Awesome band name of the month

There's no use in pretending that I post here every day, or even every week. I do fully intend to post something meaningful again soon - last month was a banner month for referrals - 18! seriously! - and there have been still more referrals this month (about 4 or so). We've also been re-doing our adoption paperwork as most of it has expired. Hopefully the ministry will ignore my weight this time, seeing as I'm perfectly healthy. I pray for that every day.

Anyhoo, enough faffing about. This month's awesome band name is Noxious Fruit Loops. To me they are a classic punk band, colourful mohawks & all that jazz. I'd compare them to an existing punk band but my knowledge of such things is woefully incomplete.

Awesome band name of the week

This time I thought I'd draw on my Dutch heritage to bring you yet another AWESOME BAND NAME! So, without further ado - Klompen! Klompen (I'm not 100% sure of the spelling) is what the Dutch call wooden shoes. I see Klompen - the band - as a theatrical metal band, who always where wooden shoes, and sometimes use them to great affect, especially when they're trying to elicit audience participation. Of course, the crowd would also be wearing their klompen, so audience participatin would be DEAFENING.

Bountiful harvest

After a couple of months of slim pickings, now you have 3 posts to read. Enjoy! And get off my lawn. That is all. And please feed the fish on your way out.

I was going to call this n-n-n-n-n-nineteen, but I was wrong

So, today is the 20 month anniversary of our dossier arriving in Ethiopia. At first I though it was the 19 month DTE anniversary, but that's because I set up the Outlook reminder wrong. So, what does this mean? Well, on the face of it, it means that we’re still waiting to be a family with a daughter. In addition to that, it means that we should start renewing our paperwork (police clearances, medicals, etc) so we can get our dossier renewed. Not that there’s really any rush at the moment, since there are still approx 75 families ahead of us in line. Did I think we’d be here at 20 months DTE? Interesting question. Well, if you’d asked me that at the beginning of our adoption journey, I’d likely have said we’d have our referral by now, and we’d be waiting for our daughter’s visa, and buying up baby clothes like crazy. And putting the nursery together. Ah, I was so naïve then. And then, 4 months after our dossier arrived in Ethiopia, the agency went bankrupt. That set us back about 5 months, but that was okay, because we brought the agency out of bankruptcy – at least our dream was still alive. The first few months brought lots of referrals, and lots of optimism. And then the referrals started to slow down. And then they stopped for a while. And my hope slowly started to fade. So I revised my thinking to – we’ll have our referral in the first quarter of 2011. Referrals are still pretty spotty, 10 months after the agency started up again, but it’s not the agency’s fault. There have been a lot of administrative changes in Ethiopia, all in the name of making sure these adoptions are ethical, not just for our agency, but across the board. There’s a lot more paperwork involved on the Ethiopian side now, and it’s taking a long time to gather, in most cases. So where before we would see referrals of children as young as 1 month old, now the youngest I’ve seen lately is 4 months old. Add another month or two for a court date (which we now have to travel too – it’s not a bad thing!) and, after a successful court date, another 3-4 months waiting for the visa to be processed, you’re bringing home a 10 month old, and that’s being very optimistic. They’re likely to be at least 12 months old, and that’s if they come into the orphanage as a newborn, and I’m not sure how often that happens. So instead of our request for an infant, we’re thinking of raising our request for a girl of up to 24 months old at the time of placement (that means at the time she comes home with us for good). The agency has recently signed on with a new orphanage but they’re still finalizing the paperwork so we haven’t seen any referrals from that orphanage yet. Hopefully they will start happening soon, so we can see what age range is coming out of that orphanage. I’d still really like to adopt a baby, to change our request to a child of up to 18 months at the time of placement, but that could be setting ourselves up for a LONG wait. I’m already barreling towards 39, then 40, so I really don’t want to wait too long to be a mom of a young child! If you asked me today when I thought we’d receive our referral, I think I’d honestly have to say – I don’t know. I honestly don’t have any idea when I’ll be a mom – and that both terrifies & saddens me. It’s tough seeing everyone have what I want. Sure, I’m jealous of people who fall pregnant easily, or even with difficulty – because they’re on the road, they’re parents. It’s a club I can’t be part of, no matter how much I wish to be.

Awesome band name - Amazing Race edition

Today’s totally awesome band name is courtesy of the Amazing Race episode from a couple of weeks ago (they were in Sweden). I give you……2 Large Cod & a Chainsaw. I imagine 2LCAC would have 2 guys dressed as fish, and a dude with a chainsaw. Quite a riveting stage act, really.

Where's Janna?

What have we been up to lately? Well, we took last week off, to go shopping in the US & to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary, and because we have vacation time to burn. We went down to my parents on the Monday, to prepare for an early departure time on Tuesday morning. Tuesday we headed out to Frankenmuth, which is a predominantly German-themed town with a gigantic Christmas store. Seriously, I’m pretty sure it covers several acres. I got some cool ornaments – a tiny violin for Andrew, a black cat ornament for Willow (Pippin already has her own ornament), a kangaroo for me & a black angel for Wren. We hung out around Frankenmuth for a couple of hours & then headed for the nearby outlet malls, stopping at the W@lmart-esque grocery store along the way. Among other things, I bought Frankenberry cereal (in retrospect, Count Chocula might have been a better choice), Hello Kitty bandaids & malted milk powder, so we can have vanilla malt milkshakes. Then we checked into the hotel & passed out for a while. Then we hit the outlet mall for a while, had some dinner, then headed back out for more shopping. I finally replaced my Nike Shox, which were quite old & odiferous. Then back to the hotel to watch Glee with my folks (not sure my Dad has ever watched the show) – it was the Rocky Horror Glee Show episode. Wednesday was much the same, just different stores. While we didn’t go hog-wild, both Andrew & I got some really nice clothes & shoes, so it was worth the trip. Then back home on Thursday, to a couple of kitties who had missed us A LOT, and have stuck to us like Velcro ever since. Pippin’s been curled up on my chest every night since then, which Andrew says looks like a 10-year old trying to fit in their old stroller (because she takes up a lot more room that she used to when she was a kitten). Didn’t do much on the weekend (I hurt my back getting in & out of my dad’s SUV when we were in the US – I’m short, y’all). And I’ve been busy work-wise, trying to catch up. Now you’re up to date. Now get off my lawn!

Awesome band name

I do mean to post more, but I've been so darn busy at work that I haven't had a chance recently. Enjoy the latest awesome band name - Rigid Turkey! I know, how do I come up with this stuff?

Awesome band name of the week

Unusually Large Udders. Of course, to their fans they would be known as ULU, which is far less complicated & much easier to remember.

Lest you think I am all about fluff pieces these days, I am thinking about posting something other than silly band names - Ijust haven't had enough time at work lately to compose anything other than diatribes about how EVIL & USELESS our warehouse in the States is. Seriously, if they ship one order correctly it's a fricking miracle. So, keep checking back, I just might surprise you. Then again, maybe not.

Awesome band name of the week - SPECIAL EDITION

Due to popular demand, I give you the second awesome band name of the week. This has been in my back pocket for years, and I think it's time to unleash it on the world. I give you...... FISH PANTS!

Again, I must say that these names are all made-up by me, as far as I know. If there is a band out there with the name Fish Pants, I apologize for stealing your thunder. And your pants, made of fish.

Awesome band name of the week!

This is a new feature here at the Wren Chronicles - the awesome band name of the week! To be clear, these are names I have created all by myself, and any resemblance to band with the same name is purely coincidental. So, without further adieu, I give you.....

RUBBER SKUNK!!!!

I can just picture it - thanks everybody, we've been Rubber Skunk - Good night!

Sigh......

Once again I’ve gone all incommunicado, but the truth is, I haven’t really had much to say. It’s been a busy month & a quiet month, all at the same time. We spent the weekend of the 11th in my hometown, combining trips to the dentist, the wedding of close family friends and a fish & chips dinner at the Moose Lodge. We still go to the dentist in my hometown because he’s taken care of my teeth pretty much since I’ve had them, and Andrew really likes him too. The wedding was for the daughter (one of a pair of twins) of our close family friends. It was a huge blast from the past – I used to babysit the twins, and the daughter of other family friends, who was also there, used to babysit my brother & I. It was all circle-of-lifey. The fish & chips dinner will amuse those of you who know me (I hate fish – always have). We went with my mom & dad, and were the youngest adults there be a long stretch (the average age must have been hovering around 70). As far as I was told, there was only fish to be had, because it’s not a restaurant, you know. So it was chips & a bun & a piece of cake for me. Then one of the other ladies there informs us that, no, it’s not just fish, you can also order chicken fingers if you don’t eat fish. Oh sure, tell me that AFTER I’ve had my dinner. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, spending some quality time with my mom. She’s heading off with her best friend soon, on her trip to Medugorje & the Vatican (with a stop in Assisi), so I also helped her get some clothes for her trip. It was her birthday on the 19th, so we took her up to the Martyr’s Shrine for mass (she’s always wanted us to go to mass with her), then to lunch at a place with really good BBQ meat & butter tarts, but with horrendous service & small portions. Then we went to St Marie among the Hurons, then home. It was a great day, and my mom really, really enjoyed it. There was a special function going on at the Shrine, so it was full of people & priests & bishops. I think it did my mom a lot of good to see so many people who share her beliefs. I don’t practice the faith myself, but it also did my heart good to see it – lots of people together with a common purpose & a sense of community. And I found a stick from an oak tree with lots of acorn “hats” (tops) on it, so there is that. I call it my “stick of many hats”. I’m weird like that.

There’s only been 1 referral so far this month, which has been getting me down. The agency has signed an agreement with a new orphanage that we will be “exclusive” with, so hopefully referrals will pick up soon. As it is, it’s been rather inconsistent, so you get great months like last month, which really buoy your spirits, and then you get months like this with little or no referrals. It seems sometimes like we’ll never be a family, and I hate feeling like that.

Movin along, singin a song

Apparently I am like, physic or something, because since my last post there have been 4 referrals (I think 5, actually, but I don't know who the 5th one is)! There was a referral for a 5 month old baby girl, and 3 sibling referrals in as many days! That is big news for those waiting for sibling referrals, as there has only been 2 in the 8 months since the agency has been back in business. These 3 sibling referrals makes 5 total. Every little bit helps, and we're getting closer every day to our Wren.

We were out at Ikea the other day, and we found the perfect crib for us! It's part of the Sniglar series, and it's a beautiful bright green! It's also much lower than the crib we currently have, which suits us down to the ground, as we are not tall. This will make it easier for us to lift Wren out of the crib. We're giving our current crib, which was a hand-me-down from a friend, to my parents so they have a crib at their place, and they are going to get us the Ikea crib. I am so excited! I want to start on the nursery now!

Incommunicado

I've been out of touch for a while, not for any particular reason, just didn't really have much to say. We had some busy weekends, and some not so busy weekends. We had a lose-some-braincells weekend (the August long weekend - caipirinhas & too much wine) too - we had some friends over & did a ripper of a jerk pork tenderloin meal - so spicy!!! After doing nothing at all the next day, we spent the holiday Monday making basil pesto with the basil from our garden. We ended up with 8 cups of pesto at the end of it, and there's almost as much basil still left in the garden, so we'll be doing it all again in a few weeks. We've had this week off work, the first true vacation we've had this year. We went up to Midland, and took in the sights there. We visited the Martyr's Shrine first, then Sainte Marie among the Hurons & Wye Marsh the next day. Andrew took one of the more secluded paths into the marsh & ended up face to face with a beaver up a tree. He stayed put long enough for Andrew to get a picture then scampered down the tree & took off into the marsh. Anyway, it was a nice break, and it's a beautiful area. The shrine is so peaceful, it was good to be able to sit & comtemplate, and pray for some of those close to me, especially my aunt, who has had another lung cancer diagnosis. She was diagnosed a few years ago, and had surgery to remove the cancer, but she only had 2 chemo treatments before she had her strokes. We're waiting to hear now how they will treat it this time, if at all. My dad is also having stomach problems, he's had tests to see what's going on. The doctors think he has a condition that is a precursor to cancer, but they aren't sure how advanced it is. We'll know at the end of this month, and we'll be able to decide how to treat it. And on Monday of this week, my mom phoned to tell me that the husband of a dear family friend passed away after routine surgery at the age of 64. He had a heart problem, and I guess his hear couldn't handle it. I can't imagine taking your husband into hospital for something routine, and him never coming home again. It would be devastating, absolutely devastating.

I didn't intend for this post to be a bummer, but that's how it's been around here for the last couple of weeks. Let's hope things get better from here on out, and that referrals start up again. It's been about a month since the last referral. Let's face it, I'm not getting any younger. Have a great week everyone, let's hope only good things are on the horizon!!!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I've updated the masthead (?) of the blog, as I'm playing around with different spellings of my to-be daughter's name. What do you think? Wren? Wrenn? Renn? I'm not sure. I see the name much more often than even last year, when we chose it. And here I thought I was being unique. You know, growing up I was never able to find any of the "name tchotkes" with my name on it (at least not spelled correctly) - like pens or pins or pads of paper. Why shouldn't my daughter have the same experience as her mother? Heh - I'm not bitter.....

Another change is that as of next week, I'll be doing my same job but out of another location. Right now I have a 45 min commute using the never-all-that-busy toll road. Now I'll be taking the main highway (one of the busiest in North America) the whole way. I've never driven that particular stretch of that highway so this should be interesting. I've worked out of the "new" office before, but not for the last 6 years. Well, it may not make my life any easier, but it's an adventure, that's for sure. It's not the end of the world, which you would have thought if you'd seen the way some of my co-workers reacted. Sheesh. On the this-news-is-awesome front, my co-worker that I have actively despised since the day she started has quit!!!! Best new eva.

Last weekend my parents came for a visit. Some close family friends from Australia were visiting, and they brought them down our neck of the woods to show them the sights in Toronto, and for a visit too. It was so good to see someone from "home", it was like we'd just left yesterday. We took them up the CN Tower (wow, has that gotten expensive!) and for a drive to some of the prettier areas of the city. It was the Toronto Indy weekend, so some of the roads were closed, but it wasn't too bad when we were there. We could even see the Indy cars practising & hear them from the top of the tower, it was pretty cool. Anyway, all that to say that it was great to see some Aussies again.

One last thing - there's been 5 referrals so far this month! That's awesome! We may just become a family some time in the next decade!

Have a good weekend everyone!

The huntress

So, last weekend Andrew & I were out in the backyard one morning, pottering around the yard & garden. Willow was out with us, we let the cats outside when we are there to supervise them. Anyhoo, she was stalking bugs & fluffs & whatnot, as she is wont to do, when all of a sudden I see a flurry of activity & hear an almighty SQUEEK! Ladies & gentlemen, Miss Willow caught a mouse! My wee kitty is a mouser! She dropped him on the ground & kept stepping on him, then looking at me for guidance, like "What do I do with it now?".Considering how much of a pain in the ass the mice have been garden-wise this year, we are rather proud of her. She didn't kill him per-se, and she didn't even break the skin. I think she must have crushed his poor little chest, as he passed away soon after the attack. We wrapped him in paper-towels & put him in the bin. The next morning when we let her out again, she went straight to the spot where the mouse had been. She's a clever cookie.

A referral, close to home

On this day, of all days, someone known to my family has received the referral they've been waiting so long for! My mom's former physio therapist & his wife received a referral for an almost 3 year old boy. There have been another 2 referrals this month as well, so we are 3 steps closer to Wren. Good news!!!

A year in the life

So, this time last year I got a phone call from one of my friends that's also adopting from Ethiopia through the same agency as us. Her words sent a chill straight to my heart - the agency has gone bankrupt. We didn't know much in those early days, all of the sordid details started coming out in the days & weeks to follow. But even before the news hit the papers, a group of fine folks were mobilizing, gathering together & refusing to take no for an answer. And here we are, a year later, still on the road to our daughter. Right now, and a lot of times in the past year, the road seems too long, too full of obstacles, too much to bear, but we've got to keep our eyes on the destination. There have been many families who have received referrals since the phoenix rose from the ashes, and they have their kids home, in their arms now. Our turn will come, I just have to keep believing.

Finally some good news!

After 2 long months, referrals have started up again! Well, only 1 referral so far, but that's more than we've had in the last month & a half, so I'm not complaining! So congrats to the new family, and here's to many more families being made this month! Finally we're headed towards the top of the list (well, I estimate we're about #88 or #87 now. I've honestly lost track. Thank God we have some good news to talk about with our adoption friends on Thursday when we all meet up for wings.

Mah porch

Happy belated Canada Day, everyone! We spent this long weekend (July 1-2) with family (my parents & my brother & his family), which is how it should be, I think. On Canada Day itself we had a BBQ (burgers, hot dogs, roaster veggies, etc) and Evie showed off her mad walking skillz to us. She's really walking well, but when she wants to get somewhere in a hurry she crawls at the speed of light! And she's at that stage where she's into everything - a little annoying but it's really showing us what we need to babyproof.

On July 2 we got to installing the new aluminum porch railing. My dad took out the old wooden railing before we even got home on the Wednesday, so we were able to paint the pillars on July 1, so we were all ready to go on July 2. It took us the best part of the day to get all three sides of the railing installed, but it looks awesome!

Before



After




July 3 my parents went to visit my brother & then babysat Evie while her parents went out. Apparently she likes to bang on the bathroom door while you are in there, and shout at you. Not sure why - the mind of a 15 month old. Andrew & I stayed home & painted the front door (red - it looks great!) and moved some plants around.

July 4 we went out for brekkie, my parents went home, and we got more plants at the garden centre. And we found out that we have a matching set of mice - one for the back garden & one for the front (which we found out when Andrew spotted a pint lily flower sauntering through the garden by itself). Jerk mice. I hates them.

I feel the earth move under my feet

So, we just had an earthquake here! According to early reports, it measured 5.something on teh Richter scale, but it didn't feel all that strong. I was sitting in my chair at my desk & just felt a gentle rocking motion. Some of my co-workers are freaking out right now (they need to watch more Discovery channel) but I kinda feel like it's an adventure. The adrenalin is following a little bit, and I'm a teeny tiny bit worried about the kittehs & what they are feeling (Pippin is very sensitive about thunderstorms & such), but all in all - that was FUN! Hey, it could always be a lot worse. Apparently there's also a tornado/thunderstorm watch going on for this area, so perhaps we're all going to hell in a handbasket. I, for one, welcome our new giant ant overlords.....

Story of my life

So I didn't sleep all that well last night (tossed & turned for an undetermined reason), then I was rudely awakened by Pippin coughing up a hair/grass ball at 4.30am. I swear I'm going to put a stop to her going outside, but she just loves it so much it's hard to say no.

Speaking of outside, the garden is going well, with the exception of the peas, which were once again decimated by Mr Basil the Mouse. He is such a little mousy jerk, but he's so cute. We've blocked his mousy hole with rocks & covered the items he likes with generous amounts of black pepper so hopefully he'll go elsewhere. We also bought a green pepper plant (complete with some juvenile peppers) and a tomato plant (since our tomato seedlings didn't make it) so now we're all done & ready to harvest the goodness in a month or so. We also got some very nice bright pink celosias with burgundy leaves for the front garden - Andrew loves them (I think they look like flaky raw fish - blech).

Let's hope this evening brings better sleep, and no hair/grass balls. I could use a good sleep!

Hiding away from the world

I find myself wanting to stay at home & wallow in my own sadness more & more these days. While we've been really busy every weekend, everyone's always asking about the adoption and the lack of referrals lately is making it really hard to talk about it. There's only been 1 referral in the last month & a half, apparently because of increased paperwork requirements on the Ethiopian side. I completely agree with there being increased assurances that birth parents are giving up their children for the "right" reasons, and ensuring they are not being coerced to do so, and it really makes me feel like an awful person to wish that there would be more referrals, because that means more families in Ethiopia are irreparably broken, but I really wish there were more referrals, so we could get closer to being a family.

In other news, we attending the golf tournament this weekend, and it was very very well attended. It's a charity tournament held every year by the family & friends of the son of my mom's best friend, who was died after being burned in an explosion at his workplace. His mom has become very active in workplace safety since then, and the money raised by the golf tournament goes towards specialized sports equipment for physically handicapped children. We always have a great time - Andrew golfs & I sign in the golfers & take the money from the silent auction winners. Good times! Next weekend we're going to see Jon Stewart (Stew-beef!) at the casino. Can't wait!

Welcome to the club!

Born to my best friend (it would be silly to say that she completes me, but it's 100% true), a precious baby boy, Jack Thomas, at 12.05am local time on 5/26/2010. He weighed 8 lbs & was 52 cm long. Here's what I know - he took his own sweet time getting here (she was induced at 7pm on 5/24), Mum & baby are both doing fine & Dad is exhausted, and this is one of the most anticipated babies in the history of time. I can't wait to see a picture of his sweet, sweet face! Can't deny that I'm insanely jealous, and wondering if I'll ever experience the same wonderment of looking at my baby's face for the first time. But this isn't about me, it's about sweet Jack! Kinda funny that he came into the world as 2 of the best known Jack's of entertainment graced our screens for the last time - Jack Bauer of 24 & Jack Shephard of Lost. A coincidence, sure, but it sure is a funny one! I can't wait to talk to my friend & get all the details!!!

Gone gone gone been gone so long

I've been gone gone gone so long. Sorry about that! No reason in particular, I just wasn't feeling wordy. We had a great weekend last weekend, but busy! On Friday night & all day Saturday we took part in a pilot group of our local council's Transracial Parenting course for adoptive & foster parents. Andrew & I both felt that we really benefitted from attending. It was taught by someone who is transracial herself, so she could really relate to the subject material. Then Saturday evening we went over to our friends' place for dinner. We haven't seen them in almost 5 months, so it was so much fun to just go there & relax, hang out & partake in some very good food (a gourmet cheese plate - including a triple cream brie - and bison striploin steaks cooked Tuscan style.....yum!) and some stellar red wines. On Sunday we slept in a little, then went to see Iron Man 2 (loved it!!!) and had wings & appetizers for lunch. It was a great weekend. I'm hoping this weekend will be just as good. On Saturday I'm going to the Niagara region with a friend & her friends to celebrate her 35th birthday, then on Sunday we're going to a Welcome Summer party at our adoption friends' house. It's an afternoon party, so we're going to aim to be home in time to catch the Lost series finale. On holiday Monday we might go see Shrek Forever After. We're going to work on planting the veggie garden too. The best thing that's happening on May 24 is this - my friend is going to be induced, and she'll finally meet her child. Oh how I wish I could be there to witness that! Next weekend is the wedding & my dad's birthday. Lord knows what I'm going to get him for his birthday! He's so hard to buy for.

Well that's all for now! Have a great weekend everyone, and Vicki? Push him out push him out WAY OUT! Much love to you & Darren.

So far away

I am feeling so far away lately. Since yesterday (Mother's Day) I've been feeling far away from being a mother. I still feel that this adoption will be successful, but not knowing when is pretty upsetting sometimes. On a day when society celebrates mothers, I feel so invisible. And I'm feeling so far away from my best friend, who is in her last weeks of pregnancy with her first, long-awaited child. Her baby shower was just over a week ago, and seeing the pictures of the shower & the pictures of her so heavily pregnant is like a dagger in my heart (to be melodramatic). I can't help feeling that I should be there, with her, in the delivery room, holding her hand, trying to make her laugh (and probably failing). To see the beautiful face of her baby just moments after birth, to celebrate with her and her husband. Instead, all I can do is sit here & cry & feel sorry for myself. For the last 7 months or so, all I've been able to do is kick myself for moving back to Canada. I know, boo hoo. But I guess everyone deserves a little self-pity once in a while. Seems like, as an waiting adoptive parent, I indulge myself a little more with the self-pity than maybe I should.

Blech, and also ewwwww

So, yesterday was my birthday. It was a great day - Andrew got me a beautiful Swarovski crystal cross with clear & pink crystals. It's just gorgeous! The folks at work took me out to lunch to our usual spot, the local Thai restaurant. Then Andrew & I went out to dinner with our "adoption" friends Werner & Cara. Then, when I got home, I discovered that I'd picked up my niece Evie's stomach virus when we went to visit her on Sunday. I've got to tell you, I haven't felt this crappy in a while. Nothing like losing your birthday dinner mere hours after eating it. So I've been home all day, drinking ginger ale & feeling sorry for myself. Regardless, I had a great birthday & a great birthday dinner & I wouldn't have changed anything (except the puking).

Mah new electronic baybee

Well, the household has acquired a new baybee. An electronic baybee. A netbook! We've been wanting to get a new computer for a while now, ever since Computador Prime decided to take his own sweet time (read: 20 minutes) to boot up when you turned him on. Defragging, deleting unwanted files, deleting cookies didn't seem to make too much of a difference. I'm sure we just need to bring in the nerds, but the thing is 7 years old, so I'm not sure what can be done. Anyhoo, the netbook we wanted went on sale this weekend so we went ahead & purchased! It's going to be great to bring it with us to Ethiopia, for downloading pictures & videos, and emailing & such. And it's just SO DARN CUTE!

Other than grocery shopping, that was our fun for the day. Tomorrow we're hopefully going to meet up with my brother & sister-in-law & my niece so they can pay me tribute for my birthday (which is Monday, in case you want to know), but Evie's had a stomach bug today, so that might not happen. Either way, I plan to go to Sephora to pick up my birthday freebie! And maybe a nail polish.

New Doctor Who on tonight - am loving this new Doctor. I haven't seen too many of the old Doctor Who episodes, but he seems really "old school". It's great - and I love his new companion. The actress hails from Inverness, which is one of my favourite places. Speaking of which, I've been pining for the UK something fierce lately, I wonder what's up with that?

Well, enjoy your weekend, wherever you are!

Is it Friday yet?

Man, it has been a long week. The Boss has been away (my actual boss, not Andrew) so the "mice" have been playing. Not sure why I care, but it really bugs me when people basically decide that it's okay to come in a hour late & leave the same time as usual. To me, that's screwing the company out of an hour's work. It wouldn't really bother me if it was just once in a while, but it's been EVERY DAY THIS WEEK. Add that to the countless hours of personal calls, and I get a little ticked off. Especially when she plays dumb & asks for help with things I've helped her with over & over & over again. I've even done training notes! Is it so hard to actually use the training notes? Apparently so, as she routinely makes the same mistake again & again.

Enough whinging - I am so looking forward to this weekend. We don't have much planned, that I am aware of. I'd like to go to Sephora, to pick up my "birthday gift" and some moisturizer for Andrew. Maybe some lunch out, or a movie (boy, I wish Iron Man 2 was out this weekend!). Next weekend is getting to be chock-full. My folks are coming down to celebrate my birthday (since they can't come this weekend), and we've just been invited to my aunt & uncle's 25th wedding anniversary BBQ, so we'll be making the 5 hr trek to attend that. Then it's Mother's Day on Sunday & the trek home. The weekend after that we're doing Multicultural Parenting training on the Saturday. The weekend after that is my high school's 75th reunion but I don't think I'm going, because the next weekend after THAT is my cousin's wedding. Phew, I'm tired just thinking about it!

There was one more referral today, so now we're down to #88. Cool!

Not long now!

It seems like many things are coming up pretty quick: my birthday (May 3, in case you want to know), the birth of my BFF's baby (she's 35 weeks along!), summer, my cousin's wedding (can't wait to hang out with my cousins again!). The road to Wren also continues to move along - referrals are coming in, slowly moving us towards the head of the line - from #111 originally, I calculate that we are now at #90 or #89! If referrals continue as they have been lately, we should have our referral by my birthday next year! Of course, I've now jinxed myself, but what can you do? Any positive movement in an adoption is a good thing! One good thing about the bankruptcy is that the agency assigned every family a number based on their DTE (dossier to Ethiopia), so we're now able to see what number they are up to. It's a little thing, but I think it helps our sanity!

Not much else happening here, folks! Enjoy your weekend!

April showers bring.....

Aggravation, that's what. We spent the weekend at my parent's place, which was nice (as usual). My parents took us out for dinner for Andrew's birthday - great food at the restaurant but crappy service. Sunday was a bridal shower for my youngest cousin, who's getting married at the end of May (on my dad's birthday, actually). It was being thrown by my mom, my aunt, the bride's aunt on her father's side & my cousin (the bride's sister). As usual, my mom was tasked with picking up most of the party items (plates, napkins, cutlery, tableclothes, etc). No problem there, as they all split the cost. What I take exception to is that no one helped with anything at the actual shower. To be fair, my aunt had a stroke a few years ago & is not able to help. My cousin & her aunt, though, were more than able to help & did very little. I ended up doing a lot of the set up & maintenance of the food table, as there was no one else to help my mom. Honestly, I can use the exercise, but that's not the point. If you're throwing a shower, you're throwing a shower, not chatting to everyone who walks in the door - that's not your job. The work itself doesn't bother me - I like being organized & it was actually fun working with my mom like that, but the point is - it wasn't my job. I was a guest at that shower & I got to see the bride open 2, maybe 3 gifts - not even my gift. That sucks. And I feel so bad for my mom, getting stuck with doing everything. Good thing this is the last shower she has to throw - no more weddings or first babies for my cousins. So to those who threw the shower & did nothing (with the exception of my aunt, obviously) - BOO! Shame on you.

In other news, my seedlings are going great guns! Most of them are up now, only some of the basil & some of the garlic are lagging behind. Now that we've taking the cover off I'm hoping they don't get eaten by certain pussy cats.

Who do you think you are?

Not only is that one of Andrew's & my favourite TV shows lately, it was the inspiration for my birthday gift to him this year (happy birthday, by the way, Andrew!). I arranged for DNA testing for ancestry, which I though would be TOTALLY COOL for someone who is adopted and has very little information about his birth family. Luckily he agreed with me, I was getting a little nervous! It's not exactly cheap! Anyway, I'll be interested to see what the results are - all we know right now is that his birth parents supposedly come from Eastern Europe, possibly somewhere around the forner Yugoslavia. It's something I'd also be interested in doing myself, to see if my roots spread beyond the Netherlands & France. It's going to take 2-3 months to process the swabs, so I guess I'm just going to have to be patient! Happy birthday, my love, I truly hope this is the year you finally become a father!

Garden update

We have broccoli sprouts! I only planted them on Sunday, so they are living up to their "early" name! No basil, tomato or garlic sprouts yet, but it's still early days. Now I just have to figure out where to put the seedling tray when we have people over tomorrow for Andrew's birthday.

It's been a while....

I'm not such a good blogger lately, sorry about that! Since we last "spoke" I've had a ripper of a cold, so I haven't felt much like posting. Time to get back into the groove! We had a good Easter, we spent it with my folks down in my hometown, with pretty nice weather! Anytime that the April weather is above 10 degrees is a good time, but this weather was almost 25! Nice! While down home I helped my mom prepare for my cousin's bridal shower (which is this weekend), we had a great ham & scalloped potato dinner, and we visited a local cidery - gooooood cider. This past weekend we worked in the front garden, pulling out the mock orange which hasn't done much in the past 3 years except grow like a weed & not flower AT ALL. It was time for it to go, so we replaced it with a rhododendron - it will have fuschia flowers, so it will really look nice near the fence. I spent a good hour hammering in the garden border, so I'm a little sore today. I also planted some seedlings for the veggie garden - this year we'll have tomatoes, broccoli, basil, and hopefully garlic, as well as beets, beans & peas. Now if I can just get the kittehs to leave the seedling tray alone.....

The adoption is continuing to move along, we are now #94 from #111, there were 7 referrals in March, which is pretty darn good! Let's hope this pace continues, or even gets better!

Not much, thanks for asking

Easter is coming and there have been many bunnies in the yard to prove it. They like to scavenge the discarded birdseed from the feeder, there were 2 of them there this morning. Judging from the poop on the shed of our backyard neighbours, the raccoon/s are back too. Luckily no one has eaten my crocuses this year, at least not yet. Someone had a nibble on one of my tulips but I can't say who it was for certain.

Last weekend was auspicious for 2 reasons - the first was Evie's first birthday party. She was such a cutie in her pleated pink dress! And she was soooo well behaved, even though you could tell she was exhausted. She was covered head to toe in icing, but most of that was her aunt's doing (not me, her other aunt). It was good to spend time with the family, even though we had to rush off to the other auspicious event - the Celebration of Hope, which celebrated the first 6 months in operation of the resurrected Imagine Adoption. It was a good time - good food, good speeches, good music, and lots of adopted cuties!

We're heading down to the homeland for Easter, and according to the weatherman it's going to be a ripper of a weekend - over 22 degrees for 3 days straight! Enjoy the holiday, folks! And Vicki - enjoy the caravan park!

The road is a pain in the ARSE

Not the road to Wren, though that does have its challenges. With the current rate of referrals (or the complete lack thereof) it'll be years before we meet our daughter. And that's okay. Good things come to those who wait. I do not speak of a metaphorical road, I speak of the literal road. In the past 3 drives to work I have apparently become a bad driver magnet. I'm not saying I'm the best driver ever, I'm not that delusional. But seriously, I've had no less than 3 people drift into my lane, one of them was on a cellphone & would have hit me head-on had I not honked. Then another driver casually drifted into my lane this morning, going no more than 100km/hr (I was going 115km/hr) & kept coming until I honked my horn at him. And don't get me started about the 18-wheelers that change lanes right in front of me, going a lot slower than I'm going. Doesn't anyone check their blind spot anymore? I just don't see why people can't frakkin' pay attention when they're behind the wheel of a multi-ton vehicle. Last week 3 Canada geese took off from the ditch right beside my off-ramp right in front of me, and trust me, you don't want to hit one Canada goose, let alone 3 of them. Maybe this is a sign. Maybe I should stay in the slow lane.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

So, it looks like we're going to have to travel to Ethiopia twice, once we receive our referral (which is looking like it won't be for quite some time). Apparently, the federal courts in Ethiopia announced yesterday that adoptive parents will now have to travel to Addis Ababa to appear in person for their court date. While this means that we will get to meet our girl sooner rather than later, it's really going to put a sizeable dent in our pocketbook. Previously families only had to travel once, when the adoption was finalized & the visa to travel had been received. This goes into effect immediately for anyone who doesn't already have a court date. That would be us. We don't even have a referral yet. In addition, MOWA (the Ministry of Women's Affairs) have made a decision to not issue "letters of adoption" to relinquished children from some areas of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, of the 4 orphanages the agency deals with, 3 of them are in those regions. They will only issue letters for abandoned children. The hope is that this decision is temporary, because it has drastically reduced the number of referrals. I understand the logic behind the decision, as every effort must be made to ensure these children have been given up for the "right" reasons & that they haven't been taken from their parents under false pretenses. It still stings a little, though, knowing that our referral could now be years away, instead of just a year or so. Oh well, just another bump in the road to Wren.

Good times

So, last weekend was our babysitting weekend. Because my brother & sister-in-law were part of her sister’s wedding (which was GORGEOUS, by the way – the bride & the reception venue, anyway, we didn’t see the actual wedding), we had our niece for Saturday night until Sunday afternoon. All in all, I’d say it was very successful. We started Saturday by assembling the crib – which was easier said than done. Most of the assembly went as it should, until we got to the last bracket holding the mattress base to the crib. We could not get the screw through the bottom of the bracket no matter what we tried. Finally, I had to get under the crib (like I was changing the oil in a car) and push against the bracket with all the strength in my thumb (which isn’t all that much) so we could get the screw in all the way. What realistically should have taken us 30 min took us 2 HOURS. There were angry eyes all around. Finally, it was ready for its trial run.

We picked up Evie around 5pm, with a few rushed instructions & the hand-over of many many bags (I’ve suggested they invest in a hockey bag for all her accoutrements). We were on the road more than 5 minutes when she was asleep. She slept until we got to our place, then she got her second wind & crawled around the living room for a while. She’s been teething, so we gave her the baby Motrin, then set to trying to put her down for the night. That was also easier said than done, she was so over-tired & over-stimulated that she had a good old cry session for about an hour. She finally gave up her fight & fell asleep at 8.15pm, after an hour & a half of rocking & bouncing & a poopy diaper change & a bottle. At one point I thought, “we’ve just wasted a lot of money to adopt one of these”. Then I pinched a nerve in my neck reaching into the crib to pat her on the back. Note to self – remove wheels from crib, they are not compatible with 2 people who are only a couple inches this side of 5 feet.

She had a great night’s sleep – 10 hours, though I did not (the light on the baby monitor kept me awake, as did the “state of constant readiness”). I was on a hair-trigger, waiting for the slightest whimper to rush to her aid. Turns out she’s a great sleeper, especially since the tooth she’s been cutting lately finally broke through this weekend. So we were all up bright & early, with another diaper change & another bottle. Andrew is a champion bottle-man, she loves men with beards, so she stared lovingly into his eyes the whole time – SO CUTE! An hour & a half of crawling & cruising later & it was time for cereal with bananas, which I let Andrew feed her to get the practice. It went as well as can be expected with a baby who likes to feed herself. Yes, some of it did end up in her hair. Then we wiped her down (tell me, is there a kid in the world that LIKES to have their face wiped, because I have not met one) and changed her out of her sleeper (and ANOTHER poopy diaper). Andrew managed to get her down for 2 30 minute naps between 6am & 12.30pm, when her parents arrived to pick her up. He got a lot of valuable practice, and it was beyond wonderful to see him practicing his daddy skills.

All told, it was a great weekend. Sunday was spent napping & watching the Oscars (which I rather enjoyed, I though the hosts did a great job). We both took Monday off & went to see Alice in Wonderland (which we really really liked), had lunch out & did some other chores. And the weather was great, which does good things to your emotional state. Now, if referrals would just pick up (a lot), like would be GRAND.

1 year DTE

Check out that ticker!

A lot can happen in a year. A lot has happened since the day our dossier arrived in Ethiopia, so I thought I would put it all down here, so as not to forget.

March 3, 2009 – Our dossier arrives in Ethiopia. What a great day that was, and for someone whose lucky number is 3, the date was perfect – 3/3/09.

April 1, 2009 – My beautiful niece, Evamarie, is born. She’s turning out to have as dynamic a personality as her parents, which is a great thing, trust me. She’s going to have a GREAT sense of humour (it’s genetic, don’t you know?). It’s also Andrew’s birthday month.

May 2009 – My birthday month, the month that Andrew & I went back to the UK for the first time since we met there in 1992, and the month that my dad had the operation to remove part of his right kidney (and the cancerous tumour it contained).

June 2009 – A pretty quiet month, which was good considering what happened in July. I think this was the month we were given a crib & pack n play by our friends (their kids had outgrown them).

July 2009 – On the 13th we received the phone call that stopped our hearts for a second. The adoption agency was in bankruptcy. For a few days it was stunned silence and tears. Then, as the news reports started to come in, white hot anger. That weekend, we attended a meeting with what turned out to be the FIA (Families of Imagine Adoption) – families with hope. Andrew & I made our national debut on CBC – The Journal. At the end of the month we attending the creditors meeting with the bankruptcy trustee.

August 2009 – I don’t recall much happening in August, which I guess is a good thing. Just worrying about if we would ever be a family.

September 2009 – We had a much needed long weekend away with my parents in Eastern Ontario. On the 21st, the families & creditors affected by the bankruptcy voted overwhelmingly to revive the agency. Of 270 families, 248 voted yes! On the 29th, the proposal was approved by the courts.

October 2009 – On the 1st, the agency was officially back up & running. At the end of the month we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in Niagara Falls. I’m also pretty sure that it was this month that I found out that my best friend ever was pregnant, after years of hoping & trying. I could not be happier for her, though I’m also INSANELY JEALOUS.

November 2009 – Nothing much happened, that I recall.

December 2009 – Our first Christmas with a baby in the house, though it was our niece – not our baby. How wonderful to experience Christmas through a child’s eyes. Next year will be even better, when she’s old enough to know what’s going on.

January 2010 – We welcomed the new year with friends (2 of our fellow adopting couples) & a lot of Wii Sports Resort. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet month.

February 2010 – Not much happened personally, but Canada RULED THE WORLD in the Olympics! Yay Canada, I knew you could do it! Now, if I never hear that I Believe song again, I will NOT be disappointed.

March 2010 – Well, here we are again. March 3. It’s a gorgeous sunny day, and I’m one year closer to meeting my daughter. We’re going out for dinner tonight to celebrate, and then we’re going to Babies R Us to pick up a crib sheet in preparation for Evie babysitting duties this weekend. Life is pretty sweet!

Kitchen Makeover

Not really. We did go to Ikea yesterday (we got there right when they opened at 10am, and the crowds got steadily worse the longer we were there - the cafeteria was crazy-town) and get some new canisters (glass cylinder-shaped with stainless steel lids) to replace the "old" cow canisters. Nothing wrong with the cows, they just take up half the available bench-space. So we cleaned all the dust & detritus off the counter (amazing what builds up when you're too lazy to clean it), arranged all the single recipes in a desk organizer, and it's like we have a new kitchen! At least, on the left hand side of the kitchen. The right side could definitely use some work. That's where everything goes when we don't have room in the cupboard.

We also bought a dresser for the baby's room at Ikea - it's really nice. I had originally wanted to get a low, pine dresser so we could use it as a change-table too, but when we say this dresser we fell love (well, Andrew did, which is unusual for him!). It's the Aspelund 3 drawer dresser, in case you're interested (which I know you are). The only thing that I would change about it would be for it to be wood-grain instead of white, so it would go with the rest of the furniture. That said, we can always paint the crib white (which is looking more attractive the more I think about it). The bookcase is already a very light wood, so if the crib is white it will tie everything together. I can't wait to get the couch out of there so we can start putting everything together!!!! Evie, my niece, is staying the night on Saturday, so maybe we should put the crib together now (we can always take it apart again) as I hear she doesn't like to sleep in a playpen. Picky girl. I'm actually a bit nervous about taking care of her ourselves, but I'm looking forward to the practice too!

There was an article over the weekend in the Kitchener Record, about That Nasty Blonde Lady who took our money & spent it on herself. Check it out - even after all these months it still makes my blood boil -http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/677204. One of these days I'm gonna need to learn how to include links.

Today's fish is trout a la creme

I hope you like the new "fish" I have added especially for my followers. Since my blog is not all that interesting right now, I thought you'd appreciate the diversion. By the way, if you click your mouse in the fishbowl you will feed the little fishies. As for the title of this post, it comes from one of my favourite British sci-fi comedies, can anyone guess which one?

Had a great weekend, for the most part. Spent Saturday grocery shopping in preparation for the week ahead (and Valentine's Day dinner in particular), then went out that night to a fundraiser for a cousin of our friends that's going to work in a medical clinic in Ethiopia for a few weeks. We raised enough money to purchase a lot of supplies for the clinic, perhaps even a brand new microscope to replace the ancient one they are currently using. It was a really good night! Sunday was a lazy day at home, with a nice dinner (beef tenderloin for me, tuna steak for Andrew). I got Andrew a Superman T-shirt (he loved Superman as a kid) and I got a card. Sigh. Well, at least I got flowers last year. Monday was Family Day, so we celebrated by going to visit my brother & his family. Evie continues to get cuter every day! We had Bill help us install the baby car seat in our van, as we are babysitting Evie overnight in early March, after Jenn's sister's wedding. I can't wait, though I'm really nervous. I guess I'd better start baby-proofing our house! I'm thinking right now that maybe we should put up a baby-gate to block the front room from the kitchen so we can contain her, away from the litter box & the stairs. Just thinking out loud. Sounds like a trip to Babies R Us is in order.

I'm loving watching the Olympics now, and am so proud of how Canada is doing so far! I also LOVED the opening ceremony, especially the poet & kd lang! I love that song (Hallelujah), it makes me cry every time I hear it. What a great time to be Canadian. Now, if we can only get the Zamboni at the speed skating venue to work properly.........

Boo hoo hoo

I really shouldn't complain about having no life - it's my own damn fault I'm never motivated to do much of anything. And I do have a life - it's just not exciting blog fodder. It's not easy updating a blog when nothing much of note happens! But that can be a good thing - it can mean that nothing bad is happening!

Having said all that, life continues. It's winter, so a fair bit of cocooning is going on (for those not familiar with cocooning, that's what happens in the winter when it's cold/snowy & people just keep to themselves & stay indoors). Can't wait for spring when the neighbourhood starts to come out of their shell, so to speak! As soon as it gets warm Andrew & I are out in the front garden, weeding out the weeds, pulling up the dead stuff from the year before, re-planting anything that the wildlife unearthed. I'm thinking of moving the irises to the backyard, on the edge of the patio with the peonies & the rose-bush & the blueberry bush (if it survived this winter). We'll also move the michaelmas daisy to a different part of the garden (it's at the front now, and seeing as it's 3 feet tall it's kind of throwing off the look of the garden. I'm also trying to decide which veggies to grow this year. Carrots for sure, they worked out really well, as did the onions. Perhaps some tomatoes & peppers, and maybe basil again - we did get some lovely pesto out of the last crop. Not cauliflower or broccoli or brussels sprouts - not that it wasn't fun to watch Basil the mouse de-nude the tender plants of their leaves - I'd just like to be able to eat some of what I grow! And he ate the pea sprouts before they were barely out of the ground!

Well, that's about all from here. I'd love to be able to go on a quick vacation somewhere, sometime soon-ish, but we really need to pay down the credit cards first. Sigh......

This weekend on I Have No Life....

We're meeting up with the Milton Adoption Group (2 other Milton couples that are adopting from Ethiopia through the same agency) and attending a seminar on adoption at one of the nearby universities. After that we're going out for lunch (Mongolian Grill? I hear it's good but I've never been). It will be good to see them again, we haven't seen them since our New Year's Eve "party". After that Andrew & I will be premiering "Jerk Off 2010". Let me explain. We're almost out of the Jamaican jerk paste we normally use & couldn't find the same brand at the grocery store, so we bought the brand they did have. We've going to cut a pork tenderloin in half, marinate each side in a different jerk paste, then compare to see if the new paste is up to our exacting standards. It was my idea to call it Jerk Off, cuz I'm clever like that.

In other news, I do believe we've found a home for the sofa bed that currently resides in the baby's room, so once that is out of the way we will be able to start painting & putting the room together. I can't wait!

That's all from here - have a great weekend, everybody!

My baby

Don't lose my number!

The agency released our "number" today. For those not in the know (I'm guessing that's all of you), this is where we fall on the List, the list of families waiting for the referral of a single child (as opposed to a sibling group). So, without further delay, we are are number 111! This is a lot better than we thought - since there are 270 or so families waiting for children (not sure how many are waiting for siblings) I thought we'd be somewhere around #200, but then I had a dream on Wednesday night that we were #86, so this falls nicely between the 2 numbers. And since we received our number there have been 3 referrals, so we are really at #108 now. 111 is our "official" number, though. And what is cool is that 1/11 was the birthday of one of my grandmas, so it's a special number! It's been a good week in the Imagine Adoption world.

Meh.

In the Well Duh files, there continues to be not much happening around here, which kind of suits me down to the ground, as they say. In the past week or so we have: become addicted to Wii Frisbee Golf (more Andrew than me) & Swordplay (more me than Andrew), seen the movie Avatar (soooo good, see it in the theatre if you can, the 3D effects made my dizzy & nauseous at first, but then I was okay), and worked. That’s pretty much it. Exciting times, n’est pas? In the actual good times column, there were 4 families with our agency that got referrals in December, and another 4 families have received referrals so far in January. How cool is that? There were approx 270 families waiting for referrals when the agency restructured, so I guess that’s now down to 262! Not sure where we are in that list, I’m guessing we’re between 180th and 200th. In other words, it’ll still be awhile before we receive our referral. That’s okay – we can use that time to reduce our debts & get the house & nursery ready for her arrival. We went ahead & bought the birdcage & bird decal for her room, now we just need to move the sofabed out of the room, paint it, put up the decal, set up the crib & buy a dresser for that room (it will serve as a dresser/change-table – it’s a small room). Still trying to decide if I want to paint the crib. Some days I’m all gung-ho about doing it, other times I can’t be bothered. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the finish right now – I just REALLY like the look of painted cribs. If I did go ahead with that, I’d paint it a slightly darker shade of green than the walls. I found the PERFECT crib bedding set online (Kidsline Birdsong - get it - Wren? Bird? I know, I don't give you enough credit) but wouldn’t you know it – it’s discontinued (at least, I can’t find anyone who still sells it). If I don’t end up finding that I’ll go with a purple set of some sort.



On another note, my mother in law is turning 70 soon. Does anyone know if there is a special gift or type of gift you give for the 70th birthday? Keep in mind we’re in Canada & she’s in remote Australia, so it can’t be anything too big or too expensive.

Well, that’s really all from here. No news yet from Alamo, except to say that they responded to Andrew’s email & didn’t answer a single question that he had asked. Way to actually read the email, Alamo. My poor opinion of you has improved NOT AT ALL. Alamo consists entirely of FAIL.

Have a great week everybody!

Not much

Hope everyone out there had a great New Year's, we spent it quietly, with our adoption friends & Wii Sports Resort. I tell you, that game throws in some pretty awesome spectators - in our 2 hours of play we spotted Star Trek's Mr Spock, Batman (actually, one table tennis match was graced by the presence of 2 Batmen), Darth Vader, Catwoman, a cyclops & a green monster with very pointy canines. If they can do Mii's like that, why can't I get my Mii to look anything like me? Andrew's looks so much like him it's spooky. On the Sunday we visited with my brother & his family & Andrew gave Evie her bottle for the first time. Well, she holds it herself now, but he held her & made sure the bottle was tipped towards her mouth. They were both wearing navy blue, they looked so cute together! She's so smiley & giggly, so squeezeable! What a sweetheart - I hope our girl is the same. Not news from Alamo yet - slackers. I have other names too, but none are suitable for this blog. Well, that's it for now. I'll be back when I have something new to say (actually, that might be a while!)