Foster2Forever

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Do I Really Want to Look Like Angelina Jolie?

I guess I’m an easy target.  I was hit on Tuesday. He came home with me and by Tuesday night, he hopped into bed with me and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.  He had me in bed for days. I even shared him with my husband. And he’s not even my type.  He’s Type A Influenza.

No, I didn’t get the flu shot!

Last year, I did have the flu shot (as I have since 1993); however, a severe allergic reaction had me looking like a polka-dotted Angelina Jolie with a swollen lip and hives all over.

I could have gone through allergy testing this year to determine if I would be allergic to this year’s vaccine; however, a $40 co-pay and one entire morning of testing, deterred me. Plus it really scares me to think what allergic reaction could happen next time.

So I’ve inadvertently become a risk-taker and am not running very good odds.

My husband didn’t remember to get his vaccination, and we didn’t think about the kids even being old enough.  So here we are on a January Saturday afternoon when temperatures are in the mid-70s – all stuck indoors and miserable – all because I don’t want to look like Angelina Jolie…

But if you really do want to look like Angelina, check out this video. Her transformation is amazing!

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THAT Surgery – Wordless Wednesday

Yesterday, our 16-month-old foster boy survived THAT surgery. (Genesis 17:11)
In case you didn’t know, Lil Bit was born in Mexico.
Nothing to eat since Monday night. Drank 5 ounces of water at 6 a.m. First appointment at 9:30 a.m. Surgery postponed until 2:30 p.m.!!!

Lil Bit was one thirsty and hungry baby!!!

We finally got home around 6 p.m. last night.
Although tired, we had a great night at home together.
However, the local wears off today. Yikes!

Fortunately, he’s not talking yet to tell us what he thinks of us doing this to him. What do you think he would have to say about this?

Stinkpot is scheduled to get tubes in his ears Thursday (for the THIRD time). Ug!

Wordish Wednesday

 

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MISCELLANY MONDAY – Orphan, Mood Swings and Halloween

OUR LIL ORPHAN
Last Tuesday was a court hearing for Lil Bit, our 13-month-old foster boy. I was out-of-town and so my hubby was there when the judge terminated the birthmother’s parental rights.  Our foster baby is now officially half an orphan!  I say that since the birthfather has not been located. The State is working with the Mexican consulate to make a good faith effort to locate him. Until then…

MOOD SWINGS
If you follow my blog, our 3-year-old Stinkpot’s strong will has been an incredible challenge for us. Last week was horrible!  Again! Temper tantrums, mood swings, and general meanness has made us worry about him.  Stinkpot’s birthfamily has a history of mental instability, and we have been seriously discussing taking him to a child psychologist for counseling, not just for him, but for us, in order to deal with him.

However, on Friday, when I went for my annual physical exam, my doctor asked me if I was having any depression or mood swings from Singulair.  (“I’m too busy with kids to even think of being depressed” was my reply.)

Since Stinkpot has been taking Singular for his asthma for nearly 2 years now – maybe Singulair could be his issue???

I have a call into his doctor to discuss it!!!

HALLOWEEN
Can you believe it’s less than 4 weeks away?  Have you already begun the quest for the perfect Halloween costume for you and your kids?  Isn’t this just the cutest costume for less than $10?

Have a great week!

Miscellany Monday @ lowercase letters

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2 Funny Friday – Abe Vigoda goes into a clinic…

Have you ever had one of those embarrassing moments that you just didn’t know what in the world to do??  Thanks to Stinkpot, this week, I had a VERY embarrassing moment that left me dumbfounded and speechless.
This week started off with 2 sick kids with fever – – ear infections – – AGAIN!
(The next set will be Stinkpot’s THIRD set of tubes!)

I had to take off Monday to take a 3-year-old and 1-year-old to their respective doctors on opposite parts of town. I was able to make an afternoon appointment at Stinkpot’s ear, nose and throat specialist. However, I didn’t bother to make an appointment that morning for Lil Bit’s community clinic.  I was going to risk it: a walk-in!

I frazzledly walked into the clinic carrying my 23-pound foster baby, Lil Bit, on one hip, balancing the overstuffed diaper bag across the opposite shoulder, all while I was herding hyperactive Stinkpot through the clinic doors. There was only one other patient in the waiting room!!!  In a corner of the waiting room, an elderly man was slumped over in his wheelchair looking as though we were awakening him. He was a heavy man and sadly too ill to bother with shaving.  He reminded me of a dark-skinned Abe Vigoda.

Note: Stinkpot does not have an “inside voice”.  His voice will wake the dead.  Stinkpot became very excited, enthusiastically jumping up and down.  He was pointing at the elderly man!

Pointing and waving at the man,
Stinkpot began exclaiming,
“Mommy, Mommy!
Look!
It’s a monkey! It’s a monkey!
Hi, monkey! Hi, monkey!”

 

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Help Stop the Choking (Pass Out) Game!

On December 27, 2008, 17-year-old Jenny Morgan’s mother went into her daughter’s bedroom. She found a fabric belt tied around Jenny’s neck and the other attached to her bedpost.  Jenny was gone!

Jenny had been playing the “choking game”.

Jenny’s sister, Cheri, is a friend of mine and for the last year and a half, her family has suffered tremendous grieve due to this senseless teen game.

Today, August 28th, would have been Jenny’s 19th birthday!

Jenny’s family has a cause on Facebook to Help Stop the Choking Game. It is nearly 18,000 members strong!

Please consider joining this cause and spreading the word of its devastation!
For the love of Jenny. On what would have been her birthday.

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ADDICTIONS, ADOPTION AND THE BLOGOSPHERE…

MY ADDICTION…
Last week, I finally admitted to the world the intensity of my addiction.  Call it – a Freudian slip – or something…
This week, as I was filling out a questionnaire for life insurance, aliens took over my body (or blame it on the 107 heat here in Texas), as I began checking YES down the page.
YES – I have or currently use cocaine, marijuana, opiates, heroin, etc.
YES – I have or currently are seeking treatment for alcoholism….
Oops! I must be delirious from the heat.
I completed a NEW form yesterday!

ADOPTION…
May be around the corner – This week, our 1-year-old foster baby’s birth mother will be voluntarily relinquishing her parental rights!!! Lil Bit will officially be available for adoption by the end of the month!!!

Thanks for all your support, advice, prayers during this time.  Last month, I came to a peace about Lil Bit being our child – thanks for all your prayers!

Now the next hurdle – and it’s a HUGE one – is his citizenship. You see, Lil Bit is a Mexican citizen. Who knows how long it will take to make this baby citizen of the United States???  I’ve already begun teaching him the Pledge of Allegiance – even though – the only word he says right now is, of course, Dada!
This will probably turn into a type of international adoption before it’s over!

AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE…
I loved this post by Kristin at Adventures of a Betty Crocker Wanna Be writing about the day she received her special gift of her son, Cooper.

Here is a really neat post at Grown in My Heart of 2 brothers separated by adoption reunited years later. Isn’t that such a great photo?

And if you haven’t seen this post by Kristen at Rage Against the Minivan – Who doesn’t just love it when an adoption is finalized?

Check out Wendi Aarons’ post on Fun Things to Do When the Heat Index is 107 Degrees!
(I kind of like the idea of a snow cone bra.)

Have a great week and come back tomorrow to hear a continuation of our love story!
Don’t forget to link up your funny posts, pictures, stories, etc. on Friday!

Hugs to y’all!

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MISCELLANY MONDAY – Birthdays, Beaches, and Butts

Miscellany Monday @ lowercase letters

OUR FOSTER BABY TURNED ONE YEAR OLD….

Lil Bit turned one year old this week!  To celebrate, on his birthday, we took he and Stinkpot to Chuck E. Cheese. And then on Saturday, we had a small family gathering at a local park so the kids could play on the splash pad.

Lil Bit’s birthday cupcakes from Sam’s

However, due to a massive 48-inch broken water main, the entire city was under a water ban…SO the splash pad was CLOSED. And it was 103 degrees on Saturday!! Oops!

But the kids still had a good time playing on the playground anyway.

 OUR STRONG-WILLED PRESCHOOLER, STINKPOT…
We’re thinking of sending Stinkpot to Dr. James Dobson’s house for a week so that he can rewrite his book The Strong-Willed Child. He is really earning his nickname this week:

  • He hit both of his teachers on Friday (they want to meet with us today – and this is daycare!)
  • Saturday morning, we had to send him to his room 3 times before he straightened up to go to the birthday party.
  • Bedtime is always HORRIBLE!
  • Naptime yesterday was worse – he finally crashed in the middle of the dining room floor at 5:30.
  • Last night, he called Aunt Rachel to go live with her.
  • “I don’t want to…” or “I want…” begins every sentence.

Do they have boot camp for preschoolers? Or better yet, send me!

I HEART BEACH FUN….

This year, we did not go to the beach due to the BP oil spill! (Check out that link!)

Look at Stinkpot’s concentration!

Did it ruin your beach plans, too?

Last year, we took a family vacation to Houston/Galveston. I was amazed at how Stinkpot knew exactly how to play in the sand – and he did so in the same spot for nearly 2 hours! That is unheard of for my 2-year-old!

For the beach trip, I took my point-and-shoot camera so the pictures are, well, snapshots.

Here’s a great realistic pic my hubby took of my flabby old-lady butt. OUCH!

You can see why I’m doing the twohundredsquats program. 
I just finished Week 2, but I’m going to repeat it since I’m really sore right now.

Here’s another photo I took of Stinkpot…

Straight out of camera

But don’t you just love the magic of Photoshop?
I can change that picture to THIS>>>

Using Coffee Shop Sun Kissed

I used a free Photoshop action developed by Coffee Shop Rita. You should check out her stuff!

    I entered this photo in this week’s I Heart Faces challenge – click the badge for more “Beach Fun” photos!

     

    Come back Wednesday to hear the next chapter of our love story…
    And on Friday to link up your funny stories with 2 Funny Friday!

    Y’all have a great week!

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    Foster Children Are Eligible for WIC

    This month, FosterDad took our foster baby, Lil Bit, to the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) office that provides nutritional foods for children under the age of 5.  Foster children are automatically eligible for WIC. 

    wic-foster-children

    Our foster baby’s mother was still receiving these benefits for Lil Bit even though she did not have him in her care.  We didn’t believe that this was right, so we called our state’s WIC program toll-free number to set up an appointment with the local WIC office to transfer the baby’s benefits.

    The local WIC intake person stated that you MUST bring the child to the appointment, along with documentation that the child is in foster care.  FosterDad spent a long afternoon in the waiting room of the WIC office to make it through the cattle-call process with a fussy baby.  However, in the end, Lil Bit did receive EIGHT cans of formula. Since he is lactose-intolerant, his formula costs $15 a can – so it was probably worth the ordeal.

    This month, I took off an afternoon from work to take the baby back to his followup WIC appointment.  As I was waiting, I counted 13 adults and 17 infants/children in a 280 square-foot waiting area. (yes, I was so bored that I calculated the square footage using the ceiling tiles) I was there 2 hours with a fussy baby. It sucked! (At one point, a worker expressed to me her frustration of the kids running around. I wanted to respond to her, my frustration of being required to bring my child.)

    However, the benefits Lil Bit did receive was helpful. They took a blood sample and discovered his iron was a bit low. He is being weaned and so there is no more formula, but other foods, like bread, 3 gallons of lactose-free milk, a dozen eggs, a pound of cheese, and other nutritional foods are now on his program.

    wic-foster-children-info

    We don’t have to bring him back for another 6 months, and that will probably be the end of Lil Bit’s government handout.

    Have any of you foster parents gone through this process for the little ones in your care? What are your experiences?

    wic-foster-children-formula-pin

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    BLONDIE

    Miscellany Monday @ lowercase letters

    OUR FOSTER BABY WITH US….

    Lil Bit has been sick with an ear infection this week.
    Fever.
    Not sleeping (any of us).
    He has now learned how to gag himself when we give him medicine. yuk!

    {Last night, we sent in our revised laundry list of potential birth family contact} Thanks for all your prayers and support during this journey!

    MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND…
    This week was his birthday, and we spent his special day at the health care clinic. He didn’t get a nice lunch or dinner or cake or even his presents. Poor boy, we’ll have to make it up to him.
    Have you ever had a birthday that totally sucked???
    [I celebrated my 25th birthday on a Greyhound bus broke down in Eunice, Louisiana during a winter storm. Top that!] 

    OUR FOSTER GIRL THAT LEFT….

    Meet Blondie!

    • Arrived June 2009 at nearly 2 years old
    • sweet and shy at first
    • serious attachment issues with excessive clingyness
    • aversion to men (including my hubby)
    • incessant whiner
    • prone to night terrors
    • extremely competitive with Stinkpot
    • extremely intelligent (possibly gifted)
    • loved water, shopping, and all things girlie
    • in October 2009, left the biggest hole in my heart when she went to live with a relative!!!
    • I still miss her!
    I entered this photo in this week’s I Heart Faces challenge – click the badge for more “Shades” photos!
    But I did want to also show you this photo of Stinkpot and Blondie together since it’s so CUTE!

    If you still waiting to hear the next chapter of our love story, my hubby is writing the next part from his point of view – and he won’t let me see it!  I’ll post as soon as he finishes it…

    Y’all have a great week!

    I’m Clever

    Sway