a letter to my husband.

dear husband,

did you know football used to be my favorite sport? and that now it’s not? know why? because you are away from us all day long and now you are in henderson, nevada for a football game while we sit at home and pine for you. and to top it all off you are now a baron and not a viking. what in the heck is a baron? don’t you know that vikings are much tougher than barons? hmmm…okay, maybe not in this case. boo.

from your loving wife,

kristine

xoxo

i don’t heart

if you can help.

back to school. and the winner is…

 

today is the first day of school and andrew and all my friends are welcoming their new students into their bright and shiny classrooms. i am one of those people who always liked school. i dread the end of summer as it’s my favorite season, but there is an excitement and anticipation about going back to school. at first i get angry when the back to school ads come out. i mean, i am barely getting used to sleeping in and being lazy, and pow, i have to buy pencils and pens and notebooks? but then…the anger subsides and i actually look forward to buying new things and setting up my classroom. don’t get me wrong…i am loving that i get more time to enjoy the fruits of summer…  and especially because it’s time spent with j. : )

having a child around makes you slow down and live in the present. i’m the same, but i’m different too, and it’s nice to take notice of the small things in life. my days right now are centered around j and doing what’s best for him. the best food, the best rest, the best play. isn’t that what life’s about? we run around doing this and that and sweat the small stuff. being a parent is amazing and i love teaching this little person how to best take those steps away from me, but also how to come to me for comfort when it’s needed. one of the greatest things i heard is when the other day andrew said, “he makes me want to take better care of myself.” thank goodness. i have been nagging him to do that for quite some time!

as for my extended summer,

i get more time to eat this…

i pick these from my garden…

i roast tomatoes and saute the zucchini and eggplant with garlic and pine nuts, mix it with whole wheat linguini, add basil, grated parmesan and ricotta cheese and voila! the perfect summer meal. yum. lately i have been accompanying my favorite meal with macaroni grill rosemary bread made in my bread machine. it is so delish.

i also get more time to do this…

{nap time}

and more time to just enjoy the view…

{j and duke}

have a wonderful school year!

i had j pick a winner for the diaper bag. our neighbor gave him magnetic numbers so i put out 1-7 . i guess the kid likes order because he picked #1 so…congratulations ashley! he must know that any day now, at any moment, you will get a call for a placement! i will email you for your address.

p.s. stay tuned loyal readers. i have other stuff to give away.

life is good.

we had our visit with the adoptions worker today and it went very well. she basically just took a look around the house and visited with us to see how things were going. she couldn’t elaborate on the allegations made about the prior foster mother, and said that this woman would appeal the decision to not re-place j in her home, but that the chances of him going back to her were “slim to none”. phew! his birth mother still hasn’t called either, so if things remain like this j’s birth mother’s parental rights should be terminated in december. {fingers crossed}.

i love this kid, and so does andrew. you should have seen andrew’s face when j called him “daddy” yesterday. it was precious. he gets so excited when andrew, the resident bath giver, gets home. life right now is good. very good.

{a really good bubble bath}

i will somehow pick someone for the diaper bag tomorrow. : )

free giveaway!

andrew and i have been running around trying to get things in order before school starts next week. our social worker wrote a letter for us stating that it is imperative to have time to bond with j. in addition, we are going to see a therapist tomorrow morning who will also write a letter. yesterday andrew took him to the doctor. she told him that she was concerned that he was malnourished because he is only in the 5th percentile for weight. poor little guy. he does have a pretty good appetite, so hopefully he’ll put on the weight he needs. i also met with my sub yesterday and i feel great about him starting off with my classes. my plan is to go back mid-october. i still haven’t figured out the whole pay thing. i just might have to be “sick”. and anyway, my surgery is scheduled for september 12.

in cleaning out our guest room closet i came across something i bought about 10 years ago. a diaper bag. hmmm. totally forgot about this, and of course now i already have 2 more so….i want to give this one away. if you leave a comment, i will choose a random comment and send it to you. it is a kenneth cole basic black diaper bag. classic like the little black dress, ya know?

speaking of diaper bags, andrew took j out shopping with my stepson, christian, the other day. andrew started to take the very cute green flowered diaper bag i use with him. christian pretty much freaked out because he said that people in the mall would think that they were a couple that adopted this child. what did andrew do? he put all the diapers and wipes in a reusable grocery bag. ya, that’s stylish.

today marks the day that j is 16 months old. i think we should celebrate, don’t you? he has been with us for two weeks now. it’s also our puppy, bruno’s, birthday. he is still the baby in the house…

love this dog. every morning he shows such joy when he sees j’s face. he just licks his face over and over again until j laughs. they have become the best of friends…

have a wonderful weekend my friends! i am going to try to catch up on all your blogs this weekend. don’t forget to comment so i know you’re still out there, and so you can “win” the bag!

feeling sick.

a bit angry right now. i contacted our district office today about taking time off. i currently have 41 days sick leave with 12 more to be added this year, so our plan was for me to take off until the end of october. i even went in to school today to set up my classroom for a long-term sub BUT…i heard back that for adoption i can only take a leave of absence WITHOUT PAY. i can also take family and medical leave concurrently to continue to get benefits coverage, but that is also WITHOUT PAY. i cannot be WITHOUT PAY. i think i’m coming down with something. i might be out for 41+ days.

a little scared.

we heard from j’s social worker today after the hearing. the judge decided to hold off on termination until december because the situation at the last foster home was such a fiasco (wish i knew what happened). he ordered visits with the birth mother weekly, but then ruled that they could be done every other week for 3 hours. these visits must be monitored by us. the social worker said that we could use her office or the visitation center that is about 20 minutes away. the birth mom lives about an hour away and the judge does not expect us to go to her. she has our first names only and our home phone number and is supposed to call today to set up a meeting. the ball is now in her court.

interview with mariah

a new and fun feature i want to add to my blog is introducing you to the people i like a whole lot. mariah, my stepdaughter, is my first victim! she spent the day with j and me, and played with him. she is a great big sister. i gather she is pretty happy to not be the baby that gets picked on anymore…

What do you like to do for fun?

I like to relax and hang out with my friends. I don’t really care for big parties.

 

What is your favorite food?

Bread!

 

What celebrity(ies) do you admire?

Pink, because she’s very outgoing and does what she wants to do, and she freely talks about her experiences.

 

What physical feature do you like about yourself?

My height, although I just started to like this feature.

 

What personality trait do you like about yourself?

That I’m outgoing…

 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Working in a restaurant and traveling…

 

What is one word that describes you?

 

out and about

andrew started with football practices yesterday, so he’s out coaching all day from now until school starts on the 27th so….yesterday was my first day alone with the little guy (i’ll call him j from now on). we went shopping in the morning as he has very few clothes in his size (he came with a full suitcase, but most of the clothing was 0-6 months old). everything i had was 12-18 mos., and although he’s 15 mos. old, the 12 mos. is too big. everything would have been fabulous yesterday if not for the dogs who killed a rat and brought it in for show and tell, then proceeded to throw up all over our couch. it was pretty bad.

j didn’t drink any milk at all when he came to us last week, which really concerned me, but i put in some chocolate syrup yesterday and he loved it. today i decreased the amount to near nothing and hope to try just regular whole milk tonight at bedtime.

our friend, kristi, also came by to visit yesterday, laden with tons of gifts! yay! she found shorts that adjusted sizes so that they can fit him and still be used as he grows.

today we had pool day at my friend, lupe’s. he loved it except he didn’t like being held the whole time since he’s used to doing whatever he likes in a baby pool.

our sw just called with more info. the hearing date is august 14, but this is just for his sw to give a progress report to the judge. she said they will wait an average of 6 mos. to terminate parental rights, but if a judge sees that the child has an adoptive home ready and willing they can “fast track” it. she did warn me that we may have to bring him to visit his mother, but to make sure we don’t meet at our home. so…the waiting doesn’t stop, huh??? : )

so far he says a few words: momma, daddy, yeah, and what i think is “dog”. he can be quite opinionated about things, although we have no idea what he’s saying! he has started testing me. for example, he tries to touch the stove knobs, despite me telling him that it’s “hot” and would hurt him. when i tell him “no” he cries and gives me those puppy-dog eyes to see if i’ll give in to what he wants. when he cries it just rips at my heart, but i stand firm.

i hate not having pics to post. : (

what a difference a day makes

First, I have to thank all of the wonderful words of support after my last post. Many of you have already been through endo, which is quite common. My doctor failed to mention that to me, and when the nurse did I felt that she was just trying to put me at ease after seeing my face at the mention of surgery. After I got home I researched online and felt much better. I am just waiting to hear when they want to schedule the surgery.

The best news, however, is that WE GOT A LITTLE BOY! On Thursday afternoon, at about 3:30 p.m., our social worker called and asked if I was sitting down. They had a placement for us, but we needed to make a decision right away. A 15-month old boy was in a foster home, but had to be removed immediately because of some allegations made against the foster mother (nothing to do with harming him). All family reunification had already been severed, and on that very day was his .26 hearing (to terminate parental rights), but in light of the cirumstances just happening the judge put a hold on it until another adoptive home could be found. Our social worker said that this was an ideal situation for us as it was very low risk. We really didn’t need any time to think about it and so his social worker delivered him to our house that night at about 7:00 p.m. He is unbelievably cute! Until he’s really ours, though, I won’t post any obvious pictures of him on the blog, and will probably password protect many posts. We are extremely happy to have this little boy with us! So far he has been a dream, but of course this is the “honeymoon period” in adoption. He sleeps through the night in his own crib and really doesn’t fuss unless something is really wrong, like he wants to eat, sleep, or be changed. He also eats everything we put in front of him, or at least will try it. We’ve been having so much fun with him! I am just in love with this boy (we both are), but realize we have to be a little bit guarded since nothing’s final until the adoption hearing. In reality, anything can happen, so I’m trying to give him everything I’ve got and he needs while still knowing it could end at any time. That’s the reality of going the route of fost-adopt. It is a blessing, however, to have any amount of time with this child. For all of you out there still waiting, it will happen. And it may happen at any moment! : )

 

Have a great week!