Age of Aquarius

January 21, 2005

That's the day our baby was born.

So she's an Aquarius...

The Water Carrier

January 21 to February 19

Traditional Aquarius Traits

Friendly and humanitarian

Honest and loyal

Original and inventive

Independent and intellectual

LIKES
Fighting for Causes
Dreaming and Planning for the Future
Thinking of the Past
Good Companions
Having Fun

DISLIKES
Full of Air Promises
Excessive Loneliness
The Ordinary
Imitations
Idealistic

Any Aquarius out there? Any of this true?

Here are a few people who share Tamara's birthday with her.

She's in pretty good company I think.

January 21, 1905 - Christian Dior - Designer , January 21, 1940 - Jack Nicklaus - Sports Figure, January 21, 1941 - Placido Domingo - Singer, January 21, 1942 - Mack Davis - Singer,

January 21, 1947 - Jill Eikenberry - Actress, January 21, 1957 - Geena Davis - Actress

~~~

We also had to give them (Georgian Courts) a middle name for Tamara so after going back and forth for weeks we finally decided on Tamara Katarina.

I always liked the name Katarina .. in fact if she were younger we would have changed her first name to Katarina. But we also thought it would be a great way for all of us to remember Kathy and Irina the two ladies state side that have been absolutely wonderful through this whole journey to Tamara. There is no doubt in my mind that they care for Tamara a great deal.

So Katarina it is.

On Bruce's side of the family.. strangely enough most of the ladies have the middle name Lee.

Weird huh? Nope can't make this stuff up.

I have had many people suggest that we name her Tamara Lee ... but to me that just sounded too much like a country western singer. And I wanted her to have a strong name she can grow into.

Katarina is a strong name. Sounds important I think? Anyway now she'll have something in common with her girl cousins here. Cousin Katie is a Katherine Ann and Cousin Amanda is Amanda Cathleen.

~~~

On the paper front. I spoke to INS today and they gave me our case # and they're working on it. Yahoo!!!! So exciting!!!

Georgia is cruising.. we should get our court date soon... I hope.

Another batch of documents are in Trenton should be back in a day or two.

These get hand carried to Georgia by us.

~~~

And more good news... Tamara's new bedroom set is being delivered tomorrow. Not bad considering it had to come from No. Carolina. I guess begging does work? ;o)

~nite~

Look for an open window

How many times have you heard when one door closes another one opens?

Too many to count I bet. I have learned through the years to always look for an open window.

Most things worth having require a climb rather then a simple walk through.

~~~

I received an email today from Cathy whom I hired as a mentor this winter to help me out with the paper chase for the Ukraine. We were going to attempt an independent adoption from there and then Tamara came along. Although Cathy's fees like all adoption fees are non refundable.. I never regretted sending her the check. In one fell swoop Cathy cleared up so many mysteries about the international adoption world for me. She is a single mother of 9 adoptive children. Talk about courage and in site.

Anyway... the email today made us feel like we had dodged yet another bullet. The Ukraine is voting yet again on an adoption bill. And although no one knows yet how it will turn out it's a very stressful time for those families who are in the process for the Ukraine.

Under the new bill no single adoptive parents and they would require a 45 year max age difference between the oldest parent and child. In our case that would have meant a 9 year old.

So as you can see sometimes we climb out the window before the door closes.

Sometimes we get lucky... sometimes when we follow our hearts... our inner voice and

we get it right. ;o)

~~~

The picture above was taken by my cousin Anna during her last trip to Croatia.

Yes Annie.. I messed with your photo. Kind of cool no?

It was taken in Glavotok on the Island Krk.

The picture below is an original from the series.

This was the view our mothers had growing up.

Talk about an open window.

And below is the aerial shot of Glavotok.

This place has a very special place in my family's heart. Someday I hope to take Tamara there. Someday perhaps she too will find the open window with the awe inspiring view.

~~~

Happy Tax Day

Wow... it's that time of year AGAIN?

Seems like just yesterday we filed our return?

Oh.. maybe it was...lol

Just kidding... I hope you all had a stress free tax day.

~~~

I guess you all would appreciate an update?

Well things are progressing.. today we went for our final finger printing.

FBI / INS

There's a form they call a I600 which gives us permission from our government to bring Tamara home. Hopefully??? This part of the process will go swiftly as Georgia is almost ready for us.

I will be calling INS tomorrow. Yup tomorrow Wednesday if you remember adoptive parents have a 3 hour window to speak to a real person. So at exactly 1pm I'll program our phone to ring them. ;o)

Wish me luck!!!

~~~

Have a Seat

Saturday we went to visit our new friends who had adopted an adorably sweet little boy from Tamara's Baby House in Georgia. After seeing this energetic little 3 year old in action I decided the booster seat concept will have to wait so I went out today and bought Tamara a high chair. After consulting with my Mommy consulting group of course ;o). Thanks Girls! I settled on the Graco Classic Wood Highchair in Cherry. It looks much, much better in person then in this photo and it's actually a pretty cool chair. Starts out as a regular high chair, then turns into a toddler type booster high chair that you can pull up to a table and lastly it becomes a children's chair.

The cherry tray has a very good quality molded clear hard plastic tray that is dishwasher safe. In fact this "should"??? be fairly easy to maintain. And it matches our adult furniture which is great. Who ever picks the designs / colors for baby / toddler items this year should be shot.

Why on earth would they suddenly think that I would want an orange and green high chair, stroller or car seat? Honestly what are they thinking?

~~~

Below is Tamara's Royal Dalton Bunnykins table and chair set that arrived this week.

Cute no?

Perfect for all those tea parties... Yes of course she has a Royal Dalton mini tea set already waiting for her. ;o)

Bruce has been very co-operative assembling Tamara's new furniture pieces and I must say he's making them incredibly strong. I think he might be planning on using these chairs at some point? lol

Have a Seat ;o)

~~~

Weddings, Funerals & Babies...

Weddings, Funerals and Babies...

The three times in your life when the salesmen really see you coming.

As you all know I've planned a "few" weddings in my day. Unfortunately have had to plan a funeral as well. And now for the baby part.

After an extensive search these last two weeks we finally settled on a new bedroom set for Tamara. I really appreciate all the advice I've received via comment post, email and phone.

I have taken all your opinions into account.

And we have decided to go with Young America Isabella by the Stanley Furniture Company.

A made in the USA set that she can grow with... adding age appropriate pieces as she matures.

The concept is similar to the crib conversion to a toddler bed and then a daybed or full size.

We purchased a twin canopy that will start out at Toddler bed height with matching bed rails.

When she gets a little older we raise the bed and add a box spring to regular height. Still able to use the bed rails. At regular height we add a Trundle bed. Which will slide under the bed when not in use. Great for sleep overs.

It's a set that I would imagine any little girl would absolutely love.

I think you'll agree.

Above Isabella Set

Picture a twin set.. toddler height. Matching night stand and dresser / mirror...

Cute NO???

~~~

OK... It wouldn't be shopping if we didn't dream a little. So I figure I should show you what I would have bought had I won the Mega million lottery drawing this week. Of course I might have had a better chance had I actually purchased a ticket..lol

This little princess bed can be yours for a mere $16,000 + delivery.

I thought about it for about 10 seconds. That's how long it took me to realize where the comma was. The sheets.. being round are probably as expensive as the dresser we bought....lol. but it's nice to dream. ;o)

~~~

While looking at Fantasy Items I also found this Play House at Le Petite Maison.

Couldn't tell you how much this baby goes for as they don't tell you.. you complete their form which asks what your play house budget is? Since these are two story Baby Mansions with heat and running water perhaps we'll build one for Tamara as a wedding gift? lol

Nice huh?

OK and life wouldn't be complete without a special place for FiFi

So as you can see there are loopier people then I.

Comforting isn't it? LOL

~~~

On the adoption front ... everything seems to be moving along.

A little hiccup here and there but nothing we can't handle.

~~~

Ouch!

Ouch!

Back to the Doctor today for more shots.

I don't think we'll catch anything for about 10 years.

They don't tell you about this part... no one makes it a point to tell you about all the medical screening, poking, testing you have to do first before you're approved and then again to travel.

Bruce picked up our prescriptions today.. they were over $500. That was our co-pay part.

Sounds like a lot doesn't it.. you'd think we'd have dozens of bottles and hundreds of pills for that. But in reality is was 2 Hep A vaccines, 2 Z packs , 2 Tami flu, and 2 Typhoid pill packs. In total I think he came home with about a dozen pills. Wow.. so glad we have a prescription plan??? The rest our Dr. provided at the office for a fee of course. Not sure which was more painful... the shot in the arm or the shot in the wallet. Somehow... the wallet seems more like an insult to our intelligence? Yeah... like we're not suppose to notice a $500 charge? Ah? Ouch!

Anyway... That was the highlight of my day? Other then shopping with Bruce and a quick dinner at Pizza Hut. Yes... he can be bribed with food.

Poor guy... he's been dragged all over 3 counties as I look for a possible new bedroom set for Tamara. Think we found it last night. But it really burns my buttons when I have to pay full retail on big ticket items. Guess it's all those years as a buyer.. you get used to wholesale figures. And when you know what the mark up is? Grrrr.

aNy WaY... the bedroom I want for her is not discounted anywhere... and I mean anywhere. Yeah... I'll probably get the store to eat the tax and delivery fees but I think they know that no one is discounting the set. Bummer. Well at least it's made in the USA.

And there is a HUGE difference in quality. I mean huge. Not sure what they're using to make furniture in China these days but they really should try ...um... wood?

So here's what I noticed / learned the last few days about the furniture in our stores these days.

Most of it is manufactured in China. Seriously... read the fine print. With the exception of some very expensive brands... the rest of it is pretty pathetic. So this is what happens and using the set I want for Tamara is a perfect example. OK... see if you can follow along here.

Set A is the American set. Made of wood, solid, non toxic.

Set B is the China Set. Made of Mystery material, shaky at best and who knows if it's toxic?

They both start at about the same price. Set A does well. The floor model is solid, it looks better, better styling lines. Set B is shaky, chips in the show room. The fancy molding is not wood but some sort of molded foam? Yeah.. that sounds healthy? Anyway... people aren't stupid.. when they see an inferior sample it doesn't sit well. Think about it.. why would a parent buy a bed, dresser for their young child if the sample couldn't hold up in a store? They wouldn't unless they had no choice. So... Set A retains it's price and value and set B goes on sale 50-60% off if you look closely enough. But we want set A. So I've spent hours online and in every furniture store within a 50 mile radius looking for it.

So what is this to die for must have set like? you ask?

It's a twin canopy that has the capacity to be a Toddler bed with matching rails while she's little.

Once she gets a little taller. Daddy can lift the mattress part up to a regular bed height and then we buy the Trundle Unit so she has room for a little buddy. Should she want a larger bed when she's a teen? No problem.. we swap with the guest room.

the set is rather extensive so we can add to it as she grows.

Kind of cool ...no?

~~~

I would think?

Ta Da

Is it morning yet? Thought I'd give you all a quick update. Today our document arrived via FedEx from Trenton and I scanned and sent it over. Hard copy stays with me. And gets hand carried over.

Also today found out slight change in plans when in country. Now we have to travel to Tamara's Birth Family's region to acquire a new birth certificate. So ... road trip. Hum... wonder how far that will be? Anyway.. it will give us the opportunity to at least drive through her village... perhaps even stop? I've been bugging our agency for months for information, pictures and such on the birth family. Perhaps We'll get to meet them after all?

At some point I expect Tamara will ask about her birth family. I would love to have some pictures of them or at least their village to share with her. Although the nanny has met them and I will have an opportunity to interview her... it would be nice to meet them first hand.

When you adopt a child your best opportunity to gather information is before the adoption. When you adopt internationally... your only opportunity may be while you're in country. So although a nerve racking, highly emotional event. It's an opportunity we really can't pass up should it present itself.

I would think? If we did have the opportunity to meet her birth family it would give her birth Mom some closure as well. I would think?

I would think? She would feel a sense of relief knowing her Birth Daughter has a family that adores her and will provide her with a happy, healthy, productive life.

I would think?

I would think?

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