I scheduled an appointment with our DAN! doctor a few days ago, to discuss the whole h pylori findings and what needed to be done now that we were on the heavy duty antibiotics. Of course, I’d already added more probiotics to her regime. The doctor recommended a slightly different, more powerful probiotic, but he was more concerned that we do things to help her leaky gut heal and hopefully prevent a recurrence of h pylori or other problems.

So he recommended two things. First he recommended that we start on digestive enzymes to be taken everytime she... more

As we wade through the ocean of diagnoses LuLu has received, one thing keeps haunting me…how much of a role did her first 20-months in the institution have in “causing” all this.

Early on, I understood the potential psychological ramifications of her orphanage neglect and abuse in causing her PTSD and RAD. But as new diagnoses, such as PDD-NOS and Tourettes came in (and now pyroluria and PCOS), I began wondering how many problems she would be exhibiting if she had been born to us, or placed with us a birth.

As I dug deeper into the leaky gut syndrome... more

As I mentioned previously, I have my cousin Trina here, along with her four kids. One of her children is a 16-month-old boy. I have blogged about him before. Darrion is one of the happiest kiddos I have seen in a long time.

He giggles and laughs and cackles and shrieks constantly. He hollers for his mom and she picks him up with a smile. He buries his face in her chest, and then turns around and grins at the world, knowing he’s safe and loved. He is now two months older than Dora’s... more

On my post, Adoptive Breastfeeding: Some Final Words, a reader left the following comment:

We are adopting a infant or toddler internationally. The things I've been reading suggest babies that have started bottle feeding, to be transitioned with bottles that have nipple similar to the mother's breast. I was wondering what others have experienced adopting internationally?

We adopted a newborn domestically, so I do not have... more

In my post, Adoptive Parenting: Inequity In Hands-On Parenting Responsibilities, I talked about the inequity of the hands-on parenting responsibilities in many adoptive families. Of course, there are exceptions, but in many families, the husband sees his parenting role as being the breadwinner and leaves the hands-on parenting to the wife. The wife often feels overwhelmed and resents the husband for not helping out enough with the children, which causes the husband... more

As you might have been able to tell by some of my recent posts, I was psyched for some tough moments over Christmas. We had one, in the form of a stressed-out meltdown on the way to the church Christmas program. For awhile I was wondering if that child might need to sit with us and let another child speak her lines. But despite her case of nerves she was determined to be a part of the program. By the time her part came, she was smiling and on top of her game.

The rest of the holiday went amazingly well. Because... more

Since there are only a few days left in 2007, I was thinking over all that I have written in the past year and I clearly have posts that are my favorites. Narrowing it down wasn’t easy, but I came up with a list of my five favorite posts from ’07.

1. Grief Will Not Win: In this post, I shared a quote that I had just come across. “You can let the grief control you or you can control the grief.” ~ Author Unknown I then go on to say how each day when I wake up, I feel like I have a... more

As a foster parent, you are required to keep a file on your child. Even if you are not required to do this at this time, it is in your best interest and your child’s. Should the placement not work out, you can pass this information along to your child’s next family.

What should you put in the file?

Copies of all school correspondence, including IEP paperwork, detentions, suspensions, report cards etc.

Dates and findings of doctors reports, lab tests, hospital visits, and other medical information.

Dates and details of behavioral issues and... more

As often happens with children, there has been an outbreak of lice amongst our children’s circle of acquaintances. While, thankfully, we have not experienced an outbreak, we’re prepared.

In the nine years I have parented our son, we’ve never had a case of lice. I’ve homeschooled him the whole time, and though he has several outside classes with lots of other kids, we’ve never had the exposure.

Right before we went to pick up my son and daughter for the finalization, there was an outbreak of lice at the after care program the kids attended in their native... more

This “Love Thursday” is devoted to all the mothers who think they are disorganized, forgetful, ineffective and confused. I know you are out there and can probably relate to the events of my yesterday.

At last my babysitter was available – I hadn’t had a minute away from Ella for two weeks. Showered and dressed, I ran out the door to my hair appointment, arriving at the right time on the wrong day. Not to be deterred by one little mix up, I decided to get some other errands done.

First I darted off to have a blood test that was only six months overdue. Oops, I... more