Everything at the Croom household is going well. We've definitely been busier with "different" activities. Thomas hasn't been able to get hardly any school work done, and I haven't been able to get any work work done. I have a major report that has to be drafted and completed this week -- right now its about 150 pages long.
But we are having loads of fun with the new parenting activities. The little boy in our house is doing great. He has slept 12 hours each night, and taken an 1.5 hr nap each afternoon. He is eating just about anything - including vegetables. Tonight we had a family night dinner at church and he loved all the food -- he had peas, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, sweet potatoes, turkey, and a meatball.
Tonight he is having a little bit of a harder time going to sleep. He has had a cold since they first brought him ... and I think maybe an ear infection. I will take him to the doctor tomorrow. Thomas and I have picked up the cold a little bit - just two hours he arrived I started sniffling. It sounds too fast, but seems to be the case.
He is moving around great. He crawls very quickly, and bee-bops his head while doing it - its so cute. But he is also really close to walking. He pulls up on anything, including a wall, and walks around holding onto the walls, furniture, etc. I'm sure he'll be walking very, very shortly.
Well, I need to go. Good night.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Cruisin' the Baby Aisle
For years now, I've avoided the baby aisle at the grocery store - whenever I would pass it I would have "visions of sugar plum fairies and sugar and spice and everything nice." OK, so those really don't go together - but you get the picture. The baby aisle represented a very big dream and I never needed anything on it. So I avoided it.
Finally, yesterday, I got to cruise the baby aisle with a specific purpose.
We received our very first foster child placement yesterday.I had about 2 hours to prepare before a 14-month old boy arrived. Of course, this meant I was cruising the baby aisle with very little idea of what I needed. For instance, what size diaper do I buy? What kind of food will he eat?
Really the only thing that ruined it was the fact that the baby aisle at this specific grocery store was so small - on a back wall - and wasn't really fun at all. After the food I had to go shopping for everything else. The closest store, wasn't really the best. I struggled to find baby spoons, bottles, they were out of wipes, a blanket, sippy cups, thermometer, baby meds, and any clothes. Everything seemed to be out of place, nothing was where it needed to be ... and when you have 30 minutes to get so much ...that really took away the fun. It was all about necessity and not nearly as much about the cute factor.
Things worked out well last night, he ate, smiled and laughed some. We are looking forward to another day.
Finally, yesterday, I got to cruise the baby aisle with a specific purpose.
We received our very first foster child placement yesterday.I had about 2 hours to prepare before a 14-month old boy arrived. Of course, this meant I was cruising the baby aisle with very little idea of what I needed. For instance, what size diaper do I buy? What kind of food will he eat?
Really the only thing that ruined it was the fact that the baby aisle at this specific grocery store was so small - on a back wall - and wasn't really fun at all. After the food I had to go shopping for everything else. The closest store, wasn't really the best. I struggled to find baby spoons, bottles, they were out of wipes, a blanket, sippy cups, thermometer, baby meds, and any clothes. Everything seemed to be out of place, nothing was where it needed to be ... and when you have 30 minutes to get so much ...that really took away the fun. It was all about necessity and not nearly as much about the cute factor.
Things worked out well last night, he ate, smiled and laughed some. We are looking forward to another day.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Licensed Foster Home - Finally!
Today we received the great news that we are finally a licensed foster care home! yeah. It only took 6 months, a lot of aggravation, and a lot of money. I quickly added up how much we have spent to get to this point - and it's probably around $1,000. That includes a crib, plus mattress, plus sheets, plus 2 car seats, plus a ton of odds and ends like having a fire extinguisher approved. If we had requested older children, obviously we could have saved ourselves a lot of the cost, but we decided it would be better for us to have young children at this time. We are approved for 0-6 years old.
What this really means is that any point we may get a call from "placement" asking us to take a child into our home. When the call comes, the person won't know much. For instance, it is very likely they won't have a clue how long that child will stay with us. It could be a weekend - it could be a year. I have seriously been hoping that we have an infant placed with us that has been abandoned - it will be a much easier and likely route to adoption that way. But if it doesn't, I'm fine with that also. It will be wonderful to be able to help children, and help other families.
I have no idea how long it will be before the first placement. The time varies widely.
What this really means is that any point we may get a call from "placement" asking us to take a child into our home. When the call comes, the person won't know much. For instance, it is very likely they won't have a clue how long that child will stay with us. It could be a weekend - it could be a year. I have seriously been hoping that we have an infant placed with us that has been abandoned - it will be a much easier and likely route to adoption that way. But if it doesn't, I'm fine with that also. It will be wonderful to be able to help children, and help other families.
I have no idea how long it will be before the first placement. The time varies widely.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Quick Update
I've been meaning to write. Nothing really important has happened. The weather has me excited. It feels absolutely wonderful to have cooler weather - it is suppose to get down in the 30s tonight!
Our nursery room is looking more and more like a child's room. I bought some wonderful alphabet cards to put around the top of the room (see read to me wall cards at www.eeboo.com). I saw them in the background photo of a furniture website and had to ask where to get them. Thankfully, the store responded that same day with another web address. And they were delivered a few days later with a mound of Christmas giftsI ordered at the same time. I also bought an old worn out hobby horse at a yard sale and am close to finishing it. I have stained it - it looks so much better. I still need to replace the seat cover. I will finish that in the next week and post a photo.
Halloween was great. I had a blast at work - we recreated the Wizard of Oz. And I was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West. I wasn't too sure how scary I could be at first. But it was a lot of fun.
We still are NOT licensed as foster parents. It has been a never ending, aggravating process. Once again they called last week and said they forgot to do something. It will hopefully only be a week more ... but who knows. Unfortunately, work is starting to get busy again. It would have worked a lot better for us to have already finished this and had a child for a while. I will need to take time off work when it happens. And I will have committee meetings starting back up next month.
I haven't looked at any fertility treatment lately. It is frustrating not to be doing anything on it. But since we don't have the $ anyway, there isn't much to do. I want to figure out how much it would be for me to have the next test that is necessary. And make a plan.
Our nursery room is looking more and more like a child's room. I bought some wonderful alphabet cards to put around the top of the room (see read to me wall cards at www.eeboo.com). I saw them in the background photo of a furniture website and had to ask where to get them. Thankfully, the store responded that same day with another web address. And they were delivered a few days later with a mound of Christmas giftsI ordered at the same time. I also bought an old worn out hobby horse at a yard sale and am close to finishing it. I have stained it - it looks so much better. I still need to replace the seat cover. I will finish that in the next week and post a photo.
Halloween was great. I had a blast at work - we recreated the Wizard of Oz. And I was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West. I wasn't too sure how scary I could be at first. But it was a lot of fun.
We still are NOT licensed as foster parents. It has been a never ending, aggravating process. Once again they called last week and said they forgot to do something. It will hopefully only be a week more ... but who knows. Unfortunately, work is starting to get busy again. It would have worked a lot better for us to have already finished this and had a child for a while. I will need to take time off work when it happens. And I will have committee meetings starting back up next month.
I haven't looked at any fertility treatment lately. It is frustrating not to be doing anything on it. But since we don't have the $ anyway, there isn't much to do. I want to figure out how much it would be for me to have the next test that is necessary. And make a plan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)