Board Meeting Dates

I'm such a planner so I had to get clarification from Holt on the board meeting dates in Thailand. Here are the meeting dates for the rest of 2009.

9/9 and 9/23
10/7 and 10/21
11/4 and 11/18
12/2 and 12/23

What do they do at the board meetings? Well, lots of stuff. But most importantly -

1. They approve babies to be adopted
2. Give travel approval
3. Meet (interview) parents with their adopted child

We are waiting for Step #2. Since we were told we might travel in December, the meeting we are hoping to be at is 12/2 or 12/23. So if this is the case we would likely get approval from one of the October/November Meetings. Usually, parents get 3-8 weeks notice to travel.

The planner in me had to figure out the possible dates for December travel...

• Leaving around Thanksgiving Day and being in Thailand for Matt's 11th birthday!
• Leaving mid-Dec and being gone for Christmas! We would actually take custody of Mia on her birthday in this scenario.

We are looking forward to whatever travel dates we get.

Back to School

I gotta go back, back, back to school again

You won't find me, till the clock strikes three

I'm gonna be there till then

I gotta go back, back, back to school again

Whoa whoa, I gotta go, Back to School......AGAIN!

(Can you tell I'm a bit of a Grease fan?)

Week one of school was such a great week. LOL

Matt learned ALL of his friends have cell phones, boats, jet skis, lake houses and laptops among other cool things. I complimented his friends' parents - saying WOW - your friends have great parents - too bad yours stink... earned me several eye rolls. Love it!

Mark just learned "school stuff". Thank Goodness for that, huh?

8 Months Old

Our Little M turned 8 months old today. Even though our pictures are now 5 months outdated, we try not to dwell on that. And some days we do better than others as far as "dwelling" goes. We know that we will get an update soon so we're thankful of that because we really wonder what her smile looks like, how big she's getting and if they are letting her hair grow back out. :)

What's an 8 Month Old Do:

She may be crawling, scooting or doing the baby shuffle
She may be standing onto furniture and holding on for dear life
She may be banging toys together or even throwing them :)
She may look for objects that she dropped (or threw) :)

This month has kind of flown by and we still think we are 4 months from meeting our daughter. Still trying to squeeze in our last adult trip of our lifetime LOL - think we're leaning toward Vegas since we get to visit a beautiful beach in Thailand with our new family. Probably just need to pull the trigger, book it and go!

Last night my type A personality took over my dreams - in my dreams I awoke to an email from our agency that gave the timeline for everyone waiting. WE ALL KNEW the actual dates we would travel, the dates people would get referrals (Jessica) :) it was such a great feeling to just know even if it was in my dreams. And in my dreams, we did travel in December.

Could be a Thailand Christmas!

Summer Lovin' - Had Me a Bla-ast!!!

Summer Fun - Summarized!


Kicked off Summer with a too quick Cali trip for a nephew's graduation. 3 nephews graduated this year and are all off to college this fall!


Sold the House!



The Champions!
Our Beautiful Little M
Pictured here 3 Months
Referral 6/22/09
Hope to Travel 12/09

15 Years of Wedded Bliss

Mark at Summer Camp

Matt at Daytona Beach


Mark at Daytona Beach

Nana & Papa at Daytona Beach
A wonderful Baby Shower for my sis-in-law! We can't wait for Baby Ellis to arrive in Sept!


Chillin' with the Bells - Cali Sis-in-Law Lori in town and Memaw and Pops
One last round of mini-golf


Surfin' Do

Shaggy Do

School Do

Father-son Wiffle Ball Game

Father-son dual

Summer is over -

An empty mound



Battered gear will get a break from the daily grind!

We hate to see it end every year but the kids are looking forward to spending time with all their friends albeit while school is in session... Mom is looking forward to a free hour or so for a mani/pedi. Dad, well, he still gets to work like a dog everyday.

And of course, we are all counting down to our Thailand Trip, to meeting our Little M, to completing our family!

Pics of My Picks

So it's decision time, count-down time, time to prepare for Little M!!!

I have decided on bedding, stroller, baby carrier and bottles...

I might just meet my little girl 4 months from today. That's my prediction anyway. My hope, my dream is to travel on 12/9 and meet her on 12/13. Of course, we don't know for sure and won't know until October or November for sure. But we were told we are on track to travel in December. The December board meetings are 12/2 and 12/16 and we hope to be at one of them.

Now on to my picks and pics...

The bedding is pink elephants with pale green polka dots. We love it. It has an underlying Thai theme without screaming Asian silk (which I think is lovely and almost went with). This is not Little M's room - just a web pic of the bedding.

















The stroller is so cool. I had so many strollers with my boys. Traditional, Jogger, Sit-n-Stand and 2 umbrellas. We almost always used the umbrella strollers. My only complaints were they didn't recline, have a basket or a canopy. So... I bought a hi-tech umbrella stroller that has all the features I was missing. It's chocolate brown so she'll look adorable in it (dressed in pink, of course). And best of all, it drives and steers like a sweet little sports car.


















The baby carrier - I've really struggled with this purchase and am trusting my new web friends that I'm going to actually use it. It's the Chocolate Ergo. I carried my kids and had amazing biceps when they were toddlers so this is going to be new and I hope I love it as much as everyone else does. It will be wonderful for bonding, the car rides in Thailand (yikes they don't use car seats) and our time in Thailand when a stroller is just not do-able. So for that alone - it's worth it.













My boys were off the bottle before one. Matt was 9 months and Mark was right at 1 year old. So this "baby older than one on a bottle" thing will be new to me but I'm looking forward to feeding her a bottle and having that eye-to-eye bonding time and know that is very important so I'm good with it. I chose the Born Free bottles (plastic BPA free). They have good reviews and they sell multiple sippy cup nipples for the bottles so I can use them longer. I considered glass but I know my house and the thought of a broken bottle at 2 in the morning is not something I want to experience. No picture of those - they are just bottles.

Next up on the list is - I think I've picked the furniture but what color furniture? I was set on Espresso or Cherry but I keep seeing white or off white with bright colors for little girls and love it. I haven't completely ruled out the life crib so add that to the lists of Aug decisions to be made.. I guess I'll go ask how long delivery will take so I know when I need to make a decision. We are buying a booster rather than a highchair. Little by little marking things off my list - she'll be here before we know it.

OUCH!!!

Today was the visit to the International Travel Clinic. Now I know - several shots are recommended but no shots are required for Thailand but have you met me? Well, true, most of you haven't - I'm not convinced my friends and family actually read the blog which is fine - they are very busy people. LOL

But let me fill you in - if it's out there, we will get it!!! It's a given that someone will vomit on vacation and if we are lucky, it's only one of us. We have a long list of vacation illnesses. Yes, we wash our hands - some things are just bad luck.

So what's out there for us to get - a list of things - Hep A, Hep B, Typhoid, Measles, Tetanus, Flu!!! There's a huge chance that we will not be exposed to any of this. But 30% of the people die from this or that was enough for me to make an easy decision. The clinic lady explained them all and then looked at us like, "Which disease would you rather take your chances on?" I just said "Hook us up" and was crying for my sucker by the time I left. Not really, I just feel like I've been punched in the arm - it's not bad at all.

Mark had to be held down by 2 people while he proclaimed, "I'm not going! I said I'm NOT GOING!!" I guess his idea of a good day didn't include a shot which was recommended but not required. Later he called Matt a sissy for complaining his arm hurt. I had to laugh and remind him who freaked out on us in the clinic!

Life After Referral...

It's been 6 weeks since we received the information and pictures on Little M.

So...What's next? Where's that darn list?

This week has been interesting. We have run into old and new friends and have been able to share Mia's announcement again and again. While we have no new news, it's still so new and real to tell people.

Someone made a gasp and then the "You started this 18 months ago!" comment and I actually laughed as I said, "It's funny. I didn't think it would be true but the wait and the emotions of the wait all vanished with one ring tone and one look at the caller id. The minute I heard we had a baby, nothing about waiting mattered. I know I'll be ok with our travel wait because the second I lay eyes on her in person, that wait time will vanish too." Then I winked at one of my best friends and said, "Please remind me I'll be ok if we don't travel in December." And she knew the implied because I really want to spend Christmas and her birthday as a complete family.

I know I've said this before but for me - this part, at least right now, has been SO much easier. That makes me feel a little guilty because I know the wait to travel has been very difficult and LONG for others. I'm more anxious about my friends' travel dates than mine right now. Some of you are VERY close and I think of you all the time. Our program's timeline seems to be fairly constant. I break it down in baby steps and lists. Right now I'm focusing on travel approval which will hopefully be October/November and that's only 2-3 months away. But for others, the "not knowing" is what kills people from the inside.

As for the boys - they are still very excited. I hear them chatter about her to others and I can see their excitement as their friends try to comprehend the idea of flying around the world and adopting a little sister... I'm no fool - I know the honeymoon will wear off, there will be hurt feelings if she bonds to one faster than the other, or worse, is closer to one than the other, etc. but I'm focusing on today and today - it's all good.

So for now I'm trying to learn a little more Thai and trying to work on my Thailand lists and that part is all fun!! So Life Crib or Regular Crib, buy stuff now as I see it or make a list and buy it all at once - that's today's debate! Do I really want a full size bed in a kids size room??? I'm starting to think not so much. Why buy bottles and stuff when I won't need it for months? Maybe I'll just do a list. The Fun Stuff!!!