Happy Chinese New Year

http://www.hallmark.com/ECardWeb/ECV.jsp?a=2079901684953M91488948Y

Gender Change

I mentioned a few months back that we have decided to specifically ask for a "girl only" from China instead of "either gender." Today, our agency has approved our letter that we can submit to CCAA to change our request. We will be signing this document and forwarding to our agency soon. They will also be sending a letter with our document to CCAA. More and likely we would have received a daughter anyway from China but just to make sure Madelyn is a girl since we are preparing for a girl, we wanted to write this letter.

Here's what we are sending to CCAA....

Our dossier has already been submitted to you and logged in as of September 9, 2005. It is still our most heartfelt desire to adopt a healthy infant child under the age of twelve (12) months age from within your country.

In our original letter to you, we had requested a child of either gender. After much soul searching, we have decided we would like to specifically request a healthy infant girl, as young as possible.

As we are already the proud parents of a biological little boy, we feel our family would be complete with the addition of a beautiful little girl from your wonderful country. It is with our humblest hearts that we make this request and sincerely hope that our dreams of becoming parents to a baby girl will be realized. We give our most sincere thanks for taking the time to consider our request.

Thanks, Karen, for helping us with our letter. And if anyone is wondering why this doesn't mention that I'm expecting more boys, it's b/c they are not considered "here" until they are born. (All pregnancies don't gaurantee there will be an increase in family size and if anyone knows that, we do.) Our updated homestudy after we move into our house will include the new family additions.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year begins, January 29th. I've been watching all the posts on the adoption groups I belong to in hopes of learning more about this celebration.

This website has lots of info about CNY. Looking at the taboos and superstitions, looks like I need to get all my cleaning done today. I doubt this will happen but it gives me a good reason for having a messy place during the 15 days (hopefully we're moved out of here before the end of CNY).

"If you cry on New Year's day, you will cry all through the year. Therefore, children are tolerated and are not spanked, even though they are mischievous." This one makes me wonder what others in China really think about discipline. It's such a controversial issue around here. I'm not even going to tell my opinion of this b/c I don't want to start any "wars" on my blog.

Here's one I will not be following..."On New Year's Day, we are not suppose to wash our hair because it would mean we would have washed away good luck for the New Year." I like to wash my hair everyday unless I'm sick and can't get out of bed.

There's lots more on this website about taboos and superstitions that are really interesting. I'm pretty sure I will not be eating some of the Traditional Chinese Food due to my strict diet I'm on right now, but maybe I can find some sort of Chinese food that will fit with my restrictions. This site mentions many abstain from meat but since I've been put on a high protein diet, I can't follow this one either.

Next year maybe we can take all the kids to a Chinese New Year Celebration locally and let Madelyn experience some of her Chinese culture. I'm sure our other children would have fun too.

Secret Pal Strikes Again

Unfortunately I don't know which secret pal sent this but I should know soon after receiving the next secret pal gift this month. I received three bibs... one with a lady bug, "I Love Mommy" bib and one that says "I Love Daddy." I also received a Pooh baby hat, magnetic letters for the fridge, a coin purse in the shape of a baby sock with ladybugs on it, and a plastic ladybug filled with bath gel. The bath gel made the entire box smell good. I love the coin purse best of all though. It's so cute. Logan's goodies didn't make the photo b/c he took them immediately from me. He was excited to get the Disney pen and watch.

Thanks again Secret Pal.

February Scrapbook Exchange

I haven't yet received my January package for the scrapbook exchange but decided to go ahead and purchase February's to send out since February is going to be a busy month with moving (hopefully). This time the theme was Valentine's Day or Angels. I chose Valentine's Day embellishments. In the packet I'm sending to each person is 4 red squares with a heart hole punched into tin on top of the red square and a beaded heart glued on top of the tin. All of my scrapbooking supplies are in storage. Hopefully I'll get a chance one day to start back on our scrapbooks. I'm way behind on Logan's books. Not sure how I'll get caught up with four kids to work on, but at least I'll have some girlie supplies now to work on Madelyn's.

Postponed Moving Date

We just got word our closing date has been postponed and we have no date yet of when it will be. Right now there are no power lines run down our road and it could take a few more weeks. ARGH!!!!!

Logan's Cuteness This Morning

Sometimes my little man can say the sweetest things. I could just kiss him all over.

This morning I hear him in his room calling "Mommmmmyyyy." So, I get up out of bed and go to his room and he says "I had to go potty." He runs to the potty and when he comes out, we sit on the couch together and he says straight to me, "My sister is going to have curly hair like you, Mommy, and she's going to look like you when she gets big like me." Well, I doubt Madelyn will look anything like me so I told him, "Your sister is going to have black hair and it will be straight." I had bed hair this morning and it was wild and curly all over. Normally I have some really straight hair. He then tried to convince me my hair was black too. Well, in the dark it might have looked black, but it's not.

Later I ask him if he had a dream about his sister and maybe that's why she was on his mind first thing this morning. We talk about his sister from China almost daily b/c we want him to be ready for all the siblings he's getting in one year. He says to me, "Yes, and she likes trains just like me."

Online Baby Shower

I signed up for a cybershower on my September DTC group. I got a name with some suggestions and have just finished wrapping her gifts. My pal is decorating her baby's nursery in Snoopy so instead of baby decorations (b/c I don't know what she has already) I bought Snoopy sippy cups, Snoopy tumblers, Snoopy washclothes, and Snoopy bib. I also picked up some travel Johnson and Johnson bath products, girls tights, and a Melissa & Doug wooden toy. I'm going to try to mail it off tomorrow. On January 28th, everyone that signed up will be meeting in the chat room to have an online baby shower and open gifts. This should be fun and exciting. I don't really know these people b/c I haven't been very active in their chats but I do read all the posts that come through.

tagged again....

Five Weird Things About Me....

So, I was tagged by Kricket, but I can't think of anything weird about myself. Am I weird? Well, I think I am but probably no more weirder than most people. I'll have to ask for some help too. Let's see if I can come up with a list...

1. I get annoyed to find clothes hangers left with nothing hanging on them in the middle of other clothes. I like for them to be placed at the end with the rest of the empty hangers so when I need several at one time when doing the laundry, I can grab them and not have to search for any throughout the closet.

2. Since 2001, I've been in the hospital for surgeries or having babies every year and this year is no different.
2001 - D&C from a m/c
2002 - Delivered Logan
2003 - Surgery for Right carpal tunnel, then left, and then gallbladder removed
2004 - Ovarian Drilling surgery
2005 - D&C after loosing our daughter
2006 - Sometime in the next month or two, delivering twins
Hopefully 2007 and the years to come, I can avoid all hospitals.

3. How many people have three kids in one year? Yes, I'm only carrying two now but if you count Madelyn arriving later this year, that makes three.

4. I grew up with 7 brothers and sisters but I am still an only child....2 stepbrothers, 1 half-brother, 2 stepsisters, and 2 half-sisters...no full-blooded brother or sister. I usually just say "brother" or "sister" when referring to them though, but at times like when we went for genetic counseling, I had to explain this to a complete stranger. It can tend to confuse others.

5. I always have trouble with one thing on a list. If it was "list 2 things" I can only think up one. Same thing with more than 5, I'm usually less one on the list. So, I'll leave this one for my comments I might receive and see if my friends/fellow bloggers can tell me what they think is weird about ME.

Now, I tag
Mary-Mia
Kendra
Lee-Anne
Susan
Shannon

4 Months Down

It was brought to my attention today that those of us with LID's 9/9 (that's us!) have 4 months down in the waiting for referrels. WOW! I didn't realize that much time had passed already. I know we're not close to getting our daughter's information but it does sound good to know our time is approaching. The last referrels out were mid to late April LID's. I'm still 5 months later away from their dates. At least we've got a few things to keep us busy until then.

They keep growing and growing and growing...

The Hooker twins are growing very fast and weighing in at 3lbs 2oz and 2lbs 15oz. They are measuring 2-3 weeks ahead probably due to my gestational diabetes. They seem to be very healthy boys according to the perinatologist. I'm possibly looking at a C-section delivery with them for several reasons. Scary, but I just want them here safe.

26 Days and Counting...

until we have keys to our new house.

When we first arrived to our house yesterday, we weren't sure if we could even get in to look around. The doors had been locked but fortunately the garage door had no lock on it and could be opened. The front porch is finished except for painting the rails. The inside had all floor covering down except the carpet. I'm pretty sure the vinyl in the bathrooms was not what we chose but it still looked nice and I'm not going to be picky and go back and have them redo it. It may even be nicer than what I had originally chosen.

There's no electricity inside so I didn't have the best lighting to take this picture. Our countertops were installed also this past week. The dishwasher and microwave were sitting in the floor. All that's left to the kitchen is installing the sink and locating the stove. We have to provide our own fridge. We also never paid the builders to put knobs on the cabinet doors or drawers and they did. It's plain silver ones but that will do until one day we decide to replace (long way down our list of "to do's").

Our built in bookcases were installed this week also. There's one on each side of the fireplace/tv niche. There's definitely not enough space on these two for the books we have.

Light fixtures are going up this week I'm sure. They were sitting in boxes in our bedroom. We're also still waiting on toilets, sinks, carpet, yard work, more trimming and patching a few places in the walls, knobs and faucets for tubs, and I think that's it. The rest then will be up to use to get it exactly how we want it which will be a long project.

I'm going to wait a little longer after we move in before calling Nathanson's Adoption Services for an updated homestudy. I think it would be best to wait until we're living box-free and maybe have Madelyn's room set up with some things of hers we have already bought.

Scrapbook Exchange

To help pass the time (like I need that) with the delays in referrals, a scrapbook exchange was started on one of my DTC groups. I just sent off my first exchange...a sheet of snowflake stickers. Each month is a different theme and we purchase 10 of the same item and mail them to one person. She then puts everyones together and mails out a packet to each person of the collection for that month. Here's a list of themes:

January: Winter Wonderland or Chinese New Year
February: Valentine’s Day or Angels
March: Celebrate Adoption or Pandas
April: Spring or Easter
May: Anything Baby!!!
June: Ladybugs or Travel
July: Summer Fun or Citizenship (4th of July)

The money limit is .50-$1.00. I looked at several stores before deciding what to do for January and then just settled on snowflake stickers. I really wanted to find something with the Chinese New Year theme but I was not successful. Next month should be easier looking for something with angels or Valentine's Day.

2nd Brown Envelope

Some people applying to adopt from China don't even received one brown envelope. We must be special b/c we got another one yesterday in the mail. The GUZ numbers were the same but I emailed HFS to let them know.

FANTASTIC NEWS

We got a call that we close on our new house on January 27th. I'm so excited. That means only three weeks and two days left in our apartment. We actually have the apartment rented until middle of March but that doesn't mean I'm staying here. Gotta go pack some more boxes!!!

Quilt Squares

I'm sending off 103 of my quilt squares to Cheryl's Quilts. I gave up trying to make one myself. One day I'll pick back up but right now is not a good time. I get uncomfortable sitting at the sewing machine. The twins are giving me lots of back pain so I'm having to cut back on lots of things I've been doing. I am sending an extra three for my 100 Good Wishes Quilt just in case there are mistakes made, square is too small, one gets ripped, etc. One day maybe I can start back with a begginer's sewing class and then build up to quilting. I learned quilting it's not for someone that can't sew at all.