Started painting the Nursery!

Well today I finally decided to start painting the nursery - I know we still have a good 4 or 5 months before referral but to be honest I feel like we have soooo much to do around the house etc... and I feel like I am running out of time. I was leary about painting the nursery already but I figure what am I waiting for? It is driving me more crazy to not just get it done than to walk by a finished room for the next 5 months. I think once I finish it I will feel less anxiety!

I only did the first coat today - we plan on doing stripes so once I get them done I will post pics - stay tuned!!

FINALLY in AUGUST!!!!!!!

Well we weren't sure if we would see referrals in October but to our surprise we not only got them, we got them early!! I woke up on Friday October 21st to RQ reporting that the CCAA had referred up to and including Aug 2, 2006.

OMG can I just point out that they are FINALLY in August!!!!! The referral batch was really small, in fact the smallest EVER but I was happy for a couple of reasons:

• to see referrals for this month at all


• to see that they made it in to August


• to see that they came over a week sooner than we thought!


• also there is only group 271 ahead of us now at our agency!

What does this mean for us?? Good question LOL - I am still thinking March or April for a referral and we are fine with that!! I totally expect they will skip a month either Nov or Dec and then I feel it will take them 3 to 5 months to finish Aug and of course we are Aug 29th. Now according to RQ polls there is no one logged in Aug 19-27, which should help to speed things up for us a little.

As always - only time will tell!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!!!

Soooooo much to be Thankful for this last year, we have had family members come through some scary health issues, we have had good health with the rest of our families and friends, I am back working full time at the place I have always wanted to work (and loving it), we have been able to start getting excited about China as it inches closer to us everyday, all in all it has been a great year and we are so Thankful to be here happy and healthy.

This year we wet to Amy's for dinner on Saturday (also celebrated Meghan's 3rd birthday) and we went to my Mom and Dads on Sunday. As we were in the kitchen at my Moms I actually stopped and thought (and said out loud) next year there will be a highchair at the table!!!! OMG can you believe it?? It is so unreal LOL - can't wait!!

We also rec'd a call on Sunday telling us our crib was in!! My parents bought our crib for Mhyia and it is sooooo beautiful!!!! Mike and John headed over to pick it up and returned with it - we realized it may be easier to get it up the stairs if we take it out of the large box - well as luck would have it it was damaged :( Back to the store it went and another one has been special ordered. That was not so great but either way we have another one on order and hopefully the next one will be fine!!

RQ's Projections

Anyone who has followed along the last almost 6 years knows that I am sooooo thankful for a website called china adopt talk, also know as Rumor Queen. It has literally been a life line for us thorugh this adoption. I go on it at least once a day up to 10+ times a day if it is around referral time.

Each month RQ projects the next couple of months out right after the most recent referrals. This month RQ's projections put us at Dec/Jan for a referral - OMG!!!! To be completely honest I am not expecting a referral until March/April but it is still exciting to see our date even in this little box let alone mid way in the box!!!!

Sooooo exciting!!!

61 MONTHS!

Today marks 61 months since our file was logged in with the CCAA - as always I really can't believe it. Although today I am not upset about it - yesterday the CCAA matched 14 days worth of families and that was VERY exciting!! It not a huge batch in terms of babies but we will take it and I LOVED marking 14 days of my calendar at work. Kimberly marched right over to my desk and made me mark them off as soon as I got in. We are "hoping" that we will have about 6-7 more months to go still?? Which seems like nothing really after this long. Mike actually called me at work and said "maybe we should paint the nursery?" - so cute - I LOVE that he is starting to get excited too!!

Our file as I said was sent to the CCAA and logged in there computer system 61 months ago and since then it has been sitting on a shelf - maybe in one of these pics?? who knows?





I have also been thinking about Mhyia alot lately - I have been thinking that she is probably born now and waiting for us in an orphanage - it upsets me that she will be there for months before we get her but we will make up for lost time once we have her in our arms. Of course I am hoping for the youngest baby possible and am hoping that if we do get a referral in March/April - I am hoping she would have a birthday of Aug/Sept or dare I even say October!! Only time will tell!

14 Days - in the September Batch

Well the last two months have been the wost batches EVER - in terms of RQ numbers they were 20 & 21 families (of course RQ families is only a fraction of the world total) but none the less brutally small months.

I got up on Wednesday morning and pulled up RQ as I do most mornings close to the end of the month and I saw July 28th!!! which was 14 days!!!! - in terms of RQ families it is 46 which is more in line with this year but it covered 14 days and I was soooooo excited!!

They are almost done July!! I can't believe that in approx 6-7 months (or possibly less?) we will be seeing our little baby girls face. It has been sooooo long and I still feel un-prepared and like its not real.

What this 14 day batch says to me is that they are not going to try to stretch out July to last until Dec (even if they skip a month) and that they (CCAA) will do a large number of days - both good news!!

ONLY 31 LID'S UNTIL US!!!!

Our first concrete project!

My Birthday!

Fantastic Fundraiser - Sep'tember 17th!

Visit with a friend!

One person's trash....

5 YEARS - since our file was logged in at the CCAA

I would NEVER have imagined I would ever type this post. When we started we were soooo excited and were told 9-12 months. In fact when we started in Jan 2006 people who were then receiving referrals had waited 7 months. I can remember the night they told us at Adopttalk that it could reach 18 months, I cried all the way home.

I am not going to lie - these 5 years have been very hard - during this time soooo much has happened..births, deaths, marriages, vacations, job changes etc... when I stop and think about it it is even harder. We have friends/family that have gotten married and have 2 kids now and yes we are STILL waiting. I think about how Mhyia's Uncle Kevin will never meet her and it makes me sad.

I think the hardest part is the fact that I have not yet gotten to a point where we can truly be excited - we are always cautious. It has always been so far away that we actually have tried not to talk about it too much. Although I want to talk about it - I want to be excited, I want to look at and buy some baby items without feeling silly or guilty. I want people to ask me how it is going and about the process etc... and I find that most people don't ask us ANYTHING and that is hard. I think the past couple of months we have finally started to get a bit excited, and although we are still cautious we are moving forward - we see a small light at the end of the tunnel.

I think about her everyday and I wonder if she is born yet, I think about the woman walking around who is pregnant with her and how this will be the hardest thing she will ever do yet in some strange way the best thing that will ever happen to us. I wonder where she will leave her and if she will leave a note, I think about how we will love her more than anything and try to give her everything yet her birth mom will never know where she is or who she is with. I think about that day we will receive her referral and how I pray she will be as young as possible, and at the very least have her here before her 1st birthday.

We can't wait to go to China, we think about it all the time, we can't wait to meet her, we can't wait to go back to our hotel room with her and hang out just the three of us, we can't wait to be home with her and get on with our lives as a family of three!

So today although in one way sad in another way it is exciting because we are always one day closer to her and to be honest as much as this wait has been the worst thing EVER I feel like the timing is now perfect and we are soooo ready for her!!

New Bed - KING - YAHOO!!!!!

After 10 years we are FINALLY getting a new mattress - YAHOO!! I don't know why we just don't like to spend money on things we literally use everyday. So we finally bit the bullet and went out to get one - then the dilemma became Queen or King??

We currently have a Queen and it is fine but oh how we have always said we would love a King - the only problem is if we go to a King we need a new bed, sheets, comforter etc... but we decided to go with it!! Also with Mhyia coming there will be that little bit of extra room to sit and watch Saturday morning cartoons!!

We also bought a new bed frame which is a 4 poster black bed - LOVE it!!! Can't wait - 2 weeks!

Furniture makeover for Mhyia

Happy Birthday to my hubby - Aug 17th!!

Mhyia's closet

I am not exactly sure when I will do Mhyias room but I knew that before anything I wanted to cut the closet opening to make it wider. The closet itself isn't a bad size but the 1 door opening was ridiculous.

I am surprised by the amount of people with August lid's that have their nurseries started and even finished - I was planning on maybe starting it in the Fall/Winter but I thought I would do the closet while on vacation this summer. To be honest now that we have done the closet I just want to keep going and do it all!!! I need to start by cleaning out the room, up to this point we have used this room as kind of an extra large closet. After that is done I can start painting - hopefully this Fall.

So far this is what we have done with the closet!!

Before:

Mid Construction:After:

59 month LID anniversary

Today marks 59 months since our file was logged in in China with the CCAA - next month will be 5 years! To be honest there really isn't much to say other than that!

Citizenship papers acknowledged

Earlier this June Mike sent off our paperwork to Citizenship Canada to start the process for Mhyia - we received a confirmation letter from them on July 12th stating that they received our application and that it would take approx 20 weeks to complete (from June 28th). Wow the government works quickly and efficiently...LOL

Going to be an Aunt and Uncle again

Well Mike and I are going to be an Aunt and Uncle again!! Mike's sister Amy is pregnant with their second child!!

Meghan will be a big sister which should be cute and hilarious knowing Megs - Amy is Due February 2012 - we can't wait!! Another little baby to love!

July Referrals - 2011

Well referrals arrived right at the end of the month again - which is good because at least there seems to be something you can count on! The CCAA only referred "20" RQ families which is the WORST batch we have ever rec'd. It was 6 days which is a half decent number of days but like I said a brutal batch of referrals. They did up to and including July 12th.