Lil Guy hits 8 months old in about two weeks. He is sitting up on his own, wiggle worming and rolling. Not quite crawling yet but pretty soon I bet. He's eating solid food, still on formula. His reflux and allergies are improving.. his development is right on track (Amen!). He's sweet and giggly and peaceful unless he's hungry poopy or exhausted. He has no teeth. He will be an old man for halloween.
Otto is enjoying and begging for "pre" preschool. So we spend lots of our times on letters and counting and whatnot. I'm in no rush for anything formalized. He's learning plenty in our daily world and a few printables and crafts here and there. He will be Darth Vader for halloween (he has no clue who this is other than from "star wars" which he hasn't even seen other than cartoon versions on netflix once or twice.
Micaiah.. is potty training. I wasn't ready for that at 20 months old but he sure was. He has done pretty well on his own. Still having lots of pee accidents but gets himself to the potty more times than he doesn't so I'm ok with it. I keep him bare bummed in the house and he does ok. I don't do boot camps... I don't do every 10 minutes reminders. I don't want to be trained.. I don't have the time or brain capacity. He either does it.. or he doesn't. We'll be in diapers during naps and nights and out and about for a long while. I have no expectations of having him diaper free by baby Abe. Which means... 3 in diapers.. 1 in pullups at night still. I should by stock in Huggies. Yes we cloth diaper to some degree.. but if you can't tell.. I don't like being a slave to my parenting choices.. so we just go with the flow. He will probably be wolverine or a dinosaur for halloween.. depending on which he decides to wear.
I am due with Baby Abe in about a month and a few days. My mom, sister and nephew will be here for the birth... and possibly Justin too. We are still planning on having a home birth with our awesome midwife that also delivered Micaiah at home. He will be unborn at halloween. I don't have a pregnant costume yet but a whole lot of people want me to be an avocado. I am grateful hubs vetoed that one. And I don't think showing up to the foster care trunk or treat as "beer belly man" "pregnant britney" or any of the other distasteful pregnant costumes would be a wise choice. Probably.. I'll just be lame and pregnant. I've got a purple maternity shirt.. maybe I can pull off eggplant without any work.
So far all the kinship placements the CWs have explored have fallen through or been deemed unfit or however they term it. We were lucky in that the Uncle we were doing visits with sort of just stopped showing up so we never had to deal with any of it. I honestly don't even know if he was officially notified he was "rejected" but I think they were happy he stopped calling so they didn't have to tell him officially. There has also been a cousin and another uncle identified but we haven't heard anything back from them. "no news is good news" is sort of where we are sitting right now. We are at a point where unless some amazing magical family member pops out of the woodwork.. we feel like we are the "best option" for Lil Guy especially as he's settled in to the family. We do know however that it is common for family to show up in the final hours so we are reserving a piece of our reserves and strength for that eventuality. I will say though.. that my prayers have drastically shifted. I am now actively and I believe with God stamp of approval.. praying that Lil Guy gets to stay. I am allowing myself to be fervent, perseverant and bold in these prayers as I truly believe we ARE the best choice, situation, at this point. I do also pray that if a family member pops up that they would be ardent believers as well, and willing to maintain contact with us as extended and Lil Guy's first family.
News on mom... She's requesting photos and potentially visits once she's "out". At first this totally freaked me out as she's been out of the picture and avoiding CPS completely. After talking with LG's caseworker though I realized this is a good thing. She still does not want custody.. doesn't believe she can be a mom.. which under the circumstances of her current addictions is the truth. I'm glad she sees it. The good thing about potential visits is the opportunity to foster some positive connection and relationship with her. She may consider relinquishing rights sooner, easier, faster if she knows us and knows LG is in a good spot.. She may also consider us in the future if further pregnancies occur. That is my biggest fear. It is my understanding she chose NOT to abort Lil Guy only because uncle said he'd take him (I'll forever be grateful to him for that selfless offer). So what about next time. That's my heart. I'm praying for her, praying for positive peaceful visits, for her salvation, for freedom from her addictions, for a full life change..I'd love to have an ongoing positive relationship with her for years to come.
Prayer requests:
-Positive visits with mom
-Continued improvement with Lil Guys allergies.. trying to get off all our allergy meds.
- That he would sleep better.. he's still waking once nightly for a bottle.
-That we would hear back from family and have a clear idea going into our termination hearings whether we will get to adopt or not. The next hearing is december.. termination court in February.
-That we would stay encouraged and peaceful about all the potential outcomes.
-That Lil Guy would continue to experience and enjoy the love of God in our home and through our church family.
Also.. sidenote... if you ever see me print his real name.. let me know.. its hard to remember. :)
Amen.
