Last week, Arryn was able to go visit her Baby Brother again. She was so very happy and excited to see him again and he seemed happy to see her. Obviously, it’s difficult to tell with a six-month-old, but he did spend a lot of time watching her and smiling.

The visits are at the CPS office, so we took some soft blankets and toys with us on this visit. The blankets gave us a nice, soft place to play. It was also easier for laying him down to change his diaper and gave him a chance to stretch out and move without having someone holding him. At one point Arryn got down beside him which was a nice photo op. It was also similar to a photo I have of her and her other baby brother.

He just turned six months old and isn’t sitting by himself yet but appears to be getting close.

He smiles quite a bit and loves to blow raspberries. Arryn thought that was hilarious and joined in with him which he thought was quite entertaining as well.

Arryn wanted to hold him, but only for short periods of time. He doesn’t sit still for long and wanted to push up to standing. Needless-to-say, that was a challenge for her so she was only interested in holding him for about a minute at a time.

When we reached the half-way point of the visit, he started getting fussy, so we prepared him a bottle. Arryn really wanted to help feed him and then after he was done, she helped changed his diaper. Having not really seen under the diaper of a baby boy, she was full of questions.

The visit was only an hour, but that seemed to be the perfect amount of time for both of them. Overall, it really was a good visit.

Our home study was originally scheduled for last week, then rescheduled for later in the week and rescheduled again for this week. The home study is to help determine if our family is a good fit for Baby Brother. This will be our fifth home study and will be a bit different as they are looking at placing him with us because we adopted Arryn and I have a relationship with bio mom.

Once the home study interviews are complete, a report will be written and submitted to CPS. The attorney ad litem has requested a copy and will make her decision on placing him here based on that report. The attorney is the same one that was on Bubby’s case (Arryn’s other baby brother) and ended up going against the recommendation of CPS and CASA on that case. Had she not changed her mind at the last minute, Bubby would still be with us. As a result, this home study and the case in general is making me a bit nervous.

Sometime the beginning of February, this case will have another hearing. CPS is recommending termination or rights due to the family not cooperating with CPS. Unless something major changes, it is expected that the judge will agree to termination. At the same hearing, CPS along with CASA and the Attorney ad Litem will give their recommendation on placement. We are hopeful that all will agree to moving him to our home. If that’s the case, he will likely be moved within 24-48 hours after the hearing.

In the meantime, I will be taking Arryn to visit with Baby Brother every other week until a final decision is made on placement. We’ll take whatever we can get in the way of visits.