Saturday, March 24, 2012

THE KIDS ARE HERE!!!!!

Well it finally happened. We have foster children. Yes children...as in more than one. One boy & one girl to be exact. Referred by my good friend Amanda Cousins to her case worker, we got a call . It was Friday afternoon. All our children were spending the weekend with their other parents for spring break. We were planning a kid-free weekend and Saturday date night . I was on my way to the grocery store. And then we got the call. A sibling group of 2 needs a foster home immediately. So we talked and decided to take them. I was asked to meet a caseworker at DHS and pick them up since I was close to town. I wait in the office for what seems like forever then she brings in 2 of the most adorable, hyper kids I have ever seen! I have learned a few things about foster parenting already:
1--Nobody thats sane does it
2--Kids may not come to you scared and crying , they may come to you bouncing off the walls and into everything
3-Bedtime can be crazy
4- Grocery shopping can be much crazier than bedtime
5- Some kids are afraid of nobody and when you tell them to hold on to the cart and dont let go ,so you don't lose them in the store, it may not be YOUR cart they grab onto.
6--A three year old can climb a wall...a straight up and down wall or bathtub side
7--There is no good answer for "Where's mommy"
8--Pull-ups are very absorbent, but not so much that they will absorb a washing machine full of water if one is accidentally washed. It will explode. All over your load of clothes. And it will be near impossible to clean out of the washer. 
Good news I no longer need a diet or exercise plan. Cause I don't have time to eat or rest any longer. LOL  Love these kids though. Tomorrow...we attempt church with fosters!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

EXCITING TIMES!!!!!

 In preparation for the lady from DHS to come and approve our house for foster care , I once again cleaned everything to the extreme! I locked down anything sharp or remotely toxic. I cleaned out the deer pen and chicken coop, Scrubbed everything that can be scrubbed in the house, got laundry caught up, kitchen clean, and then i cooked dinner, and then I cleaned the kitchen all over again, swept, mopped, vacuumed etc.
Well the DHS lady showed up yesterday and officially opened our home for foster children.  She didn't look at the animals at all, she took a quick walk around the house and handed us a binder. Now instead of impatiently waiting to be open, I am impatiently waiting for a phone call to accept a child. Did I mention patience is not my strong suit? 
Nonetheless we have a lot to be excited about in the very near future.
#1---hopefully we will be adding a foster child to our family very soon
#2--My nephew Braden is about ready to be born! 
Waiting for both calls any day now!!!!! 
Anyone care to guess which call I get first?
 

Saturday, March 10, 2012

The BABY shower!!!!!

I have learned several things while preparing a baby shower for my sister. I had a lot of fun planning it , so I am passing on my new knowledge to all of you readers out there. Yes all 3 of you ! LOL 
#1- Ducks can float in water-colored punch (although not constantly upright!) So if you do one of these watch for occasional drowning duckies!
#2 Ducks fit on a cake nicely too.(they stayed upright here!) And for those of you who assume I had the talent to make this cake...I did not...It's a Harps! Of course don't expect Harps to have it done on time or anything.......but thats another story!
#3 Ducks can even fit right in a diaper cake! (Thank to April for this one)
 #4- If life throws a curve at you in the middle of the planning...friends and family show up to help make it all happen! (Again, Thanks April, and thanks mom too)
#5- If you plan a baby shower from 2:00-5:00, but find you're done at 3:45 and everyones started leaving...you should still expect a 4:00 to 4:30  crowd ! LOL ....My apologies to the after 4:00 people for having locked the doors, but I did enjoy our visit outside!
#6--if you have the party at Carroll electric..you WILL sweep, mop, take out the trash, and clean windows and doors before leaving if you want your deposit back! And if someone leaves prints on the glass door 3 separate times after they were cleaned ...you clean them again!  This is the point I am glad I had children, as they came in very handy for #6. 
#7-- The amount of help (with the party), support (for my sister), and welcoming excitement (for baby Braden) makes it so worth it!!!!
And just in case my sister kills me for posting that last picture, know that I love you all!!!!! And thanks for reading! (and by the way sis you're so cute pregnant!)


Thursday, March 8, 2012

a week of excitement! (good excitement for a change)

Well we have all tests results in and everything is normal (except of course my daughters symptoms). But I'm not that frustrated anymore cause we did rule out brain tumors!! (big relief) along with some other bad stuff. What IS going on? Nobody seems to know. But she seems to be getting better with a few diet changes, so I am feeling better too! If it doesn't go away we will be sent to Little Rock, but I am hopeful it will go away before our next appointment in 6 weeks. Since all bloodwork and MRI, CT ,xrays, and EEG are normal we feel better even with no definite answers.
Since it seems Samantha does not have anything life-threatening ...onward with the foster care program! We have our final home study (at least I think it's the final one) on March 19th. So now to get the house ready (again). We will be taking no more than one child at a time until we have definite answers or Sam 's symptoms are COMPLETELY gone, however. But still that's something to bring excitement around here!
My nephew is due in just 5 weeks so Saturday is the big baby shower (and my first attempt at being a hostess). It's a rubber duckie theme and pictures will be posted soon after the event!