Happy Birthday Catherine!

Happy Birthday to Catherine!

Mark and I hope you have a FANTASTIC birthday!!

Enjoy your day!

Thank You Secret Buddy!! ***UPDATE***

Today I came home from work for lunch. I almost NEVER do that and when I arrived, in my door, there was a package from our Secret Buddy! How exciting!!

Inside the package was a 'Panda' book, a pretty photo album, ladybug chocolates and some ladybug bubble bath!

Thank you so much Secret Buddy - once again you did a fantastic job!!

*** UPDATE *** I ate the chocolate...Dawn told me to...

Tagged again!

I was tagged by Rhonda a while ago for this meme, but haven't had a chance to get to it - so here it is...

FOODOLOGY

1. What is your salad dressing of choice? It varies – Sweet Onion Vinaigrette and sometimes Catalina.

2. What is your favourite fast food restaurant? It has GOT to be HARVEYS!!! YUM!

3. What is your favourite sit-down restaurant? I just LOVE the Keg! Their steak is to die for. So much so, that I rarely order a steak at any other restaurant.

4. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant? It definitely depends on the service – but generally between 15 & 20%

5. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? I am thinking that would be potato chips. I rarely eat them, but I do love them!

6. What is your favourite type of gum? I try not to chew it too much as I tend to ‘crack’ my gum and not realize I am doing it. Drives my mother insane! If I do chew, it would be Peppermint EXTRA.

TECHNOLOGY

1. What is your wallpaper on your computer? I think it is a Microsoft one called BLISS - A nice green rolling hill, blue sky. Very calming.

2. How many televisions are in your house? 2

3. How do you listen to music? Loud.

BIOLOGY

1. What is your best feature? I will say my teeth – I have had enough work on them, they better be good!

2. Have you ever had anything removed from your body? My tonsils and Lots of teeth.

3. Which one of your five senses do you think is the keenest? I am thinking my sense of smell. Since I quit smoking (many years ago) my ‘smelling’ has increased HUGELY!

4. When was the last time you had a cavity? About 10 years ago.

5. What is the heaviest item you lifted last? The shopping bag that of items that I purchased today.

6. Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Nope – though I have been known to faint a time or two.

BULLSHITOLOGY

1. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? I’d have to get back to you on that one.

2. Is love for real? For sure – but it is only ‘unconditional’ for some.

3. If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Angelina Jolie – do you think we would get our baby quicker?

4. What colour do you think looks best on you? I know it is NOT black – looks HORRIBLE on me.

5. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? I guess that depends on your ‘definition’ of food item?

6. Have you ever saved someone's life? Not that I am aware of.

7. Has someone ever saved yours? I don’t think so.

DAREOLOGY

1. Would you walk naked for a half a mile down a public street for $100,000? How fast can one ‘walk’??

2. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? Sure thing.

3. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? I am kinda attached to all my digits.

4. Would you never blog again for $50,000? With that kind of money I could develop a new ‘version’ of blogging and call it something else!

5. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? How much can they airbrush?

6. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000? Not a chance…I don’t even like medium wings.

7. Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000? If I could still blog – sure!.

DUMBOLOGY

1. What is in your left pocket? Chapstick – don’t leave home without it!

2. Is Napolean Dynamite actually a good movie? I haven't seen it.

3. Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house? Yes.

4. Do you sit or stand in the shower? Does ANYONE sit in the shower??

5. Could you live with a roommate? You mean other then Mark? I don’t think anyone else would put up with me!

6. How many pairs of flip-flops do you own? I don’t have enough fingers…

7. Last time you had a run-in with the cops? Friday

8. What do you want to be when you grow up? I always wanted to be a suergon – I didn’t like school too much so that wasn’t going to work.

9. Last friend you talked to? Does Mark count as a friend?

10. Last person you called? Sister Tracey.

RANDOMOLOGY

1. First place you went this morning? Bathroom.

2. What can you not wait to do? Very short term – get my garden done. Long term – I don’t think I even have to say it.

3. What's the last movie you saw? I think it was Casino Royale – James Bond

I think most people have already done this one – except Debbie – she never gets tagged!!

If you haven’t done it – consider yourself tagged!

Montreal Pictures

Here is a selection of photos from our weekend in Montreal!

It was a great time. It was wonderful meeting Julie and her family and Elisa and her family.

Both of these families are expecting referrals AT ANY TIME!! With an LID of November 7th - fingers are crossed that in about a week they will see the faces of Naomi and Zoe SOON!

!

Weekend Preview

I don't even know where to begin...

I am in mourning for the end of one of the best weekends that I can remember in recent history. The absolute AMAZING people that we spent the weekend with and the forever friendships that have developed...I just don't think I can articulate what is in my head & heart and transfer it to my fingers to type.

Doris and Dan are PHENOMENAL hosts - heck they are PHENOMENAL people! They are incredibly warm, welcoming, kind, caring, loving and lovely people. They opened up their home to us and we felt totally comfortably and at ease. We are so lucky to have had the opportunity to spend the time with you that we did and deepen our friendship.

Kathy and Joel are FANTASTIC. We knew them a little more going into the weekend and know them even better now. They are so funny and giving of themselves. They would do anything for you without a thought to themselves. We again were lucky to have had the opportunity to strengthen the already blossoming friendship that we had developed.

Catherine is an AMAZING woman. We had met at various Waiting Mommies Dinners, but never had a chance to truly connect with one another - that changed this weekend. Once again we were lucky to have had the opportunity to get to know her better.

Spending the weekend with everyone was...the best word I can think of is EASY. We all got along famously. There was no tension whatsoever! However, there was MUCH laughter, tears, joy, gabbing, eating and FUN!

Thank you so much to Doris and Dan for having us take over in your home.

Pictures and more to come. I haven't even gotten to Julie and Family or Elisa and Family and the zombies, eels, water chestnuts and so much more...

I miss everyone and hope to see them again soon!

8 Things you didn't really want to know about me!

I had been tagged by CrazyLady at Search and Destroy Twins to do this. If I didn't, then I would get raccoons in my greenbin - and NOBODY wants that!

I need to share 8 little know facts about myself and tag 7 people. I am sure that you will all sleep better now that you know these things!

Here goes - in no particular order:

1. When I grew up I wanted to be - Miss America (it didn't really clue in that I lived in a different country), then I wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy's cheerleader - I liked the white boots and uniform - it was cool at the time (I got as far as a cheerleader in high school) and then I wanted to be a surgeon - I was glued to the TV when M*A*S*H came on (then I decided that I didn't like school THAT much)

2. Mark and I "sort of" eloped when we got married - our engagement was 7 weeks

3. I look like an evil professor in my passport photo

4. I met Mark by knocking on his door - Literally!

5. Celery makes my mouth numb

6. My second toes on each foot point outwards - kinda weird looking actually. A foot model I will never be!

7. I have 'moderate' arthritis in my right knee - a result of dancing to Margaritaville in Mexico…there is a story to that but not here and now!

8. I have had TWO sets of braces in my life...Now I WEAR MY RETAINER!!

So now I need to tag 7 people to share things about themselves - again - in no particular order and where I haven't seen them tagged by someone else:

Kathy
Dolores
Rhonda (I see that Rhonda just tagged me on something too!)
New Girl
Doris
Jill
Kate

Mother's Day

I was a little worried about Mother's day this year - as you would have guessed from a previous post. I needn't have worried! Mark and I had a great day!

The day started out by me coming downstairs to a LOVELY daisy plant from my honey! He is just ALWAYS there for me!

There wasn't much time to dwell during the day anyway. We were up and out of the house pretty early to go to Mark's parents to wish them - well his Mom - a Happy Mother's Day! We had a little beverage and a snack and we were off.

We were home and preparing for my mom & Phil to come for lunch. We had fajitas - YUMMY!! It was a wonderful visit!

After some clean up and dishes, it was off to stop number three of the day. We arrived at Hortense's for a lovely visit.

Mark and I are so lucky to have 3 mother's to share such a wonderful day with!

Waiting Mommies Dinner # 4

I feel so behind...I am certainly playing catch up! The above picture is of the WONDERFUL Waiting Mommies Dinner that we had on Saturday night!! Can you believe how many of us there were? 20 Waiting Moms, 3 Moms & 3 kids!! How great is that? We once again had a fantastic night. Many of the women I had met previously, but there were a few new faces to me.

In the picture above we have - back row left to right:
Kathy, Jill, Leslie, Paula, Deb, Rebekah, Julia, Bev, Beth & Julie.

Middle row: Dayna, Laurie, Andrea, Me, Karen with her precious Samara, Nicole, Suzanne.

Front row: Catherine, Cari, , Liz & Ava (who only returned from China 2 weeks ago!, Debbie and beautiful Olivia.

We can't forget Rhonda who was also in attendance and she was the official photographer!

Pumpkin also received an adorable ladybug sandwich carrier from Liz & Ava - there is no picture because it ended up at Dolores' house when I drove her home. Also we received an cute 'tea tin' with a fortune cookie from Jill. Thank you both!

I would also like to thank Catherine for organizing this!! It is truly appreciated!

Another year

With yet another childless Mother's day quickly approaching, I find myself reflecting on where I thought I would be in my life at this point. This is not where the picture in my head put me...

There was actually a time when ***gasp*** I thought I didn’t want children. I sometimes now think that my fertility problems are my punishment for having those thoughts. My punisher was saying “If you really want children, you are going to have to work EXTRA hard for them to ensure that you do want them – they will be worth it in the end”. I remember my mother saying to me that when you met the right man I would change my mind about having kids. She couldn’t have been more right.

When I met Mark and we got married, my whole outlook on children changed. I DID want kids – with him! I KNEW he was going to make a fantastic father and I SO wanted to share that and experience that with him.

Our ‘plan’ was to have our first child in January ’05 followed closely by our second child in about March ’06…as we all know, life does not go on according to plan. Life is not fair and just because you want something, doesn’t mean it is going to happen when you want it to. You never anticipate that when you want to get pregnant that you won’t. It never crossed my mind that it wouldn’t have when we wanted it to happen – never! We are good people, there is no reason that it wouldn’t happen for good people.

Then reality slowly creeps in – as each month passes you think “oh that is o.k., we are not too far off our wanted path.” Then three months turn to 6 months and then a year and then 2 or 3 and you can’t even see the path anymore.

In January ’06, when the path was a bare shadow, we discussed adoption and International adoption specifically. We went to an information session in another city an hour away as that was the only one within driving distance on a weeknight that we could attend. We talked NON STOP on the way home and then for hours again when we got home. Was this what we wanted to do? Were we ready to stop treatments? Could we handle the home study (this part FREAKED me out – getting judged by someone who had such a huge impact on your destiny will do that to you)? Could we handle the wait?

During the info session, we were told that if we started RIGHT THEN (January ’06) on our home study and everything went as it should, we would HAVE OUR BABY HOME BY JULY ’07. We actually had to sit and debate and discuss and make sure we were prepared to wait 18 months from THEN for our baby.

This brings us to now – 16 months later – certainly NOT 2 months away from our baby – more like 2 YEARS!! I really didn’t know how I was going to handle the wait then and now we are 5 months LID with no baby in our near future and yet ANOTHER mother’s day with no child...

I know I am lucky to have the wonderful life that I have. I know I am lucky to have the wonderful husband that I have. I know I am lucky to have the wonderful family that I have. I know I am lucky to have such a wonderfully rich and full life, but life does not always turn our like the picture you have in your head.

Mark - the thoughtful one

My husband is such a cutie. He is so giving and thoughtful...

Yesterday I was cleaning up my e-mail and I discovered an 'e-receipt' for a donation I had made to the Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart in support of Dolores' riding.

Well we are currently out of ink in the home printer and I had not gotten around to buying a new cartridge. I didn't want to forget about the receipt again so I forwarded the receipt to Mark at work for him to print it out and to get him to add it to our ongoing tally of donations that we have made.

I didn't think about it again.

Then today I was at work and Mark sends me - what I thought - was the receipt that I sent him. It was not. It was the receipt for the donation that he had made towards Dolores' Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart. He is so thoughtful that his first thought when he saw that I had made a donation was that I wanted him to also make a donation and he did!

How sweet and thoughtful is he!!

The Kids...

Friday night we had the opportunity to have Logan and Saige overnight. What a great day for it too. The weather was fantastic! We went to McDonalds for dinner and then to playland. We didn't stay too long because it was so beautiful outside we wanted to take advantage of it.

Poor little Saige was walking up the steps to a little cubby hole thing in McDonalds and didn't 'duck' before she stuck her head in. She hit her head hard enough that it flung her backwards down the stairs. Thank goodness I was standing right there and I LUNGED to grab her, threw out my back, but she didn't hit her head! She screamed for a couple of minutes and then wanted to get back to playing! I must say, she healed quicker then I did.

As I said, we were off to the park pretty quickly after that! We had so much fun! The kids never stopped running around - which was the point!

Here are some photos of our time at the park and also my first experiment with the videos. I have tried two different venues for posting them. Please let me know which one you like better for future clips.


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


















After our time at the park and the walk home, the kids were exhausted and DIRTY - but I am pretty sure the slide are clean as all the dirt was now on their butts! Then it was time for a bubble bath. Again they had a good time in the tub. Time for pj's and a story and out they went.

It was interesting because we had Logan and Saige sleeping in the same bed - it was a first for both of them. Saige is too big (and doesn't want to) to sleep in the portable play pen and I didn't want to leave either one of them unattended in the computer room that also houses our files, tv, my make up etc. We were prepared to be up for a quite a while while they played and talked and laughed, but they were so tired, they were out in less then 5 minutes.

In the morning it was time for pancakes and a short walk before mom came and picked them up.

They are such a joy and we love spending time with them!

5 Months LID!!

Today marks our 5th month since we were LID!!! In many ways the time has just flown by yet in others, it seems to have dragged. Either way, we are 5 months closer to our daughter!

Congratulations also to Dolores & Shawn who share our LID date, travel group and friendship!

Today (yesterday) Updated

I have given into peer pressure and decided to elaborate on my previous post!

It didn’t start out as a good day…I woke up and DIDN’T want to get out of bed as I had an incredible headache. Work was S-L-O-W…It was one of those days when you think – wow is MUST be lunch as I need a break and you look at the clock and it is only 8:30…

You know how **THEY** say that things happen in three’s…Well we had 3 good things in one day.

Firstly - We had been on pins and needles waiting for responses from other people to know if we can go away with some friends. I felt like I was living in a soap opera for a while as things had gone back and forth and changed and we waited for this, that and the other (we are getting good at waiting) and it all came together today! I was supposed to work that weekend and trying to find someone to cover for was turning into quite an ordeal. We received the response that we wanted and are now able to do the thing that we wanted and are very excited about it!

Secondly - When I got home from work and checked the mail, we had received a cheque for $100 from the Princess Margaret Lottery!!

Thirdly – Mark and I had been trying to get something organized and arranged for the two of us and it all finally came together and we were able to commit to it.

So all up – it was a particularly good day!!

Today

Today was a GOOD day!!

Thank You Secret Buddy!!

Mark and I returned home from a weekend away and there was a wonderful surprise waiting for us!!

Our Secret Buddy had stuck and once again did a fantastic job!

This months theme was April Showers Bring May Flowers - you can see for yourself how well our Secret Buddy did. We received the coolest ladybug umbrella, a pretty pink hat, a cute 'touchy' book and an adorable pair of slipper/socks with flower petals around the foot hole. They also have 'grips' on the sole of them.

Thank you so much Secret Buddy for the wonderful gifts once again - we are definitely spoiled!!