Sunday 4 March 2012

Yes, we accidently kidnapped our social worker...

Hello folks, so I’m going to use subheadings in this post (my English teacher would be pleased) as quite a few things have happened since I last blogged and it seemed like a good idea to break it down (y’all).


Meeting with social worker

So, this was our penultimate meeting as she has almost finished the form!  Crazy times.  We talked about childcare experience and it was more from a “let’s write down as much as possible so you look good” point of view rather than a “you haven’t done enough”.  Which was nice.  Our homework this week was to write a bit about how we thought children would change our lives, both good and bad.  So that was quite fun.  We wrote that we were quite excited about all sorts of things...taking them to the zoo, cooking with them, pointing out interesting things in the world etc. etc. and then had to try and write about negatives so we look like we’re realistic about it all.  Which we are, clearly, as we are totally aware that having children is a noisy, smelly, messy and downright tiring old business, but we’re 100% up for it anyway!  It’s a bit like the classic “what are your weaknesses?” job interview question: you sort of know what to say but want to put a positive spin on it.  So we sort of said; we won’t be able to go on adventurous holidays...but that’s OK because we’ve been on them already; we won’t be able to have lie-ins but we don’t really anyway; we will have less money, but we’ve done that before and it was OK. This was the sort of angle we took...problem...solution....issue...but it’ll be OK because.... so I hope that’s alright!  Will let you know.  Our second piece of homework was to take a photograph of us for our promotion sheet (not sure what it’s called but it seems pretty much like an ebay ad but for parents).  I’m quite unphotogenic so that was a tough call but we put on our best; “trust us with your children we are very jolly and nice” faces and posed in the garden!

The social worker visit was fun, we sat down and ate lots of cake and it was jolly.  It feels quite like having a chat with friends now so it’s weird to think that next time will be our last visit.  It’s sad that our social worker won’t be taking us on to matching panel and see us eventually with a child but such is the way of things I suppose.  Rather hilariously on Friday we had a power cut in our rented accommodation so we ended the meeting in candle light and then the automatic electric gates to the house wouldn’t open so our social worker was trapped!  Luckily my other half managed to find the key to override it but it was all rather embarrassing!

But big news really is that we have a provisional date for our approval panel and it’s June!  Crazy!  So we really are getting somewhere.



Meeting with our adoption prep. course folk.

We met up for lunch with our adoption preparation course participants on Saturday.  It was really nice to see them all and compare notes.  I think we are really lucky that our social worker is so friendly and jolly and that makes our sessions less stressful and actually quite fun.  Some of the other people on the course had much more matter of fact and straight laced social workers and felt like every session was a test and designed to catch them out. We definitely haven’t felt like that about ours!  L was worried that because of this, our sessions haven’t been thorough enough but I disagree; I think that the jolly informal nature of our sessions means that we get to the heart of things quickly and we talk about things in depth and volunteer information rather than having to be probed!



Meeting up with our friends and the twins

We had a lovely lunch today with our chums and their twins (5 months).  We had a nice catch up and lots of baby cuddling/jiggling etc.  We’re both really looking forward to us meeting up when we are both mummies and doing all sorts of jolly things so that’s made me excited.  I’m just desperately trying to curb my enthusiasm at the moment because I feel so excited all the time!  I need to calm down!  Sometimes I think to myself...I wonder where our child is now...!  I mean, they’ve probably been born, could be in foster care, or could still be with their birth families.  I try not to think about it too much as I’ll work myself into a frenzy!  I kind of just want to start buying things but as we have no idea of age/sex we can’t really!  My friend said today that I could get a mum bag, or possibly a play mat as we will definitely need one of those!  I have actually treated myself to a giant sturdy handbag which will be filled with all sorts of things before we know it.  It’s just so weird.  Our friends agree that we are probably “pregnant” now.  I think once we’ve moved back into our own home maybe things will start to settle down a bit.

So, that’s my long (subheadinged) blog!  Well done for making it this far!