hollykaustin

Confession: I hate pretend play

I’ve got a three year old and a 1 year old in the house on the daily, and a 9 year old on weekends. That’s a lot of kid time. I think of myself as a good parent. My kids’ physical needs are always met, and met well. When kids come to us they’re oftenContinue reading “Confession: I hate pretend play”

A day in the life of a foster parent

5:30 am, Tiny toddles into our bedroom and asks for a hug. Seth and I peel our eyes open. 6:00 am, Dude man starts fussing in his crib. Baths, getting kids dressed, breakfast follow. 7:30 am, Seth takes the kids to daycare. Forgets Tiny’s glasses and mask. 8:30 am, our amazing daycare provider calls toContinue reading “A day in the life of a foster parent”

Bonding

I have a confession to make: I’ve had a hard time bonding with Little Dude so far. This is not uncommon, and is a fact of life for foster parents. Sometimes it takes a month or two for me to really develop a bond with a child and that month or two is hard. WhyContinue reading “Bonding”

A Diagnosis?

I wrote a little while ago about my ongoing health issues, and wanted to do a brief follow up report on where things stand. I got a colonoscopy and endoscopy done in the end of August. Lots of odds and ends issues were found, including a polyp in my stomach that would have turned intoContinue reading “A Diagnosis?”

School District Love

I love our school district. I don’t feel like many people feel that way especially during Covid. Let’s talk about Covid first. My school district stayed open for in person learning all last year. Some kids elected to do remote learning, and the school buildings are large enough, that they cancelled the three-year-old program toContinue reading “School District Love”

How it’s going 🥴

Some good news about our new addition? he sleeps through the night! 6:30 pm to 7 am. Not a peep. Some bad news? Little Dude does not nap worth spit. He’s a 20 minute power napper once around 11:30 each day. In fact, he passed out in my arms like Boo in Monsters Inc. today,Continue reading “How it’s going 🥴”

Baby, Take 2

I got the call from the head of the Homefinding unit on Friday at 11:20 am. Could we take two babies?? One 4 weeks old and the other just about to turn 1. I called Seth who was working but thankfully between c-sections at that moment and he picked up. I begged for both. HeContinue reading “Baby, Take 2”

Misalignment

One of the biggest challenges Seth and I have with fostering is that we are not always on the same page. We are always great teammates when it comes to fostering the kids who are in our care. But where we disagree is regarding what – or who – will come next. I want allContinue reading “Misalignment”

And then she was gone

Sweet babykins spent a week with us. On Tuesday I called the triage caseworker to ask about forms for daycare (a triage worker is someone who helps with initial placement of kids until a more permanent caseworker can get assigned). Before I could ask my question, she let me know that baby had a relativeContinue reading “And then she was gone”

The Sprinkles

I am supposed to be reading 1100 pages of medical records for a work case right now, but most sincerely do NOT WANT TO READ 1100 PAGES OF MEDICAL RECORDS RIGHT NOW. Thus, I blog! I’ve never really introduced some of our family members, and it’s always fun to talk about one’s pets, so hereContinue reading “The Sprinkles”