We're Totally Official

I don't know why I didn't read the letter from Holt any more closely than I did until now, but... I just realized that our homestudy went to Korea earlier than I thought it did! I'm getting more excited about a new baby every day. I'm more focused on the issue than usual this week because 1) I was invited to join an adoption group that I'd not been aware of before and 2) my digi friend Melissa is in Korea RIGHT NOW picking up her baby girl.

I just asked the moderator on the Holt board to add us to the official running list of those waiting for a referral. I was surprised to see that we're not even last on the list. Now, of course, this list is by no means official, but it's a good representative sampling and keeps me calm about approximately where we might be in the wait.

Where might that be? Well, the list is long and the process is even longer. So, I don't have hopes of a referral any time before October. That would be about 10 months, which seems to be about average. That would probably mean the new baby is here, at HOME, in January or February of next year. That's earlier than I'd originally thought, but obviously we'll do whatever it takes when the time comes. I'd rather not put him/her in daycare before the fall of next year, but we might not have a choice. Maybe we'll see about finding a temporary option until Rob is finished with school once my leave is over.

I think all this waiting is really what's prompted me to scrap so many of Sam's early pictures. It's so fun to finally journal the stories and gaze at his baby pictures. Rob and I have both talked in the last few days at feeling some sadness when we see his baby pictures, knowing we missed so many months of his early life, but I try to remember that none of us would be who we are if things had gone differently. All of those experiences add up to who we are as people and as a family, and we have to trust that it all happens as God intends it to.

Someone remind me of that, PLEASE, when the wait for #2 really starts to get to me!

Catching Up

After scrapping over 200 pages in the past 15 months or so, I FINALLY got a few prints made! It really is much more gratifying to create scrapbook pages when you actually have them in a scrapbook. So, I'm vowing to myself to do that more often. Because they're really expensive to print, I'm rushing to get a few special photos scrapped that I want printed for my 12x12 album while there's still a sale. It's actually been great fun to scrap just for the purpose of capturing stories that I don't want to be lost. I do a lot of scrapping to try to learn to do it better, but it's nice to just sit back and worry about nothing but the words.

Sam's back at school, recovered from most of the icky bug he had, but the transition back hasn't been an easy one. We're told that literally half his class has been sick, which is apparently making the kids more than a little testy. We got yet another incident report today for bad behavior. Sam's teacher seems to think he's easily influenced and "fights back" when someone starts something with him, but that's no excuse, really.

We're focusing each night on reviewing how he behaved in school and getting rewards for good behavior. Unfortunately, we've also had to resort for punishment for naughty behavior. Tonight, Grave Digger sleeps alone. Sadly, nothing says "you're in trouble" to Sam more than a night without his favorite monster truck.

All of this is an education for a Mommy and Daddy who were total Goody-Two-Shoes growing up. We seriously rarely got in trouble, so behavior reports on a daily basis are really foreign to us. Stubbornness, as my mother will tell you, I am intimately familiar with. How to teach a preschooler, though, the fine line between standing your ground and being outright obnoxious?!

Sick Day

We had our first official sick day in over a year and a half today. Sam caught every bug that floated within a mile of him the first year he was home, but he came out of the experience with an immune system of steel. Apparently, however, that steel can be penetrated by Mommy germs. He rallied a bit over the weekend, but stayed home yesterday (which we wanted anyway since we were off for the holiday.)

I had him all ready to go to school today, but as he ate his strawberries for breakfast all he did was cough, so I canceled most of my calls for the day and kept him home and took him to the doctor.

He cracked me up at Dr. Weidner's office. I told him that we were going to visit the doctor so that he could make him feel better. He took that to heart. The second the doctor opened the exam room door, Sam flopped down on his back on the table and said, "I'm laying down so you can make me all better!" The doctor actually giggled at that.

Turns out he has a sinus infection of his very own. I was under the impression you had to be a bit older to get bona fide sinus infections, but apparently Dr. Mom doesn't know what she's talking about. We picked up a bottle of antibiotics, which had me panicked for fear of trying to administer the first dose alone.

Sam has matured since his last round of meds, though. He opened wide, swallowed the medicine and didn't seem to mind it one bit. It's SO MUCH EASIER to take care of a sick kid when he actually cooperates!

So Very Romantic

So, after all my talk about what a fabulous Valentine's Day dinner I had planned for my beloved, I spent the day (and the several following) injesting more pharmaceuticals than anything else. Nothing says romance like a nebulizer treatment, let me tell you!

Poor Rob. I've promised him a do-over soon. I wonder how long it will take me to figure out another fancy meal like that. Culinary skills aren't exactly among my most noted attributes.

I'm feeling better than I was a few days ago, but this has not been one of my more productive weekends. Other than going to get my medicine on Saturday, I haven't been able to leave the house. Thank goodness today is a holiday! I needed the extra day to get better. I am itching to get out, so took a shower early today so that we could go on a walk. Rob listened to me hack and wheeze my way through the acts of getting dressed and drying my hair and ordained that I was not allowed out again.

Sam managed to catch the same bug (who gave it to who is a mystery) but he fought it better than I did. He did spike a fever that scared us a bit on Friday, but a few doses of Motrin and a night in bed with Mommy made him quite a bit better. He's home with us today for the holiday and keeps coming over to check to see if I'm better. He's a good little nurse!

I have been at least slightly productive in my malaise. See my fancy new blog banner? I finally figured out how to do something prettier than the Minima template header I've been sporting for two years now!

Postive Peer Pressure

Not only did our young friend Ethan appreciate a pic of Sam on my blog this morning, it inspired him to practice his potty skills. I got a very happy report from Kim. Considering Sam's been in some fairly serious trouble for acting up at school lately, it's nice to hear him setting a good example for once!

His behavior, thankfully, is improving steadily since we resorted to stickers on the calendar and a bribe at the end of each week for positive reports from his teacher. My scrappy little muffin was pushing and punching as early as Monday, but "behaved like an angel" today. That's a relief! It was also a relief to hear that although she's not going to name names, the teacher is convinced Sam is not the real agressor. He sure is a follower, though. She says he sees other kids getting a little too pushy and has no qualms about jumping right in. Is it too early to have a discussion about being a leader instead of a follower?

Sam and I had a nice little outing tonight to get ready for our big Valentine's Day extravaganza tomorrow. I, known around these parts as a pretty mediocre (and that's being kind to myself) cook, am planning to prepare a very schmancy meal I have been learning all about on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. We'll see how it works out. For $81 at Wegman's tonight, let's hope it's at least edible!

When we left the store, Sam announced that he no longer wants to food shop with Daddy.

"Daddy goes to buy food at the boring store. I like your store, Mommy. It has a cool train and gummy worms."

"But don't worry. I still love Daddy... I just don't think I want to go shopping with him next time. Just you."

I fear this means I will be the appointed grocery shopper for a while... and I really really do NOT enjoy the grocery store! Ah, what we'll do for the young'uns.

Mission Accomplished

It would appear that we are no longer a family that needs to buy Pull-Ups. The mission is complete. All systems are a go... and in the right vessels.

This is very very big news in our house.

We cheered. We celebrated. We admired. We ran right off to Target to get the "Crash-Smash" book that had become the newest object of desire once the process was finalized.

In news that matters to the rest of the world, my "candidate of choice" is doing quite nicely in the primaries tonight. I am enjoying it. Is there a limit to how much punditry one family can take? I'm sure there is. We just don't seem to know where that line is just yet. We're still likethis with CNN.

The pic of Sam is not there to overdo the potty point, but rather there to make my little buddy Ethan happy. It turns out that my two-year-old friend likes to read my blog with Mommy and is sick and tired of the pics of Hillary or inanimate objects that have been featured. You can't blame him. He can't read, so he's understandably all about the pictures. There you go, Ethan. Enjoy!

Naps no more??

I knew this day would come, and I kind of had a feeling that it would arrive without warning. I think I might have been right. Sam has suddenly become very difficult to convince to take a nap. He'll go through the pre-nap motions in his room, but sleep? Not so much.

The kid went from napping for three to four hours to deciding naps are not cool. At all. For any length of time. Now, Daddy and I have been forcing the issue a bit because we're not completely convinced he will not terrorize us without a bit of mid-day sleep, but all Sam does is mumble in his room, play with cars and call out to us every now and again. He has drifted off eventually the last two days, but the peace only lasts about an hour. I know that still seems like a nap to most people, but is more like an accidental slip into unconsciousness for our child.

We'll see how it goes, but I think that next weekend we'll see how he does without a nap. Maybe we'll actually see the outside world between the hours of noon and 4 p.m. and get him to sleep past 5:45 a.m. A mom can dream.

The lovely photo you see above is result of my Valentine craftiness. I'm rather pleased with how they turned out. I'll try not to look when a bunch of preschoolers just tear into them as if they were purchased at *gasp* Target or something.

A final note, so as not to let it go without update. I should have placed a bet of some sort against myself. Hillary Clinton called... count them... TWENTY TWO times during Super Duper Tuesday. I feel like calling the NJ campaign headquarters and telling them that they lost my vote for precisely that reason. But I won't. That would be a lie since they never had my vote. As my coworkers are ever-so-amused by, I am not shy about saying I have a "candidate of choice." And, ahem, he swept the primaries yesterday.

She Just Doesn't Quit

A quick update: It's now 9:49 a.m. and I have received 3 Hillary calls this morning. The grand total is now 12. It's still early. I sort of think I should run some sort of pool. I'm personally guessing that she'll make a total of 20 calls before the polls close tonight. Doesn't she know I voted at 6:35 a.m. today?!

UPDATE: It's 3:54 p.m. and I'm up to 16 calls.

I Am Public Voter #1

I'm not sure, but I think perhaps Hillary Clinton has been reading my blog and is terribly concerned that at least one female voter in New Jersey might go for Obama tomorrow.

I'm not paranoid. I actually have a sort of proof... It's now about 5:30 p.m. and I have gotten EIGHT phone calls from Hillary's campaign today alone, urging me to go to the polls tomorrow and vote for A Better America by way of a new President Clinton.

What else could that number of phone calls possibly mean? I mean, really. I don't know that anyone has ever called me that many times in one day. Not my husband, not my mom, not my sister, not my friends. In fact, all of those people combined don't ring my phone eight times in a single 24-hour period.

What I wonder is this: Do they really think that repeated phone calls is not going to annoy people, but instead make them sit up and realize the error of their ways and change their vote? Are there people who have made up their minds but say to themselves, "Gosh. That Hillary sure is persistent. I think I'll vote for her."

Maybe Hillary thinks that I have more political sway in an important electoral state than I really do. All I know is this... If I get one more phone call, it's quite possible that I'll toss my phone out the window.

Sam is all ready to go vote with me tomorrow. He's still firmly for Obama. He was tempted to vote for me, but he did recall me saying I wasn't running. I guess Obama is second best, but what can you expect? Obama doesn't buy him monster trucks and read extra books at night.

Don't forget to vote!

There's Just No Delicate Way...

...to discuss this particular milestone: my son has learned to "go" standing up. I don't think it requires further discussion.

HOWEVER, I did think, as he proudly displayed this new skill to me, of my commitment to blog regularly so that I'd know what was going on in our lives at the time our next child enters the world.

It occurred to me, unlikely as it is that he/she will be born today, that it would be very funny to say, "Hmmm... what happened that day? Let me see... Let's check the ol' blog. Oh. There it is. Sam peed standing up."

Happy Birthday!

Nothing else of import has occurred, mainly because Rob is coaching Mock Trial around the clock and I have been stuck in the house, succumbing to the vile effects of Augmentin. If you get a sinus infection soon, seriously consider that the cure is worse than the disease. At least that's what I'm saying right now.