Our first gifts for Noah

Glenn and I had a really nice dinner Saturday night with my parents and my Aunt Kathy. We all met up at Ted's Montana Grill ( thanks again Lisa and Jim for the gift certificate!) and our meal was just delicious!! Of course the steak was great, but they also serve the best darn tasting pickles as a little appetizer. I could have made a meal out of just them! But enough about the food! Aunt Kathy gave us the cutest little outfit and toys for Noah. The monkey....of course!...is my favorite. When you press his little belly, not only does he make music, but his cheeks light up! As I was opening the package, I realized that this is our first baby gift for Noah. It certainly made things seem all that much more real. For the past two weeks I have been staring at the 8 x 10 photo of him that we had enlarged and constantly peek at the smaller ones that I carry in my purse. Receiving this gift was almost some type of reassurance that, YES!!!, he is your baby and he'll be home before you know it!!

So thank you again, Aunt Kathy. Glenn and I are so very lucky to have you in our lives and we can't wait for you to be a part of Noah's!!!

It's Noah's Super Duper Adoption Raffle time!!!

We are hoping to raise a little money to help defer some of our adoption expenses and we thought a fun way to do that would be to raffle off an original painting by Glenn. The painting is called "Little Red Riding Hood." It's a framed 11 x 14 acrylic on canvas. Each chance is a mere $5 bucks! To participate you simply click the "chip in" button and then enter your donation amount in $5 dollar increments. After your donation is processed through paypal your chance number or numbers will be emailed to you. At the end of the raffle we will use the random number generator at random.org and will post the winner on the Paper Lanterns blog. Thanks so much and good luck! ( and if you could forward this to your friends, family and art-lovers alike, that would be great!!!)

Andrew King is cooler than me

amazing work

see it here

The Mathematics of Phil Lumbang

1+1= good stuff... That is all.

get it here

Where the wild things are

Looks great!
Watch the trailer here

music by Arcade Fire

Can I've a Peep, Pop???

I bought my first package of easter Peeps the other day! I don't know how you all like to eat your peeps, but I was raised by my dad taking off the cellophane wrapper, setting the box on top of the fridge and waiting for them to get good and hard.....DELICIOUS!!!! Nothin' like a stale Peep!!! As I was enjoying the bright turquoise colored sugary delight, I was thinking about my dad. There are certain treats he always has in the house and my nieces and nephew know where to go when they visit grandmom and pop to find them! Dad loves gummy alphabet letters...but only the clear colored ones that taste like pineapple. ( he even keeps a not so hidden stash of them in his bedroom!! the kids caught on to that hiding place real quick!!) Around easter though, many times I have been over their house when the kids are visiting and heard one or more of them ask..."can I've a peep, Pop?" I can't wait for the day to hear Noah asking Pop that same question.

So in honor of easter, Noah and Peep lovers everywhere....Glenn put together this little montage of what I discovered on-line today. Who knew people were so creative with their Peeps?!!! ( I'm not sure which I find funnier....the "peeping tom", the "Olympic peeps" or "stripper peeps"! A little twisted?...yes!...but still very funny!!!

Part two of the wait begins...

It's been almost a week since I have posted! I think will all of the excitement of Noah's referral, I've been at a loss for words to write anything. ( ok, for all of you that know me, I know that is hard to believe!!) We have been on cloud nine for a week now. We must look at his photo 100 times a day! Despite the fact that I know we still have a wait ahead of us, I feel so much more calm now that we have our referral and are done with paperwork for a while. I'm sure as time starts to pass I will turn into a complete freak waiting for Noah to come home....but for now I just want to enjoy preparing his room, reading all of my adoption books, trying to make some Korean recipes and all of the other things I won't have any time for once he is here!!

We finished painting the nursery yesterday and now just have to finish painting the furniture. My sister found this adorable bedding from Pottery Barn that we have decided to go with. It's got monkeys....which we like!....but it's a really, simple, subtle pattern which we love as well! Thanks, Lisa for finding this!! (aren't big sisters the best :)

Perhaps the coolest highchair ever....

Now if only they made these a little bigger, we could buy two and Noah and I could sit and watch tv together in style

found at www.pinkandblue.com

A New ride for Noah

Im pretty sure I cant afford this but a guy can dream cant he? There are a few more photos over at www.kidkustoms.com

just found the price on one of these

$1700. Ouch!

Introducing.....Noah Lee Kenneth Horan !!!!!!!

Yep, you read right! It's a boy!!!!!! The past two days have been such a whirlwind! We received a call from the director of our adoption agency yesterday giving us the absolutely amazing news! She just kept telling me how beautiful he was, how he looked like Glenn!, and how gorgeous and flawless his skin was! If I could still do cartwheels, I think I would have done one right then! The paperwork and photos were being mailed out and I would receive them the next day, which was today. Needless to say, all night I felt like I had drank about 12 cans of Coke and was just bouncing off the walls! I barely slept a wink all night and both Glenn and I had bizarro dreams all night as well!

So, I woke up bright and early today thinking that my package would arrive sometime in the late morning. I was also dealing with some issues with one of our cats, Zoe. ( poor little girl has a UTI) I didn't want to leave the house until the package arrived, but I had to get my little kitty to the vet. ( I swear...never a dull moment around here...and we don't even have a child yet!!!) Long story short, I was expecting a Fedex or UPS truck to be pulling up until a chat with my neighbor brought to my attention that it may be coming express regular mail. I'm not sure why this thought didn't occur to me, but our mail doesn't arrive until around 3 o'clock! I called the agency and it turns out that IS how they sent it. So I was opening up the front door every 10 minutes all day for nothing!

It was a long, long day waiting for 3 o'clock to come, but it was most certainly worth the wait! It was love at first sight for both Glenn and I! Each time I looked at the photos it was almost as if I had seem them before a long time ago. Weird, right? Our baby!!!! We are finally going to be parents! I want to cry as I sit here and type this. I've never cried so many tears of joy....nor has Glenn...in one day! We couldn't be any happier than we are at this moment!

Ohhh, and his name! We have always loved the name "Noah." He has two middle names..."Lee" is his surname and his birthmother's surname as well, and Kenneth is Glenn's oldest brother's name. So there you have it!
( and make sure you click on the photos to see them bigger!!!)

Getting a little closer!

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from our homestudy agency. They were calling to inform me that they had just mailed out our homestudy report to our adoption agency and that they should receive it by Monday! I was hoping all week to get this call, so at least I can be a bit more relaxed this weekend. Basically what this all means is that once the director of our adoption agency receives the homestudy, we could possibly get our referral of our baby very shortly thereafter! From what I have been told from the homestudy agency.....our adoption agency gets their referrals from Korea in batches. If they have not yet matched all of the babies in their most recent batch, they could possibly have the information for the baby they want to match with us sitting on their desk right now!!! ( amazing, right?!!!!) Otherwise, I am not sure....or is the homestudy agency....how long it would be for our referral. They basically just told me that if I did not hear from the adoption agency by this coming Friday, to then give them a call. So, here's hoping that we are as lucky as my friends Jackie and Angie, and get that referral next week!!!!! (ohhh.... and this is what Glenn and I look like when we are reallllly, reallllly excited :)

Cold Hard CASH

You got to have a handful of cash ($18 bucks a pop) to be stocking up on these cool little tees but I will be clicking add to cart for this one for sure!

check out babywit.com for more

Poo Pee!!!

Yep, you read it right. The topic of today is poopee! Since I have been between jobs, you never find me up this early and functioning. I've been on a whole different time schedule since my surgery in December. I'm all keyed up at bedtime and can't sleep. Some nights are worse than others, and last night was tough. I was up until past 3 a.m. Try as I might to fall asleep, it just wasn't happening.

So, you may be wondering right now..... "why are you not still sleeping??" Well, you see... at about 7:30 this morning, my big fat cat, Zack, decided to jump up on the bed and get all in my face. Still half asleep, I tried to gently nudge him away when I felt something damp and mushy on my hand. I quickly sat up to see what it was...and you guessed it! POOOOOOOO!!! Oh Gross!!! What a way to start the morning! He must have just used the litterbox and had a little left over. Nasty!!!! How can a girl go back to sleep after that?!!

I figured this was the perfect opportunity to post a photo of some stuffed dolls that Glenn showed me a few years ago, and recently stumbled across again. How can ya not laugh at poo and pee dolls!!!

(On a side note.....Glenn was quite happy. Since I couldn't go back to sleep, I decided to surprise him with pancakes before he left for work. He may just be hoping that I wake up with a poo hand every morning :)

Zack....the culprit

Yes, he's cute....but let's not forget he pooed on me.

Painting and Waiting...

I can't believe it's already Thursday. How can a week drag yet move so fast all at the same time? Glenn and I both got our hopes up when our social worker told us last week that she'd have our home visit report done by the weekend. We forgot that it then has to be passed on to the directors at the homestudy agency before it goes to our adoption agency director. I have been told the norm is about two weeks from the home visit until we may hear something about a referral. So, in the meantime we've been trying to get some painting done in the room that is intended for the nursery. The walls are done, so between today and tomorrow the plan is to work on the molding and the doors. Then it's time to start painting the furniture that my parents were very kind to give us. (thanks again, mom and dad!!) We know we have plenty of time to do all of this, but since I am between jobs right now I figured I would take advantage of the time.

I also am so excited for my new friend Jackie. She and her family picked up their daughter, Juliana, last night at JFK so today is their first day as a family of five!!! Looking at her photos of their first meeting last night gave me goosebumps! I am so happy that Juliana is now in her forever home. Congratulations!!!!!

got Sol?

Something pretty to look at www.amysol.com

A Spark of Inspiration!

Im all about the wall decal now... Sparkabiliy.com has a ton of good stuff including an endless amount of cool furniture that I can't afford. But these little guys are only $16 bucks!

No more monkeys jumpin on the bed

Colleen found the coolest little store on etsy that sells really fun wall graphics.

This is the one we decided to go with!

You can find them here

Hare Brush

Ok so I would probably buy this for myself but now I have a good reason...

 www.skiphop.com

Kittens inspired by kittens

Glenn came across this video...it is so funny and cute! I only hope our child is this creative!!!

A Home Visit in the dark.......

Well, we survived our home visit! Thursday started out a very interesting day as we had no electricity. Everyone else in our neighborhood had power.....go figure. I tried not to panic and figured it was probably something small, no need to call the social worker and cancel just yet. By two o'clock, the worry set in. I called our social worker to let her know the situation, and she couldn't have been nicer. She said she was fine coming out and doing our home visit by candlelight! Phew!!! I was so relieved that we didn't have to cancel. It was a crazy day as I had no power, no phone, no nothing! (and of course it was the one time that my cellphone wasn't charged either, so when I wanted to make a call I had to go sit in my car with the engine running and plug my phone in!!)

Our social worker arrived at 7:30 p.m. The house actually looked kind of nice with all of the many candles we had lit and luckily our gas fireplace was working so our living room at least was warm and cozy. We all sat around the fireplace and chatted for about an hour. It was really a very relaxed conversation. She asked us a few more questions...nothing major...and then we talked a bit more. She told us she'd have the report written up this weekend.....which I was sooo surprised to hear that she could do it that quickly! Glenn and I were both on quite an excitement high after she left! Once step closer to our referral and being matched with our baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(On a side note in case anyone is interested in our electricity drama........... As it turns out, PECO Energy had to come out that night and dig a GIANT hole in our front yard to assess the problem. It seems that when Verizon came through our neighborhood some time ago to put in their wiring for their Fios services in, they nicked our PECO wires and Thursday was the day they finally burned all the way through! So, they fixed it temporarily and the power came back on very early the next morning. But....it doesn't end there!! I picked up my phone Friday morning...and still no phone service! So I call Comcast, (who we have our phone, internet and cable tv through), and they had to send someone out. It seems that when PECO's crew was fixing their wires the night before, they now cut right through our Comcast wires! So now we have a big orange cable strung across our driveway that has us hooked up to their power source via our neighbor..(thanks, Stevie!!!), until they can dig open the big 'ole hole themselves to fix their wires! What an adventure! I'm just glad to have my phone and internet back! It's amazing how lost you feel and so cut off from everything without it. How did we ever survive without e-mail and internet service!! :)

The Greatest Toy That I Can't Buy

I like to paint and I was hoping to find a few toys that could help me teach our child some of the basics, I found the most amazing color wheel puzzle by Pottery Barn Kids but alas it is no longer available...

Here honey, can you hold my bag?

I know that this is one more bag that Coll will ask me to carry so I figured that I would look for something a bit cooler. FunkyMoose has some pretty neat stuff. I picked this one out for Coll even though she endlessly tells me to not spend so much.

Safety First!

With the little one coming along I thought its time to get a real first aid kit and what could be better than this retro metal wall mount unit from plasticland

 

More Shopping at Dwell Studio

If you have a ton of cash to burn check out Dwell Studio 

Glenn's first post...

So Glenn decided to add his first posts today! He is always finding the most interesting things on-line.....which is good and bad because then I wish I could afford all of these great things!!! So...he'll be passing these many cool sites along to you all. Enjoy!!!!

All Geared Up!

Check out babygeared.com for a great selection 

of baby furniture and accessories

Jack & Lilly • Cool Baby Shoes

Check out Jack & Lilly www.jackandlilly.com 

A great place to find cool baby shoes

baby brother Ryan

Today I went and met with the pediatrician that we will be using once our baby comes home. The homestudy agency recommended that when we get our referral (which is basically being matched with our child and getting photos and medical information on them), we should bring the info to our pediatrician to look over and give us the ok that all looks good. It was a really nice meeting. His office staff was so warm and friendly, as was he. Hopefully before the month is over I'll be giving him that call to say, "we have our referral!!!" Dr. Abir not only takes care of my sister's three children, but also took care of my baby brother, Ryan, for many years. I have a habit of still referring to him as that even though he is now 26 years old. My siblings and I really enjoyed having a little guy around while growing up. He was a great source of entertainment! He now lives in California and is happy as can be out there. We all miss him so much! So this post is in honor of you, baby brother! Love, Big Sister

Lots and lots of reading to do

I love Amazon.com! When Glenn and I went for our educational meeting at the homestudy agency, the directors and social worker made some suggestions of books that we should read. I knew I wanted to start doing some reading, but wasn't quite sure which books to buy. (there's a lot out there to choose from!) There was also another couple that attended the meeting with us, and they were reading a book that they really liked as well.

My books came late last week, so now I have plenty of reading to do! I also wound up ordering some children's books, a book on the culture and customs of Korea, and a Korean cookbook (no laughing! I know I don't cook much, but, hey! I'll have to once I have a child and might as well give it a whirl!!!) My sister-in- law mentioned a great market to get Korean food and ingredients, so Glenn and I will be giving her a call for a little day trip very soon! (Thanks for the offer, Tina!)

Paper Lanterns

So, I thought I would write a post about why we chose this name for our blog.

About 8 months ago, I was doing some shopping in Bed Bath & Beyond when I stumbled across packs of white paper lanterns. I always thought they were so pretty. They also reminded me of the yoga studio I used to go to (and need to get back to!) as they have many large lanterns hanging from the ceiling. My first thought was that I was going to buy them and hang them in my nursery! They would look so great! Mind you, at this time we didn't have a baby, weren't expecting and we hadn't even started looking into adoption. We were actually still in the process of our fertility treatments. Anyway, I put them in our spare room and forgot about them. Well, I stumbled across them a few weeks ago and immediately told Glenn....."Remember these?!! It's a sign!!! See!! We were meant to adopt from Korea all along!!!!" He of course humored me, as he is used to me being dramatic at times. But I really felt at that moment those paper lanterns meant something. Silly as it may be, it was one more thing that made everything just seem right.

Snow Day!!!

Yes, more photos of our puppy, Simon. Until we have a child to photograph constantly, poor Simon is the one to have a camera in his face all of the time! He had a blast running with me in the snow. (so much for that bath yesterday!) And please excuse my lovely outfit. You know how it is when it snows.....you just throw anything on....including a bear hat :)

Otherwise it was a pretty uneventful day. I cleaned the whole upstairs like a mad woman just in case the social worker on Thursday looks upstairs. She may want to see the room we intend to make into the nursery. We can't wait to get started on that and are still tossing ideas around. We'll be sure to photograph the end result to share it with everyone!

Digger Dog

So I made the mistake of letting Simon hang outside on his tether for a little while today. The backyard was good and muddy from the little dusting of snow that had melted and he just LOVES to dig! He was so unbelievably muddy, there was no avoiding a bath. He's starting to get a little more used to them, but it by no means is his favorite thing. I got some great video of him rubbing his face all over the carpet and making snorting sounds while he was drying off. Hopefully you find it as funny as Glenn and I do!

Our Home visit is scheduled!!

Well, no sooner did I write my first post to the blog last night, when I checked my e-mail and heard from the social worker to schedule our home visit! She is coming this Thursday evening! YIPEEEE! That gives me plenty of time to give the house a good once over. I'm guessing I should have some snacks or something since it will be around the dinner hour. Don't want to be a bad hostess! I still can't believe how quickly things are moving. I was told that it would, at least up to this point. The long, torturous part will be once we see that photo and then have to wait until the baby comes home. I know it will seem neverending, but one step at a time I guess.