Oh My!! It's been 2 1/2 YEARS!!

I was just talking to some friends about Blogging and mentioned I had a blog that has been neglected. After some pushing;) I am going to give an update. Crazy over due!!

First, the wonderful news!! Rory Faith is our forever daughter!! TPR took place in January 2011 and adoption was in May 2011.

Rory is a very affectionate and lovable toddler. Unfortunately due to the amount of brain damage she sustained (from her stroke at 7 weeks old),  she is significantly developmentally delayed and has Cerebral Palsy. She is our little miracle child, though! She took her first steps at 23 months old and has been go go go ever since! She is globally delayed and functions at a 18 month old level now (she's 3 years 3 months old). She is in special needs preschool 3 mornings per week now. She loves it and will go 4 mornings in the Fall.

Second, the cute little siblings in my last entry returned to their parents after 10 months and 10 days with us (returned August 2012) There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of, worry about and miss them!

We took a 4 month break after they left and enjoyed some much needed Rory time.

Then we got a call for "Tex" His case sounded like a quick return. His 4 other siblings were not in care at the time, family wanted to ake him. In true foster care fashion, 17 months later....he's still here!

Long story, but things started moving towards TPR even though there was still a possibility for out of state kin to step in. We were encouraged to take Tex's then 3 year old brother. After much thought and prayer, we took a leap of Faith and "Austin" joined us in December. We heard bad things about his behavior from his former foster mom...we were unsure about taking an "older" child...we didn't want to take him JUST to keep Tex. BEST DECISION WE'VE EVER MADE!! He's such a good kid!!

So then in February, out of state kin's paper work went through and they started visits. We were CRUSHED! But in April we heard they changed their minds about taking them! Now we are waiting on TPR next month and hoping no more family comes out of the woodwork! 

In the mean time, we are just enjoying our family:) 

I PROMISE to be better about posting!!

Worst Blogger Ever Award Goes To....

Wow, so I haven't updated in 6 months?? First of all a big thanks to B and a "certain friend" who found this blog, for getting my butt in gear;)

Allow me to catch you up...

1.) R is still with us!! And we have TPR (termination of parental rights) hearing Jan 4. Fingers crossed the judge decides to waver the 6 month wait period for the adoption hearing:D Even though her bio-mom/dad have not seen her since she was a month old, we are close to her grandpa and Aunt. After a little drama with aunt, we have full support from family for us to adopt. I can not tell you enough how important it is for a foster to adopt parent to be pro bio-family. Our willingness to have an open relationship is how she is still with us now.

2) R's health. We are coming to grips with the fact that she may always be special needs. It is uncertain of exactly how her stroke and subsequent brain damage will affect her for the rest of her life but, she is already missing milestones beyond her adjusted age (she was also born 7 weeks early) or drug exposure would indicate. R at 9 months old can not role over, sit up or creep. A MRI will be scheduled soon along with further testing including hearing and eye...basically, we are Children's hospital regulars. LOVE early intervention, especially in our county. We have several therapists coming through our house almost daily!

Her drug exposure does make her unable to cope with stress in a regular baby way. For example if she is too tired (cold, hungry) she can get to what B calls "the point of no return". Stiff as a board and twisting, screams and NOTHING we do can calm her. Her longest fit lasted 4 hours, they are exhausting! Needless to say, we really try to not let her get there. H@ppiest B@by On The Block (book) has been a godsend to us!


3) In other news, we accepted an emergency placement of a 6 month old boy and a 16 month old girl...who, of course are still here, over a month later and it's looking like it will be at least 3 more months. While it is exciting to get to do straight foster (which we always said we would do once we had a forever child) having 3 babies so young is exhausting!! Don't get me wrong, these 2 are so cute and such a joy and we will absolutely stick it out how ever long necessary....but oh how easy one seems to us now. My car is TIGHT with 3 car seats across, my living room is always covered in toys and my sleep is always interrupted. B is incredible (in his own way) with helping and we really do enjoy the babies...so much snuggling!!!




...Just a reminder to be careful what you wish for. 9 months ago we didn't have any children/babies and now look;)


Promise to update more often!!

Wordless Wednesday

BIG Changes Take Place Fast In Foster Care!!

Oh geesh, I am the worst blogger ever!! There has been so much going on too...

To start, we sadly had to say goodbye to J on April 29th...very very sad day:( We delivered him to his grandparents with tons of clothes, supplies and instructions...all paid for by us. We didn't get around to starting his WIC (his appointment was actually that day) and our agency did very little to help with clothing. (BTW we have since learned our lesson when it comes to that) I was surprised with myself on how professional I managed to be to his grandparents considering how I felt about the situation...
Anyway, B and I went out for drinks lunch after and we probably looked like we just came from a funeral. I was very thankful that B took a half day off that day. The next day (Saturday) we got out of town!! And boy, I'm glad we did. We went to a MLB baseball game and took a long weekend to Nashville. Ate and drank too much, and slept a lot, just what we needed;)

Came back late Monday night and I felt a little lost...when was the next call coming? am I going to need to go back to work? are we able to do this time and time again??

Low and behold; Wednesday morning the phone rings:))

They had a baby girl at the children's hospital in town that needed therapeutic level foster parents. She had a rough start in her short 10 weeks on earth...born on drugs too early with no prenatal care; went into traditional foster care but 3 weeks later ended up in PICU with seizures, strokes, suspicious meningitis and frontal lobe damage:( The hospital social worker insisted that B and I sleep on it before accepting the placement because she could be a HUGE responsibility. I was ready to say yes immediately, after all this is what we went into foster care for! I ached to help her before I even met her!!

I got to meet R Thursday...oh poor baby!! She had a PICC line and pulse ox attached to her, these BIG (ok, maybe a little bulging due to the swelling) blue eyes, jaundice skin and so skinny! You could definitely see the swelling and veins in her forehead. Oh but I was IN LOVE! I was there for 5 hours the first day and many more hours by the time we left Monday evening. I learned how to mix and give her shots (all those years of fertility meds finally paid off;) in her tiny little thigh 2 x day. I also learned how to give her her anti-seizure medicine (oral liquid) and how to look for signs/symptoms of R in distress. She had MANY appointments scheduled including a weekly nurse home visit.

As the days go by she does and looks better and better! Praise God! She is pinking up and filling out. She is a beautiful angel! We also found an angel in M, her former foster mom. She helped us out tremendously! She gave us SO MANY clothes, had plenty of formula (she even got all of her May WIC allowance!) and just eons of info on R. I hope we continue to be friends and allies in R's life.

As for her bio family...mom is a piece of work! She was in jail (for a previous warrant) when R took a turn for the worst and begged the judge to let her out early so she could see and be with her baby. He allowed her to be released...did she go see her baby??? NO!! Not once!! And Children's service bent over backwards trying to get her to the hospital numerous times. R's social worker was sure to tell me that she will be telling that to the judge when she next talks to him this week. GET THIS!!! Bio maternal grandfather WANTS her adopted by us! He hasn't even met us, but social worker gave him the lowdown last Saturday when he visited:) He would like to be just a small part of R's life and that is A-OKAY by us!!

Stay tuned for more, I promise to be better!!

Blue

Just found out from J's social worker that paternal grandparents ARE going for custody. The social worker will be going there tomorrow to do the home study...

While we knew this was a possibility, it still stings, hurts and sucks:( We are sooo in love with the little guy and thought the chances of him staying with us were very high.

Please pray for healing of our hearts in this bitter sweet time. It is tough when you know he's probably not staying but will be with you regardless for up to a month longer. We will just continue to love him to pieces! As social worker stated, this is by no means a forgone conclusion.

Very little action

According to my agency and the hospital social worker, no news just means J will be with us longer...I do have mixed emotions about that. Happy for me and B, but sad for J...he doesn't deserve bad parents. Very bitter sweet.

In fact, J was supposed to have a visitation today and the coordinator could not reach either parent in order to schedule:(

In the mean time we are loving him to pieces. He is asleep in my arms now. Poor guy is having a little gas/constipation issue, but we think he is getting better thanks to Mylicon and better bottles.I am getting used to my new reality, working on my (now condensed) running schedule...not going to be as fast at my half marathon in May, but I'm okay with that!

Perfect