is still too young to join in on the "boy band" activities, he bonds with her in her own way, calling her name, kissing and hugging her, making her giggle with glee while he tickles her. These boys are going to make wonderful fathers someday. I sure hope that when they are stable and settled, they also decide to either foster or adopt a child in need.

But I digress. This weekend is about more than a family. It's about two families: One who is preparing to celebrate the return of their baby girl, and one who will be losing theirs. Little Missy and I are squeezing as much into these last three days as possible, from our traditional "mother-daughter" mornings alone on the porch, to decisions on what she will wear and what she will have for breakfast (applesauce or bananas?). As I write this blog, Ryan is playing his keyboard for her, and she watches, mesmorized.

We love this little girl. We are glad that she will finally get to reunite with her family. We wish her a happy, safe and wonderful life. And while we hope that all families stay intact and all children stay safe, we will most definitely do this again should the need arise.

For the next two days, though, we will love this little girl like crazy and hold her as if we will never let her go. And I will try not to cry in front of the boys.

Life is what you make of it. We are going to make sure that our Little Missy has as wonderful a life as possible for the time we have left with her.

Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend.

*For privacy reasons, our foster baby's real name is not used in this blog.