Happy Holidays

I hope that everybody had a great Christmas. We are still recovering from our two journies. The kids had a great time visiting the Jansen side last weekend and the Hannan side on Christmas. Garrett sang at church on Sunday. He was so cute! They are very tired and now relaxing and enjoying their goods.



One of Caelan's biggest hits was a parrot that talks. It is the Fur Real one. This ended up being a gift from us, as Caelan heard it squawk as Bob was carrying it in- oops. Well, I still suspect that it is going to be a hit for a very short amount of time, but right now, both kids are having a lot of fun with it. I am not a big fan of video games, but in consideration of our upcoming trip to China and our 20 hour(?) plane ride, I thought a Nintendo DS would be a great gift for my parents to get for her. Well, she can't put it down. She has been playing it all day. I told her that after she is able to play with it for a while, we are going to restrict it's use in the same way that we do with the TV. She will have to ask and then her use time will be limited. But on that airplane ride, all rules are off.



Garrett has been asking for a "real" motorcycle for a year now. For his birthday in July, my mom got him a red bigwheel that we have been calling his motorcycle. Well, as much as he loves his red bigwheel- he knew it wasn't really a motorcycle. Well, Uncle Kevin REALLY came through this year. See picture above:). Also he and his daddy will have a lot of fun with their chainsaws!



And here is one of us- there are Bob and I in the back row. My brothers, Kevin and Patrick, are in the back with us, along with my sister-in-law, Stephanie. My sister, Maura, is with the kids. Then my parents, Grandpa and niece are in the front.

Our Big Garrett News!!!!

Those of you who know us well know how difficult the last three and a half years have been at night in our home. As an infant, Garrett was the absolute worst sleeper, waking every night at least 10 times until he was at least one year old. I am not exaggerating at all. Sometimes, he would cry, we'd soothe him and he'd fall back asleep, other times he would stay awake for hours. As he got older, he started waking less frequently, maybe 3-4 times a night. Again, no exaggeration.

Well, guess what? After 1247 nights of not enough uninterrupted sleep, GARRETT SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! All night long. By himself. In his own bed. I knew this day would finally come- though, I didn't ever imagine it would take this long.

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Adoption Update

I broke down and emailed our agency last night to see if there was any chance that our Lia was on this list. Since we first turned in the checklist, I really planned that we would hear something by Christmas. We have now been waiting for over 8 months, it will be 9 months at Christmas. Her response was "You are getting near the top of our active file, but unfortunately, it will not happen on this list." I am OK with this answer. Happy to hear that we are getting closer to the "top." Truthfully, relieved to know something. I was jumping when the phone rang and scouring the Yahoo groups for the latest information. I have a lot of faith in our agency and know that they will match us with the child who is meant to be ours:) Now I can breathe easier, knowing that I have a couple more months of waiting before I can start jumping for the phone again. We just can't wait to see our precious girl!

So what happens after we accept a referral?

I have gotten quite a few questions about what happens once we get a referral. Basically, we will get a call from our agency and they will give us some basic information about a child. We will decide whether to review her file. We then have about a week to review the information. We will use this time to have our pediatrician review the medical information, and if we feel it is necessary, an international adoption specialist pediatrician will also review the file. When we accept the referral, we:

1. Write a "Letter of Intent" aka LOI to the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA), stating that we wish to adopt her and explaining how we will address any medical issues that she has.

2. The CCAA reviews this letter, along with a preliminary look at our information and issues Pre-Approval (PA). This basically states that they accept our letter and will review our dossier, and barring any problems we will be able to adopt Lia. PA is generally issued a month or so after the letter is mailed.

3. We will then wait for our "Letter of Acceptance" (LOA) which is the CCAA's approval of the adoption. This step usually takes 2-4 months from the time that they receive our LOI.

4. More waiting. The CCAA will issue "Travel Approval" which means we can begin making our travel arrangements to travel to China.

5. Our trip to China will last 14-16 days.

So in all likelyhood we will have Lia in our arms 3-5 months after we first see her picture. :)

6 Years. 7 Years. 8 Months.

We have a few important milestones coming up within the next week:
Saturday the 24th is Caelan's 6th birthday.
Sunday the 25th is our wedding anniversary, 7 years!
Tuesday the 27th will be 8 months since our checklist was logged in at CCAI.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Busy Week at our Agency

Well, we haven't heard anything from our agency. I am still holding out a shred of hope that Lia is on this list- we have heard that it is a large list. But if she isn't, I feel pretty confident that we will get a call from the next list. Yesterday was a very exciting day for some families of my Yahoo group, that I just have to share.

Here are recent referrals from this list:
Donna's referral: Ling Qing Qin, soon to be Lainey
Patricia's referral: Liu Xiao Hua, soon to be Paisley
Jenn's referral: Ling Cha Min
Heather's son, soon to be William

These are the blogs that I easily found this morning. I know there are more and I will post them as I find them.

Blanket

I had some leftover material from the quilt and decided to make a baby blanket to send to Lia when we get her referral. I have been collecting a few things to send in a care package. I didn't take a picture of the back, but I cut two of Caelan's baby blankets and sewed them together to make the back. I am on a roll- I started and completed the blanket on Saturday.

Quilt with Border

Here is the quilt with the border. I handed it over to Bob's mom, who will bring it to her neighbor to have quilted and then she will do the binding.

Chinese Proverb: "There is only one pretty child in the world... and every mother has it."

Those of you who know me and my children must know that I do indeed know that I have the two prettiest children in the world. Not only that, but they are the smartest, funniest, and most entertaining. Garrett has been very busy the last few days, building an elaborate "pipe system" throughout our home. The pipes have been constructed using various materials that he has found, including shoes, blankets, and matchbox cars. So smart and innovative, don't you think? Well, imagine my surprise this morning when we were riding in the car and he posed the following question: "Mom, is Lia going to be a REAL baby?" Hmm. As much as I thought he understood, I am guessing that he may be in for a bit of a surprise when his treasured "baby" spot in our family is taken over by in fact, a real baby:)

New List

Our agency just received a new list of waiting children. I am so excited. I am starting to think that I am dreaming to think that Lia is on this list, but it certainly is possible. I waited all day yesterday to check, knowing that CCAI generally posts updates on Wednesday night, and I did make it until 5pm or so. I called Bob to tell him and his response was "Wow! We are on the list?" Well then I explained that there was a chance, but I wouldn't bet on it. I feel such a sense of relief just knowing that the list is here, I was getting pretty anxious just waiting.

Well, last night I finished training for my online tutoring job. I have my first official student tonight. I am not sure how ready I am, there was a lot of information, but I am looking forward to it. I think that I was the only trainee that did not have any computer issues. I can work between 10 and 29 hours, so I think I will try to get as many hours as I can. SO far it has been working our wonderfully. I worked six hours training this week, all of which were after Garrett went to bed. I don't do much in the evenings anyway, watch some TV, check my email, so it will be great to make some money.

Thursday mornings are great. Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Garrett is at school from 9 to 12. On Tuesday I help out in Caelan's classroom and then go to the grocery store before I pick up Garrett. Thursday morning I just come home:) It is my big cleaning day usually- but I got everything done yesterday so in a minute I am going to put the border on the 100 Wishes QUilt. I also had some leftover fabric that I am going to make a small baby quilt with. I am planning to mail it to Lia in a care package. In fact, I already have a care package started with a little photo album with pictures of us, some disposible cameras, a small stuffed bear and then I will put the blanket. Then also some goodies for whoever is taking care of her.

Ergo

I just ordered a new baby carrier. I used a sling-type carrier with both Caelan and Garrett, but sort of gave up as they got older and I just lugged them around. Yes, I still carry Garrett quite a bit. I do believe strongly that babies should be carried as often as possible, and knowing that Lia will be a bit older and in need of a good carrier, I did some research and decided on the Ergo. I had to go to physical therapy after Garrett's birth due to some hip issues and carrying him aggravated it, I still have trouble every once in a while, so I need a good carrier that can support older babies.

One of my online friends is selling Ergo carriers through her blog, so if anybody else would like to purchase one, please consider ordering through Hayley. Just click on the side bar.

Happy Halloween!

Well, we made it a little farther this year than last, despite the rain. We again trick-or-treated with Caelan's friends, Malerie and Lauren, and their families. Last year, Garrett wore his costume for all of 3 minutes. We pretty much forced him to go to one house, where his ill-humor escallated into full-blown tantrum by the time we were on the front porch. Bob brought him home and I continued on with Caelan. Tonight, we went an entire block, both sides of the street (10 houses or so) before Garrett called it quits. I didn't blame him. We were all soaked. He managed to growl at a few people- it was OK as he was a dog (AGAIN). I was ready to head home myself, so I brought him home this time, while Bob continued with Caelan.

We have more candy than I know what to do with. I think I will sort through all of the colorful stuff and save it for gingerbread houses. We don't need to eat all of that. I actually had Garrett pass out boxes of crayons to his friends at school, while Caelan passed out skeleton placements. I am all for candy in moderation, heck I have a secret stash at home, but all this is too much. Though, I asked Caelan what she thought of the placemats and she said she liked them, but it was a little wierd. I am OK with wierd.

Enjoy.

Quilt top

I am pleased. I started the quilt on Friday. Worked all day. 9am to 10pm. Then messed around with it over the weekend. Yesterday I finished the last three squares. Fixed one that I felt like didn't really work and then power sewed all of the squares last night! Well, what do you think? I haven't sewed anything in the last 5 years and the handful of quilts that I did then were less than spectacular. But, I am pretty proud of this:) It looks from the picture that it gets smaller towards the right, but that is just the camera angle (I am standing on a table).

Now, I need to sew a border, though I haven't selected a fabric yet, and then pick a fabric for the back. The quilt lady will put it together for me and Bob's mom will bind it.

Friday night I am planning to work on the scrapbook!

Even more Wishes

Here are seven more wishes. I spent the entire day quilting yesterday and though I still have three more squares to work on, we are done with collecting:) The quilt has 80 squares in total. They are all 8 x 8 squares. Twenty of them are the white/silver pattern from the "Family" wish. Some have only one piece of fabric in the 8 x 8 square, some have four different pieces. They are all squares. As soon as I finish the last three squares, I will sew the squares together. I will take a picture the next time that I set them out. I expect that one more day of power quilting will get me through the quilt top and then off to the quilter it will go to finish with the "quilting" part of it. Bob's mom is going to do the binding. So, with these wishes and the 8 I have material for but no wish yet, it brings our total to 116 ( I think).

We are done collecting wishes! 116 in total!!!

OK, I now have 113 pieces of fabric and I am expecting 3 more. That will bring our total to 116 Wishes!!!!! Thanks to everybody who participated. I plan to finish the quilt top this weekend. This is very ambitious of me:) Here are 16 more wishes, so a total of 100 wishes. Some people have given me their fabric but are still working on their cards, so I will post them when I get them. I am also working on the scrapbook now too!

Loss of a Car & Eleven more wishes

Well I want to say a fond farewell to our trusty friend, our little Saturn SL. She rode off into the sunset with her new owners last night. We are now a one car family, that is until we can pick up my parents old car. We decided to sell the Saturn, buy my brother's boat (which will be a lot of fun next summer!!), buy my parents old SUV, which can tow the boat, and then when our lease expires (soon!) we will purchase/lease a new fuel efficient family vehicle. I have my eye on the Vibe, which is considered a compact car, but seems spacious enough to fit the three car seats in the back and our very large dogs in the way back, when necessary.

Also, I have 11 more wishes. That brings our total to 84 (I think). Bob and I are still planning to do at least one more each. I am expecting a few more through another exchange with some members of my two yahoo groups. To those of you who are mailing them out, I can't wait to get them and will be starting my quilt on Sunday!!

By the way, no new list yet.

Bob is still working on one, I am going to have him handwrite it. Here are two from him.



Two more wishes from me




Bob's cousins, Shelley, Jan and Kathy (OK, with some help from me)


Bob's aunt Joan


Bob's cousin's daughter, Brandi


My very good friend, Tracey


My Uncle Pat and his family (with some help from me)


My Uncle Tom and his family (with some help from me)


My Aunt Kay and her family (with some help)

6 More Quilt Squares!

After ordering the album, I decided that we must finish our squares as well. Bob is still putting the "finishing touches" on his two squares, and I plan to do one more but I don't yet have the fabric. I also forgot about the last one, which was never moved to my quilting box. By the way, I am still collecting squares!! I have 73 in my hand. Bob has two more almost completed. I will do one more. That leaves 24 more to collect:) I am going to start the scrapbook as soon as I get it in the mail.

Here is one of mine, this is the same square that I mailed out to other families that I exchanged squares with.



Caelan's two squares



Garrett's two squares



A Delton family, who is also in the process of adopting from China