As I mentioned earlier, we brought two foster placements into our family just over 6 years ago. At least, that’s what we thought – and I’ve found that is what many foster and adoptive parents believe – that you will bring a child into your home and into your family. What we learned instead is that the reverse is true – you instead bring your home and family into the life of that foster or adopted child. You work around the child’s schedule, memories, experiences, case plans, adoption plans, birth family contact or lack of contact, etc. Don’t... more

I have been wondering about this topic lately…most parents newly home with their adopted child may choose to regress to help with attachment & bonding. For example our daughter was 16 months when we adopted her and we regressed to the bottle and treated her like a much younger child to encourage attachment. We babied her, cuddled her, coochie, coochie cooed her and all the stuff you would do with a newborn. Parents of older children may decided to rock them, cuddle their child in a blanket and play baby like games of peek a boo. Even... more

I often think…. had I given birth to Olivia I would have a nine month old. Does that make sense? I have been a parent for only nine months,the time it takes to create a home grown kidlet. I’m getting the hang of this Mom business, and I no longer worry about forgetting her in the car. She is always with me, by me or near me…. She is such a part of me now. I have my days both good and bad. I have learned so much about myself since becoming a parent; this is a lesson that cannot be taught in school, classes or from a book. Its something... more

It surprises many to learn that my husband and I never intended to adopt a child. I’m not just talking about us not intending to adopt the first child, but we have actually never intentionally set out to adopt ANY child. Yet, somehow, they came. 24 more children. We’re sure not complaining about that!

While I have never longed specifically to adopt, a few times I have desperately longed for another child either vaguely or specifically. It’s that longing that spurred on the experiences of our last 8 years. We had three children... more

I am by no means an expert in the field of attachment parenting. What I am about to write is only what has worked for me, or not worked for me from my experiences. There is so much to be said about the benefits of attachment parenting and no doubt focusing on your child’s trust & security is a good thing. I was rather stealth in my attachment parenting in the beginning and as my daughter grew more secure I backed off a bit. I have a big attachment tool box and I will add or... more

My oldest daughter asked me that question tonight. We were coming home from the winter extravaganza at her school. She sings in the chorus. This was her first performance where she was all dressed up and on a stage. Well, that's not quite accurate. She has participated in all those cutesy-cutesy school programs over the years, but this was different. She is in The Chorus. They are a group. You know that clique thing that emerges in schools. The science kids. The music kids. The drama kids. The jocks. So forth and so on. She told me they call themsevles the... more

We have been home for eight months now. That’s hard to believe because it’s hard to remember a time before Livi. My life has so drastically changed and altered the day we stepped off the plane and arrived home ready to begin this journey. Many people celebrate Gotcha day/Family day and while that day is equally special. I like to celebrate coming home and that was March 30th 2006. Oh how we longed to just come home after spending nearly a month in another country. I no longer can easily recall how many months we have been home. I have... more

Wow. Who knew how much blogging fodder a little white mouse could generate? Our editor sent me this link to an article she wrote about Stuart Little a while back. If you followed my two posts on the movie then you know my saga and how this all relates. If not, I don't want to give it away so I'll encourage you to skip on over to my blog and read all about it. It's entertaining if nothing else, at least I think it is.

We are so... more

Cont'd from yesterday's post:

I came in on the movie at the part where Stuart had already been reunited with his first parents. I started looking at my daughters intently, who then started looking at me intently. I looked away. They looked away. I looked back at them. They looked back at me. This went on for a few exchanges. Finally, my youngest daughter gives me that "What? What is it?" exassperated face. I start babbling away, trying to "process" the movie. After about 15 seconds of my rambling, all three of the kids shouted with barely contained irritation,... more

I read on one of the other Blogs (sorry, but I can't remember which one now) that the adoption storyline in Stuart Little is not the most sensitive treatment of the matter. To be honest, I had not really thought about it. I'd like to think that I catch negative media images about adoption and that while I might not necessarily shelter my chidren from those images, I am able to judge the impact on them and make a decision about the need for further discussion. However, the Stuart Little thing went right over my head.

The bit where Stuart's first... more