Author Archives: shannon2818

This weekend BE asked, “how old was I when BC was in your tummy?” I wasn’t sure what to say to that, but she quickly corrected herself. “I mean my other mom’s tummy,” she said. I wonder how often this will come up, especially with BC. He’s only two, and he’s bound to get confusedContinue reading “Who Gave Birth to Whom?”

Sometimes BE says and does things that are completely contradictory. For example, she is very fond of saying, “I love you momma” several times a day. Now, I’m not complaining about that, but I do think that she mostly does this just to be reassured. Anyway, we were in the car recently, and she toldContinue reading “How to Love”

When we first decided to adopt through the foster care system three years ago, I told both sides of our family that we needed their help. I told them I knew it would be hard, and that we would need all the support we could get. At first, I wasn’t sure how it would turnContinue reading “Giving Thanks”

I received some shocking news today: I’m not real. BE was the one to break it to me, and one of her teachers was the one to break it to her. Apparently, BE told this teacher that she is adopted. As an aside, I was kind of proud of her. I think this is theContinue reading “I’m Absolutely Real”

I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I’ve already decided to change the format. Instead of doing a summary at the end of every week, I’ll do several posts throughout the week. The more I think about it, the more difficult it seems to cover so many different topics in one post. AboutContinue reading “Eat Food”

As I mentioned in my first post, November is National Adoption Month. And, there’s one simple thing you can do to help. Google your state + “adoption resource exchange.” Almost every state has one of these sites, which showcases local children who are available for adoption. (Here’s an example from Massachusetts http://www.mareinc.org/). J and I visited our state’sContinue reading “How to celebrate National Adoption Month”

Last week I was at a meeting for the local women’s business organization. I was seated next to a women who had a four-year-old son, so we started talking about our kids. I told her my children’s names and ages. BE has sort of an unusual first name, so my new acquaintance commented about it.Continue reading “Names, Unexplained”

I’ve read quite a few adoption books and the one I’m currently working my way through is “20 Things Adoptive Parents Need to Succeed” by Sherrie Eldridge. It doesn’t have my universal recommendation, but I do like that it discusses foster child adoption as well as infant adoption. It offers lots of creative ideas for discussingContinue reading “Little Branch”

This week, BE declared us “mean” parents. In fact, her words were “you’re so mean.” And why are we so mean? It’s all because of potato chips.  BE didn’t get as many potato chops as she would have liked during dinner on Wednesday. And, naturally, a lack of potato chips results in uncontrollable tantrums. WhenContinue reading “Meanness, Manners, and Mohawks”