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.
Pictured are:
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.
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?!
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 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!
What all the stylish babies are wearing this Spring - a ladybug bucket hat with matching bag and shades!
By now you probably know how important I think it is to establish family traditions. Shared experiences are, I think, a big part of what binds us together as family. We have some (and a few of them are really good), but I think there's always room for more. 
Today I went to the Pet Expo with my friend J and had a great time! The best part was meeting Winslow the Berner and his person at the therapy dog booth. I've always thought that Maddie would be a great therapy dog but unfortunately I've lacked the commitment to get us certified. Now I really think that we should do it. I think we'll repeat obedience II starting in March and then work on her CGC (canine good citizen certification) and TDI (therapy dogs international). I don't know if we'll have time to do much work once Nora comes home, but maybe we could get into a kids' reading program or something that we could do as a family. Even if that doesn't happen, Maddie and I will get to spend some time together and do more training - that alone is a good thing, especially with a little one coming soon. :)
February 16, 2008 - our 25 month LID-iversary. I wonder how many more of these we'll have - 3? 4? more? I can't explain what has changed this past month, but the wait feels different to me now. We just completed our third (last?) home study update, so that bit of stress is behind us. We're working on care packages for this month's Packing List Challenge. It feels like we're getting closer to Nora. I'm beginning to feather our nest and savor each moment of preparation. This is great! Sort of makes up for the first 24 really long months of waiting.
Bad, Mid and Good case scenarios all have us in April!
I would so love for this to be true - a referral in April would mean travel in May or June. We'd travel before it gets too hot and Nora and I could spend the summer at the beach while I'm on leave. That would be wonderful.
Problem is, I don't believe it. I don't think that they'll match all the way to Jan 5 in March. I still think June is our month...
Yesterday I received a phone call from our agency saying that we should make an appointment for new fingerprints (this will be our third set) because they expect our fingerprints will expire before we bring Nora home. That's not too surprising, but it still made me a little sad. Our prints expire on June 27.
Question of the day: I understand why they want to do another background check (makes perfect sense -- it's been 18 months)... but why do they need new fingerprints to do that? We still have our same fingers.
From Wikipedia: The Rat (Chinese:鼠) was welcomed in ancient times as a protector and bringer of material prosperity. It is the first of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Rat is associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities. The Year of the Rat is associated with the earthly branch symbol 子.
If you haven't already seen it, this is California's "I Voted!" sticker. Trilingual - English, Chinese and Spanish! How cool is that??!!It's about time that we act like the Great American Melting Pot that we profess to be.
It's official - the CCAA has matched LIDs through Dec 27, 2005! That leaves only 20 more LID days until we're matched with Nora! Now the real question is how long it will take to process those 20 days... I'm still guessing it will be June before they get to us, but really hoping for May.
Big hugs to everyone seeing their baby's face for the first time this week - it's so exciting to see people in our DTC/LID group getting their referrals!
I've written here before about the dangers of phthalates in toys and baby bottles. Today in Yahoo! news, I learned that elevated phthalate levels have been found in babies who had recently used baby bath products.
Half the Sky is publishing updates from their orphanages here (click on the word here). Things are not any better than at last update and in some cases they are worse. Please help if you can and please remember Nora in your prayers.
Thank you.
Changzhou, Jiangsu – suffered the largest snowfall in Jiangsu Province. Several buildings have collapsed. But the institution rushed to prepare for the cold and the children are fine.
Chenzhou, Hunan – still facing the most difficulties of the orphanages we’ve reached. They’ve had no electricity or running water for 8 days and there is almost no possibility that power will be restored before New Year’s Eve (the 6th of February.) Because of the blackout, the hospital is closed. 20 children are ill and being cared for by institution staff as well as they can. The banks are closed so staff is contributing personal funds to buy food, coal and diapers. Prices are skyrocketing as all roads to Chenzhou remain impassable.
Guilin, Guangxi - has two broken HTS heater/air conditioners in the Infant Nurture rooms and they’ve asked us to replace. The rooms are very,very cold. They ask for more soft matting for the floors and also snow boots for our HTS nannies who’ve been slipping and falling in the ice and snow as they come to work.
Jiujiang, Jiangxi – had another heavy snow storm last night. Pipes have burst and the five boilers are broken. They are unable to bathe the children and are having trouble keeping them warm. They need quilts, bedding, warm shoes and space heaters. They need medicine for infant coughs and colds.
Yibin, Sichuan – It’s a snowy day but it feels like the weather may be getting better. They’re not sure. They feel the county-level institutions are worse off than they are so the ask us to consider helping others before them. They keep the children warm in the bright rooms that HTS created and they say everyone is well so far.
There are many, many more mentioned in Jenny's email (and these are just the HTS orphanages which you would expect to be better equipped than most). Obviously I don't know where Nora is living now, but it breaks my heart that she could be cold and hungry.
If there is any way that you can help, Half the Sky has established the "Little Mouse Emergency Fund" to help provide relief for children living in SWIs affected by the storm. You can donate through their site at http://www.halfthesky.org/
