Adios Amigos!

We leave here in just about a half hour. We're all packed, the house is clean, and we've said goodbye to everyone we know. I am doing better today, yesterday I was a mess most of the day, every time I pictured myself getting the baby I sobbed (good thing a crazy crying woman is par for the course on the NYC subway). My stomach is still upside down but that's to be expected. If all goes according to plan, we will be presented with our baby tomorrow morning. Keep on the look out for an update.

Still struggling with the name, I am hoping when we see him we'll know.

Okay, let's roll!!

Starfish family...you are the first to arrive

For winning this leg of the race, you win a no-expense paid, adorable little boy.

Seriously folks, this is like my own personal episode of the Amazing Race. My husband and I had to drive to the airport last night to buy our tickets in person before midnight or we would lose our seats. Thankfully we got them, and they only cost us $118 each for taxes because my husband had enough frequent flier miles to cover both round trip tickets! SWEEEEEET! Yesterday was like a treasure hunt - we split up and conquered our lists, buying last minute baby things, travel items and visa documentation. Today I had to run to the Colombian consulate and apply for our visas. They said I can pick them up tomorrow! What a relief. So we will be leaving Wednesday for sure. I can't even believe it. The den in my house looks like a bomb went off. There are bags and crap all over the place. I need to figure out how to get all of it (or decide if it is not going) into suitcases.

I spoke to the nurse taking care of my baby today, she said he is a "big boy", he eats well, and sleeps well, and is always smiling! Oh man I cannot WAIT to get there! You know, it's funny...prior to getting the call, I would sometimes think about whether we were doing the right thing. Maybe God was trying to tell us that we weren't meant to have children. Oh boy did all that change when I saw his picture. My heart truly skips a beat whenever I look at it. I don't know if it's all in my head, my selfishness of wanting this beautiful child so much or what, but I really do feel a connection to him already. My husband feels the same. It just feels right. And the process, although insanely crazy, really is going relatively smoothly. I am not really stressed out, just anxious about doing everything right and getting there in time. I even registered yesterday! Yikes, what a nightmare, I can't imagine doing that pregnant. We were in BRU for 3 freaking hours. By the end my cousins were dragging me around like a cranky toddler. My cousin K had the gun thingie, and thank goodness she took charge adding all the things I would need..sometimes despite my arguing ("shut up, you do too need a wipe warmer, I'm adding it"). Thank GOD for them, really. My favorite thing is the bedding (I ultimately decided against the babystyle stuff), so me! There is so much stuff to buy, and really, most of it is so big, bulky and ugly. I couldn't decide on a packnplay, or an exersaucer, and I still need to pick a monitor. Their help was invaluable to me, and I don't know what I would have done without them.

Speaking of, I would like to thank you all once again for all of your comments. Every one of them means so much to us. Your encouragement is uplifting. I have tried to write back to each of you, but I don't always have email addresses. And in my fried brain state, in some cases I am unable to connect your blog name with your comment name with your email address. So if you haven't heard from me, it's not on purpose. I thank each and every one of you for your good wishes and funny comments. It is so appreciated.

As I sit here, I am waiting for our IT department to swap out my laptop to one with wireless so I can drag you along with me to the end. Gah!

I survived Black Friday and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

Somebody stop me. I think I have purchased every blue piece of baby clothing in the tri-state area. I went through Carter's, Baby Gap, Old Navy and The Children's Place like the Tasmanial Devil. Must. Buy. More. Onesies. I got some really killer bargains not to mention some really adorable things. Here is the loot, and some of my favorites:





The prince onesie has some significance. You see my family already has one prince. Actually I should say HAD one prince. My brother is the apple of everyone's eye, and while it's true that he is nice looking, funny, successful and kindhearted, well, he is my brother, worse yet my younger brother, and if anyone out there has one of those - well, you know. So the day we found out about our little boy, I told my brother he's been dethroned. He must give up the crown. We will not have a christening, we will have a coronation. Therefore, when I saw this at the store, I had to have it. BTW, the next day my brother informs me that he's been promoted. Promoted? Yes, he said, I am the KING now. Ah, I see.

So I am mostly recovered from our day today. I could barely sleep (that face! those cheeks! a son!) so no sooner did I start to doze at about 12:30...the alarm went off at 3:15. We arrived at 5:30 am and the place was mobbed. Energized by new baby adrenaline, I wasn't too cranky. My companions, K and her sister however, made up for it. Yikes people..drink your coffee and suck it up. I didn't get everything Iw as looking for, but having K there to help me with sizing and styles was invaluable. I took advantage of her delirious sleep deprived state to get her to agree to register with me on Sunday.

I got home at about 11:30 and started making phone calls to get some questions answered. At this point, the only concern is getting our visas in time. I need to find out if the orphanage would be okay with us leaving maybe on Thursday instead, and if the consulate thinks they could turn the visas around in 2-3 days. We did put a flight on hold for Wednesday just in case we do get them quickly. We may also need to get our medical forms updated, but let's not think about that one just yet, okay?. Hubby did a great job today doing some other stuff - buying a camcorder, gifts for the orphanage staff and a kinko's run. Poor guy feels like crap...he has a nasty cough that he is trying desparately to get over before we leave. The doctor says he just needs to drink liquids and rest, but there is no time for that!!

I did crash and burn at about 5:00 though. I tried to sleep when I got home but the phone kept ringing. I got up and decided to start calling the airlines, snapping my husband's head off in the process. Then, the people I had made plans with for dinner totally bailed on me, and I got really pissed. Here I am going through this crazy whirlwind, and I still made time to see them, and they couldn't be bothered. Normally I would rant about this for a bit and get over it. Today I decided that the better way to deal was to sob uncontrollably for a half hour. A little teensy bit overwhelmed and overtired? Ya think? I took a hot shower (so long my palms were pruney), had some soup and a grilled cheese (thanks honey), put on pjs and watched reruns of Entourage. All better now.

Can't wait to continue the retail therapy tomorrow - rumor has it there's some fishy bedding at Baby Style with my name on it.

Alot to be thankful for....

We're finally home after a very long but wonderful day. Did you all have a great Thanksgiving? As usual, I didn't eat Turkey. Too much other good stuff to eat. My MIL cooks for a small army, even though there was only 10 of us. Seriously, listen to all this: Two turkeys (one baked one fried), corn, mashed potatoes, mashed turnips, cauliflower with cream sauce, pearl onions, yams, carrots, and the famous sausage stuffing. I didn't stuff myself too badly, these referral nerves are good for something...not much of an appetite. I had baked a crumb cake for dessert. To show you how much my head is in the clouds, I have made this crumbcake a thousand times, but today? Today I forgot to add the water to the batter and the whole thing burned and was horrible. I had to re-do the whole thing this morning. Idiot. Oh, so might as well give you the recipe, right? Okay but here's the deal. I'm only giving this to you because I don't know any of you personally. If you make this recipe, you are forbidden to tell anyone that it uses a cake mix. Forbidden, do you hear me?? Do not blow my cover here! I promise you, it's killer. I get asked to make this for every single occasion.

Killer Crumbcake
1 box Duncan Hines Yellow Cake mix (Butter Recipe) - Make cakemix according to the directions on the box. Bake only for about 20 minutes, cake should be slightly under done. Make crumbs while the cake is baking: Mix 4 cups flour, 2 cups sugar (all white or 1.5 white, .5 brown), 4 sticks of butter (yes, 4, it's not called killer for nothing), 3tbs cinnamon, 1tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla. When it is good and mixed (use your fingers) make really big crumbs and cover the underdone cake. Rebake for another 8-10 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar when cooled.

So anyway, back to the day....When we arrived at Jim's parents, his sister wasn't there yet, so we had to wait an agonizing 20 minutes until she got there. When everyone was in the kitchen, Jim hands his mom the baby's picture that we had put into a frame. He says "Here, we have a present for you". She says, "Oh how cute!" like it's just any old baby. Jim and I look at each other. "Um...don't you know who that is?" "No, who?" We start cracking up. "IT'S YOUR GRANDSON". Just like my mom, we get the scrunched up face, like "HUH?". YOUR GRANDSON. IT'S OUR SON, YOUR GRANDSON. That did it. My SIL starts crying, my FIL is a mess. Yay! So it was really great. The rest of the day was really great, no bickering like usual. Me and my SIL got along really well too. She started up with her hypochondria stuff, but I was good and didn't say anything. (The woman has every ailment you can think of. And if you mention one she doesn't have yet, next week she'll get it). Everytime someone mentioned the baby, my FIL started crying again. He is so funny.

After dinner we left and stopped by my Aunt's house to see my cousin K and the rest of her family. They were certainly cheered up by the news of a new baby. My aunt said to us "God has taken one and given us another". They were especially excited that it was a boy. Cousin K already gave me two sleepers and said "It's just a little something, the first of many gifts to come". She is just awesome.

After that stop, we stopped at my other aunt's house, where my mom, dad and brother were. I had given my mom permission to make the announcement to the remaining family members. I am told that during the traditional toast before the meal, she piped up and said "I have something to be thankful for..." and then gave the good news. Apparently his picture was passed around the entire night. When we got there we got lots of hugs and lots of questions. We realized that the next time we see many of them, it will be with the baby! How crazy is that!

Speaking of crazy, I have completely and totally lost my mind. First, anyone who knows me, knows I am NOT a morning person. At work, people tiptoe around me until about 10:00 so as not to get their heads chopped off by my crankiness. Second, tomorrow, as you know, is Black Friday. I NEVER go shopping on this day. I hate crowds, and it's too early for me to pick out Christmas presents. But tomorrow I am going. Not only am I going, but I am getting up at 3:30 AM, so I can be at cousin K's house by 4, so we can be at the outlet mall by 6. I am certifiably insane. I am rationalizing all this by telling myself that I can't really sleep anyway, that they have a Carter's outlet, and a Baby Gap, and I need some shoes for my trip, not to mention a few other gazillion things on the ever growing list I have been furiously making since we got THE CALL. I'll let you know how I make out. And I'll let you know if any shoppers were harmed in my quest for all things baby.

I also have to call the orphanage tomorrow and formally accept our referral (yay!). Every time I look at his picture I am more in love. Everyone has said how much he looks like me as a baby, isn't that funny? I have to book airline tickets, but first figure out the timeframe...leave wednesday or thursday? Estimated time of return? I have to get passport photos taken for the visa. So much to do. Oh, and a carseat. Please give me carseat advice. Send me an email with a recommendation. I know everyone says Britax but what the hell model, and how much are they, and where do you get them?? Remember the baby is about 3 months old.

Okay, got to go get a few hours sleep. I'll post a pic of the loot tomorrow.

Greetings from Cloud 9

Yes, it's true! We got THE CALL. I still can't believe it, even though it's been 9 hours since we got it. It's been a whirlwind of a day as you can imagine.

So I'm sitting at my desk, trying to wrap up some things before we all leave to go to the company Thanksgiving luncheon. Every year they cater food, set up an unused floor in our building and invite the whole company to eat. It's about 10 minute to 1:00, and we're all supposed to leave at 1:00. The phone rings and it's the agency, and I of course think "ooooh could this be the call?" But then she starts talking about Thanksgiving, and then asks about a fee we haven't paid yet, all nice enough, but made me think "nah, she would have started out with that kind of news". So then she starts talking about something and I think she's telling me about a holiday social event, but the phone connection gets really bad and I can't hear her. We do a 5 minute scene from the Verizon commercial - Can you hear me now - and I manage to tell her I'll call her back. When I hang up I realize I didn't have her phone number. I search around a bit, and then decide to look up the agency website. I get interrupted a few times but eventually get the number and call her back. She was all exasperated when we finally had a clear connection, and she says "what I was TRYING to tell you was that there is a little boy in Colombia waiting for you".
...
...

Uh, come again?

My mind went into overdrive and I vaguely recall her telling me about paperwork and visas, and I finally managed to get out WHAT IS HIS NAME AND WHEN WAS HE BORN. Oh yes, she said, I have that info right here! SO my wonderful internet friends, we are the proud parents of one baby boy born September 1, 2006. I wrote down some chickenscratch with my shaking hands, and I think it says that he is now 11lbs, 7oz. We are still debating on whether to keep his given name...we kind of like it, but it's not all that common. She emailed me his picture and honestly, he is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen. I immediately called my husband and told him that I had good news and bad news. The bad news was, that we would have to cancel the Florida trip we booked for Dec 7th. The good news of course, was that he had a son. (A son! We have a son!). I'm not going to post his picture here quite yet, it's still a little early for that.

And the craziest part is, we leave WEDNESDAY! As in THIS FREAKING WEDNESDAY!!! Uh, yeah, we're screwed because we do not have anything ready but I don't even care. All that stuff will fall into place. I will be a shopping fiend this weekend! Note to self: Call and ask when the hell that crib is getting delivered! We do have a bit of scrambling to do to make sure we have all the paperwork and stuff done before we leave. We're actually cutting things really close, so it's going to take some fancy footwork (translation: showing of baby pictures to government officials and begging, crying and pleading to speed things up) but I think it will all work out!

We told everyone we know except for the hubby's side. We're seeing them tomorrow for Thanksgiving, and we want to announce it in person. Tot ell my parents, we had made up a little card that said "You are the proud grandparents of x!" with his picture. I walked in the house and said "you aren't going to believe this" and handed it to my mom. She scrunches up her face and says "Who's X?" Mom, read it again. Still nothing. MOM. READ IT AGAIN. OUT LOUD. Yeah, she finally got it. Seems she thought I was showing her evidence of yet another person having a baby before us. Nope! We had champagne, and then proceeded to call everyone we knew. Lots of screams. Lots of crying.

I'll do a separate post about what the next steps are in the process. AS I said, I have alot to do over the next few days. And, Colombia has only one trip, but it is a long one.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know we will. I have alot to be thankful for, and besides the obvious, I am thankful for this wonderful support community that has really helped me through this whole process. Blessings to you and your families.

Now I need to try to get some sleep!

WHAT?!

"Yes, you heard me. It's a boy."