I remember clearly when my mom began the journey into menopause. She was 42 and I was in the midst of my obligatory teen angst. This made for an extremely ugly time of hormonal head-butting. As often happens when one is an ignorant, pig-headed kid with little to no life experience, I swore it would be different when I had children (one of many bone-headed statements I have proven incorrect).

Well, here I am, mere weeks away from my 44th birthday and a full 12 months into perimenopause (yep, 42 was the magic number). You can’t wait until you are old enough... more

This is my last blog of the month, and a rather heavy one after my previous blog today. My day changed drastically this afternoon.

I noticed last night that my sweet dog, Sienna, was not acting her usual self. When she got up this morning she was very lethargic and wasn’t eating, which is highly unusual for this dog. I took her to the vet this afternoon knowing it would not be good news, but it was far worse... more

Lately there have been many articles in various news publications about pending legislation to open adoption records so that adoptees would have access to their birth records. This would allow adoptees to have a greater chance of obtaining medical information and reuniting with their birth parents.

The state of New York is no different. If the pending legislation is passed in New York, adoptees born in that state will soon have the same right to their birth records like any other U.S. citizen.

Do you ever wonder why records were sealed in the first place? I have and this article attempts to address that.

New York began sealing adoption records in... more

Yesterday was Holy Humor Sunday in our church. Is it any coincidence that it fell on my husband’s birthday?

A large part of the message of the sermon was taking care of ourselves through humor. This applies to our parenting as well. When faced with chaos, we need to be able to laugh to keep our sanity. Even with the blogs I write, most of them are about serious issues, and things that most parents don’t have to deal with. We need to laugh. On that note, I’m going to present you with some humor and hopefully add a little laughter and joy to your day.

Q.... more

Many adoptees wished they had waited until they were more mature before searching for their birth parents. Comments like, I would have handled it so much better if I had waited were common. However, as individuals, we all do what we feel we must, when we feel we must. If a teenager is so obsessed with meeting birthparents that he or she cannot concentrate on anything else then it might not be possible to wait. If thoughts of birthparents are becoming so constant that, they are beginning to disrupt your other relationships, then searching immediately... more

It is my husband’s birthday today. We have had a very good day. We actually had a real, live, grown-up date last night. Can you believe it?

Today we went to church, were home for a little bit, went to take a gift to Sammy’s former foster parents, and then on to the hockey game that I blogged about earlier this week.

My husband is a great support to our family. He is our bread winner, but that’s not what I mean by support. Our family has been through some incredibly hard... more

I came across an interesting article out of the Omaha World-Herald about a program that is aimed to get Fathers involved in their baby’s life. Baby Boot Camp is a program put on by the Essential Pregnancy Services of Omaha, Nebraska. This program was designed to get Fathers involved in their child’s life as early as possible and created to counter act the ill effects of teen pregnancy, crisis pregnancy, and single parenthood.

Coordinator of the Nebraska Fatherhood... more

I love to bake, and unfortunately, I love to eat what I bake. My round shape proves that.

Even more unfortunately, there are many children who go hungry every day. Many children in foster care have been deprived of food due to either abuse or neglect. When Kory came to our home it was obvious that he had been hungry quite often. He ate anything you put in front of him, and lots of it.

There is a way to help kids out and still have fun in the process. The Great... more

Occasionally, several things of note will happen in a week. Not big enough to merit an entire post, but I mish-mosh them together like our traditional Pancake Saturday. Here is this week's round-up:

Pee Problem Past-Tense!: We’ve been using the kitchen timer suggestion for almost a month now, and the pee problem appears to be a thing of the past. Even though we didn’t... more

Do you have a child who is a sleepwalker in your house? We do, and it can make life a little interesting for the whole family. It can also get your sleepwalking child into trouble. I forgot to mention to our sons’ hockey coach that one of them is a sleepwalker. The coach took the boys along with his own sons to a hotel for a weekend hockey tournament. It had been snowing and they didn’t want to drive back and forth late at night on icy roads. When they returned home, the coach complained to me about Lane walking around the room at 2am. Apparently, he was yelling, woke everyone... more