CJs Daddy

Yah, so much for keeping up with the blog.  Uh Huh!

Well, maybe this is the week.  As usual I’ve got a number of posts running through my head and rather than spend 3 hours attempting to organize my thoughts, I just thought it would be best to spend some time catching up on everyone I know in the blog world and re-organizing my own web site.

First things first.  How’s CJ?  Fantastic.

I put her to bed completely by myself tonight, and I remain up this late in moral support for the Red Head, who’s working on a “project” of her own at the moment.  More on that some other time.  One thing I will say we kick butt on would be transitions.  Through each stage of moving Carmen from co-sleeping to in her crib, we’ve spent a good week from step to step.  That pattern is incredible.  The first night of each stage goes perfectly, the second goes OK, the third is a disaster and we start to question our method.   Then we realize it’s only been three nights so we regain our patience and the problem resolves itself.  A few days later, we move on to the next stage.

At this point, we’re pretty much done - our bed-time routine will remain more or less the same at this point no matter what, particularly now that it doesn’t matter who does what or even exactly what time it happens.  Just as long as the routine sticks, Carmen falls asleep.  At this point, my only concern is that she almost always falls asleep during the 10 min of “cuddle” time that I’m not certain she’s fully capable of falling asleep in her crib.  She has done it, just not all that often yet.  The routine itself takes about 20-30 min (depending on any “movements”) and she’s asleep within 10 minutes of when we actually “put” her to sleep, so I won’t complain.

Let me tell you this girl is such an amazing blessing to our family.  It’s perplexing to me that anyone would ever suggest she should be grateful to us!!!  But, I digress - my blogging has been very serious lately so I’m chilling out at least until I can formulate complete thoughts on such matters again.

I’ve re-vamped my blogroll, organizing it into categories

Blogroll is exactly that.  These are just favorite blogs of mine that don’t fit into any of the other possible categories.  These are friends of mine or blogger buddies who’s cares, joys, or opinions I value greatly.  There are a couple of people that I want to get permission from first.  If you’ve commented here with a link to your blog, or have me linked over, then I’m assuming I have permission. I also removed some links I had for folks who have gone private.

Adoption blogs - again - self explanitory.  These folks are involved in adoption in some way shape or form. Some are natural moms who placed their children for adoption.  Some are adoptees.  Some are adoptive parents.  As it turns out some folks in my other categories are involved in adoption as well, but that’s not how I met them, or perhaps that’s not their focus.

Issues blogs may involve adoption related topics, but I go to these places for commentary, perspective, and ideas in relation to faith, racism, trans-racial parenting, etc.  I would encourage anyone to check these places out, but before you go, please know that I feel I have grown a lot in the past 2-3 years when it comes to these issues.

3 years ago, i don’t think I could have parented a non-white child.  2 years ago, I don’t think I could have parented a child of African or Latino descent.  A year ago, I might have said that race didn’t really matter, that all you need is love to make a trans-racial family work. Today, I feel like there’s more to that story, and I’m still learning it.  I’m learning that I can’t just pay lip service to my daughter’s background.  I’m learning in some endeavors in my community (more on that soon) that even given my humble background, I don’t really know poverty. I’m learning from some of the bloggers I have, and from these issues sites as well.  I do not always agree with what some of these folks say. In fact, they are often way over the top IMO.  But, they are researching the issues much more deeply and honestly than anyone, and they are experiencing the reality of which they blog.  That makes it more than commentary.

In pointing out cleaned up links, I also want to highlight a few awesome bits and pieces.  My dear friend over at Madre of Angelica received some cool news recently, as did the ever witty and clever Tash.  I’ve re-discovered a particularly well written and like-minded blogger who actually sometimes could be in my issues category.  Some new blogs include Bear’s Mommy - a first mom of great faith and insight - and a great mom to be sure.

You’ll notice a new blog badge along the right for the Red Letter’s Campaign.  Click away to read all about this awesome new initiative that brings people together from all kinds of backgrounds, with all kinds of callings who seek to unite in an effort to irradiate poverty, suffering, and hopelessness around the globe.  If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at the concept of ending world hunger, or just thought to yourself that it cannot be done - check out the Red Letters Campaign and you’ll gain hope and inspiration.  My Blog Bud, Angel is one of the leaders, and has written quite a bit about her journey to being called to such a ministry. Oh, and incedently, she just recently brought her daughter home from China.  Talk about busy?  Take a vaction my friend!

Oh, and what have I been up to?  Dealing with the re-organization at work (no worries - no job cuts), and advocating for the folks who now report to me to gain some additional training.  So far so good, as I really have a good relationship with my own boss and some other key folks who “pay the bills”.  This is one of those - spend $5K now and save 4 “person-hours” per week deals, not to mention user buy in that’s critical to the success of several projects.  Wish me luck on that front.  My days have been very full at work, but luckily no so many silly long hours except maybe once every week or two.

Just gotta post some picks of one of my latest food adventures.  Completely new to me.  What’s smokin?

Brisket and taters - that’s what!  Yah, that tasted as good as it looks.

I posted my Father’s Day message but didn’t talk much about what we did that day!  After relaxing during nap time - napping myself as a matter of fact, we headed out in search of some good Mexican food.  There’s a fairly popular local chain here called Alebreje that we really like.  They are cheap and reliable, but also a bit “Tex-Mex” and slightly Americanized.  I wanted to try a new place downtown called Mezcal’s, which has an awesome looking menu.  We parked, trotted over, opened the door (complete with bell to alert the proprietor), and discovered no one.  I mean no one.  We stood there in an empty dining room for a few minutes, then I peeked into the bar area - still no one.  So we left!  Then we headed over to another Mexican joint that had been recommended to us, but we only tried it once and loved it.  Unforunately, La Cocina is closed on Sundays now - please update your web site!  So, we headed to old reliable and had an excellent meal, including some of the best tortilla soup anywhere.

Of course, I also received a card from my daughter, and a picture frame full of CJ!.  Here’s a snapshot of my little cutie making my Daddy’s day card.

That’s it for now.  Blessings to all, and one for the road.  Carmen and her new fav fruit, right out of the patch.

Posted on June 28th, 2008 by CJs Daddy
Filed under: Adoption, CJ, Food, Fun, Thoughts