Braeden's subsidy paperwork is DONE!!! The cw doing it went to work and it is done! She is bringing it over Monday morning to go over it with me, then I need to go over it with my lawyer and have him sign it before it can finally then be sent in!!! Yay!!! We are so close. She is also going to start Olivia's, even though we're not quite at that point yet. That way it's done and we don't have to wait.

Yesterday was such a great day. Being my birthday, I thought it would be fun to take the kids downtown on the train, especially since I had an extra pair of hands with grandma here. We then took the free trolley up to Watertower and went to the American Girl Place. Olivia has a Bitty Baby, although she never really understood what that meant until seeing this store: she had a blast. Since her birthday is coming up soon grandma let her pick out a new outfit for her baby. We then went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch where I almost started crying and just wanted to crawl into a hole. Shortly after sitting and getting our bread, Braeden grabbed a bread plate and simply flung it behind him, hitting the hard floor at the base of two tables of people. It shattered!!!! I about died!!! I couldn't believe it!!!! Needless to say everything breakable was moved out of range, he was pulled up right next to me and I basically fed him his lunch! AAAAHHHHHH!!!! The looks I got! Wow! Anyway, after that we went to a couple stores in Watertower. They have a new one which was a big hit - The #1 Blue Engine. A store that is ALL Thomas! So Braeden was able to pick out something too. We then took the trolley back to Millenium Park. The Joffrey Balley had a free performance which we watched for a while - so neat! We then went to the Crown Fountain. Very cool. Two huge rectangular towers covered with glass brick. Water comes out from the top and make an ankle deep "pool" at the bottom for kids to play in. On one side of each tower they put up a HUGE face of different Chicagoans. They look like a picture, but then maybe will blink an eye or smile. Every five min. or so a jet of water shoots out of their mouths. So cool! The kids had their swimsuits for this so they played a while and then watched a performance of African stomping. We then caught the train home where Braeden slept the whole way! :) A wonderful day!!!

I know, I know, when are you going to see a picture of Olivia's new hair??? Well, with working on the house (coming along great, I'll blog about that in a min.), now being off work and having kids full-time, and having my mom here visiting, Haven't had a lot of time on the new computer to hook up the camera and figure out how to download pics yet. Soon, soon. :)

The house like I said is coming along so well. I finally was able to get the wallpaper boarders out of Braeden and Olivia's rooms and paint them. They look great! I then moved all my boxes of books to his room and the three bookshelves and dining table and chairs to hers in order to pull up the carpet and padding in the living room and hall. I still need to take out the tack strips along the edges, but the floors look really good. Wednesday night the floor care people will call and come see the space to give me a final estimate, although they already gave me a preliminary one. More than I expected, or should I say hoped, but they will look so good and curtains, etc. can wait. They will most likely then start the floors on Friday. That way I can get the furniture back in.

In addition to everything else I had a message yesterday from Olivia's former cw. She had asked me a couple weeks ago about doing respite for someone she knew. The woman has, I think she said, foster kids of her former foster kids?, I am not sure, but regardless, she has a number of kids and her husband got sick all of sudden and then passed away. She said she may need respite for the 9month old, but definately wanted him back. Well, I guess she is just too overwhelmed and has given notice on two of the kids. Their agency, different from mine, cannot find a placement in the area and they may be moved. They still have siblings, I think at the house, and it would be very hard. Their caseworker is a former one of Braeden's who switched agencies. This cw friend of mine said if I was interested they may be able to work it out and gave me the name and number of the foster parent. She didn't say anything about ages/genders, so I definately would want to at least know that before calling the foster mother and getting her hopes up that they may stay in the area. So, I'm waiting to hear back from her. We'll see...

So, until I am on again, I am thinking about you all and your situations and praying for the very best.