Saturday, December 29, 2007

My first new blog post!

Well I'm not crazy about the blogging aspects of myspace, so I thought I would give a new method a shot since I do enjoy blogging :) I'll hope to get on most days, but since life is busy, but not really that interesting...I can't promise that.

Case in point, our interesting topic for today is bricks...no really, it's bricks! More specifically a score of bricks from a chimney being taken off a house over 100 years old. We recently took down the extra chimeny off our own house, and saved all our bricks to add a patio on the side of the house, with these extra bricks, hopefully we'll have enough! We're going to reclaim part of the back yard from the dogs, and make the patio run the whole length of that side. Hopefully there will be enought room for a few lines of clothesline to hang out some clothes, but we'll have to see...

So YEAH! Bricks :)

Nothing new on the adoption front, right now we are submitted on two situations, one boy, due Feb 15th, and one girl, who was due today. We haven't heard 'no' on the one due today, so we'll keep hoping. That expectant mother is due in a state with a 10 day revocation period, so those agencies do tend to notify the choosen family after the baby is born...We'll just have to see! We went over to Erina and Brad's tonight though, and she helped me bang out 6 more profiles so we can get them mailed. Those things are so time consuming! We are sending 8 to an agency in Ohio since we heard they have an extremely low pool of families accepting infants that are not Caucasian. I guess they did 5 infant placements about a week ago that were all African American, so their pool is even lower....sounds good to us :)

Well make sure we let you all know as soon as we hear more on any of the potential situations!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Home Study!!!

We got it! We have our home study in hand, finalized and ready to go!!! Now we can actually start contemplating the "fax us your home study right away" situations...there was just one we had to turn down in PA...and already born, parental right terminated, peanut of a baby girl...under 5 pounds!!! She was Caucasian though so I knew they would have tons of applications for her, and I didn't feel bad about saying we had to pass...Our baby will find us when the time is right :) Just wanted you all to know!!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Random updates...for all those that are afraid to continually ask us...

Well, it's Saturday, a day I typically love, but for some random reason I'm feeling crappy today and really sore...after several pretty good days pain wise, a crappy one always hits a little harder. On the medical home front I was approved for the infusions I needed. I was under the impression that they would be every 4 weeks right from the start..a point I was sadly mistaken on. EVERY other medication I've taken that had to be shot up or infused also had a loading period, so I don't even really know why I so readily thought this one would be different, but I did. Thankfully the loading period is only a month. I need to get the infusions 3X in the first 4 weeks. I wish I could say there was an upside to that and describe how positive my first infusion went but I really can't.
Obviously after my last visit to the wonderful Lawrence General where they generally screwed me over and tried to kill me, I was slightly more nervous than I would typically allow myself to be for this infusion. When I walked in and realized my my nurse this time was Ms. Stabby McStabber, I don't believe in monitoring a patient herself, I was even less thrilled. It's difficult to explain to her why I'm nervous, without detailing how I hold her at fault as to why I'm so darn nervous. The fact she recalls my last visit, and can't remember me being "so nervous" almost makes me laugh. Almost. I try to gently request that she not put the IV on the part of my wrist that bends. That not only hurts, but it means I can't bend my wrist the whole time the IV is in. She says that's fine, she can put it further down on my hand...I recount to her (in my nervous, I think this lady going to kill me, chattery voice) how the phlebotomist (needle sticker) at Anna Jauques, when I went to the ER after you last tried to kill me, well, she told me that the further up your arm you go, the more it hurts...asked if she thought that was true. She acts like she's not really listening as she wipes my hand down and gets out her buzz saw...I mean needle. So she sticks it in my hand...I might add I've had MULTIPLE Iv's in each hand, on the top, the exact spot she's putting it in. Never even remotely had an issue...I don't know maybe all those other IV's weakened the vessels there....Anyway, she give the standard little pinch bullshit, and says she's in and switches over to add the saline block that they hook the IV too...then she curses...yeah, curses. I think that maybe somewhere in the training a nurse goes through, and then in the additional training they get when they learn to give Iv's someone maybe should have mentioned to this nitwit that you shouldn't curse like you've just majorly fucked up your patients hand. But she does and she was actually right, she had majorly fucked up! She follows her curse with the phrase, I blew out the vein. Great. Fantastic. That is such super news. So now not only has she ripped the tube out and is holding my hand in a death grip with some gauze, but she acts like it's not big deal she's going to have to do this again. Let's just explain this. I have excellent veins, amazing I've been told. I could not even begin to estimate how many IV's, and blood draws I've endured in my life. Thousands...many, many thousands. It goes with the territory as anyone with a chronic illness can tell you. Doctors figgin love to stick the people that are already sick...like we don't have enough going on already. Anyway, my veins are so freaking amazing that once I had a blood sucking lady ask me if the brand new, never drawn on a real person before newbie blood sucker could draw off me. I said sure, and even THAT lady had no problem. I have never had anyone miss and have to try again. I've had comments people could draw my blood with their eyes closed...I've just never encouraged them to try. So this is the first lady who has ever screwed up and somehow, I'm just not surprised. So she finally tapes up the blown vein and tries to explain to me how it was a "bad vein" that I ASKED (?) her to use. She decides she wants to tap right into one of the huge veins on the underside of my forearm. I've never had to have an IV there, cause everyone else was always been competent enough to put it in on my hand, but okay lady...whatever you need. I'm then so white she asks I want the other nurse to do it. Well NOW you tell me there is another nurse? I tell her to please just do, I'm not getting any less nervous. I also tell her that she's only getting one more shot, and then we'll have to reschedule. Thankfully she gets it in. Anyway, the infusion only took 30 minutes, but I had to stay for 30 minutes after it was done to be monitored. First of all, she didn't monitor me the whole time I was there. They never took my temperature even once, despite the fact that last time I had a reaction, I presented my first symptom as a temperature...go figure. They took my blood pressure ONCE, when I got there. Then after the 30 minutes, she asked me, "How do you feel?" No vitals, nothing...didn't even come all the way into the room. That's a great question given I told you last time I left here even though I felt like crap, cause I thought it was the Benadryl. SO what makes you think that if I was reacting again, I wouldn't just leave. She's a moron. She's also the main night nurse so I get to see her 2X time in the next 4 weeks, and then once a month. I wonder if I should get her a Christmas Present?
In other medical news I'm friggin dizzy all the time. I have no idea if it is a side effect for me of the Orencia, or if it is the fact I've stopped taking the Vicoden. Hopefully it's the vicoden and it will go away, cause if it's the Orencia, I'll cry.
Things are quiet on the adoption front...TOO quiet. We're submitted on FIVE expectant mother right now, who were all show profiles last week. Two are due (one will be induced) on Dec 20th, one the 29th, one in Jan 15th, and one Jan 24th. Apparently there is NO news on any of them. Maybe it's just me, but would these women want to know their plan? I don't get it. I'm going crazy, and I'm driving our referral service crazy too (she found us 4 of the situations)
So here it is, Mid-December, and we aren't sure what's going on yet. I wanted to be flying out today to go get a baby...hopefully soon though...
We just keep praying that the right baby will find us...

Thursday, December 6, 2007

It's December...

and everyone that knows me, KNOWS that I am MRS. CHRISTMAS...which is actually funny, cause Mike's family has always called him Big Christmas, and they refer to "our" baby as Little Christmas. We should just changed our last name or something :)
Any hoo...This year hasn't been quite as lively as others...we have a tree up, but it's not decorated, I've done a bunch of shopping but it's not wrapped...that kind of thing. We are just so damn busy! AND STRESSED! I've always been a "high stress" kind of person. Usually I create most of it, and to be honest, I handle it pretty well. Not lately...nothing like putting the rest of your life and family into other peoples hands to create a little REAL stress. Stress like no one else understands unless you've been here. Stress that's doing more than making me have my usual crying jags (I still swear those are HEALTHY! Crying releases stress hormones), but actually has me screaming, swearing, crying, and screaming and swearing some more. It has us up late at night using paper cutters and searching for how early Staples opens. It has us going to be at 2 and setting our alarms for an earlier wake up than normal...Craziness...
So my goal was to have all the paperwork into the social worker so we could review our homestudy by December 1st. Then since Mike's Dr didn't bother to ask if we were adopting international or domestic, we got to wait while Mike had an HIV and TB test (only required for international adoption)...he's all set by the way...So all the paperwork got mailed on December 4th instead...not too bad, I can totally handle that.
NOW, last night we get a phone call asking if we can please overnight our profiles to Utah for submitting to an expectant mother either Friday or Saturday. She's due Jan 24th, with a little girl. The situation sounds pretty good, so we'll just have to wait and see if this is the baby that is meant for us I guess. I'm running on almost no sleep, as is Mike...everyone bare with us as we try to get through the holidays while we also try to (some what) privately deal with all the stress this adoption rains down on us.
In further news, they THINK my medication has been approved by the insurance. They aren't sure since the insurance sent an "approval letter" that looks nothing like anything they have ever seen. It lists my approval and then lists a whole bunch of other stuff, and pre-requisites, etc etc. They don't want me to end up paying for it, so they are trying to verify this IS an approval letter. Of course no one at the insurance company has any idea what any other person at the insurance company is doing, and none of them are qualified to actually say that is an approval letter, so we have to work our way up to a supervisor in the approvals department to make sure this is an approval letter...Makes SO much sense right???
Hope you all are enjoying the holidays! Mike told me today he wants another puppy...I almost had a heart attack, and you know how I feel about puppies!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Why I am no longer sympathetic...this is not a very nice post!

Sometimes in LIFE, people get hurt...it happens. At sometime or another, it usually happens to everyone. Sometimes you stub your toes so bad you just sit on the floor and hold it, sure it's broken, or going to fall off...maybe both. Sometimes our hurts are more serious and we really do break a bone or our face or get cuts....Honestly...I really used to care about all that when it happened to other people. I even really cared about it when it happened to me. I always said I had a really low pain tolerance. I thought I was a big hose bag (oh yeah, you heard me) who was a big cry baby when she got hurt. I've now realized, that I'm not. I've now realized that living in the kinda pain I live in, take the amount of medication I take, all the while still fighting with the insurance company, the social worker, searching the net for babies and arguing with terminix (don't ask), I'm actually NOT a weak person. I now know I'm one bad ass hard nosed lady and on a typical day, it is best not to fuck with me. Let's just outline my medical experiences for today, cause today, wasn't all THAT bad. This AM, after about 5 minutes of trying I did manage to get myself outta bed all my myself. Once on the floor (wish I was kidding) I did manage to again all my myself pull myself first to my knees, then to my feet and then to actually straighten my back. Putting into word my delightful AM "stiffness" (as my Dr likes to call it...isn't that cute) is pretty hard, try to imagine one of those really super bad Charley horses...you know the kind where you've pointed your toe and your whole calf locks up and you can move, you can only roll around and scream while you grab yourself. Imagine if you will, one of those on each side of your lower back. Oh yeah, both sides, and they go from you front, where your front hip bones are, all the way straight around to your spine, and then up your spine to just below your mid back. You don't want to straighten up all the way, but dignity makes you. Then imagine what it would feel like if you dislocated your shoulder. Honestly...I wish I was joking here folks. I've only actually ever dislocated a finger...that was about one hair worse than what I feel in each shoulder...again...both of them. Then just for fun, tighten up the muscles in between your two dislocated shoulders, so your shoulders are actually pulled back like you have hyper good posture. Not done yet kids! Now imagine you actually have almost no strength in your knees, but they manage to hurt like you've hyper extended all your ligaments. And their swollen. Since we're talking about swollen, let's head on down to the feet. Your ankles are in okay shape, but your feet are so full of fluid that's accumulated while you sleep that every step feels like your legs are going to give out. 7 of your toes are so swollen they are actually purple...and square, from being pushed together for lack of room from the swelling. Square toes anyone? Didn't think so.
So after I get the door open I make the long trek that is about 12 feet to the bathroom...aka medication land. At this point, my meds are pretty boring. I'm supposed to be getting infusions at the hospital (hence the insurance fighting, going on 4 months now), but since that's not happening, I'm self medicating with the help of my physician. I drag me weary butt (on about 3 hours of sleep because I can't sleep in pain) into the bathroom and take me AM does of meds
1000mg extended release Advil, 1250mg (I think...it's 5 of them) extra strength Tylenol, 1 Vicoden, 1 Flexeril. I intentionally do not eat anything, knowing this will make me feel horrible, but will actually cut the pain quicker...I take them with one gulp of water....oh and screw the fact I'm not supposed to take any other acetaminophen with Vicoden...it's only a suggestion right?
That is at 8:10.
At 11:30 I am in so much pain I take a "booster". I call 11:30, close enough to 4 hours after my first dose, which is also close enough to 6 hours I feel, since I'm not taking a full dose...don't show a nurse...they get ALL pissy at me! I take 500mg more Advil and 1000 more Tylenol (it FEELS like the vicoden is out of my system, so it must be okay to take the not recommended Tylenol again right?)
5:15 I call my Dr, and demand she call the insurance (I demand this about 2X a week) she gets in touch with the insurance and then has to call me back. The insurance company wants to know if this is an injectable medication. The Dr. Office lady has no idea. We've been doing this for 4 months and she still has no idea what the medication is. I basically laugh at her and tell her no, I've done all the injectables...those are the ones that almost put me in respiratory failure remember? She doesn't. I cut her some slack and tell her it's an infusion, take 4 hours, and it's done where the chemo patients are...usually short stay in most hospitals. She calls back and says that even though the insurance told me 2 weeks ago that they were putting mine on "priority" and that they would have an answer in 7-10 days, it actually takes 30 days from the date they got the correct form. So I'm looking at mid December. At that point they will probably deny it and I'll get to start all over :)
5:30 I get home and take another PM dose...same dosing as the AM. I can't get up off the couch I'm in so much pain...
11:30 I take the Night Night Does which swaps out 1 Advil for 2 Advil PM....I'm sure you all can see how well those work!
This is my meds dosing...I take all that but still manage to smile and tell the Dr I'm following the rules: 2 Vicoden a day (I don't call three an addiction, I don't chew them like House or anything) 2400mg Advil (okay I'm closer to 3500, but what's a 1000mg between friends?), no Tylenol (Tylenol doesn't count! they give that shit to babies!) I'm sure all can see why I've gotten right on the blood work she wants me to do to check my liver right?
So anyway, back to my blog title. Temporarily I've discovered that I'm a real jerk about other peoples pain. I try to look on the bright side with my own shit load (I like to say...it'll never kill me, I just wish I was dead sometimes...LOL) so you should too. I don't have time to feel bad for your hang nail. Here's another thought. I'm a chronic pain sufferer. I JUST started Vicoden...not cause it wasn't offered 50 times, but because I was scared of it. When I was scared, my Dr offered me Oxy instead. If you are on meds...and I'm not on THAT med that you're on, it's for a reason, chances are pretty damn good that unless a part of your body is actually missing, you're not in more pain than me. I don't need to hear all about the "good shit" you got that fixes all pain. Further since I'm a chronic sufferer, I can't take it. Some stuff is good for the short term, but I can't take it for the next 10 years. Please don't tell that the meds I'm on did "nothing" for you. New Flash, they aren't doing much for me either. But they are all I can take. Yes, I'm on the best shit I'm allowed for long term use! Yes, I've tried Percs and Darvacet and Ultracet, and every other "cet" you're on. Could I get more powerful drugs for my "bad days" I guess, but every day is pretty much a bad day when it comes to pain. I like to be able to function, and get to work (yeah I actually don't miss work for this!) I can't do that when I'm drooling and wearing a bib, so I have to accept that I'm in some pain. I can't take the day off everyday. Yeah I've tried cortisone shots...they didn't do crap either. I've even done acupuncture! The rules are a little different when you need to take the stuff indefinitely, in high dosages, and into infinity. I know you all mean well, but I feel shitty enough about being in pain without everyone else thinking they have all the answers. When you deal with what I deal with, and have something that works...I'm all ears. When you sprain an ankle "really bad" and have to take pain meds for a couple days...that doesn't work for me long term. My friend with Lupus likes to call and tell me all her miracle drugs. I've already done them all. They either didn't do crap for me, make me feel like I was spinning in circles and feel like I was gonna pass out at the grocery store, or put me in the ER. I used to actually research every drug people recommended and every stinking time I couldn't take it. I'll stick with what I'm on, even though it doesn't do shit thanks. Course maybe it actually helps a lot! That's even scarier...better not stop!
Honestly, I love you all, I know you are just trying to help, but if we aren't playing Dr together (and since I only play that with Mike, I know we aren't) I'll stick with what my real Dr gives me.
(P.S. the answer isn't a magical vitamin combination either!)

Friday, November 23, 2007

Little Update!

So as of Wednesday November 28th, we will have ALL our paperwork done. We'll ship off the last final documents to our social worker so she can complete the writing of the home study. In the meantime, we are scrapbooking, profile making fools. These books take a lot of time...and every freaking time I get one assembled...I find a typo. That really sucks. Anyway, by the end of next week, we shuld be mailing out several books, and we expect to match sometime in the next 4 weeks to 3 months. It could be longer, it could be shorter. After our match, we'll likely have about 2 months to go till delivery. We are really hoping for a delivery in the early part of 2008.
The other birth mother we submitted on has decided two things. She want's an African American Couple, or at least a biracial couple. That's fine, that is totally her choice. She also decided that since they couldn't find any of those (AA and bi-racial couples have almost no wait time to match, unless they are gender specific because they are in high demand) she wasn't going to choose at all. If the baby is born, and they still haven't found a couple that she likes, she will let the agency choose. We'll just have to wait it out I guess...we could be matched by the time she has that baby....
AND we thought of another girls name we like, but no middle name yet.
Ella.
I love it :)

Thursday, November 8, 2007

E-mailed Our Profile

It wasn't perfect, we didn't have as many pictures as I would have liked and we had to keep it about 5 pages...but we sent it by e-mail this AM. If they decided we can submit, the expectant mother will view profiles tomorrow. We have no idea if we'll hear anything back either way. If it's the right match, she'll love us even without all the other stuff...
Keep us in your thoughts

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Matches...

Not the fire kind...the kind that really matter in our life right now. The kind with an expectant mother.
So I have a line on one...we'll see since there are some complications regarding religion. They seem to have a misunderstand when they say Christian Couple. That actually does include us. Christian Science, is actually Christian...but they won't work with Christian Science, Morman, or Jehovah Witness. I can see the other two aren't Christian. Christian Science...is actually Christian though, AND it's not even how we're planning to raise our children. It's like splitting hairs at this point.
But I push the issue anyway. It's a great situation. We will encourage everyone not to get excited. There is ever chance I'll post 1,000 of these before I ever post that it's THE match. Anyway, here are the basics, so you all can see what kind of info we get.
Black American expectant mother due Jan 18. This is her 6th pregnancy, she typically delivers at 36-38 weeks. She smokes less than 1/2 pack a day. No drugs or alcohol. Looking for pictures and letters after the birth, maybe one meeting before. She's in a very adoption friendly state. Fees come in at about 1/2 of our max adoption budget (very low). They want profiles by Thursday at 6pm, which we don't have yet, and haven't heard yet if we're good enough anyway. It's not looking good for this one...If we don't "pass" this expectant mother will be given only 2 Traditional Couples to choose from (her request) but they will also give her one single parent, even though that isn't her preference.
We'll wait and see :)

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Final Home Study!!!

Well, of course everything went fine! We had my grandmother and cousin over yesterday to help us clean and pick up and a close friend also came over to help us with a section of drywall that we really wanted up. It wouldn't have mattered. Our home, though under construction, is ready for a baby. She asked basic questions about the home, neighborhood, and town; then looked over the rooms...DONE! Mike had his individual appointment as well, and opps...those little issues he had over 10 years ago were on his CORI. Driving to Endanger (speeding when he first got his license) and a property destruction or something. Smashing up a radio on a tennis court with a friend. It was his friend's radio too, but I guess they said there was damage to the tennis court. It was all continued without a finding, but he had to write a little paragraph on both anyway, since it was on his CORI report. Be good kids...that stuff comes back to haunt you. Mike is such a "bad boy" right???
So now we just have to do all our paperwork. I am off tomorrow, so I'm going to track down at least HOW to get our birth certificates, and social security cards. We aren't to sure where they are since the move. We both were born pretty local to where we live now though, so going to get the birth certificates isn't a big deal. SS cards might take longer...we'll have to see. Other than that, we have autobiographical statements to write. Mine is almost done. We have a little more writing to do on the profile, and then we need to get some assembled. Erina is going to help me out with that I think.
It's moving. Our official, we'll accept a "match due after date" is December 15th. At that point I can travel without effecting work too much, so it would be a go. IF we found an expectant mom due ON Dec 15, we could have the baby home by Christmas, but the chances of that...pretty slim. We'll take the right match, over a match we would have by Christmas.
Take Care everyone, as always...thank you so much for all your overwhelming support! We need every bit of it!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Newer, Improved(-er), and Sooner "Final" homestudy date

So as I've said before, our Social Worker has a lot going one. We also, have a lot going on. Needless to say, she had to change the final visit again, we could either put it off, or take this Sunday at noon. We took this Sunday, even though we were planning for this whole weekend to be the final big cleaning and repairing weekend, it looks like we'll work on what we can all day Saturday, and just have someone come in and clean on Saturday evening. It's totally cheating, and I don't even care. I love having other people clean my house. They clean like they really care...it's awesome. So we'll do all the organizing, and touch up repairs (you know, covering those still open walls where electrical work was done) and then they can come in, and do all the floors, counters, tables, the bathroom, and whatever else I want to put on the list. It's awesome! Sunday AM, we'll wake up and go out for Breakfast.
Calls to see how it went are more than welcome after 4 on Sunday, and that's if I can't update here as soon as it's over. After Sunday it's all over! Well it's all over except getting ALL our financial papers (all our CC, loans, mortgage, employer statements, tax returns, checking and savings account statements, and Mike's employee profit sharing statement) and getting our Dr's appointments and health statements, making sure all our reference's returned their forms, waiting for our background checks (one for criminal, and one for child abuse/sexual abuse) After all that comes back, she can write our home study. While all that is coming back, we'll have to work on making multiple copies of our profile, which isn't even all written yet (yeah I need a rough copy of that for Sunday too...easy peasie right?)
We decided to pass on the birth mother in Ohio, she was due in November and on one hand it's like, oh neat we could be chosen by a Birth mom, and have a baby for the holidays, and on the other hand it's like
HOLY CRAP, THEY WANT US TO BE READY FOR A BABY IN LESS THAN A MONTH!!!!
In the long run, it will be a placement that is that fast, or faster...most likely. They only allow Black American Mom's to make birth plans very close to, or after their are due. So it could be even faster. That is scary shit. End to End on this jounrey we are looking at about 6-7 months. Most mom's get more time than that!
As always keep us in your thoughts, or prayers...whatever you're up for! We are friends with a couple, and we were visiting them the other night, and she told me she prays for me every night. It blew me away that anyone else thinks about what we are going through as much as I do...Thanks so much for all the support!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Baby Finances

Well we are really doing this now...Saturday we closed the home equity loan, so we're either adopting or a new car!
We're all set to pay for the baby now...well to pay for services I mean. Paying for a BABY is illegal...I tell you though, sometimes when you talk to these agencies it seems like a thin, thin line!
9 days till our home study is done. If the washer goes none stop from now till then, we might make it. We sorted some shoes tonight. Our yard sale pile is getting bigger and bigger. To bad it looks like we won't make it for this year. Maybe I'll just sell all the stuff on e-bay during the cold winter months. Gotta pay off all these bills somehow.
We've decided on another baby name...
So far we like:
Lillian Michaela (nickname Lily)
Makayla "Something" (nickname Kayla, or no nickname, we aren't sure)
Tyler David (nickname Ty)
Benjamin David (nickname Ben, or BenBen)
Brayden David (nickname Brady)
Owen David (nickname O?)
So we need a middle name that goes with Makayla, and some other girl names we like. We'd like to have a few, and then name the baby when we see them.
Any requests to name the kid after our friends will be turned down...except obviously Ben. His name is actually Benjamin David...
Alright, it's late...Talk to you all later...

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Final Homestudy Date!

We finally got to reschedule our last home study visit to November 6th! After that we'll only be waiting on our paperwork. CORI checks (ohhh...scarey..lol) and our references to return their paperwork, etc. Oh yeah, and a baby...we'll need to find one of those too!
We haven't heard too much more on the expectant mother in Ohio, what I have heard is that Ohio is a crappy state to adopt from. A few people I've connected with adopted out of Ohio, and they had to wait in state for the ICPC paperwork for almost a month (you have to stay in the state the baby is born in until this paperwork is done. It makes sure the both states will recognize the adoption, and that the state you are going to will finalize you adoption in accordance with state laws where the baby was born, and bunch of other stuff) ICPC usually takes about 2 weeks or less, so a MONTH, is a really slow moving state. I just don't think I can last a month in a hotel with an infant. Mike wouldn't even be able to stay that long. I would have to find out more about it before I would commit to an adoption in that state. Otherwise the adoption laws are ok (as in they protect the adoptive parents reasonably well)
If and when we hear more, you know I'll let you all know!

Monday, October 22, 2007

We got bumped, but also good some good news!

So on the adoption home front, our last meeting (a home visit) got pushed back. It was planned for this Wednesday, but our Social Worker Deb (who we love) has to go to Springfield, MA to witness surrender paperwork for a Birth mom there. I guess she delivery 3 weeks early, so Deb wasn't planning on doing this yet. Those babies! They sure do come whenever they darn well want to! She did tell us we could stop cleaning (she has no idea how mess the house is though!) and start working on our profile. She has an expectant mom due in December that she thinks would be a great match for us! So far we know 2 things. Deb thinks (based on what the mom has told the other social worker) that she is due in December and 2) she is located in Ohio. Deb knows more than that, she just hasn't had time to get us the other information yet. It's exciting and sort of scary all at the same time. December, let me remind you all, is NOT very far away. We are not planning on doing a nursery till after the baby gets here, so we can be sure there isn't a disruption or anything. The baby would be in the master bedroom for at least 3 months anyway...So we don't know what our last meeting is, but we keep cleaning the house anyway. And working on the profile. Speaking of which, if anyone has any recent pictures of Mike and I together, we would love to see them. I've spent far to much time behind the camera and not in front of it, and now we're playing the price with a complete lack of pictures for our profile. We are trying to take a picture or two of ourselves everyday, but I always hate how they come out. In Mike's words...."This is who we are! If she doesn't want fat adoptive parents she can go look at another couple." *SIGH* Isn't he romantic!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

It's Really...REAL!

So today Mike was at home. He took vacation time today and tomorrow, so he could work on the house before the home visit on Wednesday. He took EVERYTHING out of the garage, and put it in the driveway. It's only been two years here in this house...how do we have that much stuff in the garage??? He decided to lay a cement floor in the back of the garage (our garage is two cars deep, and the second one back was a dirt floor) He mixed and poured 16 80lb bags, and he was only half done the floor, so him and Brad ran to Home Depot to get more. It is almost 8PM...they just got back, and everything is still in the driveway. I hope it doesn't rain.
On the adoption home front, the most wonderful, amazing thing happened today! I know I said I "gave" Mike the financing ball and expected him to run with it...but who was I kidding? Everyone that knows me even a little knows that I am control freak when it comes to things that are important to me. This adoption is very, very important to me. He wanted to wait the 10 days to hear back from a loan we applied for. I basically said, if they are taking 10 days to get back to us, we didn't get it. We were looking into personal loans at this point, because we were told we didn't have enough equity in the house for a home equity loan, since the real estate market has gone down so much. On a whim I went on to Bank of America, and checked out their programs, and started talking with a rep on line. They had two programs, a Home Equity Loan (where they put all the money right into your checking account) or a Home Equity LINE....meaning you can write checks from it, or use a special CC, and then as you continue paying it back, you can use the $ again. For the first 10 years, you can only pay interest if you want to. So she encourages me to apply, and this equity line sounds so perfect for us (we really only need to carry the amount till we get the tax credit, which would be in 2009 most likely) I explained that I wasn't sure we had enough equity and gave her the whole run down of what the other place (who we have our actual mortgage through) said. Turns out the other place told us that a home equity loan or line was a standard 25K minimum. We didn't quite have 25K in equity, BUT with Bank of America we did get approved for....
$20,400.....
Enough for the actual adoption. The home study fees we have in savings, and the travel (if we have to) and post adoption monitoring we'll have to pay another way....it was still very, very good news. I had been getting worried about the financing. Now I know...we WILL be adopting. I can really start to look at situations in our price range. I actually started crying when we were approved. Sometimes it seems like this is going to good to be true. I fully expect we'll have a disruption or two, but I can know for sure now. We will be bring home a baby to this house :) It was a very good day. I'm going to go have some chocolate and watch the guys pour cement.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Good News on the Adoption Front!

After a delay in getting started our social worker is pushing us through super fast. We are already half done our home study appointments, and we'll be done the other two by October 28th at the latest :) It will take time to write it all, and get all our background checks and everything back, but the visits will be done, and that means we can start looking for adoption situation...well right after we get the financing squared away. Mike is taking the ball and running with that one, so hopefully we'll have some answers on that next week. Just thought I would let you all know we have moved forward on the homes study. :)

Monday, October 1, 2007

As Promised a New Blog Post!

I can't even believe that it's been so long since I blogged. We've been way to busy this summer! Dewey is almost a year old, and truly thinks he runs this house. Dogs have NO concept of how large or small they are. Daisy thinks she's a 5 pound Yorkie and Dewey is positive he's either a German Shepard or a Bull Mastiff. Dudley is the only one that is normal of the bunch. He was sick again though, so I did have to make a late night trip back to the Emergency vet. Ironically we had to do that the exact month that we made our last payment on his last services there. Thankfully this trip was only for a bad ear infection. The poor thing is a silent sufferer...we had no idea he had one till it was running out his ear. It was really gross. Daisy gets them all the time, but never Dudley. We were informed that it was likely from Dewey licking his ears out (that is a dominance thing) He's a much happier guy now that it's better...and that we don't let Dewey lick his ears out anymore too I think. He's moving slower though, and I think the vet called it perfectly at this time last year when she said he would be prone to arthritis. I guess him and I can limp around the house together. Daisy on the other hand has no slowed down at all, despite her rapid greying. Her face, ears, butt and tummy are all white and grey now. Pretty advanced aging for a 4 year old dog. Dewey keeps her young energy wise, but I don't think it was a coincidence that her grey hair intensified once we got him. Poor old girl...she had it so easy keeping submissive little Dudley in line. Dewey is pushing all her buttons, and wants that alpha dog title pretty bad. He's not even one yet, so I think the next year will tell a lot about the pack dynamics in our house. I'd like to keep Daisy as the "leader of the pack" because I think that's cool...her and I...we run this house! (Love you Mikey!) Hopefully Dewey taking over wouldn't be a sign of the tides turning...Maybe I should run around and pee on things or something?
Anyway, obviously our most exciting news is the pending adoption. We start our home study on Sat, Oct 6th. We've met with the HS coordinator once already, this is our official signing on. We love her, and she really great about helping us out. We have actually already been offered 2 expectant mother profiles that we could have submitted to, even though we are not HS approved, but we did turn both of them down. The first one we thought really hard on, since it was a Due Date in Jan 2008. In the end we decided that it wasn't right to submit our profile to her if we didn't have our financing yet. These expectant women are going through enough. I wouldn't want something on our end to fall through and have her adoption plan put into a tail spin. The second one was a Nov due date, and we just knew we would never be ready in time. Obviously I would LOVE a placement by Christmas, but it looks like it would more likely be the first few months of next year.
Okay, I have some laundry to do, so I'll update you all more later!
Take Care