The Trip

Day One

The first day of driving wasn't too bad. A and I started out in the back seat catching up on Lost. That only lasted until our first pit stop because she heaved her guts up on the side of the road. The good new is that was the only time that she got sick. She road in front with Frenchie for the remainder of the trip. We stopped at Twin Falls for the night. We decided to check out the town. There is this totally beautiful canyon. This thing is huge and breath takingly stunning. Then we to see the most beautiful waterfall that I have ever seen. I'll attach the picture so that you can see this thing.
Day Two
We were still on the road. A and I traded off with Lost between her in the front and me in the back. We learned that you are not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon. Silly I think, but it's a $5000.00 fine. So naturally we let them go for it. We got to N's for a late dinner. After that A, Frenchie, and I headed towards the Queen Anne district of Seattle to our hotel. Mom and dad stayed with the bride and groom. The hotel was nice, but we got the worst room in the place. There is no air conditioning so you have to leave the window open and the ceiling fan going all night. I had never stayed in a hotel room with a ceiling fan. Anyway, our room was about five feet away from the next building and that's the direction our window faced. I'm thinking that it was a building of apartments. There was this insane lady screaming her guts out all night long. We think that she was either crazy, drunk, or both.
Day Three
Mom and dad went to meet with Nate's (my new BIL) grandparents and take a tour of some fort or something. A, Frenchie, and I had breakfast at this local favorite called Cafe Mecca. The waitress hated us! It was the funniest thing ever. She literally never said hello or any thing. Just took our order and showed her open disdain. She was a dark girl. I'm not talking about her skin, just her presence. Black hair, lots of piercing, and a pirate shirt. We thought it was super funny. After our lovely breakfast we walked over to the Space Needle. It was cool. A and I thought that it was really just like the Stratosphere in Vegas with better views. Oh, I forgot to mention that we were freezing our asses off. Once we had taken in the views from the Space Needle we went to Pikes Market. It was fun. A bought her first outfit for the impending baby. It a tie-die onzee with a little hat. It was so cute to see her that excited. I have to say that my favorite part of Pikes Market was the flowers. They were just beautiful. We then walked down to the water and had some lunch. Yummy! Frenchie and I both love seafood. We don't always get the best stuff in Denver so we took full advantage. After lunch we headed to downtown where we met up with the rest of the group. The boys left to go check out a movie while the girls headed to the spa. N works there so she got us hooked up with some discounts. We each had massages and manicures. I think that N got hooked up a little more, but it's cool. After all, she was the bride. I really liked the girl that did my massage. She listened when I told her to hurt me. Don't judge, I like me massages rough! We met back up with the boys and had a lovely dinner afterwards. That second night in Seatle was much better. The crazy lady from the night before didn't make a peep.
Day Four
Mom joined up with the three of us as we headed down to China Town. I was hoping for some jade, but no such luck. It was still cool to be in the international district. We headed over to a mall to wait for Dad and N. By that time we were all a little cranky and in need of some space. Finally at like 5:00 we were on our way to Ocean Shores. It only took us about 3 hours, but it seemed like so much longer. Ocean Shores is an itsy bitsy little town that has 6 miles of beach. Our hotel was good and very comfortable. It's located about 1/4 of a miles from the beach. You have to walk through the dunes and bushes to get there, but totally worth it once you do. I had never been to a beach like it. There was no smell coming from the water. There was no salt in the air. The big thing was that it was SOOOOO damn cold. That first night Dad, Frenchie, and I were the only ones willing to brave the cold to go play. I love the ocean. I love being on the water. I'm not going to play like the cold didn't bother me, but I enjoyed it all the same.
Day Five
Dad, Frenchie, and I took horse back rides along the beach. That was something I had never done before. I had been horse back riding and I had been to the beach, but I can now recommend combining the two. It was kind of silly. My horse was on the verge of death. They told me before we left that you have to kick the bajesus out of her to get her to move. I wasn't too happy with that idea. I was sure that if I was just nice to her we would be fine. I was so wrong. I still never managed to get the nerve to get that mean, so I was always trailing behind. I swear that we kept looking at the ocean dreaming of ending it all. Once we got back I got to meet Nate's brother. What a little cutie. I've decided to adopt him too. We have figured out that he can share a room with Beau from work (since I'm planning on adopting him too). They can have bunk beds! We also met Nate's best man and adoptive parents. They were all really great. There was supposed to be a wedding rehearsal, but that never happened. We spent the rest of the night making shawls for us. We had not planned on it being that cold so we had to improvise. We are some crafty women and make that kind of stuff happen when we need to. We had no sewing machine, so it added an extra element of difficulty. No matter what they turned out great. They were warm and matched our dresses.
Day Six
Wedding day! The wedding wasn't until 5;30 so we had most of the day to sit around and ask one another what we wanted to do. So instead of doing anything we just kept asking each other. We headed over to get N and the bridal party ready about 2:00. I have no idea why we didn't start earlier like we should have. It did get a little tense for a bit. It's not easy for both sisters to be getting married so close to each other and to both be pregnant. They don't do the friendly comparisons. It's more like a contest. That really showed through while getting ready. I honestly tried to keep things happy and focus on the happy wedding part, but feel like I fell flat on my face. I guess that it's good that it was my face that I fell on because my ass hurt so bad from the horse back riding the day before. That was the one thing that brought some common ground to the girls. They both thought that it was insanely funny that I had to cry every time that I had to sit. I didn't mind it. At least there was some shared laughter. Oh, I forgot to mention that the other bridesmaid, Tynesha, showed up that day. She had not yet tried on her dress and it did not fit by a good two sizes. So my mom altered her dress using one of those hotel sewing kits. Seriously she freak'n saved the day. Unfortunately Tynesha's dress issues didn't end there. She had picked a halter top for her dress. The thing is that she didn't bring a bra that she could wear with it. She's a big boobed girl like me so going without a bra was not an option. In the end the shawls we made ended up saving her. It was a small nightmare. N looked beautiful. It was too crazy for me to see her in a wedding dress and veil. Needless to say we were late for the wedding. I don't know how to explain; it was stressful but not so much. Anyway by the time that we got to the beach the wedding should have started 45 minutes before hand. We had no idea how this thing was going to work. They had skipped rehearsal so we had to make it up as we went along. Yikes! The ceremony ended up being great. Neither N or Nate cried or even got emotional. I don't know how they managed to keep it together. Both Frenchie and I were stupid emotional during our ceremony. Anyway, we headed to the hotel for the reception. The food was very good. Nate and N looked so damn happy. I could have used a drink, but I was a good girl and stayed with soda. I got to meet Nate's grandmother. LOVE HER! She's a total glam gram, but in put together way. More flashy than trashy. N was really worried that the reception would not be that great, but I think that she was surprised at how nice it was. It was not a big shin dig, but it was perfect to talk to everyone. I thought that it turned out well.
Day Seven
Frenchie and I started out the day by making our last trip out the beach. There was this huge fog that set in. You couldn't even see the ocean until you were in it. I thought that it was cool. We couldn't stay long, but it was nice to take that extra time just the two of us on the water. Once we got back to the hotel it was time to load up the cars and hit the road. That day, the road actually hit us. We drove for 13 hours. It was a long rough drive. We were so happy to hit the hotel bed that night.
Day Eight
Frenchie and I decided to take a shorter route home for us so we split from Mom, Dad, and A. It rained 80% of the way home. It was a cold gloomy day, but at least I got to sit up front like a big girl. We really made some nice time. When you travel with a pregnant chick you have to stop and feed her every 3 hours. I think that it was the lack of food stops that improved our time. It was so great to come home. There is just something about your own home and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling.

Today I'm just trying to get caught up on all the laundry. I don't mind it. I'm just happy to be home. Frenchie's sister called today to tell us that she's going to have baby. This will be her second. She is such a great girl and her husband is pretty great too. Congratulations to them!!

Cleaning up..

So I just landed a part time job. I'll be picking up where our office cleaners leave off. Yes, I'll be cleaning our suite here at work. Our cleaning people only take out the trash and vacuum. It's gets really dusty and grimey out there. Don't worry, my office is clean because I do it myself. It's an entirely different situation out side my office. So I'll only have to anything every couple of weeks at most. I can do it after my regular job or come in during the weekend. Here is the kicker, they are going to pay me more than my regular pay per hour to do it. Can you believe that! Something tells me that I'm getting jacked during my 9-5. Anyway, I think that this will be a very positive thing. The office will be cleaned to my liking, it won't be pulling me away from home, and the extra cash will be great. I think that the employees will get a good laugh at me in my big yellow rubber gloves. I'm okay with that. There is not a job in the world that I'm too good to do. I have worked two jobs in the past and this will not be nearly as much time out. I know that it sounds goofy to be excited about a cleaning gig, but I figure that I can set that money away and do something fun with it after a while. I don't think that it would be for Sophia as you might think. My plan is to set it aside for Frenchie and myself. I think that it's important that we do stuff for ourselves as well. Our Savanna trip is dead due to all the extra cash that the weddings and babies are costing us. I really do feel that we deserve a trip of our own just the two of us. We work hard and give a lot of ourselves to other people. I don't think that it's selfish at all to do for us once in a while.

Predictions

As of today here are my agencies predictions for the wait between LID and referral.
LID Estimated Wait Time:
7/14/05 to 7/28/05 13 months
7/29/05 to 8/12/05 13-14 months
8/13/05 to 8/29/05 14 months
8/30/05 to 9/13/05 14-15 months
9/14/05 to 9/28/05 15 months
9/29/05 to 10/13/05 15-16 months

For those of you not in the Chinese adoption wait I'd like you to notice a few things with me. First these LID's (log in dates) are from 2005. Also by the time it gets to October of 2005 it's already up to 16 months. These are just predictions, but they are predictions from the best China adoption agency. Our LID is 6/15/06. I guess that I just wanted those of you who tell me to stay positive about a shorter wait to understand. It would be foolish and leave my heart open for even more hurt to believe in a shorter wait. Please don't try to tell me what to feel. I do understand that you are trying to make me feel better, but it actually just invalidates my feelings and my knowledge on this subject. I love you very much but I do need to be respected regarding this. I'm not trying to be negative nelly here. I just feel like I'm always trying to convey this message over and over again.

By the way I totally change my mind about the long ass drive to Seattle. I'm am now super excited. Why? Frenchie is downloading the rest of season two of Lost for me!! I'm so geared to get in the car and go. A road trip with Sayid and Sawyer isn't so bad at all is it?

Since I haven't blogged in a while>>

I broke another hair dryer this morning. I am death to all hair dryers. It's not personal, but I kill them dead. I've decided that I need the one that Princess Vespa had in Space Balls.

I realize that the hair dryer topic is so wonderful, but on to new an better things. I had a great weekend! I went with a girlfriend to look for wedding gowns. I love that feeling when you are with someone and it is THE DRESS. It give you goose bumps, butterflies in the stomach, and gets you all choked up. It's a totally chick thing, but it's a magical chick thing. I also went to see my little premie buddy Ayden. What a porker. He's up to three pounds and compared to the last time I saw him he really has gotten huge. He is now in the big boy NICU. I'm so proud of him. While we were there I heard about a program that the hospital has called "Cuddlers". The deal is that you can volunteer to hold the babies. Those little guys needs to be held and their parents don't also live near by to visit them every day. So there are people that come in to give some love. I figure that it's a great idea for someone like me. I don't have my Sophia to hold and there are babies that don't have their parents around to hold them. I've already e-mailed the hospital to inquire more about the program.

I got the dress in for A's wedding. It's a great dress, but I really need to get rid of a few pounds. I'm working on it and so far so good. I figure that all I can do is my best. I'm not going to go on some starvation crash diet in order to look perfect in it.

In just a few days we'll be taking off for N's wedding in Seattle. The next few weeks are so busy. I think busy is good to keep my mind off everything. There is one small worry that I have. When A and N get together there will be a lot of baby talk. It's really going to be the number one subject for everyone. I guess that we'll see if I'm going to stand on my own two self absorbed feet or if I'll crumble into a giant mess. The hardest part is my dad. The man has dreamed of grandkids forever. This is not an excitement that he'll be able to control. I think that it will kill me a little to know that I was not able to give him that excitement myself. Or worse, what if he feels that he has to hide his excitement from me?

It's been nice the last few weeks. I have had a lunch date every day for the last three weeks. I usually sit here at work and read the Rumor Queen by myself while eating left overs. It's great to be able to go out with a girlfriend and just chat.

Invites & Dream

I don't have a lot of time to blog today. Work is busy. I did want to write about the shower invites that Ang and I put together for A. They turned out so damn great that I can't even stand it. I am really proud. Ang and I are a good team and in shows. Frenchie was dreaming about us starting our own business last night. It was so cute. I love it that he has such faith in us. He was just as proud of us as we were. Thank you so much Ang!!

So last night I had my FIRST dream about Sophia. The thing is that it wasn't just her. She had a baby sister. In my dream Sophie was about four or five and my other daughter (I don't know her name) was an infant. Sophie was jealous of the new baby. It was the craziest thing ever. I had two daughters!! Both of them were so beautiful. I'm not trying to negate the baby (I have to take this one day and child at a time), but I SAW Sophia. I held her hand. I scolded her for throwing a hissy hit. I was her mom!! It may have only been a dream, but I can't tell you what it felt like to be her mom if only for a few sleeping hours.

Referral pics & party plans

New referral pics are up all over the net. Referral pictures are all the same really. A freaked out baby in twelve layers of clothing. There are usually three different poses. They are pretty crappy actually. I can just imagine the new parents having to look at those pictures every couple of minutes just to memorize her face. More than ever they have to wonder what she's really like. Both emotions of pure joy and heartache must devour them. Naturally, I can't wait until it's out turn. I don't know that I'll be able to function for a week or so.

I'm starting to work on A's shower. I don't have the time that I did for N's shower, but at least the distance is no where near as bad. A's maid of honor, Misty, lives in GJ so it's not much of a big deal. I'm picturing a very beautiful party. I think that it should be small and tastefully done. Fresh flowers for centerpieces would be so perfect. I'm not a big fan of shower games, but I think that I'm stuck. I guess that I'll look for the least cheesey games that I can find. The good news is that Ang and I can do our own invitation that are always too cute.