How to Survive Mother’s Day as an Adoptive Mom Mother’s Day is about being sweet to your Mama, right? Telling her I Love You and Thank You and You’re The Best. Giving her flowers and mushy cards and making her breakfast in bed. Taking her out to lunch so she doesn’t have to do any work today. But what if it’s not? What if your kids came to you from hard places, and Mother’s Day triggers big fears and hurts for them, and they ruin it and hurt your feelings every year? Understand Their Discomfort & Dysregulation Kids who learned very early in life that adults, and Moms in particular,…
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27 Ways to Show Love to a Crazy Quilt Mama
27 Gifts to Give a Crazy Quilt Mama Do you know a Strong Mom with Hard Kids? She’s a Crazy Quilt Mama! Just trying to make something beautiful out of life’s messes. Do you need gift ideas, or just want to do something nice for her? Whether you’re close to her and her family not, you’ll find appropriate and helpful ideas below, along with a few links to resources (some are affiliate links). PS: If the Crazy Quilt Mama is YOU, you have my full permission (as a fellow Crazy Quilt Mama) to do these things for yourself. You deserve it. And I bet you could use some love today 🙂…
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Even Mother’s Day Isn’t Really a Day Off
Mother’s Day is Not for the Faint of Heart Ah, Mother’s Day…a day where Mom is treated like a queen, given gifts and delicious food, everything goes as planned, and the children are little angels….and then there’s reality. Here’s how Mother’s Day went around here (note the positives sprinkled in ). Daddy and the kids watch Shrek 3 and eat cereal on the living room floor so Mommy can sleep in. (this is the first positive) Even before the first cup of coffee, the children bombard Mommy with candy, balloons, special drawings (Mommy with a zillion sharp teeth!), and Mommy’s restocked toolbox. Somehow Mommy’s tools seem to grow legs and…
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FASD Camp – Our Experience
Finding CAMP – a FASD Community About a year ago, I was desperate. Desperate to find an activity or a school or a camp or something my son could attend so he could have a social experience like other kids. Everything we’ve tried, and I mean everything, has been a bust. He has FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder), and aside from his brain being compromised in its abilities, he has struggled with terrible anxiety. He has mostly been homeschooled because the demands and sensory overwhelm of going to school have been too much for him. Same with organized sports, scouts, summer camp, and the like. It’s all just too much…
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The Jolly Ranchers and The Mom-Who-Already-Knows
The Jolly Ranchers and The Mom-Who-Already-Knows Oh man. One for the book. So today is half day at school. Older Son and I walk down to the stop sign to meet the bus. Little neighbor boy randomly pipes up, “Youngest Daughter was stealing Jolly Ranchers from Mr. P.” (This very helpful young fellow shows up again later in the story.) Youngest Daughter, of course, vehemently denies it, Nasty-Attitude-Threatening-Face and all. Hmmm……looks like the Mom-Who-Already-Knows better get on the horn and verify a few things. Storm Clouds are Gathering Everyone heads in to do their homework. Younger Son and Youngest Daughter have run ahead as fast as they can, but are sweetly…
- doTERRA, Encouragement, Essential Oils, FASD, Foster Care & Adoption, Parenting & Family, Special Needs
doTERRA’s Serenity & Balance – a Powerhouse Duo for Stress
doTERRA’s Serenity & Balance – A Powerhouse Duo for Stress The Effects of Stress The stress of daily life affects us all, from infants to the elderly. A certain amount of stress can be good – it can motivate us to get things done, or to create safety or to come up with solutions to problems. But when the stress gets to be too much, or too chronic, our minds and bodies have a hard time handling it, and we end up with physical, mental and emotional complications. doTERRA has several Emotional Aromatherapy essential oil blends that are wonderful for helping us cope with all sorts of human emotions. Below,…
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My Solo Self-Care and Blogging Retreat – Part 2
The Hope – Self-Care and Blogging Remember last week when I wrote about my upcoming Solo Self-Care and Blogging Retreat ? I had big plans, big to-do lists and big hope for the productivity of this time. I had almost a week all to myself, in which to catch up on my Monster To Do List, brainstorm solutions for working more efficiently and basically solve all the world’s problems 😉 I was going to spend some time working on my essential oil business, my social media presence, my plan for the rest of the summer, and churn out two or three blog posts PER DAY. Wondering how it went? Read…
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Why I Can’t Think. Or Sleep. Or Breathe.
I Can’t Think As I write this, I’m in the middle of a week-long vacation of sorts. I am by myself for most of it, surrounded by books and lists and planners and laptops. I have not had this kind of opportunity since the kids started showing up almost 15 years ago. I’m never without atleast some of them. My intention was to use this time for a combination of much-needed self-care, and an intense writing/blogging/business retreat. But neither one is really working. I can’t think. I can’t sleep. I can’t relax much. Why? Because those pestery needy little chicks I so needed a break from…..aren’t here. That’s why. Don’t…
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Emotions of a Foster Parent – The Unexpected (Part 5 of 6)
Thinking about Becoming a Foster Parent? This is the 5th in a series of six blog posts about the Emotions a Foster Parent experiences during their fostering journey. My husband and I were foster parents for nine years, and I write from our experiences. (Scroll to the bottom for links to the other posts in this series.) The Unexpected You know, many of the emotions you expect to feel as a foster parent, atleast in a general sense. Love, Sadness, Loss, maybe even Anger when you learn about the terrible things that may have happened to your foster child or when decisions are made that don’t seem to be in…
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Emotions of a Foster Parent – The Hardest (Part 4 of 6)
Thinking about Becoming a Foster Parent? This is the 4th in a series of six blog posts about the Emotions a Foster Parent experiences during their fostering journey. My husband and I were foster parents for nine years, and I write from our experiences. (Scroll to the bottom for links to the other posts in this series.) This Is Harder than I Expected The intense emotions we experienced as foster parents were hard, and it’s been hard reliving it. We let our license expire after our last adoption 6 years ago, and our kids keep us in the moment every day. So it had been quite a while since I’d given these…
