Drama

My life feels like a soap opera.  People talk about the drama we'll have with three teenage girls if they end up staying with us, but there's plenty of drama even at this young age! Plus the snow and ice storms as well as subzero temps. Then we add in the bio parents and social workers--parents showing up after a year to "claim" their kid, paternity tests, court cases, extra visitations and new caseworkers.  Just when I feel like I'm wrapping my head around things, another surprise pops up! I've never considered myself to be sheltered, but my eyes sure have been opened in the past year to a whole different way of living.

All four bio parents have more kids than I do.  Thirteen between the four of them, yet they're all younger than me.  Not that they parented all (or any) of them, but they have had opportunities to parent.  So it amazes me some of the things I hear from them.  From a bio dad telling me to stop using formula and just water down some 2% milk, to a bio mom feeding her 11 month old a Salisbury Steak TV dinner, to the homeless parent who wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a ChuckECheese birthday party and baby Air Jordan shoes instead of saving up for an apartment.  Oh, and my favorite, a rant in court about how plenty of people do drugs every day and still take care of their kids, and it's ridiculous that he has to get clean to get his baby back.  No one really knew how to respond to that.

But in the middle of all the drama, life goes on!  We've been busy with preschool, trying to figure out which school Keragan will go to next year, celebrating birthdays, and coming up a wedding!  Not to mention meetings, parent teacher conferences and classes that are keeping Troy out late.  I'm ready for a break, but I don't see one coming anytime soon.  

Keragan turned three!  Wow how time has flown.  She's getting so big!

Keragan's life is 100% about her birthday right now.  We had talked several months ago about what kind of party she wanted, and she was adamant about Minnie Mouse.  It was odd because she never really was interested in her before, but we went with it.  She had her first friend party, and I had to limit her to 7 friends, which was difficult.  With our three, we had 10 kids running around, but overall it was a lot of fun!  Keragan was thrilled with it, but has had a hard time accepting that it's over.  She keeps asking when her friends will come back for her party.  

 

Further adding to her confusion is the fact that baby J's birthday is coming up next week.  We're not having a huge party for her, but we'll celebrate it.  Now to convince Keragan that it's not her birthday again!