Check It Out!!

Thanks to Kris, I found this beautiful website: Lookie!   I love, love, love this Lantern festival set.  And Kris pimped it out on her site so the owners say that they will give you a $25.00 discount if you use the coupon code ADOPT.  Even better news, I emailed and asked was there any chance that we could convince them to make this in a crib size set. And she said YES. Coming in May we can get order this set for a crib. Sooo excited about that. I was going to do this whole ladybug thing, but now, I’m just loving this so much I’m totally going to switch.  Or just buy both. I can’t decide yet!   Anyway, they have 4 patterns right now and they are just as cute as they can be. They have some for boys as well, so you should definitely check it out!

 

As Shannon 2 says, sharing is caring!

 

 

 

 

 

I Laugh At You Paperwork

Last night T & I filled out our loan application for our new mortgage. If you have ever bought a house before, you realize that this is a fairly daunting process (to the untrained) It’s like 20 pages to put your name and initials on and you have to gather all this back up paperwork proving you have a job and an income and can manage $$ etc.  In the past, this would have seemed like a monumental task.  Not now. NOW, I am a Paperwork Pro!!   Having paper chased not once, but TWICE for Emily because everything expired (stupid system!) let me just tell you. Applying for a mortgage is a freaking breeze. I did it in like 5 minutes.  So go ahead mortgage people, taunt me with paperwork. I LAUGH AT YOU! MUUUU HA HA HA HA  Bring it on baby!  I will take you and beat you down! MUUUUUU HA HA HA HA  

 

 At least this time I didn’t have to get fingerprinted!

 

(when I did this for T, he gave me a look like, good Lord, what have I gotten myself into? Poor Tony. He has no idea!)

 

 

 

 

I love being American!

You know why I love being American? Because you can yell at senators and the president and write letters to the editors and no one carts you off to prison. Man, it’s a great system!

 

And yes, I just left some comments for one of my senators. Life is good!

 

 

Nice to Meet You!

Well it was nice to meet all of you! Now I have 7 new blogs that I have to read every day.  You all seem like really fun gals, although I have to admit that I’m disappointed none of you have ever lived in Uganda. Hee hee.  Although Tracy gets bonus points for living (and loving) Japan.  I myself spent a semester in Spain during my college years. I don’t think I ever mentioned that. So, I’m mildly interesting, but not UGANDA interesting. 

 

In other news, Tony and I picked out a refrigerator this weekend for our new house. OOH AHHH.  You can spend more money on a fridge than you can on a new car. Did you know that?  We didn’t do that. We got your standard, run of the mill black fridge. The coolest feature is the ice maker, which isn’t saying much. Still. It’s new and I’ve never bought a huge appliance like that before, so that was pretty fun.  We also got…are you ready?  This!   Ooooh ahhhh! Aren’t you jealous?  It doesn’t come in until April 18^th, but I don’t care. I’m soooo excited.  Plus it was on sale and Tony had an extra 10% off coupon, so it was a no brainer.   I’ll take pictures and give my full review when I get it home and test it out. 

 

That’s about it. My life has gotten pretty dull the last few weeks. Mostly it’s paperwork for the house, and packing up all my belongings that keeps me busy these days. Not a lot of fun, but it is eating up the waiting time. So that helps. It’s almost April, almost time for another batch of ‘new releases’.  We’re getting there.  

 

 

 

Who are you people?

Hiya folks

I’ve noticed lately that I’m getting a lot of comments from people I don’t really know. Well..ok, I don’t KNOW most of you in real life anyway. But what I mean is that I’m seeing comments and viewings from people all over the world now.  It is way cool!! But who are you folks?   So unfair, you know all about me, but I don’t know about you!  So tell me (us) who you are and where your from (or a close proximation) and maybe something interesting. Like you used to live in Uganda or something.  Share peeps!  Enquiring minds want to know!

 

 

 

 

Amendment

Just for the record, because a lot of people are asking me, buying a house and living with Tony will not affect my status as a single applicant for Emily.  We’ve already spoken with my social worker and are prepared to do an amendment to my home study when the time comes.  But I still am adopting her as a single person.  Tony would be considered “another adult in my home” as far as the government is concerned.   So we are on top of all that.  I just didn’t want any of y’all to worry about how we were handling this.

 

 

 

 

All the Details

Thanks for all the nice comments guys!   Well here are all the details on our new homestead.  It’s in a really nice, master planned neighborhood.  It's really nice, and they have a big Jr. Olympiclap pool and a kiddie pool with all this cool like jungle gym stuff in it and they have a basketball court and volleyball sand pit. Pretty much, I’ll only use the pools, but Tony was excited about the b-ball court. The neighborhood also has a community center and they do things like meet the Easter bunny and they have a kids activities director. So I think that is pretty cool.

  The house is nice too. It's 2 stories and has 4 bedrooms. OOH and it has a fireplace in the living room (gas) and a tv niche above it AND it has a formal dining room, which we are discussing using as a play room for Emily, at least for the first year, since it is on the first floor and we have no actual dining room furniture.  Emily will have her very own room with a big closet (which she would have got at my house anyway) But now we can have a guest room and an office as well, which I am excited about.  We will move in the end of April, so we still have time to sell Tony’s house and then my house. It is not easy to sell two houses at the same time.

    Nor is it easy to think about merging all of our separate belongings into the same house. For instance, Tony and I both own a lovely wood kitchen table with white legs. Yes folks, we have the EXACT same table. We also have two sets of dishes, pots & pans, sheets, towels etc. We have 3 queen beds and a futon between us. Two coffee tables. FIVE televisions.  Good grief. It gives me a headache to think about all that!! On the upside, thinking about all that definitely keeps me from thinking about this endless wait for Emily, so it is a good problem to have.  And if we move in the end of April and I get a referral in July or August (I’m thinking August now) than that is PLENTY of time to get everything unpacked and hooked up and laid out, etc before I go to China. 

So, very exciting time for me right now!  I’m a pretty happy chickie these days!

Still Alive

I’m still alive over here. I’m just wrapped up in other things right now. I promise to post soon with BIG NEWS. Hang tight folks!!

 

 

 

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15 months Logged In

Tomorrow makes 15 months since I've been LID. My God. Friday also happens to be the 2 month anniversary of getting "the call" from my agency and finding out I got one of the very few coveted spots of a single woman able to adopt from China. I also started my blog later that week, so it is a big anniversary weekend for me.
I went back and read the start of my blog, the March 2005 postings. I was all excited to be doing paperwork and cleaning the house like a mad woman for my home study. I was sooo nervous about that part! (If you happen to be reading this and you are a new person to the adoption world, promise me you will not sweat the home study. It's not a big deal at all. You will do fine. ) I was so excited about getting Emily and being able to adopt and just the whole IDEA of adoption in general. Then I went ahead and read my March 2006 postings. A lot changed that year. I got through all the paperwork. YAY! I was finally DTC . YAY! I officially got a Log In Date. And then I read my post from 03/08/06. On March 8, 2006 I had been logged in for 3 months, and thought that I only had 7 months left to go. I read that part twice. A year ago, I thought I only had 7 more months to go.
RIGHT NOW, March 2007, I think I have 7 more months to go too. How messed up is that? That I've waited an entire 12 months and nothing has changed. Every month for a year, I have pushed back my expectation time by a month. The more I think about this, the more upset I get. I actually burst into tears while I was reading the posts from 2006. I can't believe a whole year has gone by and I still don't know who or where Emily is. She should be home now. And I swear to God, if any one of you leaves me a post saying it will work out, or everything in it's season I will hunt you down and hurt you. I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear about patience being a virtue. I want to scream and yell and kick someone. HARD. I want to tattoo It's Not Fair! on my forehead! And mostly, mostly I just want Emily to come home now. I want a baby to love on. I want to put her in any one of the 800 outfits I've bought the last 2 years. I want to see her play with Rascal, and I want to read her a book at bedtime, or lay on the floor with her and make faces with her until she giggles. I want to stop feeling this mean and angry and yucky and just be excited about having a baby again. I don't understand how turning me into a crazy woman by making me wait this long is good for anyone.

So I've decided that I need to concentrate on the positive. It took me awhile, but I thought of 12 things that waiting this long has helped me with. (see, I even had more than a top 10. Isn't that good?!)
1. I met Tony. And as he is a good catch, that is a pretty big one on the happiness list.
2. I saved more money to pay for the adoption.
3. I got to have more margaritas on a weeknight that I would have if she had come home earlier.
4. I have yet to pay for a babysitter.
5. I have had a really great time being an Aunt and just an aunt. I do all the fun stuff. I taught Colin how to say WHAM! And slam something (or himself) into something else and make a noise. I am a good Aunt like that. (but don't tell Erin it was me that taught him that)
6. I can still sleep in for 7 more months. I love to sleep in, and am not a morning person, so that is pretty high on the happiness list too.
7. I actually did clean out some of the closets and junk in my house.
8. I've learned more about putting up stuff on the internet, so when I do get Emily, I will be a super pro.
9. Shannon 2 taught me how to do movies on my Mac. LOVE IT!
10. I really am more patient now than I used to be. (really, I am. You should have seen me at 22)
11. I've made really good friends through my single adopting from China group here in town. I wouldn't have had as much time to get to know them (or as many meetings) if Emily had come home earlier.
12. I've gotten and kept highlights for over a year now. I will be highlight free once Em comes home, as they are too much time & money wise to keep up with. So...I have been super sexy for a whole year longer than I expected. (after she comes home I'll drop down to just drop dead sexy. HA HA HA)

Making this list has made me feel better. And writing always makes me feel better, so this is good. I'm going to go to bed now. Sleep in a bit in the morning too. Might as well. Only 7 months left. :-)

I Need A Hug

I’m having a crummy week.  The slowness of referral matching is upsetting me, and even though I KNEW it was going to take this long, I can’t help that every month I’m secretly disappointed that they didn’t get further. Also, I was really looking forward to going to my facial tonight because I felt like I needed to de-stress a little bit. And unfortunately, they just called and CANCELED my appointment.  What a bummer.   So, I have activated my plan B, which is to go to Babies R Us tonight and buy a shower gift for a baby shower I’m going to this weekend. And actually, now that I think about it, I have another baby shower next weekend, so I should probably get two gifts.  

 

Retail therapy should help. But it’s just not the same as a facial.  I’m just so whiny today. I hate days like this.  I’m BLUE.  

 

The New Releases Are Out!

CCAA sent out referrals through Oct 24, 2005. 

 

So it turns out that it is good I didn’t bet in my own pool, as I would have lost! I thought they would get further (to Oct 25) and I didn’t think referrals would arrive until the end of this week, and it seems like folks will be getting them tomorrow or Wed, or maybe even today in a few places!  So congrats to everyone who gets to see their baby’s face today! How exciting.   I personally selfishly wish they had gotten further than the 11 days they did, but hey, I’ll take it. Any news is good news at this point.

 

 

Also, if everyone would wish Happy Birthday to Tony’s Dad! Today is the big day!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY!  I hope you have a great day today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Releases

I am over my funk. Well…for today I am.  I’m not making any promises about how I’ll feel tomorrow or next week or next month.  My friend Melissa helped me get out of my funk by suggesting we go get facials next week. Something just for me. So we are going to Blis for facials and manicures. AHHH I feel the relaxation already!

 

Mom asked me yesterday if this wasn’t the week for the “new releases from China”  She means referrals.  HA HA HA…I got a big laugh out of thinking of referrals like new movies hitting the big screen.  But isn’t it great that Mom knows the referral schedule? Isn’t she cool?  And you know who else is cool? My sister, Erin. She checks out everyone’s adoption blogs and rumors and then calls me if anything interesting is going on. I love my family!

 

   The RQ site is a buzz with rumors about when referrals are going to come (this week, next week, the week after?) and how far they are going to get.  Chinese New Year celebrations shut down many offices in China last week, including the office that handles adoptions.  Good for them. Everyone likes a week off, don’t they?  And I know whenever I come back from time off, the first day or two is a bear, getting caught up, but I tend to work more efficiently that first week or so back. So let’s hope that happens over there too. I would be so happy if they sent out a ton more referrals then normal.

 

So here is my official guess about what is going to happen with referrals this time. 

We’ll see them by next Thursday March 8, 2007, and they will include people logged in through Oct 25, 2005. 

 

Let’s see if I’m right! Anyone else want to put in guesses? I was thinking maybe we should do a pool or something. Make the wait a little more interesting!!