We’ve had a rough few days here in casa de Foster.  As you probably remember, last week was fairly awful mainly due to Mr. Three Year Old’s behavior.  This past weekend, the behavior got worse to a point where I felt I couldn’t safely care for him or keep him from hurting himself or others.  I called for crisis help and, while they were at my house assessing the situation, he became violent and left me bruised, bitten and with a slight concussion.

So, for a little while, he’s going to spend some time in another place while everyone figures out how to best help him and I decide whether I feel like I can have him back in my home.  His mother, Miss Seventeen, is with him as well and, as you can imagine, upset about all of this as am I.  Honestly, at this point, I don’t know what to do or what decision I’m going to make.   Obviously, whatever I decide will have a very big impact on Miss Seventeen.  In other words, welcome to my own personal foster care hell.   You wouldn’t waste a prayer on us.

On a happier note, I can finally tell you a BIG secret I’ve been keeping for a few months now.  My cousin, Marisa, is PREGNANT!  Marisa found out several months ago but has been keeping the news quiet which means about once a week she’s received a text from me that says “WHEN CAN I BLOG THIS?”  Marisa’s pregnancy so far has been really difficult health-wise and I am so, so glad that she is feeling well enough to actually, you know, walk. Especially since, now that the news is public, I can drag her to every baby store in the tri-state area.

A little over a week ago, we had a “gender reveal party.”  The day before, Marisa and her husband had gone to the doctor to find out whether the baby is a boy or girl.  Instead of hearing the results, they asked the doctor to place the slip of paper in an envelope which Marisa then delivered to a cake decorator.   But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.  Shall we go picture by picture?

Here’s Marisa with her husband and her step-son, Coy.

Okay, the cake!  The theme of the party was “What will I ‘bee’?”  Everyone wore pink or blue based on their guess and, as you can see below, we had a cake in the shape of a beehive.  Under that frosting, there was either blue cake or pink cake.  How fun is that?  I love parties.

After some dinner and last minute guesses among friends and family, it was time for the little family to cut into the cake and find out just what the new baby would ‘bee!’

Can you guess if it is a boy or a girl?  Here’s Marisa’s expression when she cut into the cake and saw the color inside…

Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails — it’s a BOY!

Once we had all cried over having a new baby boy in the family (listen, my family is fairly small so a new child is a BIG deal to us) and had some cake, it was time for presents!  My mom gave Marisa a beautiful yellow blanket.  I had the cutest picture of my mom all decked out in her pink, but I can’t find it this morning.

I gave Marisa a black fitted shirt that says “Mommylicious” in rhinestones across the front because, please, we all know that Marisa is going to set the fashion standard in maternity wear.