Really?? LOL!

Little Man's birthmom has some interesting takes on things...

1) She is convinced that when he gets a diaper rash it's because the CM and I have his car seat straps too tight...the fact that I told her it was from antibiotics was not considered-LOL! OK!

2) Today "mom" was putting Little Man in his car seat in the CM's car and asked the CM to turn her air on right away because the tint on her car windows was making it too hot in the car! ROTFL! Everyone in FL has tint to keep it COOLER in the car. Oh my!! She has some interesting ideas on things!!

The other hard part in her note to me today was when she asked if he asks for mama or dada. I'm still thinking about how to put that gently in my response to her. Yes, he asks for mama and dada, but he means Mr. M and I rather than her and bio-dad :( I don't think that she understands all that Little Man has been through and how a 1 yr old perceives all that.

There is a training coming up on how we as foster parents can recognize grief in the children in our home and help them through that. I am all for that and I hope I can attend the training, but I emailed our FDS back and asked if there was a training/teaching for birthparents to also recognize the signs of grief in different age children and how to help them cope. It is incredibly traumatic for a child to leave his/her birthparents (no matter the age) and it is important for us to know that, but at the same time when a child is in a foster home for so long, and then they have to say goodbye to all that they are used to and return home, those same grief feelings will occur. Just because he is back with her doesn't mean it's going to be roses right away. I didn't receive a response, and my guess is that nothing like that is in place. I'm going to have a book written for "mom" when Little Man goes back home (so much to tell!), so maybe I'll just send some info myself that will kind of explain what she might see and not to take it personally, but to understand what it is and help him through it.

The staffing that was going to be held on Tuesday was cancelled, so we are still waiting for the rescheduled date. Until then, we are continuing with supervised visits.

Court today

So not a lot happened today in court. The "legal" father "birth" father debate continues, but something was done today to hopefully get things moving in the right direction! :) I had the opportunity to meet the birthfather today. He seemed like a nice guy and although he didn't get what he wanted in court he was very respectful to the judge. It was also mentioned today that mom has received a diagnosis through her counseling and further sessions have been recommended with a target completion of December 2010! December 1st will be one full year that Little Man has been with us. It breaks my heart every time I hear about pushing things back farther and farther because it's Little Man who is going to be the one suffering. The longer he is away from them the more he is attached to us. We are praying for God's complete and perfect will to be done!!

These two verses were in my devotions today....

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4

"....what I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do." Isaiah 46:11

Ditchin the bottle!

Woo Hoo!!! Little Man is *officially* done with the bottle!! I am always leary about switching over, but it has proven unfounded as none of them have had an issue with it. As long as they have the milk, that's the important part :) I am always certain to break the bottle habit before 15 months because that's the age when strong attachments to things take place (blankets, stuffed animals and bottles!!) So, we are at 13 months and using big boy sippy cups! Actually he's getting really good at using an open cup too, but for cleanliness sake we're hanging onto the sippy for awhile! :)

Pulmonologist Follow-Up

This morning we had Little Man's follow-up appt with the pulmonologist and she said he is doing **GREAT** His breathing treatments have been decreased to once a day for the next 3 months and then to wean him off of them! :) Yay!! She also suggested a visit with her, myself, Little Man, and his birthmom to train her in signs to look for that he may be having trouble, how to manage his asthma appropriately, and how to give his breathing treatments. Awesome!! Hopefully she will agree to come and we can get it done in the next 4 weeks or so before both L.M.'s b-mom and the Dr. have their babies!! :-)

Just in case I don't get a chance to post before next week....please be in prayer for us especially on Monday and Tuesday. Monday is another status hearing which from what I hear b-dad will be attending. This will be my first time meeting him and the length of this case could be extended??? Tuesday is the unsupervised visits and/or reunification staffing for L.M. Please just be praying for God's will through it all and that I shine His light as this sweet little boy's future is determined. Thank you!!!

Well Visit

Little Man had his one year check up the other day and is doing great! He lost a pound after being sick, so was down to 22lbs and is 30 inches tall. That makes him 50%ile for height and only the 25th for weight. She was impressed with his language skills (has at least 10 words/approximations) and he started signing "all-done" and "light" this past week :) He tries to say pretty much anything you ask him to and enjoys spending time creating his own little silly 1 yr old games! He also finally started initiating going down the stairs backwards rather than head-first. Thank God! He desperately wants to be a big boy like A and I and each day is getting closer!

Baby A is still here until tomorrow morning. If we were asked to keep him I would jump at it in a heart beat! He is such a pleasant newborn! He is a great eater, he sleeps well (2.5-3.5 hours at a time) and is just a sweetie! Nothing beats the smell of a newborn's head either :-) Little Man cared the 1st day, but after that he has been laughing at the baby and doesn't really care if I am holding him. Progress :)

He's walking!!!

Over vacation Little Man started to take steps, but it wasn't until this week that we really started to call him a "walker!" He is all over the place and SO proud of his accomplishment :-)

So far so good :)

Little A arrived shortly before 8 last night and is as cute as can be!!! It never gets old seeing Mr. A get excited when a new baby arrives :) Mr. I not so much...he's not really into babies-lol! Little A is 3 weeks old today and barely cries unless there is a need. I got about 5 hours of sleep last night total, so that's not bad! Now for today...Little Man was in bed when A arrived, so we will see what today holds! We have Dr. appts for Mr. A and Little Man (well-child visits) today, so I will have all 4 of them in a tiny Dr.'s office. Ummm....yeah! This should be interesting :)

Changes

Today I got an email from my friend who was licensed just a month after us. They have had a sweet little baby for the past 6 months and learned today in court that as of next week he will be going to live with his grandparents. We have been talking a lot over the last 6-7 months about having to say goodbye to our little ones...the first ones :( It really is the best situation for him to be in because it is with stable family members, but that doesn't make it any easier for them to say goodbye. Due to recent changes in Little Man's case it is possible that he could be here for quite a while yet depending on particular choices that are made on bio-mom's part. Each month, week and day that passes it gets harder and harder to even think about saying goodbye :( I'm really not sure how people become foster parents without a relationship with Christ...REALLY!!!

On another note...we will be welcoming our 3rd respite baby here tonight!! There is a small chance an emergency travel order will be granted in court this afternoon, but not likely to happen. The baby will be here until Monday night! I was half asleep when the person called, and totally forgot to ask about the gender! LOL! My *feeling* however is that it is a girl :) We'll see if I'm right!! So...I am going to go to the store this afternoon and am going make a few meals to freeze for the next several days! All laundry is done and things are "caught up" on. I know I will not have much time for this with a newborn (in addition to everyone else's needs!) in the next 5 days :)

Update on Little Man

I took him to the pediatrician this morning and she listened to his lungs and did hear "something." She decided to do a breathing treatment and listen again. If he still sounded bad she would start with a shot of antibiotic in her office, but if was better then we could just do the oral antibiotics. Thank God he was moving air well and sounding good! Something is clearly wrong with the little guy since he woke up with a 104.5 fever this morning!! She decided that just the antibiotics for now and breathing treatments for the "gunk" but that should take care of things. We have a follow-up next week and also his well-child visit. I feel like between all 3 kids we are at that office a lot-LOL!

So sick of being sick!

The poor baby is sick AGAIN! He had a bit of a runny nose on vacation, but nothing major at all. The Monday we were traveling back he began to get worse and by the time we were back in hot/humid FL he was really not well :( Two nights ago he woke up with a fever and yesterday he wasn't too hot, but just out of it. Today he had a temp of 103.3 so I talked to his pulmonologist since he had some wheezing and fast breathing. On his last chest x-ray there was something that could be (or could turn into) pneumonia so with a fever that high she wanted me to start him on an antibiotic tonight. She said she would call it in (this was at 3:45) and I could pick it up in an hour. I went to pick it and she hadn't called it in, so this could be another long night ahead! He has an appt with his pediatrician set for early tomorrow morning, so we'll get things straight then. Mr. A went to bed saying he was so tired and didn't feel well. Maybe it's just a virus going around? The thing we have learned with Little Man though is that something simple (like a cold) can turn into more for him very quickly with his asthma, so...better safe than sorry!

His social worker stayed for her monthly visit today and she said that Mom continues to do what she needs to do on her case plan. The CM completed the homestudy (so Mom can have unsupervisied visits there if approved). There are two reasons that it most likely will not be approved. We have court again at the end of the month so we will see what happens. I am very interested to see if bio-dad will show up!

Here and gone!

Little D arrived at about 9:30 this morning and is just so cute! He had a crazy bite (not sure what from) on his cheek that had become infected. His foster mom took him to the Dr. yesterday to get it checked out and got a prescription. It can be hard when kids just come into the system to get things straight with medicaid. So...at naptime I called and spoke to our pharmacist and she was so helpful and said it was no problem to get them filled. Great!I was going to go when Mr. M got home from work, but then I got a call at 5:15 saying that they found relative placement for him and he was gone by 6:00! Ya never know what's going to happen around here!

As for Little Man he was supposed to have a nice long visit with his mom today, but the transporter never showed up so the CM had to cancel the visit. I am glad I was not sitting in the mall with the CM/mom at that point. I'm sure that mom was quite angry after not seeing him for 2 weeks! Take two is tomorrow afternoon...

We're back!

We had a wonderful two week vacation!! Little Man did AWESOME, well...except for with that whole being locked in a car seat for so many hours thing! LOL! The way home was a bit long! He got to try the slip-n-slide, play in alfalfa, meet lots of new people, and get into lots of trouble :) He is really trying to walk a lot more and has taken as many as 12 steps! Over vacation he cut two molars and has two more attempting to come through! Poor thing! He has an extended visit with his mom tomorrow since we were gone.

Tomorrow we also will be adding to the crew! We will be doing respite for an 11 month old little boy who we will call "Little D" here :) Wow...it will be like having twins!! I am interested to see how Little Man responds to him! 4 boys for 11 days!!!!!!!!!!