Thinking

What happens if we get a short notice placement?  We'll have to buy tickets, last minute, I know this much.  But what about the infant car seat?  I'm a person that likes what I like and wants what I like.  I see 2 different infant car seats that I'd be happy with buying, but are afraid that the store won't have them when I get there to pick them up.  I've decided not to buy and get shipped here and have to take back to the states, that would be silly.  Although, I would, just to have what I want.  If I knew the placement would happen before May, I would buy and ship to my sister in NC and have her hold onto it for me.  But I know, with adoption, it could take awhile.  I'm not buying the travel system stroller, just the car seat, because the stroller would be no good over here in Europe and would fall apart with all the cobblestone.   I shouldn't need a stroller in the states if I have the car seat and probably a carrier thing.  Now, do I go ahead and buy the stroller I am going to buy now and get shipped here or do I wait. Babies. R. Us. seems to be the only reputable retailer that ships to APO, even some bigger items, like the stroller I want.  Do strollers expire like car seats?  We did buy a convertible car seat already, the Britax. Boulevard. 70. CS., but it was manufactured in 2010 and we should have our baby within the next year.  It was a great sale on it, so I couldn't pass it up, and FREE shipping. 
Today I'm going grocery shopping and after I get back and have everything put away, I'm going to start on the mural.  I'm so excited.  It's going to help time go by and keep my anxiety level down, hopefully. 
Yesterday, I was going through a bunch of the paperwork BCS gave us before we moved.  This is what has me thinking.  Then also, adoptive families website had an article in there, and I'm going to submit an article to them after placement sharing our experience traveling for domestic adoption.  Oh and they also said in the article that I wouldn't need much for baby for the first few weeks living in a hotel.  They said babies like to sleep in their car seats, would you do that?  I was thinking of buying a mini travel bed and putting blankets underneath for cushion, not in the travel bed, but under.  Maybe I'm thinking to hard on this stuff and should just stop...LOL. 

Have a great day!

Hurt...Not Okay

Today I did an hour of circuit training and I have to say I hurt.  It's not sore...it's hurt.  And as my physical therapist would say in her broken English...soreness okay, hurt not okay.  It's so funny when she says it, but today my shoulder blade is killing me.  I'm not exactly sure what i did, but I'm assuming I did one of the resistance band workouts wrong.  It's always hard to determine if I have the correct position and do it at the same time as the instructor on TV.  I tried having hubby massage it, but let's just say he's not any good at that yet.  He needs a bit more practice.  I'll take some mobic and hopefully that will help as I go to sleep. 
Thursday night we went to dinner with our friends and their daughters at our favorite restaurant...Thai Thai...yummy!  We probably have that place once or twice a month, but our first 7 weeks living in a hotel, we had it about 3 or 4 times a week!  Last night, they called us again and invited us to go bowling.  I told them we would, not asking hubs first.  I knew he'd say no if I'd ask him first.  So, I told him to come home a half hour early so we could could of with J and P.  Well much to my surprise and liking, he was a GREAT bowler!  This man can throw the ball and get strikes!  Amazing...now I'm hoping since it was a successful night, he'll want to do it more often.  I'm hoping.  After bowling (we played 3 games), we went over to their home to have cake for their daughter's 10th birthday!  We got her a DS game, Art Academy, for her gift from us.  That game makes me want to get a DS because it looked so fun! 
Also on Thursday my friend, M, found out she will be having 2 girls, NOT 2 boys as she was told earlier this month.  Wow...how often is it that a doctor actually makes that mistake.  It's not so often anymore.  I'm so happy though, I really wanted her to have at least 1 girl and now there's 2!  I love baby girls.  Some days I hope we have a girl, not a boy.  But, just like a pregnancy, we will not know and will be happy and thrilled with either a boy or girl.  I was looking on Gym.boree website today and they had some cute baby boy outfits on there.  I'll have to buy my cousins boy one of them.  I'm off to bed now. 

Have a fantastic night!

What. A. Hiccup!

This week has been a tough one.  Our agency in VA was giving excuse after excuse after excuse.  On the 24th, we find out we have to redo the VA background/FBI checks because they held off on approving the home study because they were unsure of how we were to bring our baby home.  After that episode, I dug out my researching skills and got to work on finding out how we will bring baby home after placement.  I went to JAG.  I went to the passport office.  I went on the state travel website.  I called passports in DC.  I found out how we will bring the baby home!  But that still wasn't good enough, because after I find all that out...she emails saying that we won't have the original BC because it will have the birth parents information on it and VA is not allowed to give that information to the adoptive parents.  I totally understand that, but why would tell us when we agreed to move forward with the agency that the baby would be coming home on a passport with the birth parents last name???  Makes no sense...so I was under the impression we would have it...but NO.  OK, that's OK.  There's still a way.  We just have to get a court order stating we have guardianship of the baby, show proof of the adoption, fill out a bunch of forms, submit photos...yadda yadda yadda!  It's possible and we can have it rushed and done in 14 days!  That means its not necessary to stay in the states for 6 weeks to 9 months!  I mean I would have loved to stay in the states with my sister, who so graciously offered me to stay there until finalization, but I have everything here and would really like to use my stuff sooner rather than later.  Okay, so I don't have everything, but I have the crib and bedding, high chair, convertible car seat, dresser and changing top.  So now, after I told her all this new information about the court order, she finally was able to get a memorandum type document together for when "it's time". 
All the frustration, tears, miscommunication (on BCS!), and delay in approval of the home study will all be worth it.  Sure, we're not approved like I'd anticipated we'd be in 3 days, but maybe the end of next month? 
Yesterday hubby and I tried to get our fingerprinting done, however, it's by appointment only and the next available appt wasn't until Feb 15th!!!  That made me even more upset!  After I went in the passport office, they had a sign stating there was another fingerprinting station on another base...I wrote down there information and called today.  We're in for the 1st!  Awesome!  After we get those done, I'll express mail them so hopefully they'll get to VA in 3 days...yeah right, but it's worth a shot!  The mail has been unusually slow here this month!  I've stopped ordering things until the mail is caught up and moving again. 
I've been in such a funk this week because of all the stress over bringing our baby home and the logistics of it all, that I haven't worked out once!  I'm going to get two! workouts done today and then I'm going to clean the house.  I'm also going to start drawing the mural on the nursery wall probably this weekend.  I almost gave up on that task thinking BCS was putting us on the back burner and we'd never have our little family.  But I'm NOT giving up and I'm NOT letting anything that comes up deter me from doing this project.  At times it's hard to keep faith, but after realization hits, faith comes back stronger than ever.  Even doing all the research and unknowns this week, I still kept my faith that we WILL have our family.  I'm just glad we're going through all these hiccups now and not when we have a baby to be caring for.

Well I better go get my workout done and get cleaning started.  I have physical therapy in 2 hours.  Looks like I'll probably only get the workout done.

No meeting

Oh what a long day today has been.  I woke at 5 am, like 3 hours earlier than normal, was on the road at 630 am, drove all morning and afternoon.  First, I HATE driving in the dark and when vehicle lights are on...they make my head hurt!  Then tonight after being home 2 hours, I was back on the road, just a short trip, but still, in the dark and vehicle headlights glaring at me.  Oh and on top of it all it was a gloomy, rainy, snowy day.
I attempted to go to the adoption support group meeting that is held in the local area, but when I got there, no one was around and the doors were locked, lights out!  I'm so disappointed.  I really want to have answers for our social worker at BCS so we can have placement without the worry of the "how".  I emailed the Department of State yesterday and added a discussion question on the BCS Facebook page.  I would add it to the BCS forum, but nobody seems to have military experience.  I'm on my own on figuring this out.  It's okay, I can do it.
I went to the Russian Consulate today in Frankfurt with my friend and it was a mad house in there.  They decided to do things a bit differently and only allow a few people in the building at a time, so there was a line outside.  In the cold!  In the rain!  We were lost in Frankfurt for an hour and half, but it ended up being a good thing because otherwise we would have been stuck it the cold and rain for that hour and half.  They just started letting the groups of 10 in the building as we walked up and since my friend is pregnant, we we lucky to go right in.  I guess being pregnant can have it's advantages. 
Oh, and my cousin is having a boy!  It must be the year for boys to be born.  I often wonder if we will have a boy or girl.  I'm so excited for her and my friend.
I'm going to get off the computer and go lay down.  Heads throbbing from such a long day, but very fun day.

Until next time...

new email

I'm going to un-follow the ones I've been following, then redo it.  The reason for this is because I changed my email account for everything, including this blog.  My old email was spammed, so i thought it'd be better to get rid of it all together. 

The Talk

Spoke with BCS today and the reason the home study hasn't been approved yet, was my greatest fear.  Them not knowing the logistics of how we will bring our baby to our home in Germany.  They've dealt with plenty of ICPC cases so they are familiar with that, just not the passport and such.  Because they've waited so long and have been sitting not knowing what they are going to do, our fingerprints are soon to expire so we have to redo those.  We also have to redo our CPS form...but the good news is that they will be paying for both those clearances since it's their error in sitting on our home study.  They've had it since the 28th of Dec. from AA.  That saves us $114!  Today we were able to get our CPS forms notarized before the office closed and on Thursday we will do the fingerprint cards.
Tomorrow evening there is an adoption support group meeting and I am planning on attending it.  Hoping that some other ladies will be able to help me sort all this out.  If for some reason I can't make it, I'm planning on emailing the ICPC coordinator to see if they could assist me. 
The other day I said that if it came down to this, I was going to switch agencies, because I fear that we won't get placement because they won't know how we bring our baby home.  Well I woke up on Saturday and decided there was no reason to get all frumpy about this.  It will all work out.  I may have to do a little extra leg work.  I may have to stay in the states for a few months.  It's okay, it will all be worth it and it will all work out.  Some way. 
Hubby is leaving in the morning for another 2 day TDY.  I'll be going to Frankfurt for most of tomorrow also.  I'm excited, new place to visit.  My friend has to go to the embassy to get a visa so she asked me if I'd join her.  Of course...any chance to see the country, I'm there.
My cousin finds out if she's having a boy or girl today.  Well, that is if the baby cooperates.  I'm hoping for a girl, don't know why, but just am.  She had a struggle to get pregnant also, but not nearly as long as me.  I think she's been trying 2 years.  My friend here is having 2 boys, i was hoping for at least one girl with her also. 
Well I'm off to write an essay.

Until next time....

Nothing yet

So the call has been postponed until Monday same time.  I was anxious all day making myself sick over the call.  I have this fear that they are not going to know how to place a child with us because we are currently living out of the states.  When we signed up with them, they said they would figure it out and it wouldn't be a problem.  Shouldn't all agencies know how to deal with the ICPC laws?  Now, onto waiting until Monday afternoon. 

Nervous

I finally received an email from our placement social worker and she says our home study has still not been approved.  Her supervisor, who is new, has a few questions.  Makes me nervous because obviously I don't know what will be asked.  I hope and pray that it's nothing.  We have set up a time on Friday to talk.

Working out has been going good this week.  3 days into the week and 2 workouts each day!  Today I even jumped up the Slim in 6 workout to the Ramp it Up video.  Which is 48 minutes!  Plus I tried to do the core workout on 10 pound slimdown, but only got 10 minutes done and was wore out!  58 minutes total today, not bad.  I'm thinking of taking a break tomorrow, but am afraid to take a day off.  It's always so much harder to get back into it after a break, but I need one!  I've been working out so intense that I'm plain SORE!  It's not a bad sore, just exhausted sore. 

Until next time...probably Friday evening after the call....NERVOUS!!!!!

Home Study approval documents

So I've been anxiously waiting to put these on here.  After manipulation of the photos, i feel safe to add them :).  It was like a big party to have the home study approved.  I emailed our social worker at BCS to see the status of the approval at their agency, but have not heard anything yet.  Makes me nervous, but I wouldn't see why one agency would approve and not another.  I know I have no reason to be nervous, but this is big, bigger than anything I've ever done in my life.  Waiting 9 years to have a baby.  Start our family.  This is big!  It's like a day I've dreamed of.  I've always wanted to adopt since I was about 12.  But I had dreams at the time to adopt from Guatemala.  I always wanted to have a dark hair, tanned skinned baby, and at the time I thought Guatemala was my only option.  But also at the time I was watching adoption stories on the discovery channel.  In all fairness, my eyes and heart were driven to adopt a child from the US a few years back.  I'm so glad hubs and I are going down this path to our family.  I feel it makes us stronger and have a type of love no one else can or will experience.  I cherish this love.  We don't know our child yet, but I feel like I do.
Last night I had a dream that we were being placed with a baby girl and the mother and I got along great.  We were sitting there talking about names and she loved the name we had chosen.  We asked her to choose the middle name.  It was a pleasant experience in my dreams, I hope and pray that when this time does come, it will be just as pleasant.  I pray almost every night for our birth family and our child, praying for peace with their decision, their health, and prosperity.

OK, i don't know why this one is sideways...it's the right way when I updated it...ugh!  Sorry.

Until next time...

Here it is

A post finally...Yah for me!  The past week I've been creating schedules, tweaking schedules, becoming an artist (LOL), and enjoying the weekend with hubby.  We included a trip to Trier Germany, the oldest city in Germany with our good friends.  It was a fun time seeing the historical sites. 

On the 15th we recieved our official home study, signed and sealed, approved and accepted!  How exciting...well, not yet.  This was from the agency that did the home study, we are STILL waiting on our placement agency to approve the home study or rewrite it or whatever they have to do.  Today is the day where we were told it had to be done and approved by them because our fingerprints would expire otherwise.  I'm really hoping it's done and we just haven't been told about it. 

I started working out on the 10th...didn't really stick to a schedule persay, but, I did get 4 workouts in last week.  So today I was going to try a new schedule for working out, but yeah, that went out the window when hubby got recalled for work at 0400 and I was up and couldn't sleep.  I finally fell back asleep around 0530 and didn't wake up till 0830...oops!!  So, now I will do my workouts this afternoon after physical therapy, today, and hopefully first thing tomorrow morning.  I started doing 10 Pound Slimdown and have now also added Slim in 6.  I'm really hoping to stick to this and not give up.  I want to add in running, for extra cardio, but not sure about that yet. 

So I've been drawing a mural for the nursery...mind you, I have no idea how to draw, but I managed it and I must say that I love how it turned out on paper.  Now I just have to get it on the walls...and that will be the fun part.  I've decided to do a large tree, then vines and monkeys.  I'm going to see if my friend P wants to help, she loves doing this type of stuff.  And it would be so much more fun doing the project with company.  It would create great lasting memories.

Hubby thinks I need to cut back on computer time, which honestely, yes, I do.  But it's so hard!  I think to help with that, I'll start taking monkey boy on walks and start drawing the sketch of the mural on the nursery walls.  That should take up my time nicely.

Here's some pictures from Trier (I'll post some of us once we get them from our friends):

I'll post more later, have to get ready for physical therapy now.  Until then...

Haven't forgotten

I know it's been 8 days since my last post, i've been crazy busy.  I'm planning on making a post tomorrow, let's hope time won't slip away and I get to it.  Lots to update.

Plans

It's official and I'm SO excited to say that my younger sister is coming for a visit in March.  She bought her plane ticket on Wednesday morning.  Last night we got on Skype together and planned the visit.  We will spend four days in Greece!  This place is a girls dream and I've never thought I'd actually go, but tickets and hotel are booked!  Oh my...this is exciting!  If only my other sister and and one other could join us.  If I could choose that one other, it would be my cousin Heather, but I'd also want my good friend Dena to come along.  Dena and I had hopes of going to Greece together one day...have 4 really good friends on an adventure in Greece.  That would be awesome and I really hope we will be able to live up to that dream.  But for now, I'm going to savor in every minute of every day with my little sister!  I created a countdown for when she arrives.  Today I'm going to create a countdown until I leave for the states to go visit her at her house.  I'm REALLY excited for this visit because she is making a huge accomplishment and I'm SO proud of her achievements.  She'll be graduating college and earning her commissioning in the Air Force.  I'm SO proud!  My little sis and I were not always as close as we are today.  I'm really glad we have built our relationship and are as close as we are.  She gets upset at me and calls me a stranger because most days I forget to sign into Skype...it's not intentional, I promise.  Oh the sisterly love :) But it's only been a week since we last talked.  I'm so fortunate to have a computer with camera so I can keep in close contact with both my sisters.  I will admit, it's easier for me to talk to my older sister during the day, because I know in the mornings she's not doing much, and my little sis, I don't know what her schedule is like, so I don't want to "bother" her.  I wish my other family members would want to chat online.  But then, I'd have to make time for that also.  Oh this time difference really sucks...to say the least.
Well, we're still waiting on word if our agency in VA is approving the home study that was sent.  It was approved by the agency in PA, so I'd think it wouldn't have any issues if one agency approved it already.  I just wonder what is taking so long?  They've had it an entire week already.  Hopefully this week will be the week that we are "officially waiting for placement". 
It was beautiful out yesterday.  Hubs and I went on a walk and as we approached a sign that told us which way to go, someone had gutted an animal and hung the skin of it over the sign!  NASTY...I just wanted to run out of the woods because then I became frightened that if someone is gutting animals, they might have the urge to kill a person?  Can you tell I watch Dexter?  That's how he started his killings...animals...then people.  Dexter won't just kill anyone, he kills people that are troubled and have caused danger to others.  We got home and I put ribs in the oven to get them tender for dinner.  We grilled ribs and brats for dinner since it was so nice out.  We took advantage of the warm weather.  Today is a rainy day, so our plans to go to the Black Forest are set aside for another day.  Darn weather!

Physical Therapy

Today I had my physical therapy scheduled.  My first appointment will be the 11th.  I'm a bit nervous because it's off base in a village.  I don't speak the language here, so I'm hoping my therapists will...there supposed to after all. 
I'm still patiently waiting for word on our home study from our agency in VA.  Not exactly sure what she all has to do, but it sounded like she needed to write it up to their standards at BCS.  I think it will be next week...well i hope. 
I've been trying to decide if I wanted to put a list of everything I'd need to take to the states in the event we have a no notice placement and are rushed to get out of the house.  I'm just not too sure what I'll need.  We don't have much for the baby that we'll be bringing on the flight, but are planning to buy all baby stuff once we have placement.  I just don't want to forget anything when we receive the call to get back to the states.  I'd hate to forget my camera charger!  That's one thing I've forgotten on big trips before, so it wouldn't be the first.

Documents arrived

After the fear of our home study documents being lost, they are safe and sound in the hands of the PA office. They've even sent an official copy of the home study to our agency in VA! What a blessing. I've had the worst being played in my head. I'm so releived! Hubs and I don't have to worry about redoing our fingerprints at this time.
Today was my doctor appointment for my knees. I'm going to go back to physical therapy for a few months and if i still have pain, I'll call and we'll go another route. Most likely will be doing an MRI on both knees. We already know the torn meniscus is in the right knee, but it seems to have gotten worse.

That's all for tonight... Night all

New beginnings

This year I'm starting it out like any other year...get healthier and fit.  This year I've also added get even more organized than I already am...I've included a schedule and zone cleaning to my new year goals.  I was reading a blog and came across her schedule and thought, I could do this too.  I came across zone cleaning and  thought this is a smart way to get weekends free!  Yesterday and today I was busy creating schedules that will work, setting up a zone cleaning schedule that will work on my iPod using an app, and also setting up my Spark People again and also putting an app on my iPod.  I must say I am getting motivated to use all these new features and plans I have.  Bringing a baby home will be so much better if I have a routine in place, in my opinion.  I know a lot of people say, routines go out the door when a baby is in the picture, but I don't think it necessarily has to.  Yes, I'm sure I'll have to adjust and tweak it, but I will find a schedule that works when we have our baby.

Today hubs and I went for a run, it felt great, and hubs says I did awesome.  I haven't ran in many months so getting back into it is hard.  Plus I have two bum knees, and when it's cold, my fingers and toes don't have circulation moving.  But I put that aside and did it.  Will I regret it, I hope not.  I have a doctors appointment tomorrow for my knees because they have been in SO much pain lately.  It used to only be one knee consistently, but it's been both for the past month.
 
Here's pictures of the nursery complete...except wall art.  My friend will be helping me with the walls and I'm so excited to start the task.  I'm not sure on the theme I want to use, if any at all, but we'll come up with something good and take more pictures I'm sure.  I must say I love how it's looking so far.



That's about it from me.  I hope your new year plans are in full swing and are excited about them.

Happy New Year

Hello 2011

2011 is finally here and 2010 came to an end.  A lot of people are excited for the year to leave and begin a new year, but I'm going to reflect on the positive outcomes of 2010, unlike a lot of people.  2010:

~brought us together again in March after 14 months of separation

~were able to begin the adoption process to our forever family

~moved to Europe...yes I may not be thrilled at the time living here, but in the end, I know this was a good move

~met new friends

~took a week vacation and it didn't include going to visit family...it was really a vacation, our first ever!

~started keeping a "diary" through this blog

What am I looking forward to this year? (no certain order)

~my sisters 10 day visit in March

~finishing my Bachelors degree in Health Care Management

~returning to the states in May for my sisters college graduation and commissioning in the Air Force...I'm SO proud of her

~the placement of our baby in my arms

~getting healthier and fit
~starting and sticking to a daily routine

~starting my Masters degree

Since we have a busy first 5 months of the year, I'm hoping hubby and I will be able to make a trip somewhere here in Europe.  Hubs is on schedule to deploy again in June to December so we are really hoping for placement of our baby a few months before this so he will be able to bond and love on our child before he has to leave.  But as we all know, we are not in control, although we may wish.

With hubs being off this past week, we have been sleeping in LATE!  Every single day.  It's unlike us, and I'm excited to get back to waking up early and starting a routine this year.  I need a routine because once a baby comes along, I'll need it, so I might as well start before so I can get used to following it.  I'm going to make a hard effort this time and really going to make it work.  I may have to do some tweaking a few days or maybe weeks, but hopefully by February I'll have something that works. 

On Wednesday night I went to the BX to order the crib mattress and a glider, but thought I'd run over to the furniture department to see if they had anything I might like.  Well i walked out with a brown leather rocker/recliner chair, like a lazy boy.  I didn't get over to order the mattress because our friends husband was on his way to pick it up with his SUV and bring to our home.  So I was excited...hubby...not so much.  He says I need to stop spending money.  Well we need it.  Why not buy it?  It was only $115 more than the glider and I think this will last much longer and be way more comfortable.  I think it was a smart investment.

On Thursday evening we went to our friends house, had pizza, chatted, and made jewels with the kids.  We gave the oldest daughter a Totally Me bead set and accessory set so she was excited for me to get there to help her with the projects.  It was fun.

Last night we went back to their house to bring in the new year with them.  We had a great time just hanging out, playing Wii, oh, and dinner at our favorite restaurant.  Midnight neared and fireworks were going off like crazy all around their home.  It was AWESOME, we didn't know what to expect since this was our first year of celebration here, but are excited for next year already.  The Germans really go all out and I must say, the fireworks were 10 times better than the 4th of July in the States, with the quantity I mean.  It really sounded like a war zone over here, with the popping of the fireworks every second for 45 minutes.  It was a neat experience. 

Now a fresh start to the new year, with a new outlook.  I'll begin today by creating my daily schedule, writing my writing competency test, narrowing my choices for Master's degree and schools.  I have 3 choices in the top running, but haven't decided on the schools yet.  Big plans for today, I better get started.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FAMILY AND FRIENDS, LET'S MAKE THIS YEAR THE BEST YEAR YET