I always tell people - as I'm sure you do as well - that I'm still looking for the eighth day in the week The Beatles were singing about. I'd settle for even an extra hour. I absolutely love it when we change the clocks back, and despair when we move them forward - I really feel like I'm gaining or losing an hour.

But! I found an extra hour today! Although now I'm alot more sleepy for it. In my sluggish stupor of the late hour and the darkness last night, I was trying to change the time my alarm was set from 6:30am to 7:30am and somehow managed to set the actual time one hour ahead while also setting my alarm ahead. While no time-warp continuim was established, my bedroom seems to... more

I got this in the mail today...thought I'd pass it along. Good for anyone in the tri-state area or if you'll happen to be in North Jersey.

In honor of National Adoption Month, JFS of MetroWest Adoption Services presents an Information Seminar on Domestic Adoption Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:00 - 8:00 pm Jewish Family Service of MetroWest 256 Columbia Turnpike, Suite 105, Florham Park, NJ 07932 Presenters: Jacki Lappen, Director of Networking for New Jersey, Vermont and New Hampshire Friends in Adoption Sheila N. Muster, LCSW, Director of Adoption Services Jewish Family Service of MetroWest

How do I become a parent? What... more

Anna has refused to eat breakfast food for breakfast. A meal by the name of breakfast no longer exists in our house. Today, she is eating chicken cutlets. Without ketchup, by the way, something that amazes me to no end. But other days it is sweet potato kugel or leftover meat or something of the like from Shabbat meals. I've stopped buying breakfast cereal because I'm tired of it going stale from Anna giving it the cold shoulder.

We are playing musical chairs with the baby seat for the car. My husband picks up the kids from school two days a week and needs the carseat in his car, but he doesn't necessarily drop off the baby on the days he picks him up (he does have a car seat for... more

So, I when I posted this story the other day, and promised to post my own reactions, I gave little thought to what happens next. I made a simple committment to post a bit later that day, but in the words of John Lennon, life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. Work is busy, school is busy, the holidays are busy, the new baby keeps me busy and my husband's grandmother passed away as well.

For a time, I was thinking about who was right in the case of the mother looking to un-adopt an older child she had been raising. How could she do such a thing? And what would I do if I was faced with the same situation?... more

There have been a few cases of adoptive parents trying to un-adopt or send their kids back to the country that they were adopted from after for whatever reason their parents no longer want to be their parents. Somehow, I am always drawn to read these stories, to find out exactly why these people who work so hard to become parents later change their mind. This is the latest case which brings up an issue I hadn't seen before in one of these stories. This is off of CNN through the AP. Comments Anyone? I'll post my own reactions later today.

LORTON, Virginia (AP) -- A woman is taking the unusual step... more

I posted quite a while ago about the contoversial topic of how best to put babies or young children to bed. While there are many supporters of the "crying it out" method and variations of different famous doctor's philosophies, I've always had the approach to do what your particular child seems to need at his/ her developmental stage. Anna was never really the type of child we could let scream in her bed or crib until she went to sleep. We tried at the suggestion of her pediatrician - who is wonderful - but claimed that all children will eventually go to sleep. Well, I've got one kid to prove him wrong. Anna would spend the entire night screaming. Really really loudly. But anyway,... more

Yom Kippor was yesterday - the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah was about a week ago. Friday night starts my favorite holiday - Sukkot. If you live in a traditional Jewish community, you might have noticed funny hut-like structures being erected in people's backyards or driveways. They're called Sukkot - or Sukkah for singualar. Wikipedia (which by the way has a great article and neat pictures to check out) states:

Succoth or Sukkos is a Biblical pilgrimage festival which occurs in autumn on the 15th day of the month of Tishri (mid- to late-October). The holiday is also known as the Feast of Booths, the... more

So, things - as you may imagine - are a bit busy here at Naomi's house. The new baby has now been here a week, and is doing quite well, although he's not so into the idea of sleeping in the crib. I guess that's boring. He's a pretty good baby - only really cries when he's wet or hungry. And Anna's doing mostly okay with the baby. She's a big help getting bottles and diapers and wipes and pacifiers. She's not so understanding of the fact that he just doesn't do anything and he actually likes to be left alone when he sleeps.

The pile of work that I have here on my desk is amazing. It's not intimidating - it's just gotten to the point where the amount of stuff to do is just... more

More about the new baby later, but I did want to post this valuable information. Before we decided to adopt through the state foster care system, we actually came close to going internationally to Guatemala for an adoption - we had submitted paperwork and were on our way but changed our minds. While we were on our way to adopting through Guatemala, we were scrambling to come up with the money to cover the fees associated with the international adoption. At the time, I found few resources to help me, and could only locate a Hebrew Free Loan Society in California, which didn't help. We ended up taking out a home equity loan, but if it was just a year earlier, we wouldn't have been in a position... more

So I didn't get a chance to write a nice pre Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) posting because I was busy with our new arrival!

The state called on Thursday with an almost five month old boy who will hopefully be becoming available for adoption and did we want him? Of course we said yes, although I didn't honestly believe that he was coming until the caseworker called hours later to say that they were on their way. We aren't getting our hopes up about adopting him until I get more details on his case, but it looks like it should be going in that direction.

The baby is cute, generally good and likes to be held - as in please do not put me down, thank you very much. It was slightly... more