Babies Gone Wild: Babypalooza 2006!

Well, even more cool baby news! Jodi and Don are expecting, too!
Congratulations to them and their new development. From what I hear this newest addition should be arriving in September. We are really excited for them and can’t wait to hear more baby news.

I hope the stork gets time and half for his hard work...

Harper's Room

Interested in viewing Harper's room? Try using our video link here.
Just to let you know our other children with fur are not usually allowed in this room. It was a special occasion.

And While We Are Talking TV...

Dan's parents are big fans of HBO series The Sorpranos. The new season starts in March. In honor of that I have come up with our new "family" names. I will be known as Cookie Gorgonzola and now that Dan is a made man, his name will be Jimmy Sticks. (Oddly enough after I googled "Jimmy Sticks" I got a few hits so I think he is... or was a real guy. I am still making Dan use the name though. I already made a Jimmy Sticks playlist on my iPod.)

I know what you are all thinking. "Bored much, Cookie?" The answer is, yes.

The Office

I am really loving TheOffice this season. Lisa sent me this link to an Ellen DeGeneres interview with John Krasinski & Rainn Wilson. Check it out if you are interested. (It is a nice distraction while waiting for news.)

Rumor has it...

Referrals have been mailed and the unofficial word is that they will include log-in-dates through May 25th. We may or may not be in the next batch. We will wait to find out. (My sarcastic side said "wait" with a bit of attitude so as you read this please add a hint of mockery to your voice.) (...an eyebrow raise would also be appropriate.)

Update: Still Nothing New

Perhaps soon we will be making more headlines than a corduroy pillow, but until then... squat is the word of the day.

A Clean Sweep... well, vacuum anyway.

This is Wilson. He will stalk dogs, growls at the UPS man, but is really good friends with the vacuum cleaner.
If only I could teach him to use it...

Share Video at DropShots.com

Fling Poo

I found a blog out there from a couple who are in China now to adopt their daughter. They are really funny and we are following their journey. If anyone is curious, I have added their blog to my "Links" section.

(Just a note that I have no idea who these people are and I am getting a little voyeuristic pleasure from 'observing' them. Is this wrong? I like to think of it as scientific rather than stalking.)

Ahh, That New Baby Smell.

Well, the mystery is solved. On Wednesday, February 1st "The Bump" was born and she is a beautiful girl named Elliana Cora Del Negro.

Personally I have pretty much thought that newborns were odd, wrinkly, E.T.-ish, creatures and when people said how cute they were I kind of thought to myself, well I guess if that is what you like... However, I do have to admit that Ellie is not one of these strange, peculiar babies, she is quite lovely and hardly wrinkly at all!

Andy and Kristin don't look too bad themselves! Considering what they just endured I think they look pretty damn good. (They are not wrinkly either.)

Congratulations!

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Happy Lunar (Chinese) New Year!

Today marks the first day of the Year of the Dog.

As expected the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) released the latest round of adoption referrals last week. They were recieved on Friday. Those with Log in Dates (LID) of May 12, 2005 and earlier have been matched with their children. Our LID is only 33 days away, June 15, 2005. We are hoping that we will recieve our match at the end of March. There should be one more match before then at the end of February. Though we can always hope that CCAA comes back from their week long Lunar New Year holiday and matches a big group that includes us, but that appears very unlikely. So don't get to excited (especially you Sue).

This lastest round included many younger referrals. Many children were 7, 8, & 9 months old. Some think that due to larger than usual international adoptions occurring recently that the children being matched are going to be younger. Remember that it can take upto 9 weeks after referral to travel, so these children could be 9, 10 & 11 months old by the time they come home.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Korea vs. Chuck Norris

Attention: Senior Minister of Information Don
(For the innocent who may be confused by this, please refer to the comment to our post titled "Infamous Guest".)

We have found out your true identity. You are not part of the Korean Ministry at all. You are the Senior Minister of Information on Chuck Norris. Naturally, we bow down in your honor.
http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/index.html

In a fight between Batman and Darth Vader, the winner would be Chuck Norris.

Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas.

Pandas are Sweet!

Although giant pandas will eat a large variety of plants, the overwhelming bulk of their diet, over 99%, consists of bamboo leaves, stems and shoots. Over fifteen different varieties of bamboo grow within the region.
Because of the giant panda's still quite inefficient intestinal system, it must eat great amounts of bamboo each day in order to get sufficient nutrition to survive. Feeding for 12 to 16 hours each day, giant pandas will consume 10 to 18 kilograms (22 to 40 pounds) of bamboo leaves and stems. When consuming fresh bamboo shoots, the necessary intake rises to approximately 38 kilograms (84 pounds) each day.

This is pretty impressive eating skills for a Giant Panda, although we have been witness to Don's Thanksgiving Day meal which makes 84 pounds of bamboo look like a side salad. It really is a sight to behold.

Infamous Guest

Our wait has seemed lengthy at times, but we are grateful that we were not in Guangzhou this weekend. There is a very good chance that we will stay at the White Swan Hotel during our trip to China. After reading this news article, I wonder how other adoptive parents handled things this weekend... Creepy!


Kim Jong Il Turns Up in Southern China
LAST UPDATE: 1/13/2006 8:00:40 AM

United Press International
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is visiting China's southern province of Guangdong for a look at the region's booming development, local reports said Friday.
Kim spent Thursday in the provincial capital of Guangzhou, the South China Morning Post reported, describing a convoy of limousines, minibuses and police cars that arrived at the city's luxury White Swan Hotel after all guests were ordered to leave.
A hotel spokesman said the hotel's 843 rooms and all its dining establishments had been reserved until Monday.
Foreign media have given conflicting reports as to Kim's whereabouts since his private armored train entered China early Tuesday. The most likely scenario had him traveling to Shanghai, then on to the southern cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
China has long tried to encourage North Korea to copy its economic reforms, as the country has become increasingly reliant on China for food and energy.
Kim is likely to stop in Beijing for talks with President Hu Jintao before returning home. His agenda is thought to include asking China to pressure the United States to lift sanctions on North Korean companies.
Chinese media have not mentioned the trip. The last time Kim visited China, in April 2004, the visit was not reported until after he returned to Pyongyang.

Ultrasound Picture

There has been a lot of new baby news so far this year and we thought we would share with you our ultrasound picture. Enjoy!

The "Bonus" Round of Referral News

This is the latest information our adoption agency has given us for the most recent round of referrals.

Congratulations to the families who received their child match on Thursday, January 5th! We received matches for families with 4/15/2005-4/24/2005 LIDs. There were 31 families matched with 33 children as we had two set of twins! We received 2 boys for families who requested a boy or no preference. We received 5 matches for expedited/Chinese descent families with LIDs in July 2005

There is speculation on when the next round will occur. Some people have thought that CCAA would like to get another bunch of referrals sent out before Chinese New Year which is January 29th. We are hoping that they will match 4 weeks of LID dates which will bring us closer to our referral.

...And Now For The Surprises!

We wish to congratulate Karen and Kevin (Dan's sister) on their engagement!! We are very excited for both of you, it was a wonderful Christmas surprise. (Secretly we had been doing some reconnaissance missions to try and find out when the actual deployment of "the ring" would take place and Christmas seemed like a possibility.) We had been patiently waiting for that news and now it has finally arrived! A big congratulations!!!

And while we are on the subject of things arriving... We would also like to thank Karen and Kevin for providing Harper with a cousin! Yes, Karen and Kevin are expecting and we are thrilled for them. (Our reconnaissance was non-existent in this area, and thankfully so, it would have been highly inappropriate to be there for that deployment...) Congratulations again!

What a busy year this will be! Andy and Kristin will be changing their "bump" to baby status, Karen and Kevin will be growing their own "bump" and perhaps late winter or early spring we will finally be "bumping" into Harper!

Now, about this rumor mill... You people are crazy! We will have news, sometime. I promise I will let you all know anything that we find out. Perhaps it will be one, perhaps it will be two, perhaps it will be the greatest ping pong player in the world, but you will all just need to be patient and relax. Mom, this means you.

Happy 2006 to everyone!

Love,
Dan and Janet

A New Year

I hope the first few days of 2006 have been good to all of you. We had a great Christmas. We spent time with a lot of family, ate a lot of food and had a wonderful time. We were also let in on a couple of very cool surprises. (More to follow on that later.)

Things have seemed busy around here lately, not really sure why, but it has taken us a little while to get back to a normal post-holiday routine. I am not sure if it has anything to do with how much food we ate, the bleak cold weather, or how very dark it is in the morning and early afternoon. Anyway, we are chugging along just a little slower lately.

A "bonus" round of referrals left China at the end of December and new families got word of it this week. People are calling this a bonus round because December did have a batch of referral sent previously at the beginning of the month and these were a few extra to close out the year. I think now the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has now matched everyone with a DTC of April 25th. Everyone is feeling hopeful that perhaps CCAA will begin matching full months again now that it is a new year. If January had another round of referrals that matched the last few days of April with most of May, there would be a good chance that we could have a referral in February. Of course it may not happen like this, but I would like to be a bit optimistic. (I also don't want to wait too long to travel. It has been said that Guangzhou in July is a nightmare. It is hotter and more humid than anyone can possibly imagine and if we are able to travel in March or April we miss a lot of Vermont's infamous mud season. To me that seems like a win-win situation.)

I don't have any new stats yet on how many families from our agency were matched, but I will post that information when I find out. I will also elaborate on the surprises once we get permission to post.

Happy New Year! May 2006 be happy and healthy for all.

Matching Room

These are pictures from a website that showed what the "Matching Room" in China looks like. This is a caption of one of the pictures:

Many parents also envision a small room with limited staff in the "Matching Room". Actually, the room is quite vast with a staff of almost twenty workers. It is a very warm and inviting room and all the staff were quite gracious and extremely proud of their work. The task is, however, quite daunting when you see the volume of dossiers that they work with. Interestingly, they take their time being quite meticulous with every single file of the parents and the children to ensure a perfect match. And as is easily attested by virtually every parent who has adopted from China: they have done just that.

Latest Referral News

Our timeline has started to slow down a bit. However our adoption agency just received a new batch of referrals last Friday. This is what their updated web site said, remembering that we have a 6/15/2005 LID (log in date).

Congratulations to the families who received their child match on Friday, December 9th! We received matches for families with 4/1/2005-4/14/2005 LIDs. There were 48 families matched with 49 children as we had one set of twins! We received 2 boys for families who requested boys.
The April families who received their matches on Friday were on an 8 month timeline. The remaining April families who will be matched in January will be 9 months from LID.
For the foreseeable future, it appears that the referral timeline might be in the range of 9 – 10 months from LID (log in date) to child match. We will keep our CCAI families posted as soon as we are able to confirm any timelines changes or receive official notice from the CCAA (www.china-ccaa.org).

According to CCAA's website (China Center of Adoption Affairs), The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with their office in May 2005. That means our June documents are now in the review room. Once finished in the review room our documents (dossier) are moved to the match room where they decide on which child will become part of each family.

That is the exciting room.

Finished!

Happy Festivus!