One more week to go!

 The countdown is killing me. Everything is so close to being done but I still have to wait. I don't want to order the adoption announcements and jinx myself. We have an appointment scheduled to pierce her ears that same day. She has been watching videos of kids getting their ear's pierced and she still wants to do it. I tried warning her that it hurts a bit but she seems to think that the kids who cry are just babies. We'll see what she says when she's the one in the chair.

 On another note we are potty training our little Princess. So far its really easy. Like strange easy. I let her pick out some panties and that was all the motivation she needed. My boys I bribed with M&Ms but Princess is good with just getting to wear her panties and being able to flush the toilet. Not sure if I really want her out of diapers for our Disneyland trip but we'll see how it goes.

Well :P

 So while we were waiting for the reschedule to meet Pixie we got and email saying that family had stepped up and they had to take 90 days to consider them and determine if they're an acceptable placement. We're a bit bummed but at the same time better to check out family first instead of after she was placed with an adoptive family.

 I hate hearing that family took so long to step up, I always think I would've been quick to respond if a family member was in care. Of course I have seen a few instances where family didn't even know what was going on. Experienced it myself with one of my cousins, luckily there was another family member closer to the situation and she was there.

 9 more days till we finalize with Princess!

Meeting for Pixie

 So today was our interview and our chance to meet Pixie. Unfortunately, when we got to the office we found out that one of the interviewers was out sick. Sooooo we have to reschedule. Good news is that they will have Pixie there so we'll get to meet her and her current foster family. We also got to chat with her social worker for a bit today. She was super nice and answered a bunch of our questions. Apparently this is pretty much an adoptive placement, not just a flex arrangement like we thought. There is a TPR trial set for next month and I guess there isn't any foreseen issues with it *knock on wood*. I'm excited but cautious because there's other families that they're interviewing so we're certainly not the only ones in the running.

Adoption Date!

 We have an adoption date of January 15th at 9:30. I can not wait. I'm still bummed it's not happening before Christmas but we had issues with a lawyer who kept trying to raise his price and was impossible to contact so we dropped him. Our adoption worker said he knew a great firm if we didn't mind a phone adoption, we don't we just want to get everything finalized ASAP. So he set us up with them and now the adoption (after state refund) will be costing us a whopping total of $30 instead of the $1000 the other guy wanted. They give discounts for special needs adoptions which apparently is what Princess is classified as.

 In other news Giggles will be leaving soon. She will be moving closer to her dad for visits, She now has a diagnosis of RAD and bipolar. He also suspects she has ODD, OCD and ADHD. I actually feel better with the diagnoses, now I feel less like I'm crazy. They told us a month and a half ago they'd be moving her in 2 or 3 weeks. I should have known better. They're still trying to move her before Christmas but I'm not counting on it now and scrambling to get her some equal gifts.

 Oh and some more exciting news. We got an email about a baby (newly turned 1) girl that they're looking for a concurrent family for. I read over her needs and they are all things I feel super easy handling plus she is absolutely adorable. I'm going to call her Pixie since she is tiny for her age and so petite looking. I sent a response not expecting to hear anything back since I feel like I've put in for a ton of children and have gotten few if any responses. Imagine my surprise when they emailed me back in 10 minutes. They approved us for an extra foster care slot in case Giggles is still here and we have a meeting on the 26th. They don't know if Pixie will be there or not since they have to see if the foster family would be able to come the day after Christmas. I am trying to keep from getting excited. I don't want to be disappointed.

 Hubby and I have talked about the what ifs and we're both trying to not get excited. We're both okay not adopting again, in fact Hubs would rather not.... well sort of. We're both used to 5 kids, it'd be strange only having 4. Plus I love the idea of a close sister bond. I am so jealous when I see people that are close to their sisters. My sister and I were almost 6 years apart and we're just now becoming friends. I want Princess to have a sister that she is close to and has that amazing sister bond. Even more so since they would have someone else to talk to about adoption and their feelings on it. On the other hand if Princess were to remain our only girl she will be spoiled rotten and I can afford to spend more on clothes. We love buying girl clothes and have developed a non budget friendly love of Gymboree and Zulilly. So we'll see and I'm going to try to post more.

Met our new adoption worker yesterday

 Yesterday we got to meet our new adoption worker. I have got to say that we already kind of love him. He answered all my silly questions and all my serious ones too. I wasn't really sure what to expect and if anyone out there in internet world is wondering I'll let you know.

 First he came in and we introduced him to everyone and made some small talk. Then he asked us if we had a special day we were hoping to adopt her. Did we want to wait for Christmas or a birthday or something? No ASAP! He laughed and said if we did our paperwork quickly he'd do his and we'd be done before Christmas maybe even Thanksgiving. Its kind of like buying a house lots of paperwork and lots of paperwork for the Realtor (adoption worker). He also went over subsidies and continued medical care and let us know Princess is going to be considered special needs because of her family history. We already knew about the history but it was surprising to me that she's considered special needs when she's perfect. I know maybe I'm biased.

 He also went over the option of changing her name which we don't want to do. New social security number which we DO want to do. Who's allowed at the ceremony, everyone and anyone we want. Getting a lawyer and whats a normal price and what price they'll reimburse. Its so exciting everything is becoming real.

 I also made my appointment with our family friend and amazing photographer to set up Princess' photo session. Ordered her headband to match her dress. Now we just need to go get new shoes.

Finally moving along

Well we've finally been transferred to an adoptions worker which means Princess' old case worker won't be visiting for her any more. We'll still see her for Giggles of course. We get to meet with our new worker next week to go over everything. I am so excited that things are moving along! I asked him if the timeline is still the same 'sometime before Christmas' and he said that everything would definitely be done by Christmas possibly even Thanksgiving!

Soon this little princess will officially be ours :)

Just keep swimming

 So I haven't been posting regularly but then again nothing has really been happening this summer. We've been on multiple camping trips. This one is the all boys trip that my husband took the boys on all by himself but we had a bunch more together.

While the boys were gone we had a special girl weekend with nail painting, princess dress up, Starbucks and a trip to the park.

We didn't go on any big trips this year, mostly because its so hard with Giggles. Next year we have a month long trip planned so that should make up for it. :) 

 Now we're busy prepping to start school on Monday. Giggles starts the following Monday and possibly Moose it just depends on how full they are. Giggles gets in because she is a foster child but we make just a little bit too much for Moose to qualify. They told us if they weren't full though that they would take him as a special circumstance. I'm really hoping they can since he is dying to go to school and will be devastated if Giggles can go and he can't. 

 Oh and we're also prepping for Halloween because I decided I wanted to make costumes this year. We're going with a Star Wars theme. First thing I did was a robe for Moose so he can be Yoda. Still need to hem a sleeve and get/make a belt but I think it looks cute so far.