Package #2, Forms and a Baby

What a couple of days! First off - I have to say I've been following 3 blogs intensely over the last 2 weeks - 3 of my blogger, adopting friends have traveled to Thailand and have all had an amazing experience and I'm so excited for them. They are great people and in this internet blogging adopting network world, I think we all do a good job keeping each other sane through the crazy times! And it was great for us to live vicariously through great people knowing we all get our turn. They will be reading our blog in a few months holding back tears (or maybe letting them go) as they remember what their journey was like. Safe travels home friends.


Little M's Package


We sent Little M a package yesterday. Sending a package that is light (< 1 inch), silent (what fun is that!), flat (1 inch) package is a struggle for me. We went with a fruit outfit because the foster family runs a fruit farm, a touchy feely book (yep - it's English), an oh what fun toy that lights up but doesn't make noise LOL, the softest, flat, pink elephant you've EVER seen. I also included a disposable camera not really knowing if they use it or not. They can't use it if I don't send it though.





My new nephew!

My nephew was born this week and he is "so friggin cute". Ellis Andrew was 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 21 inches. This is the first for my sis-in-law and brother-in-law and they are doing amazing. They are so proud of him and just on cloud 9. I forget how small new babies are. Matt and Mark got to see him. They were so nervous walking into the hospital. Got a glimpse of how they will be with their sister and it made my day. I now have 11 nephews, 5 nieces and 1 great nephew. If I count my three kiddos, our families have 20 kids in 22 years. They are - 22, 21, 21, 20, 18, 18, 18, 17, 16, 14, 12, 10, 10, 8, 8, 6, 6, 2, 9 mo and new baby. In birth order - Dezarrae, Austin, Jessica, Tiff, Nick, Nate, Donavon, Matt, Kel, Sam, Stephen, Brooks, Matt, Mark, Zack, Jax, Lucy, Landon, Mia and Ellis. WOAH! No wonder Christmas is a zoo.

Filed my I-600 this week - hand delivered it. I-600 is the application to classify an orphan as an immediate relative. Well that sounds like something we should have done a long time ago if you ask me. I asked the "adoption lady" (their label, not mine) at the immigration office how long it would take to process this form. She casually replied, "One Month" and then saw my reaction which was, "Ooooh, oh, ok, well, that's ok. Yeah that's fine! Ok then! Thank you." Fake smile - fake peppy pitch toward the end. Mentally telling myself - SHUT UP GIRL... Realizing I was in fact a little insane - she said, "Well that's what I'm supposed to tell you but it won't take anywhere near that long. These are processing VERY fast right now." That earned a real smile and a genuine thank you. Still I don't know what that means. This approval goes to the Visa office in Bangkok so it needs to get there before we do but I don't know if it needs to get there before we are approved to travel. I'm thinking not. Anyone know?

9 Months Old

My little princess is 9 months old today!!! I bet she is cruising all over the place! And if she's like my boys were, she's clearing off the furniture and eating anything left within reach - insert clear throat sound here - chocolate chip cookies that Santa didn't finish off... Glad he drank all the milk. That small baby ignored all the presents and starting munching on cookies! :-) So stinking cute. Too bad 2001 wasn't digital. I'd share his too cute picture gobbling those cookies but I'm too busy to dig through a photo album and scan it in.

3 months ago we received our referral so don't look now but we are in the home stretch on this waiting game! We don't have travel dates yet... but we're still guessing (and hoping) that in 3 months we will take custody of Little M. What the heck does that mean...really??? We could be finding out travel dates any time between October and late November and we would actually be leaving in 2 to 2 1/2 months if we get to travel in December. That's 9-12 weeks until departure!!!

If we don't travel in December, you ask??? OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!! - well, as you can see, we aren't talking about that.

We've been excited for almost 20 months but there are definitely various levels of excitement. Seeing 3 families travel to Thailand last week and this week - and more going over the next month - we are getting REALLY excited to be there - you know that feeling of waiting in line for the Dumbo ride or to see Mickey Mouse - that's it - that's us right now. We are close to the front of the line and they are looking at us like should I let you go this time or wait for the next time and you have that HUGE anxiety like Don't Cut the Line Off in Front of Me!!! Just let me go, let me go, 1 more, you can fit one more, please!!!! Oh yeah - you know the feeling - makes you want jump on a plane and go to WDW doesn't it? I know - I just compared adoption to WDW but just about everyone knows the WDW scenario and only a handful know the adoption scenario.

We have waited for SO long that at times it seems like Thailand may never get here even though we know it always DOES eventually get here. Well - Now it's starting to feel like it IS going to get here. That will be us at that park, us at that mall, us at that meeting, us seeking out pizza for the little man... us bringing home our little girl.

It will be us! And we are a 'lil bit excited about our turn!!!

6 Month Update

My shirt says "Too Cute" - No one could deny that!


Look at my new trick!

That wore me out!


I love my Foster Mom! She makes me smile and laugh!

YAY!!! Finally an update!

Mia is 6 months old in these pictures and 9 months old next week.

At 6 months she is 13 pounds 4 oz. and 24 1/2 inches long. Our progress report says "she is healthy. She takes 8 - bottles with 3 oz. formula each day and one serving of baby food. She sometimes sleeps through the night without eating. She takes good naps!"

"She is developing well for her age. She scoots around. She is responsive, cheerful and a cute baby. She is afraid of certain things and situations. She does not care much of strangers!" At first I thought YIKES but Holt explained that this means she has a strong attachment to her foster mother, which in adoption talk, means she will be able to transfer that attachment to us.

We are very excited! It was great to see some of her personality in these pictures.

Our reactions -

Mom - Is that the same baby? She changed so much. Oh my goodness - She's so cute!

Dad - I don't think she looks any different just older. She's so cute!

Matt - Is that Mia? Oh she's so cute!

Mark - aaaah she's so cute!

Well, one thing is unanimous -

SHE'S SO CUTE!!!

24 Hours is a Long Time

So I was thinking about Jen "getting on that plane" to Thailand yesterday morning. My day was a busy one running nonstop errands, which quite literally, didn't stop until about 9:30 last night when I collapsed and fell asleep immediately - well, immediately after checking everyone's blogs. ;) I was thankful that I had a very productive day despite some stops taking a longer than they should. Banks are the slowest and don't really seem to care - although my veterinarian took an hour to sign a form stating my dog would not cause harm to a child (and he altered the form - seriously, he's a 7 pound walking ball of fur) and this is international adoption, YOU DON'T ALTER FORMS!!! Then it hit me - look at all I've accomplished in 12 hours and Jen is only halfway to Thailand. Holy Crap - a 24 hour flight is VERY LONG...

Some highlights of my week

When I pick the kids up everyday, I hear "Dude", "Tight", "Cool" and "Man" no less than 30 times before I get out of the parking lot. I wonder if M's first sentence will be "Dude, That is so Tight...Man, Cool..." and it's important to emphasize and drag out the right words.

I "found" an old friend who has a 2 year old little girl - actually, I showed up at her yard sale in my own neighborhood not realizing we moved close to her house. She handed me an enormous bag of little girls clothes and said, "Congratulations!" I've happily given tons of clothes away and was so thrilled to get some cute duds but I really felt bad because I would have spent a lot of money at this yard sale and here she was not accepting any money... I offered several times and then finally accepted her gift, with guilt not really knowing what was pc. What a sweetie! Thanks girl!

I'd like to add that she adopted her little boy from Guatemala. She got her referral when he was less than 1 month old and waited 18 months to travel because of delays. Sometimes I get so anxious about updates, waiting, etc. and I need someone like this to, unknowingly, ground me. Of course, I'm well aware that some people wait 3-5 years for their adopted child. So for today (hey people, I'm only human) I'm going to be a little more understand of the process. I'm going to be thankful that I have a picture and not focus on what I don't have. Does it really matter if she 12 pounds or 14? Seriously, I need to chill.

We are 19 months into this journey with 3 months to go. I say 3 months - of course, we aren't sure when we will travel but we are definitely closing in on the day and we could find out next month when we'll travel so it's good. It's getting closer!

No - No Update

Quick Post to say:

NOTHING

NADA

ZERO

ZILCH

ZIP

NIL

NOPE - NO UPDATE

SO POSITIVE THOUGHTS - where are those again???

Yes - here they are and I'm so excited for everyone! Jen is traveling, Kam is traveling, Hollie has travel dates...finally! Lucy is traveling! Ashley...has to be getting the travel call anyday. Referrals are coming soon so here's to all those people waiting for those. I hope there's a huge group of babies!

Progress is a Good Thing

First off - We do not have an update... I'm expecting one LOL this week. No really, Holt did tell us updates were coming the last week of August or the first week of September so here we are September 1st!


We applied for the boys' passports Saturday. Check one more thing off the list - they should be back in 4 to 6 weeks. Matt had a near panic attack with he thought the post office guy said 46 weeks knowing that meant he wouldn't have a passport in time to go. I explained 4 TO 6 and he was like, Shew I was going to say that won't work. He's very excited! Mark is very anxious about the trip.


Other To Do Items -


Booked our Vegas trip! Chris and I are so excited to get out of town one more time before Mia arrives home - knowing 1. We won't want to leave her , 2. It could affect her transition negatively if we get away too quickly and 3. Finding a sucker, I mean, a sitter for 3 kids will be harder than 2 kids.


Clean out Mia's bedroom. I don't know when the furniture is going to arrive but when it does, I want to set it up so ASAP - having that space empty will be one less thing to do that day. I had a paint color picked out and now I think it's too bright so that's back on the list.


Buy odds and ends - So today I picked up safety plugs, cabinet thingys, 2 polka dot green bins (one for clothes hamper and one for toys), pink balls (of course! we are all sports fanatics), a polka dot blanket with an elephant on it (just too cute not to buy) and a few bibs. Poor kid is going to see spots as I keep buying polka dots...


The hardest thing for me right now is figuring out what a one year old needs. I can't remember what we were finished with and what we still used realizing every one year old is different. Like bibs - I think I was using the wipe off bibs not the drooly bibs but M will still take a bottle so do I need a drooly bib too? Maybe, so I'll buy a few but not a ton. Those are the debates that drive me insane right now. Debates are no fun - Making decisions is progress and that's fun.


Bought the Ergo Diaper bag - and it's a no go! The opening isn't wide enough and it drives me crazy so it's going back. Now I have to put that back on the list. The Ergo carrier is pretty cool - anyone have a one year old I can practice with? Just saying - it looks like it rocks but my kids are a little big and my dog is a little small so I guess I'll just have to wait.


What's on my list for this week? Buy a booster seat, toys, diaper bag, order bottle and sippy cup nipples. The Born Free bottles are pretty cool - I mean, hey I haven't used them but the concept is pretty cool - they have a variety of sippy cup nipples that can be used to extend the life of the bottle. I would guess that the transition to sippy is easier since the bottle part doesn't change. Will report back on that "guess" later.