Happy Anniversary

Today I celebrate 3 years of legal wedded bliss to The Other Mother. Twenty years together....We celebrated in style: went and worked out in our basement gym: 6 sweaty miles side by side on the elliptical and gazelle. I'm having a bowl of frosted mini-wheats and on the computer and she is channel surfing/watching political documentaries in the other room. All is well with the universe.

James is still with us, although a friend from school may be a resource: the social worker is running criminal background checks and looking into it! James has wanted a family with a Dad for soooo long: this could be good for him if they check out!

Baby Dee is back with us for a (hopefully) brief stay while her Mom has some health issues. She is sooo tiny: 16 pounds at 23 months - wearing size 3-6 months clothes. Our cat is bigger than she is. Geesh. Her genetic disorder/syndrome is largley responsible for her slow growth and low weight...She can run and climb like crazy cakes....although her expressive communication is limited she can understand quite a bit...



Baby Natalie is thriving at 18 months! Gaining weight and walking for 6 weeks and using WORDS! She has developed quite a few words/phrases and her personality is shining through. Boy is she fierce! It is interesting to watch the two girls together...I have a new found respect for parents of twins. Holy Smokes am I tired chasing those two!

Bobby gets ready for camp in a few short weeks. He is looking forward to it - and, truth be told, so am I.  The time he spends with kids his own age will be good for him...

My lovely wife finishes (graduates?) next weekend from a three year lay minstry program through UCC. Even though she is technically finished, she is repeating two classes in the fall: she really liked the teacher/subject matter. Whatever. She is such a geek...which of course is one of the main reasons why I love her so.

I have lost my ooomph for blogging lately....just trying to keep my head above water managing our home and family...by the time evening rolls around I am tooooo tired to sit and blog or read blogs...I've been spending time with my bff and joined an informal foster/adoption toddler play group. I'm also facebooking it and enjoying that connection.

I am heading to Orlando next March for the Second Annual ETAAM - and am blessed to have so many wonderful women to lean on and hold up in love. Parenting tramatized kids is not easy...Heck, parenting neurotypical kids is not easy! I am so very grateful that I have both my local Foster/Adoption support network and my extended support network as resources to help me be a better parent. Thank you ladies and gents!!!!

I turn 50 next week. A half a century. WOW. How did that happen???? I feel 34 inside. My stiff joints and creaky knees feel 60, though. I got an iphone for my birthday (I loved my tracfone and still carry it with me.....I am loyal, if not foolish) and am having a blast playing silly games and trying out new apps....

Happy first day of summer !!!!!

May the Lord Provide

May the Lord Provide

May G-d give us good fortune,

love,

a burning furnace,

grains to fill my empty bushel,

a hand to shake my lonely hand,

A flame to my lamp so I need not

too early in my bed lie,

Answers to questions He should send

So my faith won't shatter,

May G-d give us lights,

Instead of funerals - life,

Asking for me is a shameful thing

So without asking,

He should give.

(Original poem: Adjon az Isten by László Nagy) Originally viewed on the blog KOSHER KOLA.

Not Much - How 'bout You?

My dear friend  Marla reminded me I have not posted on my blog in several weeks. A combination of being busy chasing a toddler, sick with a nasty sinus infection, and conscious of the fact I could easily sound whiny and petty has kept me from writing and reading blogs.

We spent this past weekend at the seashore - enjoying all that Spring in New England has to offer....Well...The Other Mother and the boys did....I stayed at the cottage with the baby, Natalie, who pateintly watched me slog out the basement from her high chair.  Yeah. The basement at my parent's cottage near the seashore flooded from a pin hole leak in a pipe....Apparently, this is our year of wet basements. As much as I would have liked to chill at the ocean or the ponds...I'm glad the cottage and basement is somewhat under control as we have summer renters who begin arriving at the end of the month. 

We are in the last few blessed weeks of school here. Bobby is already excited and nervous about spending six weeks at camp. He went for four weeks last year and LOVED it. He came back a whole new boy - filled with self confidence and less hyper-vigilant about everything. Being plum tuckered out by a day of kayaking and swimming and tennis can do that....We are hoping that next year he will attend for the full summer (four sessions)and the following summer be a CIT....(counselor in training)

In order to inspire the Division of Family Services to take some action on James' behalf, we have formally given notice for James to move at the end of the school year. For more than a year he has been asking to live in a home with a Dad or an African American home....last I checked, we are two crazy white women. This September he enters High School and his wishes need to be respected. We, however, have mixed feelings. We want him to be happy - but we like having him in our home. It is up to him, I guess.

The Other Mother and I are signed up for the Second Annual Early Trauma And Attachment Meeting to be held March 2-5 in Orlando. Thank heaven for these wild women and amazing mothers who converge in a flurry of need and want for a few brief days much like an army of ants marching to a sugar cube.  They scrimp and save and travel from ALL OVER (US and Canada- eh?) just to be held up in love and understanding over the joys and sorrows of parenting attachment and behaviorally challenged children. I can't wait. If you will also be there - leave a comment below and let me know.