Moved to Blogger

Ok so as soon as I say I am back, I decide to move to blogger. So here is the link in case you want to come visit. Sorry for the change, but I just liked what blogger had to offer more so than wordpress.

Mom with Many Names

Yes, I’ve gone with a new name too!!! See you soon!!

The great return!

Ok, so I have been gone for quite a long time and I really want to get my blog back up and moving. Things have been quite crazy around here for quite awhile now and are finally starting to get back to some sort of normalcy.

First, I’m pretty sure I talked about the 3 little girls that we had. Well sadly, last week we had to say good-bye to our oldest. She just had more troubles than we could help with her. We hung in as long as we could (almost 10 months), but just felt in the end it was in everyone’s best interest (even hers) to request a change of placement. It was such a battle in my mind to make that decision! Things are a lot calmer in our home now and I’m a lot calmer so it really is a decision I’m at peace with.

So at this point, we are down to 2, plus Carter. I have 2 open spots and am really excited to get more kids in here soon!! We are doing respite next weekend as well so that will be fun. We havn’t done respite since our current placements arrived.

Well, I plan to return to regular posting starting now and I am just so excited to be back!

It’s been forever.

Well I’ve been MIA from the blogging world for quite some time. I think I just needed a break to get things in my life back in order. After all the illness and such I was feeling a little in the dumps because my house was a mess and I was a mess. So I’m now back on track and ready to get back involved.

We still have the girls and actually are working on getting a 4th placement. We are going vehicle shopping this weekend and we are looking to get a dreaded mini-van. Hopefully all goes well. We also want to go down to 1 vehicle. I just don’t go anywhere during the day when Mike is at work. He gets home around 2 so I just schedule all of our appointments after that. Anyways, my point in all this is if we get a mini-van we will be able to hold 1 more child. I really want one more, but being that we want to go to one vehicle, we need to be able to fit all of us in one car. I’m not too excited about driving a mini-van (it’s my own prejudice), but it will make traveling a million times easier. Right now I can get our kids in the car, but nothing else…not even our double stroller.

Well, that’s it for now. I just wanted to let my many faithful readers, that I am back!

Love you all!!

Christmas Pictures

Well here are some pictures of our Christmas. I am only including those of Carter, but the girls had a great time with us too and got a lot of really nice things from everyone. It was fun seeing them so excited.

Candid Carter

We are back to homeschooling full board finally. Seems I have a rythym down with these 4 kids now and I am also finally feeling better (threw my back out again and the itch). You can go to his homeschool journal to see what he did today.

I’ve been trying to take more pictures of him and thought these turned out really cute…

Beware the Bug!

Well I figured I’d start my stint back with a nice little post about bugs. What sort of bugs, you ask? Well, the kind that make you itch. Now keep in mind there are several varieties and I plan to only discuss one of those little buggers (yes, pun intended) here today. The name… scabies! Now you may be wondering how I have come across these little guys and how I have obtained such a wealth of knowledge about them, well, here goes. I got them or well, I had them ( I hope!)

I have traced back the source based on where the dr. said I could get them from…possible sources include sharing clothes (nope, haven’t done that nor have I bought anything new for a few months), close contact with another such as holding a child for prolonged periods, sexual contact, etc. (know I didn’t get them from hubby because he doesn’t have the same problem) which pretty much made me think I got it from one of the kids. Now I didn’t think it was from the girls because I was pretty sure I had started to itch (which is the main symptom…not just any itch either…it’s an itch that doesn’t go away and is insane at night) before they came to us. So last night I was going through some of our foster care papers and came across papers on a little boy we did respite for around the time, I thought I would have contracted them. It all came together then.

Typically for all foster kids as soon as they come to our home, we strip them and wash anything we can (clothes, stuffed animals, blankets, etc.) just because you never know what they are coming from. Now a respite child is already placed with a foster home so I’m usually not as concerned, but if it’s a longer respite we will still do it because I have this thing about how clothes smell and sometimes people use detergent I don’t care for, etc, etc.

Now in this particulary case, the respite was just one night and I thought, what the heck, I would skip doing the laundry that day. Well, that was a big MISTAKE!!! Looking back I realized that his clothes were kind of yucky (I actually ended up having him wear some of my backup clothes when we went out to eat because his clothes were so nasty and stained and smelly (now keep in mind this is a child that is already in a foster home!). This sort of thing doesn’t really phase me anymore because there are quite a few foster parents around here that treat their kids like second-class citizens. These people however were working to adopt this sweet little boy. Now, I will say that honestly, the adults didn’t look much better themselves.

Now thankfully, these little buggers have quite the discerning taste buds and actually have preferences on who they like to chomp on. Thankfully (well, not so much for me) they only liked me! Mike didn’t get it nor did any of my girls or Carter.

I finally couldn’t take it any longer and went to the dr. he gave me a lotion that should take care of it. Now I’ve done the lotion thing and still itch which apparently is normal for 2-6 more weeks after treatement. At least the itching has subsided some. I’m not sure I could handle the itching anymore.

Moral of the story!!! ALWAYS WASH THE CLOTHES!!!!

Finally!!

Well life isn’t really back to normal yet, but I’m hoping it will come soon. I would have been back sooner, but I threw my back out again (dislocated the joints in my back again) so I’ve been laid up for the last week and a half. I have my laptop, but the pain pills make it hard for me to concentrate on anything because they make me so tired, but at least I had some help with the kids. It’s starting to feel better now though and things are going well. I have a lot of house work and laundry to catch up on, but it will happen. Over the holidays, we got some bit house projects done so that at least is a big to-do that I was able to cross off our list.

It has been very cold here which has kept us shut in. I am definitely getting cabin fever!!!

Well, the kids are calling, but I plan for things to get back to normal now!!

Btw, I haven’t had a chance to do much reading either so let me know how you all are doing!!!

Promise to Return

Things are going well…just busy. I plan to return to normal posting as soon as the holidays are over!! Hope all is well with you and yours.

Feelin a little blah!

Just wanted to check in and see how everyone was doing. I’ve just been in a funk lately so haven’t really been doing much writing (obviously). I think it’s the weather being yucky. Hopefully I’ll get some time outside this weekend and that will help. I should be back to normal posting in the next couple days. Hope all is well and your holiday preparations are going well too!

Hmmm…

Well I am back from my “holiday” (HA!!! Like it ever really is a holiday for a mom!) Things went pretty well. The girls did well in all the new environments and met lots of new surrogate grandparents. We got the inside decorated for Christmas (our family tradition is to decorate the day after Thanksgiving. Mostly because Mike has that day off so he can help!) and most of the outside decorated. I will try to post some pictures soon! Honestly though it’s not much because, frankly, most of the decorations that exist are just plain tacky (no angry letters please)! Basically, I have a corner in the house devoted to all things Christmas although I do have a magnetic advent tree hanging in the living room, and I have a small glass nativity set on the dining room table.

Anyways, enough about my boring life.

So I need your advice (speaking to all foster parents here!).

What methods do you use to discipline/teach the rules of your house to new placements??

Right now, I do like our idea (will post what we do in the next day or two), but I want to know if there are any other methods that may work better. (For those of you who aren’t foster parents feel free to let me know what works for your kids. As foster parents we are very limited on what we are allowed to do for discipline so that’s why I’m asking other foster moms specifically.)

OK, sorry to leave it so short and sweet, but I have to run. I have to finish up laundry and get to bed. I’m exhausted!!!!!