Laugh, love, hug little ladybug

Isn't this the cutest ladybug frame you've ever seen!! OMG, I was giddy when I opened this gift from my awesome July dtc secret pal.

In addition, going with the June theme of "books, books, books, read to your baby every day," she sent these adorable I Love Animal books. I can't wait to sit with Baby S and read
each of these to her.

Thank you for the card and the encouragement. I don't know your LID, but if you don't already have your child or referral, I hope that it comes quickly for both of us. Thank you my pal, again you've made my day!

Chloe McKellar

More local adopters received their referral this month. Stephanie & Dave have a beautiful new daughter Li Liang Cen (Li= Beautiful, Liang = Pretty), soon to be Chloe McKellar. Her birthday is 09/20/05 (David’s Birthday as well ), from Jiangxi. 25 .47 inches, 15 lbs. Check out their website for updated information.

Baby S is going to love all her local playmates!!

Liza Sara FuBin

Fellow local adopters Jill & Seth have a beautiful new daughter Lou Fu Bin, soon to be Liza Sara FuBin. Unfortunately Jill & Seth don't have a blog, so here are all the details of their spicy baby:

Chinese Name: Lou (Surname) Fu (Blessing) Bin (Having both appearance and substance)
Birthday: October 16, 2005 (8 months 11 days!)
Height: 23.62 inches (as of April 5, 2006)
Weight: 15.4 lbs (as of April 5, 2006)
Orphanage: Loudi City Social Welfare Institute
City of SWI: Loudi City
Province of SWI: Hunan

Congratulations to all the new parents who received their referral this month. Check out all the beautiful new babies, listed in the side bar under "We have our Referral."

It's a bbq, it's a birthday!!

Yesterday local adopters met for our monthly gathering and it was extra special as we celebrated Kailee's 1st birthday. Bonnie & Clyde hosted a fun afternoon at their home way up in the north Georgia mountains. It was a treat to get out of the Atlanta metro area and see some beautiful country and the views from their mountain top home are just lovely. We were a small group this month as so many people are on vacation, but it was just perfect.



Thanks Bonnie & Clyde for being great hosts and happy birthday little Kailee!!

If you're a local waiting family and would like to join us at our monthly gatherings, please email me and I'll add you to the mailing list. Below are links to check out our past gatherings.

August '05
September '05
October '05
November '05
January '06
February '06
March '06
April '06
May '06

Summer play time!!

Our little girl is all set up for her summer play time thanks to my awesome August dtc secret pal. The bathing suit is adorable and with the swim liner, that's great. I love all the digging and raking toys but I'm a little afraid of the giant splash bombs as I fear Eammon will have fun getting me soaked with those! The rubber squirt duckies and Minnie Mouse are all so cute and I absolutely love the circus animal scrap book embellishments. Little Baby S is going to look great and have fun! Thanks once again for being such a great pal.

Home!

Last night I picked little Miss Amelia up at the airport (and her knackered parents too) and even though her parents wanted nothing more than to get home, showered and into bed, Amelia was happy to take in all the sights and smile at the world.

Forty-three days and counting

Well, we're making progress. Slowly, but better than what's happened the past few months. March had only 5 days worth of LIDs producing referrals, 7 days of LIDs for April and 9 for May, so 13 days this month is definitely a step in the right direction.

So, where do Eammon and I stand right now? Well, we have 43 days left before CCAA reaches our log-in-date (LID). If they maintain at least 13 days worth of LIDs for each monthly referral, we'll have our referral in October. If they speed up just a little and refer 15 days of LIDs per month we'll have our referral in September, just days after we return from Barbados! If CCAA does 14 days of LIDs per month we'll miss getting our referral in September by one stinking day and please don't let it happen, but if they fall back to 9 days, we won't be seeing our referral until November...Don't even think about that option. Of course we'd love to see our referral in July or August, but we're not getting our hopes up as we don't want the fall and disappointment when it doesn't happen.

So to all our readers out there, please send positive thoughts, prayers, whatever you do to send good vibes so that referrals speed up to at least 15 days of LIDs per month.

Turning lemons into lemonade

Adoption delays I laugh in your face. HA!!! Just because you messed us up for December, so that we can't do this, you won't bring us down!

Just to show you that Eammon and I will make the best out of the situation, we went ahead and scheduled eight days and seven nights of all-inclusive fun and sun in Barbados. Come September, this is where we will spend our seventh wedding anniversary.


Hallelujah, something to look forward to and hopefully break-up this endless wait!

Checking the social calendar

What, this doesn't look like the calendar in your home??

Yeah, it's not what we usually have either. Once every four years though, this chart dictates our lives as World Cup fever hits the Shanahan home, or more specifically when it hits Eammon. Sixty four games played over 31 days with multiple trips to the pub and every available hour of DVR space being devoted to football.

In addition many of our friends are starting to think that I'm even more odd than they thought, as this conversation is starting to be heard way too often in our home:

(Phone rings)
Caller: Hey Lisa, wondering if you and Eammon would be interesting in getting together and doing something fun or going to some fabu restaurant.

Me: Let me check the wall chart. (Am I a geek or what?)

Yes, this wall chart is posted and all activities through July 9th have to be planned around World Cup games. Luckily it's just the England and US games that Eammon must see live. Most of the other games he's OK to record and watch at a later time. But if they've been recorded, I have to turn on the t.v. and queue up the game so that he doesn't accidentally see a score before viewing the game.

I know, you're thinking it's only a month, you'll be done with it soon. But no that's not the case, especially now that Eammon's beloved Watford made it into the Premier League this year. Trust me, football never seems to end.

Ahhh, the life of a football widow!

It's Amelia day!!

Congratulations Cindy and Jimmy! Check out all the wonderful pictures of Cindy and Jimmy and their new daughter Amelia.

Hi honey, we're home!

Hey guys the coast looks clear.





I'm going in, cover me.





Ahhhh, look what I found!





My geese must be part Italian as they love pizzelles.






I think they were trying to break in for my homemade lemon squares.

Sigh...

Logged in for 10 months as of today, no end in sight, enough said.

Spoiled x 2 and up early

Last night I received a package from my very special July dtc secret pal. This time again, she included an absolutely adorable dress with matching panties, as well as a cute little onesie. In addition there was a music cd which I can't wait to listen to and a very cute satin change purse with a dragonfly design, perfect as our group is the July Dragonflies! Each item was wrapped in cute panda paper which I of course had to include in the picture! Thank you my pal, once again you brightened my day and are helping to make this wait much more enjoyable and bearable.

Also at my door last night was a surprise package from the super crafty Julie. She found some wonderful giraffe scrap book paper which she said had my name written all over it. She was so sweet and mailed me some so that I could use it for some of my projects. The whole package was a surprise but I do have to say, my favorite part was the hanging name tag she made for Baby S. Thanks Julie, you rock once again!

So why am I up and posting so early? No, it's not insomnia today, it's that Cindy and Jimmy arrived at my house at 4:47 am so that I could take them to the airport. They are now on their way to China so keep an eye on their blog and follow along on their journey to Amelia.

Be Happy

According to my friend Judy, you can't be sad or blue if you're watching giraffes. Check out the giraffe cam at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. When the giraffes are out and about, the picture updates every minute. It's fun to see how they go to all the people. I'm not sure if it's the people they want to see or the biscuits that the people feed them. Now I want to take a trip to Colorado!! Thanks Judy for the cool link.

It's Kailee day

Check out all the wonderful pictures of Sonia and Hugh and baby Kailee.

Mmmm...cake!!

Little Miss Emily turns one this coming Tuesday, but the celebration was yesterday. Julie, Cindy and I, loaded down with gifts, piled into the Kacey mobile and headed to the party.
Emily was spoiled with lots and lots of toys and clothing. Then, she was so cute wearing eating her cake.
Finally she got cleaned up and modeled her itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow flowered sequined bikini.

Happy birthday little Miss Em!!

How time flies

What a great way to end the month of May, with an amazingly full box of gifts from my CCAI secret pal. She based all the gifts on time and being able to watch Baby S grow through the years. I'll be thinking of my special pal as Baby S first wears and grows out of the Nemo outfit and blue romper, next into the onesies, skort and adorable hat and then finally getting big enough to wear the very pretty pink dress. Pink and green, I love these colors!!

In addition to all the wonderful outfits, my awesome pal sent foam alphabet animals with pop out letters and for when Baby S is older, a beautiful ladybug, ladybug fly away tea set. On the tea set my pal wrote a note, asking me to put the set away until Baby S is 8 years old. Then at that time, let her know that her secret pal was thinking of her in May 2006 and knew that one day she'd be serving tea and talking to her Mom about "girly stuff." Isn't that just so sweet you want to cry! I've put the note which was included on the outside of the tea set inside the box so that Baby S will always have the note from our pal as a keepsake too.

Finally, I want to show off what's become of part of last month's gift. I use the giraffe memo board as a brag board to show off the pictures of all my friend's babies. I have it in my family room so I get to see all the beautiful faces every day. On the top is Amelia, below her is Kailee, in the center are two pictures of Emily, on the bottom left is Grace and finally on the bottom right is Grace again with her two older sisters Hillary and Maddie.

Once the pals are revealed, I hope that my CCAI pal will send a picture of her child so that I can add it to the board. Thanks my pal for spoiling us so much, we love and appreciate all the wonderful things you send each month.

Getting yelled at

See what happens when I try to ignore the geese. This morning they wanted to be fed and they let me know it!

Baa...baa

Today some the Moms-to-be gathered for lunch to celebrate with Sonia. She has just a few days left before she leaves to meet her sweet Kailee. Sonia loves lambs so even before our lunches arrived, the caramel with cream cheese frosting, lamb cupcakes were sampled and she opened numerous gifts which fit her lamb theme. It was fun girls and Sonia, have a wonderful trip and make sure that you post lots of pictures while in China.

Oh so flash!

This weekend Eammon and I thought it best to help the U.S. economy by shopping. I now have the capability to do laundry for a family of 10 and with my flash new remote laundry monitor (pictured left), I know which cycle my washer and dryer are in at any given time and how many minutes remain in each cycle. Trust me, I wouldn't pay for this feature, but LG was offering a rebate for the full purchase price, so why not! Shoot, a remote for the laundry, might even tempt Eammon to do a load or two.


In addition, we purchased an outdoor misting fan so that we can lay out on the deck, stay nice and cool and Eammon can work on his savage tan! Hey after doing lots and lots of laundry, a girl needs to relax too.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.

Knock Knock

I see you eating dinner in there, now come feed us too!

The pictures below show our back yard one year apart, May 25, 2005 (left) and May 25, 2006 (right). Do you see what's missing from the pictures?


Yep our little girl, to chase all the little poopers off our lawn!

Congratulations to everyone who's receiving their referral this week!!

Best dressed baby!

This month, the August dtc secret pal theme is "best dressed baby" and thanks to my wonderful pal, Baby S will be that baby! The outfit is so adorable and on top of that, I love that she embellished the little baseball hat to match! Check out the coordinating kerchiefs and the socks, oh my gosh...Way too cute!! Of course to look completely cool a girl needs shades and my fabu pal included those as well. Am I, I mean Baby S spoiled or what???

Also included in the package was a beautiful frame, very, very much my style. I'm hoping that once the pals are revealed and we have our children, my pal will send pictures of her child that I can put in the frame,so that we'll always have a connection. Finally, what made me laugh out loud, and trust me I've needed a good laugh, was the wooden giraffe with a matching bandana around it's neck...too funny! I can't wait to dress Baby S in this fun outfit. Thanks my pal, you've made my day!

Meltdown and recovery

This past Wednesday I had a complete and total meltdown. You know the kind, ugly hysterical crying, misery and pain so deep that you not only give yourself a major headache but your grief causes every joint, muscle and fiber of your being to scream with pain. Eammon came home early from work worried about me, and he really must have been as he passed up going to the pub to watch the 2006 UEFA Championship Final. He tried to soothe and calm me but I was having none of it, I wanted to cry, I wanted to be miserable, unhappy, self pitying and in pain. As we laid in bed, me soaking his chest with my tears, he just held me and let me cry it out. For the remainder of the week, I avoided all the boards, blogs, rumors, almost all emails and even the phone. Slowly I've come to terms with the new evil timeline, (#3 Ugly) as what choice do I have.

My Mom sent gifts to both me and Baby S this week and gifts always help make me feel better. The sweater is so cute, the bunny (no not the evil bunnies of the prior post) is so, so soft. I can't wait for Baby S to wear it, I know she'll look adorable. The electronic Sudoku game will be perfect for when we do actually travel to China. It has over a million puzzles and it's a lot smaller and lighter than carrying books of puzzles. Thanks Mom!

Saturday evening was the monthly gathering of our local adopting families group. The voiceless Sonia and hubby Hugh, both a mere week and a half from travel to Kailee, hosted a wonderful cook out, bonfire evening for 33 adults, 16 children and 5 adorable babies. The children all played well together and made s'mores over the fire. The adults who are still waiting for their children, complained to and supported one another. The people with their babies already home, allowed who ever wanted to get hugs, snuggles and lovies from their little girls and shared great information on travel and the children. The babies...well they as usual were the highlight of the night and cute as can be. The picture at the top of this post is Eammon holding the lovely Mary Clare, the most recent of our group to come home to her forever family.





Last but not least, Shipley (2 months old) the youngest member of our group.