Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Have I ever mentioned that I'm an overexaggerator?

Word to the wise. If you persist in telling your three year old that you are going to go to "Yertle the Turtle Beach" for vacation, there may be some MILD disappointment when you arrive at plain old Myrtle Beach.

Only time will tell I guess.

I have a distinct feeling however that I soon may be "Queen of the Mud". -M


P.S. Actually overeggagerate is not a word. It's an exaggeration of the word exaggerate. Oh my...

The Very Curious Case of a Newfound Cousin

As one of my favorite philosophers once said “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”. (And yes it is perfectly fine to claim a make believe movie character as a favorite philosopher.)

Anyway where was I? Oh, right.  So last Monday evening, I got a call on my cell when I was at a music class with Su and the boys from the 508 area code.

I immediately took the call because to me the 508 area code means one thing—Boston. And when I get a call from Boston, it usually means one thing. My only living aunt on my dad’s side has had a fall or something at the nursing home where she lives. (My aunt really has no other close relatives left besides me and my siblings and I’m the one who has stayed closest to her).

Well it wasn’t the nursing home calling, but the call did have something to do with my aunt. Seems when Massachusetts changed some laws in the past few years, it became possible for people who had been given up for adoption to get their hands on their birth certificates which before then had been sealed.

I was in shock as the man on the other end asked me if I had any idea how he could locate the name of the birth mother listed on his birth certificate (I have the same last name as my aunt and his internet sleuthing had given him a hunch to call the numbers he found for me.)

The funny thing is that if he’d have called me several years ago, I would not have had any idea what he was talking about. But through a series of events a few years ago,  I had learned that she’d given birth to a boy in the late 1960s whom she’d given up for adoption. Now I was talking to him.

I must admit I was in shock. (He was in more shock though to have found someone who knew how to reach her!)

I’ll make a long story short. He’s a very nice guy that has done very well for himself. He’s got a wonderful family (they have two young kids) and a job with lots of travel and responsibilities. I actually got to meet him face to face the other day for lunch which was great!

And now, in a few hours, for the first time ever, he’s going to talk to his birth mom on the phone.

The nursing home staff has been wonderful. When I called them after learning this shocking news they strategized first before talking to her about it so she'd have the support she needed if this was going to be too overwhelming for her. She’d kept this secret a long time after all. But after saying "wow" she also thought it was really interesting and wants to talk to him and hopefully meet him.

I don’t know if he’ll find all the answers he’s looking for. My aunt is a bit of a “character” and has some mental health issues that make it hard to know how she’ll deal with stuff or even what she’ll say.

But I find myself so rooting for this connection (reconnection) to be a good one for both of them.

More than anything I’m just very grateful that he is healthy and has had a good life. I think that every mom who makes that painful decision to put up her child for adoption wishes for nothing more than that.

And when all is said and done, I know is that my siblings and I feel like we’ve gained some nice new cousins out of all this. Curious case indeed. -M

Saturday, May 14, 2011

I'll admit there is some bias here...

In 2007 we met a wonderful couple in a Birth Works class who were due at the same time that we were. In May our little Danny was born, and a few weeks later Jenni and Nelson's adorable Oscar came into the world. They were both cuter than any of our hearts could ever have imagined.

Our families are so fortunate to be very close to this day as Jenni has been our day care provider extraordinaire for the past 3+ years.  Arguably our blogs are filled with a gazillion of photos of every moment of Danny and Oscar's blossoming lives.

Then, as is wont to happen, both of our families were double blessed by the births of second children. Ironically both sons, and not so ironically, perfect! Miles was born in December of 2008 and our Benji almost exactly one year later.

The other day Jenni shared this wonderful photo of these two buddies doing what they do best--just being.

Amazing that is.

I've decided that if I'm ever having a down day I'll come back to this post and look closely at this picture. I find it impossible to keep from grinning ear to ear.

Have a great weekend everybody, and thanks for this great pic Jenni! -Monica

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Silly times in a fishbowl "ball pit"




This last photo of Benji's lower half and Danny's upper half cracks me up.  Have a great day! -M

Friday, May 06, 2011

Random thoughts for a Friday

1. If you were "The Donald" and had all the money in the world, would you wear your hair the way he does?

2. Every night before taking Danny into the boys' room for a "night night" story (where Benji is already sleeping) we review the rules. "No talking to Benji, no touching the crib and no touching Benji."  So last night when I asked what the rules were, without missing a beat Danny replied "No sleeping". Oye.

3. "Troth" means faith or loyalty when pledged in a solemn agreement or undertaking. Just in case you meant to look it up after the Royal Wedding but had not yet gotten to it.

4. When news broke on Sunday night of the Navy Seal raid that got Bin Laden, for some reason I imagined that the president had been sleeping and was awakened with the news. I was shocked later to see that he'd been in the Situation Room and everything. I guess I thought that we'd been looking for Bin Laden for 10 years and that this was bound to happen sooner or later. Didn't realize that this was such a specialized operation.

5. This will be my first Mother's Day without my mom. I could never have imagined last spring that she'd no longer be with us now.  On the other hand, it's her first Mother's Day in heaven. I'm sure it will be heavenly ;-)

6. This is Danny's first Mother's Day as a student. We are interested to see how his pre-K teachers will deal with the two moms thing. Great we think. This cartoon from the New Yorker really hit the nail on the head don't you agree?



7. Has anyone seen my druthers? If only I had my druthers...

Have a great weekend, and Happy Mother's Day indeed to all mothers everywhere! -M

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Really Danny? Really?


Almost 4 year old Daniel insisted the other day that he could fit into his 1 year old brother's overalls.  After all, Mickey Mouse is awesome right? About 15 minutes later he let me know that it was time to put on a pair of his own pants. Still cracking me up after all these years ;-) -M