Happy Birthday to Me (A Bit Early...)

Even though Miss Maggie's birthday isn't until February, she received a little surprise package in today's mail from our good friends Hayley, Mike and Piper! Since Maggie had kind of a rough week (getting over a stomach bug), she got to open the presents early.

Maggie with her presents, waiting so patiently for Mommy to find the camera -took FOREVER!

Oh My Gosh - I Love this Dress! Perfect for the spring!

A new game to play! AWESOME!

Thanks so much, guys! As Maggie said, "You are the BEST EVER!!!" Many hugs!!

Adoption website

During our trip in China, I will be posting to another website - www.babyjellybeans.com. I have heard of other families not being able to access Blogger abroad, and I didn't want anyone to miss a minute of our trip. So, here is the website:

http://www.babyjellybeans.com/web/do/site/home?ID=311050

I'll be posting on both sites up until we travel, and then through Baby Jellybeans on the trip. So keep checking our updates!

Our journey starts

Our plane tickets are booked! We leave on Valentine's Day, fly to Newark and then catch a plane to Hong Kong. We will be coming home on February 28, with Ethan in our arms and home forever! Only 3 weeks to go!

One Step Closer!

WE GOT OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL!

Next step - we need to get our Consulate Appointment verified and then we can start booking our plane tickets. Hope to have this done by the end of the week, but tentative leave date is set for February 14. Bad part is - we will miss Maggie's birthday, but we are going to try to celebrate this either before we leave or when we get back. So for now - we start getting our packing list together! Holy crow - THREE WEEKS TO GO!

And it continues...

We still are waiting to hear about traveling to China. Our agency called us Friday afternoon, which made my heart jump into my throat when I saw their phone number on Caller ID! But, it was just to get some pre-travel information. However, they did say that we will probably be leaving February 14, and coming home on the 28th or 29th. So we can at least narrow the dates down! We should hear something for sure this week. I am starting to look at flights now - and all I can say is "OUCH!" The airfares are pretty expensive. But it is all worth it in the end - we will have our new son in three weeks!

The Best Thing in the World (according to Maggie)

My girl loves herself some Play Doh. Normally, she can't stop talking for 5 seconds, much less give me a minute to get something done around the house. But - when I get her Play Doh out - all bets are off! I can get at least an hour's worth of work done - I LOVE THIS STUFF!

Snowman by Maggie

Elephant by Daddy

Dinosaur by Aunt Jennifer

Still Waiting...

We're still waiting to hear on when we get to travel to get Ethan... Hopefully we'll hear something within the next week or so, but it looks like we aren't going to until February. The days are just grinding to a halt for me right now... Somebody make it go faster so that we can go get our sweet boy!

Going Green, a little bit at a time

Okay, I'm going to stand on my soapbox for a few minutes.

After doing some cleaning and throwing things in our recycle bin, I couldn't believe how many catalogs we get each week. I'm talking at least 7 or 8 a week. I don't shop from a catalog - I'm an online shopper. But the by-product of my online shopping is getting put on companies' mailing lists, which then sends my information to other companies (although I always mark not to send my info - does this always happen? I don't think so.)

Today, I found a website that will hopefully help reduce the number of catalogs we receive. It is called Catalog Choice, and it is a FREE service that will contact companies that you don't want to get catalogs from anymore. You select which ones you want to keep getting, and which ones you don't need anymore. I am going to make an effort to enter in all of the catalogs I get this month in order to save a tree! How about you?

Update on Ethan!

Look what we got today from our agency! Doesn't he look so handsome? John is not impressed with the pink pants, but it's all good!

Ethan is now 9.5 KG, or 20 lbs and 27 inches tall. Maggie is 30 lbs and 36 inches tall, so he is catching up to her! He can stand while holding onto something, walk while holding something and take a few steps while being helped. I still don't know if he is crawling yet, but I love that he is trying to walk!

Hopefully we will get to travel at the end of this month, but we may have to wait until after Chinese New Year in February. China celebrates the new year for a week, and all offices are closed during this time. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we get to go this month!