I need to make an adoption profile book. I am so not creative, impatient with technology but have great expectations on how one should look. The agency showed me one couple's book all in its hardcover self with gorgeous pictures of their cool selves. When I saw it I said wow they would get picked quickly and the agency folks said they thought the same thing and indeed they were.
I have pictures of us that I think are a good representation of who we are and what our life is like but computers are so fiddly. Costco so say has a good program for making those hard covered books which got me all giddy until I tried to use it. I am a technoidiot and did I mention impatient with anything that has to do with technology?
I'm thinking I should track down that couple and have them make mine. That seems reasonable don't you think? And it's not like I would be including myself in the pool of adoptive families waiting to adopt a 'typical' baby in case they were ready to add to their family again. My baby will likely be unique but special none the less and not everyone is hoping to raise unique. That would be in my favour except as is the case with unique it doesn't happen often and the reality of the realm of which I am referring that is a good thing.
There are adoption profile professionals and I suppose I could go that way however for whatever reason that's not the route I want to go.
Whichever way I choose I better get on it but until that time if you know of someone who is looking to place their infant with special needs for adoption into a really swell family send them my way and they can talk to me and my agency and they can meet the real live versions of us. Well I think we're swell anyways
These are the stories of us. These are the anecdotes of our days. This is the good bad and ugly (mostly good) of our not so unique, large (but not as large as some) family, living life to the fullest. Some of us might not have the average number of years generally allotted but we will fill each of those years with the celebration of family, friends and life
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Signs
Are you believers in signs? You know the kind I mean....indicators that might not mean anything to anyone else but have significance to you about an issue on your mind. Some might think they are messages from the Heavens giving evidence that our departed loved ones remain with us or as psychic hints that something is going to happen.
I believe in signs. Some I look for, some I ask for and some just seem to pop out of no where. The problem with putting any stock in signs however is that they can leave you in terror if what you believe you are seeing are indicators that something horrible is going to happen to you or someone you love. I firmly believed that I knew Ailish would die because of the surgery. I just had this feeling. After she did die I can think of more signs that I missed showing me my intuition was right. Obviously as I now live the horrors of life without my daughter I did not act on my intuition and revoke my consent for surgery because a)it needed doing and b)my fears were no different than any other parents' whose child is going in for a significant procedure.
Three years later I was having those same fears all over again with one of my other kids. The surgery this time was only wisdom teeth but it required a general anesthetic and though this daughter is not particularly fragile she could move to that very quickly. It didn't help that many years ago I had heard of a teen with disabilities who had seizured hours after wisdom teeth extraction while his mother was in the shower and due to the swelling his airway was obstructed and nothing could be done by the time he was found. I have thought of that boy every time one of the kids has had a significant dental procedure. I was terrified that my daughter would die. I convinced myself I was right because I was feeling EXACTLY the same as before Ailish died. Again I did not cancel the surgery because the wisdom teeth were not optional to take out if I wanted the girl to be free of pain and potential infection. It will not surprise you I'm sure to learn that my darling not only survived the extractions but suffered minimal pain and swelling. If that was not relief enough for me the
realization hit me that "I AM NOT PSYCHIC!" I might have had feelings, worry, anxiety that Ailish would die from the very invasive surgery she was going to have but I did not KNOW she would die!
Do you know what a relief that is?! I'm here to tell you it is HUGE. I have a lot of kids. A. LOT. The majority of them are fragile or complex, have life threatening conditions etc and if I thought every time I worried about them that it was because I KNEW something was going to happen I would need locking up and shot with a tranquilizer gone q4!
Anyways....back to the signs.....
Call me crazy...many do....but I think Ailish leaves me dimes showing me she's around. I don't mean I will see a dime in my wallet and think oh hey thanks Ailish! I mean I will change sheets and right in the middle of the bed where change should not be there will be a dime. There will be dimes in all kinds of weird places. It used to be her socks. For the first year after Ailish died I would find a single one of her socks everywhere I turned. To me there was no other explanation other than I was being given concrete indicators that my baby was still very present in the house. I have no idea when it switched to dimes or how dimes themselves would be the 'sign' for her but none the less it is what it is for me.
What brought me to write about signs is what has occurred over the last three days and I am REALLY REALLY hoping they are signs.....
Everyone who knows me or has read about me knows I am eagerly waiting to adopt again. My wait has been endless. I have gestated three times that of an elephant. You think the pachyderm might be a tad cranky at the end of her pregnancy try be expecting and have no idea if you will ever end up with a baby! Anyways....as I have done in the past this new baby I hope will come to us has long been named. I name by definition and sound. I look long and hard for names or words even that depict the meaning I want the child to carry. Some time ago I heard a word that is used to describe strength, determination and perseverance. The word itself is not a name, (the name is in the 'vault' so don't ask me! :) ), and it is not a word that you hear very often.
The other day I was lamenting as I am apt to do about where my baby was, how long the wait has been and then threw out the question "will it ever happen?". Well wonders never cease if five minutes after posing that question as I was reading tweets and the word (my baby name) was used! A sign right? That's not all though! Within about twelve hours someone on my Facebook whom I don't know in life and who certainly doesn't know my plans used the word in his status! Wait it gets better! The next day reading tweets again someone hash tagged the sound of the word...different spelling but when read is the name!
I know most of you are thinking this woman is coo coo for CoCo Puffs but come on! It has to be a sign! I'm taking them as such anyways.
I believe in signs. Some I look for, some I ask for and some just seem to pop out of no where. The problem with putting any stock in signs however is that they can leave you in terror if what you believe you are seeing are indicators that something horrible is going to happen to you or someone you love. I firmly believed that I knew Ailish would die because of the surgery. I just had this feeling. After she did die I can think of more signs that I missed showing me my intuition was right. Obviously as I now live the horrors of life without my daughter I did not act on my intuition and revoke my consent for surgery because a)it needed doing and b)my fears were no different than any other parents' whose child is going in for a significant procedure.
Three years later I was having those same fears all over again with one of my other kids. The surgery this time was only wisdom teeth but it required a general anesthetic and though this daughter is not particularly fragile she could move to that very quickly. It didn't help that many years ago I had heard of a teen with disabilities who had seizured hours after wisdom teeth extraction while his mother was in the shower and due to the swelling his airway was obstructed and nothing could be done by the time he was found. I have thought of that boy every time one of the kids has had a significant dental procedure. I was terrified that my daughter would die. I convinced myself I was right because I was feeling EXACTLY the same as before Ailish died. Again I did not cancel the surgery because the wisdom teeth were not optional to take out if I wanted the girl to be free of pain and potential infection. It will not surprise you I'm sure to learn that my darling not only survived the extractions but suffered minimal pain and swelling. If that was not relief enough for me the
realization hit me that "I AM NOT PSYCHIC!" I might have had feelings, worry, anxiety that Ailish would die from the very invasive surgery she was going to have but I did not KNOW she would die!
Do you know what a relief that is?! I'm here to tell you it is HUGE. I have a lot of kids. A. LOT. The majority of them are fragile or complex, have life threatening conditions etc and if I thought every time I worried about them that it was because I KNEW something was going to happen I would need locking up and shot with a tranquilizer gone q4!
Anyways....back to the signs.....
Call me crazy...many do....but I think Ailish leaves me dimes showing me she's around. I don't mean I will see a dime in my wallet and think oh hey thanks Ailish! I mean I will change sheets and right in the middle of the bed where change should not be there will be a dime. There will be dimes in all kinds of weird places. It used to be her socks. For the first year after Ailish died I would find a single one of her socks everywhere I turned. To me there was no other explanation other than I was being given concrete indicators that my baby was still very present in the house. I have no idea when it switched to dimes or how dimes themselves would be the 'sign' for her but none the less it is what it is for me.
What brought me to write about signs is what has occurred over the last three days and I am REALLY REALLY hoping they are signs.....
Everyone who knows me or has read about me knows I am eagerly waiting to adopt again. My wait has been endless. I have gestated three times that of an elephant. You think the pachyderm might be a tad cranky at the end of her pregnancy try be expecting and have no idea if you will ever end up with a baby! Anyways....as I have done in the past this new baby I hope will come to us has long been named. I name by definition and sound. I look long and hard for names or words even that depict the meaning I want the child to carry. Some time ago I heard a word that is used to describe strength, determination and perseverance. The word itself is not a name, (the name is in the 'vault' so don't ask me! :) ), and it is not a word that you hear very often.
The other day I was lamenting as I am apt to do about where my baby was, how long the wait has been and then threw out the question "will it ever happen?". Well wonders never cease if five minutes after posing that question as I was reading tweets and the word (my baby name) was used! A sign right? That's not all though! Within about twelve hours someone on my Facebook whom I don't know in life and who certainly doesn't know my plans used the word in his status! Wait it gets better! The next day reading tweets again someone hash tagged the sound of the word...different spelling but when read is the name!
I know most of you are thinking this woman is coo coo for CoCo Puffs but come on! It has to be a sign! I'm taking them as such anyways.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Knock Knock....
Thanks to Neil Patrick Harris who shared this new knock knock joke on the Ellen show.
No matter how many times she hears it or tells it she finds it H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S
Friday, February 13, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
With the blog program I use the stats page will tell you how many visitors the blog has had, from what part of the world and if there are any comments. There is also a section titled
"SEARCH KEY WORDS"
The most popular word that leads folks to my blog is "enema". Nice. I don't even remember any post that I have written that even uses the word enema.
This weeks entry phrase leading readers to me is "enema moms from the fifties"
Seriously.
"SEARCH KEY WORDS"
The most popular word that leads folks to my blog is "enema". Nice. I don't even remember any post that I have written that even uses the word enema.
This weeks entry phrase leading readers to me is "enema moms from the fifties"
Seriously.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
I owe a teacher, Ed assistant, principal and vice principal flowers. And chocolate. And gallons and gallons of alcohol. If it weren't an hour before they left for home or I didn't live a zillion miles away from the school they would so be getting each of those things before their five day, student free break. I guess they did get a valentine today so maybe I'm covered til Tuesday
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