Cyber Shower

Some of us from our January DTC Yahoo group had a cyber shower today. Each family gets another family to send a shower gift to, and everyone opens their gifts at the same time. We received the nicest gifts from Amy, Eddie, and Morgan. They sent us a butterfly spinner that has cute little butterflies and ladybugs that spin and rol around inside it. Amelia loves it and can't wait for her sister to play with it. They also sent matching hooded bath towels and washcloths with a very cute fishy theme, and an adorable ladybug crib sheet. The ladybugs are the exact same purple, pink and green that I am using in the baby's room! Thanks so much for the wonderful gifts! We appreciate them and can't wait for our little girl to be home so that we can enjoy them with her!

Secret buddy

We got a wonderful surprise on Friday afternoon at the end of a very long and stressful week. We got a huge package from our secret buddy! This package contained so many great things for the baby. We got the most wonderfully soft blanket (Amelia is trying to convince me that it is hers), a cute hooded bath towel with a princess crown attached, bath items, princess-themed bibs with really cute sayings on them, a Cinderella sippy cup, an outfit, an E1mo doll that makes sounds like he is blowing kisses when you put his hand up to his lips (Amelia is trying to convince me that E1mo is also hers), a cute ladybug bib, and a thoughtful card. Thanks secret buddy! We have been thinking of you and I hope that all is well!

My big girl

Xin Nian Kuai Le and Happy 1 Year LID-versary

In just a few hours, it will be Chinese New Year. We are celebrating tomorrow with me going to Amelia's preschool to read a book and hand out hong bao to the kids in her class. I love Amelia's school so much for so many reasons, but this week I am especially happy because they have actually done a whole unit on China and Chinese New Year. Another little girl in the class was also adopted from China, and her mom brought in a bunch of Chinese-themed stamps that the kids have been making art projects with. Their teachers have been reading China-themed books all week, and they have made paper lanterns to hang in the room. Every day her teachers tell me that Amelia stands up during story time and talks about whatever book they are reading for that day (mostly because they seem to all be books that we own and read often!). At one point she stood up and talked about the Great Wall and why it was built (to keep the bad guys out). She is so proud to be Chinese. Anyway, I love her school, and the director has told me that since we have already had one child there, a spot for the baby is just about guaranteed. I plan to call them often after Amelia goes to kindergarten next year, just to remind them that we are still waiting for our second child and that we would love for her to attend there as well!

Tomorrow also is the one year anniversary of the date when our paperwork was logged in at the CCAA. It is definitely a milestone, and I am happy that we have one year of the wait behind us, but unfortunately we will probably wait at least two more years before we hear anything. I do like the fact that the LID anniversary falls on Chinese New Year this year though!

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy New Year!

Froggy quilt

I finished this quilt top last week when I had a day off. This will be a wall hanging in the baby's room. So far, the nursery has a garden theme with frogs and ladybugs. I love the way this quilt top turned out, and I am really excited that I finally figured out how to miter the borders!

Themed Hong Bao!

@lympic red envelopes
Amelia's @lympic shoes


Yesterday I was out shopping and decided to pick up some extra hong bao (lucky red envelopes that adults fill with lucky money and give out to children as part of Chinese New Year), and look what I found. I found @lympic-themed red envelopes, complete with the @lympic rings and a rat (for the Year of the Rat) playing several @lympic sports! Our family really looks forward to the @lypmics, especially the summer games, and have been really excited about the B*eijing games ever since they were announced. Ironically, when we adopted Amelia, she came to us wearing a pair of 2008 "@lympic" shoes. The design on them certainly wasn't the offical @lympic design, but they had a yin/yang symbol and the colors of the @lympic rings on them in place of the zeros in 2008. I always wondered how, in 2003 in a very rural part of China, a baby in an orphanage would end up with 2008 @lympic-themed shoes. I think it just shows how much of a big deal these games are to China. I believe that the @lympics has been a big reason for the big slow-down recently, and I am truly hoping that things will turn around after the @lympics are over and more effort can be directed toward getting children who need homes "paper-ready" so that they have a chance to be adopted.

The nursery is started!

I made these curtains a couple of months ago, and they are hanging in what is currently our guest room but will someday be the nursery. Even though they don't match anything else in the room right now, it is nice to see them hanging there as a reminder of what the room will someday be. I have held off making anything else for the room since we aren't quite ready yet to give up the guest room, but I think I would like to start making some other things - maybe a dust ruffle or a diaper stacker - and put them away. I have all the coordinating fabric and all the patterns and plans in my head for wall quilts, dust ruffles and the like, but I really haven't been in too much of a hurry to work on it. Plus, getting a chance to work on any of it with an almost five year old is next to impossible. Anyway, I wanted to at least post the curtains. I also came across the hardware that we will need to put the crib back together when the time comes. Brian had neatly packed it away in a small box and clearly labeled it, but I hadn't seen it since we moved. I found it the other day, so now we are all set to put up the crib whenever we need to!