Trial One

Have I ever mentioned how great my friends are? Well, they are. One of my friends has a three year old daughter, and she felt comfortable enough dropping her on our door step with a bag of clothes. Of course, it wasn't as dramatic as that and her mom really did need a babysitter, but I had my mind set to act like I had never met the little girl before and this was my first placement.

So, thirty minutes before her arrival (which I know we don't have estimated arrival times for foster child), I was faced with problem 1-

We didn't have safety rails on the bed. While I was putting the sheets on the bed, I realized she could fall off and hit her head on the dresser or on the bed frame. So, ten minutes of frantic craigslist and resale site searching and I had located safety first bed rails within ten miles of the apartment. And, just my luck the lady was headed home and she only wanted $5 for them. Problem solved.

Oh, I forgot to mention before I even went home I stopped by Big Lots to buy the essentials- gummies,juice, chocolate milk, Popsicles, and cheese and crackers. We already had healthy, grown up food in the house and I had already planned to make honey mustard breaded pork chops (Pinterest recipe), macaroni and cheese, creamed corn, and corn muffins. I didn't know if gummies were an essential, and I wanted to make sure she felt comfortable and right at home. Within being in our home for five minutes, she had spotted the cheese and crackers and sucked down a Capri Sun. She was happy, and I was happy.

The night just went up from there. We made dinner together. She got to crack the egg for the corn muffins and help pour the batter into the muffin pan. She called them pancakes. I thought that was freaking adorable. We ate dinner at the table, which, believe it or not, was the first time we ate at the dinner table since we've lived here. L and I cooked and Dustin cleaned. After supper we colored for a little bit and then we got L ready for bed. She was in bed and asleep- without struggle- by 7:45.

Dustin and I did our own things for a little bit- I showered and did laundry while he watched Top Notch. We did our GPS homework together and talked about our days. We were in bed by 9:30. It was nice.

It was just like playing house as a child. You be the daddy, and you be the baby, and I will be the mommy.

Funny enough, I woke up every hour between 10:00 and 6:00 to check on her. We had baby monitors plugged up just so I could make sure she didn't wake up scared and upset in the middle of the night. She never made a peep, yet I still had to get up and check on her throughout the night. She slept soundly the entire night.

It was a success. By morning time we were best friends. She was upset when she found out I couldn't take her to school. I know, I know. It's not the same thing, but geeze was it wonderful. Needless to say, we are so ready.

Our DHR lady that puts on the gps training keeps asking us, "what changes will you experience with a child in the house...". Dustin and I are oblivious honestly because we've never had a child in the house. We understand a baby/child changes everything, but we are ready for that change. We can't wait. And, right now, we are doing a lot of waiting!

We survived...

So, my husband and I are currently taking our GPS classes to become foster parents. They warned us about how much paperwork was involved, but we had no idea. I've written more in the past five weeks than I have in my entire high school and college career combined. I am one of those weird teacher-kids who love to fill out paperwork, but foster parent paperwork is too much for me. It's repetitive and I also feel like I am getting negatively judged if I answer a question with one word. I get overly excited when the questions ask about previous marriages or our own children- FYI we have neither. 

The "scary DHR lady" who ironically is extremely sweet came to visit us for our first in home visit this past Thursday. We had every light socket switch covered and every sharp, pointy, somewhat hazardous thing stored away. Dustin slaved away at installing cabinet door locks, just to find out we have to have legit lock and key locks for our cabinets with cleaner. Nothing screams- welcome to our home- like a big, bulky padlock hanging off the cabinets. Oh, well. One of the other things on our list to baby proof our apartment was having to take down Dustin's Walking Dead posters. You know the zombie eating show on AMC? Dustin loves it, and I don't blame him. I enjoy them too. However, the huge movie poster above the television of a zombie eating the flesh off a human is a little much. It freaks me out. I can't imagine what it would do to a three year old. I scaled the living room wall when Dustin was in the bathroom and managed to weasel off both of the posters without him knowing. It took him -2 seconds to realize they had been taken down. They left a pretty big, empty spot. I will have to find some awesome quote about family and love and gardens to fill it up. The scary DHR lady will love that. 

The initial visit was three hours long. She asked us a billion questions. Our age reflects our answers. Lol. She ask if we are happy with where we are in life. Being that I've only been a legal adult for four years and I am not in jail nor addicted to crack, yeah I am pretty happy with my life. No, seriously. I am very blessed. 

Halfway through the session she told us she had to opt-out some of the other coupls taking the class. Whew. I am glad we made the first cut. 

It's 10:56 and I just got out of the shower and am cuddled up to my husband in the bed. Our dogs are asleep at the foot of the bed. Dustin is watching Sunday night football and I am blogging away. The house is clean and laundry is washed. I made a delicious BBQ beef casserole with homemade garlic bread and freshly baked snicker doodle cookies. There is a mountain of dishes in the sink, but Dustin says he will handle those tomorrow AKA I will do the dishes tomorrow. My lesson plan is done and my outfit is laid out for tomorrow. My lunch is packed and I am ready to take on another week of crazy hectic work. 

I just wished a child was somewhere in the mix. Man, we are ready to foster. Come on, licensing.