Come out come out where ever you are!

Hello blog lurkers!

Now that the new blog is up and running, I'm really not posting here anymore. I'll send the new URL with our referral announcement (hopefully this week!) so if you're on our email distribution, you'll get it then. If you are a regular reader, but you think you might not be on our distribution list (or if you know you're on the email list but want to get to the new blog pre-referral), please email me at journeytonora1@yahoo.com so that I can get you the new URL and password.

If I don't know who you are, I'm sorry, but I will probably not send the URL/password. We are really wanting to be responsible and not post Nora's personal information on the internet for anyone to see. Someday, when she's older, that's a choice that she can make for herself. I hope that you will understand and support our decision. We have gotten so much encouragement and support from our online friends and we're so appreciative! Right now, though, we need to do what's best for our daughter.

Thank you for following our journey to Nora!

Love,
R & J

Nope, still haven't heard anything...

We really thought that would be some substantive rumors by now. Of course now that it could be our month and the rumors might actually be about us, there is an unprecedented rumor-draught!

So far there have been two rumors: (1) matching has begun and (2) LIDs 1/23/06 and beyond are not included. Neither of these is too surprising.

Rob & I still think that we'll be included this month, but we know now that we won't receive our referral until next week (our agency would have had to have received referrals today for us to get a call tomorrow).

It's going to be another long weekend. Mostly we're trying to stay busy and distracted.

Questions for "The Call"

I've been working on my list of questions to ask/things to write down when we get "The Call". Here's what I've got so far:

1. Date and time of call.
2. Name of person calling.
3. Baby's full Chinese name.
4. Translation of baby's name.
5. Full name of baby's orphanage.
6. City and province of orphanage.
7. Foster care?
8. Date of birth.
9. Height, weight and date taken.
10. Other information about the baby - likes/dislikes, appearance, etc.
11. Abandonment information (finding location, date found, note, etc).
12. Travel group #.
13. Other families in our travel group.
14. Can we get a care package to the baby's orphanage?
15. What does the orphanage need most?
16. Can we request updated information on the baby?
17. What is our estimated date of travel?
18. Please email a picture and baby's information to
19. When will you send the full referral packet? Can I have the tracking number?
20. Is there anything else I need to know?
21. What should I do next?

I know that sounds like a lot, but I practiced asking them out loud and they went really quickly. Is there anything else that I should ask? Is this an inappropriate time to ask about her abandonment?

Thanks!!!

Just about ready

I've got Nora's blog moved and almost ready for use. When the time comes, we'll be posting her information and referral photo there and I'll shut this one down. The URL and password for the new site will be included in our referral email announcement, so keep an eye out for that.

The RQ site/forum has been down most of the weekend and of course our agency is closed for the holiday, so I don't know anything new about the status of this month's matching, how many days might be included or when referrals are expected to arrive in the US. I would love for it to be this week, but it's probably more likely that it will be next week. Not necessarily a bad thing, because I've got a squidzillion things to do!

Have a great Memorial Day! Hope it's as sunny and beautiful where you are as it is here!

Pardon the mess...

I'm in the process of moving this blog so that we can better secure it once we receive our referral. I've explored a few options and have decided on the approach, but it's going to take a few days because of all the moving-around that needs to happen.

I think that the first thing you'll notice will probably be some flakiness here. Some of the graphics that I've used on this blog (most notably the background pattern) have been saved on the server that is hosting our family website. Since that site is moving to a new server, I fully expect that the file for the blog background will be deleted within the next 24-48 hours. I'll try to get it back, but if that becomes too big a hassle I'll change it to a solid color and leave you with this memory of the polka dots.

The matching room

It seems like I've waited forever to tell you about the matching room (in reality, it's been about 3 years, but it sure does feel like forever!).

We think that the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) will be matching the next batch within the next few days and - unless there's an unprecedentedly small batch - we think that we'll be "in"! That means that, in the next few days, someone at the CCAA will be matching us with our Nora.

The RQ has written about the matching process here (click on the word "here") and some LWB photos of the matching room are available on this page (click on the word "page").

I get all tingle-y just thinking about it. At this very moment, someone could be looking at our file and thinking that we are the right family for Nora. It is overwhelming.

Please send your thoughts, prayers, and positive energy to the CCAA!

Secret pal revealed -- thank you Corrie L!!

Thank you so much Corrie L. for being such an amazing secret pal to us! Your packages really kept us going each month! This month's gift (above) was perfect -- we just started refreshing our sign language, need to learn all the kids' songs and can take the panda beach ball to China with us!

I hope that you get your TA soon and are able to travel in June! Please stay in touch! We would love to see your baby!!

Preparing for our referral

I have our referral announcements ready to go. The two Chinese knot versions are shown to the left, there is also a third version which is a flat note with a ribbon - no knot, but it does have a yuzen paper-lined envelope like the others. I also made matching envelope seals with Nora's initial.

The only thing left to do is add Nora's picture to the template and print!

I'm also working on an email announcement and our email
distribution list. I guess I could probably start addressing the envelopes for the paper announcements as well.

In other news, today we went to have visa photos taken - we need one photo each for our visas and two each for the adoption registration in China. I also checked our passports to be sure that we have at least 6 months validity and 2 blank visa pages. Rob would have been close, but for some reason he has two passports (one must have been lost at a time when he needed to travel) and the second has plenty of room left.

Here's a rough transcript of my conversation with the photo guy at the UPS store:

UPS guy: Smile less
Me: (smile less)
UPS guy: Less
Me: (smile less)
UPS guy: You know, you aren't supposed to smile at all
Me: How will they recognize me if I'm not smiling?
UPS guy: After a 20 hour flight and standing in line at customs, you won't be smiling.
Rob: (laughs)
Me: (thinking ... I'll be in China to get my baby, no chance I won't be smiling)

I did come away with pictures where I'm smiling a little (no teeth though- the UPS guy wasn't going to push the button if he saw teeth). Thanks to my Dad, I always smile with teeth; it looks better that way, right Dad??

One World, One Dream.

This seems to be a better (although more difficult to read) translation of the "Beijing Welcomes You" song. I'll admit that my Mandarin is horrible, but I recognized 没关系 (mei guan xi). This version seemed to me to match up better on that part of the song. If you know of a better translation, though, please let me know!

Also, if you are as addicted to this song as I am, you can order the cd here http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-c/section-index/pid-1011006337/. I just ordered mine yesterday, so I don't know yet whether it is playable in a US cd player. I'll report back in a few weeks when it arrives.

If you don't have the patience to listen to the whole thing, at least take away the final message:

Whether black or white, men or women, Christian or Muslim, Westerners or Easterners, all together for a dream.
No more separation.
ONE WORLD ONE DREAM.

28 months today

Today is our 28-month LID-iversary and I sincerely hope that by this time next month we will have been matched with Nora. Well, I hope that every month, but this month it might actually be true.

As of now, our agency doesn't have any information about the next group of matches, but they hope to hear within the next couple of weeks.

We could have Nora's photo in just two or three weeks -- I can hardly believe it!

Sichuan Earthquake Update

It now sounds like the death toll from the Sichuan earthquake may be as high as 50,000 people. Of course there are also many thousands of survivors who have lost their families, homes, livelihoods or are unable to get food and water. I saw some of the victims on tv and they are not whining or complaining or demanding, just hoping that there will be some help for them. It breaks my heart.

Our wonderful agency, Chinese Children Adoption International ("CCAI"), which is a 503(c) charitable organization, has set up a relief fund. 100% of all donations will go to help orphans in China -- to provide funds for tents, food, medicine, etc. There are babies without food or shelter.

Please think about how much you have right now ... food, clothing, a roof over your head, the love of a family. If you are able to help, you can donate here: http://www.chinesechildren.org/Sichuan_earthquake.aspx. Your contribution will be put to very good use.

Sichuan Earthquake

I haven't written about the Sichuan earthquake, mostly because I don't know what to say. It is heartbreaking. If you are wondering how you can help and be assured that your donation directly benefits the victims of this disaster, there are some good pointers here (click on "here").

The stories on the news are incredible - large families living under a sheet of plastic because their home was destroyed, people without food or clean drinking water. People who have lost loved ones. Families who have lost their children. Very, very sad.

Beijing Welcomes You

This has been around for almost a month, so I'm a bit slow to discover, but here's a fantastic video of "Beijing Welcomes You" performed by 100 Chinese artists to celebrate the 100 day countdown to the Olympics. You can read more about it here: http://english.cri.cn/4026/2008/04/18/1361@347478.htm

Enjoy! It's very catchy -- I promise you'll be humming it tonight.

(FYI there's another version with English subtitles here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skan0yO-qU8)

Nora's sweet new ride

Rob and I had a really nice day today - lunch out, some errands and a nice walk with Maddie this evening. One of our afternoon stops was at the big REI annual sale. I was looking for closed toe sandals to wear in China, which I didn't find, but they did have 20% off BOB strollers. Irresistible!

Here's photo of Nora's new ride - an orange BOB revolution:

We're keeping it in the basement for now. As you can see, we haven't done the baseboards there yet, mostly because we don't want to stress out Abigail (our 18 yo cat who likes to hang out down there). Trust me, we do have baseboards in the rest of the house. Probably I should have taken it somewhere better for the photo, but it didn't seem worth the trouble at the time.

Obviously we'll also need an umbrella type stroller for trips to the mall and stuff like that. Any recommendations? I was thinking maybe a Maclaren - the Volo is the lightest, but it's also the most bare bones and only has one seating position for the baby. I'm wondering if the Quest might be a better choice because it has 4 seating positions. Does anyone have one and either like it or hate it? Do you have another brand/model that you love?

Packing list challenge #7 - baby meds

I haven't written about the packing list challenge in a while and slacking off is only part of the explanation. I skipped the March challenge (caretaker/orphanage/government official gifts) because our agency provides guidelines by province. I want to follow their guidelines, but it means that we can't purchase gifts until after we receive our referral. I consider this sort of an excused absence.

April's baby meds challenge was doable, though -- and even prompted me to find a pediatrician! Part of what I discussed with her in our first consultation was travel meds for Nora. I know that a lot of people take antibiotics with them to China, but I was concerned about this, mostly because I don't believe that I am qualified to diagnose a bacterial infection and I know that improper use of antibiotics is partly responsible for drug-resistant "super bugs". We talked about this for a while and agreed that the human body, if well cared-for, is amazingly capable of healing itself. What I will carry are Elimite (a prescription for scabies, a kind of louse prevalent in orphanages), hydrocortisone cream (to relieve itching due to scabies), pain reliever, and not a lot else. If Nora is sicker than that, she needs medical attention anyway.

Here's my list-to-date (all over-the-counter, except for the Elimite) and a photo of what we've got so far:

• Aquaphor for eczema
• Little Noses saline drops
• Neosporin antibiotic ointment for cuts/scratches
• Benadryl
• Bulb aspirator
• A&D ointment
• Digital rectal thermometer
• KY jelly (assume this is for the thermometer)
• Adhesive bandages
• First aid tape
• Gauze
• Alcohol wipes (not shown)
• Aveeno hydrocortizone cream for eczema or itching due to scabies
• T-gel shampoo for cradle cap -- do I need this?
• Baby Tylenol
• Baby Motrin
• L'Occitane lavender wipes (as bug repellent, not shown)
• Orajel (not shown - we have a couple of different kinds, in a couple of different flavors)
• Children's ear planes (for ear pressure on the plane)
• Children's sea bands (for motion sickness)

Still needed:

• Elimite
• Echinacea
• Pediatric electrolyte powder
• Baby sunscreen
• Small scissors

Ok, give it to me straight. Too much stuff? Not enough? (I have a bias toward thinking it's too much)

Also, I have a funny husband story to share. Rob and I were talking this evening about the possibility of being referred twins and what our second name would be. We have an already-agreed-upon second name -- or so I thought -- but Rob seems to think that all names should be nickname-able. I disagree. I didn't like either of his suggested nicknames for our second girl name and I think a really good name stands on its own. So, I asked Rob what nickname he thought he'd use for Nora (which I consider non-nickname-able). His answer: "No".

Score: Rob 1, Jennifer 0.*

*notice that Rob goes by a nickname and I use the name that my parents gave me, just thought I'd point that out.

Operation family dinner - week 2 status report

This week our meals came from Moosewood Simple Suppers and Veganomicon. Everything we made was fantastic, although I should mention that the Veganomicon recipes are somewhat more involved and not all suitable for weeknight meals (i.e. take too long to make).

This week's dinners were:

• Seitan Piccata with Olives & Green Beans (I made my own seitan using the recipe in Veganomicon and it was wonderful!), served with mashed yukon gold potatoes.
• Rustic White Beans & Mushrooms and Tomato Couscous with Capers
• Greek Salad (a different one than last week)
• Mexican Polenta Stuffed Peppers (made a TON - we are still eating leftovers)
• Potato and Kale Enchiladas

We ate out once. I had a seared ahi appetizer with salad greens (as my meal). Rob ordered the ahi appetizer too and also a coconut shrimp appetizer. Then we split a chocolate creme brule for dessert. We ate well, but lightly, so it doesn't feel so decadent.

I had also planned on making Sichuan Silken Tofu with Udon Noodles and Pan Asian Slaw, but with the (unplanned) meal out and a bunch of leftovers from the other dinners, we really didn't need it. I'm planning on making it this week instead.

The family dinner project continues to go well - I even lost 3.8 lbs last week, which puts me in first place in the bigger loser challenge we're doing at work. My goal is losing 12 lbs, so at this rate I'll be there in no time! A little friendly competition is a great motivator. So is fear of swimsuit season.

Another new look

I decided yesterday to do a little blog redecorating and unfortunately forgot to take a screen shot with the old template. I do have a copy of the old header, though.

and I took a screenshot of Nora's libary sub-page, which hasn't been updated yet.

Calendar update - May Matches!

May referrals arrived today and appear to cover log in dates from January 10 through January 12, 2006. We're almost there -- maybe next month!

Congratulations to everyone who is receiving their referral! Seeing all the happy families being made gives me hope!

Yawn. I mean ... whee....

This month's rumor roller coaster has turned out to be more of a kiddie ride. No ups, no downs, really not much in the way of rumors at all.

First we heard that this month's batch included the 12th. Then we heard it was through the 12th. Then we heard it included the 12th and was maybe through the 12th. Oh, the suspense. Do you think the cutoff might be, uhm, I don't know, the 12th?

I've thought since December or January that we'd get our referral in June and I still think that. Not much of a roller coaster anymore and, you know what, that's ok with me as long it eventually happens.

There are a number of families with our agency who have 1/11/06 LIDs and we're really hoping that they see their babies' faces this week. Fingers crossed for you guys!!

The best dog ever

I know this probably looks Photoshopped, but it is a real photo! Maddie and I were practicing her down-stays and I decided to try propping a book up in front of her. I'm not sure why we have a Golden Retrievers for Dummies book, but it was good for a photo op.

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I also made a scrapbook layout of the photo with Maddie's evaluation from her Obedience II class on Saturday. She got an "Excellent", by the way, and is approved to move on to just about any class we want to take next. The original plan was to do the Canine Good Citizen class next, but we're having such a good time working together, that I'm thinking of signing up for Obedience III or Rally instead.

P.S. The little girl next door told her mom that Maddie is her best friend. Isn't that cute?! Maddie's gonna be great with Nora.

** Paper and elements from Miss Mint/Peppermint Creative Good Dog kit. **

Operation family dinner - week 1 status report

Our first full week of healthy family dinners has been a huge success. The food has been so good that Rob is concerned that it's going to make him fat (even though there's no reason to think that - everything is super healthy and fresh). Five of our meals came from the Moosewood Simple Suppers book and every one was fantastic.

Here's a rundown of the week:

• Easy Egg Rolls
• Southwestern Black Bean Salad
• Sesame Tofu with Spinach and Soba Noodles
• West Indian Red Beans and Coconut Rice
• Greek Salad (not from the Moosewood book)
• Greek Frittata

One night we were rushed and had Amy's Organics microwave dinners. It was still a fairly healthy meal, so I don't feel too bad about it.

I have another new cookbook, Veganomicon, that we'll be trying this week. We're also making a few more recipes from the Moosewood book.

Now my cookbook cabinet is full. I need to go through my old books and get rid of the ones we never use. Any idea on how to dispose of old cookbooks? Maybe I should check if the Animal Shelter is planning another book sale and see if they'll take them.

Amazing China

First of all, have you seen the new National Geographic?? It's a special issue about China (click on the magazine title above to link to their site). I bought two print copies at Borders this afternoon - one to read and one to save for Nora.

I haven't read the whole magazine yet, but I've read enough to be inspired to do the "About China" page for Nora's lifebook as this week's digi-scrapping homework (topic was recoloring an element - I recolored the filmstrip and the dragon sticker)

Paper - Confucius Says by Heather Roselli for Sweet Shoppe Designs

Photostrip Element - Adapted from Amy Teets Birthday Mini Elements

Dragon Element - Adapted from Maria LaFrance Journeys of the Heart

Fonts - 1001 Free Fonts Chinese Takeaway and Font Garden Astrid

Life without plastic

I found a great site this evening - http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com/

I've been looking for a while for non-plastic dishes for Nora and was happy to have found some more options (the Reed and Barton ones in my previous post seem to no longer be available at the site linked in the post, but you can see them here - click on the word here).

Baby bottles are still a point of confusion. I'd planned on getting the Wee-go bottles, but when I went to the store last weekend they told me they didn't carry them anymore because the nipples leaked. Ugh. I don't want plastic, but I don't want smelly formula dripping all over the place either.

Anyone have any thoughts about ditching the plastic??

Pocket language guide

Last week I ordered the "red card" language guide from OCDF. It arrived in the mail yesterday and is even better than I had hoped! Who knew that so much could fit in such a small space?!

I had been sort of casually working on my own pocket phrase guide, but I think I'm going to abandon that effort in favor of this handy little card (it's a 22 page fold-out). I'll also probably bring the travel language guide that we ordered from our agency, since it isn't very big either.

It's fun to actually be thinking about travel!

Pediatrician - check.

I met with our prospective pediatrician today and couldn't have been happier - I think she's perfect for us! We are on the same page with respect to vaccinations, antibiotics, nutrition and healthcare in general. She gave me a copy of their clinic's baby care binder which contained all kinds of information and said that we'd add to it as Nora grows. This is great - I'm so relieved!!

I also asked her if there were any books that she'd recommend that I read before Nora comes home and she suggested two: Parenting From the Inside Out by Daniel Siegel and Mary Hartzell and Caring for Your Baby and Young Child, Revised Edition: Birth to Age 5 by American Academy Of Pediatrics

The second book we already have (we got it free from State Farm!), but the first one is new to me. It is apparently about examining how our parenting is shaped by the way we were raised. I think it's about not repeating your parents' mistakes. All I can say is that if I'm half the mother my mom is, Nora will turn out great.

Totally unrelated to my visit with the pediatrician, Nora got a beautiful present today - my friend Z was in San Francisco on business last week and he bought Nora the prettiest outfit in Chinatown. He even got shoes (I think we have Z's wife J to thank for that!). Isn't it so cute?!

New PSE skill - spot of color

This week's Photoshop lesson was making a color photo into b&w and then reintroducing some of the color. I did a little still life of the stuff on top of our office armoire. Isn't this the coolest thing?! I think there are some great possibilities for using this technique with baby photos.

I also learned to make my own patterned paper. I made a dot and a plaid, which I used in a layout with the photo above. Really, though, the photo is the star.

Love my Photoshop class!!

Next-to-last Secret Pal gift

I am truly sad to see the last of our secret pal exchanges coming to a close next month. The good news is that we are getting so close to our referral that it makes sense to wrap up the exchange, but I'm really going to miss our secret pal -- hopefully we'll be able to stay in touch after the swap ends next month. I'm also excited to finally get to find out who has been sending us so many wonderful, thoughtful gifts over all these months!

This month's next-to-last gift was (almost) all about hair -- our SP sent a comb and brush set, teeny tiny baby barrettes (perfect for someone with not much hair) and adorable curly ribbon pony tail holders.

She also sent the cutest board book, All About My Day, that is a "baby's first scrapbook" . It is so cool! It has places for us to slip in photos of Nora doing all the things described in the book - eating dinner, playing with her favorite toy, etc. She is going to love reading about herself!!

I also want to send BIG THANKS to Manette for organizing this swap - you've been an awesome hostess!!

Hoping for anything less than "Horrid"

The Queen is back and I'm liking her projections -- come on bad case!!

As silly as that sounds, four of the past five months have been "Horrid" or "Worse-than-Horrid". As someone said earlier today, "Horrid" is the new normal.

I still think that we'll get our referral in June, but I sure am having a good time thinking about May.

Choosing a pediatrician

Thanks to some suggestions from my friends at The Packing List Challenge and the recommendations from several folks in our local FCC group, I think we have a good prospect for a regular pediatrician for Nora (we still plan to use the IA clinic for her initial post-adoption examination). I talked to someone at the office today - she is going to mail me some materials and physician information because their website is in the process of being updated. Once I review those materials, I am supposed to call her back to schedule a consultation. She said that I could even meet with each of the doctors individually if I want to. I think it's great that they offered that, however I'll probably start with the physician who was so highly recommended by members of the local FCC group.

So, now I'm trying to come up with a list of questions for the initial consult. This is what I've got so far (list was compiled from a variety of sources including adoption.com, Adoptive Families magazine and Dr Sears' Baby Book):

• What are the office hours?
• Does the office have evening and weekend appointments?
• What is the average wait for well-baby appointments?
• Does the office see children urgently on the same day for sick visits?
• Are laboratory facilities on site? If not, where would we be sent for these?
• Is screening for hearing and vision done in the office?
• Where did she go to medical school and more importantly where did she do her Pediatric residency training?
• How long has she been in practice?
• Is she board-certified?
• Are the physicians in the office board certified?
• Does she have any special medical interests?
• What experience does she have dealing with the complex issues of the internationally adopted child?
• How many of the physicians within the group actively see Internationally adopted children?
• How do I reach her for routine questions or urgent problems?
• Does she have specific telephone call-in times?
• Can I reach her by e-mail?
• What if Nora becomes ill?
• If Nora is ill, will she usually be seen in the office?
• When would she be referred to the emergency room?
• If a hospitalization becomes necessary, does the office admit to a local community hospital or do they admit to a hospital that is geared towards the care of children?
• Who would be responsible for Nora's care if she were to be hospitalized?
• Who covers the pediatrician when she is away?
• What type of staff is in the office?
• Are we likely to see different providers at each visit?
• How much time will the pediatrician spend with us at a typical visit?
• What is her recommended check up frequency?
• What are her views on well childcare and early childhood development?
• When does she prescribe antibiotics?
• What is the her view on vaccines and what is her recommended vaccine schedule?
• We would like to use the U of M IAC for Nora's first Post-Adoption Medical exam. How does she feel about this? When would she want to first see Nora? How do we coordinate care with the IAC?
• Would she be willing to write prescriptions such as Elimite and Tobrex for our adoption trip or will we need to go elsewhere for that? Does she have concerns with this?
• How does she feel about raising a child as a vegetarian/pescatarian?
• To whom does she refer children who are developmentally delayed?

Am I missing anything?? Are any of these questions unnecessary?

TIA for any advice!

Twenty seven months

'nuf said

What's for dinner

Dinner is one of the things that I think we could do better as a family. Right now Rob and I sort of wing it. We usually eat together at the table, but we don't always eat the same thing. It's not always a quality, balanced meal. Sometimes we bring computers or magazines or newspapers to the table with us. NPR is often on the radio.

This needs to change BN (before Nora). First and foremost, I think we need to have a healthy, planned ahead meal for the family. Individual servings of yogurt, fruit and dry cereal is not an acceptable dinner anymore. I'm going to try to do some meal planning next week - shop over the weekend with a plan for dinner each night. I think we'll eat better this way and I have a new cookbook - Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers - that I'm looking forward to trying.

I also signed up for a share of a local CSA farm. I think we'll get our first box in early June. I signed up for a family share, so that should mean lots of fresh veggies this summer!

Fingerprints

Our CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) fingerprints were due to expire on June 27 and since we won't have Nora home by then, we needed to request an appointment to get them retaken. It's an interesting process. You write a letter requesting an "invitation", then a couple of weeks later you get a letter with your appointment date/time and, unless you have a really good reason to reschedule, that's when you go. Our appointment was Friday morning.

This is something I really don't like to do, because it seems like the immigration office is always full of really crabby people. Friday, though, it wasn't so crowded - the guard was friendly, the other people waiting were friendly, the woman taking Rob's prints was friendly, only the lady doing my prints was having a bad day. I've never heard such sighing. Not a big deal to me, since it was only a few minutes of my day, but how sad for her that the day had already gone so wrong by 10am.
Yes, it's true, I'm running out of material for my digi-scrapping class.

Calendar update -- one more week!

One more week until we're matched with Nora! By week, of course, I mean a week's worth of LIDs. Knowing that the 12th is a big day, I'm thinking that next month will go through the 12th and then we'll get ours in June. You'd think I'd have learned by now that I shouldn't make any predictions about this, but I can't help myself.

Back to bottles ... and an apology for the crabbiness!

So, my mom read the last couple of posts and made the following comment on the phone today, "You're right, you were crabby, but I didn't want to say anything." Gosh, I admitted that at work, but thought I had done a better job hiding it on my free time. Guess not. I'm very sorry to everyone who may have fallen victim to my crabbiness. Especially Rob and my Mom. If I should ever turn crabby again, just tell me to snap out of it!

As of now I have chosen to use my personal energy for good rather than crabbiness. Among the many things on my to-do list:

1. Finish pre-work on referral announcements
2. Work on intermediate digi-scrapping class
3. Learn to use new camcorder
4. Work on baby toiletry/medication packing list challenge
5. Decide on diapers and bottles for Nora.
6. Teach Maddie about her rug

... and, next Friday, NEW FINGERPRINTS! Party on, Wayne.

Update: Oops, and again I forget that I'm supposed to be making a crib quilt for Nora. Thanks, K, for pointing that out!

Getting past the crabbiness

... or trying to anyway.

There's still no final word on the cut off date. Someone posted on the RQ forum that her agency said it was the 10th, but so far she's the only one to have said that and as far as I know no one has received their referral yet. So, we really don't know for sure, but it seems like the cut off is probably 1/9/06. I think that this puts our best case back to June.

Two months for me to worry about what might go wrong. I really need to stay busy. So, I signed myself up for another digital scrapbooking class and I bought a camcorder. I figure I can learn to use it now and get some practice in before the call. If anyone is interested, I decided on the Canon Vixia HF10 (flash memory - sweet!). I have one from the new shipment on reserve at the camera store and am planning on picking it up on Friday.

This is new territory - we've never had a camcorder. Rob's prediction is that I will tap out the capability of our home computer in the first week. We'll see - we just added a terabyte of network storage for photos, etc. Hopefully we can get by with that and the 2.5 year old laptop for a while. If not the Mac - PC war will resume between me and Rob (I'm on the PC side and won the last round, but he makes some good arguments).

Self portrait

Yes, that's right. I'm crabby.

The latest news on the Rumor Queen is that the cutoff for April referrals is 1/9/06. Five (small) days, including a weekend. If it's true, this is a very small batch. This makes May out of the question for us, June is still a possibility *if* they get past the 12th next month.

We know several people with 1/10 and 1/11 LIDs and really feel for them this evening. I so hope that it's not true.

I'm gonna go snuggle with Maddie. She makes me feel better.

The best dog ever

A while back I mentioned that Maddie and I were going to repeat our intermediate obedience class as a refresher. Yesterday was our second week and things are going just great - Maddie is a superstar. Her sit-stay, down-stay, stand-stay, heel, wait, recall and finish are all rock solid. Anything messed up is certainly my fault because Madness sincerely wants to do the right thing.

Next week we are going to learn to teach "go to your rug", so I'll be off to Target today to get Maddie a rug. I think this will be a great thing for her to know around Nora. In fact, I think I'll get a pretty Maddie rug for Nora's room too.

One comment that our instructor made yesterday has really stuck with me. I don't remember her exact words, but the gist was that dog training is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you constantly worry that your dog is going to screw up, he'll probably screw up, but if you have confidence and believe in him, he'll do great. It is so true, I worried a lot with our first dog and he was a wild thing (gorgeous and sweet, but also quite naughty). I could have been a better dog mama to him. My attitude with Maddie is different - I view her as a fundamentally good dog who needs me to teach her. It makes a world of difference.

Update:

We got two rugs for Maddie at Target - a bright green one for Nora's room and a tan one for other places in the house. I'm not sure yet how to teach her to go to her rug and I don't want to do anything that might undermine what we're going to learn next week, but I did decide that associating good things with the rugs was an ok thing to start on now, so I gave Maddie her new bone on the rugs. She seems to have decided that she prefers the green one (that's my girl!).

Ok, twist my arm

Ok, I'm on the roller coaster again. After some encouraging comments from our agency and a post on the RQ forum today which said that someone had been told by their agency that 1/13 LIDs were included in the April batch, I couldn't help myself.

This is exciting. I think we might have our referral in May! (I hope that doesn't jinx anything)

March SP - a panda pack for Nora!

Thank you SP for the adorable panda bear backpack and Little Einsteins book for Nora. I actually had a dream that we took the backpack to China with us so that Nora could carry some of her own stuff (!).

I think the family rule of not bringing anything you can't carry yourself has been thoroughly drilled in. We'll probably help Nora with her bags this time, though.

First lifebook page??

I'm really enjoying my digital scrapbooking class! We did three layouts this week - one using drop shadows, one using a layer template and one using the text mask and eraser tools. After doing the first couple of layouts, I realized that I should be taking this opportunity to work on some projects that I need to accomplish anyway, so my text mask assignment was an attempt at a page for Nora's lifebook. I'm not sure I'm happy with the text color that I used in the journaling, so I might go back and do a little tweaking later. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with it.

Credits: Kay Miller Designs (paper), Kristi Mahrt/ Little Lotus Creations (ribbon, adapted) and Tammy Conlan (scalloped frame) for Journey of the Heart

If you can't read the text, it says:

There is a tradition in parts of China where, to welcome a new baby, each family in the village contributes a piece of cloth, along with their good wishes for the baby. The scraps of cloth are then sewn into a quilt which contains the luck, energy and good wishes of all the people who gave a piece of fabric.

While we were waiting to bring you home from China, we decided to collect fabric squares and good wishes from all the friends and family who love you and who were waiting for you to come home. Then mommy learned to sew and made them into a quilt for you. We call this your one hundred good wishes quilt.

I really highly recommend the godigitalscrapbooking classes - it is a very encouraging group!

Blogging in China

Have any of you had any experience using Blogger while in China? I've heard from a few people that it doesn't work at all, but then I've seen a couple of people use it with some success (good success posting, limited success with photos, no success with video).

I would really like to use this blog to post updates while we're in China, but I don't want to create headaches for myself either. I realize that we'll be busy and, obviously, Nora will be our first priority. If blogging is going to be a big headache or eat up a bunch of time, then I don't want to mess with it. Our best other alternative is our little-used family website, but that requires that I publish updates via FTP and I don't know if that will work either.

Any words of wisdom? If neither of these will work, what about one of the commercial sites like BabySites or JourneytoMe? I really would like to avoid creating a personal Yahoo! group or emailing to someone else to post on my behalf. I know that both of those would work, but the way I see it, this is my problem and I don't want to create any difficulties for anyone else.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions! I also emailed our agency this evening - if I learn anything from them I'll let you know.

26 months

These milestones are starting to get away from me. I almost forgot that today is our 26 month LID-iversary. Hopefully I'll only have a couple more of these to remember!

This month's picture is in honor of Rob and "the best car ever", which was actually a 1977 Saab 99 (photo right), but I couldn't find one of those with a number 26 on it.

** Photos in this post are from www.cartype.com**

Digi-scrapping - learning a new skill

I've started taking a digital scrapbooking (Photoshop Elements) class online at Go Digital Scrapbooking. This is the end of the second week and I think it's going pretty well - I've learned way more about PSE in the past two weeks than I'd picked up in a year of trying to learn on my own with a book.

This is my assignment for this week - the assignment was using selection tools and layers. We were also supposed to create photo borders. The header wouldn't have been my choice, but it is somewhat in keeping with the assignment. I do like the way the bottom portion of the layout with Maddie's boots drying by the fire came out, though. Maybe I'll rework it a little later.

Really, I'm trying to prepare for making Nora's referral announcements, baby book, lifebook and our travel journal. I tried paper scrapbooking a while back and it didn't go very well. Digi-scrapping seems to be much more my thing (and I don't get glue all over the place). Hopefully by the time Nora comes along I'll have gotten the hang of it.

Update 10:29pm - after some more playing, I have what I think is an improved title. What do you think?

Credits: Digital papers from Emma's Smile by Danielle Young

Work in progress

A while back I mentioned my desire to make Nora's referral announcements (click on "referral announcements" to see that post). Well, after one card making class and some email conversations with my friend Z's lovely wife J, who is an avid scrapbooker, I came up with some good prototypes. The problem was that I needed a tag or something from which to "hang" the Chinese knots that I bought.

After much Google-ing, I found these rubber stamps (click here for more info about the stamps). They are a bit larger than I'd like, but other than that they are darned near perfect. I couldn't decide between "I Love You", "Dreams Come True" or "Blessings", so I ordered all three.

Next problem (of course) was that I knew nothing about rubber stamping, other than what I learned in card making class. Obviously I needed to take a rubber stamping class. Tonight was my free* rubber stamping class and it was FANTASTIC. I tried a ton of products and made all these samples (click on the photo to see a larger version). THEN I went shopping!

I'm feeling pretty good about this. I'm not sure that I want to reveal the card, though, until after Nora's referral. I don't want to spoil the surprise for the people on our mailing list! I'm working on an email announcement too, by the way. If you're curious, here's a little preview of the yuzen paper lined envelopes. There are three different versions because I wasn't able to get enough materials to make them all the same. It's actually a good thing, because I now like "plan B" better than "plan A".

* the class was free, but then I bought a whole basket full of stamping supplies!

A positive sign!!

After a lengthy period of radio silence, today we received a somewhat exciting email from our agency -- it was time to download our pre-placement packet!

This packet included some information about travel, passports, paperwork and a contact sheet for us to complete and return to them so that they have all our phone numbers for "the call". How exciting to finally be planning for our referral day!

After reading the packet, I think that I should probably also start a "to do" list for everything that needs to happen between referral and travel -- stop newspaper, hold mail, notify employers of leave dates, make boarding arrangements for our furkids, etc, etc, etc. I'll post a draft when I get it put together. In the meantime, if you think of anything that I need to remember to do, feel free to comment here or send me an email. Thanks!!

Hmmm... I still think June

The table above is from RQ's latest analysis. I've highlighted the cells including our LID in green. The good case, which never happens anymore, has us in April. Bad case has us in May and the horrid case has us in June. The past several months have been between bad and worse-than-horrid, so it seems that May is a possibility, but June is much more likely. So, I still think June.

Now that our referral is getting closer, we're starting to think more and more about Nora -- who is she, where is she now? This weekend, when we were romping in the snow with Miss Madness, we couldn't help but wonder if Nora is from someplace warm. If that's true, will she like our climate? Will she like water (of course she will - she's our daughter!)? Will she share my birthday (June 30), Rob's birthday (July 14)? We can't wait to learn all about her!

When life gives you snow ... make a snowman!

We've been wanting a little Spring getaway, so when I got an email for Dog Lovers weekend "Up North", we decided to go. It was chilly - 4 below this morning (yikes!), but still fun and Maddie had a ball (photographic evidence below).

I do want you to also know that there are, indeed, people weirder than us. This weekend there was an outdoor wedding at the same resort. Yesterday. Minus 4. Outdoor wedding. Wow. I don't even know what else to say about that.

Aside from the cold, it really was a lovely weekend. Here's my favorite non-dog photo, taken on the drive back this afternoon. This is Lake Superior. Isn't it gorgeous? With good boots, a hat and a warm pair of gloves, it really wasn't bad out at all. We really need to get those snowshoes we've been talking about so we have a fun family winter activity.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Congratulations 12/28 - 1/4 LIDs!

March referrals are beginning to arrive and it sounds like they cover log in dates through January 4, 2006. Finally we have broken through to OUR MONTH!!!

January 4 would be one day worst than RQ's "horrid" case scenario, but it is what I was expecting to see this month, so I'm sticking with my June prediction for our referral. May would be nice, but let's say June for now and I may amend if April gets through January 12. If April gets through January 11 or less, ours will almost certainly not come until June (or later). Have I lost you yet? Makes perfect sense to me - we PAPs* have our own language.

Congratulations to our friends who are receiving referrals this month - we are so excited for you!!

* PAP = Prospective Adoptive Parents

Special delivery

First I want to thank everyone who shared their opinions in our dresser poll - we did decide on #3, the Jenny Lind dresser. It was delivered yesterday, as was our swivel glider.

Here's a photo of the dresser in Nora's room (needs a little accessorizing):

and here's the glider (needs a pretty pillow... and maybe a bit of ironing):

Despite my insistence that I would not gender stereotype my child, I realize that Nora's room has become quite girly. I suppose I should get some toy trucks now.

Worse than the rollercoaster

...waiting to get on the rollercoaster.

This is the worst time of the month for me. There aren't many rumors yet and of the few that are out there, none are anything too exciting. So far everything is suggesting that the cutoff is going to be someplace around Jan 4, 2006, which is pretty much what I was expecting anyway.

Yawn. Where are those rumors??

Care package challenge!

Once we get our referral, we'll be able to send a care package to Nora at the orphanage (or foster home). Since it's packing-related, the care package is this month's packing list challenge. This was a very fun challenge - WAY more fun than the paperwork challenge that I still haven't finished.

Here's our care package so far:

Pictured are:

• camera 2-pack
• baby's family photo album (Nora's referral photo will go in the window on the front)
• labels for photos (they are ready, but not stuck in yet because we are missing photos of a couple of family members. You know who you are -- if we don't get photos, we'll draw you. You've been warned!)
• 2 bags of Jelly Bellys for the nannies or foster mom
• 4 small boxes of Frango chocolates, also for nannies or foster mom
• "taggie" blanket that I bought on Etsy (sooo cute!)
• fleece blanket that we got from one of our secret pals
• a bunny lovey
• two sleepers
• 4 pairs of baby socks
• rattle

Missing from photo:

• letter to orphanage director (not finished)
• baby questions book (ordered from Sharp books, but not here yet)

All of this stuff has to fit in a shoebox-sized box. I've had some trouble finding a box like that (I don't save shoeboxes and Pack and Mail didn't have the size I needed), so I haven't had a chance to do a test-pack yet and don't know how much of this won't fit. If there is a space problem, I'll pull out the fleece blanket and the "taggie" blanket.

Happy Birthday, Gram Louise!

We would like to wish a very Happy 108th Birthday to Nora's great-great-grandmother (Rob's great-grandmother), Gram Louise! If you watch the Today Show, Willard Scott will be wishing her a happy birthday on Wednesday, February 27 in the fourth half hour of the show. Pretty cool, huh?!

Time to buy car seats?

This is the week. Britax car seats are on sale - 15%-20% off with free shipping pretty much anyplace you look. This is probably a smart time for us to buy. Prices are good and it will be one less thing that we have to do in the weeks between referral and travel.

I read the reviews in Consumer Reports and they reviewed the Roundabout (which did very well) and the Marathon (which did not so well). I didn't see the Boulevard or Diplomat reviewed, possibly because they are newer models. Right now I'm preferring the Boulevard because it has side impact protection, can be used for children up to 65 lbs and is approved for airline use. I am a little concerned about its size, though, and wonder if the Diplomat might not be a better choice for that reason - the Diplomat also has side-impact protection and is approved for airline use, but the maximum weight is 40 lbs. Do I care? Will we be switching to a booster then anyway?

**Update Rob and I chatted about the car seat and decided to go with the Diplomat (in the Taylor fabric, pictured in the photo above). I ordered two, one for each car. I'll let you know what I think of them when they arrive.**

I wish I were craftier

I have this idea in my head that I can make our referral announcements. I bought some yuzen paper (and probably need some more since I now think that I should line my envelopes) and some Chinese knots and have sort of a mental image of these cool Asian-inspired cards using b&w copies of Nora's referral photo and some of these items I've collected.

The problem is, of course, that I have a proven lack of talent for paper crafts. Truthfully, I think it's probably more a lack of patience than anything else. I've tried scrapbooking - for Nora's One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt project - and the first few pages came out really nice, but the quality eventually declined to the point of just sticking notes on a piece of plain black card stock.

The cards, though, are a smaller project and will be repetitive once I get a design that I like. I think I can do this ... and for a little inspiration (and help with technique) I enrolled in a two-hour card making class at Archiver's.

My class was tonight after work and I got to make the four cards shown at the left (there was no choice in the matter - we had to make them exactly the way the instructor said without deviation, anything else was "wrong"). Aside from the rigidity in the projects, It was a pretty good class and I got to use lots of new products that I didn't even know existed -- clear stamps, watermark ink, precut card parts.

The pre-cut card parts were actually the best part of the evening. Archiver's has a new line of card-making supplies called "Yours Truly" that has a huge assortment of pre-cut, pre-scored cards, envelopes and stickers in really great colors (including chocolate brown and 3 shades of pink!). I'm going to need to go back with one of my Chinese knots and a swatch of yuzen paper and spend a little bit of time experimenting with the different colors and card parts. I think that there's a lot that you can do with just the precut stuff and some adhesive. Imagine the time and frustration you could save without having to cut everything yourself! This is my kind of craft!

Hopefully someday soon I'll have a referral announcement to show you!