• how_to_be_a_friend
    adoption and tweens - Parenting - parenting

    Teach Your Child How to Be a Friend

    March 2, 2018 - By 

    This morning I have already connected with 3 of the parents I know who have kids with special needs. I am beyond grateful for their support. My kids are both having a rough week. Some part of that is life as a teenage girl. Another part of that is special needs. And yet a final piece of that is other people’s kids. Can’t control how other people parent, even though I wish I could. But I can reach out to my support network. And I can write. Sometimes that’s my therapy. Girl friendships are hard. I get it. I was…

  • adoption_life
    adoption and tweens - family - Parenting - parenting

    This Reality Show Called Adoption Life

    September 23, 2016 - By 

    “I’m thinking about adopting.” At least once a week I read a message like this from someone wanting information about adoption. I am open. I talk and write about adoption here often. Friends know I will always answer. And I do. I find them resources, or answer their questions about why, or how long, or where do I go? Sometimes I simply let them know that the wait is worth it. I answer the questions one by one and hope others will follow through and discover all that I love about adoption. There are many roads to parenthood. BOTTOM LINE. There…

  • adoption
    adoption and tweens - family - Parenting - parenting

    Adoption, Awareness and Advocacy – Why Are We Still Here? #adoption

    November 7, 2015 - By 

    This past week someone googled ” I hate adoption awareness month” and they arrived here on this blog which had me shaking my head at google. So I wanted to set the record straight. Here’s the truth. I don’t hate National Adoption Awareness Month. Quite the opposite actually. But I have gone on record many times over saying awareness is not enough. And I stand by that. I am an adoptive parent. Our family was built via adoption and it is a wonderful means of forming a family. I celebrate that all year round. I celebrate adoption awareness activities and fundraisers…

  • Caregiver kick start
    adoption and tweens - family - Health - parenting - Parenting - special needs

    YOU NEED this – Caregiver Kick Start #specialneeds

    June 15, 2015 - By 

    There is nothing quite like attending a conference or a workshop and leaving feeling energized, validated and understood. You know that feeling, right? It’s like a giant sigh of relief and a reminder that this unique parenting is doable. But, then you leave that space and you return to your home. Maybe you maintain that zen approach for 3 days, or a week at most and something happens and you slide right back into that overwhelmed, exhausted state you were in before. How can you get back to that space where you are in control of your feelings and reactions?…

  • adoption and end of school year
    adoption and tweens - family - Health - parenting - Parenting

    Adoption and End of School Year – Buckle Up, It’s Going to Be a Bumpy Ride #adoption

    May 22, 2015 - By 

    OH MAN! I have been sitting on this one for a bit so it’s likely to all come out in a big incoherent mess. But here it is. Life as an adoptee, or an adoptive parent at the end of the school year can be a mess of conflicting emotions. I get it. I do. It is hard and sloppy and somehow this is usually where I find my zen because when the kids come completely unhinged I shove aside most things and retreat to inner calm with purpose because they require it. I am not quite there yet this…

  • What-does-ten-years-old-look-like
    active family travel - adoption and tweens - family - Parenting - parenting

    What Does Ten-Years-Old Look Like?

    April 12, 2015 - By 

    This past month my youngest girl turned 11 and we celebrated with a Minecraft cake and a sleepover and a family dinner at Lone Star Texas Grill. We all learned to ski together as a family in Tremblant the weekend before her birthday party. In many ways, that was the perfect start to sporty spice’s birthday week. This is the daughter I still joke never met a sport she didn’t like. The one who wandered off at Disney when she was four and nearly gave me a heart attack on the spot. The one who sported my eye shadow the…

  • why we vaccinate
    adoption and tweens - Health - Parenting

    Why I Protect My Family With Vaccines #ONVaccine

    March 16, 2015 - By 

      Maybe it’s because it took almost forever to become a parent that I feel so strongly about holding my kids close and protecting them from illness, accidents and harm. Maybe it’s because I have a compromised immune system myself. I have Crohn’s Disease, an autoimmune disorder. I know I can’t afford to get ill. When I get sick, I have a much higher likelihood of ending up hospitalized than your average Mom does. Maybe it’s because our babies, both adopted as infants, needed more health care, more nurturing, support, and security, because circumstances of their birth were not what…

  • tween_girl_birthday_word_search
    adoption and tweens

    Ainsley’s Tween Girl Birthday Word Search

    March 10, 2015 - By 

    It’s my daughter’s eleventh birthday. My youngest daughter. My mini ninja. The girl we used to dub a two foot tornado. Now a four foot tornado. No idea how she can possibly be eleven! Then again, I can’t believe I have a teenager either. Ainsley keeps us on our toes, but in a good way mostly. From the moment she arrived in our home she was almost always on the go. I remember her first ever attempt at rolling as a baby. She rolled clear across the living room floor to grab her sister’s Barbie. That’s just her way. At…

  • childhood_anxiety
    adoption and tweens - Health - Parenting

    Perplexing Childhood Anxiety Symptoms – Part 2 of a Series

    March 2, 2015 - By 

    For years we struggled trying to figure out why my daughter worried so much. And why she had so many stomach aches and headaches too. Then, when it became such a big factor that it interfered with her getting to school, we had to take action. Childhood anxiety is a challenge but it can be manageable with support and sometimes medications too. Here’s part 2 in my childhood anxiety series – on Childhood Anxiety Symptoms.   A Bit About Our Daughter We have a daughter with Generalized anxiety disorder. I started talking about her anxiety disorder several years ago when…

  • tobogganing
    adoption and tweens - family - Health - parenting - Parenting

    Why I am Speaking Martian Again: FASD Looks Like This and I am Still Proud to be a Health and Special Needs Blogger

    February 26, 2015 - By 

    It’s been an interesting week here, in which several signs have made me realize again what I am supposed to be writing about. It’s funny how sometimes you, as a blogger, get tunnel vision watching stats and striving for growth and page views and SEO. These are the tools of the trade and we all get really great at understanding them. We watch our posts for engagement and comments and we tick them off and file them away with headings like: improved or needs improvement, or blogging goals for the year. We worry on a day when the stats dive and…