Monthly Archives: March 2020

I volunteered as tribute

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Friday I went grocery shopping. It had to be done. We needed fresh stuff (and formula and baby wipes) and pick-up or delivery from grocery stores was not available for at least a week. So off I went to HEB.

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There was a line. It was properly socially distanced. They were only letting a few people into the store at a time. They were also wiping down the carts outside and the shelves inside.

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It was rather nerve-wracking doing our shopping. Hopefully pick-up or delivery will be available again soon. I prefer picking up my groceries anyway and have been doing it every week for at least a couple years now. I felt like I should tell people this was not hoarding, but rather one week for eleven people. We eat a lot.

My To-Be-Kids are Really Close in Age

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The Six are really close in age. It’s really kind of crazy to think about.

E and M are 16 months and 19 days apart.
M and A are 11 months and 16 days apart.
A and N are 11 months and 20 days apart.
And N and the twins are 11 months and 22 days apart.

I thought Ani and Cameron were close at 19 months and 18 days. This spacing makes my incinerated uterus hurt all the way from the landfill where it was put 4 years ago.

Homeschooling is going well

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I am really glad we switched to Power Homeschool. It has freed up so much of my time. We’re a couple months in to using it and so far so good.

Adrian has learned that he can’t put in minimal effort and Fritz keeps telling me about stuff he’s learned. Fritz has already finished the whole health course by putting in lots of extra time on it just to get it done.

I’m not 100% sure we’ll keep using it next year, but I’m definitely leaning toward continuing with it.

Hungry Babies

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The twins love to eat. That is very much evident in the fact they are both over 20 pounds at 8 months old. Baby A prefers mixed baby foods while Baby B’s favorites are individual fruits and vegetables.

Baby A absolutely loves fish (tilapia). He got so excited when we offered it to him. Baby B loves to eat his big brothers’ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He’s got four teeth and he’s going to use them apparently.

Some days these guys eat three four ounce jars of baby food each plus four or five six ounce bottles of formula. If they eat this much as babies, I’m concerned for when they are teens (especially since A can put away four scrambled eggs at a time already at 2 1/2… I’m going to have a lot of teen boys all at once).

Adoption Update

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We finally met with our CPS adoption caseworker yesterday so now we have a bit more of a plan and timeline. They need an AKA from the birth mom since the birth certificates have her name written two different ways (why are birth certificates so often wrong?). The termination order was signed by the judge with the wrong birthdate for one of the kids so that needs to be amended. That is probably what will take the longest particularly with the courts basically shut down right now.

They are working on the HSEGH. I already filled out and returned the answers for our part. They are also working on the redacted files. They are hoping we can come in and read those soon. I’ve requested the ECI initial evals for three boys who currently receive services. The fourth has his eval in a couple weeks (maybe, they are closed currently until further notice). We know he won’t qualify, but the eval is required anyway. We are also working on the subsidy paperwork (1/3 of way done!) to get that turned in.

Once all the paperwork is done, the preschoolers will finally be placed with us. They are being placed as straight adopt rather than foster-to-adopt. There isn’t a huge difference between the two, but it does mean we won’t need to have 24-hour awake care between placement and adoption. Six months after the preschoolers are placed in our home, we will adopt all six kids. I’m hoping they will be officially ours by Christmas.

Why I Sweep

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I sweep one room a day and then sweep as needed which is pretty much every day. Why? Because I don’t want my 8 month old to die. Baby B has been army crawling all over the place for a while now and if he can find something on the floor, he will put it in his mouth.

“Soon”

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CPS apparently has a plan to unite The Six all under one roof (ours) and they say it will happen “soon.” Of course soon in CPS time could be tonight or it could be three months from now. I’m hoping for by my birthday in April because it is clearly traumatic for these children to get to see each other and play together for a little bit of time and then the oldest two have to go back to where they currently live. The toddlers and preschoolers are very bonded to each other and it is disruptive and painful for them to be separated.