Sunday 18 September 2011

Back to reality!

No real adoption news (not until the training course in November) so this is just another rambly update for those who are interested!

So, after my first paid summer as a teacher I'm back to work with a crash!  I'm not sure I've ever felt so tired, but it seems like everyone at school is the same!  Only 5 weeks 'til half term!  And I'm sure those 5 weeks will go very quickly!  I hope so, and I hope I grow a pair soon and stop feeling so utterly pooped!  For those of you with "real jobs" who are thinking "what's she moaning about - part timer!" I get in at 7.30 and leave at 5.15pm three days a week, 6pm one day and 10.30pm another day.  That is quite a lot of hours!

It makes me wonder how people cope with having jobs and children.  I know that I will be part time for a while but will probably have to go back full time when our little person starts school.  Teaching seems like such a convenient career for having children but it's so time consuming and exhausting!  The holidays are awesome, though!

I have been telling some of my colleagues about the adoption and they are all wonderfully positive which is nice!  It's great to know that the all important support network that the social workers always talk about really is in place.  The other thing that keeps happening is that on the New Family Social message boards, loads of people are going from training course to placement within a few months with approval and matching panels happening on the same day.  I had previously thought that this was unheard of and that it always took years and years so I find this both exciting and scary!  We have to have our extension built but I guess after that we are good to go in a physical sense, but my brain and heart were prepared for a long old wait and the prospect of a short wait definitely gives me butterflies!  We shall have to wait and see...

Just a short blog as I have work to do! :(  Sigh!  Hopefully next time I blog I will be full of beans again!

Hope everyone else is enjoying September.  I love the Autumn: our three year civil partnership anniversary is coming up soon along with our ten year anniversary of being a couple.  It's a big year for us!

Friday 2 September 2011

Getting excited about babies (not our babies...yet!)

So the last couple of weeks have been filled with visits to my friends with children and lovely massively pregnant friend. It's all very exciting and heart warming and makes me feel really great that when we do adopt lots of my friends are starting families too and we can all be jolly young families together.

I haven't much to add this post as nothing much has happened. We made a decision regarding the fostering because we are biting the (oh so chilly) bullet and probably going to do the extension over the winter which means it could start in a month or so (scary times!). I am seriously excited about the prospect of a child friendly, massive kitchen though so I think that will make it worth it. On the subject of that, I have been reading www.mydaddycooks.com, a wonderful blog about a dad who cooks with the cutest toddler. It's close to my heart as cooking is something I'm really passionate about and want to share with our children. The veal escalopes clip is particularly hilarious! I've just bought my brother the cook book for his birthday and I really want it now! The other awesome thing on the blog is that he puts Archie (the toddler) in this thing called a fun pod, a piece of furniture designed to make a toddler worktop height without them falling out...might have to get me one of those! All very fun and makes me think about the future in a dreamy, rose-tinted sort of a way. I think that's ok every once in a while given that the rest of the time we are ploughing through a mountain of books explaining how and why our children will most certainly come with a whole bundle of issues we need to work through with them.

Two other random thoughts for this post are:

1. Bear Factory clothing, how can it be more expensive than real, adult clothing?! It's probably cheaper to hire a nanny and pay for your child to dress them than buy one of those bears. I went there with my friend's little girl; she bought a dress and some roller-skates and didn't get much change from £15. Truly absurd! But my friend was awesome, as it was her daughter's pocket money she was allowed to buy whatever she wanted and we all waited patiently while she counted out her money at the till despite the massive queue behind us. When I was a child I never would have been permitted to purchase such an extravagant item...my post office savings account was actively encouraged and my mum would help me to make clothes for my toys. I like the idea that (within limits), my friend's child could choose what she spent her money on, although I also like the fact that my mum encouraged creativity and saving! I will keep you posted (maybe...if I'm still blogging in 5 years time!) as to what my method would be.

2. I've been sharing this clip with everyone because I think it is hilariously true, so for those of you who read this you may get a laugh from it. It has nothing to do with adoption!

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo1ZHgbj-_Q&v=Bo1ZHgbj-_Q&gl=GB

Enjoy!

p.s. Back to school on Monday but will try and keep you posted with adoption stuff (and you will probably be glad to know you will get less of the random extras!)