Where to Start?

Things have been going ok here. I'm getting prepared to take 2 classes in July and hopefully finish my certification by next summer. I went to the school board to fill out the paperwork and I was pleasantly surprised at my starting salary. My bitch principal did me a favor and got me a nice raise. Also, I'm relieved not to have to worry about health insurance.

K is recovering from surgery but I'm having difficulty keeping him from doing things he shouldn't be.

I got an email from G's foster mom saying he was missing J. I feel bad, but J is THRIVING without G. He's able to get mommy and daddy attention since we are no longer constantly trying to keep G out of trouble. J and Smiley play so good together.

Smiley goes back to the nuerologist on Tues. I'm sure he'll want to run more tests. His head is still very small. There's so many questions with him that can't be answered yet. All we can do is hope for the best.

We accidentally got an email asking us to take a 14 yr old boy, same name as K. K begged me. I told him hell no. I can't handle anymore teenagers and all I need now is another boy to gang up on mommy, which L and K have been doing a lot of lately. I guess it will be payback time when we get a girl. Seriously though, one teenager is enough!

Ok, so you want a pic of Smiley? I'll leave it for a couple days.

Hateful

I got a call from my new principal. Apparantly, my former principal talked to him and said some bad things about me. I'm sure he's not the only one she's bad-mouthed me about. She said I had discipline problems and that everyday it was something I couldn't handle! I had to explain that I was dealing with children who had extreme behavior problems over and over and nothing was allowed to be done besides detention. I explained about my hands being tied. I also informed him that my only evaluation I had from her was good. I was never written up!

I just can't understand why this bitch is being so vicious. Why is she working so hard to keep me from getting a job?

I am well aware that it is illegal to sad bad things about a former employee and am consulting a lawyer. The problem is her family is rich, powerful and well-respected.

There goes my reputation down the drain! Thank goodness this principal didn't hold it against me, but it explains why I didn't get calls back from principals who'd seemed desperate to hire at the interviews.

Relief

I found a job! I will be teaching 3rd grade at a small, country public school. Grades 1-12 all in the same school. I was hoping for an offer a little closer, but I've heard excellent things from teachers who worked there. I don't have to sweat out losing health insurance now. I should also get a nice pay increase and better benefits.

Now I need to visit my classroom, get all the manuals and start writing lesson plans. There's always homework to do being a teacher, but the good thing is you can do a lot of your work at home.

I had to drive J 1 hour to meet transportation, who will then drive him another 2 hours to visit his dad who has yet to work ANY of his caseplan in the almost 2 years the sibling set has been in care. There in the process of staffing for TPR, so I have at least a year more before he will become free for adoption. For Smiley, from TPR staffing to TPR hearing date was 13 months and TPR hearing was cancelled and rescheduled twice!

I've been kinda down this week missing Princess. Losing a child, there's good and bad days, but the pain is there always.

K is having surgery tomorrow. Tonsils, adnoids, ear tubes and repair to his eardrum. His dear old dad put battery acid in his ear when he was younger. Just recently found that out when he saw the ENT.

Smiley is having his 3rd attempt at hypospadias repair(please google it) at the end of July. I hope it works this time. This is the last time we will try. No need to put him through more. The likelihood is he'll never know he's different. He has not progressed much developmentally and his head is smaller than 98% of the children his age(which also means smaller brain). He does give the best hugs in the world though! As far as feeding, we're still just on pureed foods, but at least the feeding tube is gone.

Honestly

I know it sounds terrible, but I am so relieved that G is now back with his nanny. We went through HOURS of screaming and tantrums this morning. I know it's the right decision for G and for our family.

I've been getting a lot of calls for job interviews, but no offers yet. Two schools I visited Wed I'd love to work for, one in particular has openings in kindergarden and 1st grade and is closer, so I'm really praying for an offer.

Well, time to get back to Smiley and J! Naptime is over.

G Is Leaving

I never imagined the day I'd have to let a child go. G's former foster mom has told us repeatedly she would take one or both boys if we couldn't handle them. When she called yesterday, I asked if she was still willing to take G back. She said yes. He will be moving back with his "Nannie" Friday. I don't want to get into all the details, but he was not good for my other children in the home and with his Nannie offering to take him(and says she's done after him), he would have the best chance of thriving with one on one mommy and daddy time and not having to share the spotlight. L is taking it hard. I feel bad, but it's best for our family (and my sanity). While we had him, we were able to get him set up with a psychiatrist(his prior ped would not do this) for the end of this month.

In other news, I called to check on Princess' mom. I bet you all know what she's having....she's having a boy! lol! They are monitoring her pg well and I asked if they were checking his heart and she said yes. She said she's been clean 17 mos and took a couple weeks off work when her brother died. She hasn't called because she lost our number. The way her speech sounded may not be from drugs. I believe it's from years of smoking. I really hope she is trully clean.

Saturday I had a nice surprise birthday party. Only Runergirl showed up, and my parents, but those are the only important people in my life anyway. Plus, I got to cuddle her two precious babies..aren't you jealous? Oh, yearh, I turned 29...30's creaping up on me fast.