When I was little, my mom was rarely ill. But the few times I remember her ever having a cold, I would go into her room and offer to “help” and she would just say how she wanted to be left alone. Oh, my poor little feelings were so hurt. But, now that I’m the mom of three, I think I understand where mom was coming from!

I blogged last week about my abnormal mammogram finding . Today, I had the follow-up biopsy. I’ve been preparing the kids for Mommy not feeling 100% over the last few days.... more

What are the advantages of spending time in a classroom with your adopted child? It doesn’t matter if you choose to be a classroom mom at public school, participate in a homeschool cooperative, or teach a Sunday school class. The point is to see your child interacting with peers and to note how your child compares academically with similar aged peers. What can you expect to get out of this classroom experience with your child? Children adopted at an older age sometimes fall into odd patterns of communication with their parents. Unless you are an employed teacher in the current... more

What is the third leading cause of death for teenagers and young adults those from 15 to 24 years old? If you said suicide then you are correct. What causes teenagers or young adults with an unlimited future ahead of them to choose suicide over life? The number one cause of suicide in the United States is depression. If you suspect your child is suffering from depression, don’t wait. Seek medical help and therapy right away. A federal government survey released on May 13, says that over two million teenagers... more

A new study found that children who were exclusively breastfed for at least the first three months of life scored about six points higher on IQ tests at six years old then those who were bottle fed or partially bottle fed. As an adoptive parent, do you feel a twinge of guilt when you hear about this type of study? Yes, it is possible to breastfeed adopted babies for some people who are able to plan a few months in advance. However, it takes a lot of effort, doesn’t always work, and if the birthmother... more

With about six weeks of school left, it has become apparent that my teenage daughter, Lyn, cannot possibly pass four of her fourth grade classes. She has special needs that include a learning disability, fetal alcohol, ADD, and verbal Apraxia. There cannot be any benefit to her education or her self-esteem to continue to fail for the rest of the school year. If she were in public school, instead of homeschooling, there wouldn’t be any choice. She would have to finish out the current school year before starting summer school. What a waste of time and energy. However,... more

After a hiatus lasting several weeks (due to an insurance change), we started therapy for our daughter again last week. We met as a family group, and today was our first one-on-one with our daughter and her therapist.

The therapist took our daughter in, and said she’d be back out for me a little later. Having done this with our previous therapist, I settled in with my knitting, figuring I’d have a good 45 minutes or so. So, I was surprised when, about 20 minutes later, they came to get me!

We headed back to the therapist’s office, and she said, “Why are... more

World Water Day is March 22 of each year as designated by the United Nations. Drawing attention to the conservation and development of water resources is the overall objective. Advocacy, publication, and organization of conferences with the year’s chosen theme is how they hope to increase public awareness. This year’s theme is “Sanitation.” The U.N. hopes to attract international attention to conservation and development of water resources through this yearly ritual.

The safe disposal of human waste and the ability to maintain hygienic conditions, through... more

A new study on the effects of sleep indicates that women fair worse from bad sleep then men do. According to researchers men’s health was relatively unaffected by sleep quality. However, women who didn’t get a good night sleep suffered physically and mentally. Physically, poor sleep affected women’s blood insulin levels and resulted in higher levels of markers of inflammation and of fibrinogen. Mentally, the study showed that women who didn’t get a good nights rest had more symptoms of depression, hostility, and anger.

What does a woman’s sleep quality have to... more

For some time now, I’ve observed that right around the time my oldest goes through a growth spurt, we start to see really wonky behavior: crankiness, sleeping more, eating like there’s no tomorrow, and the like.

Though I saw, and still see, this with him, being that he was our only child, it didn’t occur to me to look for this same tie-in with our newest arrivals. But, boy, something is definitely in the air! My youngest has shown signs of regressing to certain behaviors we’ve not seen since shortly after his arrival here. He’s throwing mild tantrums, and being whiny, clingy and verbally very cranky.

My daughter, who lost another tooth today, has also displayed some undesirable... more

As an adoptive parent, do you sometimes question which of your child's behaviors stem from your child's adoption and which are simply your child's personality? I find myself wondering this sometimes because I want to be sensitive to helping my child work through any adoption-related issues.

For example, my seven-year-old son is a very confident little guy. He has no problem with going to a new camp at a new location in which he does not know a soul. It does not phase him in the least. By the time I pick him up on the first day, he not only has several... more