Tag: MAM

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Winter, Winter Go Away…

Like the rest of North America, with the exception of Vancouver, it appears, central Indiana is in the middle of the dead of winter. Snow days, school delays, snow, snow, and more snow….these have been the days of my life.

Even when the sun isn’t out, there is a terrific glare off the snow. I’m counting that as sunlight for my sanity.

So it’s only natural that summer dreams have been developing this week. Remember summer? Remember warm? Remember sunshine?

The gals at Grown in My Heart have made a plan for summer–we are going to BlogHer ’10 in NYC. We’d like to get a slot in the Room of Their Own program–where we’d be the panel and discuss the delicate nature of sharing your family life and reproductive challenges on the Internet.

If you have two seconds, please click through here, and vote for our proposal: http://www.blogher.com/room-of-your-own-10

You do need a BlogHer account, and once you’ve signed in, please vote for us. We’d appreciate it…..and if you’re going to BlogHer ’10, give a shout out!

Here are few flashbacks to a warmer, gentler time:

It was sooo hot the day we saw Niagra Falls, the plastic ponchos were a bit much!
It was sooo hot the day we saw Niagra Falls, the plastic ponchos were a bit much!
The water was so warm in the Atlantic this was a sunset splash. SO WARM OUTSIDE!
The water was so warm in the Atlantic this was a sunset splash. SO WARM OUTSIDE!
Look! The Fox is wearing a romper. Not pants. He's wearing sunscreen. He's sitting on this stuff called grass. Haven't seen grass since January...
Look! The Fox is wearing a romper. Not pants. He's wearing sunscreen. He's sitting on this stuff called grass. Haven't seen grass since January...

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The Santa Dilemma

IMGP4169_cropped We are in high-gear here, all ready for Christmas. We’ve been shopping, we’ve been to breakfast with Santa, we’ve driven around and seen the lights. There are only a few more doors left on MaM’s Advent calendar. The fourth candle gets lit tomorrow on the Advent wreath. We are almost there, there to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Here’s the thing–MaM believes with all her heart that Santa will come to visit and chat on Christmas Eve. That he will come to our house, while she is awake, he will give her a Barbie Mermaid, and she will give him the card she has made.

She does not want to mail the card, “because he is coming to our house on Christmas.”

She does not believe he will come while she is sleeping, “because he wants to visit with me on Christmas.”

She isn’t expecting any other presents, “because I asked Santa for a Barbie girl, so that’s what I’m getting.”

Soooooo here’s my dilemma–do we arrange for Santa to stop by on Christmas Eve while she’s awake? I’m sure we could get a friend to do it. Or do we just stage it like we usually do, and hope that the sight of the Christmas tree with the gifts under it with will distract her from remembering that she wanted Santa to actually visit with her?

We aren’t over the top with Santa, but her blind faith is astounding. We saw Santa in the gas station parking lot Thanksgiving weekend, and he was kind enough to talk to her for a minute, and took her request for a Barbie mermaid. Ever since, she has no desire to go see him, because, “I told him what I wanted in the parking lot”.

I don’t want her to be crushed/sad on Christmas day, but I also don’t want to come up with this elaborate scheme this year–and then have to repeat it for years to come, only to have her find out from a neighbor kid /schoolmate that it was just that–an elaborate scheme.

Thus the Santa Dilemma. Any suggestions on how to keep it magical and fun without going over the top? Anyone? Anyone?

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Thankful: Grown in My Heart Blog Carnival IV

There is a little “thanks” that we say in preschool before every meal.

“We are thankful for the food before us,

We are thankful for the friends beside us,

We are thankful for the love among us,

We are thankful.”

My list is a long one. As I sit here in a warm house, cozy on the couch, typing on my laptop with two sweet babies asleep upstairs, it’s hard to know how to begin.

Since this post is for Grown in My Heartheart, a community I wouldn’t be a part of if it weren’t for the adoption of my children, I feel like I should start there.

I am thankful that we made the decision to adopt when we did–in the fall of 2004. I am thankful that all of our paper work came together (in hindsight) smoothly and quickly, for as we were becoming home-study approved, J was thinking about placing MaM for adoption when she was born. If we had been delayed, our profile book may not have been available that day in July when J went to consider prospective adoptive parents.

I’m thankful that J felt some sort of connection to us via said profile book. That there was some instant level of comfort between us. I”m thankful that she invited us to the hospital for the birth of both of the children. I am so incredibly thankful that both children were born perfect and healthy in every way.

I’m thankful that open adoption has worked out so well for our children–that they know J and they know Z. I am thankful that they are loved and accepted by their bio family and their adoptive family.

I’m thankful that I’m sharing this parenting ride with @bgKahuna, the world’s most enthusiastic dad.

I’m thankful that because of the internet, I’m connect to so many more adoptive families than I would be if the internet wasn’t what it is today.

I am thankful.

Want to link up? Join the carnival at Grown in My Heart!