I keep a prayer attached to my refrigerator door that is entitled "A Prayer for Responsibility for Children." Some of you may have read it before, I believe it has made the rounds on the internet. I have never seen it attributed to a particular author. Everytime I have seen it, the only attribution has been "anonymous." If anyone knows differently please inform me. I have taken the liberty to paraphrase the prayer in different ways to fit the occasion when I have spoken or presented on child welfare. I have done that many times and people are always moved... more

I take many, many pictures of my daughter. I seldom leave the house without the camera. It got to the point I had so many saved to my computer. You know how it is if you have a digital camera. Its easy to forget about some and you never get around to getting them printed out.I vowed to order them and put them in an album. I just uploaded 100 pictures to Shutterfly from the past month. I order them in batches. They must love me.I have been really pleased with... more

This week is " My Favorite Things" week. There are so many Toddler toys on the market. In my opinion simple is better when it comes to toddlers. Have you ever noticed how they seem to love the silliest simple stuff.I just hate all those batteries required toys that just make noise. I do have a few battery-required toys on my list. These are some of my Toddlers favorite things to play with. Do you have any "Must have toys" that I am missing? What is the silliest thing your toddler loved to play with? My daughter loves my shoes.

Easy Grip wooden Peg... more

Have you been baby/toddler shopping lately? There are so many new gadgets and gizmos all created to make your Child smarter, germ free and cuter. I’m practical and thrifty so it takes a lot of clever marketing to really win me over. Here is my top four must have items that I actually use on a daily basis and would be lost without. All this week I will showcase “ My favorite things”.

1. Baby Bjorn bib- I love, love, love this bib. My girl is at that age where she learned to rip... more

I love my daughter’s enthusiasm for life... she can go down the slide forty times in a row and each time she reaches the bottom she shouts “ Yippee & Yeah” and throws her hands in the air and claps her hands. Every time she reaches the bottom of the slide she does this and it never gets old. I clap right along with her. The look on her face each time is pure joy. I wonder at what point do we lose that zest for life. The pure joy of truly living in each moment.

If being a Mom has taught me anything, it has taught me to enjoy the small stuff... more

Since getting home with my daughter there have been certain things I have been looking forward to experiencing with her. Her first trip to the beach, her first ride on Merry-go round and making her Choo-choo wheels pasta. The last has been harder to accomplish than you would think. I could not for the life of me find this pasta sometimes called “ Tommy Wheels”.

I shopped at every store within a 20-mile vicinity and searched high & low but could not for the life of me find my favorite childhood train wheel shaped pasta. I finally... more

Well, it is T-minus one and counting. We load up the bought and paid for gas guzzling SUV and head out to ATL for a two week visit with my wonderful in-laws. I've mentioned before (I forget if it was on this blog or another one) that my kids have declared this "the best sumnmer ever." I have mentioned, also, that they say that every summer. However, I think that they just might be right about this summer. There are a couple of reasons for that.

First, the kids have been having a blast at day camp with all of their friends. I have been especially thrilled because the camp is run by our... more

How many of us are grateful for our children? I know most of us would have a knee-jerk reaction and automatically claim that we are grateful, and most of us probably are, but do we act like it? Do we show it? Sometimes the days of parenting can get so long, and so hectic, and so discombobulated that it can be tough going hanging on to an attitude of gratitude. Discombobulated. My grandmother used to use that word all of the time. But my children had to teach me what it means, how, when, and where to use it! Here are some things I am going to do today to express my gratitude to the world, the gods, the Universe, fate even, for the presence of all three of my children in my life. Today I will:

1.... more

Every mother thinks her children are beautiful and I am no exception. My son is strikingly handsome and the girls are take your breath away drop dead gorgeous. The girls look very much like one another. My son looks like a carbon copy of my husband. My oldest daughter, at times, has an uncanny resemblance to me. I think this is probably because of certain of her mannerisms and her facial expressions that she has picked up from me. I have a picture of her, and one of me, when we are each five years old and with our two front teeth missing. When people see the pictures they are surprised... more

I am a Life Book negligent adoptive mom. Or would that be Life Book challenged? Life Book disabled? I know how important the concept of a Life Book is for many adoptive families. I respect and admire those parents who are diligent about keeping a Life Book for their adopted children. I'm just not one of them. From the moment the girls were permanently placed with us, we were caught up in the actual day-to-day living with them. The business of putting together and maintaining the Life Book about our journey to becoming a family just never made it to the top of my priority list.

I... more