What a weekend.

This weekend we hosted the lastest waiting family monthly party, and the whole weekend was geared around it. Friday and Saturday were prep. Saturday night..the big event. And Sunday...recovery.

I signed us up to host in January hoping that would force Jeff and I to wrap up this home improvement thing we've had going on. I thought the fear of having house guests would be the motivator we need to get cranked up again and fininsh! And we did.....mostly.

Jeff was still laying flooring the morning of the party (I included a pic of him cutting quarter round that morning!) I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared.

In the end, my first grown up party turned out really well. The weather was wonderful, so people could hang out on the patio. We got to visit with people who we've met along this long adoption wait and who's company we truly enjoy. We also met some new people who I hope we'll get to know as well as this long adoption wait continues.

Today we've been super lazy slugs as we try to recoup from the past 2 days of flurried activity. Tomorrow is back to normal.

Lessons learned:
I need to get together with friends more often.
I really like hosting people at my house.
Next time....more beer.

My First YouTube

I love this dog. She snores regularly, and I laugh every time. Also, she has recently suffered home grooming, so be kind. She doesn't know how rough she looks. Sweet Baby.


**UPDATE: I see that YouTube takes some time before it process the video. Lesson learned. Check back later, please.

Sick day

I called in sick today. hee hee. The wierd thing is, I'm really sick, but the PO has me so conditioned I feel guilty staying home when i really am sick.

I used to drag myself to work no matter how sick, but now that i have over 9 weeks of built up sick leave and have been told I won't be able to use any of it when Zoe comes! I don't feel quite as bad staying home as I used to.

Yesterday, I spent the day coughing and sneezing all over everyone's mail. And I'm not the only sickie at the PO right now. I'm sure half the zip code could be infected soon. So....word to the wise, wash your hands after reading your mail. It's icky.

I said I wasn't going to blog about it, but .... I mean .... c'mon! 2days?!! We waited until almost mid-month to get 2 days worth of referrals? I'm not sure what to think.

Either the CCAA has DRAMATICALLY cut down on the number of referrals they normally issue each month, or those 2 days were humongous! And I mean big. There's talk around the internet that the next couple of batches could be for equally small numbers of days. I believe that could be true. Although my agency doesn't share any information on how many dossiers the send, they do say how many referrals they received. And they haven't had any in the past two batches. I believe my agency handles more chinese adoptions than any other and they didn't get ANY in the past two months (except expedited) I think we are in for a doozy of a batch next time. All of those people who should have been spread out over the month of October were clumped together at the end.

I know no one outside the community understands all that, so let me break it down for you. Remember how I thought I'd get a referral in September at the latest? Well, October is looking more likely. November is a strong contender, and rotten stinking December is an actual possiblity. To summarize: I have no idea when I will see Zoe for the first time. If it's really that bad, she may still not even be born yet. I don't see how it could possibly be any later than December, but I've said that too many times to count.

Also, there's other weirdness in the Chinese adoption world. Someone on RQ mentioned a family who requested a girl as young as possible, and they were referred a 4.5 year old. Also, in every batch I hear of more and more boys going to familes who requested girls. Overall, it's still extremely rare, but it does make this pink-nursery-decorating-future-Mommy nervous.

I'm sure it's just the shock of the 2 days, but I have less faith in the program lately. For the first time, I question whether it will actually happen, whether we made the right decision. With almost any other choice we would have had a baby by now. We could still switch to some countries, start all over and be done before we see Zoe.

This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done.

How can I possibly kill the next 7-9 months?

Skimming over the bad news...

We all know the referral news is horrible this month. I'm not blogging about it, because it is just. that. bad! I've had my cry, I'll probably have more, but I'm choosing to focus on the positive, and we do have some good news...

Our Fish are Healthy!!!



The poor little guys have been looking peakish lately. One especially, was looking as if he was not much longer for this world. We didn't think too much of it, because we've had them for some time, and my sister had them before that, and how long can goldfish live, right? So while I was at work the other day, Jeff looked it up, and goldfish can live for 15+ years!!! Who knew! He also found out what was wrong with our little Nemo and Ariel.

Turns out (and I'm embarassed to say) we weren't keeping the tank properly. Not cleaning it enough. Feeding them too much. (Excess food leads to excess poop) And we didn't have enough gravel in there. We've added the gravel, the appropriate chemicals, an extra light to warm them up, and even a lovely bonsai type tree thing. Jeff refuses to have a sunken ship or treasure chest, but he did let me have some sparkly gravel to sprinkle on top the of normal gravel. We also got some live plant pods that we hope will grow soon.

It was really incredible how quickly they perked up, and we're so happy. I know they're only fish, but it's nice to have them there.

15 months

Oh look, here's another anniversary.

15 months down
4.5 to go???

I have my heart set on an early August referral. I know I said it could be September, and it could be, but since I have no idea, really, and I need something to hang my hat on, I choose to hang it on August.

Party Pictures

1. The Birthday Girl
2. Make this picture bigger and look at Jeffrey
3. Georgia and Nana
4. Cool new shades
5 Even the baby-on-the-way gets presents
6. OMG, are we a cute couple, or what?
7. Only part of the party spread
8. Happy Nana with Grandkids. Soon there will be FOUR!
9. My only good shot of Jeffrey

A Birthday tree? Oh, Yes!

"Georgia," you say, "Why are you posting a picture of a Christmas tree?"

It's not a Christmas tree! My sister and her family have made it home from Germany for a month's visit. And because my niece has a birthday this month, and my mother tends to go overboard, we had big blow-out shindig for the neice the moment they got out of the car! This is a picture of the birthday tree!!

Here's the kids and my brother-in-law as they pull up. Notice the wiped out look on my nephew's face. Poor kid. Long trip. But nothing perks kids up like PRESENTS!! It was like a mini-Christmas. I'm posting pictures, but none are really very good. Those kids are faster now and hard to pin down for a good photo.

I'm thrilled my sister is here this month. Adulthood and babies have made us much closer than we ever were as children and that's nice. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to really visit and catch up while she's here. I know they're here for the whole month, but this is one busy family. They'll be going between grandparents, in-laws, church family, friends, and mission work (the real reason they're in the states.)

The comings and goings of my sister's family will keep us on our toes and should make the month go by really quickly. A real distraction from the Adoption wait. They leave in early April and by then, I'll only have 4-5 more months of waiting for Zoe.

A bit more crankiness...

I've been more than a little cranky since the last batch of referrals. (Just ask Jeff...poor thing) The serious possibity of a September referral has jumped in front of me and it was quite a shock. Not sure what was shocking about it. Every month it moves back more, but I thought for sure. FOR. SURE. that August was the end. It couldn't possibly be any later than August.

But, no....

Once again another month (potentially) has been added to the wait. Now I don't think it could possibly be any later than September. There's no way. But next month, will I say October?

It's been a long time since the adoption wait brought me this far down. I know it's a cycle and it won't last forever, but it surely stinks right now.

Sunday afternoon at my house

Tagged...Why I blog.

First of all, what does MEME stand for? I know what it is, but I don't know why it's called that?

This one is "5 Reasons Why I Blog."

1. I started because my sister had one, and I gotta be cool like her.
2. I really enjoyed reading other adoption blogs. I loved hearing about other adoptive famiilies' experiences, and I thought (ever so humbly) that others might like hearing about mine.
3. I thought it would be a good way to record what we do while "Waiting for Zoe" The extended wait has made it less of an adoption blog and more of a "here's what we did today" blog. Hopefully that will change in the next few months.
4. It's a great way to let family and friends we don't see regularly know what we're up to. It's odd to talk to friends and have them say, "yeah, I saw that on your blog."
5. I've met great friends in the adoption community and hope to meet more.

Thanks, Lisa, for tagging me!

Our Fortunes!

We went to Panda tonight. We frequent the Panda because it's close, cheap, and hey, the Orange Chicken is yummy.

I tried to take a picture of the fortunes, but no-can-do. My camera's not that cool.

Mine said, "A beautiful, smart, and loving person will be coming into you life." Yes, it said "you life."

Jeff's Chinese word to learn was September ( Jiu-yue) And September is the month I now think I'll be in China.

Neat, huh?

My Eddie

If you've read my blog at all, you know I have a bunch of cats (5). I love them all. I have a special place in my heart for each of them. But this one... Eddie. He is something altogether different. He's so funny! He comes when you call. He sits up. He tries to grab you when you walk by him. And when he's ready for attention, he sits on you. I just love this funny boy so much, I thought I'd put up some pictures.





And look at the one on our bed. Look where his front paws are. They're behind him like he's leaning back.

I thought I must have interupted a private kitty moment (if you know what I mean). But by the time I left the room, found the camera, and made it back, he was still sitting that way.

And before you say anything...YES, we have sheets with ice skating cats and dogs.

14 months and counting...

We've made it to the 14th month of waiting. Oh wait, this would actually be the 15th month, wouldn't it? I've always gotten confused on the 18th-century-is-really-the-1700's thing.

Either way, today is our 14 month anniversary. We do have mini-cause to celebrate since our homestudy has now been sent off to USCIS and all we have to do is wait for the new 797. The re-filing is done.

And really, we've been very busy lately, so time is moving sort of quickly.

We're almost done with the bathroom project. I know, I know, we started it ages ago. We thought it would be faster to hire someone, but turns out, we hired the sloooowwwweeeest handyman ever. Fortunately, he's honest, cheap, and does really good work, so we keep calling him. Here he is doing our shower. LOOOOVE the subway tiles.
And here's the finished project, although it's very hard to see.

And the other side of the bathroom....
If you click on it to make it big, you can see the lovely floor tile, It's so white and clean. Probably not the smartest choice for Zoe's bathroom, but it is so nice. Also, the sink was probably not the best choice, but also so nice. Even the social worker said, "eh, step stool will be fine."

We have other things keeping us busy, too, but Americal Idol is on. I don't want to miss out on current Pop culture.

Also, I love the pudgy curly haired guy.

Zoe's sweater

I finally finished it!! I started knitting this sweater last September. I worked a little and then put it aside for a couple months. Work a little more. Put it away.

And then, when I finally thought I was done piecing it together, I turned it right side in and realized I'd screwed up the sleeve seam.

I would have left it that way and pretended it was suppose to be that way, but the other side was done right. In frustration, I put it away and didn't know whether I would take the trouble to fix it or not.

Then today, I see on one of Stephanie's blogs
(she has three) that she made a mistake on the sweater she was making for her daughter. She was fixing it and that was the inspiration I needed. I took it out and instead of surfing adoption blogs all afternoon, I finished Zoe's sweater.

Any knitters will be able to see the other little imperfections, but we're not after heirloom quality here, folks. It's just a little something I made for Zoe.

Spending Spree

Jeff and I are on a roll....

First we found the perfect patio set for the sunroom.


Then, the cutest ceiling fan for Zoe's room.


Look at this cat tree!! It beats the heck out of our $30 Wal-mart cheapie one


And finally, I couldn't resist. A diaper backpack for Zoe. I think it'll be perfect for the China trip.

Mysterious Mailbox

Last week as I left for work, I saw that our mailbox was on the ground and the post had been knocked askew.

We have these skater kids who hang out in the street and so naturally I assumed it was them. They've been known to yell at passing cars (including us), and frequently don't get off the street when cars come. You have to inch around them. Quite frankly, I'm intimidated by them and scared that they know when I'm not home. It wasn't a far-out assumption that they would vandalize a mailbox.

We set it back up, but didnt' secure it to the post because we had planned to buy a new mailbox anyway. Also, my mail carrier works next to me all morning and just hands me my mail before we head out to deliver.

The other day, Jeff came home from work and said the mailbox looked like it had been fixed. Sure enough, I went down to check and someone has re-screwed it to the post.

Huh...

Now we figure somene must have hit it while driving down the street and then come back to repair it. It's not likely since we live on a straight street with no traffic other than the neighbors, but I can't imagine the delinquint kids would come back to fix it.

Whoever it was, they didn't leave a note, or any explanation.

The other reason July is a big month!

PRESENTING.....


My new niece or nephew! My sister finally mentioned it on her blog, so I assume it's now mentionable on mine. My sister is making me an aunt again, and I couldn't be happier.

As any infertile will tell you, there's a weird mixture of joy and jealousy when someone close to you announces a pregnancy. I had my afternoon of "stupid uterus" and "rotten ovaries", but it didn't last long. And with that out of the way, it's so fun to think about a fresh new little baby.

Since I won't know Zoe as a newborn, and I wasn't particularly interested in babies for my first niece and nephew, it's more fun this time around. I go to the the baby stores and (poor Jeff) have a whole new section to wander around. Newborn stuff is precious, isn't it? And now that she's coming home in March, I hope we can do some baby shopping together.

How awesome is it for two sisters to be able to go shopping for the babies their expecting together?

She doesn't know boy or girl yet, but should soon.

And to tie this in to my previous post, her baby's due on Harry Potter's birthday. How many of my fellow dorks know what that is?

Ask, and you shall receive...

Ooooh....Here's something else to look forward to. The release date was just set for July 21. How big of a dork am I if I place my order now? Jeff will never take me to a book store at midnight, will he?

Referalls are in!

So...the cut-off appears to be October 13, 2005. Blugh!

That doesn't go with my plan of a May referral. It doesn't even go with my plan of a June referral. But July is nice too, right? July is lovely.

Here's the reasons July is lovely...

1. It most likely means September travel. Cooler weather, but still light packing.
2. I can easily stretch my leave thru Christmas.
3. Um....

Yeah, that's about it.

But still, end of July is only 6 more months. I can do that, right? We'll have no trouble saving money by then. My house should be friggin' fantastic by then. I'll get to work all summer and since the mail is light in the summer, it means easy overtime.

If you have any more ideas why July (or possibly later) might be a good thing, jump on in and let me know...I'm having a hard time convincing myself.