On Friday, Jeff got all three kids to school and picked them up too. Jeff had planned to go to the CFT for Baby A on Friday morning at 10AM. Although I had told Jeff the correct address, the case worker from the Blake Foundation had called Thursday and left a different and incorrect address for the meeting. So Jeff went to the wrong location. By the time Jeff got to the right place, the meeting was over. In the afternoon, I called Baby A's CPS caseworker and left a message asking about what was going on with Baby A's brother's case. There was a court hearing on Tuesday about his case. I figured that if the court had decided to return him to kin, then returning Baby A to kin wasn't going to be too far behind. The caseworker had left a messaging saying that the court decided that the kin hadn't done enough to get him back but are giving a couple months extension. Long story short, everything is still up in the air.
I got back Friday night. The kids were asleep when I returned. Jeff was asleep with Baby A on his chest. I switched places with him and he went to bed.
On Saturday, we had a Foster Parent's Appreciation Picnic to attend at Brandi Fenton Park. It was a nice event. Apparently, another pair of our former classmates from last year has decided to no longer do fostering, which is sad. I'm guessing that there were about 40 people who were screened and approved for training and showed up at the first class last year. That quickly dropped to about 20 people who graduated from the training. Of those 20, I think that just 5 of us are still doing fostering. One couple, one single gal (although she has a boyfriend now), and me and Jeff. I was talking with one of our former classmates (gal from the other couple) who volunteers at APTCH. She mentioned that one of our graduating classmate couples turned out to be coyotes (guess the police caught up with them). She said that she thought a lot of people did fostering for the money, not the kids. Sad, sad, sad. The foster care system provides a stipend that basically is enough to take care of basic needs, but not anything more. To raise a child properly, you have to give more. That's just the way it is. She and her husband are on the path to adopt a young boy whom they've had for about four months.
The picnic was fun. There was a jumping castle that Henry played on. There was the splash pad. There were bubbles. There was a "train" that drove around the park with the kids in it. Henry being Henry tried to stand up while the train was moving, which made the driver stop several times. There was food (hot dogs and hamburger). There was music. After the picnic, we went to the splash pad. Our camera unfortunately broke, so we don't have pictures of it. Henry jumped right in. Miss R was tentative. But after 10 minutes, Miss R really got into it. She became willing to get her face wet. She was clearly having a fabulous time. We were surprised and pleased at her delight.
We went home. The kids napped.
In the evening, we went to Grammy and Poppy's house for Henry's belated birthday party. I bought the kids outfits at the Disney Store in Chicago. Henry wore Buzz Lightyear PJs and Miss R wore a Belle dress (Belle from Beauty and the Beast). In attendance were Grammy, Poppy, Great Aunt Gloria, Aunt Erin, Uncle Brian, Henry, Miss R, Baby A, Jeff, and me. Baby A slept through most of it.
Henry got two plasma cars (one for him, one for Miss R). We started off the evening with Henry and Miss R finding the cars so that they could play with them in the remaining light. The kids watered plants outside. There was a humming bird calmly sitting in a nest outside. I shot a picture of it. Very rare to find a humming bird sitting still. Then, we had dinner.After dinner, we had cake and he opened his other presents: a nice Toy Story couch, Toy Story aliens, Buzz Lightyear, a toy car, Berenstain bears books, Superman PJs, and other cool stuff. Grammy and Poppy got him a cake with pirates theme. Throughout the evening, we had to correct Henry on his behavior: "Henry, don't play with the knife," "Henry, don't blow out the candles" (the dinner candles), "Henry, put down the knife," etc. We had to correct him on the knife several times. He keeps wanting to use dinner knives as swords so that he can be Captain Hook. The kids fell asleep on the way home.
On Sunday, we spent the day around the house. The kids played with the new toys. They really liked a matching card game that involved animals. They had fun on Henry's Toy Story couch.
Baby A had a rough day. In the afternoon, she projectile vomited on Jeff. I gave her a bath as he put the kids down for nap. She was unhappy about the bath. She was very hungry, having emptied her stomach. I tried to give her a little milk, but she puked that up too. She managed to take an ounce a little later. She definitely didn't feel hot, but her cheeks were rosy.
A couple hours after being put down for nap, I heard Henry cry. I went to check on The Twins. Miss R was out of her bed. In her commanding voice she said, "No touch my Henry!"
After Henry and R's nap, they "helped" Jeff wash the dogs. Actually, they both went outside to help wash the dogs. Miss R was the only one out of the two who actually made an effort to help. Henry spent his time swinging Jeff's golf club around.
It was a casual evening. The kids watched Miss R's new Tinkerbell movie. Then, Jeff gave them a bath. I held Baby A, giving her a little food.
Jeff is holding Baby A now. I'm off to fill out paperwork for APTCH.
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