Happy Girl

I made this outfit a while ago and being it was summer, I wasn’t ready for her to wear it. It is not quite Fall, but cool in the mornings so I finally put it on her. It was super cute on her and I set her on the bench outside day care to snap a few pics.

She was so stinkin adorable. I asked her to say cheese and this is what I got:

Then I eventually got the “I am tired of you taking my picture” eye roll:

She is such a happy girl in the morning. She is bouncing by the time I get to her crib and then jumps into my arms where I am greeted by huge hugs. She fusses for her diaper change if I take too long to get to her bottle. But, after she relaxes during her bottle, she just sits up and is so happy and ready to go. So much fun! My spunky little girl.

In Love with my new Canvas

In June, we got our family pictures taken by Katie McAnally. She was wonderful with the family and took some great pictures of the whole family and of the kids and even a really cute one of hubby and I. I bought her package with the CD and then she even added one more in there that I specifically could make into a canvas. I loved working with her, she was so great and gets back to you quickly.
I finally took that image and ordered a canvas from Canvas on Demand. It is a local company, but they ship all over the country. I talked with the customer service rep and she assured me that the canvas would turn out perfect and they would center the family picture on the canvas. I was very nervous just uploading the image and not getting a "preview" box. They do all the editing after you upload and decide how the picture will look best. Wow! I was so impressed when we got the package. I am so happy with it!!!!!

If you click on the canvas picture of us, you can get a coupon for Canvas on Demand. I will also have to post some more of the pics Katie took of us. She took the one on this post of me holding Maya that is black and white.

So frustrated

I am beyond frustrated right now. We received our adoption decree and our Social Worker told us it will take 1-2 months to get a Birth Certificate. My mom had been planning a trip to Puerto Vallarta that I had been telling her that we need to see what the timelines for adoption are before we confirm that we are going. After we got our decree and found out from Social Worker it would take just 1-2 months to get a Birth Certificate, we told my mom we could go.

Well, I went to Vital Records on Friday and they hadn't received word from the Adoption Review Unit that reviews adoptions after final decree and before it goes to vital records. What?!?!?! I was never told about such a thing. Adoption review Unit received it August 8th. So, they gave me the number for the adoption review unit and told me to ask for the supervisor and ask to get my adoption review expedited. Simple enough, right? I was optimistic calling. I left a message for the lady who does it for our county and she called me back that day. She said they are working on a 4-6 month timeframe to review and approve adoptions and get them to vital records to obtain a Birth Certificate. She said vacation is not an important reason to expedite and to call her at the end of September to see where they were. I was so mad but stayed calm on the phone, explained that this was a big family trip, we really want to take Miss M with us and need a Birth Certificate to get a passport issued. She blew me off and said I could contact her supervisor who is on vacation until the 13th and plead my case with her but realistically we are looking at getting it maybe by the end of the year. It is not like I asked for it tomorrow, I asked if I could have it by the beginning of October, a MONTH away. The trip is in November.

I don't see what other alternatives we have. I don't see not taking Miss M as an alternative. I am so mad, had we been told this up front we wouldn't have gotten excited and said we could go. I am mad. I got my hopes up and was excited about this trip.

I understand that we jump through a million hoops for adoption, but I thought we were done once we had the decree and now it is just a new set of hoops where these people don't care about us and she made it very clear. I hate that we are going to miss an opportunity to see my mom if we don't go and that means we wouldn't get to see her until next year.