This woman can hang with the big dogs of shopping!

Yesterday Marc and I had dinner with our friends, Shannon and Alan. After dinner we were going to the airport to meet one of the newly adoptive moms in our FCC group with her new baby at the airport (more on that later). After dinner we went to their house and Shannon showed me around her home. When we got to her soon to be daughter Mia's room and she opened the closet door I was impressed and astonished at the amount of clothing that Mia already had. Well let me tell you, I had to call Marc into the room to show him, as we have been so conservative in buying clothing so far. You see, Shannon is a power shopper. The girl got Skillz as they say. She and some of the women that belong to our FCC group discuss sales around town quite frequently and I truly cannot hang because I am one of those shoppers that have to see the item in a beautiful display in order to purchase it at full price I might add. Shannon on the other hand can smell a sale a mile away and many of the items in Mia's closet were deeply discounted. One item from Old Navy was even 0.97. I was totally impressed but I would not to be out done. Today, Marc had to run into K-mart to get something for a show he is doing tonight and I told him that I was going to look in the baby section while he tracked down his item. Yes, I know, K-mart is known for it's blue light specials (does that date me?) but I strode purposefully over to the clearance rack and found this cute bathing suit. The tag read that it had been discounted to 6.00 with 25% additional off at the register; but guess what....It was $1.87. I was totally proud! So Shannon this ones for you girl and please pass this information about my bargain on to your mom who will be truly proud of me. :)

As I mentioned earlier we then went to the airport and met Anna and her new daughter Molly. She traveled with her mom as well. A group of us came with balloons and a sign to greet them. It was great to see Anna with her baby, who is an absolute doll. I hope to be able to post a couple of pictures in a few days.

We had a little bad news earlier this week in that the cut-off this month for referrals was much earlier in the month than we had hoped which means that it will probably take us longer than we thought to get news of our baby. I was super upset about this turn of events when we were finally getting so very close but I took a vow to myself to just take this one day at a time (as my hubby keeps telling me) and enjoy each day that that we have together. I will do just that.

Note to Justin: Hey Mr. J...I am sending up some mags to you including your Spin Magazine. Love you!

C'mon there can't be more than two more months of Hurricane Season Left and Yes, I am paper pregnant!! Ramblings of an Expectant Mom...

Just dodged another bullet with Hurricane Rita. OMG, if we keep getting hurricane warnings for the next 2 months then my already ample behind will look like this. I just asked Marc if it already did and he did his husbandly duty and said NO! Between hurricane season and my paper pregnancy it seems that I have obtained a license to eat. Unfortunately, people with no knowledge of my paper pregnancy do not know that I am expecting and think that I am getting fat for no reason. Does any of this make sense to you?

I just want to know am I alone with all of this or are any of my fellow adoptive moms going through this as well?

A Beautiful Night at the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

Tonight was the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. It's an occasion for family reunion. Similar to our Thanksgiving, people gather and give thanks for a good harvest. You remember those family members that cannot be with you and celebrate the biggest full moon of the year which is always the 15th day of 8th Chinese lunar month. Many Chinese believe that we are connected by sharing the same moon. Many children do a lantern parade and family enjoy mooncakes. They are quite interesting.

We began our evening at Miss Yips, a Chinese Restaurant on Miami Beach. There were 80 adoptive parents and children there. We ate with our good friends Alan and Shannon along with their five year old son Ryan. They should travel to China about a month prior to us to bring their daughter Mia home. After dinner we paraded down Lincoln Road with the children holding paper lanterns, balloons and beach balls all the way to the beach. When we got to the beach it was dark and then all at once we released our balloons with wishes attached (we wrote a wish to a family member that could not be with us). This is especially poignant for the children as it is a time to remember their birth families in China. The moon rose and it was so large and golden. We then hung around for a little while just enjoying the moment. We cannot wait for Katie to be with us at this wonderful festival next year.

It was a fantastic evening shared with great friends that we will always remember. Below are some pictures from the festival.

Marc and I with our Little Friend Meg

All of the Beautiful Children at the Moon Festival

Our Good Friends Shannon, Alan and Ryan

Watching the Balloons with Wishes Fly away

Me and my Baby

Mei Dreams

That is the name of my DTC Group. As I told you earlier a DTC Group is a group of waiting families that are logged in to the CCAA during the same month. In my case that month is May. Besides the fact that I have started a local support group, I am also on the committee to design the web site for our DTC Group. Ahhhhh! I have the I can't say no syndrome lately! :) Who am I kidding. I love being busy!

There are many reasons to have a site; the number one reason being that you can upload your photo of your new baby for all of your fellow adoptive parents and for the world to see. As soon as it is done I will give you the link.

Justin...This one's for YOU!!

I purchased this Gator Cheerleading outfit for Katie at my fav place; Target. I could not resist as Justin will be graduating from the University of Florida in the Spring. Since it is the best University in Florida I am sure Katie will want to follow in her big brother's VERY LARGE :) footsteps. Besides, I am sure Katie will be Justin's biggest cheerleader.

Why are some people so ignorant?!?

Yesterday, a real estate agent that used to work in our office came into my office to say hello. I had heard through the grapevine that she had made some biased comments about our adoption (why are they not adopting a white child?) When she walked in she first asked me how my son was doing in college and when I told her that he was doing very well she went on to ask me whether we were still going though with that "thing" that we were doing? I responded with "Do you mean adopting our baby?" She then said yes and had the audacity to ask me if I knew what a commitment this was? What?!*@@? Was she kidding? I have raised a son to adulthood!! Even if I had not; I am an adult. Would she have asked me that same question if I was pregnant? I think not!! I wanted to spit profanity at her and throw her out of my office but I politely told her that I certainly knew what I was doing and that I was very busy so I would have to get back to work. Ok...Lori...Breathe and turn the other cheek!

WE DODGED ANOTHER BULLET!

We are very thankful to report that our home and business have not been affected by the hurricane. The eye of the storm actually came in over the city where my business is located and nothing happened to it. As I am writing this I am knocking on wood and biting my tongue as my Jewish mama taught me to do so well. I sincerely hope that the rest of the hurricane season is uneventful!

Eating my way through Hurricane Katrina

This is the radar view of Hurricane Katrina; the storm that has given me license to eat......and eat and eat! Maybe if my rear end gets big enough then it will anchor me down during hurricane season so that I do not get blown away. The power keeps going out and it sounds horrid outside. My sweet hubby put his sweet lil blogger on battery backup. The eye came in over Hallandale Beach where my real estate office is located. We will see what the light of day brings.

Happy Birthday Marky Marc!

This is my sweet husband and birthday boy Marc. He turned 44 today. I am very happy about this because I am 4 months and 2 days older than Marc and for those 4 months and 2 days that is all that I hear. So now we are the same age again :) Seriously though, I want the whole world or at least my blog audience to know that Marc is a truly wonderful husband and will be the best father ever. You see today our nursery furniture was delivered (see how Marc is standing next to the crib in his birthday hat). Marc set up the delivery for today and when I said that we should cancel it because waiting for the delivery would interfere with his birthday he told me that he wanted it to be delivered today because he could think of nothing that would make him happier on this birthday (other than having his daughter of course) than seeing her furniture set up in her room. What a guy!!

Just back from vacation

I know it has been awhile since I last posted as my son so regularly reminds me, but things got a bit chaotic around here and then we left for vacation - thank goodness!

Before we left we held our second waiting families meeting. Approximately ninety people came. I could not get over it. It is always a wonderful experience to get to share this experience with fellow adoptive parents as well as watching the children have a blast.

Back to the vacation..

We drove up to Gainesville to pick up Justin after his summer classes ended and then headed up to Holden Beach, North Carolina. We rented a house on the beach with my sister's family. The first couple of days were rainy and gloomy to say the least but then the skies cleared and the rest of the time was perfect weather; warm sunny days and beautiful evenings. We sat in the sun, did some touristy things ate a lot and played lots of games. It was great to be with family and just relax. We drove back and dropped Justin back at UF and got to have lunch before we left with his girlfriend, Judy. It was a very nice ending to a great week.

When we were away I received an e-mail from our agency notifying us that we are in the review room at the CCAA. Our dossier is being reviewed and within the next 2-3 months we will be matched with a baby. We were so excited to hear about this progress in our adoption journey.

Tomorrow I will be part of a cybershower. Several people in my DTC group have sent a shower gift to another and we are opening our presents while chatting online tomorrow. Sounds a bit sappy but it sure is fun!

Enjoy some pics from our vacation that I have posted below. Don't forget to comment periodically. We love to read the comments.

Chillin on the beach

My nephew, Samuel Ruocco Rodgers

Sam buried in the sand next to his dad Steve

Justin congratulating Marc on his put put victory

Marc and our nephew Sam