Friday, January 6, 2012

Moving Forward - Update on Timing & A Bedroom

We have decided to sit back, relax and let the road to becoming licensed to foster wind it's way in front of us. Those of you who know me best, must know how hard this is on me. It's not that I have to have a placement right away, it's just that once I start something, I want to finish it right away. It also makes me crazy to hurry up...and then wait. However, I should be familiar with that concept after Daniel's adoption!!

However, at this point, I'll be heading into tax season at work and then right after (as in the week after it ends) we are headed to Florida for a trip to Disney World, Islands of Adventure and Sea World.

Since initially we thought we would be done and possibly have a placement as early as December or this month, we were preparing to take an additional child to Disney. Since it's not going to happen, we are prepared to tell our workers (should they decide to move forward suddenly) that while we would love to finish the licensing requirements ASAP, that we will not take a placement until after my busiest work season and our trip to Disney.

A new child coming into your care is enough of an uproar without taking said child immediately on a trip. I can't even imagine the setback that could do with forming bonds and a safe and secure environment for them. Plus, we don't want them to think the we go to Disney all the time!!

This means when we return we can settle back down into our regular routine. I won't be working all five days and weekends and will be able to focus better on a new child and on adjusting our family to the new routines that we will undoubtedly have to fall into.

That being said, we are moving forward on fixing our guest/extra storage bedroom and turning it into a child's bedroom.

Since we don't know age (we specified 0-4) and since we don't know how many (we specified up to 2 children), we are keeping the double bed in the room and adding our crib (which can be converted to a toddler bed as well. If we find we don't need the crib, we'll remove it.

We'll be using Daniel's baby bedding and other saved items to finish the room off.

I've been sorting Daniel's toys and keeping some things in bins so I can easily pull them out and use them. We've even picked up some girl toys and sorted them into bins as well. Since my older sister has a 6 month old, she has promised to be on call and to "set me up" should we get an infant within hours of placement with things like bottles, etc. I've already received some cans of formula (not sure how long they last-will have to check on that) and one or two bottles to get started right away should we get an infant.

Here is a "before" picture of the room we'll be working on. Keep in mind, I've been using it to sort toys etc., so I have some work to do!! I'll update with a picture of the finished room soon!

Oh and in case you are wondering, Daniel wants a brother AND a sister! Oh boy!!!