What a week!!!!
WOW, this has been quite the ride. This post is a bit of a trip down memory lane, but since this week will be forever etched in our minds, we thought we'd share our memories of the highlights of each day.
Fri. Feb 24 – rumours indicate that referrals are on their way. Mad emailing with other members of our CB group (#230 – see link on the left bar).
Sat. Feb 25 – took the car in and found out it was unfixable (granted, this was a 1992 Tercel with 270K on it, so it is not like it owed us anything…but still…jeez…talk about bad timing). Leave our house @ 2:00 and head to the dealership to get a new car. By 4:30 we are the proud owners of a 2006 Toyota Corolla.. AJ cries and wants to say goodbye to the old car….we buy another red one to make her feel better.
Sun. Feb 26 – ski day. Freeze our butts off but it is sunny and worth it. AJ rocks. She can get off the lift mostly by he
rself (small bum push required) and carves some mighty nice turns down the hill. CCAA changes their site so we know that it is official – referrals are on their way.
Auntie Jo comes over for dinner and brings us the most amazing gift ever - this quilt made from my dear uncle Rob's favourite clothes. AJ is obsessed with it, and the rest of us cry and smile as we remember all the wonderful times with Rob. We miss him so much, but this brings him near.
Mon. Feb. 27 – AJ is sick (fever, headache…not sure what it was) so we stay home. Chatter on referrals is that people in the US are getting referral calls….At this point we’re thinking that our call will come Wed./Thurs. or Friday.
Tues. Feb 28 – AJ still sick so Steve stays home with her (which turns out to be a great thing!). We’re still thinking our referral will come later in the week, but @ noon I return to my desk after a meeting and there is a message on my phone from Mariann from Children’s Bridge. AHHHHHH! I’m shaking too hard to call her back for the first few minutes, so I calm down a bit, run into Marwa’s (co-worker) office to tell her what’s happening and that I think I might puke, and then I dash back to my office to call Mariann. Naturally, she is on the phone calling other people, so I have to leave a message. By now, Najah and Alison (other coworkers) have joined in the fun and so the four of us hover over my phone. At that point I realize I should share this moment with some other people….i.e. my husband aka the father of this child! (duh), and my daughter aka the big sister. So, while the work gang stands guard on my phone, I use Najah’s office to call Steve and AJ. They were as shocked as I was. We really hadn’t expected ‘the call’ so early. Chat with them and still no call from Mariann. I call my Mom and Dad. This is great because now everyone is freaking out waiting for the call back!
As I’m on the phone the work gang starts going nuts screaming, “Your phone is ringing! It is her!” I dash back to my office and look at the display and now my heart is beating like crazy. I take a deep breath and dive at the phone and try to calmly say, “Hello Mariann.” Clearly she is not fooled because she starts laughing. : )
The call itself is a bit of a blur, as you can imagine. Luckily just that morning (maybe I subconsciously knew, or maybe I am just compulsively organized), I had downloaded a form provided by our fellow May LIDers on the Mei dreams site, (THANKS) so all I had to do was fill in the blanks. Mariann told me her name, where she was and her birthday. She gave me some basic info on her development (listed in the previous post) and told me that she had lots of hair – how true! After I hung up there was much yelling, crying, hugging and jumping up and down. I am so lucky to work with such a wonderful group.
About 2 mins. later Mariann emailed the photos. More crying, jumping and hugging, and of course tons of “OMG, she is SO cute!!!!!”
Meanwhile, at home, there was chaos but for a different reason. AJ had been running around and managed to jam her foot under a door and cut it open. Nothing really serious, but since she
is a bit of a drama queen it was quite the event. So when I called home to tell them about ‘the call’, Steve was excited, but distracted, and AJ wouldn’t talk to me because she was “too sad.” Steve got her settled (foot elevated) and then ran to the computer to download the photos. When she saw the laptop with the photos that seemed to distract her from her foot problems. The first thing she did when she saw Charlotte was hug and kiss the computer screen. How cute is that!!?? Again, the happy family moment was short-lived because they had to hop into my parent’s car (which we had borrowed while waiting for our new one), drive over to their house and pick them up, and then go back across the city to meet me at the car dealership to pick up the new car.
The weirdest part of the day is that the first time we all saw eachother and had a chance to say, “Holy cow…..we had a baby today,” was at the car dealership, and we got to share the special moment with Corey, our salesguy. I was already there signing papers when Steve, AJ and my parents arrived. AJ ran in with a stack of photos of Charlotte that Mom and Dad had printed (bless them), whipped them out of their case and started kissing them. It was such a sweet moment….even though it was at the car place. : )
It seemed sort of boring just to go home from there, so we went out for dinner. Here we are in the restaurant celebrating!
Wed. Mar 1 – wow…how to follow that day? AJ took her copies of the Charlotte photos to school. She wasn’t 5 ft. inside the door before she tore off her backpack and started telling people that she was a big sister. Even people we don’t know heard the story….Steve said anyone that walked through the front door got to hear AJ’s story. I can’t tell you how thrilled we are to see such enthusiasm from her. One can never predict how an only-child of 4 ½ years will react to a new baby coming into her turf, but so far so good! Honestly, I have never seen her so excited. She is bouncing off the ceiling, and carries the photos with her everywhere she goes.
Fri. Mar 3 – “Show and Tell” day for AJ at school. She takes her photos and makes an official presentation to her class about her sister. The teachers help out by showing the kids where China is on the map. We didn’t have a chance to ask if they talked about adoption too..will find that out on Monday.
Friday was also pick up the file day. Children’s Bridge translated Charlotte’s file for us and I went to their office at 3:30 to pick it up. There is more to tell all of you, but I think I’ll end this long post here. We will post more about Charlotte tomorrow. We've decided her name will be Charlotte Xiao Qing, don't think we've officially mentioned that yet.
Thanks so much to all of you who sent messages and called this week. We are all so excited to finally see our baby, and I know that Charlotte is going to be thrilled to meet all of you.
Heather
p.s. from AJ I love my sister!
Fri. Feb 24 – rumours indicate that referrals are on their way. Mad emailing with other members of our CB group (#230 – see link on the left bar).
Sat. Feb 25 – took the car in and found out it was unfixable (granted, this was a 1992 Tercel with 270K on it, so it is not like it owed us anything…but still…jeez…talk about bad timing). Leave our house @ 2:00 and head to the dealership to get a new car. By 4:30 we are the proud owners of a 2006 Toyota Corolla.. AJ cries and wants to say goodbye to the old car….we buy another red one to make her feel better.
Sun. Feb 26 – ski day. Freeze our butts off but it is sunny and worth it. AJ rocks. She can get off the lift mostly by he
rself (small bum push required) and carves some mighty nice turns down the hill. CCAA changes their site so we know that it is official – referrals are on their way.Auntie Jo comes over for dinner and brings us the most amazing gift ever - this quilt made from my dear uncle Rob's favourite clothes. AJ is obsessed with it, and the rest of us cry and smile as we remember all the wonderful times with Rob. We miss him so much, but this brings him near.
Mon. Feb. 27 – AJ is sick (fever, headache…not sure what it was) so we stay home. Chatter on referrals is that people in the US are getting referral calls….At this point we’re thinking that our call will come Wed./Thurs. or Friday.
Tues. Feb 28 – AJ still sick so Steve stays home with her (which turns out to be a great thing!). We’re still thinking our referral will come later in the week, but @ noon I return to my desk after a meeting and there is a message on my phone from Mariann from Children’s Bridge. AHHHHHH! I’m shaking too hard to call her back for the first few minutes, so I calm down a bit, run into Marwa’s (co-worker) office to tell her what’s happening and that I think I might puke, and then I dash back to my office to call Mariann. Naturally, she is on the phone calling other people, so I have to leave a message. By now, Najah and Alison (other coworkers) have joined in the fun and so the four of us hover over my phone. At that point I realize I should share this moment with some other people….i.e. my husband aka the father of this child! (duh), and my daughter aka the big sister. So, while the work gang stands guard on my phone, I use Najah’s office to call Steve and AJ. They were as shocked as I was. We really hadn’t expected ‘the call’ so early. Chat with them and still no call from Mariann. I call my Mom and Dad. This is great because now everyone is freaking out waiting for the call back!
As I’m on the phone the work gang starts going nuts screaming, “Your phone is ringing! It is her!” I dash back to my office and look at the display and now my heart is beating like crazy. I take a deep breath and dive at the phone and try to calmly say, “Hello Mariann.” Clearly she is not fooled because she starts laughing. : )
The call itself is a bit of a blur, as you can imagine. Luckily just that morning (maybe I subconsciously knew, or maybe I am just compulsively organized), I had downloaded a form provided by our fellow May LIDers on the Mei dreams site, (THANKS) so all I had to do was fill in the blanks. Mariann told me her name, where she was and her birthday. She gave me some basic info on her development (listed in the previous post) and told me that she had lots of hair – how true! After I hung up there was much yelling, crying, hugging and jumping up and down. I am so lucky to work with such a wonderful group.
About 2 mins. later Mariann emailed the photos. More crying, jumping and hugging, and of course tons of “OMG, she is SO cute!!!!!”
Meanwhile, at home, there was chaos but for a different reason. AJ had been running around and managed to jam her foot under a door and cut it open. Nothing really serious, but since she
is a bit of a drama queen it was quite the event. So when I called home to tell them about ‘the call’, Steve was excited, but distracted, and AJ wouldn’t talk to me because she was “too sad.” Steve got her settled (foot elevated) and then ran to the computer to download the photos. When she saw the laptop with the photos that seemed to distract her from her foot problems. The first thing she did when she saw Charlotte was hug and kiss the computer screen. How cute is that!!?? Again, the happy family moment was short-lived because they had to hop into my parent’s car (which we had borrowed while waiting for our new one), drive over to their house and pick them up, and then go back across the city to meet me at the car dealership to pick up the new car.The weirdest part of the day is that the first time we all saw eachother and had a chance to say, “Holy cow…..we had a baby today,” was at the car dealership, and we got to share the special moment with Corey, our salesguy. I was already there signing papers when Steve, AJ and my parents arrived. AJ ran in with a stack of photos of Charlotte that Mom and Dad had printed (bless them), whipped them out of their case and started kissing them. It was such a sweet moment….even though it was at the car place. : )
It seemed sort of boring just to go home from there, so we went out for dinner. Here we are in the restaurant celebrating!
Wed. Mar 1 – wow…how to follow that day? AJ took her copies of the Charlotte photos to school. She wasn’t 5 ft. inside the door before she tore off her backpack and started telling people that she was a big sister. Even people we don’t know heard the story….Steve said anyone that walked through the front door got to hear AJ’s story. I can’t tell you how thrilled we are to see such enthusiasm from her. One can never predict how an only-child of 4 ½ years will react to a new baby coming into her turf, but so far so good! Honestly, I have never seen her so excited. She is bouncing off the ceiling, and carries the photos with her everywhere she goes.
Fri. Mar 3 – “Show and Tell” day for AJ at school. She takes her photos and makes an official presentation to her class about her sister. The teachers help out by showing the kids where China is on the map. We didn’t have a chance to ask if they talked about adoption too..will find that out on Monday.
Friday was also pick up the file day. Children’s Bridge translated Charlotte’s file for us and I went to their office at 3:30 to pick it up. There is more to tell all of you, but I think I’ll end this long post here. We will post more about Charlotte tomorrow. We've decided her name will be Charlotte Xiao Qing, don't think we've officially mentioned that yet.
Thanks so much to all of you who sent messages and called this week. We are all so excited to finally see our baby, and I know that Charlotte is going to be thrilled to meet all of you.
Heather
p.s. from AJ I love my sister!
posted by Stephen Daze | 10:25 PM
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