Things Are Getting Real

We had a visit with our FRW this afternoon.  Earlier in the day she had emailed asking for a final document and to let us know that she had a kid to talk to us about.  Obviously Justin and I spent the rest of the day thinking about the "kid".  The conversation went from normal to crazy real quick - A baby? A Toddler? Siblings? Teen Mom? Yup - quick escalation. 

The excitement happened fast but we were also quick to keep it in check. We've been told things can change from day-to-day and even hour-to-hour when you're working with DCF.  We spent the day finishing the kid's room and rearranging the living room. We'd spent the past few days cleaning, organizing, and finally painting both rooms so everything was everywhere. 

By 3pm we were ready for our visit. Our FRW arrived and we jumped right into the kids (yes you read that correctly - multiple children) she wanted to talk to us about.  Here's what we know:

1) The first little guy (R) is 18-months-old.  He has global developmental delays and has been night-to-night for a while.  Night-to-night means he's been sleeping at different foster homes because his social worker hasn't been able to find a permanent placement for him. He goes to daycare Monday-Friday and, because his teachers there have been consistent throughout multiple prior placements, the plan would be for him to continue there. He would be coming to us either Monday or Tuesday.

2) The second little guy (J) is 7-months-old.  He was premature and born exposed to drugs. He had some medical complications and is currently "in a hospital bed" because his needs were too great for a typical foster home.  His health has improved and is no longer in need of the medical placement so he'll be loosing his medical bed May 31st. The plan for this baby would be developing a transition plan with his current caregivers and social worker. We'd be visiting him in his placement until he's ready (and we're ready) for him to come home with us.  

So let's recap - 2 kids. 2 kids under 2-years-old. 2 kids under 2-years-old within the next 2 month.  

FRW made sure we knew that she wasn't asking us to take both kids, especially since this would be our first placement.  She thought both would be good matches given my background in early childhood development/early intervention. She was especially hopeful that we'd be interested in taking R because he'd been night-to-night for awhile. Justin and I asked a few questions and talked about both kids for about 15 minutes. 

We agreed to take both R and J.  We might be crazy. We might be over-zealous. We might be welcoming two little boys into our lives for a week, a month, 6-months, a year, forever.  

What we are definitely doing is beginning this amazing part of our lives.