What's Next?

Anna's Law  (click here and sign)

I don't even know how I came across this petition. It definately struck an immediate cord in me.  I have been a bit lost lately, wondering where my next step in life will lead me.  I've had many successes in my life but I've always believed that life is a journey not a destination so as doors closed I was always looking for the next one to open.
This journey into Foster Parenting seems to be taking me in an unexpected direction. I thought I would be able to help children one family at a time. Sad thing is I'm feeling more like an enabler. I see children in care only to go back into the same families. Sometimes, like our babies, into relatives that have suddenly decided they just have to have them because they are theirs, like a possesion or like others whose parents cross the t's and dot the i's just to get their kids back only then to go back to the old ways. It's a frustrating system.
I read this article  about a 13 year old killing his 2 year old brother. The talk is about trying him as an adult. The talk should be about how the system let him down. He was born to a 12 year old who was raped and went home to a cocain addicted grandmother. Nothing good was ever going to come out of a situation like that. Some of the comments people made actually suggested him being aborted would have been the kindest thing to do. Wouldn't the kindest thing to do be to place him in a loving home at birth? His mother, another child, was lost at the same time. This of course is an extreme story or is it?
I'm not sure where I'm headed right now but I do know that signing Anna's Law is the first step

It Seemed a Like a Good Idea

I have been looking for a new look. I'm feeling old. Everyone says how much I look like my mom and as much as I love my mom I really don't want to look like her just yet. I've  been feeling old lately so I wanted a younger look.

 I tried growing it out one more time and looking at the pictures of me at Krystal's wedding

 I decided that wasn't a good idea.

.

Then I came across a style I thought I could pull off

It seemed like a good idea it the time. I'm embarrassed to leave the house.

Now what? Highlights, low lights, red, ash, shorter? HELP!

A Busy Week So Why Am I Lonely?

 It's been a week since our second little one went "home" to live with family and although I have enjoyed the sleep it seems a bit lonely around here.

 It's not that it's not crazy around here because obviously we're always busy. It's just that it seemed to be MY thing. Tom keeps busy with his two part time jobs as a kids football referee and a Tournament Official for Ripken baseball and he drives the three kids to school in the morning after I get them all ready, along with his doctors visits.

 I AM AWFUL LUCKY TO HAVE ALL THESE SWEETIES!

 Uncle Tommy

Lily's first visit to the dentist

 COUSINS!

 Wyatt started school this week

 Jack reading to Brutus

 Rain, Rain don't go away

All in all it's been a pretty good week.

Look at what I get to wake up to every morning after all.

Foster Parenting Roller Coaster

After a short two weeks to us and what I imagine can only be a long two weeks to his birth family our little man is going to live with his aunt, uncle and cousins.

Papa called him Popeye

 

Jennifer knit this cute cocoon for his first photo session

It was a complete shock to us. We are still getting used to the system and didn't realize things could change so quickly. We thought he had no appropriate family but it seems his uncle was on the fence about the thought of a permanent placement and once he gave the okay it was a done deal. Now our little man is living with real family.

So glad our little Popeye is with people who love him and will take great care of him.

I wonder when we'll get our next call.

Hopefully I'll get a couple of nights sleep first.
Right now I think I'm going to cry a little bit

Perfect Grandchildren

I have been trying to write this blog post since last year when Ella got her official diagnosis from the  doctors at Kennedy Kreiger. She's had some minor delays from the very beginning, first with feeding, stomach and sleeping and then with speech and anxiety. We got help for her and  diagnosis' of apraxia then hypotonia (low muscle tone) and probable dispraxia.  We started realizing that our first sweetie wasn't born perfect. No big deal, we could work together and fix her. Mommy and BaBa did a lot of research and she began taking supplements. They worked like a charm and we thought we had dodged a bullet.

Her birthday is in August and she is small for her age (around the 16th percentile) plus her delays it was decided she would start school a year late and go to Daddy's school. Even though she had an IEP for speech her delays seemed few although she didn't progress as much as we all thought she could.

She then spent first grade in our neighborhood school and her physical delays and anxiety were becoming more apparent. It was decided she now also had Attention Deficit.  None of us were comfortable with it but she was started on medication and referred to Kennedy Kreiger where they routinely check for genetic disorders and a red flag popped up immediately for a Mitochondrial disorder, in simple terms she can't process protein. Not curable but definitely treatable with vitamin supplements they customize just for her, nicknamed her Mito Cocktail. Suddenly it all made sense, low muscle tone, weak eye muscles, low energy, short attention span, slow growth. The geneticist could tell just by looking at her drooping face that it was Mitochondrial, Wow.

She was already on the right track with the supplements, they just had to be tweaked and she just takes the one cocktail three times a day AND her parents save $150 a month not having to buy them over the counter. Of course it's not a cure. She goes to therapy with Mommy to learn ways to deal with her attention and anxiety and the chiropractor with Daddy, she grew a full inch after her first visit.

She went back to her Daddy's school for second grade so he could be more involved. She also had an EKG to check for weakness in her heart which is pending, 

Somewhere in the process it hit that we don't need to "fix" her.  She is perfect the way God made her and we wouldn't want her any other way.

Mitochondrial Disease

Ella's Cocktail

OUR PERFECT GRANDDAUGHTER

OUR PERFECT GRANDSON

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

This week our big four year old was diagnosed with ADHD and referred to Kennedy Kreiger. Stay tuned for another story of a perfect grandchild.

Nine Sweeties

When we found out our little Squirt was going to be leaving us to live with his grandparents I HAD to get a group picture taken.

 This kind of thing is my major weakness. It adds my two weaknesses which are childrens' clothes and pictures all into one. My family is so good about supporting my obsession and I truly appreciate them for that.

 The girls wore their Easter dresses that Jennifer and I found on Ebay. She may have a couple of the same weaknesses as her mom. Sorry Jen.

 I came across these great Chaps shirts in all the boys' sizes at Kohls.com while shopping for school clothes. Jennifer wanted to knit them all matching vests but there's not enough time in the day for her to do all the projects.

 The brothers paired off for a quick pic and this one is so true with little brother telling big brother what he thinks

 What we didn't expect to happen was to get another Foster Son before our first one was even gone. They overlapped for four days and what a crazy four days! Squirt was 3 weeks old and 4 pounds when he came to us 2 1/2 months ago. Now he's over 10 pounds and starting to smile and sleep through the night.

Our new Little Man is only a week old but already 6 1/2 pounds.
 I feel like when I was a teen ager and loved roller coasters so much that I would ask to stay on the roller coaster and ride again. I much prefer THIS roller coaster