OK, having survived last night's blogging fiasco that had me frantically trying to redo my blog for about 6 hours, I think I've recovered. My cyber-friend Carol gave me a much needed cyber-slap in the face and has brought me out of my blogging-fog. No more tinkering with the site! I will mention, if anyone is interested, that I discovered http://www.bopmyspace.com/ . While the site has all kinds of graphics wholly inappropriate for my sweet T's site, if you can weed through the junk, they have some cute stuff. Perfect for the post with no picture b/c a certain toddler is not cooperating! Anyway, on to other things...like the laws of genetics.
One of the most exciting things about expecting a baby, whether through adoption or by other less mainstream ways like birth ;), is dreaming about what your baby will look like. I believe its even more exciting when you don't have the benefit of knowing the child's "genetic history" so to speak...those pesky dominant and recessive genes. While you can make a guess based upon the odds, you never know.
Take my mother as an example. I think she was slightly surprised with how my sister and I turned out. My mom had jet black hair and green eyes. She ended up having two little girls so blonde, our hair was basically white. Clearly, she had recessive blonde genes in her history, that came roaring to the forefront with my sis and me. She would often get annoyed b/c people would never assume she was our mother. Idiotic questions like, "Oh, you're her mom?", asked in a disbelieving tone, annoyed her to the point where she actually dyed her hair blonde in the 70's. Big mistake as the bleach and peroxide basically burned up her hair and scalp. Plus, her hair never was quite blonde, just an odd shade of orange. If I ever learn how to scan, I'll scan in the picture I have of her with us and blonde hair and post it here. Anyway, who knows? Perhaps b/c of my mom, I feel totally comfortable with a baby that looks absolutely nothing like me. You won't catch me dying my hair black anytime soon!
As I was waiting for my referral (a three-year wait due to my single status), I spent much of my time dreaming about this very subject and speaking to my friends about it. I recall mentioning that there is no predicting what color hair my baby would have: black, brown, red, and even blonde, or some mix thereof in between. I know many of my friends thought I was slightly nuts (and not necessarily b/c of just this subject). Even a friend of chinese descent would comment that no, your baby will most likely have black hair. Well, au contraire.....
As proof of my sanity, I invite everyone to follow along the blog-link at the right named, "Jillian Rose". Her new parents arrived in China yesterday, and will meet her and become a family on Monday. This child is a blonde chinese baby. She is NOT special needs and is NOT an albino, just a beautiful little baby girl who was born in China and who is busy flaunting all of the usual Asian stereotypes and laws of genetics with beauty and flair.
While all this is interesting, the real reason I'm following along is that I just enjoy reading these happy stories after a stressful day at work. These stories bring back sweet memories of my own trip to China. Hmm, maybe I'll make a separate section in the side-bar for traveling families. Often, these families just blog during their referral and travel time. So, in the future you may see links here being added and disppearing. As I discover some traveling families, I promise to share. Another family getting ready to travel on the right is the Williams family. I'm particularly excited to follow their trip, as their daughter is from T's same orphanage. Lastly, the family LilyKate and Eleanor are about to travel...and meet their twins! Exciting times all around!
Well, that's it for now. I'm vowing not to post again until tomorrow. BTW, T is extremely proud of her patriotic toes that Aunt Dot gave her while I was blogging last night.
One of the most exciting things about expecting a baby, whether through adoption or by other less mainstream ways like birth ;), is dreaming about what your baby will look like. I believe its even more exciting when you don't have the benefit of knowing the child's "genetic history" so to speak...those pesky dominant and recessive genes. While you can make a guess based upon the odds, you never know.
Take my mother as an example. I think she was slightly surprised with how my sister and I turned out. My mom had jet black hair and green eyes. She ended up having two little girls so blonde, our hair was basically white. Clearly, she had recessive blonde genes in her history, that came roaring to the forefront with my sis and me. She would often get annoyed b/c people would never assume she was our mother. Idiotic questions like, "Oh, you're her mom?", asked in a disbelieving tone, annoyed her to the point where she actually dyed her hair blonde in the 70's. Big mistake as the bleach and peroxide basically burned up her hair and scalp. Plus, her hair never was quite blonde, just an odd shade of orange. If I ever learn how to scan, I'll scan in the picture I have of her with us and blonde hair and post it here. Anyway, who knows? Perhaps b/c of my mom, I feel totally comfortable with a baby that looks absolutely nothing like me. You won't catch me dying my hair black anytime soon!
As I was waiting for my referral (a three-year wait due to my single status), I spent much of my time dreaming about this very subject and speaking to my friends about it. I recall mentioning that there is no predicting what color hair my baby would have: black, brown, red, and even blonde, or some mix thereof in between. I know many of my friends thought I was slightly nuts (and not necessarily b/c of just this subject). Even a friend of chinese descent would comment that no, your baby will most likely have black hair. Well, au contraire.....As proof of my sanity, I invite everyone to follow along the blog-link at the right named, "Jillian Rose". Her new parents arrived in China yesterday, and will meet her and become a family on Monday. This child is a blonde chinese baby. She is NOT special needs and is NOT an albino, just a beautiful little baby girl who was born in China and who is busy flaunting all of the usual Asian stereotypes and laws of genetics with beauty and flair.
While all this is interesting, the real reason I'm following along is that I just enjoy reading these happy stories after a stressful day at work. These stories bring back sweet memories of my own trip to China. Hmm, maybe I'll make a separate section in the side-bar for traveling families. Often, these families just blog during their referral and travel time. So, in the future you may see links here being added and disppearing. As I discover some traveling families, I promise to share. Another family getting ready to travel on the right is the Williams family. I'm particularly excited to follow their trip, as their daughter is from T's same orphanage. Lastly, the family LilyKate and Eleanor are about to travel...and meet their twins! Exciting times all around!
Well, that's it for now. I'm vowing not to post again until tomorrow. BTW, T is extremely proud of her patriotic toes that Aunt Dot gave her while I was blogging last night.
p.s. If you haven't figured it out, this post was my practicing and adding photos throughout the post. I didn't have that capability with the babyjellybean site!
1 Brilliant Comment(s) from Friends:
I get several comments a week about the color of Katie Starr's hair. Her hair is a very light brown with blondish red highlights. She is from northern China where there are many other influences. When we were in China adopting Ethan people kept asking where she came from. "Here" I would respond incredulously. It is not only here that I have to hear the comments but there too? OY!! I think Katie will tire of it as well.
I look forward to seeing your traveling families links :)
Post a Comment