Hello! I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloweeen, but thought that I would be too obvious in repeating everyone else's wishes in the Title line, so I decided to add a little mystery. If your brain isn't working to it's peak on this crazy day, HH and H x 2 is for "Happy Halloween"

It isn't even afternoon and we have been enjoying the festivities to the max around this joint. I dressed up as a skater girl, which was pretty easy as that is kind of how I dress anyway. I've been telling everyone that I'm Pharrell's girlfriend! And if you don't... more

Before Bec came home, Chris and I had a lot of talks about how we would react when people questioned our relationship with our son. We had thought that we would be confronted with "supermarket gawkers" or worse, people who would come right up to us and want to know where his "real" parents were. Now, this last scenario was on the far end of reality but we wanted to be prepared for the worst, or so we thought.

I just got back from a walk with Bec, heading to our neighborhood video store. We met a lot of people along the way that were also enjoying the super mellow weather and the bright sun. We also saw a lot of people that we didn't know, including a woman who tracked me down to... more

When I signed on to AOL this morning this was the photo that I saw. My heart melted. I remember the first time that I saw Lourdes in a photo shoot, with her curls and almost black eyes. I remember seeing Rocco being held by his mommy coming out from the family wedding. And now this photo of mommy, sister, brother and David. Tenderness and good wishes for this family flooded my brain.

I replied to a previous Madonna post last week on this site. Actually "coming out" as a huge Madonna fan, with my adoration starting way back with my... more

I apologize for the sorry state of the image that I had to scan and then alter to get to fit into our format. I tried to find a jpeg image from different websites but I wasn't able to find one. So, you're at least stuck with a partial, grainy image instead of having me describe it to you.

I came across this ad for Clearblue Easy Digital Ovulation Test. You might not be able to see all of the words, but it goes like this.

How to use: CLEARBLUE EASY DIGITAL OVULATION TEST

1: It works like... more

The influx of catalogs has begun to arrive in my mailbox. Catalogs like Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and Williams Sonoma go straight to Chris' mail pile as I can't stand to see how expensive most things are and he loves to envision a life that could afford those items.. All of the other catalogs go into a pile for me and I do read most of them before tossing them into recycling. Titles like Colorful Images, Hannah Anderson (pricey but worth it), Lilian Vernon and the Right Start are... more

All right, this really doesn't have anything to do with fertility, but for those of you who may be considering adoption or ultimately when we are all parents, this blog is very timely and very interesting. I've spent all morning reading through it and I am extremely impressed with the writing and the variety of topics and writers. In addition to posting about this blog here, I am forwarding it to all of my family and friends in my address book and letting my agency's listserv group know about it as well. www.antiracistparent.com

Here... more

I have been lucky or unlucky enough (you can think of it either way) to have experienced both sides of this coin. The woman that I am writing about today is not the same woman as yesterday. Yesterday I reprinted the first part of my letter, and now here is the second. Thank you so much to you know who you are for writing to me. Everyone seems to really get into this topic and has much to share.

Now, on the flip side. While I was pregnant with my daughter, one of my > best friends lost her son. Our due dates were close as well, only a couple of weeks apart. Again, it > was very uncomfortable. First off, no one wanted to tell me, due to my > history... more

Three years ago yesterday, I was in the hospital, having my daughter after 26 hours of labor and a c-section. Just thinking back to that day makes me exhausted. Coming down to delivery felt like I was nearing the end of the longest infertility/pregnancy/labor marathon that anyone could have ever dreamed up in their sick minds.

While I was on the operating table, some of the anesthesia dripped into my lungs, making me not able to feel myself breathing. It was the oddest sensation. Before I said anything to the doctor, through my mind I was thinking that I was dying. I was thinking that this was it, there would be no more of me after this surgery. The panic that I expected at... more

One of my close friends who is an artist, wrote essays on various things this past year. She self-published a small number of volumes to pass around and I got my hands on a copy, to my delight. As a surprise to me, she had written down her thoughts about Bec's adoption and put them in the book. Here is what she had to say:

Young friends and former students adopted an African baby. It is their story to tell and I will not trespass from the sidelines. Being at the airport to photograph and witness the arrival and welcome the baby was an incredible honor.

Not having had children of our own or having adopted, it is difficult to fathom the range of emotions and anxieties... more

I can honestly say that this retreat and I did not get along for the full twenty minutes. During the times that I was supposed to be focusing on the past, I was thinking about the future or the present. During the times that I was supposed to be thinking about the present, I was thinking about the future. I just couldn't seem to focus my attention on anything besides things that I needed to get done. My mind would race with little details that needed tending to this weekend and also more in advance, everything that needs to be done for next week. Appointments... more