Mom2my4

Chuck is 40!!!!

Sprinkler Fun Friday

Children's Museum: Pictures from last weekend

Typepad Help

If you use Typepad and can help, please let me know! Each one of my daily posts had a different URL www.mom2my4.com with a number after it. Now I cannot see the links anymore. They all say www.mom2my4.com without a specific number, so I can't reference back to a previous post. I must have changed a setting. If you know what I did, please let me know!! Thanks!

Also, when I linked a blog within a post, a person could see the URL after the highlighted link was clicked on. Now even if they visit another site, they still see www.mom2my4.com. Let me know if you can help! Thanks!!

Wow! My 200th post!!!

   

Amazing! This in a momentous occasion in this blogs history. This is my 200th post!! This blog was started  July 24, 2007. No I did not go back and count the posts. :)  There is a little counter each time I post, so I know the number.  Hmm... what should I post... should it be something special... hmmm.... a million ideas and so little time!

    I started a web page while we were waiting for our referral for Kelsey. I had discovered the world of blogging through the many adoption families that I had met on line in Yahoo Groups. (... can't remember how I discovered yahoo groups). I thought adoption sites were a great idea. One of the first ones I followed was Micah and Kenna's  and Anderson's site. (Anderson's mom's site is now private.) We live in Virginia and most of our family is in New York. I thought this was just a brilliant way to keep in touch. Daniel was born in England in 1991. It was so hard and expensive to keep in touch. Looking back, living overseas would have been much easier with the Internet in every home!

     The first site was called 2003 family and chronicled and trip to Kelsey. I continued to discuss life in general and post updates after we returned home. When we were received Rachel's referral, we changed the name of the site it Soon to Be Six! (... and Now We Are Six!... after we came home.) Last July, I changed to a different server (Typepad) and now we have Mom2my4!

   Blogging enables me to keep my long distance family and friends updated on our life. There are also many people that I haven talked to on line or even strangers that stop by to hear about our life. They enjoy seeing pictures of our family and hearing stories of our adoptions. I LOVED reading about children from China during our wait for referrals, so I hope someone else is enjoying this. Speaking of enjoying this.... the woman above is my Aunt Phyllis! Many of you have heard or read about here. She is my number 1 fan!! She probably remembers more about what I type than I do. She also probably will say that she doesn't like her pictures since she didn't smile, but it is the most recent photo I have. So... friends and readers.... meet Aunt Phyllis!!!

Mommy Blogging: There is a new phenomenon known as Mommy blogging. Basically it is a network of connected and linked moms on the Internet. Some moms do this as a hobby and others make money by blogging. (I think I need to work on the money thing! Money is good. :) I have made $8.84 from Amazon since January. Hmmm... put that one my to do list.) Moms (and others) have to determine their level of comfort in the information they reveal on their blogs. Some moms post with pseudonym names, others post with nicknames. Some use no pictures and others use tons of pictures. Some people have a password and others do not. It really is a personal thing. I love to read blogs with people who are open and honest and tell all. It is interesting and inspiring. People may say it is not a good thing, but really it is the same as reality TV to some extent. We don't have cameras all the time. We choose what we post.

Here are some sites that talk about Mommy Blogging!

The Queen of Dirty Laundry       Dooce

Here are some sites that are very open Mommy/Daddy Blogs.  The Ghelerter Twins Mom   Dad Gone Nuts   Amalah  QtPies 7 (Lisa!)  ... more another day.

I love financial blogs and moms of multiples blogs too. Debt Free Dad   Quilao Triplets

My favorite blogs are of people I know! I love my travel group and others that I have met in person. I also value the special bond I share with people if their child came from Cangwu or Wanzhou.

... I know... long post (So my Mom has stopped reading by this point.) I just had to let you all know about blogging! And yes... I do have another blog myself. I do post there, but I use fake names and no pictures. I am not brave enough to merge my blogs yet. Dooce (blog above) said in her interview with Kathy Lee Gifford that your level of comfort evolves over time. I will let you know when I evolve. :).

... NO I do not click on each of my favorite blogs every day. I read them in a blog reader all at once. I can even see the pictures on the reader. :)

OK I finished this by 11 pm. My #1 fan checks this several times a day including right before she goes to bed. So, Aunt Phyllis, did you get this one before bed????

Figures!

Ok... in case you have missed it... I LOVE my Amazon Kindle. I am reading so much. (In case you really have missed it... go to the right margin of this page and click on Kindle. It will take you to all of the spots where I wrote about my wonderful Kindle!)

Here is what figures: Yes, that little thing.. my 40th birthday gift... cost $399. It was worth every penny. However, this week (1 month later) the price has dropped to $359 plus free 2 day shipping! hmmm... I am not sorry that I got it in April, but it would have been nice to save a few buck!

121 plus 22

Wow! Welcome to all of my guests. :) Today there were 121 visitors to this site and 22 others are subscribed do this site. LOL! I love sharing my little family and corner of the world. Of course, I also LOVE to read other people's blogs and websites too. This started out small for our family and friends to follow our adoption journey. Now I have two blogs... more about that tomorrow... it is late! Below are some of the cities and places people have visited from today alone. :) Some people are from Europe and Asia too. Drop me a comment and let me know if you have a web page, so I can visit you too!

My next post will hopefuly be about "Mommy Blogging." The Queen of Dirty Laundry (still love that name!) talks about it here.  Dooce talks about it here. Hmm... anybody want to know my thoughts. :) Ok...I will tell you tomorrow... or soon!

Antigonish

Atmore

Binghamton

Birmingham

Castle Rock

Charleston

Chesapeake

Cincinnati

Clovis

Enkhuizen

Floresville

Franconville

Gilberts

Hebron

Houston

Irving

Jacksonville

Kannapolis

Kingston

Lancaster

Laramie

Lexington

Lisse

Los Angeles

Middletown

Modesto

Newport News

Norfolk

Ormond Beach

Palm Bay

Peachtree City

Plano

Portage

Princeton

River Grove

Saint Louis

Savigny-sur-Orge

Seaside

Simpson

South Charleston

Southgate

Stone Mountain

Tampa

Tokyo

Tome

Trenton

Tyrone

Virginia Beach

Yorktown

Zimmerman

3 Year Old Slide Show!

The girls take lots of cute photos at home! They do not like the professional photographers. We went shopping for dresses for their pictures. They were in such a good mood, we decided to have their pictures taken. My friend Beth bravely went with us. :) It worked, thanks to a super photographer!

I love the photo with Kelsey sitting and Rachel jumping! Rachel used to be so shy, and Kelsey was giggly. Now Kelsey is quieter and has to warm up. Rachel is very friendly. Beth put it best, she said, "This photo really shows their personalities in a snap!"

Also.... these are only scanned copies, not as good as the originals!

Our Handsome Nephew.... Michael

This is our handsome nephew, Michael. His dad is my (Karen's) brother, Michael, and his mom is Jamie. Love his adorable smile and red hair!! With that hair you would think he was from Chuck's side of the family. :) These pictures were taken in early May (I think) when he was 22 1/2 months old~ Isn't he just so cute and huggable??? We haven't seen him in quite awhile. We can't wait to see him this summer!

Gotcha Day Anniversary Dinner