The easter holidays have been BUSY!
After thankfully recovering from my awful chest infection, it’s been pretty full on for the last two weeks!
Continue readingEaster Festivities!
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Tag Archives: Adoption
Adoption Leave
Well I am 3 weeks into my adoption leave, and am starting to realise how little from my to-do list I am likely to achieve.
I had a plan that once I stopped work I’d be doing all sorts of things like going swimming and painting the doors and skirting boards, and meeting friends for coffee in a relaxed, chilled out sort of way.
Instead I am finding myself waking up profoundly tired and dragging myself through the day, mostly doing laundry and food shopping and meal prep and running the girls around to playdates and activities. S finds it astonishing that I am getting myself ready for bed at 9pm while she is still sneakily trying to read her book in bed instead of going to sleep!
Continue readingMy baby comes home
Well, after a lot of wrangling I finally got my adoption allowance granted – and in the end they actually gave me more than I had asked for!
I had initially asked for quite a large sum over 4 months to cover my adoption leave, but in addition to that they have also added a mean-tested sum to continue until S is 18 which I wasn’t expecting! It will get reviewed annually but should provide an extra little buffer which is extremely welcome just now as all our bills start to go up and up and up!
Continue readingShrodinger’s Benefits
I’m in a financial rabbit hole at the moment, and have ended up in a rather odd chicken and egg situation.
Continue readingOn Saturday something funny happened….
So, after all the ups and downs of the past few weeks things are picking up pace.
Just like my last adoption, paperwork is suddenly flying around, and things are moving at last. I’ve got a host of meetings scheduled to talk about post-adoption support and funding applications and prepare for the panel, and so on. I’m also back and forth with my manager planning my adoption leave, and looking at the price of school uniforms and so on.
In amongst all of this my daughter-to-be is still coming for visits and honestly we are having the best time.
Continue readingUp and Down, and up and down….
The 7th January is the 2 year anniversary of the day my daughter A’s adoption order was granted. It should have been a happy day.
But it was also the day I got some devastating news about my second adoption, so it’s rather bittersweet this year. And since then it has all been VERY up and down quite frankly.
To sum up the journey so far, in April last year, we saw S during our regular visits to A’s foster carer, and I asked her social worker if I could adopt her. Initial feedback was very positive and in June I re-started the approvals process to get approved. At that point I genuinely thought the approvals process would be faster the second time around because I’ve already successfully adopted once before, and this is a known child to me so there is no need for all the anguish of the matching process, waiting to find the right kid for you. I already KNOW she’s the right kid for me.
Continue readingThe Laundry Fairy
Well we had a very fun, relaxing and exhausting Christmas holiday in the end!
It was busy but fun, and we got to see lots of people we love, and do lots of nice things in spite of Covid, so all in all I’m pleased.
But my word do I need another holiday now!
Continue readingThe Christmas Letter 2021
Ah the Christmas letter. A dying art form. Some are very dull while the truly great letters are witty and light hearted, bringing joy and exaggeration to the most mundane of lives.
It’s not really needed in my case, as most of my friends and family have already read my blow-by-blow accounts of the minutiae of our lives all year and are pretty much up to speed. Nevertheless, I thought I would attempt a Christmas missive to recap the year.
Continue readingBusy, busy, busy….
Well goodness we HAVE been busy lately!
Feels like the last 3 months straight have been nothing but jam-packed and hectic but we are slowly getting there…
Continue readingMeeting my newest and oldest daughter (officially)
So, I wrote a while ago that I was planning to adopt again, and all the incredibly slow and boring red tape that goes with it. Since then I have moved house to Chateau d’Omnishambles to have more space etc and be ready for the next child.
I also wrote about the specific girl who I really want to adopt. Well things are FINALLY moving forward and starting to happen!
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Had we but world enough and time... 