Defining Moment

I know I look like Hell here.

It was 2am.
I was up late last night.
After a lo-o-ng phone conversation with a new friend about Christianity (another post altogether) I logged onto the computer to do some reading about the Laws of Attraction.
You know, how your thoughts become your reality.
At this particular moment I was watching something about it on Y0uTube and it hit me.
It finally sunk in. Things are going to be OK.
But not just that; things are OK.
Actually, better than OK!

I shut down the computer and went in and gave Almi a kiss. I squeezed her hand and told her not to worry, that we are OK; that Mommy was going to take care of her. And then I got in bed.

I meditated and prayed until I fell asleep.

It was a defining moment for me. I thought back to all the negatives things/people/events that have come into my life and how certain unfortunate situations keep recurring. Was I responsible for this in some way? I do believe I was. But if I take responsibility for those then I also need to take credit for bringing positive things/joyful events into my life. The question is, how do I keep the continuum of positivity?

The secret is: act as if, speak as if and believe it to be already true.

You can believe this if you are not a Christian if you just learn about the laws of the Universe.

You can believe it if you are a Christian
It says so much in Mark 1: 22-26.

22	And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God.
23	Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.
24	Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
25	And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

So, I am here to declare the following intentions for my life:

I am healthy and happy.
My daughter is healthy and happy.
I have financial abundance.
I have peace of mind.
I have a kind, loving, sexy husband.
I have ample opportunities for my creative outlets.

Oh, there is so much more but that is enough transparency for one post. LOL

Just let it be noted that January 29, 2011 was the day everything changed for the better.

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And then something crazy happened.
Or was it not so crazy after all?

This morning after breakfast I made the decision to go to CVS to buy some materials to create a Vision Board. I purchased a foam poster board, some rubber cement and some repositionable putty. I put the items in my car and headed home.

As I was getting Almi out of her carseat I noticed something shiny. It looked to be a chain of some sort. I pulled it out from between the folds of her carseat and lo and behold it was this necklace. This necklace helped carry me through the tough times. I wore it every day during the four month wait for my referral.

I wore it when I threw a party to celebrate my referral.

I wore it when I traveled to Ethiopia to pick my daughter up.
And even had it on the day they put her in my arms.

(Awww.. look at my little munchkin's face. Sweet baby).

But then one day, shortly after I returned, I noticed that it had disappeared. I looked everywhere--and I mean everywhere-- for it but never found it... until today.

How odd that today, as I am coming home with my materials for my Vision Board--as I have realized that all things are possible the necklace-- it reappears. (Odder still, it disappeared before I got this carseat installed. And we have been to the carwash several times to have this one vacuumed out and it never materialized).

Why now? Why today? I don't know but having it back around my neck feels good.
It's a physical reminder that what I wanted most in the world came to me.
And now I open my mind and my heart and my spirit to allow all my other goals and dreams to come true.

Weekly Menu

I liked lots of last week's meals! We ate fewer grains and less refined sugar and for most of the week I felt good! Having three snow days probably helped my mood, too, of course! ;-) but I really think there is something to this eliminating grains thing. I feel better--less stuffed-- and without refined sugar I feel more calm. I guess because my blood sugar is more stable? Thing is, towards the end of the week both of us had some *ahem* bowel issues. It could have been the antibiotics she is on for her ear infection, but it could be the increase in dairy and/or nuts that we ate. I have read that eating more fat helps one feel better but I think we went overboard in that area. I like butter and cheese and products made with almond flour but clearly they need to be consumed in moderation (and we suck at that). Next week we will strike a better balance! There's that word again--balance!

I am going to continue to make steel cut oats for her breakfast because she really likes oatmeal and it's so easy to prepare ahead of time for her take it to school each morning. I even soaked the oats last week to make them even healthier! Apparently oatmeal (and other grains) contain phytic acid which can block absorption of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. If you soak them first it allows for better absorption of those vitamins and minerals. Did not know that til last week! Well, she liked them soaked and not soaked so I will continue soaking them. And if I can't get it together to whip myself up a smoothie or some eggs in the morning, I won't feel too too bad eating soaked oatmeal in a pinch. So it's win-win.

Dinner plans:

Sunday - pizza. I'm going to try this crust. I hope it's good. I bought store bought pizza sauce (found one without high fructose corn syrup) and will add cheese and possibly some veggies.
Monday - turkey burgers and carrot kugel (didn't make the kugel last week)
Tuesday - soup and tuna melts (gotta use the bread in the freezer)
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - bbq pork (will throw homemade sauce over the leftover pork and simmer)
Friday - hope to be out to make up for last week's snow interference (she can have leftovers)
Saturday - breakfast foods :-D


Homemade BBQ Sauce
1 c. ketchup
¼ c. sweet mustard
⅛ c. honey

Again, any day can be interchanged depending on mood/energy level/cravings.

Weight- 148.2 (dairy products and nuts are fattening~duh!)
Workouts - none
Vitamins - 6/7 days
Body Fat/Measurements - no clue
Joint Pain - none several days (yay!); worse on Friday & Saturdaymorning.. not sure why

Have a great week!

Snow Fun!

Snow Day.. er Make That Three

I love Snow Days! Almi is missing school a bit -- she keeps asking for her teachers ("Etse? Dora?") --but we are having fun hanging out at home, just the two of us.

I type this as we are heading into our third snow day!!! Keep 'em coming, I say! True, they aren't nearly as relaxing as they were pre-baby, but they are still great nonetheless.

We made some yummy silver dollar pancakes with this recipe I found on Elana's Pantry.

Gluten Free Silver Dollar Pancakes

3 large eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda

1. In a large bowl whisk together eggs, water, vanilla and agave

2. Add almond flour, salt and baking soda and mix until thoroughly combined

3. Heat oil on skillet over medium low to medium heat

4. Scoop 1 heaping tablespoon of batter at a time onto the skillet

5. Pancakes will form little bubbles, when bubbles open, flip pancakes over and cook other side

6. Remove from heat to a plate

7. Repeat process with remaining batter, add more oil to skillet as needed

Yields 18 pancakes

I added a teaspoon or two of melted butter to the batter, substituted honey for agave and used coconut oil to fry them up. The slight hint of coconut flavor really made them very good! Almi loved her 'cakes. I liked them a lot, too. Eating foods with almond flour is really helping me make the transition away from grains. I am starting with avoiding wheat and hopefully can eventually move away from grains altogether. Wish me luck on that one! I guess I shouldn't have ordered those two boxes of thin mints from one of my students! ;- D

Eh, it's a process.

What else did we do besides eat? We read lots of books, danced, watched a couple of movies and took some amazing power naps together in my bed.

And someone was her normal mischievous self!

Shall we take a closer look at that?

Or how about this?

Oh, yes she did. She colored all over her face with marker when I was making the pancakes. It's all good. We took a bath together later and I scrubbed her clean.

We also snuggled and goofed off and laughed and took pictures.

And she sang for me... her own crazy version of The Itsy Bitsy Spider. I bought her a copy of the book from Scholastic when my class had their book order and she loves it! It's one of her favorites right now. She can sing it better than this. She purposely used some crazy mixed up words and it made me laugh!

We've been having fun!!! I love Snow Days!!!

Third Time's the Charm, Right?

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to start dating again. To this end I am back doing online dating. I don't really like it but, honestly, I don't have many options. There are no men at work so the only other way I am going to meet someone is the one time I plan to get out each month or perhaps at the grocery store or gas station. So back online it is.

So I'm back on line and already something interesting has happened. Tell me what you think... When I was doing online dating about three years ago I met a really interesting man. Let's call him D. D was smart, well-traveled, bilingual, handsome and we hit it off. I was really looking forward to our first date. We agreed to meet at a Mexican restaurant and to help me find him he told me he'd be wearing a blue shirt. Full of anticipation, I drove downtown and began to look for parking. Blue shirt, blue shirt I reminded myself as I waited at a red light, and just then a man in a bright royal blue shirt crossed the street in front of my car. A skin-tight, bright blue shirt on an attractive gay man. I hope that's not my date, I joked to myself. I parked the car and walked into the restaurant and there waiting for me at the table was Mr. Bright Blue Shirt. Needless to say, the date didn't go well. I am fine with homosexual men, just not as my dates. When he called for a second date, I (not so) politely declined. When asked why I was too honest and he got angry.

Fast forward about 9 months and I meet another great man online. Handsome. Smart. Bilingual. (I guess I have a type). He suggested we meet at this cool bar in the center courtyard of a museum. Chic spot. I had never been. I was impressed. I walked up and joined him at the bar. It was a gorgeous summer evening. I felt good about how I looked and I was thrilled to be having a date with a handsome man who was so interesting and easy to talk to. We shared a glass of wine and lots of laughs and I, like so many other ridiculous women, started envisioning our future children and growing old together. And then he dropped the bomb. "You don't remember meeting me, do you?" he asked. I was taken aback. No, not at all. How would I forget a man like this? "I'm D. Remember? The one you thought was gay." My mouth fell open. How on earth could I not remember? Maybe because this time he was charming the pants off of me in his sharp Italian suit? But as he sat there telling me how offended he was after our first date he did start to look familiar. I couldn't believe it. How could I have been so wrong? This man was not gay. He was damn near perfect. But as much as I apologized he was still angry and said he had no interest in seeing me again.

I was mad at myself for being so judgemental and dismissive, but it was a lesson learned.

Fast forward to this week. I get a an email from an attractive man. I read it while glancing at the thumbnail photo. Wait. Seriously? He looks a lot like D. I open his profile and look at all the photos. Yes, it's D. Many of the photos are the same. Why is he writing me? I thought I had been written off. I read the email again. It appears he doesn't know it's me. That can't be. Maybe he's playing games? I can't tell. I write him back without letting on that I know it's him. He writes back immediately. Sure, I have changed my profile but there are three photos on there. Does he not recognize me? Maybe the fact that I now say I have a child is throwing him? I write back.

His last email tonight says, "Would you like to chat and learn more? D." and he put his phone number. I used to really like this man and I must admit I would like another date with him. I mean, part of me says to leave the past in the past but then I can't help but think that men like him don't come around every day.

Do you think he knows it's me and has had a change of heart? Do you think he's playing games? Should I fess up that I know or should I wait? Should I give him my number or suggest we meet out? The goal is to get him to remember why he was interested in me in the first place and see if we can have a second third chance. How do you think I should proceed?

And by the way, I am thinking of taking my blog in a different direction--not having adoption as the focus. I am thinking more of my life in general (eating, health, dating, traveling, etc--and how to balance it all as a single for now mom). I want to focus on --I need to focus on--finding balance. If I get a lot of comments on this post I will take it as a sign that this non-adoption topic is semi-interesting. If not, I am still probably going to change up anyway, but I would at least know someone out there was halfway interested in following along :-).

Weekly Menu

I overcrocked the pork. (like my word? overcrocked? me, too.) Well, even though it was a bit dry I still thought it was edible. But Almi didn't. She took a bite said, "Yucky," then she spit it into her hand and said, "No thank you." LOL

The lentils, on the other hand, were fantastic! So cheap, too.

All this cooking is great except these meals produce waaay too much food and we have waaay too many leftovers and I can't eat the same thing over and over and over again. Since she wouldn't eat any of the pork there is a ton of it in my freezer. I'm thinking some sort of bbq pork dish but I'm not sure. Maybe in a few weeks all we will eat will be leftover food from the freezer. I need to learn the art of using leftovers in future meals.

Onto the stats. Well, I learned that I need to pack more for lunch or an after school snack cause I hit the vending machine several times for Coke and other processed junk. Boo. But somehow I still lost weight.

Weight: 145.5
Vitamins: most days
Exercise: none
Measurements: unknown
Body Fat: Unknown
Joint Pain: minimal.

Speaking of joint pain, I keep reading that autoimmune diseases/ joint pain/inflammation (which I have) is caused by problems in the gut. A GAPS diet is recommended to eliminate these conditions. More reason to go grain free. Now that I know she can eat almonds, it's going to be a whole lot easier.

I was so very bored by last week's menu quite a few days. I'm not sure why but I ended up in Trader Joe's buying some prepared bbq beef and 5 layer dip. In an effort to not hit the vending machines and not be bored, I have come up with meals that sound yummy. Problem is, next week is going to be very, very busy with report cards due so I am sure I will be working late every night. Coming home and having to prepare home-cooked meals isn't looking very likely. I won't be mad at myself if I end up ordering out a few times. But just in case I muster the energy, here are the meals I have planned:

Sunday - baked salmon, leftover ravioli & steamed brocolli and carrot fries if I feel inspired
Monday - carrot kugel and leftover beef bbq
Tuesday - chicken picatta or green curry (from a jar) chicken and green beans
Wednesday -something that can't get overcooked in the crock
Thursday - quiche
Friday - I have a babysitter. I will be out on the town. Woo-hoo~!!
Saturday - leftovers

Have a great week!

Almonds! Yay!

First, thanks for the kind comments regarding her name. Truth to tell, I am so used to calling her Almi at this point that I don't know why I am complaining. And then I saw Haze's comment. She said it was a perfect blend of Almaz and Naomi. Oh, thanks Haze! I never thought of that and I love it! I feel so much better and this morning she referred to herself as Naomi so who knows. I am sure she will become Naomi at some point and I am officially going to stop worrying about it. :)

So, this morning we woke up and went off to take care of a few errands. We bundled up. They said with windchill it felt like 7∘. Brrr. We went to the grocery store and picked up her prescription for her double ear infection. Oops. Yeah, she wasn't just being cranky for the heck of it. But she didn't tell me! So frustrating that she can't communicate that! You see, what had happened was, the daycare called into my classroom at 8:55 yesterday morning to tell me she was sick and I had to come get her. My kids were to arrive into my room at 9:00. Huh?! She looked fine to me. After all it was just a runny nose! "No," said the director. "Her teacher said it had a yellowish-greenish tinge to it and you need to take her home." I was so annoyed. It looked clear to me and I needed the time to do assessments on my students. I begged the director to let Almi stay a bit longer. She said she would give me til noon. Argh! Really wish I had family in the area to cover in times of emergency. So, I called for a sub and picked her up at noon and took her to the doctor. And, yeah, turned out she has a double ear infection. Who knew?! The doctor asked her if her ears hurt and Almi said no but then she cracked me up when she followed it up with "I wan shot." Ha! She was serious, too. My vax-lovin' doc quickly flipped open her laptop to see if she was due for any but, alas, she was all caught up. No shots this time. Almi was disappointed. LOL

But, back to the errands. After picking up her prescription at the pharmacy drive thru we headed down to Children's Hospital. Being the worrier that I am, I often worried about being surprised by a rogue nut in a restaurant or at daycare. I figured we should see if this was really an issue-- but do so in a safe environment-- so once safely in the hospital parking lot, I offered her a snack of almond milk and sliced almonds. You see, awhile back she had a reaction to pine nuts (rash on her face) so I had her tested for nut allergies. She tested negative for peanuts and all tree nuts but the doctor advised me to keep her away from nuts until she is three. I was paranoid so I followed her advice but it has been getting challenging. I am fine with no peanuts--we eat sunflower nut butter around her anyway and I prefer it to peanut butter so that's easy-- but I want to cook stuff with almond flour and ideally I'd like her to move away from rice and soy milk to almond milk. So, I went down to the parking lot of Children's Hospital right by the emergency room and gave her the snack. I figured if she had a bad reaction I could snatch her out of her carseat and run her inside. I knew that was unlikely, but I figured better there than at home or at someone's house or in a restaurant. Well, guess what?! No reaction. Nothing at all. I am so relieved and so excited that we can now make stuff with almonds in it. And best of all, she loved them! Here I am saying, "Phew!!!" LOL
When we got home, we had lunch and both plopped into bed for a restorative two-hour nap and when we awoke we had a snack of bananas sprinkled with cinnamon dipped in sliced almonds. :)

*** I am not suggesting anyone do this with their own child. Remember, Almi had already tested negative for nuts. I was just too nervous to feed her them to her in my home so this made sense for me. ***

Quotes

A couple of weeks ago I had on the shirt I bought during the inauguration. Almi pointed to it and said, "Omama." I was sure I was just hearing things or she was saying 'momma' or something.

But then she did it again. The other day she woke up really early so I brought her into bed with me to get some more sleep. The night before I had covered my windows with some beach cover ups in an effort to help block the morning sun that streams into the room at the crack of dawn and she noticed them and commented on them. "Ooh, pretty," she said as she pointed at this one.

Then she pointed to another one and said, "Stahwuh" (star).

Then she pointed to the T shirt on the last window (I only have three beach cover ups and four windows) and said, "Bama!"


Then she pointed to me and said, "Mommy" and back at the Tshirt and said, "Mama."
"Mommy. Bama."
I have never talked to her about Obama and I doubt they teach her about him in daycare so where on earth did she learn his name?!?

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The other day I went out to have an early sushi dinner with my neighbor and our daughters. We were walking down the street all holding hands, my friend and I on the outside and the girls in the middle. As we approached an older Black gentleman in an overcoat and a hat, Almi dropped my hand, pointed to him, and yelled, "Granpa!" It was the cutest thing! He laughed and spoke to her and the whole time she smiled and gazed at him lovingly. Aw, so cute.

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After our sushi dinner, my neighbor and I took both girls to her house and put them to bed. After the babysitter arrived we headed back out for a night on the town. In the morning my neighbor offered to keep her there until 2pm so I of course happily agreed. She told me that sometime early that morning Almi turned to her and said, "Mommy byebye." She said she responded with, "No, Mommy's sleeping" and put her head on her folded hands. She said Almi said, "Mommy go byebye" and she repeated "No, Mommy's at your house. She just sleeping." Aw, breaks my heart to have her thinking I wasn't coming back. :(

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And finally, this cracks me up!! The other day she was playing right near me in the den when all of a sudden I heard the toilet flush. She came running back into the room so I asked her, "ALMI! What did you flush down the toilet?"
Her response? "I no wan it. Bye bye."
"ALMI! WHAT DID YOU FLUSH DOWN THE TOILET?!"
"bye bye"

I tried not to laugh cause I certainly don't want that to happen again but it was so funny.. except that I have no idea what it was!!

Snow Day

We had an unexpected snow day on Tuesday which made for a nice 4 day weekend. Actually, the snow accumulation was very minimal but the city had a coating of ice making roads unsafe. Hey, works for me! I love having a reason to stay home in my pajamas all day!

We had a fun time. Almi is going to tell you about our day.

Hi! Well, first mommy wanted me to dress warmly so I added more and more striped clothing over my cute striped pajamas. I tried to tell her I wasn't cold, but she was NOT having it.

Then we went downstairs and I helped mommy make some curried lentils. I thought it was fun shaking in the spices and stirring the lentils.

While they were cooking, Mommy put in video on wild animals. It was awesome. I asked to see it three times!

Look! An elephant!

I love watching videos with Mommy next to me. I like being able to snuggle up with her and have her hold my sippy cup of frafee. Mommy said it was hot cider but I like to call it frafee.

After the movie I had fun playing dress up. It is so fun to put on Mommy's shoes.

Then we did some puzzles. I am getting pretty good at them!

And we ate yummy food. I made a bit of a mess with my applesauce.

It was a fun day but I missed my teachers. Mommy said I was going to see them the next day. Maybe on the next snow day we will get some snow so I can try out my new boots and snow pants!

Speech Update

First of all, thank you for all the comments regarding her speech delays. I read every comment and shared them with the speech pathologists.

I filled out the Early Intervention form online and they emailed me back saying she may qualify for services, but not speech services. In fact, oddly enough, communication is where she scored the highest! The categories were communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal/social. Where she may qualify is in problem solving. The funny thing about this is I don't think she has a problem with that; I think she just can't always communicate what she wants to say. Well, hopefully she will be picked up because I am sure she will only benefit from outside intervention, especially if given by a speech pathologist, even if it's for problem solving.

Meanwhile, I also took her to her appointment at the pricey private place for the free evaluation. The speech pathologist did an hour long, though still fairly informal, evaluation. In the end she determined that Almi does have a slight speech delay--basically she's right at the cusp of needing services--but she did think that she could have been right on target if she had been in country since birth. She went on to say that since she appears to grasp concepts quickly that she would probably respond well to speech therapy. I asked her how long she would recommend and she said an hour a week, in two half hour sessions, but thought it would be fine to wait to see what the District offers and how she progresses over the next few months before signing up for their private speech therapy. (I believe she said their therapy is about $67/hr and they don't accept insurance, though I could try submitting a claim.)

She noticed Almi getting frustrated when she couldn't express herself and recognized that she needs work on using more 3 word+ utterances. She said she could use work with more complex sentences (with adjectives and adverbs). She also said she is fronting her ds and gs, which she explained to mean that she is pronouncing words that begin with d and g at the front of her mouth instead of the back.

When I got home I looked online to see what else I could learn. From this chart it appears she has the following issues: word-final devoicing (she says 'buck' for 'bug'); velar fronting (she says 'titty' for 'kitty'); weak syllable deletion (she says 'teffone' for 'telephone'); and stopping (she says 'dump' for 'jump'). I wasn't sure which of those phonological processes was age-appropriate until I saw this chart. Assuming my ten minutes of research on the internet hit upon an accurate assessment, it appears they are all considered age-appropriate until at least age 3. Armed with this information and the comments by today's evaluator, I am going to hold off on private therapy for a few more months. Hopefully with the suggestions I was given today and the possible servicing from the district, she will get on track.

Meanwhile, here's what the speech path recommended:

1. Follow up with the early intervention people and see what they are offering. Hopefully she will qualify for one hour a week. If so she will get a plan similar to the IEP in public schools. Use this time to make requests that are speech-related if they are not already in the plan.

2. Put several items in front of Almi and ask, "What do you want?" or "Which one?" I know that Almi can point or say, "Dat one" but the goal is to get her to say, "The yellow shirt" or "I want applesauce, please."

3. When talking with Almi I should encourage her to use three (or more) word utterances. So, for example, if she wants milk she will say "Milk!" or "Milk pees." Eventually I would want her to be able to say, "Mommy, may I have some milk please?" so I should model a simple sentence for her first, like "Milk please, Mommy" and see if she will repeat. She suggested I do this during a non-threatening time, like during play. Then as time goes on add another word. Or when getting dressed and she says, "shoes" I should respond with more detail like adding the color or that they are pretty or have velcro. The idea is to give her access to more vocabulary and encourage her to use it. I have been doing this quite a bit but I will be doing it a lot more.

4. She then said to take it a step further shortly but this time don't give in if she doesn't repeat me. So, in the milk example if she didn't say, "Milk please, Mommy" then I shouldn't give it to her. Lately when she gets frustrated and starts grunting or making an unintelligible whine, I have been saying "Use your words" and she has expressed herself in words (though simply like, "Mommy help"). I am going to be better about requiring this each and every time as well as repeating my modeled sentence in order to get what she wants from me.

Before leaving I asked her if she felt my TV-free home was an issue and she said she didn't think children's television programming would hurt, but I shouldn't feel the need to rush home and plug it in. I also asked her about moving Almi to a non-English speaking country this summer and she said that sometimes things like that can't be avoided and though she won't lose what she has learned, it may interfere with her English language acquisition. Finally, she said she is glad she is in an academic day care where concepts and vocabulary are part of every day.

So, all in all I am really glad I went. I'm not as worried and look forward to working with Almi at home. I can't wait to see how things are by this summer!

Sometimes it Would Just Be Easier

I was so sensitive about the name thing the other day, that I couldn't bear to read any negative comments so I turned them off. I really couldn't handle any preachy adoptive parents telling me I shouldn't have changed her name in the first place.

I was just feeling sad--the way I get sometimes-- when I think about wanting Almi to be my biological child. I love that she's Ethiopian and it will be celebrated and honored and cherished. But if she were my biological child naming her would have been all my own. How I choose to raise her would be all my own. I wouldn't have to bother with all the formalities and paperwork and regulations that are required pre and post adoption. I wouldn't be stressing about readoption and passports and birth certificates. I would shed tears thinking about her birth family, her losses, her pain. I wouldn't wonder about her health history, if her relinquishment was legit, if she has siblings, if she is going to be angry about being adopted or if she is going to reject being part of my family one day. It would just be me and my kiddo.

Of course I love having been exposed to Ethiopian food and culture. I look forward to exploring more about where she is from and incorporating more Ethiopian customs and traditions into our lives. I love how I have an instant connection now with my Ethiopian friends, students, hairdresser, etc. I love being part of the wonderful community of adoptive parents. I love that a dream I had for thirty years was fulfilled. I love the uniqueness at how my family was created. I love that I have done something meaningful with my life. I love that my heart led me to having an Ethiopian daughter. I love her!!!

But, honestly sometimes I don't want to think about all that. Sometimes I just want to wake up and just be. Cause that sure would be a lot easier.

Weekly Menu

Someone is snuggled in my lap as I search for recipes in assorted scattered cookbooks. She picked up a cold this week which escalated into a fever. The fever finally broke but Little Miss is still coughing, a bit lethargic and in need of snuggles. No problem. I got that.



Here's this week recap and menus.

Vitamins?
Sun & Mon-yes

Tues,Wed, Thurs -no
Fri & Sat -yes

Workout?
Mon-Sat: no

Joint Pain- moderate
Weight - 146.0
Bodyfat? A lot.
Measurements? Still no clue.


I am am digging the menu planning! I am learning to cook new things and I love feeding her (and myself) real food. And frankly, with my our health concerns it's necessary.

Last week, instead of the coconut rice with raisins to go with the curried chicken, I made a Tanzanian dish of chickpeas in coconut milk. I thought she would love it because she loves garbanzo beans and she did at first. She called it "soup". It did kind of have a soupy consistency. But the recipe said to prepare it a day ahead so the flavors melded and this was very true. Day 1 it was very average (more bland) and but she loved it. And on day 2 she was no longer a fan.

The curried chicken, also average on day 1, was fantastic however on days2, 3 and 4. She wasn't excited about it but I loved it! Here's the recipe:

Curried Chicken
1.5 pounds on skinless, boneless chicken breast or thighs
3 T oil
3 T curry powder
1c unsweetened coconut milk
¼ salt
2 T lime juice

Cut chicken into 2" pieces. Heat oil in frying pan. Add chicken with curry. Cook on high heat, stirring occasionally, until chicken begins to brown. About 5 minutes.

Reduce the temperature to medium and stir in coconut milk. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce begins to thicken. abut anther 5 minutes or so. Season with salt. Then stir in the lime juice. Cook for 1 minute longer. Serve. Yum!! (Warning: Your house will smell like curry for days if that sort of thing bothers you.)

The onion soup is in the crock. I hope it's good.

This week's menu plan -- dinners

Sunday - onion soup and leftovers

Monday -stir fried rice with chicken and broccoli

Tuesday - onion soup and leftovers

Wednesday -mango ginger pork roast with spinach

Thursday -bunless turkey burgers and salad or leftover veggies

Friday -leftovers or tuna salad

Saturday - some appealing veggie crock pot dish which i haven't found yet

Here's the pork recipe. It looks amazing in the cookbook photo.

Mango Ginger Pork

1 pork shoulder roast (about 4 pounds)
½ - 1 t. ground ginger
2 c. mango salsa
2 T honey
¼ c. apricot preserves
salt and pepper to taste

Season roast with ginger, salt and pepper. Transfer to the Crock Pot.
Combine salsa, honey and preserves and pour over roast. Cover.
Cook on low 6-8 hours.
Turn Crock Pot to high and cook 3-4 more hours or until the roast is tender.
Serve over rice if desired.
Makes 4-6 servings.

Don't Be Jealous

But this is what I am about to eat...

Dates wrapped in bacon, sliced Granny Smith apple and red wine. OMG. Amazing.

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Ingredients:
1 package (8 oz) nitrate-free bacon
1 pound dates (organic if possible)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the bacon slices in half.
3. Pit the dates with your fingers or with a paring knife.
4. Wrap each date with a half a slice of bacon. Use toothpicks if necessary.
5. Set on a baking dish, ideally one with high sides, so the bacon grease doesn’t spill all over your oven when it melts.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the bacon gets crispy.

Source: Cheeseslave

I'm Almi!

This evening I was playing around with Almi and asking her the questions I always ask her.

"Are you Mommy's pumpkin?" And she will nod or say yes.
"Are you Mommy's baby?" And she will nod or respond yes.
Then I say, "Where's Pumpkin?" and she will point to herself.
"Where's Mommy?" and she will point to me.
"Where's Naomi?" and she will point to herself.
"Where's Emmay?" and she will point to me.
"Where's Almi?" and she will point to herself.
"Where's Momma?" and she will point to me.

Well, tonight when I got to the "Where's Naomi?" she said, "No, Almi!"
I tried it again and again she insisted on only Almi.

The whole naming thing in international adoption is so hotly debated and I admit that I struggled with what to do. Families who adopt from Ethiopia, I find, largely keep the birth names whereas it appears that families who adopt from other countries have no second thoughts about changing the names.

I got pressure from both sides-- to keep her name and to change her name. And it was hard on me. But in the end, I decided to change her name from Almaz to Naomi Winter Almaz. I really, really wanted a part in naming her.

Often you hear how adoptive parents don't want to take yet another thing away a child who is losing so much as a reason for keeping their name. There is something to be said for that, but the interesting thing is you rarely hear that from parents who adopt infants. For some reason, parents of infants get a pass on the taking yet another thing away from the child. Almi was 19 months when I brought her home. I don't know how attached she was to her name or what they called her most often. Was it Almaz? Was it Almi? When I picked her up she barely said anything for weeks and certainly wasn't referring to herself as Almi but I decided to call her that while she got used to Naomi. Well, fast forward ten months she is used to Naomi, and occasionally calls herself that, but she really prefers or relates to Almi and it's no surprise why. I have been calling her Almi for months. And she may have heard it for years.

Thing is, I guess I always thought it was going to be a childhood nickname and that she would be Naomi Winter Almaz as an adult. I love how that sounds and I loved naming my daughter. I always thought she would be called Naomi by her friends and family at some point. I never really thought about when this would happen, especially since legally she's still Almaz Laura, but now suddenly I feel like she's telling me she doesn't want to be Naomi.

I know may not be the case.
I know she's only 2 and a half.
I know she says one thing one day and another thing the next.
I know I still feel some residual guilt about not wanting to keep Almaz as her first name.
I know I am extra sensitive about this.
And I know she may end up loving the name I gave her...

but for some reason hearing her say that today made me a little sad.

52 --I Mean 26-- Weeks of Uncluttering

I read on some blog somewhere about attacking one decluttering project a week in order to have complete order by 2011. I fell in love with the idea, and Lord knows my house has at least 52 projects, but one a week seems daunting to me. I have instead decided to do half as many. That I think I can handle. So I created a list of 26 important household tasks and some are directly off off my list of resolutions.

Again, my goal is two a month. I didn't want to create a list of personal items (like losing weight and writing my ed philosphy) or items that are ongoing (like meal planning and doing fun things with Almi) cause those fit better under resolutions and need to stay there. These are just concrete tasks that need to be accomplished for me to feel comfortable in my home. I want it to be my sanctuary and it is so not. There is so much work to be done and I don't want to have to rush to try to get it done just when it's time to sell. I want to enjoy it comfy and cozy and organized now.

This picture has nothing to do with this post but most of you don't care about the post so it's necessary.

So, here's the list:

1. Stain all frames, furniture
2. Print out photos to hang on my walls
3. Hang said photos on walls (and one taken by professional photographer as well)
4. Make a headboard for my bed
5. Paint my bedroom
6. Decorate Almi's room
7. Hang curtains
8. Donate/sell books
9. Sell bookcases
10. Sell futon
11. Sell mirrored chest
12. Organize craft room
13. Move all harmful products up high
14. Hang the fire extinguisher
15. Sell shoe racks
16. Organize shelf in closet
17. Organize linen closet
18. Donate kitchen stuff
19. Create vision board
20. Move bookcases from Almi's room to the den
21. Make my bedroom a cozy sanctuary
22. Put felt on the bottom of the dining room chairs and create dining area
23. Donate Almi's highchair and give back crib
24. Donate/sell outgrown, outdated, not loved clothing (mine and hers)
25. Hang artwork in various rooms
26. Go through all boxes

Wish me luck!!!

Weekly Menu

Last week's menu was pretty boring. This week I have yummier meals in mind. But before I get to that, here's the progress from last week:

Viatmins? Monday-yes; Tues-Sat: no
Work Out? Monday-Saturday: no

Weight: 148.2 (lost .3 whilst downing red wine, cookies and dark chocolate)
Body Fat: unkonwn
Measurements: unknown

Not impressive in the least. Moving on.

Breakfast last week was super easy thanks to a comment left last week with a link. I can't remember who sent it right now, but thanks to the link she had baked oatmeal every day. Thanks for the tip! I also loved how much easier our nights were. No last minute trips to the grocery store. No take out. No scrambling to find something with a hungry toddler at my feet. So much easier on me. I think menu planning is here to stay. I spent $115 in the grocery store today but I won't have to shop at all next week or next two except for maybe produce or milk. I have so much food in my fridge and cupboards and in January and February I will be using it!

So on to this week:

Breakfasts: baked oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, fruit, smoothies, eggs and/or leftovers
Lunches: leftovers, sandwiches or frozen meals
Dinners:
1. Curried Chicken with raisin coconut rice and salad
2. sushi (to use my Groupon)
3. apple cider onion soup with homemade corn tortilla chips and salad
4. sushi (to use my second Groupon--why did I wait til the last week?!)
5. spaghetti and salad
6. leftovers
7. leftovers (if there's anything left) or turkey burgers with salad or broccoli

Pumpkin is napping and the week is starting out right. This week I will improve on the vitamins and workouts. Have a good one!

Speech Concerns

I thought my daughter was learning English pretty quickly when a few months ago her pediatrician suggested otherwise. Her opinion was that since she understands so much and appears to be bright and talks so much that this talking must be actual words/sentences to her but we can't understand it due to her articulation. I shrugged it off. My opinion was she hadn't been in the country that long and kids develop at different rates and English is her second language and it would come.

A few months later, at my parent teacher conference, her teacher expressed the same concern. As I have mentioned before, her teacher is Ethiopian and so I learned that within her babbling, no Amharic words are being mixed in. Ms. E also felt that she was trying to speak English but is often unintelligible.

With another professional saying this, I began to get concerned. Neither felt that speech therapy was a necessity at this point but that I should just pay attention and perhaps seek it out at a later date.

Well, that time is now. Though I still feel she is still within normal or typical range of speech development, I have had growing concerns when I read about kids who were adopted at the same time or after who are speaking in complete sentences. She just started saying sentences with more than 2 words a few weeks ago and even now she rarely says more than 4 or 5 word utterances. Then what really propelled me to make an appointment was her little Ethiopian friend, A, at daycare. A only spoke Amharic at home and started at the daycare about 2 months after Almi. I don't know much about her family other than her mother doesn't appear to be fluent in English and Amen didn't speak a word of English when she began. Well, the other day at drop off A came and gave me a hug. I hugged her and then told her I had to go. She looked at me and said, "You have to go to work?" I almost fell on the floor. This child did.not.speak.any.English 3 months ago and here she was saying a complete sentence to me. I was amazed. And impressed. And subsequently saddened and worried. My child can't do that.

Now, I have no idea if she has been hearing English at home her whole life (through TV for example) or if she has older siblings; what I do know is she seems to have acquired English very, very fast. And so I made an appointment.

I first contacted a place that does private speech therapy because they offer free screenings. I figure even if I can't afford their prices, they can tell me if she qualifies. Then I contacted the Early Intervention people and discussed my concerns with them. They had me fill out a 6 page questionnaire which asked questions related to speech, but also gross and fine motor, social/emotional and some other category. I submitted it online and on Monday I will fax the other paperwork. They have 45 days to schedule her an appt. and review her case before they will tell me if she qualifies. If she does, they determine how often and the fee is on a sliding scale. Meanwhile the private place is going to see her next Monday.

What kills me is I used to work at a school that catered to deaf and hard of hearing so we had an onsite audiologist and speech pathologists in every classroom! I could have had the screening done months ago or at least informally asked them if her speech was developing at an age appropriate rate. And I am sure they would have offered some sort of discount towards speech therapy and since she would have been a student there, her sessions would have been during school hours.

But, that's water under the bridge. At least I have these two options in motion and I will soon have some answers.

Looking Back at 2010

Last year was pretty special, indeed!! Here is a recap.

January
I went to New York to see Fela. Great play and I had a fantastic time. I absolutely love that city!!! It I could afford to, I would move there in a heartbeat!

February

Blizzard! We got about 30 inches! It was beautiful.


March

I went to Ethiopia to bring my daughter home. Unforgettable.

April


I took her down to Rock Creek Park to get a cute picture of her in her Easter dress.

May

My first Mother's Day. So special to share the day with my own mother!

June

The weather warmed up and we started spending more time outside.


July

We celebrated her second birthday on the 4th of July when family was in town.

August

We spent a week on Martha's Vineyard.

September

First day at the new daycare which turned out to be such a good fit for her.

October

First Halloween! She loved dogs so this was the perfect costume. Cutest doggie ever.

November

I had her baptized in my parent's living room. My cousin officiated.

December

Our first Christmas together as a family! It was magical!

There were some very special memories from 2010.
I can't wait to create more in 2011!