Bring on 2008!!!

Wow- it's 2008 and Baby E should be coming home this month, or early next month if all goes according to plans :) CAN YOU FLIPPIN' BELIEVE THAT?!?!?! I am really trying not to get too excited, because I know this next wait time is going to be the hardest. I don't know if it's because of Baby E's arrival or New Year's, but I am in that "get things done" mode...ready to clean, organize and nest!!!

Last night for New Year's we celebrated with Dwayne, Shasta, Pete, Becky & Paulie...he was everyone's New Year's Baby as you can see from his photo! What a awesome kid! We had a really fun time and it was nice to settle into the New Year with close friends.

This had been a great winter break, but I am sorry to see it come to an end. We go back to school tomorrow! When we come home from work, we will have some company....Lauren & Roy and their exchange student, Min Son from South Korea and her friend Shino from Japan are coming for a visit. They will explore D.C and Baltimore while they are here. We are excited to be able to show them the town!

For our anniversary (7 years!!!), my parents sent us off to the Greenbrier in WV- It was an AMAZING trip. It is very easy to see why it is the country's #1 resort! It was so relaxing and over the top. It is easy to get used to being majorly pampered! We ate an insane amount of superb cuisine so, yes, eating healthy & exercising is among my new year's resolutions! Instead of just one, I have come up with a list of the 8 things to do in '08. (My brother said, "What are you Letterman?!" And they are....

#1. Eat healthy

#2. Exercise

#3. Be a mommie :)

#4. Take time for me

#5. Take time for Randy & me

#6. Pay off debt-spend less

#7. Watch less t.v

#8. Tick things off the home to-do list

I know what you are thinking....My world is about to change with #3, so bye, bye to the rest of the list- and when that time comes, there will be nothing wrong with just focusing on my son!! Bring it on 2008!!!!

Stepping over the latest hurdle!

Today Baby E is 8 months old. It's one of those sad days....I just wish he were here. His I600 was finally approved- it took the US government 7 weeks and 2 days to process and approve it! Now, the document goes on to the NVC (National Visa Center). Once it is processed, it is wired to Korea for processing over there. The paperwork really never stops moving. It is always somewhere being processed and approved. Of course, there are NO time frames for any of this, so we really have no idea...The Holt web forum mentions 4 weeks wait for baby from I600 approval, but I don't know what that is based on, or if it is wishful thinking :) At least going into Christmas, we know that we have crossed a very big hurdle having the I600 approved.

As for the picture, thought some of you might enjoy my Mom's latest work...Fernando has no idea how his world is about to change!!!

Time keeps ticking away....

Time keeps ticking, ticking, ticking away....We are now waiting for I600 approval from the US government. This is the US Approval form that Baby E can be adopted! It was submitted on 10/31 and should be processed in 6-8 weeks....but, we all know how the government works!

We are also waiting on more paperwork from Korea- which include: Class B Waiver (formal acknowledgement that we are aware of medical conditions), NVC (National Visa Center permission for E to come to the USA with a one-way visa), Packet 3 (Packet 3 is sent out to your agency once your I600 approval arrives in Korea. It is returned by your agency to the Embassy and then the Visa appointment can be scheduled.). VI (Visa appointment in Korea), TC (Travel Certificate, official Korean passport). We have already received notification that his EP (Emmigration Permit, which is the Korean governments permission for him to leave the country) was applied for on 11/23. The "word on the street" is that it roughly takes 8 weeks from the application time to baby......We should get some type of notification when each piece of the puzzle is finished, but sometimes the notification part falls through the cracks.

In the meantime, I had a AMAZING shower...you can see the picture above of me passed out after opening all of the gifts! It was truly everything I had imagined and a confirmation that our son is SO loved.

We have decorated our tree in "baby theme", since this truly is his first Christmas! We have decided to leave the tree up until he comes home :)

Baby E is now weighing in at....drumroll please.....15.4 pounds! Not bad, since he started off at 3.8. He will be 8 months on December 22nd, and believe me, we are celebrating every month!!!

7 months old today!

Today is a good day. Today is Baby E's 7 month Birthday as well as Thanksgiving! He was my first thought when I woke up this morning! Yesterday we went to Baltimore to have another round of Federal fingerprints taken. It was a better experience than last time, when it took Randy an hour & a half to have his completed. This time, it took about 20 minutes and his images looked as good as mine. We said a little prayer at breakfast that they would be acceptable! Today was a very low-key day with my parents and a turkey :)
We hung my mom's cross stitch in the nursery. It was made for my first birthday. Evidently the hippo with his mouth open was the very first stitch she did, while she was in the hospital in labour with me! It is perfect in his room and adds such a personal touch. We absolutely love it!
Baby E's latest health update (on 10/22) says that all is well and that he is being "well cared for"- isn't that the best news?! He is now weighing in at 13.9 pounds and is rolling over! We just found out some information about being able to send a care package to his Foster Family, so that will be a task early next week. Very exciting! So, the wait continues with good news along the way....

Paperwork has been sent to Korea!!!

IT IS OFFICIAL!! As of this past Friday, the paperwork has been sent to Korea and the games can begin...from here the estimated wait time is 3 to 5 months. They have warned us (several times), that it could be longer based on paperwork "process time", which we all know really means, it could sit on someone's desk for a while. We are both trying to be optimistic and hope that it will move along faster. The hardest part so far has been the US Government (go figure!), especially the immigration department. We try not to get outdone, but it is not easy! (Believe it or not, I have to calm RANDY down, I'm the cool & collected one!) It's been a great lesson that if you are polite & nice, people tend to be polite & nice in return. Of course, we want to scream and yell because every issue is a delay in us getting our BABY!!!!!

Since we last wrote, we have got 2 new medical updates. Baby "E" is doing well and has started laughing, cooing & smiling. We will not get any more photos, and will only be given about a week's notice that he is coming home! We will meet him & his escort (who may or may not speak English) at the airport. We will continue to get a monthly medical update which is encouraging. He was seen by a dermatologist on Oct. 17th to get some medicine for a rash- poor little guy. That is a great sign that his foster family is taking really good care of him, which is a blessing, relief & comfort to us.

The nursery is painted, the furniture is set-up and we are working on the final touches! It has become a sanctuary for us. We read in there, or I write in Baby "E's" journal. Fernando even brings his bone in there to sit & chew!

I had a dream come true...Carolynn & Hailey came with me to register at Babies R Us, which was quite the experience! I don't know what I would have done without them. It was a fun time and I am very thankful.

Momo & Pops are getting excited! Momo started knitting an AMAZING baby blanket and Pops picked out the cutest "Future LBI Lifeguard" onezie! I can't wait to see them with our baby boy.

Grandma & Pap are thrilled too. Grandma picked out a cute sweater set for him and it's already hanging in his armoire! Great Grandma can't wait for the baby to arrive. We are all so excited!!

Meet our little baby boy!

So, our pastor once said, "If you think God doesn't have a sense of humor, tell him your plan!" Ha!!!! We couldn't have said it better ourselves.... Baby Girl from China in 2010, becomes Baby Boy from Korea in 2007! As of yesterday evening, it is official...... he's ours....and now we wait for the Korea group to call us with more detailed info about what to do next... :) :) :)

For those of you that don't know, Randy & I were given a "referral" just under two weeks ago, of a preemie boy from Korea. He was born on April 22, 2007 and has been cared for by a foster family since birth. He could be home in two to four months! He will be brought to us by a sponsor from our agency, so no traveling on our part....Yes, our minds are racing, yes we are going nuts, and yes WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! He will still be...."Baby E"....more to come on the name later! Isn't he so adorable?!?!?!?!

Options

OK, so we have reached a new frustration level....China's latest data is that they only processed 4 days worth of referrals in the past month. (Referral=Baby) Believe it or not, China only processed 4 months worth of referrals in the past year. At that rate, we would be receiving our referral in 2010.
Our options are:
1. Change countries, which means the wait time begins from scratch!
2. Go domestic, which means we have to do pretty much everything all over, including all of the agency fees $$$$$.
3. Apply for the "Waiting Child Program" through our current agency- actually we applied for this about a week ago. These children are "special needs", but the severity is a very wide spectrum. The "special need" could be something as simple as a birthmark! We filled out a very detailed medical form of what we would accept or not accept. There are about 200 people in this program, and it can run simultaneously with our current referral. We listed about 8 countries that we would adopt from.
4. Continue the weekly acupuncture & herbs...I truly enjoy the wonderment of it all, but the taste of the herbs is YUCKY!!
5. Go back to Shady Grove and pursue IUI or IVF
6. And of course, wait, wait and wait for a baby girl from China in 2010....that's not a joke, it's really looking like it could be 2010!
I think we are going to go with options 3, 4 & 6.....although at this point, option 3 could be the most promising :)