Oh my gosh, it’s been so long since I last posted.  I’ve been so freakin’ sick this whole new year!  I had probably three illnesses consequtively since just before Christmas.  I had maybe one week when I didn’t feel like death warmed over, but that’s it.  All the rest was hacking, sniffing and staying in bed.  No fun at all.  I’ve also been so overwhelmed with adoption stuff, house stuff, work stuff, family stuff, church stuff…..just a lot of stuff!  I’m trying to be better at taking one thing at a time so that I don’t get so crazy.  I have a tendency to run away when I get super overwhelmed, so I haven’t been able to make myself sit down and just write!  But I’m here now and it’s better late than never, right?  =)

We’ve been making a lot of movement on the adoption front.  Steve and I had our fingerprinting (digital) done for our I-600A and my mom is getting hers done on Monday.  Steve and I will be going into our social worker’s office tomorrow to have our FBI fingerprinting (ink) done for the home study and I’ll turn in a few pieces of paperwork that we’ve knocked out.  We’ve both finished our potential adoptive parent questionnaires, though I need to check to see if Stephen emailed his to the social worker or if we’re taking a print copy tomorrow.  I still need one thing notarized from my mom (form for CPS check) and I’m not sure if Steve’s given my mom the medical form she needs.  Need to check on that as well.

Next up for us is finishing up the little things that need to be done before the home visit.  Mostly just straightening up, but have to paint the ceiling in N.B.’s room, declutter my office (you can’t see the floor in most places), etc.  Nothing to get excited about, but has to be done!

I’ve signed up and am currently doing Brook Noel’s Extreme Home Makeover: 10 Weeks to the Home You Want online class.  I haven’t been able to keep up with the pace (and I started late), but I’m going through it all slowly and am going to follow the plan.  Just at my own pace, I think!  Like I said, I’m easily overwhelmed and the state of our house has me in a near panic when I try to figure out where exactly to START!  This is helping a lot and I think that over the next couple months, it’s going to allow us to get rid of a lot of clutter and work out a system to keep the house running smoothly.  The idea of getting the house to (mostly) clutter-free and finding a place for all of our stuff to live (so that we can easily clean up) is almost intoxicating.  I want this so much!  I’m really hoping this class will be able to help us get there.

I think the only other news is that I got a hair cut today.  I chopped my almost waist-length hair up to my shoulders.  I think I like it.  It’s only been 2.5 hours, so I’m still getting used to it.  Of course, the real test will be when I try to style it on my own.  =)  The real surprise in all of this is that Eliza’s decided that SHE wants her hair cut shoulder length as well!  If you know Eliza, you know how much she LOVES her long hair.  She calls it “princess hair” (no worries about self-esteem here).  But when I told her I was getting mine cut, she said she wanted hers the same length.  She said she likes it when we have “twin hair”.  =)  So she has an appointment on Saturday to get hers chopped off.  I’m so nervous that she’s going to hate it, but it’s her decision.  Hopefully she makes one that we can ALL live with!

Anyway, I plan to get back on the ball about writing consistently now that I’m finally feeling better.  I’m not really any less stressed or busy, but I really want this blog to be a priority.  For that, I need to be more consistent.  We’ll see how it goes!