I can hardly believe that Lil Princess turned 3 months on this past Tuesday. How is that possible? Time flies!
She is still waking up once a night to eat, but I am convinced it is out of habit more than necessity. So, Monday night/Tuesday morning at 2am, when she woke up, I decided to let her cry it out. I went into her room, assured her mommy was there, she was ok, etc. and patted her back. She cried on and off for about 20 minutes and then fell sound asleept and didn't wake until 7:30 Tuesday morning.
Night #2 The Designer was supposed to do the same thing if/when she woke up in the middle of the night. At about 2:30, she woke up. He went to her room and tried all the tips I had given him from the night before. After 30 minutes, she was still crying, so I went in, made a couple of adjustments and within 2 minutes she was zonked back out and slept until nearly 8am.
Night #3 was last night and she didn't wake until 4am. I did the same routine and she was back to sleep until about 7:30am.
So, I am hoping she will finally figure out that she doesn't need to wake up in the middle of the night soon. I am hoping that something very positive will come from this. Keep your fingers crossed, okay? Or, better yet, say a prayer for Lil Princess. She seems to have much better days when she sleeps more at night, so it is good from all directions.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Currency valuation
Recently my father gave me a $20 bill that was double printed. He received it the year it was printed and has held onto it since, which was 40+ years ago. At a coin show a few years back, a man offered him about $150 for the bill, but he didn't sell. I am trying to learn how one would go about finding the value of this $20 bill. Does anyone have any ideas? I have kind of researched online, but it was very overwhelming, since I didn't exactly know ANYTHING about collectible money.
If you have any tips, I would appreciate hearing them! :) Thanks.
If you have any tips, I would appreciate hearing them! :) Thanks.
Brain Farts
When I am going about my day, I can think of a hundred different blog ideas. But, when the time comes for me to sit down and blog, well, I get a great big brain fart and can't remember any of them.
Now, I know that some will comment and say, "write them down as you think of them." Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, but if it was that easy for me to do, I would have done it already. :)
So, until I can recover one of my lost ideas, have a great day.
Now, I know that some will comment and say, "write them down as you think of them." Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, but if it was that easy for me to do, I would have done it already. :)
So, until I can recover one of my lost ideas, have a great day.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Not sure what to think...
I am sad, confused and hurt right now. I am trying to wrap my mind around a conversation I had with one of my good friends a little earlier today. I am sitting here baffled and angry and the only thing I can think of to possibly help a little bit is to blog. Let me give you a brief recap.
I have a friend, Susan. (I will call her Susan to protect her ignorance....I mean, identity). She has been very excited for our family as we grew through adoption. I have never heard her say anything anti-adoption or extremely ignorant until today.
She called to see how my day was. I told her that I have had a great day. I went on to tell her that we had Lil Princess dedicated at church this morning and 14 of our family members joined us to support us. Included that 14 were N and her mother. I thought it was great they were there.
Here is a general overview of how the conversation went from there...
Susan: Yeah, the whole idea of you having N around so much freaks me out.
Me: (a bit surprised and confused) Um, why?
Susan: Well, I don't know. It is just weird!
Me: What is weird, I guess I don't understand?
Susan: You invited her to go scrapbooking with you Friday night (she knew this from a previous conversation) and then she was there today. In my opinion, you should only invite family to something like a dedication.
Me: N IS family. She is Lil Princess' mom.
Susan: No! YOU are her mom, N is not her mom any more.
Me: Yes, N is her mom. We are both her mom. I am ok with that idea, why aren't you? Besides, what do you care anyway?
Susan: I care because YOU are her mom and I don't want N to hurt you later on. I don't see how anything good can come from her staying involved this much.
Me: *by this time I am shocked. I have talked about my relationship N with Susan many times and I have never heard her say anything like this before.* Well, I don't think I will hurt from this relationship. I have prayed, read books, prayed, read blogs, prayed, talked to adoptees, prayed, talked to first moms, and did I mention prayed? I think our relationship is healthy for all persons involved.
Susan: I don't know...like I said, this whole thing just weirds me out. She is not Lil Princess' mom, you are and I hate to hear you share that title when you have worked so hard to get it.
Me: I didn't work hard! I did very little, actually. I am not sure we should talk about this anymore right now. I love N. She is my friend. I will continue to have her be a part of our lives because I believe that is the right thing to do for Lil Princess and because I like N. I enjoy seeing her.
Susan: Maybe I should just shut up now.
Me: You don't have to understand, I guess. I shouldn't assume you can ever understand, for that matter. Adoption is complex. It takes time to listen, learn, understand and realize that it isn't just about the adopting parents, but so much more. Since you have never been adopted, nor do you ever plan to adopt, you probably won't take enough interest to fully understand the importance of an open adoption. You just have to understand that I have spent time doing those things and I am not naive about the whole subject.
Susan: So, what are you doing this week?
Ok, so I hung up the phone and felt angry, hurt, confused, and sad all at the same time. I guess I just assumed she understood adoption, but obviously I was wrong. How could she, really? She worries about me, her friend. She doesn't worry about N. She doesn't understand why N feels a connection to Lil Princess even. What?!?!?! How could she NOT feel a connection...seriously?!?! Anyway, I just needed to vent. Ignorance is everywhere and I just learned that it hits closer to home than I realized before today.
So, now I have to shake this icky feeling off and pray for guidance on how to continue this friendship. I really care for this person and I can not hold ignorance against her. I can, however, hold it against her if she refuses to learn from what I am saying or just keep her mouth shut on the subject.
Any thoughts on what I should do/say?
I have a friend, Susan. (I will call her Susan to protect her ignorance....I mean, identity). She has been very excited for our family as we grew through adoption. I have never heard her say anything anti-adoption or extremely ignorant until today.
She called to see how my day was. I told her that I have had a great day. I went on to tell her that we had Lil Princess dedicated at church this morning and 14 of our family members joined us to support us. Included that 14 were N and her mother. I thought it was great they were there.
Here is a general overview of how the conversation went from there...
Susan: Yeah, the whole idea of you having N around so much freaks me out.
Me: (a bit surprised and confused) Um, why?
Susan: Well, I don't know. It is just weird!
Me: What is weird, I guess I don't understand?
Susan: You invited her to go scrapbooking with you Friday night (she knew this from a previous conversation) and then she was there today. In my opinion, you should only invite family to something like a dedication.
Me: N IS family. She is Lil Princess' mom.
Susan: No! YOU are her mom, N is not her mom any more.
Me: Yes, N is her mom. We are both her mom. I am ok with that idea, why aren't you? Besides, what do you care anyway?
Susan: I care because YOU are her mom and I don't want N to hurt you later on. I don't see how anything good can come from her staying involved this much.
Me: *by this time I am shocked. I have talked about my relationship N with Susan many times and I have never heard her say anything like this before.* Well, I don't think I will hurt from this relationship. I have prayed, read books, prayed, read blogs, prayed, talked to adoptees, prayed, talked to first moms, and did I mention prayed? I think our relationship is healthy for all persons involved.
Susan: I don't know...like I said, this whole thing just weirds me out. She is not Lil Princess' mom, you are and I hate to hear you share that title when you have worked so hard to get it.
Me: I didn't work hard! I did very little, actually. I am not sure we should talk about this anymore right now. I love N. She is my friend. I will continue to have her be a part of our lives because I believe that is the right thing to do for Lil Princess and because I like N. I enjoy seeing her.
Susan: Maybe I should just shut up now.
Me: You don't have to understand, I guess. I shouldn't assume you can ever understand, for that matter. Adoption is complex. It takes time to listen, learn, understand and realize that it isn't just about the adopting parents, but so much more. Since you have never been adopted, nor do you ever plan to adopt, you probably won't take enough interest to fully understand the importance of an open adoption. You just have to understand that I have spent time doing those things and I am not naive about the whole subject.
Susan: So, what are you doing this week?
Ok, so I hung up the phone and felt angry, hurt, confused, and sad all at the same time. I guess I just assumed she understood adoption, but obviously I was wrong. How could she, really? She worries about me, her friend. She doesn't worry about N. She doesn't understand why N feels a connection to Lil Princess even. What?!?!?! How could she NOT feel a connection...seriously?!?! Anyway, I just needed to vent. Ignorance is everywhere and I just learned that it hits closer to home than I realized before today.
So, now I have to shake this icky feeling off and pray for guidance on how to continue this friendship. I really care for this person and I can not hold ignorance against her. I can, however, hold it against her if she refuses to learn from what I am saying or just keep her mouth shut on the subject.
Any thoughts on what I should do/say?
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
I need some advice (maybe a child psychologist?!?!)
This post is for those of you that have been there, done that, with your child and for those of you that will just plain find it funny (the humor is at the end)!
As you know from previous posts, Lil Bug has a physical disability. She was born with Spina Bifida. As a result, she also has hydrocephalus, which has consequencial brain damage, etc. So, taking all of that in, it might not surprise you that we have spent countless hours, days and weeks at hospitals and doctors offices, surrounded by dr's and nurses.
Now Lil Bug is 3 years old. She is a very intelligent child. She is also very articulate. She has been infatuated with pregnant women for some time now. She has been around a lot of pregnant women for the past 6-8 months. She plays pregnant often and just about anything in our house is fairgame for becoming the "baby" she shoves up her shirt to pretent she is pregnant.
For a very short period of time, she watched A Baby Story on t.v. We stopped it quickly because she started imitating what she saw on the show. That was about 4 or 5 months ago. She still acts it out and she is very detailed in doing so. It is almost embarrasing because I fear she is doing this at school, although the teacher has assured me she hasn't.
So, on to the part that I might need some guidance on. My daughter is totally obsessed with medical/surgery shows on t.v. I mean the bloody, gorey, show-it-all kind where they do open heart surgery or brain surgery. She can be playing and if she passes the tv and something like that is on, she stops dead in her tracks, sits down and stares longingly at the t.v. The Designer and I have talked about this...we are not sure if we should let her watch this or not. I mean, I have heard of some people knowing from childhood what they would be/do for a career as an adult. In fact, The Designer did. He knew when he was kindergarten age that he would be an architect. I don't want to not encourage this, but I don't want her having nightmares about what she is seeing on t.v. either. So, is it ok for a just barely 3 year old to see this.
As a side note, she has never once woken up from a nightmare. She has never seemed disturbed by all of the blood and guts. So, what do I do? I want to do the right thing, but I have no idea what that is. Allow her to watch this educational, yet disgusting t.v. or stop her for fear of what it might do to her head?
On her own accord she regularly tells me she is going to be a doctor when she grows up. I had the mind to ask her what kind of doctor she was going to be the other day and she informed me that she is going to help babies be born. Then she took it a step further and said specifically that she is going to help Dora (yep, you know the one...the explorer!) have babies....um, do I have a future OB/GYN on my hands?
As you know from previous posts, Lil Bug has a physical disability. She was born with Spina Bifida. As a result, she also has hydrocephalus, which has consequencial brain damage, etc. So, taking all of that in, it might not surprise you that we have spent countless hours, days and weeks at hospitals and doctors offices, surrounded by dr's and nurses.
Now Lil Bug is 3 years old. She is a very intelligent child. She is also very articulate. She has been infatuated with pregnant women for some time now. She has been around a lot of pregnant women for the past 6-8 months. She plays pregnant often and just about anything in our house is fairgame for becoming the "baby" she shoves up her shirt to pretent she is pregnant.
For a very short period of time, she watched A Baby Story on t.v. We stopped it quickly because she started imitating what she saw on the show. That was about 4 or 5 months ago. She still acts it out and she is very detailed in doing so. It is almost embarrasing because I fear she is doing this at school, although the teacher has assured me she hasn't.
So, on to the part that I might need some guidance on. My daughter is totally obsessed with medical/surgery shows on t.v. I mean the bloody, gorey, show-it-all kind where they do open heart surgery or brain surgery. She can be playing and if she passes the tv and something like that is on, she stops dead in her tracks, sits down and stares longingly at the t.v. The Designer and I have talked about this...we are not sure if we should let her watch this or not. I mean, I have heard of some people knowing from childhood what they would be/do for a career as an adult. In fact, The Designer did. He knew when he was kindergarten age that he would be an architect. I don't want to not encourage this, but I don't want her having nightmares about what she is seeing on t.v. either. So, is it ok for a just barely 3 year old to see this.
As a side note, she has never once woken up from a nightmare. She has never seemed disturbed by all of the blood and guts. So, what do I do? I want to do the right thing, but I have no idea what that is. Allow her to watch this educational, yet disgusting t.v. or stop her for fear of what it might do to her head?
On her own accord she regularly tells me she is going to be a doctor when she grows up. I had the mind to ask her what kind of doctor she was going to be the other day and she informed me that she is going to help babies be born. Then she took it a step further and said specifically that she is going to help Dora (yep, you know the one...the explorer!) have babies....um, do I have a future OB/GYN on my hands?
Monday, November 5, 2007
pictoral update
I haven't been around much, but things are well around here. Here are some of my favorite pics from the past week...enjoy.
Lil Princess with her first momma, N
The "fam"...The Designer, The Professor, Lil Bug, N, Lil Princess, N's mom (L) and N's brother (V)
Lil Princess with her grandpa (my dad), D
Little girl, big bed!
All bundled up and nowhere to go. Yep, those are spit bubbles on her lips.
Lil' Pumpkin
Say "cheeeeeese"
Lil Bug popping bubbles
Lil Princess with her first daddy
Pretty girl
Look at that face!
Lil Bug playing in her balls...she shoved some up her shirt and called them 'babies'..oh dear!
Sooooooo big
Mommy and daughter
Lil Bug is not liking the "guts" of this pumpkin much at all
Going in for the "guts"
SUCCESS!!!
Lil Princess watched the whole thing, but never said a peep. She is taking notes though, I'm sure!
Lil Bugs class halloween party...of course I'm biased, but I have a particular obsession with the cute purple carebear.
My darling carebear and pea in a pod
Some sisterly love going on right there.
Lil Princess with her first momma, N
The "fam"...The Designer, The Professor, Lil Bug, N, Lil Princess, N's mom (L) and N's brother (V)
Lil Princess with her grandpa (my dad), D
Little girl, big bed!
All bundled up and nowhere to go. Yep, those are spit bubbles on her lips.
Lil' Pumpkin
Say "cheeeeeese"
Lil Bug popping bubbles
Lil Princess with her first daddy
Pretty girl
Look at that face!
Lil Bug playing in her balls...she shoved some up her shirt and called them 'babies'..oh dear!
Sooooooo big
Mommy and daughter
Lil Bug is not liking the "guts" of this pumpkin much at all
Going in for the "guts"
SUCCESS!!!
Lil Princess watched the whole thing, but never said a peep. She is taking notes though, I'm sure!
Lil Bugs class halloween party...of course I'm biased, but I have a particular obsession with the cute purple carebear.
My darling carebear and pea in a pod
Some sisterly love going on right there.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
I've been tagged...TWICE!!!
My friends, Anita & Beth, have tagged me.
Rules: Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.
1. I love being a mommy of two. To be honest, I wasn't sure how having two children would change my life, but it is so much fun and I am learning daily little things that make my day-to-day life easier.
2. I had my bellybutton pierced at two different times in my life. The first time, it just randomly came out during the night and by morning I couldn't get it back in. The second time I had to take it out when I was pg. Now I have a goofy second hole in my stomach.
3. I enjoy scrapbooking, but never make it enough of a priority to get caught up. I always have something else that MUST be done...so sad!
4. I love to travel, but again, it is never a priority in our family. Our money is usually reserved for necessitites, not frivilous travel (but oh how I wish that weren't the case).
5. I am a reality tv show addict...seriously...I love them ALL! It is not good.
6. I have an entrepreneurial spirit, but my DH is very, very conservative and never wants to encourage that side of me for fear I will "blow" our life savings and retirement! :) Have a little faith, DH! hehehe
7. I haven't eaten red meat in over 10 years. I thought I would crave it when I was pg with Lil Bug, but nope. In fact, I just started eating chicken again in the past couple of years.
8. I don't enjoy my part-time college teaching job, but I do it so that I have a better chance of getting my dream job back again once Lil Princess is in school fulltime. So, what is my dream job? Teaching high school, of course. I miss it SOOOOOOOO much! Seriously, I can hardly stand it some days.
Ok, to the evil part...I tag: Emily, Joy, Nia, Leejo, Michelle, Shawn, Liz, and Liz (I'm sorry ladies...please forgive me!)
Rules: Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.
1. I love being a mommy of two. To be honest, I wasn't sure how having two children would change my life, but it is so much fun and I am learning daily little things that make my day-to-day life easier.
2. I had my bellybutton pierced at two different times in my life. The first time, it just randomly came out during the night and by morning I couldn't get it back in. The second time I had to take it out when I was pg. Now I have a goofy second hole in my stomach.
3. I enjoy scrapbooking, but never make it enough of a priority to get caught up. I always have something else that MUST be done...so sad!
4. I love to travel, but again, it is never a priority in our family. Our money is usually reserved for necessitites, not frivilous travel (but oh how I wish that weren't the case).
5. I am a reality tv show addict...seriously...I love them ALL! It is not good.
6. I have an entrepreneurial spirit, but my DH is very, very conservative and never wants to encourage that side of me for fear I will "blow" our life savings and retirement! :) Have a little faith, DH! hehehe
7. I haven't eaten red meat in over 10 years. I thought I would crave it when I was pg with Lil Bug, but nope. In fact, I just started eating chicken again in the past couple of years.
8. I don't enjoy my part-time college teaching job, but I do it so that I have a better chance of getting my dream job back again once Lil Princess is in school fulltime. So, what is my dream job? Teaching high school, of course. I miss it SOOOOOOOO much! Seriously, I can hardly stand it some days.
Ok, to the evil part...I tag: Emily, Joy, Nia, Leejo, Michelle, Shawn, Liz, and Liz (I'm sorry ladies...please forgive me!)
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