What's up this Weekend?

[theatrepal]

What is everyone up to this weekend? 

We are hosting a dinner for my FIL birthday. Our gift to him is dinner at our house with two of his friends. Should be a great time!

[gnomesweetgnome]

Work tonight and in the AM, then going to a baby shower for some college friends, and a visit with B's BM after that. Church and a small group cookout on Sunday.

[spooko]

Ugh. Post got eaten. Now you just get the abbreviated version: DH taking the kids to dinner tonight and then is going with DS to the school dance while I take DD home for bed. Big wrestling tournament tomorrow that we have to get out of the house at the buttcrack of dawn for. A few errands and then special dinner and ice cream with a Redbox movie to celebrate a great wrestling season. Church Sunday and maybe some soccer practice since DS is rusty and we're on to that season next!

[pinkie]

We are planning to take the kids to Easter egg hunts. I'm hoping at least one of the two is set up to allow the very little kids equal opportunity last year DS1 got shut out but was too little to care. This year he would care.

[jwinct]

Tomorrow morning we have an appointment at our local fire department to do a car seat installation check. It's a DCF licensing requirement, so we have to have the guy fill out a form.

Then both my kids have birthday parties to go to... at the same exact time and at the same exact place, but two different parties. What are the chances?! How convenient!

I'm hoping for a stay home and chill out day on Sunday.

[jenn]

I have no real plans for this weekend - and I'm so damn excited!

I plan on working out a good bit tomorrow and doing my weekly grocery shopping trip (I LOVE grocery shopping by myself - it's so relaxing. I stroll up and down every isle and take my time and read the labels. I bet other shoppers hate me... haha)

I think Sunday we maybe heading over my parents house to help them with some spring cleaning. But that's big maybe... haha.

The last thing on my list to try to do is attempt a new Easter dessert. I have been on a real lemon kick lately!

[jenn]

theatrepal - how's everything going with your ILs? Will it just be your FIL or all of your ILs?

[carolinah]

I think tonight I will veg out. I may convince myself to do some piyo but that's about it.

Tomorrow morning I'm doing the color run with my bestie, followed by a prenatal couples' massage. We've been best friends for almost 15 years so boundaries don't exist. She scheduled and paid for them, too. We've been saving every penny for the house but my body is feeling the stress, pregnancy, exercise, and lifting 35 and 25 lb boys all day. This is also my first official 5k!

Sunday we have church, grocery shopping, and our home group.

[jenn]

carolinah - The Color Run was my first official 5K, too! Mine was in October/November... in Pittsburgh... it was COLD! I hope you have better weather than we did! GL!

[persianmaman]

A Color Run sounds like fun - I think the one in our city is in May, though.

We have our last home study meeting on Sunday afternoon - eeeep. It's the home tour, too, so DH and I are gonna be cleaning mostly all tonight and tomorrow and Sunday morning.

That and I wanna make chili one more time before it's too hot for such heavy food.

[spooko]

Another one with a color run as their first 5K here! I'm actually wearing my shirt today because I had to push myself to run today.

[theatrepal]

jenn, It will be my FIL and his girlfriend. The SIL won't be here nor will the out of control nieces. Now Easter is a different can of worms that hasn't been addressed. We were hoping it would be warm enough to go camping for the weekend. It looks like that probably won't pan out thanks to highs not even reaching 50. I've promised DH a new to us carrot cake recipe, and we will probably make lamb again so that it is still a special meal. (Thanks for asking!)

persianmaman, Don't stress about the cleaning to much! I was in the middle of the bathroom remodel and made sure that most of the dust was swept up and that the big scary tools were put away. You'll do great!

[chele]

My foster girls have a weekend visit with their mom again. As soon as I get them in the DCP&P worker's car in the next 30 minutes, I'm zooming over to the hair salon.

Saturday I'll pick them up and take them to their gymnastics class, then back to their mom's.

I really need to clean around here. My husband will be gone Saturday for his roto baseball league's annual draft, so I'll have the alone time.

We will go to brunch on Sunday at a local pub.

[badgergirl66]

We received an email asking if we want our profile shown to an expectant mom. There's a lot of things involved and I'm torn on it. (7 months pregnant, no prenatal care, raped, smoker, 3 previous babies were born at 6.5-8 months, isn't she sure wants contact after birth...)

I'll DD the details above in parenthesis so please don't quote.

How did you all make those decisions? I think I'm going to come up with a list of questions and concerns for our social worker next week.

[lovelyplanet]

Well we just had our profile meeting today and I am anxious to get started on it. Also need to rehearse the video profile we have to do next week. Don't want to seem too rehearsed but don't want to totally wing it either. Super nervous about that!

Plus I have a huge project due at work in a couple of weeks and I have a ton of work still left. So I am sure I will be working on that too. Ugh!!!

[pinkie]

badgergirl66 - it's hard but having been through this a few times the past 4 years I'll give you my thoughts on what you shared

- we decided we were not open to a case that involved rape. We just were concerned if questions came up about the BF we did not want to have to address a rape situation
- the lack of prenatal care is obviously not ideal but as long as we had an ultrasound showing everything was good we were ok with no or minimal care.
- smoking can lead to low birth weight and asthma and while not ideal, we were not closed to a smoker because we considered these outcomes mainly treatable
- the history of premature births is concerning and the babies were significantly premature. This would prob be the biggest red flag for me.
- we preferred an open or somewhat open adoption but would have accepted a closed case.

That's just my opinion on what you shared. It can be really tough to make these decisions but I would go with your gut feeling. Good luck!!

[pinkie]

Oh crap I didn't quote you but paraphrased...let me know if you want me to delete my bullets after you read it.

[badgergirl66]

Thanks pinkie

The bullets are fine, I just figured I didn't want that always up in case we decided to say yes.

-rape - Im having a hard time with this one but only due to how I would have that conversation with future child. She was at a party, there was drinking, and she doesn't know who the father is.
-prenatal care - She has her first appt in 3ish weeks. This is really a big thing for me when combined with everything else.
- preemie: She's due the first week of June, so I think she should be in 3rd tri/30ish weeks now? I haven't really done the math.

I'm sure we will make the right decision. I'm trying to not let wanting to be chosen get in the way of matching with a situation that we aren't comfortable with. I didn't expect such hard decisions on this!

[lbey]

Wine tasting today! I wanted for it for a whole year!!!

[badgergirl66]

persianmaman

I way over cleaned. Like I cleaned cabinets and closets. She didn't even open those doors. No way she would have been able to tell I scrubbed things. It was such a quick walk through that I felt silly for the stress and cleaning. Just clean like you would if you had friends or guests coming over. And good luck!

[persianmaman]

theatrepal, badgergirl66, Thanks! I know she isn't going to peek into everything, which helps immensely but I am using the opportunity to get DH to commit to a spring-cleaning weekend. (Not that he complains, but it means I get can more done with the words "but the home study tour..." than I usually can, mwaha.)

My bathrooms will be sparkling, my carpet will smell fresh (I got that powder stuff you put in prior to vacuuming), and it means everything in the basement is put away (tools, etc.). Hurrah!

[jenn]

badgergirl66 - Good luck with your decision - it is not an easy one!

We decided we were open to cases of acquaintance rape but not stranger rape, so for us, we would probably pass on that situation. Not only for the rape aspect, but because of the other things in the situation you mentioned.

[spooko]

My baby won his tournament. He's "king of the mat!" Only the kids who've taken 1st at least once at tournaments this season could compete, so there were strong contenders there. One he rematched from a loss to her in an earlier tournament and won. He's come so far this season. Ultra proud!

[theatrepal]

spooko, Congrats to your kiddo! That's awesome!

[packerfan4life]

Those are tough decisions badgergirl66.

Rape - not sure what we would have done with that one. I think we would have still been open to it. It would be hard to explain to a child, but I would think something along the lines of "a man did a bad thing which is how your BM got pregnant. While she loved you she didn't think she could raise you, so she chose us to raise you" when the child is older. Obviously more cleaned up, but along those lines. Taking care not to call him a bad man, but that he did a bad thing. And making sure to focus on the fact that while the act was bad, the child is very loved and the child is not bad.
- Smoking - can certainly lead to problems, but we were open to smoking
- Prenatal care - I would want to see a normal u/s but then I think I'd be open to it
- Former premature infants - this is tough. But I would think if she's now 30ish weeks, that would not be a deal breaker for me.

Good luck trying to figure everything out.

[packerfan4life]

This weekend is beautiful!!

We had our finalization yesterday!! Went to lunch. Went for a short walk. Then I had to work. Today we went for a walk in the park. Tomorrow I have to work most of the day.

[pinkie]

packerfan4life - yay for finalization! I remember that being the most surreal moment for me...we were already a family but to hear the words come out of a judge's mouth was so very special.

persianmaman - for our first HS visit I totally over cleaned. She took a 2 minute walk through our house . Now it's funny how my perspective has changed. We have the social worker coming for our final post placement visit Monday (got moved up) and I will be lucky to get to light cleaning

[pinkie]

DS1 was totally traumatized at the Easter egg hunt. They had it inside (no clue why as it wasn't raining and it was just somewhat chilly) and it was like a stampede. He totally freaked out and would not do it. We are going to a much bigger one tomorrow that has more going on than just the hunt and figure we just want to have a fun family outing

[pinkie]

Oh one more thing. I got my hair cut today...first time in 6 months. I'm going back to work in a week and need to look presentable

[badgergirl66]

Thanks everyone for the advice. My gut is telling me this isn't our baby. It sucks to say no, because we all want our baby right away. I really appreciate all the thoughtful replies.