Tuesday, February 7, 2012

M&M Update

As promised, I’d like to take this opportunity to give you all a brief update on the goings ons of The Queen and M&M. M&M has been with us for eight weeks now and is twelve weeks old. She remains one of, if not, the sweetest, most contented babies I’ve ever come across. She weighs in at a little over twelve pounds now. She’s starting to give us real smiles as opposed to gas induced smirks.

Since I no longer work from home, The Queen is the primary care giver during the day. I get the night shift. A typical day for us goes something like this:

6:00 to 6:30 AM (depending on when I got to bed the night before) – the alarm goes off

6:00/6:30 to 7:00/7:30 AM – I take care of my morning constitutionals and ablutions. M&M has a knack for waiting until I am right in the middle of important negotiations concerning water rights/meditations on the spirituality of proper elimination while on the toilet to make it known that she is, in fact, awake and in need of nourishment. This necessitates rushing through the required paperwork in order to get M&M a bottle before she wakes up the whole neighborhood. While she is content in most respects, she will not suffer to miss a meal for long without proper exercise of her well developed vocal capabilities.

Interesting little side tidbit here: on two occasions now (once for The Queen and once for me), we have heard M&M call across the house in a loud and clear “MAAAAmaaaaaa” while we were mid bottle warming. We both did double takes…did we hear that right? I’m sure it’s only a coincidence at this point; but, who knows, perhaps we are taking care of Einstein reincarnated.

7:00/7:30 AM – After insuring that The Queen has what she needs to take over with M&M which usually means insuring they are both tucked back in their respective bed covers after the morning feeding, I give them both a gentle kiss goodbye before heading out to play in the traffic.

What happens between 7:30 AM and about 8:00 PM varies greatly depending on what’s on the schedule. So far, I’m at work from about 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM more or less before once again taking my life into my hands and battling traffic (vehicular weaponry really should be legalized…just sayin’).

The Queen and M&M’s activities depend in large part on whether there is a scheduled doctor’s or CPS visit. M&M is supposed to have a court ordered, supervised visit with her bio parents once a week at the CPS offices. I say supposed to because her bio parents have not been terribly consistent in making the visits. I haven’t counted, but my sense is that they are batting about 50% so far. When The Queen is not beholden to doctors or CPS, she likes to take M&M out and about for various activities. One time, it was story time at the Barnes & Noble bookstore near my office. Sometimes, it’s a walk in the stroller. Frequently, it’s clothes shopping at nice resale shops around the area (The Queen can’t bring herself to shop retail which is fine with me and my wallet). Last night, it was my middle niece’s high school band concert followed by dinner with the family at which M&M was fought over and passed around like a bong at a Pink Floyd concert.

Whenever we wind up back at home, it’s back to Daddy Hawk time. I take back over the bottle and diaper duties. There is usually snuggle time on the reclining love seat in the TV room (read – she falls asleep on my chest causing me to fall asleep). She gets another bottle at about midnight give or take a few minutes.

Most nights, she is waking up at around 3:30 or 4:00 AM looking for a bottle, diaper or both. It depends on how awake I am as to whether we make it back to bed/crib or resume our snuggle time positions on the love seat.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I would like to solicit some extra special prayers this week as the first court status conference regarding M&M’s case is being held this week. Neither The Queen nor I have any clue what to expect. We’ve been getting contradictory information about how things will/should go. We just know we will be at the hearing.

More updates to follow as events warrant.

19 comments:

  1. I hope for your sakes that the courts rule in your favor. Anything the court decides that is in YOUR favor will most definitely be in M&M's favor.

    : )

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    1. HossBoss, in theory, it is possible that the court could make a decision at the hearing this week. However, the likelihood of that happening is small and would all but guarantee appeallale error in the case. An interesting intellectual exercise to be sure. Fortunately, we won't have to wait long to find out what will really happen.

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  2. I do not envy you the court crap. We've been there. (Except, in our case, we weren't dealing with CPS. We had filed suit for custody of my nieces against my brother and his now-ex-wife. Email is justjlwrites [at] gmail [dot] com if you need an ear. Or a shoulder. Or someone to rant at who will understand and let you vent.) I can't tell you what to expect either. I *can* tell you that I threw up after our first court appearance. It's nerve-wracking.

    Hang in there. It *is* endurable; it's just nerve-wracking. The biggest hurdle in all of this for you is that the primary goal of social services is to restore the original family, which is a big thing to have to overcome. We were fortunate that we didn't have that hurdle to deal with as well. My prayers will go out on your family's behalf.

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    1. Auntie J, thanks for the shoulder. Don't know that I'll make use of it, but it's good to know it's there. I just hope they don't ask me to testify. The last time I was put on the stand, I got a civil contempt of court charge. Not fun.

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    2. I'm happy to offer my shouder to the Queen as well.

      I've done the testifying thing. Yep. Not fun. Even without the civil contempt of court charge.

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    3. Auntie J, I will pass your offer along to The Queen. I'm sure she will appreciate it.

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  3. Major prayers for the whole family. She is that and 50% interest shows me she absolutely belongs with you.

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    1. Lila, we think God gave her to us for a reason, and we can't fathom why He would take her away now.

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  4. Prayers to you, The Queen, and M&M. She sounds like a very lucky little baby girl to be in your and The Queens care, and I hope that is where she gets to stay and grow. I can't imagine how hard it must be to love her as you do knowing you may not get to keep her - you and The Queen are special people for that.

    xo ~ michele

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    1. Michelle, the thought of losing her is definitely not a pleasant one. We hope to not have to find out what that's like.

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  5. oh Shepherd - you freakin ' killed me with "at which M&M was fought over and passed around like a bong at a Pink Floyd concert."

    everything in due time and all in God's hands. and trust me, God will not mess with The Queen.

    thank you for the update. i will wait patiently for the next one. but not too patiently.

    your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Kymber, were that it be true that God would not mess with The Queen. Unfortunately, God gas made it a hobby to try us both in ways we never would have imagined. We just hope that our trials are at an end.

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  6. Given HH and my cynicism regarding the gubment and children we're sending the strongest prayers we can that somehow a big enough clue-bat it taken to the right heads to keep M&M were is best for her, with you and the queen.

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    1. Odysseus, I'd be happy to pass some addresses along if you are interested in applying some clue bat to the right heads personally.

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    2. Sure what are a few more names on my, "If I ever snap" list.

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  7. DaddyBear, who was it that said fortune favors the prepared?

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  8. You, sir, are a lucky man. Your wife is a lucky woman. I pray that little girl might likewise be so fortunate as to have the two of you for parents.

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    1. Matt, now if I could just win the lottery, we'd be golden.

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