Another visit

Yesterday Baby had a sibling visit :) I was told when he came back that the aunt/uncle want to have him over the weekend again. I am assumming it's because of the holiday that it's happening again so soon. I am actually a little relieved that they want to take him this weekend because we are going on a mini-vacation on the other side of the state and I think it will be easier not dragging a baby in the heat around a theme park! The "big" boys have plans to stay all day!! I guess there has been more drama between Baby's dad and the aunt/uncle and unfortunatley he's burning bridges rather than keeping his eyes focused on the baby :( All because of a couple of texts from bio-mom who is not in the picture with Baby. Ahhh......

I sent Little Man's mom pictures and an update last week, but no one has heard from her. I expected that she would call the CM about it, but nothing. I am hoping she realizes that he is in a good place and simply does the "right" thing in court in a few weeks. I don't think she will be able to appear in person, so that may happen involuntarily anyway. Then again, this woman is full of surprises, so who knows....maybe we'll get a surprise appearance???

I am sooooooo tired! Baby was in such a nice pattern of sleeping from 10 when he last ate till 5:30am until 4 nights ago when all of the sudden he is up crying/whining all night!!! I have tried simply everything! A bottle...massage...tylenol...the only way he will sleep deeply is in my arms. Ummm...that doesn't work for me as I need sleep to take care of the rest of the munchkins daily. Still trying to figure this one out!!!

Little Man is defintely TWO!!!!!!!! Whew....he is one little spitfire!!! We are sort of working on potty training...I think he's ready, but I just hate potty training! lol! I know I have to keep my eyes on the prize of no more diapers, but I have to work myself up to it! Hee hee. We also will probably be transitioning him to a toddler bed too. That should be fun too :)

Big boy!

Look at my sweet baby growing so big!!!! There is simply no keeping him on his back...

he rolls over every time! He is pulling himself foward while on his stomach and turning as well. If you remember one of the first pictures I posted of him was his chicken legs...no more!! Rolls galore baby!!!

This past weekend

Sorry I didn't update about this weekend! I dropped our sweetie off to meet up with his aunt at a local drugstore parking lot. I was so relived when I met her and she was super nice and sweet. She thanked us for what we do for sweet baby and commented about how she never thought this type of thing would happen to her/her family. Her husband and her would love to take all of her sister's children, but they already have two of their own and the oldest two and that's enough for their family. I can totally understand that.

I didn't get a phone call all weekend so I assummed all went well. I picked him Sunday afternoon and the uncle just said that all went well and that they were able to sleep (I have a feeling he slept :) ) Anyway, that's about all he said. I am hoping to get a few more specifics from the CM later this week.

I survived! I thought it was going to be super hard, and of course I missed him , but I was ok because it was a super busy weekend! It's definitely much easier going to the beach without baby! I don't know how often these visits are going to occur, but like I have said before, it's good preparation for him to get to know all these people and for us to get used to his absence :(

I am off to the lovely WIC office with both LM and LG for their re-certs. Fun stuff!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is our Little Man's 2nd birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so blessed to get to parent this sweet boy and when he first joined our family we never thought we'd be the one's to get to celebrate this birthday with him! I can't believe how fast our sweet boy is growing up! He is such a smart boy and loves Thomas the Train, Elmo, and Cars (the movie) characters right now. He is into absolutely EVERYTHING! Have you ever seen Veggie Tales the Esther story? That song that the cucumber sings "there those who can't be trusted!" That's our boy :) That adorable smile of his and fun locks will get ya everytime though!

Packing!

Who knew packing for a baby to go away for a day and 1/2 would be so much!? I'm trying to think of every possible thing I could tell them so that he stays on his routine (at least sort of) and gets all his meds at the right times, etc. I need to invest in a large overnight bag for him as we are already on bag #2!

We are meeting his aunt/uncle in a nearby parking lot for the hand off at 9:30 tomorrow morning. This is the first time that this whole fostering thing (where you have to give them back!) has really become real for me. It is sooooo important for him though to get used to these people at an early age so that when he does go to live with his Dad (I'm sure the aunt/unce will help him out too) the transition will be a bit easier for him. It's also good preparation for us emotionally. We are going to miss him like crazy, but again...it's necessary if this whole reunification this is going to happen!

It's hard to go to the beach with a baby who can't even wear sunscreen yet, so we are taking advantage of this baby-less time and headed to the beach for Father's Day :) The kids are so excited! After we get back we will meet up with aunt/uncle to get our sweetie back :)

I am excited to get a full night's sleep....if only for one night! :-)

Court Drama!

When I arrived this morning for court I sat and waited with the new CM and the GAL. As we were chatting I asked the CM if he had asked A. to appear by phone in the courtroom. He said "No, do you think I should?" the GAL and I screamed "YES! Call her!" We are so glad that we did because it was very important for the judge to *experience* this woman vs. read about her on paper.

After lots of drama, yelling at the judge, cutting the judge off and finally tears the hearing ended with A. continuing to talk and the judge saying "goodbye!" and hanging up the phone! Blaming other people for your problems gets really old...take some responsibility for the choices you have made lady!

From here.....July 19th we go for the TPR advisory...Again! A. was told in court today that she must appear IN PERSON in order to be heard that day. She will not be allowed to appear by phone. She said that she is not able to appear in person but did give her address in open court so they are scurrying to get her served in time for the next hearing. If she appears in person it will probably go to trial, if she does not appear they could terminate her rights that day, or if this judge is really looney she could grant an ICPC and have LM transferred to NY foster care so she can work her case plan and see LM. We are praying for termination, but are expecting another hearing following this one..perhaps trial.

No matter what God is in control...I can have peace knowing that God has a plan for our Little Man and we trust/believe that it will be in our family :)

Update in bullets :)

• We have not received any more phone calls from LM's bio-mom. I have to say that I am very surprised she has not called from another number. I don't know how many times she has tried to call us from the # we have for her, but who cares?! They aren't coming through so that is peaceful :)


• I had my house all sparkling and pretty today for our licensing sw and her supervisor to come over...cancelled!! Of course! We are trying again tomorrow...hopefully it happens!


• Baby is going on a sibling visit tomorrow again. It is still up in the air about the weekend. Just in case I am writing everything down because I'll probably get a couple hours notice again. I asked her to tell me ASAP because this weekend is packed with swim class, LM's birthday (2!!!!!!) and Father's day.


• Court is at 10:15 on Wednesday for LM...in front of a new general magistrate. Yes...ANOTHER new person who does not know anything about A. and this case. Still waiting to see if I have a sitter so I am able to attend.

Finally the air is clear!

**There is no weekend visit set up for Baby next weekend

**One CM thought the FDS was going to something and visa versa...that's why I wasn't invited to the most recent staffings.

**I have a court date straight from the mouth of the AG!

**No phone calls from bio-mom today...all has been quiet.

It's so hard to keep everyone on the same page when there are so many people involved, but it appears that with both of our cases we are all on the same page....at least for today :)

Read this today...no coincidence there huh?!

Ephesians 4:26-27; 32
26-27Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life. 32Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you." (Message)

26When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down.
27Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].
(Amplified)

The devil certainly knows our weaknesses and really tries hard to hit us there. I will NOT give him a foothold here!! Moving forward and believing that things will start turning around :)

And the crazy week continues!

Thursday mornings Baby gets picked up for his visits at about 10:30. I was pulling in from taking Mr. I to speech this morning at 9:30 and there the FRS was waiting for me. She was there since 9:00 or so waiting to take him. No phone call to let me know she would be there early. She's lucky I didn't have errands to run today or no visit would have happened! She is a foster parent as well and KNOWS how important a simple phone call is and while she apologized, she knows better.

I then asked if there is also a sibling visit today and she said no, the aunt/uncle are getting him all day Saturday and then Dad on Sunday. I was totally surprised and she asked if the CM told me that. Ummmm...NO! It turns out she has the weekend wrong...it's over Father's Day weekend, but the fact is that every other person on this case knows what's going on and I DON'T! It's more than frustrating when I am the one who is supposed to be advocating for this child. The FRS said she would let me know about these things from now on and I had my FDS email/speak with the CM letting her know she's voilating our rights as foster parents. It takes a good week for her to return an email/phone call to me, so I thought I'd step it up a notch. I may not be popular with her anymore, but I don't care. Baby is my first priority in this case :-)

There is now a dispute as to when the JR for Little Man is. One person tells me Wed. the other tells me Thur. I now have to get my FDS in on this too to check the court docket for me so I know when to try to get a sitter for and when to show up!

This week has been so challenging for me and whew.....my head is spinning!!!! Deep breathes over and over :) The joy of the Lord is my strength!!!!

What a day!!!!

The family was all getting ready to go to the YMCA this afternoon when all of the sudden our phone rings. THANK GOD FOR CALLER ID!!!! It said Little Man's last name which is his bio-mom's maiden name. I did not pick it up and let the answering machine answer it. She wanted me to call her and talk and she said she got my phone number from the new case manager. WHAT??????????????????????????????

I immediately called the CM and it went to voicemail. I left a very clear message about how incredibly unacceptable that was that he gave our personal information (it's a landline which can be used to get our address) and I then had my hubby call his supervisor! Of course all damage had been done and that was that. Both were very apologetic but A. now has our phone number. I know a lot of foster parents who willing give this info out, but for many reasons we never gave her ours. The biggest reason (besides safety) was that she calls 3-5 times per day about the same things. I don't have time for that!

Both the CM and the GAL told her to not call our number again. What happened? She called AGAIN!! She already has the number and changing it only creates a huge hassle for us, so we have blocked her number and hopefully she doesn't start using every phone in NY to try to contact us!

I didn't realize the feelings this was going to bring up. I was so angry with her that she just wants to jump in and out of her son's life whenever she pleases...I was angry that she chose a coke-head over her son...I was angry that she abandoned him not only once, but twice! He doesn't deserve this mess and she is only thinking of herself. Then God reminded me of a verse for James 1:20 "The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God" Ahhh....yes!
We will play the game and rest in God's already finished work for our Little Man!

If that wasn't enough, I was speaking with our social worker tonight and she mentioned that she went to a staffing for our Baby man yesterday. She asked why I wasn't there. Ummm....because I wasn't invited!! That's the second one...two weeks in a row where every single solitary person (including the other foster mom and our social worker) were invited, but not us. I'm not so happy about that either, especially when I explicitly told the CM that I try to attend all court/staffings. I'm not sure why I'm not being involved, but I have a few ideas. It will be addressed tomorrow.

The best part about today was that my coffee maker died and my hubby surprised me with a brand new coffee maker that doesn't have a carafe and you can just get a cup at a time and it even makes iced coffee!!! :) At least something happy happened today! Praying a peace over our home and a better day tomorrow!!!

Busy day today!!!

The morning started out with Baby's 4 month well-child visit. I can't believe he has been here that long! Anyway, everything went as I had hoped :) I talked to her about the meds and she agreed to let me try another drug before going to the GI...yay!! So she prescribed prevacid for him. At this visit he weighed 16lbs 7oz and was 25 in long!!! He's very proportional, but a very big guy! He is wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes!

Then it was on to the pharmacy to get this lovely prescription filled. Nope....they can't do that doasge (she prescribed granules rather than liquid) and told me I had to go to the compounding pharmacy.

Back home I had to get some school done with my big kiddos (almost done!!) and hubby had to take off for a side job (he's an electrician). I saw out of the corner of my eye Little Man looking very concentrated. I asked if he had to use the potty and he said "yes!" Now I didn't expect him to go and this is really just getting him used to it. We have not started any formal potty training yet. Lo and behold and sat on the potty and did #2!!!!! I was so surprised that I screamed and scared the poor thing!! He cried until he got a yummy chocolate chip of course :) Then all was fine!

Hubby got home and I decided to head for the compounding pharmacy. I LOVED that place!! I will definitely use them again :) They couldn't get medicaid to approve that med, but she said that they flip flop between that and prilosec so she said they had some of that made up and could give that to me. Great!! Baby was a hit and just charmed the pants of that lady :) I gave him one dose already and he didn't spit up at all after his last bottle!!

Then back home and made dinner. As Mr. A was eating his dinner he said "ahhhh!!!!" and we knew exactly what happened...he lost his top tooth :) He lost the other top front tooth less than a week ago so now he is toothless and cute as can be !! That just seems like a big milestone :-)

After we ate I decided to try cereal with baby for the first time. He HATED it!!!! I guess that one's going to take some time! lol! We still have the constipation problem so we need to add a little prune juice too....such fun!!!

So that was our busy but good day!

Siblings!!

Little Grape met his siblings for the first time today :) They are all 1/2 siblings...5 yo brother, 4 yo sister, and 2 1/2 yr old brother! His maternal aunt/uncle take care of the older 2 kids and the littlest is in foster care with another care giver. I heard the visit went really well :) Little Grape is quite the entertainer!!

I asked how often these would be taking place and was told that they will happen every week and that we need to switch the visit day. Thank God it works out and I don't have to be the trouble maker :) It's also hubby's day off so that works out well too. Baby was gone for 5 1/2 hours today! He is wiped out!!! I hope that means he will sleep well tonight!!!!

Another one...really?

So the pulmonologist's office called me back and said that the Dr. thinks that it could be a lot of things causing the Baby's throwing up/diarrhea. Really?? There was reflux...he went on Zantac and now all of the sudden he is throwing up a lot and the poor kid has a raw butt. Where's the mystery?? The Dr. thinks that he has a formula issue and wants him to be seen by a G.I. I really don't understand why we can't just try Prevacid before we go to another specialist. Baby has his 4 month check up on Tuesday of next week and I am going to talk to his pediatrician about it before I go and make another appt.

The nurse seems totally shocked when I told her he was throwing up way more on the Zantac and I also told her that I haven't given him a dose in over 24 hours and he hasn't thrown up once! Hmmm.....again....why can't we just try another medicine??? Hopefully the pediatrician will just prescribe the prevacid and we can go on our merry way :) The nurse also suggested that we will probably will need an upper GI on him because it could be anatomical. Why do they want to try the most invasive first????

SMH.....

Little Man "funny"

This morning I already had the older boys downstairs eating breakfast before Little Man woke up. When he finally woke up I got him all changed and brought him downstairs. I put him in his chair and proceeded to give him is breakfast. I walked to the kitchen for a minute and I heard the following interaction...

Mr. I: What's up "M"?
LM: Nothing! Just eat your dinner!

ROTFL!!! I was cracking up! He isn't even 2 yet and this kid has a sassy mouth! Of course he got the meal messed up, but he knew it was one of those. Mr. I was stunned! He got this confused look and just started eating again. Little Man can be kind of cranky in the morning, but he's never quite verbalized it like that before-lol! He's spitting out lots of 4, 5, and even 6 word phrases! Mr. I's speech teacher is amazed...she said most kids his age are putting 2-3 words together. My kids have some speech issues, but their language skills always come out high! Looks like L.M. will be no different :)

Unbelieveable!!

We already have the name and contact number of our new case manager!!! I simply can't believe it :) So excited to have *someone* to contact about this. We have a homevisit tomorrow afternoon so I am interested to see his style and take on this case. It's our first male worker as well....so far it's all been ladies :)

This week...

has not been the smoothest so far! Sheesh! I haven't heard anything more about LM's bio-mom situation, but I have the GAL calling everyone who could possibly help in this situation. She emailed the mom back so I am eager to hear what comes of that! It is officially 18 months that Little Man has been in our home!!! I simply can't believe that this mess of a case is our FIRST case!! Stay tuned for more details....nothing may happen until court, but we'll see. I think it is all coming about because it was recently Mother's Day and now his birthday is coming up this month and he's back in the forefront of her mind.

As for Baby...the Zantac that the Dr. put him on is giving him stomach upset and nausea. He has not been eating his bottles very well and after every bottle he pukes. He never did this before the meds...just a little spit up. I have a call into the dr. to see if we can try something else. I talked to a nurse and she asked if he has had an upper GI done. I said no and am praying my baby doesn't have to go through that! He has been sleeping more too and just not his spunky self :(

In other baby news... he has now rolled both ways!! He doesn't do it when you want him to or when you expect him to, but he can do it :) He likes to suck his thumb now too...it's very cute :)
He loves the Johnny Jumper but does not really like the Bumbo all that much. He especially loves to be held :) People keep telling me I spoil him, but ya know what...I probably don't have him too much longer so I am going to suck up every sweet moment with him!!