[missw005]

Originally Posted by KarynB

Miss - That is so amazing!!! Ok, so how does it work now? the committee in October decideds which of the two of you it will be? Holy stress Batman! Hehe - you are like me, thinking wow, I might have a baby, what do I need to BUY? !!!! I love it. I am almost out of stuff to buy except clothes which i am holding out on cause I'm not the biggest fan of "neutrals" except in very young babies and ours most likely won't be that tiny....so now I'm onto stripping and redoing furniture. Ah well, at least it's productive. I can't wait to hear more about this...Oh, also, I hope I didn't offend you other night talking about tantrums and I said my son wasn't ADHD - I realized after you hadn't even said your son was so I hope I didn't offend!

Hey Karyn!!! Yes, my son is ADD/ADHD, and heck no, I'm not offended. I'm just glad to have someone else who's been through the meltdowns and can sympathize!!

As for waiting until October until the committee makes it's decision - I believe the phrase was "Holy stress, Batman!" You have no idea. I can't imagine being THIS close and having to wait another MONTH or longer to find out their decision.
I may go crazy.

Oops, too bad, already there.

When I went to committee for Q, I made a photo album and a video for the committee to look at. Pictures of our family and friends, and a video of our house and the town we live in. I heard the video was quite entertaining, my mom drove around town while I videotaped out the window (it was wintertime and very cold). Well being the Video Idiot that I am, I didn't know the sound was on while we were driving around. Now my mother is 70 years old, and not the most careful driver. She kept doing the "slow-n-go" through stop signs, or just blowing through them altogether. I was ragging on her for it, and Yah, apparently it was ALL ON TAPE.
Q's worker told me they were rolling on the floor listening to us bickering about her crappy driving skills - me telling her to be more careful and her telling me to stop being a side seat driver and stop telling a 70 yr old woman how to drive! For crying out loud.

So I'll definitely be more careful this time. Geez.

Anyhoo, each family is represented by someone, who shows them your pictures, video, talks about the family, their experience, stuff in their homestudy, etc. Then the committee picks the best family for the child. So it's all how well you come off to the committee.
Yah.............no pressure there at all.

As for buying stuff...................I did pick up a few things at a garage sale today. Just can't help it!!!

I packed up all of the baby boy stuff I had in the house, put it in a Rubbermaid bin and put it in the garage with the other bins of the boys' outgrown clothes. I know, I know, I should probably get rid of all of it if I'm going to have girls, but I'm just not quite there yet.
Besides, there are jeans and some shirts I'm sure that girls could wear in there. Boys' denim jean bibs can become girls' bibs with a nice pink or purple shirt, right???

I almost bought a bouncy seat today at the garage sale and decided I'd better not get ahead of myself. (AGAIN!!!) I'm still with just 1 paper grocery bag of girls' clothes.
And I do have the crib still up (never took it down, I still use it sometimes when friends with babies come over or for foster children), a playpen in the garage....... I don't have a highchair, baby swing or bouncy seat, though..........never needed one!
Of course I'll keep my eye out at the garage sales over the next few weeks.................
STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!
Listen here, self, you jinxed it when you bought baby boy clothes and now you have a bin full of them!!!

But you know, Karyn, I just LOVE to shop. (sound like anyone you know????)

And SANDY!! OMG!!! That is HUGE!! THIS IS IT!! I just KNOW it!!

Thanks, Leigh. That thought is constantly running through my mind as well. It's hard not driving myself crazy with it, though!
Guess now I know why I haven't gotten called for any long-term (ie, pregnancy leave) subbing jobs this year!!!

Oh I cannot tell you how much I hope you are lucky enough (not to mention the children) to bring them to your home. I am sending prayers your way. Keep us posted!!

Andrea - I appreciate the prayers. I'll take all the help I can get!! It's going to be awful waiting until October for a decision!!!!!!!! I'll try not to drive you all crazy with my impatience!

YEAH MISS!!!! Okay deep breaths....you sound shockingly calm right now!! Did you celebrate with a drink? LOL totally kidding of course!!

Natalie - If I sound shockingly calm, I must be faking it as well as I'd hoped.
Seriously, though, I've been disappointed enough by being the #2 or #3 family choice that I try hard to rein my emotions in and not get overly excited about it. It just makes it so much harder when I don't get picked. So I try not to think/get excited/obsess about it too much - at least not publicly!

Honestly, you girls on the forums are amongst the few people I can talk to about it. We've all said before, non-adoption people just don't understand. So I don't say too much to them about anything. My 3 closest girlfriends know about me being one of the 2 families, but I don't talk too much about it beyond that. They just don't understand and it just gets too hard - for both of us. I think they've also been through the rollercoaster of being ecstatic from me going to committee to being depressed from not being chosen too many times, and it's just not something they can really relate to.

Oh Sandy, how exciting! Fingers, toes, and everything else is crossed for you!

Nikki, thanks! I'm glad that we'll be going through this waiting period together. Then we can both try not to think about it constantly and not let it drive us crazy!!!

OMG Sandy!!!!! What exciting awesome news!!!!!! I will be praying for you!

Renee, thanks! I need all the help I can get!!!!! Appreciate it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did get to talk to the girls' foster mother last night. She's an older lady, who has been a foster parent for over 30 years. She and her dh are a baby home only, but have been able to keep the 2 yr old so she wouldn't have to be moved and bond with another family until she was adopted. She sounds wonderful. I'm glad the 2 yr old has been able to stay with them all this time, it will help her bond easier with whichever family she's chosen to join.
My boys didn't have that luxury. Q had some nice foster homes, but was moved a lot in his short life in foster care. J was in one home, but it was a bad one (they lost their license after I brought him home), and it's the source of many problems he still has today.
I'm glad the girls will have that, whether they come home to me or not.


Now if I can just stop thinking/worrying/obsessing about everything else! Money to pay for the trip, how it's going to work with all of us going (the boys will be going, too), how I'm going to set up everyone's rooms (the boys' rooms are small, no closets, where am I going to put their clothes????????), how we'll need a bigger house, money to pay for it, whether my daycare mom will have spaces to take the girls, whether I should tell her or not, no, can't jinx it, can't tell anyone but my 3 closest friends..............speaking of which, one of the first questions they ALL asked was "what are you going to tell your mother?"
THAT is a whole other problem altogether.
She does NOT want me to adopt any more kids. She wants me to wait until J "gets better." She doesn't seem to - or want to - understand that J has special needs and likely always will. That he won't - can't - "get better." That as he gets older, he'll hopefully learn to manage his disabilities and issues better, but that there's no "cure."
That and "who is going to marry you now when you already have 2 boys?" This coming from a woman who's been divorced twice. I know it's probably her just wanting to make sure we'll be taken care of, but come on, I've done it all these years and am doing a pretty good job, dangit. No, we're not well off, I have lots of debt, a job I love but pays badly with no benefits, the only one to keep me warm in bed at night is my cat Nellie .......................but she's just going to have to GET OVER IT.
(maniacal laughter, Ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha aha.................) My mother.......you have NO idea.

So beyond NOT worrying about all of that over the next month or so, I'm totally fine!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where did you say that drink was, Natalie??????

Sandy