Top 10 Ways To Pass The Time While Waiting To Travel

1. Baby Showers!
My sister, Christy, is throwing us a 'virtual' shower. We don't have time to travel back any closer to our families between now and when we hope to travel, so this was a great solution! Plus, now all of our friends and family can join in from all over the country! {and even better - no uncomfortably-silly shower games!}
She is hosting a web baby shower through www.webbabyshower.com (in case anyone else is interested in this fabulous idea!).

2. Education
Yes, it is required through the two adoption agencies we are using, but it's a great idea. A couple weeks ago we took an Infant/Child CPR/Safety class. It was another great class held at a local hospital. Did you know that CPR procedures have recently changed? No more 5:1.. now it is 30:2. And if you don't recall what that means.. time for a refresher! {though after practicing for hours, I still found myself lifting the neck, which you no longer should do! Argh! Old habits are hard to break (though I guess necks are not!)!}
We've also been watching DVD classes, reading books, and taking online courses (including baby sign language - can't wait to try it!). Phew!!
Here's hoping that we retain something and it helps us become amazing parents!

3. Learn fun songs and games to play with baby
I have heard that Hap Palmer songs are great - so I purchased a CD of his songs. Guess it's time to start recalling where that itsy bitsy spider climbs and how the wheels on the bus go. :)

4. Take a pre-baby vacation!
Everyone keeps telling us to do this - so we are! We are traveling to Mexico in a couple of weeks. I guess this may be the last time that we will be staying at the adults-only spa resort! Next time we'll be staying at the one with the baby pool. :)

5. Pamper yourself!
OK, #4 might have sounded pampering... but I've decided that visits to local spas are also a good idea. We might not have time for massages and pedicures after Maya is home, so we must take advantage now!!
{it's times like this that i am glad Aj does not often read this blog..hee}

6. Find a way to delegate all of your work after baby comes home
I'm currently looking for an assistant. If anyone who knows me personally actually knows someone who would be interested, please let me know. {I'm serious!}

7. Get carried away with decorating the nursery
I promised myself that I would not do this. I blame Penny. ;) Photos coming soon.

8. Constantly check your email for updates on the baby
Luckily this is only necessary during working hours. :)))

9. Sleep!
We were told recently that we should deprive ourselves of sleep in order to be prepared. We decided to go with the opposite idea and sleep as much as possible while we can!

10. Stay up all hours of the night updating your blog!!
This conflicts with #9, so you must be careful. If you don't spend too much time on #8, you could accomplish both #8 and #10 during #8's timeframe. ;) Or.. prioritize #6 and hire the assistant a bit earlier.

A Little Update

We received updated height and weight info for Maya today. She is so tiny!! At 6 1/2 months, she weighs only 11 lbs and is 22.8". We need to bring her home and feed her!!

Maya was retested last week for the Thalassemia E trait. We rec'd the lab results yesterday, but could not interpret them. For some reason, they did not write a diagnosis on this document as they normally do. Maybe because this was not an overall med exam, but just the Thalassemia retests.
We sent the information off to our Int'l Adoption Clinic doctor, who told us that he will have a haemotologist review it and get back with us by the end of the week.

On a personal note, we have been vacationing in Vail this week. This is our first time staying up here, though Aj has skiied here for the day a few times. It's so beautiful .. and the village has some great restaurants and shopping! We are at the end of the ski season, but it is still pretty good. This was a great snow season!

Hotter Than...

__________________ {Fill in the blank}

Heat index in Kolkata today: 110 degrees.
And it is still spring.

Well I guess we'll look forward to losing some 'water weight' while traveling to pick up Maya!
Though my addicted-to-AC husband may go thru some form of withdrawal during the trip.

The attached photo is of our first baby. Yes, we are that (obnoxious-to-some) couple who treat their dog like a child. We have had Tasha for 6 years, and she is most definately a member of the family!
Hopefully she won't freak out too much when we bring Maya home! She loves kids, so I think she will adjust quickly.
What lab can resist the lure of the baby diaper??

NOC!!!

Yay!!!
Happy news today - we found out that Maya's NOC has been issued and her papers are already in the Kolkata courts!!
This is very exciting news, as the NOC is normally the 'longest' legal step in India. It can sometimes take months and months. We have only been waiting 30 business days, so we can be very thankful for that!!
The next step is guardianship - which is process in the Kolkata court system. This process has been taking 30 - 45 days recently. Once guardianship is issued, we only need to await Maya's passport.
The passport process has been a little erratic lately - taking a couple weeks to almost 2 months. So.. we are hoping/praying that the process will be quick and smooth for us!
Once guardianship is granted, we will need to pack our bags and be ready - as we will need to travel within 1-2 weeks of the passport being issued.
Very exciting! :)

Other Happy Families!

Three other Dillon families received their legals today! Yay for them!
It helps get you through the wait when you hear happy news from other families.
The 'legals' step is our next step, after we receive our NOC. It took them ~38 days for that portion.
Not too bad!
Now they are waiting on passports so they can travel.
I hope they get a chance to see Maya while they are there so that we can get an update!

Btw... it has been 28 business days since we shipped out our acceptance packet. Praying every night now that we have good news in our email in the morning!!!

No News Is ...

.. horridly frustrating!!

No, no Maya updates.
No NOC.
No updated medical info.
No new photos.

This process is certainly creeping along slowly.
Slooooooooooooooooooowly.

But in the meantime... we finally ordered nursery furniture. And although my generous sister and bro-in-law had given us my nephew's old crib, we decided to order the matching crib to the dresser and armoire that we wanted (someone fell in love with the set.. but I won't name names... {but it wasn't me this time!!}). The main reason is because the crib is convertible and becomes a toddler bed and then a twin bed. {hmmm... does this help you figure out who it was that made the decision on that purchase? ;)}
It's all nice furniture and hopefully it lasts for a long time.
Hopefully someday in the future, Maya doesn't get the grande creative idea that drawing pictures and writing her name in permanent marker on the headboard would be fun! {yes, there is a headboard someplace with my artist impressions on it! (sorry mom)}

Btw - the furniture is painted in an antique-white color. I had no idea how difficult/impossible it would be to find this!! We went to a huge nursery/child furniture store and they had 3 sets out of hundreds that came in this color. Bizarre! Luckily we liked one of them.
If anyone reading this is in the furniture-making biz, I have found a niche for you!!!
But the furniture is beautiful! It is also backordered for ~6 months, so Maya should be home before we get the furniture. That is annoying... but whatever. We have purchased a co-sleeper for her to use for the first several months anyhow, to aid in the attachment/bonding process (www.armsreach.com).

Did I mention before that we also were able to hire Penny to paint the nursery mural? (I have an earlier post with her website on it - I love her work). She had a cancellation and was able to work us in. She will be painting the last week of April. Stay tuned for photos!

Last Friday we had our immunizations. Only 2 shots for me and 1 for Ajay! Yay!! We are loaded up with prescrips and ready to travel now!

Well I don't have much more information to share today. I know that several of our friends/family are checking this blog for updates, so I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten to keep it up.

One of the other Dillon families rec'd their legals today... so at least that makes us feel hopeful that things are moving...no matter how slowly.

Stay tuned. Hopefully we will have a more interesting update soon!