Friday, September 28, 2007

TGIF

I am so happy that it's FINALLY FRIDAY!! I have an amazingly LONG few weeks coming up, and I hope to spend a lot of time this weekend relaxing!! So, this weekend I'm going to a native plant sale Saturday morning, then the NC State game*. Saturday night after I get home for the game I have to help Uncle Phil get ready for a ... (wait for it) ... DATE!! (More on this later). Then Sunday is Meeting** , and nothing. No plans what-so-ever. I HOPE to spend it sewing. I have a wedding next weekend for a friend***, then the day after I get back from the wedding, I leave for Germany for a week. UG. I'm looking forward to the trip *mostly* but it is a WORK trip, and low-and-behold I am actually EXPECTED to work! The nerve of these people. (wink).

Anyway, I mentioned before my husband is a pod-person. Briefly, he's doing Yoga Teacher Training (which is awesome), but man are those people he is going to school with an odd bunch. He's sort of like a born-again, but a born-again yogi. He's in class every other week every day/night except Tuesday and Thursday. It's sort of like a cult, too. He's changed his eating habits, his "outlook on life"... don't get me wrong, it's good for him, but it is a lot like a spiritual cult.

Anyway, I need to get back to work. See y'all later this weekend.




*Yeah, State sucks this year, but hey, the tix were FREE, people!
**that's church to all you non-Quaker people out there
*** Said friends' quilt is what I'm sewing on this Sunday...actually just STARTED it yesterday...I'm only about a YEAR behind.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Tagged

Since no one is commenting on my latest blog post (hint hint), let me give YOU some info on mememe... I was tagged (sadly it was in August!), on this and I've been putting it off. Now, thanks to a blog-friend at this blog, I am finally accepting the tag. ;->

So here are the "rules":
Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged & to read your blog!

My middle name is Gita (pronounced Geeta, as in the Bhagavad Gita) So here goes:
G - Gemini - And yes, I do have a duel personality!
I - Impatient - maybe this adoption is god's way of reminding me to be more patient...
T - Tenacious - like no one you have ever met...except possibly my husband, the Taurus!
A - Adoption - duh! A no brainer....

Oh, now I have to tag 4 people. Ok, here goes, Kathryn (sorry friend!), Amy (I LOVE to see your comments on my blog, so here's a fun way to get to know you a little more!), ok, I'm out... pretend I don't count well...

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Ok, last call, people


I need advice on baby "stuff". I know I've asked before, and gotten a few responses, but this time I need some specific advice. A wonderful friend of mine has offered to throw me a baby shower (I was *almost* struck dumb! I couldn't believe how thoughtful it was and how it meant to me that she offered to do this!!), so she suggested I actually REGISTER! Good advice, but frankly, I don't have a clue about some things!! It'll be WAY easier after we get our referral (fingers crossed that it's soon!) to register for clothes and that sort of thing, but I got stuck on how many BOTTLES there are out there and which ones are good (like I have a clue!!). I think I managed to get like 8 things on there...not too bad, but I am still ... well, unsure. I think my closets are beginning to look like I have a few necessary items (hey, bibs I've got!), but I think now I need to get into the nitty gritty. Like bottles and diapers. Not fun, but will definitely be necessary. So any moms out there, ESPECIALLY parents of children from Vietnam PLEASE put your thoughts down under comments!!! I'm begging and it ain't pretty.

I DID take a Baby 101 class over the weekend. It was a lot of fun, and informative. The mother teaching it was not only a mother of 5 kids (with one on the way!), but one little girl adopted from China. She was able to speak to a few issues APs tend to face more often than bio-parents (like night terrors which can happen in any child, but are more common in a-kids). She covered feeding, diapering, attachment and bonding, carriers, wipes, etc. but she didn't go into specific detail about any single item (well, she did about a few things, but that's not what I need help on obviously!). Want to know a sad secret? I took 6 pages of notes on what she said. The way I figured it, as a parent of 5 kids, she knows what she's talking about!! I also liked her and felt that we agreed on some of the "big" concepts, so I think the advice she gave is good. (as a minor disclaimer - which I am adding as I just got unfairly attacked on someone else's blog so I'm a little sensitive - I KNOW every parent has to make their own way. blah blah blah. Sure, but for those of us who don't have a clue, it feels good to at least have something to start with.)

I've been very fortunate to have a precious few friends lately with little people, including my uber cool SP, and I love getting advice from them on baby "stuff". So, remember, keep the advice coming, and Brooke, I am still counting on YOU the day I receive my referral to take me by the hand and help me collect some other necessary (and cute!!) items.

Ok, I should probably stop baby-obsessing and get back to work... (even though my peanut-to-be is WAY more fun to think about than my dissertation peanuts ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!!)

as a teaser for the days to come... My husband has been taken over by tree-huggers and has become a raw-foodist. Yeah, weird. More to come!!!!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Much needed day off

Took today off work as a mental health day. I was desperate to have some down time. I spent the morning with one of my fav friends, and then did some fabric shopping. Now I'm home. The house is spotless, the dogs are sleeping...and I'm all blogged-out. I think I'll make a cup of tea, and pick up the book I started 3 weeks ago (and am only on page 70!!). Good times.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Home Tour Pix






Ok, NEW updated pictures of my humble abode. Let's see, we've got sewing room (which will become the Baby's room), dining room (with Tod's Great Grandmother's table!!), kitchen, living room, and Master Suite.

Monday, September 17, 2007

What weekend?

I am so freakin' exhausted. We had the home tour this weekend - yes, I have pictures, but not time to upload them now- no fewer than 350 people came through my house. I had to smile and say nice things the entire 3 hours. Tod did finally spell me at 4:30 (with 30 minutes to go!), but I was so tired, my voice was giving out, and I had the bright idea to wear heels (but forgot my pearls). My feet and back are STILL killing me!! However, the house looked spectacular. We go so many fantastic comments and everyone was SOOOOO nice and LOVED the house, it was totally worth it. Other than I have a 12 hour day ahead of me today and I am totally beat! I plan to spend next weekend in bed reading and sewing. Aside from one social event (dinner with friends who helped clean up our yard this weekend!), I'm RELAXING!!! Honestly!

As a side-product of this home tour, we've now been asked to be on a neighborhood hay-ride tour for holiday-decorated homes for this Christmas. I better start buying tacky decor now!!

Anyway, it was great, but WOW it was a lot of work. I WILL post pictures this week. They look great!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Quick update...part 2

From our agency today:

"Your dossier is on its way to the Vietnam consulate in San Francisco".


Wooo-hooo!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Oh, and....

Oh, I also forgot to mention, we received our NEW I-171H for China today. Our fingerprints were taken on July 24th. Now we have (so far) successfully navigated the US Government Homeland Security Citizen and Immigration Services mine-field... Another (minuscule) victory. Of course, we very well may need to re-do our i-171H for China based on this depressing statistic:

On 8/24/06, the CCAA released referrals for the dates of 7/14-7/22/05. Now here it is over a year later - and they have not yet finished NOVEMBER 2005! So, it took a full year to cover 4 months of referrals.


Now let's see how long it takes them to RENEW our ORIGINAL I-171H (which was for China, but remember we switched it to VN?)... just in time to have it expire. So, I sent the renewal package out yesterday. I think they said it should only take 2 weeks, but who knows how long it will REALLY take??!!

And pppssst. our agency called me to make extra extra sure the original one - for VN- was good through October 2007. You know, so when we get our REFERRAL (!!!!!) it's good to go.

Picture P-rade

I've seen others do this on their blog, and well, either I whine about wait times (I hear that wait times are increasing for EVERYONE in EVERY program), or I focus on the positive. So, whining it is. HA HA, JK. I'm focusing on the positive. I've been happily collecting some baby "stuff" over the last few weeks. Well, much of it has come from my Secret Pal, (as you will see in my pictures, Kelly)! The rest I've been buying piece-meal totally on sale (as in 1.78$ per item of clothing!!) at Target every time I go.

So, for something fun, I thought I'd take a picture of Baby M's closet {that she's sharing with her big brother (?)}. Right now, I have all my baby stuff together since we still don't know if we're getting a boy or girl from VN (95% sure it'll be a boy, tho'). Here's the closet and the dresser for the kids:


Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Pix of SP gifts

Aren't my gifts the BEST?! Stuff I didn't even KNOW existed, and something that doesn't show up in the pictures are the awesome notes she sends with the gifts! (Oh, and see, I opened the DVD last. It looks like a really cool one. I don't have anything like that, and wouldn't even think to buy one...but you make some excellent points with the concept of using it for some parental quiet time!).





Also shown here is my favoritest puppy dog "helping"me make Baby M's OHGWQ (or, rather, ONE of Baby Magic's OHGWQ's... that's One Hundred Good Wishes Quilts for all you not-in-the-know folks out there). This one is all from June Buggers (Kelly, look on the right side, 4th one down!! I had the EXACT right number with yours in there!!).

I'd like to make one for Baby V (that's V as in Vietnam, not V as in 5, BTW. Not very creative I'm afraid, but we've got names picked out and no we're not sharing.), but haven't felt inspired to do a OHGWQ. I do think I have the nursery "theme" picked out. I don't need to be all matchy-matchy but I think for this theme I'm making a quilt (I have the BEST fabric, will have to take a picture to share), I have a mobile over the changing table, and have bought this bedding. Our furniture is white, so I think this will go nicely!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

In Advance of the Home Tour

Here's what the Neighborhood Association put out in advance of the home tour coming up this weekend. Our house "highlight" is at #6. I hope to have photos up this weekend sometime. We had "professional" photos taken (actually the Neighborhood Association had them done), but we haven't seen them yet. They will put up poster-sized pictures of our house at the kick-off for the tour on Sunday. The homes on it are supposed to be a "surprise", so the little highlights in this flier are simply teasers! Then, the pictures are supposed to entice folks to visit the houses shown in the giant pictures. I keep thinking "what the hell am I thinking? Allowing total strangers waltz through my HOME." Oh well. It's too late to go back now. Nothing to do but tidy the place, and bake some cookies to make it smell good. ;->

Monday, September 10, 2007

My SP rocks

Ok, I was still at work at 8:00 PM tonight. I walked into a DISASTER at home (the boys were relaxing in front of the TV...). And we have the home tour in less than a week... 300 strangers walking through my house. And it's a total mess. I was freaked out, and grumpy (well, being at work for over 10 hours helped that) and only wanted to go to BED! but, Tod mentioned I had a package!! So I took the time to open this wonderful package from my Secret Pal. And let me just say, as I have before, she is UBER AWESOME!!!! Her gifts are so thoughtful and incredibly USEFUL. I just can't believe how fortunate I am to have the PERFECT secret pal. Thank you thank you!! I'll post pictures tomorrow when I am not too lazy to hook up my camera to my computer! And I'm not falling asleep at the keyboard too. ;->

Thanks again, Kelly!!!

Sunday, September 09, 2007

OMG - Guess what!??

Ok, so, I've been out of town the last few days visiting fam in D.C. LONG trip, but a good one. That's not what's important. Check this out, and then forget I mentioned anything. On the train on Thursday, we got a call from our agency director. She was calling to make sure we had all our CIS paperwork in good shape. Because, she said "Things are moving fast". She wanted to make sure everything was good through at least October. She said "don't quote me, but you should have your referral in the next 2-3 months". HAPPY HAPPY!!

Now, with that, I promptly went out and started buying baby "stuff"!! I bought this changing table (although it's not shown, this also has an addition to the top that converts it to a book-shelf above, which I also got). Also, while we were at the place buying the changing table, the Soon-To-Be- Grumpa John (that's Tod's Dad, BTW, not Grampa, but Grumpa), bought this cool dragon. Isn't it CUTE?!

We also happened to be picking up some other stuff, including a bunch of my husband's baby books, and a few adorable little items of clothing (including a now-retro bellbottom-onsie! I kid you not!!).

A dear friend is giving us a crib, and my thoughtful bro gave us a stroller/carseat thingy last year, so we're STARTING to look good in the "stuff" department. Now I just need the misc. items like bottles, etc. Oh, and clothes for boys. I have a TON of adorable girls clothes, but I'm positive we'll be getting a little fellow, so I need to do some shopping - but I am going to wait a few months until the referral comes before I do any clothes shopping. Then, watch my dust!

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

DTV - 1 month down

Ok, anniversary number 1 with Vietnam. One month down. We still have no more info than we did before on our wait times. Our agency (who FINALLY got back to me after 3 months) told me today to expect our wait "for referral 3-6 months, and 4-5 months to travel". It seems every time we hear something the time lines have changed. I'm so damn tired of being behind. Of not knowing. Of being childless. Of asking WHEN... While the wait for Baby V has only been one month, it feels like it's been years, well, b/c we quite literally HAVE been waiting years. Just not for Baby V, but for Baby Magic. So the wait feels compounded.

Do I sound like I'm whining? Damn skippy. Do I have every right to do so (as it's my blog)? Damn right.

Do I need more sleep? No doubt.