Happy 4th of July!

After a morning Chinese lesson (we are on an alternate schedule this week due to the holiday), we went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum with Nora's grandparents (my Mom and Dad) who are visiting for the weekend. We brought a picnic and made an afternoon of it.

As long as we've lived here, Rob and I have never been to the arboretum. It is a really lovely place. We agreed that we'll need to bring Nora here for some photos with the flowers next year. Good exercise for us too - the place is HUGE!

If you're interested in learning more about the arboretum or in planning a trip, you can get more information at: http://www.arboretum.umn.edu/.

News Flash - Mandarin is difficult to learn!

I feel validated! This week's issue of TimeAsia features several articles about learning Mandarin, which they say is one of the five most difficult languages to learn (the other four are Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese and Korean). It is a very interesting issue and is available online at: TimeAsia June 26, 2006. The thing that sticks in my head most is that it takes 2,200 class hours for the average English speaker to reach proficiency in Mandarin. So, at one class hour per week, we will be proficient in 2048!

One of the other articles was about study aids. I think I mentioned before that we are using Cheng & Tsui Integrated Chinese, which is pretty good - there's a link under "Favorite Shopping Links" to the right - but what we really wanted were flash cards and nothing we found seemed quite right. So, I decided to make flash cards for all the vocabulary words from the first three chapters (everything we've covered so far). I'm happy with the way they turned out and I think I might have learned a couple of characters in the process of making them!

More June Bibs!

Today we received two darling pink kitty bibs from Sandy. One says "Daddy Loves Me" and the other says "Mommy's Little Girl". They are so sweet and the kitties are the smoothest pink satin. They reminded me of those Taggies books http://www.taggies.com/ - I'm sure Nora will love the feel of them! Thank you very much Sandy.

Think we'll ever learn Chinese?

Now that we have Nicole to ourselves for an hour each week, Rob and I have decided to turn over a new leaf with respect to our learning of Mandarin. We are studying. Really studying, not randomly listening to cds in the car, hoping to gain something by osmosis. We have books, we have workbooks, we have cds and are actually doing lessons and testing our progress with the exercises. The kitchen table is our classroom, an iPod our lecturer.

Turns out I am good at pronunciation and terrible at tones. Rob is great at tones and terrible at pronunciation. Figures. No one will understand either one of us! Nicole insists that we will get better. I wonder.

By the way, I've decided to start leaving comments on. So if you'd like to comment on any posts from this point forward you can do so by clicking on the link at the bottom of the post. We hope to hear from you!

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Rob's first Father's Day! Well, sort of. Even though Nora isn't home with us, I figure that she probably has been born by now and is waiting for us somewhere in China. So, today we will celebrate and hope that next year Nora will be here to celebrate with us.

I bought Rob two sweet children's books about fathers - "The Very Best Daddy of All" and "I Love My Daddy" - and a father-to-be card (of everything I looked at, it seemed to be most appopriate since it talked about what a great father he will be, which, of course is true!). I photographed them in "his" chair where I picture him reading to Nora.

I would have liked to have posted a picture of Rob today, but he has still not forgiven me for the one I posted of him practicing baby sign language! So, Happy Father's Day, honey! I hope that I have redeemed myself a bit with today's post!

Happy Father's Day also to our Dads! We love you and wish we lived closer so we could celebrate with the quintessential Father's Day BBQ!

Gifts from China

Rob just returned from a business trip to Shanghai. I sent a whole shopping list and he came back with, well, some of it. To his credit, though, he did get the important stuff - a Chinese zodiac papercut for Nora's lifebook and some children's cds. Our Chinese isn't good enough to make any sense of the cds, but we did ask Nicole, our Chinese instructor, about them. She said that one is famous Chinese poems (that's the one with the man in the robe) and the other one is children's songs about Beijing. The interesting thing is that none of the children in the cartoons appear to be Asian, maybe they are visiting Beijing?

Hee Hee Hee!

I can't stop smiling!

Our January DTC Secret Pal gift for June came today. The theme was "Fun in the Sun" and Nora received a pail and sand toys for the beach and the cutest little outfits! One is a super-soft pink and orange terry cloth dress and the other is a bubble romper with big pink and orange flowers. She also got an adorable orange bucket hat.

Great job, Secret Pal, we love everything! I can hardly wait to take Nora to the beach (we have one about 7 blocks from our house). I figure if she can't be home for Christmas, then I hope that she comes home in May or June and we have all summer to play at the beach!

The gift of motivation!

My December DTC Secret Pal sent the coolest gift for May - it's a pedometer and it estimates calories burned! I'm so excited! I am going to take the dog for a walk later this evening and try it out. Thank you Secret Pal!

I-171H Expiration - Policy Change Needed

As you may know, families adopting children from other countries need to obtain immigration approval from the USCIS (formerly known as INS). The approval - called I-171H or I-797C - requires an application, fingerprinting and homestudy. The process is both expensive and time-consuming.

Once approved, the authorization is good for 18 months, which until recently was sufficient for families adopting from China. Because of the increasing wait times, though, it is very likely that currently in-process families will need to refile. This is costly and frustrating for us and a poor use of the USCIS' time - there are far more important immigration issues than re-processing already approved adoption files!

If you or anyone you know is in process or is considering international adoption, please take a few minutes to write your Senator, Representative, the President and the USCIS, asking that the expiration date of form I-171H/I-797C be extended to two years, longer if possible.

Here are links to the contact information for:
- your Senator
- your Representative
- the President
- the USCIS

Thank you for helping to make a difference!

N is for Nora

After much frustration trying to make the ladybug doll bed quilt, I decided to take a break and work on something better suited to my skill level (beginner, very beginner). I got this idea from Kristen who cuts my hair. Kristen was a fine arts major and specializes in textiles - she weaves, she knits, she does it all and she's got great ideas. The last time I was in there she was telling me about a flannel blanket she made for her nephew with his initial on it. I thought that was a great idea and decided that I wanted to make one for Nora.

At the risk of sounding immodest, I think it's really cute. It's not done yet - I still need to do the backing and binding - but I'm really happy with the top. We won't talk about how long it took me to come up with just the right "N"!

More things for Nora's room

I found the prettiest paper lantern lights when I was out shopping today. I think they will look great in Nora's room. Hopefully they aren't too cheesy or too faux-Chinese. I bought them because I liked them, not because they were "Asian-inspired". It's funny, because if Nora weren't Chinese I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

First June Bib!

This bib is gorgeous, and soft ... and RED! Thank you so much, Jennifer. I really love it and the color should look great on Nora!

Lifebook and Baby Book

I ordered these gorgeous silk albums from Chinese Adoption Document Organizers and More (www.cadoam.com). The red one is a 12x12 scrapbook-style album that I plan to use for Nora's lifebook and the pink one is her baby book. It came with pages customized for China adoptions (shown inset). The pages are fill-in-the-blank style, like your typical baby book, but include all the information that is unique to adoption, such as agency information, social worker name, etc.

Let the Sewing Commence!

I have an early birthday present - a new sewing machine! I am so excited, because this means that I can start on Nora's crib bedding and her one hundred good wishes quilt. Of course I need some practice first and my "How to use your sewing machine" classes don't start until June 22, so I'm inventing some smaller, low-impact projects to get some sewing experience.

Since my Mom and Dad are sending my old doll bed (which my Dad built for me when I was a little girl) for Nora, I decided that I would make some doll bedding that would match Nora's crib bedding. Nora's basic bedding - sheets and bedskirt - are Company Kids hot pink gingham and I found a lady bug quilt pattern (shown in second photo) that I plan to make for her in hot pink and apple green. The crib bedding will be a scaled-down and slightly modified version of that. The photo shows the ladybug bodies in progress in the five hot pink fabrics that I selected for the doll's quilt. I think it will be really cute. Of course I'll post a photo when it's finished.

P.S. If you are interested in the ladybug quilt pattern, it is "Ladybug, Ladybug..." by Teri Christopherson. I ordered it online from The Winding River Quilt Shop http://www.windingriverquiltshop.com/

Nora's Second Personalized Item!

This is truly amazing. Manette from the January DTC group made us each a personalized quilt square with the group's logo and our baby's name (I blanked out our last name in this photo). As if that wasn't enough, it is on a beautiful tone on tone heart fabric. The photo doesn't do it justice, it is absolutely beautiful and so special to us. I am going to make it into a decorative pillow for Nora's room. Thank you so much, Manette, you have outdone yourself.

Nora's First Personalized Item!

We came home from our Mother's Day weekend roadtrip today and found a package waiting for us on the porch. It was our May bib (and matching burb cloth) from Kara and it is personalized with Nora's name!! It is the very first thing she has gotten with her name on it. It is so special -- and at at Mother's Day no less! Thank you so much Kara - we love it!

May Showers Bring ... Pretty New Bibs!!

It is a dreary, cold, rainy day here today and I was starting to feel a little down ... but then I got the MAIL!! Thank you so much, Alyson, for the pretty pink butterfly bibs. They are so sweet and girly. I love them!

My Very FIRST First Mother's Day Gift!

What a momentous occasion this is - my very first ever Mother's Day gift! My Jan DTC Secret Pal gift for May arrived today. This month's theme was Happy Mother's Day - Something for Mom. My Secret Pal sent a beautiful first Mother's Day card, a Willow Tree figurine of an angel holding a baby, a Burt's Bees baby skin care kit, an "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" board book and a pad of flower-and-ladybug sticky notes with my name on them.

Thank you so much, Secret Pal, for making this first Mother's Day special for me. I loved what you wrote in the card, also. It is an incredible thought that this time next year Nora will be here in my arms.

Gorgeous Children's Book

Tonight was the Dec DTC Children's Book Cybershower. It was really fun! Our gift came from Kim in Iowa. It is a really neat Chinese-themed alphabet book called "D is for Dragon Dance". It's really bright and colorful and the illustrations are just beautiful.

Thank you so much Kim! I'm really lucky to have a cyberpal who is a teacher and a librarian!

January DTC Cybershower

Tonight was the first cybershower for the January DTC group. Kathy was our cyber-shopper and she sent the most amazing, generous gift - two outfits, a snuggly pink velour blanket, a butterfly dish, a stuffed bear in a ladybug suit, a package of outlet covers (much needed - we have many more outlets than any normal house and not a single outlet cover!) and an "I Love My Mommy" bib. I think that I'm going to need to go get some "I Love My Daddy" stuff for Rob's Father's Day gift! :)

Be sure to take a close look at the green gingham dress on the left - it has ladybug appliques and BLOOMERS! It's just precious!

Thank you again, Kathy! You're such a sweetheart. And Maddie wants me to thank you for the tasty tissue paper.