We Are Officially Waiting!!!

It really is unbelievable - but we are now officially waiting!! We have completed our Dossier. Everything was reviewed and approved by our agency, each notarized document was apostilled (approximately 40 of them!), and it is out of our hands now!!

On the right is a photo of our Dossier copies. It doesn't look like much, but it is!!

I'm so excited to have this done before Christmas. It feels like the biggest Christmas present to ourselves.

So....off we go into the painful world of waiting and wondering and hoping and praying. I already know it will be "easier" this time around because of the joy our little girl gives us every day. If a referral comes sooner, that will be wonderful, but if it comes later, well, that is just more time Klaudia has to grow, be more confident, move into her big girl bed, use the potty more, be more willing to eat new things, touch new things, wear new things, etc. All around, if we wait for a year or more, she will only be more ready to handle the shock of a sibling.

When we ask Klaudia if she wants a brother or a sister, she says "I want both." Unfortunately (for her), that won't be possible this go around. We have only had our home study and immigration approval be for one child! If she wants "both", she will have to hope we are crazy enough to do this again one day, or she can hope for a biological miracle, lol.

We have not specified a preference on sex, and we really do not have a preference. People ask us if we would prefer a boy since we have a girl. That would be great, but so would another girl!

I am SO excited for Christmas and Klaudia's 3rd birthday is on the 29th!! She has already been singing happy birthday to herself - cute!!

Have wonderful holidays all!!

Dossier Copies Off to Agency!

Yay! We got our I-800A approval. We made copies of everything and today have sent a set of it all to our agency. We await their approval or changes before apostilling everything. Still looking good for sending everything to Poland by the end of the year (if not much sooner!).

Klaudia seems to be excited about having a sister/brother...although she has no clue what that really means. She sometimes holds her baby doll and says she is feeding her little sister or brother...it is sweet. It will be challenging and traumatic in some ways (isn't it for every sibling who becomes the co-center of the universe instead of the sole-center?). But it will be awesome for her in so many ways - more love, more sharing, more caring, more family, etc. Also, the girl hates to be alone, so a sibling is instant companionship (she may learn to love being alone, lol).

I truly cannot believe that we are almost "waiting" again!

Waiting for the Last Piece of Paper!

Wow, have we really gathered all of our Dossier items? I guess so!! And last week we were fingerprinted, so now we wait for the very last piece of paper (hopefully) that we need to send our in our Dossier! We are waiting for the approval of our I-800A, then we will get that notarized and be able to send all of our docs to our agency for review. How cool is that? It looks like we really may have our Dossier in before the end of the year!

With Thanksgiving coming up (too fast if you ask me), I hope we all can take some time to reflect upon family and other things for which we are thankful.

I especially want to thank my fellow Polish adopting/adopted families, fellow Bloggers, facebook friends, email buddies, etc. You are really a second family to me! Your support during our first adoption and first year home, and now during our next adoption means a lot to me. Many of you I have never met face to face, and some of you I have -- but all of you have provided support and an empathetic ear when I needed it most. There are so few children adopted by US families from Poland, so it is great we have each other!

I will post when we get our immigration approval (hopefully soon!). And have a great Thanksgiving all!!!

Fingerprints!

YAY! Yesterday we received notice of our fingerprinting ("biometrics" for those in the know) appointment with the Department of Homeland Security! The appointment is scheduled for November 10, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. Sweet! We are hoping that it only takes 2-3 weeks after that to receive our immigration pre-approval. That will be our last piece of paper to obtain before finalizing the dossier to send to Poland!

We also sent off a couple documents to be apostilled already (the homestudy, birth certificates and marriage certificate). Dare we hope to have our dossier to Poland by the end of the year?! We are so happy to have progress.

I hope everyone is enjoying fall. I just LOVE this time of year. The crisp air is wonderful! Klaudia is doing great. She loves swimming lessons and she had a great visit with Grandma & Grandpa California and Uncle Night Night (Kevin) recently. She is talking a lot and has the biggest smile.

Status?

During our first adoption, I think I posted at least weekly as to updates, non-updates, etc. On this go around, I apparently am going to be less active. Perhaps that has something to do with having a 2 year old in the house?! Also, since we have pretty recently been-there-and-done-that, I haven't felt as anxious about each step, and we know more about what is in store for us in the whole process.

I am excited to report that we have made PROGRESS! Yesterday we received our completed, finalized, and notarized HOMESTUDY!!! YAY!!! It took several months, but, hey, what doesn't? Needless to say we immediately completed our I-800A (immigration advanced processing) and Fedexed it today!

Now we get to wait for our Homeland Security fingerprint appointment (aka "biometrics"). How long has everyone's wait been for those? I'm thinking it could be 1-2 months? Once we complete that we hope for the government's stamp of approval that will be our last item for our Dossier.

At this rate, we could potentially have our DtP (Dossier to Poland...lol...I just made that up), by the end of the year!!! That would be awesome!! Ideally we would complete our next adoption in 2011. The adoption tax credit is extended through 2011, but I understand its future is uncertain beyond that.

I will report back at the next stage of progress (likely the fingerprint appointment).

Hope everyone is enjoying a nice start to fall!!

Here are a few recent photos of our favorite little girl!

Happy girl at the Wildlife Safari Park

She wanted to wear her bathing suit over her PJs

A standard breakfast at the Andrews house - face in peanut butter.

5150 Miles to a Sister or Brother!

I haven't posted in forever...so I thought I would make up for it with some VERY exciting news. We are going back to Poland to add to our family! Klaudia is going to have a brother or sister!!

We are doing everything essentially the same as last time: same country, same agency, same homestudy agency. We are close to finishing our homestudy and are off and running on the paper chase. It feels a bit easier the second time around. The paperwork is basically the same (although we were I-600 before and are I-800 now), but we know what to expect now. We wont have everything to Poland for a few months at least (need to finalize the homestudy, get immigration approval, finish dossier, etc.) Oh, and we are not specifying boy/girl - leaving that one up to the powers that be!

Meanwhile...we are enjoying our time as a family of three. You'll see some photos of Klaudia below. She is just blossoming! She is talking so much, she is walking and running great, and she sings too (she gets the "Hairbrush Song" stuck in hear head and will occasionally burst out with "oh where, oh where oh where...brush!"). Klaudia is doing well with school and they teach her so much every day.

She is also very much a two year old, is discovering her independence, and is learning how to express herself (read she is learning to say "NO" a lot, is testing us, tells me I am "naughty" and to "sit down", etc.). She goes through spurts of clinginess, but overall she is much more confident that we aren't going anywhere. I can now do some things around the house or kitchen without her screaming for me to hold her.

Klaudia's been loving the warmer weather (with the exception of the week or two our A/C was out). We got a water table that she loves, Grandpa A put a swing up in the backyard, and we head out on walks and local adventures in the evenings and weekends. That girl can go-go-go and will push herself to the limit!

On the wing of Marikay's aiplane in Santa Paula, CA (note the pink and purple stripes - she is so cool!)

In Grandpa California's lab

With Dad and Mickey (she is over her fear of soft things!)

With cousins on Easter

I will try to blog more and keep everyone up to date on Klaudia and the next addition. I haven't even thought yet about a new timeline, countdowns, etc. One day maybe I'll spruce up this Blog a bit.

Settling In

I know, I know. How long has it been? Too long. Well, let me just start by saying Klaudia is doing GREAT!! She has grown in so many ways - she is taking steps, talking LOTS, loves going to school and giving hugs. She is a happy girl and just a joy.

This is just a very brief update. But I wanted to post a few photos and give at least a bit of an update since we came home 4 months ago.

Since arriving home on Labor Day weekend, Klaudia has transitioned into school (it took a month or so of easing her in, but thankfully she LOVES it), she allowed us to put her in a Spidergirl costume for Halloween, she has begun to get to know her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, she celebrated Thanksgiving and an amazing Christmas, got used to a carseat, dealt with two blizzards, turned 2 years old, developed a love for Dora and the Imagination Movers, learned to tell mom to "shhhhh", went out to a steak dinner with parents, grandparents and uncle Kevin, took lots of steps, learned hand motions to "Twinkle, Twinkle" (and other songs), and made her parents smile A LOT.

Here are a few photos of the last couple of months:

Happy Girl at Dinner

Christmas Eve 2009

December 2009 - the Tree!

Out to Dinner

Pigtails!

Playing with Cousin Kaylee

Spidergirl 2009!

I will try to update more soon! Happy New Year all!!