Bird friends

As the birds started to come back to the trees around our house, the cats were very interested in watching them and chirping at them. We thought they would enjoy (or be driven crazy) if we bought a suet feeder and hung it on the balcony. It has been a few weeks now and the cats don't go running up and jump on the sliding door anymore, they just sit and watch and chirp as the birds eat. We've gotten some really pretty birds too. It started with the little chickadees and sparrows but we have a couple of woodpeckers and some other bigger birds, and the other day even had a pair of cardinals! 

The saga of the cat beds

When my parents first got their 2 cats, they got little cat beds, one for each cat. Well of course neither cat would sleep in the bed, so they got tucked away.

My dad came across one and offered it to us. All of the cats really liked it and took turns laying in it.

 

Then they discovered that 2 could fit in the bed. It was a squeeze, and sometimes they definitely didn't look comfortable, but neither one wanted to be the one to get out of the bed.

Eventually they all wanted to be in the bed, and would sometimes sit next to the bed and pout if they got to it too late.

Then it became a free for all. Anyone that wanted to get in would get in, and it was a contest to see who would stay in the longest while being squished.

At that point we decided it was time to call my dad and ask him to find the other bed. He did, and we brought it home and put it right next to the other bed so that they could all cuddle together. However, we didn't realize that one bed was a lot more special than the other bed.

Eventually they started to get the hang of it.

Finally, after weeks of trying every possible position, they finally figured it out, and now they're regular pros!

Positive Adoption Language

This article was taken from http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/pdf/PositiveLanguage.pdf. We want to get everyone educated and on the same page, and also answer a lot of questions that we have gotten that I'm sure many other people have wondered about as well.

Positive Adoption Language
The way we talk—and the words we choose—say a lot about what we think and value. When we use
positive adoption language, we say that adoption is a way to build a family just as birth is. Both are
important, but one is not more important than the other.
Choose the following positive adoption language instead of the negative talk that helps perpetuate the myth that adop-
tion is second best. By using positive adoption language, you’ll reflect the true nature of adoption, free of innuendo.

Words not only convey facts, they also evoke feelings. When a TV movie talks about a "custody battle" between "real
parents" and "other parents," society gets the wrong impression that only birthparents are real parents and that adoptive
parents aren’t real parents. Members of society may also wrongly conclude that all adoptions are "battles."
Positive adoption language can stop the spread of misconceptions such as these. By using positive adoption language, we
educate others about adoption. We choose emotionally "correct" words over emotionally-laden words. We speak and write
in positive adoption language with the hopes of impacting others so that this language will someday become the norm.

Nursery furniture!

We mostly have the nursery furniture set up. It didn't take too long to put together (love Ikea's easy to follow booklets!) but then we spent a lot of the evening moving things around (and by we, I mean Eric, hehe). I'm pretty sure they're where I want them now, but we're not attaching anything to the wall for a few days so I can be sure. Then we'll anchor the furniture and hang the art and we'll be good to go!

The big thing with wood leaning on it is a wardrobe, but the instructions say to anchor it to the wall before putting the doors on since they're so heavy. It will also have 2 drawers on the bottom right.

Painting the nursery

We had been given some money for Christmas to go toward putting together the nursery, so today we went over to the North Cromwell Paint store and got some paint. While they mixed the paint, we made friends with one of the cats that lives there, he was so cute!

We're really happy with the way it turned out, we ended up deciding on Benjamin Moore's Sweet Honeydew Melon, its kind of a pastel or minty green, its really pretty!

We also went to Ikea last week and got furniture for the nursery, that is our project for the rest of the weekend, so check back soon for more pictures!

And on the adoption front, we have been presented to a few potential birthmoms these past few weeks, which means that an agency has a situation, and they ask us if it is one we are interested in. If we are, they show our profile to the potential birthmom. Our profile has information about us, and a few pictures. The potential birthmom looks at all the profiles she is given and can pick one to be the potential adoptive parents.

I say potential because nothing is certain in an adoption until all the legal paperwork is filed. Even if we become matched with a birthmom, she can still decide to parent her baby until she signs the paperwork that terminates her parental rights to the child. Depending on the state the baby comes from, this could mean that we could bring a baby home as temporary guardians and then have to return the baby to its mother if she decides to parent. While this can be a sad situation, we know that it is in the best interests of everyone involved and that clearly would not be the baby we are meant to have.

We'll try to keep answering everyone's questions as we get them to keep everyone on the same page as we go on this journey to bringing our baby home.

Valentine's Day and adoption update

Our not so big plans of Wii Fit contests and chinese food on Valentine's day were postponed by my being sick all last week. I think I got all of the colds that I avoided getting from the kids all winter, all in one week.

I broke vegetarian month once again because all that sounded good the whole week were chicken nuggets and Lipton extra noodle soup. I also drank a lot of tea, but that stopped sounding good on Monday, and the rest of the week was just a necessity. Eric was so good, he was able to take over most of the household chores on top of working and making soup for me. He even looked at the Hiller's and Busch's circulars and made a shopping list! 

Eric felt bad that our plans were ruined and that I was spending the week laying in bed, so he bought Mario Kart for the wii, which is really fun, and a great way to keep my mind off of being sick. It took me awhile to learn, but I was beating Eric in no time! Unfortunately, after our daily evening tournaments these past few days, I have been stricken with 'Mario Thumb' (from pushing down on the 'go' button too hard in the stress of the last lap in too many races)

In other news, we FINALLY received our adoption homestudy on Friday. That means that we are officially approved to adopt, and are now waiting for a match. We think we've decided on a paint color for the soon to be nursery too, if you're curious, you can look up Behr Topiary Tint. (We're actually using Benjamin Moore, but the Home Depot Color Matcher uses Behr colors)

Eric has been asking me to make homemade baked macaroni and cheese for awhile, and I'm finally feeling well enough to cook again, so I'm going to try that tonight. If it turns out, I'll put it on my recipe blog! We made the garlic broccoli pasta again, this time with a smaller pasta, and no tomatoes since we didn't have any. Its such a quick and tasty meal! Definitely one we'll be making more often.

I think thats all the update there is for now, off to finish catching up on the laundry (its amazing how much builds up when you don't do it for a week!)

Zoe loves Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers was on the view last week, and something about her attracted Zoe...it could have been her big shiny necklace, or her dangly earrings that waved around because she moved her head a lot...I don't know, but she jumped up to the entertainment center and sat and stared, and even chirped at her, while she was on.