It's Christmas Time!!

Or, so one would think while walking through the store today, Oct. 30.

I went to the grocery store tonight for a roaster chicken for dinner tonight and tomorrow, a bagel for breakfast, a birthday card for my brother that i need to mail, like NOW, and halloween candy. I went to the isle that the seasonal items are always in... to buy the halloween candy... and do you know what was there?? Candy canes, stocking stuffers, Red and Green Candy M and M's, etc. I know it gets earlier and earlier, but can they at least wait until my procrastination gets me the halloween candy before they put it all away and replace it with Christmas. I mean, we're talking 36 hours... that's all. Can they wait that much longer? :)

On a different note... I see the light at the end of the tunnel. the first quarter of school (7th grade) is almost upon us. the quarter ends on Friday... yeah! I think we're almost caught up. I'm in no way trying to rush time or anything, BUT 'we' got off to a rocky start school work wise and are playing the catch up game!! So, we're almost done. (Yes, I said 'we're', I think I am reliving 7th grade, or parts of it, through Matthew.) :)

Here's one dumb project, although it was kind of fun! He had to do a Biography on a dead family member. Luckily, we have few of these so far... but the funny thing is, this is for Spanish class, for Day of the Dead, and his 'report' is allowed to be written in English. Tell me what possible significance this has to Spanish if we're writing the entire report in English? I mean, I couldn't be happier, I'm terrible in Spanish and he's not that much better at this point, but to me, then, that is just BUSY WORK. Why bother? People are busy enough these days not to have busy work.... thank you very much.

Have a Happy Halloween everyone. I think I'll just play the Grinch and turn off my lights since I don't have any candy... Can I hand out Slices of Cheese, Individual Walnuts in a Shell, baggies full of Special K? I really don't have any 'back-up' plan here... help me! :)

Adoption and Attachment 101

It's a small world - therefore- there are just so many original thoughts out there. I am copying from a blog, that copied from another blog to give some advice to well meaning friends and family members who just don't understand all the intracacies of adoption and adopted children. Read, learn and enjoy...

Do's and Don'ts for Family and Friends of Adoptive Parents regarding attachment

Do

1. Offer household help (running errands, preparing meals that can go right from the freezer to the oven, etc.) so the mother can spend more time holding the child.

2. Accept that attachment issues are sometimes difficult for anyone outside of the mother to see and understand. The mommy knows her child the best.

3. Be supportive even if you think everything looks fine to you.

4. Allow the parent(s) to be the center of the baby’s world.

5. As hard as it may be for you, abide by the requests of the parents. Something as simple as passing the baby from one person to another can make the attachment process that much longer and harder.

6. Accept that parenting children who are at-risk for attachment issues often goes against traditional parenting methods and beliefs.

7. Remember that there is often a honeymoon period after the child arrives. If the parents are taking precautions, they are smart and should be commended and supported!

Don’t

1. (Don't) Assume an infant is too young to suffer from emotional issues related to attachment. Babies are not immune. If they've had different caregivers all their little lives, who could they have attached to?

2. (Dont') Judge the mother’s parenting abilities. What looks like spoiling or coddling may be exactly what the child needs to avoid a serious attachment disorder.

3. (Don't) Take it personally if asked not to hold the baby for more than a minute or maybe not at all depending on the situation. This is not meant to hurt you. It is meant to help prove to the baby who her mommy is and help her to form a positive attachment with her. Some babies have had many many caregivers in their lifetime so this is very important.

4. (Don't) Put your own time frames on how long attachment should take. Every child is different.

5. (Don't) Offer traditional parenting advice. Some well-meaning family members will tell a new mother not to pick the baby up every time she cries because it will spoil her. A child who is at-risk from attachment issues must be picked up every single time she cries. She needs consistent reinforcement that mommy will always take care of her and always keep her safe.

I hope this is an insight to the idea that attachment can occur even in infants. If you consider the percentage of their lives where they haven't attached to anyone (probably 100%), then it doesn't matter if the child is 8 months old, 18 months old or 3 years old. It is still 100% and they don't know any different. They need to learn to accept a parent and learn to rely on them, 100%!

Much anticipated

Well, the much anticpated day has come and gone. No, not a referral. Nope, no one told me what region I'll be traveling to. Nope, didn't get my LOI either. I got my vaccinations today! What fun! I had to make the appointment 3 weeks ago before I could get in to get the shots, so this past three weeks was hard... not because I haven't heard a word from the adoption agency, or a word about the adoption, but rather because I had to anticpate the SHOTS~! I have passed out in the past from some shots, other times I am fine. It's all in the nerves. Anyway, I was so afraid with the multiple shots that I would again pass out. I did not!! Hurray! I got a Hep. A, and part one of the Hep. B shot (there are two more parts of that shot in two weeks, then two weeks after that.) I also got an MMR booster. I had this shot as an infant of course, but not since. Anyway, this one HURT. It burns going in and really leaves an after effect in the arm after it went in. It is short lived though and so far, I'm fine. I am taking the Typhoid pills, which start today and are taken every other day for 4 pills worth. So, except for the pills, I am DONE with shots. Well, no, I guess I'm not. But done for today. :) It was only3 today - not quite as bad as I thought. I have to check and see if I have gotten tetanus recently. If not, I'll get that when I have the second dose of Hep. B. I think I've covered everything now regarding the shots.

School has been crazy recently for Matthew. We are adjusting to seventh grade - and still learning what it takes to get good grades on tests, and projects and homework!!

I have been reading (Ok, we're calling it stalking now) many blogs recently. I am going to try to link to them on this blog so you can follow along! Theresa just got her LOI yesterday! She leaves for Semey NEXT Saturday! The Morgans met their beautiful baby girl this week. Jen and Marshall are anxiously awaiting the CALL! Payton is waiting for her mommy to be able and come and get her!! We'll all be parents of our beautiful children before you know it!!

OK - here it is for those of you that have lost track.... TWO MONTHS FROM TODAY is Christmas! Happy shopping!

Another beautiful day

Hi everybody!

Let's start with adoption news. There is none. No updates. I haven't even gotten the long awaited packing list from my agency yet because they are updating it/redoing it. Luckily, I have acquired a few from others who are either in the process or have been and I'm trying to tweek my list accordingly. it's so hard to know what to pack, and even harder to even imagine fitting it all in one suitcase. You have GOT to be kidding. LOL. Well, I'm sure I'll make it work, I just don't know how. :) Although I have no news, and I could be TOTALLY wrong here, I have a feeling I am going to hear SOON that I'll be travelling. I do not know (of course) what kind of lead time I will be getting, but I just have a feeling it is coming soon.

So, I have ordered some things from magellan's for travelling. I have done laundry of my winter clothes so I can pack things for the trip. I have enough other clothes that I just won't wear the ones I pack for the trip. my big goal this week is to start getting money for the trip... I know and have also heard that it takes more than one trip to the bank to get all the 'new' bills that you need, so I'll start now! Also, I go this week for my vaccinations. I didn't realize some of those (Hep. A and B) are in three parts. I hope I have enought time inbetween - I don't know how long in between doses it takes. I got my flu shot last week. I hope there are no side effects either. :)

Let's see, don't people say you nest before you give birth? Well, I'm doing that too, before the LOI comes! LOL. I'm really feeling the need to prepare, prepare, prepare. I just feel like it's that close. (I wonder how far off I really am??)

Matthew just got home from a scout campout. great weekend for camping. He said it was hot in the day and then freezing at night. Luckily, he took shorts for the day times and his really warm sleeping bag for sleeping, so he was OK. They went to the mountains and he said it was gorgeous.

Well, time for more cleaning! Hopefully, I'll have some news to post soon! Have a great week!

October weather - that's what I'm talking about!

At last! The weather has cooled off. Last weekend through about Wednesday this past week, it was record breaking heat!! 94 degrees many days in a row. If you know me, you know I LOVE summer, but this was absurd! It has finally cooled off and is so much more seasonal now. Refreshing! Brisk. Lovely.

There really isn't much to report on the adoption front. The next thing I will probably know or hear is when it is time to travel. We're estimating Dec. right? So December is only 6 weeks away! So, if I get 3 weeks notice to travel, then I should be hearing in about 3 weeks. Now of course, i could be traveling at the END of Dec. rather than the beginning, but what it means is... IT'S GETTING CLOSE! I don't think about it too much though or I'll probably start to get nervous, and overly excited. There is time for that when the time comes!

I go get my vaccines next week. Yippee. Not really looking forward to that, but also not willing to take the chance of not getting the vaccines. It would be just my luck to get typhoid while I'm there trying to adopt a child!! Nope. I'm getting the vaccines! :)

The Ravens won today! yeah! The Redskins lost! Yeah! The downer of the day was that Dallas lost to New England. They were both undefeated. Darn it. I wanted Dallas to win and New England to lose!! Matthew, Mom and Dad had a gorgeous day for the game today. Perfect weather.

I played with the blog a good bit today. I really had no idea how to set it up and figured out how to add some links, etc. I definitely want to be able to do this when Mom and I travel to Kaz and I don't want it to be THE most boring blog EVER. Now, to figure out how to add pictures! that's next!

Enjoy the start of the week. Hopefully, I'll have more to update, SOON!