54 days and Christmas decorating

We are getting close to that 60 day LOA wait mark.  That is the point at which I will allow myself to start obsessing and counting every single day.  Not a day before then!  Maybe.

We are staying busy with the kids’ activities and the holidays approaching.  The kids and I decided to start putting up Christmas decorations, last weekend.  I guess  Kevin figured there was no use fighting it, so he put up the tree for us.  The kids had a blast looking through ornaments from years past.  Each year, they get to choose a new ornament that signifies something about them for that year.  This makes it extra fun to look through the ornaments as they hang them on the tree each year.  I didn’t want Little Guy left out, so I bought his first ornament.  I would like to also find a 2013 ornament for him. <3

And you’ll notice a distinct open space in the line of stockings.  Yep, we need to do something about that!  Our 14 y/o said we definitely need to get Little Guy’s stocking up and I agree.  Thankfully, we have decided on a name for him, so we can have that embroidered on his stocking like everyone else’s.

We have also been working on Little Guy’s next care package.  We had 2 more sleepers left from the last group we bought, and we added a pack of washcloths, some bibs, another bag of candy for the nannies, a picture drawn by our 5 y/o (he really felt strongly about adding something personal to the package) and Daddy, two more pictures of the kids (including one of them holding Little Guy’s picture), and another disposable camera for the nannies to, hopefully, use and give to us on Gotcha day.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to get this shipped because I have been under the weather since Tuesday evening.  I plan to send it early next week!

Last, but certain not least, we received a surprise email from our adoption agency, this morning.  They wanted to let us know that our dossier is listed in the system as having been reviewed.  We were not expecting this information because our agency doesn’t typically check for these small steps unless asked, and we haven’t asked.  But...WOW!!  The next step is “match reviewed” and that will mean we have been approved.  This gives me some new numbers to obsess over research and count!  :)  Our adoption agency told us we could hope for LOA news within the next few weeks.  My research tells me it may be sooner than that.  SQUEE!!!!! <3

I’m not sure I’m going to be able to refrain from checking my email every 10 minutes, starting Monday morning...

LOA wait day 38

I really am not counting every single day, but every few days to a week I like to look and see how many days it’s been.  I am hoping we are over half way thru our LOA wait but only time will tell.  Thanksgiving Day will be day 60 and the day we get to share our news with more family members.  I didn’t think I could wait until Thanksgiving to share our news but I also wanted to do it in person.  Looks like I’m going to make it. ;)

Kevin and I have been working on Little Guy’s name.  I spent quite a few hours reading a baby names list and writing down names I was open to considering.  I then handed the 150 names to Kevin and told him to cross off any names he really didn’t like.  You can probably tell where this is going.  He handed me back 9 names.  NINE.  I looked over the short list and crossed off 3-4 more names.  I think we are close to a decision!  This is only for the first name but we already had some ideas/feelings about the middle name(s).  I’m not sure if we will share his name on here ahead of time or not.

Tonight I bought a toy for Little Guy.  It is one of those multi-sensory toys we typically give babies, but I think it may be good for our man.  Most likely, he has not had a lot of experience with different toys, and we expect him to be behind in his development.  We’ll just meet him where he’s at developmentally.  This makes it kind of hard to plan ahead on things like toys, but we’ll do the best we can. :)

Last weekend, we took the kids to the town square and got some pictures of them.  In retrospect, I should have removed the glass from the frame with Little Guy’s pic.  Next time...

And now for a couple of out-takes...

Yeah, the “jump on the count of 3” thing didn’t quite work out for us.  Their heights and jumping abilities are so varied.  I gave up on that one. ;)

As the kids left the house to trick-or-treat on Halloween, I couldn’t help but think about next year and having Little Guy join in the fun!