Here's a brief synopsis of what I think are the top blog posts from the fost-adopt blog in 2006.

I've got the post overview on how to get around my blog, where to find stuff and when I write:

I usually write a post in the not to early morning (Yawn) around 7:30 AM my time (Colorado) and another in early afternoon. Occasionally I’ll miss one of the afternoons and will post on the weekends. So, even if you are one of those get up at... more

Over on the older adoption blog I’ve posted the first 50 facts of 100 things about me.

Once I finish that list I might be inspired to do another 100 over on this blog.

This is a blogger tradition, that after you’ve blogged 100 times, you post 100 miscellaneous trivia about yourself.

I supposed it is so your readers can evaluate if they have guessed correctly about you.

Sort of like thinking what someone might look like before you met them, and then Bam... more

You know you are addicted when.....

……… you are on vacation and start dreaming about blogging, the internet and search engines.

when……you are getting web withdrawal.

when…....If you don’t get an uninterrupted hour of surf time you think you’ll go crazy.

It’s not actually quite that bad, but I can see how I would have been on that path. Internet addiction. I haven’t been as active on the web these last couple of weeks as I usually am. I’m on vacation! That is a good thing. Believe me……

There is nothing better for breaking an addiction than just going cold... more

re·sil·ience (ri-zil'y?ns)

The ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy. The property of a material that enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed; elasticity.

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If someone tells me one more time that kids are resilient, I think I'll scream.

Yes of course they are resilient, when it is needed. So are adults. We learn how to stretch until we think we will break, how to recover, bounce back, but never to be the same again. Some of us learn this earlier... more

Foster-adoption is complicated. I can’t seem to get around this fact. My head and my emotional self try to make is simple but every day something comes up that causes me to think about adoption, my child, and possible future children, and my friends adopted children.

There are many issues of birth family, old schools, past history, new friends, to think about. Depending upon the child’s age, they may have something to say about friends, habits, and customs. Sometimes they come with their own customs, but also, they learn to incorporate your habits and traditions into their lives... more

So, if you read yesterday’s blog you know K and I are visiting family this week. First stop – Michigan! We are at my sister’s house in a cute little home overlooking the woods. This isn’t the sister with the curly hair; this is my other sister, the therapist sister. The one who spends her working life in counseling sessions and when she isn’t counseling others, she is studying, learning and reading, honing her craft, getting better professionally.

Sis has worked in the mental health field for twenty odd years and has seen it... more

So, last week my temper got the best of me and I shouted at another mom at the nursery where I work out. Here’s how it went:

Other mom to her three year old: “Get your sorry butt up and find that sippy cup now of yours now. Do it, DO IT. ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? GET GOING OR (whispering but raging) ...you’ll get it.

Me to other mom: Glaring

Other mom: (face getting redder and eyes starting to bulge): DID YOU HEAR ME YOU LITTLE BRAT YOU WILL GET WHAT’S COMING TO YOU.

Little girl: Paralyzed and crying

Me: Can you chill out a bit please?

Other... more

I’ve been in a bit of a tizzy this week. After reading all blogs here on adoption.com for a few days earlier in the week, I got pretty riled up and upset with myself and some of the other bloggers and some of the comments. It wasn’t any specific blog, it was the cumulative effect of my life, my daughter's open adoption, and all the reading here that I was doing.

Some of the subjects covered here last week might have included: What to name the kids, who names the kids, what the names of moms should be and who is mom. Then there was birth mothers, (or should it be birthmothers,)... more

Is it worth it?

When we get a call we don’t know if the kids will be adoptable, and there is no way to tell. We don’t know anything about the family. Maybe Mom is in jail, but will get out the same day. Perhaps she will abandon the kids and leave them with us. There just isn’t any info yet. We have to decide because other agencies are also making calls. The need is urgent to get these kids somewhere safe.

Do we say yes or no? If we say no and don’t take the kids, we risk having our agency not call us, moving on to the next phone number. Can you imagine the conversation, “Sorry... more

I’ve loved co-sleeping with my daughter. When we started it wasn’t for any big motive like attaching, it was because I was just scared.

K came with a few health problems, and every time she laid down flat she’d start choking. As soon as I picked her up, she’d be ok again. We tried her crib and putting one of those crib wedges under her sheet for her, but within a few minutes she would slide down and be flat again, choking. It just wasn’t working for her.

The doctor said she could sleep in her car seat, so we put the car seat on our bed, between us, and let her sleep there... more