january 29, 2011

well, we got our fingerprint appts last week, but i've hesitated to blog about it.  we want very much to go in early (appt is for feb 14th), but with all the snow and school closings, we are finding it hard to pick a day.  might try next week, but snow/ice expected on tuesday and wednesday...  we will get there, eventually, though!  :)  another step closer to ben!

snow!

have a few photos of what our yard looks like right now!  updating while we have power...  6 to 8 inches of heavy wet snow out there.  seems to have stopped, but don't know if there will be any more to come over night.  shouldn't be.  hope this is it and hope the power stays on!

fancy hat! she made it herself!

and this one sofia made!

just grant.  :)  love the look on his face!

the beginning - ice covering everything

out shoveling with the kids, still early in the storm

the front yard - the chicken coop is out there somewhere

remember all that shoveling they were doing...

trees trying to get in the front window

pretty sure the yard is in that mess...

drive way...

january 14, 2011

WE GOT AN UPDATE ON BEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

here's what we got from the SWI:  (cut and pasted after our agency translated)

Medical/Development:

Ning Yuan’s current health is good.

He can sit up by himself, stand holding onto something, and walk around in the walker.

He can imitate the sound of baba, mama,  jie jie.

He is not yet potty trained.

Personality:

He is outgoing and smiles easily.

He is living in the orphanage. The staff calls him Yuan Yuan.

General:   

Sleeping and meal schedule -                   

Sleeping time: 10:30pm-6:00a m

Nap time: 12:00pm

Mealtime: 6:00am, 10:00am, 2:00pm, 6:00pm, 10:00pm        

He eats formula mixed with rice cereal and congee.

additionally, he is currently 30.7 inches tall and weighs 18.9 lbs!  he's HUGE!!!  although, the little red block in the photo of him sitting should not look that large - we JUST sent that to him, so we know how big it is.  so, these measurements *might* not be accurate.  also, there is some question about whether his right arm is fused at the elbow at 90 degrees.  in one photo, that arm is bent.  in the other photo, it does not appear to be as bent as much or at all...  maybe he is just in a huge jacket?  there is clearly no heat in that SWI.  but, there isn't in most small SWIs, so that is not really a surprise to us.

so great to see his little face!!!!!!  WE LOVE YOU, BEN NING YUAN!!!!!!

january 9, 2011

we got up early on saturday and went right to the post office.  the package is in the mail!  i'm probably going to be hand-wringing until it arrives safely on monday, but at least we are as done with it as we can be.  :) 

going to try to get the 797C out of the uscis as soon as possible.  i have some friends in the adoption community who are also going through adoptions right now and they are passing on tips to us about how to stay in touch with the various offices and branches of uscis and how to move the process along.  thanks very much to them!

photo of the dossier packaged and being mailed!!

DOSSIER!

well, nearly complete dossier!  still missing the i-797c (and will be for about 6 or 8 more weeks), but everything else is done.  :)  when the envelope goes to ccai tomorrow, it will contain:

12 of 13 documents, each of them notarized, certified, state dept certified, chinese embassy authenticated

a complete set of copies of each of the above documents and all it's accompanying documentation


1 doctor's letter

two copies each of our passport photo page

three passport photos, each

three photos of just jim and me

8 family life photos

hmm...  that might be all...
i might need to mail all that in a frigging box!

photo below is of three rows of documents (partial dossier).  agency's copies are left, our copies are middle and originals are yellowish on right.  each of those papers is actually a stapled stack of 4 to 6 pages, times 12 in a row...  i don't have enough fingers and toes to add all that up!  :)

all the rest of that crap in the list above is not shown in this photo.  like i said, i'm gonna need a box!  :)