Feeling Accomplished!

Allen and I are OFFICIALLY MAPPS certified for the STATE OF FLORIDA! WHOOOO HOOOO! I am so happy I could do a dance! We only have 4 steps to go before we are licensed as foster parents! How exciting is that?! Here are the things we need to do:

1. Homestudy number one with social worker: SCHEDULED for June 15 (this Friday!)
*basically the social worker comes over to the house and gives me a TON of paper work to fill out. I have already filled out two tons of paperwork BUT I guess they need more.

2. Home Inspection with Health Department: Will call and set up on Monday morning!
They will come out and make sure we have appropriate smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, thermometers in our freezer and fridge and other things like that. I have waited to call them because I want to make sure EVERYTHING IS PERFECT before they come. If you have one thing out of place they fail you and then have to reschedule a time to come back once you have fixed whatever it is that failed you. This draws things out longer so I want to get it done in one shot!

3. Homestudy number TWO with social worker: Allen and I both have to be present for this. She will talk to both of us together and then separate about our childhood, thoughts on parenting and the profiles we filled out on ourselves. I don't really look forward to this because I am afraid they may dig into how I dealt with Makily's diagnosis and birth. I understand they want to make sure we are emotional able to do this (and I feel I am) but going into the details of that with someone who is looking for a weak spot in me isnt something I want to do.

4. Doctors appointments: YUCK! Allen and I both have to have a form filled out by a doctor saying we are healthy enough to foster a child. Allen has been to the doctor in the last year or so for work purposes (he has to have physicals every year) but I on the other hand have shamefully NOT been to the doctor since two weeks after I gave birth to Makily. I know that's horrible but I really havent had much time to be sick myself and I don't like going to the doctor...who does really? So I will be calling to schedule all that on Monday too.

Makily's room is TOTALLY up and running now. We have all her equipment moved in there now and she is sleeping in there by herself at night like a champ! I am so proud of this kid! I do miss her sleeping right next to me and we still have the pack n play in our room. I guess part of me wants it there just in case she decides she wants to come back in my room!? I AM SO LAME! It's nice to have the video monitor though because at night when I wake up I can look at her and see she is fine. We also have her on the apnea monitor which really gives me peace of mind. I know if she has a seizure and runs into trouble breathing it will go off and alert us. It did go off last night. Allen and I darted in there so fast! Thankfully it was just a loose cable. We replaced it and it was fine the rest of the night. Hearing that alarm though is a SCARY feeling YUCK!

Here is her GORGEOUS bed...I love her room!


I ordered a crib set for the "foster baby's" room. It is Dancing Frogs. It looked neutral online when I ordered but now I am worried it's kind of boyish. I don't know. It came in the mail when I was at the store. Allen was so excited he put it all up while I was gone as a surprise. It's really cute. Here is a picture of the set.


We have Makily's old crib set so if worse comes to worse we can use that. We wanted to paint that room but I am not sure what we are doing.

Fostering has so many uncertainties to it.

Are we getting a boy or girl?
How old will the child be?
How long will they stay?
When will we have a placement?

I have grown used to uncertainty since I had Makily for obvious reasons. I do not think that I would have been able to foster before I had Makily. She has really taught me so many things about life and living. I definitly have the "jump in" attitude now. She has taught me life is too short and to not live in fear of the unknown. Some days are harder than others though...which leads me to this.

Tomorrow Makily has a follow up with her cardiologist. Her heart is enlarged on the right side and she has two holes in her atrium (ASD's 8.5 and 3.5 mm w/shunting and moderate cardiomegaly). Every year they say she will have need it repaired the next year. I am hoping they will put it off again. If not though we will deal with it. I am sure she will come through it with flying colors but heart surgery is just a scary thing no matter how you look at it.

I will try to start blogging more regularly. Andrea has been urging me too and I really should. It helps me so much to get all these things out. I know alot of people also wonder how we are and what we are doing.

Thanks for keeping up with us!