A couple of months ago I mentioned that our Caseworker was moving to a new job within DSS.  We have had our new caseworker now for almost a month.  She is a very sweet girl, just WAY too new at this.  In fact this is her first case ever.  So basically she doesn't have a clue.  I has been frustrating.  I don't want to be the one to tell her how to do her job, ya' know?  Thankfully our old caseworker is still sorta on the case as she is the one filing to terminate the birthparents parental rights and will be the lead witness.  I called her yesterday to talk to her about this new threat from Birthdad and expressed my concern over Blaine's safety in and out of his visits with Birthdad.  New Caseworker didn't suggest any new protocols and that had me concerned.  Old Caseworker absolutely agreed.  She came up with a great suggestion.  They will retain Birthdad in the facility 10 minutes prior to and 10 minutes after visits so that we can get in and out safely without him trying to snatch the baby from us. She's going to meet with New Caseworker and try to get her to understand how serious a threat like this is from him. 

Now I need to look into what to do about our visits with Birthmom.  He knows where we are every Monday morning.

Okay, so I am a BIT distracted.  I was going over some older posts and realized I never posted the pictures from Claire's birthday party.  The pictures that Sonalee was so WONDERFUL to send to me from her cell phone since I forgot my camera.  So here you go......

Blaine is remarkably better.  His ear still has just a touch of drainage and he's still a bit crabby, but much better by far.  I stayed home from church this morning with the 2 Littles.  I'm not feeling all that well myself and got virtually no sleep last night.  So far I have spent my morning cleaning the kitchen.  Jasmine was a huge help.  She unloaded and re-loaded most of the dishwasher.  She is an amazing child.  She then windexed the front of the dishwasher and stove.  Blaine on the other hand was beside himself that I wouldn't hold him so I got as much done as I could and will just have to finish it later.

Last night Scott and I had a date night.  Instead of leaving Blaine with a sitter since he wasn't feeling well we gave him some ibuprofen, dressed him up, and took him to dinner with us.  He was the hit of the restaurant.  Three different tables of people interacted with him.  It was nice for us because it kept him so busy and distracted socializing that Scott and I were able to actually sit, talk, and enjoy our meal.

  It is such a relaxing rainy Saturday morning.  The babies woke up at 7am (albeit a bit early for me) and we have been moseying along ever since.  I've been working on laundry and mending, and more organizing in our room.  The girls have been doing basic chores downstairs between Hannah Montana and That's So Raven episodes.  Scott and Levi are off at the men's breakfast at church and then will be picking up the new snow skiing gear and signing the twins up for a hunter's safety course.  I love days like this.  Days where there is no rush to do anything.  Days where we really do get things accomplished but at a much slower pace. 

  Poor Blaine has had a horrible ear infection going on this week.  He seemed a bit 'off' last weekend and finally on Tuesday I decided to just take him in and get him checked out.  I had a suspicion he had the beginnings of an ear infection.  He hadn't had a fever but he was tugging on his ear some.   Shortly before his appointment I noticed some drainage.  Sure enough the dr put him on antibiotics.  But.....he wasn't getting better.  Two days later his ear was draining even worse and he was now REALLY crabby.  The dr felt we were on the right course and said keep on keepin' on.  On day 3 however he was even worse.  I took him with me to allergy shots and had my doctor look at him.  Apparently he had had so much fluid build up his ear drum burst.  I called his dr back and finally got a stronger anitibiotic.  Here we are 24 hours later and he is FINALLY getting better. 

   We are cleaning out and cleaning up.  I can't not believe how much our home has transformed over the past 4 days.  I am LOVIN' it.  We aren't done, by a long shot, but much progress has been made.  We have a new caseworker coming tomorrow morning so thankfully the house will be clean when she comes.

For those of you who have never been to our house our bedroom in far from 'done.'  I hated the wallpaper on the walls when we moved in 7 years ago so I tore it down.  That has left us with some bare lathe and plaster on parts of the walls and wall paper backing on other parts.  We also do not have a headboard.   So......last night I was laying on my tummy in bed reading and underlining in my Bible when I had a sudden inspiration.  I decided to write the verses that mean something to me right on the wall over my bed.  I'm diggin' it.  Maybe it will help me to memorize more scripture.  

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

Tonight Jasmine and I were goofing around as I was getting her ready for bed.  I pointed to her nose and asked, "Do you have any boogers in there?"

To which she replied, "No.  I already picked them and I ate them."