Jumeirah Beach - It's gonna be fun

So, Nick and I are flying to Dubai on Thursday. It's almost 16 hours, NON-STOP. However, we have this pool to look forward to when we get there. It's the infinity pool at the hotel we are staying at. Need I say more?

Packing - this is only MOST of the stuff for Baby J!

Preparing to go get Baby J!

So, a lot has happened in the last 4 days. Nick and I booked our plane tickets to Addis. We are going to fly on Emirates Air - 15.5 hours to Dubai and 4 hours to Addis. We are leaving THIS THURSDAY! We get to Dubai on Friday night. We are going to stay there for 3 days. Should be fun to see the sights, get adjusted to the time change and enjoy some couple/non-kid time. THEN, we are flying to Addis on Monday. We still aren't totally sure when we'll get Baby J, but we are hoping on Monday. We have our embassy date on Thursday, March 5th. We will stay in Addis until Sunday night, March 8th.

Once the reality set in that I am about to be a mother I realized all the stuff we didn't have. No bottles, no pacifiers, no diapers, no diaper wipes, no diaper bag, no gallon zip loc bags for nasty dirty diapers or puked on clothes. I have been diligently getting all of the aforementioned items and marking them off our list. Nick and I are going to TARGET tomorrow to get the rest of our necessities.

I have been putting some final touches on Jost's room (Lena and Christina are also going to work on it a little while we are gone). Nick practiced using his sling by puttting our beagle, Boobers Magee, in it. Boobers was pretty comfortable and is a good comparison to Jost's size, so we are hopeful that the sling will work well. I watched my Ergo demonstration video (very hippie dippie, but informative) and practiced putting it on in the front, switching to the back and jumping up and down (just to make sure it fit snuggly).

We have done about 10000000 laundry loads of baby clothes which I guess is just the beginning of our new reality. We put Jost's highchair together, finally put together our Maclaren stroller, and got the car seat out (Boobers liked it, too. But I guess what choice did he have since he was prone restrained).

I managed to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie in the last 12 hours. I feel like it's giving me strength and helping me focus. Ok, not really. Mostly it's a comfort food that tastes good and I couldn't think of eating anything else right now. Nick has been getting some food for Jost so he doesn't starve when we get home or only have water or beer as a beverage option.

I can't believe this is happening, but with every thing I pack or buy or wash I feel like I am becoming a mom. Since I am an Oakland Mom, I couldn't resist getting Jost his first "Oaklandish" shirt (see picture). I can't wait to tote him around with all of the cute clothes we have for him.

Thanks to all our friends and family for being so supportive of our journey. We couldn't have come this far without you!

WE PASSED COURT!

I DON'T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED, BUT WE PASSED COURT TODAY (2/17) IN ADDIS. WE GOT AN EMAIL AT 3:30AM THIS MORNING FROM OUR ADOPTION DIRECTOR. WE ARE TRYING TO GET ALL OF OUR STUFF TOGETHER TO LEAVE NEXT THURSDAY!! WHOO HOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

T-minus 4 Days and some fun photos

So, we are t-minus 4 days until our court date. I am trying really hard not to obsess about it too much. Nick and I had a fun weekend - ate at the Slanted Door on Friday (best Vietnamese food in San Francisco), went hiking on Valentine's Day, went to Tomales Bay and Stinson Beach yesterday. We are getting ready to eat some pulled pork and vino tonight. It's been fun for us to have a chance to hang together. I am trying to "bank" extra sleep right now so I can cash it in when Jost comes. Unfortunately I don't think my body is going to be down with this. Too bad, at least I have Peets coffee as a Plan B.

So, the pictures are of 1) cute shoes I got at Baby Gap for Jost, 2) the enormous amount of clothes that we have for him (and you can't even see what's in the drawers, and 3) a couple shots of his room. We aren't totally done with everything - we need to add some more wall accents, a light over the changing table, but we are pretty close.

I will post as soon as I hear about whether or not we passed court on Friday. We should know in the morning because Addis is 11 hours ahead of us. Keep your fingers crossed and the prayers coming for us to be able to bring our little boy home!!

T-Minus 19 days...

We are T-minus 19 days for our court date. Amazingly January seemed to breeze by. Maybe it's because I have been working a lot, maybe it's because it was so warm I forgot what month it was, and maybe it's because I haven't allowed myself to get too excited about February 20th. Honestly, it's been a combination of all 3.

It's really weird to want something so badly but to concurrently be so scared about not getting it that you almost can't think about it that much.

Nick and I were drinking margaritas and hanging out last night when we realized that if we pass court on the first try we are going to be going to Ethiopia in like 5 weeks. That is crazy! We are going to leave sooner than we need to so we can have a chance to travel a little - hang in Dubai for a couple days, go to Gondor (spelling?) in Ethiopia before we go to Addis to get Baby J. I am sure it's going to be really hard to be so close to him, but to not have him. However, we think it will be great to get a better sense of Ethiopian culture by experiencing it ourselves. This will also give us a chance to get used to the time change (last time we were in Africa the time change kicked my butt) and get some sleep before we say good-bye to 8-9 hours a night in exchange for 5-6.

PS - go Steelers!