Life Changing Day....

On 28th March two things happened.  The day started out pretty yucky; improved slowly with some lovely moments and finished on a major crescendo.

Firstly Katie was sick and missed her Easter Bonnet Parade at school.  I think I was more disappointed than she was if I'm honest as I'd put some serious Mummy energy into making that damn bonnet! I thought it was quite good until I saw some of the other creations.  For heavens sake parents these kids are in RECEPTION YEAR!! This isn't the Tate Modern!  Go and bake some cakes or something.......

I digress.......Katie was sick during the evening whilst I was enjoying myself at my Reiki group.  She is very adept at timing her distresses for times when I'm out enjoying myself *raises eyebrows at the little monkey*.  Daddy had the nice job of dealing with a bed (and his T-shirt) of vomit and I got the nice job of coming home and putting it all in the wash and then having a night of very broken sleep with added vomit so don't feel too sorry for Daddy.  Poor Katie. It is so scary being sick when you are little. She gets so distressed.  I was able to snuggle her up in my arms all night and keep her warm whilst she kicked the covers off and fidgetted.  She's still not right, bless her little heart, but she's getting better (although producing some incredibly offensive odours from her derriere!).  She's organising her care package with organisational skills I should be proud of (other than the fact that it's me who's delivering the package!).

Thankfully she wasn't sick again on Thursday and we had a lovely Mummy+Katie day of mooching (yes I saw an opportunity to start teaching some mooching skills). I painted her nails; we baked some brownies for our Social Workers visit later in the day; we pottered up to the shops. It was actually a lovely day, despite the odd rush to the toilet.

Around 5.30pm our new Matching Social Worker arrived closely followed by our Assessing Social Worker to start our handover meeting.  Katie was delighted when our ASW presented her with a Lindt Chocolate Bunny (Mummy is under strict instructions NOT to eat it!) and Katie excitedly presented her with a lovely little mug we had found with a cat and dog sharing Dalmatian spots.  We love our cats and our ASW has dogs so we thought this was a very apt gift.  It was a fairly small mug as we know that SWs rarely get to finish a cuppa!

We had a little bit of chitchat and finally I asked our MSW "So, what happens next then? Are we just waiting for the phone to ring or is there anything else we need to do?"  I knew what her reply was going to be and I couldn't wait any longer for her reply which was

"Well actually I'm here instead of a phonecall".

I held my breath, anxious to see if what she was going to say was going to "match" the premonition I had had some time ago.  It did.  We have a match and it is a perfect match for our family.  I'm going to have to leave you dangling for a while until I am able to say more but I will say that we will soon be welcoming a very small member into the Katie family who might have a tendency to wear blue (or the various shades of brown and green that designers seem to like for a certain sex of child).  Our MSW asked if we needed time to think about it but Daddy and I both know that this is the right match for us, and Katie, and need no time to think any further.

We heard as much information as our MSW (who also seems very nice) was able to give us and arranged a meeting to discuss things further with the child's SW on 8th April.  We already know the SW because she was Katie's SW several years ago and we've had ongoing contact with her over the past 3 years.  It is all falling into place. Katie will feel relaxed with her, as do we, and this will help things along wonderfully I feel.

I've drip fed Katie some information. I've told her that our new SW thinks she may be able to find her a baby brother (sssshhhh I've said it).  Katie's face lit up and her excitement matches mine.  I've said we'll need to wait a bit longer until we get some more news but we're having little conversations. Just enough for a 5 year old to manage.

Since the meeting on Thursday I have been riding a wave of emotion. Mostly excitement until a friend of mine sent me an email of all the things I was going to need to buy and learn. Katie was 2 when we adopted her so bottles and teething and weaning are new things to us.  It's going to be a fun learning curve I think.

When we were matched with Katie, I was really unwell. I was anxious. I didn't know how to trust my instincts regarding a match.  Daddy was the one who "knew" that Katie was right for us.  This time I am all systems go. I feel it in every fibre of my being.  I am already bonded emotionally with this child.  The bolt of emotion has been allowed to flow.

I'm in!  

I'm caught....

Hook, Line and Sinker.

The MSW has said we can move things along as quickly or as slowly as we would like.  There are still some uncertainties that need to be addressed.  We still have some building work upstairs to sort out.  I can't imagine we would start introductions quicker than in 2 months because we have to meeting with the Medical Adviser and Foster Carers and go to Matching Panel.  The system can only work so quickly.  I will know more on the 8th but we have said that we want to move as quickly as is possible to minimise the time spent in Foster Care.  Until then I'm going to be bouncing about in a mix of excitement and panic about how much I'm going to need to achieve and buy.

Bring it on, I can't wait!  What a life changing day......