Phew Month Two.

It has been a whirlwind this week! Lil guy is doing great and gaining like a champ. He's still plagued by reflux which is tough but we've troubleshooted and medicated enough its under control thank goodness. Makes tummy/playtime a bit tricky. I'm trying to work on more stimulating wake time as he reaches his 3 month birthday soon. The ceiling from his rock n play does little  and the swing puts him to sleep. His night time sleep suffers as he basically snoozes in boredom on the days we are home. I can't really carry him as much either as he'll either puke down my shirt, scream or start to hurt my back. Today we got a play gym type thing and he seemed to dig it from his back.. until he threw up like 4 times (sorry misty... I will clean it :)) due to I assume being flat on his back after eating (it had been at least 30 minutes.) We'll work it out hopefully.

As far as his case goes we are still currently pursuing unification with kin (uncle and partner). We have been doing visits and it is going well. I've been trying to engage just a little bit every time with uncle and he seems super receptive. I passed on some advice I got from Melani, a veteran foster mom I've been blessed to get to know and get wisdom from. She's a great resource on speed dial :) Thanks Melani. I told him to make sure to keep up with his paperwork and to hound the caseworkers often to keep fresh in their minds. I'm sure its easy to get lost in the shuffle. He was super receptive and was all keyed up to call his caseworker on his way home :)

Originally our visits were only an hour. With two kids in tow that's barely enough time for ME to get out of the parking lot before having to come back. Besides that it seemed counter-intuitive for bonding when baby is so little that the more minutes you've got the more recognition he'll have with family. They kept them short at first to minimize "over-stimulation" but I truly felt like it was worse to haul him in, stay for 30 minutes. Fed changed and ready to go. Besides uncle has been late a few times and they don't get to make up the time.. so the visits have really only been like 45 minutes long. I'm SO GLAD that I already have good rapport with his worker because she was super receptive to the idea of longer visits and they are stretching them to 2 hours instead of just one. Phew. So starting Thursday I'll actually get a good chunk of break time with otto for the splash pad, or lunch or groceries. And more importantly uncle will actually have a chance to settle in and bond with baby during the visit. Hopefully it goes well.

I think part of me also feels like uncle needs a taste of reality in what two hours with a newborn will be like if he starts fussing 10 minutes in :)  He doesn't get rescued in 30 minutes because the visit is magically over. And the caseworkers/assistants aren't going to step in unless there is a safety concern.

Anyway. We are waiting on a homestudy once Uncle gets his own place so hopefully they'll move things along at that point.

I am really hoping for the sake of baby and uncle that it doesn't get dragged out too long. Hopefully mom will suck it up and relinquish rights to uncle as she originally intended which would seriously speed it all up. Otherwise the poor guy will still have a fight for a while even if he gets the placement.

All in all I'm still enjoying Daniel and we are doing well with it all. I miss my sleep but hopefully if we can keep the reflux under control and get him on a better rhythm and more stimulation during the day we might be able to stretch out the night a bit. At this point every night feeding is 2-3 hours apart but only 1 ounce! I wish I had the heart to let him cry a bit. I really don't :) I tend not to till they've hit a year or so.


Please be praying for:
Continued positive relationship with Uncle
Continued positive visitations
Getting a better handle on the house management especially with regulations for licensing.. keepingup with documentation, outlets, and all the little things they are picky about.
A continued heart for Uncle and for Daniel.
Continued conversations with Otto about the whys of fostercare, visitations etc.
A prayerful heart for God's will in it all, protection and peace.