Um...I've been nominated for a Best of Blogs Award (thank you, Allison!). So...er...if you like my blog...um...please click on over and vote for me...um.... And...er...I think you can vote once a day...so...um...feel free to make voting the first thing you do every morning...like...as you drink your coffee...or something...um...so thank you...and...er...that's it.

Best of Blogs: Adoption and Fertility Blogs

Um...and the next thing is that I started a new space to house the emoblopedia now that it is starting to grow. If you are linking to the old space on my blog, it will still work since it continues to direct people there. Please spread the word about its existence and keep sending links as you write them (or find them in the deep dark recesses of your archives). I collect all the links that come in and enter them once or twice a week so it sometimes takes me a day or two to get links up into the emoblopedia. Just so you know, I always send back a note when they're up. In light of some Internet abuse I recently discovered and in the interest of quality control, I've now decided against going with a wiki program. So I'll enter them by hand--a little slower, but probably less work overall. You can speed up the process by using the new submission format. And here's another idea: when you can't think of anything to blog about, use the empty emoblopedia categories to think up a new post subject. And then send the link!

To kick off the little emoblopedia's space, I christen this week: Linky Linky Week. Look at the emoblopedia to see where there are gaps and send over a link to plump up a skinny category. Or kick off a new category by sending a link to start it off. If you are feeling too shy to send a link, leave a comment on someone else's blog suggesting one of their posts for the emoblopedia.

Oh...well...lookie here--these look like some good posts for the emoblopedia...

Congratulations to Katd on the birth of her daughter, Lily. If you've been following Katd's story at They Grow In Your Heart, you know that she was waiting to adopt. Most people get 9 months to get into the idea of parenthood. Katd and her husband had about 2 weeks. 2 weeks ago, they were going through life, eating out, going to work, stressing about adoption. And today, they're parents. It's sort of mind-blowing how quickly life can change. Head over and wish them good thoughts and look at pictures of little Lily.

Speaking of adoption, if you want to hear one of the most kick-ass stories told by a kick-ass storyteller--the Journeywoman--head over to her blog and read her post "Daddy, I Knew You'd Come For Me." Will send chills down your arms.

Anam Cara at Living Without Thomas has a brief post this week about a school assignment where her daughter needed a photo of the family. The son they lost is missing from every photo of the family. I'm not sure why this entry touched me so, but I love that her daughter spoke up at school and informed the teacher that she actually has two brothers.

Niobe at Dead Baby Jokes has a gorgeous and heartbreaking post about her c-section scar. Even more heartbreaking is reading the comments of all the other scars--internal and external--from loss.

Bleu at Soulbliss has a very moving post this week called "Vent." The two week wait has a funny way of bringing to the surface all of the shit in your past that brings out the same emotions of frustration and sadness. In her vent, she wonders how her child will view his own childhood and wonders if there is a way to circumvent this phenomenon as she lets go of all the things she has already let go of again and again.

Lastly, sometimes a blog post about nothing can speak volumes. Lut C. reassures with her post this week that not every pregnant woman feels symptoms. For anyone who has been worrying about a lack of symptoms during the wait or early pregnancy, I found her post extremely reassuring. I think you can't help but search for symptoms--some sign of good things to come--but not every woman feels symptoms and the early symptoms are so similar to pre-period symptoms that it really is impossible to know anything from sore boobs or a lack of sore boobs. It's not a post to blow wishing smoke up your bum, but one that presents reality. And I take comfort in that reality from time to time when I need hope more than I need information.

A small vignette on why it is good to move people from human-nequin status to living, breathing human... On the crappiest Thursday ever, we went to the food store. When I was entering, former human-nequin, Steve--who does odds and ends around the grocery store--came over to tell me that when he saw the look on my face as I was driving through the parking lot, he immediately wanted to find me a car cart to make the morning easier. He told me, "I just wanted to bring it to your car to make something easier because you looked so frazzled." Thank you, Steve. You are truly the only reason I go to that food store. If it wasn't somewhat creepy for me to show up at the food store with some homemade cookies for you, I would. Instead, I will simply write a letter to your manager telling him that you are the only reason I ever give money to his crappy, crappy food store. Steve makes me want to seek out other human-nequins and turn them into real people. I have a feeling that it's time to introduce myself to tall-skinny-man-at-Starbucks-who-always-gives-my-kids-cups-of-water-even-when-I-don't-
order-anything.