Introducing The Baby

Its about time we officially introduce the baby and all that has been happening over here. In September 2021 we decided we would open our home to our next foster placement since our little guy transitioned to his new home. We took the summer to be our family of four and enjoyed the summer before thinking about what the next fostering season would look like for us.

We were asked to think about taking a baby boy who at the time was 6 months old. When the social worker calls you they give you as much information as they can about the child. The social worker that calls us is not the social worker for the child so often this information is secondhand. They are usually reading notes on a child and giving you whatever information is written down. If you want more information about the child you can either asked them to call the childs social worker and get that information or they may let you connect directly with the childs social worker. For this baby, he was in a foster home already and so they had quite a bit of information about him. Usually if a child is new to the social workers they have very little information. We were able to get all the information we were interested in. The big question for us was whether or not we were up for taking on a 6 month old. Jeff and I both have jobs outside the home and our original range of acceptance was 18 months to 4 years old. I think the range of acceptance is just a suggestion- I don't think they really consider it too much! ha!

After quite a bit of discussing it and feeling uncertain we decided to go for it. One major deciding factor was trying to figure out what would be easier for Jace and Jemma. At the time we made the decision to take the baby, we decided taking a baby might be easier than taking a toddler. When we welcomed our little guy into our home it was a BIG transition. He brought with him a ton of challenges. As much as we love him and enjoyed him, it was a big learning curve. We wondered if a baby would be a smoother transitions and also thought maybe a baby wouldn't require so much emotional energy.

The baby came on October 1. This was quite a different experience for us. Jeff and I needed to learn how to formula feed. This was actually really stressful for us. We have never even purchased formula before, and I think I used a bottle on Jace and Jemma a handful of times. I had no idea how much to feed him or when to feed him and I felt very concerned about this. This was so different from last time. Our little guy could communicate his needs, and more often than not he just got whatever he needed. The pressure of being handed a baby that could not communicate and I knew nothing about his schedule, when he last ate or slept stressed me to the max. We are now 21 days in and we have it figured out!

These last 21 days have been a bit crazy. The baby was suppose to come in Sept but he ended up getting sick at his previous home so his move date was delayed. He was here for one week when one of our kiddos got sick, and then everyone else got sick. We promptly went and all got Covid tests and one us of came back positive. We sent the one child in the house who was not sick to grandma and grandpas in hopes of keeping them healthy (it worked! they never got sick!). Right when the kids were ready to go back to school the school announced remote learning for one week. My planned one week off, turned out to be one month off as we dealt with sickness, isolation and remote learning. This turned out to be a huge blessing as these extra days at home with everyone has been a great gift. We have bonded with the baby so quickly and we have figured out babies routine and personality. I guess there are gifts in Covid after all!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long will he be here?

A: I have no idea. We do request longer term placements as we are not really set up to take children short notice and we do want some stability in our home. His team suspects he will be here for a little while. It is anyone's guess as to what that could mean!

Q: How are the kids adjusting?

A: They have never been happier! They are loving on him and enjoying all his funny noises and facial expressions. He is a happy baby. This will be a very hard goodbye.

Q: Have you kept in touch with your little guy?

A: Yes! We chat once every couple weeks on facetime and it has been such a gift to us to be able to do that. We have also sent a couple packages and they have sent a package back to us. My parents also travelled to Toronto in Sept and were able to see him. They were able to send him the stuffed dog that didn't make it in the suitcase due to his large size and were able to see where he is living. We were so thankful his new family allowed them the time to see him.

Q: Have you met the babies family?

A: Yes! When we are not in isolation (ha!) baby has weekly visits with family and I was able to meet family right before we all got sick. It was great to meet his people and the meeting went well. I hope to have a good relationship with them.