Wednesday, March 31, 2010
This will be interesting. This Friday around 5:00 AM we intend to take the kids to my parents' house -- A.K.A., "The Farm."
Of course this was a huge hit with our respite child CL, but two smaller kids will be much different. We are leaving very early because we want them to be asleep for most of the drive. When we arrive around 7:30 they should be getting hungry and waking up - that is when we arrive for breakfast.
Friday afternoon we have scheduled a big Easter egg hunt. I am not sure how much they will figure out about that, but we will see. We will also attempt to sleep for the first night away from home. My mom and dad have a Graco "Pack 'N Play" that CO will sleep in while in a nearby room. LP will be sleeping in our room (since she sleeps though the night) in OUR Pack 'N Play that we are bringing.
Saturday night we try this all at Melinda's mom's (Elaines's) house and attempt going to church on Easter Sunday.
We head back home Sunday immediately after lunch.
Drive-In Disaster
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Want to know what NOT to do with two kids under two? Go to the drive-in..
A favorite family pastime with Scarlett, Melinda and I will now be put on hold after a disastrous night at the Galaxy Drive-In last Saturday night. We went to see Alice in Wonderland (yes, we know it was a Tim Burton film - we knew the kids would never see it anyway - we wanted to see it). They managed to scream through most of the movie and just would not get to sleep until -- you guessed it -- the rolling credits at the end of the movie.
Once we had arrived on this beautiful evening, we had removed the car seats, dropped down the seats flat and let the play with a wide variety of toys while enjoying lots of snacks. I guess it was too small of a space. There was lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth. I thought I saw the horseman of the Apocalypse coming for a moment there because surely this was the end of the world.
This is one trip we will not be making for a few years.
Want to know what NOT to do with two kids under two? Go to the drive-in..
A favorite family pastime with Scarlett, Melinda and I will now be put on hold after a disastrous night at the Galaxy Drive-In last Saturday night. We went to see Alice in Wonderland (yes, we know it was a Tim Burton film - we knew the kids would never see it anyway - we wanted to see it). They managed to scream through most of the movie and just would not get to sleep until -- you guessed it -- the rolling credits at the end of the movie.
Once we had arrived on this beautiful evening, we had removed the car seats, dropped down the seats flat and let the play with a wide variety of toys while enjoying lots of snacks. I guess it was too small of a space. There was lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth. I thought I saw the horseman of the Apocalypse coming for a moment there because surely this was the end of the world.
This is one trip we will not be making for a few years.
Life with the "Almost Twins"
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
With kids 12 months and 18 months, we suppose this is what life must be like living with twins. It has been anything but boring the last 10 days. LP is very attention-seeking and very possessive of toys which means whatever CO is playing with, she needs to play with at that exact moment. Fortunately, CO is very laid back and usually does not mind giving it up since he can grab something else (which, of course, LP will THEN want).
Health-wise, I have been doing pretty well the last few days, but Melinda is still very slowly recovering from all the chest congestion. She is now just coughing early in the morning and late at night.
Here is our routine:
5:30 I wake up, take a shower and get ready. I then clean up the kitchen and the kid’s playroom from the night before.
6:30 I wake up Melinda so she can get ready for the day BEFORE the kids get going.
7:10 LP wakes up and pulls and pushes on her bedroom door with the child-proof lock (sounding like she is slamming it). That is her way of letting us know she is up. She is usually very happy.
7:20 CO wakes up, gurgles and entertains himself for a few minutes. If we don't get him soon though, he starts yelling and crying loudly. Overall, he is very much a “happy head.”
7:30 I am trying to get out the door to get to school (which, fortunately, is 1.4 miles away). A month ago, I was arriving to school anywhere from 6:00 to 6:45 every day -- those days may be over. Today I made homemade strawberry juice (following the "Sneaky Chef" recipes) for later use, plus some eggs for all four of us to eat. I quickly ate mine and handed off the rest to Melinda to feed to the two munchkins now sitting at the table in booster chairs. They will have these eggs, some whole-grain, whole wheat toast, apple juice infused with blueberry juice (for their immune system, brain power, etc.) and fresh pear puree that I made two days ago. We are working very hard to create from scratch the vast majority of things they eat. I am totally against nitrates, added sodium, preservatives and overly-processed foods in general.
During the Day Melinda will do whatever she needs to do (today it was take the kids to the doctor - a major disaster from what I understand). She will also play with the kids in the playroom. The kids may take a nap sometime late in the morning (especially CO). There is usually some snack happening.
Lunchtime means chicken I recently grilled chopped up, maybe some fresh apple puree, green beans (flash frozen), possibly some Gerber rice or oatmeal with added fruit. Add in some blueberry milk and we got a meal.
Early afternoon might see a nap (especially if there was no morning one). Both kids are put down for this -- so this is the only time Melinda has all day (before nighttime bed) that she can get anything done.
When they wake up it is snack time again and then playing (unless they need to go somewhere).
When I get home around 4:15 to 5:15 we may play a little more then go for a 1.2 mile walk around the neighborhood. This will be replaced by some serious backyard swimming pool fun when the weather gets warmer.
Dinner is close to 6:00 with maybe pork chops, fruit chunks, some veggies and more juice.
Bath around 7:00 with both kids - always a laugh-riot!
7:30 they get into pajamas and may play another 30 minutes or they may be tired enough to proceed to bed.
8:00 to 8:30 we put them down for the night without too much of a problem.
8:30 - 9:00 we clean up some of the house, do a load of clothes, do dishes, etc.
Go to sleep promptly afterwards since we are so exhausted :-)
CO will wake up at 1:00 and 4:00 (give or take 30 minutes) and expect his 4 oz of warm milk and to be tucked back in. She will sleep through the night (thankfully)
With kids 12 months and 18 months, we suppose this is what life must be like living with twins. It has been anything but boring the last 10 days. LP is very attention-seeking and very possessive of toys which means whatever CO is playing with, she needs to play with at that exact moment. Fortunately, CO is very laid back and usually does not mind giving it up since he can grab something else (which, of course, LP will THEN want).
Health-wise, I have been doing pretty well the last few days, but Melinda is still very slowly recovering from all the chest congestion. She is now just coughing early in the morning and late at night.
Here is our routine:
5:30 I wake up, take a shower and get ready. I then clean up the kitchen and the kid’s playroom from the night before.
6:30 I wake up Melinda so she can get ready for the day BEFORE the kids get going.
7:10 LP wakes up and pulls and pushes on her bedroom door with the child-proof lock (sounding like she is slamming it). That is her way of letting us know she is up. She is usually very happy.
7:20 CO wakes up, gurgles and entertains himself for a few minutes. If we don't get him soon though, he starts yelling and crying loudly. Overall, he is very much a “happy head.”
7:30 I am trying to get out the door to get to school (which, fortunately, is 1.4 miles away). A month ago, I was arriving to school anywhere from 6:00 to 6:45 every day -- those days may be over. Today I made homemade strawberry juice (following the "Sneaky Chef" recipes) for later use, plus some eggs for all four of us to eat. I quickly ate mine and handed off the rest to Melinda to feed to the two munchkins now sitting at the table in booster chairs. They will have these eggs, some whole-grain, whole wheat toast, apple juice infused with blueberry juice (for their immune system, brain power, etc.) and fresh pear puree that I made two days ago. We are working very hard to create from scratch the vast majority of things they eat. I am totally against nitrates, added sodium, preservatives and overly-processed foods in general.
During the Day Melinda will do whatever she needs to do (today it was take the kids to the doctor - a major disaster from what I understand). She will also play with the kids in the playroom. The kids may take a nap sometime late in the morning (especially CO). There is usually some snack happening.
Lunchtime means chicken I recently grilled chopped up, maybe some fresh apple puree, green beans (flash frozen), possibly some Gerber rice or oatmeal with added fruit. Add in some blueberry milk and we got a meal.
Early afternoon might see a nap (especially if there was no morning one). Both kids are put down for this -- so this is the only time Melinda has all day (before nighttime bed) that she can get anything done.
When they wake up it is snack time again and then playing (unless they need to go somewhere).
When I get home around 4:15 to 5:15 we may play a little more then go for a 1.2 mile walk around the neighborhood. This will be replaced by some serious backyard swimming pool fun when the weather gets warmer.
Dinner is close to 6:00 with maybe pork chops, fruit chunks, some veggies and more juice.
Bath around 7:00 with both kids - always a laugh-riot!
7:30 they get into pajamas and may play another 30 minutes or they may be tired enough to proceed to bed.
8:00 to 8:30 we put them down for the night without too much of a problem.
8:30 - 9:00 we clean up some of the house, do a load of clothes, do dishes, etc.
Go to sleep promptly afterwards since we are so exhausted :-)
CO will wake up at 1:00 and 4:00 (give or take 30 minutes) and expect his 4 oz of warm milk and to be tucked back in. She will sleep through the night (thankfully)
Our Beloved Scarlett
Monday, March 29, 2010
After 9 1/2 wonderful years, today we had to euthanize our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Scarlett. She had been feeling ill for the last two weeks, but was still very happy and always a waggy tail. Friday she took a turn for the worse. She had trouble standing or walking. She had yellowish eyes and skin. She stopped eating last night and refused even a treat this morning. The vet said that she had massive organ failure including liver failure -- probably due to fast-acting cancer. She was every bit a part of Team Nelson and we will miss her terribly. We love our "happy head" Scarlett. Thank you to all those who have sent condolences.
After 9 1/2 wonderful years, today we had to euthanize our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Scarlett. She had been feeling ill for the last two weeks, but was still very happy and always a waggy tail. Friday she took a turn for the worse. She had trouble standing or walking. She had yellowish eyes and skin. She stopped eating last night and refused even a treat this morning. The vet said that she had massive organ failure including liver failure -- probably due to fast-acting cancer. She was every bit a part of Team Nelson and we will miss her terribly. We love our "happy head" Scarlett. Thank you to all those who have sent condolences.
Part II – Late Monday Surprise / Not One, But TWO!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tonight around 9:30 we got a call from our agency, Covenant Kids (CK) asking if we would take an 18-month-old Caucasian girl for foster care. Of course we jumped at the chance. They asked if they could bring her over the NEXT DAY! We will refer to her as LP.
As was mentioned last Sunday, Debbie did indeed show up Tuesday morning at 11:00 AM to go over the paperwork for our OTHER foster child, CO. He and his CPS case worker arrived around noon.
CO is from El Salvador and has beautiful, lightly-tanned skin, big brown eyes, and big, curly dark brown hair. He weighs 23 pounds (we needed to know for the car seat) and is very cute! He has a very large, bubbly personality. Other than asthma (which we have not seen ANY problems with – even with our dog Scarlett all around), he is a physically and psychologically healthy little boy. He crawls at lightning speed, can easily stand on his own and can walk well with a little help of our hands or table or wall.
At 5:30 CL’s mom (remember our 3-year-old from respite that we still had) picked him up.
At 6:00 our CK Case Worker, Erin arrived, followed shortly by the CPS Case Worker with LP. LP has a fair complexion, big brown curly hair and steel blue eyes. She is a very happy child once she gets past her initial shyness. Her speech is somewhat developmentally delayed, though she is clearly very bright, other than her speech, she is a very healthy child. She also looks out for her new foster brother and tries to help us around the house. She is a very fast runner!
Scarlett is not very happy about our new additions. She is not getting petted as much and, more importantly, she is getting poked in the eyes and all over the face. She generally avoids CO as much as she can.
We got both of them with plenty of clothes (very rare with foster care placement) with some even new plus some toys. CO came from Jonathan’s Place, which is a “’home-style’ emergency shelter for abused, abandoned and neglected children...” See http://www.jpkids.org/ for more information on it. It took five full loads of laundry to wash all their clothes. Remember, they are only 12 and 18 months old, so everything is already small!
It took 1 ½ hours to get CO down to sleep the first night and almost 45 minutes to get him back to sleep when he woke up (I got up 5 times the first night). LP was not much better. Fortunately, Melinda and I work through things and figure out what does and does not work. Even after 15 minutes of pure excitement in the bath, it now takes us less than 15 minutes to get them both asleep, LP sleeps through the night and CO only wakes up one time a night now (and I can get him back to sleep in 5 minutes).
CL needs to be rocked for 10 minutes, a white noise generator, one blanket, a night light and likes to curl up in a little ball. He also is the one who needs warm milk at 1:00 AM while changing his diaper. LP needs no lights, lots of blankets, repeated patting on the back, white noise generator and I need to stay in the room until she falls asleep (or gets close). She now sleeps through the night. Trial and error!
We also went from utter chaos at meal and bath times to very organized and happy times.
Even with three meals plus two snack times the biggest challenge now is just to fill up the day with enough activities. They are too young to sit still and watch a movie and even with a lot of toys it can get a little tiring engaging them all day.
Of course, all of this trial and error would have been much easier had Melinda and I had not been sick all week!
Tonight around 9:30 we got a call from our agency, Covenant Kids (CK) asking if we would take an 18-month-old Caucasian girl for foster care. Of course we jumped at the chance. They asked if they could bring her over the NEXT DAY! We will refer to her as LP.
As was mentioned last Sunday, Debbie did indeed show up Tuesday morning at 11:00 AM to go over the paperwork for our OTHER foster child, CO. He and his CPS case worker arrived around noon.
CO is from El Salvador and has beautiful, lightly-tanned skin, big brown eyes, and big, curly dark brown hair. He weighs 23 pounds (we needed to know for the car seat) and is very cute! He has a very large, bubbly personality. Other than asthma (which we have not seen ANY problems with – even with our dog Scarlett all around), he is a physically and psychologically healthy little boy. He crawls at lightning speed, can easily stand on his own and can walk well with a little help of our hands or table or wall.
At 5:30 CL’s mom (remember our 3-year-old from respite that we still had) picked him up.
At 6:00 our CK Case Worker, Erin arrived, followed shortly by the CPS Case Worker with LP. LP has a fair complexion, big brown curly hair and steel blue eyes. She is a very happy child once she gets past her initial shyness. Her speech is somewhat developmentally delayed, though she is clearly very bright, other than her speech, she is a very healthy child. She also looks out for her new foster brother and tries to help us around the house. She is a very fast runner!
Scarlett is not very happy about our new additions. She is not getting petted as much and, more importantly, she is getting poked in the eyes and all over the face. She generally avoids CO as much as she can.
We got both of them with plenty of clothes (very rare with foster care placement) with some even new plus some toys. CO came from Jonathan’s Place, which is a “’home-style’ emergency shelter for abused, abandoned and neglected children...” See http://www.jpkids.org/ for more information on it. It took five full loads of laundry to wash all their clothes. Remember, they are only 12 and 18 months old, so everything is already small!
It took 1 ½ hours to get CO down to sleep the first night and almost 45 minutes to get him back to sleep when he woke up (I got up 5 times the first night). LP was not much better. Fortunately, Melinda and I work through things and figure out what does and does not work. Even after 15 minutes of pure excitement in the bath, it now takes us less than 15 minutes to get them both asleep, LP sleeps through the night and CO only wakes up one time a night now (and I can get him back to sleep in 5 minutes).
CL needs to be rocked for 10 minutes, a white noise generator, one blanket, a night light and likes to curl up in a little ball. He also is the one who needs warm milk at 1:00 AM while changing his diaper. LP needs no lights, lots of blankets, repeated patting on the back, white noise generator and I need to stay in the room until she falls asleep (or gets close). She now sleeps through the night. Trial and error!
We also went from utter chaos at meal and bath times to very organized and happy times.
Even with three meals plus two snack times the biggest challenge now is just to fill up the day with enough activities. They are too young to sit still and watch a movie and even with a lot of toys it can get a little tiring engaging them all day.
Of course, all of this trial and error would have been much easier had Melinda and I had not been sick all week!
Busy Week Part I - Goodbye CL / The Fence / Erich & Michelle / Sickness / Big Snow
Monday, March 22, 2010
So much has happened in the last week (since Sunday, March 14th) that we have to break it up into two parts. The first part will cover Goodbye CL, The Fence, Erich and Michelle, Sickness and Big Snow.
It was Spring Break last week, so I was was at home.
Goodbye CL
CL (see older blogs) left us on Tuesday. We didn't do much exciting with CL on Monday or Tuesday since he was in day care all day and Tuesday night went home. We were sad to see him go. We hope he and Cynthia will come and visit when the weather gets warm and we can all play in the pool.
The Fence
Edison and I started tearing down the old fence and put in a bunch of new posts. That meant that we had to dig two feet into the ground and rip out the old concrete and posts (not fun and took a long time). Then we put down new posts, put in the cross beams (that hold the fence posts) and put in every other slat all the way around. We also got one of the two gate doors built. We ran out of time because we each had some other commitments and also we ran into some bad weather. We will probably finish it by next Sunday, but at least it is secure enough that no little kids can wander into the pool. The eight-foot-high cedar panels look absolutely beautiful.
Erich and Michelle
They came up Wednesday. Evidently they were freezing most of the night. I gave them more covers for the next night.
Thursday they went to Six Flags, which turned out to be a bad idea since it was Spring Break. Erich said they stood in very long lines for two big rides then gave up on the whole idea. The lines were just too long. Afterwards they went to the Northpark Mall (very large and very nice). They returned the evening of Thursday.
Friday they went to the Fort Worth Zoo and left from there back to home in The Woodlands. We did not hear how that went.
Sickness
Melinda and I were sick all week (cold / flu-like symptoms). She was much worse off that I was and ended up staying in bed for half the day of Saturday and lived in bed all day Sunday just trying to fight it off so that she would be well when I went back to work today. At one point, we thought she was going to have to taken to the hospital. We were worried about bronchitis. She is much better this morning.
Big Snow
We had a big snow storm last Saturday night and early Sunday. We got at LEAST 8 inches and I think more like 10 inches. I was out in the worst of the storm at 3:00 AM coming back from Wal-Mart for certain baby items and food. It very quickly started to melt Sunday morning, so it was too slushy to really get to play in.
See Part II for the rest of what happened this week.
So much has happened in the last week (since Sunday, March 14th) that we have to break it up into two parts. The first part will cover Goodbye CL, The Fence, Erich and Michelle, Sickness and Big Snow.
It was Spring Break last week, so I was was at home.
Goodbye CL
CL (see older blogs) left us on Tuesday. We didn't do much exciting with CL on Monday or Tuesday since he was in day care all day and Tuesday night went home. We were sad to see him go. We hope he and Cynthia will come and visit when the weather gets warm and we can all play in the pool.
The Fence
Edison and I started tearing down the old fence and put in a bunch of new posts. That meant that we had to dig two feet into the ground and rip out the old concrete and posts (not fun and took a long time). Then we put down new posts, put in the cross beams (that hold the fence posts) and put in every other slat all the way around. We also got one of the two gate doors built. We ran out of time because we each had some other commitments and also we ran into some bad weather. We will probably finish it by next Sunday, but at least it is secure enough that no little kids can wander into the pool. The eight-foot-high cedar panels look absolutely beautiful.
Erich and Michelle
They came up Wednesday. Evidently they were freezing most of the night. I gave them more covers for the next night.
Thursday they went to Six Flags, which turned out to be a bad idea since it was Spring Break. Erich said they stood in very long lines for two big rides then gave up on the whole idea. The lines were just too long. Afterwards they went to the Northpark Mall (very large and very nice). They returned the evening of Thursday.
Friday they went to the Fort Worth Zoo and left from there back to home in The Woodlands. We did not hear how that went.
Sickness
Melinda and I were sick all week (cold / flu-like symptoms). She was much worse off that I was and ended up staying in bed for half the day of Saturday and lived in bed all day Sunday just trying to fight it off so that she would be well when I went back to work today. At one point, we thought she was going to have to taken to the hospital. We were worried about bronchitis. She is much better this morning.
Big Snow
We had a big snow storm last Saturday night and early Sunday. We got at LEAST 8 inches and I think more like 10 inches. I was out in the worst of the storm at 3:00 AM coming back from Wal-Mart for certain baby items and food. It very quickly started to melt Sunday morning, so it was too slushy to really get to play in.
See Part II for the rest of what happened this week.
Respite Update with CL / Getting Our Own Foster Child on Tuesday / Erich and Michelle Coming to Visit
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Respite Update with CL
We had a blast Friday, Saturday and Sunday with some very long days. Everything went as planned so far (see Thursday blog for details of what we expected).
Update on Friday Fort Worth Zoo
We rode the train three times and the carousel twice (obviously it was a highlight). He especially loved the turtles, feeding the Koi fish, feeding the parakeets with seed sticks and feeding the white tiger his sunglasses (oops!).
Update on Saturday Nelson Farm Visit
Erich came up to meet him and played with him. Highlights were getting to actually drive the golf cart. With him in Jack’s lap, he went “fast, fast, fast!” He also liked sitting on all the big farm equipment and was fascinated by the cows.
Update on Sunday Church and Dallas Nature and Science Museum
Since he loved the train so much on Friday, we took the DART mass-transit train from a nearby “park and ride” to the Museum and back. We got to play with lots of water, make five-foot bubbles and played in a sand box (plus saw a bunch of cool things).
A Busy Monday
CL will be in day care all day, but we have games and movies ready for Monday night.
Monday at 9:00 AM, my friend Edison and I will be tearing down the existing old pine fence and will start building a new, 8-foot high one with 6-inch wide overlapping beautiful cedar slats. This should take several days. We planned it for this week – Spring Break a while back and got all the materials dropped off Saturday. Monday afternoon at 4:00, we finally meet our Covenant Kids (CK) case worker, Erin. This is a general, “get-to-know-you” meeting as far as we can tell. Ironically, we have had this planned since before getting a call from Debbie from CK…
Big Tuesday - Our Own Foster Child, but "Goodbye" to CL
While at the Zoo on Friday, we got a call from Debbie at CK informing us that we are indeed getting a one-year-old Hispanic boy we will refer to as CO “early Tuesday morning.” She said CPS would bring him over. It appears that Debbie will be here and we assume Erin will be as well. It is our understanding that this can take a while for all the paperwork – especially because this is our first foster care placement (since the respite care paperwork was almost non-existent).
Sadly, Tuesday night is when we say “goodbye” to our new friend CL. I am SURE we will see more of him and we have no doubt he will be playing in our pool this summer. He loves the water and we have had a great time so far. He will once again be in day care most of the day with his foster mom picking him up Tuesday evening.
Later this Week – Erich and Michelle Come to Visit!
Erich and his longtime girlfriend, Michelle will come and visit – arriving late Wednesday night. They plan to visit Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington (25 minutes away) on Thursday by themselves (Jack will still be working on the fence) and then on Friday all FIVE of us (including CO) will go the Fort Worth Zoo. Melinda and Jack hope to spend a bit more time in the Museum of Living Art (MOLA) -- the brand new reptile and amphibian exhibit that just opened March 6th. There were lots of small animals that clearly CL was less interested in, so we had to move through quickly. This will also test us out in public with a one-year-old. Since Erich and Michelle will be going home to The Woodlands straight from Fort Worth anyway, we will take two cars and can head back early if the new addition does not fare well.
What an exciting week this will be!
Respite Update with CL
We had a blast Friday, Saturday and Sunday with some very long days. Everything went as planned so far (see Thursday blog for details of what we expected).
Update on Friday Fort Worth Zoo
We rode the train three times and the carousel twice (obviously it was a highlight). He especially loved the turtles, feeding the Koi fish, feeding the parakeets with seed sticks and feeding the white tiger his sunglasses (oops!).
Update on Saturday Nelson Farm Visit
Erich came up to meet him and played with him. Highlights were getting to actually drive the golf cart. With him in Jack’s lap, he went “fast, fast, fast!” He also liked sitting on all the big farm equipment and was fascinated by the cows.
Update on Sunday Church and Dallas Nature and Science Museum
Since he loved the train so much on Friday, we took the DART mass-transit train from a nearby “park and ride” to the Museum and back. We got to play with lots of water, make five-foot bubbles and played in a sand box (plus saw a bunch of cool things).
A Busy Monday
CL will be in day care all day, but we have games and movies ready for Monday night.
Monday at 9:00 AM, my friend Edison and I will be tearing down the existing old pine fence and will start building a new, 8-foot high one with 6-inch wide overlapping beautiful cedar slats. This should take several days. We planned it for this week – Spring Break a while back and got all the materials dropped off Saturday. Monday afternoon at 4:00, we finally meet our Covenant Kids (CK) case worker, Erin. This is a general, “get-to-know-you” meeting as far as we can tell. Ironically, we have had this planned since before getting a call from Debbie from CK…
Big Tuesday - Our Own Foster Child, but "Goodbye" to CL
While at the Zoo on Friday, we got a call from Debbie at CK informing us that we are indeed getting a one-year-old Hispanic boy we will refer to as CO “early Tuesday morning.” She said CPS would bring him over. It appears that Debbie will be here and we assume Erin will be as well. It is our understanding that this can take a while for all the paperwork – especially because this is our first foster care placement (since the respite care paperwork was almost non-existent).
Sadly, Tuesday night is when we say “goodbye” to our new friend CL. I am SURE we will see more of him and we have no doubt he will be playing in our pool this summer. He loves the water and we have had a great time so far. He will once again be in day care most of the day with his foster mom picking him up Tuesday evening.
Later this Week – Erich and Michelle Come to Visit!
Erich and his longtime girlfriend, Michelle will come and visit – arriving late Wednesday night. They plan to visit Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington (25 minutes away) on Thursday by themselves (Jack will still be working on the fence) and then on Friday all FIVE of us (including CO) will go the Fort Worth Zoo. Melinda and Jack hope to spend a bit more time in the Museum of Living Art (MOLA) -- the brand new reptile and amphibian exhibit that just opened March 6th. There were lots of small animals that clearly CL was less interested in, so we had to move through quickly. This will also test us out in public with a one-year-old. Since Erich and Michelle will be going home to The Woodlands straight from Fort Worth anyway, we will take two cars and can head back early if the new addition does not fare well.
What an exciting week this will be!
Respite with CL / Possble Foster Care in our Immediate Future
Thursday, March 11, 2010
For obvious reasons, as long as the State of Texas is the guardian of a child, there remains a high-level of confidentiality. That means that we cannot post pictures of any foster children, nor can we reveal their names.
Sadly, we cannot post the super-cute pictures of the foster child we will refer to as CL that we got for respite (basically specialized babysitting) today. He is a very active blonde three-year-old. His foster mother brought him by at 5:00 PM this afternoon. He was placed with her just two weeks ago and she already had big Spring Break plans with family out-of-state. We were thrilled that she chose us to watch him. We will have him until Tuesday, March 16th when she returns. We have big, fun plans for the next several days.
Tomorrow (Friday) we head out to the Fort Worth Zoo – the best zoo in Texas! We plan to see lions, gorillas, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, meerkats and much more. We also plan on taking the little train at the zoo and riding the carousel. This should be a very full day.
On Saturday we go to my (Jack) Mom and Dad’s farm. There we will get to see cows, chickens, ducks, geese, swans and other animals – also another busy day.
Sunday we go to church at Fellowship Church in Plano in the morning and then head to the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas (where we are members). We will go on the Dino Trails, learn all about dinosaurs and see much of the rest of the museum. Some areas are geared toward older kids, so we will skip those.
Monday is daycare all day until 5:00. His foster mom wanted him to go Monday and Tuesday to keep up with the socialization. Evidently, he does not enjoy going to it, but has lots of fun once he gets there. Monday is the day that Edison and I tear down the existing fence and start building a nice cedar one. We also meet with our case worker for Covenant Kids (CK) at 4:00 and Melinda has to take care of some things during the day that have been planned for a while. Once home, we will hang around the house, play games, color, read books, watch movies and have lots of fun.
Tuesday until early afternoon we plan to take him back to daycare. On the last afternoon with him we will take him the Children’s Museum (a special part of the Museum of Nature and Science just for toddlers) and have lots of fun before heading back to deliver him to his foster mom.
There could be one wrinkle in all these plans…we could be getting our own foster child.
Wednesday afternoon we got a call about placing a one-year-old boy (that we will refer to as CN for now) with us for foster care. Early yesterday evening, after being removed from his home, it looked like he might have gone with a relative. However, Melinda got a call from another CK case worker this afternoon saying that it looks like we might be taking him after all. Now, according to this case worker, “it could be tomorrow… or next week.” Timelines in the foster care / adoption world vary wildly and are highly unpredictable. That is the nature of the complex system that always seeks the best possible situation for the children at any given moment. If we do get little CN, we will still try to do everything with CL, but may have to alter the timing of some of the activities. We are trying to keep our anticipation down since things can change in a blink of an eye and we don’t have CN until we have him.
Regardless of what happens, we still have lots of fun planned for the next few days! Stay tuned…
For obvious reasons, as long as the State of Texas is the guardian of a child, there remains a high-level of confidentiality. That means that we cannot post pictures of any foster children, nor can we reveal their names.
Sadly, we cannot post the super-cute pictures of the foster child we will refer to as CL that we got for respite (basically specialized babysitting) today. He is a very active blonde three-year-old. His foster mother brought him by at 5:00 PM this afternoon. He was placed with her just two weeks ago and she already had big Spring Break plans with family out-of-state. We were thrilled that she chose us to watch him. We will have him until Tuesday, March 16th when she returns. We have big, fun plans for the next several days.
Tomorrow (Friday) we head out to the Fort Worth Zoo – the best zoo in Texas! We plan to see lions, gorillas, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, meerkats and much more. We also plan on taking the little train at the zoo and riding the carousel. This should be a very full day.
On Saturday we go to my (Jack) Mom and Dad’s farm. There we will get to see cows, chickens, ducks, geese, swans and other animals – also another busy day.
Sunday we go to church at Fellowship Church in Plano in the morning and then head to the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas (where we are members). We will go on the Dino Trails, learn all about dinosaurs and see much of the rest of the museum. Some areas are geared toward older kids, so we will skip those.
Monday is daycare all day until 5:00. His foster mom wanted him to go Monday and Tuesday to keep up with the socialization. Evidently, he does not enjoy going to it, but has lots of fun once he gets there. Monday is the day that Edison and I tear down the existing fence and start building a nice cedar one. We also meet with our case worker for Covenant Kids (CK) at 4:00 and Melinda has to take care of some things during the day that have been planned for a while. Once home, we will hang around the house, play games, color, read books, watch movies and have lots of fun.
Tuesday until early afternoon we plan to take him back to daycare. On the last afternoon with him we will take him the Children’s Museum (a special part of the Museum of Nature and Science just for toddlers) and have lots of fun before heading back to deliver him to his foster mom.
There could be one wrinkle in all these plans…we could be getting our own foster child.
Wednesday afternoon we got a call about placing a one-year-old boy (that we will refer to as CN for now) with us for foster care. Early yesterday evening, after being removed from his home, it looked like he might have gone with a relative. However, Melinda got a call from another CK case worker this afternoon saying that it looks like we might be taking him after all. Now, according to this case worker, “it could be tomorrow… or next week.” Timelines in the foster care / adoption world vary wildly and are highly unpredictable. That is the nature of the complex system that always seeks the best possible situation for the children at any given moment. If we do get little CN, we will still try to do everything with CL, but may have to alter the timing of some of the activities. We are trying to keep our anticipation down since things can change in a blink of an eye and we don’t have CN until we have him.
Regardless of what happens, we still have lots of fun planned for the next few days! Stay tuned…
Assigned Our Case Manager / May Get a 3-Year-Old for Respite
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Certified!
Like we mentioned last Thursday, February 25th we got officially certified by Covenant Kids for Foster / Adoption on Friday the 26th.
Handbook Training
This Monday we had our Foster / Adoptive Parent Handbook training by Travis over the phone. This hour-long training covers just the highlights of the brand new 2 1/2" binder that we got in the mail on Monday. Melinda actually made it through the whole thing in one day. I got through about 80% of it before our meeting (can you say, 3:00 AM reading!). Fortunately, we have seen almost all of this during the months of training, so it was an easy read.
Case Manager Assigned
A few hours ago we were assigned our official case manager, Erin. She will get to know us VERY well since we will see her very often throughout the foster and adoption processes - at least once a month.
Respite Care
Cynthia, an acquaintance of ours that we have gotten to know well through e-mail and a mutual friend just got "placed" with a 3-year-old. That means she got a new foster child. It is one week away from Spring Break and she already had set plans before receiving the foster child. We, on the other hand, are staying here and rebuilding the entire fence in Cedar (one of last of our backyard projects).
Cynthia contacted us about possibly being a respite home for her for the week she is gone. We are working out all the arrangements between her licensing agency and ours. There are very real contractual agreements in these situations. Fortunately, CK and her agency think they can work it out.
What does this means for us?
1. We get to "test-flight" a week with a three-year-old (been there and done that 17 years ago, but it will be different with Melinda and hopefully the lessons we have learned).
2. We will quickly get to see if we really got everything we need to take care of / entertain an infant. (I can hardly wait to try out all the audio books, real books, puppets, games and Disney and Pixar DVD's).
3. Under a new rule, we are required to respite or foster care for a minimum of 30 hours before we can be placed with a "moderate level" child. This should provide us with that documented time.
Certified!
Like we mentioned last Thursday, February 25th we got officially certified by Covenant Kids for Foster / Adoption on Friday the 26th.
Handbook Training
This Monday we had our Foster / Adoptive Parent Handbook training by Travis over the phone. This hour-long training covers just the highlights of the brand new 2 1/2" binder that we got in the mail on Monday. Melinda actually made it through the whole thing in one day. I got through about 80% of it before our meeting (can you say, 3:00 AM reading!). Fortunately, we have seen almost all of this during the months of training, so it was an easy read.
Case Manager Assigned
A few hours ago we were assigned our official case manager, Erin. She will get to know us VERY well since we will see her very often throughout the foster and adoption processes - at least once a month.
Respite Care
Cynthia, an acquaintance of ours that we have gotten to know well through e-mail and a mutual friend just got "placed" with a 3-year-old. That means she got a new foster child. It is one week away from Spring Break and she already had set plans before receiving the foster child. We, on the other hand, are staying here and rebuilding the entire fence in Cedar (one of last of our backyard projects).
Cynthia contacted us about possibly being a respite home for her for the week she is gone. We are working out all the arrangements between her licensing agency and ours. There are very real contractual agreements in these situations. Fortunately, CK and her agency think they can work it out.
What does this means for us?
1. We get to "test-flight" a week with a three-year-old (been there and done that 17 years ago, but it will be different with Melinda and hopefully the lessons we have learned).
2. We will quickly get to see if we really got everything we need to take care of / entertain an infant. (I can hardly wait to try out all the audio books, real books, puppets, games and Disney and Pixar DVD's).
3. Under a new rule, we are required to respite or foster care for a minimum of 30 hours before we can be placed with a "moderate level" child. This should provide us with that documented time.
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