A glimpse into the future (one year on!)

If we'd been lucky enough to already have our child, they so would have loved this weekend!

Saturday was my little cousins Luca's 7th birthday and she was having a pizza and cake themed party.  We were the first to arrive and got the full brunt of my little cousin's excitement.  Dad was busy cooking homemade (and totally yummy) pizzas while everyone else mingled.  A group of us, including David and my cousin Carol, managed to erect a wigwam in the garden before heading back inside to find the wine.  Unfortunately, we couldn't say all that long as another friend was bring her 5 month old baby round to see us, but the for time we were there it was great watching her open her cards and presents and all the other kid's playing.

Today was Theo's 4th birthday party.  I remember writing an entry about his party last year!  I can't believe I've been writing this blog for well over a year.  Anyway, I digress!
Uncle Dave was on full form today.  I was better prepared this year, the hoard of screaming didn't frighten me so much and I actually joined in a bit more, although somehow I managed to make the same girl I made cry last year cry again this year. Ooops!  I did the Hokey Cokey, was a judge for musical statues and served the kiddies sandwiches and chocolate fingers.  I know which they preferred.  They all went home happy and I got home relieved and (only just) in one piece.

Thursday we had home visit No.4.  I'm still to see the intrusion nature of this process but maybe I've spoken to soon.  We had 2 and a half hours of more chat and so far it's been ok although the fact that I'm writing this blog means I must be quite happy to chat and share my feelings.  Whilst talking about something totally different our SW suddenly asked if we would be open to adopting a girl as one was 'coming in'.  There was a bit more chat and a bit of what felt like back tracking before she got back to the point at hand. Of course we would be open to taking a girl into our home, at the end of the day our child will be loved whether boy or girl.  Even if this girl isn't 'the one' it's great to know that the local authority are proactively thinking of us.  It means they are taking us seriously and things could happen fairly quickly.

Even though we are only half way through the assessment period things are happening and the future looks bright.

Hoping for an A+

It's been a interesting and busy couple of weeks.  It's funny how all aspects of your life seems to revolve around children when you are in the middle of this process.  We've spent the long weekend thinking none stop about what kind of parents we would be.  And what a better way to finish off the Easter weekend than by doing homework!!!  This coming week is our first assessment session with our social worker in a little over a month.  In preparation we've had to complete our family trees, monthly budgets, financial forecast and a questionnaire about our community and local area.  I hope she's happy with what we have come up with, it's been a long time since I had to hand in homework.

For the earlier part of the Bank Holiday weekend we visited friends and their little girl.  We had a great time and even visited a local Safari Park.  Little G is a darling girl and although we have always thought we'd have a son, we would be over the moon if we had a girl who turned out like little G.  It was great spending the two days with them.  And over all that time little G only had one mini tantrum, but in fairness, she was really tired and toddled off to bed not long after.  The deal we struck meant that we had to read her a bedtime story, one of her favourite Mr Men books.
On the Sunday morning, following a very late night (1.30am is very late for us), there was a knock on the bedroom door at 7.00am and a very excited G-Bear can bundling into the bedroom and plonked herself in the space between us.  After 10 minutes of very excited chat, G was off again to find some hidden Easter eggs.  I turned to David and said "This is what it's going to be like everyday!" as we looked at each other excited, scared but still very tired.

Even a night out seeing Kylie Minogue in concert earlier last week ended in adoption talk.  Not with Kylie I might add!
On the way home I bumped into a local couple I have been chatting with on line who have a young adopted son.  Although we had all had a couple of drinks (they were still enjoying a well deserved night out) we had a really good chat about their process and their son.  It was really very encouraging as they laid some of my fears to rest and reassured me that we were on the right track.  They left me feel more confident about our progress.

So the homework is done and we are even more ready and eager.  Our next meeting is on Thursday and I'm sure it will bring a new challenge.  Bring it on!! We're ready for you!