Books

The books I ordered from Amazon came in. Thanks to everyone who sent in suggestions. I wish I could have bought all of them at once, but I really couldn’t afford to do that. So I got:

 

Attaching in Adoption

I Love You Like Crazy Cakes (so great)

Mommy Far, Mommy Near   which I liked THE BEST. It was really great, and told from the point of view of the daughter.  The pictures were pretty cool too.

 

For those of you who don’t know, I read a ton!  So, I’m SURE that I will get to the rest of the books recommended to me (if I haven’t already) before this is all over. J

 

The other good news is that my macaroni and cheese went over very well, and no one got food poisoning. HA HA HA YAY ME!

(Recipe forth coming for Mary Mia). It cracks me up that you think I can cook enough that you asked for the recipe.  Ahhh…I guess this parenthood thing is changing me already!

 

 

 

November DTC

Well I finally heard back from adoption agency about getting an early DTC. Here is their official response:

I will keep an eye on our "numbers" and let you know if you can log in earlier. However, I think it will be in November at this point.

Still, November is better than December, so I’m going to take that as a good sign. I needed some motivation here recently I’m telling you. It just takes SO FREAKING LONG. Okay, enough whining. You all know how long it takes!! LOL

In fun news, I have a pot luck dinner with my Single Moms group tonight. I’m signed up to bring a mac n cheese casserole. I’ve never EVER made macaroni and cheese without a box kit. I have a recipe and it SEEMS easy enough to do. Wish me luck. Better yet, wish the people who have to eat it luck. They’re the ones whose intestines are in jeopardy! I’ll keep you posted on food poisoning scandals. HA HA HA HA

Home Study Reviewed

My adoption agency emailed me this afternoon to let me know that they reviewed my draft copy of my home study and that there are no problems. YIPPPEE!  So now I can give the green light to my home study agency to go ahead and finalize the paperwork. If all goes well, I should have a package to send to the state dept by the end of next week. Hoo ray!

 

Also, I asked the big question to my agency, could my DTC be moved up any since I should have all my paperwork ready by the end of September?? I haven’t heard back yet, but keep your fingers crossed for me. For those of you not in the know, because I’m single, there is a quota that applies to me. When I first started paper-chasing in March, my agency told me that I couldn’t be DTC until November or December because of this quota.  I can’t seem to find anything on line anymore that says anything about a single quota, so I’m not sure what the deal is currently.  Anyway, I’ll let you know as soon as I find out. At least now I have a new nephew to play with and help me kill the time while I wait (and wait, and wait, and wait!) 

 

 

My nephew Colin. Isn't he just sooo cute???  

Baby Colin Update

I spoke with my sister this afternoon and she and Colin are home from the hospital. YAY!! But the best part is she thinks her husband is going to get a chance to download all the digital pictures they took so I should have some pics of him this afternoon. Yippee!! He’s just so cute!  I’m totally addicted to his little cheeks!

 

 

 

Colin is here!

Hiya Folks!

 

You are now hearing from the proud AUNT of Colin!  He came on Sat 08/20/05 at 7:57am, weighing a healthy 8lbs and 22 inches long. J  My sister is doing great. They had to do an unplanned C-sect because Mr Colin got stuck in the birth canal. (yet another reason to adopt!)  Although he was 3 weeks early, he seems perfect. His APGAR scores were really good, 8 and 9, and he has all his parts and I have to say that he is just the sweetest most beautiful baby I have ever seen! (and I’m not biased at all!)  He has really long fingers and big feet, which is no surprise to anyone since his Dad wears a size 15 shoe! LOL   Right now he seems to like being swaddled up and he definitely knows who his mama is, because if Erin holds him, he settles right down. He LOOKS content and happy.  He doesn’t seem to be too much of a crier, only crying right now if we change him or take his clothes off (I knew there was a man out there somewhere that didn’t like being naked!)  He has my sister’s lips, but her husband’s eyes, so he really doesn’t favor either one of them too much.  All the grandparents were there, and let me tell you, there wasn’t a happier group of people anywhere on the planet this weekend!

 

Anyway, believe it or not, I do not own a digital camera. So I dropped off my film yesterday to have it put on a cd and of course the cd thingy was broken at Eckards. GRRRRRRR!! So I just have prints right now. I’m going to take the negatives to a different place tonight after work, and see if I can’t get them put on a disk. If not, in a day or two my sister and her husband will be home from the hospital and they are going to send me all the pictures they took.  Needless to say, I will post pictures once I have them.  I’m delighted he is here and although he is only 8lbs I’ve already promised him toys that make noise, a drum set, and all the candy before dinner he wants!!   Being an aunt is GREAT!

 

I tried the infamous Starbucks Green Tea Frappacino. Here is my vote. YUCK!!!  

book recomendations

Hello Folks!
I need your adoption related book recommendations. Weather for me or for my daughter, any books that you purchased that just struck a chord with you? I’m putting in an order with Amazon.com today, and I’m getting I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, and Attaching in Adoption, Practical Tools for Parents. Anything else I HAVE TO HAVE???   Just looking for ideas here. Let me know folks!

 

I purchased the Purple diaper bag as a congrats to myself for getting my 171H so early. It's Pottery Barn, but don't worry, I had a gift certificate left over from my birthday/christmas. :-) Mine isn't embroidered, but who cares, It's PURPLE!!!  

I'M APPROVED!!! WOOO HOOO!!

I GOT MY 171H TODAY!!! I didn't even have to stalk the mail box!! I wasn't expecting it for at least FOUR more weeks, because I just got the draft copy of my homestudy earlier this week. OMG!! I'm so freaking excited. I mean, it' s like OFFICIAL OFFICIAL I'm going to china to get a child!! I did a full on jump up and down happy dance outside my mailbox. Since I live in a townhouse there are several unit mailboxes in one place. I don't even care who saw me.

YIPPEEE!!!!

now...I've got to get my home study corrected and notarized, and then i can send all my stuff of to the state dept. YAY!!


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Tagged, I'm it

OK…so my friend Shannon tagged me on her blog. Here are the instructions: “List ten songs that you are currently digging ... it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're no good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they're listening to."

So here is what I’m digging lately…in no particular order….

1.LifeHouse - You and Me

2.Bowling for Soup - Almost

3.Stained - Sweet Zoe Jane

4.Nine Inch Nails - Bite the hand that feeds you

5.Dashboard Confessional - Vindicated

6.Will Smith - Party Starter

7.Avenue Q (the musical) - What do you do with a BA in English?

8. U2 - Miracle Drug

9. Green Day – Holiday

10. Simple Plan – untitled

I’m not going to tag anyone. If you WANT to share on your blog, feel free to let me know.

Hope everyone has a groovy Friday!!

Whackado comments

Due to some whackado comments on my last posting from an anoynmous person, and some ugly comments that I've seen posted on other blogs, I've decided to restrict my blog so you can only leave a comment if you are a registered user. I apologize to any real live people who wanted to leave a comment and now can't, but I think this is for the best. Hope everyone is having a groovy day!

The cake from my sister's baby shower. How cute is this?!?! It matched the invitations even. ooohh ahhhhh 

HOME STUDY DONE AT LAST!

WOO HOOO!!  I finally received a draft copy of my home study today in the mail! See, stalking the mailbox does eventually pay off.  It’s kind of weird to read about yourself like this, but so far it sounds like I’m a really great person. LOL  I’ve found a few mistakes, so I will go through it tonight with a fine tooth comb and send it back to them to make changes. YIPPEE. The good news is that they sent a copy to BCIS, so they aren’t waiting on it to give me my 171H approval. YAY YAY YAY!  

 

OK…I must remember I’m still at work and can’t do the happy dance in front of co-workers. 

My Happy Weekend

I had a very good, very busy weekend.  We had one last baby shower for my sister on Saturday. Even though it was much smaller, she still got a lot of good loot!  It’s always fun to see what presents she gets, especially for me, because I’m busy taking mental notes about things that I might want/need for Emily when she gets here. Plus, let’s face, baby stuff is just super cute.  My nephew to be is going to by stylin and profiling the first couple years of his life. He got some really cute stuff including cargo pants and swim trunks that are covered in hippos. Ha ha ha ha…. But I have to say the best part of the shower was when my sister opened the gift from my Mom.  Mom knitted Colin (my nephew to be) a Christmas stocking. It might not seem like a big deal, but she knitted ones for me, my sister, her and my dad about 26 years ago. They are one of our most favorite things about Christmas. Each has our name on the top and a Christmas picture stitched into it. I have a Santa Clause, Dad has a Rudolph, etc.  Colin got a Christmas tree.  It’s very cool to carry on the tradition like that, and Erin opened the box and then burst into tears, which of course made the rest of us cry too!! But they were happy tears.   It was a really great gift.

      The other happy part of my weekend was doing the tax free shopping. I did get diapers for Emily. Hee hee. Just one pack, but it made me feel like a mom. And I spent some money on myself and got a couple pairs of slacks and tops for work from Kohls. I love the Kohls man! Everything is always on sale. It’s so much fun to shop there!!   It was even more fun not paying tax!    

 

            In adoption news I’m STILL waiting on my home study, even though I faxed them my criminal back ground check last week.  I’ll have to call someone today, hopefully that will get things moving.

 

 

 

 

Maternity leave for a DOG?!?!

Every Mon – Friday I listen to a radio show called Ace & TJ in the morning. This morning they were talking about bizarre perks that people(celebrities)  have written into their contracts; you know, like only green M&Ms in the room or what have you. Then they were asking regular people what bizarre perks they had. One guy had a grieving time off (paid time off) if his dog died. I love my dog, so I can see that. I mean, yes it’s strange, but a day or two off - fine with it.   Then this one woman called, (and here is where my vent begins) and she took MATERNITY LEAVE because her DOG HAD PUPPIES.   Are you kidding me?  This woman got a letter from her OBGYN because her DOG had puppies, and I don’t get one freaking day off to adopt a HUMAN BEING!!!   Not only did her dumb ass doctor agree that she should be put on leave, but her dumb ass employer thought it was okay too!!    Who are these people? And why don’t I work for a company like that? It is just totally ridiculously unfair.  I’m so irate right now. You know, you try to live your life as a good person, do the right thing, make smart decisions and then you hear about crap like this. It would never even occur to me to go on maternity leave for my dog!  Grrrrrrrrrrr!!  Doesn’t this just tick you off? I know there are companies out there that do give time off to adopt, and heck, I’ve even heard of companies kicking in some funds.  I don’t get any of that.   What do y’all think? Isn’t this just the silliest thing you ever heard of?

 Luckily the radio people were just as irate as I was, so I can still listen to them. Ha ha ha. I did write in an email though, I’ll let you know if they read it on the air!!

 

 

 

TAX FREE SHOPPING!!

This weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the shopping year. Ya sure, shopping the day after thanksgiving is fun, if somewhat dangerous, but THIS weekend is the back to school NO TAX weekend if you live in NC or SC. Luckily for me, I live exactly on the boarder between these two states, so I have a shopping plethora at my very fingertips. There is something about not paying uncle sam that 7% that just makes me happy inside. :-) Plus, I just found out that this year DIAPERS are included in the tax free catagory. Since diapers do not have an expiration date, I can feel free to buy all the Pampers, Luvs and what have you that I would like, ooooh ahhhh. Plus I will probably buy me a few shirts/shorts, because what the heck, I'm cute too!
The only downer (and it's not even that down) is that I got my paycheck today. I know you are thinking, they are giving you money, how can you be down. Well see here is the thing: I was thinking about taxes and I decided to do some math and figure out how much exactly I'm paying in taxes out of my paycheck. DUDE! I pay 30% of my paycheck to Uncle Sam. THIRTY FREAKING PERCENT. How is this possible???? Where are my perks? I mean, yes, okay there are firemen and policemen and roads and junk. But wouldn't you think for 30% that there should be more to it than that? Like...I should have a manservent. or at least my very own parking space at my favorite shopping center. I mean, I'm doing my part to keep the economy going, (and then some) where is my perk?!?!
Other than my tax gripes, today is shaping up to be a good day. It's Friday, I got paid, I'm going to see my sister tomorrow(another baby shower) AND I can hear out of both ears. Life is good! :-)

I'm back, and this time I mean it!

I’m back yet again. Hopefully for good this time!!   My fun filled vacation included me doing giant cannonballs into the 13ft deep section of the super nice pool at the super nice hotel we stayed at in Hilton Head. While that was a LOT of fun (I make a pretty big splash) I also got water in my ear, which turned into a NASTY infection sometime last Wednesday.  I’ve spent the last week moaning and groaning and laying on my side trying not to touch my ear. Finally though, my antibiotics are kicking in, and I’m starting to feel somewhat human again. I never had ear infections as a child, (THANK GOD) so let me tell you they are freaking miserable. I always got strep throat as a kid, and then sinus infections. Neither one of those are joyous either but ear infections are a special form of torture. If my Emily ever gets one of these dreadful things, she will have 100% of my sympathy.   Lying on the couch for 5 days did cause me to have at least one meltdown. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do if I get sick once I have a kid. Those of you who are married probably wonder this too, but it seems so much larger when it’s just me. I have no one as my back up plan.  Yes, I have friends. Yes, I have family. But I can’t expect those people to just stop their lives and come help me. Just thinking about it causes another meltdown to approach. I’ll just have to take really good care of myself until this kid is 7 or 8  or 18. LOL

 

In adoption news, my home study report STILL has not shown up to me. WHY you ask? Because they lost my stupid criminal background check. So I have to fax them a copy today. I can tell already that the criminal back ground is going to be the bane of my adoption existence. It’s okay though. It’s all okay. I will fax it, and it will be fine.  Now that I’m feeling better I can handle this and get back on track getting all my other paperwork done. 

 

And before I forget congrats to Karen & Scott, who FINALLY got their referral last week. They’re Gwen is just gorgeous and it’s nice to think that in a little less than a year, it will be me in their shoes! J  Meanwhile, I will live vicariously through them. Hee hee