I Have Become a Stalker

I am officially a pain in the butt. I check several Korean adoption websites everyday and have noticed a lot of posts about the United States Citizenship Immigration Services (USCIS) being very slow...imagine that. Apparently, forms wind up sitting on officers desks for weeks without an officer even being assigned the case. This comes as no surprise to me since we waited 4 months for our 1600a approval. We are now waiting for our 1600 approval so Emma can come into the US. I did receive a letter saying they received our form and are processing it but I have heard it could take up to 9 weeks! That is nuts! So, I found the phone number and email address and have been calling and emailing to make sure it is assigned an officer and not left to collect dust. They were gracious and sent me several emails back asking for our case number, etc but haven't heard anything back regarding my last email to see if it has been assigned an officer. Let's just hope they haven't responded because they are working on it!

Big changes have happened around here. Leah now sleeps soundly in her big girl bed. Once we got the referral I decided to move her out of the crib to minimize as many changes as I could before Emma arrives. She has done fabulous and never comes out of her room. It helps that the door sticks so she can't really open it :> Although at night I leave it cracked so she can get out in case of an emergency.

She is also now 100% potty trained, even overnight. She has been trained since about 26 months during the day, but I took away the diapers for naps and nightime and she has done great.

She is also sitting in a big girl chair at the table. I bought this great devise called "Kabbost" which lifts your chair up so the kids can sit in a regular chair at the table. I love them. I even found one for Davis on craigslist. He doesn't like it very much because he thinks it's for babies.

Let's see, we have also established a no getting up from the table rule which has been the best thing ever. If they get up they lose dessert. I think it's more the idea that they will lose something because we generally don't even have dessert! Strawberries and whipped cream are dessert around here.

I have to say kids get easier around 2.5 yrs. Leah will be 3 in April and I see such a difference in her. I can now reason with her and she gets it! She even tells me the rules now. We are still working on the whining but I pretend I can't hear her if she whines and she has to ask for whatever it is over again in a big girl voice. We will see how long it takes to sink in! She can be stubborn.

I really haven't done much to prepare for Emma. I went thru all of Leah's old clothes and separated them by season. I still need to move somethings around in the babies room but other than that we are just waiting on the call. Of course, nothing can happen unless the USCIS sends our 1600 approval!! Hence the harassing!