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Mom to the Rescue

Originally posted Thursday October 11, 2007 12:00 PM EDT

Sept. 24, 2007: Britney drove sons Jayden (left) and Preston in Los Angeles before she secured a valid California license. Photo by: Splash News Online

On the morning after Britney's mother and sister arrived, a bodyguard for Federline dropped off the boys for their first visit with their mother since she lost custody Oct 1. Originally, Britney wanted the visit to take place at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, but Federline's lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan nixed that idea. "When there are parenting coaches," says Kaplan, "part of what you want the coach to observe is the minor children in the home setting."

Instead, Britney spent most of Oct. 6 at home with her sons and a court-appointed monitor before returning the boys to Federline's bodyguard around 4 p.m. She had another supervised visit with Preston and Jayden Oct. 9. The visitations "are going perfectly," says Britney's lawyer Sorrell Trope, who adds that Britney has submitted to more than one random drug test, which "have come up negative." (Kaplan insists the drug test results are unknown.)

Even before her mother's visit, say sources close to Britney, she was determined to win back 50-50 custody of her children. "When Britney's not with them, she's always talking about them," says one of Britney's friends. "She'll say what they mumbled that day, what they did. She's a very proud mother. She's taking all her orders seriously and doing what she's got to do. She wants to be with her boys more than anything."