Blog
December 07, 2012
I see scary carseat/shopping cart situations all the time. I know you must see it too. Perhaps you're even in the habit of placing your baby’s carseat on top of the cart when you’re shopping.
Way back in the late 90's when my oldest son was a toddler, I saw a woman's baby fall off the cart at the drug store. I can still remember the sound that kid's head made when it hit the floor. She scooped him up and ran out with him while the store manager ran out after her. I don't know what happened after that but I remember being horrified by what I had just seen (and heard). That experience stayed with me and from that day on I have always been super-conscious about how my kids were secured in shopping carts. However, I am obviously in the minority because far too often I witness dangerous shopping cart situations. Sometimes I'll say something - in the nicest way I can, of course. But giving unsolicited advice to strangers can be more dangerous than playing in New Delhi traffic, so usually I
November 29, 2012
The number of LGBT parents in this country is growing – and many people in the LGBT community have become parents through adoption. When looking into adoption as a path to parenthood LGBT people examine the same choices as straight parents do: domestic agencies, international adoption, foster care with possibility to adopt. The difference is that the legalities of same-sex couples adopting varies state to state with some states passing legislation prohibiting same-sex couples from petitioning jointly to adopt a child. These obstacles prevent kids in need being paired with loving homes. The good news is that more and more people are realizing that LGBT people can make wonderful parents and as public opinion changes, so will the laws - opening the doors for more kids to find a stable, loving and permanent home.
My partner and I decided I would carry and birth our two children – yet adoption is still a part of our parenting story - because we are lesbians. Even though we both equally wished
November 28, 2012
I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to be mom to three little ones. Two came from my body, where they grew inside me, heard my voice and knew how I moved. I ‘wore’ them for 40 weeks before I ever saw their faces. My third child I met in an orphanage in Ethiopia. The first time I held him I loved him, but to him, we were strangers. Welcome to the world of adoption.
Just like many people who have adopted, somewhere in there we always knew that we would adopt. We assumed it would be down the road, maybe after our biological children had left the nest. But one day I clearly felt like God was saying "Why wait when those children are here now?" That was when I started doing a little research.
It's overwhelming to know where to begin. You can know that there are literally hundreds of millions of children that need parents, but how in the world do you know which one is yours?! Lots of prayer and discussion later we decided on Ethiopia. The process took a little over
November 14, 2012
When my husband and I started feeling the tug on our hearts to start a family, we couldn’t shake the feeling that God was nudging us to add children to our family through adoption, specifically international adoption.
We had no idea to where to begin. Where were we supposed to adopt? Every country has different guidelines, requirements and costs.
After months of late-night adoption and orphan care research and lots of prayer, we were discouraged and confused. We firmly believed in adding to our family through adoption, but we didn't understand why and couldn't figure out how to do it. We were just 22 and a completely ordinary young couple from the middle of Iowa.
Thinking international adoption wasn't meant to be, we still believed that caring for orphans was going to be an important part of our lives.
We looked into foster care, but at the time the door was shut. We looked into being house parents at a home for pregnant teens, but felt pulled in a different direction. We even
November 09, 2012
Congratulations to Carolyn Bookholt of Sykesville, MD, her "Anchors" carrier was selected as the Grand Prize winner of our Design Ergobaby's Next Carrier Contest!
Congratulations to Elizabeth Goertz of Wichita, KS, her "Pink & Grey Chevrons" carrier was selected as the First Prize runner up.
And finally, congratulations
November 09, 2012
Have you ever noticed that it’s rare to find picture books with images of babies at the breast or cradled in a carrier? Stop by any bookstore and you’re bound to notice the omission. Though there certainly isn’t anything wrong with cribs and bottles, I’d also love to see more imagery of babywearing, cosleeping, and breastfeeding in children’s books…to help normalize these wonderful practices for little ones.
Illustrator Marla Frazee has done a particularly outstanding job in this category. Take, for example, “Everywhere Babies” – a book that features all of the amazing things that babies do – including being carried by their parents all around town. Written by Susan Meyers, the rhyming text is sure to immediately captivate young ones (and parents too).
November 07, 2012
I knew at age 19 that getting pregnant would not be an easy task. What should have been a routine appendectomy ended up costing me a fallopian tube. Not to mention the fact I had suffered from PCOS pretty much since the onset of puberty.
So when I married my high school sweetheart at 23, I didn’t want to waste much time before starting a family. I knew it wouldn’t come easy for us. We started seeing a reproductive endocrinologist for treatments shortly after our first anniversary. After 18 months of medications and procedures, all unsuccessful, we decided to take a break. During this break my husband and I discussed adoption. My sister had adopted twice from Korea and we couldn’t have loved those boys more. We looked into domestic and international adoption but realized we could not afford such a great expense. We went back to the fertility clinic after a short break and started our first IVF cycle. The medications involved made me very sick and the procedure did not work.
November 06, 2012
Early one January day, my husband Rusty, and I got THE call from our adoption agency. The call we had waited years to receive. The call that would change our lives forever. There was an eleven-month-old baby boy waiting for us in Taiwan. We rushed over to the adoption agency and got his referral packet with pictures, documents, and medical information about him. We pored through every page a dozen times and stared at his picture for hours -- a tiny guy with a disheveled fluff of black hair and mismatched pajamas. He was the most beautiful baby we had ever seen. We couldn't wait to hold him in our arms, rock him to sleep, and let him know that we will love him forever. But, of course, there was more paperwork and the adoption had to go through the court system in Taiwan.
Four months later, we got another call. The Taiwanese courts had issued the final decree and he was our baby. We would pick him up in Taiwan at the end of June. Because we didn't want to jinx the adoption, we hadn't done
November 05, 2012
My first pregnancy took 20 months. My second pregnancy was 26 months. That is a long time to wait to meet my sons. I couldn’t talk to them before we met. I couldn’t make plans for their future. I didn’t know if they would be boys or girls. I didn’t get to tell them how much I already loved them.
My husband and I did not plan to adopt. We married, established our career paths, bought a house and then said “time to have kids!” I wasn’t sure I’d like being pregnant but I knew I would love being a mom. I had been a babysitter, a teacher and a nanny for almost 20 years! It was my turn. But years went by. We endured tests, surgeries and procedures. We spent a lot of money. Eight years later we felt we were at the end of the road. I still felt I was meant to be a mother. My husband said to give him 6 months before bringing up adoption. One year into waiting for an adopted child, he asked “why did we wait so long?”
We met our son’s birth mom 6 weeks before he was born. She officially “picked
November 02, 2012
When I found out I was pregnant I was fairly certain that my plans on ever having a natural birth were out the door but nothing prepared me for the roller coaster ride my son birth turned out to be. I was born with a uterus what was split in two that required reconstructive surgery and even after the surgery I was told I would probably never have children because my FSH levels were too high. Six months after my surgery I was PREGNANT!!! I could not believe it. I was automatically considered high risk and I was fairly disappointed that I wouldn't be able to have a natural birth, and that I wouldn't get to feel labour. To add insult to injury my placenta was covering my cervix. At 20 weeks we scheduled a c section for June 20, my due date was June 30th and even the doctors were skeptical I would make it that far so I was put on bed rest. I was jealous of all of my friends having babies and home births but I was happy I was having my little miracle baby so I did what ever it took to keep him