Crash course in parenting - Life as a foster mom

C: I don't yike Bwin. DH: Yes you do! C: Yes I don't! To C's credit, almost every day now he tells me he "yikes" me. So that's nice. He hardly ever tells me he doesn't like me anymore which is always a plus! Maybe absence has made the heart grow fonder. :) Also when we were at the emergency room and I was trying to keep his mind off of his pooping we were counting the chairs, trashcans, etc. in the room and just talking about random things. He got three stickers from the nurse and he put one on his hand, then he gave one to me and said the other one was for Y. This is a kid that NEVER shares so it was very heartwarming and touching that he shared his stickers! :) He is getting to be a pretty good little boy. :)

Week one of daycare is done. Y cried every single time we dropped him off. C cried one time when I dropped him off, and one time when I picked him up (same day!). C is doing really well. Sometimes he says he doesn't want to go but I know he has a good time and sometimes he talks about what they did at school and about the books his teacher reads. He still sometimes has a hard time articulating things that they did at school, but his language the past few months has just been coming along beautifully and so I know it will come in time! His teacher Miss Kayla is super nice and just lovely. Y's teach is Miss...something I can't remember. She always seems kinda stressed out but honestly I could NEVER EVER do her job - spending all day with a group of five or six 18- to 27-month-olds by myself? No way, no how! The week for me was really busy and I did not really have (make?) time to just hang out much...I have been pretty busy running errands, driving all over town, taking ...

Before I go on about this, let me first say that I dropped Y off at daycare today and went to go buy some baby wipes for him because I had forgotten to bring any yesterday. So when I got back to the daycare I had hoped to not have to go back to his room because I didn't want him to see me. No one was at the front desk so I peeped in his room to give the wipes to his teacher...and he was still crying 20 minutes after I dropped him off. Saddest thing ever! :( At least he didn't see me though, I'm not sure if I could have left him a second time! I got a call from bio mom while the kids were at a visit, saying that C was just laying around on the floor and was crying and needed to poop, and that she thought he needed to go to the hospital. I happened to be running and was a mile and a half from home, and I told her that I would run home and then drive to her house, and that I would be there in less than an hour. Then she proceeded to text me and tell me to please hurry! W...

Well, it was the first day of daycare today. Y cried when I left him. And then I started crying too. Pretty pitiful. I might burst into tears again if I think of it too much, so moving on! C was enthralled by the giant train set in the 3-year-old room, he didn't even tell me goodbye he was so focused on it! Also I found out that their daycare/preschool has daily Bible stories, which I am so grateful for. I didn't even think to ask about that, because I guess I just assumed that they wouldn't...I mean I wouldn't expect for D to learn about the Bible at school, so why would I expect that from the daycare? But they do! And I am so thrilled about it! I mean...yeah. It makes me happy. :) We had a pretty good Easter. I bought all the boys Easter baskets. I gave D his basket on Saturday night. I had bought him a drawing set with different types of pencils, an instructional book, and an artist pad. I bought him some other things like an egg timer (so he can keep track of...

Welp, I think C told me his first lie today. Also, D lied to my husband yesterday and deliberately went behind my back. Kids are so bad! Other than the whole lying incident, today was basically uneventful and pretty decent. Days like today make me question my decision to put the kids in to daycare. Baby slept beautifully and was happy and smiley, both of the boys took 3+ hour naps which is unheard of. They were mostly well-behaved, we sang songs, pretended, and read books and just hung out. I got plenty done, enough that this weekend should be pretty easy as far as household chores go. And the house is kind of picked up, which is always a pleasure. I even had some time to read a few chapters of a book! But there were other days this week that were nightmare days. I could handle nightmare days a few times a month...but not like 3 a week. Le sigh! The boys' new GAL came over today. She was....abrasive. And very pro-reunification. Which I get is the point, but not at all c...

I'm stressed. Y has been, how shall we say...difficult lately! Crying, oh man the crying. It is just whiny, crying all the time, crying in frustration when he can't do something like fit one object into another one or cover himself up with a blanket, crying when he needs to sleep but won't, crying from the SECOND he begins to stir in the morning or after nap, crying when he can't play with something the C monster is playing with...oh how it grates on my nerves. That's me being honest, right there! Man that kid has annoying cries! And it wouldn't be so bad if it weren't his go-to noise, I think. It's just that it is all the time! But I love him anyway. :) Kids start daycare on Monday. All three of them are going, for the minimum amount of time each week. The baby will still be with me when she is not at daycare and when her FM is at work, so I will have her for 2 or 3 hours a day. C is finally scheduled for an eval with Early Childhood Development...

I am not a good actress. I am also not what I would call socially graceful. I sometimes am too outspoken, especially in what I view as "business" relationships (which includes service providers in the boys' case). With "friends" and many times family, I am too passive. Sometimes I don't like the person that other people see as "me" and I feel like what I see myself as and what they see do not match up. And sometimes it goes the other way - people think I'm way better than I know I am. Isn't that interesting? It's hard to find balance. I am hoping that with some sort of break from the kids that I can have some more adult time, like spend some more time with my friends, maybe go to coffee once a week or something, you know what I mean? And also spend more time in the Bible and more time with God. Sometimes I feel like I'm just in my own little world and I think it makes me not be so great of a person. Or at least, it doesn't m...

I found a day care willing to take all three littles, and went and visited there yesterday. It seems pretty cool - they teach the kids spanish, letters and numbers and how to write them, and all kinds of things. Ages are grouped together so kids can play with kids their own age, but sometimes kids are held back or pushed ahead depending on their abilities/development. Basically it seemed like a good place to me, though I have literally NO experience picking out a day care so really what do I know! When I was there visiting kids were singing their ABC's and a lady was singing to a baby as she changed her diaper. I think those are good things! It seems clean, they have regular nap times which is important, and the workers all seemed very kind and helpful. So basically (if this works out the way I hope it will) the kids will go there on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays from 8:30-ish until 2:30-ish. On days they have visits they will go there from 11 a.m. until they leave for their ...

Yes, I think I'm gonna do it. Send all three of my little cupcakes to daycare, at least part time. It's just too much for me to keep up on the house, the business, plus meet the needs of the kids. I think it would be particularly good for the C-Monster to get to interact with kids his own age (or older!) more often - right now he only has that chance when we go to church and during Bible study when he is in the day care at church. He often reverts to baby-talk and likes to copy off of his little brother. I'm sure this is normal but I'm not sure that it is healthy and/or the best thing for him, especially since I already feel that he is lagging behind his peers in many ways. So our SC found a daycare that is literally 1 mile away from our house that looked very cool, and they have extra weekly classes that you can enroll your kids in, like gym and dance class! But...they don't have enough openings. And even C couldn't get in until August at the earliest. So...

C: "Are those dogs?" (pointing to one of our dogs and my parent's dog, who we are dog sitting) Me: "Yes. Are you a dog?" C: "No." Me: "Well what are you?" C: "I'm a SUPER HERO!" Then we chatted about who he would rescue, and we determined that the only people in the world he would rescue were his little brother and my parent's dog Mac. He would take them to "my rescue!" (his words). Spending the day so far organizing toys, digging them out from under couches and whatnot. Soooo much fun! Oh wait. At least the boys are having fun playing with their long-lost toys! Maybe the sun will come out later so we can go outside, that would be awesome!

Well bio mom and I are STILL arguing about the doctor thing. She basically has said that I went over her head to take C to this new doctor (even though I had permission from the GAL, mom's attorney, and the caseworker). She still thinks the doctor is too far away. I wrote back and as kindly as I could I explained how she had said she couldn't pick a new doctor for a month or longer so going to this new doctor was the only choice I had, and that I did it so that C could get the treatment and care that he needs and deserves. And I also told her that the new doctor is 1/2 way between our house and her house, and that I had been taking the kids 14 miles one way to the old doctor which was complying with her wishes. She responded with...nothing! So I don't know if she is still mad or not. Our new SC emailed me and said she is not in support of changing the doctor again, so I think that is good! D has been making some pretty poor choices lately. He has been pretty disrespe...

***I posted this on Monday but it got posted to the wrong date so you might have missed it if you just follow me. So...sorry if you already read it! *** A few days ago when I got all three little ones ready to go on their visit, I most assuredly did not have to rush around at the last second to get the baby fed and get shoes and coats on everyone. I always plan ahead to ensure the little ones all wake up from their nap in a timely manner, leaving me enough time to get them ready to go. When the worker showed up to pick them up, she did not look down at Y and ask "Um...does he need shoes?" I definitely did not respond by saying "Y! Why didn't you tell me I didn't get your shoes on?" He is 21 months, by the way...definitely old enough to tell me that he needs shoes! Or not. :) I definitely did not discover that I filed our 2Q 2010 Form 941 on the 2009 form...thus apparently causing mass confusion at the IRS resulting in them thinking I was filing an amende...