For parents adopting African or African-American children, unless you are adopting a baby who is completely bald, hair care is going to be an issue you have to deal with right away.

Finding the right hair products for your child often involves a lot of trial and error. You can read about some of our trials and errors with products in my hair adventures posts (part one here, part two here and part three here).... more

As I dream of traveling and am going over my packing lists and starting to think about what I will pack for our trip to Ethiopia to get Solomon, I thought it would be a fun idea to start doing some product reviews and recommendations on things I have on my packing lists.

Today I am going to recommend this awesome fleece pouch from Kangaroo Korner.

I have been a believer in slings and carriers for a long time, and I believe that with newly... more

I know that Christmas still feels a way off, but I am here to remind you (sorry) that Halloween is just around the corner, and after Halloween, then Thanksgiving and Christmas are here before you know it. I know that as of today, there are only 70-something shopping days left until Christmas already (how is that for some stress??)

I can proudly say that I have already started my shopping. I haven't gotten much, and with an adoption in the works, there won't be money for too much besides the kids, but I found a wonderful organization and a wonderful gift idea that I... more

Parents of non-white kids have often had to search high and low for black, Asian, Hispanic and other ethnic dolls. While blond-haired and blue-eyed dolls are fine, parents and children want dolls that look like the little girls that are playing with them, and many parents want their children to have dolls with a variety of skin tones and features.

For transracial adoptive parents, finding ethnic dolls can be fun and can be a challenge. I was excited to see this... more

Earlier this month I wrote about our adventures in finding the right hair products for Belane. Belane has beautiful “corkscrew” curls…much looser than the hair of my black kids from the U.S. (who also have beautiful hair), and yet still much more textured than your average “curly hair”. Making things extra difficult was the fact that Belane has suffered from a severely dry scalp since we got her in Ethiopia. Products that made her hair feel nice left her scalp itchy and scratchy, and products that made her scalp look healthy, left her hair greasy and oily.

We had been doing pretty well with the “Hair Balm” from Carol’s Daughter, but I was... more

Continued from previous two posts...

After all of this, I stumbled across an email on an Ethiopian adoption group that recommended the products by Carol’s Daughter. I checked out the site and was a bit overwhelmed at all of the choices, and I admit I was impressed by the recommendation by Brad Pitt (they have a quote by him that he and Angelina use these products for their daughter from Ethiopia).

In the end I chose a few products that I thought would be good for hair and scalp. The... more

Continued from previous post...

So for treating her dry, dry scalp, first we tried a product by Motions called “Hair and Scalp Daily Moisturizing Hairdressing”. The scent was average…not too strong, and I didn’t love it but didn’t hate it (I am very picky about smells!!!) Her hair felt average when we used this, but her scalp was dry and flakey and not looking good at all. I gave it a few days and her scalp kept getting worse, so it was on to something else.

For my older girls I have really liked... more

Happy Tuesday everybody! After our day off yesterday, today sure does feel like Monday…I guess it is nice though, because that means it will be the weekend before I know it. :)

Today I have been jotting down notes on everything that I do and everything that happens today for my “Day in the Life of Me” monthly posts I am going to start tomorrow.

But for today, I thought I would write about hair products. Since being placed with us, one of my biggest struggles with Miss Belane is her scalp. She has the driest scalp in all the land, and... more

Continued from previous post...

The Ergo is somewhat of the gold standard of baby/toddler carriers. It is extremely well made, comfortable for parent and child and comes in a great range of colors. You can use the Ergo to carry your child on your front, back or hip. With a young baby, you would use the front position, and with an older child, the back position.

It also has a darling super-soft, cotton “hood” for younger babies, which can be used to keep off rain and sun, and to support a sleeping baby’s head. It’s a wonderful idea.

The Ergo costs $92, which includes shipping, and is completely refundable for 30 days. The people at Ergo are very supportive of adoptive... more

Today I thought I would do a product review. I have been trying to get things fairly ready for our trip to get Belane. We most likely will not be going until mid November, (63 days) but we found out that there is a decent possibility that we could go as early as mid to late October, so the crazed “organizer and planner” in me is having a hay day.

One of the things I’ve decided that we really need for this trip is a carrier…meaning a hip carrier that would work for a toddler.

I have used different baby carriers, slings and backpacks for our other children and really have found them to not only be handy when “out and about”, but wonderful for the bonding process. Your child... more