As I was editing a comment I made back to rjlight, I came up with some things to share on the 8 Things meme I’ve been recently tagged with. Proverbs31 and Life. On A Budget. are to be thanked for this one.

1. I’ve been married twice. When I was 18, I went out and did everything my folks ever told me NOT to do, and I got married. I remarried, this time to the love of my life. We have been married for 12 years, together for 15.

2. I’m a stepmom. Not the “Cinderella! I want you to….” type stepmom. More like the “Let’s read one more story” stepmom. (Well, that was many years ago, and G and M are teens now, but still.) We’ve been together since my daughter and my husband’s son were 6 & 12 months old. Yes, that makes them six months apart, which is how we have two 15 year olds. I love both of my stepkids dearly.

3. If given the option later on to marry a man with kids, I’d run. :-O Being a stepparent is HARD. No matter how close you are with your kids, it’s still hard. Those kids have another parent (or 2) and you always have to deal with that aspect of it too. Not fun.

4. I never remember to take my vitamins! I’m supposed to take a vitamin, a calcium, & a soy every morning… but do I?

5. I had a total hysterectomy when I was 30. I’ve had no trouble having kids without the girl parts (lol). Adoptions can feel much like pregnancies!! I now live in short sleeved shirts and take estrogen every day. I miss my big fuzzy sweaters in the winter, but if I DARE to put one on… ? I’m ripping it back OFF before I get halfway down the stairs.

6. We’ve had 22 foster kids, 2 of whom we have adopted. Our oldest foster child was 5, and I was scared to take him. I’ve heard so many horror stories about preschoolers in foster care, with acting out behaviors. This little guy was the sweetest! He said Please and Thank You and although we had him for respite care for 7 days, he never threw a tantrum, helped out, and he and my boys had the best time “camping” on the bedroom floor! They asked for another friend to come visit after he left! Most of our foster kids have been babies, with the majority of those being newborns, and drug or alcohol affected. I’ve dealt with babies suffering drug withdrawals from meth, heroine, and various prescription medications, head lice, and recovery from cleft lip & palate surgery. Sad and difficult and sweet and fun, and I loved every minute of it. I especially love the little tiny ones. We aren’t taking placements any more. I have my hands full with my boys, school, and everything my life entails at this point. We are still licensed, and our 13 & 15 yo daughters keep asking us to take another one. I think I’m done.

7. I induced lactation and nursed our second adopted baby. He was a foster child at the time, and I did it with social worker approval, since the birth parents had walked away when he was born. D2 was a VERY happy nursing baby, and the bonuses were multiple. He had chronic kidney infections due the Grade 5 Renal Reflux, which led to many, many hospitalizations AND a milk protein allergy. He got bloody poop from formula, but not from breastmilk. Adoptive nursing can be really difficult. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but it was OH SO WORTH IT. It took me only a short time to get some milk in, but several months to get up to what I’d call almost a full supply. We used a Medela SNS filled with Nutramigen to supplement, and it worked great. (I still have my two SNS’s and I’ll never get rid of them, because maybe one of my girls might need one when they have kids!) I ditched the supplementer when he was 8 months old, all except one big evening feeding which he didn’t outgrow until he was eating food. The rest of the time, it was all me. D2 was never bottle-fed, and nursed almost entirely until he was a year old. He wasn’t keen on anything that came on a spoon, so food wasn’t high on his list. After living on antibiotics 3x daily, Prevacid 2x daily, plus whatever else he was on at the time for various infections, this kid was “orally defensive”. He’d vomit when I got a medicine spoon close to his face…. or a spoon with applesauce on it, for that matter! But he’d nurse lots and lots, all night long for a while there, and he gained weight, got chubby, and healthy. His Grade 5 was repaired when he was 9 mos. old. I lived on herbs & medication for 15 months, to get and keep my milk in, but it was so worth it. He nursed for 14 months.

8. We have been a homeschooling family for nearly 11 years. I started out with P as a kindergartener (I pulled her out mid-year), and added G in October of the following year, so then I had 1st & 2nd. I taught G for 2nd and 3rd, P for K-7th, and we added J, as a K’er, into the mix when P & G were 2nd & 3rd. J was home K-5th, went to school for 6th through the middle of 7th, which brings us up to this past school year. She’s happily home again. This year I’ll have D1 (2nd), D2 (K) and J (8th) plus P (10th) who will be taking only math at home. G is planning on attending Running Start this fall. Our kids have also attended a Parent Partnership Program part time for the past five years. This is a bone of contention with “true homeschoolers” so let’s just leave it at this: It works for our family, maybe not for everyone’s. Please don’t flame me because of it.

So there it is. Much more personal that I really thought it would end up, but that’s okay. I don’t want to tag anyone this time around, as everyone I’d choose has already been tagged with this one several times. Have a blessed day!