Bittersweet photos

We got word last week from our agency that Sophie had taken a fall at the SWI. We were told that she was 'very blue around the eyes and face' but that she was okay. Needless to say, the news sent this mother into super vigilant, worried and stressed out mode. How hurt was she? Was she seen by a doctor? How did this happen? Thankfully my agency was wonderful and got all the info they could on the fall and even requested pictures so I would be prepared for what I might see on 'gotcha' day. I knew it would be a few days until we received the pictures, but I was suprised to get a message from Karla at Lifeline on Saturday. She had received the pictures and was warning me about how Sophie looked. She didn't want to forward them to me until I knew what to expect. When I called her back we discussed the extent of her injuries, that a Dr. had examined her and determined her eye to be fine, but that her left eye was swollen shut. It seems Sophie was playing on the playground with another little girl and they fell, the other girl on top of Sophie. I must say it was hard to see the pics when I finally opened the email (I had my sister look at them first to prepare me) but what struck me most of all is just how absolutely in love with her I am. She is so beautiful and confident, even with a black eye. I cannot wait to hold her and look into her eyes for the first time, face to face.

Big changes happening!

It's hard to even start this post because so much has happened since the last time I updated the blog. On Wednesday Chris and I decided we are going to move ourselves instead of having the military move us. Because of the rising cost of gas and claims against the movers, the military is offering us enough $ to move ourselves for us to be crazy enough to consider it. It will be enough to pay for the awesome Rainbow redwood play fort I have been trying to justify buying for the kids, but was unable to do so. Well, I still can't really justify dropping that much dough on a playset, but now we can buy it! But those of you who know us know the only real reason I'd even entertain the insane notion of moving ourselves. I have the secret weapon ... Chris. He is a one man packing, organizing, bubble-wrapping machine. A seriously built work horse. His obsessive compulisve ways kinda irritate me some days ( he comes home and notices the things I haven't put away yet, not the things I have) but in a situation like this, he's the absolute BEST! So, in order for him to 'do his thang' here, that leaves ME to go to China to adopt our precious daughter! I can NOT WAIT!! We have an itinerary set and it starts with me leaving here a week from today :)

Updated info on our girl :)

About a month ago, I requested updated measurements for Sophie, since I needed to know what size to pack for the China trip. No update was forthcoming (the last update we received on Sophie was from late November of last year) which wasn't too suprising, but I asked again, since I need a weight to give our pediatrician who will prescribe antibiotics to take along to China, just in case. We got word last night that our China coordinator had gotten updated measurements, but they weren't able to call us with them until this morning. That left me with some time to speculate on her current size. At 14 months she was 21 pounds and 29". If she were to stay on that same growth curve, 25th%ile roughly, then she would be 33 1/2" and 26 pounds. She would be taller than Isabelle, but thinner. So I was a bit suprised, once I received the new measurements I converted them to inches and pounds, and realized that she is a big 'un! She is 34 3/4 inches tall, about the 50th% for American girls, and almost 31 pounds, between the 75th and 90th% :) Time to do some quick shoppin'!

Staging area

We've been slowly but surely getting things together for Chris' upcoming China trip. It's amazing how many things you need to care for a two year old :) I find that no matter how many partially used bottles of Baby Tylenol I have around, I need to buy a NEW bottle of Baby Tylenol to take to China. And even though I have a million sippy cups, I have to buy NEW sippy cups to take to China. What's up with that? I couldn't resist all the adorable Hello Kitty stuff at Target the other night either. I mean, those glittery panties with Hello Kitty riding a scooter just scream Sophie to me. And the little Hello Kitty with the fairy outfit on? Tori and I were considering buying one for ourselves, it was so soft and loveable. Another favorite that will make the trip to China is a gorgeous blanket made especially for Sophie by my wonderful friend, Lisa. It is made of a Chinese toile by Michael Miller, designer of the ever-popular China Doll print. The opposite side is a soft pink minkie, with a pink satin trim. I LOVE being this close to bringing our Sophie home!!

Here it is!!!

The most coveted of documents in the world of adoption, the "Notice of Coming to China for Adoption", also known as Travel Approval. Ours arrived, unexpectedly, from our agency yesterday. Just a piece of paper, but more meaningful than words can express. And it even has Sophie's sweet face in the corner :) I don't understand anything it says except our names, but I know what it means! We're coming for you, Sophie!!

Our new house

It was a long week househunting. We spent the first day looking at 15 houses and only one of them was on our list at the end of the day. The next day we found a few more that we were interested in, but they backed up to a 2 lane highway and we came to the conclusion that our family produces enough noise, we don't need additional help from 18 wheelers and Harleys. The next day we found a house that had just come on the market, sort of a diamond in the rough, that was in an amazing neighborhood, was in an excellent school system and was a the tippy top of our price range. We went through the house once, left, and went back again. It was really just what we were looking for. So we went back to our realtor's office and worked on an offer, a really good offer. That night I slept fitfully dreaming of what would need to be done first in the new house. The following day we got the call while we were trying to stay busy in Target. Our realtor started out with "This has never happened to me before..." and I knew I didn't want to hear the rest. The house owner had decided she didn't want to sell and was taking the house off the market. End of story. It was really difficult to start out looking again after this blow. But we did. And we found a different house that has many of the qualities we were looking for. It's on a cul-de-sac, has great schools, sidewalks and is big enough to fit a family of eight. AND it is new so we were able to pick out the color of the hardwood floors, the carpet, silestone countertops, and the color of the kitchen. And I finally get the stainless steel refrigerator I've been pining for over the last 3 years :)

If I had only known....

That leaving town for 9 days and getting 'out of the loop' on the boards (ie less anxious and stressed about when our TA would come) would bring on our TA I would have done it long ago!! We arrived home late yesterday evening and spent a good part of this morning catching up. I was out mowing with Isabelle when 'the call' came from our social worker at Lifeline, our agency. I came in and checked the messages and Karla left a basic, "hey, it's Karla, call me back when you get a chance..." So I called back and she asked about our Easter and I asked about hers and I started to think maybe there was a problem with our dossier or something. Then she asked me if I was sitting down. The goosebumps started at the top of my head and went all the way to my fingertips when she said "Guess what we got in the mail today?" Even she was suprised that it came so quickly, only 46 days since we were logged in at the CCAA. So now we must wait a little bit more ... we should know our travel dates by the end of the week.

P.S. We did find a house to buy and we'll be closing on it May 23. But in light of the new news of the day, I think I'll post picutres and info about that later ;)

A reason to celebrate!!

Well I might not have any great news to celebrate right now but two familes that are near and dear to my heart sure do! They both were DTC this week!! My sister Andrea and her husband are bringing home Dane XiaoYu and my awesome friend Lisa and her husband John are bringing home Grace QingRong. It's going to be an amazing summer!!

Still waiting for news

Today marks day 33 since we've been logged in at the CCAA. Lately TAs for the special needs program have been coming really quickly, some as soon as 45-65 days post LID. I don't know if that trend will hold true for us, but a girl can hope, right? I find myself starting to really believe she's coming home soon and I start to get butterflies in my stomach. Will she like me? Will she grieve terribly? Will there be anything I can do to comfort her? I have tried to get ready by reading a lot about toddler adoption, but reading can only prepare you to a certain extent, reality can be a long way off from words on a page. We haven't received any updates or recent pictures of our girl, much to my dismay. My agency has offered to send a list of questions to the SWI so that they will hopefully be answered and returned to us on adoption day. I tried to ask questions that would help with her transition like, "When she's upset, what comforts her?" I am hoping that the answers give me enough insight into her personality to help us get through the first few days together.
Here are some pics I took from our trip to the park yesterday. Isabelle's favorite is still the swing ;)

Yesssss

Our house is SOLD! I had no idea how long it would take to sell and we were very pleasantly suprised when we got an offer after it had only been on the market for 4 days! Over the weekend our agent was able to negotiate an excellent 'back up' contract for us, just in case the first contract falls through for some reason. Now we can breathe a collective sigh of relief and move on to the next project...finding a house to buy! Now that's a little more fun in my book ;)



We had a GREAT weekend in Chicago at Lifeline's (our agency) annual reunion. We were able to meet with our amazing social worker, Karla, and to thank her in person for all her hard work in helping us bring our precious Sophie home. And we met Dustin, Lifeline's international director, and were able to express our incredible gratitude to him for considering us as a family for Sophie. We were home only 4 months with Isabelle and needed a family size waiver from CCAA to pursue Sophie, but Dustin and Lifeline 'went to bat' for us. How do you say 'thanks' for that?