An Actual Update

Well, it's early evening of our first full day with our new foster baby. We've decided to nickname her Button. Unofficially, her name will be Norah--and if we get to adopt, then that's what we'll change her name to. But we don't really feel comfortable calling her that until we know it's a done deal, but we didn't want to call her Elena either because we figured that would confuse Gabe (and, really, us and anyone who heard us using that name then switching to Norah later on). So we decided that we needed a nickname.

Gabe went by Bubbie (with the "oo" sound of "foot, not the "uh" of "butt") for the longest time, and it's still more or less the term of endearment we use when we don't call him by his name. We thought long and hard, for about twenty seconds, on some possibilities. I suggested Schmoopie, which is a term that Norah's Aunt Molly is fond of using, but we decided that, while it's an amusing word, it's just a little too tough to say on a repeated basis. It just doesn't roll off the tongue. So the next suggestion I tossed out there was Button--as in "cute as a." It's not the most original, I know. It's hardly inspired work. But it's easy to say and SORT OF catchy, so we'll see if it sticks.

Anyway, from now on, I think I will refer to her as Button in this blog, just to hedge my bets in the (hopefully) unlikely event that she is reintegrated with her parents (which is, apparently, not the kind of slam dunk that we thought it was going to be).

We're getting on quite well with Button so far. Gabe is handling it pretty well, but I'm convinced that is only because there have been two adults in the house whenever he's been here and awake--which means there is someone to pay exclusive attention to him while someone else cares for the baby. The real trial by fire will come tomorrow when it's just me and the two kids in the house. I'm thinking he will have a few serious meltdowns when I'm not able to get down on the floor and play with him because I'm holding the baby or feeding her or something. Should be good times.

But she is an absolute ANGEL. She is the exact polar opposite of how Gabe was when we first got him (not to disparage Gabe's role in his early attitude--it was entirely not his fault that he was so miserable when we first got him, but, once he learned how to scream and cry, he sure made the most use of it he could until he was about nine months old). She sleeps quietly for about an hour at a time, wakes up, has a bit of a nosh, burps, poops, gets a diaper change, then goes back to sleep. I've only heard her cry maybe four times in the last 24 hours (and to be perfectly blunt, Gabe has cried more times since he woke up from his nap around 2:00 this afternoon).

And that's it for now. I posted some pictures on Facebook, but we really haven't taken a ton of them yet. I swear that I will at least attempt to take plenty of pictures of her. I know it's always tough to show the same kind of motivation for the non-first children, but I'm going to try and rise to the challenge. Just not tonight. I'm friggin tired.