New blog for Carter

Since we can hardly refer to our little man as a ladybug, I have started a new blog for him. Come visit at www.goodmorningcarter.blogspot.com! We have preapproval now, so I posted pictures of the little cutie on the new site!

IT'S A BOY!!!!

We are so happy to announce that we have written a letter of intent to adopt a 14- month-old little boy! We got the call on Tuesday and wrote the letter yesterday. The funny thing is, I have said all summer and fall that I hoped we wouldn't get a referral until Brian's parent's house was sold and closed because there was just too much going on in our life at that point. Well, the closing on the house was at 10AM. We got our referral call at noon! There are so many other odd little coincidences, we just know that this little guy is our son.

After all of this time waiting, I can't believe that we were matched with the cutest little boy in the world. We have to wait for preapproval before I can share more information and photos, but we are absolutely over the moon!

Pumpkin picking

One of my favorite things to do each year is to go pumpkin picking. We have found a great little place that we have been going to each year, and we went again a few weeks ago. The day was perfect!

More from the Big Apple

The Big Apple

I love New York City. When I was growing up, my dad lived close enough to the city for me to visit quite often. I love the energy, the diversity, and the fast pace. I could spend days in the museums. Brian is not so crazy about New York (although I think it is growing on him). To him, it is mostly crowds and noise. He is more of a nature guy and would rather be in the woods than anywhere else. Don't get me wrong, I love to be out in the woods and listen to the wind in the trees too, but there is just something about New York... Last weekend the three of us took Amelia to the city for the first time. I couldn't wait to see what she would think of it. We went to the American Girl Place store where her doll Francesca got her hair done, we went to the world's largest Build a Bear, and we went to the Museum of Natural History. We weren't sure we were going to make it to the museum. Ever since Amelia saw the movie "Night at the Muse@m", she has been terrified that if we went, the dinosaurs would come to life. She insisted that she didn't want to go, but in the afternoon she asked us if we could go to the museum. Well, we jumped on the subway and got there with only about an hour and a half left to spare. We only had time to see the dinosaurs and the Easter Island Head (which, thanks to the movie, Amelia kept calling Dum Dum), but she LOVED the museum. In fact, she loved everything about New York. She can't wait to go back. That's my girl! Since New York is still an easy day trip from where we live, I told her that we can start planning to visit a couple of times a year. There is so much more to see, and I am so happy that I now have someone to share it all with without worrying that they really aren't having fun! Next trip, we will go to Chinatown!

I also have to admit, Brian was a trooper on this trip. He rode the subway for the first time and actually admitted it wasn't a bad way to get around. He stood in line for a very long time so he could watch Amelia's doll get her hair done. He insisted on carrying all of our bags, and he even carried Francesca (the doll) all the way up Fifth Avenue in her little carrying bag. Brian is an AWESOME dad for girls.

Swim class

Amelia has been taking summer swim classes at our local high school. Today will start the fourth and final week of classes, and I can't believe how much she has learned. She started the classes three weeks ago completely unwilling to put her face in the water, unwilling to try anything, and when she did let go of the wall, she clung to her teacher. Now she loves using the kickboard by herself and will bob her head under the water. We are so used to her being fearless that we were amazed that she didn't jump right in and take off like she does with everything else. She really loves being in the pool, and it was so nice to be able to see her gain confidence and skills over the last few weeks. She improved every day, and now we are going to look for a year-round swim class for her to take (and somehow squeeze it in with gymnastics and Chinese school!).

Brian's shoulder surgery

Brian had his surgery today, and everything went really well. His surgeon repaired his shoulder, so now instead of a 100% chance that it will dislocate again, he now has a 95% chance that it won't. It will be wonderful to not have to worry about it dislocating all the time. I think that Brian is really happy to have this behind him. Truly, he probably should have done this years ago, but it seems like this past year has been especially hard to wait since he had so much healing to do after the last dislocation. He has always worried so much about it dislocating, especially during the winter when the sidewalks and parking lots are icy. It will be good to not always have that fear in the back of his mind. He says he already feels better (although I keep warning him that the pain meds have not worn off yet). He still has a long road of PT ahead of him, but this feels a lot like we have finally reached a milestone. The big challenge during this week while he is home recuperating is to make sure he actually rests and doesn't try to build, repair, or paint something. I actually took the whole week off so I can stay home with him and watch him like a hawk, um, I mean "encourage him to rest".

Dragonboat

A few weeks ago our local FCC chapter had our annual Dragonboat Festival, one of our favorite events. Each child brings a homemade "dragonboat" and we have dragonboat running races, sack races, and a dragonboat parade and a big picnic. I think Brian gets even more excited about building a dragonboat than Amelia does. While most kids bring Dragonboats that they have decorated themselves (which is the point, after all), he spends so much time designing ours and then builds ours out of cardboard and paper mache, and then paints it elaborately. This year our dragonboat included battery packs. Why, you ask? Because the eyes light up and flash. Next year he is trying to come up with a way to make it breathe smoke (I told him he might be going a little overboard with that idea, but Amelia thinks it would be cool). I pitch in by making the tail (which I thought was fabulous), but the rest is all Brian. Amelia helps with the decorations in the end. I was actually afraid that it was really going to be too big and heavy for her to wear and run with this year, but it didn't seem to slow her down. Although Amelia will probably use this one for a few years, we are hoping that Natalie will be home with us to go next year and Brian will get to make another one for her.

Each year there is a raffle, and Amelia wanted this Chinese Lion Dog puppet last year but didn't get it. She wanted it so much that she even asked me if we could look for one when we go to China. This year there was another one in the raffle, and she was so excited this year when they called her name!

Dinky Doodle

Today I was listening to Amelia sing "Yankee Doodle". She had sung it several times before I realized that she thinks the song is "Dinky Doodle". I wonder how long they have sung that in school and whether anyone noticed that she didn't quite have the lyrics right. I ended up giggling a little too much over it, and she got upset with me. I told her that I love her version. It is almost as good as her version of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" which goes "Baa Baa Black Sheep, Heavy Heavy Wool". Cracks me up every time...

Believe it or not, we have a name (and a story)!

I have waited a little while to post this, just because we have waffled so much over names over the past three years, but I think we have finally made a decision. Natalie. Natalie has actually always been on our list and one of our favorites and has always had a lot of meaning for us. We even considered it for Amelia's name, but decided that she just felt like more of an Amelia (and boy were we right!). Even though it has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember (my favorite doll growing up was even named Natalie) I have always been hesitant because it has become so popular and I worry that there will be five Natalie's in her class at school. However, we got a wonderful sign that this is what our next daughter's name should be and have decided that it really is the perfect name...

When my mother-in-law was sick toward the end of her life, she told us about all the things that she wanted us to look for in her house after she was gone. She had made detailed (and I mean DETAILED) lists of which items she wanted each of her sons and daughters-in-law and Amelia to have. We found a list of her jewelry and who each piece should go to and why. I guess I should back up and say that although we have been in the process of adopting a second child for a very long time, my mother-in-law rarely mentioned it, and rarely commented when we mentioned it. Amelia was the light of her life, but she rarely spoke about her future second granddaughter. My mother-in-law's name was Nancy. When we found the list of her jewelry, at the bottom she listed that her "N" pendants should go to "Erica and Brian's next daughter if her name is something starting with an "N", like Natalie..." I don't recall ever mentioning to her that we had considered that as a name. When I saw that she had not only thought about our second daughter, but had planned to give her something that had been hers, I started to cry so much that I had to excuse myself from the room. Brian knew exactly what I was thinking. It really meant so much to both of us to know that she thought of her, and to see a name that we had both always loved in that context and in his mom's handwriting, we knew that we had found our name. It makes us so sad to think that she and Brian's dad will never know Natalie, but I think it gives us comfort to know that she at least thought, even briefly, of her granddaughter being named Natalie. So she will be named Natalie, in memory of Brian's mom.

Strawberry picking

Yesterday Amelia and I and friends of ours all went strawberry picking at a local farm. It was a beautiful day, and the girls loved picking the strawberries. I wanted to get enough to make some freezer jam and have enough to make strawberry shortcake. I should first tell you that I haven't gone strawberry picking as an adult, so my mom has always been the person to tell us how many strawberries we can use. Last year we picked raspberries and it took a huge amount of raspberries to make five jars of freezer jam so I assumed it would be the same with strawberries. I was so wrong. We picked WAY too many strawberries. We filled two of the containers in the photo above. I feel like I have done nothing but mash up strawberries all weekend. So far I have made 11 jars of freezer jam, 1 strawberry pie, eaten several bowls of strawberries on my own and encouraged everyone else in the family to eat as many as they could, given large bowls of strawberries away to neighbors and family, and we stil have a huge amount that I need to figure out what to do with. I think tomorrow I will put the rest in freezer bags for strawberry shortcake later in the summer. We sure did have fun though! And to show you that I haven't learned my lesson yet, I am already planning to go blueberry picking next month!

Another bad day at the movies

Last night Brian and I took Amelia to see Up. We had all been looking forward to it based on all of the ads that have been on the D*sne*y Channel for the past several weeks. It looked adorable. If you haven't seen it, don't read this post. I don't want to spoil anything for you. I guess overall the movie was good, but not at all the cute, funny and uplifting movie that we had expected it to be. Firstly, for those of you who have seen it, you can imagine that it wasn't the best movie for people who have just lost their parents/parents-in-law and have spent several weeks going through old photographs of them and thinking about their lives. I know it was just a cartoon, but that part was really hard for Brian and I.

The worst part of going to this movie was that Amelia was completely beside herself for the entire movie. Most of the scenes were scary to her, and parts were so intense for her that she was sobbing on my shoulder and saying (loudly) that she just wanted to go home. The people around us must have thought that we were the meanest parents because we didn't take her out of the theater when she was freaking out, but honestly I wanted her to stay to see that everything ended OK. If we had left during the worst part for her (when the explorer captures Kevin) she would have asked us for weeks what happened, and we wouldn't know. I was hoping that she would feel better about the movie if she saw a happy ending, but even the happy ending didn't help. She was pretty upset until she fell asleep when we got home. It isn't the first time that she has reacted like this during a movie. She was very upset at R*atat*uille and Happy F**t as well, but I think this movie bothered her the most. I don't know why she has such strong reactions to movies that we see in theaters, maybe the darkness and the large screen and the loud sounds make everything more intense. At any rate, I think it will be quite a while before we try to see another one.

It wasn't all bad, and I think I would have enjoyed the movie if Amelia hadn't been so upset. I thought that the dog was adorable. It just wasn't the cute movie I had hoped it would be.

Shopping for shorts - wish us luck!

It is unheard of...Amelia has actually outgrown all of her shorts! To help you understand just how monumental of an occasion this is, she has worn many of the same shorts for three summers, and some would still fit around her waist but they were getting far to short to be appropriate. I had her try on all of her shorts the other day, even the hand-me-downs from friends, and I was shocked that most of the ones that I was still willing to let her wear are really tight on her. We are used to her pants getting too short way before they get too tight, so I think we were just shocked to have something fit her too snugly. My mom called yesterday to see what we were planning to do today and asked if she could come visit for the day. I told her that we would love to see her, but that she would have to accompany us on a shorts-finding mission. This might be tricky since usually shorts that fit her in the waist are still around the 3T-4T size and are then not long enough for her. Are there any stores other than Ch*ldren's Pl*ce that make shorts with an adjustable waist?

UPDATE: We were very successful at our very first stop - T*rget! All of their girl's shorts and capris had adjustable waists, and she even fit into some of the 5T outfits. My Mom came with us and we had so much fun picking out the outfits and Mom even ended up buying most of the clothes for her. Thanks Mom! Amelia is now all set for the summer (and judging by the waist sizes when they aren't adjusted, she will be set for at least next summer as well!)

Brian's mom

We have sad news. Brian's mom passed away a week ago Friday, only two months and a day after his dad. She had been sick on and off for a long time and went into the hospital with severe pneumonia on the Friday before Mother's Day. About a week later, they told us that the antibiotics weren't helping and she was put on comfort care and then hospice care. Brian and I and his brothers were at her bedside for almost a week, and she passed away very peacefully. The past few weeks have been so difficult and we feel lost. It is hard to imagine that Brian and his brothers have lost both parents in such a short time period. We were prepared on some levels for his Dad, but not for his mom. We have spent a lot of time this week going through old photos, and we all know that we need to start the process to sell his parents house, but it is so difficult to do. His parents lived there for over fifty years and the neighbors are like family. We will make it through this, but it is difficult to think about how much will be different this year and in all the years to come. Amelia was very close with Brian's mom, they were buddies and loved to pick raspberries from the bushes that grow at their house. We have talked about planting some raspberries at our house in her memory.

Ironically, Brian's mom died on the day Brian was supposed to have his shoulder surgery. He postponed the surgery when we knew that she was so sick and still has to reschedule it, so we don't know when that will be. Although the adoption is the farthest thing from our minds right now, it is still difficult knowing that this will be pushed back as well, probably into 2010. I will have to tell our agency that we can't look at files until much later this year. It is probably for the best at this point, we have so much else to deal with right now.

My wonderful husband

Look what my wonderful husband is making for us! We have wanted to put built-in bookcases on either side of our fireplace since we moved to this house. Brian has decided that this will be the one project he finishes before he has his surgery in a few weeks. He has been working like a madman to complete this. It isn't finished, but when I woke up this morning he couldn't wait to show me that he finished one side AND FIT ALL OF OUR FAMILY GAMES INSIDE!!! These games have been in a pile in the corner for at least two years and we couldn't stand looking at them. This is better than Christmas! Both sides of the fireplace will have a cabinet on the bottom and bookshelves on the top. I will definitely post photos of the completed project, but I was just so excited about this that I couldn't wait!

Good fortunes...

Not that I plan my life by fortune cookie fortunes, but these were the last two that I got, and I got a kick out of them (OK, one is from a cookie, one is from a lottery ticket...). If you can't see the photo clearly, one says "There may soon be a new person in your life" and the other says "You will soon be crossing the great waters". Hmmm...

I finished a project!

Last night I finally finished a project. I have so many started right now, I decided to start trying to finish them. This is a little sweater that I started quite a while ago. It is the first crochet project that I have done that isn't a blanket. I think it turned out really cute. (OK, so I still need to add the buttons, so I guess it isn't REALLY finished, but almost!)

Our handsome devil

Here is our handsome boy, Spencer. He has a vet appointment tomorrow for a check up and updated shots. The last time we went to the vet, our vet walked in the door, took one look at him lounging on the exam table (he was as relaxed there as he is at home), and said, "Well aren't you a handsome devil!". We couldn't agree more! He is such a sweet cat, lets Amelia carry him around like a baby, and actually LOVES to have his belly rubbed.

Tianjin?

I have been having some very vivid dreams lately, and the oddest one (that I remember) was one of me looking for a place called Tianjin (or possibly Tianjie) on a map of China. I googled Tianjin the next day, and found that Tianjin is both a city and a province near Beijing, but one that I didn't really remember hearing about. I am sure that this is just my subconscious working overtime, but won't I be surprised if this ends up being where our child is from? One of my travel mates dreamed about Hunan before we got our referrals for our Hunan girls...

The past month....

This past month has been a whirlwind of ups and downs. First and most importantly, Brian's dad died a few days after St. Patrick's day. He had been ailing for quite a while and had gone into a nursing home at the beginning of February when it got too difficult for his mom to take care of him at home. He was actually doing much better, and we had started to talk about ways we could bring him home for the day on Easter, so it seemed very sudden when we lost him. He was a wonderful man, always made me feel so welcome in the family, and was such a giving member of the community. We will miss him so much, and I think it is finally starting to sink in that he isn't here anymore.

A few weeks ago, Brian went to see his doctor about his shoulder and finally got the go-ahead to schedule his surgery. His surgery is now scheduled for the end of May. We are praying that everything goes well and that he will be good as new and won't have to worry about his shoulder ever dislocating again. Of course, we are also looking forward to being able to move ahead with our adoption. We have put ourselves on "hold" until after his surgery, and we have told our agency that we will be able to view files from the SN list beginning sometime over the summer.

Last year I had contacted a local surgeon who specializes in one of the specific needs that we are willing to consider. His office staff was wonderful and very encouraging. They told me that they were very willing to review the files of any children we might be looking at, and we thought we were all set. We talked a lot about how fortunate we felt to have such a good specialist right in our community. So, I called the office again once we knew that it was possible that we would be looking at files this summer, only to get a voicemail message saying that the doctor had retired and his entire office has closed! I was completely devastated and as close to my breaking point as I have been throughout this adoption. I did remember that there was one other specialist in our community, so I called that office. The secretary didn't really understand what I was talking about when I asked if they could review a medical file for us. Finally she told me that she would have the doctor call me and answer my questions. The doctor called me at home and we talked for a long time about her experience, long term prognosis of the types of needs we are looking at etc. She was wonderful! She said that she would be happy to look at the medical information for us when we finally have a referral. She really put my mind at ease and confirmed for me that they types of needs we are considering are needs that will most likely be very manageable. Somehow I feel like this might just happen after all! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and Amelia has been talking for weeks about making a leprechaun trap. We saw the idea in Family Fun magazine. The idea is that if you catch a leprechaun, they have to tell you where they keep their gold. She has been very excited about this, and has even made plans for the gold. We made the trap, which we made to look like a little leprechaun hat. Daddy made the little ladder, and since leprechauns like to break rules, we put out a sign that tells leprechauns NOT to climb the ladder. We put gold coins on the tops of the hat, but underneath the coins, unbeknownst to the leprechaun, is a little trap door. When the leprechaun climbs up to take the coins, he will fall through the door (we made sure that the trap was nice and soft so that the leprechaun would not get hurt). Well, it turns out that leprechauns are hard to catch! We definitely had one in our trap last night, but instead of finding the leprechaun, we only found what he left behind. The trap was full of gold chocolate coins and a little note that says "Hee Hee Hee, Can't catch me!" I am sure we will be trying again next year!

Crochet-mania

OK, I think I have a problem. Since we have been waiting for our second child, I have crocheted five baby afghans, started two more, have yarn for several more after that, and have also just started a big girl afghan for Amelia's room since she has outgrown her baby-sized blankets. I probably could have stopped after the first five or so, but then I realized that most of the baby blankets that I had made were too girly and we most likely will be matched with a little boy. So I started some projects in boy colors. As if that wasn't enough, a new craft store opened in our neck of the woods this weekend, so of course I went to check it out and came back with yet another pile of yarn for yet another project. Oh, and did I mention that all of these projects are in addition to the quilts and fleece blankets that are in progress? I have at least three quilts that I am working on right now, one for Amelia, one for the baby's room, and a One Hundred Good Wishes quilt for the baby.

One of the reasons that I have so many projects is that we have a little craft club at work. Some of the other women and I get together during lunch time to work on projects. It definitely helps alleviate the stress of the day and gives me a chance to work on projects that I don't have time to work on at home. And I think that working on baby projects helps me get through the adoption wait.

Now, I realize that there is no single child in the world that could ever actually use all of these blankets, so I do have plans to donate the majority of them to Project Linus after we find out whether we are referred a boy or a girl. For now, I am just enjoying my little burst of creativity.

Ah, technology!

A few weeks ago, my old clunker of a computer got a very nasty virus and basically became unusable. Even though I really wanted a new computer, I had decided that I would let it limp along until it didn't work anymore before I would get a new one. I have to admit that I wasn't too sad to turn the old thing off and order a new one. I actually splurged. I ordered a nice desktop, and I also ordered a new mini netbook. I have wanted one since I saw someone at a meeting last year with one, and decided that it would be the easiest and most portable way to update the blog from China when we finally go. The last time we went to China, our families ran up enormously large phone bills by calling us everyday to get updates on their new grand-daughter (and I suppose they wanted to check on us as well). This time, I am hoping that if I keep everyone updated with a blog, I can hopefully save them hundreds of dollars. Anyway, I cannot believe how quickly the blog page just loaded. I feel like I have been living in the dark ages, and now finally have technology that WORKS! I am actually giddy because I just uploaded a photo from the built-in card reader. That is probably standard for most of you, but after the convoluted way that I had to upload photos with my old computer, the card reader is like a dream. Sometimes the photos never showed up at all, or it would take so long to upload that I eventually would give up. Is it any wonder that I have been so bad at updating this blog? Anyway, I am very happy with my new toys!

Now it is 2009....

So the latest news I guess is that there really is no news for now as far as our adoption goes. We are still waiting for Brian's surgery to be scheduled. The nerves have recovered all the way down his arm, but his hand is still a little tingly/numb. It has really been pretty amazing to see how the nerves regenerate from the shoulder down, but it has taken so long. Brian is planning to call his doctor and ask if he is ready for surgery yet.

I called our agency the other day to let them know that we were still waiting for the surgery and that we still aren't ready to see any files. I was excited to hear that we are actually #19 on the list, and the agency's social worker thinks that we could potentially be matched fairly quickly once we let them know that we are ready, especially since we probably won't be ready to view files until the late spring.

The other exciting news is that Amelia is now very excited about the possibility of a little brother. From the moment we put our paperwork in, I couldn't shake the feeling that we would be adopting a boy this time, but Amelia has been completely set on getting a little sister and would not even talk about the possibility of a brother. A few weeks ago I was feeling really frustrated with the whole adoption and was talking to Brian about how I felt like we should really be preparing for a boy, but that I also knew that Amelia only wanted a sister. Not two minutes later, out of the blue, Amelia came up to me and said, "Mom, I have been thinking. I think I really want a brother." I don't know what prompted that because she couldn't hear us talking, but I am so glad that she is excited too.

The funniest thing is that we have been talking for two years about girl's names and have not been able to find a single name that we all like and agree on. However, we can come up with a long list of boy's names that we all like. Right now the front runner is Owen, which we all love. I am a big believer in signs since we had so many signs while we were waiting for Amelia that really showed us that we were on the right path. I was on the phone with my friend telling her that we all really like the name Owen, and a few minutes later she said, "You aren't going to believe this, but J (her two-year old), just brought me a book to read called Owen's Blanket!" It was a book that my friend's mother had picked up for the kids and J had never asked to read it until that moment. What are the chances?

Otherwise, we all had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to 2009! One of my resolutions - update this blog more often!