Today LuLu is hanging out with her big sisters. I’m not exactly sure how this happened. But it’s a welcomed event. Our eldest invited Kay to breakfast at their favorite bagel shop this morning and LuLu asked if she could tag along. Usually the answer is “no”, but for whatever reason…today it was “yes”. LuLu was so excited that she was up at the crack of dawn getting ready and then being impatient for a couple of hours.

The breakfast was over and the girls back quickly. My heart leapt for a moment, thinking there’d been an “incident” at the restaurant, but they... more

In the process of getting caught up in her history workbooks, our 10 year old decided to lag behind in her computer assigned history and science. Apparently, she thought I wouldn’t notice. However, if she considers the last three years of school then she would realize that I would notice, and that I would care. She is a very bright girl so I am not exactly sure why she keeps making these choices, unless it is passive aggressive behavior. I asked her to work on catching up her computer schoolwork while I was delivering mail so that I could have my computer when I got... more

Christmas in a blended family (step, bio and adopt) means being flexible, with a capital “F”. Now that my stepchildren are young adults, scheduling the holiday seems even more challenging. This year, for a change, we didn’t complicate things by traveling to or hosting my family from Missouri, but we wanted to have the full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.

My stepdaughter had obligations at her boyfriend’s house, so after juggling everyone’s schedule we decided that 8:00 am was the best gift opening time for the whole crowd. While at first I was concerned that... more

Taking LuLu shopping is always an adventure. You’d think after being in our family for nine years, I’d be able to successfully do grocery shopping with her in tow and not much difficulty. So yesterday we headed out to gather up the food for our party on Sunday. LuLu has taken to wandering off, a behavior that started about six months ago. So I set the expectation up front, before we ever got into the store that she must stay in the same row of the store as I was in or shopping was over. (Yes, I’m prepared to abandon the shopping cart if need be…and I have done... more

“Do you miss me, Mom?” LuLu’s repetitive (call it perseverations, tics or whatever) phrases and sayings are driving me crazy today. And this one is at the top of my list. She asks me this about 10-15 times a day. And, of course, it is utterly ironic that there’s no possible way for me to miss her, since she’s with me 24/7. My other favorite is the equally charming “I love you/I hate you.” She alternates these sayings all day long, sometimes in the same breath, and I truly believe that it has a direct relationship to how she’s feeling physically, but can’t find a way to... more

Usually I am about four weeks behind in reading the local newspapers so periodically I have marathon reading sessions. These marathon sessions involve skimming the headlines, reading the obituaries, legal publications, and I always glance at the help wanted ads. You never know when a great job might become available in the area, especially for one of my children. I happened to read the Sunday paper just two days late this week and saw a help wanted ad for a job that I thought might interest Shea.

I decided to type up a resume for him just in case he was interested... more

It started at 6 am Saturday morning, the time Super Dad rolls out of bed because he’s insane and likes to run eight miles or so with his buddies on Saturdays. He heard this ominous dripping, and upon checking the basement found about 1-2 inches of water all about. The water heater had busted, leaving quite a mess.

Now, I don’t know about you, but we had plenty to do on the weekend before the weekend before Christmas. But our plans quickly changed. It’s interesting how much of your life involves the convenience of hot water. And just how nasty a flood truly is.

We... more

Today I wish I were more of that sympathetic-type mom. In reality, I’m pretty sure it is me who deserves the sympathy. In fact I asked Super Dad for combat pay for today. He agreed to double my salary…which is easy when you start with zero…grin!

LuLu is having an upper and lower GI scope tomorrow. So today is “clean-out” day. LuLu is both very excited and anxious about tomorrow’s procedure, as anyone would be. But with her degree of trauma background, excited and anxious takes on a whole new meaning. All week long she’s been way off-kilter. ... more

These were the words written on the make-shift masking tape sign on the back of each stall door in the women’s restroom at my older daughter’s high school. LuLu and I saw them last night as we were using the restroom after Kay’s chorus performance.

LuLu did remarkably well during the 1.5-hour concert, given that she often is unable to handle the sensory overload of the applause, and we often end up leaving in a rush as she starts to come unglued.

We were positioned on the aisle in the far back, with ever-vigilant Mom prepared to beat a hasty retreat,... more

I confess, it hurt and yes, I even cried about it. A mom, who spends one hour every other week in the nursery with me decided to let me have it, with both barrels on Tuesday. She told me that my daughter was a good kid and it was my fault that she was misbehaving. She told me that I was too strict and too critical of my daughter’s work. She pointed out that my daughter sits in the nursery and works diligently every week. She felt that if my daughter didn’t turn in her work it was because she couldn’t do any thing right for me.

I sat there absolutely stunned, mouth... more