7 Months

We have now been logged in at the CCAA for 7 months, woo hoo.

Thank You SB for our May Gift

We want to thank our Oct2006DTCYahoo Group Secret Buddy for our May gift. The theme for May was "Ladybugs, Pandas, and Dragons". We recieved a Dragon book, panda barettes, panda toy, ladybug votive holder, ladybug frame, ladybug yard stake, and Blaine got a large container full of forest animals. Thank You SB. We will post photos soon.

Update

I told everyone I would let them know what we decided to do about Kindergarten and we have decided. First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all of their insight and personal experiences concerning this issue. We recieved a few comments and A LOT of emails from concerned family and friends. We have decided that instead of sending Blaine on to Kindergarten that he should spend another year in Pre-Kindergarten. He will remain at the same school, but will have a different teacher. With his dad leaving for Iraq, we thought it would be best to keep him in a familiar environment. We also thought he could use another year to mature, and work on his social skills. Those seem to be more important at his age than what he knows. Thanks again everyone for your insight.

Nov. 7, 2005? Are you kidding me?

Well, the CCAA sent referrals this week. Congratulations to those families who waited 19 months to see their precious children's faces. November 7, 2005 was the cutoff date, which means a little over 1 weeks worth of referrals were made this month. If things continue at this rate, we will get our referral in about 4 years.

When? and Are you trying to be like Angelina Joli?

I will start with the second one first.
No, we are not trying to be like Angelina Joli. Unlike Angelina Joli, I can not have biological children(the easy way, anyway) and I want to be a mom, so I adopt. I applaud her for bringing international adoption into the spotlight so that more orphans around the world can find a home, but I am not adopting to be like her. We are adopting because we want to grow our family, and China has a very good program.

When? We don't know exactly. Our Dossier (all of our paperwork and legal documents) was sent to China in October of 2006, that is why we have a DTC date of Oct. 13, 2006. The China Center for Adoption Affairs Logged our Dossier in at their offices on Nov. 13, 2006 (our LID). Our Dossier then went to Translation, and is currently Pending Review. The Review Room is where they will look at all of our documents to make sure everything is the way it is supposed to be. If they have any questions about any of our paperwork, they will ask it while it is in Review. We are currently hoping that we make it through the Review Room with no problems or else our Dossier could get held back, and our Referral could be delayed. The CCAA is currently reviewing documents that were registered with their office in April 2006. The CCAA goes in the order that they receive the Dossiers. After we get through the Review Room, our Dossier will go to the Referral Room where our Dossier will be matched with a babies file. Currently there are about 20,000 people in front of us waiting for a referral, so we are expecting it to take awhile. Probably close to three years. The baby will still be between 6-12 months, because we won't be matched until we get to the Referral phase.

Nov. 2006 LID Hair Bow Exchange

These are the hair bows from our Nov. 2006 LID yahoo group's hair bow exchange (the November Nightingales)

This hair bow is from the LeMaster's family in Ohio. May's theme was "rainbow" I love the corker style hair bows, and can't wait to put it in Chloe's hair.

April's theme was "pink and purple". These are from the Williams family, also in Ohio. They have already adopted one little girl from China, and are waiting for their second daughter from China. They also sent some really cool Chinese stickers and tattoos for Blaine that he just loves! Thanks to both families for some really cute hair stuff.

I tried to put the hair bow in Blaine's hair just to see what it would look like, and he was not having any of it, BOYS!

Oct 2006 DTC Secret Buddy Gift for April

April's Theme "April Showers Bring May Flowers" Didn't my Secret Buddy do a great job?

Thank You Secret Buddy! Once again we loved everything!

Pictures of my "Baby"

We went to my mom and dad's today for lunch, and I decided to take my camera. They live in the swamps of Louisiana and my son Blaine loves going over there for a visit. He had so much fun. Here is is "posing" for the camera. I didn't tell him to do this. All I said was "Blaine, stand over there and let me take your picture", and this is what he did. I love my little peanut head.

We went out to dinner the other night at P.F. Changs and this was my husbands fortune. (click on the cookie)



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I don't think anyone would consider Iraq "Wonderful"

Not much to report

OK, I haven't posted here in awhile, nothing of substance anyway. I want to keep this Blog specifically for Chloe stuff, and right now, there is not much going on as far as our adoption is concerned. I also try not to think about it too much because it is still such a long way off. Believe it or not, I haven't even bought anything for Chloe in about a month! I am trying to pace myself.

We have applied for a waiting child off of our agency's waiting child list, but we are not putting much hope into that. This is the 4th on we have applied for since beginning our journey, and we haven't been "chosen" to be parents yet.

My grandmother died about three weeks ago. She was suffering from Alzheimer's, so I am happy she no longer has to live like she had been living. I miss her, but as far as I am concerned she "died" a long time ago when she stopped recognizing any of us anymore. I know it sounds horrible to say the word "happy" but if you have ever had a loved one suffer from Alzheimer's you know what I mean. I know I wouldn't want to "live" like that.

I think I forgot to post a picture and thank our Secret Buddy for our April gift. April's theme was "April Showers Bring May Flowers" and our Secret Buddy did a great job. Chloe got a rain jacket and outfit, Blaine got a paint splatter type toy (which he loved!) and I got a flowered latte mug which I drink my coffee out of every morning. I didn't get any pictures yet, but I will probably post some eventually. I know our Secret Buddy really works hard on the gifts she sends us every month and I want to give her the recognition she deserves. Thanks Secret Buddy!

Let's see, anything else? Oh, today is my baby's (Blaine age 4 www.blainereed.blogspot.com) last day of preschool. On Monday he has to have his tonsils out. He is so upset about school being over, having to have his tonsils out, and knowing that his daddy will be leaving next month for training before his deployment to Iraq. I am also still torn about him going to Kindergarten. He is definitely smart enough to go on the Kindergarten, but I am not sure he is mature enough for Kindergarten. His teachers are no help, they say it is up to Joe and I. I am no good at making decisions, so I don't know what we are going to do. His speech is still kind of babyish and the kids and teachers have a hard time understanding him sometimes but I don't know if that is reason enough to hold him back. He goes to Speech therapy twice a week, but I don't think it really helps that much. I guess we will wait until August to make a final decision. I may just keep him back because of all that he will have to go through next year with his dad being gone and everything. Anyone out there have any advice?

Have to go and get my baby now. They are having an ice cream party at school to celebrate their last day. Do you think it would help if I stopped referring to him as my baby? By the way I have not read through this post, so if it makes no sense, sorry. It is also important for me to note that I can't spell.

6 Months!

We have officially been LID at the CCAA for 6 months today!
Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers and waiting mothers!

Easter 2007 in Disney World

5 Months!

- Get Your Own


We have been logged in with the CCAA for 5 months, and to be honest, it has gone by rather quickly for me. Only 19 or more months left to go!

Stuff for Chloe

This top would look cute with Chloe's name embroidered on it in pink, don't ya think?


Imagine my surprise when I was going through my son's firefly book order and saw this book. Don't worry, Blaine got plenty of books too.

Another trip to Gymboree

I found these pajamas on clearance!

I had to go to Gymboree to get some things for Blaine for our trip to Disney World (we leave tomorrow, yeah!), and I couldn't pass up the ladybug stuff.

Lots of new stuff

Remember back in January I ordered some stuff from this little boutique online? Well, it finally came in yesterday. I am very pleased with the way everything turned out.

Our new Dog, Smokey

Lots of new stuff

My sister-in-law, Sara, bought these cute PJ's for Chloe.

I found this Asian baby doll at Big Lots of all places. I bought all the ones they had in stock (only 3). I figured I could give one to my Secret Buddy, and to the person who has us, when we find out who she is. I hope they aren't reading this LOL.

My sister, Lindsay, bought this for Chloe when she was in Washington DC last month.

Blaine begged me to buy these toys for his baby sister. Little did I know that was just the excuse he gave because he wanted them for himself.

Blaine also asked me to buy this for his sister. He wanted to know if he could open it and play with it until she came home. I asked him if he would like it if someone played with all of his toys before he got them. Guess what he said? Yes. Anyway, I didn't let him open it, but it does look like fun.

Allie, Audrey and Katie Beth

Some of our nieces came to visit this weekend. We have a total of 10 nieces and nephews plus numerous Godchildren between Joe and I, and we love to have them come and visit us. All of them live out of state, so we don't get to see them very often, but when we do, it is a lot of fun.

Allie (age 4, just 10 days younger than Blaine), Audrey (age 6) and Blaine (age 4)

A big hug goodbye! Blaine loves his cousins!

Katie Beth (7 months) is the happiest baby on the planet. I didn't hear her cry the entire weekend. All she ever did was smile.

Wainscoting, Fans and New Shutters, FINALLY

My brothers-in-law came this weekend, and helped Joe get a lot done around the house. They installed wainscoting in Chloe's nursery, installed fans under the carport, and made custom shutters for my windows for hurricane season. We survived hurricanes Katrina and Rita without them, but it wasn't fun. The new shutters will give me a bit of stress relief when Joe is in Iraq this hurricane season. Just one less thing for me to worry about.

I still have to paint, but it still looks nice.

These new fans will provide much needed heat relief this summer.

Finally, working storm shutters for my house! They still need to be painted, along with the front door, but you get the idea. Oh, we pulled out three huge bushes in front of the bench on the front porch as well, and we will need to plant something else there. I will post more pictures when everything is complete.