Lots of GOOD changes

Last Saturday, I got a chance to video chat with Charlee and her foster mother (who I'll call DFM from now on -Dear Foster Mother) for the first time.  I felt kind of guilty that the first time she called, I was the only one here (Alyse was in bed and Daddy and Ty were at a wedding reception).  However, that didn't stop me from soaking up every last ounce of cuteness that Charlee had.  Her DFM pointed to me and said, "Charlee, this is your Mommy".  Charlee said, "Mommy!", in her sweet little voice.  Melt.My.Heart.

We're trying to get in as many video chats as possible before we head to Ontario.  The more Charlee sees and hears us, the better for her - and, of course, we love it, too!  We've had a few video chats since then.  It's always nice to see her DFM and we also got to meet Charlee's foster brother and sisters and her foster father.  What an amazing family!  I'm so excited to meet them all in person!

Video chat photo of Miss Charlee tonight 

Tonight, Marcus got to see Charlee on video chat for the first time.  We were all in front of the camera, except Miss Alyse who is off to dreamland.

They are getting ready to celebrate one of the little girl's birthdays that is at the end of the month.  They are going to have cake and go to an indoor playplace (it's pretty cold there, I guess).  I'm sure Charlee will have a ton of fun at the party, even though they probably won't know exactly what they are celebrating.  haha.  This has inspired me to write a blog post about Alyse's 1st birthday party.  Stay tuned.

We've been having discussions with the agency and DFM to try to figure out a schedule of when we'll go to Ontario to meet Charlee.  Originally, we were thinking we'd be able to go the first or second week in June, but now it's looking like the end of June.  DFM has some training to attend and they have to consider the schedules of the other children in the household.  With all that to take into consideration, she won't be able to travel to NB until around July 6th.  The agency would like the time that we go to Ontario and the time that she comes to NB to be as short as possible to help with Charlee's transition.  Now, we think we'll be traveling around June 24th.  I wanted a bit of time to prepare the rooms for the children, since we planned to switch Tyler/MJ's and Alyse's rooms so that the girls could share the bigger room, however, I don't need a month.  I took Thursday off work, so I could work away at moving things back and forth.  I worked ALL DAY and made a huge mess!  Our babysitter came into the room at one point and said, "Wow!".  Yup!  It was - WOW...a lot of stuff to go through.  I was able to throw out some broken toys and find some things to donate.  Eventually, as the day went on, I was able to clear more and more of the room.  When Shane got home, he helped me take apart the crib and the bunkbeds and after much maneuvering, we were able to set the bunkbeds up in Ty's new room.  I'll try to get a picture tomorrow morning before I get back at it again.  While we were setting up the beds, we got a knock at the door and it was UPS with Charlee's crib!  Perfect timing! Also, MJ is excited to finally get to sleep downstairs in his new room!