I had to get out of the house today. I've been feeling so lazy this week...just tired and unmotivated to do anything at all. The sun is out and the weather is a balmy 17' so I left. I went to Target to pick up a few needed items, but as it always is with that store...you never actually leave with only a few items. I didn't go crazy....I never really do. But I did find myself just wandering slowly through the toy and baby aisles looking for things to bring to China for Olivia. I want some things for when we first meet her (and more importantly, when she first meets us) to catch her eye and distract her from will certainly be a difficult day for her. I got some bubbles....what 2 yr. old can resist that. I found a little magna doodle.....an idea I got from another bloggers pics from her gotcha day. I bought some little girl socks and little girl tank top undershirts. These are things I hadn't really thought about til recently. I would like to be able to bring her some little finger foods like Cheerios or raisins. Something to offer her and calm her. The problem is, we just don't know what we can give her. We have no idea, and probably won't until we see her, what sort of surgeries or repairs she's had done to her lip and palate. We have to go into this not expecting anything to be different than her photo we've been looking at for 4 months. I don't know what we'll feed her. Can she only have soft foods? Or can she have things that are easily disolved or mushed in her mouth? Then I stopped by the cups to find a good sippy cup. Something with a soft top to sip from. Something with a 'no-spill' feature. But then it occurred to me. If a baby can't suck a bottle with an open palate, what makes me think she can suck on a sippy cup top. Especially the kind that won't spill....you have to work at those to get anything out. I found myself just standing there looking at the 50 different options and feeling like a first time parent with absolutely no idea what to get for her. Back when I really was a first time parent, I would tackle those things head on. Not intimidated by it at all. Just made a decision and picked one, knowing that it wouldn't really make a huge difference. But this time....this time was different. It does matter what I get. The biggest thing is.....how will I find out. I can talk to other parents of children with clefts, but it won't be Livi's story. And she can't tell us what she likes to eat and what she doesn't. This will definitely be a learning experience in parenting. Seems sort of weird to feel unsure about it when it's our 6th child. I know it will be a huge learning experience. I'm ready for it....I just hope she is.
This is such a great song. Though I wouldn't expect anything less from him.
All I really want Well I don’t know if you remember me or not I’m one of the kids they brought in from the home I was the red-haired boy in an old green flannel shirt You may not have seen me – I was standing off alone I didn’t come and talk to you, ‘cause that’s never worked before And you’ll prob’ly never see this letter anyway But just in case there’s something you can do to help me out I’ll ask you one more time
All I really want for Christmas Is someone to tuck me in A shoulder to cry on if I lose Shoulders to ride on if I win There’s so much I could ask for But there’s just one thing I need All I really want for Christmas is a family
Well I guess I should go ahead and tell you now If it’s really true about that list you have Somehow I always seem to end up in a fight But I’m really trying hard not to be bad But maybe if I had a brother or a dad to wrestle with Well, maybe they could teach me how to get along And from everything I’ve heard Sounds like the greatest gift on earth would be a mom
All I really want for Christmas Is someone to tuck me in A shoulder to cry on if I lose Shoulders to ride on if I win There’s so much I could ask for But there’s just one thing I need All I really want for Christmas
Is someone who’ll be there To sing me “Happy Birthday” For the next 100 years And it’s OK if they’re not perfect Well, even if they’re a little broken, that’s alright ‘Cause so am I
Well, I guess I should go It’s almost time for bed And maybe next time I write you I’ll be at home
‘Cause all I really want for Christmas Is someone to tuck me in Tell me I’ll never be alone Someone whose love will never end Of all that I could ask for Well, there’s just one thing I need All I really want for Christmas All I really want for Christmas is a family
I keep forgetting to post about a great gift I received in the mail about a month ago. It was from thecouple we met at the Mall of America on black Friday. They offered to send us a baby carrier for me to hold Livi as much as possible while in China. We soon exchanged addresses and a package came about a week later. This is what was in it. Not only was the baby sling in it, it had some cute clothes including new pj's.... some blocks that were just like some that they had sent their little girl in China and she loves them.... and some Chinese money for us to get a snack or something while there. Seriously, how nice was that! There are some really good people in the world. Thank you, Kathy. I'm so glad we met you and your beautiful family. I've also been slowly letting myself buy some things for Livi. I haven't wanted to much until now. Well, let me rephrase that...I wanted to, I just didn't feel like I should yet. But since we got our LOI, I've had some fun looking at stuff for her. This is my recent purchase on Etsy.com that arrived today.
I LOVE, LOVE the headbands with the big ole' flowers on them. I even have bought some more flowers and hair clips to make some of my own. I have to have one for every possible outfit she'll wear. I wonder if I'll get sick of them.....nah. I can't wait to see them on her.
I thought it would be fun to do a post of all the Christmas card pictures I've sent out during the years. I didn't do them every year until 2001 so there's some missing years in the beginning, but for the past 10 years they've been sent. It's always surreal to me to look back on the first ones and wonder if I ever would have imagined then how my cards would change over the years. I knew I wanted a big family, but to see it grow the way it has is far beyond what I could have imagined. I remember the staging that went in to each photo for our cards. Including one where the kids were getting yelled at and Jay and I were argueing.....can you guess which one that was? I've loved coming up with new ideas for poses. One of the cards never got sent out past my immediate family.....just didn't get to it and by the time Valentine's Day came around, I decided it was too late. I still have 100 of them in the house. The best thing is watching the family grow.... in numbers and in literal size. And the excitement of next year is palpable.... with a new little girl, plopped right in the middle of all those boys. What a great Christmas card that will make.
On New Year's Eve, I went to the mailbox looking...but not really expecting....to see if our NVC (National Visa Center) approval had come. (We were told it would be about 2 weeks from our immigration approval) Much to my surprise, it was here! Woohoo!! What a great way to finish out the year! That's step THREE our of five completed in order to go get our little peanut. Now it all gets sent to the embassy in China and we get issued an article 5. This can take about 2-4 weeks. After getting our article 5, we are 2-4 weeks away from getting our TA (travel approval). Ya hear that....TRAVEL approval. oooohhhh....it's right around the corner. We're coming Livi. 2011 is going to be a great year!
Every year we make sugar cookie cutouts and decorate them. We usually do it before Christmas, but this year just got away from us and we did it the day after instead. I kinda cheat my way through some of it cuz I get premade cookie dough at the grocery store. I am good about making my famous homeade frosting though. YUM! The nice thing about having the boys get older is that I don't have to do much past the baking part. They can decorate them without any help....and they love it. Works for me. Each one tries to out-style the other.... ....including dad.
I'm a busy mom of 5 boys and one China doll married to a great man for 16 years. We just brought home our little girl from China cuz mama needed some pink around here.
Workin' on our little girl ---------- Dec. 30th - Began homestudy April 14th - homestudy completed April 19th - sent in 1-800A paperwork June 7th - recieved our immagration notice from Homeland security. June 8th - got our fingerprints done July 16th - finally got our immagration approval, 3 mos. wait time July 20th - sent dossier to Sec. of State for authentcation July 28th - sent dossier to Chinese consulate in Chicago Aug. 12th - dossier returned to Agency and sent to China same day.....waiting for out Log In Date so we can get a match...... Sept. 16th - LID, Baby! Sept. 19th - MATCHED! Sept. 21st - LOI sent for translation. Then off to China on the 22nd. C'mon PA! Oct. 5th - Got our PA. It was issued on Sept. 28th, our agency got the email notice a week later. Nov. 29th - LOA!!!!! Exactly 10 weeks after our referral Dec. 20th - I-800 for Jacob and Jennifer. Huh? Who? Dec. 24th - received our corrected I-800....this time it had Jason's name on it. Dec. 31st - National Visa Center approval letter....movin' right along! Jan. 31st - Received word that our article 5 was issued and passed on to CCAA last week. It's getting close....... Feb. 2nd - Travel Approval!!!!!!!!!!!! Feb. 8th - Travel dates confirmed. We'll be in China from March 1st to the 18th. WOOT WOOT! Mar. 1st - Leaving for China Mar. 7th - GOTCHA! Mar. 15th - It's official! Mar. 18th - Home!
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