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Misplaced Lens Cap
Not today Justin
Monterey Bay Aquarium
if i look back, i am lost
official daine visual archive
NASA
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Andulka
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shark vs the universe
Cosimo Galluzzi
hello vonnie
PR's Tumblrdome
TMBGareOK. The Official They Might Be Giants tumblr
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
One Nice Bug Per Day
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Discoholic đȘ©
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@catscookiescheese
Where did you people who had the Pledge of Allegiance in HIGH SCHOOL live? We didn't even have it in middle school. This was a small mid-Michigan town in the 1990s. It was working class, lower middle class, and farming people.
Dear Tumblrs, there is way too much assertion of facts not in evidence on this site.
Alabama.
Virginia
We finally told Bianca that it's not optional to come home (we originally offered it on Wednesday, maybe) and booked her a bus ticket home. We wanted her to take the last bus tonight but instead it's for tomorrow afternoon, that's the compromise. Hopefully she doesn't have to evacuate before then.
Home safe! The winds are continuing to blow in that direction tonight. It's a relief to have her here.
We finally told Bianca that it's not optional to come home (we originally offered it on Wednesday, maybe) and booked her a bus ticket home. We wanted her to take the last bus tonight but instead it's for tomorrow afternoon, that's the compromise. Hopefully she doesn't have to evacuate before then.
I am not taking a risk
Not risking it pals
U know what I want potato of luck
Damn right Iâm reblogging. See previous post re wrath of whatever from high atop the thing.
Tomorrow is election day. I'm reblogging
I donât normally like these superstition posts, but considering what day it is, Iâll take anything I can get.
Solo parenting for the work week, and it's Bianca's last week at home before going back to college. Only one late-night nervous breakdown so far, about 47 hours to go.
No matter how crazy and stressful things are overnight, this baby is just so cheerful during the day. He wasn't at all for his first few months and I just absolutely adore it. And having dinner with my two kids tonight (a few slices of baby-friendly toast with toppings for Calvin) was such a joy. Hard to imagine that it'll be another 10, 11 weeks before Bianca is back for Thanksgiving. Calvin will be a whole different baby by then!
if you were to get married would you take your spouseâs last name
yes
no
no but i would want them to take mine
unsure
already married & took spouseâs name
already married & spouse took my name
already married & we both kept our names
no intention of ever getting married
other?
I took my husbands name, which doesnât align with my beliefs - bending to the patriarchal norm. But the patriarchal norm was so easy. His last name doesnât need to be spelled aloud (I had a last name that wasnât phonetically spelled) and goes with every name. Also, itâs so fun to have a family name that we all have, especially with lots of kids. Like âSmiths! Time to head home!â Or âteam Smith on 3!â I love having all one last name.
So I guess, no regrets. I may have felt differently if I had an emotional connection to my own previous name though.
Made up a new last name. We both had very common and generic ones. Neither of us was attached to our own enough to want to give it to our bio baby. (Adopted kid already kept theirs when they got adopted.)
I guess the baby needs a blog name. Let's call him Calvin.
We brought Calvin to family therapy today. He lasted most of the session before I had to take him out. There was too much going on in the room for him to fall asleep. I made a good joke on the way out the door as he was fussing. "C'mon baby, there's no crying in therapy."
One month of keeping a baby alive! One full month of parenting two kids!
So tired!
I have a two week old baby! It is exhausting! But yay we've survived back to his birth weight!
Kudos to all who have done the newborn, infant, and toddler years. I have a whole new level of appreciation and awe. The youngest kiddo we've had for even a weekend before this was 4 or 5. Just a totally different world.
At the two week mark we're finally starting to be okay. I'm physically in much better shape every day, and today had the energy and enthusiasm to do a whole bunch of tidying of baby stuff and my clothes that had exploded over the past few weeks.
Bianca is home for spring break and wheww having two kids is hard, even when they're 20 years apart. But she's so sweet and caring for Pax and us. She's been a whole new level of mature this year, while she does still have her struggles. Just a happy, super emotional, super tired mom over here. Also very actively trying to hire more help to get us through the next few months đ.
This month I have been told by 3 separate people at DCFS that my home is:
1) on hold
2) definitely closed
3) definitely open
They are ALL looking at the same database. And this sums up foster care.
We just got a placement call.
I also got a placement call about a month ago and at that particular moment I had only answered because I thought maybe (maybe!) someone was getting back to me about intervention services.
I burst out laughing. I think I said something like "oh my god. I'm sorry, but no. There is absolutely no way we're taking another placement. We are under water as it is."
I got another call today. A text, actually. This time I said "we no longer have beds" and I did add that we'd been given a form to fill out to close our home, but have reached my lifetime capacity for busywork and will not be filling it out. But we're definitely not taking another placement.
I really did tell our licensing worker that we're done (we have no space, there is nowhere to put another kid in this tiny cottage) and she really did say "okay here's the form for that" and at the time I think I said "that's cute. No, thank you on the form. But we're done."
I guess I'll use this opportunity to mention that we're on hold as of Feb 1 for around a year because I'm birthing a baby in a few weeks.
It tends to be tough to find the right medical/mental health care, as y'all well know. I have a specialist that I see once a year for my own health issue. It so happens that I started seeing this doctor shortly after we started fostering. She's really a good one, always takes a ton of time to talk to me and my partner, answering our questions as well as learning a bit about our life.
Well, it turns out that her speciality overlaps with an issue that Bianca is currently dealing with, and she was able to super quickly give us a referral and her own thoughts on the matter. We just happened to mention it off-hand! Didn't even think about how my thing would overlap this other thing! It was super cool.
I think we get to see this doctor a second time this year and now I'm like, man, I should be trying to get her input on everything. She really has the backstory from having been attentive and patient with us for 6 years now! She said to put it in my calendar that she's retiring in 12 years, so that means I get a long time more with her!
Bianca's bio dad (that she has never met) got released from prison today. I knew this was coming this year but did not expect it so soon.
I think he's in a halfway house, and he's in a nearby state, so not like he's going to show up in our lives tomorrow. We do have contact with safe family members who he will probably try to see, though they're not exactly on good terms with him either.
Just needed to tell some folks who would get it.
I did not have this on my Q1 bingo card.
I don't post here much because we're not in the daily parenting hustle as much anymore with Bianca at college. For the holiday we're staying with my parents, and I just have to use this opportunity to say that she's being amazing this whole trip. She's really trying with my parents who are honestly not that easy, and live on the other side of the country from us so we don't see them too often. She's gone along without argument to a variety of activities, and has kept the sullen grumping to a minimum.
I absolutely do expect winter break at home with just the nuclear family to be different, but that's okay! I mean, I'll be annoyed when it happens, but it's still understandable. She's been mad at us about something for a few weeks, but I'm proud of her ability to put it on pause, or maybe the family therapy discussion about it last week helped her get past it. (We do 1-2 family therapy sessions a month, usually on video chat while she is at school.) Really impressed with my kid this week!
I took this photo the other day of mixed-berry scones to post it to fulfill the "cookies" part of the user name. But a couple of updates on the regular topic of this blog:
- Bianca was diagnosed not to have autism nor ADHD, but rather that depression and anxiety symptoms are impacting social skills and attention/executive function. That sounds right to all of us.
- possible placement of a five-year-old boy coming Monday
Plan is for us to meet him next week.
I took this photo the other day of mixed-berry scones to post it to fulfill the "cookies" part of the user name. But a couple of updates on the regular topic of this blog:
- Bianca was diagnosed not to have autism nor ADHD, but rather that depression and anxiety symptoms are impacting social skills and attention/executive function. That sounds right to all of us.
- possible placement of a five-year-old boy coming Monday
i feel like high school/middle school sitcoms set the unrealistic expectation of being able to have lunch time outside
ok because apparently i'm wrong about this, reblog with where you live and whether you got to eat lunch outside during school or not
Went to high school in Alabama. Definitely got to eat outside under an old oak tree. Was not allowed to leave campus until senior year.
We were optionally allowed to eat lunch outside at my high school in Virginia. For my kids' schools in Southern California, outdoors has usually been the main dining location.
Bianca is getting screened for autism and ADHD in a few days. If anyone has any tips for how to use our tine with the doctor wisely, or other things to know, I am all ears. Parents do a 90 minute virtual discussion, and then Bianca does a full day in-person screening. We've also already done a bunch of questionnaires.
Yes, still parenting over here, despite the silence! Things have been pretty calm with Bianca at school. I think we're reopening for placements in about a month.
