4 kids and foster care

We've started doing foster care. Something we've been working towards for a couple years now, and had put off doing because we were moving house and renovating... But we decided it was time, and wouldn't you know it, the very day we rang the department (at 1pm) to say we had a bedroom ready for a child (we nominated 0-3 years old), they rang us back (at 5pm!) to ask us if we wanted to have a placement of a 2-day old baby. I think my response was "umm... I'll say yes." And then I rang Andrew (who later pointed out that may have been the wrong order for things to happen in!). But I knew he would be onboard. Shocked, but onboard.

So that was over a month ago, and now little Baby C has been in our house for a month. She's lovely and cute, starting to smile a bit, and we are all loving caring for her. Nick is totally soaking up not being the youngest, Laura is loving having a little baby girl, and I think Daniel is taking it all in and enjoying her while also protecting himself. It's unknown how long we will have her, of course. The state has to figure out her family situation, and there's no quick answers to these things. But Daniel articulated very early on that the longer we have her, the harder it will be to say goodbye. Without a doubt. But here we are, trying something we know we have to try, and praying that we do it in a way that is right for our family and for the child(ren) that come into our house. But at the moment, it's all about newborn routine and although I haven't had pregnancy and birth to recover from, I now have not slept through the night for a whole month, which I (not-so-graciously) pointed out to Andrew when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed the other day. But mostly I am happy to be caring for a child that needs a home, amazed that things in our lives have come together to make it possible, and super thankful for the people around us who are helping immensely. Because I need it. 4 kids, geez.

And of course I can't really post pictures of her... :(