OK... maybe not ANY DAY now

Immigration approval still not here. I have a love-hate relationship with the mailbox right now. Every day around 5:20pm, when I'm pulling into our development, my stomach does the loop-the-loop. Could this be the day?!? I try so hard to contain my excitement when I slide the key into the box, but really, I'm not ashamed to say my hands are literally shaking. A moment later, after I've sifted through the cable bill, penny pincher magazine, and pre-approved credit card offers (funny how easy THOSE approvals seem to be to get), my DTC dreams are dashed a la Lisa Tucker.

People ask me "how's the wait?" I say "it's like the wind... it blows."

I'm trying to be positive though. A very good friend told me today she's pregnant. I can't say who she is as the knowledge isn't yet for public consumption and I'm very honored to be in on the good news so early! She'll be having her baby in the winter. Very very cool.

Yes, for those who are wondering, I am a tweensy bit jealous. I'm man enough to admit it. But, I'm still extremely happy for her. And it's not a race to parenthood. One day our munchkins will be bickering over toy ownership while we rub our tired eyes and laugh together, her morning sickness and my interminable wait long forgotten.

A Ray of Hope!!

In the world of adoption gossip, it's been a depressing week. Rumors about an 18 month wait for those with a Nov '05 LID were the most hideous, but mostly the word on the street is 12-14 months, for the foreseeable future. I'm thinking I need to take a pottery class or something.

Anyway, a fellow adoptive family just posted a message on the China adoption.com board saying heand his wife got their 797-C from Philly yesterday. Their homestudy went in a few days before ours. So our golden ticket could be in the mail ANY DAY.

Good news, indeed!!!

Tissue Alert

Adoption1
Video sent by ludo

Lately I've been feeling a little distanced from the adoption since all we're doing is alternating between watching the mailbox and watching the calendar. Maybe a little frustrated. Maybe even feeling a little sorry for myself?

Then I saw this video on another really wonderful blog and have since smacked some sense into myself (was that alliteration?) - it's easy to think of mememe and how much I want to be a mom. But the images of these precious little ones, the pain their mothers go through, brought everything sharply into focus again.

I'm not much for the song but still am extremely moved by the story it tells. We're coming June, we're coming!!

Still waiting

Nada much to report lately. Received very lovely baby quilt from my friend Tracy. It's beautiful and I can't wait tuck June into it one day. But, I've put it aside in the room that will become June's because I can't seem to do anything related to preparing for her arrival. It all feels so far away. On a basic, reasonable level I know it'll happen eventually, but with the constantly fluctuating predictions as to how long we'll wait, it just doesn't feel like we'll really get there. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sad or depressed. Just in limbo. I've already read 7 books related to China, adoption, or both, and before I achieve major reader burnout, I need to give the growing library (and my wallet) a break.

For the moment we're just watching the mailbox every day for the 171. (Days waiting: 16) I suspect that letter of approval will inject some enthusiasm back into both of us!

I Love I Love Toys!

Has anyone else been watching I Love Toys?

OK, I admit it. I am a sucker for VH1 clip-and-panel shows. Best Week Ever is on my DVR. I watched I Love the 70s, and I loved it. I watched I Love the 80s with lukewarm enthusiasm, but there were some great “ohhh yeaaaaahhhhh, THAT thing!” moments. I Love the 90s was more or less unbearable, though. And I Love the Holidays was really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

But. BUT. Now they’ve come out with I Love Toys and it is now one of my current favorite guilty pleasures (second to AI, just can’t help it). A lot of the toys-slash-games are from the 70s, and as a child of the disco era I guess I’m just all caught up again in the nostalgia. Slip ‘n Slide! Colorforms! Mousetrap!!! For one day I’d gladly give up my laptop, cell phone and HDTV just for a stroll back to the simpler times.

I’m starting to sound old, aren’t I? Kind of like a parent?

P.S. Days waiting for 171-H: 6

Over the Homestudy Hurdle!

We got our letter from the agency today: homestudy is officially completed! We celebrated by going to the mall without spending any money. :-) And I was definitely more cheery as I noticed the other parents strolling around with bundled-up babies and older kids ogling toy store windows.

Next step: the agency is sending the report off to Immigration and the clock officially begins to tick for the 171-H. I had a brief conversation with our coordinator yesterday who said that in Philly it is actually a different document. I can’t remember what she said it is, though. 797-C? My feeble thirty-something mind fails me.

No matter. Whatever form the golden ticket comes in, we’ll be anxiously awaiting its arrival! Could be weeks, could be months. Here’s hoping we get it before the next American Idol is crowned (my shameless guilty pleasure.. Go Katharine!!!).

Oscar Fever!

It’s almost Oscar time. A very exciting time in our household! Mike is what you’d call a film buff. An avid film buff. Rabid, even. He writes reviews for a very small local paper, tearing the pages open each Wednesday to see if they printed his stuff word-for-word. If plans to go to a highly anticipated movie run aground, there is hell to pay. The man loves his movies: indies, sweeping epics, foreign films, the occasional tear-jerker. And I have to admit, even my tastes are a little more discriminating now due to his influence (sorry Queen Latifah). And he has an alarming depth of knowledge of Oscar trivia. This year he dropped out of the office pool “just to give the other guys a chance.”

Occasionally we’ll be driving along somewhere and I’ll try to hit him with a curve ball out of nowhere.

Me: Who won best actress in 1978?

Him: Jane Fonda, of course.

Me: Best screenplay, 1992?

Him: Original or adapted?

(Original: The Crying Game, Adapted: Howard’s End)

Then I’ll try to really get him with movies from before his time.

Me: Best Actor, 1950? Come on, you can’t know this.

Him: George Sanders, in All About Eve. Duh.

It’s a sickness, I’m telling you.

Anyway, as the Oscars near, and as Mike readies himself with predictions while I ready myself to (hopefully) snicker over whatever Jon Stewart throws down, my thoughts turn to our own future movie-making, when June finally joins us. Certainly we’ll want one of those Gotcha Day videos made, much like the ones I find myself watching over and over on the days it feels like our adoption might never happen. Will we outsource the work like our wedding video, or should I try my hand at Windows Movie Maker and see what happens? Maybe even invest in some fancy-pants software and really pull together a video worthy of a few tears, some downloads on the net, and critical praise from my hubby?

We have a long, long way to go before we’ll even have footage of our little star, so I’ve got some time to ponder.