Labor Pains and All the Rest

In case anyone is wondering, here are some miscellaneous things that have been happening over the last few days:

• Craig celebrated his 35th birthday yesterday. With the assistance of his siblings, he had to cook his own birthday dinner and frost his own cake. Poor guy. I was knocked out in bed with some sort of vicious stomach affliction, in addition to the nasty cold I already had. Thankfully it has passed but my energy has been sapped. Craig also experienced tremors of the same stomach issue, but happily, they were only fleeting. I guess these are our "labor pains." Looking back on my labor experience with Andrew, Craig also underwent a similar Couvade syndrome, leaving work early the morning I gave birth because he was feeling some sharp abdominal pains. What can I say? His empathy runs deep.


• We still haven't received our Interstate Compact approval letter. Our case worker was out one day last week, so this may have slowed her down. I will call her tomorrow, wheezing into the phone, to ask for an update.


• Craig's parents fly into Philadelphia tonight. They'll be watching Andrew when we leave this Friday. Andrew is revving up for their arrival. He told me recently, "Mommy, when you and Daddy are in Taiwan, don't worry. Pa and Nana will be here and we will play the funnest game of all - COYOTE!" Pa and Nana - I hope you're ready.

Thanks to Auntie Christine, Uncle Dave, and Cousin Isaac for the Absolutely Fa-bu-lous Baby Einstein jumper. It has a weight limit of 25 pounds, so it looks like chunky William's jumping days will be thrilling but limited. The best part is that it folds flat for storage so that we can fool ourselves into believing that our lives haven't been overrun by baby paraphrenlia. Very cool.

• The nursery is 90% completed; I have been scouring every store to find just the right picture frames for some vintage car posters I purchased off eBay. Nothing yet. Blog photos will ensue once I succeed.

• A very big congratulations to Ann and Jon, who have been waiting for the referral of their child for 23 months. 23 months, people! The adoption community sent up a loud hurrah as they posted news of their baby girl this past week. You can check out their blog at http://taiwantreasure.blogspot.com/
• More jump-for-joy news: Rebecca, who designed our blog so beautifully, accepted the referral of a 2 year-old boy from China. See http://blessingsfromchina.blogspot.com/
• This week will be all about packing, packing, and more packing. The hardest challenge will be to cram a day of William's necessities, the orphanage gifts, and our own overnight basics into a small suitcase. Even Houdini would be stumped on this one.