Strange find...

I had a little something extra in my 100 calorie pack of chocolate chip cookies...



I ate a few of the cookies, then shook the bag a little and something just didn't seem right. I reached in and pulled out a steel nut. I dumped the bag out and there was a screw in there too! My husband, being the mechanical guy that he is, had to see if they fit together and sure enough they do. I think it was a bad day on the old assembly line over there at Keebler. I can't believe that these parts came loose and both fell at the exact moment that my tiny little cookie bag was passing through.

At least it wasn't a finger or something totally gross like that. I'm going to e-mail Keebler and see if they want their parts back. ;)

I thought this only applied to Vegas...

My friend, Janet, clipped this out for me. She saw it in a magazine while we were in Disney...go figure!

Back from Disney and 14 months down!

We had a fabulous time at Disney! My friends, Jennifer & Christine, and I got in on Friday afternoon and met up with Shelley, Joannah, Janice, Kim, Hayley & Hannah, Lisa, and Michelle for dinner at Mimi's Cafe. It was SO nice to meet everyone and to see Lisa again.

We spent Saturday at Disneyland and Sunday at California Adventure. Both days we were at the parks bright and early and didn't give up until almost closing. We had a great time running around like kids and I loved every minute of it...except of course that Space Mountain ride. Christine and I both were a little green after that one, but everyone else loved it. At least we went...we had thought about chickening out at the last minute, but buckled up instead. We both regretted it in the end.

We had a great bunch of women on this trip! There were nine in our group and we stuck together almost the whole time. Everyone just went with the flow and we all had a lot of fun. Everyone got along great...I think it's that special adoptive momma connection!

Here's a photo slideshow of the trip...



Yesterday was our 14th LIDversary!!! Has it really been this long??

We are currently working on updating our homestudy and getting our I-171H renewed. Who would have ever thought 14 months ago that all these documents would actually expire!

Having fun...

No time to write because we're getting ready for a full day at California Adventure, but I wanted to post a couple of photos from dinner on Friday night and yesterday. Gee, can you guess who's wearing the hat in the photo below?

We made it!

A couple of shots on the airport shuttle bus..


Jennifer

Christine

Lisa and I already got the wi-fi going...

Off to California...

Well, our Waiting Momma's Disneyland trip is finally here. Jennifer, Christine and I catch a flight early this afternoon to LAX. I'm so looking forward to seeing Lisa again and meeting so many new bloggy friends.

I think I'll bring my laptop along since the room is supposed to have complimentary wi-fi. If we get some good pics, I'll try to post over the weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Well, it officially sucks...

Well, it's official...the CCAA only got through two days, yes you read that right, TWO DAYS of LID's over the past month! The rumors of this had been buzzing for a few days now, but I was refusing to actually believe it until I saw it with my own eyes on the CCAA website. Well, there it was today as clear as day. Two lousy days...October 25 and October 26...and that's it.

For us to get our referral this Sept/October time frame, referrals would have had to go through mid-November. There are 113 days from where the CCAA left off until our LID. If they can't even maintain two weeks of LID's each month then we may not have a referral until next year sometime! My head is just reeling right now and at this point it may only be a good cry that will help.

Guess who I met today??

Little Miss Tess!!! Julie and Tess are in town visiting family for Easter so they came by. Julie and I have gotten together a couple of times in the past and I was so excited to meet Tess. She is just as cute as her blog photos and very outgoing and funny.

Nancy and Lily came by and we had a really nice afternoon chatting and playing with the girls. Lily and Tess were born only one day apart, which I think is pretty cool!

With the rumors of a tiny referral batch this month, I really needed some cheering up and these two were just what the doctor ordered. (click image to enlarge)

Addy update and bracelets added...

Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes for Addy! We took her in for an echo cardiogram today and her heart is in better shape than they expected, which is good news. The only downside is that her blood pressure was very high and she is now on a new med to see if they can get it under control. We'll take her in for a blood pressure check in a couple of weeks and see how she's doing on the meds. Hopefully we'll have our old girl with us for a while to come!

On another note, I decided to add a couple of bracelet styles to my Close at Heart jewelry site. One with ladybug beads and one with an Asian flair (the large beads have Asian characters on the back side). If you like them, I have ordering instructions on the site. I'd love to make one for you.

Prayers for Addy...

Please send a prayer this way tonight for Addy. We had to take her to the vet this afternoon because she's been having a terrible time walking on her back legs. Sometimes she limps and then just stands there while she gets up the courage to start moving again. We can tell she's in pain sometimes when she walks.

If you remember, she was diagnosed with cancer back in June 2005 and wasn't expected to survive past the end of 2005, but she's been such a trooper and is still here with us.

While the doctor was checking her out today she discovered that Addy has a really bad heart murmur and irregular heartbeat, so the pain in her legs could either be caused by this or by arthritis. Of course, she can't go on arthritis meds until she has an echocardiogram to check out her heart. We haven't scheduled an echo yet because we want to see what her blood work reveals first.

Please say a little prayer for her...she could use all the good wishes she can get!

Spring flowers blooming...

It's a beautiful spring day here in AZ and our flowers are blooming. I'm not sure what type of bush this is, but I love these little white cup shaped flowers with a yellow center.

I'm off work today and Lucy LOVES the freedom she has to room in and out of the house and sun herself on the patio.

After I hang out for a while, I'm off to Beads Galore to see what kind of goodies I can find. For anyone who is local and into beads, you have to check this place out on Priest Dr. & Southern Ave.....they have a HUGE selection of all kinds of beads.

Happy Friday everyone!

Got to be a better week...

Last week was a rough one at the office and didn't feel much like posting. This past weekend was a nice break from work and I'm feeling refreshed this week.

This past Saturday evening was our local FCC Waiting Families meeting and we had LOTS of babies there this month, which always makes it much more fun. I got to meet Michele's beautiful daughter Ava for the first time since they have been back from China. She is just adorable and is doing great since they have been home. Michele is one proud and happy momma!

Kim & Scott hosted this month's meeting, so Joe and I showing up a little early to play with the twins, Jenna and Jadyn, while mom and dad set-up. Kim was out with Jenna, but we had a ball playing with Jadyn in her playroom. She loves her stacking cups and placing her shapes into the corresponding holes...she is so smart! After play time, she warmed right up to us and we were both able to hold her for a while.

Nancy & Brian were also there with Lily, who is just as sweet as can be. She has such a sweet and gentle personality and is always flashing that great smile and big dimples...soooo cute!

Joe and I were chatting on the way home about how the CCAA somehow seems to match the families to the perfect child for them. I know it sounds hokey, but we really think the families we know have been matched with the perfect children for them. It just seems to me that there is some force at work here...I'm not a super religious person, but it just seems right.

On another note, we are starting with the Paperchase Round II. I just completed our 2nd I-600A and it's all ready for overnight delivery tomorrow. It's been 19 months since we filled out our first one. We are heading out to USCIS (Immigration Services) to get re-fingerprinting this coming Saturday, and we already met with our social worker for the update meeting. Once we get through this 2nd paperchase process again we'll be set for another 18 months. If we don't travel by then, I give up!!! ;)

One more thing....the April issue of "O" (Oprah) magazine has a few short articles on adoption. One is written by a women who adopted domestically and how she feels when her daughter finds her birth mother, another one about researching your biological family tree, and one written by a women with two daughters from China (8 and 3 yrs old). It's about how she deals with questions from strangers and how she explains them to her daughters...it's called "8 Things Never to Say to an Adopted Child". If you don't want to pick up a copy, you can probably read the entire short article in the check out line at the grocery store or in Target.

13 Months Down!

Yesterday marked 13 months of waiting for Lauren.

If things don't slow down any further, we are expecting our referral between September and November...6 to 8 months from now. Ironically, this was the expected length of the ENTIRE wait when we first started our adoption adventure. Hmmm...life sure is unpredictable, isn't it??

Congrats to all my bloggy friends who have marked another month along with me!

A great Saturday...

Yesterday was a really good day. I got together with Heather, Nancy & Miss Lily, and Laura for a day of eating and shopping...can't get much better than that! First stop was Paradise Bakery for a little lunch and then off to the Anthem Outlet Mall (outside of Phoenix).

A group of three waiting mommas and a new momma is a dangerous combination for an outlet mall full of great baby stores. They have Gymboree, Carters, Osh Kosh, and Naartjie. I've never heard of Naartjie before, but I LOVED it. To me, it's a combination of both shabby chic and grunge...very cool baby stuff.

We had a GREAT time chatting on the ride over to the mall and going through all the adorable baby clothes. Here's what I got for Lauren (click on the photos to see more detail).

These are from Naartjie and everything, but the pink dress, were on a sale rack for $5.99 each plus 30% off...


















Cute outfits from Carters...





















and Gymboree...





















Check out these cute hair clips. I have ladybug and froggie outfits that these will look so cute with...
















After shopping we dropped Laura off for some plans with her hubby and the rest of us had our hubbies meet up with us for drinks and a nice seafood dinner.

I'm SOOOO lucky to have such great waiting momma friends to share this journey with...I truly treasure their friendship.

This and that...

I've been finding myself thinking more and more about whether Lauren is born yet or not. We always had SO long to wait that I decided not to really let myself think too much about where she is or who she is. Now that we are approaching our 13 month LIDversary, I'm beginning to think that maybe she actually IS born. Realistically we may have our referral sometime between September and November, which is 5 to 9 months from now. Since we expect her to be at least 10 months at referral, she may be already at an orphanage right now. I'm not a super religious person, but I really do wonder if there is a sweet baby girl laying in a crib somewhere who is already destined to be our daughter. Actually, I must believe this is true because as I'm thinking about it right now, I'm tearing up at the thought of her laying there without us. I hope the nannies are taking good care of her.

I was off work at noon today, so I had some free time. I picked up some ladybug beads the other day, so I just made myself this bracelet.

I think it turned about pretty cute!







A couple of weekends ago, my friends Jennifer and Judy were out at a big community garage sale and look what they got for Lauren!

Joe has always wanted a "project" car...well now he has one! ;)

Not quite what he originally had in mind, but now that he's going to be a daddy this will have to due. A little clean up and minor repair and this will be adorable. I think Lauren will be 'pretty in pink' riding her little pedal car.
This is a Reebok jogging stroller and will be perfect for taking Lauren out when we walk our furbabies. All this needs is some air in the tires and basic clean up.

Both of these items were only $15 each!! Pretty great deal, huh?

Thanks Jennifer & Judy!!

Come on...someone throw us a bone!

Well, it's official...the CCAA only got through 10 days worth of LID's last month (10/14 through 10/24).

In order for us to have any hope of traveling to China this year, the referrals would have to look something like this:

March referrals - LID's thru mid-Nov
April referrals - LID's thru end of Nov
May referrals - LID's thru mid-Dec
June referrals - LID's thru end of Dec
July referrals - LID's thru mid-Jan
August referrals - LID's thru end of Jan
Sept. referrals - LID's thru mid-Feb (maybe us)
Oct. referrals - LID's thru late Feb (maybe us)

After this, forget about 2007 travel!

I sure hope the CCAA staff have enjoyed their Chinese New Year celebration last month and are now ready to rally! Come on and crank out those referrals...we're waiting!

1st sale!!

I'm so excited to be making my first Close at Heart necklace sale to Susan of Life as I Know It!

I remember when I first started this wait watching Susan head off to China to meet Miss Olivia. It's amazing when I think of all the bloggy friends I've see head off and come back with beautiful babies...that's what gives me hope.

Susan, I hope you love your necklace!

It's up and running...

I have my adoption fundraiser mini-business up and running now!! Visit my new site Close at Heart.

I'd love to make a custom photo necklace for you!

Referral Party for Michele...

My friend Michele leaves for China early this Friday morning to meet baby Ava!

I can't believe she is finally leaving after such a LONG wait. This means it's getting closer for us, right? We've seen quite a few families leave for China and return with their beautiful babies...it's so much fun to watch, but I'm really looking forward to our turn someday.

Last night Laura & Dan hosted a party for her. It's always SO nice to get together with our FCC friends and I LOVE to play with the babies.

Here's Jenna and Jadyn who weren't quite walking on their own at the Chinese New Year event, but they ARE now!!

Jadyn....
and Jenna....
and Lily, who will be walking soon enough!

Favorite Foto Friday...

This is my first time participating in Donna's Favorite Foto Friday, so I've been assigned the letter "F" for first!

The challenge this week is to come up with 10 things I love that start with my assigned letter. Here goes...double click image to enlarge...

Blogger help needed!

I created a new blog header for a bloggy friend and I can't for the life of me figure out how to get it on her blog. She has converted to the new Blogger and uses the new Minima template with all those darn widgets that I can't figure out. I'm getting so frustrated and hoping that someone out in Blogville can help.

I'm fine with customizing the old templates, but I just don't get the new widgets and new coding in the header section.

I would be forever indebted to anyone who can help. Please e-mail me if you have any advice. Thank you!!

Cute Outfits...

This is the last day off from the mini-vacation I took to visit with my Dad. Tomorrow it's back to work...ughhhh!

I headed over to the outlet mall to return something and instantly got sucked in like a vacuum to the brand new Gymboree outlet store. The deals turned out to be not that great, but of course once I was in there with all the adorable outfits I had to get some things.

I got a few things from their "froggy" collection, which was on the clearance rack. I love this one piece outfit and this shirt.


I think this embroidered froggy detail is so cute.

I also got this little navy blue dress with darling little pleats along the bottom with little embroidered frogs along the hem.






This little bohemian style outfit wasn't on the clearance rack, but at least it was 20% off.

I wasn't intending to get anything that wasn't on clearance, but I was in the baby clothes shopping "zone" and it was one of those days when it just felt good to buy baby stuff. I think most waiting mommas can relate. ;)

Meet Matilda...

Tilly for short. She's our new 2001 Honda Odyssey. Although she's five years old, she's not very well traveled and has only 35,500 miles. I've only been driving her for a couple of days now, but I think she'll be a good fit for me and Lauren. Although she doesn't have any bells and whistles, besides power doors and windows, she's VERY roomy and seems pretty comfortable so far.

I have a feeling that Tilly may be taking the Arizona gang to our Disney Waiting Mommas Summit in April.

This morning I dropped my Dad and Step-mom off at the airport to head back home to New York. Here's a shot of me and my Dad from this morning.

I spent the last five days hanging out with them and my brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephew...we had a really nice time.

I hate saying good-bye to my Dad...we don't see each other very often and I always get teary-eyed and feel a bit down for a while. I think it's because when he leaves I realize how much I wish he lived closer. We did have a really great visit though and I'm sure we'll be seeing him again once we bring Lauren home.

12 Month LIDiversary!!!

We have been logged in for 12 months as of today!!

It's hard to believe that it's been an entire year since we started waiting. Today we join the ranks of the 1 year club! I feel like we've reached the top of the mountain and now it's a downhill slide. We are currently waiting for our appointment to get re-fingerprinted and will be meeting with our social worker soon to get our home study updated.

By the time we get all our paperwork updated and do the nursery, it won't be long after that! Congrats to everyone else who is joining the 1 year club with us with month!

I'm still here...

I've been busy this week and slacking off on posting.

My Dad and his wife are coming in today from New York for a visit. I'm SO excited to see them. I'm off work the rest of this week and don't go back until next Thursday...I've been looking forward to the time off and spending some time with my Dad.

Also this week I've been thinking about getting a little mini-business up and running as an adoption fundraiser, so I've been brainstorming some ideas and hope to get it started very soon. I've seen other waiting mommas sell taggie blankets, totes and t-shirts. I have something a little bit different in mind, so I guess I'll have to just jump in with both feet and either sink or swim. Hopefully I swim. ;)

My friend Michele leaves for China in just two short weeks! I can't wait for her to hold baby Ava for the first time. I'm especially interested in how Michele's travel goes since we are with the same agency. I'm expecting that my experience will be VERY much the same as hers and I can't wait to see how it goes.

Hope everyone has a great weekend...I know I will!

Cookie production...

I just finished packaging up cookies for the bake sale table at our local FCC Chinese New Year event tomorrow.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all the beautiful children, especially Jenna & Jadyn and Lily who's parents we have become friends with through our Waiting Families group.

The weather has been beautiful here lately and tomorrow should be sunny and about 78 degrees...perfect for an outdoor event!

By the way, these cookies are Cinnamon Hazelnut Biscotti, except I used pecans instead since I had a bag in the pantry. They are yummy!