parenting

Our 2017 year in review

December 29, 2017by Sheridan JohnsonLeave a Comment

I wanted to wrap up my year in review with a post on some of my favorite posts from this past year! I am SO happy and honored to still have all of you amazing followers reading about our family and our journey!

January- This post was probably the first time that things didn’t go as planned, and I had to learn to that this is what happens when you open your heart and mind into the foster care world. I love how protective I was already over our baby girl Gracelynn! You can find the post here. ♥
February- First of all, just reading this blog post is exhausting!! I can’t believe I put so much on my plate at the time!
March-This month is when Shane and I celebrated being together (dating) for 12 years! That’s insane thinking about how much we have grown together as individuals and as a couple. You can find the blog post here. Also, getting away for a night sounds amazing right about now! ♥
April- This month we celebrated so many amazing moments that I couldn’t just choose one blog post! First we got to celebrate Gracelynn turning ONE! Then we celebrated Easter and I took some really cute photos of all of the kids. The last post I wanted to share from this month is when I got real with you and shared some of gray area in foster care.
May-This month we made our total to 6 kids in our house and in this post I described how we survived it!
June- This month is when we announced our little secret to the world! Can’t believe how happy Shane was, and I can’t believe we had 6 kids at the time! ♥
July-This month is when I shared our 12 week appointment with the baby and how things were going at this time!
August- I am still in shock that Gracelynn is now forever ours, but this post is the day that we found out that her parents relinquished their rights!
September- This is the month that we had made it half way through the pregnancy and I had my anatomy scan.
October- This post felt so good to let go of my burdens, and I have never felt better!
November-This month we were SO glad to find out the results of the specialist that we were sent to check up on our precious baby, and you can read all about it here.
December-This post is definitely one of the best days of my life, and I couldn’t wait to share it with the world! We love you so much Gracelynn Marie Johnson!!

I hope you all continue to follow along our journey into this next year as we welcome baby Johnson into the family and adopt our 2 precious boys!!

Adoption, foster

1 year down! Update on our boys

November 13, 2017November 13, 2017by Sheridan Johnson2 Comments

Image Credit: here

On October 31st we celebrated having our foster sons for 1 year! I remember the day CPS dropped the three brothers off at our house on Halloween (with no costumes might I add), they promised us that “trial is in one week and once their rights are terminated you should have the boys adopted in 6 months, if not sooner”. I laugh at this so hard because I felt like they gave us so much false hope about making them officially ours so fast! God definitely had other plans, and learning how to be patient was definitely one of them.

A little back story is that the termination of their biological parents happened back in May of this year. Technically the parents legally have no rights as of right now (meaning that they are no longer allowed to see the boys), but they are allowed to appeal the termination two times (which could take up to 6 months for each appeal) and that is where we are at right now. Both of the parents decided to appeal, so we are waiting for the 180 days to pass to see what this new Judge filed. If this Judge agrees with the termination, then I believe we have to wait another 60-90 days to see if they are going to appeal again before the adoption process can get started.

During these past 6 months the oldest brother of them all (age 8) was having a REALLY hard time accepting the fact that he would no longer see his biological parents, and he couldn’t seem to move forward with the hope of a future with someone else. He started acting out (so much so that CPS and us tried every alternative/intervention for him to help him cope with his feelings) and that his behavior and outbursts eventually led to him being separated from his siblings (ages 6 and 3 who are still in our house) and placed with his old foster parents in Houston. Safety is the number one goal in this house, and if we were having a hard time keeping the other kids safe from him, then CPS agreed it is best to place him elsewhere. I won’t go into great detail because for one he is still in foster care, and two, that is definitely his story to tell one day.

A little update on him: He seems to be doing SO much better with them (he is 10 years younger than the oldest child in his foster home) and loves being the baby of the family. We still do monthly visits in person and weekly contacts by phone, but for now, this definitely seems to be the best scenario for us and our family. I think that he just needed space from all of us to realize that he can get through this time in his life, and I know he is in intensive counseling in Houston to help him cope as well.

As for our 6 and 3 year old, we still have every intention of adopting them both, when the appeals process is complete and they finally are up for adoption. Our 6 year old REALLY wants to be a Johnson, so we definitely hope to make that wish come true one day!

For our 1 yr anniversary we took all the kids trick or treating, and they LOVED it this year, and got to celebrate 1 year being with us, with a few special treats that night!

We hope in the next few months to have all 3 of our current foster children adopted, but only God knows the future of the Johnsons! ♥♥

I will leave you with a few (blurred pictures) of our handsome little boys!

monthly update, pregnancy

The Result- 28 weeks

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017by Sheridan Johnson6 Comments

result

Image credit: Here

So today was the day, that we would find out what is actually going on with baby boy/girl!

I turned 28 weeks yesterday, and I am so glad that my appointment was set up as soon as possible, so that we wouldn’t have to wait around too long for the results.

So my mom, my best friend Adriane, and my baby girl Brielle came to the maternal fetal specialist appointment with me today (Dr. Haeri). It was so nice and comforting for them to come along and show their support since Shane had to stay home with our 6 yr old son since he was still in school.

It started out of course with the nurse measuring your weight, asking if you have had any complications/discomforts and then the sonographer was sent in to look at the baby.

She was amazing, to say the least, and talked over each and every thing she was measuring. She was so descriptive with the brain, the heart, the kidneys, the abdomen, and the upper and lower extremities. She also said that the baby was being “stubborn” once again, but she did get some great views of the face and the nasal bone. She also showed us some pictures in 4D which was amazing! Our little munchkin is SO cute!

After she measured everything, the Dr. came in to discuss the results/findings of all the measurements. He basically told us that given that I have had a previous baby with Trisomy, the statistics show that our likelihood of having a baby with Down Syndrome goes to 1 in 10 chances.

He then went on to tell me that everything in the baby looks perfect. From the brain, to the heart, the kidneys, and all the other major organs. He stated that the baby does seem to have a “flat nose” which is very likely in African-American children, and that he does not see one concern with the baby. He said your baby looks “perfect” and that he would say that there is a “0 percent chance” that he/she has Down’s Syndrome.

He then went on to blow up a glove balloon and the made the MOST creative happy face with it, and his bedside manner was BEYOND amazing! I would HIGHLY recommend him to anyone seeking a specialist in the Austin/surrounding areas. It was definitely worth the 1 hr 45 mins it took to get there!

I know God has his hand in every aspect of this journey, and that it is His precious child that is growing inside of me and that we are going to the do the best we can to cherish, love, and nurture every minute we get to spend with him/her!

We are measuring a week ahead, so it looks like the countdown is on! 11 more weeks and we should be able to meet baby Johnson!

Thank you to ALL the prayers, thoughts, and sweet messages that you all sent us. God heard them and answered them!♥♥

I will most definitely leave you with some super cute pictures!

monthly update, parenting, pregnancy

Halloween Scare- 27 weeks

November 7, 2017November 7, 2017by Sheridan Johnson1 Comment

faith over fear.jpg

Image Credit: Justbethlawrence

So, many of you know my past history with my precious angel babies, and know that it is just amazing that God would bless us with our rainbow baby, and that we could not be more excited.

Well, since my 20 week anatomy scan, the sonographer that measures all aspects of the babies body, couldn’t find a nasal bone for my baby. They thought at first “it was a bad angle” and told me “come back in 4 weeks and we will look then”. I didn’t think anything of it, because they didn’t seem that concerned at the time.

Fast forward to my 24 ultrasound/appointment and a different sonographer stated that she couldn’t see the nasal bone either, and measured everything else again on the baby (the heart, brain, kidneys, etc) to make sure there were no other abnormalities with the baby. It all came back good, so yet again they sent me home and stated the baby was just being “stubborn” and wouldn’t let them get a good look. (The baby was using my placenta as a pillow at the time, and they couldn’t get him/her to turn over so they could get a better shot of his/her face, so that’s why they were saying how “stubborn” he/she was being).

So my doctor wanted me to come back in 3 weeks instead of 4 this time, just in case, so I scheduled my last appointment on Halloween.

Well, it didn’t go as planned, because I figured this time for SURE we would see a nasal bone and the baby would cooperate. Well, long story short… the baby gave the sonographer about 20 seconds of a good angle and covered his/her face the rest of the time, so the sonographer only got a couple of good shots and determined that indeed, there was still no nasal bone. The good news though is that the baby weighs 2 lb 9 oz. and had a heart rate of 154.

Basically, a major concern with this is that not having a nasal bone is a soft marker for down’s syndrome (along with other indicators throughout the body such as a hole in the heart, or small gestational size, etc.) but there were no other signs with our baby. The doctor wanted me to rule all possibilities out of it being a genetic factor and suggested that I do a genetic screening and then go see a maternal fetal specialist to make sure that it is not them making a mistake, or just not seeing it.

I called my doctor’s office yesterday and they stated that everything came back normal on the blood tests and that there are no genetic abnormalities in the results, but they still want me to see the specialist in Austin to make sure everything is ok.

This baby could just have a flatter nose than most, but we are hoping and praying that tomorrow everything will be determined and we can finish off these last 12 weeks of the pregnancy great.

Thank you to everyone for your continuous love and support♥♥ God is definitely providing us so much peace with this pregnancy, that we have never had before.

I will leave you with some pictures from our last ultrasound =)

Have any of you ever experienced this?? If so, would love to hear from you!💓