Mini Vacay

Nick and I took a nice, much needed mini vacay this weekend. We left Friday afternoon after my follow up appointment and arrived at our destination that evening, just in time for dinner! Saturday, we got up and drove to Rocky Mount, NC to enjoy the Rocky Mount Children's Museum and Science Center. The museum was pretty neat, and Miss K loved it! Afterwards, I asked Miss K what her favorite part of the museum was and she said, "Mom the upstairs (hands on activities) was so cool, but you know what's even better? Being at home with you and Daddy."

Miss K, the astronaut.

After the museum, we decided to drive back to the hotel and get in some pool time. It was perfect too, well as long as you were in the water! It was over 100 degrees, so it was a bit toasty out of the pool.

We decided to surprise Miss K by taking her to see the movie Brave. She really enjoyed it and was SO GOOD during the movie! The last one we had taken her to (Tangled) she was bored about half way through and wanted to walk around and change seats, so we were a bit nervous about this one.

Sunday we got up and hit the pool for a bit and then packed up and headed home. We are now recuperating from this weekend! It was so great to be away from home for a couple days, but I'm kinda glad we are home!

Back To It

I took quite a break from couponing. The main reason was because we were so stocked up on items and ran out of room, but I also got tired of doing it! Regardless, I should continue because we really do save quite a bit of money, and I always get so excited about getting good deals :) This was my last shopping trip (yesterday). I normally don't use Pantene products, but I really couldn't pass them up this time. Plus, they had a kind I had never seen before, supposedly much better for your hair, free from dyes, parabens, and silicone. We will see!

 I bought:

2 - 12.6 oz Pantene Aqua Shampoo

2 - 12.6 Pantene Aqua Conditioner

3 - 4.4 oz Crest with Scope

1 - 4.6 oz Kid's Crest

7 - 9 oz Dawn dish liquid

Total before coupons and ECB bucks (CVS cash) was $49.78

Total amount I paid: $13.66

and I also received a $10 gas card.

Not bad if I say so myself! 

Eighteen Months

Wow, 18 months ago (plus 1 day, but whose counting?!) we went "live" with IAC.  For "longer than average" waiting family IAC offers different services.

At the one year mark, if you recall, we had the option of going on the LMHL (last minute hospital list). We decided not to at the time and told ourselves that we would re-evaluate come the 18 month mark, (not really thinking we would STILL be waiting :) ) Anyhow, here we are, and as of this moment we are still opting out of that. I would like to say it is mostly all the same reasons (not impulse people) but that's not completely true. Another reason, that we have discussed is how difficult it would be for us to drop everything and go. Nick's work is pretty flexible, as is mine, so that's a non issue. What would arise though, is finding a sitter for Miss K at the drop of a hat. Which, when I think about it, probably wouldn't be that difficult, because our close friends live next door, but it would make us feel awful leaving her like that. We really want her to be involved as much as possible, but her 4 year old attention span is fairly short :) With a little planning (a couple months) I think we would be able to figure out better arrangements for her, and prepare her a little better.

At 18 months you have the option of letting your letter and website go under what is called "Task Force Review". I personally think that sounds a little scary, but I'm sure it's not! The task force,  which includes several letter experts throughout the agency would review our letter and website and make recommendations of what to change, add, etc.

IAC will automatically purchase Google Ads, specifically to our family, at 18 months. 

They also offer what is called the "Top 50 List." IAC keeps a list of the “Top 50” longest waiting families. This list is always changing because as people match, they come off the list, and new people are added to the bottom of the list. There is no set time frame for a family to become eligible for this list. Right now, we aren't close to this list. We are about 80 down, but with a lot of faith and prayers we are hoping to adopt before we would reach the Top 50. :)  

IAC also offers their statistics freely, which I love! 

Average (mean) wait time: 14.8 months
Median wait time: 12 months

50% of families have a placement within 12 months
70% of families have a placement within 18 months
81% of families have a placement within 24 months
90% of families have a placement within 29 months

We didn't make the 70%, but that means our baby just wasn't ready yet!