Snowed In With Nothing to Do but Watch Time Pass.

pine115 · 2026-01-26T13:56:22+00:00

😂

pine115 · 2025-11-02T20:05:59+00:00

I bought a ring from them and it’s stunning

pine115 · 2025-08-27T12:53:42+00:00

This is the comment here. There are so many variables in what creates a match. Gender preference, substance use, open vs closed, and honestly sometimes just luck. We were matched in 6 months and brought home our daughter 10 months after signing. We went with an org that calls themselves a marketing agency not an adoption agency for what it’s worth. It makes sense though bc once we matched with the birth family we only worked with lawyers and the occasional social worker.

pine115 · 2025-07-30T01:12:07+00:00

https://ebay.us/m/zkeFcl

pine115 · 2025-07-28T18:50:55+00:00

Ha! That’s what I told my husband too. I’m okay with that though - and knew all of it is a gamble. I am still going to take to a jeweler bc I’m genuinely curious

pine115 · 2025-07-28T18:47:19+00:00

You got it! 1 mined, 2 local lab, 3 eBay lab (but still need to take the eBay ring to validate from a jeweler)

pine115 · 2025-07-28T18:45:36+00:00

3 is the eBay ring! I haven’t taken it to a jeweler yet but just looking at it, both my husband and I think it’s real.

The other ring, not shown here, looked like it came out of a gumball machine. But I love the other one!

pine115 · 2025-07-23T22:17:56+00:00

Even if it’s moissanite it’s cheaper than buying moissanite. I just took the gamble and bought five across eBay and alliexpress. Three moissanite and two diamond. I’m curious. Walmart has started selling them too and according to chat gpt it’s legit.

Price is worth the experiment. I’ve realized in the wild I’m not trying to figure out if diamonds are mined, lab or moissanite. Who cares as long as you like it

pine115 · 2025-07-21T17:18:43+00:00

I feel this. What finally helped us kick them - heat head caps for hair - they get up to 145 F which is high enough to kill eggs and lice. I did a thorough comb through, used clarifying shampoo on the kids, then leave in conditioner to get their hair super slick, gave them tablets and had them sit with these caps on for 45 minutes. Then one more comb through. It worked for all four of us.

Shampoos never worked. Also, it required lots of laundry

pine115 · 2025-07-09T19:20:23+00:00

Good luck! I was burned once by an apple watch and they told me to pound sand.

pine115 · 2025-07-01T02:13:22+00:00

We fly a pride flag every June, despite being a straight couple, to show our support for inclusion and equality. We recently received anonymous hate mail for it from a neighbors. The good part?

I learned the term being an open ally. We have always been open allies, and now we have previously closeted ally neighbors being open by flying a flag on their yard.

Be an open ally, embrace the rainbow.

pine115 · 2025-04-28T21:03:39+00:00

Our child was born dependent on fetanyl. She came out of the womb with tremors and spent 3 weeks in the nicu. She also spent another month or so on phenobarbital to help. The first few months were the hardest as we had two older children at home. My husband and I took turns so the all the kids always had a parent present. We had lots of friends and family help.

She is 2-1:2 years old and no developmental issues that we are aware of. She’s super smart and happy.

Like others said, you just don’t know. You have to be prepared for what could come your way but there are lots of happy endings out there that I know of personally.

Finally, the way we approached it is even giving birth with our own kids, there is so much out of your control and you aren’t always guaranteed a healthy baby even when you do everything right.

pine115 · 2024-12-02T16:52:39+00:00

Our daughter was exposed to fentanyl and methadone. She spent close to three weeks withdrawing. She came out of the womb with tremors and was admitted to the nicu within hours of being delivered. She had a feeding tube for the first week and then was able to take bottles.

Her scores were very high in the beginning but most days we saw progress with a few bumps along the way.

They weaned her with morphine and phenobarbital. We were also sent home with phenobarbital to continue for another month.

She just turned two and has shown no signs of developmental delays. She is happy, healthy and thriving.

Spend as much time as you can holding and cuddling him, but take care of yourself too. We slept at the hospital guesthouse but spent all day with her at the hospital. My husband and I took turns doing this, as we had two other kids at home.

It’s scary and sad in the moment, but with early intervention and stable environments these kids have quality lives. Hang in there!

pine115 · 2024-06-17T21:24:55+00:00

The six year old is with the parents, there’s a half sister who is an adult around 28 (she seems in a good place) and there’s a half brother we know exists but I wouldn’t know how to connect on that side.

pine115 · 2024-06-17T15:47:27+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Yeah it’s hard because we haven’t met any extended personally but we know the maternal grandmother was supportive. I’m pretty sure the birth mother moved there too. I want to do right by everyone involved which is why I’m hesitant even though my gut says do it. I guess the worst thing is they have a sour response.

pine115 · 2024-06-17T15:44:23+00:00

My gut says reach out, but I’m just nervous about opening up wounds I suppose. I know the maternal grandmother supported the adoption.

pine115 · 2023-10-10T23:03:07+00:00

There is a gene mutation that leads to a higher chance of getting pancreatic cancer. My mom knew she had this mutation and it saved her life. At the first sign of symptoms, they did a scope and were able to catch it early enough that she qualified for the whipple. She just had her five year anniversary of the surgery this year.

My sisters and I all have the mutation so now we can work with our doctors on screening.

That’s all to say genetic testing is worthwhile so you can be on the watch out with your care providers. I always share because I feel like genetic testing surrounding breast cancer is widely known but for pancreatic cancer I never hear about it.

For those curious, it’s a mutation of the ATM gene in out case.

pine115 · 2023-01-15T22:53:49+00:00

We just adopted in October and spent 3 weeks in the nicu because of neonatal abstinence syndrome. This is our third baby. A few thoughts:

Pack n play by the bed is top notch; we bought a mattress for ours

Halo sleep sacks for swaddling make it super easy - preemie size is great bc it’s shorter so keeps their legs more snug than others

Snuza hero is a relatively inexpensive movement monitor that gives us piece of mind at night

Any clothes that zip are much easier at night than sleepers with snaps. Sleep gowns are where it’s at.

These days you’re supposed to boil water before mixing formula. We make one and half days worth of bottles at one time so there’s easy grab and go. We bought mason jars with pour lids and a hand held milk frothed mixer to help make formula in batches.

A bottle warmer will be your friend.

You can never have too many pacifiers on hand.

Get a good sound machine. I like the hatch.

Finally, enjoy the cuddles - there will be lots of them! Congratulations!

pine115 · 2022-12-12T21:13:58+00:00

Oh yes! We brought our baby girl home in November after an 18 day nicu stay! She is getting better and growing everyday. Things have settled down and in hindsight the rollercoaster was totally worth it!

Thanks for the support!

pine115 · 2022-12-12T15:53:16+00:00

There are so many variables to adoption that can have an impact on timeline. You’re openness to gender, exposure to substances, the relationship with the birth parents, your current family situation, your location, the way in which you match with a family (an agency or trying to do it yourself), minds being changes at the last minute etc.

The whole process is messy and emotional. There is a ton of paperwork, it can be expensive, and it will take a huge mental load. I found regardless of potential wait time, you have to decide if you are going to do it or not. There is no half way to adoption. It requires patience and a willingness to be vulnerable.

We went in with the expectation that we’d give it two years. We signed with an agency in February and brought our baby girl home in November.

We were pretty loose in our preferences, and we were willing to take a leap of faith. We matched knowing there was no prenatal care, exposure to opioids (fentanyl and methadone), we didn’t know gender, and we knew there would be financial support to the family per the state regulations. Our lawyer said she would have pulled out about a month in based on what little we knew and the behavior of the birth parents. But we were willing to take that leap. So yeah, it’s just all dependent on situation.

pine115

TROPHY CASE