Casey, Part 1

Sooo.  Tangled Fan moved us around again.  (I snitched this pic she took - that's why everyone's posed xD)
Everyone except for us and Zelia are on the dresser again, even Merida. 
I did notice that Tangled Fan left a couple of spaces empty (it's hard to see in this picture, though) so I'm wondering if she's planning on getting MORE to add to her collection?  Good grief.  But regardless....

This is what we were met with.  Zelia isn't on the shelf with us, but instead she's up and over one shelf; so she'll still be able to visit often. We're directly above our old shelf (the shelf Eugene used to live in when we first met.) 
Thanks to Tangled Fan, she did all this right before she had to leave -- something about horse related chores-- and then she tossed our belongings up on the shelf and left. 

Zelia decided to take the girls with her for a walk  for the day, keeping them out of the way while we worked to get things set up.  Thank goodness. 

This is how we'll sleep.  (Plus blankets and everything.) 

And this is how we'll set up for the day.  Why does this shelf seem so roomy?  I still haven't quite figured it out yet...

 

And another small, yet EXTREMELY BIG tidbit that Tangled Fan told us earlier today, before she left? 

She found a little girl doll, by the name of Casey, who needs a family.  Now, at first I figured she just wanted her out of her bins, but she explained further that she had a very hard time fitting in well with families, as she'd been tossed around and neglected before, back when Tangled Fan had her ginormous Barbie collection, which was several years ago (they're all off in new homes, I've heard, except for a few child-sized dolls, of course).  Of course, now you're probably thinking 'but dolls can't be neglected!'  Right?  Well, their doll families can not pay attention to them, they can just completely ignore them and not do anything with them, and they can put them down verbally as well.  Casey had fallen victim to all of these scenarios.  Tangled Fan had mentioned that she had planned on waiting until Anna and Hans or Elsa and Kris were ready to adopt, but had realized that she wouldn't fit well with either family, and also preferred that we take her, since we had more 'parenting experience'. 

A month. 
We've been parents for a little over a month. 
Alrighty then. We're experienced parents, alright!  But regardless.   

Being the suckers that we are, we agreed on the spot to meet her tomorrow.  We planned on talking to Audrey when she got home, if she wasn't so tired she couldn't understand a thing. 

 

So once we got done rearranging our shelf, Eugene plopped down on his wicker chair, and I commenced brushing my hair, which of course, was a horrible mess. 
When I was done, I turned to see how terribly pale and worried my husband looked. 

Promptly moving to his side, I asked what was wrong. 
"Eh.  Nothing, just tired." 
"Hmm...how am I not buying that?  I think you're nervous or excited for tomorrow," I told him. 

When he sighed, I knew I'd hit the nail on the head, so I pulled up my box (Oh, how I'd missed my box...) and sat beside him, scooping Pascal up onto my lap. 
And then I waited him out.

 

It didn't take too long for him to finally open up. 
"I'm nervous, yes.  And excited, of course...but I'm...worried, mostly." 

"Why?"  I was nervous, yeah, but I didn't see why he was worried!  I was sure that Audrey would handle the situation okay. 

"I'm just worried that I won't be a good enough father for Casey."  It came out in almost a whisper, and he avoided my eyes.
Of all the absurd things!  HIM?  Not good enough?! 

I jumped up and grabbed his hand in both of mine, surprised by his confession.  Pascal, disgusted with me, retired to sit beside Eugene on the chair. 
"Eugene, you know you'll be a perfect father.  You already are a great dad!  Just look at Audrey.  She absolutely adores you!  And you're sooo good with Jordan.  Casey won't be any different; she'll love you, I'm sure.  You'll bring her right outta her shell, and everything will be grand." 
"Will it?  I just...she's got such a complex background that I'm afraid I'll accidentally trigger some memory, and she'll be scared of me for life." 
"You won't.  Ignoring or yelling at her would probably trigger something, and I have never known you to yell -- the only time I ever heard you raise your voice was when we hit that rough patch before we got engaged.  And you'd never ignore her.  I know you, and you wouldn't.  If you didn't ignore me ever, you won't ever ignore Casey.  You'll do fine, I know it.   So don't be worried, 'kay, hon?" 

He nodded slowly, before finally meeting my eyes.  I gave him a small smile, which he returned.  He was silent for a few minutes, and I could tell he was processing everything carefully before he opened his mouth. 
"You're right - as always.  Thanks," he added a wink, and I laughed. 
"Sure thing." 
We both sat in silence for a few minutes, and I could tell the nervousness was seeping back in the shelf, so I tried to think of something to do. 
"Why don't we go through some of the songs on the iPod?  I'm pretty sure there are some new songs on it," I suggested. 
His whole entire face lit up.  "I'm game." 
Soo then I hopped down to the deck, grabbed the iPod, and crawled back up, and we sat and listened to (and discussed our favorite) songs for the rest of the afternoon, waiting until Zelia came back with Audrey and Jordan. 

 

Soo...I'll let you know what tomorrow brings!  I'm still pretty nervous and excited, and we also probably will get absolutely no sleep tonight due to our (unnecessary) nervousness, soo...we'll just have to see!  xD