2 weeks to go

As of now I think I have accomplished everything that I needed to do before we leave (except that I need to go to WalMart at some point, no overseas travel is complete without a last minute WalMart trip the week before).

All of Jude’s appointments are scheduled. All of my required reading is done. Jude is packed, I have a plan of attack on my packing situation. Jude’s health insurance is up and running. I have everyone’s prescriptions filled. Paperwork is good. Travel arrangements are good.

And thanks to my Dad this morning, the swing set is up.

I have 10 days left at work (80 hours). Yoga class is on hiatus at its usual location next week so I am going to have to seek out another one elsewhere. I have come to depend on that weekly yoga class to keep my sanity in check.
This brings me to the miracle of all miracles. As I mentioned previously I put on a vast amount of weight during the paperwork chase for this adoption. I have managed to lose all but 10 pounds of what I put on. However, with the yoga, my bum is definitely in better shape than ever, and be it vanity size or whatever, that same bum fit into a size 4 pair of pants this week FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE MIDDLE SCHOOL. I am most definitely elated at this. And like any normal person I celebrated by eating an entire carton of Thai food followed by a pint of Apple Caramel gelato for dessert.

It’s hard to fathom that 4 weeks from now I will finally be home with Jude. It still doesn’t seem real yet. I wonder when it will?

3 weeks to go.

In almost exactly 3 weeks we should be lifting off from Logan.

All of Jude’s things are packed.

We have booked our flights and apartment.

I have finalized the details of my maternity leave with my work. I am officially approved to take it. My first day off will technically be the day we are scheduled to pick Jude up (Monday June 16). I am scheduled to go back to work on Monday August 11. This will be the first summer I have had off since I was 16!

Jude is on the insurance and as proof the insurance card came today. I decided to test it and went to go pick up her prescription at the pharmacy. Sure enough, it went through!

There is still a lot of little things that I would like to get done before we leave. I am still hopeful that I can get some weather cooperation for the swing set project. But until then I am just biding my time, although it is passing by much faster now, thankfully. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Hopefully time will keep up the momentum.

Never say never

I remember this part of me about 6 months ago. I was huddled in a back upstairs hallway of the Sofia airport desperately trying to be an adult and find a way home.

My brain was telling itself: learn from this experience. You do not want to be that weeping British mother. Next time take a morning flight.

I did remember that experience today as I watched the travel agent book THOSE EXACT SAME FLIGHTS AGAIN. This was after I spent the better part of 2 days with 3 different travel agencies looking at ALL THE OPTIONS. Even if we get stuck again it would literally be slightly better than some of the other options if they went perfectly smooth. And when I look back on the Trip 1 travel home experience truth is British Airways really were exceptional to us. We did get home. They arranged everything and didn’t charge us anything.

So maybe the learning experience was that Trip 1 was a dress rehearsal (or maybe a good reminder to myself to let little things slide, I hope). At any rate I know now Never Say Never. You will eat those words.

So a big thank you to Daniel at Economy Travel who probably thinks I am the most indecisive and emotionally unbalanced person like EVER

And a big future apology to whomever has to fly with me on these flights in all my epic anxiety. You’ll be able to spot me, think: someone gave a hummingbird too much Red Bull.

Where do I even start?

I received, read through, comprehended, and am beginning to formulate an idea of how the preschool homeschooling via the Oak Meadow curriculum works. I feel the weight of the responsibility of educating my child and feel ready to rise to the occasion. It took most of the weekend of me in a philosophical/contemplative frame of mind to arrive where I am. But it was good to just take a few days and clear away the cobwebs of the recesses of my mind and have a good think.

I also spent a good portion of the weekend deducing which of the 3 cats had a Urinary tract infection. Not sure which of these mental exercises was more challenging.

All of Jude’s specialist appointments are scheduled. I need to wait a few more weeks for the general pediatric appointment for right after we come home as the doctor’s schedule isn’t available yet. I also need to wait and put in her referral for Early Intervention Services for just after we get home as I am told this gets scheduled within a few days.

Most exciting of all is this morning we finally got news on our travel dates. We should be leaving for Bulgaria on Saturday June 14th, picking Jude up on Monday, and traveling back home on Thursday June 26th.

So because of that the bottleneck of existing tasks was unleashed. My company has now been officially notified of my maternity leave (noted that automatic menu options only had choices for pregnancy and illness/injury), I am working on getting quotes for airfare, and I have booked us an apartment to live in during our stay in Sofia.

Oh and yes, during all of this I am still working full time and will continue to do so until less than 24 hours before we leave…

25 DAYS FROM NOW!!!

Motherhood Day #2

While I was writing yesterday’s post I was watching my weekly Netflix selection. Then it occured to me that I might want to sift through and bump the R rated movies to the top of the queue. Pointless. They are pretty nearly all R rated. Such is life. Back in the foster-parenting days I would get through about 1 movie a month after bedtimes.

The insurance issue was wrapped up yesterday but goodness only knows when I may see her insurance card. The deductions will show up on my next paycheck (so if you happen to hear a faint wailing coming from the northeastern U.S. next Friday…that just me grieving over the remains of my already somewhat anemic paycheck) but since there is no proof of it until that insurance card arrives I asked Human Resources to draft up a letter saying that she was covered. This is because calamity tends to find this family, I learned that long ago. I made about a dozen copies of that letter. Cuz you just never know.

We have finalized our post-placement plans. Post-placements are due (for us) in Bulgaria at on November 12, 2014; May 12, 2015; November 12, 2015; and May 12, 2016. Which means we will be having the visits with our newly assigned caseworker roughly 6-8 weeks before each of these dates. The cost of each of these reports will be aprox $250-300 plus postage to Bulgaria.

I accomplished what is probably one of the most important tasks any parent ought to do. I had a last will and testament drawn up. I had previously done a living will and a healthcare power of attorney when I was in nursing school (this is also sometimes known as an advance directive) but had not, until today, done the traditional last will and testament. The point of this is to protect Jude in the event that something should happen to me.

Formally inquired at Probabte court to figure out what forms I need to file for the readoption. Waiting to hear back…

And then I went to Yoga.

I am a Mom, Day #1

There is a downside when you put off things because you don’t “want to jinx it”, eventually all those tucked-away tasks need to be done.

Usually all in the same day.

Task #1: Add Jude to the insurance. This was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. A 2 page form, an e-mail directly from my adoption placing agency, and a promise to fax them a copy of the English-translated version of the adoption decree once we had it. So by late morning, it was all done.

Task #2: (Following Task #1). Scheduling Dr. appointments. I had to sort of guess when we would be travelling. It didn’t matter anyway. Everyone seems to be booking into July. I didn’t even get close to all of the ones done. This will be an ongoing project up until I leave.

Task #3: Order Jude’s preschool cirriculum. I did this late yesterday (see previous post about Oak Meadow’s sale that started Sunday). I chose the least expensive shipping option and noted that the processing time was 10-14 business days and shipping would be 2-3 days on top of that. They suprised the heck out of me and sent me an e-mail that they had finished proccessing the order and shipped it out today! Wow!

Task #4: Packing. I have a packing list for Jude that I had been working on. 3 people going over with 6 suitcases, 4 people coming back with 8. Coming back isn’t the issue. It is packing 4 people’s worth of items in the 6 suitcases on the way over (and the 2 empty ones). My parents have elected to take their 2 carry-ons and a checked bag between them and I will claim 2 checked bags and my carry on for Jude and my things (and the empty bags). I got most of Judes things packed amongst the 3 bags.

Task #5: (This one kinda came out of left field). Our homestudy agency told me today that we are being reassigned a new caseworker for our postplacement visits. This is as I was getting some final direction on how to proceed with Jude’s re-adoption once she is home. Maine is a large state and my current caseworker literally lives 1/2 the state away. Our new one lives closer.

Task #6: Actually test fit the Diono car seat in the Prius. I am glad I did this. I did a quick install a few months ago, but when looking closer tonight I realized that it really doesn’t work out super-awesome (although you could do it) behind the driver’s seat. So moved the car seat to the outboard side and installed it there. I am gonna drive wth it tomorrow to see if I can see in the mirror as well as I want when driving. This also lead to my realization that there is just no way in anything smaller than a Prius that this car seat would fit rear-facing. And pretty much everything we were chauffered around in Bulgaria was smaller than the Prius. So I am HOPING that since December Jude has gained at least 1 pound. Why? Well, she was 19 pounds in December and according to the makers of the car seat Jude technically can forward-face in it starting at 20lbs with the “safe-stop” strap. So I am going to risk it. Jude will have to forward-face in cars and airplanes until we hit our own minivan in Boston so I will leave the rear-face boot behind in the USA and forward-face her overseas. Not ideal, certainly, but it is better than nothing at all.

Task #7: Start transitioning team of Doctors and medical assistants to idea that there will be no nurse for 8 weeks. Step #1: Realize that won’t work and find nurse to fill in for 8 weeks (did that a few months ago), Step #2: Prep fill-in nurse (in progress).

And all of this is just random, tip-of-the iceberg items. I still have travel plans to make (once we have travel dates), Swingsets to erect, I have to officially notify my company of my maternity leave (but, again, need dates to do that), more doctor appointments to make, I think I’ll be making a trip to county probate court next week, My homestudy agency has some updated education requirements for me to get through, I need to pee/eat/shower at times…

Typical new parent stuff I’m told only we seem to be missing something. Oh that’s right! No Jude yet.

But soon, very soon…

Passed Court

Heard the news just before 1:00 our time this afternoon that it is final. And with that news the last bit of Jude’s room is ready.

Happy belated Mother’s day to me.

Homeschooling

In just a few weeks I will join the ever-growing ranks of second-generation homeschoolers around the country. What is a second-generation homeschooler? Well, he or she is a homeschooling parent who was homeschooled themselves.

Say What?

My Mum homeschooled me. I will be homeschooling Jude.

It makes things easier, really. I figured since this family has been out of the homeschooling world for 13 years I should brush up on things in case there were any law changes or any remarkable innovations. So I did a bit of research. I forgot that parents tend to fret about things like socialization. I am bit glad I was able to skim most of these articles. I was more concerned about how much tedious paperwork the state of Maine was going to make me fill out to do this. Thankfully, it is less than it used to be (back in my day) and we won’t have to do any at all until Jude is 7. I was also interested in seeing if it has gotten any easier to get a Portfolio Review done. This used to be the bane of my mother’s existence every spring. In 20 minutes of internet searching I was able to find at least 3 groups in Maine that offer this service now. You can even mail them in! Score!

Things have certainly gotten better all around. The first year I started homeschooling (Sophomore year in high school) we were able to obtain the textbooks from the high school I had been attending up until that time. After that, for cirriculum, we had to hit Barnes & Noble and we had to hit it hard. Not so nowadays. I’ll be able to purchase Jude’s prepackaged homeschool cirricula (at decent prices) right from an accredited school.

Although Jude is technicially not preschool aged until she turns 3 in November I figured it would be easier on everyone to start right away. Preschool for Jude will be mostly about adapting to family life and routines, learning to speak and understand English, and playing as much as possible.

We do face our challenges with homeschooling: Mainly time. I work full-time, outside of the house. I am a single parent. For this reason prepackaged cirricula becomes a necessity. We need the time to spend with Jude, not planning lessons. Evenings and weekends will be held at a premium. None of this would be possible (at all) without my Mum. Mum will be watching Jude while I am at work and has graciously offered to help out with the homeschooling as well.

For those interested the school that we will be purchasing our materials from is holding their annual spring sale starting Sunday (running through Memorial Day). Their website can be viewed at http://www.oakmeadow.com