well at least now that we have kids, I hate storms. When it was just hubby and I at home, we would only leave if we REALLY felt like it was getting bad outside and we needed to be at a home with a basement. When we have kids in the house, I am a CHICKEN and I leave at the first sight of bad weather. Since Emilee and JP joined us the beginning of June, we have left 3 times (counting last night) due to storms. And each time, it was just wind/rain/thunder/lightning. I'm scared what MIGHT happen though if we were to stay home. Last night was no different. My mom called me about 8pm to see if I was watching the local tv channels at all. I wasn't. She told me to. I had noticed that they sky was getting kinda dark outside but didn't think too much about it. The kids had went to bed about 7:30pm. So i found our Scanner and plugged it in. At about 8:30pm it went crazy and at the same exact time, my phone rang again. It was my mom telling me there was a tornado warning located about 25 miles from us to the north west / moving south east. Hmmmm not exactly what I wanted to hear. So, I got the kids up and we went to mom and dad's house. Hubby and his dad were out making hay and said they'd watch the weather but they wanted to get down as much as possible. MEN! :-p
Needless to say, the kids wouldn't/couldn't/didn't go back to sleep until close to 10pm. Then by the time I went and picked Hubby up at 9:30pm and we got to bed close to 11pm; Emilee was awake ~ scared. At 1:30am I awoke to her tapping my arm cause she was scared again. Then at 6:00am mom I woke up when Mom and Dad started moving around upstairs and we had to get the kids up and head back home so Hubby could get to work by 7am. UGH! I HATE STORMS!!! They screw up my schedule so bad. Of course, all the MAJOR storms/tornado's went around us last night. I guess it's better safe than sorry, right?
What does this all boil down to???? WE NEED A BASEMENT!!!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Heart Health....
Check out this site at Mamanista http://www.mamanista.com/2007/07/be-winner-like-baby-diva.html . Her little girl is celebrating her 1st birthday. A birthday that is super special because Baby Diva was born with tetralogy of fallot--a congenital heart defect that would be fatal without surgery. A few days before Baby Diva turned 3 months old, she had open heart surgery. Her picture is on this website. She is ADORABLE! From this website, I also learned that approx 40,000 babies (that's 1%-2%) born in the US are born with a heart defect. WOW. That's a lot of innocent little lives.
My twin sister was born with a heart valve defect. To this day, they are still watching her heart closely.
PLEASE help these innocent children. You can visit Baby Diva's birthday tribute page at the American Heart Association http://honor.americanheart.org/site/TR?pg=fund&fr_id=1030&px=1041441 . You can read more about Baby Diva's story and possibly even make a donation to the American Heart Association. Any amount will help out.
Oh and if you want to do all this, there is even a contest that you can enter but that is the least of our concerns...let save some babies lives!!!
My twin sister was born with a heart valve defect. To this day, they are still watching her heart closely.
PLEASE help these innocent children. You can visit Baby Diva's birthday tribute page at the American Heart Association http://honor.americanheart.org/site/TR?pg=fund&fr_id=1030&px=1041441 . You can read more about Baby Diva's story and possibly even make a donation to the American Heart Association. Any amount will help out.
Oh and if you want to do all this, there is even a contest that you can enter but that is the least of our concerns...let save some babies lives!!!
Better night
Well we had a GREAT night last night. The kids helped me clean their rooms and put all their clean clothes away. Then they took their showers and got ready for bed without any fighting. We even had time to sit down and cuddle and watch a few minutes of a kids movie that was on tv before bedtime. No arguing when I said it was bedtime either. :-) Now these are the kids that I know were inside those "not so nice" kids from Monday night.
I also got a call from the school today. They said, I hear you have 2 children who will be attending school here this fall (registration is Aug 7/8). I was like, Yep I do! She took their names and said she would be calling me to discuss more at another time. They are at the class size limit for 1st grade so they are wondering if they should hire another 1st grade teacher or what to do. I hope they do. With Emilee there are 26 kids in 1st grade this year that they know of. That's a lot! I think smaller class sizes will be better for Emilee and JP this year especially as they are still adjusting to everything. We'll see what happens.
For anyone out there...I'm looking for ideas for JP's birthday party. It isn't until the middle of Aug but if I don't start thinking about it, it will be here and I won't have any plans. Got some fun ideas you want to share???? I really appreciate it!
I also got a call from the school today. They said, I hear you have 2 children who will be attending school here this fall (registration is Aug 7/8). I was like, Yep I do! She took their names and said she would be calling me to discuss more at another time. They are at the class size limit for 1st grade so they are wondering if they should hire another 1st grade teacher or what to do. I hope they do. With Emilee there are 26 kids in 1st grade this year that they know of. That's a lot! I think smaller class sizes will be better for Emilee and JP this year especially as they are still adjusting to everything. We'll see what happens.
For anyone out there...I'm looking for ideas for JP's birthday party. It isn't until the middle of Aug but if I don't start thinking about it, it will be here and I won't have any plans. Got some fun ideas you want to share???? I really appreciate it!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
As if I don't have enough....
Sis just called me and told me mom has to have angioplasty done on Thurs. Boss won't let me have the day off. LIFE SUCKS right now.
Perm Plan and Phone call....
The Perm Plan meeting or should I say Child and Family Team Meeting as they are called now went very well. A lot was discussed. We are on track for TPR in 3 weeks. We have decided to get both kids in for psychological evaluations and start therapy again for both. We will be meeting with our adoption worker the beginning of Aug to update our homestudy as it expires the end of Aug. We will also start working on getting all subsidy paperwork completed and getting the kids diagnosis for "Special needs" completed. The meeting lasted 30 minutes and I was very pleased with it. This is only my second perm plan outside of our local county. boy, do they run things better than our county. They actually start theirs ON TIME!! :-) They believe people have lives and if it's scheduled for 2pm - it starts at 2pm. After what transpired last night - I am truly on board 100% with the therapy issues.....read on......
Well the phone call I guess wasn't bad...it was the aftermath from the phone call. Emilee and JP have been wanting to call "Donny" and "Connie" their foster parents from their last home. Emilee lived with them for 16 months and JP for about 12. The phone call itself went good. The aftermath - not so good.
First for Emilee….
She talked for about 7 minutes. She told them about all the animals we have on the farm and about playing on the swingset. She also told them about her new daycare and the substitute daycare that they went to and learning to swim. She was crying the second she handed the phone over to JP to talk. I was able to re-direct her to playing with the kitties and the crying stopped within a few minutes. At 7:45pm it was time to start getting ready for bed. The crying started all over again. She cried until close to 10pm. She was up and down out of bed 12 times crying that she wanted Donny and Conny. In her words last night…. “I hate living with you. I’m going to run away back to Donny and Conny's house. You shouldn’t have taken me away from Donny and Conny. It’s not fair. You don’t love me. Donny and Conny love me.” I heard this over and over and over. Finally I got her to settle down a little bit and told her we could send them a card if she wanted to make one. That seemed to help. This morning she asked if we could call them again tonight and I told her no. She started crying again. I told her that we couldn’t call them every night and that we would call them again, just not tonight. That seemed to be ok for her.
Now for JP….
He talked for only 5 minutes tops. I didn’t hear a lot of what he was telling them because I was with Emilee while she was crying. At bedtime, he threw a major temper tantrum. He never cried any tears. He just yelled and screamed and kicked the wall. In his words, “I hate you. I want Donny and Conny. You can’t make me stay here. I want to run away.” His tantrum lasted about 45 minutes and finally he settled down. When I went to check on the kids before I went to bed (about 10:30pm) he was sleeping on his floor and his room smelled of urine. I woke him up thinking his jammies must be wet but they weren’t. His blankets weren’t wet. I asked him where he pee’d in his room and he said he didn’t. Well it didn’t smell like that when he went to bed so I know he did somewhere – I just couldn’t figure out where last night. This morning he got dressed, went in the bathroom, lifted the lid on the toilet and stood there and pee’d in his clothes. When I asked him why he did that, he said he didn’t know. I got him cleaned up and changed into new clothes and we went back into his room. I asked him where he pee’d in his room so that we could clean it up. He said he didn’t know. Tonight he and I will be tearing his room apart until we figure it out.
I knew this was going to be a tough phone call to make. I guess I just didn’t understand how tough it was going to be on them. After seeing their behaviors last night I do really think Therapy is a good idea for both of them. I think their relationship with Donny and Conny is important; however, at this point, I think the phone calls are too much for them to handle. I think we need to address some of their other behavior issues and try to explain to them why they live with us and not Donny and Conny anymore. They are smart kids. I think if we can get into some therapy that will also help hubby and I to know how to handle these behaviors better. We are learning every day right along with Emilee and JP. I think I will email Donny and Conny and ask if we can send emails and pictures maybe every other week or something for awhile and see how that goes. What are your thoughts? I know we need to address the behaviors after the phone calls too, but until we (hubby & I) can get some more knowledge on how to deal with these, I think we need to stick with emails/letters and start with one thing at a time. I think JP especially is just getting overwhelmed. He has met so many new people in the last month and he doesn’t know how to express his feelings and I’m worried about him. Kids in school can be mean and with the anger he has at home when he is told no, I wonder what will happen when he is told NO by his teachers for something.
Well the phone call I guess wasn't bad...it was the aftermath from the phone call. Emilee and JP have been wanting to call "Donny" and "Connie" their foster parents from their last home. Emilee lived with them for 16 months and JP for about 12. The phone call itself went good. The aftermath - not so good.
First for Emilee….
She talked for about 7 minutes. She told them about all the animals we have on the farm and about playing on the swingset. She also told them about her new daycare and the substitute daycare that they went to and learning to swim. She was crying the second she handed the phone over to JP to talk. I was able to re-direct her to playing with the kitties and the crying stopped within a few minutes. At 7:45pm it was time to start getting ready for bed. The crying started all over again. She cried until close to 10pm. She was up and down out of bed 12 times crying that she wanted Donny and Conny. In her words last night…. “I hate living with you. I’m going to run away back to Donny and Conny's house. You shouldn’t have taken me away from Donny and Conny. It’s not fair. You don’t love me. Donny and Conny love me.” I heard this over and over and over. Finally I got her to settle down a little bit and told her we could send them a card if she wanted to make one. That seemed to help. This morning she asked if we could call them again tonight and I told her no. She started crying again. I told her that we couldn’t call them every night and that we would call them again, just not tonight. That seemed to be ok for her.
Now for JP….
He talked for only 5 minutes tops. I didn’t hear a lot of what he was telling them because I was with Emilee while she was crying. At bedtime, he threw a major temper tantrum. He never cried any tears. He just yelled and screamed and kicked the wall. In his words, “I hate you. I want Donny and Conny. You can’t make me stay here. I want to run away.” His tantrum lasted about 45 minutes and finally he settled down. When I went to check on the kids before I went to bed (about 10:30pm) he was sleeping on his floor and his room smelled of urine. I woke him up thinking his jammies must be wet but they weren’t. His blankets weren’t wet. I asked him where he pee’d in his room and he said he didn’t. Well it didn’t smell like that when he went to bed so I know he did somewhere – I just couldn’t figure out where last night. This morning he got dressed, went in the bathroom, lifted the lid on the toilet and stood there and pee’d in his clothes. When I asked him why he did that, he said he didn’t know. I got him cleaned up and changed into new clothes and we went back into his room. I asked him where he pee’d in his room so that we could clean it up. He said he didn’t know. Tonight he and I will be tearing his room apart until we figure it out.
I knew this was going to be a tough phone call to make. I guess I just didn’t understand how tough it was going to be on them. After seeing their behaviors last night I do really think Therapy is a good idea for both of them. I think their relationship with Donny and Conny is important; however, at this point, I think the phone calls are too much for them to handle. I think we need to address some of their other behavior issues and try to explain to them why they live with us and not Donny and Conny anymore. They are smart kids. I think if we can get into some therapy that will also help hubby and I to know how to handle these behaviors better. We are learning every day right along with Emilee and JP. I think I will email Donny and Conny and ask if we can send emails and pictures maybe every other week or something for awhile and see how that goes. What are your thoughts? I know we need to address the behaviors after the phone calls too, but until we (hubby & I) can get some more knowledge on how to deal with these, I think we need to stick with emails/letters and start with one thing at a time. I think JP especially is just getting overwhelmed. He has met so many new people in the last month and he doesn’t know how to express his feelings and I’m worried about him. Kids in school can be mean and with the anger he has at home when he is told no, I wonder what will happen when he is told NO by his teachers for something.
Monday, July 9, 2007
We made it thru the last 11 days and
Alyssa and Brady went back to their other foster home this morning. They really are great kids but I will be happy to have it just the 4 of us again. Emilee and JP had a rough last 7 days and we need to focus on them. We have our Child and Family Team Meeting this afternoon that I will be participating in by phone (their worker is over 9 hrs from where we live so no way to make it to the meeting). One thing they keep asking me about is whether or not I think Emilee needs to be in Play Therapy again. She is seeing a play therapist for a year before coming to our home. I've never had a child in therapy. What kinds of things are "therapy issues" and what is just a "phase" she's going thru??? I need some help on this one. I don't want to let things get too far outta hand, but I don't want to shove her back into something that she may not need. If I had to pick one of them that NEEDS therapy now, I think it would be JP. I think he has a lot of built up frustration/anxiety that he doesn't know how to communicate. I think Emilee was labeled the "problem" child in their old home and he was the "perfect" child and he isn't sure how to handle things now. I think she got a lot of attention for her misbehaving. I don't know - just my thoughts. We will be discussing things more this afternoon. The other thing is, the closest Play Therapist is 60 miles from where we live. Don't get me wrong - if they need it - I will take them, but this will also take some planning and schedule re-doing on everyone's part so I want to know that it is something that is NEEDED. HELP!!!
What a neat tool....
5 minutes for mom is having another awesome giveaway! Check out this link (I can't get my link thingy to work on here again so I have to post the whole address - sorry) http://www.5minutesformom.com/1936/scanalizer-contest/ . This would come in so handy with fostercare. We need to keep our receipts for everything when we get new kids and I could organize them by child. Also, with 2 starting school this fall, being able to share school work with family - What a GREAT idea! Check out their website or the NeatReceipts Website http://www.neatreceipts.com/index.asp to learn more and sign up for this great contest! 10 lucky people are going to win!
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