Sunday, August 17, 2008

As I had mentioned earlier, it is a slow process but here is a preview of our new bathroom. The walls have been freshly painted, new light fixtures hung and now Mickey is leveling the floor. Next he will sand it down, install the backerboard and then start tiling. I don't dare ask him but, I'm wondering if he is trying to surprise me by having the floor completely finished by the time I return from my trip!? I won't get my hopes up though ... as I am sure he will be so terribly lonely without me that concentrating on any task will be next to impossible! hee hee

Yes, I am tracked out as of Friday at 3:45 pm!!! And Tuesday at 6:00 am I will be "leaving on a jet plane" ... can't wait to get there! It is going to be a busy trip but it sounds as though I will get to see so many people. Especially my two favourite boys - Justin and Jonah - whom I haven't seen in a year! I hope they remember who I am! I had better bring a small gift to win them over, can't take the risk of losing my status as the "Fun Aunt Erin"!

We haven't heard any news on the baby front but here it is nearing the end of August! That must mean we are closer to referral day! In the meantime, we have some more work to do to keep us occupied during this long wait! We just sent off our letter to the USCIS office requesting an appointment to be re-fingerprinted and will have to update our homestudy in a few more months. I have been working on a video montage of the Monkey's bedroom. Once the new bathroom floor has been completed, and the nursery floor is clear of tiles and tools (which you can see in the above photo) - we can hang the artwork, put up the finishing touches and take some photos! So stay tuned - you won't want to miss it!!! I am so glad that we started decorating the nursery as it has been a great project to distract us from the ache of waiting and just walking past it makes our hearts smile. (so long as I don't look down at the pile of tools, tiles and junk!)

I am off to the Maritimes on Tuesday and will return the 27th of August. Can't wait to bore you all with my holiday photos when I return! xo

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Last Sunday was our anniversary - 6 years! and still it seems like yesterday! The photos I posted are from our wedding day ... for posterity's sake!One would think, since this (we are 99.9% sure) was our last child-free anniversary, that we would have celebrated with gusto. Nope! Not us! Being the classy fools that we are, we celebrated with a livingroom floor picnic of Bojangles take-away and a couple of movies from Blockbuster! Now if that's not "ready for parenthood" I don't know what is ....

I am in the swing of the things at work! We just finished our third week with our new class. The honeymoon period of last year is officially over and it is back to reality! We have a challenging group but, as I tell them, it is a good thing they are cute! I think it will get better ... they are still so young and a few months makes a huge difference in terms of maturity. I just have to hang on for three more weeks and then it is track out time! Off to the Maritimes for me... poor Mick will still be here, pluggin away! Hopefully next summer we will be able to make the trip as a family of 3! oops, family of 4, sorry Chewy - you count too!

On Friday, we heard that our agency had TWO referrals! Things seem to be moving along faster than we expected! Of course, I have to remind myself that although things are moving quickly now, it can still slow down for a long while. I have a gut feeling that we will have our referral in December - if so, than you already know what you are getting for Christmas: Pictures of our Little Monkey!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

I know, I know ... I wasn't supposed to partake in anymore retail therapy! But how can one resist?? We ordered this from heartandseoul.com and thought it would be a perfect outfit for the adoption announcement photo or just any photo - it is size 18 months - hope it fits!!!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Fair warning: when we get our referral you will be bombarded with video montages of our little monkey -I have the songs lined up for the referral montage as well as the Airplane Day montage (although, I suppose, I should get Mickey's input). Anyway, I pittered away the entire Saturday morning on OneTrueMedia.com - my goal: to be a pro at this before baby comes home because we probably won't have as much time for the "learning process" at that point.



Here is our first video montage, featuring our 10ish year old Lab/Chesapeake Bay Retreiver mix.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And
here is another!!! I become a bit homesick this time of year and am really looking forward to my August trip - so this is my tribute to "home"! Looking forward to another summer of good times in the Maritimes!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Monday, June 30, 2008

Aren't they precious?! For the last three weeks of the school year, my little first graders researched pirates and we celebrated the last day of school with Pirate Day! We all had a blast and so I wanted to post some pictures of our day (peg leg relay races, racing our pirate ships and digging for treasure, to name a few)! I think Faye and I had more fun than the kids ....

On Sunday, Mick and I took Chewy to the park. Mick played disc golf, Chewy was on a squirrel hunt and I was just along for the ride! I am trying very hard to convince Mick that he can continue to play disc golf every weekend once the little one arrives ... he just has to wear him on his back ... can you think of better bonding time? and once he becomes a walker - PERFECT height for crawling under the brush to retreive lost discs! Well, all children like to have a job, right?

Speaking of babies, no baby news for us ... there have been no referrals or travel calls for our agency over the last two weeks. We've also heard that the main office in Seoul will be moving to a new building in July, therefore, everything will be shut down for two weeks. It may be a slow couple of months but we have plenty to distract us - our bathroom reno is moving along and I am looking forward to going home for a visit in August! I am long overdue for a strong dose of the Merry-times!! (that is a play on Maritimes, for you non-Canadians) If the wait for baby news becomes too long, however, I may to return to my retail therapy ... which, you will be pleased to hear, I have been able to avoid for some time now ...

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Yippeee for me!!! Yesterday, I (along with 25, 000 others) RAN the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure - a 5K that raises money for breast cancer research and education! As you can see from the photo I posted, I raced in memory of Barbara Forsythe - my dear friend Michelle's mom, who fought the good fight for 18 long years. I also raced in celebration of my Aunt Freda, who is a breast cancer survivor!!!! Unfortunately, her tag fell off my back somewhere between the first and fifth kilometer! So, sorry Aunt Freda, but you are flitting about somewhere in the streets of Raleigh!! I suppose, if I was a good neice, I would have run the 5K again until I found it ... the goal was to raise 2 million dollars - let's hope they reached it!

More happy news: a WACAP family received a referral for a baby boy this week. Even happier news: we are another step closer! I believe I have been reading too many books on adoption parenting! I have been having the craziest dreams lately! They all seem to end with social services stepping in and taking our child away .... perhaps, I'll lay off them for a while! But from what I gather, so long as Mickey and I begin and encourage conversations with our child about his adoption story and birth family, he will be alright ... and if not, we have a good friend who is a child psychologist, phew! He will have a great story to tell though: how many people get to have the love of three moms before their 1st birthday?! (birthmom, foster mom, and ME, the mom-mom) Of course, we musn't forget the dads! Happy Father's Day and I feel very confident that next year, we will be celebrating Father's Day like nobody's business here on Batavia Court!!!!

Wednesday, May 23, 2008

In my last post I mentioned that the babies relinquished for adoption are placed in foster care. This video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-BVYZzLeW8&feature=related shows a family who traveled to Korea to pick up their son. Their son was "officially" handed over to them and they are now saying their goodbyes to the social worker and foster mom. I LOVE this video because you see how much that woman adored the baby! I hope that our Monkey will be loved by this woman, whoever she is, while he is waiting for us!