I wrote about discussing your parented child's placed sibling with school teachers last month. As I haven't yet had to send Nicholas to school, I didn't have any personal experience to share with you. However, as the school year is progressing, other first mothers are finding themselves faced with this topic. I think we can learn, especially, from one mother's moving post about how her parented daughter was faced with this situation.

Remember when I said... more

Turns out: "Regret is big and scary." Or something of that nature. My posts on the topic, Gritter's lengthy chapter covering multiple aspects of birth parent regret and an open... more

I'm not usually a glutton for punishment. I usually avoid any movies on Lifetime. They aren't normally uplifting nor do they often portray women in ways that I think promote strength and individuality. (That said, Fried Green Tomatoes is on Thursday evening!) However, I had a moment of weakness in these last few weeks before the season premieres begin on the normal networks. Nothing was on television on Tuesday evening. The title of the movie caught my eye. So I selected it, started watching it and was immediately drawn into the story.

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As I talked about yesterday, the fall and winter months bring on an episode of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) for some people. While I have no statistics that state birth parents are more susceptible to experiencing SAD, the holiday months are hard enough on their own. Therefore, I thought it wise to inform birth parents of the signs and symptoms of SAD so that they might be better able to distinguish between their holiday exacerbated grief and loss and... more

Helen Hunt. Bette Midler. Colin Firth. Matthew Broderick. That's a big name cast! "Then She Found Me" piqued my interest, especially after yesterday's adoption movie news. Nothing against Jennifer Garner but the storyline of "Juno" leaves much to be desired. Is there hope for this movie? Let's look at the general synopsis, shall we?

A New York schoolteacher (Hunt) hits a midlife crisis when, in quick succession, her husband leaves,... more

The first day of Autumn falls on this coming Sunday. It's hard to believe that we've already reached the last three and a half months of the year. It's practically flown by for our family! With the holidays and winter right around the corner and our days getting shorter and shorter, I thought we should take some time to discuss Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and how it may (or may not!) affect birth parents.

For a brief, easy-to-understand definition, I hopped over to Wikipedia and found this... more

I'm not usually a fan of the way adoption is portrayed in movies. Sensationalized, dramatized and filled with stereotypes, I usually feel like banging my head against the wall, retching or a combination of both before the movie even hits the mid-point. Unfortunately, a new movie set to hit theaters this holiday season doesn't seem to be looking any better than the normal Lifetime variety. I'm prepared to be fully annoyed.

The movie, Juno, is about a sixteen year old mother-to-be facing an unplanned pregnancy... more

We often hear about mothers and their relinquished children reuniting. If the biological father is involved in the reunion, he is often brought into the picture once the first mother has located the child. In a heartwarming story featured in the Des Moines Register, a biological father went out of his way to find his daughter; a daughter he didn't know existed for quite some time.

Birth fathers get a bad reputation. It's always assumed that they... more

While I've been mentioning some things about closed adoption in various posts, it hasn't been my main focus. In fact, it never was my main focus. Having a co-blogger like Jan to cover that topic, since it was her reality, left me with the ability to talk about it as it pertained to me or as it was covered in other areas. Without her presence, I've been noticing the lack of balance. Though no purposeful or vengeful in any way, it's still a lack of balance! Last week I started taking the steps to right it.

While I am not a mother from the closed adoption... more

The second full week of September was once again filled, both on the blog and in my personal life. I covered a wide array of topics on the blog and experienced a wide array of emotions and new events in my own life. The temperature has dropped a bit and I can feel fall coming. Life seems kind of good right now!

Milestones were hit by both my parented son and my placed daughter, which sparked various posts. I discussed how to deal with milestones in one post and hit on what milestones are... more