Shopping withdrawal

It feels like I haven't bought anything for Nora in forever. I was in Newport - a beautiful town with great kids' shops - the last few days and I bought nothing. Well, I bought some candy, but nothing for Nora. I was starting to think I was sick or without hope or something.

Then, this morning, when I went to the cafeteria at work to get a coffee and chat with my friend Z, I noticed that the gift shop had a 50% off sale table out front. We have a pretty nice little gift shop at work. Anyway, the cutest little snail nightlight caught my eye. $4.75!! I love him. He lives in Nora's room now.

Lots of ladybugs... so where the heck is Nora??

Thank you SP for the great box of ladybug stuff! It's a ladybug board book, a plush ladybug book, a duck in ladybug rain gear, a ladybug sun catcher ... that's a bunch of ladybugs. Ladybugs are supposed to bring referrals, so what gives?? ;) SP, I agree with what you said in your note. I don't think that ladybugs have any special power either, but they do make me think of Nora. You know I love books and that sun catcher is going to look awesome in my kitchen window. I would put it in Nora's room, but she's got shutters.

On another ladybug note, today we received the new Young Explorers catalog (what can I say, I buy a lot of educational gifts for our nieces and nephews) and it had this:


Apparently I can now grow my own lucky ladybugs. Heh, heh, heh!

P.S. SP, thank you also for the pet treats. Maddie could use some zen. If our pet store had those, I'd have absolutely bought them just for the box. She (Maddie), btw, loves those little cat treats. We had the bottle on the counter and she keeps looking at it. Cat treats must smell really good to her. Poor Abby is going to have to keep an eye on them.

You have to watch this

I found a link to this blog on the RQ site today. Click here.

Eighteen Months - and I missed it!

Yesterday was our 18-month LID anniversary and I completely MISSED IT! It wasn't until I was talking with J today that I realized that this important milestone had gone by unnoticed.

Two years ago, when Rob & I were just starting to fill out our agency application, I never would have guessed that we'd still be waiting for Nora in July 2007, yet here we are. Currently families are waiting about 21 months for their match and it is almost certain to pass the two-year point before we see Nora's face.

Let's all hope for a speed-up, 'cuz I sure would like to have a photo of Nora to include with our Christmas cards.

Weekend wrap up

I wanted to go to the Dragon Boat races today, but that was vetoed by Rob. Instead we went on a shortish (~4 mile) walk with Maddie in the park and had a nice picnic lunch by the lake. Then we came home, and while Rob read his book, I finished the assembly of the main body of Nora's quilt. Now all I have left are the borders (one of which is pieced, so not a trivial task, but still...). Here's a photo taken this evening. Everything you see here is now completely sewn together.

I hope to start on the borders next week. Once that's done, I'm going back to the crib quilt that I started forever ago. Applique is still not my strongest skill, but I've ordered a book from the library and will practice some more on the doll bed quilt.

To close out the weekend, I wanted to share a picture of the graphic on the t-shirt that Maddie gave Rob for his birthday (yesterday)... and, yes, I am the sort of person whose dog gives gifts. I thought it was quite a find - looks just like them!*

Happy Birthday Honey!! I look forward to many more adventures with you!

*except that the actual Maddie has floppy ears and would be in full-alert, critter-chasing posture.

An important travel consideration

I am a naturally curious person, which means that I visit a lot of different websites, which puts me on the distribution for a lot of e-newsletters. One of the lists I'm on is from International Assistance & Adoption Project (IAAP), originally I think I signed up to view their waiting child list and have stayed on the distribution just because they share some good information. This week's newsletter had a little snippet about prescription drugs in China.

Talk to Your Pediatrician Before Travel
We have always recommended you talk with your pediatrician before you travel to get antibiotics you might need for your child. We recommend this even more strongly now that so many counterfeit drugs have been exposed in China. Some drugs approved in China are also dangerous. The former head of the Chinese
FDA was put to death on Monday July 9th after being convicted of approving drugs
that were ineffective and also drugs that resulted in the death of many
people.

You cannot trust the drugs you may buy in China and you may not be able to find what you need when you need it.

I'd heard about the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu earlier in the week, but somehow didn't make the connection to our adoption trip. I wonder how safe Chinese medications are now that the FDA is under new leadership. It's probably smart to play it extra safe and bring everything with you.

Here's a list of travel meds and toiletries that I found of the University of Minnesota International Adoption Clinic website:

For Parents

• Personal hygiene items, including items for feminine hygiene
• Disinfectant soap (e.g., Dial)
• First aid kit including antibiotic cream, Band-Aids, scissors, tape, gauze, rubber gloves and Benadryl
• Disinfectant (e.g., Lysol)
• Contact lens supplies, including saline solution
• Prescription medications
• Tylenol or ibuprofen (e.g., Advil, Motrin)
• Decongestant
• Preparations for diarrhea (e.g., Pepto-Bismol tablets, ImmodiumAD)
• Sink stopper
• Rubber thongs for showers
• Mosquito repellant
• Sunscreen
• Scissors
• Facial tissue
• Toilet tissue
• Wet Wipes
• Transparent tape
• Alcohol wipes

For Baby

• Disposable diapers
• Infant formula; powdered milk-based (e.g., Similac, Enfamiml, Carnation)--only to be used with boiled or bottled water
• Oral electrolyte solution (e.g., Pedialyte or Kaolectrolyte packets)
• Moisturizing cream (e.g., Lubriderm, Aquaphor)
• Infant thermometer
• Plastic gloves
• Infant or Children's Tylenol and ibuprofen (e.g., Advil, Motrin)
• Antibiotic cream (e.g., Bacitracin, triple antibiotic cream)
• Hydrocortisone cream or ointment (1%)
• Oral antibiotics (e.g., Amoxicillin)
• Scabies treatment (Elimite cream)
• Lice treatment (e.g., Nix creme rinse)
• Pacifier
• Infant Sudafed for nasal congestion
• Diaper rash cream (e.g., Desitin, A+D Ointment)
• Fungal diaper rash cream (e.g., Lotrimin cream)
• Baby soap/shampoo
• Mild detergent (e.g., Ivory, Dreft)

More about transracial adoption

I received an e-newsletter from Minnesota Adoption Support and Preservation (MN-ASAP) yesterday afternoon (although I'm just now reading it) that has got to be one of the most thought-provoking 12 pages that I've ever read. If you are part of a transracial family or are thinking of adopting transracially, this is a must-read. Here's a link. Be sure to check out "Externalizing Racism: A Parenting Tool in Transracial Adoption" by Deb Reisner on page 3 and "Parenting Tips for White Parents With Adopted Children of Color" by Sun Yung Shin on page 8.

BTW, I've heard great things about Deb Reisner from one of my coworkers. We are planning on attending a workshop of hers this Fall.

Would you move??

Tomorrow is book club at work. We're discussing Beyond Good Intentions by Cheri Register. This book made me think about a couple of things, one of them was about where we live. Here's an excerpt from the book:

Given this tendency [to seek people like us], we can't really fault parents who object when adoptees advise them to relocate. If you have spent your life in a small town, the same one where your family has lived for generations, why should you have to uproot yourself to add a child to your family? Why should you give up your low-rate mortgage and your well-funded suburban school to move to the city where the houses are aging, the crime rate is higher, and the teachers are busy dealing with social problems? You know you wouldn't feel happy or safe there, so how could that be good for your child? Just keep in mind that he has the same instincts you do: to seek the comfort and safety of the familiar, which, as he grows up and becomes more self-aware, may mean faces less like yours and more like his. Remember, too, that he has traveled a great distance to fulfill your dreams of family. Your move across town or to a neighboring city or even to another state is a minor adjustment compared to the upheaval he has endured.

This same topic has come up in a couple of our adoption network meetings. Last month one of the adult adopted people on our panel mentioned an exercise that one of the local adoption agencies does with their clients. You start with an empty jar and a bunch of black and white marbles - then you go through the people in your life - the ones your interact with regularly like your neighbors, your hair person, your doctor, etc. - and put a marble in the jar representing each of those people. If they are white, you put a white marble and if they are a person of color you put a black marble. Then you look at your jar. It tells you something about the diversity of the environment into which you'll be bringing your child. The good thing about doing this is advance is that you have time to make changes - like look for another doctor or another community all together.

I'm ashamed to say that I don't have to do this exercise to tell you that my jar is mostly white. I also don't especially want to move. I like where we live. Anyone else struggling with this?

RQ's latest analysis

The Rumor Queen posted a new wait time analysis this morning. Here's her table:
So, with a 1/16/06 LID we would have a referral between December 2007 (good case) and September 2008 (horrid case), with between March-May 2008 being more likely.

I also checked in on the China Adoption Forecast site and it is currently saying:

Our best guess - a weighted average of recent CCAA velocities, guessing that CCAA will perform about as well in the future as they are performing now, but might return to previous trends: 2007-12-03

Their worst case is about the same as RQ's - September 28, 2008.

December would be so exciting, but I think March is a lot more likely. I'm hoping that it's not much later than that because of (1) the Beijing Olympics and (2) steamy Guangzhou summers.

Busy busy busy...

Happy belated 4th of July! I'm sorry to have been away from the computer for so long. We've been having a great time with our house guests (five members of Rob's immediate family). We did a bunch of fun stuff - carnival, canoe trip, zoo, birthday party.

The pinata was fun - j and H helped decorate and our neighbor M came over to help break it open. Here's the finished product - the passenger is one of those moose gift card holders from Caribou. He was a perfect fit.
Maddie was also a great sport at the birthday cookout. Not only was she very sweet with j and the neighbor kids, but she also donned an official family canoe expedition bandanna and gamely modeled some of the birthday headgear. I love this dog. It was a very fun weekend, but the house is seeming very empty this evening!