Our Foster Care Adoption Journey

Here is our Foster Care Journey video I made. Enjoy!

1 Year with Baby J

One year!! It has been one whole year since sweet baby J came into our lives!! 

He has taught us a lot in the last year. We all had to learn how to be a family of four. Michael had to learn how to be a big brother. I had to learn how to be a mom to two boys and learn to prioritize each of their needs. 

It's been a good year, but it's been a hard year. I've asked myself several times "what are you doing?" And I've told God several times "I can't do this!" But with His help, we make it through each day and I get up each morning to do it again day after day. Baby j is not an easy child, but he is worth it! I will do whatever I have to, and go through all of it, to show him that I love him and give him the security that he needs! 

He has grown so much in the last year. Not just physically, but emotionally and mentally. He is talking so much more, eating so much, and trusting more and more people. For example, he doesn't scream the whole time in church nursery now. And when I pick him up, he has a big smile on his face! 

He is still going to speech therapy once a week, but is getting very close to "graduating"  and won't need it any more. Although his therapist loves him so much she doesn't want him to graduate. 

He adores Michael and wants to do everything he is doing, and be just like him! It drives Michael a little crazy, and then other times they play so well together! 

He sleeps so well! Every night he goes to bed at 6:30 (which is crazy early, I know!) and sleeps till around 7:30! And still takes a two hour nap each day! 

He will eat just about anything, if he wants to eat. But most times during the day, he just doesn't want to eat. At dinner he will sit in his seat and eat whatever we put in front of him. 

He loves to be outside and asks to go outside all day everyday! Rain or shine, he wants to be outside! 

Running, throwing a ball, jumping on the trampoline, driving his 4-wheeler, playing in the water, playing in the sandbox, riding his bike, playing in the dirt, chasing dogs, kicking a ball, playing basketball or baseball, he does it all!  

He is also obsessed with"big trucks" right now. A. If truck is anything from a back hoe, to a dump truck and everything in between! Construction sites get him very excited!! 

We have several trucks at home that he carries around with him. Love trucks!!

He has started singing along with songs a lot and it is so sweet! His favorite is twinkle twinkle, but also loves the wheels on the bus, roll over, and Jesus loves me. We listen to a lot of music during the day, and it seems to be rubbing off on him. 

Bath time makes him happy! So if we are having a bad day, we take a bath! And the saw he says shower is so cute,  "Showsher"!

He is becoming very independent and wants to do everything by himself. Getting in his car seat, getting dressed, getting his snack, etc... 

As far as the adoption goes, we are getting closer! Hopefully sometime in May is what they are telling us.  

It will be so nice to have his adoption finalized and not have to put something over his face and abbreviate his name. We are so ready to show him off!! 

11 Months with Baby J

11 Months! That is how long J has been in our home!! Almost a year!! He has come so far and made so much progress in the past 11 months!! 

I skipped last month kind of by accident, so here is a big update!

The first week of March was a big week for us. TPR happened, so now we are one step closer to getting to adopt him!! This is huge and we have been waiting since we got him for the court date!! 

He is growing so much in his vocabulary! He says probably 100 words, and can point out different objects with flash cards. He loves to do his flash cards! He is meeting all of his goals at Speech Therapy, and we are settting new goals. We are really trying to get him to say 2-3 word sentences rather than just one word at a time. He will get there, and probably sooner then we think! 

We have hit a nice groove during the day and he thrives on schedule and routine. He also does very well when he knows what to expect. The hardest times for him are when he is doing something and I stop him abruptly because we have to do something else. But if I give him a heads up, he handles changes much better. 

He is definitely in his terrible twos!! His favorite word to say is  "no", but that is also his least favorite word to hear. He has lots of temper tantrums throughout the day, and we are trying to figure out the best way to deal with them. Sometimes it is time out on the stairs, sometimes is is timeout in his bed, and other times it is sitting with mommy till he can calm down. We have tried lots of different things, and are still figuring things out. 

He is eating great and gaining weight. He is up to 26 pounds!! He will eat most anything we give him for dinner. Breakfast and lunch, I give him a choice and he likes to just snack during the day. He is mostly wearing size 18-24 month clothes. One warm days we will out on shorts, and the ones from last year still fit just fine. He is skinny, but getting a lot taller! We will be moving up to size 4 diapers very soon! 

He loves "Didle" (Michael) and asks about him all day! "Where Didle?" I hear that all day long! 

He also thinks that Daddy hung the moon! Anytime daddy does anything or give him anything, he remembers and tells me all day. Like the other day, Andrew changed the light bulb in J's closet, and he pointed out all day, "Daddy! Light!"  He sure does love his daddy! 

He still loves any balls! Loves his basketball goal and baseball bat/tee/ball. We went to a football game on Saturday and he loved watching them throw and kick the ball! He loves to ride his bike and loves the trampoline. He still drives his car all over the place and loves to race michael on his go cart. Basically, if he is outside, he is one happy boy! He asks all day to go outside. All Day!! When we are on our way home from getting michael, he starts asking about playing outside. It is definitely his happy place! 

He had his first sleepover this month! I went out of town to a conference and Andrew had to work all weekend, so the boys spent a night with my parents and then the next night with Andrew's parents. He did great!! He slept good and had so much fun!! It was a big relief that he was well taken care of and happy while I was gone. 

We took a trip to the children's museum a couple weeks ago and he had so much fun!! He loved all of it! But especially loved the big playground. 

We love him so much! And he makes us laugh everyday! We are so thankful to have him as part of our family! We can't wait to make it official!! 

 

 

       

9 Months with Baby J

Baby J has been home for 9 months, and unfortunately we are no closer today, then we were 9 months ago to adopting him! Maybe someone is reading this, hoping to get more information about foster care adoption. If that is you, my first piece of advice to to be patient! Everything goes SLOW. EVERTHING!! But we are persevering, and hoping that one day, he will share our last name, and I will finally be able to share a picture of his precious little face!

In the past month, J has experienced his first Christmas with us and his first snow with us! Christmas was so much fun! He loved all of it, except for Santa!

He also loved the snow! He loved rolling around in it, and jumping in it! He and Michael had so much fun playing on the trampoline in the snow!

He loves bath time! He will stay in the bath for an hour and just play and play! His favorite toy in the bath is a cup! It really is the simple things!

We also started watching a new baby this month, who is only 2 months old. J does get a little jealous when I am feeding the baby, but that's the only time. He likes looking at him, and talking to him, but when I am feeding him, he tells me to put the baby in his bed! It's going really well though!

J has decided that going pee-pee on the potty is the most fun thing ever, and asks to sit on the potty all the time! And every time he sits on the potty, he actually goes! So, I take him potty, but am not starting to potty train. If he thinks it's fun, then we will do it, and maybe by the time I do potty train, he will be really easy to train! He also loves to flush the potty! When anyone goes to the bathroom, he runs in, so he can flush when we are done. He also cheers for me when I use the bathroom, and says, "Yay!! Mommy!! Pee-pee! Candy!" (He gets candy if he goes pee-pee on the potty)

Michael and J have really found their groove as far as getting along and playing well together. I think Michael being home for Christmas break really helped. They have so much fun together and Michael is doing great playing with him. It took him a while to figure out what to play with him, and how to play with him, since he is so much younger. But they love jumping on the trampoline together, and J loves riding with Michael in his go-cart! I love watching them together. So many answered prayers!

"I still remember praying for the things I have now!"

Hopefully we will be moving closer to adopting him by next month, but if not, we will keep on going. In our eyes, he is our son, and we will move mountains to make it official!