Happy Halloween!!

These are from when we were at The Shedd Aquarium this friday. I will post pictures from today later this week.

Bathroom Makeover

Before





After






Well the "kids" bathroom is finally done. Dave had the majority of it done over a month ago. We just waited to have someone help us install the light fixture. Thanks Bob, we really appriciate it! So here is exactly what my husband did.

1. He put in new flooring.
2. He put in new hooks, a towel bar and and new toliet paper holder.
3. He took down the ugly border and then paited the room.

It looks a million times better. I of course, had so much fun adding all the cutesy stuff to the bathroom. We are not quite done with that but it is now so much more than before. The boys love their redecorated bathroom and say Diana will love it too!

Cute outfits for Diana

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Weekend Celebrating

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Well this weekend we did lots of celebrating of our LID. The boys and I went to a craft fair. (They were SOOOOO thrilled NOT.) Then I found the cutest children's consignment store in our town. Ok, ok so I've lived here for 3 years and have yet to wander in there before this weekend. Lookout world I have found a slice of little girl heaven. This store had so many cute little girl clothes that are used (you could barely tell on most things) and reasonably priced. Did I mention they were having a sale this weekend???? I got Diana a few outfits that I just hope will fit her during the right season. If not I will give them away or give them to her orphanage when we go to China.

We also took the boys to pick out their pumpkins and get their Halloween costumes. Bailey will be Superman and Matthew will be the red Power Ranger. They look so cute in them but I did not take pictures yet. Trust me there will be tons next week. We then went out to dinner at Red Robin. It is a chain and if you haven't been yet I urge you to go. This was our first time and I guarantee you it won't be our last. Can you say delicious????? I swear I will get back on my diet tomorrow.....

I still need to do some major LID shopping. Kelly and Jenny this means you....Check your calendars. Beware husbands!!

LID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I got home from work today to see the best email I have gotten in a long time. It was from our agency saying that we now have a LID of 10-17-06!!! That is awesome!! Basically what this means is that our wait truly begins now. Referrals are given out based on your LID. Right now it is taking 14-16 months after LID to get your referral. This can go up or down at any moment. Of course we are praying that it goes down at least a little bit but we realize its all in God's timing and when OUR baby is ready for us we will be there as quickly as we can for her.

Diana....we don't know if you have even been born yet but Mommy, Daddy, Bailey and Matthew love you and can't wait to see you Sweetie. You are in our prayers every day baby girl!!!

If You Give A Mom A Muffin.....

A friend of mine emailed this to me and I was hilarious. I JUST had to share. Enjoy!

If you give a mom a muffin, She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks.
She'll
remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the
washer,
she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the
freezer
will remind her she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of
hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook (101 Things To Make With A
Pound
of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She
will
see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her
checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by
her
two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and
hang
up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for
coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She
will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee,
her
kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

By Kathy Fictorie, based on "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura
Numeroff

Autumn, Scarecrows and Moons

One of the scarecrows...


Never saw a ladybug scarecrow before ;-)



The boys with a scarecrow

This weekend was really busy as are most but this one was definitely the most fun in a while. The weather was beyond perfect. I think it was in the 70's all weekend. Saturday we went to the Scarecrow festival a couple towns over. It is a yearly event where people enter scarecrows in different categories. There is a carnival, craft show and all sorts of family fun activities. We have gone for the past three years and have so much fun each year. This year Dave's brother, sister-in-law and our nephew (Matthew's God-father) joined us as well. I am posting a few pictures from the day.

Sunday was so nice out that the boys and I walked to our local park and the boys played. While they were playing I was able to read a little bit of my book about attaching in adoption. I am two thrids of the way through the book and it has been very informative. I will post more later about that. Anyway the walk to the park was so refreshing and beautiful. This is my favorite time of year to begin with. I love all the colors and the smell of autumn. I have posted a picture of some trees on an island in the middle of the river. It is soooo cool.

Did you take some time to gaze into the moon this weekend? I did and it was beautiful. I just wish I would have had my camera out to capture it. I will give you a brief summary of the history of the Mid Autumn Moon festival in China. This will be another tradition we will celebrate with Diana. Thanks to Tina for posting the info on her blog so I can just paste it here....

Also known as the "Full Moon Festival," the Mid-Autumn festival falls on the fifteen day of the eighth lunar month. At this time, the moon's orbit is at its lowest angle to the horizon, making the moon appear brighter and larger than any other time of the year. In the Western tradition, it is also called the Hunter's Moon or Harvest Moon. According to the lunar calendar, it is also the exact middle of autumn (which begins in the seventh month and ends in the ninth).

To the Chinese, this festival is similar to the American Thanksgiving holiday, celebrating a bountiful harvest. Compared to many Chinese festivals that are inundated with vibrant colors and sounds, the Mid-Autumn festival remains more subdued. Traditionally celebrated outdoors under the moonlight, people eat moon cakes and gaze at the moon. In modern times, barbecues with families and friends are also common.

A Historical Anecdote
The Mongol Hordes of Ghengis Khan subjugated the Chinese, and established the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th Century. However, many Chinese resented the fact that they were ruled by a foreign regime. In the 14th Century, Liu Bouwen helped plot the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty by organizing resistance. Secret messages were passed along in mooncakes.

I did a lot of thinking of Diana this weekend wondering if she has been born or even conceived yet. I can't wait to get to China to get our newest family member.

Weight loss

Well I thought I would tell you about my weight loss journey. I have struggled with my weight for years now. I joined Weight Watchers when the boys were a little over a year. It took me close to a year but I lost 45 lbs and weighed less than the weight that is on my driver's licenses for the first time since getting my license at 18. I then slowly began to put all the weight and then some back on. I joined WW again but after losing a little I stopped going.

Fast forward to May of this year. I was really disgusted with myself and decided to join WW again but this time I am determined to lose the weight and keep it off. When I joined I was at an all time high for me. Since May I have lost 24.2 lbs. I still have a long way to go but I intend to do this the healthy way and to keep it off this time.

Last month in another effort to become healthier I joined Curves. I have to admit I really like it. I go three times a week and am out of there in less than an hour. When you join they do all sorts of measurements and of course weigh you. They repeat this on a monthly basis to gage your progress. I am happy to say in the course of a month between this and WW I have lost 5 lbs and also lost 6.5 inches. Way to go me!!!! I know this is a lifetime battle but I know I can do it!

dtc presents

Go White Sox!!!!!

Ladybug, Ladybug....

Today my friend Kelly and I went shopping. We were celebrating the fact that I am finally dtc and also her dossier is finished being reviewed by the CCAA (Chinese side of the the adoption process). She got a really cool diaper bag and some pjs for her baby-to-be Hannah. I got a Swarovski crystal ladybug for me and then I got Diana a White Sox outfit. For those of you who don't know my husband he is a diehard Sox fan. I have been keeping an eye out for something Sox for Diana so today was the day. It is white with pink stripes and the Sox emblem and then it has a pink skirt. It is too cute!!

DTC

Well everyone we are one step closer to getting our baby girl!! Our dossier has been sent to China as of 9-19-06. I expected to get an email from my agency but happened on our parent access page and there it was in black and white!!!! Now we wait for it to be logged into China and our wait will offically begin.

Diana....Mommy and Daddy are getting closer to you. I don't think that you have been born yet but are already alive in our hearts. We love you and can't wait to meet you baby girl.

One Hundred Good Wish Quilt

For those of you who got this letter in the mail it is just another reminder of what we are doing for Diana. Those of you who did not get a hard copy of this please read on and you can go to the link in order to see some samples of the way these quilts are made. Currently we have not decided on a style. We will keep you updated though.

http://members.cox.net/~joannanorman/quilt/index.html

Dear Family and Friends,

There is a tradition in the northern part of China of making a "100 Good Wishes Quilt" to welcome and celebrate a new life. The quilt maker invites 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. Historically, the squares were scraps from their worn clothing and it is said that the luck, energy, and good wishes of the people who wore these clothes now surrounds the child when he/she is wrapped in the quilt.

We would like to follow the tradition of the 100 Good Wishes Quilt for our daughter-to-be. We would love for you to send a square of new fabric to add to Diana’s quilt. Any fabric that is beautiful to you will be beautiful to us, and to her. If you are interested, here's what we'd need: 1) 7" x 7" square(s) of material that has mostly cotton content (washed and ironed before cutting the square to allow for shrinkage). If more than one square is sent from your family please make sure you include a “wish” for each square.2) Along with your quilt square(s) please include a "wish" which could be a, poem, thoughtful quote, original thought, or whatever you choose, on a piece of paper along with your name. Please no larger than an 8x8 sheet! 3) On this piece of paper with the wish and your name, paste a small square of the fabric that you're sending for the quilt. This small swatch will help us to identify your fabric within the quilt. The piece of paper can be as simple or as fancy as you'd like to make it: you can handwrite it, print it out, scrapbook it, fancy it up anyway that you would like. These will be kept in a scrapbook for Diana to read.

If you would like to contribute, we respectfully ask that we would receive the squares by January 30th so that we have plenty of time to have it and the book made before we travel to China.
Your help will make this a wonderful keepsake. Thank you so much!

Lisa, Dave, Bailey and Matthew

Update

Completed dossier papers!
Matthew getting big!

Apple picking 2006

Bailey getting big!

Sorry its been so long since I posted but things have been a little crazy around here. I will recap as best as I can in a not too boring way (I hope). While Dave was off he painted and re-tiled the kids' bathroom. We put in new towel bars, tp holder and hooks. I will show off his handy work once my cousin Jeff comes to install the new light fixture.

Also while dave was off we took the boys apple picking. We have been doing this every year as a family since the boys were 3. Dave and I have been doing it almost yearly since we began dating. We really have a good time. It is a family tradition that I look forward to every year. I will be making at least one apple pie and a few crisps.

One the adoption front we are out of critical review and on to translation. It is good to know we made it out of the review room with no errors. We should be out of translation and off to China (our documents that is) by the end ofthe week. We still have a slight chance of having a LID (log in date) in Sept. This is the date that our wait truely begins. I will not make any predictions on the wait other than I really hope that we will be able to travel to China sometime next summer. If not then it is all in God's hands and when our daughter is ready for us we will be there to get her.

Dossier to CCAI

Well I got the confirmation that CCAI received my dossier. They are saying they will have it for 9-11 business days providing there aren't any problems. If it is problem free it will be sent off to China. I will definitely be DTC in Sept. I will have to see what my LID is....boy am I getting ahead of myself...LOL. Oh well.

To all my adoption friends out there who got their LIDs this week congratulations!!! I hope you will all go celebrate and enjoy knowing that you are on your way. I may be bringing up the rear but I'm glad to know I am in good company.

Mission Accomplished....

Well believe it or not our paperwork is FINALLY on its way to our agency. Actually according to fedex it was just picked up from the drop off box at 4:19pm. YEA!! CCAI will have it by tomorrow afternoon. Of course you know I have a story to go along with this right?

Yesterday Dave and I dropped off the boys at school and headed downtown to the secretary of States office and the Chinese Consulate. Well Dave drops me off in front of the SOS and I go up there and fill out the form. The lady asks for the $4 and I give her a $20 bill. She asks if I have anything smaller (this after I just told her I didn't) she then asks me "don't you have a check?" I say no. She takes my money and begins to go on to something else. I ask her for my change and she says I will get it when I get my forms.....Last time they didn't even collect my money until the end so how should I know?????

Off to the Consulate and things there went a lot smoother. I told her we would pick them up tomorrow and asked what time they would be available. Her exact words were "anytime tomorrow." So we go back this morning and its roughly 24 hours later, I wait in line and the woman takes my receipt and looks for my papers. They are not in the bin. She goes in the back and finds out they aren't ready yet. She says come back in 10 minutes. 10 minutes later I get my forms and we're on our way. Oh well these are little problems but still part of our story in the journey to get Diana.

Hopefully CCAI won't find any errors and we will be dtc by the end of the month.....getting closer Diana.....

Tagged Again??????

Actually this one is great! Thanks Jessica for coming up with this!!

10 ways to stay positive during the wait!

1. Paint and decorate our "kids" bathroom.
2. Decorate and put together Diana's room.
3. Read adoption related books.
4. Read books just for fun.
5. Work on Diana's lifebook and her 100 Good Wishes scrapbook.
6. Attend my HS agency's waiting moms support group.
7. Attend get togethers with my Fox Valley FCC group.
8. Spend time with friends and family.
9. Participate in activities from dtc/lid groups.
10. Did I mention buying cute girly things????????

Now I will tag Kym, Marjorie and Tina....not to mention anyone who is reading this and has a blog consider yourself tagged!!

Nostalgia

For those of you who knew me pre-adoption you all know what a HUGE "90210" fan I was. I even watch it if I'm home on soap network in the afternoon. Anyway today was a whole back to school blast off with a bunch of old episodes. I was able to watch the majority of them because we stayed in all day. It was so fun to watch them and have forgotten certain things from that episode or think to myself "Oh yeah....I remember that." I know it sounds goofy but it is the one show that I absolutely still miss after it being off the air for 6 years already. It is driving me nuts that they still haven't released it to DVD yet.

It also makes me wonder what shows will have that much of an impact on my children. I know that Dave was a big Miami Vice and MacGyver fan. Right now the boys are into so many different things like typical 5 year olds but what shows when they are in their 30's will have the best memories for them. What will Diana watch that will leave her with those memories. When I first started watching 90210 I would watch it with my mom. So when I think of that show I always remember me running home from work and Mom having it on so we could watch it together. I hope that Dave and the boys will have special memories like that and that Diana and I will be able to watch something that she will have memories of us like I do with my mom.

Thursday news...

Well today started out kinda crazy. Matthew woke up at 6:30 wanting to cuddle with me. I told him he had to go back to bed since it was before 7am. What I think is 5 minutes later Dave asks me when I want to wake up to get ready for work. I tell him 7am. He says its 7:25am. "Oh S***!!" I have to take a shower and get ready super quick. By some grace of God I made it to work on time and that was stopping for much needed coffee.

Later in the morning Dave calls to tell me that he is waiting for a tow truck to come get his truck. He later informs me that the car needs a new computer and and two new sensors. Our neighborhood mechanics of course can't do this so they call the dealership to find out how much it will cost to replace it. WOW!!!! It will be over $4000.!!! On top of this it will only be warranteed for a year. For those of you who don't know Dave does a lot of driving for work. He needs to be in a safe car. We have decided to trade this truck in and get him brand new car with a warranty. He will get it tomorrow.

Ok, so my day is going pretty bad huh? Well actually I was still in a decent mood. It got even better when Dave called to say that our I-171H was actually in the mail this afternoon!!!!! I almost started dancing in my office!! My co-workers were excited for me and I was on Cloud 9 the rest of the day. I also went to WW today and have now lost a total of 20lbs!!! Life is GOOD!!!

I hope he's right

Well we did NOT I repeat did NOT get our I-171H yet! Dave though is now convinced we will get it tomorrow since we can't go downtown again until Tuesday. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want him to be right. Actually I would even be fine with us getting it Friday or Saturday so we could take care of it on Tuesday. Dave is off all next week so if we get it sometime in the next couple of days we will be able to go downtown together....oh did I mention without the boys???? This school thing is getting better and better...LOL.

On another subject I joined Curves yesterday and had my first workout today. Can I tell you I'm really sore now? I will be going on Tuesday and Wednesdays after I drop the boys off at school and either on Mondays or Fridays after work. I think Fridays would be better so its not all in a row huh? We'll see how the schedule at work goes for that. I hope this will eventually become a routine for me and that I will actually NOT dread going. Keep your fingers crossed for my form and also for me to continue to go to Curves and eventually tolerate it...

This past week

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions for me. Tuesday my babies started their first day of kindergarten. I was really worried about Matthew so was thrown for a loop when he was fine and Bailey was crying.

Let me recap the morning for you. The boys woke up way too early and I had to yell at them twice to get back to sleep. Fast forward to us getting to the school. The boys are playing in the playground and Bailey was trying to go on the monkey bars and of course fell. He cried for a few seconds but got over it.

The school bell rings and I put Bailey in his line and tell him I going to get Matthew in his line. By the time I get back to Bailey he is crying. He is confused about where he is supposed to be. A mom of a boy from preschool reassures him but he is still scared until I get back there. He finally calms down and all of a sudden he starts crying again asking "Where will I see you after school is over?????" I reassure him that I will be exactly where I am now. I keep checking on Matthew from a distance and he looks nervous but fine. I do not want to rock that boat so I stay with Bailey until they walk into school. This whole time I am holding back and trying not to cry in front of Bailey. Once they got into school I walked back to my van and started crying for over 10 minutes. After that I went shopping.

The rest of the day was fine and the boys were excited to tell me about their days in school. It was great! Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all had the same ending to the day. We surprised them by both Mommy and Daddy picking them up from school on Friday. They loved it!

On the adoption front things are still at a standstill. I am STILL waiting for our I-171H. My social worker called CIS on Tuesday to find out they are not accepting any calls for the rest of the month since they are moving!!!! This is the most frustrating part of this for me so far. I have other adoption friends who are complaining about the wait between LID and referral. At this point I would just love to be able to say my documents are on their way to my agency or better yet they have gone through critical review and are being sent to China.....As many of you know I am NOT very patient!!!

The above pictures are of the boys with their teachers on "Meet the teacher night"

My boys

Originally I thought this blog would be primarily to post things going on with our adoption. As I have been doing this for the past 6 weeks or so I realize I am also posting about our entire family. Today I will be focusing on the two special boys who I am proud to be their Mommy.

Many of you know that I am having a little difficulty coping with the fact that my babies will start kindergarten this Tuesday. It is hard to believe that they are growing up and no longer babies. It really does seem like just yesterday that I held each of them for the first time. Time has definitely flown.

We decided back in January that we would have the boys in separate classrooms. We did this for a multitude of reasons but most importantly for them to grow as individuals. Bailey is very outgoing and has no problems making friends. Matthew is more quiet and reserved so with his brother there he will just hang with him or the friends his brother has made for the two of them. Bailey tends to be bossy with Matthew though. We wanted them to both be able to bask in their own spotlights and make their own friends.

Well we found last week who their teachers and classmates would be. I was beyond devastated! Looking at the class lists made me literally sick to my stomach. Bailey is in a class with their two little friends from preschool. Matthew is in a class where he knows no one. I dreaded telling them and what the outcome would be. The talk with the boys went much better than I thought. Bailey of course was excited with his classmates. Matthew was a little sad but the more we talked I realized what is scaring them the most (which deep down I already knew) was that they weren't going to be together. We told them that they would be able to see eachother at lunch and at recess and for now they are ok.

Mommy on the other hand is still beyond nervous for her little boys. They have been in daycare and preschool already but this is different. They will be away from eachother for 6 hours a day. They will not have eachother to protect them or encourage them. I know they will be fine but its still scary.

I have changed the song on this to represent the things I want my boys to do. I want them to get in there and shine. I want them to play, learn, and have fun in kindergarten. I want them to play with new children, create new memories and love life. There is a line in the song that says "if you get the chance to sit it out or dance. I hope you dance." This is all I want for my boys.

Boys good luck on your new adventure and know that Mommy and Daddy are right behind you cheering you on.