This poem was inspired by a Hallmark card I came across, which read, “Are people giving you that ‘things get better with time’ B.S.? It’s shopping. Things get better with shopping.” Enjoy!

Retail Therapy

Went to buy an onion … came home with a whole lot more.
I needed a new pair of sandals. Instead, I bought four.

My pillows and towels and rugs are fluffy and fresh and new.
I even bought a big beach towel, for two. It’s blue.

Necklaces, bracelets and earrings are truly a girl’s best friend,
Especially when they’re dripping with diamonds from end to end.

You say a woman could possibly own way too many handbags?
I say not if they’re all adorned with Coach and Gucci tags!

Please don’t think I’m pretentious simply because I like to acquire.
It’s the calming effect of retail therapy that I so desperately require.

Now I suppose it’s time to put all my fabulous new treasures away
And dream about my next regularly scheduled retail therapy day!

CPR and First Aid certifications are among the requirements for maintaining our foster care license. This weekend, I attended a training class to renew my annual CPR certification. I found this new piece of information shared by the trainer very interesting and worth passing along …

You may have heard a “myth” that if you’re all alone and you begin to feel faint, or your heart seems to be beating improperly, you can begin coughing forcefully to prevent yourself from losing consciousness. No myth there. It’s dubbed “Cough CPR” - and it’s absolutely true.

Patients in heart catheter labs have been told about it in preoperative instructions for years. During this procedure, when the catheter is slipped up into the heart, this irritation can cause the heart to go into fibrillation. There is about a 10-second window where the patient will remain conscious before slumping into cardiac arrest. The nurses will see this occur on the monitor and instruct the patient to cough repeatedly to convert them back to a normal heartbeat without the need for the electric shock from a defibrillator and to keep them from losing consciousness.

Here’s how to do it: A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged. The breath and cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until EMS arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. The deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs, and the repetitive forceful coughing squeezes the heart and keeps the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain its normal rhythm.

By knowing this simple procedure, you may be able to save your own life!

[Source: HeartSmart]

We said goodbye to Baby P today. We brought Baby P home from the hospital as a foster child when he was only five days old, and after eight months, he has left us to live with his grandfather. It was the longest time we’ve had a foster child in our care and had to say goodbye, and it was a very emotional experience for us. I miss him already, we all do. And yet … we are so happy for Baby P and Grandpa and their new beginning together. I think they’ll both be fine.

And what a great success story! Baby P was only four pounds at birth and heavily drug-exposed. Until he was five months old, he couldn’t turn his head to the left because of a condition called torticollis. This eventually caused the back of his head to flatten on the right side, a condition called plagiocephaly. But with weekly physical therapy and monthly occupational therapy, both conditions improved immensely. He now has full range of motion in his head and neck. We also got him fitted for a helmet, which will help round out the back of his head over the next several months. He went from fussy all the time to smiley all the time, and from developmentally delayed to developmentally on track. He spent his last few days with us finding his way around the entire first floor doing the “soldier crawl” and pulling himself up to a kneeling position using the furniture. Baby P was a completely different infant by the time he left us today, so different from when he joined our family last fall. He has also had lots of time in recent weeks to start bonding with his grandfather, which will help ease the transition. Grandpa seems like a wonderful man.

I am so glad we opened our home and our hearts to this special boy. It has been rewarding to work with so many service providers, including two terrific therapists, an entire team of people who never faltered in their collective determination to ensure the health, development, safety and happiness of Baby P. Not only does it take a village to raise a child, it takes endless amounts of resolve, action and hope from all of the villagers to make a real difference in the child’s life.

People often ask me how we do this, take care of foster kids, welcome them into our home, bond with them, and then send them on their way. I’ll admit, it’s not easy. It’s impossible not to fall in love with each and every one of them. But it’s the success stories like Baby P and people like Baby P’s grandfather that make it all worthwhile. And we know there are others out there that need our help and love. Besides, like I tell Joanna, we can’t keep them all! Where would we put them?

For those of you keeping track, we’ve brought four newborn baby boys home from the same hospital - Isaiah in 2006 and three more in 2008. We’ve officially had five foster children. We adopted the first two, said goodbye to the next three. And yes, we’re anxiously awaiting number six! It’ll be another baby boy. All it takes is a phone call and a “yes” … and voilà … instant baby!

Goodbye, Sweet P! Just hearing your cute laugh echo in my head makes me smile. I’ll miss you!

I am deeply saddened by a tragic accident I heard about last Friday. A four-year-old foster child from Denver died when he became entangled in trampoline netting at his foster home in Colorado Springs. The boy was left unsupervised momentarily while the foster mother went inside to make lunch. She sent the boy’s three-year-old sister out to get him, and when he wouldn’t come in, the foster mother went outside and found the boy strangled by a loop in the netting.

As parents, we do everything we can to protect our children. As foster parents, we are required to take certain measures to protect the children in our care. Ed and I have child locks on our kitchen and bathroom cabinets, a lock on our medicine cabinet, a fire escape ladder in an upstairs bedroom, and a whole list of other childproofing measures that we must keep in place in order to retain our foster care license. Even so, we acknowledge that we can’t always fully protect our children from all harm. I understand that accidents can and do happen, and they truly are accidents, even the most tragic ones. But I also believe that certain accidents can be avoided.

Consumer Reports lists trampolines as the number one product not to buy for kids. Tens of thousands of trampoline-related injuries result in emergency room visits every year, and at least six deaths have been reported since 1990. Children playing on trampolines should be supervised with the same level of vigilance given to children’s water-based activities. Please don’t allow young children around trampolines, especially without ample supervision. There are so many other ways kids can have fun and get exercise that don’t pose such a serious threat to their safety.

My heart goes out to the birth family, who grieves for their child. And while I consider her actions at least to some degree negligent, my heart also goes out to the foster mother, who has suffered the loss of a child in her care. As a parent and foster parent, I can think of nothing worse.

Ed and I took the kids to Playhouse Disney Live last night. We had awesome sixth-row seats. The gangs from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Tigger and Pooh, Handy Manny and Little Einsteins sing and dance, and the story line brings them all together at a clubhouse party. It’s cute and well-done, and the audience participates. It’s definitely for young children, although Joanna knows all the Playhouse Disney shows from watching them on TV with Isaiah, and she had a great time, too. I’ll admit that I spent more time watching my kids’ reactions to the show than watching the show itself. Joanna sang and danced, while Isaiah sat mesmerized, barely blinking or moving a muscle for 90 whole minutes.

We’re taking the kids to Disney World in August. We’ll be staying on Disney property, which I think is the only way to go. When Isaiah was only six weeks old, we brought him to Disney World for our weeklong New Year’s vacation with my sister’s family. I’m convinced he was the youngest child there, and he spent most of the time sleeping in the stroller and the Snugli. Of course, Isaiah is at a great age this time around. He recognizes and names all the characters, so we’re planning on doing character dining. Joanna is still into the Disney Princesses, although she’s beginning to trade them in for the likes of Hannah Montana. I’m glad we’re squeezing in this trip - her third one - this year.

As for me, well, I’m a huge fan of everything Disney. I can’t wait!