Savoring the last few hours

What a whirlwind weekend it has been. I had such high hopes of relaxing over Thanksgiving break, but as it is drawing to a close, I found very little relaxation!
On Wednesday I went to Albany to visit Beth. We went to lunch and had a great time. Still no baby though! She thinks they will induce her on either Tuesday or Wednesday! We spent Thanksgiving at Aunt Sue's house. We had a nice time, and we ate WAY too much! We had planned to go out to NH after dinner, but we decided to head home instead. We spend Friday morning online looking for Black Friday deals. We ordered our crib! It was $100 off, and we really like it! We headed to NH in the afternoon and stayed there until Saturday night. We had fun playing board games with Dave's HS friends and visting with Dave's grandpa. Amanda and I went to Syrcause on Saturday as well. We went to the Everson Museum and had an awesome lunch at Dinosaur BBQ. I am glad to be home, on the couch, watching football! I can't believe it is back to work tomorrow =-(

Feeling Thankful

I know this post comes a day early, but I am full of thanks today that I thought I would write it a day early.
To begin with, we had our final home study meeting last night. Our SW is amazing, and we were able to talk about some tough topics without feeling like there was a right or wrong answer. While in a way, it is frustrating, but she just kept saying that we would know what to do once we know who our child is. I suppose all parents go through a similar obstacle course of what-ifs, but our SW pointed out that our agency is there for us for life and that we can always call and get advice on how to have the more difficult conversations around our child's adoption. I left the meeting with mixed feelings--both excited and nervous. She said that we would most likely be active by mid-December which is sooner than we thought. The whole not knowing when part is difficult for Dave and I because we both like to plan, and with adoption, it seems the only plan is to be ready or ready to wait indefinitely. I think we will be waiting for a while, but our SW said anywhere from 2 hours to 2 years is the time frame! She scared Dave when she told the story of the couple who was active and matched within hours. While I know this is the exception rather than the rule, I could see the anxiety on Dave's face. I am just feeling that we will be parents in God's time, whenever that might be!
Secondly, I am so excited for Thanksgiving and the time off that comes with it! I am off today, and have a lot of fun things planned. I am baking as I type, and then I will head out to the mall for a bit. I am one of those oddballs who enjoys window shopping this time of year. I do need to pick up a few things, but overall, it will be just looking. Later today I am heading down to Albany for lunch with Beth. Still no baby, but it will be great to visit with her again. I wish we lived closer because while we talk online every day, it is just not the same. As I said to Dave last weekend, I am missing my people more with each year that we are up here. I think it is a mixture of us starting a family and just feeling like I am missing out on precious time with my grandparents. The likelihood of us moving closer is contingent upon me finding a job that is further south. Part of me hopes that I will be able to do that once I have my 5-6 extension since I would love to teach younger students. I guess we will see where our lives take us.
Last but certainly not least, I am thankful for my health and the health of my loved ones. Everyday I am reminded of my surgery almost 16 months ago, and I am so thankful that I am healthy. God is good.

Ants in my pants

I am so antsy today, and it is annoying. I am sooo ready to have Thanksgiving vacation, and yet, the day is dragging! I have Girls on Track after school, which is good because I need to exercise, but bad because I want to go home. Tonight I am planning to watch Twlight with Andrea, and I am worried that Blockbuster won't have it due to New Moon's release last week.

Tomorrow is our final home study meeting, and I am so excited! It will be great to have another item checked off the list. Beth still has not had her baby yet! I am going to see her on Wednesday, unless she goes into labor that day! I assumed Baby Charlotte would be here by now, but nope! Hopefully soon!

Check!

Well we had our profile meeting last night, and I am so excited to see what R comes up with. She is such a talented gal, and I know she will do an amazing job! It is so great to have met so many wonderful people on this adoption journey.

We also booked our New Years Eve getaway to Vermont! Last year we found The Inn at Essex, part of a culinary institute, and we fell in love with it. Amazingly, they are offering the same package as last year, including a couples massage and free breakfast. YAY!

Anticipation

It is only Tuesday, and already the week is very hectic. In school life, grades are due today at noon, classes are goofy due to an assembly and career day, and next week is a 2 day week! The last part is only bad bc I want it to be Thanksgiving week already! Not to mention that Baby Charlotte is due this week AND we have 2 adoption appointments between now and Turkey Day. I hate it when I get in a mood like this bc I focus too much on the future and not enough on the here and now. I am also really looking forward to Christmas this year. As Pop always says, "Anticipation is 90% of the satisfaction." As frustrating as that is, he is right. I feel like we have so much good stuff coming down the line, and I want it to get here!

First Homestudy Meeting

Well, to put it plainly, it was a piece of cake! We went so crazy cleaning the house and mentally preparing, and it was so much more relaxed that we imagined. It did last almost 2 hours, and our next and final meeting will be 2.5 hours long. We mostly talked about the baby that we are hoping to adopt, and our SW allayed many of our fears. I think we always imagine the worst possible scenario, and she told us that most of the time, it is nowhere near worst case scenario. The good news is that our next meeting is in less than 2 weeks, and we are all done with paperwork! The next hurdle is our profile, but we have the text written and the photos selected. We meet with our designer-friend next week to get that started. It is hard to believe how fast this is all coming together. While the wait might be long, the process has been really manageable thus far. I am excited for the fun stuff yet to come, like decorating the nursery, shopping for furniture, and of course, the arrival of our little one.

Quick Update

I only have a few minutes before I need to get ready for school, but here is what is happening with us:
1. I signed up to go back to school to extend my English certification to include grades 5 and 6. I really enjoy my 7th graders, and I think I would also enjoy grades 5 and 6. The classes run on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings from January to March.
2. We have our home visit tomorrow with our social worker! I am nervous that the dogs won't behave, that the house isn't clean enough, etc. I know these are irrational fears, but they are nagging me nonetheless.
3. School is good. We have tomorrow off! We need to get our fingerprints re-scanned and then our meeting is at 1. I hope we will be able to do something fun like outlet shop or go to Saratoga to relax prior to the meeting. Here goes!

Bath Time

How cute are they?

Tuesday ramblings

Over the weekend, we supposedly gained an hour. While I know gaining an hour isn't really the most accurate way to describe what happened, on Sunday, it did feel that way. One extra hour of relaxing, of spending time with D, of reading, of watching football, of cooking a nice meal. However, now that I am back at work, time feels ever so short again. I really wonder how people who have children manage to put in a full day at work, maintain their homes, and have time to be a good parent! My guess is that, for us, the house work will fall to the wayside even more than it already is. I know it may not be realistic to give as much of our time once Baby G is here, but I hope that we can continue being good teachers. I worry that with parenting, we may use up all of our emotional bank account, and that our students may get short-changed. I guess we will cross that brige when we get to it, but it has been on my mind.

"I've got a feeling..."

What a great weekend! The weather was just perfect, minus a bit of rain on Saturday night. We started our Saturday off as usual, with pancakes and puppies. My neighbor called so we went for long walk with the dogs. Her family has a new puppy named Zoey, so after the walk, she came over for a play date. The dogs had fun, and we laughed so hard watching Zoey learn how to play. After that D and I did some yard work, ick. Luckily, the weather was so nice that I didn't even mind that much. We went down to Albany in the evening to visit B and M. We had a great time! We ordered in Thai for dinner and just hung out. It is hard to believe that Baby C will be here in just a few weeks! We took a LONG tour of the nursery, and you should have seen D's face as B was explaining everything. LOL, it was priceless!

Sunday was super-relaxing. I went to church at 8, and then we took Mattie and Fen downtown for the "Fall Festival." I am putting it in quotes because it wasn't really a festival. In fact, all we saw was a doggie costume parade! Talk about hysterical and pathetic all at the same time. It was good for out pups to socialize, but I seriously felt bad for those costume-wearing mutts. We walked around downtown and just enjoyed the day. We made Mattie and Fenny custom doggie biscuits at Dogdom, but they were not that interested in them. After that, we headed home for a wonderfully long afternoon/evening of football. I can't believe that tomorrow we will be back to school, but I love how relaxing this weekend has been.