YES!!!!!!

Referrals are reportedly in the air with a cut-off date of November 1st which means.......

Shawn & Karen, Ellen & Rick, Melanie & David, and Pam & Robert are FINALLY going to see their little one's faces this week! I can't stop smiling for you all and can't wait to see the pictures!!

Happy early Mother's Day to you all!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!

And Toni and Tom....they are in to November now.....your turn is coming soon!!

The Crib is Up!!

A big hooray to the fact that we assembled the crib today. I can't say it was a smooth process, but it's all good now. The room now actually looks like a child is going to live there! I hung a really cute mobile...I know, I know you're not supposed to have a mobile for a child that can stand. Well, I don't believe that she will be able to stand so I think we're good for a little bit. It's really cute and.........it's from PBKids :) I've been reclaiming the closet in Zoe's room by finally putting all the books onto the bookshelf. Although I previously didn't think it was possible, I now believe that it is possible for a child to have too many books :)

Eric finished painting the room on Saturday. I'm so proud of him for his great job! We had a date night last night...went to see "In the Land of Women" and then went out for dinner. Okay, it cost $16.00 for a matinee....what has the world come to! Talk about inflation. The movie was good...but not $16.00 good. I think we'll be a DVD family.

The weather has been beautiful today. Eric has some burgers on the grill and we're going to eat out on the deck. My public service announcement for the day is that we found 3 (yes THREE) ticks on Herman this weekend. Get your dogs vaccinated against Lymes disease if you haven't already.

Okay, I think that's it for now. I would like to make a post on entitlement .....as in what people believe they are entitled to from China, and why they believe they are entitled to more ( or sooner) than the next person....but I'll leave that for another day :)

Stuff for the nursery/bath

I ordered these letters from Blissliving.com for the bathroom to go with our ducky theme. I also ordered the wall letters to spell out Zoe's name from them as well.

We're still putting the nursery together but here is what the crib and bedding will look like. The bedding is French Rose from PBKids (my favorite store) and the crib is their sleigh crib in expresso. All of the other furniture is in this dark wood too as we ordered it when we didn't know if we were getting a boy or a girl.

More Clothes from Friends!

When we got home from our trip to State College this weekend we were surprised by a gift for Zoe from our friends Melanie and David. Thank you! We love the dresses. They are so cute! I particularly love that the white dress is from a company called Maggie and Zoe :)

Nothing new on the adoption front, just a little bit of frustration. I thought we had been told to expect to travel about 6-8 weeks from referral but have come to learn that it's actually 6-8 weeks from the date the CCAA receives your acceptance. Since Great Wall is one of the last agencies to send back the acceptances (for good reasons, they want to make sure everyone is comfortable with their referrals) we will probably be one of the last to travel. I talked to someone in our travel department and she said that she thought we'd travel in June. I know it's only about a week or two difference, but after seeing Zoe's face all we can think about doing is getting to her.

I sent a care package to Zoe at the orphanage today...or I tried to anyway :) We had been told to claim $0 for the value of the package but the post office wouldn't let me saying they had been told not to allow this as the box would likely cause suspicion at customs. So I said it was worth $1..but don't know if the orphanage will have to pay tax on it, or if they do if they will. I may go ahead and do the Great Wall care package just to cover all bases. I really want the orphanage to know how much we already care and love her! Oh, I ordered the newspaper that Zoe's finding ad appeared in from Brian Stuy (sp?). I think it's important part of her history. I also ordered the medical kit from Orphan Allies so we'd have some medicine (and more importantly dosage information) for the trip.

Hope you all are having a great week!

Look What Zoe Got!

We have met some of the most amazing people on this adoption journey.Above are the adorable outfits that our friends Karen and Shawn sent to Zoe , and below are the adorable outfits and super fun bubble machine and bubbles that our friends Ellen and Rick sent. It's so wonderful to have so many people adopting from China at the same time in the area. I know our daughters are going to be good friends.




Right now there is not much going on. We will be waiting for the next three-four weeks for our travel approval at which point our agency can make our consulate appointment. I'm not sure how the May holiday in China will affect us getting our TA. I hope everything, referrals and travel approvals, arrive before the CCAA breaks for the holiday :) Eric and I are heading to Penn State this weekend for the Spring game. We've been trying to go for the past three years but this is the first time the weather is supposed to be warm and sunny! I went to PSU for graduate school and it's always nice to get back to Happy Valley.

A request for PBKids

First, I have to say that I LOVE Pottery Barn Kids. I love the furniture, I love the toys, I love the bedding, and now I love the clothes they have. What I do not love, however, are the directions they include to build their furniture. First, if you're paying whatever ridiculous sum of money to purchase a crib, bookcase, nightstand, etc.....it should come assembled. Knowing that it didn't, I still chose to purchase it because (well, I got 40% off from a friend) remember, I love their things. I, however, am a word person not a picture person. I wrote a dissertation in words, not in cave drawings. I could not follow the pictorial directions to assemble that dumb bookcase. I had to remind myself that it was not very maternal to swear like a sailor while creating a nursery for my child. I put it together, realized the shelves were on backward, said some not so nice words, cut my hand trying to unscrew the bolts from the death grip, and then recreated it from what I thought it should look like, not the directions. Problem solved. Zoe now has a nightstand and a bookcase. I will tackle the crib next with Eric's help (he was taping the room for painting while I was doing the bookshelf....but did help when I had my minor meltdown about putting it together backward....he's a saint).

I'm at work now with no picture access, but my next post will include pictures of the adorable clothes Zoe received in the mail from our friends Karen and Shawn. It was Zoe's first mail! Thank you guys!

We also returned our referral acceptance to Great Wall. They received it and processed it today. They will send it off to China tomorrow. With the May holiday we do not know when we will get our travel approval, but we are hoping to travel the last week of May/first week of June. If we travel then or later I will be able to stay home with Zoe all summer and not have to go back until after her 1st birthday on Labor Day!

Finally the weekend..

Ah, it's been a whirlwind of a week! My feet have barely touched the ground. We've updated our registry to reflect our new baby. Pretty much everything we had registered for was for a toddler. I'm having to learn about bottles and baby food but loving every minute of it. We received the translation of Zoe's growth report today. Actually a former student of mine who is native Chinese came and looked over the untranslated reports today first so she was the first to give me the scoop. Medically everything seems to have been translated correctly which is a relief. I cried when she was telling me about Zoe's finding. The details of Zoe's first days are not something we're going to share, even with family. It is Zoe's story, and if she decides to tell it someday then that will be up to her. I did learn that Zoe's name Yuanguo means "garden fruit or round fruit". My student thinks it's because she has a little melon head :) I also learned that it is not two words as I had written it (Yuan Guo) but one word (Yuanguo), although it is two seperate Chinese characters. The guo part of her name is hard for me to pronounce so I'm working on it. I think it is said with the third tone, which is one I have a hard time hearing. My friend was great though and tried to spell things phonetically in English for me. Zoe apparently loves music and being outside (not translated but in the documents...I suggest getting someone fluent in Mandrin to look over your documents). A little bell is her favorite toy so we're going to be on the look out for a similar toy. She likes to play with her caregiver, is very clever, quite lovely, and quiet. She reportedly sleeps through the night (10 hours) but we'll see about that....that would be lovely :) Other than that she's like a baby...she eats, pees, and poops. We're so in love with our little peanut...or I guess I should say melon! :)

Shopping!!

First, don't worry about the broken blind. We're getting cool new ones from Pottery Barn Kids :) This picture doesn't really do it justice but Eric and I put a serious dent into the Visa on Monday. I hadn't allowed myself to do really any clothes shopping for Zoe since we weren't sure if she was going to be a boy or how old she was going to be! It was so fantastic when shopping to finally be able to answer the question, "How old is your baby?" We ended up buying mostly 6-9 month clothes with an occasional 3-6 if it looked big. We live about 8 miles from the Premium outlets so most things came from Osh Kosh and Carters. I did a little ordering from Baby Gap yesterday too :) Our little one may be more of a peanut than I originally thought! We got her medical report today. It seems that at closer to five months she was 12 pounds. I'm not sure really of the dates though since the evaluation and blood work were done on two separate days and I'm not sure which is which. It looks like she's on the 10th percentile for Southern Chinese girls in all areas (weight, height, head circumference). Now Eric and I are not large people, but we're not petite ones either :) I think we may have a gymnast or a super quick soccer forward (my personal preference :) ) on our hands. The medical report is all in Chinese except for the list our agency gave us of medical features with the words "normal" next to it. I was going to have an international adoption doctor look at the file but I don't really know what information he could give us. She looks alert (and is looking into the camera.good sign..had to note that as a school psychologist). I am having a friend who is fluent in Mandarin look over the report just to make sure that something wasn't left untranslated....but it would have to be something HUGE to cause us concern and even then, we're already so in love with her. My mom is coming over tonight to see the pictures of her first grandchild tonight. I can't wait for her to see Zoe and all her adorableness.

The past few days have been a blur. If I did minimal work while waiting the past few days for the referral, I'm really doing nothing now. I think about this little girl all the time. I did not think that I would be a person who got attached to a picture. I really just don't bond like that. However, I was walking Herman yesterday and had to cut it short so I could go back and see her little face again. It's like the high you get when you're first falling in love. It's so wonderful. I can't tell you how lucky we feel. We also got hard copies of our pictures today so I immediately went to Target and made copies on the Kodak machine. My super great secret pal Magi had given me a photo key chain a while back and I'm going to put Zoe's picture in it so she's with me now no matter where I go. I think about Zoe's birth mother a lot too and wonder what wonderful features Zoe got from each of her birth parents. I hope they have peace with their decision to give her away, and I hope they can somehow sense that their daughter is going to be so loved by us.

Friends

Before I made the next of what will likely be a bunch of posts about Zoe, I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for their good wishes and support. I've been very lucky in my life. I've made wonderful friends who have helped me through some very difficult times. Yesterday, however, I learned even more about friendship. It may be difficult to be there for a friend when they are going through hard times, but it is even more difficult I imagine to be there for them when they are happy when you yourself have been disappointed or are upset. So Karen, Shawn, Ellen, Rick, Melanie, David, Pam, Robert, Toni, and Tom......thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your phone calls and e-mails of good wishes yesterday. Our joy right now is great, but it will be even greater when we finally see the faces of your little ones next month. You are all exceptional people, and we and our daughter are lucky to have you in our lives.

Introducing Zoe Katherine Yuanguo

Sorry the pictures are so small!! She's currently in the Fengxin SWI in the Jiangxi Province. She's 7 months old!! Born 9/3/06. She is quiet and fond of her caregiver. And she's a peanut! At 3 months she was 12 pounds and 24 inches. We are so blessed and so thankful.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! I hope everyone has had a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. Eric and I went out and registered at BabysRUs yesterday. That is quite an adventure! Some good friends of mine are throwing me a shower in May (assuming our referral arrives soon). I also found a fabulous new sweet treat to help with the blues...........Edy's Slow Churned "Take the Cake" ice cream. If you love the cake batter ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery, you'll love this. It tastes like yellow cake batter with icing and sprinkles. Eric is disgusted, but I LOVE it!

Where is our referral?

Well, I guess the next post wasn't about our child. This has been an incredibly frustrating week. First I listened to someone on RQ when I should have known better and believed that referrals were coming on Monday. Then the terrible rumors that our friends with 10-28 LID weren't going to be included. And finally, referrals started showing up yesterday, but only for one agency or affliates of that agency. Other agencies, including ours, have said that they don't have anything in the air...which means that referrals probably won't come on Monday either. This process has become so vastly different from what it was when we started and even as we sit on the cusp of getting a referral, I'm not feeling joy..I'm feeling down. I know that some of it comes from the fear that we're not going to be able to share our referral day with our 10/28 friends who have really been the only thing making this wait bearable. I don't understand why things have to be so secretive. I don't understand why they have to be so hard or stressful for us and our friends. My father passed away in September without meeting his grandchild, and friends have lost significant people in their lives during this wait, wasn't that hard enough? This month to month of not knowing is too hard. It's like with infertility and wondering if you're pregnant.. is it this month? no. Is it the next month? no. Until you get to the point that even when it's finally your turn you can't trust it. I'm not sure how we will talk to our child about this wait, except to tell him or her that there has never been a child more wanted or anticipated, or who had more people praying for his/her safe arrival into our home. We have Easter together as a family tomorrow and everyone has been instructed to not say, "oh we were hoping to have heard by now." I just can't take that. I'm sorry for the tone of this post, I just needed to blow off some steam. I guess it's like I told Eric yesterday though when he was so frusrated.....we can be happy and enjoy the day.. and referrals aren't coming today, or we can be unhappy and miserable.... and referrals aren't coming today. Either way, referrals aren't coming . Pity party over. Time to go enjoy the day :)

Well, you can't say it's not suspenseful.....

So, nothing again today. I now really think it will be next week, probably Monday since I'm ridiculously busy that day with meetings I can't get out of. Eric is upstairs painting the kid's bathroom a wonderful shade of Pale Daffodil. He needed a project :) The pics are of the bathroom accessories. Yesterday I cleaned out two of our cabinets to make room for toddler plates and snacks. We have more cabinet space than I originally thought...well, once I decided to finally get organized! The rumors today have been bad, especially for our 10/28 friends, but in the end I firmly believe we will all be celebrating together. I can't imagine they will only do 2 LID..it just doesn't make sense.

On the home front, we priced out a new home and with it "loaded" we are still within budget. However, the problem is selling our home (which I think wouldn't be a problem) and having to go someplace else for a while. I just can't do that....not with being a new mom. It's better for me to only do one stressful thing at a time, even if it's good stress. The home is really beautiful, but the model we like has three bedrooms and I'd really like four since we hope for two children and I'd like a guest room upstairs. I am hoping to only move one more time and don't want to outgrow the house. Plus, if we wait and save even a few more months we can get something a little larger so that's the plan for now. I know someone who is building a new home and since they closed on their house they need to live in a hotel for 2 weeks and then another short-term place for 2 months....we would be asking a lot of our child who has already gone through so much adjustment. Eric and I also talk about relocating to Indianapolis (I went to undergrad at IU) or a suburb of Boston so who knows where the wind will take us :) Here's hoping my next post is about our baby!

Tom Petty sings the truth...

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part



While the rest of the song is adoption inappropriate, this refrain has been going through my head for the past couple of days.

Happy Birthday Karen

Happy Birthday Karen!! I hope all of your birthday wishes come true......especially your wishes for referrals and Ava. Next year there will be a little one helping you blow out the candles. This week has been tough for us all........but better things are soon to come!

GRRRRRRRRRR

Just in case anyone wondered how I was feeling today.

Hanging on by a strand....

Well, the rumors were that referrals could have arrived today but it looks as though our friends across the pond haven't received them...maybe later this week? I'm working 6 hours today (or creating the pretense of working while I check the boards) and then am off the rest of the week for our spring break. I know the time is coming..I was just really, really hoping for today!!

In other news Eric and I just fell in love with a new construction home near us. The problem is that they are currently building for Oct/November (which could mean December). With the current market we'd have to put our townhome up for sale this summer which means we could be rendered homeless for a bit while waiting for the house to be finished. I'd hate to uproot our child twice, once to move in to an apartment or with family, and again into the new home. I've gotten a lot of support from the Yahoo boards about the kids being resilient though. The builder offers a 3% discount for government employees which is just fabulous. The home is 1/2 mile from the new town center with the movie theaters, restaurants, parks, tot lots, etc. It's also about 1/2 mile to the schools I work in. If we don't buy a home now we'll definitely be looking there for a resale...I just hope the prices don't go up too much! I mentioned before that we really love our townhome so we are in a win, win situation.

Back to the referrals...does anyone else expecting referrals this month also have butterflies? I feel like I did on my wedding day.....but then at least I knew the gender, age, and personality of my groom :)