Can't Keep Her Legs Closed.

Well, I took Smiley and Princess to the pediatrician's office alone this morning and I got some looks! I was smiling inside and outside proud to have my little ones. They called both kids names, first and last to 2 separate rooms, to which I replied out loud, "how am I going to do that." I just smiled, nodded, grabbed my babies and toted them to the room.

People must have thought:


"She needs to keep her legs closed" or

"Her and the husband have been busy"


If they only knew.....


Oh, btw, Princess weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz from 7 lbs 2 oz! Woohoo!

So Proud of My Babies

First of all, let's give Princess an applause for finishing her entire 2 oz bottle last night! Good job little girl! Of course at the next feeding, she only took about an once, but I definately see progress, much more than a month of Occupational therapy at the hospital.

Second, send Smiley some love too as he is now eating almost entirely by mouth. My big boy! We're still working on his drinking and debating the bottle vs. sippy cup at this point. He gets one tube feed a day, just for my convenience to put something quickly in his belly before I drop him off at daycare.

Next step is to see what the scale says when we see Princess' pediatrician on Thursday. Hopefully we will see some weight gain. I also need to work with Smiley so he can learn that his tongue should stay inside his mouth while chewing. Oh well. I'll work on getting them eating first, then perfecting it later.

Two Babies!!

Two babies to play with.

Two times the crying...and diapers.

5 times the laundry.

I still cannot believe my little Princess is finally home. She's still so tiny(7 lbs 2 oz at 3 mos old) and fragile. I am happy to say I kept her alive and she is thriving now that she's home! She slept most of the weekend a I think it was probably the first time in her life she could get some real sleep, without people poking and prodding on her all day. Princess seems to be enjoying life outside the hospital.

She actually slept pretty good and probably would have slept all night if I didn't have to feed her every 3 hours. One good thing about a g-tube is that if you're careful enough(unfortunately, I'm not yet) you can feed your baby without waking her. Oh yeah, I get to practice bottle feeding with her too, so I don' t loose the bonding during feeding time. It's actually even better, because I have to cuddle her and praise her every sip she takes and really sweet talk her into eating. The most she ate at one time was one once and I was very proud of her. That's how Smiley started so I think in a couple weeks, months she may say goodbye to the tube.

I'm not so much irritated about the hospital not putting a button, but irritated that they put such a long feeding tube. Poor little thing gets tangled in it. Oh yeah, Smiley's been a big eater too. I now only tube feed him once in the morning(purely for conveince) before leaving for day care.

Ok, I'll let you in on some of Princess' personality:

1. She hates a dirty diaper and hates a diaper change even more.
2. Do not leave without her pacifier.
3. She has a cough(which she will stay with for a while) and it pisses her off.
4. Just because she's lying quietly in her bed or swing does not mean she wants to be picked up.
5. Like a cat, she will let you know you disturbed her when you pick her up to move her.
6. So far, crying is easily calmed by her pacifier. If you put her little hand to her mouth, she will hold it.
7. She likes to laugh when I try bottle feeding her, so I guess mealtime is playtime for her.

At the risk of jinxing myself, she really has calmed down, and is more easily settled now that she is out the hospital. It's like she's a new baby, and drop dead gorgeous already! Will have to train Smiley to beat up any boys who even think about looking at her.

How did Smiley react? I don't think it phased him yet. He's been fussy this weekend, no matter how much loving and extra attention I gave him. I wonder if he's teething again?

What Part of Button Don't You Understand?

This is the type of g-tube button I requested OVER AND OVER for Princess:

After placed, the Mic-key button looks like this:

This is similar to what they placed on Princess:

I am NOT HAPPY!! It looks short in the picture, but Princess' feeding tube hangs out so far it can almost get tangled around her, and it gets in the way when changing her.

The nurse asked if we were comfortable with it. We said yes, but we don't like it.

The plastic cap is hard to open, it leaks, stomach contents gush out as you are trying to put stuff in.

Anyway, I'm on the hunt for someone who can change her to a button. Smiley got a button when he was very little, so did baby D. Why the hell did they put that on her? The damn tubes almost bigger than she is, being 7lbs and all my newborn clothes are too big for her.

Wish me luck. Now that she's in our care gonna have to fix this screw up!

Go Directly to Jail

Princess is home now. Yesterday was a very exhausting day and I will go into details as soon as I can.

I probably shouldn't write this, but since she made the news anyway(and crimestoppers), Princess's mom is back in jail for a long time for a recent crime.

Princess's name now definately will be changed if we get to adopt her and I will argue safety reasons if the adoption worker is in disagreement.

Smiley's mom refuses to go to her required appointments, but will go to court and say they didn't let her go.

I think the babies may be staying for a while.

So Much to Do, So Little Time

We have a lot to do before we bring Princess home tomorrow:

1. Buy formula and diapers.
2. Clothes shop.
3. Have caseworker call the hospital and arrange for us to bring Princess home.
4. Have caseworker take care of getting day care set up.
5. Get medicaid card or number.
6. Set up pack n' play in our room.
7. Get infant carseat out of the attic in the shed.
8. Make sure hospital has set us up to order feeding supplies.
9. Get prescriptions

That's just what has to be done BEFORE she comes home. After she comes home we have to:

1. Spend clothing allowance(buy the clothes, turn in receipts and get reimbursed, you didn't think we'd actually get a check from the state that quick?)
2. Meet caseworker to buy carseat, or buy it and send to state for reimbursement.
3. Teach daycare how to feed her and operate feeding pump if she's still on it.
4. Mix formula, set up feeding schedule.
5. Enjoy cuddling our new little Princess!!!

Am I missing anything?

Happy Dance!!!

THURSDAY!!!

SHE'S COMING HOME THURSDAY AFTER CPR CLASS!!

Must not cry at work. Our g-tube expertise has paid off, so we get to skip the room in...assuming the doctor can get in touch with her caseworker to set it up.

WOOOOHOOO!!!!

She's Coming Home!

It could be as early as Tuesday or as late as Friday depending on how I can work things out with my job. We've been visiting 2 months and they are just informing us that we have to take a CPR class! So it looks like Thursday afternoon, I will take CPR, room in Thursday night or Friday night, bringing her home Friday or Saturday at the latest.

I'm so excited and nervous! Trying to take deep breaths...Please pray my job is kind enough to give me the time off this week to bring her home.

Torn

One of the hardest parts about having a baby in the NICU and another at home is choosing between the two. Everyone is telling me Smiley has to come first since he's recovering from surgery. What about Princess? She had surgery the same day!

My heart hurts not being able to get to the hospital to see her. Does she think Mommy and Daddy abandoned her after surgery? I know she doesn' t understand that we are caring for her big brother right now, since we know she has her own full time nurse at the hospital caring for her. I know it's not the same though and I believe us being there will help her recovery.

I've been fighting back tears all weekend because I miss her so bad, but I cannot just leave Smiley either. How do you choose? I pray she gets to come home this week and I can be there for both of them.

You'd Think I Had a Newborn Baby Again.

That's what life with Smiley has been like since Thursday after his surgery. He sleeps in 1-3 hour stretches and up crying. More darling. Mommy and Daddy or exhausted too! I appreciate his thoughtfulness in helping prepare me for the arrival of his little sister, but I guess he doesn't understand, I need to rest up BEFORE she comes home.

Smley was fighting a fever most of the day yesterday, so I'm sure that made him a little more miserable. He has been keeping his tongue stuck out all the time. I guess he thinks there's no more room for it in his mouth now that he has a palette. One more big operation left, hypospadia repair. Do a google search to find out what it is, don't want to discuss his private parts hear. After that, we just start seeing a dentist to pull crooked baby teeth, then when he gets 5-6 yrs old, he will need some oral surgery, then braces.

I'm not sure when we will remove the feeding tube. We have to start all over again. I tried feeding him baby food but he didn't want to put his tongue back in his mouth to swallow it. I've been tube feeding him this weekend to let his palette heal. I know his mouth has got to hurt.

Ok, so I guess you're wondering about Princess now? Well, we met with her worker yesterday and she signed the papers saying she was in our care, but we can't date them until we take her home from the hospital. When I called to check on Princess Thursday evening, I learned that she had her feeding tube placed. I was very upset they didn't call me to let me know she was having surgery, again. I asked her worker about this and she said legally they can't give me any information in writing and don't have to tell me anything! I figured this was the case and it's horrible! When I call everyday, I just pray that she has a good nurse that day who will give me a good update. Thursday and Friday when I called the nurse told me nothing except she was doing fine. I've been terribly upset and stressed worrying about her and having no information. Thank goodness her nurse today was one I knew well and gave me some good information, L actually called the hospital first and this is what he told me:

L: I called the hospital to check on our little girl.

Me: Really? how is she?

L: She's doing good. The nurse said they did something, something and something and she's sleeping now.

Me:(calling nurse back): How's Princess doing?

Nurse: She's fine. Your husband actually just called.

Me: Yeah, I know, he told me ya'll did something, something, and something and she went to sleep.

Nurse: (laughing) real specific huh? Well, she's off her IV fluids and taking her full feeds.

Me: Is she still on the feeding pump or bolus(fed with syringe) fed?

Nurse: We're bolus feeding her.

Me: She's taking all her food at one time then? So she shouldn't need to come home on the feeding pump then?

Nurse: nope!

I'm still dying to go visit her, so maybe if L, Smiley and I get enough rest, we can check on her tomorrow. I hate that she just had surgery and we can't be there. It's rough having two babies having surgery the same day at different hospitals.

Well, I'm gonna try and catch a nap before Smiley wakes up again. Thanks for the continued thoughts and prayers.

Cleft Palette Repair is Complete

I don't have a lot of energy to go into too many details, but Smiley's cleft palette was repaired this morning. When the doctor talked to us after surgery, I asked how much of the palette he was able to close and he said, "all of it." Also, he said since Smiley had a g-tube, he could go home today instead of staying overnight. Normally they have to be able to take food by mouth, but since he had a g-tube, he didn't have to worry about it. He did take around 3 oz apple juice with occupational therapy before we left. I'm so proud of my big boy!

Bio mom behaved well, except for the fact that her and the boyfriend were loud and just had to wake him up. So nice of them to wake him so he could be in pain! Poor darling. At least there were no incidents at the hospital, and I was able to bite my tongue as she was wanting to feed him.

I'll go into more detail when I get the energy. I was up at 3:30am to have him at the hospital for 5 am!

Daddy's Little Girl

Ok, I know ya'll are all interested in me writing about Mardi Gras and king cakes. I will try to get to that next week, because I really don't remember all the history. The short summary of Mardi Gras is lots of people hanging out in the streets getting drunk and lifting their shirts for plastic beads. I'm not sure when Mardi Gras is this year, but if you look on a calender, it's the day before ash Wednesday.


We went to see Princess on Saturday and she was EXTREMELY fussy. I held her, rocked her, kissed her talked to her and she was still raising hell. L asks to hold her and she snuggled her little head on him and went right to sleep! I guess Mommy's not good enough. That means Daddy will have to settle her down to sleep when she comes home.

Now, isn't that better than talking about king cakes?

I Got The Baby!

I had my first piece of king cake this Mardi Gras season this morning. I got the baby, so what do you think it means?

A. I will become pregnant soon.
B. Princess will come home in the next couple months.
C. Both my foster children will be freed for adoption this year.
D. I'll get ants from keeping the sugar-coated plastic baby in my desk drawer at work.

Unfortunately, for those that don't know Mardi Gras tradition, it means I get to buy the next king cake. Since there's no way in hell I have time to get to the store, I'll just not tell anyone, besides most cakes don' t hide the baby in the cake anymore for fear of someone choking and suing!

Since we're on the subject of New Orleans...how about them Saints! I can't believe they made it that far in the playoffs. I actually watched most of the game with my dad on Saturday night. NFL football usually bores me(although I LOVE college football) but the game was pretty nail biting.

Smiley is slowing getting better and hopefully will be healed enough to still have surgery on schedule.

With Princess, it's anybody's guess when she will be released. Maybe we can take a poll on that too, but answer my first question too. I think the doctors will finally agree to place the g-tube and now will have to go through the process of getting the proper consent papers signed by social services(which is a serious pain in the ass). Besides the feeding issues, they are worried about her cough. The cardiogist mentioned "heart failure' several times when we went to visit her Saturday. It was a little scary sounding, but we're not re-considering taking her. Her other cardiologist assured me she should be fine after her next surgery. It is just so wrong that she has to go through all this.

I sometimes wonder if she will ever get to come home. The trip to visit is difficult to make, 4 hours round-trip with a 14 mo old in the back seat bored from the long ride. Then Mardi Gras is approaching which will make visiting nearly impossible with all the parades running.

I know when this is all over, and if we get to adopt them both, we'll look back and know it was worth it.

6:00 A.M.

And I'm up, wide awake. We decided to stay at my parents for the night, which is fine, expect L, Smiley and I are sharing a room.

Smiley has a sinus infection...which causes his to sniffle and snore ALL NIGHT LONG! I finally gave up and got out of bed. I do pray he heals before Wednesday so we can proceed with his first palette surgery.

Princess' situation is driving me nuts too. I was actually able to speak to a doctor on the phone yesterday! I wish I would have known the nurse was gonna let me talk to a doctor BEFORE I called so I could have wrote down questions. Basically I asked what was the game plan for getting her eating and home. He answered like a politician, answering my questions but not really answering them. Finally after listening to him go throught all the tests and issues she had over the 3 months she's been there(which I already knew about) I said, "when ae ya'll gonna make a decision about the g-tube." He said probably next week, but they are leaning towards thinking she will need it! You think!! They've only been unsuccessfully attempting to bottle feed her for almost a month! I know this because I call the hospital everyday writing down the date, nurse's name and what they tell me. This was probably one of the best decisions I made and would highly reccommend it to anyone having a baby in the NICU.

If she could just be released for one hour, she could be signed into our care, and we could have a say in her medical treatment. In the meantime, Princess remains stuck in a hospital bed, starving for attention while the hospital piddles around!

But That's Their Baby!

L had a nice phone conversation with Princess's caseworker. When transportation brought her bio mom to the hospital to visit, they gave them a hard time giving her clearance to visit. Here's a summary of the conversation between the caseworker and several hospital staff:

Staff: She is not on the visitor's list and transportation worker does not have a state badge. How do I know they are not trying to steal the baby?

CW: I'm her caseworker, that's her bio mom. It's ok for her to have supervised visits.

Staff: That's not her baby! That's L & L's baby! These are NOT the people who come to visit her all the time and call all the time. L & L are the ONLY people on the list allowed to visit her.

CW: Yes, she will probably be L & L's baby one day but not she's in state care. Who do you think put them on the list to visit?


Anyway, I loved the way the hospital said it was our baby even though I know she's not mine, she is mine until the judge says otherwise. The hospital staff seems pissed at mom for what she put Princess through.

Princess's caseworker almost had to call me to call the hospital to let bio mom in! Well, at least I know the hospital is protecting her.

Oh yeah, she also had a note from her supervisor saying the hospital was ready to release Princess and ready for one of us to room in with her. That's news to me considering she is not bottle feeding yet and doesn't have a g-tube.

You Know You Are Infertile If. . .

1. You're not even the slightest bit embarrassed to discuss you're period..anywhere, and you blog about it constantly.
2. You know having sex won't get you pregnant. You're past the point of even bothering to "prop up your hips afterward" or stay lying down for 15 minutes because you know it doesn't do one damn bit of good.
3. You lost count of the number of doctors you've had to stip naked for and sometimes these doctors see you naked more than your husband.
4. You pay these doctors to see you naked, lots of money, not covered by your insurance!
5. You're hubby encourages you to blog about your private life to take some of the whining away from him.
6. You have more blog friends than real friends because no one in the real world understands.
7. You have to obstain from sex when trying to get pregnant.
8. Your hubby judges your RE based on the type of "magazines" in the collection room.
9. You've traveled more than 4 hours one-way to see your RE.
10. You roll your eyes at someone when they suggest "aritical insemination." It's an IUI, dumbass!
11. If you had a nickel for everytime someone told you to "relax" or "just adopt", you'd have enough money for an unlimited number of IVF cycles.
12. You know that adopting will get you pregnant...seriously, it happened to by sister's grandmas' brother's friend's cousin's mother.
13. You start the adoption process while secretly hoping to pop up pregnant.
14. Homestudies don't sound as scary as they used to.
15. You want to hang friends who complain about their kids.
16. You're period is 2 weeks late and you pee on a stick, knowing damn well it will be negative.
17. You considered asking a pregnant woman to pee on a stick to see if they really work.
18. You are willing to give yourself shots, even though you're terrified of needles.
19. You started your own blog to bitch about infertility.
20. You put off buying new clothes because you're gonna get knocked up soon away.
21. You've bought a bridesmaid dress 2 sizes too big because you knew you'd be pregnant by the wedding. You have to pay to get the dress altered(At least you didn't gain the weight!)
22. When you hang out with pregnant women, you hope they sneeze on you and that it's contagious.
23. You come to learn that being a parent is more important than giving birth.
24. You slowly accept the fact that you may never get pregnant while keeping the fiath that you will be a mommy somehow.
25. You said, "To hell with getting pregnant. I'm gonna adopt!"
26. You know some I missed, and you are gonna leave them in my comments.


The foster parent list was fun, so I thought I'd do an infertile one. If you have any more foster parent tips, please leave them in the comments of my last post to help out people considering becoming foster parents. I write a lot about my foster kids, but I am still infertile and still not a "real mommy" yet.

I can't wait to read what you have to add.

Things They Don't Tell You in Parenting Classes(new ones added)

1. They get a good bit of babies, even newborns right out of the hospital.
2. You will not just be caring for the kids, but the kid's parents also.
3. You have no authority to consent to medical treatments for the kids in your care. You can only authorize emergency medical treatment. If your child needs to go under anesthesia, it takes an act of congress.
4. Day care for foster children is paid for.
5. You get mileage for visits and doctor's appointments.
6. Transportation can be arranged to bring the children to and from family visits.
7. They can leave you alone in a hospital for 6+ hours with bio parents.
8. They can leave you alone during surgery to babysit your foster child and their parents(althouth they are not supposed to).
9. Staffing for immediate TPR is not immediate(Smiley was staffed for imediate TPR in May of last year).
10. Bio parents get transportation to every visit, doctor visit, surgery, etc., regardless of the fact that they obviously cannot provide for their children's medical needs if they have no way to get them to the doctor.
11. They need you more than you need them. If something is not being done right, insist they follow the case plan.
12. You can go through 3 caseworkers in 7 months for one child.
13. The maximum number of children your worker says you can have in your home can easily be increased to however many the worker calls you to take!
14. The child's attorney can be your biggest asset. Make best friends with them and demand a good one.
15. You will go to court, have the bio parents lie horribly about you and you have to just sit there, holding their child, and not defend yourself.
16. You cannot count on the child's attorney to speak for the child in court, or object to lies made by the bio parents(see # 14).
17. The visit schedule they give you is just a suggestion. If the bios come on the wrong days, they will actually call you and ask you to bring the child to a visit. Stand your ground and don't give in.
18. If you don't fight for representation for your child, he may go to court with none. This happened with Scooter. Thank goodness his dad was a good person.
19. You can hire an attorney to represent your foster child(the child, not you though). I learned this from following rule # 14.


Ok, all you other parents, add to my list. There's been several people reading my blog that have decided to become foster/adoptive parents. I don't know if I influenced them in their couragous decisions, but let's help them out. I'm still a rookie, being a foster mom for only 7 months, so I'd loved to hear from you more experienced foster parents.

What Good Did That Do?

First of all, thanks for the support with Smiley. I had a rough week with all the Smiley drama and then I had a rough week at work. A co-worker even checked on me at the end of the day. I told him I was just stressed because my baby's mama was giving us so many problems. Sounded funny saying my baby's mama instead of my baby's daddy like so many other people in this town.

Anyway, back to Princess, since we made a visit to see her today. We took our friend/babysitter with us to meet her and alternate in and out with L so I could stay back visiting the whole time. L had a heart to heart talk with Princess telling her it's time to eat so she can come home. The nurse gave me a bottle and let me try to feed her. After not even 5 minutes, she poured the bottle into the feeding pump! I like this nurse a lot, really nice, but what the hell could I do working with her less than 5 minutes? I've worked with Smiley 30 minutes to 1 hour sometimes getting him to eat one jar of baby food and drink 1-2 oz pedisure!

Maybe she has to watch me while I attempt to feed her and that's all she had time for with other patients. During the week, speech therapy is working with her twice a day. Staying on the feeding pump, I just don't feel they are getting her hungry enough to want to eat. I think they should turn off the pump 2 hours and then try to feed her, but I'm no doctor or nurse. I just can't wait until she's released, even if just for one day, so papers can be signed and she be put in our care and we can have some input into the medical decisions being made.

She is still so tiny, around 7 lbs. The 0-3 month outfits I brought to the hospital were too big. I'm gonna have to look for newborn sizes.

I just want them to get her home. I think it's time to place the g-tube, send her home, and we can teach her how to eat. She's been laying in a hospital bed nearly 3 months and it's time for her to go home.

Hanging Herself

I think that's what Smiley's mom is doing.

-Raising a scene in the judge's office with his secretary.
-Threatening the secretary and demanding to see him now.
-Forgeting when the visits are. Showing up for the visit on the wrong day and demanding a visit anyway. They gave in and let her have an unscheduled visit this week. It makes me mad! How am I supposed to meet his medical needs if they are gonna suddenly change the visit schedule all the time?

There is gonna be a be scene at the hospital for Smiley's surgery, I see it coming. There will be a limit on visitors to 3 people. L or I have to be in the room, then there's the social worker, then that leave one more visitor. Mom and b/f will have to take turns. It will get ugly when they are informed of that.

How can I take care of Smiley when I have to babysit his mom? For his last surgery, a transportation worker brought her(not Smiley's caseworker) and sat in the waiting room and left her with us for hours...alone. Do you know how much risk that puts us at? She could make up anything and have no witnesses to say she was lying.

I still think TPR will happen. I pray it will happen, although I'm doubting we'll be lucky enough to get it at the next court hearing.

Thanks for all the prayers and support. Smiley really needs them. We are working hard to get people to speak on his behalf at the next court hearing.

Prayers For Smiley Please

A lot of bad crap is happening with Smiley's case as bio mom is getting desperate for anything to use. Please pray for Smiley's safety and that he doesn't go home because of someone not doing their job. I'm very upset and worried(although I still believe TPR will happen). I wish I could say more. Please pray for Smiley's safety. Smiley would not be safe going home. I'm really scared.

I have to put him in God's hands and pray for the best.

Do You Think I'm Under Stress?

I didn't get to blog this morning and I'm gonna tell you why...

I get to work about 15 minutes early and spend the entire 15 minutes cussing at my computer for not accepting my password and letting me in. Then it dawns on me one of the numbers I entered was wrong! How could I forget the password after nearly 2 years of using it every day?

I guess the stress is getting the best of me. With a baby girl in the hospital and Smiley having surgery in a couple weeks it must be messing with my head.

My password now sits under my mouse pad on a sticky note.

First, and not the last stupid thing Dream Mommy will do this year.

Ok, joke's over. Let's change the subject. Did I tell you about the hail we got Friday night? There was a system of REALLY bad weather coming in, some we let the dog and cat in. Our dog, a great dane, is probably as chicken as Scooby Doo! He must have sensed something was wrong because he went and laid by the window in Smiley's room. The cat, we had to bring inside and put in a kennel, because even though he's about 3 years old, he still acts like a kitten....a really bad kitten.

Anyway, I coaxed my chicken dog back to his spot on the living room carpet. I know he wouldn't be able to get to Smiley and would never hurt him, but I wasn't about to leave a big dog and baby in the room together. I awake around midnight to the sound of hail so loud, I'm afraid our windows are gonna shatter any minute. I tell L to get Smiley. We walk in the front room, the cat starts howling and you'll never guess where I found our dog? Under Smiley's baby bed!

What a chicken!! And I thought he wanted to protect Smiley, but he was hiding under Smiley's bed. Some protector dog he is!

I wish I would have got a picture...but Smiley was sleeping. I didn't want to risk waking him, because by some miracle he slept through it!

2006 "Accomplishments"

Ok, I'm gonna be a dork and list some important accomplishments/events in my life in 2006:

1. We become certified adoptive/foster parents.
2. We completed a homestudy(and it wasn't as scary as I thought).
3. Smiley was placed with us on 6/6/06.
4. We learned to g-tube feed a baby, as well as operate a suction machine.
5. I taught my g-tube fed baby to eat by mouth(well..almost).
6. We got to meet some interesting people at social services.
7. I learned that if you want something done for your foster child, make friend's with the child's attorney.
8. I babysat and supported Smiley's mom to try and help her get things together.
9. I am no longer scared when they call me for a child with medical needs. I know many times their medical needs are manageble.
10. I cried for baby D(several times) after learning his medical prognosis.
11. I learned it wasn't my fault that I didn't have the ability to care for baby D.
12. Scooter was placed with us on 10/16/06.
13. I was called mama for the first time by Scooter.
14. Scooter went home to his dad on 11/14/06. I survived the lost and was happy for him.
15. 11/17/06 - Got the call about Princess
16. 11/21/06 - Visited Princess for the first time. Learned her medical needs were within our capabilities.
17. Took in an exchange student(although it was a mistake).
18. 12/17/06 - Held Princess for the first time. She smiled at L!
19. Made lots of new great blog friends.
20. I accepted the fact that I may never get pregnant, and I'm ok with that, as long as I get to be a mommy.

Goals for 2007:

Finalize the adoption for Smiley.
Have Princess freed for adoption(if no relatives come forward)
Be an adoptive mommy!