Jamie

A highlight of our last week in Montana was getting together with Jamie. She is doing great! She is still with the same family, and they are taking very good care of her.

Update

We spent the last few weeks packing and cleaning. Our big move day was Tuesday. We had various people helping from 8:00 AM until about midnight. I meant to take lots of pictures, but of course never quite managed to get the camera out. (I probably couldn't have found it!)
But thanks to all of our help, we finished the packing, loading the truck, and much of the cleaning on Tuesday. Wednesday morning we finished the last minute things and headed to Havre to see the Sangrays. We spent the night with them, and then we were off on our cross country journey.
Yesterday, we traveled from Havre to Bismarck, ND, and today we traveled to Oakdale, MN (close to Minneapolis.)

Jamie went to her new foster family on Friday. Her foster mom is a teacher at the Kindergarten/1st grade in Browning. She also has one of Jamie's cousins in foster care. We were very happy that Jamie was able to join this wonderful family! Her foster mom brought her by on Tuesday afternoon, and we were able to spend a little time with her.

Kalispell Weekend

We went to Kalispell the past two weekends. The first we just stayed one night, but we left Ian there for the week. The second weekend, we stayed the whole weekend. We have lots of packing to do, but we wanted to spend a little more time with the Orts before we left.
The pictures below are the kids eating pizza and popsicles the first weekend, and Simon celebrating his birthday the 2nd weekend.

Updates:
1. Things are going well with our move. We plan to leave on Wed, Aug 6. We will get the truck Tuesday and load it Tuesday and Wednesday. Then we will be doing lots of driving! We will be visiting lots of family and friends as we drive through the Southeast and then up to Quebec.
2. Jamie is doing very well. She is healthy, and gaining weight. They were able to find a foster care placement for her with a family that also has one of her cousins as a foster child. The family came over and met her on Tuesday, then took her to their house for a couple of hours today. They plan to take her home tomorrow evening. If it is OK with them, I will post pictures of the family here.
3. We have been able to keep in contact with Kathleen. I haven't heard anything about the custody hearing yesterday. We think we are going to be able to see her when we are in the Southeast before we head up to Canada.

Caleb and Jamie are both sleeping now, so I need to go pack some boxes!

Jamie

Here are some of our latest pictures of Jamie. She is doing very well. She is getting stronger, and is happy most of the time. She slept through the night twice this week!
She is doing much better in the stroller. We had her out for some very long walks, and she seemed to enjoy them. She also enjoyed Indian Days, with all of the people and noise. When she first came to our house that would have been too overwhelming for her.
The shoes at the bottom are some that I made a craft night about 3 years ago. I remembered them the other day, and tried them on Jamie. They fit her perfectly.

Jamie Collage

On Saturday evening, we walked down to the campgrounds. We walked around for awhile, and then let the kids ride some of the rides.
First, Stephen took Caleb and Isabelle on the Ferris Wheel, while I took Ian over to the big slide.
Then Ian and Stephen went on the "Zipper" while Caleb and Isabelle went on the swings.
Jamie was happy to hang out in the stroller for the most part. She did get fussy one time, and I held her for a little bit. Then she went back in and stayed content the rest of the time.

Jamie- Catching up on sleep

Jamie has been doing very well. We went to Helena this weekend, and she didn't like traveling very much. This picture is from Monday. She was catching up on all of the rest that she missed over Saturday and Sunday.

More of Jamie and Isabelle

These pictures are from Thursday afternoon. Isabelle has been wanting to feed Jamie. I thought while Ian was outside riding his bike, and Caleb and Kathleen were napping, we would try it. She just fed her for a few minutes, then I took over. (Jamie has reflux, and spits up quite a bit.)
On Wednesday, we had a busy day. I had a library board meeting in Cut Bank. Mary Jo met us in Cut Bank and took the four older kids to see Kung Fu Panda. After that, they went to McDonalds and came back to Browning. They all really enjoyed it. Caleb is still pretending he is the Panda from the movie, and showing me all of his moves. He'll also say "Remember" and go on to describe something from the movie to me. Of course, I didn't see it, and I can't really understand exactly what he is saying, but it is cute!
While they did that, I took Jamie with me to run some errands, and then we went to the library board meeting. Most importantly, Jamie got some new clothes at JC Penny. Mary Jo also got her some new things. She now has more of a choice of outfits-- which she really needed b/c she goes through them quickly!
On Thursday morning, we took Jamie to the hospital for a check-up. (Stephen was her doctor!) She is doing well and growing like she should.

Sprinkler Fun

On Tuesday, we got out the sprinkler for the first time this summer. Caleb and Kathleen were napping, but Ian, Isabelle, and eight of the neighborhood kids enjoyed the water.
Jamie sat in her bouncy seat outside for about 15-20 minutes. She enjoyed watching the other kids, but it got to be a bit overwhelming for her after awhile.

Jamie and Isabelle

Isabelle has enjoyed helping to care for Jamie. She is very good about staying quiet and calming Jamie down. She also has a doll that she calls "my baby Jamie." She carries her doll around and takes care of it just like a baby.

Eva, Jamie, and Caleb

Jamie's Great-Aunt, Eva, works at the hospital with Stephen. She came over to our house on her lunch break on Tuesday to visit Jamie. Fortunately, Jamie was in a good mood, and smiled and cooed for her. Who could resist that?
Caleb wanted his picture taken as well. He was looking sideways at Jamie and Eva, like he wasn't really sure what he thought.

Jamie and Ian

Ian held Jamie while I was putting sunscreen on Isabelle and getting the sprinkler ready for them to play in the water. He does really well with her. She was reaching for his face repeatedly. That is the first time I had seen her do that with anyone. He likes to sing her his own version of "Hush Little Baby" which includes things like Mocking Nerd and Chicken Fart, but always seems to calm her down.

Jamie and Kathleen

Kathleen had a chance to hold Jamie for awhile yesterday. She has been having fun helping take care of Jamie. On Sunday, she stood beside the rocking chair and gave me very detailed directions. I reminded her that I had Ian, Isabelle, and Caleb as babies. I said, "Do you think I know how to take care of a baby?" Her answer was an emphatic "No."
She has noticed that Jamie has dark hair and eyes like her, and is very excited about that. She loves picking out Jamie's clothes and she has been very helpful in bringing me things that I need for Jamie.

More Jamie Pictures

Here are some more pictures of Jamie from today. She is really cute. She did pretty well last night, but she doesn't seem to like her crib. Hopefully, she will adjust to it quickly.
She does love to be held, though! Stephen and I took turns on and off last night staying up with her.
This morning we took her to church. We were only about 30 minutes late! I just stayed in the nursery and held her the whole time.
The weather is really nice today. I tried taking her outside, and she seemed to enjoy that. (I was just holding her.) I also tried to take her for a walk in the stroller, and she did not like that. I think that the sun was too bright, and she was too warm. I will have to try it again. I think she will enjoy the motion.

Jamie

These pictures are of Jamie last night after she came to our house. She did not enjoy traveling on the airplane or riding in the car. All of the kids were excited to see her, and I think she was just happy to be done with her traveling.