On the Edge of a Cliff and Ready to Fly

 From: http://www.democratsforlife.org/

 SENATE PASSES FOSTERING CONNECTIONS TO SUCCESS AND INCREASING ADOPTIONS ACT OF 2008

The U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (HR 6893) on Monday, September 23. “This is the most significant legislation relating to adoption and foster care since the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997,” said Tom Atwood, President and CEO of NCFA. “It provides for a wide array of reforms to benefit children and their interest in adoption.”

The reforms in HR 6893 include: Reauthorizing the Adoption Incentives Program, whereby the federal government allocates financial rewards to states that have increased the number of children adopted from their foster care system, through 2013; Increasing the award amounts states stand to receive through the Adoption Incentives Program by establishing 2007 as the new “base year” against which future performance will be measured, and increasing the bonuses for special needs and older child adoptions; Ensuring all children with special needs adopted out of foster care are eligible for federal adoption assistance regardless of family income by 2018; Mandating that states inform prospective adoptive parents regarding eligibility for the adoption tax credit; Requiring states to make reasonable efforts to place siblings together; Establishing relative guardianship assistance payments in a way that does not creative incentives for relative guardianship over adoption; and Allowing states the option of extending adoption assistance, foster care maintenance and relative guardianship assistance payments to children aged 18, 19 or 20.

Last night it hit me. I felt feverish, my sinuses were blazing, and my stomach hurt like crazy.

All night last night I could hardly sleep (I was drifting in and out) because my whole body aches and I was feeling nauseous.

Donald told me that the Flu has been going around at work. Every year I get my flu shot, but I haven’t had a chance to get it yet (I am not even sure they have this year’s batch available yet.)

Working moms don’t have time to get sick.

Not too much going on, just trying to get back on a schedule with Joshua. I think it was hard on him when we were working so much overtime.

I am so grateful he’s been sleeping through the night, I am remembering when I first went back to work on such little sleep. So difficult, I don’t know how we made it through all of that. Still can’t believe we packed, moved, and worked in our jobs while being up all night caring for Joshua. I feel like I’m just starting to get back to feeling normal again.

I’m able to use my weekends to do laundry, dishes, and cook food (now, I am cooking and freezing food for Josh and for Donald and I), but I don’t have enough time to do any real deep cleaning. That is stressing me out a little bit, but it is what it is. I can’t wait until Donald is done with his schooling (and I’m sure he can’t wait, either.) There is just too much to do.

At work, I dropped out of some committees and some “extra curricular” things until November just to have more time to help out the people on my team. I think it was a good decision. It’s hard for me to say no to things but it’s something that needed to be done.

I was really sick all weekend but I went into work.

Yesterday I had a fever so I decided to work from home, I thought it would be more relaxing…..

….Well, Luna had an accident in her kennel, diarrhea all over. I took her outside to wash her in the hose and she nipped at me. She then ran away and I had to chase her down. She doesn’t come when I call. I admit, we haven’t had enough time to train her as we should have since Josh came into the picture, but this is getting really frustrating. I am tired of spending my evening trying to keep her from getting out of the fence. Donald has fixed it in pieces, but I think we really need a new fence…

So, after that, I scrubbed out the garage. She then pooped all over downstairs, so I had to scrub that, too. She kept trying to get out so I put her upstairs for a bit, and she pooped upstairs, so I then had to clean those spots up.

 Josh was not happy with me — he was in his high chair crying, but I had to shower and get changed before I could pick him up after cleaning up Luna’s mess.

I then gave Josh a bath, and I slipped before I went to pick him up. My whole right side hurts – I don’t think I cracked anything, but I bruised up pretty good.

I called Donald and left him a scathing voicemail (my poor husband) telling him that Luna is HIS dog and HE needs to make her behave or give her to someone else or do SOMETHING with her. I know we haven’t spent the time with her we need to, and she is a very active dog, but something needs to be done about the fence so she can run around and play, rather than being locked up all the time.

I then was working until 7:30pm from home, just beat. Today I’m at work. I don’t think I’m ever going to work from home again.

I took out Joshua’s newborn sling from his baby bathtub because he is too big for it.

Tonight I gave him a bath in his baby tub, and he was probably sitting in 6″ of water. This was enough water for him to lay back and float his little legs. It was SO ADORABLE. I couldn’t leave him alone in the tub or I would have grabbed the video camera. He laid back on his bottom, arms over each side of the tub, floating his chunky little legs back and forth across the water, watching them float!! I was laughing SO HARD I could hardly help him sit up.

The tub has a “shallow end” for his bottom and a “deep end” where his feet are supposed to go. Well, I turned him around and helped him sit up in the “deep end.” He sat up (with my help) and starting pounding his fists into the water. He thought that was the best game ever! He got his mommy soaked. He was grabbing the little washcloths and rubbing them on his face and chest, like he was trying to wash himself. Adorable.

Spent part of the day with “Grandma Pat” & “Grandpa Phil” – Josh had a great time with them – smiled and posed for the camera like a pro! He only had a couple short crying jags – I think his teeth have really been bothering him and he needs to keep on a good schedule of orajel to keep the pain at bay. We visited Daddy at work and bought a bunch of fallish clothes at Children’s Orchard….Joshua outgrew SO MUCH within a short amount of time. Some 3-6 mo. outfits he only wore a few times. He’s skipped to 6-9 months. He’s not particularily big or heavy, but I think it’s his height. I will be fascinated to watch him grow up and see how big he gets when he’s older. I spent about $50 and got a big bag full of good stuff and dropped off some smaller clothes that Children’s Orchard is going to buy for credit. I would probably get more money selling them at a garage sale, but I just haven’t the time. I am tossing around the idea of hiring a housekeeping service for at least a couple times a month and seeing if I can fit that in our budget.

I borrowed the new New Kids on the Block album from my friend Savanna at work and I love it! I can’t wait to see them in concert in November. My sister Julie and I were supposed to see them in Illinois with a group of friends but they CANCELLED the concert on us. I got kind of sad tonight because I think my mom would have gotten a big kick out of Julie and I finally going to see NKOTB – mom bought us a bunch of NKOTB dolls that ended up getting destroyed in the housefire.

Makes me sad, also, that my mom didn’t get to meet Joshua. I think she would have had a fun time being a grandma.