Three Under Three

I had all intentions of being a better blogger this week after my little break, but then life through us a curve ball on Monday evening and right now, we're in plain survival mode.

We're currently the parents of three children under the age of three.

Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds and you can all take a moment to say "bless your heart!"

I should back up a bit and tell you that after lots and lots of discussion, we decided that we felt like our DFACS journey wasn't quite over yet. We felt like we had learned a lot over the last placement and we knew now the questions to ask before any major decisions were made. We also felt like that even though we knew some people in our family would be hesitant, we decided we wanted to do straight foster for now and if adoption was ever a possibility, we would consider it then. The reality is that even though fostering can be heartbreaking, it is still a job that needs to be done. With the leaving of Destiny, we felt like we could handle sending any kids back, as long as we knew they were going to a safe place.

So, on Monday, we finally felt like it was time to call our caseworker and tell her we were ready to take on placements. We did have a few changes in what we who we would take in our home. To keep Olivia safe, we told them that anyone who they called us for, had to be Two and under. We knew that would throw us into a large pot of foster parents and it would probably be a while before we got any calls. We decided we would just bump up the age as Olivia got older.

Sure enough, not even an hour after talking with our caseworker, she called back saying that another county west of us was looking for an emergency placement that night for a two year boy and a 7 month old girl, would we be interested? We said yes after a little bit of information and then waiting two hours to hear back from the kids caseworker, they asked us if we could come to their office to meet them, so we woke up OK from her nap and headed their way for a little bit of a drive.

I'll be honest in that the first 24 hours were rough. There was only one moment that I thought "what the heck are we doing?" but today we've kinda settled into a somewhat of a routine and things honestly cannot be going any better. I'm even here by myself holding down the fort.

Olivia and A.J. (name changed), are getting along wonderfully. They are right at the same age and keep each other pretty entertained. They have their moments like any two years do, but they are having a blast with each other. A.J> is the first person Olivia asks for when she waked each morning.

The baby is doing okay, but having a rough week due to teething, an injury, and vaccinations. I'm surprised at how fast I have seemed to forget all the baby stuff. She came to us with nothing and that included a schedule, so our biggest hurdle is figuring one out. She however does remind me of a little Olivia in the fact she wants to be "a big kid" so bad. Baby is already trying to follow the big kids around and gets quite frustrated when she cannot keep up. Hopefully, we can figure out the schedule thing over the next few days.

So far, things are going really well. This has been a completely different experience than with Destiny. Even though our house is loud and toy are everywhere, things are going much more smoother this go round. Everyone, including us three, seem to be adjusting really well. In fact, David even said last night that things seemed to be more natural this go round even with it only being a couple of days. I'm sure it all boils down to the age of the kids.

Oh, and they both sleep like champs!!!

I am so not use to having a kid that sleeps like these two! Olivia is of course up at her usual hour both mornings, but its been nice, because I've made sure to sit down with her and have some just us cuddle time while the other two are still sleeping. Olivia is also the official "little mama." She is always right beside me trying to help with the baby and she has no problem bossing A.J. around.

And because I know I'll get those questions, for right now, we are looking at this as a temporary thing. There is already the possibility of adoption opened to us if we want to go forward. However, we've decided to see how the month goes before we rush into any permanent decisions. Also, A.J. does have a medical issue that we are wanting to learn more about before we make a decision. Its not that we are looking for "perfect children," we want to make sure for A.J.'s best interest, we'll be able to provide the care that he needs long term. We've already done a good bit of research on his condition, but we are waiting on an appointment to talk to his specialist to get the full details and to make sure we understand what care he'll need from us in the future if this becomes a permanent placement.

So, if I'm not around much this week, that is my excuse.

We're in survival mode, but we're having a blast.

Plus, my apologizes that I have not gotten around to taken pictures yet. It's on my to do list this afternoon and I'll try to post some soon.