Check....

Yesterday was a superb day!   After an extended period of grim gray skies and some restless nights haunted by end of the school year assorted activities, the sun crept through the clouds and smiled upon St. Louis. Happy day!  Mike and I both took a personal day to get our background checks, get fingerprinted and to head to the Secretary of States office to get apostilles.  We decided to make the day more like a date than list of chores.... starting with a celebratory disabling of the alarm clock-- it was FABULOUS to sleep until 7:30!  Then, we headed up to the local police substation to verify a clear records check for both of us.  Check. Next, it was off to the Robert A. Young building downtown for our scheduled appointment.   Fingerprinting went very quickly.  Check.  Finally, we headed to the old Post Office to get our seals for our notarized documents.  We don't have our entire dossier compiled yet, but our paperwork is getting much closer to being done.  It seems like a good idea to be sure that all the documents are being notarized correctly so that we don't have to waste time waiting for them to be redone.  The good news is that due to the extreme conscientiousness of EVERYONE who has helped us, not one document was rejected by the Secretary of State.  Hurray!!!!  Mike and I had a nice lunch while we waited for the necessary formalities to occur and shiny gold seals to be affixed.  When we returned around 1:30, all 16 documents were ready to go with their apostilles.  Check.  The day was a success.  What a joy it was to make more pretty purple check marks on my HUGE list of paperwork to accomplish.... check for program management fee #2 and the refundable deposit in the mail.  Check.  Photos ordered for the photo book.  Check.  An expected 2 week wait for the I-171H.  The race is on-- our goal is to have everything ready to submit when the I-171H comes back to us... Then, the real waiting will begin.... Pues, ves que nosotros estamos trabajando duro para que el día de tu llegada venga pronto... tu papá y yo-- somos muy unidos en todo, especialmente en el deseo de ser una familia.  Besos, mi amorcito. xoxo

Happy Mother's Day!

So-- Mother Nature is certainly smiling on mothers here in St. Louis. We could not have had a more beautiful day.... sunny, warm, a cool breeze, a cerulean sky, brilliant spring green foliage, chirping birds, and cheerful flowers in every yard.  Yesterday, we spent a full day with my family at my brother's house.  Today, we enjoyed a lovely dinner with Mike's family at our home.  All the guests have left, and now the house is returned to its quiet, pre-children state.  The cat is slinking about.  Laundry is waiting to be folded.  It is hard to imagine how life might be different next year.  Everything was perfect, and while I am filled with anticipation of the little one who is to join us, I am just a bit sad.  There is a sense of longing and a little bit of emptiness.   The hole within me is the desire that we could all be together now.... This is impatient Jeanette, not a pretty sight..... A million «happy Mother's Day» and I wish one could be for me.  I am so eager to see our baby's face or know our baby's name.... we have filled out all the paperwork we could to make is a reality.... I have given it 110% of my best effort... but really all we can do is wait.  So I must accept that.  Today, patience is difficult.  I don't like that.

On a happy note, I watched Mike playing with my nieces and nephews yesterday and realized... he will be such a wonderful, creative, playful, (and tired) daddy.  He folded airplanes with my nephew and niece and ran around their back yard... chasing, and throwing, and chasing, and throwing, and running some more, and turning the crumpled plane into a paper meteor when it had all but desintegrated into shreds, and throwing, and chasing some more.  I don't think my niece and nephew have it within them to be worn out.  Somehow, my lovely husband kept up... It is exciting to see how naturally Mike falls into being a great dad.  He never let those kids see how tired he really was!.... Así te digo.... sé que escogí bien-- tu papá no es el papá típico.  Tiene una imaginación increíble y  lo respeto muchísimo.  Obviamente, soy bastante parcial, pero creo que estás entrando una familia fenomenal:)  .... y, mi amor.... sé que no puedo darte ningún abrazo hoy ni los besos que mereces mucho, y eso rompe mi corazón..... pero estoy guardando cada uno para ti y te los daré cuando finalmente nos podemos conocer.  Estoy contando los días aunque no sé cuantos sean.  Te quiero mucho, bebé.