So if you have not yet been invited to a playgroup or playdate but are interested in joining one what do you do? How do you go about getting involved with a playgroup? When we came home from Russia I began using the internet and with Google I entered my county and the word “ Playgroup”. I came across an establish group that would take turns meeting in public or at each others homes. This was not the best fit for me because they only met once a month and they seemed to be an established group and while the coordinator was welcoming in her emails, I received a chilly... more

Happy Love Thursday Everyone. We are so ready for nicer weather already. Our swing set in the backyard is just taunting us. It’s still to cold to stay outside for too long but rumor has it that it may finally get nice this weekend. We put up the swing set late last summer and Livi was still too young to really benefit from it all that much. She could hardly climb up by herself and she did not get much use out if it before the cold winter winds came blowing. This summer she is sure to really have fun with it. We have had a few nice days sprinkled... more

So eventually when you’re a new parent you will come across an invitation to a play date or Play groups…..I don’t know about you but that word filled me with both a nervous excitement and certain kind of dread. My first foray into play dates was more of a playgroup held at public places during the summer. About once a month a dozen or so Mom’s would meet at a local playground. They were an established group that communicated via email and I was the newcomer. I felt like an outsider and was stared at with a curious eye and nonetheless never felt very... more

It's Love Thursday again. My typical process of choosing the picture for Love Thursday is seeing which one jumps or pops out at me. This week I picked a picture that relates to some anxious attachment issues we have been facing. I can’t believe I’m posting a picture of myself with no makeup on… but its not like the photo a full close up or anything. So the recent Easter festivities have left me with a clingy and moody toddler daughter. She gets easily over stimulated with all the running around and excitement surrounding... more

12 Things I love about My daughter in honor of her 12 months home. It’s been one year since this little girl joined our life. What a year it has been.

I Love…..

The way she say’s “ MWAAA” when she wants a kiss….. she never says the word Kiss.

How she will always ask “ One more time?” …. One more time huggie, One more time slide, One more time Mwaaa, One more time please?

No Fruit Salad!!!….. Papa & I love the way she will adamantly exclaim No fruit salad when we try to sing the Wiggles... more

I just wanted to share Livi's recent professional picture... this is my very favorite out of all of them. Happy Love Thursday

I was viewing my picture files today, searching for a picture that caught my eye. I could have pulled the picture of Family Day since we just celebrated our first gotcha/family day anniversary. I could have pulled out a cute picture of Livi in a big black curly wig that is hilarious. Then I have the sweet pic of her and her Papa rolling on the floor and laughing.I take many of pictures so I have many choices. For some reason this picture stood out amongst the others and so today I tell the story of Livi and the Vacuum cleaner.What is with kids... more

How do we find more information for kids who have so little?

This is part three in a series listing many ideas on how to gather information to compose life books for some of our adopted children. Some of our children come with nearly no information about their birth. These ideas can't give them all of their information, but can help ground our kids with a solid sense of their birth and surroundings. Click here for Part... more

How do we find more information for kids who have so little??

Here are a few more ideas for neat things to add to your child's lifebook. (Check here for other ideas.)

**Magazine pictures or copied photos of kids that might have looked like her – i.e. baby magazine picture of baby with big brown eyes that remind you of how he probably looked when he was little. This idea sounded “iffy” to me, but one of our... more

How do we find more information for kids who have so little??

A recent birthday blog by Wendy brought up that some of our children have little or no information about their birth. I’d actually already been thinking about this over the last few days. I can’t recreate the birth experience for them, but maybe I can find some tidbits of information to add to their lifebooks to form some little bit of birth history for them.

Here’s what I’ve come up with:

**Do... more