Blog 1- waiting for the phone call

It is May 4th and I have no news to report except that I've put in my very first blog entry! Yay! Although I've had to update my adoption paperwork here and there (it seems like I'm in a bit of a lull with that, thankfully) in the past few months, I really haven't had anything newsworthy to report to my family and friends, so this should be a good way to share my progress, the bumps in the process, and maybe give people a little idea what this experience has been like for me. In a few words, I'll just say it has been an emotional year. Right now I feel excited, nervous about my trip, and I fluctuate between feeling super-ready and impatient to feeling completely unprepared for this life change. I have also put on a few pounds.... I call it my "pregnant on paper" weight gain.

Today I finally put down the living room rug I bought at a flea market over 2 years ago! For the record, it is too big, so Robbie, when you move to your next place, you can have it if you still want it. It is 12 x 20. This house has kept me busy for the past six months, as I've painted three bedrooms, one of my hallways, my laundry room, I hired painters for the rest, had tile installed in my kitchen and both bathrooms and the same crew also put in my wood flooring. The contractor also put in some new faucets for me that I'd bought (what a difference all that makes!). I've done alot of miscellaneous work around the place and this weekend finally, I think I'm officially bored! Wow! I didn't think I'd have all this done before my trip! Now what do I do!?! I need some real hobbies again.... preferrably some cheap ones.

All this work has been helping me cope with waiting. Aside from the regular questions from family, friends, and co-workers regarding status, I've had the luxury of distractions to keep my mind off of the adoption. I don't have a big pregnant belly as a constant reminder that I have a child on the way. I've realized in the past year that I'm not as patient as I'd like to believe. I have a difficult time with the "when" part. Since the arrival is one big question mark, I've been setting my own due dates. I was a bit too optimistic by saying Christmas 07. I realize now that was just plain silly. So I thought I'd at least hear something by Mother's Day. Once I reached mid-April, instead of approaching that day with sadness, I quickly pushed my due date to September 2008. My new and completely fabricated delivery date is September 27th, 2008..... I can wait that long. That gives me the summer to relax a little bit.

On that note, I think I will go see Iron Man tonight. Some of it was filmed on the base in California where I lived the past five years. A few people from my building were in the movie as extras so it will be interesting to see if I recognize the buildings or see a friendly face in the crowd. This concludes blog #1. I hope that the next few entries have more progress to report.