Friday, March 23, 2007
Who Am I Kidding?
There is no way I want to wait until summer is over to go and meet my daughter. I want to get on a plane RIGHT NOW and fly to Astrakhan. I guess hearing that we're so close to getting a referral, coupled with the fact that I've been talking to two families who will be heading to Astrakhan in just a few of weeks, has made me realize how excited I am to be so close to meeting my little girl. All of my previous patience and zen-like attidue is gone. Stu just rolls his eyes at me and says that I'll change my mind tomorrow. But I don't think so. I WANT TO MEET MY HOT DOG!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Rested and relaxed...sort of
S. and I had a wonderful vacation. The weather was perfect; we spent our days at the beach, our afternoons at the pool, and nights with hanging out with my grandmother. A good time was had by all. S. did get a bit homesick by the last couple of days; he missed M. more than I expected (although I suspect that was forgotten within 30 minutes of seeing each other when they began fighting over the same toy). It was a great getaway, and it's really nice to be home with Stu and M. again.
This vacation gave a glimpse of how much I love summer with the boys - playing outside, swimming, picnics, the zoo, etc. I actually caught myself being excited about not getting a referral until after summer. But when I got back home and checked my email, I found that our region is moving pretty quickly again. We are currently #4 in line for a girl in our region (with our agency) and it's been stuck that way since December. Well, I found out that the #1 and #2 couples ahead of us have travel dates for their first trips. That moves us up to #2 in line for a girl, with a possible referral as early as May. Suddenly I'm ready to hop on the next plane and meet our daughter. My level of anxiousness just increased exponentially now that we could get a referral in just a month or two. We're still not sure what we are going to do (in regards to waiting or not) but with the recent developments, we need to come up with a decision soon. So much for the feeling of relaxation I achieved on my vacation!
I also wanted to send a congratulations out to J., my co-worker and friend who is leaving today to pick up her daughter in China. I can't wait to hear the good news that S. is finally in your arms.
This vacation gave a glimpse of how much I love summer with the boys - playing outside, swimming, picnics, the zoo, etc. I actually caught myself being excited about not getting a referral until after summer. But when I got back home and checked my email, I found that our region is moving pretty quickly again. We are currently #4 in line for a girl in our region (with our agency) and it's been stuck that way since December. Well, I found out that the #1 and #2 couples ahead of us have travel dates for their first trips. That moves us up to #2 in line for a girl, with a possible referral as early as May. Suddenly I'm ready to hop on the next plane and meet our daughter. My level of anxiousness just increased exponentially now that we could get a referral in just a month or two. We're still not sure what we are going to do (in regards to waiting or not) but with the recent developments, we need to come up with a decision soon. So much for the feeling of relaxation I achieved on my vacation!
I also wanted to send a congratulations out to J., my co-worker and friend who is leaving today to pick up her daughter in China. I can't wait to hear the good news that S. is finally in your arms.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...
This will be be last post for at least a week. Tomorrow morning S. and I are heading to Florida!! I can't wait to soak up the sunshine and get a little R&R with my favorite 4-year-old. While I hate that poor Stu and M. are being left at home, I'm sure they'll have a good time, watching basketball (Go Cats!), and taking lots of naps. I really think M. will enjoy having some one-on-one time with Daddy.
When we get back, Stu and I will talk to our coordinator and come up with a decision on whether to hold back our dossier until late summer. We're definitely leaning towards that and I'm really looking foward to a fun summer with the boys.
I'll update when we return. Adios!
When we get back, Stu and I will talk to our coordinator and come up with a decision on whether to hold back our dossier until late summer. We're definitely leaning towards that and I'm really looking foward to a fun summer with the boys.
I'll update when we return. Adios!
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
No news is....no news
Things seem to be moving very slow in our region right now. And surprisingly, we're really okay with this (or at least I am; I think Stu would jump on a plane tomorrow if we got the call). When we turned in our dossier we expected to be traveling around this time, based on our previous adoptions and with the most recent families in Astrakhan. Now it looks like it could be June before we travel on the first trip. There are still a lot of other families in front of us that need to get referrals before it's our turn. I can't complain about that because it means more of the kids will be joining families.
So if it looks like we won't be going on our first trip until June, we're tossing around the idea of holding back our dossier and waiting until September"ish" to travel. Don't worry, it would be before they matched us with a child - we would never leave our little girl in an orphanage for a day longer than necessary. We would just let them know to put other families ahead of us for a few months. Our rationale for this is that if we're going to be waiting for at least 3 more months, what's another 2 months after that? We'll get to spend the entire summer with S. and M., just hanging out and doing what we want, without the stress of impending travel, etc. And S. is a child that thrives on routine. He'll be starting a 4-year-old program in the fall and be going to school every morning, 5 days a week...sniff, sniff. I would hate to be gone for a lot of the summer, bring home a new baby sister, and then have him start school all within a span of 3 months. I think he would have a horrible time with all of the change. Plus, little M. could definitely use more time as the baby of the family.
Those are our thoughts right now. We won't make any decisions until April, once we see how the region is progressing. Of course, a million things could change. But the thought of a carefree summer with the boys does sound awfully appealing!
So if it looks like we won't be going on our first trip until June, we're tossing around the idea of holding back our dossier and waiting until September"ish" to travel. Don't worry, it would be before they matched us with a child - we would never leave our little girl in an orphanage for a day longer than necessary. We would just let them know to put other families ahead of us for a few months. Our rationale for this is that if we're going to be waiting for at least 3 more months, what's another 2 months after that? We'll get to spend the entire summer with S. and M., just hanging out and doing what we want, without the stress of impending travel, etc. And S. is a child that thrives on routine. He'll be starting a 4-year-old program in the fall and be going to school every morning, 5 days a week...sniff, sniff. I would hate to be gone for a lot of the summer, bring home a new baby sister, and then have him start school all within a span of 3 months. I think he would have a horrible time with all of the change. Plus, little M. could definitely use more time as the baby of the family.
Those are our thoughts right now. We won't make any decisions until April, once we see how the region is progressing. Of course, a million things could change. But the thought of a carefree summer with the boys does sound awfully appealing!
Thursday, March 1, 2007
My Pet Peeve
Okay, this post will be short and sweet but this is something that has been bugging me a lot lately.
We live in a small town where everybody knows everybody and there are no secrets. It has its advantages and disadvantages. Most of the time I appreciate the fact that it's such a close community. However, we're known as the family that has "those two boys from Russia." Seriously, whenever I go into town (okay, how country does that sound??), I get at least one comment from someone about our boys being adopted or being from Russia or both. Not that we mind that everyone knows this. We're very proud of the fact that we adopted our children from Russia, and would never want them to feel ashamed of that fact. And we absolutely don't mind volunteering the fact that we adopted the boys from Russia if it happens to come up in natural conversation. I just don't get why that's the first descriptive out of everybody's mouths. Why can't we be the family with those two adorable boys, or even the family with the son that always wears boots (S.) and the little wild one (M.)?
Last night we were at an event and I went up to introduce myself. Once they heard my last name their first response was "You're the one with the two Russian boys." Arrrgghhh. I mean, it's not like I would go around describing my niece as having come from her mother's uterus. I realize that adoption is a special, and fairly uncommon, thing in our area. But I hate that my boys and family are constantly labeled with that fact.
Okay, enough ranting. I guess that wasn't so short or sweet.
We live in a small town where everybody knows everybody and there are no secrets. It has its advantages and disadvantages. Most of the time I appreciate the fact that it's such a close community. However, we're known as the family that has "those two boys from Russia." Seriously, whenever I go into town (okay, how country does that sound??), I get at least one comment from someone about our boys being adopted or being from Russia or both. Not that we mind that everyone knows this. We're very proud of the fact that we adopted our children from Russia, and would never want them to feel ashamed of that fact. And we absolutely don't mind volunteering the fact that we adopted the boys from Russia if it happens to come up in natural conversation. I just don't get why that's the first descriptive out of everybody's mouths. Why can't we be the family with those two adorable boys, or even the family with the son that always wears boots (S.) and the little wild one (M.)?
Last night we were at an event and I went up to introduce myself. Once they heard my last name their first response was "You're the one with the two Russian boys." Arrrgghhh. I mean, it's not like I would go around describing my niece as having come from her mother's uterus. I realize that adoption is a special, and fairly uncommon, thing in our area. But I hate that my boys and family are constantly labeled with that fact.
Okay, enough ranting. I guess that wasn't so short or sweet.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
All Quiet on the Western Front
So Stu has been bugging me to add a new post to the blog, but the truth is I don't have much to talk about. Things in our household have been remarkably calm and quiet (knock on wood). Usually we are in constant state of chaos, sickness, or are just plain busy. Recently things seem to have settled down into a nice quiet routine. We've had a lot of down-time and Stu and I have both really enjoyed just hanging out with the boys each night. We've hung out with our families. This past weekend we took the boys to an indoor pool with my MIL, niece and other family members. It was so much fun and the boys had such a good time! It was a great way to get rid of the cabin fever we've all been suffering from, and the boys were completely worn out by that night. Yeah! I did get a little freaked out while we were there. Both of the boys enjoy the water and S. is getting to be a very good swimmer (with a life jacket on). But he's getting really brave so I have to keep a constant eye on him to make sure he's not getting "too brave". M. still wants to be held the entire time he's in the water. But I couldn't help thinking, "What the hell am I going to do when we bring Hot Dog home this summer?" Chances are we'll be spending a lot of the time at the pool (our cousins have a really nice pool in their backyard that we go to constantly). How am I going to watch S., hold M., and hang onto Hot Dog too?? While we are absolutely ready for a third child, I still have moments where the actual logistics of having a third child scare the heck out of me! But I guess we'll deal with that when the time comes.
For now, I'm enjoying the calmness that has enveloped my family, because chances are it won't last for long!
For now, I'm enjoying the calmness that has enveloped my family, because chances are it won't last for long!
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Current status
It seems as if everyday someone is asking what the status is with our current adoption. I think that things went so fast with the adoptions of S. and M. that they are expecting us to bring home HotDog* any day now. But things have slowed in the Russian adoption world due to some regulatory changes. And since we are requesting a girl this time around, we expected to wait longer for a referral. We think we'll be traveling in mid-April at the very earliest, more likely May/June. I'm actually hoping for later for several reasons: 1. Stu's sister is getting married in late April and I would hate to miss all of the celebrations. 2. April/early May is Stu's busiest time of the year for his job. 3. We've been to Russia 4 times, all in the winter; I'm really looking forward to traveling during warm weather this time. I can't imagine how much easier it will be to travel without winter coat/gloves, bulky sweaters, etc!
And honestly, we're in absolutely no hurry this time. M. is doing so good with his weekly OT (for his sensory issues) and I think he needs to be the "baby" for a little while longer. His little personality is really blooming right now. Poor S. has been ready for a little sister since the day we brought M. home. But he's going to have to wait a little bit longer.
The only downside I see to traveling during that time is that the second trip will now require me to be in Russia (by myself, yikes!) for almost a month...I'll do an entire post on that soon. Which means that I'll miss the nicest part of summer with my boys. May/June is when it's warm, but not humid, and we can stay outside literally from the time we wake up until we go to sleep. The boys are such outdoor kids. By the time we get home and settled with the new little one, it will be the HOT and HUMID. Yuck!
So anyway, we'll hopefully hear some good news by late March/early April; that sounds like so far away but looking at the calendar shows that it's really not too bad of a wait at all.
*HotDog is the name that S. came up with when we mentioned the idea of a little sister to him. He is adament that is her name regardless of what other names we've suggested we might call her. We have no idea where he came up with it but so far (4+ months) it has stuck and she's officially called HotDog by friends and family.
And honestly, we're in absolutely no hurry this time. M. is doing so good with his weekly OT (for his sensory issues) and I think he needs to be the "baby" for a little while longer. His little personality is really blooming right now. Poor S. has been ready for a little sister since the day we brought M. home. But he's going to have to wait a little bit longer.
The only downside I see to traveling during that time is that the second trip will now require me to be in Russia (by myself, yikes!) for almost a month...I'll do an entire post on that soon. Which means that I'll miss the nicest part of summer with my boys. May/June is when it's warm, but not humid, and we can stay outside literally from the time we wake up until we go to sleep. The boys are such outdoor kids. By the time we get home and settled with the new little one, it will be the HOT and HUMID. Yuck!
So anyway, we'll hopefully hear some good news by late March/early April; that sounds like so far away but looking at the calendar shows that it's really not too bad of a wait at all.
*HotDog is the name that S. came up with when we mentioned the idea of a little sister to him. He is adament that is her name regardless of what other names we've suggested we might call her. We have no idea where he came up with it but so far (4+ months) it has stuck and she's officially called HotDog by friends and family.
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