LOB's preparation for intros diary!

Yuck, nasty nappies! Lots of bugs around at the moment. I can deal with the bum end, its vomiting I can't handle!

Hope it doesn't get passed on to you LOBs x

think he's better today, there was one very pale and smelly nappy but he's brighter and back to normal eating and the rest of us are feeling fine so all's well with the world.

time marches relentlessly on. sniff. food and drink bought for the goodbye party at the weekend.  busy few days to come, dentist to check teeth, tiffin to make (after the dentist trip!), daughter to welcome home for a month (primarily so she can make some brownies for the party!), artex ceilings to be tested for asbestos, newly self employed young friend to give a quote on the work needed for my new house, brownies to make, goodbye service at church followed by party and then we start next week.  its a real privilege to be part of this process where it works well but hey ho, never gets easier.

am feeling a bit grotty tonight.  squishy munchkin has had a sore throat for a few days and, joy of joys, mine is feeling itchy and scratchy now too.  nothing serious, just a bit of a cold type sore throat, but could do with out it!  off to bed and hoping he sleeps til 7.20am again like today (first time ever!).

have friend here going through it too at the same time (well, she's started already but finishes around the same time).  i'm sure i'll be fine, can collapse in a heap on the 10th!  and have a counselling session half way through so at least my mental health is being looked after!

the more the merrier moo!  off to meet the asbestos man now.  what a fun filled life i lead!  was burning paint off encrusted window sills this morning, hugely therapeutic!  pity i didn't remove the battery form the smoke alarm first, the noise nearly burst my ear drums!

plenty to do yet moo!  is a bit of a renovation job, new kitchen, floors and some windows plus 100 little bitty things like scarping off the gloss that the previous owners didn't bother to remove last time they painted!

party tomorrow, tiffin made in readiness, cleaning to do and tidying.  first 'goodbye' party ive ever done before intros start, usually do them during as it seems more like a goodbye party coz they are actually going to go in the next day or two.  but after the fuss the adoption team made last time (becoz of the way they changed the way intros are done but without telling me prior to intros planning meeting) I have cut my losses this time and decided to do it before they start.  strange to think that while we're doing that his family are travelling to start intros the next day.  all a bit weird really, probably why I don't usually think too deeply about it all!   

my daughter came home today, been 5 months since squishy saw her so a stranger really.  got a taste at bedtime of the difficulties coming for him over the next week (and beyond).  this is the bit the adoptive parents don't see, or rarely, and that sw's never seem to believe.  that a small child can behave perfectly friendly and sociable with someone while they are here and then display unsettled behaviour after they have gone (well, daughter not gone, but squishy was going to bed so gone as far as he is concerned for now!). 40 minutes of screaming from a bubs who usually settles straight to sleep. I know tomorrow will be the same becoz of the party, and Monday, Tuesday..... 

party was lovely, good weather so kids running madly in the garden, grownups hiding indoors!  squishy munchkin behaved impeccably but predictably unsettled afterwards, and during from time to time.  but nice to have a photo graphic record of the people who loved him all in one place.

so, day 1: cleared up remaining carnage from party, washed the floors.  parents arrived on time, (Sw half an hour early!) bubs predictably smiley and chirpy on meeting them, weighing them up but not wary as such.  they sensibly held back initially though I know that wanting to dive straight in there and pick up such a gorgeous bundle of edibleness is an inbuilt feature in most new parents!  planning meeting went fine, everything I wanted had already been agreed to so no changes to that.  quick trip back for parents to see bubs now they weren't so anxious about seeing him and off they went.  bubs was very unsettled though once they had gone.  is hard on small people this process.  is happy again now just rolling around on the floor.  am letting him 'chill' after so much one on one today, he's not used to it all day long! 

roll on tomorrow (there was actually a lot more that went on but too identifying most of it!), early start for breakfast, but no too early!.

thanks, caffeine gives me svt's though so traded it in for choccy instead!  nap time while siblings collected.

 end of day 2 and the sun is shining, yay!  a happy bonus!  more rain predicted tomorrow but sun again on Thursday.  I live in hope!

siblings introduction went fine.  squishy was a little bemused at first but then settled into being entertained endlessly by other small people.    went to a soft play centre due to the rain and all went well.  is lovely to see a family evolving to accommodate another new little person and see them all totally bowled over by his gorgeousness, coz truth be told he is possibly the most gorgeous little person on the planet (until the next one comes along anyway!! ).  settled to sleep on the bottle tonight, worn out from the fun filled day but awake again now, just muttering to himself though, not crying, so better than yesterday.  and far calmer today than yesterday.  there were a number of stress related behaviours yesterday not really picked up on by parents (but they don't know him yet), but today much more his usual very active but easy going laid back self, rather than the hyper and somewhat manic  little person he was yesterday.

today have done breakfast, a walk in his new pram, soft play and lunch.  busy times.  I am cream crackered and hardly exerting myself at all!  but again, par for the course.  and thanks to medication my bp is so low I daren't bend over or turn my head too fast!  stress usually raises my bp, but nothing can beat the power of ramipril it seems!  and now, thanks to the technological prowess of my lovely daughter I am about to go and sit down and watch sky tv on demand 'how to train your dragon' (or more accurately I am probably going to fall asleep while it is on!).