Thursday Mail Update

No immigration papers today, although it was a pretty fun mail day. A beautiful Asian baby doll I ordered arrived as well as two outfits I'd ordered for Rory. I did email our immigration office, and they said they would check into our paperwork because it should have arrived by now.

I'm beginning to think it might have been more restful to go to work today! Camden is feeling quite rambunctious after being cooped up in the house for several days. He is alternating between being a soldier, baseball player, police officer (complete with handcuffs and a walkie talkie), singing with his American Idol microphone (thanks again, mom), and being a firefighter. And he's walking around with a long beaded necklace on that I have no idea where it came from. It's pretty noisy around our house today.

Rough Morning

Well, it's only 7:06, but it's been quite a morning already. I realized about halfway through the day yesterday that I wasn't feeling well and thought I was probably catching what Camden and Brian had. I woke up this morning feeling awful and argued with myself the entire time I showered, got ready, etc. If I wouldn't have been home with Camden for the past two days, I definitely would have stayed home. To complicate matters even more Brian and Camden both are having snow days today because of the freezing rain. Yes, freezing rain. Our roads looked like a sheet of ice. So, I finally decided I better just suck it up and head off to work. I left about 6:30. After taking 10 minutes to drive about 2 miles and sliding all over the road, I turned around and came home, got into my sweats, put my hair in a pony tail, and I plan to stay on the couch all day long. I hate that I've missed 3 days of work, but they've sent work for me here at home, I check my email and voicemail regularly, and I've got plenty of sick days left, but only another month of so to use them up so I don't feel too bad. My boss is one of those very understanding and flexible kind of guys who has 2 small children at home himself so he was quite understanding when I called him this morning.

The good news is that Camden and Brian are feeling much better. Camden keeps saying, "I'm so sorry me and daddy made you sick." Camden told me that I better leave quick before my work called off school.

I remember reaching a certain point while we waited for Camden to come home where I just started to doubt it was ever really going to happen. The wait becomes so long and after a certain point, the ache just grows and grows and your child is never far from your thoughts. I am definitely at that point. I am struggling to stay positive and to not spend all my time in tears. At this point, nothing helps. Well, I take that back. If we could ever get the I600 in our hands, it would help momentarily.

I baked a chocolate chip pecan pie yesterday - my first ever. Camden kept saying, "mommy, this pie smells wonderfully." It was pretty good if I do say so myself. Definitely a comfort food.

I did scrap two pages yesterday, although even scrapping doesn't feel fun or therapeutic these days.

Wednesday

Camden is still not feeling well so I'm home again. He has a nasty, constant cough and stuffy nose so we decided to keep him home one more day. Fortunately for us, Camden is always a very good patient. His very sweet side comes out, and he's pretty snuggly. I think I may be coming down with the same thing, but maybe two quiet days at home with Camden will help me out as well.

Mail Update

No luck today. Maybe tomorrow! (wonder how long I can keep saying that)

My new Tuesday routine

Well, my new Tuesday routine is to stay home with a sick kid! Last week Camden woke up with a stomach bug, and today he woke up with a nasty cough and a fever. Since Brian was really sick all weekend, I'm not surprised that Camden caught it, but I was hoping we'd all escape! This has been a very easy winter for us, though. In fact, this is the first year that Camden hasn't had pneumonia at least once so we feel lucky.

There's not much else going on here. I did not scrap last night so there are no pictures or pages to share. At least by being home, I can check the mail early for our I600. I really thought that it would arrive yesterday, but no such luck!

Another Monday

It wasn't as hard as it usually is on Monday mornings to get moving this morning. I think I'm feeling like I'm on the home stretch. I'm trying to not focus so much on how much I want Rory home, but focus on enjoying the last weeks at work and the last weeks as a family of three. I'm trying anyway - we'll see how long it works.

Brian is still not feeling well at all. He has an awful cold. He even stayed home from church last night, and I'm pretty sure that's the first time he's ever "called in sick" for that! Camden threw a HORRIFIC two-hour (yes, seriously two hours) temper tantrum last night. Thank goodness he has outgrown that stage for the most part, because it was horrible. He can be so stubborn, but one of these days he'll learn that Mommy and Daddy are just as stubborn as he is and will always win.

This week is a pretty normal week for us. Brian has a faculty meeting after school today, but other than that, we're home every night, which will be nice.

I debated about putting this layout on my blog because of the picture, but decided it was too funny not to. We sent Camden in to get ready for his bath one evening, and when I came back to help him run water, I found him sitting on the toilet looking at a magazine. It was so funny, and I immediately ran for my camera. When I took this picture, he was so engrossed in the magazine that he didn't even realize that Brian and I were watching him.

16 months

Rory is 16 months old today. We are hoping and praying that we'll be with her when she turns 17 months old. And just in case you've forgotten how sweet she is, here's my favorite picture. We're still really hoping we get an update and new pictures this week.

Baby Andrew

Little Andrew made his entrance into the world at 12:25 p.m. yesterday. He weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz. and is 20 inches long. He is just beautiful! He is about 20 minutes old in these pictures. It was a precious experience to share with Kathy and her husband and mother, and I am so happy that I was able to do it.



We're keeping it pretty low key today. Brian is coughing up a lung every few seconds, and I've been battling the stomach flu since early Friday morning so hopefully a little rest will make us all feel better.

Posting early

I'm posting tonight instead of tomorrow morning because tomorrow will not be a typical Friday for me. My average Friday involves "sleeping in" until Camden gets up at 6:00 and then helping Brian and Camden out the door; grocery shopping; laundry, etc. But tomorrow, my Friday will involve witnessing my friend give birth to her son. And in order to do that, I'm leaving my house at 6:00 a.m. and that's way too early for me to try to blog. I was so excited when Kathy asked me if I wanted to be with her for Andrew's birth, but to be honest what I am feeling now is anxiety. I'm pretty sure that 13 years ago when Kathy and I met as college roommates we never imagined several things about our current situation: (1) that we would be working together, much less working together at the college we were attending; (2) that I would attend the birth of her third child! I am really looking forward to Andrew's birth, but there is a small part of me that is also dreading it. Dreading the reminder that there is a part of motherhood that I won't ever experience; the reminder that there are many months of my children's lives that I have no knowledge of. Of course, the beautiful thing about Kathy asking me to be with her is that she didn't ask me because she needs the support or coaching (heaven knows I'd never be the right choice for that!), but that she knows this is as close as I'll probably ever get to experiencing a birth, and she wanted to share it with me.

Anyway, didn't really mean to ramble on about that! But that's where I'll be tomorrow. So say a prayer for Kathy and Jamie and baby Andrew tomorrow morning.

No I600 in the mail today, but I'm not worried. Two other Tennessee families using the same agencies received theirs this week and their approval came a day or two ahead of ours so I'm sure ours will follow in another day or two.I'm not sure if the quote of 3-4 weeks until travel starts when the I600 was approved (Jan. 23) or when it actually arrives in the mail. Who knows!

Today was Lunch Bunch day. We were reduced to 3 members this month. Jeff is on a cruise; Rachel just had a baby; Kathy is having a baby tomorrow, and Russell was sick so that left me, Jackie, and Tina. We ate at Red Robin, and it was amazing! I had a guacamole bacon burger with garlic parmesan steak fries. We also made plans to have a girl's night out in a couple of weeks before Rory arrives. I am sooooo going to miss being with my friends on a daily basis!

I've been scrapping like crazy trying to catch up on ALL my photos so that I'll be current when Miss Rory arrives. I'm pretty sure that I will not have nearly the time to scrap, and I don't want to fall behind. This picture is of Brian reading to William, Xavier, and Camden. They sat on his lap while he read book after book. Camden doesn't look too excited to be sharing his daddy, does he.

Almost there

I received an email late yesterday afternoon from the immigration office stating that our I600 was approved and in the mail, so we are almost there. I can't wait to actually have that paperwork in our hands! Now it's time to start obsessing over a million things. I thought I was just about ready, but now that we're hopefully 4 weeks away from traveling, I am feeling very unprepared! There are so many details to think about, from bibs and socks to booster seats and strollers.

Camden's behavior has been really off all week. For instance last night he got home from school about 4:00, threw a big hissy fit over something little, then fell asleep on the couch. We tried and tried to wake him up several times for supper, and finally succeeded about 6:30. He continued to throw fits until church time (was still crying when we walked over to church), but then perked up after he went to class with Gram. He did wake up in a happy (but very hyper) mood this morning.

I had a very busy day at work yesterday and expect to be busy again today. It actually helps keep my mind off the adoption and everything I still need to do before we travel to Korea so I'm glad for the extra work.

No news

I do not have much to post about today. Camden is fine. He definitely had a few stomach issues going on in the morning, but by afternoon he was back to normal.

Our I600 did not come in the mail yesterday. I pretty much met the mailman at the mailbox to check! It actually made things a little easier to know by 9:00 that it wasn't there for the day instead of sitting at work all day wondering if it's sitting there in the mailbox. Here's hoping for today!

Steven Curtis Chapman's organization Shaohannah's Hope emailed us over the weekend asking us if we would be willing to volunteer at one of his concerts on March 14. That would be so amazing, but we don't know when Rory will be home, and even if she is home by then, I'm just not sure that a concert would be the best place to take her in the first few weeks! I told them that I hoped they would keep us on the list and ask again, though.

A Bad Morning

This has not been a good morning! Camden doesn't seem to be feeling well and has been throwing HORRIBLE fits all morning starting at 4:55 a.m. Bad enough that Brian made the executive decision to keep him home from school today even though I'm not quite sure there's anything wrong with him other than he REALLY got up on the wrong side of the bed. So while I'm glad to not be heading out in the cold and rain this morning, I'm frustrated with Camden. We sent him back to bed, and he's snoozing away so it's quiet for a while anyway. Hopefully he'll wake up in a better mood. Oh, and by the way, staying at home is not a treat for him - he loves school so he's going to be disappointed when he wakes up finds out he's home all day today.

I've decided to look at today as reason number 647 it's better to be a stay-at-home mom: you don't have to make decisions about whether or not your child is sick enough to warrant you missing work. I'm sure I'll also enjoy the scrap time. Oh, and I'll know by 9:00 this morning whether or not Rory's I600 arrived in the mail instead of having to wait until 5:00 tonight.

Someone mentioned that I forgot details about the best part of the weekend - the Cheesecake Factory cheesecake! Brian chose Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough cheesecake, and I had White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Caramel cheesecake. Seriously, a little slice of heaven!

Happy MLK Day

Brian and Camden have the day off school, so they're staying home snuggled up in front of the TV while I head out in the cold to work. I don't mind too much today because in the near future I'll be staying home every day! I think Brian was ready for a break. His class has been difficult since returning from Christmas break, and a new student transferred in last week, and he has been very challenging.

A few tidbits from Camden during his stay with Uncle Michael and Aunt Liz this weekend.
(1) When asked what kind of cars mommy and daddy drive: A Gran Dam (emphasis on the second word) and a Lifesaver (Brian drives a LeSabre).
(2) "I got into a fight with the stool, and it beat me up." (after he fell off the bathroom stool trying to wash his hands)

DWTS was quite entertaining. They were running low on stars - only 3 out of the 7 in the program were there. Monique Coleman from season 3; Wayne Newton (who sort of MC'd the event and did not dance; and Helio Castronoves was there, but only danced two times). Poor Wayne Newton needs to retire because he was just awful! There is nothing left to his voice at all. The older generation who were in attendance really enjoyed himk however. I thought it was a bit of a rip-off that Julianne and Helio (who won this season) only danced twice, but they were very fun to watch. I have a few pictures and none of them are very good. They are straight out of the camera with no editing, but I don't know that they'll get much better even after I edit. We had good seats, but the lights were flashing and VERY bright, plus the dancers move so fast, it's hard to snap a picture. It was a really fun evening all in all.

Most of the group

Wayne Newton

Edyta and Alec (the married couple)

Julianne and Helio

Saturday

It's going to be a good day. I can tell that already since I'm still in my p.j.'s drinking hot chocolate in front of the computer. Camden's Uncle Michael and Aunt Liz have been asking to take Camden for the day and let him spend the night so they picked him up at 9:00 this morning and he's staying with them until church tomorrow. I plan to spend most of the day right where I am.

Tonight we're eating dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (using a Christmas gift card) and then going to see Dancing With the Stars Live Tour.I am so excited! My friend Kathy decided she didn't want to go into labor in the middle of that so she gave me both tickets and so Brian is my date tonight.

Camden thoroughly enjoyed the Veggie Tales Pirates Who Don't Do Anything movie. Brian and I were less than impressed, but I guess it wasn't about us! It didn't seem nearly as entertaining as their DVD movies and certainly not as entertaining as other full-length feature cartoons. But, like I said, Camden definitely enjoyed himself. Although I'm not sure if he enjoyed the tootsie pop, popcorn, Mr. Pibb, or the movie the most.

I've been telling myself since Wednesday when we received the email from immigration saying our paperwork was almost complete that I was not going to get my hopes up that we'll really receive it this week, but it's too late. My heart is definitely set on it. I'm feeling a sense of urgency to get things completed, our trip planned, books on attachment and toddler adoption read, etc. I'm starting to resign myself to the fact that the nursery may not be perfect. All of the basics are there, and it's cute, but I really wanted it to be extra special and I don't have the time (or money) at the moment to put the extra touches on it right away. And who am I kidding. Rory won't know the difference at all - it's mostly for me. I will try to post some pictures next week.

Enjoy your weekend.

Veggie Tales

We've been working with Camden trying to get him to be a little less whiny and to sleep through the night, so he has a sticker chart on the refrigerator. He's been begging to see the new Veggie Tales movie for WEEKS, so we told him as soon as he filled up 2 rows of stickers, then we would go see it. That was actually good motivation for him because he hasn't woke us up the last 5 nights so tonight is Veggie Tales night. I'm picking him up from school and taking him for a haircut, and then we're headed to the movies as soon as Brian gets home.

Other than that, it's a regular domestic Friday for me - laundry, grocery shopping, etc.

DWTS

So, my big news is DWTS. Otherwise known as Dancing With the Stars – the Live Tour! My very pregnant friend Kathy managed to snag free tickets to the show on Saturday night and asked me if I would go with her. Of course I said yes since this is one of my very favorite shows to watch. It’s so fun and entertaining, but not something we would ever spend money on to see live. I should mention that Kathy has been having contractions for days now so who knows if she’ll make it there or not. With our luck, her water will break right in the middle of it!

Another piece of good news is that Kathy has asked me to be in the delivery room with her when baby Andrew is born, and I am so excited about that. So I'm attached at the hip to my cell phone, and my camera is now riding along with me everywhere I go so that I'll be prepared when they call!

My newest update in the roller coaster ride of adoption is that the immigration office is in the final stages of reviewing our paperwork and it should be issued next week. If this is true, then we’re looking at about 4 weeks to travel (down significantly from last week’s prediction of 9-10 weeks). I’m trying very hard not to get too invested in that news and to just keep planning for a longer wait. It’s better to be surprised, right?

I think we’re *this* close to being ready for Rory. The nursery is very close to being finished. The wall letters arrived Monday (see paragraph below for my review of them), and I’m pretty sure I know what I want to do to finish off the wall decorations. I’m ordering my diaper bag today (if any of you remember the diaper bag saga from Camden’s adoption, you’ll know that I had too many bags to count for him; I’m only allowed one this time LOL). I’m ordering a baby carrier this weekend (a Chunei for my fellow adoptive parents who might be interested). I’m buying our first pack of diapers when I shop this weekend (they are 2 for $16 at Target!). Yesterday at lunch I hit the jackpot at BabyGap and bought several pairs of girly p.j.’s for next to nothing, and I bought three outfits from Gymboree that have been on my “must-have” list since before Thanksgiving. (Yes, I think I should lock up the credit card for a while!)

So. My wall letters. You know, the ones I have been eagerly anticipating for over 2 months now. I am so disappointed in them! The paint is thin – you can still see the wood through them. On the letter that has little flowers, you can see the pencil marks where she drew the flowers and then didn’t cover up the pencil marks. On another letter, she must have started painting with a darker color, because there’s a splotch underneath the white paint. The good news is that when you look at them hanging up on the wall, you don’t notice these mistakes – you would need to be pretty close to see them. It drives me crazy, though! I am certainly not going to be leaving her good feedback, and I’m really tempted to just paint over them.

Brian was so disappointed to wake up this morning to rain. It snowed a bit last night, and he was really hoping for a snow day. Walking home from church last night, Camden was ecstatic. He kept saying, "Oh, I'm so, so glad there is now." He and his Gramps even put together a few snowballs.

I think I mentioned a while ago that the first thing out of Camden’s mouth each morning is, “mommy, daddy, look how much I growed.” Seriously, every morning. Last night when I put him in the bathtub, he made me stop and look at him (n.a.k.e.d. of course) and said “wow, I really growed at school today.” Then when I got him out of the bathtub, I was drying him off and he said, “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! I can’t BELIEVE how much I growed in the bathtub!”

I scrapped this page over the weekend. This is Camden, Emily and Meredith (Kathy's girls) during their sleepover back in November. Aren't they cute in their p.j.'s!

Tuesday

We had a bit of excitement last night, but not a good excitement. One of Brian's boys in his youth group cut off a couple of his fingers using a table saw last night, so Brian had a late-night run to the hospital and neither of us slept well after that. When I did sleep, I dreamed of fingers and hair bows (sounds like a great mix, doesn't it).

I don't really have time to blog this morning. Somehow I thought that I could add making a batch of Spinach Parmesan dip I need for a shower tonight into my schedule this morning, and I'd still have plenty of time to get ready, but that was a bit ambitious so I'm running late. Camden just woke up and is C.R.A.N.K.Y. so I think I'll just cut the blog post short.

But stay tuned for exciting news tomorrow!

Real Bowling

I feel like our weekend was very productive. We were able to get the nursery put together, curtains hung, closets partially cleaned out, clothes put away, etc. That was a fun way to spend a couple of hours. We still need to completely clean out the closets in the nursery so that we'll be able to store Rory's toys and clothes, but we made alot of progress, and it's really starting to feel like there's going to be a baby living in our house! I washed and dried 4 loads of laundry Saturday, but they never made it out of the laundry room so that's my project for tonight - folding and putting away all those clothes.

Saturday night Brian was participating in a fundraiser for the college and was on a bowling team so we all tagged along with him. There was a lane for the kids to bowl, and Camden had a blast. He bowled for about an hour and then we spent the second hour watching Brian and his team bowl. Camden was the coach. He was so funny because every person who would come up to bowl, he would call them over and then whisper in their ear, "go straight down the middle really hard and you'll get a strike." Thank goodness they're our friends so they endured the "coaching" for every single frame! When it was all over, they gave Camden a prize of new tennis balls, and he immediately said, "we've got to buy me a tennis racket right now." And then when we got in the car, he said, "Real bowling is so much better than Wii bowling! I loved the balls, the Diet Coke, winning . . . "

Today marks 13 weeks we've been waiting for Rory.

I scrapped these pictures of Camden, Matt, and William on Saturday. The picture quality isn't the best, but they were so cute playing together that I really wanted to scrap them anyway. For those of you who scrap, I used Jessica Bolton's new kit Brighten Up Winter, and it's only $2.50 for Sunday and Monday.

Toe Fuzz

Camden's new obsession - toe fuzz. He has to check for it every time his socks come off, before bath time, before bed, etc. As you can imagine, it gets a little tiresome to wait for him to go through all the crevices over and over again. So, tonight, before bedtime, here's how the conversation went.

Me: (becoming frustrated) "Camden, hurry up. There's no more toe fuzz."
Camden: (now he's becoming frustrated) "But I have to get it. If I don't get it, where is it going to go?"
Me: "I'm not sure. Where do you think it might go?"
Camden: "I think God just takes care of it for me."

Finally Friday!

This has been a long week! Camden has been cranky since going back to school. Brian's been exhausted. I haven't been sleeping. No word or news on Rory or our immigration paperwork. In some ways it feels as if time is standing still, but I know that isn't true. Today marks 5 weeks waiting for immigration. If the 10 week time frame is true, then we're half way through. I'm trying to look at that as a positive thing.

I woke up this morning at 9:04! Can you believe that? I seriously think it might have been college since I slept that late. Of course I was up until 2:00. With the exception of Tuesday night, the last 5 nights have been rough. I just cannot sleep. Maybe this week will be better.

I went to Old Navy this morning and had a blast shopping. Their annual fall/winter sale started today - extra 50% off all clearance, and I bought a ton of things. The most I spent for anything was $8 for a winter coat for Camden for next year. I bought him jeans for $3.49. The most expensive thing I bought for Rory was a dress for $4.24. Can you believe that? I came home with three shopping bags FULL. Retail therapy is always good (and I've had quite a bit this week).

My sugar-free week went well. There were definite moments of temptation, but not too bad. With the exception of one day that I had half sugar/half sweet-n-low in my coffee, I have had absolutely nothing sweet. I am having ice cream tonight, though. There's no way I can do sugar-free indefinitely, but I'm thinking if I know I've got a dessert coming on the weekends, I can make it through without anything for the other 5-6 days of the week. Next week's goal will be no snacks after supper.

Last night at supper Camden told us the story of Sampson and Delilah (he had a little trouble getting out Delilah). It was so funny. The servants in the story were "serpents" (he insisted!), and when it was over, we asked him what he learned from that story. He looked at us and said very matter of factly, "nothing." I never realized how ruthless Bible stories can be until you hear your 4 year old tell them.

Dr. Park

We had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Paul Park speak last night. Dr. Park is a Korean man who moved to the U.S. with his family in the 1970's to be missionaries to the Korean-American's in the Los Angeles area. It was very interesting to hear him speak of his experiences here and in Korea. He gave us some facts about Korea that we had not heard before. For instance, the first Christian missionary went to Korea in 1884, and as a result of those missionaries, Korea has become a very Christian nation. Our of the 50 larges churches in the world, 30 of them are in Korea. Korea has sent out 40,000 missionaries to other parts of the world. I was impressed. I know that Camden is pretty oblivious to this right now, but I hope that one day he will feel a strong sense of pride in having Korea as his birth country. I will admit to being emotional last night, especially when he sang a hymn in Korean. Of course, I'm more emotional in general these days!

Poor Camden is having difficulty with all of the "Parks" in his life right now. He thinks they're all related. His teacher is Mrs. Parks (and he ADORES her). Rory's foster mother is Mrs. Park, and the speaker last night was Dr. Park. He can't figure out why they have the same name, but don't live together.

Yesterday was a very good day for Rory's closet. My friend brought me 2 brand new winter coats and a snowsuit for next winter (and they are so cute - think fur and suede). I went to Target on my lunch hour and bought several shirts for $1.75 and a pair of jeans (her first pair) for $4. I also bought FOUR pairs of shoes and a pair of boots (see below). Are they cute or what! Then when I got home, my Old Navy clearance order had arrived. I had bought several pairs of tights, a cute denim jumper, and a couple of shirts - all heavily on clearance. One of these days I'll have to start buying mundane things like p.j.'s, diapers, wipes, etc. But I'm holding off for now!
The Boots!

Manners

Just a quick post today!

Camden's K-4 teacher is clearly hitting the manners class hard as they returned to school this week because Camden has been constantly reminding us to mind our own manners. Last night he asked if he could put my plate away and throw away my napkin, and I told him yes (of course he can work!! LOL). As he was taking it, he said, "Aren't you forgetting to tell me something? Aren't you forgetting your manners?"

Brian and I watched The Biggest Loser last night. We've never watched it before, and I can't decide if it's inspiring or depressing. The fact that these people could spend 8 hours a day exercising with trained professionals and nutritionists and only lose 1-2 pounds doesn't bode well for us!

Tired

Getting back into a routine is hard! I think that we're all exhausted after only one day! Brian was snoozing away on the couch by 8:15 last night, and Camden was a bit cranky and asked to go to bed early. I, on the other hand, seem to have more sleep issues than ever! And if I was having trouble getting my mind to slow down so that I could sleep a couple of months ago, it's much worse now. I'm making lists in my head of things we need to remember to take to Korea, things I still need to buy for Rory, things I need to make sure I remember to pass on to whoever takes my place at work, gifts we need to buy while we're in Korea. The list could go on and on. Last night I was still wide awake at 12:30, and 5:00 came way too early this morning!

I spent almost an hour on the phone with my friend Kim last night who is waiting for their daughter Emma to come home. They have been waiting for over 6 months and have had a paperwork nightmare. I'm so frustrated for them (and terrified it will happen to us!). The people who tell us (adoptive families) that we've got it easy because we don't have to go through labor and delivery are crazy! They have no idea the emotional anguish that accompanies the adoption process.

The wind is freakishly strong this morning. It sounds like the house is going to fall in on us! We're expecting severe weather to start (and I quote), "between twelve noon and twelve midnight." Seriously, the best the newscasters can give us is a 12 hour window as to what time the bad weather could start? We're having record high temps again today.

Okay, that about wraps up today's exciting news. Here is one more Christmas page I finished up over the weekend, and I've still got a ton of Christmas pictures to scrap. I think I'm just about tired of Christmas pages!

A new week

This week marks a new start for me. Maybe someone out there in blogland can keep me accountable. Starting with last evening, there are two things that must be done before my head hits the pillow: (1) the kitchen and living room completely ready for a new day, and (2) my devotions finished. These seem to be the two things that are easiest for me to put off for some reason, so I am committing to making sure those two things are done. I’m also starting a sugar-free week. That means absolutely no sugar. Well, except for fruit since my husband reminded me that fruit does have natural sugar. I’m feeling pretty strong, but hey, it’s only Monday morning.

Camden spent a couple of hours with his Gram and Gramps on Friday so Brian and I ran some errands, got the car mirror fixed and went to see I Am Legend. It was in a word: SCARY. We both really enjoyed it, though. And since it’s scary in an unrealistic, alien kind of way, I’m okay with it. I’m not okay with anything scary that is realistic.

Friday night we took Camden to the birthday party at Go Jump, and he had a blast. I even managed to make my way onto a couple of the big bouncy things.

Saturday was pretty slow. Well, slow in the way of entertainment. Not really slow when I think about the SIX loads of laundry, I washed, folded, and put away.

Sunday Camden woke up sick. I’m still not really sure if he just had a touch of the stomach flu or what. He never threw up, but was very pale and shaky and pretty pitiful. He also had the chills for a while. The two of us stayed on the couch until almost 11:00, and then he ate a piece of toast and napped for 2 hours. By late afternoon/early evening he was feeling quite a bit better, but I kept him home from church and put him in bed early. He starts back to school today after more than 2 weeks off (as does Brian) so I wanted to make sure he was going to be feeling well. He was so funny because he kept telling me he was seasick!

Today's temperature is supposed to be in the low 70's - it hasn't been that warm on January 7 since 1888! Nashville weather is so completely unpredictable! I just want to have regular seasons - not all the seasons mixed up into one!

That about wraps it up! Here’s a page I finished using a picture from this year’s church Christmas program.

Friday

Just a quick post today. Believe me, you'll be bored by the time I finish even the first paragraph - that's how exciting life is today.

The guy didn't fix our driver-side mirror yesterday so we're heading out to meet him in a few minutes. Hopefully, he'll really be able to fix it this time. We're hoping that it doesn't mess up our plans for a movie because Camden is spending the day at Gram's. Then we need to grocery shop, pick up a birthday present for the birthday party Camden is attending tonight, go to Gram and Gramp's house for supper, then off to the party. Sound exciting?

I'm feeling fairly discouraged today because late yesterday afternoon we got an email from our caseworker saying we should expect our I600 to take the full 10 weeks to process instead of the faster time we were hoping for. If it really takes 10 weeks, then we're looking at at least another 10 weeks before we travel, which puts us into mid-to-late March. I am so frustrated by this! I keep repeating to myself, "God is in control. God is in control." I know that He knows about this, but it doesn't really make me less frustrated! I just keep thinking about how each day we're apart from Rory makes it more difficult for her transition into our family and how we are missing so much. She is already 15 months old. We've missed her first birthday, first 2 Christmases, first steps, first words. The list can go on and on.

No layouts for me. I actually haven't scrapped all week (all this week's layouts were from the weekend). I'm wanting to slow down a bit of my scrapping so that it doesn't take up so much time in the evenings. I should be spending them doing more productive things like cleaning and laundry. Unfortunately, while I slowed down the scrapping this week, I didn't really pick up on the cleaning bit. Since we have no plans for tomorrow, I'll catch up then.

ELEVEN degrees

It is eleven degrees outside! Believe me, for Tennessee this is rare and quite frigid. So frigid, in fact, that our pipes froze on one side of the house! Thank goodness that most of our pipes are under the house in the basement and they were okay, but the back bathroom (which we use) nothing is working! Of course, by Sunday the temperatures are supposed to be back to 67 so I'm not complaining. Well, I will complain about the fact that I still have to wear a skirt to work in this weather (and yesterday the high was 20). Ridiculous!

Remember how I said that the car wash broke off my driver's side mirror? Well, I've been riding around with it duct taped to the car the last several days. Classy. Brian is taking to have it fixed today, though.

I don't have any layouts to share, so how about a picture from Christmas of Camden sledding. He had so much fun! We thought he would be scared, but he headed on down the hill over and over laughing the whole way.

Wednesday already?

I can't believe it's Wednesday already. My days are so messed up because of being off work (which I am NOT complaining about). I ended up only working a half day yesterday. I was here alone and there was absolutely nothing going on so I took another half day of vacation. When I got home, Brian was almost finished with the first coat of paint on the nursery and Camden was still in his pajamas (at 12:30!). Brian worked all day yesterday, but got the nursery trimmed, painted with 2 coats of paint, and the closet doors painted. Now we'll have to put it all together tomorrow. We have the dresser and bedding, of course. I also have a couple of baskets from Pottery Barn that match the bedding, curtains, and I've ordered hand painted wooden letters that spell her name, but they haven't arrived yet. I'm still deciding on what else I need to finish off the room.

Here is a picture from the Christmas parade we went to in early December. Camden kept watching for the parade to start. He couldn't believe he was allowed on the street!

Happy New Year

It was back to work for me this morning, but since it was New Year's Day, I had the roads to myself. Turns out I also have the office to myself since there's no one else working today (hence, the blog post from work). It's been almost 2 weeks since I've had to use my alarm clock and both times it went off this morning, I rolled over to punch Brian to tell him to turn off his alarm. Only it wasn't his, but mine, and 5:00 a.m. came way too early!

Brian came home from the lock-in sick. His voice is almost totally gone. Well, not completely - he sounds like a mix of Alvin the Chipmunk and a girl. It's hilarious, and we've gotten quite a few laughs from it. I do hate that he's sick though. My own throat is sore this morning, and I was hoping it was just sympathy pains for him, but since it's not going away I may be coming down with something.

I wanted to share a cute Camden/Uncle Matt story. Uncle Matt was Camden's new favorite relative this trip, which was really sweet. Uncle Matt would arm curl him (which Brian discovered is much harder than it looks!), and the first couple of times he did it, Camden would just laugh and laugh, and at one point said, "Uncle Matt, you must eat alot of vegetables and drink lots of milk to be so strong."

Let's talk resolutions. I don't normally do these, but I am feeling the need to do so this year. These few things have been on my mind for a while, and I want to just put them out there (I just might even scrap them) to help keep me a bit more accountable. (1) The first and most important one to me - Try to be more patient and less of a perfectionist where Camden is concerned. For those of you who know me, that one is pretty self-explanatory. (2) Live a healthier lifestyle. Notice I didn't say "lose weight" (don't want to set myself up for failure!), but I do want to make better eating choices and make sure that I am exercising on a very regular basis. (3) Read through the Bible again. I have done a much better job this year of daily devotions, but I want to go ahead and just read the Bible through again - it's a good way to keep myself accountable, and I have a feeling that with the responsibilities and busyness of a new baby, I'll need the extra motivation. (4) Get back to regular piano practice. For those of you who don't know, I took piano lessons for 13 years and the piano is VERY meaningful to me, but ever since Camden arrived, it has most definitely taken a backseat, and I have lost some of my skill, so I want to try to focus on that a bit more. (5) Last, a frivolous resolution - to keep current on my scrapbook pages so I can keep them printed out and we can enjoy them rather than letting the pictures waste away on my computer.

Here are 3 layouts from yesterday.