A little Snow and Dossier Roadblocks

Well, I was so close to getting my dossier state authenticated today, but it SNOWED!!! It has been 70 degrees for the last couple of weeks and the morning after I get my last, long awaited pages, it snows. (I was supposed to authenticate 2 weeks ago, but had to order updated documents, as they had just past the 6 month shelf life). Until that time I was zipping along at a nice speed of dossier dashing, so proud of myself, then I stopped dead in the water for two weeks of waiting for these last pages. I scramble out this morning in the nasty snow-turned-to-rain to get to the SOS Office so that I can drop off and pick up same day and then FedEx it off to my agency (I even had the FedEx envelope ready!), and what do they tell me when I finally get there?....................... No one is in the office today to authenticate due to the snow!!!!!! UGH!!! I just can't get a break these days. The roads were really pretty clear and melted by this point and it was only 10 am. I actually shed a couple of tears as I was walking in the rain back down the two blocks to my car. Oh, well, I've waited this long, what's a couple more days, right? I can only hope it won't matter in the long run, but I just feel like I am missing some preferred log-in date by a matter of days and Tet is coming up soon........ Hopefully I will be updating tomorrow that it is on it's way to the agency. Stay tuned!

2007 Catch-up:First Post of the New Year

Wow, it has been a while since I posted! We have had a lot going on.........let's see.....

We had a good time on our New Year's trip to the mountains. It was quiet and very, very rainy--we braved the inclement weather on New Year's eve and went "into town" to the cute little town of Blowing Rock, NC. Cute shops and it was nice to get out. Our dog, Ayla, even loved pretending she was a mountain dog and made a break for the hills until Matt caught up with her. Unfortunately, she is not an off-leash dog! The trip was very low-key compared to our former New Year's trips--we used to go with a group of eight of our friends, but sadly a divorce and a break-up have put a wrench in the plans with that bunch for the future, but that's really okay with us about the low-key part--this year we hung out with the friends that are still married and their 4 year old daughter (our adorable god-daughter). We hope to have buttercup to add to the crew next year!

On the adoption front, we are almost finished with our dossier. I have been ready to state certify for a week and a half now, but had to reorder one set of forms that I am STILL waiting on to arrive in the mail. Then I will rush it to the SOS office (which luckily is in our city) and get it overnighted to our agency. Man, I'll be glad to have that step done and on to more waiting, officially for our referral.

Also, we had gone gung -ho with the demo of the downstairs. I promise the upstairs is completely finished and livable, so don't worry about buttercup's safety! :) Here is a little peek of what's going on......

That was then.......

This is now.

Quite a difference don't you think? Really, you may not be able to tell in the pics, but the plaster was in horrible shape and unable to be saved and the butler's pantry, though I had a soft spot for it, was not well-made and needed to make way for a much needed bathroom. This is what progress looks like! :)

Family

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ours was way too hectic for my taste. We will have to do something about that next year--hopefully with Miss Buttercup. Everyone will just have to understand that making 4 different family gatherings is too much for anyone, let alone an infant! I'm still trying to recuperate myself. We are off to the mountains for a little much needed R & R with our friends and little god-daughter for the New Year holiday.........

Well, I finally got around to downloading some recent pics from my camera. Look at that sweet little face. This is from Thanksgiving week of my Niece D on the shoulders of her daddy, my brother. Love that little sweetie pie--wish we could see them all the time whenever we want, but, alas, they are 3000 miles away....that is such a bummer, huh? She is so funny!









....and playing in Buttercup's room...


And we can't forget little D's mommy, my lovely SIL, who is carrying our little nephew (aka Wally, the
bump).....



Wow, I just realized they are all color-coordinated! What a fine looking family! :) Love and miss you guys!

Thoughtful Friends & Christmas Tree Cuties

Well, I received these precious little Vietnamese boy and girl ornaments today in the mail from one of my online adoptive mom buddies. Thanks, Kristen! Three of us met for the first time in person this past Saturday for lunch and just had the best time just hanging out and talking some serious adoption talk. The weather was beautiful and really warm (like in the mid 70's!), so we sat outside and enjoyed the unseasonable weather. Before we new it it was 4 1/2 hours later. It is so great to have friends to talk to who just get it all. I so appreciate the support and friendship that they have given--it means a lot when this wait gets you down. Thanks, girls! I hope we can look forward to many more opportunities, especially after our girls are home...and these cuties are just simply adorable!

Baby Stuff Shopping and feeling wierd..

Well, we (I) finally started our registry at the baby store online. For those of you who haven't experienced it, adoptive parents feel really wierd shopping for baby stuff. (Not that it's stopped me as far as clothes, though!) Figuring out when to register feels wierd. When you are in the store it feels like you are pretending and a buzzer is going off somewhere in the store and everybody knows you don't really have a baby yet. I fully realize it's all in my head, but I have talked to other adoptive moms and they say they feel the same way. And probably dad's too, since every time we are at the store, I say we could go ahead and register, I guess. We are paper pregnant...... and hubby always says--it's too early, we have a lot more time for that. I think he feels the same way as I do. Wierd. (So, no, it's not just me!) I just figured since we had figured out some of the stuff we wanted to get, I might as well get it on the list before I can't remember or find it later. Plus some other parent's have said you start to get lots of good coupons after you start a registry (always a good thing!) Ya don't have the buzzers go off when shopping online either, so it's safer from the wierd feeling! We will definitely go and continue the full registering in person at some point--it's a rite of passage! My eyes go glassy and I get overwhelmed when I go to the store though--there is so much stuff! What do you really need? My very good friend is having a baby girl soon and we shopped off her registry for her baby shower recently and I really thought, hey, I'll just copy hers! She's probably done all the research already. ha.

I *am * happy to report that we finally found a model of the stroller we want to actually try out. I found it online and wanted to inspect one in person before deciding for sure. I had no idea how hard it was going to be to find one! The big stores don't carry it and I could only find it online. Well, we had to go one town over to locate it and figured they wouldn't actually have it (they didn't aswer the phone) and it was a long shot, but we turned a corner and there it was---in the color we want and everything!! It tested out fine, so that is the one. We almost got it, but decided to order it instead. What is so special about this stroller, you ask? Well, I'll tell you-beside the really cool colors, it has a reversible handle so you can have the baby face you or the world. I think Buttercup is gonna need some serious face time with her new mommy and daddy.....and I just want to be able to look at her while we stroll!! :)