T minus a few hours

It's like giving birth: I'm having to practice my breathing to stay calm.

hooo hooo hooo hooo
haaa haaa haaa haaa
:: deep breath ::
hooo hooo hooo hooo
haaa haaa haaa haaa
:: deep breath ::

Where's my brain epidural?!?

T minus a few days

Stay tuned to your local Chinese adoption blog for breaking news....

Or check your e-mail, boards, answer your phone, or pay attention to the crazy woman running up and down the street screaming and waving a picture in her hands...

The information on BabyGogo is on its way!

Double Happiness

Double Happiness by Not-the-Momma
I recently finished an audio book. The title: Stumbling on Happiness sounded like a cheerful title. Actually, it is more than seven hours of scientific studies proving that you constantly make poor choices that will not make you happy. You remember the past better than it was and you predict the future will be better than it will really be. It turns out the only time you can accurately judge your happiness is right now.

Parenting is held up as an example of something that, as newlyweds, we predict will make us very happy and, as empty nesters, we recall as making us happy, but alas studies show parents are less happy than newlyweds or empty nesters. I thought this was odd so I paid attention to yesterday. What happened and how happy it made me.

I woke up late. Trevor hugged me before I got to the kitchen, +1
Trevor made three paper airplanes and let me fly them with him, +1
After Trevor had eaten lunch, I offered to take him to McDonalds and let him play while I ate, however he would not get a Happy Meal toy. He decided not to go since he would not get a toy. Five minutes later, as I was biting into the sandwich I made, he changed his mind. Sending him to his room crying, -2 He came out of his room five minutes later and climbed into my lap, +1
Trevor has a bad personal habit. I offered ice cream if he could keep from doing it while we were shopping for an hour. Crying when he “forgot” 10 minutes later, -1
I gave him a second chance and he was successful for the rest of the hour. We both got ice cream, +2
At bed time Trevor and I snuggled while we watched a black and white movie on the big screen TV, +5

Yes, in the past, there were a rough few weeks between when the 3AM diapers started smelling like sh*t and Trevor’s first smile to reward me for changing them. In the future, I can’t guarantee that age 16 will be as fun as age 6. But, science has proven that right now is the only time you can accurately predict your happiness and being a parent makes me happy, right now.
I can’t wait for baby Go-Go and “Double Happiness”.

PS- The correct windows are installed!

Odds and Ends

Our baby: My mother's famous motto, " 'Taint nothin' simple", is pretty much always true. You know, your mom is always right. This month, the month we are due to receive our referral of our child from China, the Chinese agency that makes these referrals, the CCAA, is moving offices. As in, packing up boxes, disconnecting computers, labeling stuff, putting in trucks, driving somewhere else in Beijing, unloading, etc. yadda ad infinitum. No one can really say if or by how much that will delay this month's referrals. So, bottom line is, we can't expect a standard timeframe. It might be next week! It might be the end of August. No one can really say. So I am removing the dumb countdown ticker at the top of our blog. Bad Andrea for making an assumption.... you know what that makes out of me. (In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, it's the little wisdomette: "Assume" makes an ass out of u and me.) I imagine that nearly everyone that reads my blog (all 3 of you, ha ha ha! ha.) will hear from us personally that we have received our referral before you see it here. So no need to frantically refresh our blog (I'm the only one who does that anyway, exactly what I am looking for I don't know), we will be making individual phone calls, personal visits, e-mails, and posts when the Big Day arrives.

Heat: It is hot here. Danged hot, pardon my French. Not that that was French, that's just a phrase, and I'm not really sure why we use it; none of the cuss words I know are French anyway. However I digress. It is hot here. I know most of you are suffering with me. I feel deflated and wilted, as I usually do when it's been 100+ for 10 days in a row. My productivity has ground to a halt, as I spend most of my time being still in hopes of staying cool.

39: I turned 39 yesterday. THIRTY-NINE! What has happened to me? I feel about 24 in my mind. From the looks of it, most of my body parts are NOT feeling 24, thankyouverymuch NOT. But as my mom says, getting old is better than the alternative. Once again, Mom is always right.

Upcoming posts: I've got to post a pictoral retrospective of my work on the nursery, also known as the nasty looking room with heaps of drying wallpaper on the floor. A home-improvement guru I am not. I am also going to write a post about internet friends. You know, people (women) you meet on the internet that you chat with via e-mail, message boards, phone, or in person. Because these women have saved my sanity many times, I want to give a shout out to them and how much I appreciate them. I think they make up the majority of our blog readership anyway!

Trevorisms: I mentioned to Trevor that I hadn't seen my boss all day at work. He asks, "Do you have a substitute?" Hee hee! I like having him around for the pure entertainment value of kids; not to mention that I would throw myself in front of a bus to save him and all that, kids are highly entertaining!


Stay tuned!

Testing a movie upload

EDITTED TO ADD: As of 07/11/2006 7:49 p.m. CDT, the video should be working.

We would love to be able to show you movies we make in China, so we will test that out with a little video of Trevor, the next Dwyane Wade, playing basketball. Prepare to be amazed. Unlike when you are watching the Mavericks.

Trevor is the one that starts off dribbling the ball. I am the one sitting on the front row of bleachers yelling at my kid.

To-Do List

There are many things that need to be done in preparation for our trip to China and in preparation for bringing our daughter home. Here's a glance at our "Completed" and "Yet To Do" Lists:









Completed
1. Purchase board book for baby about Chinese adoption
2. Purchase set of 3 rubber duckies that light up when they float on water
3. Purchase 2 travel dresses for me (Andrea) to wear in China. And I DO look smashing in them!
4. Save up all money needed for trip to China


Yet To Do
1. Pick out name for baby
2. Pick out alternative boy name in case baby is a boy
3. Remove postage-stamp sized pieces of wallpaper backing off theoretical baby's room
4. Pick out paint color or theme for decoration of baby's room
5. Purchase any clothing item for baby
6. Purchase any hygiene item for baby
7. Purchase any feeding item for baby
8. Purchase any transporatation item for baby
9. Babyproof house
10. Babyproof cats
11. Purchase suitcase to take to China
12. Purchase any special items for trip (besides above-mentioned fabulous dresses)
13. Get vaccinations for China
14. Learn Chinese
15. Wash the 250+ hand-me-downs given to us for baby

So if, after our referral, I don't return your calls, or turn down your many, many requests for my social company, please don't take it personally. I'm going to be VERY busy. So is Paul.