So much to tell

This is a long one....so much news to tell.....

First and foremost I want to send my thoughts and prayers out to C(aka Mrs. Broccoli Guy). I hope you can bring your child home soon. Her news and continued wait to travel really makes me keep things in check...you never know what may happen in this process and have to hope for the best.

I am amzed at how many bloggers there are adopting from Vietnam. More and more are popping up everyday. I must update my links because I try to read all of them faithfully. My thoughts are with every one of these families. There are families at all points of the process - from traveling right now, waiting to travel, waiting for a referral, in the paperchase, and just starting the process. The Vietnam adoption program seems to grow everyday!

On with the update -

WORK
My week at work has been crazy. Although this quarter close has gone smoothly, my immediate boss is out of the office on vacation (arranged months ago) and there was another senior level VP who had a death in the family. What this meant was more work for me and I had to give a big presentation to Senior Management in their absense. The presentation was yesterday and went GREAT! I only have a few more deadlines and should see the light of day in the next week. Then it is cross your fingers nothing happens until we release our 10Q report for the SEC.

JT
On Wednesday night, JT decided to wake up from a dead sleep at 12:30AM and puke all over his crib. YUCK! Let's just say I am not very good at that...I can handle anything EXCEPT that. I called DH to the rescue and after about two hours, 3 changes of clothes, 2 baths, and new crib sheets on the bed, we finally got him back to sleep around 3AM. My guess is something he ate didn't agree with him (which happens to T) or he ate too much. T stayed home with him Thursday just in case. As it turns out, he was fine on Thursday.

JT EYE APPT
Since JT was feeling fine on Thursday, we did not cancel his his second opinion eye doctor appt. So, I got off work early and T and I both took him to the appt. The second doctor confirmed what the first said. Dr. G took the history. I told her how I even came about bringing him to Dr. #1 and had I had a correct history of my sister, we never would have come. Dr. G said it is a good thing since JT most definitely needs glasses. Dr. G's bedside manner was much better than Dr. #1. She took her time with JT and spent a great deal of time explaining to me what would happen if we did not put him in glasses. She told me stories of other children and that calmed my fears. She also mentioned that this may not correct itself (which is what Dr. #1 told me) and to be prepared for that. Honestly, I don't mind that JT needs glasses as long as he wears them. I fear he will get teased in school as he gets to grade school and that is going to be hard for him. No parent wishes that for their child. Anyway, Dr. G explained that they will always put a child in glasses if they are more than 4-5 diopters. She told me if we took him to 100 eye Drs., they would all say the same thing. So...my little guy got fit for glasses on Thursday. I have to admit, we did find some cute Disney frames (on sale). They come with a guarantee for one free replacement and you only pay 30% of the cost for replacements after that. Can you tell I am planning for these glasses to break? I can see JT taking the sides and bending them back and snaping them apart! LOL!

The glasses take about 7-10 days to get done. I paid $25 extra to have the lenses made as thin as possible for him. So....chalk up $194 for my son's first pair of glasses at just under the age of 2 1/2.

ADOPTION
I saved the best for last! On Thursday, as I was stuck in traffic trying to get home for JT's eye appt, I got a call on my cell phone (I love hands free calling). It was my SW from the agency. Our CANTS (Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System)clearance arrived! We have officially completed our home study and we have been approved to adopt!!! We are approved for a boy or girl, aged 0-12 months, or a sibling set of twins. The home study mentioned the younger the better! I got a copy of it on Friday! It is being sent out to USCIS on Monday!

I am being told my the agency that USCIS is taking approximately 6-8 weeks to process the I-171H form once they receive our home study. Once we have the I-171H in hand, we are placed on the waiting list for a referral. The estimate right now is our wait for referral can be 2-5 months since we did not specify gender. Right now, there are 70 people on the waiting list with our agency. 43 have requested girls. The travel time after referral is at 4-5 months right now. My agency says these times will probably increase, but I can only hope we can bring our newest family member home sometime in 2007!

T and I will get our USCIS fingerprints done next weekend. The plan was to do it today, but I have a Dr. appt. this morning, followed by going with my bridezilla of a SIL to her floral appt. for the wedding, and then a birthday party.

Life doesn't seem like it is going to slow down either which is good. It keeps me busy and not thinking so much about the adoption. Almost every weekend has something going on for us during the summer culminating in bridezilla's wedding on Sept. 2. I really need to thank her for screwing up our anniversary which is Aug. 31. We got married on Labor Day weekend also. Grrrr......

Thanks for reading. I know this was long. Give yourself a virtual oreo cookie!

Please know I read and try to keep up with alot of the blogs on my blogroll even if I don't always post a comment. I guess I am queen of the lurkers.