Claritin Clear

Tonight at work, I got a phone call that a parent never wants to hear from her spouse. "I'm taking Hannah to the ER. She found a bottle of Claritin, got it open, and I'm not sure how many she ate." Whaaaaaa??? While Kevin was putting some clothes in the dryer, Hannah crawled on a stool, got up on our bed in our bedroom, found a bottle of Claritin that we didn't know was in the night stand, and managed to open the child resistant bottle. Kevin was calling her, and he figured she was up to something when she didn't come. He found her with the bottle open. She opened her mouth and spit out half a tablet. Kevin already had poison control programmed into his cell phone. They told him to take Hannah to the ER as he had no way of knowing if and how many she could have ingested.


Poison control AND a worried and guilt ridden mama both called the ER to let them know this two year old was on the way with possible antihistamine overdose. Hannah was hooked up to a heart monitor and blood pressure monitor for two hours. Mama came rushing in as soon as work closed. Hannah was a very good girl about leaving the leads on her chest. She played around with Dada's iphone and sang along to come music. She's shown no signs of any antihistamine overdose. When our two hours of observation were up, the staff got bye bye waves, blown kisses, and high fives.

I let Facebook friends know what we were doing tonight. When we posted that we had the all clear to go home... Melanie commented, "Oh, thank God, she is Claritin Clear!" Kevin and I both burst out laughing when we read that on the way home the hospital. We both needed that good laugh.

Feeling like a pretty lousy parent. I recorded us singing our night night songs together before bedtime tonight. This could have gone so much worse. There are so many worse things she could have gotten her little curious hands into.

Realistic Expectations: The First Year Home

EMK Press has a free downloadable book for adoptive families titled Realistic Expectations: The First Year Home. I downloaded the book, and I would describe it as the juicy parts of many other adoptive parenting books. And let me tell you, some of those 300 page big books on adoptive parenting quickly put me to zzzzzzz. Great info here in a brief form, and then you are referenced to a larger book for more info if you need it. I've linked to it in my right sidebar under "Links for the Journey."

A Different Perspective
by Cynthia Hockman-Chupp

Strategies for Building Attachment
by Karleen Gribble, BRurSc, PhD,

Top Ten Tips for Successful First Year Parenting
by Deborah Gray, MSW, MPA

Why Grandma Can’t Pick Up the Baby
by Sheena Macrae and Karleen Gribble

What is This Thing You Call Sleep?
by Dr Julian Davies, MD

Alone No More...Recognizing Post Adoption Depression by Heatherly Bucher

Adding The Oldest by Terra Trevor

Creating a Fit by Carrie Kitze

“When Do You Tell a Child he was Adopted?”
And Other Secrets We Shouldn’t Keep
by Adam Pertman

Unexpected Special Needs by Nancy Hemenway

Positive Outcome:
How Can You Combat the Effects of an Orphanage
By Mary Beth Williams, PhD, LCSW, CTS

The Impact of Trauma on the Adopted Child and Ten Keys to Healing Trauma in the Adopted Child
by B. Bryan Post

How to Find a Therapist Experienced in Attachment and/or Trauma by the Attachment Disorder Network

Sensory Integration And the Internationally Adopted Child
By Barbara Elleman, MHS, OTR/L, BCP

Facts About Parenting a Child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder By Teressa Kellerman

How to Avoid the Syndrome of Parent Burn-Out
by Harriet McCarthy

Being an Ally to Families Raising Children with Challenges by Ellin Frank

Help Your Child Ward Off a Mad Attack
by Lynne Namke, EdD

Being with Your Child in Public Places
by Patty Wipfler

Strategies to Deal with Anger and Power Struggles
by Christopher J. Alexander, PhD

When Adoptions Fail by Kim Phagan-Hansel

stall tactics revisited

Mama: "Hannah, it's time for night night."
Hannah: Stall tactic #1. "Juice!!! I need juice!"
Mama: "You have a juice cup in your hand, Hannah."
Hannah: Discards juice cup. Stall tactic #2. "Cacka! Cackaaaaah!"
Mama: "You just finished eating crackers. Time for night night.
Hannah: Stall tactic #3. "Read! Reeeeeeeeead! Read read!" The look in her eyes tells me that she thinks she has it made.
Mama laughs. "Smart. Very smart. Too bad it didn't work."

somebody better call CPS

Conversation in our car Friday afternoon.

Hannah: Sounding pitiful... "Juuuuuuuuuice! Juuuuuuuuuuuuice!!!"
Sarah: "We don't have any juice. We'll have juice at home in a few minutes."
Hannah: Sounding desperate... "Cacka! Cacka! Cackaaaaaaaaaah!!!"
Sarah: "Hannah, we don't have any crackers in the car. We'll be home in just a few minutes."
Hannah: "Hep! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeep! Hep! Hep!"
Sarah giggles.
Kevin: "Somebody better call Child Protective Services. That child needs help and her mother is ignoring her."

tonight was the night

Hannah's having trouble going to sleep tonight. In her dimly lit room, I rocked her in my arms to try to get her comfortable enough to go back into her crib. She played with my "neck-is" around my neck and beeped my nose a few times.

Two years ago, tonight was the night that we first learned of our daughter. I told Hannah the story of how Mama and Dada had waited and waited and waited for her. We heard that we would learn of our baby soon, and were checking our phone and e-mails all day long. One night both Kevin and I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop checking my e-mail over and over and over again. Finally about 3am, I told Kevin that I was going to check my e-mail one more time and then I was going to bed. And low and behold... there it was! An e-mail from the adoption agency titled "Hallelujah!!!!" with not just one, not two, not three, but four exclamation points. I was so excited, nervous, and scared that I couldn't open the e-mail. Kevin took the mouse from me and opened it up. We looked at Hannah's photos in awe, and couldn't believe how teeny tiny of a preemie she was... weighing only 2.6 pounds at birth.

After exchanging hugs and kisses, I placed Hannah back into her crib, and we sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" together.

"Hannah, you are my little star. You shine so bright, little one. I can't imagine being matched with any other star in the sky two years ago then with you."

life on full speed

Feels like life is stuck on full speed. No nice pics with the fancy camera. No time. Work. Grocery getting. Reading at least five books a day. Major garage clean out for the garage sale. Spending hours and hours putting together Hannah's swing set. All worth those squeals of joy when she slides down head first on her belly and screams, "Again! Again!" excitedly. Looking forward to come vaca on the beach in June, and hoping life will s.l.o.w d.o.w.n that week so it can be savored. Here's some recent snaps from my phone.

fish!

Monkey see, monkey do.

Little girls who throw their milk do not make Mama very happy.

Hannah spent two minutes in the corner to think about what she had done, for Mama to cool off, and then for Mama to start to grin and snap a few pics because she looked so cute in the corner.

Learning to clean up her own mess, and then tell Mama she was sorry.
Hannah likes to clean, so I'm not sure how this part will work out.

Hannah LOVES these Lollipop sandals from Stride Rite. She requests her "pink shoes" when we're dressing her, and doesn't want to take them off. She's started prancing and twirling in circles for fun a lot lately, even more so in her beloved pink sandals. I love these sandals because they flex and have great rubber bottoms just like sneakers. LOVE THEM. Worth every penny over cheap discount store sandals, and they just might be the only shoes she wears all summer. They come in pink, red, silver, and white.

Pretty angelic when she sleeps.

Visiting Great-grandma on Mother's Day.
We get a lot of attention with these two at the nursing home.
The dog might even earn more than Hannah does.

Talking with Grandma.

Mmmmm. Strawberry ice cream. But when we brought her a plate of watermelon, Hannah shoved away the ice cream and ate two whole slices of watermelon. Wow!

Dada and Hannah work on her swing set.

Slide!

Papa helps Hannah with basketball fundamentals,
a requirement when you live in the Hoosier state.

Already hanging on the rim after a dunk. Heh heh.

New phrase for the week: "That's a mess." Funny stuff. I'm finding myself saying that phrase quite a bit lately. Dada, did you see what she did with her cereal in her room? Think you could make that go away tomorrow for me? Thanks. :)

Black and White Wednesday - "Mine"

Color shots from today are posted here. :)

"Mine!"

You are most certainly a girly girl. You want my shoes, my makeup brushes, nail polish, and my jewelry. You watch me getting ready for work and tell me, "Mine!" when you want what I have.

You made me laugh so hard this week. You scampered off to your room with a crayon and drew on your floor. When I saw what you did, I sighed and said, "Oh, Hannah. That's nice." You looked at me with your face beaming and exclaimed, "That's nice!"

Redirect: Love and Adoption

I'm a HUGE fan of Tonggu Momma. This might be her best post. EVAH!

Redirect: 2 ... 3 ... 5????

Grinning from ear to ear with happiness, I redirect you HERE to share in the Land's joy!

Video: a little ABC song

Hannah let me video a little bit of her ABC song tonight. Whee! :)

Friday morning's garage sale went well and brought in a little over $350. I'm mailing some remaining clothes to another adoptive mama and listing a few items on Craig's list. I'm very proud of clearing out the rest this afternoon by donating them to charity. This evening we were able to get BOTH cars in the two car garage for the first time in maybe three years. Feels so good!