December Secret Pal Revealed!!

For many months, I've been receiving the most wonderful, thoughtful gifts from our December Secret Pal and trying very hard not to do too much detective work based on postage that looks like this (and why is everybody else's postage so much more interesting than mine??).

Finally, today the reveal arrived and -- it's Nana in Denmark! Obviously I knew my pal was in Europe (although today's postage was the first with a really obvious country stamp), but luckily there are a few people on the list in Europe -even a couple in Denmark- so I really didn't know for sure who she was until today.

Oh -- and Nora's September gift is a gorgeous beaded barette (very sparkly and fancy!!) and sweet lady bug bracelet, just the right size for a little girl.


Thank you so much, Nana, for all the fun gifts and encouragement. You've been a terrific pal, I'm very lucky!

P.S. The card had ducks on it! I don't think I've mentioned this here, but when I was 3 or 4 we had a pet duck named TD ("The Duck"). I could swear that he lived in a box under the kitchen table, but I could be wrong about that. Steve or Mark, if you read this, could you click on the comment link below this message and give me the lowdown on why we had a duck under the table?

Update: Nana posted to the list that she bought the ladybug bracelet in Venice, Italy in a local shop specializing in children's jewelry. Isn't that a great story?? And how wonderful that there exists a place where there are shops specializing in children's jewelry! Somebody please remind me to make sure this gets in Nora's scrapbook so she knows the story behind her ladybug bracelet!

Spend much time on the computer?

After spending an embarrassing amount of time on the computer, I finally hit the wall. I don't know if it was life, work or general weariness with the "wait" - or some combination of all three - but I've had ZERO interest in any of my online China waiting family stuff for several weeks.

This is Gaily (aka Abigail) and my laptop. As you can see, she spends more time "on" the computer than I do!

Something to take to China

This month's theme for the January DTC Secret Pal exchange was "Something to Pack for the Trip". My very cool secret pal sent a pink tie dye shirt for Nora! I have a pink tie dye shirt. Could this be our first mother-daughter matching outfit??!!

As you can see, she also sent disposable burp pads, travel baby toiletries, formula bags, travel wipes, a compression bag for packing and the cutest little pink snap-on bottle of Purell! Thank you so much Secret Pal for all the really useful stuff and the so cute t-shirt!

December out of review!!

Woo hoo!!! I'm not sure when this happened because I've haven't been stalking monitoring the CCAA's website in the way that I have in the past, but DECEMBER IS OUT OF REVIEW!!! This means that our dossier is either in review or has already (knock on wood!) passed review! This feels almost like progress.

New Addition for Nora's Library

I was feeling pretty down today (long story, work stuff), so Rob and Maddie decided to cheer me up with a lunchtime trip to Borders. We love Borders. Of course I ventured into the children's area and browsed through some of the featured books ... and found this:

It is the sweetest story about a lion who loves the library - especially story hour - and learns that sometimes it's ok to break the rules. I had to buy it for Nora.

By the way, it was only 55-degrees so Maddie really did get to go in the car, although we thought it best not to try to sneak her into Borders.

Congratulations Lun Lun!

Congratulations Lun Lun on the birth of your new baby!! You probably don't remember us, but my mom and I saw you when we were in Atlanta for Illinois' sweet sixteen game a couple of years ago.

For anyone interested, Lun Lun lives at the Atlanta Zoo -- she and her new baby are featured on a 24/7 panda-cam which you can access either from the zoo's website or from cnn.com. Right now the baby looks like a naked rat, but the zoo's website says he/she will begin to show panda markings sometime next week.

Great deal on great books

I read on another blog about a clearance sale at Little Treasure Books. They are (unfortunately) closing their store, but are (fortunately) having an incredible going-out-of-business sale. I ordered six books for Nora at incredible prices -- some of them were even books from our wishlist!

Check them out if you like kids' books!

P.S. On account of the holiday, I figure that today is Mega Mail Monday by proxy -- lived up to expectations with the big box 'o books!

Well, it's about time

FINALLY the CCAA's website is showing that November is out of review. This means that our January dossier is almost certainly in the review room.

August bib from Danielle

There really is something to this good mail on Monday thing. Today we received the cutest frog bib from Danielle. It is very fluffy, soft terry cloth and has a teether on the edge. We love it and can't wait to see it on Nora. Thank you so much, Danielle!

Success and failure

Today is both a good day and a bad day.

BAD -- Rob and I have decided to discontinue our Mandarin lessons, at least for a while. Neither of us has been committing enough time to study between lessons and aren't progressing as we should. It made for classes that were stressful and unproductive. We hope to try again someday, but this is not the right time for us.

GOOD -- Even though we weren't feeling super-motivated this morning we did both go to the gym and exercise. Rob is actually very good about going and exercise is a habit for him. That's not so much the case for me, but I'm working on it (going to need to keep up with the little one!). I've found that music does a LOT to motivate me. My current playlist is:

• Crazy - Gnarls Barkley - 2:58 (I use this for warm up b/c I like it, but it will probably come off the list since it's really not a great exercise song)
• Get the Party Started - Pink - 3:11
• Crazy in Love - Beyonce - 3:55
• Yeah! - Usher - 4:10
• In da Club - 50 Cent - 3:13
• Pump It - Black Eyed Peas - 3:35
• Lose Yourself - Eminem - 5:20 (Possibly the best motivational, hill-climb song EVER!)
• Hot in Herre - Nelly - 3:48
• Rock Your Body - Justin Timberlake - 4:27 (cool down)
• Sexy Love - Ne-Yo - 3:40 (cool WAY down)

Two others on this playlist are Work It by Missy Elliott and Dirty by Christina Aguilera, but I usually skip both of them. I haven't decided yet if they are bad choices or if I just don't have them in the right place in the list.

If you have a playlist that you love (or individual songs that work really well), please share!

Now I know exactly where China is

I am approaching my 5-year anniversary at my job and as a reward I got to choose a "gift" from the recognition catalog. Although this is far longer than I've ever worked anyplace, it isn't all that long in the eyes of my employer. I say this to set expectations around the items in the 5-year catalog. There were watches and crystal bowls and framed prints - all of which I assumed would somehow be branded with the company logo. So I searched looking for something useful that wouldn't look too creepy with a big 'ol logo on it, eventually I found this globe that I think will be a great addition for Nora's playroom.

It came in the mail today and the best part is that the logo is on a little plaque that I get to apply myself (or not). So Nora gets a globe and it doesn't even have to say G****** on it! To my company - I think you are the best; I admire your work and love my job. However, I really don't want your logo on my globe. Sorry about that. I'll stick it to a frame on my desk instead.

Some depressing math

The rumor boards are lighting up tonight with news that referrals are on the way and that they only include LIDs through 7/22/05. I did a little bit of Excel math, extending the timeline with the current average wait, and I'm very sorry I did. According to my spreadsheet we'll get our referral in October of 2007! Isn't that horrible?! I'm going to go pour myself a glass of wine.

Hair bobber from Evelyn

Nora has received her second hair bobber - this one is a chopstick hair stick with red cord and jade. It is so pretty. She also receieved a gorgeous red silk jewelry case. Thank you so much, Evelyn, for the lovely gift!

Preparing the dog for baby

For those of you who don't already know her, this is Maddie.


Maddie is an almost 18-month-old golden retriever and the light of our lives. She is terrific with other dogs (a benefit of doggy "school") and we're hoping that she will be equally good with children. She's already got a fan club in the neighborhood kids, especially baby Avery next door. We also had some other waiting families over on Sunday night, giving Maddie the opportunity to experience the joys of little kids who drop food.

Even though everything about her disposition says "kid friendly", we still want to be sure that we properly prepare her for Nora's arrival. Some things we're working on:

1. sit to be petted
2. walk next to or behind people (and eventually stroller) on walks
3. wait at the top/bottom of stairs for people to go first and give the "ok"
4. lie down and be calm in Nora's room

For some good pet preparation tips, check out the following links:
American Kennel Club
The Humane Society of the United States

Hair bobber from Rhonda and Mike

The January DTC group is doing a hair accessory (or "hair bobber", as they are known at our house) swap. We each send hair accessories to two people, and receive hair accessories from two people. Today Nora's first one came from Rhonda and Mike -- it is a darling asian girl pony tail holder. Soooo cute! Thanks Rhonda and Mike!!

A Shopping Coup!

When shopping on the web, always always visit the clearance section. If you don't think it will pay off, check this out!

I found this at Land of Nod. It was originally $249 on sale for $39 and is just the right color for Nora's room! It even fits in with the other bug stuff. I ordered it on Sunday and it was waiting on the porch when we got home today.

To make the day even better, I stopped at Creative Kidstuff on my way home from work and they were having a big sale - I got this great doggy pull toy for 75% off, a musical flower for 60% off and gorgeous building blocks for 50% off!

Mostly, though, I'm thrilled about the rug. I don't think I've ever found such a bargain before!

January DTC Secret Pal - August

More great mail came today! Of course it was for Nora!

This package was our January DTC Secret Pal gift for August. The theme is "Something to Keep Baby Safe" and our secret pal sent lots of great safety stuff for Nora -- cabinet latches, outlet covers, toilet lock, security latches, band-aids -- and a pair of pretty dangly earrings that I think must be for ME!

Thank you very much, secret pal! I'm going to look for something blue to wear tomorrow so I can wear my new earrings!

Dec DTC Secret Pal Gift - July & August

Another mega mail Monday!! I never much liked Mondays, but these swaps and secret pals have changed my outlook! Today was a doubly-good day because we received July and August gifts from our Dec DTC Secret Pal. Thank you so much, Secret Pal, for all the terrific goodies!!

It is taking all my energy not to rip into the mega bloks package and claim the dog/cat as my own. I think that I am going to like this as much as Nora. I've never seen anything like it -- you push the nose on the cat side and it "sings" in meows and on the dog side it "sings" in barks. So much fun! That was July.

For August we got cool bath toys (floating fishes!!), a water thermometer and a sponge. In the note was also a pretty white shell which now has a new home in our summer sand-and-shell kitchen table centerpiece.

Thanks again Secret Pal, you made my Monday!!

Four (?!) sets of panda twins

For some reason panda news is harder to come by than you'd think. I've been hearing snippets of panda births on the news and am having trouble coming up with a good count. Piecing together the various news stories, I think that four sets of twin panda have been born in the last week -- on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Saturday. That makes ten baby pandas born in Chinese breeding centers this year. Does that sound right? The latest news story is here. I also found some more panda information on China.org.

Mega Mail Monday

Continuing the tradition of great mail on Mondays, today I received the best box of scrapbook supplies from Jennifer B as part of the January DTC scrapbook swap. Look at all this great stuff!!

"Welcome to Asia" papers, Asian mini tags, fortune cookie rub ons, Chinese character and letter rub ons, Chinese stickers

First five year stickers (year 2 was on top, but there are five pages, one for each year), adoption stickers, Mom embellishments, 3-D baby stickers

Summer fun stickers (4 pages) and a whole box of eyelets, brads and fancy paperclips.

Thank you so much Jennifer, you have outdone yourself!