Have you noticed how I've just been short, sweet, and to the point in the last few posts?? That is because I have been running around here like a chicken with her head cut off. Ick.

D has the "rockin' pneumonia." Last Friday she started coughing, so I gave her some Claritan before she went to school. When I picked her up that afternoon she was feeling worse and by that night started running a temp. The cough was a yucky seal barking sound. Hubby can't detect a difference in the sound, but as the mommy I can. So, I gave her OTC cold and cough stuff and alternated Motrin and Tylenol to keep her temp down. The highest it got was 102* and that was in the middle of the night Saturday night and she woke up and started acting loopy, and talking real loud like a drunk. So, we had a middle of the night dose then too. Sunday her temp went down to nearly normal and by Sunday night was completely normal. No fever, but still a cough, but not the seal bark cough. She started playing again and acting fine, except for the cough. So, I went ahead and sent her to school Monday morning, but I thought they may call me to come get her. Nope, her teacher said she did fine, just had the cough. Tuesday she woke up with a yucky nose, so I decided to call the doctor. I went ahead and sent her to school since she had no fever, but the cough and yucky nose now. We got in to see the doctor Tuesday afternoon at 4. Guess what, my baby has walking pneumonia! D asked the doctor, "what's rockin' pneumonia?" So we've been singing the song and saying she's got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu! The doctor didn't seem too overly concerned and said the cough will just linger for a while and as long as she is feeling fine, playing etc. and having no fever, she may as well go to school. She is on a strong antibiotic. Apparantly there are two kinds of pneumonia. One that is formed by a bacteria (the one D's got) and another different kind that must be scarier.

On the adoption front, our medicals have expired yet again (they expire every 3 months) and so I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday getting those updated and ready to send to Austin. Thursday I sent the Fed-Ex with a request for 28 fresh apostilles. We also had to get an updated Power of Attorney. I am so thankful that Texas has a $100 limit per adoption for apostilles. We would have spent $280 right there! We even have to have the medicals for D done each time and her doctor is in the "city" about 45 minutes from here in po-dunk. So that's a two day job right there. I did take hers with me on Tuesday when we went to her appointment and she was so good as we did all this paperwork, she got an extra tattoo from the goodie drawer. Hubby and my doctor is here in town, so we were able to do that all on Thursday.

We are so thankful that our agency has received their NGO and are praying so fervently for good news on the #268 front! It was good to read a smidge of good news on this subject on Steve and Stef's blog. This is the first good news I've heard on that topic so I'm hanging on to hope.

I'm just waiting on two more questionnaires back from two blog friends so we can divvy up the names and assign blog pals! Debbie and I are excited to see this take form! I'm glad many of you are participating and excited too. We had a bit of a snag when the questionnaires I sent out ended up in several people's spam folder. I think we've gotten it all straightened out now!

Ok, just heard D cough in her sleep, so I'd better head in there and check her just in case.

Nitey nite.

I've been organizing the group today. I've had around 30 respond to participate but only have 21 questionnaires returned. So, if you still want to participate send in your questionnaire please. We'll send out the assignments on Monday.

till later . . .

Tonight is the deadline for signing up for the Secret Blog-Pals connection. We've had GREAT response, I'm so excited! So, just e-mail me at the link in my sidebar and I'll get you your questionnaire to complete so you can be a blog-pal too!

till later...

((Hugs)) and encouragement are needed for our bloggy friend Lisa! I was reading all this Amrex horror over on FRUA and was just thinking how it is a miracle no-one in our bloggy-hood had been effected by it. Then I read this from Lisa this morning and my heart just aches for her.

Let's all lift her up and pray like crazy that everything can proceed for her without any further problems.

till later . . .

A new juicy batch of referrals is arriving for many PAPs adopting from China! It is so exciting and thrilling to see those precious faces! You can check out the latest Referral Magic at Mary Mia's blog. Congratulations to all these new families in the making!

Debbie and I have been thinking of a way to make our little blog community grow even closer. If you are like me, you already feel like we're a big happy bloggy family. Right?

Debbie and I thought it would be a fun idea to start a little Secret Blog-Pals Connection.

If you are interested, e-mail me privately at the link over in the side bar and I'll forward you a little questionnaire with your likes, nursery/child's room theme, collections, wishes etc. so that I can pass it along to your new Secret Blog-Pal !

So, how will it work, you ask? We'll send each other little encouragements, small gifts (inexpensive, we're adopting after all), notes, etc periodically throughout the set time period. We'll send these in the real world - aka snail mail. Then every few months we'll reveal who our secret blog-pal is and then re-draw for new blog-pals.

Deadline for signing up for this round will be Thursday, September 28 at my bedtime :o)

Does it sound like something you would like to do? If so, e-mail me and we'll get the fun started.

P.S. This was my 100th post on my blog!

I keep thinking of this little bit of information and haven't really found a place to put it. I really think it would be helpful information for those adopting smaller kids, toddlers and babies - the size you can hold and walk around with.

When we were at the orphanage on the first trip to visit V, another family from our agency (I'll call them J&DL) was with us visiting their daughter-to-be (yes, they're still waiting too). Their baby girl just cried and cried because they were honestly strangers to her. The baby wasn't dealing well with that. So, like any other American mother, DL was holding her and bouncing her and patting her bottom. Wouldn't that be your first instinct of comforting a crying baby? It would be mine.

Our Region coordinator came out and told her, "hold her close and press your cheek tightly to hers". She quieted down a bit. Still sort of whimpering, but not the all out frantic cry. After the baby calmed down, our RC told DL that she has observed that American mommies try to soothe their babies-to-be with this bouncing and bottom patting and it doesn't work with these babies because that is not how they are soothed. They do the firm hold and pressing the cheek thing instead.

I don't know why, but this really made an impact on me. Such a small thing, but so important. And who would have ever thought twice about it?! I am so glad that our RC thought to "help" us in this way. Of course it seemed a bit of the babushka bossiness in the moment, but what a true help! I thought back to our plane trip home with D when she was 11 months old. If I had of known this one small thing, could it have helped me calm her on the flight? Of course I was bouncing her and patting her bottom all the way across the Atlantic! I was obviously overstimulating her and making matters worse!

Maybe this is a regional thing which applies only to our region in Russia. Maybe bouncing and patting a baby on the bottom is a regional thing right here in the USA, distinct to the south, or even Texas. But if my sharing this can help just one new Mommy - even if just to give her another choice in her arsenal of calming techniques on the flight home - it's worth my sharing. Don't you think? Who'd-a-thunk-it?

till later . . .

I mentioned in a comment over on Denise's blog about these cute, cute stuffed animals at Kohl's. They are precious and very nice. They're medium sized and very soft and fluffy. The best part is they're only $5 and the money goes to charity in the Kohl's Kares for Kids campaign. Go check them at at this link!!

till later . . .

Russians are urged to take the afternoon off, go home and make a baby
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow (Filed: 22/09/2006)

The governor of a Russian province gave workers an afternoon off and told them to go home and multiply in the most direct attempt yet by officials seeking to tackle the country's growing depopulation crisis.
Bureaucrats have been dreaming up ever more imaginative schemes to help reverse the trend ever since President Vladimir Putin identified Russia's demographic crisis – caused in part by soaring levels of alcoholism – as the country's biggest threat.

But few have been quite as blunt as Ser*ey M*r*zo*, the governor of ******, a depressed region on the Volga. In exchange for an afternoon of state-sponsored passion, his "Give birth to a patriot" campaign launched last week offers parents who give birth next year on June 12, Russia's Independence Day, a range of incentives from a fridge or washing machine to a four-wheel-drive vehicle, depending on how many children the couple already has.

The Kremlin is offering even more substantial inducements. In a state of the nation address in May that was redolent of the Soviet era, Mr Putin encouraged Russians to make more babies and promised to give £5,000 to every mother who gives birth to a second child.

It is unclear how many of *********'s residents took up Mr M*r*zo*'s offer, but the governor is convinced that such strategies are essential if the decline is to be reversed. Russia's 142 million population is dwindling faster than any other on Earth with 793,000 more deaths than births in 2004, according to the Centre for Demography

Our agency received NGO today! Praise God. Now we are one step closer. One step down-two to go!

Happy for this small baby step!

Till later . . .

Oh my goodness, Wednesday, September 20 is a day full of wonderful news!! Rhonda and Brian got marvelous news today too! Go over and give them lots of congratz as well!!

till later - again . . .

Yay! Bethee's got news. Go check out her blog and give her some congratz!!

Till later . . .

RE-POSTED FROM SEPTEMBER 18 -

I've been putting off writing my blog today. I keep getting little random thoughts that I think about posting, but then I forget them by the time I actually sit down to write.

I've been riding a roller coaster today - figuratively that is. A real roller coaster would be nice though, it would take my mind from the real stuff of the figurative one! I started off this morning noticing when D changed her little calendar blocks that today is the 18th. V turns 20 months old today. I was doing pretty good with that . . .for a couple of hours. I was kind of in the numb place. Do you know the numb place? The numb place is where it is just surreal that a baby/child actually exists half way around the world who is supposed to be your child - but isn't. So most of the morning I was in the numb place.

Then I moved into the I know I could be depressed, but I'm not going to be, I'm going to enjoy this day and be. glad. in. it place - I guess this could also be called the denial/survival place. I didn't last long there.

Then I moved to the poor pitiful me place - no explanation is needed for that place, right? I knew I had to get out of there quick before that led to the half-gallon mint chocolate chip ice-cream place!

I'm kind of back in the numb place again now. If we don't hear just a little smidge of good news this week, just a tiny particle of a smidge, the cell of a particle of a smidge, I'm going to go to the nutso place!

NGO - NGO - NGO

Chant with me!

NGO - NGO - NGO

Okay, okay - I know that NGO in and of itself isn't going to get us anywhere. But at least it would be a tiny step forward. So that in the wayyyy off-chance that the Duma (or whoever) should pass the Government Decision #268 thing, re-accreditation could finally be pursued.

Debbie, I'm trying not to worry. But it's hard. I tried to come up with a post that was not a downer, but I just couldn't do it today. It's just one of those days. Honestly, I DO have more up days and even days than I do roller coaster days. But today is not one of them.

For your personal safety, please keep arms and legs inside the car and wait for the car to come to a complete stop before exiting the ride to your left. Thank you for visiting Crazy Adoption Land and we hope you enjoy your visit.

No, I'm not going to write about underpants.

I'm just saying hello to my recent visitors. When Suzanne clicked in from Switzerland I decided to check my little invisible visitor counter and noticed that I've had visitors from London, France, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and of course the good ol' US of A.

I'd love to hear from you my sweet visitors. Gruetzi, bonjour or just plain hello, eh mate?

For the original post of this topic, see above - "Oh the Places We Go - Again"

For some reason the original post was too wide and made my sidebar fall way down. So, I had to delete it and try again. Only I didn't want to lose all my sweet comments, so this is the only way I could figure out to do it.

till later . . .

I have found this article to be one of the most interesting I've read concerning language development and delays in children adopted from Eastern European orphanages.

We adopted D at an optimum time for language acquisition. But V is going to be around a year older when she comes home and I'm sure we'll have a good bit more language work to do.

I hope this article will be helpful for some of you.

Till later. . .

Today has been filled with memories of that day five years ago when our country was changed.

Where were you?

Where was I?

I was just waking up and the alarm was set to radio. The first words I heard on the radio were, "If you are near a television, turn it on!" I didn't know what was happening, but I hurried to turn the TV on. The first plane had already crashed through the building but the second had not yet. It was so chaotic and completely unbelievable.

Hubby was driving the one hour drive to the Seminary where he was working on his Master's degree. Five years ago we didn't have a cell phone yet, isn't that weird? So, I had to wait till he arrived at the seminary and I called him. I just needed to talk to him.

It was so unreal that this was happening. Since this blog is mine, I'll tell you honestly, I was very proud of our President during this time of turmoil. I don't generally bring up politics here, and you don't have to agree with me, but I was glad that President Bush was there. I still am - but I digress.

We had just returned from our first trip to Russia to meet and apply to adopt D. She was 10 months old. We had only been home 12 days. We were just numb at the thought that we may not be able to return to get her and bring her home. I had great grief for those families who had lost their family members in the crashes at the Towers, the Pentagon and United Flight 93, the plane that crashed into the field in Pennsylvania. But my greatest grief was personal. Would we be able to return for D? If so, when!

As you'll remember, all air travel was suspended immediately. Our paperwork that had just been completed in order to bring forth the court date was stuck at Fed-Ex and could not be sent to Russia. A couple of days after these horrible terrorist attacks, our agency sent a letter which stated that no families would be traveling until further notice. I was ready to swim if it was necessary to bring my baby home!

Within the next week Fed-Ex was flying again and our paperwork was on its way. We had determined that we would fly if a court date was issued, one way or another! The next week another letter was sent to families saying that we could fly at our own risk, but must sign several documents stating that we understood the risks we were taking.

Amazingly, on October 1 we got the call to travel for our court date. Our families and friends were very worried and afraid for us. We just wanted our baby, I guess we were naive in a way. No fear and was going to stop me from getting on that plane, though. We left on October 7, 2001 to travel for our court date. Security was tighter, though not as tight as it is now. Once we made it through all the security check points, we still had an hour or so to wait before our flight was ready to board. We went to a small restaurant within DFW Airport and were eating some lunch when the President came on every channel to announce that the USA had just initiated bombing in Afghanastan. All I could think was, "let me board the plane, please don't cancel the flights!"

Of course we were able to board and return to bring D home. Our plane flew over New York City and from thousands of feet in the sky, we could look down and see the blue lazer lights that symbolized the twin towers. I think every passenger left his or her seat and went to the windows on the left side of the plane as we flew over.

In all these years I have felt a little guilty that my thoughts and feelings were so selfish during this time. As I watch the footage, it is so heartbreaking and I do have the grief for the losses of life and for our country. But it just had a different effect on me personally in that we were unsure if we would be able to bring our child home.

I'm thankful to God that D is now in our home and will celebrate five years home on October 18, 2006.

I've been tagged by Debbie, my first one since I've moved into blogger-ville!

Four jobs I've had in my life:
1. Wrapping Christmas gifts at the underground mall in Dallas when I was 16 (I'm sure they were lovely!)
2. Selling Tupperware, I was the youngest manager in the district at age 20 - I even got a car!
3. Floral Designer
4. Insurance Administrator
**bonus #5. My favorite job ever - MOMMY!

Four movies I've watched over and over:
1. Pretty Woman
2. Grease
3. Miracle on 34th Street (the new one)
4. Elmo says Boo!

Four TV shows I love to watch
1. Good Morning America
2. Big Brother
3. Survivor
4. Amazing Race (do you see a trend here?)

Four places I've been on Vacation:
1. Estes Park, Colorado
2. Ormond Beach & Orlando, Florida
3. South Padre Island, Texas
4. Does going to Russia 3 times count?

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Mexican Food (just about anything)
2. My Aunt Joyce's homemade fried chicken.
3. Dressing at holiday time
4. Carrot cake from The Cheescake Factory

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. Standing in front of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow taking the obligatory adoption photo with hubby and V!

2. Having a never ending massage.
3. On a relaxing vacation with my husband and TWO daughters, anywhere
4. Back in the bed for a nap :o)

Four people who will respond:
U.N. Mama; Lisa; Jessy; Becky - the four that I've tagged.

Six months ago today we were trudging through the snow to enter for the first time the orphanage where Baby V has lived since she was a month and a half old. Six months ago today the caregiver handed me this precious baby and I, in that moment, became her mother.

When I looked at the calendar this morning and realized what today is, I determined in my heart to be glad today. Not sad. I can choose. Today I choose not to dwell on the unfairness of it all. I choose rather to focus on the wonderful people and things in my life that I do have - right here, right now.

And that even includes V, because she is here with us in our hearts and in our home. Each morning as we eat breakfast as a family we pray for V knowing that she will soon be getting ready for bed, just as we are starting our day. The sweetest prayers come from D as she so purely lifts her baby sister up to God.

I recently saw this poem and I feel that it just fits today. So I want to share it:

Oh my goodness, I'm bawling my eyes out and I just got my make-up on! Today's Baby Story on TLC is about a family adopting from Kazakhstan. It has been so good. They mentioned that they had set up this website, which you know I was so excited about! Their name is The Kelsey Family. So, check your listings to see if it will replay.

It's back on, the commercial is over. I'm off to bawl some more!

Till later . . .

. . . I'm back to share that the "bawl fest" is continuing because the following show, "Bringing Home Baby" is about a couple adopting a precious baby girl from China!!

I've taped both shows, because I'm TRYING to get ready! D starts her tumbling class this afternoon and I have to run by the Gym before she gets out of school and pick up her uniform.

Ok, really gotta run this time!

Just thought you may find this interesting. I've always had the hardest time converting the temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Here is a handy little chart/table thing.

Till later . . .

If you have noticed over on Jenn's blog the banners advertising the coming of the new PBS show, Curious George today on Labor Day, you'll understand my post.

Everytime I'm on Jenn's blog and D is in the room she just gets so excited to see that Curious George banner.

Well we watched it this morning and I was very impressed. It was a well done show. The very first words of the show were "Zdratz-voit-ye, (I know that's not spelled right) that is how to say hello in Russian." Well that caught my attention right away of course! I am figuring they'll say **hello in a different language each day, since there was nothing else remotely Russian about the show. I'm excited though that they chose my babies language to start with!

D loved the show and laughed way out loud several times. Of course she's a big school girl now and won't be home when the show comes on (8 a.m. CT) I plan to tape several of them for her though so she can see them.

Just thought I'd give my little review, two opposable thumbs up for Curious George!

Till later . . .

**edited Tuesday morning** I was right. This morning they said "din-uh-vuh" which is hello in Finnish.