ANYONE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT FUTONS??!!


SOOO in thinking about sleeping and co-sleeping which we'll do at least initially, attempting to look at all good options so everyone gets the sleep they need. So one top-running option is to purchase a futon that can be rolled up and I'll sleep on it with the kids at night in their room, thus allowing dh to sleep uninterrupted in our bed (he has a heck of a time falling back to sleep). Sooo any thoughts: do's/donts on what to look for /avoid, etc??? Thanks!!

Retail Therapy!! It's GOOD!!!

Not sure if I'm just a more experienced shopper ! OR if baby boy stuff has gotten a ton cuter! I LOVE ebay! My retail therapy compulsion can be filled without leaving the house!! Here's the recent loot!!

Baby Food!!


There was some discussion on one of my boards about baby food and making it this AM and made mental note that I needed to pick up another food grinder as I was pretty sure I'd tossed the one I had long ago. But then low and behold as I was looking in the cupboards for something, I stumbled upon it. The kids - well mostly Alex, as Miss Ellie is still a little sicky.....were intrigued. So we began to experiment. Nothing like having a super strong 6 year old to help with these muscle jobs!! Seriously tho, he's got some little biceps on him and loves doing stuff like this. Soooo started thinking that I'll have to research whether certain types of stuff freeze well. I'd think some of the pureed fruits freeze better than others. But might be nice to start making some of this so it'll be ready for later. Andrew will be 7-7.5 months at homecoming but the foster moms sometimes dont start solids very quickly. And since he was a preemie, he may not be ready as quickly as others anyway (oh, how I hope we at least get a written update on him, just so we have a tiny clue what he's like). I'm getting excited tho. We had our flower garden when Alex and Ellie came home but nothing like we have now. Our blueberries are going like gangbusters as are most everything since we've had some nice weather these past many days... OK better get back to work, have procrastinated most of the day away!

Banana

Strawberry/Apple

Well, what a Day!

NOT in a bad way... just busy with lots of little things. First, will try to keep this short, as Ellie... my sweet pea whose been complaining of a "tummyache" for three days but never seemed to have outward signs and seemed fine in PM... well is now running a 103.4 temp! Got suppositories in hand. This is a little one who will NOT take meds and believe me I've tried it all (and why I LOVE those compounding pharmacies).

So today, the concept that this may really happen is beginning to sink in! In a really fun, exciting way. So started thinking about travel. This is a new agency for us both here and in Korea. AND well, the rules are very different. NOT bad per se, but def. providing parameters on how you can/will/wont travel. We have to have 3 full business days in Korea, and our agency in Korea doesnt like you to arrive on a weekend day. Soooo bottom line, means like an entire week (work ) is nearly shot. Bums me out cause that's time I'd like dh home with us after the fact, PLUS that's his time to bond with Andrew initially.. Well it is what it is and it'll be ok.. BUT ultimately it also looks like I'll lose my travel partner as being gone 6 days is just too hard on her work/her dh's work schedule. I was hoping we could do a "leave Thurs, arrive Fri (one bus day, even tho you're there super late).. Sat, sun, Mon and leave tues which is what I've done before.. BUT NOPE.... no go... on many fronts. Sooooo I suspect I maybe travelling by myself , which truly is fine... I can deal even with a 13 hour screaming infant ride home.. Hell if I go by myself. I'll probably be soooo well rested from my luxurious time and sleep - well I just wont know what to do with myself!! ANd the next tidbit of info I got is that the guesthouse will prob be full due to homeland tours. Cool.. I understand and I expected that. BUT the guesthouse is $50 a night. The hotel where I'll probably stay is $130 (but according to a very funny, sweet fellow board member....well it has the coolest toilets: they're heated along with a bidet and blow dryer - and not talking about the hair on your hair :) LOL!!!!! She's tooo funny!! Its not like I'm scared to sightsee on my own, but this will be my third trip and I have seen quite a bit..

I should preface, Seoul does have a population of like 11 or so MILLION people AND I've obviously probably seen diddly squat in the larger scheme of things, BUT I'm not sure how much I want to do the touristy thing alone. It's just not very much fun when alone BUT mostly I'll just be eager to get home to my family. Soooo we'll see.. much will continue to unfold as we see how timelines are moving and if they're picking up any....Oh, and on my one list of places I HAVE to go this time as I've never been before is Dongdaemun market. I guess it's like a HUGE high-rise of nothing but textiles.. Here I live in CA and my sources for good quality fabric sucks the big one. I often trade with some of my ebay pals in Australia as the selection here is so bad. Sooo I'm very much looking forward to that little shopping adventure. I have an entire book on Asian quilts I'd love to work on... Hmmmm....now that I'm thinking of it.. maybe I'll have to entire my friend Lesley from Australia to join me in Seoul - Lesley if you're readint this I understand that Dongdaemun is the sewer's Capital of Amazing Fabrics... like you've died and gone to fabric heaven :) !!!! What do you think???? :)

It's not the end of the world, BUT.... Grhhhhh!!!

Ok not really, it truly is an exceptionally minor setback and given that many of you are adopting from Guatemala, well actually you may not want to hear this gripe :) BECAUSE I do soooo realize that timeframes, etc. are so very different and currently extremely frustrating in Guatemala (all the unknowns ). So if you continue, take all this with a grain of salt!

So.... said minor setback.... As you read yesterday, all went out in terms of our acceptance paperwork. This is an exceptionally organized agency. They seem to have teams that do step 1, step 2.. Probably a poor analogy but I sometimes think of a car dealership: someone to reel you in (get all the basic paperwork done); someone to take you thru the majority of the deal; and then someone who closes and /or hits the highlights with you. Well, IMHO there were perhaps too many cooks in the kitchen at first, and the biggest piece of our entire file was overlooked.

THEY DONT HAVE OUR HOMESTUDY!

Well they've got the draft version, but person /reviewer A, sent it to reviewer b who was supposed to get back to reviewer A and then that person back to our local agency with any changes. We def had some changes - primarily changing country designation from Guatemala, back to Korea, specifying a baby boy and indicating we were open to special needs. I think the version now is fine, and it's truly just a matter of our local agency generating a few formal/notarized copies and they'll be to the agency by Thursday.

It's NOT so much about the potential lost time, cause frankly once everything is in Korea, like many country programs, there's sometimes no rhyme nor reason as to why file A might move faster or slower than file B... it was MORE about my just being psyched to have it all there.. Know that it's done. I can put the big ol' adoption file in the filing cabinet and move onto other things which I've been neglecting horribly. BUT I do feel very fortunate as I think the two agencies are great and working well together and it'll all be a done deal shortly.

Being soooo focused on getting the acceptance paperwork in was probably a really GOOD thing these past few days, as it got my mind off one major worry... The day Andrew's ticker hit 4 months and a few days. And that's because our sweet Soo Hee passed away at 4 months and 2 days. Since that time , many docs have told me that the 4 month mark (not to freak any of you out) is one of the "high" months for this happening. So today, Andrew is 4 months and 3 days and I just have to thnk he's ok and will be ok and will soon be home with us!

I dont expect I'll travel sooner than mid June, but it does seem things are picking up ever so slightly. I just scheduled Ellie's humungo Transitional IEP with all sorts of district (2 districts: home district/transfer district) folks for May 15.. Now just watch! Just cause I did that!! Dh has never been to an IEP and while I know he can fight with the best of em'...Well, lets just say that to this day, I still dont even think he knows what I.E.P. stands for and we've only had what feels like at least a hundred of them! I just dont think my teleconferencing from Korea during this thing would be the best idea! It'll be fine tho. I'll come up with a back-up plan if timeframes increase. Because we're pretty sure we're homeschooling next year, sooo much pressure is off.. Just hoping to at least get her private ST covered. So that's the next hurdle - back to my special ed lawbooks as well as renovating our poor home!!

WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! HOORAY!!

Sorry the kids are big Dora fans!! And this song is one thing that came to mind today.. The second was:


HALLELUJAH IT WASNT A FLIPPIN' DOSSIER - I WOULD HAVE GONE NUTS!! Soooooo damn nice to be able to let folks sign like they would naturally and not worry!! AND WHOOOOOO HOO!! We're done with paperwork except for stuff I'll soon start getting ready for finalization (after he's been home 5/6 months).

Soooo our acceptance paperwork is off, except for one document that needs to detour thru our local agency and get signatures. A Fax version of it should suffice (I hope ) and not hold us up. I'm still sooo hoping our paperwork is to Korea by Wednesday!

And thanks to those who got back to me... Yep, I tried to squish as much as possible on the zip lock, BUT given that we're only allowed 1 (YES 1) one gallon zippie AND mine had the quilt (that I got from ebay.. so sweet), photo album, rattle, and 2 disposable cameras in middle..... squishing wasnt that easy. The quilt is like 5' by 4' so not super small.. BUT it almost fit and I think if they'll tape for me, it can all go. I had to pull the little book out at the last minute /pictured with the rest of the stuff.

Soooo here's what it looked like:

THE ZIPLOCK:

THE INDIVIDUAL ITEMS MINUS BOOK, AND ADD IN 2 DISP CAMERAS

MY FAV BABY ALBUM... THIS WAS ELLIE'S FAV THING ACCORDING TO FM

PICS OF US INSIDE... yep we're pathetic.. I'm the one always taking pics soooo, very few of dh and myself. This was from about 18 months ago on an Alaskan cruise (add some moula poundage to that pic to get the real me today - gonna hopefully fix that by travel tho)

Dad and Alex: one of my FAV pics of all time.... again on cruise. Ellie wanted to go to the playrm with babysitter and Alex was so excited to dress up and go the Asian restaurant on the ship with mom/dad! He loved it!! Ahhhhhh to be able to eat anything again.. Hopefully soon... (Unfortunately as I've learned, you can still gain wt with large bowls of rice pasta!! :)

I sub-titled all the pages and think it turned out fairly well. I sooooo hope that our gal at Children's home will be ok with a tad of duct tape on our zip lock!! I could have easily closed it but didnt know how it would go thru customs (if they were mailing or what). We only got to sleep with the blanket one night... just didnt think of it before.. well I did but our ill-working hot tub finally got fixed and we enjoyed the past many days and didnt really think Andrew needed the smell of Chlorine on his blankie :) !!

Study: Popular baby bottles may be dangerous

Bottles from Dr. Brown's, Evenflo, Gerber, Playtex contain chemicals known to harm lab animals; industry group defends safety.

February 28 2007: 11:56 AM EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Independent experts convened by the National Institutes of Health will meet next week to review whether exposure to a chemical commonly found in plastic products like food containers and baby bottles causes health problems.

Separately, an environmental group said new laboratory tests at the University of Missouri found that the chemical, bisphenol A, leached into liquids at potentially dangerous levels from baby bottles sold by five leading brands.

Video More video A Colorado high school is banning a popular energy drink. KKTV's McKenzie Martin reports. (February 22) Play video

Bisphenol A, also called BPA, is used in making polycarbonate plastic food and drink packaging.

There has been controversy over its safety. Industry views it as harmless. Environmentalists link it to developmental, neural and reproductive harm when ingested.

The NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences will convene a panel of 15 scientists on March 7 to review scientific data and reach conclusions on whether exposure to it causes developmental or reproductive harm, institute spokeswoman Robin Mackar said.

Health care spending to double in decade

The NIH said studies have indicated the chemical may mimic a natural female sex hormone, and the upcoming review comes in part due to its widespread human exposure and evidence of reproductive toxicity in animal studies.

Mackar said Robert Chapin of Pfizer (Charts) will head the panel of scientists from academia, industry and public health groups. The panel's findings will "not necessarily" be adopted as the views of the government, Mackar said.

Rachel Gibson, a lawyer for Los Angeles-based Environment California, said the laboratory tests on bottles from all five brands - Avent, Dr. Brown's, Evenflo, Gerber and Playtex (Charts) - were found to leach bisphenol A at amounts known to harm animals in laboratory animal studies.

"We're happy to see the federal government revisiting the issue of the safety of bisphenol A," Gibson said.

The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, an industry trade group, defended the safety of the baby bottles.

"Sound and respected scientific research has consistently shown there is no danger to consumers when products are used as intended. Trace levels of Bisphenol A from consumer products are well below any level that could cause harm to adults or to our children," the group said in a statement.

"Other scientific studies have shown that BPA has no effect on the reproductive system, no effect on the developmental system and no carcinogenic (cancer-causing) effects. Recent reports indicating otherwise are both sensational and biased, and they have not received any validation from the scientific community," the group added.

I preface the above post with this: I'm very biased based on my kids' multiple chemical and food sensitivties. There's sooo much stuff out there in our environment, etc... that sometimes you truly have to pick and choose your battles. BUT I've been meaning to post this for awhile. If you use plastic bottles from above brands, I encourage you to consider NOT microwaving the bottle (heat up water in another item, then pour into bottle).... It comes from:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/27/news/baby_bottles.reut/index.htm

This is what we'll be using (glass is also an option but given that Andrew is #3, dont think having glass bottles around is a smart choice). They are Bisphenol-A Free.....

http://www.newbornfree.com/ProductInfo.aspx?id=1959185

There are other places - just do a google search for Bisphenol-A Free bottles

Happy 4th Month Bday Andrew!
(as of last Fri!)

Hard to believe how quickly this past month has slipped by. Our acceptanee paperwork is off to our agency in MN tomorrow and hopefully will be on it's way via some speedy courier on Wed. Sooo our anticipated paperwork to Korea date is early April. And at that point, we can begin to count down. Eastern the agency in Korea, seems (right now) to be taking an average of 12 weeks. Once our paperwork hits Korea, a number of things need to happen, including: it's translation, then:


For the children to travel 4 major things have to happen

1. receive I-600 approval (US side) which involves filing the "legals" with CIS
2. receive Emigration permit (Korean side)
3. child has visa physical
4. Child is issued immigration visa at the embassy to come to the USA


The first 3 things can happen in any order between referral and travel but they ALL have to happen before step 4 can happen.

It also appears (and this is very different than with our two previous adoptions) that the agencies are using a month to month quota of how many visas they issue/therefore dictating how many babies can travel. Sooo, still anticipating a June travel date... And we're fine with that, as we 've got lots to keep us busy til then.

The agency has indicated we might not get much more info on Andrew and that "no news is good news".. AND that's fine by me! Altho it would be very nice to have at least one more report given he was only a month old and sleeping all the time , in the first report. Sooo we'll hope!

If you are ADOPTING FROM GUATEMALA and you are with an agency or facilitator that is not HAPS or For This Child, PLEASE EMAIL THE FOLLOWING LETTER TO YOUR AGENCY. If you are NOT ADOPTING but you have a blog, please POST THIS REQUEST ON YOUR BLOG.

_________________________________________

Dear [agency-name],

If your agency has a case in process that contains a Guatemala City cedula or birth-certificate that is missing the Civil Registry signature (usually the mayor's signature), we have important information to share.

According to PGN, if your case has not yet received a previo for the missing signature, it will. The letter from the Civil Registry and/or the Mayor of Guatemala City is no longer sufficient to satisfy the previo. The four PGN assessors have made a joint decision that these unsigned documents MUST be signed. However, at this time there is NO ONE in Guatemala City with the authority to sign these documents!

We are Cheri xxxxxx and Erin xxxxxx, in process of adopting Guatemalan babies through For This Child and HAPS, respectively. After many months working on this issue separately, our agencies are now collaborating to find a solution. They have discussed this with the PGN reviewers, Barrios, and the Mayor of GC directly. The conclusion is that the mayor does NOT have the authority to sign a document issued under another mayor's tenure. Therefore, we must file an acta with a different branch of PGN that will require the Civil Registry of GC to 1) designate and authorize a person to sign these documents, and 2) order that person to do so.

The PGN reviewer on Erin's case currently has 12 cases that have been kicked out for this reason. If all 8 reviewers have a similar number of cases, that means 80-100 cases are in this same predicament! We have been advised to find as many of these other cases as possible so that we can ALL file the acta together. We have strength in numbers.

If you have, or know of, a case that contains a Guatemala City cedula or birth-certificate that is missing the Civil Registry signature, please contact:

Karla Ordonez, with HAPS: cell 5555-3610, office 2332-9040
Traci Orr, with For This Child: US #214-370-8436, traci@forthischild.org

Thank you for your time,

Cheri and Erin

cheri@verdendinteractive.com

HERE'S SOME MORE INFORMATION RE: BILL AND COMPOUNDED MEDICINE

You can also get more info at :

compoundingfacts.org

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to look at this, send a ltr to your political official: REALLY appreciate it. It truly impacts so many people.. AND as the compoundingfacts.org site says, it's CRUCIAL for sick animals. I spoke with my vet this AM and he indicated that he does in fact use compounding for a lot of stuff. Sounds like the professional org for Vet Medicine

A small but powerful group of senators is considering legislation that would severely restrict and possibly deny your access to critical medications. Act today to protect patient access to compounded medicines!

If this legislation passes, federal regulators, not your doctor, will decide what medicines you can take. Do you really want to leave your customized medicine needs in the hands of bureaucrats in the government?

The so-called Safe Drug Compounding Act of 2007 would, among other things:

• Broadly eliminate the availability of many critical, commonly compounded medications that many patients rely on, such as bioidentical hormones for women, hospice care treatments for the terminally ill and customized medicines for children.
• Allow the federal government to determine when compounded medicines are needed - a decision that has always been and should always be made by doctors.
• Restrict the compounded medications your doctor can prescribe even if he or she determines you need them.

Pharmacy Compounding is...

the long-established tradition in pharmacy practice that enables physicians to prescribe and patients to take medicines that are specially prepared by pharmacists to meet patients’ individual needs.

Compounded Medicines are a Vital Part of Quality Medical Care

A growing number of people have unique health needs that off-the-shelf prescription medicines cannot meet. For them, customized, compounded medications prescribed or ordered by licensed physicians or veterinarians and mixed safely by trained, licensed compounding pharmacists are the only way to better health. Compounding is in even greater demand for treating animals because of the relatively narrow selection of medicines that are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies.

Pharmacists are the only health care professionals that have studied chemical compatibilities and can prepare alternate dosage forms. In fact, each state requires that pharmacy schools must as part of their core curriculum instruct students on the compounding of pharmaceutical ingredients.

Compounding pharmacies are licensed and regulated in the 50 states and the District of Columbia by their respective state boards of pharmacy.

Because every patient is different and has different needs, customized, compounded medications are a vital part of quality medical care.

The basis of the profession of pharmacy has always been the "triad," the patient-physician-pharmacist relationship. Through this relationship, patient needs are determined by a physician, who chooses a treatment regimen that may include a compounded medication. Physicians often prescribe compounded medications for reasons that include (but are not limited to) the following situations:

• When needed medications are discontinued by or generally unavailable from pharmaceutical companies, often because the medications are no longer profitable to manufacture;
• When the patient is allergic to certain preservatives, dyes or binders in available off-the shelf medications;
• When treatment requires tailored dosage strengths for patients with unique needs (for example, an infant);
• When a pharmacist can combine several medications the patient is taking to increase compliance;
• When the patient cannot ingest the medication in its commercially available form and a pharmacist can prepare the medication in cream, liquid or other form that the patient can easily take; and
• When medications require flavor additives to make them more palatable for some patients, most often children.

Also, compounding is extremely important to the veterinary community, which often requires more flavors, dosages and potency levels than commercially available medications supply.

CALL OUT FOR HELP FROM ALL MY BLOGGER FRIENDS (of course only if you agree!)

I'm not one to get political in public generally speaking.. We all have our viewpoints. BUT when it's personal: my kids, and/or related to medicine (since that's my profession) I can stand with the best of em' and fight/scream like crazy. If you wouldnt mind reading this, I'd so appreciate it!

We are following a protocol that in the autism spectrum world is called "Bio-medical " intervention. The goal is to look at each child's underlying chemistry thru a series of labs, and treat the biology of autism. Yes, we who know our children and have seen what bio-med intervention can do, understand that "Autism" is a biological illness, not a syndrome. It is very possible to treat it's underlying causes, NOT just the symptoms (often with drugs from the big Pharm. companies, which essentially often drug the children... DONT get me wrong, these are sometimes needed, but it frustrates me when nothing else is explored and/or the parents are told that their child will always be how they are.... learn to live with it!)

In the world of bio-medicine, many of the interventions are holistic... We're talking looking at vit/mineral deficiencies, etc. Simple things such as adding Omegas or Zinc can help with Hyperactivity. Vitamin B-12 also has helped incredibly with attentional issues. AND THIS IS WHERE THE PROB LIES AND FOCUS OF THIS ENTRY! Vitamin B12 is not absorbed well via the oral route. The best way is in the form of sub-Q injections and of late, a nasal spray has been formulated.

MANY OF THESE BIO-MED INTERVENTIONS ARE COMPOUNDED AT SPECIALTY COMPOUNDING PHARMACIES.....I'm not sure where this (the Bill) all started, but lets just say that after years working in Nursing case management during the Big Managed Care era, I supsect big PHARM is not happy with the money their losing. Kids are being cured - AND I kid you not.. can send you to several sites if you want more info.. on something as simple as B-12. I'm attaching a note below, written by Dr. Jaqueline McCandless (I swear she's my hero.. I feel like I got my kids back due to reading her book).. She's put out an urgent plea as there's a Bill that very well may pass if folks dont protest. She is the author of the book above "Children with Starving Brains" - an incredible book if you know of anyone dealing with a child on the Spectrum (including ADD/ADHD) ....Unfortunately many politicians wont ever understand the intricacies of bio-med and the wonderful work it's done with so many children unless folks write in. I REALIZE MOST OF YOU PROB DONT HAVE KIDS ON THE SPECTRUM.. but it's about more than that....hormone replacement therapy..... we had specialty antibiotic mixture formulated at the pharmacy we use (our standard pharmacy couldnt do what we wanted) when Ellie was septic and VERY, VERY ill about 18 months ago. This is a kid you can't get meds into. It still was hard, but the compounding pharmacy we use gave me the antibiotic in every flavor under the sun so I could try to mix with juice. Longs looked at me like I was crazed!

Bottom line, it's the DAMN principal of the thing. I dont want politicians who dont know shit from shinola telling me that only big Pharmco can provide what I need/desire for my kids. Oh, another thing, big pharmco puts a bunch of crap in all their meds. ELLIE CANT TAKE THEM... she's allergic! Can Longs simply mix something for me? NO WAY... that would be too convenient. When your kid is running a 104/105 temp, dehydrated as all get out and passing out in your arms, you want the right drugs NOW.. not when x,y, z can be shipped. Yet another time I relied on our compounding pharmacy and told Longs to go jump in a Lake (no offense to Longs BTW... they were just who we were using at the time.. I still think they're lousy and we've changed, but they simply represent standard x,y, z pharm out there)

Sorry.. this probably makes no sense, but many of you know a little bit of our story and hoping you can piece this together. Just makes me soooo sick. After Soo Hee died and we stopped Bio-med, Ellie tanked SOOOO badly. We knew at that point how great it had worked for her. When I re-started her on one of the things: LDN... I absolutely couldnt believe the explosion and return of her language.. My dd interacts and wants to chat about things, she's cracking jokes (bad ones, but hell she's 5 and I'm damn proud of her for trying).... it's the best her communication has been in a long time (this is one drug I actually stopped for many reasons well before Soo Hee died, so I've been thrilled at seeing the return of so much function).... Anyway, I do believe this is a basic right for all of us and while many of you dont use this type of thing, or dont think you ever will.... you never know... AND I promise you, you'll be pissed if you cant have that basic right. Sooo please, if you feel inclined, write your political reps.... I can NOT begin to tell you how many folks this effects and again, if any of you want more info I can even direct you to some WAY cool videos from various DAN (Defeat Autism Now) conferences where "recovered " children were interviewed... yep "recovered" (granted most started very young) but it's heart-wrenching to see where these kids sank to... but they came out of it..

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING IF YOU GOT THIS FAR!!

Dear Listmates: THIS IS POLITICAL ACTION WE
ABSOLUTELY MUST TAKE - this bill proposed by Kennedy
et al stands to be the most serious threat yet to the
ability of doctors and parents of autistic children to
continue to obtain MB-12 (nasal or injections), LDN,
detoxification agents such as DMSA and DMPS,
secretrin, transdermals such as NAC, TTFD, ALA, GSH),
etc etc. (Not to mention bio-identical natural
hormone replacement and many other extremely important
health items that have to be compounded).

This is clearly written to benefit pharmaceutical
companies, which is also behind the move to restrict
or eliminate many of our vitamin-nutrient compounds.
We have to become activists to protect our children;
it would be devastating to not be able to get many of
these compounds that are helping kids to an
unprecedented degree now. PLEASE go to

http://www.iacprx.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Action_Alert


and send in your protest to this bill. This is not
the time to be passive or assume others will take care
of it. I have inside information that this is very
likely to happen unless they get overwhelming protest
from the American public, and even then we may not be
able to prevail, but we must try. Thank you!

AND CAN'T FORGET:

A HUGE WHOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO TO SEEGAL, FAMILY AND ABBY FOR THE OUT CALL!!

SOOOOO happy for you all!!! Just can NOT wait to see that gorgeous girl in your arms forever!! :)

A VERY Happy Birthday to my sweet Hubby!! :)
He took the day off today and we had a very relaxing one! He showed me what he wants for his bday....he's always been big on the boy toys. BUT to give him credit, it would be a swap of sorts. Because he wants to trade his current fishing boat for another that's a bit more family oriented (gotta love the guy :) !!) His current boat is worth a bit due to the fact that it's got a commercial salmon permit on it, which can't be obtained anymore. Of course the moment we bought this boat, the salmon season seemed to drain away little by little. I think our accountant is amazed we havent been audited to Holy Hell, the kinds of consistent losses we post. BUT bottom line is that with the decrease in fishability (since dh just fishes when he's off from main job), he spends more time upkeeping the boat than playing with it. He can't even use it to go and recreational fish for items where he's got a license and that really irks him (me too! :) Sooooo, we're considering it. Trying to come to terms with the dealer, but it looks like it maybe an across the board swap. Will attach pics below. NOt much happening on the adoption front.. Going to complete acceptance paperwork this week and have back for gal to send to Korea early next week. Still thinking of an end of June travel date (when the heat and humidity - as it's rainy season - is at it's highest in Seoul :( All ok tho.. no complaints.. just keep praying our baby boy stays healthy and safe. OK so here are photos:

It's got a great platform on the back if we want to do stuff in a lake around here

And the kitchen below, is pretty functional given it's small size.. burners under cutting board

And for any of you who boat.. well having a functional bathroom is just REALLY nice!! :) complete with magazine rack and all!

The back from this pic (or actual front of boat) is all bed area with storage underneath.. but the dining table lowers to a platform such that additional cushions create a second sleeping area

Well it Looks Like:

our acceptance paperwork for Andrew will most likely hit Korea by early April. And that's fine. The gal with our agency is going on a much-deserved vacation and wont be back til 3/27.. so our paperwork will go to Korea shortly thereafter. The big difference for us now in predicting travel time vs. with Alex and Ellie is that with the two of them, there was a yearly quota of how many kids could travel and now there's a monthly quota of how many children can travel. I believe this is all part of the new regulations that Korea has put in place to begin significantly reducing the numbers of children referred for Int'l Adoption.

The guesstimate from paperwork hitting Korea til travel call is 12-16 weeks. However, past history (i.e. last summer) seemed to have more like 8 week referral to travel timeframes. Again, tho, things seem much different since the first of the year. We're tempted to (attempt or) do our garage conversion (we're adding 2 bdrms in garage) prior to his homecoming but much will depend on how fast we can get permitting in place. We're fine with the wait, but it's just always hard having the "unknown " hanging above your head.. .. BUT this is a wonderful unknown!!

Here is Andrew's Quilt!

It felt so great to finish this this weekend. We're so excited to get him home. This is an "I Spy" quilt and def. much different than the very girly, filled with roses type things I've sewed of late. I did this mostly in flannel and new chenille and was surprised at how much it all pulled (not the chenille as I'm used to that but the flannel). It's about 3' square. My idea of "quilting" is generally doing the bare minimum, so DONT look too closely :) Not much quilting there. BUT if it's got memories and keeps you warm, I dont really care. Ellie helped in the memories dept yesterday. After a few chocolate chip cookies she decided to give the quilt a little bit of love! Yep chocolate all over...Def added to it in the "memory " dept!! :)

BTW, the one in the original photo montage was NOT one I made - I could never accurately cut all those 2" squares - NO way, NO how.. Got off ebay and sending to him in Korea prior to homecoming! Wish I could say I was that good - BUT no way.... maybe someday - long into retirement I suspect!! :)

Thx to Ginger and Mary... so appreciate your feedback. I truly want to know what everyone thinks.....HONEST opinions only! Thx sooo much you two... I'm working on Andrew's Quilt, and had truly forgotten how much fun getting ready for a baby boy is :)

My "vintage circus/clown" fabric was unfortunately too vintage - LOL!! just didnt feel good using it in his quilt. Soooo his quilt is now an "I Spy" quilt .. My kids love "I spy".. and I think it'll be cute... I've def. learned that I HATE sewing flannel and this has got to be probably my most uneven quilt ever, but ironically doesnt look it (DONT look too closely ! :) So hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post the quilt. Thx again you two.... would love to hear from others!! Take care everyone!

OK Everyone! Here he is!! AND need opinions, Pls!!

I've been told by our agency that he's ours and it's ok to share! Yay!!

I did this photo montage. Many of you know our history. I've always been a lover of music and the onetruemedia.com stuff is so cool to me. I guess music just speaks to me, and I 've always said that these photo montages probably mean more to me than anyone. AND the great majority (not that I've done many) I could truly care a less what folks think.. they're my way of expressing my feelings (just like my blog). Ellies riding montage was probably WAY over the top melodramatic but that's how I was feeling at Christmas time. Feeling sad over Soo Hee not being here, compounded by both kids being sick, esp Ellie with some horrible skin stuff going on... the riding video was truly on the heels of all that and summed up many of me feelings. Again, I think that's what many of us do when we blog.

BUT this particular photo montage.... MORE than anything... my attempt was to try and introduce our son, but also to pay tribute/not forget (not that we ever would) about the dd we lost in getting to this point. So many of you adopting from Guatemala who read this blog, can unfortunately identify with the loss/potential loss of a child (I wish that werent true) probably way more so than folks adopting from Korea. Anyway, my Q to all of you is : did I achieve that goal and if not, what could I do to make that happen?

Even tho we lost Soo Hee (who was our dd's bio-sibling for those of you who dont know) she is still our dd. Andrew will be our 4th child. One child never replaces another. She will always be our dd and our children's sibling. She just wont be with us here. The Rose of Sharon is Korea's Nat'l Flower. The wonderful women from a Yahoo group I've been a part of for about 7 years (adopt-Korea-Christian) gave us this gorgeous plant as a Memorial to Soo Hee (thus my reference to it).

Anyway, I've been told today, that I can share. I wont do on any public boards just yet, cause this montage is not complete. I need to do the ending and need to do some minor editing. I also need to finish Andrews Circus/Clown Quilt which will replace the quilt in the last frame. Anyway, I'd just love your true feelings. If it's too sappy... I'll keep it for myself. It will always remind me of a time in our lives and have great meaning. I'm sooo NOT objective in this and therefore truly would love your feedback. Again, my greatest concern is not that it's "sappy" per se, but that it does extraordinary justice to Soo Hee's memory and yet doesnt look like Andrew was a quick replacement (hard words to even type yet some may think that... let them live in our shoes and they'll truly know that's not even within the realm of possibility).. thanks everyone!

Here's Link:

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

It's Official - his name That is!

Sweet baby boy, i.e. "Junior " according to Alex, will be Andrew Dong Hyeon, and will be Drew for short. My husbands' hesitance seems to come from the nickname "Andy" which I personally love, but he does not... and that's fine. I love the name Andrew for many reasons, one being the many ways it can be used. Being a "Leigh" with nowhere to go, growing up... well you'll notice that all of our kids have names they can change - do what they want at some point if they choose, including using their Korean names (their middle names are their Korean names) if they want.. And we wanted this little ones name to be in the same kind of context as Alex and Ellies' (Alex is Alexander of course, Ellie is Elisha or Elle).

Our agency has made it sound like just about everything is ready and hopefully next week we'll sign formal acceptance papers. And then hopefully soon thereafter, we'll be "official" and can share the few pics we have. Sounds like the pics we get as part of the official referral/acceptance pack which will be the same but original /better quality, may provide a better picture of our sweet boy sitting in his FM's lap. The one we've got now is a grainy "pdf" and his hair blends with the colors in her top and it's hard to see any detail. Those of you who only get a few pics will completely understand how those two pics are like GOLD... and we want all the details. I now soooo realize how dang spoiled we were with Alex/Ellie and Soo Hee (thank you God! I will forever treasure the many pics we got of her) and SWS and the huge numbers of photos we got. It sounds like we'll get one more update before he's ready to come home. I suspect that's the typical Eastern "Throne" picture!

Anyway, I think I've lost yet another day. I'm just very excited. I know we're still a long ways away from coming home and that's ok. As Peg said today (she's our SW with Children's Home).. "while it's hard to hear, no news is good news from Korea" ... I'd been asking about updates. AND as I replied to her.. I do truly think that I will enjoy this referral/waiting to travel period in a completely different way. Everyday our local social worker doesnt show up on our doorstep with bad news is a day to celebrate. Of course remind me of that into June when I may be frothing at the bit :)

The Loot!!

While shopping for baby boys is a tad bit more of a challenge (IMHO, just not as much cute stuff out there as there is for girls), I had so much fun finding some of this stuff. This is probably my only major purchase and will be searching for inexpensive baby boy lots on ebay from here on out or doing trade. BUT I wanted him to have a few things that are just for him. And I got in on the tail end of the HA (hanna andersson) sale - yay! LOVE, love their organic cotton! Sooo here it is:











I was so excited to find this old-fashioned chatterbox phone. Ellie fell in love with my friends' kids.. It had been hers growing up. The beauty of large basements and attics as her parents saved so much of her baby stuff to pass on down.

AND pls excuse my carpets - they're gross... I think I positioned stuff nicely and they're clean/well-vacummed but def stained. I just gave up on the constant cleaning when I learned about all the chemicals in the cleaning stuff (Ellie is so sensitive to it). Sooo I keep thinking, having to look at the spots will get us to rip it up faster (we're doing hardwood, and I'll never have wall to wall carpets again! YAY... can't wait).. AND hopefully by the time baby is home - better be or I will def. break down and get them cleaned!

OH, and in one of the pics - the blue all in one... another FAV brand - Zutano... hard to find anymore, esp in larger sizes....

OK, know you all love those PICS....

so here are a few recent purchases.......I've already done a post on how much I love this ebay seller's chenille bibs.. they're fantastic... AND given that we live at the beach - very appropriate!! I'm also in love with the french - French brands that is: Catimini and Deux par Deux are two of my favs.... Catimini makes the sweetest, padded baby rompers... I was looking for a few things that might be appropriate for a 13 hour plane ride home (when it's blistering hot in Seoul and yet cool on the plane)......

more to come in next few days

So much going on.....

and I have to apologize as my blog is pretty boring.. kind of my way to put into words, my thoughts at the end of the day. I mentioned homeschooling in one of my posts long ago and have been spending MUCH time researching. I have to say I'm thrilled I've done this because it disspelled many erroneous visions I had of what "homeschooling looks like"... One of my Korean adoption groups actually started a Christian based homeschooling yahoo group and it's been so great learning from all the wonderful women in that group (and they've been so patient with me). Anyone homeschool out there - want to share?

However I continue to be very torn. I've gotten the K sign-up packet for Ellie and have signed her up. The District will vote next month as to whether they take "transfer" students. If they dont, I will be homeschooling both, as the local school is not an option for either of my children (not a bad school, just not good for them). I was however very pleased with Ellie's potential/hopeful new school in that they very much acknowledged understanding that she'd be coming in on an IEP and that they'd send their special ed person to her transitional IEP (which they dont have to do).. Really made me feel good. AND if we get her in, I'm tempted to give things one more year. She's going to need at least a part-time aide, ST and OT. That in addition to her private ST which we'll never give up (working on much more global things than school ST) and therapeutic riding.

We may have the funds to do our garage conversion in the near(er) future than I thought. So the idea of homeschooling two very different children, having a new baby at home and working on a remodel - well... just a tad, kind of overwhelming. Good thing that with each child, I've been able to let a LOT go.. well actually - NOW things are just lost! Except the dust buffalos which haunt my home and dreams :) If anyone needs help with "letting the laundry go"... or not "mopping everytime the kitchen is a tad dirty".... come on over...

AND yet I'm somewhat of a hippocrit.. You should see my "to do " list of things to accomplish before Junior (his name til we figure one out) arrives.. including painting three rooms, putting hard wood down in two rooms (guess who is doing the work - yep yours truly)... ripping out part of a bathroom and redoing (dry rot )..... Yes this is all while dealing with Ellie's transitional IEP, whether to homeschool next Fall (and may not have a choice) taxes and 2 of our businesses... oh and yep... have to renew my nursing license as well (oh joy!) - which means a good chunk of time devoted to a HS module to get all my units.... as well as getting ready for baby. Must admit tho.. I've done this everytime we've adopted. Love to pile it on, cause a lot gets done and that travel call seems to come way before I'm ready (not emotionally... but r/t the "to do" list)... Any bets on how much will truly get done?? Come on tax refund... we need a good one this year!!

So we shall see... I'm guesstimating that we'll have the "official " referral/acceptance packet on Junior next week sometime hopefully. BUT in the meantime, if anyone is dying to see him - email me and I'll send you his pic. The agency rules are r/t not plastering baby's photo on large list-serves for confidentiality purposes til they're technically yours. Getting excited to work on his quilt - before I dump much of my stash.... gonna be a vintage fabric clown/circus... Cath Kidston spotty fabric and vintage chenille mix... We'll see .. hopefully will turn out.. I'm soooo used to working with pink!

AND hopefully tomorrow or by weekend, will post some of the new baby clothes - they're soooo cute!!

OK, I've got a Confession - you know I can't keep my own SECRETS!! :)

Let's just say the pink background on my blog will soon need to be changed.. the clothes I recently posted for baby from Guatemala have already been sent back! Yep, I suck at keeping secrets, but for the few of you loyal followers - thought I'd give you a little something cause it could still be a bit longer before we're truly able to divulge more...

On kind of a cute/funny note.. .. as foreign languages occasionally have their difficulty in translation..... our little guy's Korean name is "Dong Hyeon".... so not the best name to keep around for the long term and working on the name. I want to name him Andrew (using Drew for short) - what do you think? "Dong Hyeon" will remain his middle name. It 's not pronounced how we'd pronounce it here, but still....

This is a new agency to us and we're still working on their preliminary application paperwork. The secondary paperwork I'm doing now is related to "transracial parenting" and have to admit it's probably a good refresher. But still, more paperwork.... all the different ways we honor our child's heritage - what "exactly" do we do? So besides being very open and talking about our child's birthcountry; making Korean food ; attending Korean events.... what else do we do? We have a Korean school nearby but Alex thusfar has refused to attend and I havent wanted to force the issue. It's on Saturdays, to teach Korean heritage to children born to Korean -Americans here in US, as well as Korean adoptees. How I'd love for him to go. He's got such a knack for language (and I'd sooo love for him to learn Hangul in case he ever wants to move to Korea) - but, thusfar....... cross that off our list - but glad it's at least an option - hopefully new baby will be interested (at 5,6 the idea of going to school without a fight on Saturday isnt too terribly interesting - what do you all think? I havent wanted to force the issue)....

Alex (and I mention him because Ellie's disability makes it difficult to fully analyze her take on her birth country - she's just now getting that she was born in Korea).....has the opportunity to participate in Kuk Sul Won - the Korean martial art which is similar to Tai Kwon doe, but again, doesnt have much interest.. hoping to encourage again this summer..

Anyway, while we have many opportunities and I feel Alex for one, really needs this (I know his background/culture is VERY important to him and yet know this needs to be a delicate balancing act where he's concerned)... I dont know.. at the moment, I'm not feeling very confident in how I can "provide my child with education on their culture"...I know I can, yet feel many of my attempts of late with my current children have been thwarted.... Any thoughts???

Once thats done and our HS agency sends our HS, we should be able to accept the "official referral " and sign "acceptance papers"....

FIRST a HUGE shout OUT!! Yes... OUT.. GINGER and Maya are out of PGN... WhOO HOO!! Made my day and what an incredibly wonderful surprise, I suspect on many fronts. Ginger is in Guatemala with Maya right now. This woman SOOOOO deserves this.. so does Maya.. It's been a long-time coming.. that Ginger has been waiting to be a full-time mama... Can't wait to see the day you're united forever Ginger!! Big hugs!!



On our front:



NEW Stash ARRIVED today!!

And no time for pics - sorry!! BUT for any of you who havent discovered this cool online store - check it out:


http://www.oliebollen.com

This is def. another one of those "we only shop their sales, or for REALLY special occasion sites".. BUT man oh man.... I'm such a product of the 60's.. I just love some of the cool, retro toys that you can only find beaten up on ebay, or if your parents had it together and kept for you (or places like this).. I'm talking the old fashioned, Fisher Price Chatterbox, pull-phone??? Anyone??? OR am I just THAT flippin' old?? probably am! Anyway check it out when you get a chance and I'll post pics when I can!

More Spring Stuff, including
SPRING ClEANING!

Well I'm getting into that Spring Cleaning mood! Perhaps the weather, perhaps the ol' nesting thing. Additionally, I want to sell some stuff on ebay/Craigs list to help with some of our adoption expenses. I wasnt going to mention as I dont want my blog to be an avenue to "sell" stuff - NOT my intention, but I will post when I list some stuff as I'm going to be getting rid of a bunch of baby girl stuff that was never worn. Stuff that's still fairly stylish I think... Anyway, just in case you're looking for a deal on stuff!!

Going thru Ellie's diagnosis (and I know you can all relate to shopping and stress) I WAY overdid it on girly, frilly things for her.. Just not our lifestyle and not HERS! BUT we've got so much that it's just time to weed out...... AND again wasnt going to say anything cause dont want anyone even to feel like they should look, but then yesterday I got some great pics after the first ones I posted in the afternoon. It truly helps to illustrate - we're just NOT a frilly family :) OK, OK.. yes she will always have a few very girly things and she loves dressing up... but like I said I went WAY overboard! So here are pics of my not so very frilly girl and other fun moments from yesterday!

It started with making a "wishing well" in my garden (good thing I havent planted yet)!!

Gotta make some mud pies!

Played on the jungle gym at end of gorgeous sunny day! Unfortunately today, doesnt look nearly as promising!

A Beautiful Spring Day, and other Misc Ramblings :)

Well today was haircut day! We've got this awesome kids' hair place in town, complete with video games, movies, etc... They do a great job on the kids' hair and the kids usually dont even realize their hair has been cut by the time we have to leave! Love it...

So I shot some pictures of Alex and Ellie messing around today, after their haircut. Ellie is and always has been such a flower girl! She really needs to get that title in someone's wedding (altho that could be truly interesting given her APD issues).. BUT from the time she was a baby... if she could.. she'd crawl to wherever the flowers were and just sit! She often gets off the bus after school with a half dead buttercup for mom!!

Hoping you're all having a great weekend!

Adoption Stuff


First a BIG shout out: CONGRATS to my friend Sherri whose been in this process WAY too long.. right up there with Steph/Amelia: THEY're out of PGN - Whooo HOO!!!!. Her dd will be one year if I'm calculating correctly this month. Sherri.. I'm SOOOOO happy for you!! Go get your precious Molly. Can't wait to see her in your arms!!

and wanted to share a tad more about
Adopting from Korea!

The process of adopting from Korea is extremely predictable. Often the greatest frustrations are on the US side of things dealing with a slow CIS ... US Embassy in Korea and Korean agency is saying "this baby is ready to go - where's your I600 approval?" What a dream, right?? It is... Truly it is.. BUT I do want to clarify a few things....

Korea wants to halt adoptions and they will soon. Korea is a nation equipped to deal internally with it's own children, BUT unfortunately public sentiment hasnt kept up with this notion. On 1/1/07 , Korea instituted some MAJOR changes to the way adoptions will happen from now on. Children born after 1/1/07 will be available for domestic adoption for approx 5 months prior to being available for international adoption. So children will be no less than 7/8/9 months when they arrive home. A change given that many were arriving between 3-6 months this past year and before. This is a change that NEEDS to happen. I support it wholeheartedly.. BUT like anyone involved in the adoption community, don't want to see helpless children/babies caught in the middle of stuff. Fortunately , Korea has always been pretty black and white - well as long as we've been involved , in terms of what's going to happen. There is now a system set up and while there are some unanswered questions like what "special needs might make a child available for referral sooner"..? for the most part, at this point, most referrals by most agencies are shut down, to allow babies that 5 month aging process (open to domestic adoption)..

Many have commented that the process is "quick"... AND for us it always has been. We've used agencies with quick referral times/ quick travel times and lady luck has also been on our side. BUT I want to disspell any general feeling that all Korean adoptions are this quick.. Cause it's not true. Depending on which agency you use stateside, the agency in Korea varies. What folks dont realize is that unlike most countries, Korea is so particular - it only works with a handful of US agencies SOOOO if you live in a certain state, you maybe limited as to who you can work with. Again, we've been extraordinarily fortunate and have had several options.

BUT many dont.. So while the time from acceptance papers to Korea (which we're waiting for - hopefully next week,) officially starts your "waiting for travel call" which is usually 12-16 weeks worst case scenario (we travelled 8 weeks and 11 weeks post acceptance papers before)... Many... I mean MANY folks... and I'll start a separate line for this


WAIT up to 24 months for a referral.. Soooooo while we've been extraordinarily fortunate, Korean adoption certainly has it's own share of frustrations. I personally dont know that I could wait 24 months for a referral, but if I had to.. who knows???

Anyway, I just wanted to disspell any potential myths that Korean adoption is the easy/fast way to go... Like I said (I will kiss the ground)..... we've been SOOOOOO fortunate (Thank you GOD!!).. and I pray that this adoption goes smoothly. BUT if baby comes home older /something is delayed... I will be sad and frustrated (you all remind me ok?) BUT you know after one baby has died.... let me tell you... I will be SOOOO DAMN happy everyday I DONT get bad news. I've instructed my social worker - NO more late night appearances on my porch steps - NOT allowed. Of course I'm already nervous cause this little one was a preemie but hopefully RSV is almost done for the season....I know I'm gonna be a mess about the time baby is 4 months (height of SIDS.. and again this one is a preemie - increased risk... Soo Hee had NO risk factors - ugh)

Hopefully I can share more soon... I'm so excited to share pictures - ALL of 2!! This is yet another big-time difference with Korea... With our last agency (for Alex, Ellie and Soo Hee) at least we got like 10 photos for the first set.. I've got 2 NOT very great photos ... but it's good... I certainly can see that given preemie factor, baby is doing quite well. And ok.. I'm perhaps a sicko, but use my photo programs to enlarge pics to try and see fine details - even grainy as they are... and this little one has the most beautiful features... just has a face that still needs to be grown into - that preemie thing! Ok done rambling for the day!! Take care everyone


Oh, and on a PS note, while we're no longer adopting from Guatemala, I think I wasted my entire day today, waiting for news on the Protocolo... I'm so pleased that things seem to be at status quo for the moment. I'm so praying for all of you in process ... PLEASE know that just cause we 've changed countries ......well I think I still cruise more Guatemala forums/lists etc. than I do Korea.. I continue to be concerned for all the babies and folks in Guatemala who want/need this system to work the way it's supposed to...Take care everyone!