Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share PhotosIf you are waiting for your referral this month we admire your patience. This has been a really lonnng month and this week the rumours have been flying all over the place.
We have everything crossed for you that they will be arriving any day now! Come on people we have had ladybug sightings all weekend long.....BRING 'EM ON!
Lisa and Eammon we are rooting for you and are amazed at your patience and calmness and decorum as you wait yet another day to see baby Shanahan's little face.
PHEWWWWWW. The homestudy update is over and it was a breeze. Our sw is so nice and this is the 12th time we have met with her. I dont think we will have to meet with her again now until 6 months after the baby comes home as this update will be good until then. I asked a few questions about the slowdown but she didnt know anything other than what we already know.
Happy Halloweenie everyone and I will post more about that later on.
After I picked lily up from school yesterday I had to continue to gather paperwork for our homestudy update and needed to take her along. I felt really bad as this is not a fun activity for a little one to get dragged along on. Boy, was I wrong! First stop the Police Department: She loved seeing all the police officers and the place was humming as they had a conference going on. I was told that it was going to take about 30 mins to do the background check because they were so busy and that they were so sorry. No problem I would just walk around and show Lily all the posters etc. Not 2 minutes later a lady officer appeared and handed Lily a colouring book and her own police badge. You would have thought they had handed Lily the moon and stars. She was so proud. It was so cute cos she has no idea that it wasnt real and now she actually thinks she is a police officer! She strutted around all night wearing that badge and today she wore it to school. Next stop the accountant for my employment letter: she loves going there. She calls my accountant Uncle N and knows everyone by name. She gets stickers and cookies and chit chats her way from office to office. Her favourite person is her Goo Goo, she actually accompanied us on our trip to China so Lily has known her as long as she has known us but she is on sabbatical in China at the moment so she wasn't there. So to me it was an afternoon of endless errands but to Lily is was one great big adventure.....its all in your perspective!
As much as I am trying to remain calm and zen like it just isn't happening. I am not enjoying the fact that one year has passed by and we dont have any solid news. When we had reached this point with Lily we had a referral photo. We were really close. In fact we were so close that when we had to update our homestudy our SW had to hand deliver it to us cos we were getting ready to board our plane. But this time around, nothing, no news, just time to start the updates, the fingerprinting and possibley we will have to apply for a whole new I171h.There is something about the paperwork aspect of this process that freaks me out is isn't even the wait although it would be nice if we had made it into the review room.I am not sure when I started feeling this freaked out and I know it probably wont last very long cos I am a happy go lucky kind of gal and I am sure once the SW leaves on Tuesday I shall be calm again. Calm for me is warped speed so I shall be happy to be moving at warped speed again instead of supersonic speed. I have to go now and clean things, I clean when I am nervous so if you need anything cleaned send it my way. Hubby is staying very busy too so I guess it has got to him. Our SW is wonderful and actually I cant wait to see her and ask her if she knows anything or has heard anything, I doubt it but it never hurts to ask.
......that is what blogger said to me yesterday when I tried to sign in.
Not one to take things lying down I just decided to catch up on some other blogs. That is when I got the second rude awakening: Thou shalt not read other peoples blogs either! Blogger had a problem yesterday and quite frankly it got quite ugly!
But all was not lost I decided to have a look at my heritage and see what celebrity matches it would throw back this time. EGADS....apparently My Heritage had a problem with me as well last night cos I am now looking like a cross between Mother Theresa and some trans-sexual named Pete. OK so there were a few very flattering femme fatales in the mix but they got lost to me. All I can say is it is a good thing I am a happy little person who sees humour in most things otherwise I probably would have picked up the phone and dialed the plastic surgeons office and used the emergency contact number when the service picked up! Well after that surely things can only get better.....wrong. The reptile who moved in here on Thursday apparently likes it here and suddenly made his presence known giving me an absolute heart attack.
After what was a wonderful day with Lily at the beach things were heading downhill fast so I decided to run and hide in the comfort of my bed. Surely scaly, nasty, Lizard couldnt find his way through 2 rooms, up a flight of stairs, along the landing and all the way to our bed! Hubby was again at work and I didn't think he would want to be bothered with my YIKES phone calls and somehow I really didn't think that the fire department would see it as an emergency even though that is how it felt to me. But alas today is another day and when I came downstairs this morning there was a note on the coffee pot that read, FEAR NO MORE, LIZZY IS GONE. What a guy. He is just trying to make me feel better for looking like Mother Theresa and some drag queen named Pete while he looks like George Clooney. Oh and Lily she looked like Celia Cruz????
Right it's time to go and grab another day by the you know whats......and see if it is a little bit kinder.
I just came in here to write todays post but noticed a lizard, yes a lizard, so I am outta here until Jacob gets his arse home from work and gets on lizard patrol. I just rang him to tell him and he laughed and said he meant to tell me it slipped in earlier when he had the door open and why didnt I just try and open the door and let it out. HELLO SUNSHINE, it's me you are talking to, I DON"T DO LIZARDS! Last time this happened Lily thought it was great, she thought we finally had bought her a pet and she named it Harry. Poor deprived kid. Bye folks, see ya again when the coast is clear.....ackkkkkk.
Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share PhotosWhen we made the decision to adopt Lily back in 2000 we were ready from the get go. As the 13 month wait dragged on my heart just grew and grew. By the time we finally received our referral it was love at first sight. We were both smitten, our little girl was of course the most beautiful little girl in the world, she still is to us. Fast forward to 2005 when we started the process all over again and things were different. Sure, I knew I wanted another child, sure I was ready but deep inside I had this nagging feeling of how would I ever love another child as much as I love Lily. I really didnt think I could. I talked to my sister, I talked to my friends. Some of them directly and some indirectly. Jacob, on the other hand, was ready. So on the morning that we placed all of the papers into the FedEx envelope to send them off to the agency I took a deep breathe and blew in a kiss for my my soon to be daughter, Jacob did the same. I asked him if he was nervous and he said no. So what was the matter with me? This feeling has nagged and nagged. I know I will love her but I love Lily so much that I am sure she will know. This had been going on for months when I suddenly realised that something has shifted I dont know when it happened but it happened. My heart grew! Now I feel as if I already have two children, I love them both, even the one who isnt here yet. It is strange but I already know she is mine and now I want her home and I want her home now. I can love them both, my heart has grown big enough to love them both....phew.... and let me tell you that is a huge relief cos I was sweating it! So come on China, please hurry up. I know you have rules and regulations but I have a big heart and I am ready and so is Jacob and Lily too so lets get this show on the road.
Just another Sunday morning in this house. Jacob wanted his haircut which is something that I have been doing for him for years since all it involves is getting out the clippers and removing it all. This time around though things were a little bit different cos Miss Lil' decided she wanted to help and because she is the light of her daddy's life he said, yes. Can you say, C-R-A-Z-Y F-O-O-L. She did a pretty good job and he even still has his ears. Lets face it when you shave your head how bad can the mistakes be cos bald is bald and bald covers up all sorts of mistakes! I think this family has gone nuts.....not sure if China would like us so much anymore.Getting Started
Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share PhotosThings Are Getting A Little More Interesting Here
Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share PhotosAll Done
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There is something very special about being a little girl and having a daddy. I thought mine hung the moon and the stars every night just for me. When Jacob became a daddy to Lily he was still very new at it, in fact we were still in China, when he turned to me and said, "I finally get it". I had no idea what he was talking about until he went on to explain that he finally understood the closeness between my father and I. He said he had, until that point, thought it was odd. (Charming!) When Lily met her Grandpa for the first time she wouldnt even call him Grandpa she called him Daddy 2, "he's my daddy 2" and nothing would budge her. She loved her daddy but other men were off limits, she wanted no part of them but the very second she met Grandpa she loved him to pieces. We don't see her grandparents that often as they are in England but oh my goodness does she love them, her Nanny is her bestest friend and she loves her silly. She just received a photo of Grandpa yesterday and I have to share with you what she said, with her little heart all a flutter she stared at it and said, (now my dad will kill me for this) ohhh, he's such a pretty little boy! Take a look and see if you agree! And I can't leave Nanny out so I have added her website so if you are ever in England stop in and say Hello. They would love to see you, just don't call Grandpa pretty! http://jeannescountrygarden.co.uk/Pretty Little Boy....Lily thinks so.
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This morning as I got Lily dressed for school we went through the usual decisions about what colour shirt she was going to wear and then we matched her socks and hair doo dads. She chose red. Red is one of her favourite colours because she knows that in China in brings good luck. When she was picking out her socks and hair doo dads she chose the red ones with hearts on and proceeded to tell me that she thought she would kiss Mark today. After picking myself up off of the floor and pretending not to be shocked, mortified and horrified I asked why she thought that would be a good idea. She just looked at me and said, because he is so cute! HELP! She is 4 this is not meant to be happening. I am blaming it all on The Little Mermaid (LOL) because there is a scene in that in which the Prince is meant to kiss Ariel but he isnt doing it so everyone has to give him a push. When I picked her up today I tried to be very casual as I blurted out, did you kiss Mark. No she said, I was to embarrassed. I told her that means she is to young and needs to wait until she is at least 99. I hope she bought it! This is just to much for my brain to handle and if her Father gets wind of this one....well I guess its a bit late for that thought since he reads this!
When I was little I went out rollerskating without all the pads and helmets etc but Lily loves to wear this clobber. To bad it doesn't improve her technique! You have to admit she looks like she's been drinking crazy juice. The video is a little bit grainy and very short but you'll get the idea.
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On a not so cheery note, today I just found out that when our immigration paperwork expires after a year (in the state of Florida) that we now have to redo our whole homestudy including, medicals, police background checks, FDLE background checks, and our fingerprints to the tune of just over a $1,000. Sometimes I just want to crawl under a rock and not come out until this is over. I have called and emailed our Senators until I am blue in the face but they couldnt care less and say things like, that isn't their area. Okay back to being happy cos in the end I know it will al be worth it. But I will really have to tell Lily that the little brother that she has been talking about a lot lately isnt gonna happen cos one more is enough!! UPDATE.......... Hubby, being the calm part of this deal, has just managed to put everything into perspective. He just pointed out that with the longer wait times we will have to update our homestudy anyway so what difference does it make whether we update it at 12 months for immigration or at 18 months when we need to travel. All the papework will be the same and so will the cost. We had to do it for Lily and we will have to do it this time so why I am I so upset. When he put it like that it really didnt seem so bad. See, I told you he was the calm one. He is the ying to my yang ......yuck that was corny!
Since most of you reading this blog are adopting or have adopted from China I decided to throw in a little bit of Chinese trivia for todays bloggy business. So here goes. How many of you know the Chinese national anthem? No, me either. It is called, March Of The Volunteers. lines: Arise, those who do not want to be slaves! We will use our flesh and blood to build another Great Wall. China has reached the brink of national collapse. All the people have been making their last outcry. Arise! Arise! Arise! All our hearts become one. Let us face the enemy's gunfire. March on! Let us face the enemy's gunfire. March on! March on! March on! On! If you go to this address you can listen to it with the music. Lily loves it so we listen to it in the morning before she goes to school. www.china.org.cn/e-changshi/index.htm
This morning as I was doing my morning blog routine I came across the silliest, quirkiest, trick that has had me in hysterics, (yeah, like that takes alot) all day, so I decided to steal it from this persons blog and post it here. It originated on Jennys blog http://waiting4abby.blogspot.com/ This is what you have to do How Smart Is Your Right Foot?This is so funny that it will boggle your mind. And you will keep trying it at least 50 more times to see if you can outsmart your foot.But you can't!!!1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it.2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction!!!I told you so... And there is nothing you can do about it Silly isn't it. When I tried it for the first time Jacob was asking me a question and I didnt answer him right away because I was much to busy practising this rocket science and he got all narky with me until I explained what I was doing then he tried it and he then decided that my games are silly girl games.......damn cheek.
