The Cost of Cassie’s Adoption

I just took the Adoptive Families magazine Cost & Timing of Adoption Survey. I already had all of our expenses in a spreadsheet, sorted by year, for our taxes. I just had to break them down into categories for the survey. I am sharing them here. Let me tell you why. I am not sharing … Continue reading →

Disagreeing with Adoptive Families Magazine

We take a break from Robyn’s Adoption Land to disagree with a few items in the January/February 2013 issue of Adoptive Families magazine… In the article “Healthy from Their Skin In,” Dr. Brooke Johnson recommends Cetaphil Restoraderm and CeraVe Moisturizing Cream. The EWG gives Restoraderm a 3, but there is limited data about a lot … Continue reading →

What Should We Take? Adoption Packing Lists

(I’m converting our domain, rmcsquared.net, into our professional web site and moving all personal content to this blog. Eventually, I’ll have to figure out what to do with it and how to organize it. Until then, I’m just creating a series of posts with the .net content.) People often ask what they should pack for … Continue reading →

We’re Going Home!

I finally called the Louisiana ICPC office today. The ladies there were very nice. They informed me that they had sent the paperwork, overnight, to California on Friday. I called my social worker, who did give me the California ICPC contact info, but also told me that the woman who does the ICPC doesn’t like … Continue reading →

The Eagles Have Landed (and one of them doesn’t have email)

Back in September we made reservations to go to Louisiana (LA) on October 25. As the date grew closer, we thought we’d postpone the trip by a day because my mother-in-law (MIL) was coming Monday night. I went to bed at 3 am on Tuesday morning. At 6:08 am I was awakened by a text … Continue reading →

A Few Cousin Pictures

We were in New England for 10 days. My cousin Jen got married in Rhode Island, then we went up to New Hampshire. On the plane ride over, we started out with Max, my dad, Great-Grandma, Jack, and me. On our way into the airport, Jack remembered that we forgot his booster seat! We hadn’t … Continue reading →

Disney Plans

(originally posted on LiveJournal) This is some figuring for our trip to Disneyland. We thought we’d rent a car and drive down, that it would be cheaper. Maybe not. Let’s see… Super Shuttle: $104 round trip. This is the only option from Long Beach. Disneyland Express: $66 round trip. Available from LAX and Orange County. … Continue reading →

Packing! Part Two

This post was originally published on AdoptionBlogs.com on July 23, 2009. Republished here with permission. On Tuesday, I began my epic packing post. I really didn’t expect it to get so long! There are three questions that I want to make sure I answer: What should you bring with you? What can you buy there? … Continue reading →

Packing! Part One

This post was originally published on AdoptionBlogs.com on July 20, 2009. Republished here with permission. Many adoptive parents find themselves traveling to meet their newborn baby. Hopefully, all will go according to the adoption plan, and the parents will be taking that baby home. But what if it doesn’t? Should the adoptive parents bring a … Continue reading →

You have to change in Atlanta…

Sep. 21st, 2007 at 12:57 AM OK, I don’t usually post twice in one day, but I just had to. Our good friends Taylor & Katie live in Albuquerque, NM. I’m going through a pile of stuff on the floor under my desk and found an ad for Amtrak, which led me to think, “I … Continue reading →