Surrogacy, Foster Parenting, Adoption, Special Needs.....
These are all things I talk about on the blog but it's not what the blog is. This blog is really just my own personal journey in life. It's about life in general dealing with all of the mess that gets thrown at us. Some days it's about the funny things one of the kids did. Some days it's a look back and remembrance. Some days it's when I'm at that point that the kids' special needs have kicked me into the corner and I want to hide from the world. It's not all pretty with rainbows and butterflies but it's real. More importantly, it's mine. My life.
All About Me
I am a 30Something mother times 6, surrogate times 1 (and counting), foster parent and wife times 1 (ha!). My life is pretty much defined in my family. My IRL name is Kelly but I go by Momma so often that it has pretty much stuck, hence Momma Chaos. I have a tendency to talk fast and babble quite a bit. Don't worry, you'll get used to it.
I love reading- mostly romance & smut books but at least I admit it right? My kids like to get me hooked on popular Young Adult books which works for me because I'm mainly just happy that they inherited my love of reading!
I love to do cross-stitch but I rarely find the time. S'rsly, I haven't actually completed one in years but every once in a while I'll pull it out and spend the day stitching. It's relaxing. I also love knitting, but the loom knitting which means right now I can only make hats and scarves.. It is too real knitting, btw- just the easier way :)
I love find-a-word puzzles but completely abhor real cross-words. Sorry, it's true.
My favorite ice cream is Bubble gum. Shut up! if you haven't tried it, you can't judge.
I am a great mom some days but a horrible housewife most days. Some things in life are a trade off I guess.
Him
Daddy Chaos and I met when we were both in high school. We started dating the summer after he graduated (summer before my senior year) and got married the following summer after I graduated. We are been married 18+ years now and life is good. I've been with him for over ½ of my life now, which sounds funny when you think about it.. He is a wonderful husband and more importantly a great dad. He works hard to make sure we have every little thing our hearts desire. He is my world.
Them
Drama Queen ~ Our first biological. The one we made all our mistakes on. She's now the age I was when Daddy Chaos & I first started, it's scary to imagine! lol. Drama should have been her middle name but her true one is pretty apt as well. In reality, she's a really awesome kid! Some days she forgets that she is still a teen and not an adult & her mouth gets her in trouble more times than not but I'm fairly sure that's just teen life. She is in her senior year of high school and so ready to move onto college. I'm just not sure I'm ready to let her go quiet yet.
Attitude King~ Our second (and last) biological. He was supposed to be the baby of the family. He spent 7 years in that role so it was a bit hard to give up. Some days he still acts like it even though his position has been moved to "bigger sibling" many times over. He is a sensitive kid who still likes to cuddle- not that he would admit it- despite the fact that he passed all of us in size!
*This is where I always get confused. Do I list the kids by their ages or by when they joined the family? Southern Darlin' is older than the youngest 3 but she was the last to join us. It's confusing. We're just going with age for this page, deal with it. *
Southern Darlin- What can I say about her? We have known about Southern Darlin' since she was 1yr old but didn't meet her until she was 5½. She is the full biological sibling to Spoiled Princess and actually the last to join our family. Due to her prenatal exposure and first 5years of life, Southern Darlin' has a few issues that she deals with on a daily basis. Despite it all, she has bonded with the family and really settled in. She is an adorable little girl who almost always tries her hardest and with a cheerful attitude. She does deal with some attachment disorder (RAD) but after 4+ years she's doing so much better! I could go on and on but alas I don't have the time right now.
Spoiled Princess~ Her fake name says it all. Spoiled Princess was our very first placement as foster parents. She came to us straight from the hospital & had very little contact with her biological parents, so it was very much like she was ours from the beginning. Attitude King & Drama Queen were older ( almost 7 & 9) when she came to us and so she was our very spoiled little baby. Spoiled Princess was prenatally exposed to substances that no baby should be but she has done wonderfully. Early Intervention worked with her for her first 3years of life but other than that, she has done fine. She is now in 3rd grade and advanced in reading. She loves school! She ironically is the child most like me. She is eager to please. She gets upset easily if she gets in trouble. She is the "perfect" child. She does her best to do what she knows will make you happy and get your approval. I see so much of myself in her.
Fishing Pole (formerly Drool Prince)~ self named fake name. He chose it at his adoption & planned on telling the judge to call him that.. He chickened out at the last minute but I felt it was only fair that I change his blog name to Fishing Pole. :) He was our 2nd long term foster placement. We also got him straight from the hospital & he also had very little involvement with his biological mother. Fishing pole wasn't as lucky in his body's ability to handle the prenatal exposure as Spoiled Princess. By 3mo he had heart surgery to repair 2 congenital heart defects. We spent his first year & half of life at numerous drs trying to discover what why our baby was fainting until they finally placed a pacemaker at 19months old. He is smart as a whip and outwardly does very well with this medical issues. However he does have some behavioral issues that we are dealing with. Fishing Pole waited the longest to finalize his adoption. Although he was placed with us at birth, terminated on by the time he was 2 ½, his adoption did not get finalized until he was well over 4 ½. He is a wonderful charming little boy, I'm already worried about the teen years with this one!
Dimples (formerly TheToddler & formerly Baby Bug) ~ at last we get to the true baby of the family. Dimples is a full biological sibling to Fishing Pole. He came to us as a newborn and was the only of our foster placements that we knew about ahead of time. We knew that his bmom was pregnant with him and she had asked us to take him if he came into care. This was the one of all 4 adopted that we planned for. The one that we knew was coming and planned to adopt. He was definitely the absolute hardest emotionally as a foster child. Dimples was also exposed to a nice cocktail of drugs. He has various medical issues and some sensory problems as well. Everyone instantly forgives his misbehavior because "he's just so darn cute!!". No one can resist his charm! After two years of developmental preschool, he has begun Kindergarten. His teacher reports that he is soo quiet, we have both decided that he's honeymooning & probably just scared to death. Poor soul. It is most likely that he is on the autism spectrum, we are seeking the diagnosis now.
** And that, my dears is that.. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be editing this page because I'm never happy with anything.. Plus who knows if another kid might join the family one of these days. I'm just sayin.. **
