napping is blissful

Like the freckles? I know I have a lot of them, but it always shocks me when I see photos of myself. This was taken the morning before we moved. Can I just tell you that teething is ABSOLUTELY the work of Satan? Cupcake is having a really hard time with it. My mom graciously asked us if she could please take Miss Grace home for the afternoon/evening when she stopped by today. I almost fell down in gratitude. I really wanted to take that time to work, but I decided to take a "nap" instead. Seven hours later, here I am, and I am ready to go back to bed. I just looked in the mirror and it's the first time since June that I haven't had black circles under my eyes. I love sleep. In addition to a new house and a new baby, we also adopted a new kitty. Ginger has been at the shelter for several months, and we fell in love with her right affter she arrived, She was very very sick and Animal Control was going to euthanize her and her kittens, but our shelter took them in and managed to bring them back to health. The kittens have gone to GREAT homes, and Ginger has been waiting for us to finish the house so she could be part of our family. The other two cats are still trying to figure out why this new house came with a cat and if they like that or not. I hope they all figure things out soon. I want all the kitties to be happy. Ginger has become Cupcake's kitty- she's the only one of the three that lets Grace pull on her tail and ears and fur. We don't condone that, but "gentle baby, be nice to kitty" only lasts so long and then Cupcake sneaks a grab in. Ginger seems to love her more for it. ----- As usual, I just have had no time to read or answer email and I apologize. With the baby and the new house and trying to get back to work. I work in the home, so not a tremendous deal, but getting anything done besides keeping Cupcake happy and the house still standing seems impossible right now. Every time I sit down to work, the baby needs me or my parents stop by and need me or whatever. So nothing happens. Anyway, most of my emails from this blog consist of questions about our adoption experience and asking if we liked our agency. So I thought I would post a quick answer instead of completely unhelpful: Yes, we absolutely love our agency. I think there are a few good agencies out there, doing ethical adoptions. But as long as VORF is working in Vietnam, I would never consider another agency. When we switched agencies a few months ago, VORF literally saved our adoption. They walked us through completing a new dossier in just a matter of days, and helped us catch up and make up for the months we wasted in limbo with the other agency. Our referral came almost instantly, and travel three months later. While things have significantly slowed down because of the sudden popularity of Vietnam adoptions, VORF still has one of the fastest turn-around times as far as agencies doing true ethical adoptions. It seems like one way you can tell if an agency is decent or not is how long their delays are. The better agencies are taking their time to do things properly. It's miserable for waiting parents, but the way it's really supposed to be. Clearly, we have been blessed with an amazing, beautiful little girl. I can't believe how quickly this happened, and how incredibly LUCKY we are to have been matched with Cupcake. I thank God, and thank VORF and Vietnam for this every single day. There's a lot of controversial stuff happening now in Vietnamese adoption. The truth is, rules are sort of up in the air. Tom went through a lot of government appointments and meetings in order to be able to bring Cupcake home and the government was very careful in reviewing everything before they granted permission for her to leave the country, so I'm not sure how some things are happening so speedy for some agencies. VORF does every single thing in accordance with Vietnam rules, but they still get fast referrals and decent travel dates. The travel itself was just perfection- there was not a SINGLE snag in the whole process. No delays in country, no suspicious government waits or dealings in the middle of the night. Bottom line is that no adoption is perfect and there are snags regardless of how great any agency is. You'll hear good and bad things about every agency. But decide on your realistic expectations on your adoption and weigh the agency pros and cons on that. Don't get seduced by stories of instant parenthood- when we came into this we were hoping Cupcake would be home by Christmas, 2006. We got a little crazy with the promises of our previous agency of a baby by April. I tried to remember that I never expected this adoption to go faster than a pregnancy before I started the process. It wasn't much help, but it puts things into perspective. Remember this is a long, grueling, emotional, and complicated process no matter what agency you work with. There are no miracle agencies. Just miracle babies :) If you have any specific questions, let me know. I will try and reply within the next century. So sorry about this very impersonal reply. Bed, bed, while no monitor buzzes and crackles with the sound of a teething baby.

back, finally!

Sorry for the extended silence- did you miss us? We have a good excuse, though- Tom, Cupcake, and I *finally* moved into our new house. We just got the internet up just a few days ago. It's been hectic to say the least, but we are SERIOUSLY enjoying our spacious new digs, and Cupcake and I are loving our new pool. I take her swimming every morning either before or after I do my two miles (having my own pool is so blissful, I cannot even begin to describe what it's like!) If only I could find some sort of swimmies or float thing for her- all the ones we've tried don't hold her up or tip her forward. She has a very bad habit of opening her mouth wide and drinking the pool water. Tons of it. So if she goes forward, or her chin is anywhere near water, she gulps it like crazy and winds up inhaling it. The good news is that since we moved we are finally starting to get into a daily routine. Every day it shapes up a little more. Mornings have gotten infinitely better, although I will admit that I desperately miss my old mornings, where I had an hour ALL MY OWN to get up, get ready, read a bit without being tugged on, screamed at, or having food flung at me. But as long as Cupcake gets her cereal and veggies and then gets her Ritz crackers while she watches the Backyardigans (tv show), she's okay and I get about 15 minutes to myself. I guess I'm just not the kind of mom who rushes to see her baby's smiling face right after waking up- I'm always excited if I get a few seconds to myself. I still find being a mom very challenging sometimes... The Backyardigans are like crack to her- no matter what's going on, how she's feeling, what she wants, when she hears that theme song her head snaps around so fast you can hear the wind rush. We didn't have cable for a week or so after we moved, so we wound up watching the two episodes we had on the TiVo about 100 times. To the show's advantage, while we got sick of the two episodes, we were still tolerating them when the cable was installed. So thumbs up for Backyardigans. Sesame Street, Arthur, and The Koala Brothers (is that what it's called, that show where the two Austrlian koalas motor around on their plane, looking for people to help?) also rank high. Cupcake despises Blues Clues (not too sad about that one, since that show creeps me out with its disembodied kids' voices...) and Dora. I'm definitely not trying to make her into a TV junkie, but in the last week we have had a million workmen in and out of the house taking care of the "punchlist", and because of the debris they left behind, the work they were doing, and the fact they propped the doors open, she wasn't allowed to be on the floor. And she doesn't tolerate being out of site. So watching TV helped keep her happy while swinging or stuck in the play yard. She definitely prefers crawling and destruction to sitting still and watching TV. This little girl hates dolls, instead loves plastic toys that light up and play music, with parts that come out. Which she then bangs on anything. Photos soon, as soon as my camera gets unpacked. These are from before we moved...