September 19

Well, we now have a purchased ticket for DH's flight to Russia!!!!!!! We were able to use our miles, so he got a great ticket and we didn't pay a penny - wahoo! Now, time to get our visa. The bad news is, we STILL do not have the paperwork from DH's doctor. I'm getting seriously peeved. He's called every day adn told them every single day how important this is and still - nada. They've promised him by this afternoon. We shall see. I truly have difficulty believing it will happen. Oh yes, I am very peeved.

September 17

Well, we now have TWO medical letters and two copies of licenses (which we were quite concerned about) so YAY! We're still waiting for DH's doctor to do his, and that's frustrating because it's been there for a week today. Still, two out of three isn't too bad! We're hoping to book DH's flight by tomorrow (waiting for a definitive answer from our agency) and we'll be using FF miles so yippee for us saving that cost! Other than that, not much new to report.

I did want to take a moment to just say how adoption has introduced me to so many interesting people and how much it has opened peoples' hearts.

When I called DS's pediatrician, I spoke with the woman in the business office (really a small office across the hall from the receptionist's office). The receptionist didn't know how to answer my questions about getting hte forms filled out by the pedi, so she sent me there. Turned out, she was a wonderful woman with two adopted granddaughters from China! She was so warm and kind and really helped us get the doctor to fill out the paperwork (and make the license copy that she was not thrilled about, understandably). Then, when I needed to find a notary, I wandered upstairs to the lawyer's office above the pedi and the lawyer and the secretary both offered to come notarize for me. In the end, the secretary came, but the lawyer still came down to make sure it had all gone well. AND, they wouldn't take any money. How neat is that?

When I tried to get my doctor's signature notarized, I just had no idea how to go about finding a traveling notary. I looked in yahoo yellowpages adn found an insurance company listed. I called them and the woman who answered told me that they were all notaries. When I asked if anyone traveled, she said no, but then asked me why. When I told her what it was for, she immediately offered to come do it and told me she had an adopted daughter from Korea! She was so fantastic and charged a very minimal fee to come. she was also very sweet to my two year old who was just SO OVER being at doctor's appointments.

So, basically, what I thought would be a logistical nightmare - two different notaries notarizing signature of two different doctors - turned out to be totally fine with no issues and I met some warm and interesting people along the way who are helping us bring our children home. Yep, there really are still good people in the world.

September 15

Well yesterday we had two doctors appointments. I had mine and DS had his. My notary showed up right on time and I got all of my forms signed and notarized and had no problem getting the copy of my doctor's license - yippee! We weren't quite so lucky at DS's appt. Some of his records from his former pediatrician never made it to her office, so she wouldn't sign the form until we got them. Unfortunately, he's on vacation until tomorrow, so it will be Monday at the earliest that we'll get that form. DH's doctor still hasn't gotten back to him, so we have NO idea what's going on there! Hopefully, all of this will get sorted out on Monday and the forms will be on their way to Russia for DH's mid October visit. One month from today he'll be meeting with the MOE in the first region. I'm so excited!!!!! I hope this next month goes by really quickly, I"m just so excited to move forward.
:)

September 12

So many emotions today...

So, we're really trying to figure out what to do. It looks like it could be nearly two weeks until DH could travel (because of translations, apostilling, etc). That puts us right at the end of September. He HAS to go in mid October because of our date of Oct 17. Seems sort of silly to spend the money to go twice at this point. I think I'm trying to remind myself that we're trying to do what WE want and not necessarily what we're meant to do, which never turns out well for either of us. I think we'll probably just hold off on both trips now until October. We'll decide for sure in the next few days, though.

Still trying to get all of our medicals done. It's funny - talking abou things that are meant to be. When we briefly saw the RE (the crappy one who tries to make all of their patients do IVF), they asked us to sign a consent for an HIV test. We said "no" because we knew we didn't have it and it seemed silly. We knew that because we've been together for years and also because we had to have one for our life insurance policy. Anyway, we signed a form stating they were NOT to test us. Guess what, being the unethical practice they were, they did so anyway. it has always peeved me, but it turns out it happened for a reason, because today DH picked up my HIV test to hand to my doctor so she will sign my form on Friday rather than having to wait 1-2 weeks for another HIV test to come in. Go figure. Never in a million years would have guessed something like that! Sort of cool, though!

So, I head to the doc's tomorrow to have them look at my arm and tell me I don't have TB exposure - duh, then it's off to DS's drop off Gymboree class and then Children's SErvices. L'Shana Tova and Shana Metuka to everyone!

Oh, justa quick chuckle for everyone. Tonight during Rosh Hashana dinner, I LIT MY HAIR ON FIRE! Yes, folks, i really did that. I leaned over the table to pass DS an apple slice with honey and I heard crackling and smelled that foul smell nad realized it was MY HEAD! Somehow I managed to only light up a few stray strands (the beauty of having loads of crazy curly hair - the picture you see of me is with is straightened, it's actually crazy!) Still, I FREAKED. Now, it's funny, but at the time I thought my head was going to to go up in flames! Yikes, what a way to start the New Year!!!!!
:)

Sept 11

I feel bad. I really didn't have time to stop and mourn today and I feel that today is an important day to just stop and reflect. It makes me sad that I realized when I signed a form what the date was. It should have more meaning to me than that. May all of the families of all of our lost brothers adn sisters have emotional peace and healing today...

As for us, it's been very very insane! Once we got the notice that it would be happeing soon, we had to leap into action. that has meant going to all of our doctors, getting forms signed, trying to coordinate with a notary who could travel there to do it (which has been so cool because I've discovered some interesting people who have also adopted internationally) and trying to get records from here and there. It's not been a joy. Mine and DS's should be done on Friday/Monday and I'm not sure about DH's yet. What a wild ride.

The bummer is, we STILL haven't heard. Probably tomorrow, I'd guess. Stressful, though!!!!! I'll let you all know as soon as I hear!
:)

September 9

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated - sorry! I guess I just didn't have too much new to update on. It's been really crazy around here lately, also, so I've been a lunatic!

So, keep your fingers (and toes and legs and everything else!) for us. Our agency emailed today that DH should be able to head to Russia within the next two weeks to bring the dossier to the MOE in the first region. It will be October until we can submit in the second region, but we REALLY want to just get moving, so we're sucking it up and making two trips. The facilitator in Russia will be in touch by Tuesday about when we can come, so we should have a travel date by Wednesday. PLEASE cross everything for us! We REALLY REALLY want this to work out.

I think I'm starting to get scared. We have such an awesome, perfect family and I'm a little nervous of changing it. I know it will be wonderful, but I know there will be a major adjustment for all of us, and I"m afraid of how we'll all come out on the other side. I hope my sweet boy stays as wonderful and sweet as he is, and I hope bringing two kids into our family at once isn't insane. I feel in my heart that it's the right thing to do, but I'm having that little bit of nervous tummy at the thought that we're REALLY doing this. You think I'd have figured that out $5000 ago, but, hey, what can I say.

So, that's it. I'm starting to actually produce some milk now. I can't fill a bottle or anything, but it's really starting to happen, so I'm hopeful that things will work out. We shall see.

guess that's the news for today. I may not update again until Wednesday, so think positive thoughts for us and I'll be in touch!!!!!!!
:)

August 25

Well, we've hit our first minor delay. It's a bummer, but we're TRYING to remember that it's probably happening for a reason and things really need to happen in their own time. Still, it's a bummer. Looks like DH will be heading to Russia most likely in October now. We didn't realize how important or time sensitive the request was and it took us a few days longer than it should have to get it back, so it's in Russia now, but it doesn't look like there's any chance we could get invited for September. So, it's really only a one month delay - which to other people who've waited many months, that's nothing, but it's still a bummer for us. Things are looking like they might getmoving again with agency accreditations, which is great for most people, but not great for us. We're going as independents, so we had hoped to beat the rush and this delay means we likely willl not. Again, I need to remember that things happen for a reason, and maybe this means there's a child who wil come off the registry JUST in time for us or something, but I'm still stressed about it. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens! I know I'll relax when our papers are there and we're officially waiting. Waiting to wait is stressful. Once we're on the list, I know the next call will be "the call", right now I just wish we could hurry up and get our papers there!!!!! I know plenty of people understand that feeling! We'll know more once we get our travel date, but for now, we wait...


Oh, I almost forgot our other thing. I now smell a LOT like maple syrup!!! I've started taking fenugreek and pumping again in preparation for our adoption! Since I breastfed DS for nearly two years, I realized it was something I really wanted our adopted children to have also. I know they'll likely be too old to ever actually be put to breast, but I'd like them to have the benefits of breastmilk, especially since they've likely never had the protections and antibodies it offers. So, I'll be pumping and feeding them! I'm hoping it will also help with bonding since it comes from my body. I just think it will be wonderful to know that no matter how we had our children, through birth or adoption, they will be connected to me through my milk. I'm excited! I'm a little nervous, though, to mess with my prolactin since it was already an issue, but hopefully all will be well. I've never really fully stopped getting some milk, but I've been able to go from a couple of drops to a short stream. Hopefully we'll be getting ounces by the tiem the adoption is here! Woohoo!

:)

August 22

Nothing much new to report. We're just hanging out waiting for some news of when DH will travel. Since not everyone who reads here knows our story, I figured I'd share it.

A couple of years after DH and I were married, I was browsing around online and somehow came across Cathy Harris' website. I think I spent the rest of the day in front of the computer reading about the children who had come home from Ukraine. I shared the website with DH and we decided right then that we would adopt one day. At that time, we were actually thinking we'd only adopt and never have bio children. I was working in an early intervention clinic and had seen some VERY scary situations and I was terrified to ever get pregnant or have children.

Anyway, in November 2002, I discovered a lump in my throat. I found it while putting on a turtleneck. I tried my best to ignore it until my OB visit later that month. The NP there said she thought it was just a funny shaped trachea. Still..... I knew my body and knew it shouldn't be there. My beloved grandmother was diagnosed with cancer the same month, though, so I pretty much ignored my issue to focus on her. Several months later, DH demanded I go see someone. My GP decided something wasn't right and sent me for an u/s, which showed some sort of solid mass. I was then referred to an endo who did two fine needle aspirations on it which both came back abnormal. All this was happening as my grandmother (my favorite person in the entire world) was getting sicker and sicker. She passed away on April 16, 2003, and one week later I found out I had to have surgery. I had a partial thyroidectomy in June and found out that the lump was benign, but the hell of the experience and losing my grandmother made me realize how fragile we are and how life can change in the blink of an eye. For some reason, this made me want to have a baby, so in Feb 2004, we began TTC.

I became pregnant in April 2004 and had a very healthy and uneventful pregnancy. My wonderful, amazing, beautiful boy was born at 41w2d in January 2005. He is the most incredible thing in my life and DH and I feel so so so incredibly blessed to have him. When I was 3 months pregnant, my DH was diagnosed with Celiac disease, so we knew that it could cause fertility issues. It hadn't when TTC DS, but we knew it could at some point in the future.

We're an attachment parenting family, and DS breastfed around the clock until he was 14 months, when I decided I needed more than two hours of sleep at a time, so I started the process of slowly nightweaning him. After he nightweaned, I finally got my fertility back and we decided to TTC #2. I had a chemical pregnancy the second month trying, had an early miscarriage the third month trying, and had a chemical the sixth month trying. I asked for some testing (mostly prolactin and progesterone) and somehow ended up with the RE from HELL! He ran the bare minimum of tests and told us we'd need IVF to have a baby. He also told me I had to stop nursing, so as much as it broke my heart to do so, I weaned DS. He was 20 months, so I was proud of our accomplishment, but I really really hated not making it a full two years. I actually got pregnant the month before our IVF consult, while taking progesterone suppositories to assist in holding onto the pregnancy.

We had an ultrasound at 6 weeks and were surprised to see TWO fetal poles (one had a flicker of a hb and the other didn't yet, but measured on target). We were nervous, but cautiously excited. At a 7 week u/s, one of the babies was no longer developing. We were sad, but still hpeful for the second one. Still, when the one stopped developing, it caused a subchorionic hemorhage, so I was put on restricted activity (mainly no lifting, no running, pelvic rest, etc). At a follow up u/s at 10w4d, we saw that our other twin had passed away at 9w5d. We were devastated. I opted to have a D&E, because I just needed to get past the physical so I could deal with the emotional. I had it the next day, ironically, the day before my birthday. That was definitely the worst birthday in recent memory...

Anyway, after the D&E, I bled for weeks. then, I finally got my first AF, and then I just kept spotting. I finally requested a follow up blood test, and my levels were dropping SO slowly. They thought I may have retained tissue, and kept testing. Finally, TEN weeks after my miscarriage, my HCG dropped to zero. At that point, I was ready to move onto adoption, but DH wanted to give it one more try. Honestly, I think emotionally, we were both ready, but we were both TERRIFIED of the cost. We had gone to an informational meeting with an agency we were interested in, but we just couldn't quite do it yet. We decided to give it one more shot, but G-d had other plans for us...

After two months of TTC, I asked for some more bloodwork. At that point, we discovered I had a VERY high prolactin number, and I was told I had to have an MRI to rule out a growth on my pituitary gland. That was a very tough day. It was that moment that DH and I looked at each other and said, "this is NOT what G-d wants us to be doing right now". It felt like each time we tried, something got in the way. We called the adoption agency the next day and we had our intake visit that week and started our process right then. The really crazy thing is, my MRI came back normal and when they retested my prolactin levels, they were totally, completely normal! It was almost like G-d knew we needed one little thing to push us in the direction we were meant to be going.

So, that's where we are now! If you've been following, you've seen that things have been moving very quickly and very smoothly so far! We just believe it's a true indicator that we're following down the path we're meant to travel. When we were trying to conceive, EVERYTHING went wrong. Once we made the commitment to adoption, everything started to go right. I truly, truly believe our children are out there waiting for us to come bring them home. It took some time and a lot of heartache to start to find our way toward them, but we're there now and I couldn't be more excited! I think that was how I knew we had definitely made the right decision. TTC was miserable for both of us and we were bickering with one another and we were both just unhappy a lot. Once we stopped trying and started our adoption, it was like we had new energy. We were excited, we had something to look forward to, and we just moved forward together. Even DS is excited! If you ask him where we're going to go on the plan next year, he says, "to Russia to bring me a brother and a sister". It's so cute!

So, that's my story! Hope it wasn't too long or awful to read!
:)

August 19

Woohoo - I finally have a blogroll! Some of them are from the adoption board on FF and some are from FRUA. I'm such a procrastinator, I just had to finally make myself sit and add them, since I'm tired of looking through old posts to see blogs. Anyway, I also added my favorite pic of DS and I the day after he was born. It's one my favorite pics of the two of us (not that there are many, since I'm the family photographer). Anyway, it's about time I spruced this place up, now that I know I'm actually sticking with it.

In adoption news - our agency FINALLY received our last package on Friday! Yippee!!! So, they're headed to get the last of it apostilled and then the request for visit (required for one of the regions) is being FedEx'd to Russia. If I haven't mentioned it, we're submitting in two regions to hopefully make things smoother, especially since we're going as independents, we want to maximize our odds of things working out. One of the two regions requires this letter and they only accept PAPs one Wednesday per month. Cross your fingers that we get in for September, or we'll have to wait until October. I hope I hope I hope!
:)

August 16

So, I'm thoroughly convinced USPS derives some sick pleasure out of making our potential adoptive parents wait DAYS for the mail to go 25 miles. I could DRIVE to our agency in an hour and for some reason, it's taking at least three DAYS to get mail there. Dude, not cool...

So, our last few dossier documents haven't found their way to the agency yet. I'm irritated, but obviously there's nothing I can do about it. Still... You'd think they could get them there.

In other news, my sister and I took a flying trapeze class tonight! We had an absolute blast and we made both of our catch attempts! It was exhilarating beyond measure. I highly recommend it to anyone not obscenely afraid of heights.

Anyway, my employment letter arrived there today, so at least we're good there, but cross your fingers for us that the post office figures themselves out soon!
:)

August 15

My employment letter went out today - YIPPEE! I will admit, there was a considerable amount of bitching to get it done (admittedly, I was in a bit of a foul mood when I made the phone call ;) )

Anyway, that's it! Our homestudy agency had to send one last form, which they've also done today, so by the weekend, our dossier should be TOTALLY done. that is one big, HUGE relief! It's also been very fast. We had our intake visit with the homestudy agency and were assigned a social worker on June 19. It's now August 15 and our dossier is done and our homestudy has been completed for a month. It's pretty amazing, and just further proof to us that when you follow G-d's plan rather than your own, things fall into place pretty darned nicely. Anyway, I hope the documents travel quickly so we can have it all together and in one place soon. I'm so excited to move on to the "officially waiting" phase!
:)

August 14

So I haven't had much time to post lately. My three siblings are staying with me while my mom is out of the country, so it's been REALLY busy around here!

So, the good news is, we've basically finished our dossier - yippee! The only thing remaining is my employment letter, which my boss hasn't sent yet. Gotta love education during the summer. For my readers who don't know what I do, I'm a part time Hebrew school teacher to students with disabilities. I work on Sundays and then one evening per week. It's a GREAT mommy job! I've asked twice over the past three weeks and I'm getting rather tired of requesting this. I emailed a reminder today letting them know it is THE last piece of teh puzzle. Hope they get off their tushies soon and get it in!!! Other than that, we are DONE! We'll be having it translated and apostilled and then DH is off to Russia! Our agency takes care of the apostilling for us, which is nice, so this whole process so far has been extremely low stress. I'll look forward to being on the "officially waiting" list.

Anyway, that's it from here! I'll update if there's anything important, otherwise, it may be a week before I"m back on. We're just so insane until the sibs head home next week.
:)

August 8

Not much new to report. It looks like we'll likely be sending DH over to deliver our documents by the end of September. the bummer is, it could happen sooner, but there is a key person on vacation for two weeks. Ah well, if we're looking at all of this as "meant to be" then we have to believe each and every delay is going to bring us to our meant to be children. We're still waiting for the bank letter and that's the LAST piece of the dossier! Well, we still have to do our medicals, but we're holding on that purposely until last minute so they will be valid for a more useful time period. That's about it from the homefront!
:)

August 4

Nothing much new... We did find out for sure that only DH will have to go to Russia for the paperwork trip, so thats a HUGE relief. sorry there are no apostrophes, for some reason my keyboard is a bit wonky and every time I try, it pops up a ctrl+f box! So, no, Im not a terrible speller, just one with a keyboard problem.

Anyway, we had QUITE the trip to the bank! DS and I went there on Friday morning and we needed a letter for our dossier stating we had accounts in good standing and an amount in checking and savings. WELL, turns out there are MAJOR procedures for this type of thing and the woman was a bit rude and told me that there was no way to get this and that even if I could, it would come from corporate and therefore it couldnt be notarized. So, she ends up on the phone with corporate policies and procedures and then with legal, and it turns out they arent allowed to notarize for immigration purposes, but since its adoption, its fine. So, a half hour and one giant pain in the ass later, it turns out we have to wait 7-10 business days to get it in the mail, then we have to bring it to the bank to have the manager or assistant manager sign it and have it notarized. Yes, folks, Ims sure Im not the only one who can see MANY places that this can fall apart. Hopefully it will all be fine.

Also - Debbie - the regions well be submitting to are Tver and Smolensk. It was Tver that was causing the confusion, but its all okay now!

For my new blogging buddies (mostly from FRUA), Ill try to give a bit of a background so you all know more about me and where we come from. Ill try to get to that tomorrow or Monday.
:)

August 2

Happy birthday, Dad, you old fart!!!!!

Anyway, we just got back from Canada and we're pretty bummed about some news we got.

First, the good news I didn't have a chance to share before we left. On Saturday, our I-797C came in!!!!! That was teh paper we expected to take three months and it took less than a week! It was dated two days after our fingerprints were done - yay!!!!! Also, when we came home, we found BOTH copies of my state police clearance finally, so now we're just waiting for DH's second set (which he forgot to send a SASE for, so we'll see...)

Okay, so the not so great news. Looks like we might all have to make THREE trips to Russia. One of the two regions we're submitting to may require both parents to be there just to turn in the paperwork. Yep, that's right, we may have to drag our two year old all the way to Russia to hand someone a packet of paper and leave. How freaking fabulous. That's a major time and expense we weren't expecting. not to mention, the hell of that much travel on our poor kid. Ugh, this sucks. If you're the praying or finger crossing sort, please keep us in mind that maybe this won't be the case and only DH can go. That would be such a bummer.

That's it for today!
:)