Many Changes

There was court for J Boy yesterday, and the judge ordered for him to be an in-home services case, which meant that he could go home as long as the home walk-through went well. The walk-though was today and everything checked out. J Boy left this afternoon. DCS will be providing his parents with services and support to make sure he stays safe. It's crazy how short a time he was in our home. But not really; uncertainty is certain in the life of foster care.

What's more crazy is that we received a call last night for another placement (as it was fairly certain that J Boy was leaving today). It was for a 1 year old boy. They told us they had already found a home willing to take his 3 year old sister, but if we were willing to take them both, that'd be great. After a short discussion, Matt and I agreed to take them both. They were coming from an hour away, so we had time to change sheets, move beds, lower the crib, wash dishes, and such to prepare for their arrival late at night.

To our surprise, the 3 year old was a BOY, not a girl like we were expecting.  This posed a problem as we are only supposed to have 2 kids in each room. So we had to move the toddler bed back out of Taz's room into our room and move Ethan into it. Then the 3 year old (Chip) took Ethan's bed and the 1 year old (Smallz) had the crib. Oh, and J Boy was in a pack and play already in our room, so thankfully he didn't have to be moved. It worked out fine since Ethan always comes into our room in the middle of the night anyways. He wasn't upset at all to wake up and find himself in our room and new kids in his.

It was a bit crazy at times today adjusting to the 2 new arrivals and taking care of J Boy. I'll admit that I panicked a little as the time for the home walk-through neared; I worried that things wouldn't check out and that they would tell me that J-Boy wasn't leaving afterall. Thankfully, that didn't happen (not that I wanted him to leave, it's just that with the new kiddos here, there was no way I could handle all of them for long).

Ethan enjoyed playing with Chip and wasn't too annoyed by Smallz. They're both pretty well behaved boys. They are sleeping pretty well considering that they're so new here. Eating, I think, will be the biggest challenge, especially for Chip, as he is a VERY picky eater. All the picky kids we've had so far could at least sometimes be persuaded/bribed by a promise of a favorite snack after eating their meal. Not so with Chip. Even Mac-n-cheese and pizza was a challenge. He wanted apple jacks all day long. Utensils also seem to be a foreign object to both boys. The other challenge, also with Chip is that he is not at all toilet trained (he'll be 4 next month). He'll be the 4th kid I've had the "privilege" of training. Though I don't plan on tackling this one anytime soon.

Well, here's hoping things are finally going to settle down now.

Four kids: Taz (10), Ethan (4), Chip (3), Smallz (1)

A New Addition

Last night we got a call about an almost 4 month old baby boy (J Boy) and Matt drove down to the Riley Children's Hospital to pick him up. He has a broken femur and a possible skull fracture. It was past 1am this morning by the time they got home. All things considered, J Boy slept pretty well last night and has been a pretty easy-going baby today. Ethan woke up in the middle of the night to the baby's crying and sat up in bed asking "Who's that?" I told him we got a new baby and to go back to sleep. Without further comment Ethan laid back down and slept.

This morning both Ethan and Taz seemed really interested in J Boy, though they kept their distance at first because of the brace on his legs. They warmed up to him quickly once we explained the injuries to them and that they just had to be careful not to touch his legs. Then they both tried handing him toys to hold and pulled the string to activate the music on his baby seat whenever he cried.

It's been almost 4 months since we've had a baby in the house. It'll be an adjustment, of course, but a quick one I think for the kids. Matt and I will probably have a harder time since we have to adjust to getting less sleep than we've been getting lately. But it's all worth it for this precious little boy.

Current kiddos: Taz (10), Ethan (4), and J Boy (4 months).

A new adventure, here we come!

Life's a Rollercoaster

About a week and a half after Tigger left to live with her relative, we got a call that her relative wanted her moved due to behavioral problems at home and at daycare. "Can you take her back?" was the question. Without hesitation we said "Yes! Of course!" We were ready to have her back in our home immediately; there wasn't really any preparation needed on our part. But on their end there was paperwork to be done and whatnot. Yesterday we were told to expect her on Friday. Well, today we were told that her relative had changed her mind. Tigger is no longer coming back to our home.

To say that we are disappointed is an understatement. When we said our goodbyes almost 2 weeks ago (those of us who were actually able to say goodbye), we never expected to ever hear of her again, let alone see her again. To be asked to take her back and then told it wasn't going to happen anymore, it was like losing her all over again. The loss is actually worse than the first time.

We hope that her relative was just overwhelmed and that she won't change her mind again. Because if we get another placement soon, the odds are that we would be unable to take Tigger back. In a way I'm happy the relative changed her mind, that she didn't just give up on Tigger so soon. Tigger was just a normal 3 year old kid in our home and in the 2.5 months that we had her, we never saw any extreme behavioral issues. Hopefully now that she's had time to settle into her relative's home, things will be as good for her there as it was here in our home.

Life's a rollercoaster, especially with foster care...