Crash course in parenting - Life as a foster mom

Following on the toes of my last post... That same night we were sitting at dinner. Our kitchen window faces the front yard and as we were eating 3 horses and riders came moseying out of the woods and walked up the street like it was no big deal. I pointed it out and everyone was surprised including me...honestly you don't see something like that every day, though your odds are probably a little better if you live in hick town like we do!  The little boys were pretty excited. Fast forward to breakfast the next morning.  C and Y were having a conversation about getting and riding horses (naturally!).  Y said he was going to ride a horse with Mommy and Daddy, but then C informed him that only two people could be on the same horse so he would have to ride with Mommy and C would ride with Daddy. Then C asked Y, "Will you ride with our good Mommy or our bad Mommy?"  I jumped in, "Wait, who is the bad mommy?" C: "Our other Mommy is the bad mommy because she m...

The C-Monster had his first therapy session yesterday.  I think it went OK. He evaded the majority of the questions that she asked (which were mostly about feelings), but I'm hoping that as he gets more comfortable he'll start answering those. He talked a lot about things like amusement parks and other fun things that we do, so that's good I guess.  He only has 5 sessions approved by Medicaid so I guess hopefully that will be enough. Then last night he was a holy terror. It was the worst night we've had in a while. I think he had to go to time out for throwing giant fits at least 3 times in about 2 hours.  This was after we played for an hour outside in the wading pool...not sure if he was just tired or what.  I am not sure if talking to the therapist could have awoken some feelings that he had suppressed or something too. Then this morning out of the blue on the way to preschool Y said "I want to go live with my other mom and dad".  He was removed...

Finally, finally, the C Monster is going to start seeing a therapist next week.  I have been trying to get therapy for him off and on since he moved in with us over 2 years ago, but have always been told he was too young. Recently when his tantrums escalated and he gave himself a bloody nose banging his face on the floor when he was upset, I asked again for therapy. And I got it, yaaaaay! He has had a lot of changes in his life recently. His mom ended visits in May and relinquished her rights in July, his dad's rights were terminated in July. Visits with both parties were abruptly stopped, with I'm sure what feels like little to no closure for him.  Meanwhile M moved in with us, and into his bedroom, in May as well.  There are a couple other big changes coming down the pike in the next year or so too. I just feel like something is wrong. He is not nearly as affectionate with me as he used to be. He has never been as attached to me as the other kids have, but he has al...

Y's new favorite past time - spitting into any toy that has any kind of a hole in it. Ew. That is all. :)

Our caseworker came over for a visit yesterday.  I learned a bunch of new things. One is that apparently bio dad doesn't get a "goodbye" visit since he was terminated on. I wasn't aware of this.  So I am kind of surprised. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, though it is kind of sad because his last visit he didn't realize it was going to be his last visit. The other thing is, we have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting to be notified when the "goodbye" visit with bio mom is.  Caseworker said that she told bio mom to call her or have her therapist or attorney call her for the goodbye visit.  And, she hasn't ever called.  So who knows when the "goodbye" visit will be, or if there even will be one. Also caseworker said she thinks bio mom and bio dad are back together.  And that there is a possibility of more babies, if they are.  Bio mom is young, she could have a lot more babies in her time.  Bio dad already has something like ...

While we were on vacation to visit our family, the boys trained Miss M to answer to the name "Baby Ironman".  Now those of you that know Miss M know she looks nothing like anything that could be called Ironman. Maybe if they had called her "Baby Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Guy" that would have been a little more accurate. ;)  It's still hilarious though!  Also C kept trying to "hold" the baby while they were playing on our bed in the hotel room...she weighs 25 pounds and he weighs 33 pounds, so you can guess how well that worked.  He was saying things like "Get back here you big baby!" It was pretty funny. :) The first night of our vacation was awful, Miss M kept waking up and crying LOUDLY for no apparent reason, our hotel room was warmer than any of us would have liked so nobody was sleeping well.  Oh and she also cried for a good part of the ride down there...she'd purposely throw stuff and then be mad when we didn't get it for her. ...

Yesterday I got up at 5:15 a.m., ran 7 miles, came home and went about my normal day. I pretty much spent the entire day while the kids were gone at my desk making reservations for this weekend, working, catching up on stuff that I have fallen behind on, working on our finances, etc.  Then...then my husband says "Hey, let's pick up the kids from daycare on our bikes!" This involves my bike pulling the bike trailer with the two littlest kids, and him pulling the trail-a-bike with C on it.  Well, I agreed. Well...it was 100 degrees, and it was a very hilly almost 7-mile ride to get there. I was exhausted by the time we got there, and then of course we had to pull the kids the whole way home.  It is not easy pulling 80 pounds of bike trailer+kids up hills, and there were some BIG ones. We got home, I made dinner, and my husband said he needed to go take some pictures for his work. The baby had been extra whiny (seriously, I think she is purposely trying to get away wit...