Technology is fun...

I got the monitor for the baby's room. No more simple sound monitors! This one has a hand held color monitor and a camera that switches to night vision automatically when it gets dark. I tried it in a completely dark room and it still showed everything very clearly. I thought it would be sort of fuzzy or grainy, but you can see things very well. I took the monitor all around my yard and house and it picks up the signal everywhere. If you look close at the monitor, you can see the picture of the crib.

5 Months Down ?? to Go

I thought about labeling this post- Waiting Sucks!, but I decided to try to be a little more upbeat. Today is 5 months since I submitted my dossier. As I mentioned in a previous post, the best estimate until I get to know my region is 6-9 months. So I am getting closer, but the closer I get the tougher it is to wait. I have read other blogs where the people say the wait gets harder with each step and that the wait for the LOI (Letter of Invitaion to travel) is even worse once you get your region assignment!



I think this little guy sums it up;
Waiting does suck!

The Great Escape

I was folding laundry in my bedroom this morning when I heard the front door bell ring. When I opened the door, noone was there except my dog sitting on the front porch! She was suppose to be in the fenced in back yard. As I was trying to figure out how she got there and how she managed to ring the door bell, my neightbor appeared from around the garage. She had found Frosty playing with 2 neighborhood kids in her yard and had tried to get Frosty back in my yard, but Frosty had ran to the front door instead. One of the gates had not been latched completely and she was able to squeeze out and had a fun time running around the neighborhood.

It reminded me that although I have started childproofing the house, I've not done anything with the back yard. I will need to get a different style of gate latch since if you push on the current ones, you can get the gate open. I need to walk around and see what other things need modified for a child. It also reminded me of how lucky I am to live in a good neighborhood like this. Everyone watches out for the kids and each other and even the dogs.

Objects may be larger than they appear!

I found the cutest Eeyore rocking horse on the internet. Eeyore is one of my favorite characters so I thought it would be great. However, it is huge! It is probably sized for a 5 or 6 year old. I still think it is adorable, but it will have to wait a while until it is used. I reread the description and it says it is good for kids up to 140lbs! I guess that should have tipped me off that it would be big, but it looked so small in the picture.

When will I travel...

Trying to determine when you will travel to Kaz is a game most families end up playing. There is no line in Kaz and the agency you use, the region you go to, the age and gender of the child you want are all factors that affect your wait.

My agency estimates that I will get my region assignment 6-9 months after dossier submittal and then travel 1-3 months later. My dossier was submitted in Decmber so it has been almost 5 months already. I have been following the blogs of other families that are with my agency, LMI. Two families just got their regions and are getting ready to travel. Comparing how long they waited once their dossier got to the MFA, I will be at that point in less than 2 months. Things tend to slow down in the summer so my best guestimate is that I will travel this fall sometime. It could be sooner or it could be later.

Summers are very hot (100+) and they do not have air conditioning. Winter are extremely cold with lots of ice and snow. So spring and fall are good times to travel. I'd rather have traveled this spring, but I will be happy to travel this fall(Of course if I have the option, I will travel this summer- air conditioning or not!!)

The baby's room

I started to work on the baby's room right after I submitted my dossier. Baby jungle animals is the theme. I have left some space on the walls for souveniers from Kaz. Alot of the really cute stuff you see in the stores are the crib bumpers, comforters and mobiles. Since the youngest my baby will be is 9 months, she will have already out grown all of those.

Who am I...

I guess I should cover this, but since I made this blog private, I figured most people would be family and friends. So for those future friends, my name is Julie and I live in central Illinois. I am currently a single mom to one furry child named Frosty. She is an American Eskimo and just a little bit spoiled. She just turned 12 last week so she is doing well for her age. She is not sure how she feels about no longer being an only child, but as long as there are plenty of dog treats involved, she will be ok. Can you tell that she hates getting her picture taken?