Happy Halloween

Still waiting and I have totally let myself get sucked in. RQ has the rumor for the cutoff date to be the 8th currently rated as a R3. I still don't feel safe though. I had to work today too. Silly me! I thought it would get my mind off things. Not so much :) 12 hrs I suffered. I checked my email and the RQ site every time I had a break. I also emailed my agency this morning. Told them what I had heard and asked what they thought. I got a maybe from them basically. Said they would know for sure later this week or next???? Tell me something I don't already know........ I am off tomorrow and Friday so I can surf the rumors at will. I hope we hear something more concrete by then.

Finally a big THANKS to all of you for continuing to post encouraging comments:) I didn't know this would be so hard. Your words are really helping me hang in there! It is so nice to all be in this together and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Next or next to be next????

It's starting to get ugly out there. As we knew would happen the rumors are starting to jump around now. I am not as hopeful that I will be in this time as I was yesterday. It seems the Spanish rumor site is changing their predictions. They do not seem as confidant anymore as to when the cutoff will be. Now they are leaning to the 8th or 9th? RQ has R2 rumors that the the cutoff may be the 7th or the 8th. Unfortunately she also has rumors for the cutoff date to be the 5th or 6th?? I am feeling kind of numb right now. I knew this was going to happen. It happens every month. I have a feeling the cutoff will be the 5th. That is about the most days they have done lately. Hopefully we won't have to wait much longer to find out.

Also THANK YOU for all of your info in regards to shots for the trip. I think I will just update my tetanus and get the hep A added to my B. You guys rock :)

On pins and needles

I'm still waiting for more substantial rumors. I hope we hear something more definite soon! Thank you for all of your encouraging comments too. I am seeing some new commenter's too :) HI and WELCOME! I seem to be getting a little bit more excited each day. It is also feeling more real. This is finally going to happen and soon :)

*****

For those of you that have gone before me............ I have a question. What shots did you get before you went? I have the hep B already for work. Also got the flu shot too. Any others?? The CDC site recommends quite a few scary ones but my brother in law (My doctor) tells me China is really not considered a 3rd world country so I will probably not need a lot of them. I went to the Health Department today and I have to set up an appointment. They also said that some of the shots are pricey. I wonder if insurance will cover these? I am going to quiz the ID Docs at work too. In the mean time though what if any shots did you all get???

Butterfies

I got em! They are bumping around in my stomach. They started last night. I am trying so hard not to do this to myself. I don't want another let down. I just can't not get my hopes up tho! I am working this weekend and I'm glad. It's a good distraction. Maybe I should work all of my days off this week just to keep my mind occupied.

Hanging in there

And the rumors have started. I am trying so hard to guard my heart. The Spanish rumor board seems to think the cutoff for the next batch of referrals will at least be the 10th. I'm not falling for it though. They burned me last month with the rumors that some of December would be issued in the last batch. Rumor Queen has not rated any potential cut off dates above a R2 so she doesn't know either. I e-mailed my agency and they did not know either but speculated that they are thinking that up to the 10th could possibly be in.

**

I am holding up okay so far as I continue to guard my heart. Have to admit though that my chest got a little tight as I read the rumors yesterday. I think I will be more nervous next week when I'm sure rumors will be all over the place. At last I can honestly say that time now truly feels like it is speeding up. Hope I can still say that after I actually have Abby's picture in my hands :)

**

On another note, I weighed in today and lost only 1 pound since last week. I still think that is pretty good though since my monthly friend arrived yesterday. Hopefully next week I will have less water weight and therefore have lost more pounds. I hope so anyway. Now I'm off to work on my room. I am painting it again. Then I will order new bedroom furniture and a bigger mattress. I will post pictures once it is all together.

Halloween fun!

I may not have Abby this year for Halloween, but next year....... E Bay strikes again :) I couldn't resist. I can't wait to put pictures of Abby wearing these cute outfits on this blog next year!

Also my thanks to all of you for your encouragement on my last post! Your AWESOME and I will try so hard not to disappoint :)

Confession Time

Okay this is a hard post but I am hoping that by putting it out here it will help keep me honest. I have posted about this before but never stuck with it. Now I am paying the consequences. My weight during this wait has become out of control. Deep down I knew it but it was just easier not to look at myself and focus instead on any instant gratification I could get. What better way is there then eating crap. I have always been a stress eater albeit starving myself in high school when a boyfriend had broken up with me, or later binge eating when I was stressed. I think we would all agree that there aren't many things out there that are more stressful then our adoption experience. Of course there are bigger and worst things for sure but for me this has been it.

Now hardly anything fits me in my closet and I have found myself on many occasions avoiding events (IE The bloggy bash, weddings, a birthday trip at the beach just to name a few) because I am ashamed of how I look. So finally I have taken control and gone back to weight watchers. I know it works cause I have done it before.

Last Saturday my Mom and I finally went. I weighed for the first time in forever. I didn't look at the scale and told the lady just to write it down and not to tell me. It wasn't til Monday that I was able to get up the nerve to look at the card and see how much I actually weighed. I could not believe it. I weigh one hundred and OH MY GAWD!!!!! That enough will keep me from not cheating for sure! So I went shopping and started that Monday.

I was strict and stuck to the program for 5 days. I was actually excited to weigh in and see what if anything I had accomplished. So today I went back for the second time and weighed in. I am please to announce that I lost 3.6 pounds :0 So I am back on track. No cheating for me and hopefully I will at least be presentable by the time I am in China.

What I like about the WW program is the point system. You can eat what ever you want as long as you stick with your allotted points for the day. There are some new products made by weight watchers out there too. The soup and the ice cream really rock :)

So wish me luck. I know I can do it. I have to for me and for Abby! Gotta be healthy for my girl :)

Meet Pete

I had to do today's post with two entries. Blogger was not cooperating. My niece and nephew spent the night with me this past Saturday night. They arrived late not till almost 11 PM after going to see Annie with Meema and Da. They insisted on spending the night with me after the show. They were all a buzz about the newest member of their family. This is Pete. He is a cockapoo (sp?) cocker spaniel poodle mix. Is he not the cutest thing :) He is around 3 months here pictured with my sister. He currently weighs around 3 pounds and will grow to around 12 pounds. Pete has the prettiest blue eyes.

I was trying to give you some perspective as to Pete's size. I put a certain pig next to him but before I could snap the picture he violated the poor pig. Sorry Icon :)

Sleep Over Continued

I bought Erin and Christopher little pumpkins to carve while they were over. They carved them the next morning. Here they are with their pumpkins. They are making the Virginia Tech sign. Erin's is backwards. :) If you look closely Christopher carved the Virginia Tech sign on his pumpkin.

No room in my double bed for me :) Definitely going to get a queen size before Abby gets here!

Cassie was in heaven with all of the extra attention :)

How To Hug A Baby

Just had to share this cutie I received the other day:)
First you spy a baby. Second, be sure that the object you spied was indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques. If you smell baby powder and the wonderful aroma of wet diapers this is indeed a baby.

Next you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process.

**Note: The added slobber should help in future steps by making the "paw slide" easier. The "paw slide"Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close-up.

Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute the difficult and patented "hug, smile, and lean" so as to achieve the best photo quality.

Dogs, if this is properly done, it will secure you a warm, dry,climate-controlled environment for the rest of your life :=D

This and that

Today I Emailed my agency to see if they thought I had any chance at all to get my referral next month. The response was probably? No news flash there. I know it is possible but I'm not holding my breath. They would have to do 7 days next time and they haven't done that many days in a while. I also asked them about when my travel might be assuming that I did in fact receive my referral next month. They said probably I will travel in January. So guess that means no Abby for Christmas this year. Bummer! And also a bummer that It is my turn to work Christmas day at work this year. Yuck! I always spend Christmas eve with my niece and nephew and wake up with them Christmas day for presents. Then we go to my Moms. This year I was really hoping to be able to do that with Abby because I would have been out on family leave. Not gonna happen though so It will be a sad Christmas this year for me. Moving on.

This is Cassie. (Her eyes are actually green ) She is my other baby and doesn't get as much blog time cause she spends most of her time hiding in my bedroom. She is such a sweet heart but scared to death of Quackers. Quackers knows this and takes full advantage. It is really sad. Quackers loves to play but doesn't want to with Cassie. I gotta get these two together before Abby gets here. I have had them for almost 7 years. I have never had cats that were not able to work it out before. Any suggestions???????
I also finished my kitchen. I painted it red. It looks awesome. I changed the gold knobs on the cabinets for stainless ones. Now if I could only afford to change all of my appliances over to stainless ones. Ha!

Sorry about the glare. Pay no attention to the crap left on my kitchen table.

Last but definitely not least! Thanks Icon for including me in your wellness campaign. I am way over due so thank you for the reminder :)

Gymbucks 101

Yesterday I had my first experience with Gymbucks. I wasn't exactly sure how they worked but I forgot to use mine last time around so I headed out to the mall ready to spend my 75 bucks worth of Gymbucks. For those of you who don't have a Gymboree basically a couple times a year Gymboree will give you 25 Gymbucks for every 50 dollars you spend. Then a couple times a year at specially designated times you can use them. Anyhoo..... I go into the store and ask the clerks how to go about using my Gymbucks. Turns out I have to spend 50 bucks at Gymboree before I can use my Gymbucks. Also turns out that past Gymbucks can not be used at a later date cause they expire. (Bummer!) So in my opinion this is really not that great a deal unless you are planning on buying a lot of clothes at Gymboree anyway. Basically I spent 100 bucks to get 50 bucks of free stuff that I really did not need in the first place. That said though and I have to say that I really love this line and I'm glad I was able to score some items from it.

LID 22 months today!

Wow, I can't believe that it has now been 22 months since I have been logged in for Abby! Add to that the 7 months of paperwork (paperchasing) and I have been waiting 29 months. Incredible..... I still have a candle lit at all times in Abby's bedroom window. It will be there until she comes home.

Babies!

Referrals have begun to arrive..... Although the CCAA has not yet updated their site it looks like November 30 is infact the cutoff date this time around. That is 5 LID days of referrals issued this month. Better then the 4 days worth of LID days of referrals issued last month. (SIGH)

That leaves 7 more days of LID days until Abby day. I don't know when anymore to expect my referral..... They are saying on RQ that December 5 is also a big day for LID days. I'm thinking that maybe December will be my month if I am very lucky. That would put my wait at exactly 2 years not counting the 7 months of paperchasing.

So on a final note, YAY they are finally finished with November!!!! I know that is a big relief for all of those families. Now bring on the baby pictures :)