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!

Out of review, so NOW what??

This post is for family and non-waiting parent friends who aren't quite sure what it means to be out of review and what comes next.

First, a little adoption terminology lesson:

CCAA - China Center of Adoption Affairs is the government agency in China who oversees the adoption program.

Dossier - Fancy name for our adoption file, which is basically filled with the blood, sweat & tears of six months worth of paperchasing (not to mention all our hopes and dreams).

LID - Log in Date - this is the date our dossier was logged into the database at the CCAA (our LID is 2/17/06).

Review Room - this is were the CCAA reviews all the paperwork in our dossier to make sure everything is in order and complies with their guidelines.

Matching Room - this is were the CCAA actually matches you to an available child in their system (it's a total mystery how they actually do the matching, although there are theories out there).

Referral - this is the paperwork on the child they have matched you with and includes photos and medical information. Referrals are issued once a month.

TA - travel approval - this means that an appointment has been made in China for your adoption to be finalized and they are authorizing you to travel.

Since our dossier has been reviewed already, it is basically in a HUGE stack of files waiting to go into the matching room.

I don't know at what point our dossier goes from the holding area to the matching room, but I suspect that once they are almost done matching January LID's the February dossiers will be heading in.

This is the matching room...the place where all the magic happens and they match us to a precious baby waiting for a family.

How long will it be until we get our referral?? Well, if I had a crystal ball I could answer that for you, but no such luck! The CCAA has been issuing about two weeks of LID's each month and they have issued referrals for LID's up to October 13th. If they maintain this pace, we are likely to see our referral in Sept/Oct. If they speed up, it could be sooner. It's a monthly waiting game to see how many dossiers the CCAA gets through.

Well, that's that in a nutshell. This waiting game has been our life for the past year and it appears we have another eight months or so to go! Fasten your seatbelts, it may be a bumpy ride! ;)

Finally out of REVIEW!!

I'd been checking the CCAA website all day and nothing. Then I get home this evening, log onto my e-mail and I had about six messages from bloggy friends letting me that we're OUT OF REVIEW!!!




I quickly switched over to CCAA and sure enough just when I wasn't looking, it's updated!! They have reviewed through March 22nd, well past our February 17th LID.

I was surprised at my reaction when I saw the update...tears of joy! If I'm already crying over this milestone, I can't imagine my reaction when we finally get our referral.

Congrats to all my bloggy friends with February and March LID's!! We're in the home stretch now!

Keep your fingers crossed...

that the CCAA will update the "reviewed through" date on their web-site when they update the referral date. Rumor is that referrals are on their way and may start arriving at agencies this week.

The CCAA hasn't updated the reviewed through date since NOVEMBER 3RD, when they updated that they had finished the review of dossiers logged in up to January 31, 2006. Since our log in is 2/17/06, we don't even know for sure if our dossier has been reviewed. We can assume it has since it's been SO long since the last update, but who the heck knows.

Gee, it sure would be nice to officially AT LEAST be through review before our one year LID anniversary!!! I don't want to be a downer, but this is SOOOO discouraging!

First shoes for Lauren...

We were at an outlet mall today and picked up these adorable little Nike sandals for Lauren. Since we have about six months of Summer here in Arizona, she should get some good use out of these. They were on clearance for $8.00!












I also picked up these cute (but not so little) Skechers for me.