One of the peculiarities about adoption is that the intensity of the waiting waxes and wanes. When you are waiting for one particular document to reach your agency so that your paperwork can go to Ethiopia, you can be almost jumping out of your skin with impatience.

When you hear it will be months till you get your referral, you settle down, and can sometimes go hours (days?) without devoting much thought to the adoption. That cycle repeats over and over until finally you get your child home.

We are waiting very-- um-- intensely here today. Our court date in Ethiopia was scheduled for today. We are hoping to get news very soon that we have passed and that the girls are ours.... more

Let's face it. Every parent knows that life is better, parenting is easier and the sun shines brighter when you are getting sleep at night. And for parents to get sleep, their kids need to be sleeping well at night. Therein lies the challenge. Today in my Transracial Adoption ABCs, I am going to write about sleep.

Sleep - If you go to Adoptionshop.com and search for "sleep", you will get over 50 products, most... more

Jealousy and envy may seem like odd emotions to include in this series, but I don’t think so.

I’m sure most birthmothers can attest to feeling jealous or envious related to adoption at some point and time. I know I have felt both of these emotions.

You could feel jealous or envious towards: 1. The adoptive parents – Even though making an adoption plan was your decision, you may still experience some feelings of jealousy towards the adoptive parents as they have your child, get to see most of his/her firsts, spend more time with him/her, etc.... more

Anyone traveling soon might want to brush up a bit on the problem of deep vein thrombosis, venous thromboembolism (VTE), since the WHO just issued warnings again in its Research Into Global Hazards of Travel project.

Referring back to the first of today's posts, the WHO says, "Travellers can take "common-sense" measures to reduce the risks of contracting... more

Cleaning up some corners of the desk today, I've come across some bits and pieces of information other geezer parents might find interesting or helpful. I'm particularly fond of this bit about common sense from the Earthtimes.

Common sense being a somewhat illusive attribute, simple to recognize but difficult to define, a recent study set out to identify just how the no-nonsense approach to life actually works, and to, "... pinpoint the... more

Where is it? Altai Krai, or territory, is located in Siberia, to the west of Krasnoyarsk. It is bordered by Kazahkstan, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts, and is separate from the Altai Republic. It is in the Novosibirsk time zone, which is three hours ahead of Moscow. You can find the current local time here.

What's the biggest city? Barnaul, which has... more

Lots of people are familiar with postpartum depression, the depression that strikes women in the first year or so after giving birth. But fewer people are aware that adoptive mothers can experience something similar after new children come home.

The adoption process can be a roller-coaster. So much focus is on the future, when this new child will finally be here, that mothers are often surprised when the reality does isn't quite like they imagined it would be. Even experienced parents can be left reeling, especially if the child takes a while to settle in or resists bonding at first.

An ... more

I don’t often get the time to go back to posts I have already published. But the folks at Rotary International's OrphanAct charity have been keeping me posted on their outreach in Russia and, I am happy to report, it is continuing quite nicely.

You might remember that, back in February, I wrote about OrphanAct, which has been organized by a Rotary chapter in Hawaii to aid children in orphanages in Siberia and the Russian Far East. It was my first post in the philanthropy category, and I have been trying to honor its spirit every... more

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine, all reported that boys with autism and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) had higher levels of growth hormones than their non-autistic peers. This may help to explain why children... more

From Newborn Adoption: The First Week:

5. Work out health insurance issues.

Health insurance coverage can be a little murky during an adopted baby’s first week of life. While you, as the adoptive parents, have physical custody, the placing mother retains her legal parental rights in many states. That raises the question of whether or not your health insurance will cover a baby who is in your care but... more