Thankfulness

Before Dinner

After Dinner

Smells Like Holiday Spirit

Therapeutic

This morning as I lay there with the electrodes and heat working their magic on my back I tried to figure out how I tweaked my back again. Then I remembered the past weekend (which seemed to fly by....I wonder why) and realized it wasn't ALL about The Walking Dead and catching up on other DVR'd shows.

In addition to that, we:

• Sorted through all 3 kids dressers and closets (and playroom/sunroom) for donables
• Bathed and blow dried both dogs (after bathing the kiddos)
• Vacuumed and dusted whole house (twice - before and after dogs were bathed because they are shedding fools)
• Painted chalk board on wall in kitchen (after loving what I saw on Nothing But Bonfires)
• Clipped, pruned trees and shrubs; dead headed roses; weeded, raked and bagged leaves in front yard
• Dragged portable radiator up from basement
• Wrestled and played with the kiddos
• Put up our Christmas tree
• Brought countless Christmas decorations up from the basement
• Carried countless loads of laundry up from the basement

So maybe I overdid it with the projects this weekend but the weather was gorgeous and we needed to take care of the dogs, editing down of the clothes/toys, cleaning up yard for winter and decorating for the holidays.

I love going to PT even though they make me exercise...or maybe it's because they make me exercise....no, it's the heat and those wonderful electrodes that put me in an alpha state. Actually, it's that they work with me on helping me to condition my body and tackle what life throws at me. It's like having a personal trainer, but one who is gentle with me, not barking at me to push myself harder. Although I do work up a sweat these days...

Not the Stork, Part 2

Back in February, I had a mild freak attack about having "The Talk" with my daughter because I was worried about her feeling rejection from her Birth Father. I bought her a few books and have answered questions that she's had so far, but Birth Father has never been mentioned. Well, a few months ago I found him on FaceBook and am glad to have a way to contact him. I haven't yet but I probably will soon. We are supporters of Open Adoption and welcome contact from all of the birth family members. So far that has worked out really well with the Birth Mothers.

Recently, we met the Little Ones' Birth Father to talk about his future involvement with the kiddos. This was an anxious and exciting meeting because it was in unchartered waters. It was a good meeting and while the Little Ones weren't aware of the meeting, Emi was and she was curious about his role in their lives. We figured now would be a good time to introduce her to the idea of her Birth Father too, but weren't sure how to start that conversation. Our adoption specialist recommended that WE bring it up and not wait for HER to because she may not want to hurt our feelings. I hated to think that she'd be curious but concerned enough about our feelings to not ask.

So we talked about my nuclear family and how I get my skin color from my mom (Emi's Lola) and my dad (Emi's PeePaw). And we talked about how I have 2 moms and my step brother and sister have 2 dads and how that has worked for us in our family and how different cousins take after 1 parent or grandparent in features or size, etc. Then we asked her where she got her brown skin and she said "from Cookie" (her Birth Mom) and then we asked her if she wanted to talk about her Birth Father. She said that she did and seemed curious so we told her his name and that we had never met him. She looked confused and said "I thought you knew him?" which made me think she'd been thinking about this for a while. Glad we decided to bring it up...

We hopped on the internet after asking her if she wanted to see a picture of him and brought up his picture. She took in the features; I told her she has his smirk sometimes...and that she would be tall like him and also her cousins on Cookie's side of the family. We told her we could contact him in the future if she liked and that was the end of the first conversation about him. It was probably more awkward for us because we were projecting grown up emotions (at least I was) onto her, but she was very cool about the whole thing, curious about what he looked like, etc....

So, stay tuned....

Life is Good

That is our family motto and has been ever since Little Miss Emi was 5 months old (even though we experienced this phenomenon before she was 5 mos).

But, in reviewing my blog, I've realized what many bloggers probably know already that what makes it to my blog is not necessarily an accurate depiction of my entire Real Life. My blog is made up of what I want to share and there are many things that we've experienced since the inception of my blog (circa 2005) that I have not posted for privacy reasons. Whether it was a private hell I was going through or maybe adoption related, I chose not to share with the online community. Not that I didn't want or need your support during some of the trying times, but I chose to get that from my closest and in-person friends and family.

And I don't blog about work because I am sure I'd run off the ONE reader I have of this blog if I did. ;.) I don't have a lot of drama at my work and I love what I do... I want to keep it that way.

I choose to share the beautiful (and noteworthy) things in my life on my blog. Speaking of which, we have 3 very beautiful children through the miracle of adoption and I like to post their pictures and stories about them for their birth families and extended families to share. I don't want anyone to miss out on them and their love.