you know

I am sitting here researching the new medicine that my oldest (bio) is going on. I started thinking.... let's say I was reading profiles of adoptable children. If I read the things that would be used to describe my bio-son or the medication he is on I would click 'next' or 'back' quicker than a blink of an eye. It is amazing because you know what my thought would be when I bypass that profile? "I cannot handle a kid like that". But I already do!!!! I never really thought about it. NOT that I want to take on another but you know what I mean.

a letter

Our soon to be adoptive son has a letter enroute to our home. He, as you all know, has contact with his maternal grandfather. His Biomom wrote him a letter and sent it to grandpa, he is sending it to us. I am anxious to get it and see what she says. I wonder if she wrote anyting to us? hmmmm I have never met her, I know nothing more than what I have read in Liams file. We all know that it is not in the best light!!! I want to feel sorry for her...maybe even like her but it is so hard.

Men!

I swear men are so darn hard to buy for. At least my husband will put on a "Oh thank you honey it is just what I always wanted (and never knew I needed)" fascade. I love him for that ;) but seriously I really want to find him the perfect gift. Want a good place for... gifts for guys OK now that is a place with some unique, still going to be talking about it come New Year's gifts

Calls

Would you believe this. I as a foster home am operating at capacity. I have 6 total children right now. Over the past couple of weeks I have gotten several calls, a sibling group of THREE, a teen boy, two other teen boys 2 emergency placements. Good lord how could I take any in. And they know I am full they are just hurting THAT bad for homes!!

housing

All of the changes in the housing market recently have been amazing. When we bought this house...what about 3 years ago almost now? The market was hot, I mean finding a house was darn near impossible. If you did find one you hoped that you would get your offer in before someone else did and you were outbid. Heck it was like EBay!! Now it is more of a buyers market. Mortgage companies are doing all they can to get the right buyers in. The offers are amazing in my opinion. You will find offers everywhere out there like Mortgages UK They do offer independent financial consulters for every call. That can, I am sure be quite the benefit.

I went

to pick up all of the boxes for Bill. I ran into ou foster care licensor as I do EVERY time I am at that office ;)
She asked how everything was going and were the boxes because someone was coming or going. haha i guess that may not be funny to any one but a foster parent haha. I explained they all belonged to our 12 y/o. She wanted to know how he was fitting in. I told her besides really minor adjustment issues things are going well.
She then wanted to know if we were holding out for a girl for our next placement. I pointed to the belly and said I would let her know when we find out. She about fell on the floor!! She said the typical "no way?!?! Are you kidding me???" I told her besides Liams worker she is the only one to know. She said she won't tell anyone (we will see) But she insisted on me emailing her after my ultrasound on the 6th!
Oh when Bill got home from school he was in shock!! He said I got boxes?? Oh sweet! and dug through them and showed me every little thing. It was fun to be honest. He then ran upstairs to put everything away in HIS room lol

I want

Man that is a phrase that I dislike hearing out of the mouths of my children but yet here it is coming from mine LOL. All of the boys have MATCHING nice furniture in their rooms. Where dh and I have some ugly hodge podge of furniture from here and there. I would LOVE to have a matching bedroom set. My dream is to get a four poster bed. I found some nice beds on this site out of the UK, they have Oak Beds. That is where we are leaning toward. we prefer the more natural look. There are some beds there NOT four posters that I like!

Delivery

for Bill!! I got another call from DSHS. They have 3 MORE boxes of stuff for Bill. Bills grandma packed up some more of his items and dropped them off for him to get. I have to make a trip down to Costco today so it works out that the office is right down the street from there.
Other stuff with him. Yesterday SHOULD have been his visit. Yet he walks in the front door after the school bus gets here. WTF?? Apparently the visit got cancelled and yet no one had the common courtesy to let me know! What would have happened if we were gone? No one would have been home to meet him and he would have been stuck on the porch. I am TICKED

So My Mom

Is coming up tomorrow. No big deal to most I am sure. It really isn't a big deal. I am happy that she will be here this weekend. I have so much going on that an extra set of hands can be a great asset this weekend. Most of the time we do not share the same interests. She does some things that can be quite fun however. I like some odd things though like antique shopping. I think it is a matter of finding that hidden treasure. And the history behind the items, what people were like who had the items, what happened in their lives. This coming from the woman who wonders what had happened on the spot she is standing thousands of years ago. I guess it comes from the history lover in me :) Where we are there are a lot of places to hopefully find that hidden treasure. BUT while I think we have some gems to be found here, it is nothing compared to the finds that can be found in St Augustine Florida (Not to mention that kick butt lighthouse that was on Ghost Hunters!)There are actually a lot of Events in St. Augustine with Uptown Saturday Nights on Oct. 27th and Nov 24th. There is free parking and some shops with open houses have free grub. Heck it sounds better than a "Costco lunch" hahaha
Now to get that plane ticket..... and a free babysitter. That isn't asking too much right?

Small Victory

Well adoption support called. After the adoption will will recieve the same as the current foster payment with room for negotiation when the time comes plus full medical!
They admit he is a special needs kiddo! That is not something that most WANT to hear but when it comes to him getting what he will need it actually makes me happy!

Meet the Robinsons

We watched this for family movie night last night. it was a cute movie. I wasn't aware that the lead character was a 12 y/o boy who was in an orphange and had a hard time being adopted! The kid mentioned how that he had to find a family when he was 12 because it was hard enough to find an adoptive family at 12 that it was impossible at 13! I get a mumble from beside me which was Bill saying "No kidding, but it CAN happen"

Not my Mom yet

Bill told my oldest today, when my oldest made a refernce about me to Bill and referred to me as 'Bill's Mom', that I would not "officially be his Mom until the adoption is finalized" He looked at me and said "right?" Dang kids know how to catch you off guard. I told him That I was "penciled in as mom and the permanent ink will be laid down when the adoption is finalized." He laughed and said that works.

Funny

People have asked what the kids want for Christmas. Do you know how tempted I am to say Costco and Commissary gift certificates?!?!?!?!

Also I think it is quite hillarious though appropriate maybe? That we have moved passsed buying things in family size and now we buy "Institutional size" Institutional??? Hahaha it fits, sadly ;)

our house!!

I found our house! OK I found the plans of my dream house Give us 5-10 acres a view of the water and OMG I will never want to move

Don't we all??

Bill has some problems with My oldest sons mood shifts. I want to say join the club. But it is hard to do that. I try hard to explain that he is mean sometimes we all know this but he has issues with anger and while that does not excuse it it is something to keep in mind. I told him we can all hope that when he starts medications next week he will be easier to live with. OK I got woken up by WWIII at 2 am. I diffused the situation and they are friends again but damn DAILY??? I am tired! My oldest screwed up though. Bill is an abuse survivor. My oldest did something to Bill that triggered a flashback of being beaten. I completely understand where Bill is coming from
I am making no sense and I am exhausted!!
Night

This girl

Makes me want to cry NWAE the look on her face. The utter sadness in her eyes. I swear :(

Tomorrow is

Bi-Polar awareness day. Living with a child who suffers from BPD it is not an easy road. You can read more about BPD in children at BPkids. Support the cause, hug a parent who is trying their best to cope or spread the word.

oh Bill.....

Like I said I knew that when I had to enforce the rules there would be an issue. Well tada Houston we have an issue. He loves his ideo games and I am very willing to let the kids play video games IF their homework and cores are getting done...completely. Grades do not have to be A's but do your best. Well he has not been doing homework and half assing the few chores he has. So i said today hey these are the rules this is your part of the deal... you are not living up to your end, either you start to or the games are in my possesion a all times.
Well wouldn't you know it he had homework (and did it). So i will have to start stepping up the enforcement.
He is really a good kid though he is just not used to any follow through.

How many

Visits missed makes a parent inconsistant? Once a month? every other week? Three times a month?
I really do wonder. You guessed it Bear is missing another visit this week. Grrrrr.

Bears worker will be here this week. Not too much to do but it figures I got that damn cold back AGAIN. And AGAIN it settles in my lungs.

Bear is trying to pull himself up to a stand!!! I am so not ready for this haha

I have to turn in the paperwork for Liam so he can get his surgery.

Holy crapola

I got the notification that I will be paid for Bill! I am in the system and I have been approved payment! It did NOT take the months that it took for Bear! So Nov 1st I will get it. Good news for Christmas shopping right? Lots of kiddos to buy for this year ;) Plus no matter how much Bill insists he is fine I am buying him some more clothes :) I snuck in a couple of things already ;)

AWWWW

Bill had his visit today. fine and dandy. He just got home. His siter gave him a gift for me :) She sent him with lip gloss for "his new Mom". Dang that was sweet!!!

The good, the bad and the stinky

The good....
Bill is fitting in well. I still have to remind him that the younger kids deserve repect too even if they interrupt the video game you are playing/friend you are talking to etc. But the kid cracks me up, every night he tells me how great my cooking is. Tonight I looked at him and said In a total sarcastic way "You are just saying that because you want to stay huh?" He smiled and said "oh yeah!! Are we having dessert too???" and then he cracked up.

The bad.....
Liams adoption will not be finalized in Nov. his worker is not going to be ready by that point. Le Sigh. So we will have to wait. I am upset.

The stinky....
One teen(ish) boy was bad. now that there are two OMG!!! Farting is a competition! LOL

Hmmmm

It is interesting. I am very leery of being tricked, for lack of better words, by DSHS. Bill is here Bill is a great fit (so far). He has some problems including coming from NO structure (I will not be popular when he gets rules inforced). Anyway I get a call from another CW today, one that helped us with his stuff the day I picked him up. She called to give me the name and number of his transporter (Bill still has one weekly visit). She too was very excited he was here and she said that when she saw him that day that was the most she had seen him smile. She has known him for awhile and she sees/observes him during visits etc.
Wow umm it makes me wonder one of two things. How miserable was he?? and are they trying to just snow me??
turns out though Liams worker knows about him. She was contacted to be his adoption worker. She is going to look over his file and then tell me if there are any red flags I should be aware of.