The best $0.67 I've ever spent

It has been grey and dreary here all week. So dreary that I need to be sure to get out every day or I start to feel down. Today was especially drizzly and nasty so we went to the second happiest place on earth (I've have said happiest, but thought that Disney might have some sort of license over that claim) - Borders!

There is a promotion this week of 3-for-2 Dr. Seuss books and I still had ~$15 left of my "holiday reward dollars", so while Rob copped a free read of Popular Science, I headed back to the children's section to pick out 3 Dr. Seuss books for Nora. The regular, standard issue Dr. Seuss books were all $8.99 and I decided on Fox in Socks, Green Eggs and Ham and There's a Wocket in my Pocket. I'd have liked to have gotten Horton Hears a Who and The Lorax, but they were out of those two.


Anyway, it turns out that deals can be combined and I had a personal shopping day (10% off) that expired today, so I got all three books for $0.63 plus tax, for a total of $0.67. I kid you not, here's the receipt. I saved $20.34 (or, as I prefer to think of it, 97% off)!!

How often do you get to buy something great with pocket change?!

By the way, I think the 3-for-2 sale is good through tomorrow. If you need some silly rhymes, check it out!

Holy Hannah, what was I thinking???

Perhaps you remember Nora's One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt. I started collecting squares more than a year ago and am finally getting to the piecing. I've selected a pattern called "Morning Star" from the book Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth. I think it's a really nice pattern if you have a lot of scraps.

I've spent the entire day trimming and arranging the patterned squares on the dining room table. See your squares in there?? Some are on reserve for the border and anything flannel or fleece is going into a stroller blanket, but everything else is in there, including Steve's Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety polo shirt (just typing that makes me smile!).

This afternoon I moved on to cutting the background pieces (as you can see I've commandeered the kitchen island for this task - good thing we don't cook much).

Tomorrow I start sewing. Christmas shutdown needs to be about a month longer, I think. There's no way this is going to be finished in the next two days!

Thank you again to everyone who contributed to Nora's quilt. I know that this will be a very special keepsake for her and I am really looking forward to playing "I Spy" with all the great fabrics and telling her the stories behind each piece.

(not-so) Happy Anniversary

Today is our 1 year DTC (dossier-to-China) anniversary. DTC marked the end of our paperwork phase and the beginning of our official "wait" for Nora. Who'd have ever thought a year ago that we'd still be waiting for our little girl. I sure didn't. All I can think at this point is that - no matter how long the wait - every day that passes brings us one day closer.

Is it or isn't it??

Last year I thought for sure that Nora would have been born by Christmastime (that would be Christmas 2005!), now it's Christmastime again and again I'm wondering about Nora. Has she been born? Is she still with her birth family? Is she in an orphanage? Foster care? Is she warm and loved and cared for? I hope so.

And in case this is her first Christmas, we have an ornament for her collection.

Merry Christmas!

New CCAA Rules

The China Centre of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has released the long awaited new rules for intercountry adoption from China. You can read the new rules here, on the Rumor Queen's site.

The most notable changes are:

• Married M-F couples only
• Net worth must exceed $80K and income must come from stable employment (so even if we win the Powerball we need to keep working to qualify for Nora's Mei Mei)
  
• BMI must be less than 40 (30 is considered obese according to CDC guidelines, so I'm thinking that 40 is pretty heavy -- at 5'5", for example, I could weigh up to 240 lbs)
  

I guess you can't argue that the CCAA is trying to select the most stable homes possible, in the most objective way possible, but my heart goes out to everyone who is affected by the new regulations.

We have no willpower whatsoever

Do you remember several posts ago when I mentioned that Nora had received a Christmas present from Rob's Aunt Jan and Uncle Dave? Well, after looking at it for more than two weeks, we couldn't take it any more and decided to open it. We told ourselves it was because we'll be spending Christmas with my Mom and Dad and couldn't cart all the mailed gifts along with us, but the truth is that we just couldn't stand the suspense any longer.

Anyway, I'm so glad we opened it because it really brought a smile to my face. It is Nora's very first Dr. Seuss book, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish", and an accompanying stuffed blue fish! Isn't it great??!

Nora update

Today we received the monthly newsletter from our China agency. They have projected referrals through LIDs (log-in-date) of 12/8/2005 which are projected to arrive in May '07. You may remember that our LID is 1/16/2006. Continuing the timeline in our agency's projection, it looks like we would expect Nora's referral in August 2007. That would mean travel in October or November next year. So we have almost a full year to go. When we started the wait was 6 months.

Are we going to stick with China? Yes. Why? Because Nora is there.

The science of cuteness

Ok, so I logged in fully intending to do something else, but when I got to my Yahoo! homepage there was picture of a baby panda

and a link to a great CNN Jeanne Moos report on cuteness. It turns out that most people think that baby pandas are even cuter than Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt (aka the Brangelina baby).

Need more pandas?? Click here.

Yes, it is MEGA MAIL MONDAY!!!

Mega Mail Monday is BACK!!! Today, in addition to the heap of catalogs, we received a package from our Jan DTC Secret Pal. It was such a great surprise - she remembered everyone!!

Chocolates for Rob and me:


Treats and toys for the pets (it was upon opening the cat toys that Rob said "Who is this person? She is really nice!" I have to agree, she is really nice!)


And two hats, pink tights and a soft blankie (fleece on one side, satin on the other) for Nora:


Thank you so much Secret Pal! You are the best! Merry Christmas!

A Family Tradition

One of our family traditions is the annual Lorie Line Christmas concert. Our anniversary is December 21 (15 years this year!!) and for the past four years this has been our anniversary outing. This year's concert was earlier than usual, but still close enough to count I think.

They have a nice tradition of having all the kids up on the stage. Usually it is a visit with Santa and Rudolph, but for this year's more traditional show it was a nativity. I don't know how well you'll be able to see the picture on the blog, but there were a LOT of kids, all of them in costume. I think that officially only age 3 and up are allowed to come to the show and 4 and up are invited on stage, but yesterday there were babies in the audience and some kids who were no more than 3 on stage. So, of course, I mention to Rob that next year we will bring Nora. I hope that's true...

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

As sad as I am that the wait is so much longer than expected, Christmas still lifts my mood. Nora has some presents (thank you Aunt Jan and Uncle Dave -- so nice of you to think of her!) and we are participating in an ornament swap with the Precious Pandas Jan DTC group. Yesterday we received our ornament from Kathy - thank you so much! - it's a Panda with the Chinese character for love on the other side. Very special.

Hope, if you're reading this, I mailed yours today - should be there by mid-week. Bet you can't guess what animal yours is!

Even better than a mega-mail Monday...

... is a post-holiday, post-mail-hold Monday! We stopped by the post office on our way back into town with a cute little tote bag to carry our mail from the past week and left instead with a huge corrugated postal tote. I'm still sorting through all the catalogs and magazines, but I did quickly find the three really important pieces of mail:

(1) letters from our doctor stating that we are of good health (the last pieces of documentation needed for our home study update)

(2) November gift from our Dec DTC Secret Pal. This month's theme is mealtime accessories and our secret pal covered ALL the necessities -- sippy cups, a bib, utensils and two kinds of lidded bowls! All of it very much appreciated by us newbie parents!


(3) November gift from our Jan DTC Secret Pal. This month's theme is favorite children's music. Our pal sent a terrific cd with all the classics like B-I-N-G-O, The Bear Went Over the Mountain and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, a darling ladybug jewelry case (thank goodness -- a place to keep the little doo dads that have been accumulating on Nora's shelf!) and two Suzy's Zoo board books.


Thank you very much to our two fantastic secret pals and also to our doctor for getting those letters out so quickly!

Good Morning China!

I've written before about an amazing organization called Half the Sky Foundation, which is dedicated to improving orphanage care in China. Please take a minute to visit their site, read their story and donate if you are able. They also have a small online store that sells, among other things, this terrific limited edition picture book by the artist Hu Yong Yi. The illustrations are gorgeous. It is - I'm sure you've guessed - the latest addition to Nora's library.

Keeping Count

My Chinese is not good, but I can count to ten and today is our ten month LID anniversary!! This time last year I really thought we'd be in China for Thanksgiving this year. Now it looks like we'll be lucky to be there next summer. Things don't always go as planned, do they? The good news, I guess, is that perhaps Nora can wear that cute little Christmas dress next year.

While I'm practicing numbers, here's another one for you:It is yi1 bai3 - one hundred - and this is my 100th post to this blog!

Now that I'm thinking about it, I really should pack the Chinese CDs for our Thanksgiving car trip. That would be a good opportunity to get in a little practice.

Worth a read

I was just on the Rumor Queen's site for my daily visit and found a really helpful post about transitions and attachment. Please check it out -- click here.

A little reading material

I've set aside Barack Obama's book (fully intending to go back and finish!) to read the latest addition to our parenting bookshelf, Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew. I've just started, so if anyone else out there is thinking of reading it and wants to play book club, let me know!

While we were at Border's, I also picked up a couple of new additions for Nora's library. I'm putting a greater emphasis on board books now, since those are the ones that she'll get to "read" first. I always liked dog books when I was little, so I'm hoping that Nora will like them too!

WOO HOO!!!!!

According to the CCAA's (China Center of Adoption Affairs) website, documents logged in during the month of January 2006 are now out of review --- this means that we have PASSED CHINA'S REVIEW and are one step closer to Nora! Hang on, baby, we'll be there as soon as we can!

Cold toes, warm heart

Cold Toes. We did keep our weekend camping appointment. It was sort of funny, we stopped at the park office to register on Friday and the young woman working there called me by name. I thought she either had telepathic powers or a really excellent memory, but in reality we were THE ONLY CAMPERS and we were IN A TENT. We must be crazy. It was actually fun as long as we kept active. Yesterday we hiked with our mountain goat dog, Maddie, most of the day, not because we wanted to walk that much, but because it was too cold to just sit and read or play cards. This morning when we woke up there was a frost and it was 24 degrees - yikes! My toes are just beginning to thaw.
Warm Heart. When we got home, there was a package from our new Dec DTC secret pal. This month's theme was children's books. Our pal sent three board books, which will be so great for little, paper-tearing hands. The first one is called My Peekaboo Fun, which is a lift-the-flap book about opposites and colors. It has a lot happening on every page, I think it will be really fun to read with Nora - she can learn shapes, colors, animals, opposites! The second is called You're My Little Love Bug which has not only a sweet poem, but music, lights and a place for Nora's picture! Last, but certainly not least, is Hippos Go Berserk!, a hilarious Boyton numbers book about a lonely hippo whose party gets a little out of hand. I can't even do it justice. It's very funny. My favorite is the little beast that arrives with 6 of the hippos. He shows up on several of the pages wearing a big grin and creating mischief.

Cutie Pie

This is Nora's new kitty cat doll, found on Etsy. Her name is Cutie Pie. I first saw her a week or so ago and have been back every day to make sure that no one else has bought her. Today I broke down and ordered her. I hope she's as soft and cuddly as she looks.

Here's the description from Etsy:

Oopsy ... this doll's ears are lopsided, her nose tilts to the right. As I tossed her aside, a little girl saw, she scooped up the doll and hugged her with awe. She said, "Her nose is crooked, but don't toss her away. She is not perfect, and I LOVE her that way!" That is how alli-oopsies were born. They may not be perfect, but never mind, that just lets you know it's one of a kind!

Aww...

East Meets West

Yesterday we attended GWCA's East Meets West adoption conference in Minneapolis. It was a very nicely organized event with a number of interesting sessions about such topics as cross cultural parenting, bonding & attachment, chinese culture, community support, travel, etc.

The best session we attended was "Cross Cultural Parenting", presented by Cheri Register, author of Are Those Kids Yours?: American Families With Children Adopted From Other Countries and Beyond Good Intentions: A Mother Reflects On Raising Internationally Adopted Children. She offered a number of insightful comments such as "Listen to what your child tells you about race and racism; do not assume color-blindness." and "Stay in touch with the internationally adopted community because this will probably be where your child finds her identity". She also recommended listening to and reading the writings of adult adoptees and being prepared not to like everything you hear, but acknowleding the validity of the comments. I've been doing this already and, she's right, theirs is not an easy meassage to hear, but it is so important I think for adoptive parents to listen and learn.

Rob went to a (similar? hard to tell since I wasn't there myself) session presented by an adult adoptee and adoptive parent representing the local FCC chapter. Rob said she talked about some of the uninformed and insensitive comments that people make in the presense of children - the example she gave was her mother in law saying something really horrifying like "aren't you glad her eyes aren't very slanty?" (this said to her Korean daughter-in-law and in front of her Chinese granddaughter!) - and the need to educate friends and family in advance of receiving the baby. What she didn't say was how precisely to do this, which would have been very helpful!

We also bumped into a few people we knew at the event. Our friend Annette (hi, Annette!) introduced us to a new book called Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections. I flipped through it a bit at breakfast and it looks like a fantastic reference. Its list price is $29.95, but Amazon has it for only $19.77 ... or you could use a Borders Rewards coupon, which is probably what I'll do since it's an excuse to go to Borders.