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19:23
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Our journey to Paige
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19:58
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Our journey to Paige
We made it! we got up and around you put your little backpack on, we walked over to Miss Traci's and you settled right in to your new school. You were patient enough to let me get a couple of photos when I dropped you off, but I could tell you were excited to get your day started. Miss Traci said you had a great day.
You look sad in this photo, but you really just wanted me to get it over with so you could go play.
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8:22
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when......you never miss a "bless you" when someone sneezes. I mean NEVER, you can be intently in the middle of something , but someone sneezes and you don't miss a beat "bless you"
One of my biggest struggles with this blog is the photos, taking a decent photo is a constant struggle for me and I try sooooo hard. I just don't have an eye for it and completely lack confidence when it comes to taking photos. Of course when your subject thinks its a funny game to run from the camera that makes it even harder. I may take 25 photos and get 2 decent ones, but I keep trying. These are my favorite photos from this summer and they bring back such wonderful memories,they are in no particular order, although the first one is probably one of my favorite photos of you. Gosh darn it, you are a cute little thing!
The idea, when I began 62 posts was to post everday for the two complete months we were home together for the summer. The months of July and August. After missing several posts I am only at 52 and have to return to work tomorrow. I am still going to try and get 62 done, I know it kind of misses the point, but I don't want to quit. I want you to know it is important to try and finish something, even if it doesn't turn out quite the way it was expected. I am so glad I tried to get a picture of you everyday with a little note of what we did. Hopefully one day you will look back on it, like a little scrapbook of your summer of 2009.
It has been such a wonderful summer getting to spend everyday with you. We did not really do much. We did not go on any exciting trips or have any big adventures, but this was by choice. I just wanted to stay home and enjoy my time with you and your brother and sister. Grandma Ba came for several visits and we got to spend a lot of time with her, that was wonderful for the both of you....for me too! We have walked for miles and miles, you love going for walks. You love going to the playground and swinging. You have gotten very brave on the swing and want to go higher and higher. We went to the BIG pool a couple of times and you really enjoyed that, we picked LOTS of strawberries and experienced a HUGE storm with lots of rain and thunder and lighting that you still talk about ( you loved it!)
The change in you this summer has been amazing. Your growth in the past two months, both emotionally and verbally has been wonderful. When I picked you up from daycare on June 9th you still seemed somewhat babyish, you were not talking a lot or at least not talking about anything that made a whole lot of sense, now you are expressing yourself like crazy and saying something new everday. We can communicate really well and I usually get what you are trying to tell me. You are a little sponge just soaking everything in, you are very bright and learn VERY quickly. The stuff you throw out there sometimes cracks me up , yesterday your phrases of the day were "that's not fair eeder" and " i not fink so"( it was a sassy day) Today you had a lego and you were acting like you were blowing on it and humming, I asked you what you were doing and you told me you were "playing the french horn" HUH?( this has got to be a Little Einsteins influence! ) There are so many funny, cute little things you say and do, I could go on and on........ here are a few of your accomplishments, you can count and recognize #'s 1-20(although the teens are still a little tricky), know almost all shapes (except for trapezoid and hexagon) you know all the colors and can recognize all the letters in the alphabet. It has been such a joy for me to help you learn these things. I love, love , love watching you learn and grow.
I haven't really mentioned much of your brother and sister the past couple of months but things are going very well for them. Kayla is getting ready to start her college classes, bought a car with the generous graduation donations she received from family and has her very first real job as a hostess at our local Applebees. I think Coop is getting bored (although he would never admit it) and he seems ready to start the 7th grade and play football.
This is by far the hardest time I have ever had preparing myself to go back to work, so as a result I am in a major funk.....huge funk..ugh! It is always hard to get my head around summer being over, but I enjoy my job so that makes the transition a little easier. I know I am fortunate that I get to spend several months at home with my kids, that is why I love the job that I have, but the school district that I work for is going to four days a week with an extended school day so, although I will only be working four days a week this year my days will be about 2.5 hours longer. I cant get my head around not seeing you for 9+ hrs a day!! The things you will accomplish and say and do in those 9+hrs that I will not get to witness :( sigh....I know you are going to be very well cared for at your new preschool and Miss Tracie will take pictures and videos for me. I am just going to miss you like crazy! So this is my little note to you, what a blessing you have been, I look forward to spending lots and lots of lazy summers with you. I am so lucky to be your mommy:)
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20:05
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Our journey to Paige
This is all I have got.... it has been a looooong day.
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20:12
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when...... you get out of the bathtub without any drama. Lately you have been giving me a hard time when it is time to get out of the tub. " I not want to get out eeder" "I play in the water" " I play, I play , I play" then you just get mad when I have to pull you out. Tonight you got right out with no fuss:) whew!
I don't have any pictures tonight, some one jacked two of the batteries out of my camera ( coop?) and there were not any charged and ready to go and I just didn't feel like looking for batteries today.
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8:31
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Our journey to Paige
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20:08
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Our journey to Paige
What a great day! I took lots of pictures this evening at the playground but they will have to wait until tomorrow. I just really dont want to spend the time editing them tonight. You had a super day today....slept good, ate good...all is good:) I am off the watch Top Chef and Chopped with Coop!
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15:53
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Our journey to Paige
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19:47
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Our journey to Paige
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18:32
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Our journey to Paige
It has been a tough day today. We generally don't have many bad days, but today was a tough one. I have been in a foul mood most of the day....not really sure why, but today was not the best of days for you to decide that you were not going to take a nap and you have been a stinker most of the day. You started telling me around 4:00pm that you were tired and wanted to lay down, there was no way I was going to lay you down for a nap that late...unless I wanted to stay up half the night. You were clingy this afternoon because you were tired and normally I don't mind you crawling all over me....but......I'm done! It has been a long one and I am looking forward to going out and picking some strawberries, piling them on a BIG bowl of vanilla bean ice cream or I could have a big gooey cinnamon roll with melted butter...mmm.. feeling better already! I will turn the TV on SoapNet, crawl into my cozy bed with fresh linens that have been hanging outside to dry and watch some mindless soaps and get a good nights sleep! I am so glad we get a fresh start tomorrow! Love you my angel:)
I took this picture before the "no nap" part of the day began......
This is right before bed time tonight...
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19:48
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Our journey to Paige
We did a whole lot of nothing today! you spent most of the day in your jammies with your backpack that we got at the $1 store yesterday. It doesn't take much to make you happy....a $1 backpack with a new Mickey Mouse coloring book inside and you are a happy little girl.
I love it when......you sit in the bathtub and sing! We often finish up bath-time with mommy having a bit of a headache because you generally "sing" at the top of your voice ( some may call it hollering) but you are so happy playing in the tub and that makes me happy:)
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20:20
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Our journey to Paige
"Miss P's Pizza Parlor may I take your order?"
"One pepperoni and sausage pizza with no crust....got it!"
Better go shop for more supplies!
Fun at the Children's Museum
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20:20
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Our journey to Paige
Busy day....and my camera is dead so no pictures tonight:(
We had a lot of fun at the Children Museum and at the HUGE pool today!
Everyone is leaving tomorrow, I know you are going to be sad, you really had fun with your cousins!
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19:36
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Our journey to Paige
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20:28
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Our journey to Paige
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19:11
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when..... You sing the clean up song . Clean up, clean up everybody everywhere...clean up, clean up everybody do your share. You almost always sing this to yourself when cleaning up. I am not sure when you heard this. I remember Barney singing it, but you don't watch Barney....it may have been on Yo Gabba Gabba
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19:36
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Our journey to Paige
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19:11
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when...... you run up to me and tell me you love me.....melts my heart every time! ( I may have already mentioned this in one of my previous love it when's, but it is truly my favorite thing you do)
It was fairly chilly this evening, but after the BIG plate of Kung Pao chicken mommy had for dinner there was no way I was going to bed without a walk. So we bundled up and went on a walk to see the orange hand.........
I have been meaning to write a post about your craziness for the orange hand. It all began almost two months ago when we started going on evening walks when Grandma Ba came to visit. We walked to an intersection and had to push a button and wait for the orange hand to turn into a white man so that we could walk across the street. Now when you spot traffic lights you start saying "orange hand" you get more excited the closer we get....'"here it comes mommy, getting closer" The drive through town can seem quite long as there are many orange hands and it is all we hear about. I find myself saying " uh, huh orange hand, yep I see it" over and over. It is pretty cool to see you learning about things around you and getting excited about it though!
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19:52
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Our journey to Paige
This is priceless........
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19:41
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Our journey to Paige
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19:13
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Our journey to Paige
Thanks to all of you who left a comment in response to my question of who was following along on this blog. It was nice to know that most of you who responded have been following Miss P since our journey began.
Today you spent a little over an hour at your new pre-school. We are so lucky to have found this special place. Not only is your new little school RIGHT next door, but it is a wonderful environment and you really love Miss Tracie. I think you are going to be very happy there. You are going to go for about an hour in the morning this week. Before we know it mommy will be going back to work so it is important you get to know the children.
You were not into getting your pictures taken today, so I snapped a couple while we were going on our walk. TWO....that's is all I was able to get, you little stinker:)
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17:12
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Our journey to Paige
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18:26
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Our journey to Paige
mmmmm....bacon. bacon, bacon!!
Recipe for loads of fun
1 table
a couple of blankets
brother to make super cool fort for you
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8:16
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Our journey to Paige
Just a quick request.......if you are a frequent visitor or just stop by once in awhile or this is your first time and you think you might be back, I sure wouldn't mind a quick comment to let me know who is reading this blog. As much as I am enjoying keeping this daily diary of my 62 days of summer with Paige, it can be a bit disconcerting not knowing who is reading and it is nice to know who is following along. Thanks:)
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18:11
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when.......We go to the Sonic drive through and as soon as we get our food you take a BIG whiff start rubbing your belly and say "yummy ,yummy, yummy rings" You looooove your sonic onion rings!
Your new favorite thing to do.......Legos.
You left your piggy's in for quite awhile today.........
well.......one of them!
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19:35
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when......you are content on days when we don't do much of anything.
Crazy times...the past week it has been really to hot to go out and play and by the time it cools down it is bed time. Today it was flat out chilly and windy. We did get out for a walk , but we had to bundle up and wear our hoodies. You are always content to just hang out...play with your puzzles, princess cash register and crayons & paper on those days we just don't do much of anything. You never really get fussy or bored and you don't demand that I entertain you every second. Today you had great time playing with your choo choo train alphabet and you got to play Lego's with your brother. It was a lazy day, but a good day.
I
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20:29
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Our journey to Paige
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20:16
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when.....You let me take your picture, sometimes you even ham it up for me and say "noodles" with a big grin, today was not one of those days though.....
You would not let me take your picture today. You wanted to take the pictures, so you helped me take a pictue of Brown Bear....poor sad little scummy Brown Bear, you love him so much.
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19:29
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Our journey to Paige
We had another huge storm last night with lots of thunder, rain and lighting. We sat outside on the porch as long as we could then went in and snuggled in front of the open door and enjoyed the show for close to and hour. You thought it was soooo cool.
This cracks me up. You do this all the time, I am not sure what you are looking for but it took you many crackers until you found just the right one and ate the whole thing. We will try the others again tomorrow, eventually you will eat them all, you just go about it a little differently.
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20:13
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when.....You are able to tell me what you want. Today you came up to me and said "mommy i want a dink, i'm firsty" No pointing, no whining....just to the point what you needed.
Another hot and humid day here today. We had a huge storm last night so everything was very wet and it was pretty darn steamy today. We went outside this afternoon to play with your new sidewalk chalk when these huge raindrops started falling.....so of course you and Coop ran out and started jumping and running in the rain. You were beside yourself with joy!
I love the picture on the bottom right, you are totally getting some air...look at you jump girl!
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20:47
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Our journey to Paige
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19:58
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when.......You use your manners. You are so good at saying.... peas, thanx, cuse me and bless you when someone sneezes.
We went to the fair today let and it was so HOT! we even went early to try and beat the heat but it was pretty yucky. You enjoyed seeing all the animals, although I think you were disappointed there was not an elephant there, for some you reason you were convinced you were going to see an elephant. You really enjoyed the chickens and ducks, you thought all the noises they were making was pretty funny.
You were just not into getting your pictures today. I did get one of you taking a sip off your slushy. I think this was your favorite part of the fair!
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19:39
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Our journey to Paige
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19:41
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Our journey to Paige
Wednesday is a big day at our house......it is garbage day and you looooove waiting for the garbage man to come up in his big truck. You can usually hear is brakes squeaking from several blocks away so you know he is getting close. You say " He is getting closer Mommy, almost here" He is always so nice and gives you a wave.
It has been to hot here to do much of anything, so we have been doing a whole lot of nothing!
Waiting patiently.......
He made it!!!!!
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19:40
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when........you are sweet and loving to Grandma Ba. We had another nice visit with Ba, although it was very short. Grandma Ba travels for several hours to see us , I am so delighted that the two of you are becoming such great friends. I would like to getsome pictures of the two of you, but getting Ba to let me take her picture is not an easy task, especially if she knows I am going to post it on here!
It was very hot today and you did not want to be outside, so we waited until the sun was almost down to go out and play in the water, but the lighting was nice for your pictures. You look like such a big girl to me in today's photos.
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10:01
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Our journey to Paige
Monday, July 27, 2009
20/62 I love it when....you get excited to take your Vitamins. You take two vitamins, fluoride and Toddler DHA. We call the DHA drops brain power and you always get so excited "power, power, power" and jump up and down( these actually do not taste very good, I had to try them to see what all the excitement was about) then you ask for your teeth bite-a-mins. You have always taken theses like such a big girl, just one more thing you do to make mommy's job easier:)
We have been so lucky to have Grandma Ba come for several visits this summer. She spent all of last week with us and is back today.....this will probably be a short visit, but we love it when she comes and stays with us! You love to go on long walks in the evening in your stroller with Grandma Ba pushing..(and mommy trying to keep up) you sit straight up to take everything in and just sing.
You have earned enough stickers to go to the playground a few times, you could probably earn enough to go everyday, but I want it to be something special that you can look forward to. You love to swing and will sit on it as long as you can. You are getting brave and want to be pushed higher and higher.
You are saying some pretty cute stuff lately-
" hey guys, was going on?"
" I , myself" your way of saying you want to do it yourself, we are hearing this alot lately!
" cuse me"...i tooted or i burped
"eeeder" your way of saying either. We usually hear this in a sassy tone as in " I don't want dat eeeder"
Lindsey, Kayla, Jade, Paige, Coop and Nicolas
What a fun visit! Thanks for coming and spending the day with us Uncle ken, Aunt Dana, Nick and Lindsey!!
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20:09
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when......you sleep through the night! You have been doing so good sleeping throughout the night. It has been great because mommy has been really pooped lately and a full nights sleep has been wonderful.
As to why I haven't posted in a week....well life happens, I am not even going to make excuses, although I have several. I am going to try really hard to get back on track. I intend to make up the week I missed
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20:55
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when....you see a butterfly. You love butterflies and are so mesmerized whenever we are lucky enough to find one.
We have been so busy these last few days and I have not taken many photos. I was not able to get a post up yesterday because my internet connection was not working. It has just been busy, busy, busy around here..... going on car rides, playing at the playground, going on walks, visiting family and spending time with Grandma Ba, I hope to be able to take the time in the next couple of days to do a more detailed post instead of sqeezing one in at the last minute.
Swinging with Grandma Ba and Cooper
Mommy had her glasses on tonight and so you had to have yours on also
You love this little pool....you are not hard to please...a little plastic pool and a measuring cup makes you happy
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21:52
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when.....You go right to sleep! For the last week you have been struggling with going to sleep and your bed time has been getting later and later,but tonight you went right to bed and right to sleep.
Grandma Ba's back!! she will be here for a whole week!
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19:54
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when.......you wake up in the morning and lay in your bed and talk. I like to sit and listen to you through the monitor...."mommy, wake up...Paige awake....mommy wake up"
Tonight I asked you if you wanted a hot dog...."no mommy, hot dog toooo hot!" where do you come up with this stuff?!
New word today....lishus (as in, delicious) I guess technically its not really a word, but it sure it cute when you say it and rub your belly!
We have started a playground reward chart and when you get four princess stickers we get to go to the playground. You are always to tickled when you earn a sticker and get to put it on your chart. It was very hot here today and mommy did not really feel up to going to playground, but you earned your stickers so off to the playground we went....
You could sit on this swing all afternoon
You were not really interested in getting your picture taken at the playground but we needed to rest in the shade.
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20:41
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when you.....say something super sweet. Today I said to you " your cute Paige" your reply..."your so toot mommy" just the way you said it melted my heart.
Your new fave.... a strawberry smoothie from ducth bros.
You enjoyed playing in your little pool this evening.
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20:28
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Our journey to Paige
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20:11
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Our journey to Paige
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18:36
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Our journey to Paige
Well... I am very disappointed but I am not going to be able to get a full post on here today. I have the tummy flu and I just have to go lie back down. I did get a couple cute pictures today that I will post tomorrow
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20:05
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Our journey to Paige
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19:40
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Our journey to Paige
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20:01
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Our journey to Paige
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20:37
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Our journey to Paige
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19:37
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when....... I set you in the tub you say "tinkle, tinkle, tinkle" you say this every bath time. It is your way of asking for me to turn the water on just a tiny bit so you can fill all your little cups and bowls up.
We did NOTHING today.....absolutely NOTHING. We needed a day to just chill and it has been windy and smokey here from a forest fire so we didn't even get outside. Tomorrow we at least need to get out for a walk before the wind blows the smoke in.
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17:39
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when.....I am carrying you down the stairs and you wrap your arms around my neck really tight and say "hold on mama"
You were absolutely not going to wear the blue shorts I picked out for you this morning, you were going to wear pink even if it meant putting them on yourself!
You had a very busy day today. You had your first Dentist appointment. You were so good and sat super still for Captain Rex and his team of cavity fighting super heroes! I am happy to report you have NO cavities! Captain Rex said your teeth are in great shape, just a little staining because your enamel is rough, but he cleaned them up and your teeth are super shiny and clean. Things were a little out of wack today and you didn't get to lay down for your nap when you should have so we decided to try and go without, this meant trying to keep busy...
Hitting the courts....
Supervising Coop while he was washing the car....
Splashing in a puddle
In the end you just couldn't make it and ended up crashing into a VERY late nap. Bed time could be tricky tonight.
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20:17
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Our journey to Paige
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15:35
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when.....you ask me for a kiss when I lay you in bed.
Our first 4th of July together 2007 in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam. The day you became a part of our family.
Our second 4th of July, 2008
Our third 4th of July, 2009! What a day...with family, friends , fireworks ( or as you like to call them, sparkley's)! Starting last year we began calling 4th of July our Family Celebration day, we thought of famiversary...gotcha day....but Family Celebration seemed to be the best fit. Grandma Ba even brought us a curly willow tree to plant in honor of our special day, I cant wait to get in the ground and watch it grow and bring loveliness to our lives just like you do. Thanks Grandma Ba for your thoughtfulness.
You were not crazy about taking this picture, you didnt want to lay on the grass.
Your new crush, Jade
Hanging with Coop by Granny's pond
Kiss from Big Sis
Figuring out you could score some candy at the parade
I love you Paige!
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20:25
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Our journey to Paige
I love it when......you can spot the moon in the sky, even when it is a tiny sliver and the sky is bright blue, you always seem to find it and shout moon Mama moon.
OOOOOHHHH, busted! caught breaking into Coop's room!
It is hard to believe that on July 3rd, two years ago we took a long hot van ride to a Thai Nguyen orphanage and held you in our arms for the very first time. It was so hard to leave you, I wanted to take you with me so badly, but we had to wait one more day. Now I get to share everyday with you....how lucky am I? the luckiest Mama in the world!
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20:59
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Our journey to Paige
Woke up in a great mood!
Wore "piggys" for maybe 5 minutes
Going for a ride tonight with Coop.
I have decided that I will begin each daily post with " I love it when"....there are many things that P says or does that make my day but somethings are super special.
I love it when..... You say " I wuv oooh momma" without any prompting
Some facts:
Age: 2 yrs & 3mo
Weight: 23.4 lbs
Height: 36 in.
Favorite food (today) McDonald's french fries
Favorite "thing": Still loves Brown Bear
Favorite Show: It's a tie between Kai Lan and Little Einsteins
Words: Too many to name
Counting to: 15
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18:11
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Our journey to Paige
It's us....we are back! well we never really WENT anywhere, so I don't have any fantastic excuses, but we are back in blogland with a post everyday for 62 days. I wish I could commit to 365, but I promise to post everyday for the months of July and August, it may just be a photo of our little darling, but I will get something on here daily. Tomorrow I promise a post on what Paige has been up to but I wanted to make sure I could squeeze this on here before the end of the day today.
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8:50
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Our journey to Paige
After two wonderful weeks of Christmas break we are all back to work and school. We had so much fun just hanging out and playing with Paige. There is never a dull moment in this house (well, except for when P is napping) Being home with Paige for two weeks amazed me to see how much she changes and develops almost daily. It was REALLY hard to go back to work this time. She is really beginning to use words, is counting to five, dancing and singing, just lots and lots of fun!! Paige loooooves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Donald is by far her favorite. Duck,Duck,Duck she gets so exctied when Donald comes on. She is also crazy about Elmo and the outside of Sonic's onion rings! What kind of mom would sit and pull the onion out of the rings so her daughter can have the outside? well....that would be me. This child is so picky that if she has somthing she likes.....proably wont win any mother of the year awards, but hey, if P is happy then I am happy!
I feel badly that there are many blogs that I have followed for so long that I am not able to access because they are password protected and I have everything saved to my laptop ( still waiting to get in and get repaired) So if I have not left a comment lately on some of my regulars you now know why... I have not lost interest, just not able. I also don't have very many pictures. My daughter has a great camera and has been taking lots of pictures of P, I just need to to get her to put them on the Hubbs computer so I can share them with you. On the blogs I have been able to check, it looks like all is well and everyone is happy. I wish everyone a wonderful and fun filled new year!
I bet you will never guess who has "control" at our house!
Who said you cant wear your tights on your head?
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8:55
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Our journey to Paige
It seems as if our little one has grown up so much this week. We have definitely entered the toddler stage...this child is no longer a baby. She is really starting to show her true personality and I love it, although she can be a bit of a Diva and is very particular about the way she thinks things should be. Juice in a juice cup, milk in a bottle, Kraft mac and cheese(no passing those imitations off on her) frosting scraped off her Oreo's......
She is talking up a storm, she has many words that are becoming much more clear. One of my favorite thing she does is at bedtime we will be downstairs and all I have to say is "Paige its time for night night" and she says "night,night" gives a little wave and starts up the stairs and heads right to her room....too cute! I am surprised she has not shown much interest it the Christmas tree. It only has lights on it right now so I guess it is not too interesting, we will see what happens after we get it decorated today.
Paige is very into glasses, I don't know if it is because her sister and I wear them, but she has a couple of hand me down play pairs that she will wear for long periods of time , just strutting around the house in these big glasses. Let me tell you she thinks she is something in her glasses! Here are a few cute pics from the weeks and a couple of videos......
Bet you wish you had a pair of these!
Me and my Sis
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8:20
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Our journey to Paige
Miss P turned 20 months at the end of November. She has changed so much this past month. In the blink of an eye she went from my little baby to a little girl. Although, I love watching her change and learn everyday, it makes me sad that she is "growing" so fast. Speaking of growing she is still fairly small. She weighs 22 pounds , I didn't catch her length....but she is very petite(5th percentile on the growth chart for height) Miss P has such a wonderful personality she is so much fun, I have the best time just hanging out with her. Some of the things she does cracks me up! Watching her have a pretend conversation on her phone is the funniest thing ever. She loves RUNNING around the house. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Elmo are her favorites. Listening to her "sing" the Micky Mouse Clubhouse song in her own little language makes me smile every time. Food continues to be an issue at our house. Miss P is so stinkin picky, she is very leery to try anything new. I tried giving her a Christmas cookie yesterday and she wouldn't have anything to do with it. She does not appear to have a sweet tooth yet.....no ice cream, pudding, cookies...just wont have anything to do with it. She looooooves sunchips and pretzels for snacks. Fruits and veggies have a hard time making it past her puckered lips! We have gotten to the point where she is only having formula before bed and her middle of the night bottle(yes she still has one of those) She will drink her juice from a cup, but not milk ,so I got her a cup with a straw for her milk and we are slowly giving that a try, but like everything with P she is very leery to change... Paige is really starting to use her voice, she try's to copy the majority of what we say, I looove her little voice and the way her words come out. Light (yite) is her new word and she was so excited to see the moon out the other night, just pointing away and hollering yite,yite!! I cannot even begin to express how in love I am with this child, she brightens my days and brings us all such happiness. Our family is so blessed to have the opporutinty to have this wonderful little person in our lives.
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Our journey to Paige
Hopefully I will be able to get a new post up. My laptop took a turn for the worse and it is now waiting to go to the repairman. If I can figure out how to get some pictures downloaded on to the Hubb's computer I will post ASAP. A little hint...I have a cute video of Miss P WALKING!!!!! she is a bit of a late bloomer, my angel, but she is finally cruising all over....sassy as ever, like she owns the place! Anyway, I will try to post very soon with pics, she has gotten even cuter since the last post!:)
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Our journey to Paige
The guilt has been really getting to me, because I haven't posted in so long. I really do not know if anyone still checks in or not. If there are a few of you still wondering what is up with Miss P I will not be able to catch you up on the last 3 months but here is a little bit of what has been going on with our little diva.
Paige is still not fully walking, she is taking about 10 steps at a time at this point. We were concerned so in October (she wasn't walking at all)we took her to a pediatric orthopedist. The Doc x-rayed her hips and thoroughly checked her out and seems to think she is jut not quite strong enough or ready. She seems to be progressing really well this past week though.
Paige is a VERY picky eater. It is nearly impossible to try anything new with this child.We are weaning her off her formula to morning and before bed and she doesn't have a problem with whole milk, but until she starts eating better I don't want to take her off the formula completely.
Miss P is not the most outgoing child. She really draws in around those she does not know. She does not cry around strangers, but she is not really interested in interacting with them either. She acts very "coy" around those she does not know well. She is very loving with all of us and loves to snuggle and give kisses. She loves climbing all over her brother and throwing a tennis ball back and forth with him, he is very patient with her and will play with her for the longest time. Paige is definitely going through a Mommy phase. I am it as far as she is concerned. She loves playing with her Daddy, Bro and Sis but if I walk by...forget it she wants Mommy.She still seems to be doing well at daycare, but is a little clingy when I drop her off in morning.
This girl can talk a blue streak! We have no idea what she is saying but she will go on and on.
A few words we know: Stinky (dinky) Bottle (babo) Mom, Daddy, Norman, Light, No, Shoes, Cute.....
She loves playing"what do you see?" we ask her "what do you see?" and she just starts pointing at everything and we have to tell her what it is. She is also very happy when she can play with all of her shoes....girl loves her shoes! She likes to try and put her clothes on also, although she gets very frustrated because she just cant get it right yet.
I am hoping to get back in the groove posting. I just don't remember being this tired with my other two kids,but I am so exhausted at the end of the day, of course I was ALOT younger!
I do not have many pictures to post as I am in desperate need of a new camera, but here are are few recent ones.
Before my first haircut 11/01...rocking the Jon BonJovi
Modeling my new do.....
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Our journey to Paige
Are you kidding me...!? MY daughter is entering her senior year in High School? Ugh...how in the heck did that happen. I am pretty sure it was just yesterday that she was toddling around the house, getting her first teeth, having her first real temper tantrum. Registering her for her senior year yesterday was a bit surreal. Don't get me wrong, I know this is what its all about, having kids, watching them grow, being very proud of all the great stuff they do. BUT....This is gonna be tough. My baby is growing up! And then today I take her get her drivers permit (passed with a 100% !!) so now she is driving, and it is not her little bicycle with training wheels! Wow....
She may be growing up, but she is still pretty silly. Clowning around in the toy department. Hmm...now that she is driving the helmet doesnt seem like such a bad idea ;)
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Our journey to Paige
As some of you may have heard there has been some horrible flash flooding in Northern Vietnam. The provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu To, Quang Ninh, Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang have been hit pretty hard. Per news reports at least 112 people have lost their lives and many are missing, there has also been a considerable amount of damage to homes and roadways. I know of one family who was hoping to have their G&R in Phu Tho on Tuesday.I do not know if Ann was able to get to Phu Tho to meet their daughter Brooke. Please keep this family and all of those affected in Northern Vietnam in your thoughts and prayers.
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Our journey to Paige
Where is the time going?? why is it going by so fast? someone please make it stop! August gets here and WHAM, time starts flyin' by. Every year about this time I start thinking...wish I would have slowed down a little, enjoyed my time off, relaxed, taken it a little easier....(hmm with a 16 mo old not sure where I was planning on fitting relaxing in) One of the advantages of working for a school is that we get the summer off to spend with our children, but summer's gotta end sometime and for us it is August 25th. We have kept fairly busy these last couple of weeks and had a lot of fun. My Mom came for a week to visit and we went to the fair and to Portland for a few days to spend some time with my brother, sister-in-law and their two adorable children. Paige has been VERY busy....6 teeth is as many days! crazy!! she is also getting ready to walk...and "talking" this girl does not stop. I only wish I knew what she was trying to tell me. It has been a great summer and I have enjoyed every second with all three of my children. Life is good.....
Although Paige really loved all the animals this year at the fair........
She loved the Curly Fries more......keep your eyes on the prize sweetie!!
drippy, greasy, yummy fair fries....nothing can compare
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Our journey to Paige
Road Trip!!!! we took a road trip to Idaho to visit my Father in Law and his wife Joy. My Sister and Brother in Law Destiny and Justin traveled from Seattle. It was so nice to get together and we had a nice couple of days just hanging out. Abe and Joy have a beautiful place on 56 acres in Grangeville Idaho. My FIL has an airplane and he took Kayla and Coop for a spin ( there was NO WAY I was going up there)they spent about an hour up in the air. I am not gonna lie.....8+ hours (one way)in the car with a family of 5 was challenging at times, but it was lots of fun. Our travels took us along the route of Lewis and Clarke, THAT WAS COOL! I love that kind of stuff. We took a detour on the way home and spent a night in Portland and went to the Washington Park Zoo. It is nice to be home, although Paige traveled very well. I wouldn't want to be strapped in a car seat for that long, but she didn't seem to mind. Oh, I cant forget to mention that Paige pulled herself up to stand for the first time while in Idaho. She is really good at it now and you can tell she is thinking about taking some steps. While Dad is excited, I feel like my baby is growing up so fast. She is turning into a little girl so very fast. We have one month before we have to go back to work and I don't want to miss a thing my little angel might do or say. Her personality is really starting to pop out and boy is she something!! I am crazy about my little Diva!
Getting ready to hit the road....
Are you kidding me?? did you say 8 hours???
Scenery along the way...Kayla was able to take lots of nice pictures , but I will just share a couple... I think this is a lovely shot ..
another old barn....
ever seen a shoe tree???.....
8 hours later a arrive in Grangeville Idaho....yea..it is so nice to see our family!
Kayla and Coop flying over Abe and Joy's place
An aerial view of their lovely home and guest house
This is me with my aunt Destiny...
Oh, I got to play the piano too!
Me and my Mommy
This is my new favorite friend...we will discuss this in another post......
At the Zoo....
Ahhhh.....home at last, time to go treasure hunting in Mommy's cupboard ,now that I can stand there is lots I can get into:)
Just chillin'...
These stairs are on my list of " things to do!"
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Our journey to Paige
July 4th, 2007 Thai Nguyen, Vietnam
July 4th 2008 Redmond Oregon, USA
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Our journey to Paige
One year ago today we met for the first time. I wanted to take you with me so badly but we were told we had to wait one more day. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I fell in love with you instantly.
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If you read the title you know my exciting news......I am now crawling. I love it, I can get into stuff and explore things I never imagined. I want to go, go, go all the time. I also think I should be pulling myself up, so I have been giving that a try too, haven't got there yet but I will keep trying. My Mommy and Daddy were worried that I was a little behind in my big motor skills but I just had to wait till I was ready, now I am on the move. My favorite new thing to do is cruise over to the book case and take all the books out, man is that fun! Mommy doesn't mind as long as I don't tear the books so I am always very careful. I don't know if I have mentioned before that Mommy and I are HUGE Jack Johnson fans. We got the Curious George soundtrack. We listen to it every night during playtime, it's really good if anyone is looking for some new music. Oh , and thanks for all the music ideas everyone we really appreciate it! Mom knows if I like the music, because I will start moving. I have my own little dance moves! I have to admit I am beginning to show the signs of a little temper. I have been known to have a fit a time or two lately. Mostly when someone puts me down when I am not ready or takes something away. Mommy says my middle name should have been DIVA! I can be pretty sassy sometimes, but I am so stinkn' cute.I have been eating really good. Pasta is my favorite and broccoli is good too...mix em' together and you have got yourself a pretty good dinner! I am still on my toddler formula ,though I hear Mom saying she is going to start adding whole milk and weaning me off the formula. Yea, that could get interesting, we will see how it goes. You may notice from my photos below that I am having some hair issues. It is really staring to grow but sticks out everywhere most of the time. Oh well, we are just gonna let it do whatever it wants to do for now, Mom doesn't have the heart to cut it. There are lots of pictures below of me just being cute and with my brother and sister. Mom included a few pictures of her living room "redo" she got out her can of white paint the other day and went a little crazy giving the tables and things a fresh coat and got new slipcovers for the couches too. Yea, new white slipcovers GREAT idea;)
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This has been a busy month for me. I am really starting to enjoy moving around and exploring. I am not crawling yet, but I sure can get across the floor. I move around on my bottom mostly in the splits positions. My mommy and daddy haven't quite figured out how I do it, but they think it is pretty innovative. I love to eat big girl food now and really don't want any of that texture- less baby mush. I feed myself sometimes but it throws me off when I get yuck all over my hands, I don't really like that. I do eat lots of baby puff treats by myself though. I still only have 4 teeth and I know I have some others coming in because I seem to have all the teething "symptoms" and am fussier than normal. I love music and cant help but shake my body when music comes on. My favorite thing is to sit on my bedroom floor before bed and listen to music with my mommy and big brother. Mommy is having a hard time finding some good music though. She tried a baby disco cd.....totally lame and the Wiggles, forget about it! anyone have any suggestions for my mommy on some cool baby tunes? I really like looking at my books, though I am spending a lot of time chewing on them lately. My vocabulary is growing a little. I say "heado" (hello) and allnon (all done) cat and dog. I say lots of other stuff my family hasn't figured out yet. Everyone is always telling me how cute I am, although I have gotten a bit shy around people I don't know. We are counting the days down until summer break so my Family can be home with me all summer! 6 weeks to go. Its gonna be so great, sleep in, hang out and relax at home with my peeps! Mommy is excited because then she wont be missing out on all the great things I do throughout the day. Here are some pictures of me from the past week. My mom actually got a picture of me smiling, although I smile a lot, generally in photos I prefer to give my serious look.....hmmmm, I am pretty darn cute!
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Our journey to Paige
I do not put my personal thoughts out here in cyberspace very often. Rarely do I write anything more than "fluff" about Paige and post pictures ,but today has not been a happy day. For those of us in the Vietnam adoption community we all knew something was going to happen, we have all heard the rumors for quite some time. I did not expect this though
http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/adoption_warning0408.html I truly had hoped somehow, someway these issues between the US and Vietnamese governments would be solved. I had hoped that if the Government of Vietnam decided to halt adoptions with the US they would at least try to match all the PAP's with their dossiers currently in the country with children.That unfortunately is not the case. As the document states, if a PAP is not matched by Sept 1st their case will be closed and sent back to their adoption service provider.I know of too many families who are now uncertain if their dreams of adopting a child from Vietnam will come true. The information that has come out in the news about corruption these past couple of days is very unsettling, it makes me feel ill. I don't know what to think. I believe that attention must be paid to the corruption that has been reported, not one child should be put in the hands of the Vietnamese provinces illegally, it is devastating. Another concern I have is that people be aware that not ALL adoptions out of Vietnam are corrupt. There are not many news reports about the hundreds and hundreds of adoptions that have been completed that were completely ethical. I believe in my heart our daughter came to our family ethically, but I only have the information we were given ...our little stack of documents that tell us how our daughter came to be a part of our family. I have to hold this in my heart as being truthful, we do not have reason to believe that it wasn't, do we know this 110%? no, but it is all we have. I am so sad for all the families with their hearts in limbo right now, so uncertain. My heart is breaking for the children, what circumstances are they facing? what will they suffer if the US agencies withdraw their humanitarian support? my heart was very heavy tonight as I watched my daughter drift off to sleep, my computer screen is blurry as I write this with tears in my eyes. I hope with all my heart that this will soon be resolved for so many children who truly need a family and families can be created through ethical, honest Vietnam adoption.
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Our journey to Paige
I took this video today of P. I don't know what she was trying to tell me, but it seems very important. It makes me giggle every time I watch it, she is so sassy, I love it!
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Our journey to Paige
I am probably the last one out here in blog land to do this "7 random things about you "tag but
Annatagged me a week ago and I am finally just getting around to posting. I was waiting to post until I got some new pictures, but haven't been taking many pictures because my camera memory was full and I didn't know how to make room....( I should be embarrassed to admit that, but oh well!) Miss P has 4...yes 4 teeth! they are poppin' in like crazy, I think she is working on two more bottom ones. She is also really jabbering...trying to say Dog and Cat. Ma comes out Na and she says " Uh Oh" all the time....too, too cute! She is spending a lot more time on her tummy without fussing and is managing to wiggle herself around from one place to another. She will be 11 mo on the 26th....cant believe how time flies when you are having fun.
THE RULES:
1. List 7 random things about yourself that people may not know.
2. Link the person who sent this to you, and leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.
3. Post the rules on your blog.
4. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, linking their blog. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Here are my 7 random things......
1. I could easily eat at least 6 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in one sitting
2. I am addicted to Americas Next Top Model.
3. I loooooove Shabby Chic decorating style
4. All my furniture is white...kinda crazy with 3 kids, a dog and 3 cats!
5. I do not like people parking in front my house...well unless they are MY people.
6. . Our new neighbors, their 4 dogs and their dirt -bike motorcycles at 9pm( are you freakin' kidding me ,we don't live in the country people!) are making me CRAZY!!!!
7. I read
TMZ everyday
I am going to break rule #4, not because I want to be a partypooper, but because I honestly think everyone has done it, but if you haven't...consider yourself tagged!!
Well, there you have it and here are a few pictures from the week
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Our journey to Paige
If you look closely you can see the little tooth!
Since I last wrote P has grown another tooth. She now has one on the top and one on the bottom with two more close behind. My mom came for visit. We hadn't seen her since we brought Paige home. It is unfortunate that during the time she was here P was not her normal sweet little self, she was working on the teeth and was pretty cranky, but I think they had a nice time getting to know each other again. We had another visit to the photographer's studio(I joined a baby's first year club) It went much better this time. I haven't seen the photos yet so I am excited to see how they turned out. I am looking forward to connecting with a local Photographer who found us. She is part of the Celebrating Adoption campaign. I hope to have Jane (her pictures are AMAZING!)
www.ethniphotography.com/ take P's first year pictures.If you are not familiar with this program
http://www.celebratingadoption.orgcheck it out and there just may be a photographer in your area who participates.
Well, another week has slipped by, it was busy with school conferences and P coming down with a cold . Here are several pictures taken over the last 10 days.
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Our journey to Paige
I posted my first blog entry.....it went like this........
Two years ago I never would have imagined that I would be creating an adoption journal . Even though we began this journey five months ago, I have been apprehensive to start our blog, call it superstition.....but this is really beginning to feel real....we are going to be blessed with a baby girl from Vietnam. We can't predict exactly when, but we are alot closer than we were five months ago! We are entering the final stretch. I am creating this blog for our family, friends and fellow adoptive parents to follow our journey.. all the ups, downs and that much anticipated time when we finally travel to Vietnam to bring our daughter home. I will not profess to be an eloquent writer, but I am a pro at the run-on sentence!!! There may be days when my posts are less than interesting, as there have been many days throughout this journey that it seems as if nothing is happening, but keep reading because there will be that one day when we get the word that we have a baby girl!
It is hard to believe that one year ago we had just completed our dossier and were waiting for our 171H approval. This journey has been such an amazing experience and it just gets better and more interesting everyday with our little sweetie.
I have to admit I have been struggling with my blog lately. I read several blogs daily that are so interesting and fun.....some post weekly goals, recipes, book reviews and are just funny and entertaining. I know that my blog is really not that creative or entertaining and I have given some serious thought to what direction I want to go. I could certainly post a weekly goal, I read a lot of books I could write about, recipes could be a struggle;) and I am really not that witty or that great of a writer.. so what to do?? I started this blog to document our journey to Paige and I really feel I want to keep this blog as a journal for her. So it looks as if it will be more of the same....Miss P stories as well as some family stuff and of course pictures. This will probably mean some sporadic entries as not every day is journal worthy, but I am going to make a point to post at least once a week (how about that, a goal!) even if nothing exciting is going on I will at least post a couple pictures(no shortage of those!) As of today we have had 21,949 people visit our blog! Thanks to those of you who follow along regularly and leave such nice comments.
Now for some current news.....
Miss P entered double digits yesterday! yes, she is 10 months old. She is still not crawling and is finally getting to the point where we can put her on her tummy without her throwing a major Diva fit. Her upper body is getting very strong and she seems to be getting the idea of what she should be doing. I don't think it will be long. We are of the belief from the "vibe" that we got from her Orphanage caregivers that she was held ALOT! I don't think she spent much time at all on her tummy, if at all. She couldn't even lift her head off the floor when we got her. So we are slowly making progress. Her pediatrician keeps telling us not to be concerned, she is on track with every else she should be doing at this age.I figure as soon as she starts crawling she will want to be on the move so I am enjoying all of the holding I can get in now!! Her first tooth is in and it looks like another one is on its way. We are still battling skin issues and I have switched her to Soy formula to see if that makes any difference.
It has been such a great weekend, my Hubb got me a housekeeper for Christmas. She will come on Friday and get the house all spiffy so I don't have to worry about cleaning on the weekends. This was her first Friday and let me just say "I can get used to this!!" It was really nice to come home on Friday afternoon to a nice clean house! We are having a snow storm here in Central Oregon(hoping for a snow day tomorrow) so I got a few cute pictures in the snow and few others just hanging out during the last week.
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Our journey to Paige
I am amazed by all the great advice I received regarding Miss P's eczema. Thank you all so much for your comments. P went to the Pediatrician for her 6 mo immunizations(she is finally caught up now at 9mo;) She is still only 16lbs. We talked alot out Paige's skin problems and it sounds as if we are doing everything we should be doing. There are not any magical cures out there...darn!! We have been doing the bath and lotion on within 3 minutes to lock in the moisture. I ordered the Arbonne Nutrimin C RE9 that was recommended on one of the comments and it just came today so I am excited to give it a try! The tooth is still working its way in, though we can see it much better now. She is so much fun right now. She is really starting to show her personality and is jabbering up a storm. She is so funny, whenever we say" eye,yie,yie" she puts her little hands on her head. She is shaking her head no, no and if you ask her if she has a bad cough she will "drama" cough for you. I am not sure how this started but it is pretty silly. Thanks again for all the advice!!
Here a short little video, I tried to catch her eye,yie,yie.
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Our journey to Paige
How long does it take for one little tooth to come in?? It has been so long since I have dealt with teething. The little bugger has broken through ,but doesn't seem to be making any progress. On top of this poor P is suffering from some bad skin issues. I have written a few times about our battle with eczema, it is so much worse now than it has ever been. I spent some time online trying to find a natural product we can use but there doesn't seem to be anything out there. It seems like grandma must have cooked something up on her stove to soothe before we had all these chemicals! I will be making a call to another dermatologist tomorrow who specializes in infants. Yeck, she could be suffering from somthing other than or as well as the eczema for all I know! The first week back on our workday routine went well. She likes going to her daycare so she handled it pretty well. She has been really clingy this weekend though. Anyone have any suggestions regarding teething or eczema??
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Miss P's first day at day care (notice she has her cell phone, such a diva!)
I know it has been awhile since my last post...sorry about that! I started back to work last Monday and it was an interesting week, just trying to get a routine and schedule down. We had a girls weekend in Portland. Auntie Dawn, my two girls and I hit the big city for the weekend and had a great time. It is unfortunate that the AWESOME pair of red pumps that I spent the afternoon looking for are now in the garbage since my "wonderful" dog thought he would get up on my bed and dig the shoes out the shopping bag and chew them! now my beautiful red shoes are covered in teeth punctures!sigh........
Miss P and Auntie Dawn ready to hit the road.
Chillin' in the hotel
sigh...the fun we could have had! RIP..sweet red shoes.
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Our journey to Paige
Here are a few pictures of our day at the pumpkin patch
Just look at this face........I love this face!
And my big girl...lovely!!!!
And then there is Norman.....he is a stinky beast, but a cute one!!!
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Our journey to Paige
You are 7 months old today baby. You have changed and grown so much since the 3rd of July when you were placed in our arms. Our lives changed forever on July 4 when you became ours to cherish and love...I am such a lucky Mommy, we all love you so very much.You have brought such joy into our lives I cant imagine a day without you in it.
Many of you have been following along since we began our journey and have watched Paige blossom along with us. Thank you so much for your wonderful comments and support!
To those of you just beginning your journey,or have hit the various "rough spots" that go hand in hand with international adoption, you may feel like it is never going to happen...It will.. it may not go exactly as you planned, but have faith! This adoption taught me many things, the biggest being patience and that everything happens as it is meant to even though we may not think so at the time. I truly believe this child was meant for us .I hope you enjoy our video....Caution, it is fairly long, I have so may "favorite" pictures and video it was hard to edit anything out.
Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com
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Our journey to Paige
You are 6 months old today baby. You have changed and grown so much since the 3rd of July when you were placed in our arms. Our lives changed forever on July 4 when you became ours to cherish and love...I am such a lucky Mommy, we all love you so very much.You have brought such joy into our lives I cant imagine a day without you in it.
Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com
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This is me with my grandpa Abe
Me with my Granny, she in her zebra ensemble and I in my leopard get up
Wedding fancy....
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Our journey to Paige
Mood swings.......
Little miss serious!
I have been so excited to take the kids to this really cool professional photography studio and yesterday was the big day. We actually had an appointment a couple of weeks ago that we had to cancel because P had some of her lovely red excema spots on her face. I wanted to get some photos of the kids together and then some of Miss P by herself for her 6 mo photos.Unfortunately all did not go as I had hoped. Miss P had her immunizations on Tues and was feeling pretty crappy and running a low grade fever most of the day yesterday PHOTO DAY! Oh boy it did not go well. P is usually a major photo ham, when she hears my camera ding when I turn it on she just lights up....not so much at the studio. She cried almost the entire time and when she wasn't crying she had her "comfort" fingers in her mouth...forget about even cracking a smile! oh yes, lovely shots! They did get some good photos of Kayla and Coop though. What is really cool is we will actually get a cd with all the photos on it so I will post some. As far as P goes, I think I will just stick her in her tutu and have her sister take some photos!
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15:37
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Our journey to Paige
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8:03
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Our journey to Paige
My daughter caught these great sky shots so I thought I would share......she really takes some great photos
I know I have not posted in awhile and I generally never post without a new picture of the little missy but we have been really busy around here. I have been busy painting and remodeling our family room, formerly known as the "man pit"(just couldn't take it anymore guys....the girls are movin' in!) I thought of posting some before and after pictures, but the "man pit" was so bad I am embarrassed to share. There is lots more work to be done so I will check back in towards the end of the week, hopefully with some new Miss P pictures!!!
I wanted to give a quick shout out to my fellow OO'ers I know many of you are waiting for news on your little ones, I really hope you hear something soon. I know the waiting can be hard.
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Our journey to Paige
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Our journey to Paige
Miss P is fascinated with our cell phones. If she is not trying to grab mine she is grabbing her sisters. I imagine her first words being...Mom can I have my own phone plan?...with unlimited texting of course! Oh, she is sassy!
Can I text with this??????
I should probably check my messages!!
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Our journey to Paige
Miss P loves her new be'be' POD chair.
Just look at that face! Sitting up like such a big girl. She is still very tiny though.
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Our journey to Paige
Thankfully Miss P does not wake crying during the night and she has gotten to where I can lay her down awake and she will fall asleep on her own. We had already decided if this were not the case we would not let her "cry it out" I know there are people on both sides of the fence as far as this is concerned and I respect both sides. Here is my little issue. Miss P has been waking up the middle of the night just jabbering like crazy.....loudly! she is not fussing, just talking and making noise. Last night she was awake for over an hour. What would you do?? I am concerned if I pay alot of attention to this it will become a nightly habit and she will want to stay up half the night visiting.. I have just been letting her talk herself back to sleep, but part of me feels extremely guilty.
On another topic....when I went to order Paige's halloween costume(I had decided on the butterfly) it was sold out!! the problem doesn't end there...the runner up bunny was sold out too!! hmmmm so what did we end up with??guess you will have to wait and see!!
Miss P is our nightly dinner entertainment. In this video you can hear us all laughing in the background. She is such a hoot!
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Our journey to Paige
Kelly at Lucy in the sky found the cutest
Halloween costume for Lucy @www.tomarma.com. I want to get one for Miss P, but I cant choose. Help me decide which one do you think would be the best for Miss P??
The bunny or the butterfly??? They are both so stinkin' cute!
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21:41
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Our journey to Paige
Miss Audrey is at it again. I guess since I put up the screen door on the nursery so she cant get in the crib she has decided the cradle downstairs will work just as well!!
Here is Miss P just being her cute little self! Her new favorite spot to chill is her high chair. She doesn't have to be eating to be happy(though she has decided that she likes doing that too...sweet potatoes and squash), she just like sitting there playing with her toys.
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Our journey to Paige
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Our journey to Paige
Paige
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Our journey to Paige
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Our journey to Paige
Well you get her a tree silly!
Miss P's Granny (my wonderful MIL) has been wanting to get something for Paige since we got home, but since this little one really does not NEED anything she had the idea of getting her a tree. How simply lovely! Now we can enjoy watching the tree grow along with P'. We went to the nursery today and picked out a Purple Locust tree. It will have beautiful purple flowers in the spring. We will plant it in our front yard in front of Miss P's window.
Paige and Mommy at the nursery
This is what Paige's tree will look like when it blooms
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21:15
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Our journey to Paige
She loves sitting in her high chair(we usually take the tray off) look how tiny she is!!! Oh my goodness ,I love this sweet, sweet child!! I just want to squish on her all day! Today was our first day of just Paige and Mommy at home. It was really mellow,but she had a hard time going down for her nap....I think she is not used to it being so quiet around here. I have exactly two months before I have to go back to work and I am going to cherish every single second !!
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Our journey to Paige
Ok, here is my 1st attempt at posting a video. I will just show a couple short and sweet ones....I have dreams of digging in and figuring out our editing program so I can put together some good videos to music....cant promise when THAT will happen so these will have to do for now.
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Our journey to Paige
Miss P and I dropped Coop off at school today. He was actually really excited. I think he was more excited to wear his new shoes! and to play football on reccess with his buddies. I cant believe he is in the 5th grade and next year will be at the middle school with me. Kayla will start tomorrow as a junior in high school...is this possible??? We have been talking a lot lately about the future and what she may want to do......
My Uncle and Aunt Came for a visit yesterday. Since they live in another state we do not have the opportunity to get together often. They adopted their daughter from Brazil many years ago and have been so supportive through out our entire journey. It was wonderful to see them. Love you Uncle Rob and Aunt Gayle!They brought a Vietnamese cookbook for us. Now you don't know this about me, but I cant cook American, Mexican or Italian!! I am challenging myself to try and prepare one Vietnamese meal a week.......oh my! I should apologize to my family in advance!
I really want to post some videos of Miss P. I need a good,easy platform to use.....any suggestions???the more user friendly the better.
I have been tagged by
Elizabeth and
Kristen to write my Meme so here goes.
You have to post these rules before you give the facts:
Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged & to read your blog!
K- Kittens, I looooove kittens.Just bought a new kitten calender!
A- Air... clean air, I wish we had right now. We have a big forest fire burning in our area with lots of smoke and ash blowing into our little town.
Y- Young....as in younger looking skin! anyone out there in my age group (lower 40's) that has a great product they recommend?? I really don't mind being in my 40's but that doesn't mean I want to LOOK 40!
Wow, that wasn't too painful. Thanks Mom for the short middle name!
I am going to tag
barbiegump.blogspot.com
Heather @
tovietnam.blogspot.com Anna @ourlittlemaggie.blogspot.com
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21:46
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Our journey to Paige
Oh the last days of summer, so bittersweet. I am a lover of fall and spring... the summer season not so much (having 2.5 months off from work is nice though) but with the final days of summer approaching,kids going back to school, the Hubb going back to work, me NOT going back to work, I am feeling kind of melancholy. It was a summer I will never, ever forget.....
We had a lovely lighting and thunder storm followed by a wonderful rain shower tonight. We all sat out on the porch and enjoyed it. The rain smelled sooooo good!
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21:10
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Our journey to Paige
My auntie Dawn gave me a pedi today. Although I loooooove my pink pigs, it really tuckered me out;)
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Our journey to Paige
We took Miss P to the dermatologist yesterday and she was diagnosed with a pretty good case of eczema. We left with two prescriptions,one for the face and one for her body. I picked up the meds this afternoon and came home and gave her a bath and then applied the creams. Within 10 minutes her face was covered in hives. You could almost watch it spread. Long story short we ended up in the ER because her eyes and face seemed to be swelling and it was spreading to her chest(she looked pretty awful). They did a quick look over and since her lips weren't blue and she appeared to be breathing ok they let us sit and wait for 1 1/2 hours! Needless to say by the time we actually saw the Doc the reaction was beginning to subside. Diagnosis......allergic reaction to the face cream. All is well now and she is sleeping like the little angle that she is....
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Our journey to Paige
Every Diva needs a shiny pair of shoes!!
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8:39
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Our journey to Paige
Don't be deceived by this picture! This dog is not as sweet and innocent as he
looks!!!
Caught in the act....a pair of Miss P's pants he grabbed while i was in
the middle of folding her clothes!
I have had several people ask me where I got Miss P's bows. I purchased them on ebay. The seller is The Bowtique. I just ordered 10 more. She has a HUGE selection of colors and patterns.
I leopard shoes are from www.babybellamaya.com.
Now I am asking for advice dear fellow bloggers. My wonderful canine Mr.Norman Eugene has taken really well to Miss P. That is the good news, the bad news is that he has realized there is someone else in the house getting more attention than him. What this means is that Norman is doing WHATEVER he can to get my attention. This dog has turned into a monster(not that he was ever an angel to begin with;) he steals her toys or really anything laying around that he knows does not belong to him. These objects not always easy for him to get either, I don't know how he manages to get some things....then he just runs around with said stolen object dangling out of his mouth.( i admit seeing him with a pacifier in his mouth was pretty funny..my mom's glasses, not so much!) Chasing him gets me no where because he is really fast and then he thinks it is a game. I have began ignoring him when he takes something(well unless it is something like my moms glasses) and he is having a hard time with that....he will make a point to walk in front of me repeated times or he will come and find me to show me he has something he shouldn'. He also will bring cat poo in and eat it right in front of me(something he surly knows I cant tolerate!) I find I am hollering at him more and more everyday. I shudder to think what he may be up to next!
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Our journey to Paige
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Our journey to Paige
I took Miss P for a little visit to the school today. The only people working currently are the secretaries and they called the other day to see how things were going so we thought we would visit. I have actually committed myself to working 15hrs the last week of Aug. getting our classroom ready ect. so I am sure I will take her in with me so she can meet everyone.
Here is Miss P with two of our secretaries Shelly and Melonie. These gals are
awesome!!
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Our journey to Paige
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Our journey to Paige
Miss P with my best friend... Auntie Dawn and her big bubb Cooper
hanging out at our yard sale.
I knew having a yard sale would be a lot of work, this is why I have been putting it off for the past two years (I think putting together our adoption dossier was easier!) I knew once I committed to having a sale with my best friend there would be no turning back....so after a VERY busy week we actually pulled it off and I am happy to say I am close to being five hundred dollars richer! not bad for a bunch of junk! not to mention I will actually have room in the garage to park my car this winter! of course I ended up with several treasures of Auntie Dawn's that I just HAD to have. Thankfully I had a few things she wanted so we did a little trading.Things are going great here at home. Miss P is back to napping again....two naps a day varying in length AND sleeping through the night. The Hubb goes back to work at the end of the month and the kids to school at the beginning of September so it will just be Paige and I until I have to go back to work the beginning of November. I have a hard time thinking about leaving her so I am in blissful denial right now.
Paige looooooves her big sis......her big sis is equally crazy about her too. I cant get my hands on this child when my big girl is around!
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9:18
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Our journey to Paige
Routine??Schedule?? We are still really trying to get some sort of schedule down around here. It has been hard because we are still just trying to settle back in. Miss P slept ALOT when we first got home but now she is not diggin' her naps as much. She is sleeping VERY well at night (this could be why she is not napping) she lets us know @ 8pm that she is ready for bed and sleeps until 6 or 7. Daddy usually goes in around 11:30/12 and gives her a quick bottle and diaper change. We really want her take a late afternoon nap at least because she can turn into quite the little sleepy monster around 5:00. She has figured out that all she has to do is squeak and her Daddy, Sister or Norman are right there....spoiled?? uh huh!! rotten;)
I had to post these pictures of Norman helping Kayla set up his own Myspace page.......hehe
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Our journey to Paige
What Can I say?????? I know I am adorable!
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20:19
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Our journey to Paige
The day we met, one month ago today... my beautiful angel
Coming home....
First County fair.....
Hangin' with the Sibs.....first video game
Definitely NOT my first bath from Norman.......Norman LoVeS lickin' the pigs!!
This last month has been amazing. Our little angel is growing and changing so much already. I just want to slow down time a little....don't we all?! We are all so in love with this child!
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Our journey to Paige
Miss P LOVES her hands, in fact she finds them to be quite fascinating. Her daddy I wonder what she will end up doing with them. Dad thinks she is plotting to take over the word, I am thinking....Surgeon or classical Pianist
You don't have to look far for Norman, he is usually not far from Paige! I think they are going to be great friends!
We have had a great week. My mom was able to spend the week with us, it was wonderful having her here. She is leaving today and I am really going got miss having her here. My Father, Step-mother and 90 year old grandmother came for a visit,our little angel charmed them for sure! Miss P is doing really well. She is still fighting the"cold" she has had since we met her, so we took her to the doc on Friday and it appears to be just that a "cold". She will have an exam on Wed with her actual pediatrician. She is now up to 12lbs and 23 inches long, waking up once a night for a quick bottle and then right back to sleep. She is such a happy baby and we feel so blessed.
Paige with her Great-grandma
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9:29
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Our journey to Paige
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Our journey to Paige
We have made it home! Miss P is settling in and all is well......busy..... but life is good!
Welcome to Redmond Oregon....Meeting my Ba ,Sissy and my Bubby for the first time
Hanging out at home with Sissy and Bubby
Me and my Ba
Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support throughout or journey.
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Our journey to Paige
We received Miss P's Visa today! We will head for home @ 4am Sat.... one day short of 3 weeks here in this amazing(HOT!) country. Our time here would not have been the same, without some truly fantastic people we met along our journey. These people will remain in our hearts and we will truly miss them.
Without the help of our dedicated facilitator, I don't now what we would have done. This truly was a smooth process.Thank you Mr.Dat!
Mr.Linh, our dedicated tour guide and friend took us under his young wing and made this such an enjoyable experience. A wonderful, witty, caring young man You Rock Linh!
Miss Hilary....words can not express....
As much as I want to go home......believe me I Want to go home....I am surprised by these feelings of sadness I have of leaving this country.....I don't ever want to forget the feelings and experiences we have had had here. It is hard to not get teary. This is the birthplace of our beautiful daughter, I will be forever greatful to Vietnam and its people. This precious little girl comes to us as a gift. Along with this gift comes a great responsibility. A responsibility to a woman whom we will never know, whom for reasons unknown to us was unable to keep this little angel. She must have had dreams for this little girl, dreams that she knew she would not be able to fulfill. In three weeks I have grown to love this child so completely. There will not be a day that goes by that I will not be thankful for this beautiful gift we have received.
My child,
I carried you in my heart
before you were even born
And dared to dream
that you were real.
My child,
I carried your picture with me
since the day I received it,
And dared to love
a child I was yet to meet.
My child,
I carried you in my arms at last,
and gazed in helpless wonder
at your face,
And dared to lose
my heart to you.
And now, my child,
a dream fulfilled,
a prayer answered,
a family created,
I have dared to become
a mom.
And so now,
my precious child,
I shall carry you
home.
Copyright Jill Work 1998
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21:18
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Our journey to Paige
Provided everything goes according to plan we will hopefully be on a plane , headed for home Thursday evening or Friday morning. I wish we would have been able to enjoy this city more. There are so many places to explore and the people are so friendly, but packing a baby around in this heat is not good for either of us, not to mention the locals really don't approve of having the babies out when it so warm, I have had several elderly women share this with me. What I really want to do is spend a day in the French and Old Quarters shopping, I am going to have to brave the heat as I have a shopping list of souvenirs that I have got to get! Our trip to Halong Bay was ok, the scenery was amazing, but once again the heat made it hard to enjoy. Now I am not being a big winer about the heat. It was around 104 the other day with 80-90% humidity. Those of you who have been here this time of year know what I am talking about. It is really indescribable. I miss following all of your blogs, I wish I could access them from here. I am dying to know if Ed and Jenna have received their referral????I hope so! Here is a picture of Miss P chillin' on the boat.
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Our journey to Paige
We have great news.....we have "passed"our first USCIS interview. Monday we will get Miss P's passport and SOS medical then we are "tentatively"scheduled for our last USCIS interview Wednesday. We are hoping that we can be on a plane for home Friday.The last couple day's have been busy around here.This will be a short post tonight because I am COMPLETELY exhausted... We took a full day City tour today (8 looooong hours). We really enjoyed it, but it was miserably HOT! The Hubb snapped this picture of me and Miss P in the middle of a group of mostly Vietnamese oohing and aahhing all over her.
I am having a hard time having strangers tell me how to care for my child(I know they mean well) but even harder still is perfect strangers wanting to come up and kiss her! Well, we are off at 7:30 am tomorrow for an overnight tour of Halong Bay.
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Our journey to Paige
It is hard to believe that a week ago we were waiting to see our angel for the first time. It has been a memorable week. One that I will never forget.
We are so very thankful for the obvious care she received at the orphanage where she spent the first 3 months of her life. This child has been held and loved, and played with there is no doubt about that. We were able to meet one of her caregivers and it was apparent how much she loved our little girl. A memory I will always have is of us standing outside with the babies getting ready to take them away from the only home and faces they have known. Several of the caregivers had gathered up on a balcony to watch us. The caregiver we had met kept hollering out, our translaor said "she wants you to move closer,more where she can see your baby" so I moved and she starts saying something our guide tells us she is saying"that is my baby"over and over. He says she is making a joke. I know this not to be true ,because through her smiles I saw her wiping the tears from her eyes. She loved this child.I have only spent 6
days with her and I cannot imagine not holding her and loving her everyday.
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19:46
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Our journey to Paige
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Our journey to Paige
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Our journey to Paige
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21:52
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Our journey to Paige
Well we can not see what we are posting on our blog page, but it appears by all of you reponding, I know that your getting the messages.
Here goes; it is now Tuesday in Hanoi, and we are awaiting our departure to see Paige for the first time! We don't know if we get to take her to our hotel with us today or not. It is a 2 hour drive from here and we will just have to see if she gets to be with us yet or not. If so, wonderful! If not we will make the 4 hour round trip trek again tomorrow.
All the people here at the hotel and in Vietnam are wonderful ,friendly and helpful. We have had a very good time so far, tiring, but good. The heat and humility are very tiring on us and I for one am VERY pleased we have AC in the hotel!
We will post more soon, but for now we are on our way to see baby Paige for the first time!
The Hubb, Chris
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20:03
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Our journey to Paige
Crazy times! but the great news is we get to go to Thai Nguyen this afternoon to see Miss Paige. We are sooooo excited. We are not sure if we will will have our G&R today or tomorrow so we may not get to bring her back with us today. Apparently the officials were quite put out that we were not able to get here for the G&R Friday. What were we do do? only 4 days to get visas(with 2 of those days weekend days) Any who.....it has been quite an experience so far. We have been without our bag of clothing since we got here NOT FUN! we got word this morning that our bag has been found and will be here later this evening or first thing in the morning. Well, I am off to pack Miss P's bag just in case we get to bring her with us.
LIFE IS GOOD!
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18:49
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Our journey to Paige
this is a test, Vietnam is hard to blog from!!
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8:07
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Our journey to Paige
One flight down three more to go. This as been a VERY hard and STRESSFUL week, but we are on our way to get our baby girl. We will post as soon as we can. I am not sure what the plans will be once we get there.
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8:20
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Our journey to Paige
Well our little Miss Paige is going to have to wait a couple more days for her Daddy and Mommy. We will not be receiving our Visa's back today. The new plan will be to arrive sometime over the weekend with our G&R scheduled for Monday. The good news is we are ready to go.....the bad news is WE ARE READY TO GO! I hope you all chose to follow our journey, we will be posting regularly from Hanoi.
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8:13
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Our journey to Paige
I still do not have my computer out of the shop, but thought I would use The Hubb's so I could share our news.
I feel like I have been caught in a tornado. On Thursday morning we get a phone call that our province would like us in Vietnam for giving and receiving on Friday the 29th.(let me just mention we thought it would be AT LEAST another 3 weeks out) Oh yes, this is WONDERFUL news with the exception that we had not yet applied for our visas or arranged any sort of travel arrangements. Luckily my mom was here for a visit and took care of the travel arrangements (and me) while The Hubb and I were spinning!!
Everything is still somewhat up in the air, however we overnighted our Visa request with a letter pleading for a fast turn- a- round to the consulate in SanFran.......and they were closed on Friday for re-modeling! our request will be re-redelivered on Monday morning. We have no way of knowing at this point when they will even be open at his point.
The plans as they stand right now are to fly out on Wednesday morning with a quick overnight stay in HoChiMin then off to Hanoi first thing Friday and giving and receiving Friday afternoon. CRAZY!! Now of course this will all have to change if we do not receive our Visa's back Tuesday! CRAZY,CRAZY!! My mom and I have got everything packed and ready to go. Paige is waiting, I cant believe it it. She will be just a few days over 3 months when we meet her.
Elizabeth if you read this I PROMISE I will get in touch with you as soon as I get my computer back! and gosh darn it Jenna, I want so badly for you to get your referral.
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Our journey to Paige
I just wanted to post that I am taking my laptop into the shop for a tune up, to get her ready for our trip. I am hoping to see some news from Jenna and Ed over at baby ella when I get back on! You two have been waiting long enough! have a great week everyone :)
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21:12
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Our journey to Paige
To my dear sweet Hubby, happy fathers day. Next year will be better by far as you will actually be able to hold your little girl....and you wont have to spend the entire afternoon putting together the new gas grill your thoughtful wife bought for you! Soon, sweetie soon..... you will be a daddy!
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Our journey to Paige
I just need to relaaaaaaax! This cat is something else. This is her...all day! I do not think I will be relaxing any time soon though. With only 2 days until our summer break, I will actually have some spare time and I have lots to do before we head out to get our little angel ( no dates yet, just getting ready). I "know" that it is not really important that the linen closets and kitchen cupboards be cleaned out and re-organized but for some reason it seems verrrry important . So my to do list begins. In fact that is the first thing I need to do...make a to do list! I am thinking of starting a preliminary packing list. To those of you who have BTDT or have heard good advice from those who have BTDT I am looking for ideas on what people took that wasn't really necessary or didn't take that they wished they had.
It has been one week since we saw our little angel's face. I hope this time fly's by quickly (another good reason to stay busy) I just want to hold my baby.
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Our journey to Paige
The Hubb's co-workers had a shower today for him and another expectant Dad. It was a "build a library" shower so we got lots of great books for Paige, as well as a case of diapers and some other goodies. We have been very blessed to have so much support and encourament from so many people. It has made this experience even more enjoyable!
Look at this ADORABLE hat....Thank you Martha!
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8:53
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Our journey to Paige
As many of you know our little Miss Paige is waiting for us in Thai Nguyen. We have heard really positive things about this province, not just from our agency but from other AP's. Apparently they are known for running a very smooth process and work quickly(please dont bite my head off if you have not had a pleasant experience with this province I am only writing what I have heard)
I had a conversation with our caseworker on Friday afternoon because we were wanting to know what the likely hood would be of receiving any more pictures of our little angel. Unfortunately this is probably not going to happen as the two pictures we received were the only two that our agency got and the only way we would get additional photos would be if they had a family traveling to Thai Nguyen soon (not likely before us) or if one of their Hanoi staff were to go there (not sure).
In our conversation she told me that we would be requested to sign an acceptance letter(a new requirement) within the next week or two. When I got home Friday afternoon I had an email from our agency stating that "they"(the DIA) were ready for our acceptance letter. We signed it and faxed it to our agency so it looks like the DIA will have our letter first thing Monday morning. We can only hope this means a speedy process with travel by mid-July...
I went shopping with my best bud yesterday and came home with MORE baby clothes! the whole time we were looking through the racks we kept saying "we really need to stop, she doesn't need anymore clothes" yet through the racks we went! I figure
I will end up with a pretty good credit at the consignment shop! This is about 1/8 of her clothes! We will have to change her several times a day!
Also, some of you may think it is odd that I only post part of a picture of the little monkey. I actually was not going to post any pics at all because I feel that there are probably people who hit this blog that are not loyal followers and I really don't want to put her out there for "everyone" to see. At least not yet anyway, But I think she is so stinkin' cute and I am a proud mama who would like to share a little.....
I am thrilled that this will be the last week of work then The Hubb and I will have the summer off. I guess it is time to start that to do list I have been putting off!
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10:21
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Our journey to Paige
I woke up on this Saturday morning with a sense of peace and happiness that I have not felt in a long time.( warning sappy narrative coming up) I have 3 wonderful children(the 3 part will take some getting used to) one of whom I have yet to meet but love with my whole heart already.
I have been blessed with the gift of raising my two amazing children. Who have given me nothing but pleasure, the teenage years with my daughter have even been painless so far!
I am married to a wonderful man who tolerates all my crazy quirks with a smile. I have a slightly neurotic best friend who makes me crazy sometimes but I couldn't imagine my life without her. I have met some truly wonderful people through this blog that I am very fortunate to share this experience with. A girl couldn't ask for a more supportive family and loved ones. Yes.....Life is Good!
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16:01
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Our journey to Paige
The Hubb had to try out his new sling today.
Norman really liked it, it was so funny he just settled right in....
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17:22
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Our journey to Paige
Ok..soooo here is a little peek. I just wanna kiss all over those chubby cheeks!
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19:57
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Our journey to Paige
We got our referral!!!! As I was walking in the door today at 3:30 the phone is ringing. I saw on the caller id that it was our agency so I told Cris to run up and get the other phone, because I knew this was THE CALL.
We have a beautiful little angel. She was born March 26, 2007 in Thai Nguyen.
She is absolutely adorable. In the referral picture they sent she looks really ticked off as if she had been crying or is ready to cry but in the picture they sent with her birth certificate she looks like a sweet little angel. My daughter!! My head is spinning. I haven't really had time to process everything as I had an appointment @ 4 to get my piggy's painted ..so it was quickly pull her picture off the email and run off to the salon where I spent the entire time on my cell talking to family etc..I didn't even get a chance to visit with my friend and manicurist!
AS soon as I got home my Hubb, Cooper and I sat down and looked at her sweet little face and read through the medical reports. Then after sending pictures to family I knew I had to get on here and let all my blogging buddies know.
I do not think I am ready to share her with the World Wide Web yet however. Though I would like to share her with those of you who have been following our journey. So if you would like a peak give me your email and I will send pictures to you.
Thank you all for your encouragement and support it has meant so much to me!
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19:57
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Our journey to Paige
It has been in the high 80's low 90's for the past week so I thought it was time to bring out the pillows and "fluff" up the front porch a bit.I planted several roses this spring so I am really looking forward to watching them grow. One little plant is a start off my Hubbs Grandmother's bush.
One thing we love about summer mornings is sitting outside on the porch with a cup of coffee. My daughter and I often sit out in the evening's reading until there is no more light. Ahhh 10 more days of work. Slow easy mornings.....long relaxing evenings.... Hopefully sometime this summer we will have Miss Paige snuggling out on the porch with us.
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16:51
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Our journey to Paige
I received a phone call from our caseworker today. She wanted us to know that they HAVE matched us with a baby girl. She has been to the hospital for all of her tests and they are just waiting for the results so they can complete the referral to present to us! She wanted to let us know that she IS real, she will soon be ours. She wanted to give us more information but really can't until everything is put together. They are hoping to get in touch with us towards the beginning of the week, but it really should be no later than Friday. Just knowing that they have found a little angel for us is a remarkable feeling. I am pretty much on cloud nine right now, cant imagine what cloud I will be on when we get actual referral!
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20:21
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Our journey to Paige
Another work week draws to an end with still no news. I thought I would post because I know there are several of my blogging buddies who have been checking in frequently for news of our referral. Sorry guys, I aint got nothin'!
Congratulations Chris and Emilie on your referral Wednesday!
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20:16
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Our journey to Paige
Well let me answer that.
Of course it has, I know Hanoi has changed allot in the last 10 years or so because I have just finished reading The House On Dream Street and am currently reading Hanoi Stories and both of these women talk about all the changes in Hanoi through the years. So where is this leading you may wonder???
Well I have been checking my mail daily waiting for the Lonely Planet Hanoi travel book that I purchased from amazon to arrive so we could start getting ideas about what we want to do, where we want to eat etc....well a word of advice from wise old Tamara, read the fine print! the book I purchased is from 1999, 1st edition! it appears to have come from a public library and it is so old they had a discard sticker on it. Tell me people what good is a freakin travel book from 1999 going to do me? well, just gotta laugh I guess.
going once, going twice, it's yours! you want it? all I need is your address and it is in the mail tomorrow.
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16:19
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Our journey to Paige
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18:10
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Our journey to Paige
During one of my frequent trips into the nursery today (just to look...it's so pretty) it dawned on me that this COULD really be the week we get our referral. We COULD actually get some information on this little angel that we have been waiting for. It could also not be this week as our agency didn't make any promises, but still it is coming soon. Just to know that she exists, and that they are waiting to get all the information together, makes my heart beat a little faster.I cannot wait to hold this little person in my arms and look into her eyes. I have not held a child of my own in my arms for many years. I have held nieces, nephews and friend's children, but there is something to said about looking into your child's eyes and know that you belong to each other. I think more than anything right now I am excited for my Hubb . I am sooo looking forward to sharing this with him. He has no idea how much his life is about to change once he looks into his daughter's eyes. I just know he is going to be a wonderful Daddy.
A sense of peace has come over me today. I know in my heart our time is coming soon. The frenzy that I have been feeling seems to have passed.
I finished the re-do of the nursery and I am very happy with the results, I dont think there is anything I would change now. Life is good.
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8:36
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Our journey to Paige
Several weeks ago I acquired a couple of "new" pieces of furniture for the nursery as well as some lovely fabric that I want to add in. Now that I am coming out of the funk that I was in, I actually feel like getting in there and getting this room done. It could prove to be a challenge as this is not a very big room. I also picked up a fantastic old screen door that I am hoping to have the Hubb sand so that I can repaint it and put up to keep those rascally cats out of the crib without having to shut the door all the time.
Wish me luck...it's gonna be a busy day!
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15:29
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Our journey to Paige
Here are some shower pic's from yesterday. I am the one without the bump and the one who is crying...see adoptive mommy's get emotional too! My co-worker Jill is expecting in August. Little Miss Paige recieved 24 new outfits as well as blankets, bibs,socks.......
Now for the maybe great news....
I had this in my inbox today when I got home
Tamara,
I know you have been waiting patiently and I do have a bit of an update for you. You are now #1 in line to receive a referral and we anticipate things coming together with your referral in the next week or so. I will keep you posted, but just wanted to share the news that I did have.
Could this mean what I hope it means? Knowing my caseworker, she has been very non-commital so as not to get our hopes up. So for her to tell this I am taking it as a good sign!
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19:46
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Our journey to Paige
Let me just begin by saying today was a Major funk day. I mean I was waaay down in funkville. I don't know why really, as I have said before I know there are many who have been waiting considerably longer than we have and as my wise Uncle keeps reminding me it will happen when it is meant to happen. I know all this but my heart still aches all the same for this little baby girl. I believe in my heart she has been born, she is waiting for us too.
So after feeling bummed all day.... the phone in our classroom rings "Tamara can you come to library I have something I need you to pick up." Imagine my surprise when I walk into the library, decorated, full of all our staff. OBSIDIAN MIDDLE SCHOOL ROCKS! These wonderful people had put together a baby shower for myself and a co-worker who is expecting her baby in August. Let me tell you, I about started bawling. I am so completely touched by the thoughtfulness of my co-workers. Being an adoptive Mom I just never really expected anything and the fact that they thought of it means so much.
We received so many adorable things for Paige. I came home and stacked everything on the table so my Hubb ( who has known about this for the last few weeks!) could open everything back up and enjoy it too!
Not sure if my nervous system can take much more of these up&down emotions though.
I should be getting pictures of the shower in the next few day's so I will post a couple.
Congratulations to the Solbergs who are in Vietnam right now meeting their twins!
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19:26
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Our journey to Paige
Waiting
I haven't met you yet or seen your face,
but in my heart you hold a place.
My hopes grow with each passing day,
even though you're miles away.
I know you're there waiting for me,
as I am here waiting to see,
the child God has sent from above,
to make me a mother and share all my love.
~Karen Cooper
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15:53
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Our journey to Paige
My heart about stopped today when I saw I had a message from my case worker. No real news yet though. She stated that as of today they had no news, but were hoping to have news of referrals very soon...(they must know something they cant tell us yet right???) I thought being 8mo and 29 days pregnant was hard! at least then I had an idea of when I was going to have my baby. I am feeling positive though. I have this feeling in my heart that it will be soon, it's as if I know she is there ...our daughter who is meant for us.
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18:20
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Our journey to Paige
Happy Mothers day to all Mommy's and waiting Mommy's.
My children are growing up so quickly, sometimes it is hard to grasp. I am so very thankful to be their mother. Raising these two children is by far the most rewarding experience of my life.I cant wait to meet my new little one and to have the opportunity to watch her grow into a wonderful, amazing,fascinating person. I am sure she will bring joy to my life just as these two have and continue to do everyday.
We had a nice dinner with my Mother in law ( who I am so lucky to have)
I was sad that I didn't get to spend time with my Mommy. I am really missing her. Mom if you read this I miss you and love you, thank you.....
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20:05
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Our journey to Paige
I have been a bad, bad blogger. I know I haven't written in awhile but honestly there is just nothing new on the adoption to report and I am quite sure that you are not checking my blog for my latest decorating project.I also know that I no longer like Fridays. As a matter of fact I think Fridays kinda suck. Actually I have always been partial to Wednesdays. I liked knowing that everything was down hill or over the hump as many of us say...only two days till Friday and then the weekend. That has all changed since we began waiting for our referral. Once Wednesday gets here that means there are only two days left in the week for a possible referral. When Friday has come and gone without a referral I just want to get through the weekend to begin another week when we could POSSIBLY get our referral. I don't like the thought that I am wishing my free time away, but I cant help it. It is almost the middle of May, we only have one month left of school. I cannot imagine what the summer months will be like if we are still waiting for our baby without work to keep me busy. I know, I know waiting to travel is twice as hard, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it...
I want to give a shout out to a couple of adoption buddies :)
Jo , she and her husband received their referral this week and I am so happy for them. They have been waiting for a VERY long time. Congratulations Jo! I also want to let
Jenn know I am thinking of her I know they are anticipating their referral any day and I know how hard the waiting can be.
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16:50
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Our journey to Paige
I have never been a braggart, not one to "toot" my own horn....Except when I find an amazing deal! I love nothing more than hunting for treasures. I am not one for fancy new things, Love things that are worn, have been loved and used..paint chipping off, fabric washed so many times it feels like silk. I always see the possibility in things when "treasure" shopping. Imagine my delight when I walked into a second hand store and saw this couch just waiting for me...ok..so it was dirty (not to mention how was I going to fit it into the back of my SUV?) but I immediately saw the possibilities in worn this smushy old couch...everything deserves a second chance right? So here is where I get to brag.....I only paid $9.99! you cant even buy a good steak for that! Now look at her...she is a beauty, all I had to do was dig an old slip cover out of the closet, wash the cushion covers 4 times in extra hot water and add some smushy pillows I had laying around and curl up with a good book. It's as easy as that! I figure I will just will continue to entertain myself with decorating until we go to get Paige (to my husbands delight...wink,wink)
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18:41
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Our journey to Paige
In looking back at my previous posts it often appears that I am wining or feeling just a tad sorry for myself that we are still waiting for our referral. I will admit that the waiting is hard and I definitely cycle through some periods of sulkiness, but I know there are so many other people that have went through so much more than we have.....infertility....problems with your agency's....waiting and waiting and waiting( much longer than we have been) in fact some of the struggles and waiting some you are going through, I couldn't even imagine. So No more wining here! NO more pity parties at the Boegelsack's. Chris and I have really been fortunate so far in our adoption journey and things probably couldn't run much smoother.We have a wonderful agency and we do know that our time is getting very close.
So to those of you who have been struggling and waiting..waiting...waiting, I admire you for your strength and am hoping that you all see your little ones faces very soon.
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19:12
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Our journey to Paige
For those of you who check in regularly just thought I would post that we...as of today...still do not have a referral. Chin is up though, it will happen! probably when we are the least expecting it or are not home to get the phone! our time will come, just as my other blogging buddies time will come.No one ever said waiting was going to be easy
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17:37
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Our journey to Paige
Not the best news to report. Received word today from agency that they expect it could be as long as a month before we would receive our referral. There is one family waiting ahead of us and our agency will let us know when they get their referral and then we will be next. I know "as long as a month" isn't the worst news ever but we thought we would have a referral this month ,if not early May. Thats all I have for now.
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20:12
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Our journey to Paige
I just want to say thank you to all my fellow bloggers and waiting parents who always leave the nicest, most supportive messages! (you know who you are!) It really does mean alot and I really apreciate this supportive "community"
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20:32
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Our journey to Paige
Man have I been on an emotional roller coaster lately. I wake up in the morning all bouncy and happy, by 5 when no "call" has came I am in a serious "mood", by bed time I am happy again, because MAYBE tommorow will be the day! Am I loosing it fellow bloggers? are you all going through the same thing?
I think it is time to blow the dust off the old Tae Bo tapes and go a few rounds with Billy Banks! Maybe let loose of some of this anxiety, but this evening I think digging into a bag of the starbursts jelly beans that the easter bunny left sounds like a fantabulous idea!
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10:08
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Our journey to Paige
I have been very good lately resisting THE PINK, but how could I not grab these? exactly..it is not possible, done..they are adorabe. I cant wait to get Paige's little pigs in these slippers (we will probably break all rules and wear them as shoes!)It has been one month today since our dossier was sent to Vietnam. I am not exactly sure what is happening now. I know the steps and the proccess, I just dont know where in that proccess our dossier is. This is not the best of posistions to be in for a Type A personality, like myself with control issues(hey, at east I admit it!) and paitence has allways been a virtue that I have struggled with. Hey, I'm ok though...I know that call will come and I am trying to cherish every bit of this proccess. Ah, who am I trying to fool? I am struggling to think about anything else at this point. I feel just like I did when I was day's away..minutes away from my "due dates" with both of my children...the anticipataion is getting to me!
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17:28
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Our journey to Paige
I don't care if my dog is the naughtiest dog on the block...I love,love,love him. So what if I have to chase him around the house for 10 minutes with my underwear dangling out of his mouth, he is so darn cute! and ok, if he gets out the front door I have to get in the car and chase him for 6 blocks and then when I think I have him cornered and get OUT of the car and can almost can touch him he runs in the opposite direction...just look at that face, how could I get mad at that face? and anyway, don't most dogs leave muddy footprints all over the white furniture? and the cats, oh the poor things, we wont even go there! I think I have the best dog ever!
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20:16
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Our journey to Paige
I had a talk with our caseworker today, we had a couple of questions about our travel packet. She told me that unless we come up with some further questions soon ,it is possible that the next time we speak it will be her calling us with our referral! She said it really could come anytime. I can imagine my heart beating a little faster every time the phone rings!
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17:31
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Our journey to Paige
Not only am I anxiously awaiting our referral but I have been checking in daily to a few of the other blogs that I follow. These couples I know are also hoping for referrals in April. I am just as anxious for these couples that I haven't even met to hear news about their little ones. So....Jenna and Ed,...Chris and Emilie and others of you I know are patiently waiting I am waiting with you! Hopefully this will be the month we get to see our babies faces!
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10:19
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Our journey to Paige
We received our travel packet from our agency today. This is a big packet that contains pretty much everything we will need to know for our trip to Vietnam, along with a few additional things we will need to gather(current employment letters, pay stubs, taxes) Some of you may wonder why we have received this packet without having our referral yet. I am not sure how other agencies do things but ours likes to send this packet out when the paperwork is in Vietnam going through translation and approval from the DIA. We now know what hotel our agency will have us stay in and checked it out online, it looks and sounds lovely. It also gives us alot of other helpful information....packing lists,how much $ we should expect to spend on everything while there and many other things I hadn't even thought of. I am looking forward to spending the morning with a cup of coffee and reading the packet.
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20:56
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Our journey to Paige
I just had to giggle thinking about how amped up i get about buying baby stuff...I cant remember the last time I was so giddy buying myself something..well I am sure it was shoes and I am sure they were adorable and I just had to have them...but they have now joined all my other shoes at the bottom of the closet(giggle)
So I have been stalking the Britax Companion infant car seats online for awhile now, but just haven't had the courage to plunk down the $$ they are asking. So how lucky am I that I stop by my favorite consignment baby store today and what do they have? yep a Britax Companion infant seat (with an adorable custom made reversible cover, 2 covers in one!) I was told the couple that purchased it found out they were having twins and their family purchased them matching car seats....so it was my lucky day! Now that's not to say it was a steal...but way better than I would have paid retail.
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21:03
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Our journey to Paige
Oh my goodness, BOTH of my children are now in the double digits. Coop just turned 10. Happy birthday son! Where does the time go? It seems as if we have pushing for time to go by fast these last several months while working on our adoption and now that we are waiting for our referral we have wanted nothing more than for time to fly by..hurry up and get here....but gosh, now Coop is 10!...he was JUST 9!
I couldn't ask for a more wonderful son...always one to put others needs and wants before his own...so sensitive and caring. I am very p
roud and thankful to be his mom.
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17:29
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Our journey to Paige
We found out this morning that our dossier is in translation and should be complete very soon.
In speaking with our caseworker today we are still hoping to receive a referral by the end of April with hopes to travel mid-to-end of June. OF COURSE as many of us know the are no guarantees in this crazy and wonderful world of adoption so we are just going to let things take their natural course from here on out and what will be will be.....We are feeling pretty good about things right now and are so pleased with how hard our agency is working for us.
Oh here are a couple of yummy pink items I could not resist.
I think the dress would be perfect for Paige's G&R ceremony! I am done now...honest...I even spent the day shopping and did not buy a single baby item.....progress!
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7:51
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Our journey to Paige
As you my have figured out our Dossier was sent to Vietnam! I will post as I find out more. This was an odd turn of events for us as we thought it would be sent off in a couple more weeks, but our agency knows what they are doing so we will just see what happens. I hope to get some more info today or tomorrow.
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11:04
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Our journey to Paige
We cant keep Percy and Audrey out of the crib! It looks like we will be shutting the door when we have a baby sleeping in it. I will let them be for now, they are just so darn happy! Not to mention it is a Norman safety zone...
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8:25
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Our journey to Paige
I wanted to give a shout out to those of you who follow our blog. If you find yourself checking in regularly we sure would like to know who you are and if you have a blog we would like to follow your journey as well. I have met many wonderful people through this blog, the support and encouragement we give each other is wonderful.
We began our journey 200 days ago. I had no idea it had been that many days until I looked at our counter this morning. I am getting anxious to get our dossier over to Vietnam. I know it was our choice to wait a bit before having our agency send off the dossier but knowing it has been ready to go since March 7........well I guess I am just getting antsy. It just feels like we are not moving forward now....hmm guess I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I think I will play some Teddy Geiger, followed by Gavin Degraw maybe even throw in a little Hootie and the Blowfish... get out the sewing machine and do a little sewing for Paige... that may improve my mood.
To end on a positive note it is the first day of our spring break so we have a whole week off...hooray
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15:10
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Our journey to Paige
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19:00
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Our journey to Paige
I had a conversation with our agency yesterday. They are still trying to decide when the best time to send our dossier over would be. Timing is really crucial for us....It is probably not very often that they have parents request a "hold off" on referral, but we really would prefer to travel when school is out so we wont have to miss any work. It is expected that parents travel within 6-8 weeks from referral so they feel if they hold off on sending our dossier over until mid April with the expectation that we could get an immediate referral that would put us at right about mid June to travel. Perfect! I wish there was some way we could travel before then, but this really will be best for our family. I know this is not really "new" news from my last couple of posts but up until yesterday we were still unsure of what the plan was. In the meantime I am going to work on the nursery, try to get the room painted this weekend. I was delighted to find a lovely white bassinet at a resale store today. This will be perfect to keep downstairs or take into our room if needed.
I have a special request to those of you reading my blog. My very best friend's Mother is dying of cancer and she is declining very quickly. I would like to ask that you say a prayer for my friend as she is really struggling with the thought of the loss of her mother. Pray that she can find the strength to cope with the imminent loss of her mother. Thank you.....
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20:16
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Our journey to Paige
My baby girl is 16......seems like yesterday.........(sigh)
I am a very proud Mom of a delightful daughter and I am thankful everyday that I get to be a part of her wonderfulness. She lights up my days and brings me such joy.
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22:41
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Our journey to Paige
I had a great talk with our caseworker today. Things are going very well. After some discussion our agency is going to hold off on sending our Dossier to Vietnam for a week or so.... Don't think I want to go into all the details just now, as it is all a bit confusing (tho I am getting a better idea of how things work in this whole crazy adoption ride) Anyway, we are very hopeful that we will receive a referral April-early-May with plans to travel in June or 6-8 weeks from referral(if all goes according to plan) I cant believe we may be seeing a picture of our baby in a month or so......
I spent the evening washing, folding and putting away baby clothes. I laughed when I opened up the dryer, it looked as if a bag of pink cotton candy exploded in there...or bubble gum..lots and lots of soft pink stuff, love it!
Tomorrow I am going to focus on my big girl. Monday is her 16th B-day so we are going to spend the day shopping, lunching and doing girly things all day. Oh how time flies, I remember when I was folding all her tiny clothes, sigh....now she is taller than me!
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17:11
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Our journey to Paige
So I received another message from our caseworker and Vietnam does not actually give log in dates like China does. I will give our caseworker a call tomorrow and find out what happens from here. Now we are getting into the finer details she would rather speak via phone rather than email to get everything figured out. What I do know is the dossier will be translated when it gets to Vietnam. This will take about a week. From there we are not sure what to expect... we have requested that we travel mid- June, so not sure when a referral will come as they like to give referrals with plans to travel within a month or so ...will find our more tomorrow I guess!
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16:05
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Our journey to Paige
I was checking through my numerous emails today and about half way through found this message
Hi Tamara,
I wanted to share the good news of the day....your dossier came back from the Consulate today.We will prepare it and send it to Vietnam this week. You are on your way!!!!
I cant believe it, way faster then we had hoped for. We thought it would get back to our agency end of or begining of next week. We are beyond happy right now. My heart hasn't beat this fast in a long time. I can only imagine what it will be like when we actually get our referral. I will probably need a paper bag to breath into! oh happy happy day!!!
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16:54
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Our journey to Paige
Great news, we received an e-mail from our agency today and our dossier has made it through authentication at the secretary of state and is now on its way to the consulate. There was once a day when I could not have imagined getting this far. We are still hoping for mid-March dossier log in.
Yahoo
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17:35
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Our journey to Paige
One of my favorite blogs is adoption buzz. I have a link posted on my side bar. The blog is run by my agency's attorney and it always has great information. It does not promote the agency in anyway, it only follows Vietnam adoption. They just posted an awesome orphanage video they took on their recent trip to Vietnam. If you feel the need to see some ADORABLE babies you should check it out. I have watched it several times already. Just cant get enough of those babies!
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19:07
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Our journey to Paige
Is it possible to be addicted to BABY CLOTHES? seriously, if our daughter has an aversion to pink, I am in big trouble. I cant refuse it, if its pink and cute well then I must have...of course I justify this with"everything will mix and match" ...solid pink, striped pink, polka dot pink, different shades of pink......oh my
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18:38
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Our journey to Paige
Cooper and I were sitting at the dinner table tonight, finishing our meal(we are always the last ones done) and we started talking about the adoption. Coop being nine, still thinks everything should be upfront and simple and he wanted some answers... This is what we decided we can be certain of...
- he is going to have a little sister
- she will have dark hair and dark almond shaped eyes
- she WILL cry (coop is happy his room in not right by hers..doesn't want her to wake him)
- he will help change #1 diapers
- Chris and I will have to take a very long plane ride to get Paige
- Coop and Kayla will have to stay home with family while we travel
- it is going to be pretty crazy around the house for awhile........
- Norman is going to think her toys belong to him
Things we don't know...right now...
- when we will go to get her
- how old she will be
- how long we will have to say in Vietnam
- if she will be chubby or tiny
Gosh 8 to 4, guess we know more than we thought we did!
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17:26
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Our journey to Paige
We received an e-mail from our agency today, they received our paperwork and are compiling all of our papers to send off for authentication. They are still hopeful our dossier will be logged in mid March and are feeling confident that travel this summer is VERY likely! Yahoo... I started emptying out the nursery room this weekend and painted her changing table and shelf to go above it...unfortunately after three coats of pink paint I HATE IT! so three more coats of a nice white should take care of it. My best buddy and I found a great baby resale shop today and left with a bag of darling clothes........ because she doesn't have enough already! At this point I am going to have to change her clothes three times a day in order to use everything, but oh well, sure is fun buying for a baby again... and somewhat therapeutic.
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17:24
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Our journey to Paige
We had our I-171H notarized today and put all our documents in the mail. It all should arrive at our agency at 12:00pm tomorrow. Here's the odd thing....feeling kind of strange, having everything done... Gathering all of the documents, writing autobiographies, writing book reports, watching videos, self reflecting , running to the bank to have something notarized before they closed...this all consuming task, putting together our dossier, is done! what do we do now?well we wait, that is what is on our agenda for now. We are officially one step closer to bringing our baby home.
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21:45
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Our journey to Paige
To my Husband, my Valentine....
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19:30
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Our journey to Paige
Oh happy day. Our I-171H letter came today and everything was actually spelled correctly. We are good to go! Tomorrow we will have it notarized and then mail all our documents off to our agency.From there everything will get authenticated and translated and hopefully be logged into Vietnam by mid-March. Then we will wait for our referral.
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20:29
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Our journey to Paige
When I started this blog I truly thought I was going to be able to write something witty and wonderful if not daily, then at least once a week. When we were collecting items for our dossier there was always something going on, documents to collect, running to the notary.. it was so exciting and busy and we couldn't wait until the day it was all done. Now that everything is done and we are waiting for our corrected I-171H letter from USCIS there really isn't much going on.This is after all an adoption blog and I doubt if you are checking in it is because you want to know what we had for dinner(trust me) or how my last hair appointment went( I can recommend a great hairdresser in the Central Or. area however). I do have one fun thing to add tho....Coop has been selected to be a munchkin in our High School performance of the Wizard of Oz, Hollywood here we come!!!! The only catch... we have to make our own costume....now this could be interesting! So as I am sitting here relaxing with my cup of Sleepytime tea pondering the future and all the adventures that still lie ahead of us, I am thinking I will try to enjoy this quiet time while it lasts, because I am sure things are about to get crazy around here soon....play rehearsals,costume making, nursery decorating,referral,packing....traveling to Vietnam! yep I think I will just chill while I have the chance.
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20:29
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Our journey to Paige
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20:03
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Our journey to Paige
Wow, talk about an emotional roller coaster. A gal of my age shouldn't be dealin' with this, cant be good for the blood pressure! Well, we are fortunate enough to have the Best Agency Ever! and The Best Caseworker Ever! all I had to do was send off an email to our caseworker and she took care of everything for us. Which is a blessing because the email I sent to USCIS has yet to receive a response. A new letter is on its way and we should receive it at the begining of the week. From there our dossier will be authenticated and translated, then logged into Vietnam. We are thinking it should be logged in mid-March. It is still looking as if we could be traveling in mid June or early July. I feel some decorating fever coming on.....nursery decorating fever! YAHOO
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21:06
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Our journey to Paige
Did my mail check today.... Imagine my delight when in the middle of the pile was a letter from United States department Of Homeland Security! Yes is was the much anticipated 171H letter. So I am doing my happy dance, the kids are cheering, all is right with the world, until I take a closer look and my last name is spelled wrong! Hubby's was fine but they flipped two letters in mine. Granted "Boegelsack" is not the most common name, but for $545.00 you would think they could double check to make sure all is good before sending the letter out. I know there is no way this is gonna fly and at this point I do not even know where to begin to try and get this fixed. It is not as if there is a phone# anywhere on the letter. I have sent off an urgent email to our agency so we will see what they have to say. Talk about bursting my bubble.....sigh......and we were so close! I dont even think a bubble bath and a glass of wine could cheer me up at this point.
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11:02
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Our journey to Paige
We received uplifting news from our agency recently that has boosted our spirits. Our agency has added two new provinces to their program. These new provinces appear to have many little ones in need of homes. At this point we are hoping to receive an immediate referral for a baby girl when our dossier reaches Vietnam. If we could just get our approval letter from USCIS so we can get our paperwork over there! It is very likely that we could be traveling in mid-June to early July if all goes as planned. Since Chris and I both work for the school district traveling in the early summer and bringing Paige home when we have time off would be a dream come true. I am planning on taking sevral months maternity leave, but this would give Chris the opportunity to spend some quality time with her as well. Yahoo...guess it's time to get started on that nursery.
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16:54
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Our journey to Paige
Waiting for our INS approval is taking its toll on me. Being as this is the final piece of paper we need to complete our dossier the waiting is very hard. We were told by our agency that it could take 4-8 weeks to receive approval after fingerprinting. Well it has been 4 weeks and 4 days darn it! I guess you could say I was definitely planning for the shorter time-frame. So I wake up everyday with the hope that today will be the day, all through the day it is in the back of my mind "cant wait to get home to check the mail". I have a little ritual, cant look at the mail, no quick little glances or anything, until I get home, because I want to savor my joy if it is in the pile( a little wacky huh?) Imagine my disappointment that another day has gone by with no letter. It does not help that my agency is stating that it has 15 babies ready for immediate referral to those parents that have an authenticated dossier. We cannot even get our dossier authenticated until we receive our aproval from INS. Whew glad to get that off my chest! Maybe it will come tomorrow??
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10:58
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Our journey to Paige
Decorating is my hobby of choice. I am always doing something around the house. Currently I am considering a redecorating/mini remodel of our family room. So, I am wondering where my motivation is when it comes to working on the nursery. It is not for the lack of supplies. There is a new crib sitting in its box in the garage, a dresser waiting for a fresh coat of white paint and to be filled with the bags of clothes we have collected, lovely fabric to be made into curtains and pillows, the crib bedding has been purchased, paint color decided on…everything we need to put together a fabulous “shabby chic” nursery. So herein lies the question where is my motivation? Why can’t I get started? Its not that I don’t want to, I do, it is that I ….cant! Is it superstition?.. the fear that I will get the nursery done and it will sit empty longer than anticipated while we wait for our referral? Well as you who read this are my witness I have made a pact with myself that I will start on the nursery as soon as I get word from our agency that our Dossier has arrived in Vietnam and been logged in. Hopefully by then my mother-in-law be home from her extended travels to help me paint!
I knew this past week was going to be tough, I knew I was going to be exhausted, what I did not know was how tough and how exhausting it was going to be. I did not have the energy nor the desire to even think about taking any pictures let alone think of something to write in a blog post. I did get some cute pictures this morning to share.
You have been dong this standing on one leg pose for the past several days . Time to get you enrolled in ballet class!
I cant promise that I will post during the week this coming week. I start my 9.5 hr days tomorrow and can imagine being fairly tired, if I get anything on here it will probably just be a picture or two. I am going to try very hard to do so, but am not going to beat myself up about it if I just cant get it done.
