Good old October

So it's finally starting to feel good around here. The weather is nice. Makes me want to smoke a cigarrette. Isn't that horrible? I know good and well if I lit one up I would probably throw up.

My poor baby is sick today. I think it's from teething. There is no other signs of sickness besides the fever and of course her super crankyness. She had 104 temp last night. Today she is with the in-laws of which I am sure are bird feeding her and cleaning her bottom with their tongues. This morning it was alot better. 100. I gave her some meds and was off to work.

I got to work and just couldn't help myself. I bought some Estee Lauder make up thanks to their email letting me know with any purchase you can get up to 5 free samples. SWEET! I bought some foundation. I have yet to use theirs and was wondering what it is like. So in return I get a small bottle of perfume, lip stick, mascara, eye remover and lotion...yes...all FREE.

So then I felt bad and turned around and bought Jeff some work boots online. I ordered him some Dr Martins that looked really nice and were steel toe and all that good stuff. Free shipping and at a pretty good sale price. I called and told him and he was super happy. He said he never owned a pair of Dr Martins before. Which I find hard to believe. Crazy. I think I sort of made his morning. Which makes me feel good.

I am about to get back on and order Brittany a My Twin doll. You should totally check this doll out. It's freaking amazing. Melissia told me about it and it's about to be my baby's friend til the end. lol

http://www.mytwinn.com/mytwinn/TwinnToddler.html

So anyways. Speaking of Melissia. I finally met that girl last Saturday. Me, Jeff, Brittany, Tara, Adell and Buck went to the zoo. I invited her to come along so we could hang out before her baby's Welcome Home Party on 11/1/2008. I have been talking to her since like January online and never met her. I know I have written about her a million times but just want to go ahead and refresh your memory. Her and her little baby 9 month old daughter London, cutest little baby I have ever seen (besides mine of course) and her husband Lenard and I wanna say it's her cousin Mona came and spent the day with us. They are even better in person I must say. I like to refer to them as our twin couple. They like to drink...go figure. What young couple in their 20's doesn't? Not many and they are so easy to get along with. Tara ran off with them for like 30 mintues and I thought she stole my friends for life. lol j/k I can't wait to hang out with her again and let loose. From now on I expect to literally be glued to the hip with this girl VS. glued to the keyboard with her. lol

Have I mentioned we are going to the Renfest this weekend? Yea well we are. Saturday. Our friends Jason and Armie are going too, along with Tara of course. We have only been planning this with Tara since the moment we stepped out of that place LAST YEAR.

Also my Nanny is kinda penciling me in with My sister's baby shower this Saturday. Which is pretty sweet of her. So yay! my first "baby" shower. It's really a more, welcome to the family, hope you like insanity party. I didn't think I would even get one. So nice. If you can't make it please send your donations of love made out to Heather Buck 212 Birchwood Drive, Huffman, Texas 77336. Thank you. J/K We really don't need anything. Please if you scroll right on down this blog you can see my spare bedroom, which is now my baby's room, has been full since March.

I am still alive

I just got my 5lb box of ginger....yay finally. It took forever. Turns out orginal and apple ginger candies are really the best ones. They have peanut butter, coffee and some hard kind but honestly those taste like butt.

So today has been nothing but me slacking off with Melissia all day via email. lol hilarious.

Turns out Disney is making a black princess. It comes out in 2009 and it's called "The Frog Princess" it looks really cute. Also bi-racial baby dolls are hard to find. What's up with that? Will complain more about that tomorrow. Right now I am off work and it's time for me to go see my bad baby. My mother in law is probably fattening her up like a Thanksgiving Turkey with apple juice and cookies.

Jeff...Robot Overlord?

So Jeff taught his robot to make his name in metal. He is such a bad ass.



I totally yelled at him for not making Brittany's name. He felt bad.

Brittany told him, " You NO NO Dadddddyyyyy."








This is Jeff's new robot and some of his minions.

I remembered I did have my Camera!

Oh Hey who let you in?



Oh dang my porch is gone!




Hello Tree, nice of you to stop by.






So long house.

It was nice to know you.







And yes it is that bad. Even with the tree off it still looks mangled and twisted.

Thank you Jesus for Insurance!

What day is this?

Okay so I definetely want to post some pics up from the storm but I am going to go ahead and do a quick little up date on what all has been going on. When I say I am busy, I seriously mean I am BUSY! Work seems like it is cracking down more and more on taking me some personal blogger time and that is throwing a wrench in my blogging for sure.

First thing is first. Hurricane Ike turned out to be a doozy in the Buck house. Giant 32'' oak tree standing pretty in the front yard is now laying in peices on the ground. Looks like an oak cemetery. Oaker decided it was time to bite the dust and he was taking out my porch and bed room corner with it. We have a tarp up protecting us from 95% of the mosquitoes harvested in our woods but we still have yet to hear from our inspector. We did get one guy to come out and take a look at the damage and he estimated about $15,000 in repairs, for the house alone. We still need to fix the porch and septic so it's going to be a hefty claim. Shit that isn't nothing though. I get calls all the time from people with 50,000+ claims.

My mom's birthday recently passed. My mommy is now 48! We got her a nice foot spa. Just what she wanted. I can't believe how close she is to 50. My mom is going to be one of those old decrepid ladies who can still slap the shit out of you if you look at her wrong. I love my mom!

We are set to go take some family pics Sunday. I can't wait.

I am still debating the whole ear peircing thing for Britty. I think she is totally going to rip them out. Plus I don't want to see her cry. I know she fakes fits all the time and somedays she cries all day long but those are just alligator tears. I don't want to see the real tears. I am such a sucker.

Jeff's birthday is on the 12th. He wants a helicopter. He is currently in search of one.

We were offered a Macaw. Yes a giant ass blue bird! For FREE. We are undecided on that as well. I would seriously LOVE a bird the size of Brittany but those birds SCREAM. I think I would snap one day and punch it in the face. I am sure his giant beak would catch me mid swing and bite my finger off. Plus they live to be 100. That thing would be burrying me one day.

What else?

Took Britty to the Dr today. No ear infection as we thought. Just pulling on her ears from her back teeth coming in. I almost cried the other day realizing that although we have only had the priviledge of having her in our lives for 3 months one day she is going to be losing those baby teeth and then she won't be our baby, she will be our big girl. Isn't that so sad and corny? I have decided mommyhood makes one that way. I would feel like a monster if I didn't feel so sappy.

Still need Halloween costume ideas. I have a deadline people! Need to go to the Halloween store this weekend!

Also.....found some new candy it's the RAVE! Let me copy and paste what I sent to Mellisia.

"http://www.gingerpeople.com/ Last weekend me and Jeff and B were at Target and I found a box of candy at the check out called "ginger chews". And they looked sooooo weird I just had to try them for a dollar! Plus I never ate any ginger but always wanted to buy some while I was grocery shopping and try it out, so I thought this would be like a sample of it. Well it turns out those are the best damn things I ever put in my mouth! They are sweet and spicy and feels like you are chewing on a warm cup of spicy tea or something. So werid and addicting! The box was a 2 oz 10 peice box I ate in two days! The minute I ate the last one I got online and ordered 5 lbs of it!!!!! lol Just wanted to share! If you are all about trying something new then try these if you ever see them! I don't think Wal Mart carries them but Target and Specs does! I ordered the 5lbs special for Halloween assorted peices. lol it costs me 35 dollars! Jeff was laughing at me sooooo hard! Then I got online and read all about the benefits of ginger. Turns out it stops cramps and helps with indigestion. hummmm interesting! Sorry to sound like an advertisement but I am totally hooked. "

The end. Will provide house pics and me eating chinger chews later next week.

My Family

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

COURT

First off downtown Houston is no joke. We parked 3 blocks down the court house and walked there so nervous about what all was about to happen. We didn't know who was going to be there or who we would see or talk to. Or if this infamous judge of hard ruling would be that strict. We got in, found the court room and went inside to sit down. It was about 30 mintues before roll call. I had never been to court before but apparantly they have all the trials for the day meet at 9 am to do roll call and then the judge comes in and brings up each party to the front to hold them at different times thru out the day. Very confusing.
So anyways we don't recognize anyone, and besides that there are a bunch of people there for different cases. So finally in walks Penny, our CASA workers supervisor. In my eyes, this woman rocks and rocks it hard. She is super CASA and knows her stuff. She says hello to us and Jeff's parents since they came too and then takes me and Jeff outside to the hall to talk about something. Once we were out there she says, "The father's attorney is here and he called her last night to let her know he had a change of heart and is willing to sign the papers but wants to know if your willing to send him pics of Brittany once a year? You are not obligated to actually do it or follow thru with it but it does help to say yes so he will sign the papers. You don't want to agree to too much." Of course we are like, "Yes of course he should be able to at least have some pics" so she says "Okay I will let the attorney know and I will get you guys if we need anthing else. Don't stress it's just court. Just sit back until the judge calls us up and answer anything he asks. Also Camille is here (previous FM who ditched her family)."
So then we went back into the court room. We were thinking, "Okay why is Camille here?" because we know that previous foster dad has been talking with CPS to try and get Brittany back into his home so maybe she is there to spy on things for him? Are they even back together or whats going on? Maybe she just wanted to see things thru. Next thing I know she is sitting in the back of the court room. She waves hi and asks "Are you the foster parents?" I say "yes" and then that is it. We continue to sit there. Some time goes by and Camille comes and sits in the row behind us. She starts instantly telling us who is who. What person is CPS's attorney and who is dad's attorney and moms attorney. We don't recognize anyone else still. Anna (CPS) is still not there. Later we realize she has her supervisor Nicole step in for her. And Brittany's attorney, who we knew would not be there has some guy named Gaurza or something step in for her.
The next thing I know the dad's attorney comes up to us and shakes our hands and introduces herself. She sits in the row in front of us and explains that dad is willing to sign the TPR papers if we will agree to send him pics. She says, "You don't really HAVE to do this but it helps soften the blow." Me and Jeff look at each other and then her and say "Yes of course we are willing and have said we have been wanting to do this." In the corner of my eye I can see Adell violently shaking her head yes like the woman is asking her these questions.
I then ask her "Is it possible to ask the dad to return the favor and send us pics as well?" The attorney says, "Oh yea that would be great and I bet he would love that!" She then asks " How is she doing anyways? Do you have any pics we can give him now so he can see how much she has grown?"
The next thing I know Adell is busting out the album and pics a picture while I shuffling thru another one. Adell says "Oh I know the perfect one Heather what about the one where she is playing on the floor" The attorney turns to her and says " Well it's THEIR decision" So not only was I getting irritated by Adell overbearing G-ma attitude but so was the attorney. I hand the attorney one of her playing in the ocean and we had just taken it a this weekend so it was the most recent one of her. She takes the pic and says okay I am going to go talk to him now.
Once she left I turned to Adell and said "Grandma if you don't back up I am about to smack you!" She then says "Well I am just talking cause I am so nervous" I say "I realize that but you need to stop talking for us!" She then sits back in her chair and gets PISSED.

Then Camille pipes her head back to my shoulder and continues talking to me and Jeff about how she can't believe CPS isn't here and where is her lawyer and OMG the system is so stupid and how Mickey is stupid and he is at a class and could have been here if he wanted. So at that time I realize they are so not together.

So then out of nowhere the dad's attorney comes back into the court room and asks us if we would like to come talk to the father because he wants to talk to us. We of course get up and follow her into a room where the mom and the dad are there with their attorneys. They say this is dad and mom and this is Jeff and Heather the foster parents, the dad then says
"What happened to the other foster parents?
We didn' know that she had moved. When did she move?"
and I said "July 15th she came to our home."
The mom says "Why?" and I look at the attroney
like "Do you really want me to tell her why?"
and the attorney looks at me like "Shut up don't say anything"
but tells the parents "we are not too sure things kind of just happen.
They wanted to find a home to adopt Brittany so they found these nice people."
and the mom, who is not an idiot says "I thought the other family wanted to adopt her?"
and the dad says "Well it doesn't matter because I can already tell I like them alot better then the other family. We did not want to sign with the other family and Melissa doesn't want to sign at all but I keep telling her it's best for Brittany and we love her so much but you know we gotta think about her"
So then the attorney explains that we want to send pics if they will send pics and you can totally see their faces light up. They say they will and the attorney explains not to change addresses without telling DDC because that's how these arrangements get lost and they will blame us when it's their fault for not telling anyone they are moving. So then somehow they all agree to go ahead and sign the papers and the attorney goes over all the legalities of what they are about to sign which is really just basic,
" Your signing away your rights as parents. It is CPS intent to have Jeffrey and Heather adopt Brittany if this works out they will send you pics once a year and you will send them pics. If you have anymore children in the future the hospital will notify CPS if there is anything wrong with the child or you at the time of birth" just basic stuff like that we have heard a million times.
Then they sign the papers. In the meantime about 5 more people walk into the little cramped room already and say how great it is they are signing the papers. The mom is crying and the dad is standing there looking sad. The attorney's are laughing amongst themselves and saying how great it is for us. But all we can do is feel so sorry for the bios. We are so happy and blessed and believe they wouldn't have signed without seeing us but it's still a sad moment they did not get to experience well because of their stupid ass attorneys and random people walking in. It was so weird. Then everyone left so we could talk alone to them.

The dad explained how they are not bad parents. He said they tried to work their plan but CPS kept losing their receipts for classes and the more they tried to do the more they were left behind that it got so crazy they just gave up. He said where they live it's hard and is not a good place for a kid and he has a hard time keeping mom safe. He told us to fight for Brittany and wanted to make sure we loved her and wanted to adopt her. He made us promise to send pics and take care of his baby.
Then the mom finally spoke and asked how often I would send the pics. I told her as much as possible and I have a crazy mother in law who takes pics everyday so I would send her some all the time so don't worry. She laughed and you can really tell she felt comfterable with us. I told her we would record her on our camera and make a video and burn it on a dvd and send those to her too. She smiled so big and they both loved it and said how awesome that would be. It was such a great moment. Then the attorney walked back in and said we need to get to court because we are up soon. We said our good byes rather quickly and left. The bio's went home and we went back into court. We got a copies of the papers they signed and we signed.
I feel so good about meeting the parents. It feels awesome to have their approval and to hear them say we like you guys better then previous FP's. They looked thru her lifebook and were so happy with all the things we do with her. They said she looks so good and happy with us and they are so glad we have her and appreciate us taking care of their baby. I have full intentions on writing them letters to send with the pics. Hopefully something great will come of this. It truely is God thing!

Then once we went back into court is was not too soon after the judge ordered our party up to the front.
The attorney that was filling in for Brittany's was in the hall and holding it up and the judge was getting huffy. Earlier when I went in there to get some more pics for bio's he was yelling at CPS on another case about "dropping the ball." he said "I don't know how many times you dropped the ball on this case but you single handedly lost this child from the parents." and then he told some attorneys "Two first year grads could do a better job then what your doing!" so judge Phillips does NOT play.
When all the parties were there CPS attorney started off by presenting the TPR papers and the other attorneys would chime in saying they had nothing further and then the moms attorney showed moms papers and dads attorney showed dads papers and then judge asked cps where the child was and the cps attorney said if current foster home of the bucks and pointed to us and judge nodded to us and he asked how long she was in our home and they all began to shuffle thru their papers!
NO ONE KNEW.
Not even CASA.
So I chimed in "July 15th"
It was kind of scary but the judge immediantly looked at me and realized I was the only one with any answers and smiled. He then asked the attorney's if she was eligable for subsidy and they all didnt know because they didn't know the laws and the judge got pissed and aksed the CPS attorney if she would explain the rules of subsidy to us and she said
"Judge it is not my specialty I would prefer if CPS went over this with them "
and he said "Well do you know anything at all?"
and she said "I believe if it is a minority child at the age of two they are eligable but I am not sure"
and he said "No you do not know but you NEED to know and you need to MAKE IT YOUR SPECIALTY"
Then he said "How old is the child?" they all said "2"
and the CASA says "1" and I said "16 MONTHS"
and the judge says "When is her birthday?"
and they all went shuffling back thru papers and I said "April 15th"
and the judge smiled at us and said to bring in someone from his team to tell him the rules of subsidy and the lady came in and said
"As long as they wait until the child is 2 to sign the intent to adopt she is eligable for subsidy and college tuition"
the judge then stops everything and turns to us and asks Jeff "Do you understand this sir?"
and Jeff says "No"
and the judge says "DO NOT let CPS pressure you into signing anything until she is 2 years old. You wait and hold off so she can get what is hers"
and then he smiles and CASA steps up and says
"Judge can we get a court order to hold the child until she is adopted into the foster parents home"
and the judge says "Yes "
and CPS shakes her head and makes a snotty face and says "So that means CPS cannot move the child without a court order?"
and the judge says "That is my ruling and that is what I am saying"
then it was over!
SOOOOOOO AWESOME!
SO basically we get to adopt her unless we screw up! And CPS has to go to court to get an order to remove her so they cannot pressure us into signing anything until April by saying "You have to sign these papers if you want to adopt her now or we are moving her!"
CASA freaking ROCKS!
Then as we are leaving a lady from the freaking STATE OF TEXAS calls and is coming out Wednesday to do a random survey and inspection of our home to make sure CPS and DDC are doing their jobs correctly! OUR FREAKING LUCK! LOL

Remember that on the Bus to Heaven No one will be divided by race but will by IGNORANCE.

1200 Congress

I am nervous. This is an understatement. I am petrified....no wait mortified about tomorrow. Tomorrow is court day.....supposed TPR day. Let me explain a bit about how the process works.

When a child is taken into custody thru CPS there is a court date after the initual 30 days with a judge to determine if the child should return back to their biological parents or if the child should remain in custody of the state. They are given a court appointed attorney, a CPS worker and sometimes if the case is severe enough, a CASA worker, which is a Child Advocate worker. Then lets say the child, like our little butt monkey, remains custody of the state the bio parents are given what is called a case plan and visitation rights. Another court date is set up in 6 months. At that court date the judge reviews all the progress of the case and determines if the child should remain in custody or if the parents are doing well enough to receive full custody of the child at that time or a later date. I know Brittany's last court date was in June, at that particular time the bio parents were not doing their case plan and their visitation rights were completely stopped in May due to some problems with something or other, we are not too clear on this. The judge, who we have been forwarned from CPS and her attorney, is one of the strictest most old fashioned judges in Houston. So at the June court date he basically said unless a miracle happens he would be terminating the parents rights (TPR) in Septemeber when the next court date was set and didn't want to see their faces ever again because he was so disgusted at the case. So now September is here and CPS and the judge and everyone is all in favor of TPR except the parents which refuse to work their plan but refuse to voluntarily sign over their rights so they are basically asking for the judge to terminate for them. So sad. Heres the deal though, here's the ever so lingering loophole I am worried about. In the state of Texas a bio parent legally has 12 months to complete a case plan, if at that 12 month point, which for us is tomorrow, they can prove that CPS has been neglectful to help them follow their plan (which is bacially what all bio's claim at the 12 month point because they have nothing else that would back them up) then they can be given a 6 month extension but only....ONLY by the judge. We know good and well this is gonna happen. Either the bio's are gonna say "Oh poor us we didn't know such and such, CPS lied the whole time and we had no help with working our case plan give us an extension." or they will have a change of heart and walk into the court room pen in hand to wave their rights.

I suspect a good fight, in which case the judge will say negative, extension denied, my decision rules and kicks ass. THEN he gets to decide what will happen to butt monkey. At that time we will be presented to the judge that we want to adopt her, he will view our homestudy and recommendations from DDC and CASA and CPS and make a decision. Please keep in mind here, CPS (hates us) and will be present tomorrow, CASA (LOVES us) but will be on vacation, her supervisor on the other hand who is just as big of a bitch as CPS will be there and I am under a good impression via CASA worker that she is in favor of us as well (I know so many people and so confusing I hope you are keeping up) and Brittany's attorney (who likes us) will also be on vacation. So yea.....like no one in favor of us will be there, BUT their reports will........okay this blog is good and definetly helping to hype myself up. We have nothing to worry about right? RIGHT?

So me and Jeff are going to wake up and take Brittany to school (we like to call daycare school, it makes butt monkey happy) and then we will travel downtown for court at 9 am, with Jeff's parents literally attached to our ass. I swear if something stupid goes down I am gonna be so pissed.

Or if like they reschedule and forget to tell us, or something completely gay. I know I sound like a crazy but I am actually handling myself pretty well as far as keeping it together on the outside.

On a side note

Last night I went into the bathroom around 9:30 pm, picked up a pair of scissors, grabbed the left side of my head of hair and started chopping thru 8 inches. I felt like a had a psychotic breakdown. I actually think it may have hit some type of nerve because today I can't help but reflect back to some memories from when I had first cut my hair off after high school. I know that probably sounds so stupid but its true.

I also read some past blogs I use to write on livejournal...as well as some random postings I did on "friends" blogs. All I can say is What the hell? I remember at that particular time in my life feeling out of place. I felt lonely, sad, depressed, over stimulated with freedom. I was young and nieve. I hung out with people who were actually non the better but at the time I thought were the world. I settled for some things I shouldn't have. If I knew then what I know now, yea I realize old people say that all the time but it's so freaking true it's scary, I wouldn't have talked to certain people for as long as I did. I would have told some people to fuck off when I had the chance and I would have spent more time with other people. I would have never stopped going to church. I would have tried harder to go on a mission trip. I would have done more things alone. I would have made a broader circle of friends. It makes me sad now even thinking about it for the simple fact that it must bother me to some degree. Or that it seems like I am making excuses to myself like I need the clarification or I need to justify myself to others, I guess in that aspect I am still nieve.

I am so completely different today than I was 6 years ago. And you would hope so right? I mean who wants to be the same person after that long, right? I blame the majority of it on myself. No matter how mature I thought I was or others thought of me. I was still only 18. My mind was frantically pushing to be 50......and for what? I guess I am mainly angry at myself for being vulnerable to others and being persuaded to do things I would normally roll my eyes at today.

Like for instance I still purposely listen to the rest of a cd before I bust out to the main song public radio plays 24/7 even if I love that song just for the basic principle of pretending like I can think for myself when in reality I am letting those who shame me dictate how I should play the order of my cd. Oh my God. I am talking pure nonsense now. Maybe I haven't changed.

And I know that in another 6 years I am going to read this and think, "Seriously....why did you even write this?"

I try not to over think things. I try to keep it simple on purpose. After awhile it comes rather naturally. I try to think of babies and my husband and my job and how to pay the bills and what we are going to eat for super and that keeps my mind pretty occupied so I dont think of stupid things like this whole blog just descrived. So I guess you can say life kinda hit me in a good way. For sanity's sake.

Overall Fantastic

So today I was just on my way to Sonic, minding my own business when all of the sudden CPS worker calls me and wants to come out to visit Brittany today.....yea thats right....today. She is on her way and will be here in an hour. I anxiously ask if I can meet her there since I hadn't even met this woman I am supposed to be going to court with in two weeks to try and adopt Brittany. She reluctantly says "yes, sure if you want. " So I say "That's what I thought, bitch. Suck it up." in my head at least.

I arrive 30 mintues early, bearly shoving down the nasty hamburger and onion rings and wiping off my grease ring around my mouth. I do this so she doesn't arrive early drop off the papers I have been waiting 2 months for and blow out of huffman like a bat out of hell only to report to CPS that the daycare has a smoking lounge next to the changing tables.

There are about 10 kids in one dark room...sleeping. Of course, its freaking 12:30. They sleep until 2:30. I meet her outside and shake her hand. She parks right next to the biggest mud puddle in the parking lot. She looks an awful lot like that hispanic lady on Housewives. She's kinda cute and sassy. She has a big headband in her gigantic brown perfect curly hispanic hair. No wonder she is the devil.

We go inside and she still wants to check her "for bruising" So I led her in the room and she tried to lift up her shirt but decided it was not such a good idea and didn't want to wake her up and said "never mind its fine, I am sure she doesn't have any" and walked out of the room. The director was not particularly happy about this since she was trying to control a room of sleeping children. I followed her to the next room where we sat down at a little kids table and signed the authorization and placement papers.


And then a miracle happened. We talked.

She went on to ask how long we had been fostering and I told her Brittany was our first. She asked if we wanted to adopt again and I told her our plan was to wait the required year from Depelchin before we foster to adopted again. She then went on to say that the parents might voluntarily relinquish their rights and then something really important about the mom that I can't write but was so insane I immediantly called Jeff after the visit.

She said if they do wave their rights she will let us know before court and that court will not be near as long. She also said if this happens then we will get to adopt Brittany no doubt. But if they do not relinquish then court will probably take all day and they might have to do another broadcast and that CPS wants recommendations for Brittany and that its up to her and CASA to put in recommendations but I probably have nothing to worry about since she is pretty sure the parents are going to wave their rights.

She said at court they will ask us if we want to adopt, a timeline of the smoking thing, and will want to see pictures and her lifebook and anything that would help show her time with us.

THEN I started telling her how wonderfully Brittany is adjusting and how amazed I am when I read about milestones and she is just perfectly on target. She added by saying this is only the 3rd youngest kid she has seen be adopted and the rest were always older so how great that is for us.

And then the miracle happened. Before it had she was looking away from me when we talked.
It was not until we got on the subject she looked me in the eye

God smiled and his light shone down upon me right between her rolling her eyes and the words falling out of my mouth. "We have done alot to adopt. Just last year we did IVF...twice"

"Oh really, I am in my 2WW right now!" Oh my freaking GOD!

We went into alot of detail about our experiences we talked for like 30 minutes about the ups and downs and shot pains and emotional roller coaster and the losing your mind of it all. I gave her tips and she agreed with everything I said. It was magical and we had a moment. I let her know this is why we started smoking again, when it didn't work. I feel like I just really connected with her and she understands us alot better then she had. I am so glad it was brought up. She can now totally relate to the stress and anxiety we went thru. She said she couldn't imagine not being able to have kids and then it not working so she sees the importance of us wanting to adopt Brittany. THANK YOU GOD! She has one boy and her husband has a boy but they don't have any together and have been trying for 3 years. Her husbands insurance paid for it. Home girl went into detail. I am telling you....M...A.....G....I....C.


Then as fast as she came she left.

She had also asked if I had talked to Mrs Russell (Brittany's attorney) and I told her only on the phone when she was in her office a couple of weeks ago. I think she mentioned this because of the parents waving their rights. I don't know.

I do know I am glad I made her meet me. And I believe she knows there is no way we would go thru hell and back to be bad parents to Brittany.

Here's praying to a smooth adoption ride. Come on guys...just sign the papers.

Busy...busy

I haven't posted in awhile, obviously. Things have been busy at the Buck house.

Monday Brittany started her first day of daycare. She did so awesome. When I dropped her off I had to sneak out while she was playing with some toys. When I picked her up she was happy to see me and looked so exhausted. It was too cute. They said she didn't get her nap in but ate all her lunch and was very good all day. Needless to say on the way home she was definately in some sort of zone. Poor baby. Yesterday I dropped her off in the morning and she went straight to the director no problem and waived good bye to me. I was impressed. Typically when I leave at home she is screaming. Also there was a slight improvement on the nap factor yesterday. She took an hour nap. One of the ladies said she had to cover her eyes with her hand in order for her to finally go to sleep. I am sure she is not use to sleeping on a mat with other kids around. She made a picture that day too. They were learning about the letter P. It was of a big P with purple colored on it and a flower made from her finger Prints and it was purple petals. lol

I could totally tell the difference in the way she was when we got home on both days. She was so much more vocal and full of energy and happy. It was like night and day no joke. Strange. You can really see how being around others her own age helps her grow. I am so happy we decided for 3 days. She will go back Friday. Wednesday and Thursday's Adell has her at our house. This morning I left them playing with some plastic foods Adell picked up from Target to go with her kitchen set. I am sure she will have way too much fun with that. I don't know what it is about kids and plastic food.

Next week I am going to be so busy. I cannot even think about anything else except for the next couple of weeks events. Not to mention Jeff is going back out of town for more robot training. He leaves Sunday on the 24th and won't be back until Friday the 29th. SUCKS. In the meantime I have to do 50 things without him. Monday our clinician is coming to the house again for her monthly visit. She will be there at 10 am.

Wednesday I have to take Brittany to the New Caney Wic office to get her updated so we can get her all of the vouchers for some milk and juice and cereal, which will be a nice little bonus on my grocery bill.

Friday she goes to the Dr at 10 am.

And last but not least we have COURT the Thursday after that! Yes court....the big day. The day where CPS will be pushing TPR. I am nervous for the simple fact we will be alone with her CPS worker, who fyi hates us yet has not even met us. Her CASA worker who LOVES us will be on vacation and our clinician says she usually doesn't go. I might just make her. So I am trying to google everything online to get an idea what will occur on that day. NO LUCK. It could go so many different ways my head is spinning.


I have also decided not to cut my hair. I want it to grow to the floor...so I can braid it and wear blue jean skirts and roll it into a bee hive.

I am also waiting for the Target package to be delivered at work. The package that contains part of Brittany's clothes.

Mockey is not pregnant like I thought, she is in heat. I tried to keep the Williardton away but was unsuccessful. Looks like Mockey will be having more pugs in another 63 days.

Lady Birds puppies are getting so big. They are the cutest little bassett puppies I have ever seen. I can't wait until they are running around being bad.

I am hungry. I brought left over spagetti and a pizza pocket. Sounds like another fat roll waiting to happen.

I am tired. I can't wait until 9/5/2008. When alot of this will be over.

Puggy Troubles

I am pretty sure Abby is feeling deprived of Jeff's attention about now.

She decided to sit on him yesterday until he did something about it.

We also made some art. Since we can't post pictures of Brittany yet, this will

have to do.

It's FRIDAY!

I haven't been excited about a Friday in awhile.

But I am.

I just spent $150 online like it was nobodies business. Typically I am all about looking around and finding the best price, which I did, and then settling on something stupid and going home and never wearing it or not ending up buying anything and being tired of shoping and cranky. But today I had $150 from DDC that I could spend freely on clothes for Brittany. I deposited that bitch this morning and in less than 3 hours at work I had that baby spent.

Let me also include if you sign up to receive email notices online from old navy and the gap they will in return send you an additional 15% and 10% off purchases made online. I took advantage of this as well as shopping from their clearance section. Oh and their shipping is a 5 dollar FLAT FEE. How great is that? Now if you purchase something from one of their other chains, I forgot what it's called, its like a shoe store, then you get free shipping. But those shoes are outrageously priced so I declined. I also bought half of the clothes from Target online which to my suprize has MORE online then in the stores and at a better price. NOT TO MENTION this weekend is tax free weekend and I didn't want to drag myself and Brittany to a million stores when I could quickly view all selections online and make a choice with a click of the button. WAH LA! I ended up getting 17 peices for 149.60. Which is just 40 cents under my budget. EXCELLENT! And I know good and well I could have more somewhere cheaper like Ross or something but these are pretty freaking awesome clothes and they all have really good thick and well made material. I am stocking up for winter.

In other news, CASA went good. Court is looking good for us. Brittany is doing good and everything is dandy. My sister Brittany's baby shower is Sunday. Aiden is still getting strong in the hospital. Everything is pretty much hunky dori.

Brittany starts daycare monday. That essentially means I have to get up an extra 20 mintues. HA HA HA...sucks. I am kind of thinking if we shouldn't make daycare into 2 days vs 3. What do you think?

Halloween Costumes

So I have been looking at costumes for the past hour trying to find one for Brittany this Halloween. I totally want something ghoulish so if someone finds something let me know. I need a size 18 months. So far here are our runner ups. I wanted to also coordinate something with me and Jeff and Brittany but we will see, it depends on what we find for her. Let me know which one you like best.

Monkey, which is her nickname

Bat

I'm kinda digging this duck

Funeral Director

A husbands nughtmare....

A man came home from work
and found his three children outside,
still in their pajamas,
playing in the mud,
with empty food boxes and
wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open,
as was the front door to the house
and there was no sign of the dog.

Proceeding into the entry,
he found an even bigger mess.
A lamp had been knocked over,
and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.
In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel,
and the family room was strewn with toy sand various items of clothing.

In the kitchen,
dishes filled the sink,
breakfast food was spilled on the counter,
the fridge door was open wide,
dog food was spilled on the floor,
a broken glass lay under the table,
and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs,
stepping over toys and more piles of clothes,
looking for his wife.
He was worried she may be ill,
or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water
as it made its way out the bath room door.
As he peered inside he found wet towels,
scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor.
Miles of toilet paper layin a heap and toothpaste
had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom,
he found his wife still curled up in the bed
in her pajamas, reading a novel.

She looked up at him, smiled,
and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked,
"What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered,
"You know every day when you come home from work
and you ask me what in the world did I do today?"

"Yes," was his incredulous reply.

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

Good news for people who like bad news

Yesterday was insane. First off, let me reiterate the fact that stress from CPS never goes away. Then let me also include stress from people creating drama and hyjacking my email and my life and refuses to admit it. It was a stressful day. But then I got home, got calm, refocused and played with Brittany. It all became worth it. Jeff got home and we sat in her room after dinner and rolled around on the floor. I saw it for the first time, yes the first, yesterday with Jeff and Brittany. Pure magic. It was like nothing else was on his mind but him and his baby. I then ran a song in my head and the room split. I am telling you, something good will come of this in the end.

Tomorrow CASA worker is coming to the house, again, for her monthly visit. This time she is bringing along her boss, Penny. The road is actually dry today so hopefully it won't rain it's butt off before she shows up and ruins another pair of high heal pumps. Word on the street is they just completed another home study on a family that was interested in adopting Brittany. They showed interest in her in the beginning but have sat on their butts until now, right before her parental rights are terminated. Casa worker said not to fret and she doesn't think they will pass, on top of that it's ultimately up to a judge and when he sees the committment and relationship we have for Brittany at court, hopefully it will outweigh any ties with the other family, which is not even family, its friends of the family. BUT still it reminds us we are not completely safe from disruptions. I think they are coming by before court in September to make any final judgements to add to the report that will be handed in to determine her future. They also want to meet Adell. She is nervous, as should be. I had to threaten her to lock up her dogs this morning while they are here. I would be so pissed if a giant bassett hound came crashing out of the woods to attach the CASA worker who holds our future in her hands.

Also Brittany is going to start daycare on Monday. It's going to be so awesome. She has been staying home with Adell during the day while we are at work but it was suggested to us that she continue having her Friday play groups to interact with other kids. After much extended research this play group was too far away from us for her to attend on Fridays for a couple of hours and we thought it would be much more structured and routine for her to attend a daycare for 3 days during the week. We of course, got some backlash for this, but I think it is our decision to make as parents not to mention we were recommended this by CPS. She needs to be around other kids and learn to socialize. She doesn't need to be at home all day with grandma learning by herself. Although she is learning everyday there is nothing better than social skills and learning side by side with kids her own age. I would think people would understand this. They don't have to agree with us but keep your opinions to yourself. DAYCARE IS NOT THE DEVIL. Thats like saying school is the devil and kids should only be home schooled. INSANE. And I might add the fact that we have waited A LONG TIME to be parents. It is our choice and our turn to make decisions. They may not be the right decisions all the time but they are OUR decisions and we have earned that right. DEAL!

Also I was trying to look up the timeline for this years Renaissance Festival and apparantly they are having the Ghoul theme for Halloween on the weekend before Halloween, the 25th and 26th. BUMMER. I was hoping it was actually on Halloween. Maybe it will change before then. It is still a couple of months away. That's possible right?

Also my friend Melissia and her husband Lenard got chosen yesterday for a 7 month old baby. I know I have talked about them a million times but let me say again they are the couple using DDC too who have basically the exact same child history as us and started adoption on the same freaking day as us. 1/7/2008. We have been talking since then and comparing things as we go side by side. Well now they are offically parents! YAY! I am sooooo happy for them! It is such a blessing. God is awesome.

ITS A MYSTERY

So guess what happens to me this morning! Its just gonna blow your socks off. I am speachless. I mean obviously I know who the culprit is but still its gonna be left a mystery since its totally being DENIED.

This morning I go to sign into my email and guess freaking what! My password has been changed. Yes you read right! CHANGED.

I am like WTF? So after 15 guesses, because just two weeks ago I changed the darn thing, the answer comes up to be "COLIGNY" so hummmmmm who do you think changed it?

I go to read my deleted emails and there is the freaking confirmation, "Your password has been changed at 5:47 pm. " Hum.... how interesting, that was the time I was home, not changing my own password.

So I call Jeff who instantly knows who it is. I then call the Suspect who of course denies it and then goes on to tell me how I can change it agian by answering my security question. This is obviously something the person was well aware of in the first place.

So now I went back and changed my password and security question. WHATS FREAKING WRONG WITH THE WORLD TODAY? Why are people so dang nosey they have to break into my email account and read all my emails? And then LIE about it.

Stab me in the eye please

I am so tired. My eyes feel like they have 5 lb weights on them. They are dry and lazy. My fingers feel like greezy left over pop corn kettle butter and salt. My skin is warm, almost like I am catching something, maybe allergies, and I have this uncontrollable desire to cut my hair off. Not like crazy girl shaving it off but just something short and easy to brush and go to work. I on the other hand know better than to actually do this. I have thin frizzy hair. It will only poof and split if I cut it. Making me look even chunkier and mommier ultimately making me stab myself in the eye. I never understood why woman cut their long beautiful hair off when they get kids. Now I know. There is no time to even brush and put a clip in my hair when a 15 month old is screaming for you to hold her. Sometimes I wish she could just "use her words" and then sometimes I am glad she is not screaming "moooooommmmmmmy" cause my heart would break. I think my hair is either a.) perma fried from all the years as a young girl my Nanny permed my hair, adding to the pentecostal poof or b.) naturally wavy/curly and I have no idea about hair products so I brush it and it frizzes.
I once bought some frizz stuff, i used it once, i didn't like it. It made my hair wet and nasty looking. Like I hadn't taken a bath in 5 days. It really just made my scalp look like that. I don't get hair. I don't get it at all. Maybe I will shave it off. Maybe I will just go home tonight and chop that shit off.

Now that we are on the subject of hair, lets talk about the fact I grow more hair on my upper lip than I do in my armpits. What the hell is up with that? No let's not talk about hair anymore. I've said enough.

Adell is making meatloaf tonight. She wants to start cooking once a week so we can all eat together. A part of me wants to die a little and another part of me is glad I don't have to cook. I am the kind of person who sees their own mother once a week because if I did see her anymore than that we would fight....non stop. We just don't agree about alot of things and she is pretty opionated and well how should I put this....my mother in law is alot like my mother. Let's drop that for today. You know what I am saying. Too much of something is not good for the soul.

Brittany now says " You NO NO" and points her finger. Isn't it kind of early for me to be taking orders from her?

Work is a drag. As usual. I love my job, as jobs go, but quite frankly I would rather do 50 different things and can get bored easily. I will probably never be completely happy in anything as far as "work" goes, so I settle on something I won't kill myself with. The funeral home was the happiest days of my life and sadly the only life, which is exactly why I had to quit.

Jeff is back home. Thank God. I missed him so much. It was nice to come home yesterday and have him play with Brittany while I got some things done around the house. It was nice to hang out with him after she went to bed and it was nice to watch Brittany attach him with "Rawwws" and jumps. I love the man. He is finally back down to 2 cigs a day and I threatened him to an inch of his life to quit this weekend or else.

I want a pool.
Pools are fun.
Pools would give us something to do around the house.
A nice above ground pool wouldn't be that much money or upkeep.
I would settle for a nice above ground pool.
I would really really like a hot tub. But I burried a baby once who died on a hot tub. She was walking around the sides and fell and hit her head and drowned. She was 2. The parents were inside the house entertaining. It was sad.

My dad told me and my mom and my sister yesterday he was born with grapefruit balls when I asked what made Aiden's privates swell. My dad is a retard. It was pretty damn funny. My dad never talks like that. After he realized what just fell out of his mouth he covered his mouth with his hand and turned red and giggled. It was the best part of the day. He then went on to argue that babies are born that way and thats the size they stay. Yea right dad, you wish. Idiot.

Oh yea, Children's museum....Sunday....free tickets....must check times.

Welcome Aiden Wayne Henry!

Today my sister Brittany had her baby boy via emergency c-section @ 10 am at Northeast Southwest tower Second floor, room 2025. He came out ready to great the world with open lungs and an open mouth. Born at only 34 wks and 3 lbs, he is healthy and pink and although in NICU doing much better than the nurses anticipated. My sister got sick yesterday and was checked in the hospital only to discover she had toxemia. So with a few tests this morning they decided to take the baby out with the results in less than 20 mintues. Apparantly they had a good feeling they were about to do this yesterday because they gave her a shot to help Aiden's lungs develope for his first breathe in the world. He is sooooo itty bitty and I just want to pop his toes and give him lippins. Brittany was drugged when we left her and her BP was elevated so we were told she needed lots of rest and shouldn't be stimulated and were basically kicked out. I came back to work. Brandy is also having her graduation today. She is graduating from RN school! YAY. I am so proud of her for going back to school and getting her degree. I remember thinking when she got married almost out of high school how much she is wasting her chance to go to college because she is so smart. I was so shocked when I heard she was going back and actually started when I first went to Kingwood college and here she is almost 4 years later, graduating! So amazing! Today is just a crazy day. Crazy weather, crazy nephew being born, crazy sister being drugged and cut open, crazy other sister graduating and starting to work in the labor and delivery room in a couple of weeks, crazy Jeff's boss's dad dying and having a funeral today, crazy me for having stinky shoes and can smell my feet when I take my shoes off, lol is that too much information? Sometimes I do that. Also crazy that I am finally coming home today to a wonderful Jeff and miracle Brittany.

Also scrapbooked yesterday, dang Beka and her being right about liking it after all. I'm not all about to make a scrapbook work shop but I do have a scrapbook drawer at home and a pretty good collection of Acrylic paint for taking Brittany's hand and feet prints and making a pretty awesome memory. Yea Im a bad ass.