Happy New Year!

Just a note, for those of you who are watching this blog.. we won't be updating with any new-baby info until later in the week. We're waiting until after our consultation with the International Adoption Clinic's pediatrician. Luckily we have one very close by.. and the same doctor we worked with during Maya's process is scheduled to be contacting us this week.
We aren't expecting any major issues, but we got a bit emotionally invested about a child once prior to Maya's referral, and that child turned out to not be a good match with our family. It was very difficult for us, so we want to stay as detached as possible until we know more information. We really liked getting to know the doctor and nurse practitioner during Maya's process, and it is nice to be working with the same people again.

In the meantime, we are still excited enough to be corking some champagne tomorrow and toasting a fabulous beginning to 2008!!

Happy New Year my friends!

Here's to a bright New Year
And a fond farewell to the old;
Here's to things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold.

May good fortune precede you, may love walk with you, may good friends follow you.

Santa Sighting

Had to document this.. On Christmas Eve, we went to the Christmas Eve mass. On the way in, a kind older-woman held the door for Maya and I (was a VERY cold evening). This woman was probably in her 60's, had shoulder-length gray hair, and was a bit round-bodied. Maya saw her and instantly became VERY excited. She started clapping, pointing, and yelling - "Santa! Santa Claus!!". I literally had to run her into the church and as far from the woman as we could get so that she was no longer in sight. She would not stop yelling for Santa until we were out of the area. Yikes! Gotta luv the little children eh? :))
No more new-baby info yet, sorry! We want to wait to post more until we 'officially' submit our acceptance. We did, however, decide on a name today (our original choice just did not seem to fit once we saw her sweet little photo). We'll post an official announcement soon!

Merry Christmas!!!

Btw.. IT'S A GIRL!!!!
Maya's going to have a little sister!!!!
More details to come, but had to share. What a wonderful Christmas gift!

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

Merry Christmas To Us!!

It's too early to share details, but we likely have an important blog entry coming in the very near future...

In the meantime, MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

{ooo, we are so very mysterious - haha!}

The Reason For The Season

Maya has been soo cute lately! 2 is a very fun age. Yes, she is still in her 'slapping' phase, which I have no idea how to end.. but she is mostly just adorable! She now loves Barney as well as Elmo.. and loves to watch them both on DVD. She would watch all day if we would let her I believe. She knows many words to most of the songs and sings along in a very loud (and quite off-tune!) voice. She loves Xmas songs, and sings and dances to them whenever she hears them. Her fav is Jingle Bells.. as well as Barney's 'Just Imagine' song. She and Daddy dance to 'Just Imagine'. It is too cute! She is getting excited about Christmas and Santa, though I doubt she understands much. We read the Christmas Story often, and have our nativity advent calendar, so I hope she will start to also learn the true meaning behind the holiday.
Some of the most adorable moments are when she tries to say 'peppermint' (I can't even type what she comes out with, but it has 6-8 syllables!) or 'sack of potatoes' (SACK OF DA-DAY-DOUGHS!). Her godfather gave her a singing Elmo xmas stocking, and she loves to dance and sing with it.
Maya dances mostly in circles.. which actually caused her to vomit the other day! She vomited, got cleaned up, and tried to go back to dancing in circles! I've been trying to introduce her to other dance forms since.. as we don't want to make that a regular event! However, circles are still popular.
This is a very entertaining time of her life! We have video clips and photos coming.. but my desktop computer recently blew up, so my electronic media is in a bit of a halted state.
Stay tuned..

Looking Back

It has been such a long time since the last blog post! So much has happened.. where to begin?
Thanksgiving was great.. we had a nice (albeit L O N G) trip and saw both of our families. Maya had a great time visiting her cousins (and everyone else.. but the cousins were the highlight!). After returning from that trip, we hosted a fun holiday party. Unfortunately the weather was crap that day - we had several inches of snow and the roads were terrible.. so not the complete turnout that we anticipated.. but still quite fun. We collected Toys For Tots at the party and were able to fill a large box with donations, which was nice.
Not long after returning from our Journey to Thanksgiving, we embarked on Christmas Travels 2007. Why do we do this to ourselves? I don't know. Yes I do. We like to travel with our dog (I say 'we', I mean 'dh'). I love the dog, but I HATE super-long car rides.
It has been a great trip so far though.. we stopped in Cinci to visit some friends (we lived in Cinci prior to our move 3 years ago) for a night. It was so nice to see them - I miss you guys so much!! We then continued on to my hometown.. and here we are. Lots to do in preparation for Xmas.. plus my brother just graduated from college (congrats!! and PHEW! haha). We tried to make it to his commencement, but a snowstorm delayed us a couple of days and we missed it. :( We're planning a little post-grad celebration on the 26th to make up for it. :)

On 12/11, I celebrated one year of HEALTH! It was a happy and sad day.. the anniversary of my surgery which turned out to be the closing chapter of my battle with infertility. It was the end of years and years of pain and sickness and huge medical expenses.. but also the end to years of charting, procedures, injections, pills, patches, close relationships with REs and RE staff, POAS, hopes and prayers, devastation and tears. I don't think anyone who has not traveled that road would understand the turmoil of emotions resulting from this experience. Years of dealing with this - years of keeping hope alive through disappointment after disappointment.. it is a very difficult journey to end. Years of chatting with friends met on web forums who are in the same situation (one of whom I now am very good 'live' friends with!), whom I had to stop chatting with because my journey took a different direction. I could not visit any type of fertility-related site or blog after the surgery. I still can't do it. It opens up wounds that are just below the surface and haven't been completely healed yet. Will they ever be? I don't know. It's ok .. as my life has taken a path that I know is right for me and for my family. Don't get me wrong (though if you've been down this road, you likely understand completely). I love the process of adoption - I could not possibly love Maya more than I do, and I never think of her as anything but MY DAUGHTER. The grief is more for the lack of the experience of being pregnant. The unfulfilled instinct I guess. And maybe the issue with lack of control. Something that comes so naturally to most women.. for some reason was not in the cards for me. Not for lack of trying, for sure. It's so weird being unable to achieve something when you have achieved everything else in life that you have worked hard and aspired to do. It just seems so darn unfair.
Anyhow.. the anniversary of the surgery also brought a huge sense of relief to us, as we (mostly dh, as I was on major painkillers) had a big cancer scare at the time. The surgeons found and removed a large tumor from my colon during the surgery - something that had been making me very sick, but had not shown up on ANY CT or u/s tests. The general surgeon who was called in to perform the tumor removal and associated surgery (removed a few things that were feared to be affected by the cancer.. if it was cancer) was so sure that the tumor was cancerous that he could not look me in the eye when I asked him questions about it after the surgery. My gyn surgeon was so upset that she held my hand when she discussed it with me. She didn't seem like the hand-holding type. Poor Aj was completely devastated and out of his mind for a couple of days until the path results came in - negative! It was an endometriosis tumor. In a form that neither of my surgeons had ever seen or expected.
Alls well that ends well. The tumor was another proof that the surgery was very necessary and timely. It could have caused devastating effects on my health had it remained much longer and grown any larger. It had already caused me one trip to the ER (and they could not figure it out.. sigh).
One of my points in writing this is that if anyone reading this ever feels strongly that something is wrong with their health and they are not getting the care and attention they feel is necessary - GET ANOTHER DOCTOR!! My allowing doctors to blow me off and put things off for 'a year or more', etc.. led to this situation. My belief that maybe my doctor was correct when she told me that she had no reason to believe that I had endometriosis, though I had EVERY symptom that is listed for the disease, led to years of unnecessary suffering - and the early end to my fertility. Be your own health advocate!!!

www.endometriosiszone.org
www.fertilityfriend.com

Journey to Thanksgiving 2007

Thought I'd better try to post a quick blog update, as I don't think I'll have any time to do so in the next week or two. I'm very behind on emailing my friends.. sorry friends!
Soo.. Diwali was fun - Maya had a great time at the show. I'm glad it was very dark in the theater - as we were up in a balcony box just in front of the stage, and she was getting into the music and scream-singing 'Labba' songs in accompaniment! Yikes. Of course her family thought it was cute, but the other 2 couples sharing our box were likely not as thrilled. The show seemed to spur her into two separate bowel movements also.. which was quite exciting for all closeby. Very exciting for mom and dad, as the restrooms were up 3 flights of stairs, through a lobby area, and back down 3 more flights of stairs (elevator only on the right side of the balcony.. not the left, and no way to access the right from the left). Note to self: Do NOT purchase seats on the left tower balcony EVER again.

So tomorrow we embark on {insert drum roll please}: Journey to Thanksgiving 2007. I have given this trip a name b/c it seems to deserve one.
We will be traveling via SUV with toddler and lab in-tow. We'll drive all day tomorrow, stop for the night, drive all day Saturday, stop for 3 nights to visit my family, drive a few hours in order to visit my sister, drive a few hours more to arrive at our final destination in Michigan. All of the in-law family will be in MI.. so it should be quite the fun time! We will stay for 3 days and then load-up again and drive to Chicago.. spend the day and night helping my brother on his condo-buying trip (he is graduating from college in a few weeks and starting an awesome job in Chicago soon).. and then spend the next 2 days driving back home.
Good GOD. I'm guessing there may be many cocktails in the midst of the driving... or prescription medication. And DEFINITELY many Starbux stops.
{Btw.. thanks in advance to my housesitters.. feel free to shovel the driveway if that snowstorm hits as predicted!;))

On a HUGE up-note.. found out today that mom's tests did not show any 'hot spots'.. so no chemo right now! Merry Xmas to mom!! {and a very relieved exhale from all of us} There is definitely a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!
No news yet on our referral, for all of you who are wondering. The orphanage director was actually here locally the past couple of weeks, and just flew back to India a day or two ago. We are hoping that once she arrives back in Kolkata, maybe we will hear something! :) Wishful thinking..

And one little anecdote from the week..
I accidentally drugged my husband this week. Yes - I promise - it WAS an accident!!! No worries.. he is fine. Now. Heehee.. Really it wasn't a big deal, but it was sooo funny. He had a cold, and asked me to get him some cold meds. He was getting ready to walk out the door to get our plates renewed. So I grabbed the first box that I saw and gave him a couple of pills. He took them and left. About an hour later he returned and immediately went to sleep. This was ~10 am. He slept until 4 pm when I woke him up to see what in the world he was still doing in bed!! Heee.. oops.. turns out that I gave him nighttime cold meds. And he is VERY susceptible to that type of drug, obviously. Poor guy.. had to drink some major caffeine and stay up most of the night to catch up with his work. Oops. {note to self in case I ever want to take a little shopping trip with no nagging.. ;)}

Well, better finish packing. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU! Gobble Gobble Gobble

Happy Diwali!

{..a day early due to a hectic schedule tomorrow!}
Of all the festivals celebrated in India, Diwali is the most glamorous one.
Homes are decorated with lighted lamps to create a magical atmosphere of joy and festivity. Diwali celebrations in India are similar to Christmas celebrations in the USA. In the north, Diwali is celebrated for king Rama's return after his epic war with Ravana, the demon king of Lanka. In the south, legend concerns the victory of good over evil. Narakasura, the demon of hell, challenged Krishna for a battle. After a fierce fight lasting two days, the demon was killed.
One of the biggest festivals of Hindus, Diwali is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm and happiness. This festival is celebrated for five continuous days, with the third day being celebrated as the main Diwali or as 'Festival of Lights'. Fireworks are always associated with this festival. The day is celebrated with people lighting diyas, candles all around their house. Lakshmi Puja is performed in the evening to seek divine blessings of Goddess of Wealth.
Every year, our local Indian community joins together to put up a show with songs and dances highlighting the rich cultural heritage of India. The performance features Indian classical, folk and modern dances along with beautifully performed live music covering many, many years of Indian history.
We'll be joining them this year - our first celebration as a family. We are looking forward to this new family tradition! I'm on my way to pick up my MIL, who has flown in for the occasion.
May the light of joy and prosperity shine on you this Diwali and throughout the coming year!
{Thx to diwalifestival.org for contributing to this blog post}

National Adoption Awareness Month

In honor of National Adoption Awareness Month (November), I've gone purple!
Thanks for the inspiration Starfish! I hope to see some other purple blog sites this month.

All I Want For Xmas...

... is a big piece of bubble wrap?

Halloween Fun

Maya's first trick-or-treat adventure! :)

Less Celebrated Firsts

We have celebrated a few 'Firsts' in our lives with our {cough-cough} adorable little 20.5-lb, 34" high bundle of joy in the past week or two.

• First Time 'Using Her Words' To Express Frustration W/O Being Reminded By A Parent: Earlier this week, Maya became upset over something (I'm sure it was serious - such as an unfulfilled request for the ever-revered lollipop, or the inability of her bear to keep size 5 toddler shoes on his feet). To vent her frustration, she threw her beloved bear to the floor, yelled 'DAMMIT!', and stormed off down the hallway. Daddy congratulated Mommy for this proud moment.. but Mommy thinks that Daddy should share in the glory.
  

• First Public Display of Affection: Yesterday, I took her on a quick trip to Target. Riding in a cart is always fun and entertaining, so off we went. The trip to Target was actually quite calm and enjoyable for both of us. I purchased a little toy Thomas the Train (she is going thru a MAJOR Thomas phase right now) for her, which was a big hit. On the way home, I realized that I needed to make a quick stop at Office Depot. We jaunted inside for a very quick, 1-item-only, shopping trip. As soon as we entered the store, I made the big mistake. I did not get a cart. Maya began yelling to 'walk-walk!', so I put her down on the floor. Immediately she laid down on the floor and giggled hysterically. I picked her up. She yelled to walk. I set her down again after telling her that she must walk on her feet. She promptly laid down and giggled even more hysterically. I picked her up. She yelled to walk. I refused. She began to slap me in the face. Now, we have dealt with this slapping issue in the past and she knows that it is VERY naughty and not to be tolerated. She has actually stopped doing it except in rare, extraordinarily-frustrated moments. Well, she obviously had figured out that in public places, she would not be reprimanded as she would be at home - there were no stairs for a 'time-out'. I could not set her down and ignore her for a few minutes (tho my 'Parenting w/Love & Logic' book tells me to do just this and walk away for a very short time to freak her out.. I forgot reading that chapter while in the moment). So slapping was suddenly a fabulous idea and VERY VERY funny. She continued to smack at my face and laugh hysterically, while I tried to tell her 'NO' and gain control of the situation.. while several women in line (none with children and all dressed in tailored suits and high heels of course) stared at us like we had mistakenly ventured into office supplies when we should have remained at Wal-Mart. Siiiigh.
  

In the midst of these uplifting parenting moments, we do still find ourselves taken in by M's complete cuteness most of the time. :) She is very into 'making food' for us with her pretend food, pans, plates, cups. She is always making 'coffees' and sometimes 'french toasts'. Her vocabulary constantly surprises me. The other day she came up and asked me for her 'baby corn' and 'eggplant' pretend foods. Not sure I knew what an eggplant was until I was in college (Midwest life - potatoes and corn-on-the-cob were our staples). Sure enough, I looked under the chair - and there they were! A little baby corn and a little purple eggplant.
She takes very good care of her bear, baby dolls, and Thomas the Train. They get fed, clothed, diapered, get told to 'sit down' or 'have a seat', are given positive reinforcement when they obey 'good girl!', are bathed on a regular basis, set on (sometimes 'in'..ugh) the training potty, sung lullabies to, kissed, and put to 'nite-nite'.
I hope she treats her future baby brother or sister as nicely! {dare to dream}

Portrait of a Princess

.. the most impressive attribute of this photograph is that a 2-yr old was immobile long enough to have it taken!

Lighten Up!

Too much serious-ness lately. Thought I'd try a lighter entry today!
I finally have had time to get some personal photo-editing completed lately. This photo is of our princess in her baptism gown (yes, I really am THAT far behind.. sigh). :)
I think that this photo speaks many more than 1,000 words.

My current goal in life is to get a video clip of Maya singing 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' and wearing a costume spider hat. It keeps happening when I'm not near my camera, and the girl has suddenly become very camera-shy. I swear though - it will be posted soon!
Ok - so it snowed here today!! SNOW! It didn't accumulate, but it flurried for hours. Wierd.. it feels waaay too early for any type of snow.
So we had a pretty relaxed weekend. I did a photo shoot for a friend on Friday, and we enjoyed spending most of the day hanging out with them (I luv my job!). Maya and their little girl are the same age and are destined to be best friends!
Saturday we got a visit from a good friend of mine from my hometown. I finally met her b/f.. which is good b/c I was beginning to think she had a 'special' {aka imaginery} friend that I have heard about for many years now and have never met!! {haha.. j/k of course.. I'm sure she will read this.. ;)) It was great to meet him and to spend a couple of hours gossiping with them! Today was laid-back.. another Sunday of watching the Jets LOSE (grr) and catching up on some photo editing. I did notice today, however, that Maya and I now have actual and often complete conversations. When did she turn into such a little girl and stop being a baby?? She is more precious and more of a little person every day. I can't believe we'll have two of them soon!!

Happy Monday!

For The Cure

Breast cancer,
we have powerful friends on our side. Besides, you're the bad guy, so we know how this is going to end.
~Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Please, take part in stopping this dreadful disease. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.. and we all need to take a part in conquering this disease.
Sadly, my mother is battling stage IV BC. Having just completed radiation and a chemo regimen, the disease is not taking a back seat, and she is going to be continuing her fight.
Only our support will help to save her life, and the lives of millions of other women. We must end breast cancer forever! We must continue funding research so that a cure and a vaccine can be developed. We must also help those who are already fighting this battle - especially at stage IV, with the difficulties and stress that this diagnosis brings.
Please, please take a moment and consider contributing to Komen for the Cure.. the American Cancer Society.. The Gal to Gal Foundation. Every dollar counts.
My mother and I are currently walking in the 'virtual walk across the country' for the Gal to Gal Foundation.
Join us won't you?
www.galtogalwalk.org www.komen.org www.cancer.org

In Memoriam

James E. Hawkins
1949 - 2007

Our favorite uncle (beloved father and brother).. you will never be forgotten.
We will find comfort in our memories.

Wishing today as we wished before

That God could have spared you many years more.

In our heart your memory is kept.

To love, to cherish and to never forget.

As Uncle Jim would have wanted.. let's remember him in ways that make us smile and laugh:

FOOD ~ The Star Wars movies ~ His 'Star Wars' painted truck that went to Alaska ~ The 'McRat' ~ Funny and obnoxious Xmas gifts (Xmas truly will not ever be the same w/o him) ~ jokes ~ his dirt-bike days ~ WAZY Radio and all the silly things we did as kids to get on-air and amuse him (and probably embarrassed him - ex: rock 'n roll version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) ~ FOOD ~ Alf (did anyone besides jim luv that silly puppet?) ~ the day he drove a couch down to us in Cincinnati in the biggest snowstorm in years.. and then drove back home the same day b/c it was 'just a little snow for god's sake' ~ jim's stories of being kicked out of all-you-can-eat buffets ~ .. and many more that I'm just not recalling at the moment!

The last time that I saw him - the weekend of Maya's baptism - he told me repeatedly: 'I swear Amo, I do not ever remember being this happy in my entire life...I can't stop grinning!!'
And while it is sad that he was so tragically taken from us at this point in his life, I feel comforted in the fact that he had found happiness in many ways recently.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine upon your face
And the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again may God
hold you in the palm of His hand.

Peace.

~ 'Amo'

A Spoonful of Sugar...

Good grief. How is it that two well-educated, at-least-moderately-intelligent people can suddenly lose all basic common sense? How is it that we forget life lessons that we learned as small children?? How is it that we could possibly forget Mary-freaking-Poppins!!!
Sigh.
Poor Maya.. sick and needing her medicine (cold liquid bubble-gum tasting Amox.).. and hating the taste of it sooo much that it was an insanely painful struggle to get any of it down her throat. She loves the mild cherry flavor of infant Tylenol and Motrin (tis almost frightening actually).. but not strong bubble-gum.
So to give us credit, we did not completely forget the teachings of Mary Poppins.. we just did not brainstorm the idea. We were firmly planted inside the box and forgot to venture outside of it a bit.
We tried and tried to get the teaspoon of pink liquid into our child's stomach.. mixing with ice cream, mixing with applesauce, holding her nose and forcing it into her mouth (I did NOT like this one, but it was nanny's solution and actually worked better than all our other ideas, tho causing mental scarring for everyone involved and leading to dad's quick exit from the room and streaks of pink down mommy's shirts).
We tried rewarding with special treats, stickers, hugs and kisses. We tried explanations and bribery. We called it Princess Pink Yumminess and explained that her friend, Princess Ava, loved it. We sang songs and made faces. We made loud animal sounds and we wore silly hats and we danced around the room.
To no avail.
{stop laughing you experienced moms out there!!}
Finally I asked the on-call nurse at the pediatrician's office.
After asking what we normally do when our child is sick and then shockingly finding out that this was our first sickness requiring mandatory medication.. the nurse read us ideas from the computer screen in front of her.
Ahh.. mix the medicine with something strong and sweet. So we were 1/2-way there, trying sweeten things.. we just had not taken the mental leap to figure out that it needed to actually MASK the flavor rather than 'dress it up'.
Duh.

So for any other not-thinking-clearly parents out there.. these worked for us (FINALLY!!!):

* Mix medicine with powdered Kool-Aid (this worked once)
* Mix medicine with strawberry-flavored syrup and then mix with strawberry-flavored 'Moo Juice' (aka yogurt smoothie drink with cow cartoon on packaging). Put on 'moo' hat (be creative), sit on floor, make 'moo'ing sounds, pretend to drink the 'moo' drink in order to inspire child to want to share. (this worked twice and was somewhat embarrassing for parent involved, so use at your own risk (hopefully with no onlookers))
* Mix medicine with strawberry-flavored syrup and pour over small amt of strawberry Haagen-Daz ice-cream (full-fat) and make this a special treat. (this is the BIG WINNER!!! *note to self: might also work for sick, whiny husbands!)

So finally, one week later, our baby is mostly recovered. She is now down to just having a cough and runny nose (I guess she was slammed with a few different viruses at the same time). Yay! She is back to her happy, personable self. And only 4 more days of strawberry ice-cream treats. Phew!
Maybe the ice-cream will double as a weight-gainer. The on-call pediatrician seemed to be judging us a bit when we took her in on Monday. She gave me an odd look and said '..please try to feed her as much as possible'. I was a bit confused and assured her that we were trying to feed her quite frequently, but she was sick and didn't have an appetite. Later, I thought that maybe this look and comment were due to the fact that Maya was only 20.5 lbs when weighed with all her clothing/shoes and holding her big stuffed bear. Oh well. I'm sure it won't be the first time that someone thinks we aren't doing our job and causing her to be super-skinny. And maybe I'm paranoid.. but the look that she gave, along with the slow and methodical tone of her voice.. were not normal. Even Aj noticed this. Well whatever.. at least she's doing her job and caring about the kids.
Happy Saturday! :)
Looks neglected, doesn't she? haaahaaa!

Tick.. Tick...

Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking.. into the future...
Another blog entry so soon? Well.. I just realized that I forgot to update on the adoption process. I received an update yesterday.
I can't believe this, but it looks like we are heading into the same time frame that we were headed into 2 years ago. Sigh sigh sigh. I was hoping so much that it would not work out this way, but I guess I'm not in charge of this plan am I? So difficult for a control freak to sit back and have no control. Thank god for Maya, or I would be completely obsessed and a bit depressed like I was in September of 2005.
We completed our dossier a couple of weeks ago, but our agency needed to get some final authentications completed on their end before it was officially complete. These final steps are being completed right now, and the dossier will end up being finished just in time for the courts in Kolkata to be shut down for a month in celebration of Durga Puja and Diwala (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga_Puja, http://www.diwalifestival.org).
ARGH! This means no referral for us during this time.
There are also some good things and not-so-good things going on with the process. First, we found out that {not so good} the Kolkata judge was not replaced in August, so he will most likely be the judge who reviews and hopefully approves our case. This judge has been a nightmare (if you have been following my posts regarding other families stuck in loooooong delays due to his not-showing-up-to-work and not-reviewing-adoption-cases-for-no-known-reason and nit-picking-tiny-details-causing-months-of-delay) since being put in place just after we brought Maya home. We are trying to prepare ourselves for a long wait for legals, but we will surely be completely crazed when the time comes. Legals, btw, are the 2nd-to-last step before traveling. This is after you have accepted your referral, so you are insanely anxious to meet your baby.
We also found out that {good!!} the visa process within India has changed a little. When we traveled last time, we had to go to Kolkata to pick up Maya, fly to Delhi to file for her Visa, and then fly home. This req'd a flight within a couple of days of picking up our baby - I'm sure a traumatic, terrifying experience for her.
The new process dictates that we file for the visa in Delhi and THEN go to Kolkata to pick up the baby.. and complete the visa process in Kolkata. This means that we can stay longer in Kolkata getting to know our new baby before subjecting the poor thing to a complete change of environment, an airport, and airplane flights.
This is also very cool for us as we are planning to incorporate a bit of site-seeing in India prior to picking up our child. No, we don't want to wait to bring our child home.. but we do have family in India that we would like to see (in my case, meet for the first time).. and I would LUV to visit Kerala or Goa for a couple of days. It will also be nice for Maya to visit the family and her home country - even though she will be too young to fully appreciate it.
Yes, we are taking Maya with us. I know this is a highly-debated topic, but there is just no question for us. We want to travel as a family to bring our new child home. I know it will be difficult to travel with a toddler.. but hey - what doesn't kill us will only make us stronger!! :)


In other news.. I cancelled/am rescheduling my party tomorrow night b/c Maya is still sickly. :(( No fever, but VERY irritable and groggy. Hoping the meds start working soon.. poor little thing.

Here are some cute photos of her hanging out with her cousin, Andrew (who, btw, is my 5-yr old Godson that I referred to in previous post)..

So Little Time

.. to update my blog lately!!

Life has been a bit hectic. First, we had friends visiting us during the week of the 1st - 8th. Todd - Maya's Godfather, his wife, and their 2 adorable little girls (age 2 and 5). It was a very fun week - nice to see and spend time with them, and interesting to watch Maya's unhappy introduction to the world of SHARING. It is bad enough for her to share her toys during short playdates.. it was almost too much for her to share for several days. By the end of the week she was a tad better.. I think she had stopped punching the other girls in the face for touching her toys. .. I think. Maybe she just became more subtle?
The girl might be small, but she can sure pack a punch!
Anyhow, sharing aside, Maya loved having the girls here. We also traveled at the end of the week with everyone to Vail for a couple of days. The weather was amazing - too bad the aspens had not begun to change color. We did, however, manage to make it to Vail's Oktoberfest, so that was a bonus! Maya and her new friends were quite entertaining with their dance moves. Maya kept dancing in circles in front of the band and then running toward the seated audience and doing some type of arm-waving/hand-shaking move at them, and then running back to dance in circles. Sadly, all of us forgot our videocams on that evening - doesn't that figure??
After our friends left, I flew back to my hometown in IN on the 9th. My dad had knee-replacement surgery on the 8th, and I wanted to help he and my mom during that week. My mom is still going thru chemo and doesn't drive. Plus, control freak that I am, I could not be 1000 miles away when my dad went thru this! He is, luckily, doing very well. No complications and he is recovering nicely (though painfully). He was lucky to have a very nice roommate - a guy who had the same operation on the same day. They were so hilarious - it was like a slumber party in their room! I don't know what type of drugs the nurses were slipping them, but they were MUCH too jovial during their first few days of recovery! They had 'walker-races' down the hallways every day and probably both gained 10 lbs with the number of ice-cream shakes they conned people into bringing to them. A bit scary, but nice to see my dad finally in a good mood after being grumpy due to his immense knee pain this past year. :))
So I returned home last Saturday evening, and was met by a sick baby. :(( My hubby, btw, did an amazing daddy job while I was gone. I was most impressed - though I never doubted that he could do it! He is praising God that Maya didn't get sick until mommy returned. Maya's temp shot up on Saturday night.. and then even higher on Sunday (up to 104.5 - owch!). Come to find out, she has an ear infection and roseola. Poor baby!! This has been a long week for everyone. We had a couple of nights that she woke constantly and required rocking. Definitely the worst sickness she has had since coming home. I guess we are lucky in that regard, but I wish she would start feeling better! Her fever is finally down today, but she is still irritable/groggy/not eating or drinking. Her 19.5 lbs has probably gone down a little.
I'm hoping Maya is better by tomorrow. We have tickets on Friday to ride on Thomas the Train at the Train Museum. It's a once-a-year train visit, and I know she would love it. Hope she is no longer rashy with the roseola so that she can be around other kids. I'm also hosting a 'Moms Night Out' cocktail party on Friday night for moms in my neighborhood. It isn't easy to meet other moms in our neighborhood - our houses are spaced pretty far apart. I thought this might be a nice way to finally meet some other moms. Should be a good time - hoping I don't need to cancel due to sick baby.
We also had to keep putting off Maya's 2nd Birthday celebration because she hasn't felt well. She is finally feeling a little better today, so we are breaking out the cupcakes and the presents! Her big exciting gift is a CAR! :) She LOVES LOVES LOVES cars, so I'm sure she will be glued to it immediately.
Last - please keep baby Emy and her family in your prayers: emysjourney.blogspot.com. Emy's parents adopted a child through the same agency and orphanage that we used (Mia). They found out later that they were pg, and the baby recently arrived 3 months early. Reminds me of when my nephew/Godson was born 2 months early. Lots of scary health issues.. but he is 5-yr old living proof that miracles happen and prayer works!

Scarred Again

I read several mom-blogs, and most of the time I read stories about emotional moments. Heart-warming accounts of life with their eagerly-anticipated little angel. Proud mommy tales of smart, loving, adorable bundles of joy.

And occasionally I read a blog entry that details a REAL LIFE mommy moment.

By real life I mean.. well.. the type of moment where you realize that the honeymoon is over and you are truly family for the long haul. Not sure if someone who hasn't suffered thru infertility and/or the adoption process would completely understand this. I know that some of my friends who have gone thru hell to build their family still have days of remembering the wait. Days of 'omg I am so so lucky to finally be a mom'. You look at your child and still feel a bit shocked that he or she is actually there with you - calling you 'mama' and holding your hand. Even when the child occasionally acts out (especially in the first few months of parenthood), you correct him/her, but hide a secret smile and squelch the urge to hug the child simply for being.. a child.

And then you experience a true 'mom moment'.
Like when you glance back at your child in her carseat as you are driving down the highway and notice that her adorable little finger is plunged into the depths of a nostril. And as you are considering how to not draw attention to it, but pondering a way to make her stop - you glance back and can only look on in horror. You are driving 75 mph in rush-hour traffic and have no possibility of stopping it ~ the cute little finger emerges with a prize.. and is instantly popped into the beautiful little angel's mouth.
ACK! ARGH! UGH!
Sigh.
Wonder if that type of parenting experience is mentioned in any book? ..I actually hope not, as it isn't something I would want to read about.
And then you start thinking about horrid places for this to occur again {and pray that it doesn't}. Will it be church? A visit with the snooty new neighbors? A party full of old friends who are meeting the child for the first time?
Ahhh.. the joys of parenthood.

So I was looking forward to a nice, chilly glass of sauvignon blanc with my lunch today. We ventured out to a local restaurant that I completely love. We rarely go there - not sure why, as the food is amazing. Not extremely child-friendly maybe.
Anyhow, Maya was in a great mood.. we had a perfect shady table outside by the waterfall.. I ordered my much-anticipated glass of vino, along with a yummy sounding fish entree. I had my first sip of vino and a spoon of amazing jalapeño-clam chowder...
and one of my freaking temp crowns fell off. ARGH!

Somewhat coincidentally, the restaurant was in the same shopping plaza as my dentist.. so I got up and walked over to see what they could do. It took them 2 tries to get the stupid thing cemented on. They decided I needed to take an antibiotic for the tooth (the root canal one) b/c it looked a bit problematic.. and it took them 15 more minutes to get the prescrip to print. By the time I left their office, Aj had pulled up outside with my fish in a to-go box and my vino in his stomach.
I was most depressed.

But, to end on an up-note.. one of the main reasons for the celebratory lunch .. we rec'd our last apostilled doc today {photo to left of our FedEx friend leaving our driveway!} and shipped our completed dossier out - ups overnight air!! Yippee!!
So hopefully we'll have news soon about our 2nd little .. adorable.. nose-picking.. bundle of joy. :)

How is it possible that the weekend is over already?! And what a busy weekend it was.
On Friday, we took a little road trip and did a zoo visit. This was Maya's first trip to a zoo, and it was very fun! I personally LUV zoos, so I'm glad that everyone had as much fun as I did! Feeding the giraffes was the high point of the day. The carousel was the LOW point of the day. Major scarring.. obviously Maya was not quite ready for a carousel ride. oops! Who knew she wouldn't mind sticking her hand in a 3,000 lb giraffe's mouth to feed it a cracker, but she would have a complete panic attack on a carousel horse? Live and learn.

On Saturday, we took a short trip to a state park and had some fun watching Tasha swim in the doggy-park area. The poor thing is feeling her age lately - the arthritis is kicking in. She still doesn't know when to quit, so at least swimming to fetch her balls isn't as painful as running. On Saturday night we had some friends over for dinner.. including their kids, so that was a good time for both Tasha and Maya. Nothing like having several kids walking around and holding food right at the dog's mouth-level! Tasha scored big that night!
On a sad note, my oldest fishie died on Friday night. Sniff..sniff. I somehow had kept that guy alive in our pond for 3 years. I noticed he was looking very sickly and put him in a little 'fishie-ER' (a make-shift aquarium.. I didn't actually take him to the vet.. hee).. but it was too late. At least now I know what to look for and might be able to save another before he's on his last leg/fin.
On an up-note, we have ONE more document that we are awaiting, and our dossier will be complete!! Yay! Praying that it comes tomorrow and we can be finished with this gigantic pile of paperwork. I think we would be on the official 'list' after Dillon recieves and approves the dossier.. but maybe that doesn't happen until after they send it off for further gov't approval. I can't recall.. I should check on that.

A little Maya update: the girl's vocab has grown astronomically in the past couple of weeks. It is so crazy! I've heard that this happens - they hit some point and it just takes off - but it is still amazing. She is singing along with songs, repeating phrases and sentences rather than just words, and making up her own sentences. She has quite a personality, and is just a bundle of entertainment. :) She's also being much more independent (of my leg anyhow) and she is starting to actually interact with other kids (not just smooch them into crying fits). Of course she is also starting to do the toddler 'I am NOT sharing MY toys' meltdowns, which is lovely.
She LIVES for Elmo these days. I was talking about Halloween outfits with Aj tonite, and all of a sudden she starts saying 'Elmo outfit, Elmo outfit'. ! How in the world did she know to interject that thought? And no, there will NOT be an Elmo outfit. I think I can still push my ideas this year.. but I can see that my power is quickly dwindling.. ;) I have a GREAT outfit ordered though.. stay tuned. I just LOOOVE Halloween!
Anyhow, my root-canal tooth is still killing me. I think it's time for more pain medication, ice-cream and Seinfeld DVDs. Such a rough life life!
Cheers!

Lucy In The Sky With.. Nitrous?

Well, I have obviously over-indulged in caffeinated beverages today, as it is 10:30 pm and I am not even remotely tired. I'm a complete night-owl, but I'm usually at least physically tired (aka wiped out from toddler-chasing) by this time of day. Or.. maybe it has something to do with the fact that I slept ~16 hours yesterday. I had major dental work done yesterday, and it made for a very interesting day.
If you are nervous about dental procedures - or, as in my case, sickeningly panic-stricken at the thought of that WHRRRRRRing drill sound.. you MUST explore sedation-dentistry. Omg. So let me explain a little.. ~5 years ago I had a horrid dental experience which involved a tooth that could not be numbed and a hitler-esque dentist who advised me to just 'hold on to the chair, it will only be a minute or two longer'. Many, many minutes later, I left the office completely soaked in perspiration and harboring a deep-seated terror of anyone wielding a small drill and a suction tube.
Fast-forward 5 years, 3 dentists, and many, many painful dental visits later (tho none as bad as the hitler episode). I just began seeing a new-to-me dentist, and she seems completely amazing. Why? Well, she is very nice, informative, and knowledgable.. but also because her office does conscious sedation dentistry, and she agrees that I sound like a good candidate! Probably b/c i have apologized in advance that I am a big dental wuss and i am crazy-paranoid about pain during dental procedures. I am also very difficult to numb, which is partially due to the amt of adrenaline pumping thru me.
So I have some major work to be done, and one big piece of it includes that tooth from 5 years ago. Now the tooth needs a crown. So do 4 others. Good GOD! I blame my mom for this - she has always had major teeth issues. I'm sure it has nothing to do with my gum-addiction which spanned 2 decades. And my 3-year hiatus from dentists after the hitler visit.
Fast-forward again to this week. The sedation experience began with a nice big valium pill on Tuesday night to enable a good nights sleep. Ahh.. very nice! :) Wednesday morning began bright and early - I was at the office by 7 am. I was ushered into a very nice private room. A scented candle was burning.. a dark pink shade was over the window, causing the room to be washed in a very calming shade of pink. The dentist and assistant welcomed me and settled me into the chair. The dentist put the crushed sedation medication under my tongue, settled a nice lavender-scented neck pillow under my neck, hooked me up to the slightly orange-tasting nitrous, dimmed the lights, covered me in a blanket, adjusted headphones with soothing spa music over my ears, connected me to a monitoring machine, and settled back until the drugs had begun their 'thing'.
~15 minutes post-cocktail, I was suddenly floating to the right. Yes, just the right - no left floats. Very fuzzy, nice floating sensations. Then I began thinking about a friend of my sisters who is very religious and is going thru a horrid battle with Hodgkins. I had recently read blog posts from he and his sister (who is donating stem cells this week to him) who discussed their happily accepting pain and offering it up in prayer.. and I had some very very deep thoughts about this. Epiphanies you might call them. And then my thoughts turned to the fact that I was feeling quite high, and it was only ~8 o'clock in the morning! {in re-reading this, it sounds like maybe I'm normally high by 9.. but really, it's usually at least noon.. baahaa!}
I began thinking about how I was floating in my chair, high as a kite, while people around me were probably bored and doing their normal morning routine.. and how I could get used to this feeling, it was too bad you couldn't get this from a nice chardonnay.. and then I began to giggle. It was very difficult to stop the giggle-y feeling.. but it ended abruptly when the dentist returned and the drills came out.
The remainder of the 3 or so hours that the dentist worked on my teeth (and did a stupendous job I might add) - I was slightly coherent. I never slept or dozed, and my eyes remained open. {too open actually - I still could not be numbed and they had to call in the surgeon-dentist to 'specially' numb me - and it caused my left eye to be unable to shut!! WIERD - they had to keep shutting it for me} They kept asking me why I was still awake and that never have they had a patient who kept their eyes open the entire time. They assumed, pretty correctly, that I'm a bit of a control freak. ;)) They were still talking about how shocking this was today when they called to follow-up on me. Anyhow.. during the work, that nasty tooth freaked out and required a root canal. I had to make a trip to a specialist after leaving my dentist (and being walked out by her and my hubby) to have this done. Also no big deal, tho the happy psychedelic drugs had worn off (and no more were offered.. sniff sniff..).
By the time I made it home - ~3 pm, I could not stay awake. I moved from bed to couch and back to bed.. and I think I spoke to at least one person on the phone (no idea what THAT conversation must have been like!).. but I slept most of the time from 3 pm until 7 am this morning. Wow. What a day!
Anyhow. Feeling pretty good today except for very sore jaw at root canal area, and can't eat anything that requires chewing on temporary crowns. Since that is 5!! teeth - both sides involved - I'm down to soup and ice-cream. hm. Big sacrifice, really. LOL.
So I had more that I was going to chat about in my blog post this evening, but that story was quite long! I'll save the rest for another time. I think I'd better go brush what is left of my teeth.
Btw Pam - your survey is on my list of blog material. I'm a sucker for a survey. {ok, so I just like to talk about myself...}
Happy Friday everyone!

Blessings

Our little blessing was blessed herself on August 11th!
Maya was baptized at my parent's parish in Indiana. It was such a nice event.. most of the members of our families were present, and some of our closest friends. Maya was absolutely stunning in her beautiful little white gown - though it was difficult to see and appreciate the gown as she had a death-grip on her bear the entire time! We decided that the bear could partake in the ceremony also, as he is most definitely an important member of our family by now.
Thankfully, there were no 'funniest home video' type moments. A big sigh of relief from mommy on that!! The only moment that generated many chuckles was when the priest was trying to bless Maya with the baptismal oil by making the sign of the cross on her forehead, and she dropped her bear on the floor. He had to pause in mid-sign while she scooped bear up from the floor and then allowed him to continue. :)
I also heard about random cuteness that I did not notice during the ceremony because I was holding her and trying to participate. At one point she reached over and patted her Godmommy (my sister) on the arm and then took her finger and held it in her hand for awhile. At another point I heard that she was giving very small and somber waves at different people in attendance (they were standing around us in a circle). Too cute! She was such a little angel, I was very proud. ..sniff.. :)
If you are so inclined, feel free to view a snipit of the ceremony that was videotaped by Maya's Auntie. It just happens to include the bear-dropping incident.

I am HOPING that someone in my family (or friends) who attended the baptism will please send me photos!! There were a zillion photos taken and I'd really like to have some of them .. HINTHINTHINT! :))) I promise to post a couple more as soon as some kind person sends them to me..
And last, but not least.. more moments of cuteness. Btw.. you might notice that there are no photos of my parents in this batch.. I'm hoping someone has one to send me. My mom would probably kill me for posting a photo of her - as she has lost her hair from chemo and wears hats (and she was very PO'd about anyone photographing her on that day) - but I say in 100% complete honesty - I think she is beautiful in her hats. She has matching scarves (they go around the hats) for every outfit she owns. Wonder where I get my clothing obsession? Wonder no more!

The Long Road Ahead

Well, tomorrow we head out into the heat. Ugh. We are on our way to celebrate Maya's baptism in Indiana. I'm sure the heat will be a little shocking - I hear that the heat index is over 100 with high humidity. Bleeeh.. I guess we'll quickly recall one of the main reasons that we left the Midwest!
We are, however, looking forward to Maya's big day, and to seeing all of our friends and family who will be celebrating with us. I'm personally very excited about the day.. having Maya baptized feels like a major 'family' moment to me. As no one in our families was able to join us at Maya's formal adoption ceremony, this feels like even more of an occasion to mark our family coming 'full circle'. And it is even more special because both of our families are joining us, as well as some of our closest friends.
So - to the readers out there who are joining us - a big Thank You! for helping to make this occasion even more special for our family.

"I will not forget you...
I have held you in the palm of my hand."
- Isaiah 49:15

And in other news... {drumroll}.. our friends have been united with their baby in Kolkata!! We are so, so very excited for them. We can't wait to read the details when they have time to update their blog.. can't wait to see the photos.. and absolutely can't wait to meet Raina! Maya talks about 'Baby Raina' all the time - it will be huge fun to see them meet each other for the first time. I hope they like each other, as I'm not sure they are going to have a choice about this friendship.. ;))
Well, off to finish packing. I can't believe we are driving halfway across the country with a toddler who hates her carseat! ACK! .. hopefully this won't be my last post.. haha..
Also praying that Maya doesn't start pointing out people's 'bums' or try lifting her gown to show everyone her 'belly button' during the ceremony or start yelling 'ALL DONE! ALL DONE!' - as these are a few of her favorite things to do these days.
Remind me why we didn't have her baptized before she could talk??
I'm sure it will be entertaining.... {nervous laugh} ..stay tuned!

Buckle Baby

I love it when I have a new blog to follow! :) Our friends who are traveling to India in 2!!!!!! days now, have started a blog to document their travels. Can't wait to hear all about their journey! Check it out - bringinghomeraina.blogspot.com.
So I've felt very boring and not worth blogging lately. I know, I know.. must have been some darn chilly days in hell recently! I must have some updates, so here are a few random things that are somewhat new in our lives...

• Maya's most favorite topic of conversation and most fun activity is 'buckling'. Buckling her baby doll (that she "borrowed" from her friend O) into baby doll's stroller (that she also "borrowed" from her friend O). I wake up at 3 am and hear from the monitor.. "buckle baby.. baby buckle.. daddy buckle.. buckle.. labba buckle.. buckle baby". So this must mean that she is even DREAMING about buckling! Cute yes. Monotonous.. well.. a little bit. ;)
  
• We made a visit to the in-laws a couple wks ago. I haven't been out there in a few years (not intentional - just the way things happened to work out due to the fertility drugs/doc appmts, medical issues, maya's adoption), and Maya had never been there.. so it was a very nice trip. Maya fell in love with Granddad's tractor - she is scared to death of the vacuum, but loves the horrendously loud tractor. ?? I had almost forgotten how amazingly beautiful it is in upstate NY! Sadly, we only stayed a few days. We are hoping to make it out there for at least a week next summer. We're planning a long drive at some point so that we can bring out the boat. We didn't realize when we moved west, how there is just NO water for boating in a desert region. Shocking isn't it?
  
• The black coloring that I had accidentally dumped too much of into our backyard pond/water feature a couple of months ago (to kill the algae prob).. has finally faded away to the point of our being able to see our fish very well. Yay! I had thought we had maybe 12.. but now I see that we have maybe 20.. plus lord knows how many baby fish and mosquito fish (mosquito fish are actual fish that eat mosquito larvae). We also are not having a mosquito problem in our backyard so far this summer. Hm. Maybe our neighbors were right and it WAS our pond. I guess that the fish are working better than the mosquito 'blocks' that supposedly kill all of the larvae. Or.. could be that it is due to the fact that the developers who are working on what was once open space behind us.. finally drained the huge lake/pond/swamp that had been stagnating for the past 2 years.
  
• Anyhow, let me say again that I'm most excited about my fish pond. :))
  
• Maya's baptism is coming up in less than 2 wks! And, so fun, one of my best friends and one of Aj's best friends will both be traveling to be there - so it should be a grande time! {oh - and of COURSE we are excited about seeing all of our family.. didn't mean to leave that out!}
  
• The IRS is our friend. yay! :)
• Big Love has gotten quite good lately. {HBO} Anyone else out there who refuses to leave the house on Monday nights in order to not miss it?
  
• Still have not rec'd our completed HomeStudy in order to ship it off to Secretary of State for apostilling. Hoping it gets here soon.. I'm in 'checking the mailbox twice per day' mode. We are SOO looking forward to getting a referral! And since there have been many boy as well as girl referrals lately, we are SOO looking forward to finding out if Maya will have a brother or a sister!
• and of course we are just realizing that we will have two toddlers soon. Hide everything!
• My mom is still going thru chemo. I think she might be at the 1/2-way point as of this week. Or - we hope it's the 1/2-way point. Will know more in early October. She's doing ok.. holding her own. Not a fun time. And Dad is going to have knee replacement surgery in early September. Much needed tho - hope the recovery isn't too long. Don't you wish that you could just transport yourself occasionally to the days when you were a kid and your parents were big and strong and somewhat superhuman?
  

Babies and.. Babies

So it just hit me today that we could potentially receive a referral within the next month.
The NEXT MONTH!!
That is mere DAYS from now! ACK!
Yes, very exciting! I'm working like mad on completing the dossier, and we are so close that occasionally I feel the need to just jump up and down like a small child who needs to urinate. ;) I just want to yell.. 'Come ONNNNNN!!' Hm.. it is quite possible that I could soon become annoying. (if you already think i'm annoying, you are probably right, but please keep it to yourself.. haha!) I'm now trying to be very helpful to my friends who owe us letters, etc.. by Mapquesting the nearest FedEx dropoffs for them, referring them to our notaries, etc. How dare they have busy lives and cannot drop everything for us!!
Ok so maybe I AM already annoying. Haa.. seriously I do understand their delays and hope they read this and recognize my most sincere public apology if I have nagged them! :)
Just waiting for 3 outstanding items before shipping everything to Sec of State(s).. and then it is complete. Well, complete on my end. Our agency has to do some other things with it before it goes to India.. but at least that completes our input for the time being.
So if the referral came through in August.. depending on the crazy judge situation in India, we could be traveling sometime b/t February and April of 2008. And you never know.. maybe even earlier than that!! ..but we'll try not to think of best-case scenerios.. better to prep for a long wait. We were super-lucky with our first adoption, I just can't imagine that we would be so incredibly lucky the 2nd time. I know another family who had a great 1st experience and then waited - I think maybe it was ~1 year after referral for their 2nd child due to India holdups. That would be soo heart-breaking, I pray that doesn't happen.
Anyhow, I think this is really hitting me now b/c we have friends who are traveling within the next couple of weeks to pick up their sweet little baby. Even Maya's nanny is getting a little anxious. She wanted to know if I had thought about how different life was going to be, and how much busier I will be soon. I think she is trying to say 'start expecting to clean your own house instead of having me do it every week'. ;))) LOL!
Yesterday we visited some friends of ours who have a 4-month old baby and a 2 1/2 yr old boy. They had a little doll baby and stroller that Maya immediately latched on to. Luckily, they were currently not 'into' that toy - so Maya got to borrow it! Good thing, as she screamed every time she had to leave it for even a minute after that point (which is new for her). Yipes. So maybe she is getting some good prep for the new brother or sister she will soon have!

On Baptism and Godparents..

Ooo .. aaaah .. Maya's Baptism/Christening invites arrived last night. They are so pretty! I have such a 'thing' for stationary. If my handwriting was not so horrid, I would actually wish that people still hand-wrote letters - just so that I could purchase and use stationary. Thank god, however, for the internet/email/blogging so that people rarely need to read my writing.
Her invites are printed on a 5x7 insert with a vellum jacket (see photo).
Now that I'm compiling all of these items, you would think that I would begin working on her lifebook/scrapbook/etcetcetc. I have a cabinet FULL of items to put together!

On the subject of Godparents.. I sure hope that Maya's Godparents always keep a special
bond with her throughout her life. Much unlike one of MY Godparents. Just one. Here's an example of our relationship:
I needed his address to send an invite for Maya's Baptism to his family (he is a close relation btw). Anyhow, I knew that if I sent him an email request he would probably not reply. Been down that road before. So I sent an email to my dad and sister and asked if they could track it down (they work with him). Dad sends a msg back and tells me to send him an email. So I think.. ok.. why not. So I do. I simply asked for his mailing address. I get this reply.. and I quote:

"Why???"

Hm. Let us ponder that reply.
Does he think I am going to send a door-to-door salesperson to visit him? A Jehovah's Witness group to try and convert him? Am I in the process of working out a covert operation involving his home location? Has he been watching too many Soprano's episodes and is afraid of a hit?
I give up... too many possibilities, not enough time.

In other news.. had a visit from FedEx today and rec'd the first apostille from one of the Secretary of States. One down.. god knows how many to go. I guess we'll be including the FedEx guy on our Xmas list again this year!

Update: Just rec'd a msg from my sister saying that he just told her that he "..was thinking the email had something to do with a different email from a different person.." and that he "..probably just pissed Amy off without meaning to."
Was that an apology?

Only a Few More Days...

until our good friends travel to India to pick up their beautiful little angel!! We are so excited for them.. it has been a long, painful wait for that frustrating judge to ok their case. Anyhow.. they live very close to us, and we are so looking forward to our kids being buddies! Yay!!!!!!!! I am just so very happy that they are so close to bringing their family together. :)))

In our journey.. we have been plodding along through the Dossier steps. Still FedEx'ing our lives around the country and still waiting on people to help us out with their pieces. The Dossier doesn't seem like it should take so long.. but it seems to drag on forever.
Happily, our physician did not share the (ignorant) attitude of her assistant.. and she had her document notarized within 24 hours.
See? Was that REALLY so difficult??? Obviously not. psh.
And.. omg.. the police dept has also completed our notarized letters! WOW! What service! I almost feel good about my tax payments these days. ;)

And the latest in Maya updates...

• Latest in her series of instant laugh provokers: Yelling "BOO!" ~ Riding on Dad's back and yelling 'Go horsey!' while hitting him in the head {ok this could be catagorized under 'Actions that prompt instant laughs from mom'!}
• Latest in her series of intent activities: belts of any kind, but especially the kind that click together like her car seat, highchair seat, the dog's collar..
• Latest actions that prompt instant laughs from mom: Pretending to be a dog (or does she think she IS a dog?) by wearing our lab's collar, crawling on the floor, and woofing. {hopefully this does not lead to future therapy sessions.. LOL} ~ Losing her pants. This is not intentional (yet).. she is just so darn skinny that most of her pants are too big. Some of them simply slip down to her ankles over time. She came around the corner the other day.. just before she got around it I heard a surprised little "uh oh!".. and then she shuffles around the corner with this big toothy grin on her face and her shorts at her ankles. Priceless.
  
• Big excitement: Seeing her pretty Baptism dress hanging up - always inspires 'ooooooooo's and wide eyes
• Major interests in life: Poo. Her bear poos, her Elmo poos, even her car poos. Unfortunately, SHE still refuses to poo. sigh.
• Unfortunate interests: Still she is hitting. Hitting me in the face, hitting her bear, hitting herself. Owies are of high interest. Sometimes she smacks to express frustration, sometimes to be funny. I will be SO happy when this stage is over. Any recommendations on how to handle this are always appreciated. So far I have begun the 'If you hit, you must sit'.. and making her have a time out on the stair with me. We also, of course, explain that hands are not for hitting, etc. I need to order that book 'Hands Are Not For HItting' - maybe it would help.
  
• And a new one.. she has figured out that she can remove her diaper. She has only done it once and looked very surprised by it.. but it led to nice wet spots in her crib during naptime. Obviously, even if it is warm in her room at naptime, she will have pants on. I'm sure it is only a matter of time until she learns the complete strip, but we'll hope it is a bit further into the future!