Nora

Come out come out where ever you are!

2008-06-01T20:46:00.003-05:00

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...

2008-05-29T21:22:00.005-05:00

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"

2008-05-26T18:34:00.001-05:00

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:

Date and time of call.
Name of person calling.
Baby's full Chinese name.
Translation of baby's name.
Full name of baby's orphanage.
City and province of orphanage.
Foster care?
Date of birth.
Height, weight and date taken.
Other information about the baby - likes/dislikes, appearance, etc.
Abandonment information (finding location, date found, note, etc).
Travel group #.
Other families in our travel group.
Can we get a care package to the baby's orphanage?
What does the orphanage need most?
Can we request updated information on the baby?
What is our estimated date of travel?
Please email a picture and baby's information to
When will you send the full referral packet? Can I have the tracking number?
Is there anything else I need to know?
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

2008-05-25T10:19:00.006-05:00

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...

2008-05-23T19:47:00.005-05:00

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

2008-05-21T20:03:00.004-05:00

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!!

2008-05-21T19:25:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-17T19:55:00.013-05:00

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.

2008-05-16T18:52:00.001-05:00

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

2008-05-16T05:38:00.000-05:00

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

2008-05-15T20:28:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-14T20:53:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-14T19:40:00.001-05:00

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

2008-05-11T20:18:00.005-05:00

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

2008-05-05T18:24:00.014-05:00

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

2008-05-04T18:50:00.005-05:00

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

2008-05-04T18:37:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-05-02T18:45:00.004-05:00

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....

2008-04-29T19:41:00.007-05:00

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

2008-04-27T20:00:00.017-05:00

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.

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

2008-04-27T11:52:00.005-05:00

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

2008-04-26T19:31:00.007-05:00

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

2008-04-25T20:59:00.008-05:00

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

2008-04-25T19:04:00.005-05:00

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.

2008-04-22T19:58:00.007-05:00

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

2008-04-19T21:28:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-19T18:21:00.005-05:00

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"

2008-04-17T22:07:00.005-05:00

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

2008-04-16T21:05:00.006-05:00

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

2008-04-16T05:22:00.001-05:00

'nuf said

What's for dinner

2008-04-14T21:43:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-13T10:30:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-04-05T16:05:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-04-04T20:28:00.008-05:00

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:

Finish pre-work on referral announcements
Work on intermediate digi-scrapping class
Learn to use new camcorder
Work on baby toiletry/medication packing list challenge
Decide on diapers and bottles for Nora.
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

2008-04-02T05:14:00.003-05:00

... 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

2008-03-31T21:11:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-30T08:29:00.009-05:00

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

2008-03-26T20:55:00.010-05:00

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!

2008-03-25T21:13:00.003-05:00

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??

2008-03-23T14:08:00.006-05:00

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

2008-03-17T19:44:00.004-05:00

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

2008-03-16T16:00:00.007-05:00

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

2008-03-15T20:51:00.011-05:00

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

2008-03-12T21:40:00.030-05:00

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!!

2008-03-11T21:39:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-10T18:27:00.005-05:00

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!

2008-03-09T20:54:00.008-05:00

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!

2008-03-03T18:35:00.015-06:00

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

2008-02-28T20:17:00.009-06:00

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

2008-02-26T21:47:00.007-06:00

...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!

2008-02-25T20:27:00.008-06:00

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!

2008-02-24T21:34:00.004-06:00

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?

2008-02-24T10:11:00.007-06:00

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

2008-02-20T21:30:00.014-06:00

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!

Spring preview 2008

2008-02-19T19:32:00.004-06:00

What all the stylish babies are wearing this Spring - a ladybug bucket hat with matching bag and shades!

I'm also excited about our first bathtub book! It's so cute!

Thank you Secret Pal for sending such a cheerful, happy package. We love it!

Election night traditions

2008-02-18T19:30:00.003-06:00

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.

Election nights are no exception. Rob and I usually go together to vote after work, grab a pizza for dinner, then come home and watch the returns on CNN while munching on a bowl of popcorn.
If at all possible, I stay up until all the results are in, otherwise I could go to bed thinking that Al Gore is president and then wake up to... Well, that's another story.

Our state's primary is tomorrow and we're planning on our usual election day activities. I'm wondering, though, what could make it better (aside from my guy winning). Any ideas?

P.S. I made that little piece of type mask artwork at the top of this post in Photoshop. It's part of my digital scrapbooking practice - if you can't tell, it's pizza, popcorn, an American flag and CNN's election set inside the word VOTE. I lack the patience for paper scrapbooking, so I'm trying to learn digiscrapping. It is quite possible that I don't have the patience for this either. I really like to be good at things right away.

Gone to the dogs

2008-02-17T20:25:00.001-06:00

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. :)

Feeling ... great!

2008-02-16T06:56:00.001-06:00

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.

When?? (or "How gullible do you think I am?")

2008-02-12T19:43:00.000-06:00

I've been saying for a while that we expect our referral in June 2008. I really believe June is our month. If we're very lucky maybe May, but I think that's a longshot.

Today on Rumor Queen, though -- Holy smokes!!

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...

This whole thing is getting really repetitive

2008-02-08T05:06:00.002-06:00

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.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

2008-02-07T05:17:00.000-06:00

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.

Have a happy and prosperous New Year!

A changing world

2008-02-05T19:52:00.000-06:00

for the better, if you ask me!

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.

20 more days!

2008-02-04T20:40:00.000-06:00

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!

Phthalates - they're everywhere!

2008-02-04T19:15:00.000-06:00

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.

Even more alarming is that manufacturers are not required to list fragrance ingredients which are a common source of phthalates. The article suggests looking for products labeled as "phthalate-free". I'll have to check the stuff I bought for Nora - it came from the organic market, but you never know.

Here's a link to the article (click on the word article).

China weather update

2008-02-03T20:10:00.001-06:00

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.

China weather crisis

2008-02-02T08:54:00.000-06:00

I'm sure you've all heard about the weather conditions in China in the news. It is a terrible, terrible situation where many people are without water, heat, warm clothing and the supplies they need to stay warm and safe. The weather has also had a disastrous effect on many orphanages.

Jenny Bowen from Half the Sky has been sending email updates on the status of their orphanages and I thought I'd post a few excerpts here to give a sense of the situation.

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/

New choice for retail therapy!

2008-01-31T20:34:00.000-06:00

Be still my heart - a new concept store from Gymboree.

www.crazy8.com

Wheeee!!!

2008-01-31T19:39:00.000-06:00

Amazing -- a whole week of fantastic big referral batch rumors and the roller coaster still has not taken any big dips! This is FUN!

On the less fun side of adoption, today I went to the doctor for the annual health exam needed in our state. Last year, through some stroke of luck, I was able to get by with a note from my doctor (seriously, he wrote a note), but this year it was back to the full physical with lab work and TB test. No fun.

More books ... and some music too

2008-01-26T17:25:00.001-06:00

Today we resumed our Borders habit with lunch in the café and a little book shopping. I bought myself a Chinese page-a-day calendar on clearance for $4 and got two new books for Nora - Zen Ties by Jon Muth and You're Never Too Little to Love by Jeanne Willis. They are both great and the second would be a fantastic Valentine's gift for a little one if you're looking for something.

I was also at Borders last Monday (I had the day off for MLK day) with my 40% off cd coupon and bought 3 new cds for Nora. Nora has very little music of her own - just a few cds and some stuff that I downloaded from iTunes ("Octopus's Garden" - Ringo Starr, "Rocket Man" - Elton John, "Merry-Go-Round" - Antje Duvekot and "Yellow Submarine"* - Ringo Starr) - but I'd like her to have more. Sooo, I've added a new blog page for Nora's Music - there's a link in the sidebar to the left. If you have any suggestions for great children's music, I'd love to hear them!

* Paul has said that he wrote "Yellow Submarine" as a children's song for Ringo to sing. I'm choosing to believe this, rather than the alternate interpretation.

What happened to my ticker?!

2008-01-26T10:01:00.000-06:00

I just noticed that our ticker has been recalibrated. Apparently this wait has become so long that the ticker has decided that instead of measuring time in months and weeks that it now needs to measure in YEARS!
If you haven't seen it, the actual ticker is at the bottom of this page, scroll waaay down. I think it must have changed when we passed our 2-year LID-iversary.

Two tickets please!

2008-01-25T20:32:00.000-06:00

It's that time of month - when the CCAA is rumored to be working on matches for the month and the entire China adoption community speculates on the number of matches made and the LID cutoff date. And - boy - are there some wild rumors this month. First there was some indication that 12/22/05 LIDs would be "in", then a rumor of 12/30/05, followed by a rumor of 12/27/05.

While any of these would be VERY good news (expectations have been set to expect only through 12/20/05) - the possibility of getting through 12/30 has me excited beyond all belief! 12/30 would put them within 17 days of our LID for Nora.

Rob says that he doesn't want to ride this rollercoaster anymore. Luckily I have my friend, J, at A Lesson in Patience who's going to ride with me this month. So we'll take two tickets, please, and we'll be sure to hold on to our hats.

For the latest in rumors, visit the Rumor Queen at www.chinaadopttalk.com or the RQ forum at www.chinaadopttalk.com/forum.

Dresser indecision!!

2008-01-20T19:08:00.000-06:00

The dresser that we were rebuilding/refinishing for Nora's room has been a comedy of errors. Long story short - the drawers don't fit right and Rob is not too keen on re-rebuilding them, so I'm dresser shopping. I'd really like one in green milk paint, but those are all really expensive, so my finalists are all antique white like the crib.

As a refresher, this is Nora's crib (a very old picture):
The three dressers I'm currently considering are:

(1) Madeline - Chest of drawers matching Nora's crib. This is 45"wide, 20"deep, 43.5"high - the largest of the three. I can make it fit, but you should know that Nora's room is more cozy and charming than huge.

Pros: matches crib, provides a good amount of storage

Cons: largest of the three options, most expensive

(2) Berkeley - Chest of drawers from the same store as Nora's crib, but in a different style. Size of this one iz 38.5" wide, 18" deep, 32" high.

Pros: paint color likely matches crib, smaller size that would work well next to the chair

Cons: least storage of the three

(3) Jenny Lind - Chest of drawers from different store than the crib. This one measures 37" wide, 18.5" deep, 34" high.

Pros: Traditional style could be repainted and used pretty much anywhere, smaller size that will work well next to the chair, deeper drawers, optional accessory top available

Cons: paint may not be exact match to crib (although both are described as antique white so I think it will be close)

I like #1 and #3 better than #2, but I'm having a hard time deciding between those two. I like #3 a lot and it is the truer match to my personal style, but #1 matches her crib.

Thanks for your input! This poll closed on 1/26/08 - results are shown below:

P.S. I ordered dresser #3 (which is the 3-drawer Jenny Lind dresser with accessory top from Land of Nod).

Making your own luck

2008-01-17T21:15:00.000-06:00

If it should turn out that ladybugs really are lucky, we'll be in good shape! Our secret pal sent us a whole package of ladybug luck this month - Shaoey and Dot (the quintessential China adoption storybook), a ladybug necklace and the cutest ever ladybug footy pjs. I'm not sure I have ever seen jammies so cute and I do love jammies.

Thank you very much secret pal!

Well, this is it.... 24 months

2008-01-16T00:01:00.000-06:00

24 months today. Unbelievable.

First we thought that the wait would never pass 12 months. Then we thought it would never pass 24 months. Never say never.

When this wait ends, however long it takes, Nora will be home with us and it will have been worth every minute.

The principal part of faith is patience.
~George MacDonald~

From bottles to sippy cups...

2008-01-12T16:08:00.001-06:00

Back in August when I was first worrying about polycarbonate baby bottles, Annette mentioned that Thermos has a line of kids' products called Foogo, which use all child-friendly materials. Back then you needed to order them online (at least in our area you needed to order them). Today, though, when wandering aimlessly* through Target I found them in both pink/purple and periwinkle/yellow. I bought the periwinkle/yellow sippy cup (pictured in this post) for Nora.

If you're looking for them, our Target had them in the sporting goods/outdoor section by the other thermos bottles and Eddie Bauer outdoor gear. They are not with the other sippy cups in the kids' section.

* note to Rob and my Dad -- See! proof that sometimes you just need to browse!

The next thing in baby bottles

2008-01-08T20:00:00.000-06:00

I must be getting old, I'm like the safety monitor.

I was out shopping over the weekend and found these great baby bottles (at the toy store!)

They are glass bottles (no evil plastic leaching into baby's formula), with a silicone sleeve that makes them easier to hold and I assume helps prevent breakage. The ones that I saw at the store - also pictured above - are the Wee-Go bottle from Baby Life.

Silikids has a similar product, called Siliskin. I don't think they're quite as cute as the Wee-Go bottles, but the price is a lot more attractive. Siliskin is about $12/bottle and the Wee-Go is around $18/bottle. It's a lot, I know, but baby's brain development is surely worth the price.

A previous post on this same topic can be found here (click on the word here). It seems that I haven't worried about this since August. That's pretty good for me!

Door lock update

2008-01-08T19:48:00.000-06:00

Thanks, Alyson for your comment on my previous post! I can't believe that it didn't occur to me that our security system could be set to beep when a door opens. Duh! Obviously that is not a feature that we use. Until now we have viewed the security system as something to keep people out, not keep them in! A baby really does change everything, doesn't it?!

As Alyson mentions in her comment, you can also get inexpensive travel alarms that can be used either at home or while traveling. Here's one example that I found at Walkabout Travel Gear.
You can find some others at My Precious Kid or just google "travel door alarm".

Important saftey issue - check your door locks

2008-01-06T08:11:00.000-06:00

There was a horrible story in the news here last week. A 2-year old boy woke during the night and somehow got out the door while his mother slept and couldn't get back into the house. He froze to death overnight in the snow. They interviewed neighbors for the news - this boy's mother was very cautious and always watched him closely. It was not a lapse in parenting, it's just a terrible tragedy that could have possibly been prevented by a secure lock out of the child's reach. Here's a link (click on the word link) if you're interested in reading the story.

One of our doors has a lock that's very easy to open from the inside and very difficult to open from the outside. Previously I thought that was a pretty good thing - in case of fire, for example, you want it to open quickly and easily but default state of "locked" is generally a good thing. Now, though, I'm rethinking my opinion on this lock. A 2-year old probably wouldn't even be able to reach the doorbell to let you know they were locked out, which is another concern. Even if she could reach it, would she think to ring it? What do we teach her? Bang on the window? Maybe I should put something noisy someplace outside. I guess I can also hope that Maddie (our dog) would hear her trying to sneak out.

A dismal three days

2008-01-02T18:54:00.001-06:00

It's true. The CCAA has matched only from Dec 15 - Dec 19 this month. Two of those days were on a weekend and the others did not appear to include many dossiers (and none at all from our large China-only agency, whose next LID is 12/20).

I'm sad for us and even sadder for the 12/20 families who had hoped to receive a referral this month.

While I continue to hope for the best, I'm also beginning to mentally prepare myself for a referral in late Summer or Fall. October in Guangzhou sounds a whole lot more pleasant than August, doesn't it? (How's that for a glass-half-full perspective?!)

Hugs to all the other waiting parents! Believe me, we feel your pain!

New Years Resolution

2008-01-01T21:14:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure if it's really fair for me to give up Diet Coke as a New Year's Resolution, since I technically quit on December 10, but this is hard for me so I'm counting it anyway. I even managed to resist while we were in NC visiting Rob's DC-addicted family for Christmas.

I haven't given up caffeine - tea and coffee are still ok in my book, but the chemical goodness of DC is off limits. I'm also off most other carbonated beverages, but did make an exception for a couple of cans of Canada Dry during my recent bout with the flu. It was better to not get dehydrated than to rigidly stick to the no-carbonation thing. We'll see how I manage when the stress of work returns.

Just a little sad

2008-01-01T19:42:00.001-06:00

You know what, I didn't really think that Illinois would beat USC, but I'd hoped that we'd do a little better than this. Still, this season was WAY more than any Illini fan could have hoped for. They should be very proud of their season and really looking forward to 2008!

I'm even sorrier that the CCAA seems to have only matched through 12/19/05 - this was actually worse than the RQ horrid case. Ugh. My current guesstimate for Nora's referral is now - gulp - August. Or later, if they really do stop referrals from May - August due to the Olympics.

Baby girl, I really hope that you're here for Thanksgiving and Christmas - you have lots of people waiting to meet you!

Happy New Year!!

2008-01-01T09:10:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! Rob and I are very excited for 2008 -- this will be the year that Nora joins our family!

I'm also hopeful that this is the year that Illinois wins the Rose Bowl! We're 2TD underdogs against USC, though -- so go put on your orange and blue and get ready to cheer your hardest for the Fighting Illini in Pasadena!

Click on the console bar above for the Illinois War Chant. I know it's not so politically correct, but it always gets me in the spirit of the game!

The most beautiful diaper bag ever

2007-12-31T20:29:00.000-06:00

Rob picked up on my none-too-subtle hints and got me this amazing diaper bag for Christmas.

It's the Skooch Groovy, Baby in Chocolate (sort of looks black in this photo, but trust me, it's a lovely chocolate brown) and it came with a matching changing pad. Of course I can't speak to it's functionality yet, but I can say that it is a great looking bag and seems to be very well made. I can't wait to try it out!

We also got some wonderful gifts for Nora from Rob's sister K and her family who had our name in this year's family exchange. They got her a red (yay!) Chicco backpack carrier, which Rob has already put away on the top shelf of Nora's closet where I can't reach it. They also got her some sporty Christmas jammies for next year, Counting Kisses board book and Tails board book (the Tails book is from Nora's cousin J who is 2). Thanks, J, for wanting Nora to have a copy of your favorite book. Nora is very lucky to have you to show her the ropes!

New year (almost), new look!

2007-12-29T08:41:00.000-06:00

I don't know why template editing doesn't come easier to me than it does, but for some reason blog design is a challenge. Rob and I talked about the kinds of things we like and decided that Nora's blog should have a fresh, outdoorsy look. What you see now is the best I've come up with so far. It is probably also how I'm going to leave it for a while ... but please let me know what you think. There's a poll in the sidebar to the left or, if you'd rather, you can leave a comment on this post.

I've also made similar updates to Nora's Library blog (link to left under "Site Navigation).

Christmas goodies!

2007-12-21T18:46:00.000-06:00

Today we got a great Christmas present from our Jan DTC Secret Pal. She sent a Biscuit Christmas board book (it's a texture book that will be perfect for Nora next year), a Christmas card record book, a tree-trimming music cd (haven't listened to it, but I'll put it on the car tomorrow for sure), a really cute resin picture frame and a My First Christmas photo album which I absolutely love. It brought tears to my eyes.

Thank you very much - we love everything. Merry Christmas!
I'd also like to take a moment to wish my wonderful hubby a very HAPPY 16th ANNIVERSARY. I love you!

Flaky background pattern

2007-12-18T20:03:00.001-06:00

I've noticed that the background pattern on this blog hasn't been showing up reliably. I'm not sure why that is because I'm referencing the pattern from a file on the server where our personal website is hosted ... it should always be available.

Anyway, in case you can't see it, I've pasted a screen shot above. This will also be a nice memento of the old template. I thought it was cute when I first made it, but it hasn't evolved at all over the past two years and is definitely in need of a new look.

I'll be working on this over winter break and hope to have something ready to share by New Years!

What do you think?

2007-12-17T20:02:00.000-06:00

I've been enviously eyeing everyone's cool blogs and thinking that mine looks a little blah. Tell me what you think. Please vote below.

Update 12/18: I took the poll down. I get the message. There will be a new look for 2008! Thanks for your input!

And by the way...

2007-12-16T10:00:00.000-06:00

Today is our 23 month LID-iversary and what do I think of when I think of #23?? Michael Jordan!! What can I say? You can take the girl out of Chicago, but... well, you know.

Hopefully I'll not need to use any photos of MJ in his other number.*

*Michael Jordan wore No. 45 for 17 regular-season and five playoff games in 1995. (He also wore No. 12 once, when his jersey was stolen in a trip to Orlando in 1990.) After that, I guess #23 was un-retired and then re-retired.

Christmas tradition

2007-12-16T09:32:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Rob and I went to the Lorie Line Holiday Extravaganza at the Orpheum (an absolutely gorgeous, historic theater) - we go every year and consider it our anniversary present to each other. In recent years, Lorie has been bringing kids up from the audience for a special activity. This year they sang the 12-Days of Christmas - it was amazing and the costumes for the kids were unbelievable (10 lords a leaping were frogs in crowns, 9 ladies dancing were kitties in tutus). I've posted the photo below, hopefully you can click on it to see more detail. If that doesn't work, try this link to Lorie's website (click on the word link).

Also on the Christmas front, I took a quiz that I saw on Rhonda and Mike's blog to find out which holiday character I am. Yeah, why bother you ask, when I already know the answer. Yup. We're the Griswolds.

The holiday season brings out your competitive side. You want to give the best presents, have the best-looking house on the block, and cook up the most delicious holiday feast. You strive to be number one at everything you do, which makes you prone to holiday freak-outs when things don't go as expected. As long as you stay calm, you're great to have around during the holidays – mostly because you're trying so hard to make sure everyone else has the BEST possible time.

... and if you live in our neighborhood, I'm am profoundly sorry for our woeful exterior illumination. We'll do better next year - 'cuz next year will be our first Christmas with Nora and of course I'll want it to be perfect.

Weird dream

2007-12-15T09:21:00.000-06:00

I don't often remember my dreams, but when I do they are always doozies. Last night I dreamed that we were at a dinner party and the match coordinator from our agency called me over and very quietly asked, "We're wondering if you'd be willing to accept a referral of triplets?" She said that the CCAA had two sets of triplets available for adoption but no one ever mentions triplets in their dossier and they didn't know what to do. Apparently they asked our agency to check if they had any families who would accept triplets and for some reason the match coordinator just happened to be at our dinner party 930 miles from their office and decided to ask us. Of course I said yes, didn't even check with Rob. Triplets. Wow, that would be quite the surprise.

I blame Rob's work party for keeping me up too late and making me talk about the adoption all evening.

Warm and snuggly

2007-12-13T18:26:00.000-06:00

I just love Christmas. This is far and away my favorite time of year. I love everything about it ... and I am so touched that people have remembered Nora this year.

First our friend K gave Nora this adorable hat. K's mom works at an awesome company called Wintergreen which makes great outdoor apparel in one of our very favorite places in the world (the MN Northwoods) - this is one of their baby hats.

It is sherpa fleece on the outside and lined with smooth fleece on the inside - sooo warm and snuggly. And so amazingly cute. I can hardly wait to see Nora's chubby little cheeks peeking out of there!

Nora also received a Christmas gift from Rob's Aunt Jan and Uncle Dave. They have been so sweet to think of her each year at Christmastime. In Christmas of 2005 they sent me a beautiful necklace with the Chinese character "ai" (love) and last year they sent Nora One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and a stuffed blue fish.

This year they sent a set of puppet books - very fun! I'm sure that Nora will love them. They even have a little case that she can carry them around in.

Thank you so much for remembering our baby. We are touched by your thoughtfulness.

Wow - more eating of words (the toxic toy issue)

2007-12-11T18:25:00.000-06:00

Everything I ever said about our congressman not paying enough attention to his constituents - I take it back. Not only did I receive this email last week, this morning I received the following mass email from him:

Dear Friends,

No parent should have to worry that the toys they put under the tree for their kids are unsafe. Like many parents, I am very concerned about the 25 million toys recalled this year. With the United States importing 80% of its toys from China, I believe we need to take greater measures to protect our families from unsafe products.

Several pieces of legislation moving through the House right now will address these issues – strengthening the Consumer Product Safety Commission, banning products with lead beyond very minute levels, and third party testing and tracking for children’s products.

As Congress takes up these bills, I want to hear what your thoughts are. Please take a moment to answer the short survey below and tell me how I can better represent you in Washington.

Sincerely,
[Congressman's Signature]

Of course I took the survey. Here are the responses as of this morning:

There was also a place to leave comments, which of course I did - some comments about product testing and a thank you for his attention.

I'm so used to being ignored by our representatives in Washington that I almost don't even know how to react to this. He has heard feedback and wants to do something about it? He wants to understand what the people of his district think? This is how it's supposed to work! Stunning.

"Green" gift wrap

2007-12-09T15:43:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I mentioned this year's greener Christmas and my hope that we will be able to waste less on gift wrap. I know that I don't have time to make enough reusable gift bags to do all our gifts (plus I have a lot of stockpiled gift wrap to use up), but I did make a few for small gifts. I'm not an experienced sewer and am not really used to making things without a pattern, but I was able to eventually figure out how to make a simple drawstring gift bag. I think they're pretty cute and I was happy to be able to use some scrap fabric from my stash and add a little less to the landfill.

Here's a shot of two of the bags - one flat and one cinched up.

Rob's Yoga Journal magazine even has an article about gift wrap this month. They mention a website called Wrapsacks that sells reusable gift bags and lets you track them online - how cool is that?! They are also beautiful and very reasonably priced at $4-$10 each.

Other environmentally-friendly wrappings mentioned in the article are:

Furoshiki (a Japanese method of fabric wrapping)
Paper bags decorated with stencils or crayons
Out of date maps or old sheet music
Reused/repurposed vintage containers such as cigar, shoe or hat boxes
Natural materials such as raffia, string or fabric instead of synthetic ribbon
Natural gift box fillers such as leaves, straw, pine or shredded paper scented with essential oils

Happy wrapping!! If you have other creative ideas, please share!

Timing and the slowdown

2007-12-09T09:55:00.000-06:00

The RQ has a great graphic showing wait times from LID to referral over the past couple of years. Rob and I first started researching China adoption in June 2005, began our paper chase in late July 2005 and our dossier was logged in on January 16, 2006 (this is our "LID" or log in date). So, our expectations at the beginning were for a 6-8 month wait. I told everyone October 2006, though, thinking that was a conservative estimate. Ha, shows what I know.

Here's the table from the RQ's site:

This is good proof I think of what has happened to the timing of the China program. Next month, the wait will pass the two year mark and it's still getting longer. Everyone hopes for a speed-up, but considering the number of waiting families I don't see how that could possibly happen. Most agencies are telling clients that the wait will continue to lengthen, which to me seems like the responsible message for them to convey.

Anyway, if the 6 days/month holds, that will put us in June. The RQ has a new LID poll up now that will tell us more about the numbers of dossiers ahead of us. If there are fewer dossiers per day than there were in Nov and early Dec 2005, then maybe we'll get our referral a little sooner - May? Maybe. I hate to get my hopes up because so far every time I think it can't get worse, it does.

Congratulations!

2007-12-06T20:17:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to everyone receiving their referral this week! The pictures of all your beautiful babies have lifted me out of my funk. Thanks for that!!

CCAA Update

2007-12-05T21:09:00.001-06:00

Despite some rumors of a 12/15 cutoff, the CCAA has confirmed that this month's matches are through 12/14. So, a six day batch - matching the RQ's "horrid" case scenario.

Sadly, extending this timeline puts us in June (or even July depending on how much time is lost with the Spring holiday). The Beijing Olympics start on August 8. This is NOT good.

I would love to find the silver lining here, but I'm just not seeing it tonight. I told Rob I was going to finish this post and then cry. He asked me why. Ah, blissful ignorance. Wish I could do it.

I do want to congratulate the families receiving their referrals this month - and especially the CCAI 12/9 and 12/14 families! I'm happy for you, really. Unfortunately, it is completely overshadowed by the sadness that I feel for us.

Outdoor adventures with baby

2007-12-04T20:20:00.000-06:00

If you've read this blog for a while, you know that Rob and I enjoy outdoorsy activities like hiking, camping and kayaking and would really like to share these things with Nora. This year's camping trips were mostly about figuring out how to make it all work with a little one.

I've also spent some time talking to my friend K who's a backpacker about how she manages with her 9 month-old daughter and she swears by the Sherpani Rumba frame carrier. $229.95 - gulp. It's one of those things that I'm always looking to find on sale. Well, today ... jackpot!

I received an email from REI advertising an extra 20% off one item at REI-Outlet. I clicked on it, not expecting much, and was very happily surprised to find a closeout 2007 Rumba (black color only, which is ok with me) marked down to $149.93. With the additional 20% off it wound up costing $119.93. I saved $110! I'm so excited!

I haven't told Rob yet, so I think it might be part of his Christmas gift ... or maybe an anniversary gift (our anniversary is also this month). If you talk to Rob, please don't mention to him. Thankfully he doesn't read this blog, so he won't find out here!

P.S. This is for hiking/camping only. The plan is still to use the Ergo as our day-to-day carrier.

More on the toxic toys - eating my words

2007-12-03T20:09:00.000-06:00

Wow. You may remember that I wrote to both senators and our congressman (all three of whom I voted for - yes, I feel that I need to point that out every time) and was disappointed that I only received a form-letter-ish response from one senator. Well, today I received an email from our congressman that might be an actual personal response. I'm impressed. Here it is:

Dear Jennifer:

Thank you for contacting me about product safety. I appreciate hearing from you.

As the father of two boys, I am very concerned about the recent recalls of children's toys, pet food, and other goods from China . In 2007, the United States imported $288 billion worth of goods from China . While the vast majority of these goods are safe, the recent recalls highlight the need for improved product safety standards.

Several pieces of legislation moving through the House right now will address these issues - strengthening the Consumer Product Safety Commission, banning products with lead beyond very minute levels, and third party testing and tracking for children's products. As Congress takes up these bills, I will continue to push for stronger measures to protect consumers from unsafe products.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with additional comments or concerns. I also encourage you to visit my website, [url for his website], where you can find updated information, sign up to receive my e-newsletter, and send me e-mail.

I'm liking him again now. I know; I'm easy.

A green Christmas?

2007-12-02T19:09:00.000-06:00

Rob's family has decided to have a "green" theme for this year's family Christmas celebration. Most of our gifts are bought (some of them greener than others, but none too terribly un-green) and today I turned my attention to gift wrap. I've been thinking about reusable gift wrap, but honestly don't think that I have enough time left to make fabric bags. Hopefully I'll get that done next year. For now, I'm easing my way in with recycled wrapping paper, which was none to easy to find. If we lived in the UK there would have been a lot of options, but here in the US not so many. I also managed to find some natural trim and the coolest gift tags ever. I wonder if Al Gore wraps his Christmas gifts...

I also have to admit that I bought a Christmas gift for Nora, even though she won't be with us yet this year. Rob doesn't know about it (yet), so I'm thinking of maybe wrapping it and having him open it on her behalf. I want to also get some sort of baby's first Christmas ornament since I figure that Nora has probably already been born (how many times have I said that and been wrong - this time, though, I think it's really true). Next year, we'll think of something extra-special to celebrate our first Christmas as a family.

Ornament Swap - Thank you Michelle!

2007-12-01T16:47:00.001-06:00

Thank you, Michelle, for the beautiful cloisonne Christmas ornament and candle snuffer! We didn't have any cloissnne and I actually didn't even know until I read the card with the snuffer that cloisonne was a Chinese art. Both the ornament and the snuffer are really pretty - the snuffer you can see looks perfect on our sideboard. Hmm, probably I should get some candles!

Thanks again -- and Merry Christmas to you and your family!!