Waiting for Buttercup........

New Blog and new news for the New Year!

2009-01-22T14:31:00.004-05:00

Well, hello there! Yes, it's me.....

Just wanted to say that I have started a new blog along with the new chapter in our lives--I have taken the password protection off of the posts there for now, but may reinstate it at some point.

If you're interested in what's happened in our lives recently, go on over and take a look!

http://www.buttercupsisters.wordpress.com/

Hope everyone is having a great 2009!

Home Sweet Home

2008-02-13T01:48:00.002-05:00

Hi, everyone!
Yes, we are home now--sorry to leave you hangin'!! We made a pit-stop to visit family in Los Angeles on the way home and have just been home now (at our house) for a week and a half now and are finally getting our feet under us a bit. The adjustment has been pretty rough, especially for the buttercup--so, hence on us too!! Just haven't had the energy to post--put I think we have turned a corner and things are looking up with the schedule and the sleeping. Stay tuned.....I have more pictures and more home update and will post more when I can. Right now....sleep is in my immediate future!

Just wanted to let everyone know we are home and okay!! Buttercup is healthy and happy and getting used to her new digs--she is a source of joy and entertainment to us for sure and we are getting to know her better and better each day.

More later......

Also a shout out to my friends, who leave this week (one tomorrow!) to go get their daughers!!! Go get em', girls!! bon Voyage and safe travels until we see you when you get back!!

Hanoi Update with Pics

2008-01-27T09:53:00.000-05:00

Well, we went to the airline office to see about adjusting our flights on Saturday, but they were unable to view the availablity of the US portion of our flights and we are trying to schedule a stopover in L.A. to visit my brother and his lovely family on our way through so they can meet little miss buttercup. We managed to accomplish nothing on that visit--the last bulkhead seat with bassinet was taken by the family that we went to the airline office with (but they have graciously offered to share if we need it--Our travel agent reissued itineraries for flights out on Tuesday for all the families since the visas are supposed to be issued tomorrow and pretty much everyone has decided to take them, so we will do the same to make things simple. It's hard to leave knowing there is so much more we wanted to see and do, but hopefully we will bring her back someday soon.

We walked around yesterday with Bethany and Kevin and their daughter Leah and went out to Hoan Kiem Lake, which is in the middle of the city and has beautiful parks and walkways all around and a little pagoda in the middle and a temple on an island on one end that is tied to a legend of a tortoise and a sword. There is a huge preserved tortoise in a glass case inside and a pretty red bringe leading up to it-definitely a big tourist spot, but pretty cool. We bought some art to take home at the shop next to the temple.

We ate at a great french restaurant called the Green Tangerine that we have heard good things about from families traveling before us. Then we made our way to the Silk shop where Matt had a fitting for his suit jacket--we had to wait a while for the tailor to arrive with the jacket, so we rested on little wooden stools and the babies were very patient.

The little drama queen had a meltdown though back at the hotel--I think she is working through processing all the change she has and is going through and is grieving her losses a little bit, so the nights are much harder for her. We weathered through it and she fell asleep in my arms until she woke up for round two and then finally gave up and slept for the night. Needless to say it was a room service night again. Tonight went much better--we had very little screaming to speak of and we actually walked down from the hotel to a wonderful restaurant called Koto that was started by an Australian in order to train street kids in the culinary arts and the food is awesome. We met an extremely nice couple from NY at the table next to us that just loved the buttercup and they only realized that we had adopted her after we had talked to them for quite a while--I usually assume that is obvious, so I don't feel like I need to make that clear--perhaps we are all starting to look alike! :) They have grandchildren her age and were very tolerant and helpful when she decided she had had enough. The staff was great too and one of the hostesses took her for a walk around the restaurant and introduced her to the kitchen staff so I could finish the last of my pumpkin ravioli in peace. It feels kind of weird to let them take her, but that is very common here, and I could see her the whole time. The Vietnamese LOVE babies and everywhere we go they will smile and talk to her and clap and cluck and want to touch her face and hands-the latter gets a little old though, as we would like to keep her from getting sick as long as possible. There comes a point where you just want to dip her in Purell, but it is just the culture difference and I can accept that.

A lot of passers-by will say "Baby Vietnam?" and when we say yes, we most often get the response "Ah, very good!" and lots of smiles. The number one question by far that we are asked, though, and this is everyone from the market vendors to the front desk staff from Saigon to Hanoi, is "How many months?" and even though she is usually dressed head to toe in pink, with a pink fluffy coat on, they say "Boy?"---I think she looks like a girl, but evidently it is hard for them to tell and they don't have the US tendency to assume pink = obvious girl. The culture is so interesting to me, and we have been greeted by everyone with such open friendliness......EXCEPT for the cab driver we had on the way back from the restaurant tonight--he just happened to be right in front of the place when we were making our hasty exit while waving goodbye to our new friends with a very crabby baby so that they could enjoy their food and I guess he thought we looked like pretty big suckers--remember we walked to the restaurant--but needed to get back fast since baby had reached her limit and he proceeded to rudely correct our pronunciation of our hotel (when I have heard it pronounced how we said it by other Vietnamese people) and then proceeded to snake around down half a dozen streets at about 5 miles an hour and when Matt questioned where he was going, he had attitutude and kept on his merry way--I was getting a little concerned that he was taking us to the "hood" to mug us, as nothing looked familiar, but then we finally saw our hotel in the distance and instead of pulling into the circular drop off (mind you, I am trying to comfort the getting hysterical baby, so you would think he would have driven faster!) instead he pulls up to the sidewalk next to the hotel and basically orders us to get out there. I was ready to gladly oblige, and of course he charges us twice what it was supposed to be, and when Matt gave him the money, he took cell phone call and igored giving him any change. I was on the sidewalk waiting and was afraid he would drive off with my husband, so I opened the door back up and told him just to let it go and cut our losses--a classic a**hole in any culture. Ugh. Such a contrast after we had had such a nice experience at the restaurant.....

We also went to a good restaurant for lunch today recommended by my friend Jenny-thanks, Jenny!-it was really cold today walking around and the restaurant had a little fire going and they sat us right next to it. It felt so good to warm up--luckily we brought the little fuzzy pink coat that we inherited from Jenny's girls so the buttercup was toasty, but we are quickly finding out we did not bring enough warm clothes for Hanoi this time of year--it has been in the high 40's to low 50's and all I brought was a hoodie jacket. She was in a great mood and giggling, but somewhere in the middle of lunch she had a diaper blowout and would have no more happy time, so Matt took her outside while I hastily paid the bill and chugged down my nice warm cup of coffee and we grabbed a cab for the hotel for some tummy time and a nap. We would have loved to have spent a little more time, but it's all about the buttercup now and she calls the shots (have I mentioned how loudly?). :)

Also, this morning our whole group went to the Water Puppet show--I really enjoyed it. It is kinda hard to explain, but it is basically wooden puppets acting out scenes of traditional Vietnamese culture one a "stage" of a pool of shallow water. There are dragons and ducks and fish and fishermen and dancers all set to traditional Vietnamese music. There are puppeteers standing in the water behind a screen operating the puppets. I loved the music and Marin was mesmerized until she fell asleep--I did have to see most of the show standing up in the aisle though, as she got tired of sitting still. A huge group schoolchildren came in and the little rambunctious boys that looked to be about first or second grade all piled into the lower seats around where we were sitting and were so happy to practice their English. They kept all yelling "Hello!" and "How are you?" and "What is your name?" It was so cute, but they kept doing it, so I had to shush them and motion for them to watch the show. It would stop them for a bit. :) Luckily the music is pretty loud. All of the girls were sitting politely up in the upper seats behaving--ha, ha. Even those young boys, were smiling and cooing at the buttercup and wanted to rub her cheeks. You just don't see that in the US. They are also not afraid to put their arm around each other or sit on each others laps--they were all just plain adorable and when the show was over, a man with bullhorn (seriously) rounded them all up and they filed back on to a couple of buses. They were all waving and saying "Goodbye!" on their way out. And all I can figure out in Vietnamese so far is Thank You! Gotta work on that.....

So, tomorrow (Monday) is our last full day here so we will have to make our plan --we will get back by the airline office, we will pick up our things from the tailor, and I would actually love to eat at Koto again--perhaps we will see if a few of the other families want to try it--and there are a couple shops I would like to get back by....Then we will sadly say goodbye to Vietnam for now--we are excited to get home to our family, friends and pets, but I have to admit the long flight with this baby has be shaking in my boots.... :)

Wish us luck!

Interview: Check!

2008-01-25T13:18:00.000-05:00

We had our interview today at the US Embassy--was a piece of cake! We didn't need any of our additional paperwork (just our passports!), and we were done in a matter of minutes for each family. We are supposed to be able to pick up our visas on Monday at 4--Quoc will pick them all up and deliver them to the hotel for us-he is such a gem! FYI, that is the piece of paper we have been waiting for all this time, as it gives us the ticket to bring little Buttercup home!! Yipee!! We had all been figuring if it didn't go well, we could all just set up house like a commune and live here for two years and get back that way, ha, ha--but it seems all went well! There is still some possibility the visa processing could be delayed if internet systems go down temporarily between here and the US, as they have been known to do, so Quoc thought allowing for Tues too would be on the safe side, but it seems there is not a flight on Wed, so we may settle for leaving Thurs. on the noonish flight. We are planning to go to the ticket office tomorrow in person to get things switched around--will keep you guys posted.....

**Us celebrating with Tea at the hotel after the interview**

We went to the area of Hanoi that does custom tailoring in a matter of days with Bethany and Kevin this evening-- We got measured for custom clothes that we will pick up Monday! I am getting a jacket and an Ao Dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) and Matt is getting a suit. All custom made in fabrics of our choice--pretty cool! We left and walked a ways and ended up running into a street fair of sorts with all sorts of booths set up in the street and took in all the sites. We saw some beautiful original paintings in a shop that we loved, but the prices were a little out of our range--up in the thousands, so we had to just admire and walk away :(--we will have to try to find some more reasonably priced--the art is just beautiful--we just evidently have really expensive taste! (The gallery staff said that she had sold a pair of paintings to Bill & Hillary Clinton like one of the ones we really liked--ha, ha) We have tickets to the Water Puppet Show for Sunday morning--have heard a lot about it and am looking forward to see for myself what it's all about!

The little buttercup is doing well, however, I don't know if it's the weather change or what, but the eczema on her face has really gotten worse--this has been the case with all the Danang babies with skin issues--it doesn't seem to bother her at all, it just looks so red and seems like it would be uncomfortable, but I think it just looks worse than it feels. She just woke up this morning with a bad case of acne--poor baby--we are putting on some creme and hoping it will calm down. The doc in Saigon said she would probably grow out of it at some point.

I am loading more pics to the flickr site as I type, but as it is late, I will have to add captions and tweak later tomorrow.

And of course, what you are really looking for, the many faces of Buttercup..... :)

**When she's happy, she is so happy!**

**And Silly!**

**But, OH, when she is not happy, you certainly will hear about it--This is one of the famous screams--(we just had to get a picture) Tears your heart out, doesn't it? Really this was in a matter of getting her bottle ready--she gets testy if it's not there in a nanosecond--she was fine seconds later, when we delivered what she wanted. :)**

**Riding in the Cab, she is snug as a little bug in the carrier. She usually is sleeping**

**Naptime--She absolutely loves this little duckie named Emmit from Miss Niki--she sucks on his beak like a pacifier (which she will not have anything to do with) when she is trying to go to sleep and snuggles up with him--we have got to find another one for back up when we get home, just in case! **

"What's up" from Hanoi!

2008-01-24T11:19:00.000-05:00

We left Saigon this afternoon after spending the morning packing all of our junk up again--it took hours, again--and now we are in Hanoi, the capital city in the north of Vietnam. We had a little drama, after finding out the van didn't unload our carry-on bag that has all of our paperwork that we were told to bring and have shclepped halfway across the world and drove off with it!!! I almost had a coronary. Quoc says he doesn't think we need it, but I didn't care--that paperwork has been my life for the last 20 months, and anyone who got hold of it could probably assume our lives!! Crisis averted, though--they found it and the guy brought it, and another family's bag who was also left on the van as well, back on a scooter (of course) after some phone calls from Quoc. Whew--nothing like a little scare! We have kept a close eye on it, believe me, it was just some last minute shuffling to get people on the van, and it got stowed at the last minute--won't let that happen again, however that is probably the last time on this trip that all six families and all of their luggage will be loaded up at the same time. We are an unusually larger group than they are used to dealing with on these trips and we are quite the circus!

So far it seems really different than Saigon....much cooler,which is nice, and from what we saw on the way in from the airport, I think we are all in agreement that it just looks like a beautiful city. Saigon was interesting, but it was much more chaotic and crowded and while there were beautiful areas and the people were so nice and helpful, the city view we experienced does not compare to what we have seen in one drive through Hanoi. We have heard the attitude can be different here, and not quite as inviting, so we will see........we have our interview at the embassy tomorrow afternoon and Quoc says we should have visas by Monday! I will post more picures and update about the interview tomorrow--haven't really unpacked everything yet here and I am bushed! Gotta sleep some while the little munchkin drama queen is asleep--ordered room service again here tonight--
By the way, We went to the best vegetarian restaurant at one of the Buddhist temples down the street from our hotel last night with Dianne, Joe and their little Ben. Probably the best food we have had so far. (Em, Dianne said we will get you the name and address!--she has it written down--all I can remember is Viet Cay) We just let the waiter suggest things and we all tried everything. Very yummy! The temple was so peaceful, which was surprising since it opens up to a four lane road with honking traffic and neon. I wish I could have gotten pictures, but it was too dark and using the flash would not have done it justice anyway. The juxtaposition of things in Saigon is so interesting--there is definitely a melding of all kinds of culture. I am curious to see more of Hanoi in the light of day and close up--more tomorrow! I promise more pics too when I can get them downloaded....We are staying at the Horison, which is very nice, but we have to Pay for internet!! Bummer, man!

Also--Thanks for all your comments! I can't reply to everyone, but it is great to see all the support while we are on our journey! Thanks also to all of you back home keeping our fur-balls and keeping things in line! We just couldn't have done this without you and your support! Can't wait for you to meet our little Drama Queen! It has been confirmed, she is the loudest of all 6 of the babies here. Yay, us! :)

Love and hugs from Hanoi!

Yipeee!

2008-01-23T05:29:00.000-05:00

Will post more later, but just have send a shout out to say how happy I am that my buds Em and Kristen got their I600 approvals---FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go get your girls, my dear friends!!! See you on the other side of motherhood! :)
Big, HUGE hugs and congratulations to you--I will deliver them in person as soon as I can!!

Also, Cindi's little guy, Hudson is home from the hospital!! Good news all around! Yay!!!

Man, are we parents now...

2008-01-21T10:43:00.000-05:00

Whew, we have had our roughest night and day since becoming parents--I have now listened to hours of blood curdling screaming, been thrown up on and projectile pooped on. Evidently we had tummy issues last night, but at the time we had no idea what could be wrong, but that she was NOT a happy camper. It was very hard and at those times, you start wondering if you were cut out for this--it can really get to you. At one point last night, I was just hoping she would exhaust herself from screaming and go to sleep, as nothing we could do was helping. Finally, I think that happened when Matt finally put her in the crib and just rubbed her back and she passed out. This morning did not lend itself the usually happy baby we had gotten used to either, and figured either is was greiving finally setting in, or the fact that we hadn't gotten a poop in the last day or so. :)

Chalk it up to not knowing the lanquage when you buy baby formula added to the fact that she is on medication that can upset the fine balance of an infants tum-tum. When we went to the store the other day to buy more formula, we thought we were buying a smaller can of what we had been feeding her (at the orphanage too), but on further inspection at the store yesterday, we realized we had accidently bought formula for a one to three year old (they seem to have lots of toddler formulas here, right with the other kind). OOps--the can labels looked almost the same, except evidently one was level 2 and we meant to get step 2--honest mistake,right!? Hey, we are new at this, and all the labels are in Vietnamese! Evidently either the formula change or the antibiotic or both did not sit well with her digestion. Well, in her crazy fits last night, she worked herself up so much, she threw up all over me, herself and the bed. That was fun. Then today, after our outing and she was still a little fussy, and just not herself--we took her temp, and no fever, so we decided it was probably the lack of pooping issue and gave her a tiny bit of infant laxative--about an hour later, we acheived what we all had been waiting for when she started grunting! We waited until we thought she was done to change her diaper, but when Matt went to change her it became evident she was not in fact done, and the diaper started to overfloweth--I ran to help, and while Matt ran to get a back up, I moved it away and was shot in the leg with you-know-what. I think she smiled. It was pretty funny, actually when all said and done and everybody was clean again. I know she will love reading this when she is 16. :)

Yesterday we doodled around in the room with fussy baby, and then at the appointed time, headed out with some others to take our laundry to a place the dads had found the day before near the city center. They were picking up, and we were dropping off, so we all went together. Interesting to say the least, it is so different how you can be on a busy street, with modern stores and then turn down a narrow lane and you will find women making food on little stoves by the sidewalk and just intimate daily life going on right at your feet. Many people live in the same shops that they work out of, by just pulling out a mat, so all of it is so intertwined. The "Laundry Place" turns out to be a tiny little 8' (if that) wide stall with a bike parked in front, that blocked the whole front, and the little lady comes out and weighs your dirty duds and charges you by the kilo. I think our good-size bag came out to be around 111,000 dong, which is around $7. Pretty good deal, seeing the hotel charges that for two items. I have been washing alot of small things in the sink in the room, like some baby clothes and diapers we use for burp cloths. I think I wash 6 of those a day. Word to people who will be traveling soon-bring extra, and bring the one-ply kind, not the pre-folded, as it takes everything a long time to dry in this humidity. You can get laundry soap at the store here, but I brought these little travel sizes that are the size of a travel shampoo (All Small & Mighty) and I'm glad I did.

When we got back yesterday, we walked down the street exploring a bit, the sidewalks here are pretty hard to navigate--there are scooters, raised grates, concrete debris and carts with things for sell all taking precidence over the area meant to walk--also, if the traffic is heavy people will drive their scooters right up on the sidewalk to get around it. We walked about a mile toward a baby shop I had seen when we were in a cab, but decided it was too far when we got to a certain point--the smog is really heavy and I had the baby in the Bjorn with a burp cloth over her mouth and nose. We realized today in the shuttle downtown that it was right around the corner from where we turned around--Oh, well, I may cab it next time. We ended up back at the mall with the "Big C", which was quite packed this time--I guess most everyone grocery shops on Sundays! Couldn't stand it for too long, so we had another coffee and Highland Coffee and headed back to the hotel--then we ordered room service again and (see above) ensued.

To go to the laundry place, the hotel shuttle drops us off at a place called Saigon Centre, another little mall with some upscale shops and cafes. That is where we bought M the new stuffed piggy and a couple of cute dresses that we paid more for than we would have in the States, but we can say they came from Vietnam-we are trying to buy her some things from her homeland that we can give her for future birthdays and such. The challenge is to keep them pack-friendly. :) There are so many things I would get if getting it back was not such an issue.

Well, after the poop, it looks like we have our baby back--for a while there I thought she had been replaced by the chick from the Excorc*st. She is a silly little thing with a sense of humor already.

Must go to bed now, but I am composing a post of Buttercup tidbits--little things we are finding out about our little girlie-girl.....

We are trying for a trip to Ben Thanh market tomorrow--we are running out of time in our stay in Saigon and we need to see a few things--if the little one is up to it, of course! New pics are on the Flickr site, so feel free to check them out--hopefully we can take some more tomorrow--haven't gotten out of the room a whole lot in the last day or so, unless it was to a little mall. :)

Matt & baby are sleeping......must get there too.....G'night!

Hi, from Saigon! (Ho Chi Minh City)

2008-01-19T09:59:00.000-05:00

Hello! I think we are finally up and running again! Thanks so much to my bud Emily for posting for me! The hotel in Danang blocked all blogger sites and acted like they didn't exist, and I couldn't remember my code to post by email--yet another thing forgotten in our haste to leave...

Anyway, like Em posted, we had the Giving & Receiving ceremony on Wed, so buttercup is officially our daughter! Woohoo! She behaved wonderfully, and fell asleep right up until it was our turn. She said goodbye to all the nannies who I know will miss her and she them. She was all dressed in her fancy duds (which then got put in a ziplock to suffocate the critters!) The next day, Thursday, we left Danang to fly back to Saigon, so she had her first flight in Business class. There we learned our buttercup has some good lungs and knows how to use them! Man can our girl scream! I am really looking forward to that 11 hour leg of flight home! Not! I finally got her to sleep--it was only an hour flight, thank goodness. She will not take a pacifier, so we couldn't get her to ease her ears that way. I never understood a baby not taking a pacifier until now, if we try to stick it in her mouth, she gets mad and screams louder! Ha, ha. She is getting us trained, I guess.

We are doing good and all getting to know each other. We spent that night getting settled and figuring out we didn't have the easiest baby in the world, evidently--she must have been pooped that first night because it was a breeze to get her to sleep then--check out the new pics of the sleeping angel. Last night the benedryl that helped her itching the night before didn't work so well, so it was a little battle of the wills to get her to sleep....The next morning, yesterday, at 8 am sharp, we all met Quoc in the lobby to pile in two vans to go apply for the babies' passports, get the babies' medical exams done for the visas, and to have their passport photos taken. All went well--we are in good hands with Quoc. He left yesterday and will meet us in Hanoi. We have until next Wed to wait for the passports to process, so we finally have a little downtime to get out and explore. After we got back fromt the appointments yesterday we did just that--we went to Pho 24 to eat---what else, but some Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Soup), one of our faves--with Bethany & Kevin and their daughter, Leah and then we braved the traffic to cross to the little mall to do some shopping at the "Big C" store. It is like a smaller Vietnamese Super Wal-Mart. There is everything from groceries, to shoes, to electronic appliances. It was really neat and I love that everyone is getting ready for Tet and is so festive--liken it to shopping right before Christmas for us. We managed to buy Buttercup enough fancy red envelopes to celebrate Tet for a few years to come. This is where we found the adaptor that saved the day and is allowing us to charge all of our stuff now. Whew, one crisis averted. We shopped our little hearts out, going down every aisle and bought some food for the room, so when Princess M is sleeping (or screaming) we have something to munch on. We got some interesting different fruits to try--it is really a mystery because everything is really all in Vietnamese there. Most places tend to have English translations on the signs, but not in there, so it's gonna be mystery fruit! The little bananas they have here are so good! They are really tiny and sweet--I stock up at the breakfast bar in the morning.

We all relaxed and had coffee at Highland Coffee (for those of you that didn't know, Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee and it is so rich and good here) before braving the traffic to head back to the hotel. The traffic here defies description--it is absolutely insane. I had heard all about it, and still I am utterly amazed. Picture 1,000 motorbike/scooters and a few cars and vans in a constant stream of traffic that never lets up, just jockeying for position and passing and weaving around each other (it's scary enough riding in a car/van from that view) and needing to cross to the other side. Well, the method is to just pick a moment and step off the curb into it and they will just swerve around you as you walk (hopefully)--the trick is to keep a steady pace so they can anticipate where you will be to get around you. I just keep my eye on the other side and keep walking--imagine that with a baby strapped to you! So far, so good, we have crossed twice! On the way back another dad had joined us in his trip for supplies and he got video as we were crossing--I hope to get a copy to show later. Don't worry everyone--that is just how it is done and you see young kids carrying toddlers across in the same way. I guess they just have to be very aware of what everyone is doing around them--it must work, surprisingly we have seen no accidents at all!

Today, after Breakfast we took little Miss M to the International Clinic to have her looked at because she is still really uncomfortable and itchy and it gets worse at night and makes it hard for her to go to sleep (not hard to scream though!) and we noticed a little wheezing when she lays down. One of the other families who have a son from her orphanage took him in this morning, as his scabies is causing some major skin issues and he ended up having a slight fever and upper respiratory infection--we thought we'd better get her checked. The doctor said she had no fever and didn't seem too concerned, but told us to stop the benedryl (it will dry her up) and gave us prescriptions for an antibiotic/anti itch cream for the couple remaining places on her and an oral antibiotic to combat any infection. All that for a total of less than $20 (with no insurance!). Hopefully she will get some comfort soon--we go for a recheck on Wed. before we leave for Hanoi. She was pretty good for the doc (who was very nice, but a little hard for me to understand), and the nurse asked how long we had had her, and when we said three days, she was surprised and said she looked like she was more familiar with us--a good sign! After we got back, she played a bit and took an almost 3 hour nap, so we have been nap-trapped for the day just hanging out in the room (and spending hours uploading pictures with the much appreciated, but very slow/low internet connection--So enjoy!). New pics on the Flickr site--I am trying to slowly, but surely catch up.... Here she is getting weighed at the Visa Medical Exam--7.5 kgs and 69 cm long!

Will try to update tomorrow--hopefully we can get out and explore a bit more-hope things are open on Sundays!

Love to all! We are doing well and are loving getting to see and spend time in Vietnam-These are some of the nicest people in the world-I will try to post a pic or two, but since connection is slow, it may not work, so check out the flickr site!

2008-01-16T21:56:00.000-05:00

Hey,
Emily here posting for Kim.
So, I think we would all agree that Kim has kept us waiting long enough, right?
Well, it turns out that she has had a lot of trouble getting into her blog. And she blew out her adapter while drying her hair. So Auntie Em to the rescue!
Here is what she had to say:
***
Just let everyone know that we just haven't been able to post yet, but everything is fine, and we have our daughter and she is wonderful! She only woke up once last night --went to bed at around 9, woke up at 12:30 am and we gave her a bottle and then she was fussy and I think itchy,so it took us about an hour an a half to get her back to sleep--she finally fell asleep on my chest and I moved her on the bed between us and she slept until 6:30 am! We all got up and took a shower to wash off the scabies cream and she ate and then went to sleep for a nap and has been asleep for 2 hours! I think we will have to wake her up to grab breakfast before we leave.
***
They have already had their G&R and will post those pics as soon as she can. Here are
pictures of the new family!

Hello from Taipei!

2008-01-13T18:23:00.000-05:00

Hi, All!
We made it to Taipei and are just waiting to board our flight to Saigon--We are at the Hello K*tty gate-it is pretty adorable. Hello Ki*tty everywhere and complete with a store and a playground. This is the first airport we have found a good internet connection. We are doing well--our flight was very long, but the service was great and coach wasn't too terrible! That is about as long as I ever want to stay on a plane, though! We are still wondering how it will be with a baby on our laps though--very different, I'm sure. I don't think any of this has quite fully set in yet--I think it is beginning to......We are with most of our travel group, so that is really nice. Well, better get back to the Hello K*tty gate and get ready to board for our last flight for the day! We are almost there! One more three hour flight and we land in the long awaited Vietnam....Till then, love to all!

The one where we have GREAT news...

2008-01-10T07:50:00.001-05:00

Well, did you wonder where I went??? Well, it kinda started because of the new I600 policy--I was so devastated by the news of more delay and red-tape that it was kinda like "if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything". Well, I haven't had a lot of nice things to say about this wait since then.......and then I just got superstitious--I just decided to myself that my next post was going to be the absolute best news.....

AND WE FINALLY GOT IT!!! Yes, that darn coveted and longed for I600 approval was in our email box on Tues night!!! I had convinced myself that our paperwork was lost or fell off some one's desk. We never got the email from USCIS confirming receipt, and my email to inquire had gone unanswered-we knew our agency had submitted it on Dec 3, but after that, nothing-and well, I am that glass half-empty type of person who assumes the worst--I was just at the point that day to beg anyone to help me get information, and lo and behold, M runs up the stairs to ask me if I have seen the email (he had it open on our other computer)--what?? the email that I just checked for the 2000th time 10 minutes ago? Perhaps not--so I open our email (again!) and there IT is. We stared at it for a second, and M asked, "is that what we are looking for?" There is was--we were so floored. I can't believe with how long we have been waiting, we continue to be surprised when these things actually happen. It is a wild ride, this adoption thing......

Now we continue to be shocked and amazed, as our agency has been able to pull off a miracle and get us all travel arrangements to get this completed before the Tet holiday--YES, we are leaving THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!!!

We are still just overwhelmed and making lists and trying to figure out how we will be ready in time, but we can do it! We are having to make pet accommodations, pack, set up for the renovations to our house to keep rolling along in our absence, etc...... all with 3 days notice!!

Please send good thoughts our way that we can pull it off--I don't think I will believe it until we are actually in the air, or maybe even when we land! But we are almost on our way!! I will do my best to be a good blogger while we are traveling and keep you all updated on our adventures. (I know I don't have a good track record--sorry!)

We'll keep you posted! Buttercup, we are coming to get you!!!! Sorry it took us so long! :)

Hi ho, hi ho--it's off to fingerprinting (AGAIN) we go...

2007-10-17T23:13:00.000-05:00

Well, we are off in the morning to drive the 3 hours to Charlotte and 3 hours back to get our fingerprints renewed so we will be good for another 15 mos! Hopefully nothing in our fingers has changed in the last 13 mos and it will be quick and painless. Before we leave in the morning we have the HVAC guy coming to take a look and give us another estimate to put in A/C downstairs and the roof guy to fix a leak in our slate roof before we close everything up in sheetrock (hopefully very soon). Busy times, as usual.

Glad to know there are still a few of you out there still checking in--thanks for the comments! The new word on travel (not much) is that they predict that our travel date could be sometime between Thanksgiving and the first weeks of Dec.-keeps pushing out a bit with every check in-Sounding an awful lot like we may be spending the holiday in VN--I have a feeling. As these things always seem to take longer than predicted in the first place, I'd say it's pretty likely. As long as we get to VN before Christmas, I can deal. We still have so much to do on the house and our "Christmas haul" from house to house (We have 4 sets of parents alone) can reach 5 stops in a day and is exhausting and we actually dread it every year as it draws closer, so it could be a good thing. But I sure would like to meet our girl sooner than that and I would rather spend it at home instead of a hotel--that is the down side. The last couple of days have had me extremely down in the dumps for some reason--ya know, the ole' adoption roller coaster with it's ups and downs! My college buddies and I are getting together for a baby shower for me on Sunday, so something to look forward to!

if eyes are the windows to the soul....

2007-10-12T09:46:00.000-05:00

Our girl's got great big windows!!!

We got a few more pics of our little buttercup! She is really changing (and getting a little more hair!) and we finally got a picture of her looking right at the camera. It is so precious- She has the biggest, beautiful eyes and the cutest little mouth with the most perfect lips.

No more news yet on travel at all--word is that our agency will be trying to get our referral group all to travel by the end of the year (fingers crossed) so that would mean several travel groups in Nov/Dec. Since our fingerprints expire at the end of Dec, we are going to have to get them renewed---we sent in our renewal request and got our appt. letter pretty quickly and have our new appt. for this coming Thurs. We will again have to take a day off work and drive 3 hours each way to get our fingerprints redone. I think it is pretty ridiculous that our fingerprints "expire" in the first place, but we will do what we gotta do!

Happy Friday!!

A Shower of congrats for us

2007-09-26T00:53:00.001-05:00

Wow, has it almost been a month?? Time really has flown in a way since that happy referral day--I realize this is mainly due to the fact that I am working a full 40 hour+ week at work in my usual 4 day work week, while desperately trying to get farther along on the house renov. on the weekends before the little buttercup comes home, and then all the preparations and lists to do for the new little one....(come on people, somethings gotta take a back seat!:) BUT, we have managed to slip in some fun celebration in the mix as well--We had our very first baby shower at my parents' lake house this past weekend--(You may remember it from this post from my stepsister's wedding). The patio by the lake continues to be the setting for more of our families happy occasions, and we hope to be able to spend more time there with buttercup in the very near future. All 4 sets of our parents were there to celebrate our little one's impending arrival as well as our good friends who love us enough to drive over an hour to attend. We love and thank you guys!!! I told my dad that it really wouldn't have mattered to us if all the beautiful bags and boxes were empty (yet filled with love and good wishes), the real gift was the fact that *WE* were having a shower because we are actually going to be parents and everyone wants to celebrate with us!! After all the sweet babies we have helped celebrate and love, we finally have our turn too. It really made us giddy! It was beautiful and we appreciate all my family's hard work to make it so nice. We got to debut our Vietnamese "mom" and "dad" shirts for the first time (even though some of our dear friends thought I was announcing the day was all about "ME"--they finally got a clue after a little explanation. :) And yes, that cake tasted as good as it looked!

No travel news yet, other than a "rough" estimate that it could be around the Thanksgiving holiday--the countdown is really on and we have lots of work to do yet. Bear with me and stay tuned....

Yes, it's what you think it means!!

2007-08-28T22:13:00.000-05:00

I've kept you waiting long enough! The day finally came!!

Yes, I am happy to announce we have received and accepted the referral of our sweet little buttercup baby girl!!!!!! We are so happy! She is a little peanut-so tiny. She has a ring of little-old-man hair, really long fingers and the cutest little yawn you have ever seen. We think she is just precious! It is so surreal to have been waiting so long and then be so surprised when the call finally came. It was perfect.

Thanks for hanging in there with me through the hard wait! Hopefully we will have an idea of travel time soon. I think the wait to travel may be harder than I anticipated, but we have lots to do to prepare the house for our little peanut buttercup! :) Right now we cannot get enough of her cute little face!

the little butterfly has landed..... :)

2007-08-25T23:46:00.000-05:00

Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will allude you. but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder..... (Thoreau)

There is a now a little butterfly on my shoulder..... :) More soon.........

Wow, I got NUTHIN'!

2007-08-10T09:33:00.000-05:00

I realize it has been a really long time, once again since my last post....and most of my posts start with an apology about that. Well, no more. When I have something to say, I will post it. Right now, I just don't' feel like talking about how long the wait is taking. Sure, I've got things going on here, but since this is not a work blog or necessarily a house renovation blog I just don't have a lot going on in the adoption world right now. Things are unfortunately quiet. Other than the fact that I don't think I have officially congratulated my friend Em yet on here about the referral of her beautiful Lulu recently. Yay, finally!! (Of course I have officially congratulated her in real life!!) She knows how thrilled I am for her! :)

Let's see, we moved our offices--so I guess I changed jobs, technically--even though I am still working with the same people doing the same thing (only it's just the 8 of us now)--just under our beloved company banner again. That is a good thing--no more cube world and much more conducive to bringing buttercup to the office if the need arises. I did actually talk them into converting the almost three weeks personal time I had built up for travel at the former company into a leave package so I wouldn't lose it--that is definitely good. I heart my little company. They are trying to do what they can to help and are truly interested in getting little buttercup home. Now I just have to see what I have to do about updating our home study for this little job change....

The house progress continues slowly.......I can't see the light at the end yet.......but hopefully we will turn the corner soon.

All the news I've got in the world of adoption is that we are hanging at #6 on the list at the moment with, as always, the promise of a group of impending referrals that may include buttercup. But I am trying to be guarded about that--even though my non-rational side is so excited at the thought!--I don't want to be disappointed. Things in IA do not seem to ever go as you think they will.

Well, I guess I did have a little to say :) Ta-ta for now!

The One Year Mark

2007-07-08T23:57:00.000-05:00

Well, today we have been "officially" waiting for buttercup for one year. One year ago today, CIS received our I600A and our wait officially began. However, we were actually waiting to begin a long, long time before that, but that is when we could throw our hat into the ring and send in our first official paperwork. We hadn't even officially signed with an agency yet at that point. I had no idea at the time that we would still be waiting now. I feel like we are definitely closer.....but still have a ways to go. I have been having a wide range of emotions these past couple of weeks. One day I will feel so positive and that we are so close, and then I will come crashing down to reality that it is one year later and here we are still.....waiting. No referral. I know I am not alone in this wait, and actually it has allowed me to meet some really great friends that wait along with me. However, I do wish we all had our little ones and could be planning play dates already! (As you can see above, it is not keeping Bijou from resting comfortably. :) This cat knows how to relax. She knows not what's in store for her-she just likes to hang out in her room.)

To commemorate this momentous event, M & I went to an awesome Vietnamese restaurant for the first time last night. It's been open only about 9 months. I mean, OMG, it is my absolute fave restaurant now. It is a little pricey, but the kind of place where service is key and we are talking the fold-your-napkin-for-you-and-put-it-on-the-back-of-your-chair-while-you-are-in-the-ladies-room-and-pull-your-chair-out-and-hand-it-back-to-you-when-you-get-back kind of service. Nice. The food we had was so yummy and the presentation was lovely. I had the pho and it was the best I have ever had. Don't know if we will be able to go every week, but let me tell you the next few special occasions and we are there. Can you tell I liked it? It was a nice way to end the year of an ever growing wait. One year down........ let's hope we are on the homestretch and buttercup shows herself soon.

Happy 4th of July

2007-07-04T23:45:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th of July Everyone!
We took some time out of more fun of cleaning out the basement and taking all the stuff to storage to make room for the AC contractor to do his magic. You know--day off of work--more time to get some house stuff done! :) But we did manage to make our yearly tradition of watching the fireworks with our friends and god-daughter. She is almost 5 now, so was into the sparklers, but not so into the loud booms. I got some cool pics of the fireworks.

No more news on referrals--we got some promising news about a week ago that made us think things might be moving along soon, but this has not happened yet. Still hoping we hear some news this week.......

Some interesting changes are coming at work soon--our department will be leaving our current firm at the end of the month and reopening the small firm that closed when we merged with this firm a little over a year ago. Opportunities have arisen and we are all excited to be making the move back to resurrect the company we loved so much. The new office is less than 5 mins from home in a converted 1920-30's old house which we have been having fun selecting all new finishes to give it a much needed face lift-- office first impressions are quite important when you are an architecture/ interiors firm so we are hoping we can get the look we want with what with what we have to work with. (The owner seems to be a little reluctant to give us free reign.) :) Just what we need--extra work! It is good news though and should be well worth it.

Hoping referral news comes soon for those waiting.....including us.

More May Recap in Show & Tell--Part Deux

2007-06-15T23:24:00.000-05:00

See, I told you I'd be back! Man, I started this post and it has taken me three sittings--I can't ever get the pics to go where I want them to in blogger--perhaps that is why I don't post more often--I really have to block out some time! (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) Well, let's see, I have a few great pics of the family at J & B's wedding at the lake house--the weather that day was absolutely beautiful. It looks like a backdrop, huh?

Little D makes an adorable flower girl--(after she threw the petals down, she bent down and picked them all back up--ha, ha!)

And off they go to get ready to head off for the honeymoon.... (BTW, I made the sign!)

and Baby K-the mini flower-girl :)...

and this little flower girl is going down fast...Nap time! :) Notice the zoning out gaze.

....and little C is just plain tuckered out from the big day!

Then a couple days of some more fun on the boat and playing at the playground for D and then the Brother and Fam headed back to Cali......I always get teary, but this time, yes, I actually shed the tears when telling them bye--I miss them and wish we got to see them all more often.

And after all the fun of the weekend, we get back to what we usually are up to on the weekends-the darn house. Fun's over and back to......... PLUMBING! And the fun continues each weekend since.....We actually did get through most of the plumbing and are now framing the coffered ceilings in the powder room and kitchen. Next phase: Insulation. I will keep you updated on the progress. Now you are caught up!

Yes, that is my downstairs at the moment and M toiling away (I am fetch-it girl).........sad, isn't it? ;)

Oh, in adoption news--not much, but there is rumor that we may see a few referrals come through by the end of the month!! (Two more weeks-Yay, Emily!!) We could be leaving lucky #7 behind soon--yahoo! Wishing everyone speedy referrals (including us) and fast travel too!!

May Recap (Show and tell w/ Pictures!) Part One...

2007-06-05T00:13:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's me. Wow, those bad blogger's anonymous meetings are going great (thanks for asking, Em!) I think I'm still working through from reading steps to actually doing the writing. :) May has been an unusually busy month, as I have mentioned before here, so I will just have to post extra pictures to illustrate what's been going on......kinda' like show & tell. Let's see.....

First, at the end of April/First of May, my girlfriends and I had a lovely time at our college friends wedding on the beach, and also celebrating all of our 40th's this year with a nice girl's weekend.
Us at the barefoot wedding ...... commemorating our b'days..... and being touristy goofy.

Then the next weekend, Cinco de Mayo, another wedding to attend--very small and touching (w/ Margaritas!)--the groom cried when he saw the bride and we saw lots of friends we hadn't seen in a long time and stayed up waaaaayyy too late & had to recuperate all day the next day because of it...

The weekend after, off to Charlotte for M's sister's college graduation. Congrats, L! And there was Mother's Day--Had lunch with M's mom and the "fur kids" gave me a box of my abosolute fave choc. truffles and cards--one from the dog and one from the cats (I think they had help from dad.) I also got a sweet Mother's To Be note from my friend, Em. Sweet!

This brings us to the next week, where I got to meet my new little nephew Caimin and visit with the family for a few days. I even got to have a "slumber party" with my niece at my mom's house (I slept in the trundle beneath her, until she ditched me to go sleep with her parents in the next room :)

You know I gotta share a couple more pics of the new cutest nephew ever! (Really bad pic of M and me, though-we look really tired!)

He is a very easy-going little guy-(but quite a big diaper-soiler!)-just goes with the flow, while his sister keeps everyone in line, like most 2 year olds try to do! More later...

Baby steps, baby steps! If you're still out there, thanks for hangin' around.... :) Oh, and speaking of baby steps, We MOVED UP a couple notches on the list! We are now #7!!!!! Let's hear it for more referrals for June!!!!

bad bloggers anonymous...

2007-05-11T23:43:00.000-05:00

Is there such a thing? I have been a better blog reader than blogger these days, as usual. I mean to keep up, but I fall back over and over again! I just feel I have nothing to add at the moment. There is NOTHING going on in adoptionland right now.......work is crazy busy........ and we have been on the wedding/graduation circuit literally every weekend--we will be attending Matt's sister's college graduation out of town tomorrow and then we will have mom's day stuff all day Sunday. Next weekend is the third and final wedding in the last month......My lovely stepsister will be wed at my parent's lake house--it will be nice and my brother and family will be in town from CA so that will be very nice to spend some time with them. We will get to meet little Caimin for the first time finally! I will post pics. Then it's back to work on the money pit......we gotta get this house done! Happy Mom's day to all those moms and moms-to-be out there! Hopefully we will have some news soon on referrals and move up the list!!! It's been way too long....I'm tired of saying #9!

Yay!

2007-04-25T23:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I am off to the beach this weekend with a couple of my college friends to attend a wedding of one of our other friends. Yay! Should be fun once we finally get there--It seems we are trying to cram a lot into a weekend, so hopefully it won't be too hectic. I would love a nice, relaxing beach weekend. We have quite a few weddings coming up....this is just the first of 3 weddings and 2 graduations between now and Mother's day. Whew!

We have been trying to make progress on our plumbing, but it's going much slower than the electrical--we have been fortunate to have the help of M's dad and uncle. It would be sssssooooooo nice to come back on Sunday and have it almost complete. NOT pretty clean work though--we are having to go ahead and run future pipes for a future kitchen-turned-master-bath as well as replace existing, so it can get a bit confusing. I have pretty much been on the sidlines for this phase and ducking out for various wedding showers.

Also, I found out last night that my new little nephew and SIL will be joining my brother and niece out to visit and attend our stepsister's wedding in May. Yay! I was afraid he would be walking before I got to see him. They had found an irregular hearbeat and that is what we were worried about, but they have done tests and thankfully everything seems to be okay. Good news indeed.

No real news in adoptionland--we are reportedly number 9 on the list at the moment. Still waiting and trying to keep busy (which has not been hard-the busy part, that is).....

I'll say an early "Have a good weekend" to everyone!

Cutie Pie

2007-04-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

Check out the little smirk! Finally got pics Saturday of the newest little addition to our family--they took long enough! Shame on them! :) I think he is sooooooo cute, but then again I am a proud aunt! He is still in the hospital, though we are hoping he will be released mid-week. It seems they may have discovered another health issue, but they are still monitoring him to find out for sure. If you would like to say a small prayer for my little sweet nephew, it would be appreciated.

I am so upset by the horrible tragedy at Va Tech today--our friend is attending graduate school there, as well as her sister, an undergrad. Luckily, they were both away from the school today and safely out of town. I just can't stop thinking about it--so sad---32 people gone at the hand of one unstable person.....Why?

The Nephew has landed!

2007-04-12T12:35:00.000-05:00

Well, he finally arrived yesterday (via VBAC!) and mom and baby are doing well. When he was born, his lungs were full of fluid and he and SIL both had a fever, so they are keeping him in the NICU :( for a few days to test him again and make sure there is no infection. My brother said he is doing well and they can scrub up and go in and visit and touch him, just a precautionary measure to make sure before they let him go home....hopefully he will check out fine and be able to go home this weekend..

Drumroll please......... His name is Caimin Royal M------- Named after the Irish Saint Caimin (whose Feast Day is around his birthday) and Royal is a family name. So he's here and he has a name! We have yet to see pics, as my brother had been up for 30 hours and was wiped out when I talked to him--hopefully we will get a peek soon! BTW, he was a whopping 22 inches long!!!!!!!

Welcome to the world, little Caimin!!!

Still No Baby Nephew Yet

2007-04-10T20:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I gotta give SIL an 'A' for effort...When she got to the hospital this a.m., her water broke, so they cancelled the scheduled cesarean and now they are trying to let her progress on her own with some helpful meds and hoping she delivers by morning ......Man, this little baby is taking his sweet time!

**Just got an update and she is progressing well, so hopefully he'll be here by morning. Go G- You can do it! :)

Happy B'day to my Hubs!!!

2007-04-09T23:43:00.000-05:00

Today, A birthday shout out to my dear hubby-- Happy Birthday to Matt! We both had the day off today and had a leisurely day of errands and dream shopping for house speakers and a new digital camera (bought neither) and then to dinner with M's dad and stepmom to a very yummy restaurant near our house. I am always the most excited to see his birthday come around because from Oct to April, he is six years younger than me (yes, I robbed the cradle) :) and after his birthday, it is back down to five. I like the sound of that better..... it was nice to not spend a day off working on the house.

Also, the nephew has STILL not arrived! For a bit there, we thought he might be sharing hubby's b'day. SIL talked the doc into letting her celebrate Easter (she pulled the religion card) and give her until tomorrow morning (their time, noonish our time) so unless he comes during the night, he will be arriving via cesarean around lunch tomorrow. I just talked to them and my brother was watching as she was walking up and down the 30 degree incline hill down their back yard to try to push the labor--ha,ha--my 2 year old niece was being prompted to yell, "go mommy, you can do it!" A funny picture in my head.... As for a name, he is currently being called "baby boy", but I have been told the front runner--I will wait to post it until he has been officially named, just in case they change their mind after meeting him--they are still on the fence for the middle name...

I just read this post on another blog and I thought it was so insightful. There is so much debate about the SAHM v. the working mom and she is right, there is no one right answer and the key is to support each other and not judge another family's decisions based on what you think is right for you. I thought she did a nice job of giving the view from all sides--thanks, Dianna.

I'll fill you in on "Baby Boy"'s arrival tomorrow!

No Nephew yet.....

2007-04-04T00:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I had hoped I would have posted before now that we have a new nephew and unveil the name that I got so many good suggestions for from you guys.........but he is being a little stubborn about making his appearance! My SIL has her heart set on a VBAC, but they will only allow her to go a week after her due date before she will have to have another cesarean, So if he doesn't come before then, he is scheduled to arrive on Friday. SIL had big plans today for church (to pray), accupucture, and walking up hills, all in her quest to start labor before then. Thank you so much for all the name suggestions!! I really did pass them along, so I will let you know as soon as I get the news!! I'm just praying he arrives safely and everything goes smoothly!

In adoption news, we are number 10 on the list...Woohoo! Hopefully, now that things are starting to roll after the new changes have gone into effect, we will see some more activity. I asked our coordinator what her best guess would be for our referral, and she guesses around late summer.....but, it's only a guess and only time will tell.

In renovation news, we have lights! We now have can lights shining all through the kitchen, breakfast, dining and living room. We even have new flood lights outside. I'm sure we were a sight out there that night testing the motion detector......Matt on the ladder and me dancing around trying to see where I set off the light. It is soooo nice since we have been without power downstairs for so long during the rewiring mess. We will have to wait a bit for the outlets--they have to go in our baseboards which have yet to go back up. But, ahhhh, the small joys of life! Lights! :)

U'L B OK

2007-03-21T23:03:00.000-05:00

U'L B OK.... As I was driving to the dry cleaners today at lunch, this was on the license plate on the car in front of me. A sign? I hope so. :)

Dragon Baby

2007-03-20T23:40:00.000-05:00

What little girl doesn't need a little stuffed dragon? B'cup's daddy noticed this at a store when we were visiting friends in Atlanta a few months ago. I could tell he thought she should have it, so it came home with us! I think he's really cute--we'll have to think of a name for him. We also have a book called Children of the Dragon that we got soon after we decided to adopt from Vietnam.
No news in adoption world.......absolutely nothin'.

House update: We are in the middle of electrical phase full force--wires everywhere--Man, it will be nice to have lights and outlets again! I counted all the outlets we had downstairs before: 16...How many we will have after reno: 48. Yay for electricity!

Speaking of names...We are trying to help my brother and SIL brainstorm for names for my nephew who is due in 9 days and they have yet to decide on a name and are stressing about it. Any cool ideas??? They'd like something unique, but not wacky, and they like that last-name-first type of name. My niece's name isn't found in any baby book--they made it up. I have two baby name books and I have tapped them out trying to help them with ideas for the little prince (yes, they asked! :b).......They say whoever comes up with the winning name, gets all the naming credit for it *LOL* ..like a contest. We'll have to wait and see......Seriously though, any suggestions accepted here and I will pass them along.... :) But hurry!

Spring is in the air

2007-03-10T20:58:00.000-05:00

Today was gorgeous and warm. I found these blooming in the back yard. Daffodils are one of my favorite flowers. They almost look like they have little faces. Also, one of the first signs of Spring, my favorite season. They make me happy. I hope it is a sign of things looking up after a long winter. On adoption news, the agency has warned me, with the new laws in Vietnam, that the referrals may not go exactly in list order--that log-in dates may come in to play as well. They cannot yet verify our log-in date though. They think it is sometime in the second week of Feb., but will not be able to verify until our facilitator gets back from VN at the end of this month (if then). They are not sure just how the new system will work yet. One thing to know about me is I do not take easily to change that was not necessarily initiated by me. So for some reason I always look at those changes as bad--when it could be that these changes bring us more referrals. This is an unfortunate trait to have for this process. :) I need the list to watch my progress....Yay for Spring, Boo for the unknown of the list's validity..... Hopefully Spring will bring lots of referrals for everyone and lots of good news. I am going to do my best to stay positive.

Still here...

2007-03-07T23:28:00.000-05:00

Ha, I have been reminded in a not very subtle way by my friend Em that it has been a while since I updated! I can't believe it has been so long--I have had a couple of very swamped weeks at work--you know, the ones when you forget to eat lunch until you realize it's already like 4 o'clock--and have been getting home late trying to meet some deadlines. Too much to do in too little time lately, but we are seriously realizing we need to hire another person--we all are getting a little crispy!! I am very worried about how this is going to pan out after we have the baby--we will have to adjust somehow and do what is best for our family. This type of load will just not work when she becomes our top priority. I am able to work from home some, so hopefully I can just cut way back on this crazy schedule and let someone else take over for a while. I worry about it every day. I just need to have faith that it all will work out and we will figure out the best solution. Anyway, I have just been exhausted and add to the working on the house all weekend, and it's even doubled.
Not much news in the world of adoption either, so I have been a bit uninspired. We so need to see some movement--there haven't been any referrals in so long, but word from the agency is they are expecting some soon. The bad news seems to be that my feeling that we might get a referral in May sometime probably will not come to pass........I just don't see how our number will come up by then. I have been really trying not to dwell on it and just concentrate on making it through one day at a time, and that day will be here before we know it.
I did have a fun get together last Friday with fellow PAP Em to visit Jenny and her twin girls--so nice for each of us to have a sweetie to play with to get our baby fix. We are both now even more addicted to the thought of twins, of course! :) A hard job, I am sure, but rewarding though! On family news, my little nephew is getting close to his due date, so we will have a new member of the family soon--I heard from my brother tonight that he is already a strapping little guy and he has almost a month more to go until we expect arrival.
Just wanted to let anyone still interested know I am still kicking! I will try to post more soon ! Have made some handmade baby purchases and we are moving into electrical phase on the downstairs...moving in the right direction!

Fun Tet times

2007-02-19T11:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I had a very nice Tet lunch thanks to hosts Jenny and Conor and their beautiful baby daughters, Mia and Cammie and their friends. I say "I" because Matt woke up with a cold and didn't want to expose anyone, especially the babies, so he stayed home and missed the fun. We had a nice relaxing lunch of bunches of fried rice, beef sticks and pho--and coconut cake and green tea for dessert. The girls just came home from Vietnam in early Jan. and are happy as little clams with their new family. It is sooooo nice to get first hand tips on travel and baby stuff from them---there is so much to know and learn, I need all the info I can get! Thanks guys! It was so nice to share in the girls first Tet celebration and I look forward to more and playdates when buttercup comes home!

Happy Tet! 2007, Year of the Pig

2007-02-18T12:14:00.000-05:00

Today marks the beginning of Tet (the Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration) this year--It is the Year of the Pig--important to us because we figure Buttercup will most likely be born in this year--that is a picture of her little stuffed pig-it is so soft--I hope she likes it! I have been learning a little more about this important Vietnamese holiday and how it is celebrated so that I am not so clueless. I'm sure there is a lot more to it than I have read so far, but I was just looking for some kinds of things we could incorporate into our way of celebrating it in the future. Here are a few Tet highlights that I have learned so far....
- The holiday lasts for 3 days, however the preparation and celebration usually extends it considerably. It is a time of excess and revolves around lots of food. Everyone cleans and paints their houses, pays debts, makes amends with family and friends and buys new shoes and clothes--all for good luck in the coming year and to start off the year anew.
- It is a time to visit with friends and family--much emphasis is placed on the first visitor to the home...if the person is rich, prestigious or happy then the family will have a year full of good fortune. The first day is reserved for visiting family and relatives- the second, for special guests and good friends, and the third for teachers and business associates. Visitors end their visit with a farewell wish for the family (for ex: "I wish that money will flow into your house like water and out like a turtle." Negative talk or arguments are taboo. Children are encouraged to behave positively during the holiday in order to ensure good luck in the new year.
- Many people shop for and give as gifts small trinkets, food, firecrackers and flowers. Homes are decorated with flowers and good luck symbols are hung from the Tet tree (or Tac). There are dragon dances in the streets. There is gambling everywhere--in homes and on the streets--as the winners are guaranteed good luck in gambling all year and the losers will have good luck in all other affairs. Firecrackers used to be set off everywhere, but were outlawed in 1995 when 71 people were killed by them in celebrations in 1994.
- The holiday is also a time to honor deceased relatives. On altars are places pictures of the deceased with trays of fruit, coins and a tall vase of flowers which symbolizes luck and prosperity. The third day of Tet is also reserved for visiting the graves of relatives.
-The color red symbolizes luck and prosperity. A watermelon is sometimes cut and the redder the inside, the more luck for the family. Red envelopes with coins (Lucky money or Li xi) are are given to children on the first morning of Tet by parents, siblings, other relatives and close friends to congratulate them on becoming a year older.
- The Vietnamese do not know or acknowledge the exact day of their birth. Tet is the celebration of everyone becoming a year older. Instead, they simply say they were born in the year of the pig, rat, horse, etc. Everyone is considered a year older at the new year regardless of when their actual birthday occurs during the year.
So, now you know what I know! Just thought it was all very interesting and thought I would share...... we are going to our first Tet get together-today with another adoptive family--I'll update later on the fun.......

Another Friday has come and Tet is almost here...

2007-02-16T11:46:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's Friday again already? Well, still no news in Adoption World--just in a waiting holding pattern--But, Happy Tet to everyone!! Tet is February 18 this year--it will be the Year of the Pig (or Boar). We are hoping to find some way to celebrate this special Vietnamese holiday---hoping to get better at it as the years go by because it will be important to Buttercup to acknowledge her culture of birth. I have been researching how it is celebrated some and will post a little of what I have found later.

Until then, a couple bits of buttercup stuff for your viewing pleasure!

Buttercup Stuff

2007-02-09T00:16:00.000-05:00

Well, not much news here this week, hence the lack of posting! I thought I would start a trend during the wait, when I've got nothing else, of giving peeks of some of buttercup's stuff that has been piling up--I know we have no idea what size or season, but that hasn't stopped me-I have made an effort to try and curb myself since Christmas, though!~Hello, my name is Kim and I am a baby clothes addict..... ;)

Lucky Number 13

2007-02-02T13:19:00.000-05:00

Wow, two posts right in a row--almost unheard of from me! :) Just wanted to share that I got the official update and we are now officially number 13 on the list--someone else ahead of us on the list decided to hop off and pursue other options, so we move up again! And we also heard that our dossier was sent off to Vietnam this morning!! Yay--all good news for the weekend!

Last, but not least, there are a few special needs children that my agency is trying to find families for, so I thought I would put it out there and help get the word out....
This is what they said:
".....we are trying to place a few children with special needs in case you know of anyone who is interested:
a 6 year old boy who may have some developmental delays (cute photo)
an older baby girl with cleft palate ( very cute- I saw the photo)
an 11 year old boy healthy ( also a cute photo)
a 13 year old girl- healthy and quite beautiful"
So, spread the word if you know of anyone that may be interested in bringing these sweeties home....
Happy Friday Everyone!

A little more snow......

2007-02-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

We got a little snow today! It didn't last long, but it was pretty and I managed to snap a couple pics as I was leaving for work and before it started to turn to rain that washed it all away........

Adoption update: We are "officially" number 14 on the list at last "official" update (but I think we are actually moved up a slot, but we'll see next time we ask.....We are hoping there are at least a couple more referrals this month, but with Tet (the Vietnamese New Year Holiday) coming soon, that may slow things down this month for a bit with gov. offices being closed some with all the celebrations in Vietnam. We can only wait and see....and hope. Considering at Christmas we were still number 19, that is definitely an improvement. Happy February!

Our House- Part 2

2007-01-28T01:35:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the sweet comments about our little money pit--you are all welcome to join the neighborhood anytime! Come on down!

Well, we got a lot done on the house-work today (the work on the house, that is--the housework still needs some attention! :) ) We got a wall opened up and moved and widened the opening into the kitchen. The work continues today as well, hopefully we will get the new powder room framed up.......We have been renovating our house for what seems like half my life. In reality, we bought it almost 5 years ago as what is affectionately known as a "fixer-upper" or a "handyman special". It was set up as a duplex with one unit upstairs and one downstairs with a common foyer. We moved into the downstairs and commenced to making a lot of very needed cosmetic repairs and gutting and rebuilding the bathroom--(all upstairs). We scraped off over 80 years of painted-over wallpaper down to the plaster in the two bedrooms and then painstakingly repaired all the cracks and loose areas. When it was livable again, our friend Katie lived up there for two years while we redid all the landscaping, had the exterior painted, built a large deck, and started to renovate the downstairs.......which we thought we would do one room at a time while we lived down there. Well, we got halfway done with the sun room and figured out that was *not* a good plan! We sectioned off that room with plastic and lived that way for over a year. After two nice years with Katie sharing our house, we decided it was time to kick it into gear if we ever planned on this adoption coming reality. Our plan was to get the upstairs to a point that we could move up there and get through the home study and work on the downstairs while we waited. We basically started all over again. Mind you, we are doing almost all of work ourselves...on the weekends.....We have passed up many an invitation in order to "work on the house" because in our minds, a day or a weekend without house progress was that much longer in pushing the day we could start the adoption paperwork. It had already taken longer than we would have liked. We took all the plaster down to the studs except for the two bedrooms that we had worked so hard to save. We worked with an electrician and rewired the entire upstairs (and if you have ever lived in an old house, outlets are hard to come by--I now have an outlet on almost every wall!), had central air added, added a pair of french doors & access to the attic, hung and finished all the new sheetrock, etc. Finally the day came and we moved up and we soon afterward set out to start all the adoption paperwork. Now that the ball is starting to roll along with the adoption finally.......Now the renovation begins again. The goal is to convert it back once again to a single family residence, but it must remain separated until the downstairs is almost complete. Since we have some months to wait for referral and travel, the time has come to start it all over again downstairs. We are in the demolition phase at the moment. We hope to be pretty close to finishing by the time Buttercup comes home and plan on hiring out some of the very time consuming parts that we learned the the hard way..... such as plaster removal and sheet rock (the absolute most frustrating and slow labor I have ever done!) so we are hoping it moves along much quicker than the upstairs did. It will make the wait pass very fast, I'm sure. So, now you have the low-down on another "member" of our family--the member that keeps us safe and warm....... and very busy!

I will try to update as we progress on the mess!

Our House: A.K.A. The Money Pit :) Part 1

2007-01-23T01:45:00.000-05:00

" If you sweep a house, and tend its fires and fill its stove, and there is love in you all the years you are doing this, then you and that house are married, that house is yours." ~ Truman Capote

This is our house. It has been the center of our life so far since we encountered it. It truly does contains our blood, sweat, and yes, tears. I really identify with the quote above. The house was built in 1923. We are the third owners. Each owner has lived here over 35 years. We plan on staying in this house and raising our family. It is not a flip. This house has become a part of us. Our neighborhood is the old kind you don't see anymore--there are sidewalks and alleys, green parks, and we can walk to shopping and the library and to the neighborhood school. Every house is different and charming in it's own way as only old houses can be. They are quirky. They're not meant to be perfect. There are Easter egg hunts, July 4 parades, Labor Day cookouts, progressive dinners, lemonade stands--you get the picture. Even though we haven't participated in much of these activities yet, that is what we wanted for our children. We fell in love with the house and the neighborhood. Now, if we can just get it finished!!

Whew!! It's OUTTA HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-19T17:12:00.000-05:00

Look closely, can you see my blood, sweat and tears on these documents????

Well, believe me, it's all in there. I finally got the whole thing authenticated, but not without yet more incident that entailed me actually having to run (yes, I did the real, actual Dossier Dash--and I am out of shape!) back to my car, fly home, get something else they needed and go back before they would authenticate the last document-- (And YES, they were the docs I had been waiting on that set us back two weeks!!) I wasn't about to let them push me off another day, and yes, I did tell the lady I was going to lose it. :) She wasn't amused, but I really was (about to lose it, that is. Amused, I was not.). So whether Vietnam likes it or not, they are getting my attachments that they did not ask for, because the SOS says they have to---just thought they might need a couple more bits of our life!!!! Ha, ha.

BUT, the important thing is.......the dossier is OUTTA HERE and on it's way to our agency to be sent for authentication and then on to Hanoi. Whew! Dossier, check! Bring on the next step! Bring on our referral!

I think I'm gonna have that glass of wine now! Happy Friday everyone, and thanks so much for your comments of sympathy!!!! I needed them!

It's Ready!!

2007-01-19T11:05:00.001-05:00

I just called and it's ready!! I'm off to go pick it up--Wish me luck--I will update later! :)

A little Snow and Dossier Roadblocks

2007-01-18T23:24:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-16T23:14:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-30T01:25:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-20T23:01:00.000-05:00

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..

2006-12-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

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!! :)

....and down comes a little ray of hope....

2006-12-14T01:16:00.000-05:00

Two posts in one day?! Why, yes! I forgot to post earlier that we got some very encouraging news from our agency on Friday when I called to check in--she said that they were expecting to get quite a few baby girl referrals in the next couple of months and that it looked like our wait may be cut a little shorter as we will hopefully be moving up the list at a nice pace. Let's just hope and pray this will all happen as they predict--especially for those on the top of the list who have been waiting on pins and needles, I'm sure, while no referrals have been coming for the last couple of months! She even said we should even plan on starting our dossier in Jan sometime, so that's good news!!! Just when I was thinking this might never really happen......a little ray of hope! :)
P.S. and I can happily report that the Christmas tree is now fully decorated, and with wrapped presents underneath too. Things are looking up!

Playing Hooky Meeting Some EXTREME people

2006-12-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

Well, just wanted to post some pics and share a brush with TV we had in our city last week--Extreme Makeover Home Edition was in town most of the previous week and a half or more rebuilding a home in our downtown area for a very deserving family. The mom is a SW who works with kids at a charter school, her husband is blind and they have two kids. Whenever I watch the show I always get teary at the end. The whole city was caught up in the bewildering process where they completely demolished the house and rebuilt it in one week. Now, being in the industry of design and dealing w/permitting, I know this had to take months of coordination to get approvals and inspections lined up in such a short span of time. (And quite frankly it has always made me wary about the quality of the finished product!) The City officials must have pulled through though and the house looked pretty sturdy. It turned out very nice and I was happy that they made an effort to make it look a little vintage like the rest of the neighborhood, however, a bit fancier. One of my coworkers got caught up in the excitement and talked a couple more of us into taking a few hours off work in the middle of the day to take a shuttle to the house and help yell, "MOVE THAT BUS!" It is very near our office and we figured we wouldn't often get this opportunity, if ever again. It was quite a circus over there at first--there were thousands of people there to cheer them on. It was so interesting to see some of the process of producing the final moments of the show.........let's just say it is very slow and the move that bus is yelled quite a few times throughout the day to get as many versions as possible, as well as the crowd, over and over again. After the family was inside, (which we unfortunately missed that actual moment, due to some transportation issues, darn it) most of the cast of designers and carpenters were outside shaking hands, signing autographs and posing for pics--except Ty, it seems he causes such a frenzy, he can only keep a distance and wave at the crowd or people just lose their minds! Whenever he looked out at the crowd, everyone started cheering and the girls were screaming! Too funny. My favorite is actually Ed, the carpenter. In fact Maggie and I got our picture taken with him and he was EXTREME-ly nice......and adorable-love the accent! okay, I know, I couldn't help it! Heh, heh! P.S. the episode is supposed to air Jan 21!

It's beginning to (slowly, very slowly) look a lot like Christmas...

2006-12-06T22:41:00.000-05:00

Well, we finally got our tree up--but not decorated yet! Ha, ha. It has lights, but no ornaments yet. You could say we like to savor it, but really we just haven't been able to get that far yet (or perhaps we're just being lazy about it!), but wanted to get it all sparkly at least. It's pretty funny, though- we had to put the tree up in Buttercup's room thanks to our tiny, make-shift upstairs living room. We are living on the upstairs level of our house while completing the renovation of the downstairs level (which is not going very forward at the moment, unfortunately, due to some trouble getting a contractor to come over to give us an estimate on plaster removal). Our upstairs has a kitchen and basically is set up as a two-bedroom apartment. Since we haven't put up a crib yet, her room is the only room with a spot for a tree. We can see into her room from our mini-living room, so it works! The cats are loving it as a nice nap spot underneath. Hubby said we should take a pic, but then thought she may want the tree in her room every year if she sees it. Hopefully we can resume the big tree downstairs in the real living room next year and have a baby tree in her room too. :) No news on the adoption front. We are still at the same place on the list that we have been since we got on the list and hoping for some news this month on moving up a couple notches, unlike last month. Urrrgggghhhhh. Happy thoughts.....happy thoughts.......
This is what Buttercup is getting for Christmas this year. (notice the proximity of the peeking tree branches :) ha) ...A litttle asian dolly, a cute pink and green knit beret and matching pink socks. We may even wrap them and put them under the tree because she will be with us in spirit as we celebrate this year. They will be waiting for her when she finally gets home. I hope and pray it is by Christmas next year.

I think this doll has the sweetest little face! This wait is hard.

The Funk is Finally Fading

2006-11-28T00:05:00.000-05:00

I'm finally back--For some unexplained reason, I just have been in an adoption-related funk this month. I just was in no mood to think about it, much less blog. Sorry for the lack of activity (again!) It just seemed to be so far away still and very out of my reach. There has been no news from the agency this month regarding any referrals and we have not moved at all on the list. This sign hangs in Buttercup's room, and I admit it is more for our benefit to remind us........to believe that this will actually happen, just not on our schedule. Right now, I have to admit it doesn't seem any closer. But visiting with lots of family over Thanksgiving that is very excited for us and getting to see my brother and SIL and my niece (and the new little bump) in from CA for the week was very nice and helped a lot. We had lots of good food and did a lot of visiting. We also got the news that this little bump will be a baby boy! He is due to be born in late May/early April. I told my niece she was going to have a baby brother just like me! (she's 20 mos old, so I didn't expect her to get the concept, which she didn't! ) :) Well, we are very grateful that this pregnancy seems to be going along smoothly so far. I even got to feel him kick a few good strong ones. My SIL is very excited for us and said we are "pregnant " together-me on paper of course. She brought up a good point that I hadn't really let myself think of I guess. She said "we are praying for Buttercup's birth mommy since she is probably already pregnant too." I guess that is most likely true! I had never really looked at it that way, unfortunately. That's a nice thought. I am very thankful to her and I hope she is okay is taking care of herself and Buttercup. We will keep her in our prayers.
This is Buttercup's new little rocker that my dad and stepmom bought for us. They found it at an antique store and gave it to us a couple weeks ago. It is a very sweet addition to her room and I can't wait for her to rock her babydolls in it..............Until then I'll just keep trying to believe it will really happen someday!

Ocracoke Island & the Outer Banks

2006-11-06T18:08:00.000-05:00

Ferries, Lighthouses and Sand, Oh My!

I've been meaning to post about this- We celebrated our 6th anniversary on Oct. 14 by spending a beautiful weekend at the Outer Banks in NC (home of the famous lighthouses). Amazingly, this is actually only the second time I have ever been to this area. It used to take about 5 hours from where we live so we usually go to the beaches that are closer, but they have redone a bypass that gets you there in around a zippy 3.5 hours. We stayed in a very friendly and lovely B & B called the Thurston House on Ocracoke Island, which is only accessible by a ferry that you can drive onto. I can't remember ever taking a ferry, but I sure made up for that on this trip! The weather was gorgeous and we had lots of yummy food. I think we even decided on our real name for Buttercup (it's the one name we keep going back to and seem to agree on), but we don't want to decide for sure until we see her little face. (Sorry, Mom!) We bought a handblown glass fish to hang in the nursery window, and a signed children's book by a local author- "Pelican and Pelicant" (such a cute story!). We'll definitely be visiting more often.......a very family-friendly place for when Buttercup joins us!

Happy Halloween!!!

2006-10-31T23:48:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween to all !!!!
Hope all have had a fun Halloween--It's one of my favorite holidays. As my brother calls me, I'm a "witch baby" (due to my arrival being so close to Halloween, of course!) I look forward to trick or treating with our little one next year, if all goes as predicted. :) We've been saying that a lot these days--next year at this time our little Buttercup will be with us to so-and-so.....That's a nice thought.

Speaking of my brother....turns out I am going to be an aunt again!!!!! Yay! My SIL is due in early April. They waited a while to tell everyone--they are halfway there now! She had a very difficult pregnancy with my niece, so we are hoping this one goes without complications. So far, so good. They haven't decided whether they will find out the gender of the baby beforehand this time. I am a big fan of knowing. There are too many unknowns as it is......If you are one that prays, please keep them in your prayers for a safe delivery for my new little niece or nephew!

Surprise, Surprise!! It's my Birthday!

2006-10-30T00:51:00.000-05:00

Well, I just had to share that my wonderful husband planned and threw me a surprise birthday party Saturday night. It was held at my mom's house, and I was drawn there under the guise that we were going out to dinner with our parents to an Italian restaurant to celebrate my birthday with them. When we got there the house was filled with my close friends and family with lots of food and balloons........and a big cake with a huge, black 4-0 on it, thanks to my mother-in-law. Yes, this is a big one. Today is my actual birthday. Happy Birthday to me! 40 definitely isn't as old as I once thought it was, that's for sure! :) It was a great party and I was so touched that everybody came and helped me celebrate. It was nice to share with everyone that we are finally officially on the waiting list after having no news for over 3 months waiting on the 171H. My best friend since elementary school made a DVD of my life in pictures and video with music from "the day". We had a lot of laughs watching that one. Who wore a blue and white vertical striped jumpsuit (not pinstripes, mind you--WIDE stripes!) to school? Evidently ME!! Wow, my fashion sense was a lot more cutting edge in the 80s!! I got 5 differnt bottles of wine as gifts--do you think that is sending a message? Ha,ha! I will enjoy them all! My hubby is indeed a sweetie and I love him to death for going to all that trouble to make a birthday I have been dreading special! He said it was stressful and weird keeping it all from me for so long. When I thought he was out shopping Saturday, he was at my mom's slicing pork loin and icing down beer and wine. Tonight we celebrate with dinner, just the two of us. Can't get too wild on a Monday night! I will try to post a pic or two when I get some back from my mom........Happy Halloween Eve Everyone!

We've Made the List...

2006-10-25T23:31:00.000-05:00

I talked to our agency today and they verified that we are officially on the list. Nice! We debut at the lovely #19. They say it should be around 7 months until we should see a referral..... I'm hoping for sooner. I'm ready to see that little Buttercup face! We were able to celebrate with a yummy dinner tonight with our cousins. Ahhhhhhhh! :)

THE Form is Here!!!!

2006-10-24T23:21:00.000-05:00

I have been the worst blogger lately, I know, I know. I have the best of intentions and I will try to do better. I have been a really good blog reader, but not so great a blog writer. BUT......WE HAVE THE FORM!!

The envelope we have been waiting the last 98 days for finally arrived yesterday!!! It is the I171H--the first required document for all International Adoptions--you can't go forward until you get this little unceremonious little piece of paper............And we finally have it. So you know what that means? Yep, we can get on the waiting list at our agency. We have just been hanging around in limbo worrying about when this thing would be in the mailbox. I had an idea it would be soon since a couple of my fellow NC adopters (who are also adopting baby girls from Vietnam), Emily and Kristen got theirs recently and they were a bit ahead of us in our log-in date. I have been sneaking out of the office in the late afternoons to go check my mailbox...... ha, the neighbors are probably wondering why I've been driving into the driveway, checking the box and then leaving again without going inside. Good thing I work very close to home! Unfortunately, the mailperson has decided to start delivering our mail at the last possible route of the day so all I ever saw was an empty box. I was really getting bummed! Now I can relax. (yea, right!)
Yay us!! Woohoo! I have faxed a copy to our agency, but since it was after hours and no one was there, I haven't talked to them yet to make sure they got it and to see where we are on the list.
I'll keep you posted........... :)

Fun with the Girls

2006-10-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

Happy October!! (October just happens to be my birth month, so I have always been a big fan.)

I got together with some college friends this past weekend for some long-needed girl time with a few of my old college buddies. We met at one of my friends' house near our college town (who's husband was out of town golfing and daughter was spending the night at a friend's--woohoo! Partay! Ha!) and pretty much just had a grown-up version of a slumber party! :) We had some catch up time with some margaritas and then went to visit our college campus to see how much it has changed lately (A LOT! Our dorm is now coed..... even within the floors! Boy, that would have made dorm life quite different back then! It was Homecoming weekend, but we missed most of the festivities....) We also checked out the bricks in the Graduate Walk that one of the friends had done as a surprise gift for us a while back, so our names are emblazoned for posterity (or at least for a good while!) in a brick on a walkway thru one of the treelined park areas. It's nice to know we have left our mark, so to speak!
We then had a nice dinner and went out for a couple of drinks at the newly gentrified and trendy downtown area of our college town. Then we went back to the house to have some big laughs over a scrapbook that one of my friends made of all the goofy-stuff and memories from our years at school. It was fun to see them all at the same time again. We used to see each other at everyone's showers and weddings, but now we are all married (some of us twice!) and they all have children except me (they can't wait for me to join the club!), so it is hard for us all to get together often and it usually has to be a planned event. Of course there was all kinds of big talk about having a wild time, but it ended up being pretty tame-ha,ha. Looks like we are all talk and not as young as we used to be! We did stay up way into the wee morning hours, but for once we were all pretty sober at the end of the night! I hadn't seen one of my friends since a baby shower about a year and a half ago........We mostly all live in different towns, as is usually the case with friends you meet in college, I guess. We got up and made a big breakfast, drank coffee and chatted until we had to make a hasty departure to pick up kids, get to a grandmother's 80th b'day party, relieve babysitting dad's and the like....back to our committments of daily life.

Do you have that friend who is really good at keeping up with everybody and basically does all the work? Yea, that's not me....... It is my friend, Cindi, and I realize I do rely heavily on her to keep me in the loop. I do love my friends and have a great time when we get together, but it seems I suck at regular corespondence. Luckily, Cindi and I live in the same city and we have been friends since grammar school, so I believe she has accepted the burden--hee, hee. It's definitely in her nature and she couldn't help it even if she tried--she lives for keeping up with almost everybody she has ever known. It's really amazing, actually.

Overall, it was a fun time.......even though it reminded us a little that we aren't those crazy college girls anymore.........a sobering thought to this much-too-soon-to-be-turning-the-Big-4-0 at the end of this very month. Yikes. I'm much too young to be this damn old! :)
P.S. That's me on the far right
G'night!

We've Been Printed!

2006-09-26T23:42:00.001-05:00

Well, I am happy to finally post that we have finally made the journey to Charlotte to the BCIS assistance office to have our fingerprints taken. Woohoo! Finally a small step! It is not really what you would picture...and no, it doesn't feel like you are being arrested. (Well, at least not this time-when we got our prints taken locally for our homestudy clearance it did feel like we were being man-handled a bit and it was complete with the ink and all....) It is all done electronically on the federal level--pretty cool actually.

You put your fingers on this little flat glass panel and they show up on a computer screen (they show up as big as your head!)--they can keep re-doing it until they get a perfectly clear print because it shows the person if there are any areas that aren't aligning. Sometimes your finger can slip as it is rolled and it gets a little off. Hopefully they were good enough and we won't have to go back an do it again. Basically no news is good news and we went on Thursday (9/21) so I think we're okay. It was basically a big room where we and people from all different countries sit in little plastic chairs all in a row, fill our a form and show ID and then they give you a little paper number (like at the deli!) and you wait for your number to be called. You go up and they take your prints and, voila, you can go home. It's also where all immigrants go to get their green cards renewed and stuff like that.

Hey, in this process, even a little paperwork feels like progress!!!

And it begins.......(the blog, that is!)

2006-09-04T18:16:00.000-05:00

Happy Labor Day, Everyone!!
This is my first post. I have been meaning to start this for a while and I figured today was a good day. I am hoping to keep you updated as we wait for our little one from Vietnam. We have known we would adopt since we started dating, as I have known since I was 17 that I would be unable to ever become pregant. It was just a matter of waiting until we knew the time was right, unfortunately that took a little longer than originally anticipated.....

We officially started this journey at the beginning of July, 2006. We sent in our I-600A to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) the first time :) on July 7 along with a bunch of other required documents, but it was sent back because, of all things, we forgot to sign it--DUH! Not a great start, I admit, but hopefully it was a learning experience! What a letdown when we got that envelope in the mail, all excited that we were moving forward, and then all our stuff was back to us! Anyway, we mailed it right back in and it was received again by CIS on July 18. This is the first step in our state since the application process takes SOOOOOO long. Then we sent in applications with fees to our agency soon after (which was the hardest thing to pick)--it is so confusing and stressful to decide who to trust to lead you through this journey ethically as well as quickly. FYI, in case you didn't know, Vietnam has just reopened to adoptions with the US in January of this year after a two and a half year moratorium-- due to some questionable practices-- and it is of the utmost importance that the adoptions remain on the up an up or we risk problems, and besides, it is just the right thing to do....

So back to my catch-up....We selected our homestudy agency (since our Adoption Agency is located in Ohio, we have to have a different NC licensed agency do the homestudy) and we mailed them a whopping check. We started our homestudy with our first meeting on Aug 8 and finished with our third and last meeting at our house on Aug 14--was worth every penny of the extra expedited services fee to get it done quickly, as USCIS requires this to complete the processing and it got it out of the way. Also, for so long we have worried about this part, as we are currently in the process of renovating our 83 year old house and it has taken us a few years to get it to a point to even pass a homestudy!! That, I'm sure we will cover at a later date, as it is a subject in itself..... Oh, and yes, it went well and we received a favorable report by the end of that week and they let us know that they had sent it along to CIS to join the rest of our stuff.

So, now we finally have received the long-awaited fingerprint appt. to go to Charlotte to get our fingerprints taken, which is the last piece of the pie that USCIS will need from us (hopefully) and we will just be waiting (this is the theme, as you can tell! :)) until our turn comes for them to process. Which I am told will not be until the end of October or early November!!!! Yikes! What we are waiting for exactly is the coveted I-171H form--this is formal approval for us to bring a foreign orphan into the US to be ours forever and ever :) and at this time I think I will consider myself "paper-pregnant"! You really can't do anything else until you get that piece of paper ! So that's it for now, I think! We wait....I know some of you may not be quite as knowledgeable about the process we will have to go through, but I will leave that for another time..
Until next time!
Kim