Day 2 of Introductions

Today we had our Planning Meeting before our "official" introductions started with Pip.

After the false start with it all on Monday, and an email from me highlighting that I was worried that our introduction plan wouldn't go to plan because of it all,  it was agreed that the meeting would go ahead at the Foster Carers (FC) house (it's worth pushing these things - don't be too shy about it).  Of course, when we all arrived,  Pip was sitting in his high chair munching his lunch so you can guess where my attention was throughout the meeting (this is why they like to have the meetings in the office). I helped Pip with lunch and fed him his yogurt whilst doing all the professional planning stuff and trying to agree a plan for the introductions.  It was very distracting because he would forget to move his banana down in his hand so was munching furiously on his hand. 

We had 4 Social Workers (SW) at the meeting. Ours; Pip's; the FCs SW and the Managing SW. 

Here is the schedule that we have agreed for the introductions:

Thurs (tomorrow): Just me from 10:30pm until 2pm to do nap and lunchtime (Daddy has a big meeting unfortunately that he can't get out of).
Friday: Me plus Katie and Daddy from 11am until 2.30pm - nap, lunchtime and bottle.
Saturday: All of us: 3.30pm until bedtime
Sunday: All of us: 10:30am until 2:30pm - we'll be taking him out in the car.
Monday: All of us: 10 am FC is bringing him to ours for the day and we're taking him home around 5pm
Tuesday: 9:30 Review Meeting / 10am take him back to ours / 3pm back to FC for final farewell tea
Wednesday: Placement Day if all approved at Review Meeting.

Just think - In a week's time my little boy will be living at home with us. It seems inconceivable and very surreal.

Intros went really well today. As I mentioned before I fed him his lunch and entertained in for most of the Planning Meeting. I couldn't wait for all the SWs to go so that I could have a good old snuggle and a little kissy kissy.  He is so soft and very kissable!  One of the SWs stayed for a chat (she was lovely) about how cute Pip was and about our mutual love of all things furry and Daddy and I chatted with her and the FC whilst I was rocking Pip and having a bit of a play.  He had the hiccoughs so I was jumping up each time he hiccoughed, making him laugh. He is a real rough and tumble little fella so playtime is going to be lots of fun.

I got to change my first Pip nappy (just wee thankfully) and feed him his bottle.  He has the cutest and podgiest little legs you've ever seen. His skin is almost translucent white so his legs look ridiculously cute without his trousers on, rather like the Michelin Man. On a more serious note though I will have to routinely check through all the folds of skin to make sure he doesn't have any sores. I am hoping that once he is more mobile his little legs will start to slim down a bit.  He has already started to move about more and is rolling easily from his back to his stomach and is sitting with more strength but needs to be balanced to help him sit well.  Feeding him was lovely. Having him snuggled in my arms and holding onto my finger.  He's one heck of a feeder and will not let that bottle go once it was in his mouth and he gets quite upset when it's finished.

He was happy to be with me most of the time but I gave him back to the FC when he got fretful. I didn't think we needed to push it too much. He's just delightful though. Smiley and happy and giggly nearly all the time.

Daddy sat back a bit today as he's full of cold and worried about passing it on. He's got a big meeting at work and won't be coming with me tomorrow but we feel it's important to transfer the caring over to me as I'll be the primary carer. A week is not that long really so it seems sensible to transfer to me first and Daddy will be more hands on once Pip is home. 

Pip seemed to recognise us from the other day. It will be interesting to see his reaction tomorrow. Have invited FC to stay at our house for the first few hours next Monday and she'll be bringing all her kids with her so that they can see where Pip is going to be and to start getting their heads around it. We also thought it might be helpful if she was around for his first nap at our house in case he's confused but she's going to head off after that.

Katie is a little bit all over the place at the moment. She has worries about meeting Pip I think. She's been playing up at bedtime again feigning tummy aches and feeling sick to try and avoid going to bed.  She's been having some pretty monumental emotional meltdowns after school. She had nearly two hours or screaming over wearing a summer play suit the other evening.  Eventually even she realised how ridiculous and unreasonable she was being.  I plopped her in a deep, warm bath to settle her back down again which worked it's magic in no time.  I think it's just so much for a 5 year old to take on board.  I know how I felt about meeting Pip and I am able to rationalise things more. She said yesterday she didn't want to meet Pip on Friday. We talked a little bit about why that might be and I think she is worried he won't like her (plus various other reasons) so I whispered to her that it was a shame she felt that because I had it on good authority that Pip has a present for her.  Her eyes widened and she asked if he chose it himself. I replied that he needed a little help but she would find out more on Friday. Needless to say she is on board and ready to go now. I'm not going to say much to her for the next day or so and let things settle a bit.  I've told her that we will be seeing him tomorrow so she is prepared that he will already know us. It's such a balancing act. What's the right thing to say? How do you make it all easier for them?

On top of everything going on our poor cat Leo is currently on bed rest (have you ever tried to get a cat to have bed rest? Not for the feint hearted) because he has a small fracture around his hip area.  We are either looking at surgery to fuse the bone or for him to have a full hip replacement.  He's only two years old. Thankfully he's insured. We'd be looking at £4.5k for the hip replacement. The issue with the hip replacement is the 8 weeks of cage rest that would follow it.  It doesn't bear thinking about. He would hate it! That is why we think the fusion operation might be better for him. He'll be up and about again much more quickly but he might just loose a bit of mobility and might get arthritis when he is older. We've already had entropion eye surgery for our poor fella so I think he is going to be "one of those cats with lots of issues".  So he's going to see the Orthopaedic specialist next Tuesday when Pip is visiting our house. 

All in a day in the mad Katie household eh?

Don't even think about asking me how I'm feeling at the moment. I don't have a clue. Emotional; manic; in love; anxious; to name but a few!....and I seem to have a major sugar craving going on as well.

I can't wait for tomorrow morning when I see Pip again though ........