Party Of Four

Check it out

2007-12-11T00:53:00.000-08:00

Hi there...just a quick post to say I have a funny little video to show you over at our other blog featuring little miss N. Very cute... Looks like a new batch of referrals will be in any day to our agency. Is it possible that we might get our Christmas wish?

Busy Busy...

2007-11-29T22:55:00.000-08:00

Ok...so I found this cool site that allows you to download free blogger templates and just had to update my site. The bad thing is that I lost all of my links and don't know how to restore them. I'm going to work on that and set them back up soon. I'll have to do so before Chirstmas is over and I need to change my template again. Go here to find one for yourself.

So no news on the adoption front except to say that we are 5th in line on the waiting child list. One would think that we would get a referral in 2008 but I know enough to not make any predictions. I think that is why I haven't really been posting. I started out strong and with the hopes that we would have a referral soon. It will be a year this December since we signed on again with our agency. I realize that there are people that have been waiting FAR longer than we have so there is no need to get the violins out quite yet. But somehow it's just hard to come here and update when there isn't really much news. I am starting a new site where I will post whatever I fancy at any given moment. I'm going to keep this site for adoption news and info when we travel etc. Hopefully, we'll be posting here again soon.

For now, you can bookmark my my new site here. I should have a post up soon.

xo-j

Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

2007-09-21T00:28:00.000-07:00

Hello again my little bloggy friends...it has been quite some time since we last visited and I think I shall catch you up a bit. Here is a pictoral summary of our fantastic summer. One day, I will learn how to add photos in order to my blog. For now, you will have to endure our summer - the unedited version... The above photo is of our daughter... aka Princess Jasmine... for her 4th b-day pics. As you peruse the pictures you will see several themes developing here. I think I can sum it up for you in a few words: Princesses, Cupcakes, Camping, Birthdays, Fairs, Parties, Weddings... Give you an idea?
Here we are celebrating Auntie B's birthday with none other than cupcakes!

Have you ever seen a more adorable bunch of princesses?
A fun summer party in the backyard. Just seconds before the hammock broke. No joke!
What summer isn't complete without a little face painting?
Or horseback riding? One of 5-6 visits to the county fair this year.
A little Princess Birthday action...

The princess getting all glammed up...
With her ladies in waiting.
The most beautiful wedding (and bride too!!) of the summer...
With a lovely yummy cake...

and fun "goodie bags" as my daughter would call them... lol Loved the citrus theme and colors. It was a beautiful evening.

Okay... this is the craziest thing. I didn't mean for this photo to load and I don't know how to delete it? Anyone out there who can help me? This was supposed to be a camping picture. Celebrating the 3rd anniversary of our "Forever Family Day" with our friends from our adoption group. These girls are too precious!
With Auntie B at Saint Cupcake in Portland, OR. If you ever make it out that way make sure to stop and visit. We went there everyday of our trip to try the new flavors. I know...I know... but hey, it was for my birthday weekend celebration. I can officially recommend all of the flavors. I think my most fav are the pumpkin and the coconut ones!! They come regular sized or you can get little bite sizes which is what we did (most of the time) so that we could sample several flavors. Yummy! Oh, and there is a great kids restaurant called "Peanut Butter & Ellie's." Too cute... lots of fun toys, edible playdough to keep the kids (or you :o) occupied, and fun menu for both kids and adults. Also did lots of shopping and sightseeing. Auntie B is the best! What a lovely birthday weekend! Next year will be the big 4-0... yikes!!
Little miss sporting her new uniform for the first day of school. It's fun now. Won't be so much fun 10 years from now when she still has to wear it.

As promised, A picture from our wedding. I'm in the front with the girls and my honey is just behind me. Our lovely witnesses are in back.
Lots of good scooter ridin' and bike time this summer!
One of three parties to help ring in her 4th year...
More Fair Fun...

So there it is. Now you can see why I had not time to write! In addition to the aforementioned events, we also went on three super fun camping trips, went on several picnics, took swimming lessons, went to summer camp, and outdoor concerts. I experienced my first tire blow out while driving. That was eventful for little miss N. We still talk about it. We also found time to clean out our garage. If you have seen our garage before you know what an accomplishment that is! I can even park in there now. That was a "must complete" item prior to getting home with baby #2. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to try and put two kids in their carseats outside in the rain. Oh joy, joy...

Speaking of baby #2... still no official word yet. I believe that we have moved up on the waiting list from 8th to the 3rd or 4th spot now so I think we might hear by the end of the year or early next year. I still have plenty to do and with the holiday season fast approaching, I'm sure the time will fly by. Natalie is in two preschools this year (community and special ed) and that makes for an interesting day/week as well as busy, busy so another reason that time keeps flying by. I have to really stop and think about what the day of the week is and where I need to be. Okay so it's almost 2am and I should try to get to bed. We went out for our anniversary tonight and I made the mistake of having coffee too late and now I'm paying for it. Will definitely keep this more up-to-date now that things are getting back on a schedule around here. Thanks to those of you that checked in every so often. I will be making the rounds on your blogs again soon!

Happy 9th Anniversary To Us

2007-09-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

Sweetie, I love you with all of my heart. Happy Anniversary!

You are my everything!

xo
-j

edited to say... I know our anniversary is the 20th :o)
I just happen to have some free time to post this now. Love you!

Could Be Party Of 4 Sooner Than We Think...

2007-08-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

Hello...anyone still here? Bad, bad, blogger... I have lots of things to report but seeing how it's very late, I'll just say that our agency has received new WC profiles and we might possibly get a referral this time around. If not now, then shortly. Yikes!! I have lots to accomplish in the short time I have left as momma to one. Stay tuned...

Pics Coming Soon... really...

2007-06-13T16:48:00.000-07:00

Okay so my wedding was lovely! Very simple and very small ceremony with our immediate families and then a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant down on the waterfront. N went to grandma's after lunch so that my honey and I could go putz around. I love to be able to just go with no real plan or purpose and see where the wind leads me. I don't get too much of that now that our little friend is in our lives. Of course I wouldn't change it, but I sure do appreciate the time I get now! Anyways, we eneded up at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame and then headed on over to the Experience Music Project both of which were built by Paul Allen of Microsoft fame. I discovered that I have a hidden talent...drumming. There is a really fun area at EMP where you can play instruments and then acutally record whatever it is you are working on. I was totally rockin out. Look out Ringo...lol. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame is way cool too. My favorites were all of the original costumes and props used in movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Blade Runner, etc. Next, we shared mojitos and apps and then went to see Ocean's 13. Hello hotties! I like Brad Pitt so much better when he is clean shaven like he is in the Ocean's movies. I first fell in love with him when he was in A River Runs Through It. George Clooney is so classic and handsome. We got home at almost midnight and the little munchkin was up. Grandma is too much of a push over and didn't realize that she was caught-up in the "I just need this one last thing..." bit that munchkin is trying to perfect. I'm sure she was thinking..."Sucker - my mom and dad tell me "too bad" when I try to tell them how hungry I am at bedtime. I know which of your buttons to push!" Ai yi yi... As you can imagine, Ms. N went to bed immediately and was oh, such a joy the following day! Oh well, we had fun and I promise to post a few pictures as soon as I can get my camera unloaded.

I won't be able to post much in the next few weeks (not that I'm a stellar blogger to begin with) as the school year winds down and our crazy summer schedule kicks in. In the next three weeks we have 2 camping trips, a trip to the canal, 2 Brownie end-of-the-year events, a preschool party and I'm taking a business trip to Indianapolis for our annual convention. Phew...I'm tired just typing it all out! Anyways, I'm still trying to keep up with all of your blogs and comment etc. I see lots of hits on this blog but only a few people comment. Would love to hear from some more you!

That's all I have today folks...

How Do You Like My Blog....& Oh, I'm Getting Married

2007-06-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

So how do you like the new look of my blog? Sara at Bling My Blog did a fabulous job don't you think? I know it's bright...but I love color!!

A little news...

Potty Training - Wow!!! is all I can say. This child resisted up until the moment that I told her that her diapers had gone bye bye and there was no other choice than to go potty on the toilet. She hopped right on and we haven't looked back. I can't even tell you the dread/fear I had lived with the weeks leading up to Memorial Day Weekend in anticipation of it all. I'm sure she picked up on that dread somewhat and that led her to behave like she did. Once she understood she had no choice in the matter, she was fine. I'm so relieved and so very proud of my little gal. It's great to see that she is so proud of herself too and how that has brought about some other "big-girl" behaviors. Okay, I know, she threw a bloody fit in the car tonight because she couldn't have a piece of gum... hey - she is only 3 years old.

Marriage - Yes, I'm getting married this weekend. I confess that I have been living in sin... in the eyes of the Catholic Church...tee hee... Our friends have been having fun with this one. Hubby & I did not get married in the church (we ARE married with civil union) for a multitude of reasons, the biggest being that at the time we didn't have a parish that either one of us felt connected to (boy did this ellicit a fist banging rant from our current priest) and...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, when we went to have N baptized, they really couldn't do it because they didn't officially recognize our union so therefore they couldn't recognize our child. They decided to go ahead as long as we promised to marry in the church. We went through the marriage classes (after being married for 6 years at the time) and things kept coming up so it never happened. Fast forward three years and we still had not gone through with the actual ceremony. N is going to be starting at said Catholic school next fall so we figured we better go ahead with it so she doesn't have the bastard child stigma when she enters Miss B's three's class next year...lol It isn't exactly what I planned for a vow renewal...I was thinking Hawaii or Europe...but it will work for a 9 years. I'm hoping that our 10 year anniversary will be marked with a trip to China! So, now all of you friends/neighbor's (you know who you are) at school/church don't have to pretend like you don't know us anymore. You really can share a camping site with us this summer ;o)

What Did She Say???

2007-05-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

A few pictures to begin with...Natalie showing us the cool photo on her cell phone of Ariel. She takes pictures with her phone. Where she learned this, I have no idea. Neither of her parents have a phone that takes pictures...
N & G so sweet. These were taken on Mother's Day.
N & E... G's older sister...both are beauties huh?
Three peas in a pod. These cousins love each other so much. They are too cute together. I hope you girls are always this close!

It's hot today up here in the PNW...like 85 degrees which is a little too hot for moi. 70-75 and I'm a happy girl. Get over 80 and I'm not lovin it anymore. At least it's sunny. And!!! We finally have a place to sit outside and enjoy the weather. We have lived in our home for almost 6 years and have never had a patio table to sit at. We were thinking that we wouldn't be in this house for very long and were holding off really doing much with it. I'm a city girl and currently live in the suburbs. I always thought that we would move back down to the city but that hasn't happend yet and, since having children, I find I like it here. Also, I'm not currently working (which means no cashola to move) and we have made some great friends, etc. so we're thinking that we'll be here for quite some time and will be making some changes. Our backyard needs some serious help. We had a landscape designer out last year and she came up with a beautiful plan for us but it's on hold until the adoption is complete. We'll do little things here and there to start making some changes but the big things will come later.

Most of the weekend we were out looking at patio sets or cleaning out our house in preparation for the big community garage sale coming up on Saturday. I love to purge my life of clutter (which you would never know by visiting our home on any given day, but I try) and it is so liberating to throw it out. Funny how some stuff seems so important at one point in your life and then so easy to get rid of at another. Potty training was hit and miss because we were gone so much. I hadn't anticipated that so it kind of made it difficult. But, we have worked on it this week and today was the first day that she has been in panties all day!!! Yee Haw...I think I see a glimmer of hope!

I also made it out with my mom to some of the family and friends gravesites on Memorial Day. I was surprised to see so many others out as well. I haven't seen that in years past. Oh, we also saw Pirates of the Carribean on Saturday night. It was good. Being the Disney nuts that we are, we love all of the references to the ride throughout the movie. Loved hearing the "dead men tell no tales" at one point. I want to go back...

The title to this post refers to these little gems from N over the weekend... and I quote:

"I'm too pooped to pop" (which she has learned from her book Froggy Goes to Bed - I have never heard her use it in the correct context before...)

While riding in the car and being told that the Dora CD is not to be found...she replies "it's all good in the hood" okay, I was drinking water during that one and it came up and out my nose, I was laughing so hard. Thanks to daddy watching Adult Swim and Robot Chicken for that one...the original quote is "it's all good in the hood baby"..can't wait for her to say that at school or something...nice

While N was in the bathtub...I just had turned off the hair dryer and heard N, in a very matter of fact voice saying, "You have to wash your hair Aladdin...it's really not a big deal.." all while holding her Aladdin doll and shaking her head. Wonder where she came up with that one...lol

15 Before You Are 15

2007-05-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to everyone. I have always loved this weekend because it feels like the start of summertime and is usually a good weekend for a little road trip. No trip report for us this year... instead I have a list, taken from this article ,of 15 places in America that your children should see before they turn 15.

They are:

Ellis Island Museum, NY
Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC
Colonial Williamsburg, VA
Pearl Harbor, HI
Grand Canyon, AZ
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis
Redwoods National Park, CA
Monticello, VA
Gettysburg, PA
The Alamo, TX
Ground Zero, NYC
Niagra Falls, NY
Freedom Trail, Boston
Independence Hall, Philadelphia
Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando

You can read a little blurb about each place and find links in the article. I have seen 7 of the 15...Ellis Island, Lincoln Memorial, Colonial Williamsburg, Redwoods National Park, Monticello, Ground Zero, and Independence Hall. I have many ideas to add to this list as well but it's a good start. Fun to think of all the places that our family has yet to discover together....

Looking for ideas for a girls weekend? The same Budget Travel website has a link for girlfriend getaway ideas here.

We'll be home this weekend...I have a Southern Living At Home party tomorrow morning (I'm a consultant) and then going to see Pirates of the Carribean tomorrow night!!! Love Johnny Depp! Sunday and Monday will be preparing for our community garage sale happening next weekend, visiting our local garden nursery, visiting family, and other assorted odds and ends. I have a few mojito recipes I think I'll try to perfect before the heat of summer is upon us...lol

Whatever your plans, have a great weekend!

Edit... I can't believe that I forgot to mention that this is the beginning weekend of the great potty training adventure. Yes, my child is almost 4 and refuses to use the potty. I have heard from everyone not to force the issue but it is coming down to that point. Pretty soon, I'll have to cancel all of her activities because they don't allow 4 year olds with diapers to participate. I have really tried everything from gentle encouragement and reminders to (and this was not a proud parenting moment) threatening to cancel her 4th birthday because "you can't turn 4 years old until you are out of diapers - they don't allow it" said the exasperated mommy...granted it is 4 months away but she is looking forward to it. So, with advice and encouragement from N's preschool teacher (this is her special ed preschool teacher- not the community preschool she won't be allowed into come September and no days of the week undie wearing) we will commence this weekend with the ceremonial removing of the diaper drawer and replace it with all of the special undies that I have been purchasing (with the hopes that the idea of being able to plaster Dora and Cinderella across her little fanny would be plenty of encouragement to drop her pull-ups and claim her time on the toiddy). Sigh...this is one of the reasons we're sticking around this weekend. We're going cold turkey and need to be near the potty at all times. Thankfully, or maybe not...I don't know..we got rid of our carpet this year and installed laminate flooring everywhere. Wish us luck!

What Do You Think?

2007-05-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

I first saw this mentioned on this blog and have a similar reaction... could be a great show...but I don't know if I would have let my kids do it. It looks like it ultimately could have a great message and I like the fact that no one is booted off but leaves by their choice. I wonder how many of the parents of those kids will see themselves in their kids reactions to others. I love the little girl who says (with the best mom look ever) "even when you did have a job you didn't really do it" with that look I'm sure she's seen a hundred times herself. Too funny!! Starts in the fall on CBS... I know I just said I'm happy to get unplugged for the summer and then next post- already looking to see what's on next season. I need help...lol

Relaxed...Recharged...Odds & Ends

2007-05-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is a heavy picture entry today but I had to post some of the scenery from our recent weekend adventure. I took over 235 pictures and it was hard to choose which few to post. We stayed in the lodge at the Lakedale Resort on San Juan Island. Wow, what an amazing place!!! For good reason, it was named by the Fine Living Channel in 2006 as one of the top 10 places for a romantic getaway. We got a great deal on it at our neices' school auction last year. Now we're going to have to go back and pay full price to make it an annual event. My goal this summer is to get another blog up and running that is more to do with travel and other adventures. I'll be posting more detailed info there, for those that are interested, on this place and others. More deatails to come soon! For now, enjoy the picutres...

On the ferry going to San Juan Island. We lucked out weather wise. It looked like rain on the way over but actually cleared up a bit and was fairly nice for most of the rest of the weekend. It didn't rain until the last day when we were headed home.
Looking outside from our room. Each room has a fireplace and HUGE jetted tub. Kids under 16 aren't allowed in the lodge so it's very quiet...
View from standing on our balcony...Ahhh... Just looking at this picture makes me relaxed. Can you picture yourself here on a beautiful evening with a glass of wine in hand? Feels good doesn't it?

We witnessed some amazing sunsets. Nothing has been done to enhance the color of this picture. It really looked like the sky was on fire.
This was just before the sun set...
This was funny because on our first evening we went out to eat and were headed into the restaurant when we realized that we could acutally sit in the bar. We ate dinner in the bar just to celebrate that fact...

Driving on the west side of the Island just south of Lime Kiln State park. Vancouver Island is off to the left. It's a good place to see whales and other sea life. The resident pod of whales weren't in the area that day. I was so bummed because I wanted to see the baby that was recently born. The best time to see the whales is later in the summer. Now we have an excuse to go back this summer.
More lovely scenery...

Inside the lodge... The fireplace is outside on the deck as well.

I was trying out a new camera so i have lots of shots trying out different settings and distances etc. I thought this picutre of the peonies turned out cool. One of my favorite flowers...hint hint honey :o)
Light house at Lime Kiln State Park. This was our third trip there to see if we could see the whales.
A beach at "American Camp". The British and Americans both had military camps on the island before the American/Canadian border was determined. It was an amicable arrangement that almost went awry when a British pig wandered onto an American settler's land and was shot and killed. It was eventually settled and the border dispute resolved. The soldiers had quite the view.

Meet Mona the camel. She was rescued from a petting zoo somewhere. She loves to be fed apples. I can't recall having ever seen a camel in person before. She is quite the character... not to mention roadside attraction

Another shot from playing around with the different settings on my camera.

My honey got his 100th geocaching find on this trip. Not acquainted with the wonderful world of geocaching yet? Read here for more. In a nutshell, you use a GPS unit and satellite coordinates to find something that has been hidden. Once found, you notate all of your info in a logbook. It's a fun family activity...sometimes it can be a bit annoying when any event you have planned has to include a stop off to find a new geocache..but for the most part it's fun. Tee Hee...

That's all the photos I have for now. Like I said I have tons more and will post more on my travel site when it's up and running. We are blessed up here in the Pacific Northwest to have so much natural beauty. In one day, you can visit some pretty majestic mountains, the Pacific Ocean, islands, wine-regions...I could go on and on. We had a fantastic time and vow to go away together at least once a year. No more of this three year business...

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Other little bits of info. I found this article this morning on my DTC Yahoo group. It's about uprisings in China over population control.

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Check out Love Without Boundaries fundraising auction. There is only one day left...sorry I meant to post about this before. But check it out for some amazing items to purchase. All proceeds go towards helping orphaned children in China. If you can't help out via the auction then check out their site for other ways to help. They are an amazing organization of individual volunteers trying to make a difference.
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That's it for now peeps....I'm excited to go "unplugged" this week as most of the shows I watch are ending or have come to an end. Anyone watch 24? I wasn't too excited by the ending this year. Anyways, it's time to unplug and get outside, get projects completed, go camping, take long evening walks...can't wait!

Happy One Month To Us

2007-05-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

I've seen others do this on their blogs and think it's a fun way to keep track of it all. Happy 1 month LID to us. I know many more to go...but I'm one month closer!

Okay....Here I Am

2007-05-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

Thank you to those that checked in or emailed to lend your support. I'm feeling much better now and things are looking up.

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Update:

Hubby and daughter on the mend... two thumbs up!!

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We signed up for the waiting child program with our agency...wait and see. We now are officially on the waiting list of the waiting child program with our adoption agency. Occasionally, our agency will get referrals with pictures and info of children in China's waiting child program. Typically, these children are a little older and may have some type of physical impairment or other disability. We have chosen to do this for a multitude of reasons which I think I'll talk about in another post. We're excited and hopeful that we will be matched with a child soon.

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Hubby and I are going away for our first weekend away together in THREE YEARS!! Long overdue I tell you and much anticipated. I'm nervous about leaving N but it's just something that needs to happen for the well-being of everyone in the family. Time to rest, recharge, and reconnect. I'll post a trip report and pics next week.

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I like the picture above...it looks so peaceful. I am can imagine riding my bike or taking a long summer's evening walk here. Hoping this weekend will be filled with moments like these.

I've Got The Post Vacation, Adoption Wait Time Blues...doo.doo.do.doo.doo.do.doo

2007-05-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

Warning... Warning...Flashing lights...red sirens.............You are about to enter the "negativity zone"...you're still here? Don't say you haven't been warned...

This week sucks!!! Is there something in the air? This morning, I was reading this post and I couldn't agree more. Okay, so I'm tired, my daughter has been sick this week (poor baby...) and has kept us up every night (poor us...) I've been stuck in this house and have read way too many blogs and rumour websites about the adoption wait times. I spent all day Tuesday stuck in traffic driving daughter to and from dr. and then myself back down I-5 to crappy Brownie meeting (I'm co-leader - we told the girls that we aren't going to the group campout) and then back up I-5 to wait in line at the pharmacy and deal with the crabby staff. Even my husband has been crabby. You know it's bad if my always positive, never will argue with me, always-looking-at-the-bright-side -of-things honey is crabby. Not to mention I'm coming off of my post-Disney high.... I'm feeling blah...

I'm especially feeling it regarding the whole wait time thing. When we signed up for this adventure again back in December, I knew that the wait would be longer than it was the first time around. Last time, we signed up with our agency on July 3rd of 2003 and had our daughter in our arms on August 2nd of 2004. I thought that was a long wait...little did I know how long the wait acutally could be. In December, I was thinking about 16-18 months and then added a few extra months in my mind and on the conservative side of things thought that we would be in China in Fall 2008. Now it appears that the wait time has skyrocketed from 18 months to a possible three year, that's 36 month, wait or more. That means travel in 2010?!!?? How does that happen so quickly?

Now I know, dear reader, that I should not be swayed so easily by rumour sites. You're thinking, "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to surf the net when you're feeling down?" Because you know it's out there if you want to find it. But this isn't like the time that I convinced myself that my bruise that wouldn't go away was a rare blood disease or when I went looking for more info on something and was convinced that I had lupus or some other life altering problem. This time there are plenty of cold, hard, facts out there to support many of the rumours swirling about. The only good news, and I'm taking a few steps back from the edge now(because the eternal optimist in me is dying to come out and play again), is that no one can predict the future. Sure, all indicators appear to point towards an increased waiting period, but we have no idea how the new rules will effect processing times. We have no idea of how many people have decided (unfortunately) to back out of the China program now (since the wait has been so long) and what, if any, effect that may have on wait times. We have no idea how China will respond to increased wait times or if they will at all. We just don't know....and we have no control over the majority of it. It could get even longer, or it could speed up. I do wonder what I will do if it acutally gets to be a three year wait. N will be almost 7 years old at that point. Will I really want to start over then? Would the girls even have a close relationship with that much of an age difference? The thought of it, quite frankly, scares the hell out of me.

I guess the best I can do at this point is to just let go of it all...What is that Serenity prayer...? Let me control what I can and let go of what I can't? I'll deal with it when I get there... Hopefully, miss N will be feeling better and we can get outside today...maybe I'll quit trolling the internet for bad news and clean the house or something? Get the calender out and plan our summer fun and vacation....and woo hoo... I get to go to the dentist today to have my teeth cleaned!!! I really have been stuck in this house a little too long. If all else fails, I'll just go here again and watch videos. Another warning... it's Will Ferrell and his brand of humour...the easily offended may not want to watch. Gave me a good laugh though yesterday. What does that say about me? hmmm...

Thanks for listening and for helping me to talk it out. I feel better.

In Other News...

2007-05-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

Actually, the best news... We are officially LID as of 4/16/07. This means that China has officially logged in our dossier with the CCAA and the clock officially has begun to tick. When referrals are sent, what waiting parents want to see is what LID dates are included. That is what is currently so painful as only two days worth of LID's are being sent out right now. The LID dates do not mean that those dossiers were received on those days. We know ours was received on 4/6 but it wasn't logged in until 4/16 so we won't get our referral until they match all of the dossiers logged in that day...in about...oh say...two...short..years from now.

I'm Back!!

2007-05-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Bloggie Friends...did you miss me? All two of you that check this blog? lol... Much has happnend since I last posted so I'll give a brief update. As you can see, we have returned from Disneyland and I have posted some random photos. We had such a fantastic time. There is nothing cuter in the world than watching three-three year old girls-realizing their wildest three year old dreams and meeting their favorite princesses. It was too precious. Our friends were great travel partners and we think that we have converted them into disney nuts like us. So here is a pic of N with goofy. He was waiting for us when we arrived at the hotel.

I guess i can see now why we are always asked if they are triplets? The swimsuits were not planned by the way...

Such good friends....

The highlight of the trip was finally meeting Cinderella. If you haven't been to Disneyland for some time, you will be surprised to know that the princesses aren't roaming around DL anymore. The only place that you can see them is at the new Princess Fantasy Faire or at various character meals. The Faire is cute but it's extremely crowded and everytime we were there, the wait to meet the princesses was over an hour and a half. We had done a princess dinner so had seen most of the princesses but Cinderella was not there...how can you have a princess dinner and not include miss C? She is the queen of them all, really. So by day three we hadn't seen miss C yet and the girls were running out of patience. Our salvation came in the form of a hostess at Goofys kitchen named Pam. We had a scheduled character breakfast at Goofy's kitchen. In the 5 or 6 times that I have had breakfast there, I have never seen a princess so was not expecting to see one there, let alone Cinderella. We were greeted by this bubbly woman who I thought must have just come out of new employee training or something because I have never met a cast member quite so cheerful and full of Disney spirit. Outside of DL I might have thought that she was slightly "touched" as she kind of had that glazed eye look with perma grin on her face and an unnaturally high voice. She was nice though and, as you'll see, she was very kind to us. She gave us the low down on what was happening that morning and who was there...Goofy (of course) Chip and Dale (yawn...we always see chip and dale), Aladin (hmmm...that will be interesting, never seen him) Balou (usually see him) and Cinderella...WHAT??!! The heavens parted and brilliant light shone down upon us. Cinderella? We told Pam our story and how disappointed the girls have been not seeing C yet. Oh yes, Pam assured us, she would be here shortly as she is going to sing happy birthday to the little girl next to us. Oh my, we could hardly contain ourselves. J and I were doing high fives as we had promised the girls that we would stand in line that day, no matter how long it took, to meet the divine miss C. Well, after about an hour we had finished breakfast and the little girl next to us had come and gone with no singing Cinderella. Pam came back to check on us and we told her no C yet and really not many other characters either. Well, Pam was not going to let us out of that restaurant without making some dreams come true. She came back five minutes later and said that C was on a break at the castle but that she would be back in three minutes and head right back to our table. In the meantime, all the characters made their way back to us and we had so much fun with them. Goofy scared the hell out of me, but that's another story. About 10 more minutes go by and Pam comes back again. No C yet, she says she'll check again. The girls have lost it at this point and are rolling around on the floor, climbing on the booth, the usual. Pam comes back to say that she has now gotten management involved and they are going to make sure this happens. Okay, I'm starting to prepare myself for the inevitable 2 hour wait in the sun at the princess faire, wondering if I have enough sun block on, when I hear a low murmur developing behind us that cresendos into shrieks of delight. I stand up and see this beautiful vision of blue fluff floating over to our table. Woo Hoo!!! We are saved...more high fives around the table and then the paparazzi in us takes over. In the end, there were no great pics of the girls with Cinderella, but at least we'll have the memory and the girls' trip was complete in their minds. At the very beginning of breakfast, Pam had asked us if we had been there before. We told her that three of us had but J, M, and the girls hadn't yet. She told us that gratuity was already included in the bill. After Pam delivered with Cinderella, J slipped her a $10 and thanked her for her help. She smiled and with a wink said "so you really have been here before haven't you?" I thought that was funny...

I love this picture and wish I had made it a little bigger. It's so neat to see the statue of Walt with the castle behind him...the sun setting... It's always so amazing to me, and inspirational really, to think of how this one person's dream came to life like this. Much bigger than he probably ever conceived of, but that's the power of dreaming and having passion about something. It really is a magical place...it's palpable when you are there. I know for some, it's too hot or two crowded. But if you let yourself go and really open yourself up to the possibilities of fun, look for the magic, you'll find it and have an amazing time. It's a sad thing that happens to us adults...we get caught up in the day to day demands of life and lose sight of the magic that surrounds us every day. I love being a parent of a three year old just for this reason. I feel like I'm finally learning what life really is about. She reminds me everyday of how life is supposed to be fun and silly and magical. She can pick up a leaf or look for a rock on a walk and really look at it and examine it and ask questions. That's magical. She can make up a silly song on the spot and giggle with delight over the smallest things. She shows me that it's okay to color outside of the lines, get dirty, and make a mess of things. You're not really experiencing life otherwise... Here's hoping that we all can slow down today and look for the magic happening all around us.

Feeling Nostalgic

2007-04-21T23:40:00.000-07:00

Since we have become DTC again, I have been looking at old pictures and remembering what it was like when we were DTC for Natalie and how excited we were when we went to China to get her. These pictures are for all of us out there that are DTC now with what looks to be like a long road ahead of us. No matter how long the wait, this will be our end result and it is SO worth it! This picture above is from our very first day with Natalie. She totally crashed on the way back from the Civil Affairs office. Phil and I laid her down in her little crib next to our bed and just stared at her for hours. So precious!

This is right after she woke up and started to process what was going on. Doesn't she look like she's thinking..."um, sure, I'll take a picture, but, okay...just wondering what on earth is going on and who in the heck are you?"

I should have know from the very beginning that she was going to be a daddy's girl. She has always been so comfortable with him. This is a familiar sight even today. You can't tell very well in this picture, but daddy's eyes and face are totally red and swollen from crying so much that day! This is still the first day and is just after she woke up and had her first bath and new jammies on. The p.j.'s are too short but I, of course, had to put them on her because they had cows jumping over the moon and were too cute. Definitely, a first time mom who had been waiting a little too long to put cute things on her child...

Okay, this is one of my most favorite pictures of N. I think it's just that innocent look on her adorable little face and then, of course, how messy it is from her prunes. The kid loved prunes and sweet potatoes. She couldn't get enough of them. Actually, at 14 lbs at almost 11 months, she couldn't hardly get enough of any kind of food. She ate like a horse and was so tiny. We couldn't understand where it was all going...

Love this one too because of how little she looks. She is just too cute. Still needs to have something in her mouth to this day. It's her "security" thing when she starts getting tired or overwhelmed. My sweet baby girl...

What A Difference...

2007-04-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

My Pictures didn't load quite in the order that I thought they would and i don't know how to fix them...Oh well... This is from the tail-end of the weekend. I just wanted to show how pleased Natalie is with herself for playing daddy. She's thinking..."sucker...mommy would have never given me the whole thing back here by myself..."
"I'll give it the ol' college try!!!" There aren't more pictures because luckily mommy came back to the car soon enough to intervene before disaster struck. She still ended up falling asleep with a nice little chocolaty smile on her sweet little face.
So I'm so struck by the difference between these pics and....

(love that mug!!)
these pics!!!!! Taken same place two years apart. Oh my gosh...where has my little baby gone? In just two years, my baby has gone from the cute little chubby faced (well, chubby for her) little baby to this child...this sassy, funny, sweet, opinionated, stubborn, smart, tender-hearted, little girl.
I don't know why I'm so shocked...she is three and a half but these pictures really show me just how much she has changed and grown. Boy, have the years gone fast too! This August will be our three year celebration of becoming a family. Time has flown by too quickly. Prior to Natalie, I was told by so many moms to just savor every moment because they grow up so fast. I have really tried to do that but have recently caught myself wishing that she were a bit older, already potty trained, etc. This potty training thing is not fun...But looking at these pictures again is a great reminder to savor every moment of this time with her...naughty and nice...because in a flash she will grow and change and be a different person and I'll miss her at this age. All of the funny things that she says and does. In fact tonight, we were driving to go to dinner with grandma and grandpa and Natalie was holding one of her babies (Sophie Marie in honor of her sister...everyone is Sophie Marie now)and singing to her and telling her how cute she is. She said to me "mommy, my baby is one year old now and she's so cute...she's from the same place I was born..." How cute I thought to myself and then asked her where that was...waiting to hear all about China... "CANADA" she says. What?!? Oh my gosh, we laughed so hard. Well, she got a great response from that so don't be surprised if you hear from her now about being born in Canada. Oh how I will miss these days...

UBI's...

2007-04-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

When I was in the Peace Corps, one of the program director's would have a UBI session, otherwise known as "useless bits of information." So here are some UBI's (some more "u" than not)from our homestead... As you can see, the bunny did make it to our house. Can you guess which basket is mine?
Natalie immediately declared this basket as hers. She told me I could have the basket with one piece of candy. Nice...
Okay, so I'm proud of my dessert. Actually, the whole meal was great thanks to the Food Network. I made Paula Deen's Texas Brisket. Oh my gosh was that good! We also had a potato casserole, asparagus (should have roasted it but didn't have the oven space at the time) and the above little yummy for dessert. It is Tyler Florence's Lemon Curd Trifle. It is a great springtime dessert...okay really anytime would work..Loved the fresh berries and the lemony curd. You mix the lemon curd with fresh whipped cream. Yum-Oh.
Natalie starts her T-Ball practice next week. Her coach called a few days ago with all of the info...okay my three year old has a coach?!? You must be some kind of saint to volunteer to coach a bunch of three year olds...lol... It will by hysterical to watch. She is going to play with her friends Lily and Brandon (brother and sister) who will also be going to the same school as her next year. More pics and video for your enjoyment to come soon...I'm sure!!
Two weeks from today we'll be on an airplane with our friends Jim and Mary Anne and their daughters to pay a visit to the mouse. It's been too long!

On the adoption front, referrals just were sent this week for only two days worth of dossiers from October of 2005!!! Can you believe only two days? I hadn't heard until yesterday that October was one of the largest months ever for the CCAA with over 2000 dossiers sent in. The CCAA has been sending out referrals for October for the last 4 months and they still aren't finished! I have heard that November is similarly a large month so who knows how long that will take? At this rate, we will be lucky to get our referral by the end of 2009...I know that we are just beginning this process again and I TOTALLY feel for those that have been waiting since October 2005 to see their children. Can you imagine if you missed the cut-off date yet again? I'd be pulling my hair out...

We do have the option of going through the special needs program which does seem to speed things up a bit. Phil and I have been talking about this option since before even deciding to adopt again. We're actually working out a profile now for what types of needs we feel that we can accomodate in our family. We're contacting our insurance company to see what types of things are covered and talking to other families that have adopted or will adopt through the SN program. Really, all of the children adopted internationally are "special needs" if you think about it. China just considers those with some type of physical deformity more SN than others. That, obviously, isn't the only type of thing considered to be SN but appears to be the bulk of it. We have had such amazing help and services available to us with Natalie and I know how to access the system for whatever Sophia may need. We'll just keep plugging along and see what God has in store for us. I just will keep on having faith that all will work out as it should.

That's all for now folks... Jennifer-out!

Next on TLC... A Hair Story

2007-04-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that we will find this much more amusing than the average Joe, since this is our adorable child, but thought it was too cute and had to post. This is the day after the following conversation happened.

Nat - "Mommy, Charlie & Lola is on"

Me- "That's great honey..." (as I know that it is not Charlie & Lola on, but is Stanley)

N - "Mommy, I'm ..... (something incomprehensible)"

M - doing laundry in another room... "wonderful sweetie..."

N - "I'm putting lotion on..."

M- "What the hell...?" as I run into the other room

Miss Natalie had decided to begin her foray into her beauty product empire by testing the development of her own brand of guacamole hand and face lotion. She proudly told me to "beel my kin" and "it mells good." I told her that she might have to go back to the drawing board. While her customers would surely appreciate all of the hydrating and softening properties her lotion provides, and the fact that it is multi-purpose because it could be lunch one minute and then a moisturizing skin refresher the next, I didn't foresee them much appreciating the fact that they would walk around all day smelling like their local Mexican food establishment. Maybe she should stick with the hair gig?

Our Weekend...A Pictoral Essay

2007-04-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

A little bit of this........

and this......

and this...

and don't forget this....

and finally this!

As always... busy, busy, busy, but never without fun, fun, fun!!

A Shout Out To "G"

2007-03-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

Today is a great day for many reasons. The first reason is that it is our neice's birthday today and she is the ripe old age of 9. Everyone knows how much I ADORE my neices. I remember wondering, when I found out that my sister was pregnant with G, how I could ever love someone as much as I love my oldest neice. Thankfully (because where would my own children be in the list of kids to love??)that all of that obviously wasn't even a consideration from the first moment that I held this little girl in my arms on the day she was born. She was a BIG baby - both were over 10lbs - and had a cute little red birthmark over her eye. She has now grown into quite the young lady and at the age of 9 is about as tall as I am, 5'2", and can share shoes with me as we wear the same size. She has a personality to match her stature and is going to one day take the world by storm with her acting and entertaining abilities. She is crazy and zany and so full of joy and a zest for life and brings tremendous joy to our family. Happy 9th Birthday G - We love you!!!

In other fantastic news, our friends welcomed their second child into the world today at 6:17pm. A little girl to join her 3 1/2 year old brother makes them their own "Party of Four!" We hear that mommy and baby are doing well and wish all of them congratulations and much love. Can't wait to meet her! So many blessings and things to be thankful for today!

Huge Apologies To........

2007-03-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

Anyone who is here for the first time because of the 95,000 messages you received from a yahoogroups board. Our blog is kind of fun but we're not THAT excited about it...now come on folks...

The whole saga is that, in addition to introducing myself on a new board for an adoption group, I also put a message on our own "Natalie May" group to supposedly inform those that didn't get an email last week about our new blog. I never intended for those of you that already know about this place to hear it again and had removed you from my list of recipients to receive the email. Yahoogroups did not like my idea... This is exactly why we switched to ye old blogger... you won't ever receive an email from me. You just come by anytime you want to and check it out. I guess you can do that as well with yahoo groups but most of our peeps were set up to receive daily emails.

I was so freaked out yesterday when I saw my "new member intro" post over and over again on the new group I belong to. This a group of folks who are all submitting their dossiers at the same time and will be sharing the long journey together as we wait for our referrals. I told Phil that it appeared that I had introduced some kind of virus into the AprilDTC group. He just laughed at me and said that he was sure that it was some kind of problem on yahoogroups end. We went back and forth for a few more rounds of discussion. How was I supposed to believe the guy that had kept insisting that there was something wrong with our bbq to which I replied "I bet it's out of propane"...."no - it should be full..." "honey, check the propane..." "no, that's not it..." We had our first bbq of the season last night after my sweetie went to fill up the propane tank. I guess there was less than a gallon left. Hmmm... Shortly after our bbq, I saw a note at the top of our yahoogroup that they are aware of the multiple posting problem and are working to fix it. Hmmm... lol

So there you have it folks... this time you CAN shoot the messenger...just don't hate on the author!

Maybe He's Still Here Because Of This...??

2007-03-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

I'm just not lovin AI this season...there is no one that I can really get into. I guess Blake has had a few songs that I have liked but nothing that exciting. LaKisha and Melinda are good, but again, not that exciting. There really aren't any performances by anyone that have stood out to me. I know lots of people liked LaKisha's first performance but I wasn't that impressed having just seen Dreamgirls. I really don't understand why Sanjaya is still around!? I guess there are lots of teenage girls out there text messaging their votes... what was up with his hair on Tuesday?

I am excited by this however... It should be hilarious! Loved Talladega nights too...Starts Friday..

26 Days Until

2007-03-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

We Are At The Happiest Place On Earth....

Weekend Wrap-Up

2007-03-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

Another busy weekend was enjoyed by all at Casa De La Crazy. Our neices stayed with us for a few days as Mommy was in Napa and Daddy got a break. In the past 6 months, their mommy has been to New York City, Las Vegas, Palm Springs and now Napa for a little spa time and wine tasting. Granted, I went to NYC with her but I think the rest of it is a touch excessive don't you all?

I had asked the girls ahead of time what they wanted to do and both said bowling and roller skating. Being the awesome auntie that I am, I delivered. Bowling with the bumpers up is awesome! There is nothing more fun than getting beat by a three year old! My 3 old was ahead for a good amount of the game and then my friend's 3 and 5 year old took the lead and won. Everyone had a great time....roller skating is another story.

Our first hint of what was to come should have been the fact that there was a police officer standing inside the doorway as we walked in via the metal detector. Our innocent little neices didn't even know what the metal detector was but they knew they saw a police officer and were starting to wonder (as was I looking wide-eyed at my husband who plays hockey at this establishment every Wednesday night until 12am) what they were getting into. There were plenty of tweens there so I thought it couldn't be that bad could it?...I realized when we were inside that there were probably 4 parents there and we made up half of the parental force. Okay, so the next hour was spent trying to convince my soon-to-be 9 year old neice, who IS having a roller skating birthday party next week, to get out on the floor and give it a try. She kept insisiting that it was the skates so we tried three different pairs on to see if that helped. First, she didn't like the quad skates and needed inline...well, the inline didn't really fit right so we needed to get the quad skates again...Finally, we think we have the right pair on and we're headed to the skating floor and then, of course, she has to go to the bathroom. I kid you not - this was an hour after we got there. Now I don't know about all of you, but back in the day when we went roller skating we had our cool red striped shorts or Jordache jeans and rainbow shirts on and were jazzed by the fact that the white part of our clothing glowed when the black light was on. We skated for hours on end to K.C. and the Sunshine band or Shaun Cassidy and tried to "shoot the duck" and/or worried about who we were going to skate with when the "snowball" sign lit up...Remember? My neices will have this awesome memory of their skating childhood... I have my 8 and 10 year old, catholic-school-going, little neices with me as we try to push our way through a gang of girls in the bathroom, sobbing and reapplying make-up to their 11 year old faces, because some other girls just threw a few punches out on the rink. They were plotting how they were going to &*!#$%! get those &*!#$%$^ back etc... one of my neices counted the number of swear words she heard in that conversation...I think we left it at 10 in one sentence. 10 year old kids were out on the floor pushing other kids down as they were skating and then would skate up behind other kids and pull those poor kids pants down. Gone was the idyllic shoot-the-duck contest only to be replaced by a speed skating competition with kids flying around the rink, pushing each other down and crashing on the floor. Good times... Needless to say, I think we went around the rink once and then were out of there. It was $30 well spent I would say! The rest of their time was luckily uneventful and fun.

We bid adieu to the girls on Saturday afternoon and then had a fun evening out with our friends that night. It has been quite some time since we have closed a place down on a Saturday evening. We were having so much fun that we didn't even notice that we were the last ones in the place. No wonder our waiter and the bussing staff kept looking at us so anxiously...they even told us not to worry about paying for the last minute port and coffee that we ordered...through gritted teeth we were told "no problem" which traslates to "just get the hell out.."

Brunch Sunday with a friend and a brother-in-laws bday celebration Sunday night wrapped-up a fun and busy weekend.

Figuring This Blogging Stuff Out

2007-03-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

So I'm posting this becase a)It's cute and from one of the blogs I read... Natalie loves the song and b)I'm still figuring all of this stuff out so this is my first attempt at embedding video...

Just click on the play button in the middle of the picture. You can see the blog this is from here .

Enjoy!

Our Ultrasound Photo

2007-03-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

Progress Update

2007-03-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

We officially completed all of the pre-adoption paperwork yesterday and turned our dossier over to our adoption agency yesterday afternoon. Our agency will review all of our paperwork one last time and then it will send it on it's merry way to China on April 1st. Woo Hoo!!! I think that we completed this much more quickly this time around. The magic date that we will be waiting to hear now is our LID date or Log-In date in China. This is the date that will mark the start of the official waiting period, which is currently at about 15-18 months as I write this. Arrgh... Oh well, we have plenty to do to get ready for little miss Sophia Marie.

Once our paperwork arrives in China, it will be in a review process for many months and then will go to the "matching" area where we will be matched up with our daughter. After that, her info will be sent to us and then we wait for a travel date. It all sounds so simple...why does it take so long?

I have faith that it will happen when the time is right. We have been having ladybug sightings again. For those of you that don't know or remember, ladybug's are seen as good luck in the Chinese adoption community. Last time, close encounters with ladybugs seemed to happen at key points along the way. In fact, the night before we received Natalie's referral, a ladybug landed on Phil and his book as he was reading outside. Little did we know that our lives would change forever the very next day as we were finally able to see a picture of our daughter for the very first time. Another memory is mailing off our documents to the San Francisco consulate on September 4th then heading off for a 10 day trip to California. All along the way, we saw ladybugs and were constantly talking about Natalie. I really remember feeling her presence and that she was alive. Her birthday is September 10th... So last Monday a ladybug flew into the car and landed on Natalie's car seat. It's the first time in a long time that I remember seeing a ladybug. We received our 171-H last Tuesday (the last important document from the US government)...I think that little sister is trying to say "hi" to us.

The Beginning

2007-03-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog... We had a "yahoo group" for our first adoption and thought it was time to update and start a blog to record the process this time around. Who knows what will end up on here and it will be fun to see how it develops. Obviously, you will see many posts regarding our adoption progress and you can also probably count on seeing posts on anything from trips, to crafts, to recipes, parenting/family events, geocaching, hockey, etc.... We hope you enjoy taking this journey with us!