Finalization

We finally closed another chapter in our book of life on July 23, 2013. We finalized the adoption of our son who we had been fostering since September 10, 2008. After an almost 5 year battle, we are finally free to share with everyone that Fuzzy is an official, legal member of the Douglas Clan!

I am overjoyed to introduce everyone to Jackson Cole Douglas!

We had a great adoption judge. The kids loved her.

All the grandparents were able to attend. We even had Robert's grandmother there too which was wonderful. 

After we finished the formal stuff we took the kids to an indoor arcade/ fun park to continue the celebrations. Our attorney brought her nephews along, and Jackson made a new friend :)

A few days later we had a big birthday/adoption celebration for Jackson. I haven't uploaded those pics from my camera yet, but I will soon. So more pics coming soon!

1 Week!

This will be my mantra for the rest of the week. It's been such a long time coming that I just want the day to be here NOW!!!! I'm busy working on Fuzzy's birthday and adoption party. All of the pieces are slowly falling into place. I have the cake ordered. He's going to freak out when he see's it :) I have the caterer booked to make most of the food so that I don't drive myself nuts trying to do it all the night before. I'm still searching pinterest and the net for ideas for centerpieces, games, and little extras. I'm trying not to stress but that would be beyond me to not stress lol. Well, back to work for me. I'll update again soon :)

Guess who?

Guess who got lost or bogged down with life again? My husband mentioned that I hadn't posted in a while, and I realized that every time I planned to post something came up. So now I'm just stopping and taking a quick break to post. So what's happened since my last update? We celebrated Madison's 7th Angelversary or Angel Day. We wanted to do a random act of kindness in her memory so we went shopping for supplies that families staying at our local Ronald McDonald house would need. We took them 2 big baskets full of toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoo, soap, paper plates and plastic utensils, stationary, envelopes, tape, etc. We had a nice visit and learned more about the house while we were there. It felt good to help someone in Madison's memory.

We also now have a date that we will finalize our adoption! On July 23 we will be able to walk away from this whole foster parent thing and just be a family with no strings attached. We were hoping to get things finalized before Fuzzy turned 5, but we will miss that date by 4 days. So this year we will celebrate his birthday on July 23!

Fuzzy finished his 1st year of school, and will be going to kindergarten in August. This summer we are trying hard to get his medical issues dealt with while he's out of school. He was diagnosed with ADHD this spring, and we were trying to get the right mix of medications so he will be able to calm down and focus better this year. Pre-K was a lot more lenient than kindergarten will be, and I want him to have a level playing field if at all possible. We're also dealing with some aggression issues with him that we have to get under control.

Miss Bella is doing great. We're in the process of getting her potty trained so she can attend a Pre-K3 program in September. But she is stubborn!!!!! In my opinion if you can tell me to clean up your poopy pants then you can get your butt on the potty to poop in it! She will pee all day in the potty, but nothing else. I'm trying to not let her know that she is stressing me the hell out!!!!

Let's see the latest with me is that I got off track and just plain lazy the last month, and haven't lost much. But I have my eating mojo back and I'm back on the healthy, clean eating bandwagon. Hopefully I will get my exercise groove back soon too.

Robert is still the same D&D playing, video game, computer nerd he's always been. :)

I hope to update again this month, but I will make sure that I do update once the adoption is done for sure!

Still Waiting

It's been almost 5 months since Fuzzy's bio mother had her rights terminated, and he was freed for us to adopt him. We've had a bunch of mistakes and people dropping the ball to get this adoption done, but I'm trying to stay positive. Hell after almost 5 years why not? I'm praying that we will get a date this month or at the latest next month. I want him to be official before his birthday in July. I want to officially close this chapter, and put so much of it behind us all. I want to share his cute face and smile and his name with everyone! I'm ready to be just his mom not his foster mom. So keep praying and keep your fingers crossed that we can get this done asap!

Day 4

Woohoo I'm still keeping up with posting!

My favorite childhood memory I think is one Christmas when we did all sorts of fun things. I got to pick out my own dessert to make for Christmas dinner. I had never been allowed full control of something so "important". I picked a brownie triple chocolate trifle. It was rich, ooey, gooey, and yummy. I still had a little belief in Santa. Basically I wanted to err on the side of caution just in case he was real lol. We watched the nightly news that had the "Santa Tracker", and made sure to be in bed before Santa was in our town. There wasn't anything under the tree before we went to bed, but woke up to a wonderful assortment of toys. My mom slipped into my room while I was sleeping, and put a bag of fruit and candies at the foot of my bed. There were so many little things that meshed together to form a wonderful Christmas that I will always remember.

Day 3

What makes me happy?

There's a lot that makes me happy. Off the top of my head there are my kids, Robert, McDonald's chicken nuggets, ice cream, massages, pedicures, music, my recliner, and sleep. I'm usually happy after I work out. Days off with just my hubby bring me joy and happiness. Unsolicited hugs and kisses from my babies always make me smile. Bella has gotten into knock knock jokes, and can actually make me laugh. Paid vacations from work make me happy too! I'm happy that we should finalize our adoption next month :)

Challenge Day 2

Today's challenge is My Favorite Quote. I'm not sure I have one quote that comes to mind as my favorite. I have quotes I like at different times depending on my mood. I think the one I will pick today is:

"You don't have to love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear."
- Oscar Wilde

This is one quote that I feel like really fits Robert and I. We don't "match" each other at all. He loves jeans, t-shirts, and old army surplus vests. You wouldn't catch me dead in something like that. He loves big, old Dodge kidnapper vans. I love all sorts of new cars. I call Rob a Scottish Dwarf Hobbit. I'm a 5'9 hot chocolate diva. But despite it all he completes me. He's the one that was put on this earth for me :)

My Weight Loss

I guess it's better late than never. I was asked a while ago to blog about how I've lost my weight so far. I am down 68 pounds so far, and I have about 80 more pounds to go to hit my goal weight. I started getting serious in July 2012. I tried weight watchers because it had worked for me in the past, but for some reason it didn't work for me this time. I think it's because I was more focused on the points and less on the whole nutrition/exercise picture. So in August I started using My Fitness Pal to track my food. I started eating "cleaner" by getting rid of my dependence on easy foods which was normally processed foods. I went back to cooking as much as I could. I also started a Veggie of the Week. I would buy a new veggie each week and we would come up with a healthy way to cook it.

The tracking of my food really made me take notice of what I was eating. I started to choose things based on more than just calories and fat. I started to pay more attention to my food as a whole.

I also started using my elliptical that I purchased several months before on a regular basis in addition to doing some workout DVDs to keep my interest. I get bored easily so lots of options help me stay on the bandwagon. Also in August I started taking ACE (stands for Appetite Control and Energy). It's an all natural weight loss pill that I ran by my doctor to get his ok on. It helped me get over my cravings for sweets and starches. Plus it gives me that extra boost I need to come home from work, take care of home and the kids, and then put in a workout.

I drink a LOT of water. I usually get in about a gallon a day. Once I started drinking more water the weight started coming off consistently. Now I choose water over just about any drink, all the time. 

I started seeing the changes in my body and my clothes got bigger and bigger. I started to look forward to trying new healthy foods, and coming up with ways to make my favorite foods healthy. The biggest success for me was when my mom told me how proud she was of me. I've struggled for so long with my weight, and for my mom to stop and say that was HUGE!!!!!

Here's a picture of me Easter 2012 and one from Easter 2013. Down from a Size 24/26 to a Size 14/16 :)

30 Day Challenge: Day 1

I found a 30 day blogger challenge on Pinterest yesterday, and guess what I'm already behind LOL. But that's ok. I'm trying to be better. I'm trying to blog on a regular basis again. So here goes:

Day 1: Post a self portrait and 5 random facts about yourself.

This was last night after my walk/jog time outside with the kiddos.

Random Facts:

1. I had a dream I was dating Robert and I was finally happy. I hadn't really had a conversation with him in years when I had this dream. But I decided to act on it anyway. So I got dressed up one night and showed up at the convenience store he was working the graveyard shift at. And we've been together ever since :)

2. Arabella is named after my favorite and most dear to me Dungeons and Dragons character. I looked up the meaning of her name while I was pregnant and knew it was meant to be. Arabella means "Answered Prayer".

3. I pick up songs really easily. It's perfectly normal for me to sing along with the animes we watch in Japanese.

4. My middle name before I got married was Frededrian (try to pronouncing that one). And yes my daddy's name is Freddie. I still thank God my mom didn't make that my 1st name.

5. I collect fairies and turtles. Love them!!!

Catching Up

I just noticed that I had a comment on a earlier post this year wanting me to blog about how I am losing weight. I will hopefully get that up in the next couple of days :)

Finally

We went to court this past Friday for a TPR (Termination of Parental Rights) hearing, and we were successful this time. Fuzzy has been freed for adoption after 4 long years in the foster care system, and no progress on his mother's part. The judge also terminated her rights on his younger sibling who is 16 months old. When I finally heard the words come out of the judge's mouth, I cried and cried. It was what I had dreamed of hearing for years now. We are finally moving forward. We can finally give Fuzzy a forever home with us. I'm not exactly sure how much longer we will have to wait for the adoption, but thankfully we have a friend that is willing to be our attorney for this process. This will speed things up for us :)

I am still happier than I can put into words. It is like my heart is finally free. I can't wait until I can post a picture of my little man and shout to everyone his new name!!!!

New Again

Where have I been? Why did I disappear? Not really sure why. I've been busy with life and the kids and all that jazz, but I know I could have taken a few minutes out and spilled my guts. But I guess I didn't really want to. I felt like there wasn't much changing or happening out of the ordinary so I didn't stop to say anything. Sometimes I just didn't feel like talking about what was going on in my head or around me. Now it's a new year, and I'm back. I hope to stay around, but I won't make any promises. Here's the last half of 2012 in as few words as possible:

1. Fuzzy turned 4 and started Pre-K. He loves being in school and being a "big kid".
2. We moved Bella to a new babysitter, and she is doing great. No more fighting to make sure her food allergies are taken into account so no more mystery rashes.
3. We went to court several times, and will have a termination of parental rights hearing Jan. 18. We're praying this will end it all and move us to adoption.
4. The kids had a huge, awesome Christmas. Tons and tons of toys and gifts.

5. I'm doing pretty good on my weight loss goals. I'm down 59 pounds so far.

 So now it's 2013, and I am fired up over everything that I have planned. I made my list of goals for the year on New Year's Eve. I'm posting them here to make them "legit" lol.

Goals for 2013:

1. Get to my goal weight.

2. Continue paying down and off debt.

3. Do at least 1 more half-marathon.

4. Teach myself to use my sewing machine.

5. Construct a major cosplay outfit for an anime convention.

6. Continue attending a Sunday School class.

7. Take the kids out at least once a month for an outing just for them.

8. Have more me activities like mani/pedis and massages.

9. Not have to renew or foster license ever again.

10. Try at least 1 new recipe each week.

11. Have a Date Night/Couple Time at least 2 times a month.

 

Happy New Year everyone and hopefully I will be here more often :)