Friday, March 18, 2016

Learning to Navigate New Life as a Foster Mom

I'm exciting about hitting up the Renaissance tomorrow with my kiddos and friends.  Of course, I always have to cram as many kids in my van as possible so I invited 4 extras besides my 8. When they told me they never went before I just HAD to bring them.  Tee hee...



 My foster daughter had an emotional day yesterday seeing her mom.  She usually has visits twice a week but since the parent aid had to miss two visits from being sick, it made her worry she won't be able to see her again.  When she came back home yesterday the parent aid asked me why she was so emotional I told her that's what happens when their visits aren't consistent.  I'm a baby, new foster mom since October.  This whole process is so new and I always hope I'm handling issues the right way.  There has been a lot of adjustments along the way since I got her.  She is afraid of showers, extremely picky eater to the point where she won't want to eat at times.  When I ask what she does want to eat she always says a donut.  Ha ha.  I tell her we always try to eat healthy and desserts are just for fun. They ware never for main course.  I always cook with meat and vegetables and only sometimes some whole wheat pasta of some sort.  Her night terrors have almost completely stopped.  That's amazing since she used to have them nightly.  She had them with her mom every night even when living with her.  I'm grateful for her sake she's getting much more rest now.  :)  Something new for her is chores.  It's real simple chores for her age since she's 7 but she does them well.  At first she would cry but we made sure it started easy and built on little by little.  In reality, it's only make bed, put away toys in room, and put away shoes. Another one we're working through is school.  There are times I've had to carry her in and then have a teacher take her into the classroom.  I would have to dress her because she hated going so much she fought it with everything in her.  She used to not even dressing herself or going potty in bathroom alone.  Now she's doing all of that!  So there is lots and lots of growth. 




One of the things I'm getting used to is all of the extra appointments since they need to be in therapy.  Hopefully we'll be able to get a little boy soon.  The max kids I can take is 2 foster kids.  That's fine because that makes 10 kids here and it's about all I can keep up with.  Haha.  Our laundry pile is massive.  My dream is to one day have at least one more washer and dryer but I'm happy I at least have a set for now.  :)

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