BIG News – Gran noticia

In August I wrote that Douglas and I were waiting for BIG news, finally this week it happened. We now have two adorable boys in our care for an indeterminate period of time. The last week has been an emotional roller coaster.

En agosto escribí que Douglas y yo esperábamos una gran noticia, por fin esta semana la recibimos. Ahora tenemos dos muchachos adorables en nuestra casa por un periodo de tiempo indeterminado. La última semana ha pasado como si estuviéramos montados en una montaña rusa.

On Monday, November 7 we received a call asking us if we would be able to take twin, five-year-old boys after Thanksgiving. We quickly said yes. Our social worker informed us that election day was a federal holiday and thus we would hear from her on Wednesday or Thursday to let us know if we had been confirmed as their foster parents.

El lunes 07 de noviembre recibimos una llamada para preguntarnos si estuviéramos abiertos a la idea de recibir a unos gemelos de cinco años en nuestra casa a finales de noviembre. Dijimos que sí inmediatamente. La trabajadora social que trabaja con nosotros nos dijo que el día de las elecciones era un día festivo federal así que tendríamos que esperar hasta el miércoles o el jueves para saber si nos aceptaran o no.

Wednesday, November 9 was a difficult day for a host of reasons, not the least of which was waiting for that phone call. We did not receive it until 2:45 on Thursday. At that point I was preparing to go to swim practice and had just been informed that the head coach would not be at practice. We were told that the boys would be arriving at any time, and that we would get a call when they were on their way. I quickly started trying to find someone to cover practice for me. Thankfully, a good friend and middle school swim coach was able to get there at 3:45 so that I could get home to prepare for the boys arrival.

El miércoles 09 de noviembre fue un día muy difícil por muchas razones entre las cuales no se excluye la espera de la llamada. No llegó hasta las 2:45 de la tarde el jueves. En ese momento me estaba preparando para ir a la práctica de natación y acababa de recibir la noticia de que el otro entrenador no estaría ese día. Nos dijeron que los muchachos podrían llegar en cualquier momento y que recibiríamos una llamada para decirnos cuando estaban cerca. Me puse a encontrar alguien que podría reemplazarme en la práctica. Gracias a dios, una amiga, la entrenadora de los nadadores más jóvenes, pudo ir y llegó a las 3:45. Salí corriendo para poder llegar a casa y organizar todo por la llegada de los muchachitos.

After rushing around for a couple of hours there was nothing left for me to do but sit and wait. By the time that Douglas arrived home at 8:30 I was still waiting. We were told that they could arrive late, so we did not give up on their arrival until 1:00 am. The most difficult part was that we never received a phone call and had no idea what was going on. Also, Friday, November 11 was a federal holiday, so it was likely that we would not get any answers until Monday morning. Thankfully, our social worker checked her work phone on Friday and was able to give us a call. She was upset that we had not received a phone call but assured us that we had been chosen as the foster family. She thought that maybe the decision had been made to go back to the original date, so we planned to get them after Thanksgiving.

Después de mucho apure por unas horas no había más nada que hacer menos esperar. Cuando llegó Douglas a las 8:30 todavía estaba esperando. Como nos habían dicho que pudieran llegar muy tarde no nos rendimos hasta la una de la madrugada cuando por fin aceptamos que no iban a llegar esa noche. Lo peor fue no haber recibido ninguna llamada y no saber qué pasaba. Como el viernes 11 de noviembre era día festivo federal también quedaba la posibilidad de no saber nada hasta el lunes. Gracias a dios, nuestra trabajadora social chequeó sus mensajes el viernes y nos llamó. Le molestó que no hubiéramos recibido ninguna llamada de explicación, pero nos aseguró de que nos habían escogido como la familia acogedora de esos dos niños. Pensaba que habían decidido esperar hasta los finales de noviembre como habían planeado al principio. Nos quedamos con la idea de que no llegarían por unas semanas.

On Monday, I waited all day for a phone call confirming when the boys would be arriving. It did not come until almost 3:00 pm. The boys would be arriving in two hours. This time I was a little more pragmatic. I did not tell everybody that they would be arriving. There were only a couple of people that needed to know, and I also called my mother on the way home.

El lunes esperé la llamada de la confirmación de la fecha todo el día. Por fin llegó a las tres de la tarde y nos dijo que ¡iban a llegar en dos horas! Esta vez yo estaba más pragmática y sólo se los conté a los que tenían que saber. También llamé a mi madre en ruta a casa.

Since we had prepared everything on Thursday, there was not much more that I needed to do to get ready. Sitting and waiting by myself was torture. I jumped up every time a car slowed in front of our house. At 6:10 the wait was over and the boys were dropped off at the house with a few clothes and toys.

Como había preparado todo el jueves, no había casi nada que hacer para alistar la casa. Sentarme a esperar fue una tortura, pero no podía enfocarme en más nada. Brincaba cada vez que un carro pasó por la casa. A las seis y diez terminó la espera con la llegada de los chicos con unos juguetes y poca ropa.

For the past thirty hours or so, we have been trying to get to know each other. There have been some tears, both theirs and mine, but mostly it has been going well. The boys are very loving and fairly well behaved. We have been warned that this could be a honeymoon phase and that it is possible that things will be more difficult in a couple of weeks, but we will just have to roll with the punches.

En las últimas treinta y pico horas hemos estado intentando conocernos unos a los otros. Ha habido unas lágrimas, de ellos tanto como las mías, pero la mayoría del tiempo va bien. Son unos muchachos muy cariños y bien educados. Nos han advertido de que podría ser más difícil después de que pase <<la luna de miel>>, pero tendremos que prepararnos por cualquier cosa.

I have rarely been this tired in my life. Since the boys are not yet enrolled in school, we have been spending all of our time together. It seems that we are endlessly getting out toys and putting them back. I will only allow them to play with one thing at a time, and their attention spans are short. Therefore, we get the Legos out. Then, five minutes later they tell me that they want to play with the cars. So, we put all of the Legos away and get out the cars, only to have to put them away moments later so that we can get out the Legos again. This cycle repeated has repeated itself endlessly since they arrived. I am hoping that their attention spans will get longer as the novelty of all of the new toys wears off.

Rara vez en mi vida he estado tan cansada. Como no hemos podido apuntar a los muchachos en la escuela todavía, hemos estado pasando todo el tiempo juntos. Parece ser un constante sacar y guardar de juguetes porque sólo los dejo sacar un tipo de juguete a la vez. Entonces, sacamos los Legos y cinco minutos después me dicen que quieren jugar con los coches. Guardamos los Legos y sacamos los coches por unos minutos antes de que quieren guardar los coches para sacar los Legos otra vez. Ese ciclo se ha repetido sin fin desde que llegaron. Espero que su capacidad de atención se extienda mientras la novedad disipare.

In order to protect their identities, I will not be posting pictures of their faces or using their real names. I asked the boys if they would prefer an animal alias or a superhero pseudonym. Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to Ironman on the left and Spiderman on the right.

Para proteger sus identidades no voy a publicar fotos de sus caras ni usar sus nombres verdaderos. Les pregunté si prefieran seudónimos de animales o superhéroes. Sin más preámbulos, me gustaría presentarte al Hobre de Hierro (Ironman) a la izquierda y al Hombre Araña (Spiderman) a la derecha.

Presenting Ironman and Spiderman

Happy Homemaking!

¡Espero que todos tus sueños caseros se cumplan!

 

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About

I am a teacher, traveler, artist, writer, homemaker and a whole lot more. In January 2009, I bought the Cape of Dreams. It was the second house that I had ever owned, but it was the first that I bought by myself. I now live in the house with my husband Douglas, our dog Kahlua, and Crème de Menthe, the cat. Because, what life is complete without a little Kahlua and Cream? I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and I refinish furniture as well. We are slowly redoing our entire house. You can read about my projects on my blog www.CapeofDreams.com

24 Comments on “BIG News – Gran noticia

  1. wow wow wow wow wow !!!!!!!!
    what a crazy emotional rollercoaster you guys have had – i’m sure the boys as well. congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what fun to have twins 🙂
    welcome to the cape of dreams ironman & spiderman! cool that douglas runs iron man’s and now you have one of your own 🙂 how are the pets doing with the major change?

    • It is an adventure already, and I can only imagine how much crazier it is going to get. I just hope that I will be able to keep blogging because this has become a journal and a creative outlet for me that I really need.

        • I hope that we do not have to give up the home improvements. We still have so much we need to do. One thing about having foster children is that we cannot leave them with anyone that has not been approved by the state – so no babysitters. However, many of my students have already told us that they would love to babysit. We are thinking that we will use them to watch the kids while we are working on things. That way we will still be here with them, but they will be entertained by someone else.

  2. Congratulations, What dear little boys and what dear hearts you and your husband are, a beautiful opportunity to practice love and patience 😉
    Pro tips from adoptive mom: tire them out (run, pool time, etc) daily, good for moods & sleeping, resist the urge to introduce to extended family and friends–too overwhelming and scary, let them get used to you to first, routines are everyone’s friend, they will love whoever feeds them
    wishing your family much happiness

    • That is good advice. I never would have thought about how overwhelming it could be for them to meet so many new people. Our extended families are spread out across the country, so fortunately/unfortunately they will not be able to meet them too quickly. We are working hard to establish a routine. I need it too!

  3. I’m in awe of you and Douglas for taking on twin boys! I can only imagine the chaos and the difficulties of getting to know strangers (for all of you) and learning new routines. With no kids, I have NO advice … but I bet this will be the hardest part, and you will all settle into a new normal soon. I hope they will be good with your fur kids. You guys are so brave and good-hearted to do this! Won’t Christmas be awesome?!?
    I hope you will still have the time and energy to blog! Congrats to the new family!! 🙂

    • My family is so excited to finally have little kids to buy Christmas presents for. It has been a while. I am glad that I will no longer have to sit on Santa’s lap, because it is a family tradition that you do not get off Santa’s lap at the Christmas Eve party unless you produce a replacement.

  4. I so admire people who do this. I don’t think I have the stamina. Just remember, most people have time to adjust to all of activity and noise that comes with children gradually because they have them as babies and that is a different kind of activity and noise. I think you’ll adjust quickly, but your life DEFINITELY won’t be the same. Try to relax and enjoy!

    • That is a good reminder for us. It is a bit of a shock to suddenly have to five year olds, but in some ways I think that it is easier for me than two infants would be. I got enough of taking care of infants as a child!

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