Bibs!

I'm in a "Bib Swap" with my October DTC group. Each month for six months we send a bib to another member. Each month has 2 themes you can choose from, or you can send anything you want.





Here's my bib with matching burp cloth from January
(Thanks Diana!)













And here's February's bibs which came from Canada and included a bag of Hershey's Hugs (Thanks Debbie!)

Going somewhere?

I was in the kitchen making supper last night. Jay was in there too. Lindsey was in her bedroom playing. Then she came out and said "Look at me!" She had taken her turtleneck off so was in her t-shirt and pants, plus these dress shoes she just loves to wear around the house, ALL THE TIME. As you can see she loaded herself up with as much "stuff" from her room as she could carry. She has on a backpack and a fanny pack and carrying 2 diaper bags and another bag and a purse and who knows what else is under there. And then of course the hat. Nice look. It was just too funny.

Then and now...

The first one was the night before the FCC CNY event in early February, and the second one is obviously the same pic I posted below from this year's dinner in late January - so just about a year apart. She's changed so much in one year, not just in looks but in everything. Yesterday we took her crib down and she started sleeping in her toddler bed! It took her awhile to fall asleep for her nap today, she kept getting out and asking for stuff and playing. Silly girl.

January 2006 - FCC Chinese New Year Party

Poor girl wasn't feeling too good that day, but we had spent $33 for this and we were going! Three days later she was diagnosed with pneumonia. Boy did I feel like a bad mommy for taking her despite the money involved! (In my defense I just thought she had a bad cold and never dreamed she could have pneumonia.) But she did okay and she improved almost immediately once on antibiotics and all was well.

The wait.....no rumors....and attitude....

We went out of town to visit friends this past weekend. They live on the WI/IL border. They got none of the 10 inches of snow we got on Thursday. It was COLD this weekend! We set out for our trip (8 a.m.) and it was -15 degrees. Yes, MINUS 15....15 below zero. Got that? :-) Brrrr!!!!!

So anyway, back to the wait. (No new rumors for this post!) I laugh at myself sometimes because I give this big speech about enjoying the wait, etc. And I am living that out for the most part. But just so you don't think I have a total "la de da" attitude, here's what's been going through my mind the past couple days....."okay, we spend the weekend visiting friends and when we get home and then wake up Monday morning it will be the 20th. So I get through the week, then this weekend go to my church's women's retreat. When I get back from that February will be just about over. So what do I have going on in March? Ater this happens, we'll have 5 months of the wait over. Then we have to get through this, then that, then April, then blah blah blah." I can try to figure this out with the best of them. :-)

Mostly I just want to get past winter! Summers always go fast, and I plan to enjoy each day even if we are still waiting for our referral the whole time.

Have a great week!

November/December 2005

Before I get to the pictures, I want to share something Lindsey said last night. It was so funny! First of all earlier in the week or last week we were watching the Olympics pairs figure skating. She was mesmerized by it, loved it. Then last night the men's individual long program was on. She saw the first skater and said "Hey! He doesn't have a friend!" Then she said "He can't do it by hisself! He hurt he-self!" She just couldn't figure out how he could skate alone after watching pairs. Too funny.

November 2005:

Messy girl after eating pudding:


Now she's eating what she calls a "sticky bar" (Rice Krispie treat!)


Christmas Eve 2005:

August, September, October 2005

I need to get caught up to the present so you can see more recent pictures of my sweet little girl (who wasn't so sweet last night at 2 a.m.!!!!!). Here you go....

August (I LOVE this picture)


September


October (riding my dad's scooter, on her big brother's lap)

The wait....and rumors....and attitude

Stephanie commented that I have an optimistic attitude about the wait.....well I try! Here are some of my thoughts about waiting....

The wait WILL be over one day....and when it's over, I doubt you're going to want to look back and realize you spent that time frustrated and miserable. You may not see it now, but this time has a certain magical feeling to it that can't be duplicated. Try to enjoy it!

When the wait is over and you're home and you have your child - well, there's sort of a letdown feeling. Not with your child, don't get me wrong! But you've lived for so long in "wait mode" - expecting, anticipating, wondering, worrying, dreaming of that wonderful day to come, the day you meet your precious new son or daughter. And then......it's DONE, it's over! You'll never again feel that certain magical feeling of wonder and the unknown, sharing the fears and joys with fellow wait-ers, "how old will she be, where will she be from, what will she look like......

(unless of course you do it again!)

There's nothing you can do about the wait so you might as well make the most of the time. I know some people hate me saying all this stuff and that's okay. :-) Of course I have my moments of crabbiness and I get tired of waiting too. I just try not to live there.

So the latest rumor is that referrals will be sent out at the end of the month and will include the rest of May and half of June! I quickly got my hopes up for a July referral when I heard that. That was last night. This morning I'm a bit back down to earth realizing that may not happen.

I found out more about the rumored CCAA move today too. They are moving in April and no one knows if it will cause delays or not. I found this out from Jane Liedtke of the "Ask Jane in China" email list. It's a very informative source of info about all things China.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/askjaneinchina

Happy Valentine's Day!

4 months down!

We made it to the 4 month mark! When we started out of course we thought we'd be over halfway done with the wait by now and now we might have a few more months before we get to that point. But 4 months is 4 months and the wait is actually going pretty fast.

If you're new to my blog you might wonder why I have all these pictures of Lindsey when this is supposed to be about adoption #2. Since there hasn't been much going on except waiting and more waiting I've been posting pictures of Lindsey every month from Gotcha Day to the present. When I get caught up with those I will start focusing more on the current adoption. I hope you are enjoying the pictures of Lindsey. She is truly beautiful inside and out and we are SO blessed to call her our daughter!

Have a great day everyone!

July 2005

Wearing her brother's Civil Air Patrol uniform (you can still see the scars from last month's owie).....



Lounging in her easy chair....oh for warm weather again! (It's 25 degrees and lightly snowing as I write this - pretty but I'm done with winter - when winter is done we will be that much closer to CHINA!!!!!)

June 2005 - 2 years old!

Lindsey turned 2 on June 1. This first picture is her at her birthday party on June 4, while everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. She was just beaming as you can see.

Riding her bike!




Uh oh, Lindsey fell at the end of the driveway at my sister's house late June. That night right after it happened, all we saw was that her face was bleeding right under her nose, nothing too major. When she woke the next morning.....woah! She scraped herself up more than we thought! There was a scrape across her forehead, one all the way down her nose, and the one under her nose. It's weird that we couldn't tell this the night before. This is her a few days after it happened.

I'm starting to feel better today, thanks for all your well wishes!

When mom's away....

.....the kids will play!

Okay so Mom hasn't been away but I've been sick! So, um, I've been letting Lindsey watch entirely too much TV and all kinds of other fun things. This morning the living room was covered with bandaids, tape, and stickers. (She is obsessed with bandaids!) I gave her (dry) Lucky Charms for a snack and she just eats the marshmallows out and leaves the rest! BAD mommy! The last thing, remember how she likes to draw faces? She drew several more.....on the carpet (with washable crayon, so I hope it washes out of carpet).

Life with a 2 year old and a sick mommy. Sigh. I hope I feel better tomorrow or I will really have a wild child. As soon as I'm better I'm going to have to lay down some new ground rules!

The Red Thread

So awhile back I posted that I'm not real into the whole ladybug craze. Yes I like an item or two of clothing with ladybugs on it (and Lindsey does own a few things) and I think they're cute and I have a ladybug on my ticker. But I'm not into the "I saw 10 ladybugs today! Referrals must be on their way!" thing. Um, I have read these posts just about every single day and we all know referrals don't come every single day. :-)

So now I'm here to confess I don't care for the whole "red thread" craze. I don't think it's bad, it's kind of cool, etc. - but I don't go all ga ga over the saying and don't plan to put it on my blog, referral announcement, or anywhere else. I guess I've seen it a million times everywhere I turn and I'm not that into it. I know many people are and I'm not knocking it, it's just not my thing.

There, I said it....again.

*******

Here's the saying for those of you who don't know: "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but may never break." It's been said this is a Chinese saying but it was actually made up by an adoptive parent, albeit modified from an actual Chinese saying regarding marriage, not adoption.

More May 2005

I couldn't pick just one from May so here are even more. I don't know why my last entry posted twice, ooops.

My little artist

Lindsey loves to draw faces. I'm amazed that she is able to put all the features in the correct places. Maybe all 2.5 year olds can do this, but I'm impressed. Here's one she drew with her tub crayons yesterday morning.



Poor little girl has pneumonia! It started with a cold last Saturday (which I caught and I'm not feeling the best - yes feel free to feel sorry for me *G*). She seemed better one minute and not the next. I finally took her to the doctor on Wednesday evening. She listened to one side and thought she had viral bronchiolitis, but listening to the other side she thought pneumonia. So she's on antibiotics and doing pretty good. She actually slept all night last night which she doesn't always do even when she's well! Tuesday night we were up on and off all night with her. She is as energetic as ever while my energy is just about gone (typical!).

My little artist

Lindsey loves to draw faces. I'm amazed that she is able to put all the features in the correct places. Maybe all 2.5 year olds can do this, but I'm impressed. Here's one she drew with her tub crayons yesterday morning.



Poor little girl has pneumonia! It started with a cold last Saturday (which I caught and I'm not feeling the best - yes feel free to feel sorry for me *G*). She seemed better one minute and not the next. I finally took her to the doctor on Wednesday evening. She listened to one side and thought she had viral bronchiolitis, but listening to the other side she thought pneumonia. So she's on antibiotics and doing pretty good. She actually slept all night last night which she doesn't always do even when she's well! Tuesday night we were up on and off all night with her. She is as energetic as ever while my energy is just about gone (typical!).

May 2005

Lindsey's first haircut...

April 2005

Lindsey is supposed to be napping right now, but instead she is jibber jabbering in her crib to her animals. "Ah-body! Ah-body!" (everybody in Lindsey-speak) Then she proceeds to tell them all what to do. There are so many blankets and stuffed animals in her crib there is barely room for her. Soon we want to transition her to her toddler bed. We will eventually have a regular size twin bed for her and the crib for Allison, and then 2 twin beds for them when Allison is out of the crib. Lindsey is 2 years, 7 months, 3 weeks old - Ben was out of his crib right at 2.

Man I wish I had a pic of Lindsey with her pigtails! She looks soooo cute!

P.S. I just heard her say "Okay little doggie! Don't cwy!" Oh this is just hilarious all the things she is saying. But go to sleep little girl!!!! :-)

Okay....

.....I'll stay! Thanks again for all your kind comments and encouragement.

I wasn't sure if anyone really wanted to hear my boring thoughts and if I was just being a bragging mom with the pics of Lindsey. :-) I'm glad she is a reminder to those of you who are first-time adopters that it really does happen and dreams do come true!

I put Lindsey's hair in pigtails today for the first time ever but Ben has the camera with him in North Carolina! So I can't take a picture. I can do it another time but it was a BEAR getting her to sit still long enough to get the pigtails in. A talented hairdresser I am not. :-) But it turned out pretty good, the part is as close to straight as I can get it. Wish you could see her, it's adorable! Instead I will post an April 2005 picture soon.

What to do???

Besides the fact that it was a very crazy week and I haven't had much time to do anything with this blog, also I have had so many nice comments here and other places that you have enjoyed my blog and pictures of Lindsey, etc. So I'm feeling reluctant to delete my blog - it's just so final! I also like looking at my ticker every few days and seeing the time pass from LID. So I may just think about it some more.

My crazy week - Monday night we had our 17 year old Burmese cat put to sleep. Sniff sniff. Tuesday night I went to see my niece in her junior high school play, Cinderella. She had the lead, what a beautiful voice she has. Wednesday we had an appraiser come over so I spent the day cleaning up the house. After she left we went grocery shopping. Thursday morning at 6:30 am I spoke to an infertility group at my church about our adoption experience. Afterwards I came home, got Lindsey dressed, and went right back to church for women's Bible study. Thursday night was my once-a-month book club. Yesterday was spent getting things ready for my son Ben who left this morning for North Carolina to visit some friends (fellow travelers for our first adoption). Whew! He's flying by himself but he's quite confident so I'm sure he's doing fine. He's actually delayed in Detroit right now though, just 15 minutes so he'll be okay. He won't be home until Thursday afternoon! I'm going to miss him but hey he's a teenager and gone a lot these days anyway. :-) I'm going to my neighbors for a playdate in 1/2 hour. She has 2 little girls from China, 4 & 2, and is LID 8/30 for their third!

Thanks for your kind comments about my blog. I'm still here, for now anyway. Have a great weekend!