invites

invitations & other crafty stuff
Yesterday I finished the cutting for both layers of Avery's BD invitations. After about ten iterations of design changes, tweaking here and there, and opinion soliciting, I finally arrived at something that felt right. I'm quite pleased with them, overall. I need to assemble most of them today.

final invitation with identifying details smudged out

Did you know that glitter card stock isn't exactly square? I didn't either. I bought 12"x12" glitter card stock thinking I'd just use my hand paper cutter to cut it into four equal 6"x6" pieces. When I then put the first layer of the invitation on top of it, it was ever so slightly askew. I had to alter my course, reduce the size of the backer slightly, then use the Silhouette vs the hand cutter to get a perfectly square cut on each one. Yes, I know it's for a 5yo's BD invitation and who cares, but it was askew! Askew I tell you!

Avery's teacher knows how I like to use my handy-dandy Silhouette, so she assigned me another project. I am to make name tags to go above their coat hooks. They have name tags there, but the pre-made ones that she bought are too long, so she has to stagger them a bit, like bricks. That configuration causes confusion about which hook belongs to which child. So I'm going to make them narrower and change the design a bit. I've decided to do them in the style of London tube stop signs. I'll start on those after I finish the invitations.

family activities
D has been gone a lot lately. He's working a lot, was gone on the NYC trip for quite a while, and we're just generally busy. For family date day on Saturday, we let Avery pick where we'd eat, and she chose Pastini - no surprise there. Then we went to see Wreck-it Ralph. D slept through the first half and I slept through the second half. The movie was actually quite good, so our sleepiness was other factors. D's not sleeping well lately and I binged on candy during the first half, so there was the inevitable sugar crash afterward.

In an effort to squeeze in more family time wherever we can, Avery and I will be meeting D for lunch today. That's good because it'll force me out of the house today. Avery and I have nothing else on our schedule. Tomorrow Avery has three back-to-back activities in the afternoon. Wednesdays are just busy.

activities
I signed Avery up for two back-to-back dance classes starting in January. Dance still continues to be the thing she's most interested in and most enjoys. I'm quite sure she can handle two classes in a row as far as physical stamina and desire to do them. I'm a bit worried about her crankiness level following those two things. I guess you don't know until you try it.

She also loves kung fu. Randomly through out throughout the week, she'll ask, "When's kung fu?" or "What about kung fu?" I still don't think she's put together that the punches they practice in class are meant to land on people. Same thing with kicks. But those things are like 5% of the class. Most of it is focused on learning how to fall and roll, physical agility, things like that.

Several new kids have joined her kung fu class, among them two other girls. Avery and another girl kind of gravitate toward each other, but I can tell Avery now feels totally at ease with all the boys in class. Coincidentally, Nolan's BFF, Gabriel, just joined the class, too. Avery knows him well since he goes to her school. Gabriel's mom told me that whenever Avery is around Gabriel, she's always looking out for him. When he came to join the circle at the beginning of class, Avery loudly introduced him to Sifu Wally. That was sweet, but unnecessary since Sifu Wally teaches Gabriel's two older brothers so he knows him well.

Avery always seems to have a really good time at gymnastics, but it doesn't seem to be something she misses doing if we skip a class. I'm trying to get her (and Henry) enrolled in semi-private swim lessons in January. I guess if that doesn't happen, then we'll do gymnastics again.

Soccer is something she enjoys, but I think only because it's running around in a gym. I don't think skills or the game of soccer appeals all that much to her at this age.

tantrums
We had a major one the other night, but it was mostly my fault. Avery had a ton of activities that day and I knew she was looking for some way to release everything.

Other than that, it continues to go well. I find the tantrums much easier to deal with now that I feel like I have a direction on how to deal with them. Not that things were ever bad between Avery and me, but I feel closer to her. Like the friction is off because I'm not walking on egg shells, and I'm not upset at her for acting illogically.

Moving

A suite ... sweet!
I have been preparing our new guest suite, the former playroom, for the arrival of my mother in late March. She has, pending a successful closing, sold her house and is moving to Oregon!  I know, such big and sudden news, especially since she never actually put her house on the market. Let me explain.

Mom has been targeting this spring to put her house in Colorado on the market and move out to Portland. She bumped into an old friend, Charlotte, who is now a Realtor and mentioned she was moving. Charlotte contacted her a while later because she had a client who was looking to move back to Eaton since the husband went to school in Eaton. The couple comes to look at her house, Mom shows them around because she was there. She said she pointed out all the trees in the yard, where they came from, etc. The couple loved the house and yard and decided to go ahead with the sale. Actually, there was a minor hiccup in there, but the meat of the story is: couple sees house --> couple wants house --> Mom and couple agree on a price --> Mom signs contract to sell it. So the caveat here is that the inspection still needs to be done and the loan processed, but assuming that goes well, she'll close at the end of February, rent back a month, then move out here in March!

Oh, and a fun little twist to the story: turns out that client is Mom's former student from when she taught 4th grade.

Mom is going to live with us for x months while she gets her bearings here in Portland. After the shock of the move and huge change has worn off, then she can think about whether she wants to rent or buy, or possibly live with us a little longer.  She and Barkley will be occupying our newly appointed guest suite (aka the playroom aka the basement). On Sunday, I moved all the toys from the now-guest-suite to the newly appointed playroom upstairs. Today I worked more on the guest suite and relocating the things in a large armoire we have in that room. That armoire will used as a hanging closet for Mom since the room, while large, doesn't have a closet in it.

I also need to get our garage cleaned since we're going to store Mom's stuff in the third car space. As I told D, there's nothing I enjoy more than moving stuff from one space to another, reorganizing it and decluttering it. I have no idea why I love it, but damned if I didn't jump out of bed after 4 hours of sleep and create a new playroom for Avery on Sunday.

Waning

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Waning blogging interest

My interest in blogging is waning.  I find myself not really wanting to update the blog.  I'm not sure why the change.  Blogging has seemed less interactive lately, not just on my blog but on friends' blogs, too.  I used to get a fair amount of information about the lives of my friends through blogs, but now it seems to be more through FB or other avenues.

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Proud

When I picked Avery up at school today, one of her teachers said to me that she always tells herself that she has to find out what the parents of Avery and another child in the class are doing because that's how she wants her kids to behave.  {blush} 

Then she told me another story about Avery on the playground that, for me, blows the first compliment out of the water.  Apparently there were some kids who weren't letting Nolan play in a particular area of the playground today.  Avery went over there and stood up for Nolan. She explained to the little girl that she should let Nolan play and asked her if Nolan's face looked happy [that he was being excluded].  I about burst from pride.  It's a relatively small thing, but I am constantly telling Avery and Elise to include Nolan when they're playing - or rather insisting they cannot exclude him.   I don't feel like I ever make progress on that during play dates at my house, but maybe I'm getting through enough to make an impact on Avery's behavior elsewhere.

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Rare

This morning, Avery woke up and was crying for me after 6 am.  That is unusual.  What is more unusual is that I didn't wake up when she did, but D did.  I usually wake up if Avery breathes loudly, so that I didn't hear her screaming for me is very weird.  D usually sleeps through everything.  I feel like I've been sleeping much more deeply lately. It's all very odd.

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Short sale house

We got a message from our Realtor yesterday regarding the short sale house we'd put a bid on.  The bank accepted another offer.  It was also discovered recently that there's an additional $50k judgement lien (unrelated to the house) against the seller.  Anyway, who knows why the bank went with another offer.  It might have been a higher offer since we know there was at least one other offer higher than ours, or it might have been because it wasn't going to be our primary residence.  I guess it doesn't really matter.  Ah well, there are plenty of houses.  We'll find something perfect for Mom eventually.

Houses

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Activities of the last week

• Driving - Mom landed last Wednesday, so she's been here almost a week.  It's hard to believe.  In that time, I think we've driven 1,000 miles in that time.  Between all the driving I do to get Avery to her various activities, extra driving done to move G kids around (which isn't all that much, but has been a little), and looking at houses for Mom, we have had our butts in the car much of her time here. 
• Crafting - sort of.  I have finished part of my fabric boxes.  I have more to do, but they're looking decent so far.  I also made Avery a Tiana blanket (in other words, I hemmed some flannel fabric) and I altered the 80's prom dress I wore for the hispter dress up so that Avery can wear it around the house.  I'm going to make a few more changes, but I am very impressed with myself.  Avery LOVES it.  She thinks it's the most beautiful dress ever.  Mom said she calls it her wedding dress.  

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Houses


We continue to look at potential houses for Mom when she moves here.  The nice part is that since she's not moving out for another six months, we aren't under any pressure to get something.  And we're still not under pressure if she sells her house in Colorado before moving out because she can always live with us for an open-ended period of time.

Many continue to ask me what is going on with the short sale house.  The answer is the same as always: nothing.  We are one of four offers, including an offer made by the former tenant (who moved out a few days ago). The house was not pre-approved as a short sale by the bank when the seller put it on the market, so the ball is now in the bank's court where it's been for the past four months.  So there you go.  In the meantime, we're looking at other houses in the same neighborhood, as well as other areas.  I have a pretty good idea of what Mom likes and doesn't like, and what she wants and needs, even though some of those aren't what I would want or need in her situation.

We've looked at two houses that I absolutely loved.  One house was utterly ridiculous.  It would have a terrible time with resale, it was small and oddly laid out, it was not in an ideal location, it was a true one bedroom ... and I loved it!  Know why I loved it?  Because it had an oversized mouse hole between the living room and the bedroom.  Remember the mouse hole in Tom & Jerry?  That shape?  Well, make that big enough for a cat to get through, then carve it into a wall between two rooms and this is what was there!  On purpose!  I was obsessed with it.  Clearly this is no reason to buy a house.  In fact, it's probably a reason to not buy a house, but all I could think about was how fun it would be to drive a remote control car between the two rooms!  I could sense the moment we walked in the house that Mom was not digging the space.  The other house that I really loved was one Mom also loved.  The problem is that it's tiny and overpriced, but it's the cutest, most adorable house I've ever seen.  And it was built in 1899, but is so level and fixed up that you can't tell.  I seriously couldn't find a crack or anything broken or slightly askew.

Today we'll look at a few houses in a neighborhood we've not explored yet, so that will be interesting.  Since D is joining us, we'll also go back to the three houses that are on the 'yes' list, though one of those is the adorable, overpriced tiny house, and the other is the short sale we have an offer in on already.

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Hood to Coast

Mom and I volunteered for Hood to Coast on Friday.  D's team had to provide three volunteers.  Mom and I were two of them.  It was a hot, hot day for the run.  Mom and I got so very lucky to be posted where we were.  There was shade the entire shift, it was quiet, and we could easily take turns sitting on the one chair we brought without a problem.  Overall, it was a boring stint.  I think it would have been a lot more interesting if we'd been there during a different time, but the teams going through the point were all walking teams at that point.  Our job was to direct the runners and vans down the correct road.  Encouraging the walkers and runners seemed a natural offshoot of that.  Well, if you start clapping for a walker too early, you clap a looooonnnng time.  Plus, there's that awkward moment after you yell out good job!  If it's a runner, they're off and running and it's not awkward.  If it's a walker, they're still there.  It's simply fraught with awkwardness.

D was in a world of hurt when he got home on Saturday night, but so was everyone else in his van.  He said they felt a little better when they went to Dairy Queen after the race and saw a team sponsored by Nike there.  This team was clearly very fit.  Every one of them groaned when walking down the steps, too.  So I guess the race takes a toll on you regardless of how fit you are.

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Dogsitting

Kerry (mother of Lily, neighbor, friend) asked me to watch her dog, Princess, while they're on vacation next week.  I, of course, said sure!  I'm quite excited because Princess is a little dog.  I've never watched a little dog.  I've never been around a little dog for any extended period of time.  It'll be a good test as to whether it's still like having a dog, or if it's more like a cat to me.

Avery's not a big fan of Princess because Princess sometimes jumps on her.  However, overall, Princess is very well behaved and does not have a Napoleon complex as many small dogs do.

Skater

Ice Skating

Avery and I went ice skating on Monday afternoon.  Upon entering the mall, where the indoor ice rink is located, Avery was thoroughly excited.  She was still excited when she saw the rink and the kids on the rink.  She was still excited as we laced up the skates.  She was still excited when she walked on the skates to the rink.  This is where she lost her enthusiasm.  She put one foot on the ice, felt it was slippery and spent the next 15-20 minutes clinging to the railing while standing just off the edge of the ice.  There was about an hour left of open skate time, so I decided mentally that I wasn't going to force her to do it, but I was going to spend that entire time attempting to convince her to at least try it.

Finally, when I saw she was wearing down a little bit, I offered some ice cream as a treat for trying it and that broke her.  We got on the ice and skated an entire lap.  I held both of her hands the whole time.  She would have fallen several times had I not been holding on, but she also faked a few of those falls once she realized that I would catch her.

I was so very proud that she made her way onto the ice despite her obvious fear.  I was also proud that I hung in there in convincing her to try it because after we left the rink, all she could talk about was how brave she was to try it and how proud she was that she did it "all by myself!"  I corrected her and said it wasn't all by herself since she was holding my hands, but I did tell her she was very brave indeed.

She says she wants to go again, but I suspect that enthusiasm is much the same as her initial enthusiasm and would once again wane the moment we got near the ice.  I think I'll give it 3-4 months, or until she specifically brings up the activity.

Movie recap

• Crazy, Stupid, Love = loved it
• Project Nim = an excellent documentary even though I sobbed, like openly sobbed, for about a minute in the middle of it.  After the movie ended, I had to wipe off the mascara that ran down my face.  Fuckin' humans. 
• The Perfect Host = strange, but kept my attention.  Until Christie and I saw the trailer for this movie at the beginning of another movie, I'd never heard of it, made in 2010 and starring David Hyde Pierce of Frasier fame. For whatever reason, I decided I wanted to actually rent it.  We were able to get it via Video on Demand from Amazon.  Very strange.  There's not much else to say about it. 
• Conan O'Brien Can't Stop = pretty funny and pretty good.  More so than the comedy or the story, I liked that Conan was willing to let all sides of his personality be shown, including parts that might be seen as less than likable.
• Winnie the Pooh = it was a good movie for kids.  Probably a great one.  Avery seemed to really like it.  However, it was oh-so-age-appropriate for a 3yo.  I was bored stiff.  Not only did D fall asleep and I spent ½ the movie reading news on my phone, so did one of the dads behind me.  I know because I wanted to make sure my phone reading wouldn't bother anyone behind me, but turned around only to discover many sleeping parents.

Memories

When I was a kid, I used to help my mom prepare her room each year for school.  I'd help put up bulletin boards, or cut out borders, or arrange desks, or collate writing-practice sheets, laminate things, etc.  I loved to do all that stuff.  Yet, I do not remember it ever crossing my mind that I might become a teacher.  Because the only thing I wanted to do was help to prepare the room, not to actually teach or do any actual work involved in teaching.

I'd kind of forgotten about this part of my life - and it was a pretty significant chunk of my summers from 5th grade through my HS years - until someone at the company party we hosted the other day saying to me, "You must be a teacher."  This was the comment after observing all the little labels and signs I have around the house.  Avery's sleeping chart, reward tickets & certificates, the recycling labeling, etc.  Man, if I'd had a Silhouette when Mom was teaching, it would have been a whole different ball game. 

Nutshell

Friday in a nutshell (as told in my FB status)

Exhausted after a full day of fun:
- Slappy Cakes (make your own pancake restaurant)
- Followed immediately by Playdate PDX
- Followed immediately by dance class
- Followed immediately by a playdate with Friend Elise & Nolan
- Finally ending with all three kids asleep at my house for the Gs' date night.

Thank goodness all three kids went to sleep without protest and were asleep by of 7:30.  My patience was wearing a bit thin and D was at motorcycle training, so it was a solo performance for me.  Avery didn't get a nap, so during the afternoon, any NI (Nolan Indiscretion - things like existing, breathing, touching anything, looking at anything, etc) set her off.

Dance, Dance, Dance

When we return from our trip to California, the new session of dance classes starts.  I've signed Avery up for three back-to-back classes.  I am not sure how that's going to go, but we're giving it a whirl.  Until Friday, I'd only signed up for two classes, Pre-Ballet and Terrific Twirling. However, today Miss Erika said that the hip hop class next session would be doing Michael Jackson and, well, I couldn't resist.   I'm thinking if Avery has a clothing change between each class, that should keep her enthusiasm up.  Of course, enthusiasm is not a weak point of Avery's, so maybe just showing up will be enough.

Denied

Our lottery application for the White House Easter Egg Roll was unsuccessful.  Such a bummer.  I didn't realize until we didn't get it how much I would have liked Avery to go.  My aunt has graciously offered to have an Easter Egg hunt in her condo for Avery on Easter, so that will still be tons of fun for Avery.  Plus, she'll still get to wear her adorable Easter dress (which she is head-over-heels in love with and asks to wear on a daily basis).

Strawberry season

And now I know what I will be doing during strawberry season: picking, then leathering (thanks to Lori for sharing that link via Google Reader).

I'm also looking forward to blueberry season since Avery just loves frozen blueberries.  I plan to freeze a lot of blueberries.

My favorite pictures of me & Mom and me & Dad

I saw these two pictures, which I have sitting in one of our guest rooms, as I was tidying up today.  I figured I'd scan and share.

My favorite picture of my me and my mom is more because the picture actually came out than because it's a good picture.  It was taken the summer between my sophomore and junior year in HS. I like it so much because it's amazing the picture has our faces in it.  We were walking along a rocky beach in Wales near our relatives' house.  There was a stone wall and we just set the (film) camera on the wall, set the self timer, and hoped to at least capture some part of our faces. I think we did quite well!

My favorite picture with my dad is of him and me in our backyard when I was 2 or 3.  I don't actually remember taking it. I'm not sure how old I was, but I remember my dad often working in the yard.

Maybe I'll upload them to FB and tag my parents. 

Congo

Refugee family details

I received the details about the refugee family for whom we're buying gifts.  They're from the Congo.  The most needed clothing items are coats and pants.  I'm excited to shop for them. I also confirmed that I can give them a gently used coat since I have so many winter coats upstairs.  For some reason, we are just brimming with coats that have barely been worn.  Giving them one of my coats means I can spend more on the other items.  Woohoo!

Electronic cigarettes

Did you know these existed?  Me neither.  You can get them with or without nicotine.  The "smoke" is water vapor.  Yes, you have to charge the cigarettes up.  So weird. Now you, too, can look like this douche bag.  Though, to be fair, I'd rather sit next to this tool than someone who is actually smoking since smoke bothers me, but I can shake off a tool.

Nook

The nook doesn't exactly have the kind of awe-inspiring creativity I'd hoped it would.  Part of the problem is the rug I bought ($25!) is a very ugly tan, especially under fluorescent lighting, which is the lighting in the nook.  It also clashes with the pink I chose for the walls. However, I think Avery will totally love it.  I need to buy some bolster pillows to line the sides where the carpet doesn't quite reach.  I was also thinking of buying some magnetic paint for some areas of the nook.  We'll see.  I've decided against putting up the bumblebee lights due to safety concerns.  They would have looked so cute, so I'm bummed that my instincts are telling me the risk is not worth the cuteness.

Relatives

My uncle (my mom's brother) and aunt were here last night.  They live in eastern Oregon and often stay at our house when in Portland for medical appointments.  It was good to catch up, though I did a pathetic job of providing dinner last night.  I ended up buying a rotisserie chicken, making plain pasta, and cooking frozen veg.  Ah well, 'tis the way it goes. 

Charity

FYI, on Monday, Groupon will have a deal to buy a $25 gift certificate to Kiva for $15.  Unfortunately, there's a limit of 1/customer.  I do love Kiva!

There's a new website called GiveBack.org.  It's basically a way to keep track of your charitable giving to make taxes easier.  You can add funds directly to the account, or you can earn money buy shopping at various sponsors who will donate from 1-15% of the amount of your purchase to your account.  It's a non-profit, so sign up is free and there's no charge for the service.  It seems a little unnecessary from a tax perspective to me, though I don't do our taxes, D does. However, if I am going to shop at the online stores listed anyway, I would like funds to go to a charity.  Also, for signing up, you get $5 to start with, so that's worth signing up alone!  I believe the site was started by the guy who won Oprah's reality show The Big Give.

Lots

Dylan!
The newest member of our family has arrived. A huge welcome to Dylan! Avery's cousin is the son of my brother and his wife. He was born via c-section yesterday around 9 PM and weighed in at 8 lb 12 oz and is 21" long. I still haven't seen a picture yet, but I understand he has a little bit of dark hair. I just added Dylan's BD to my Google calendar and set it to repeat yearly as I do with all BD's. There's something so satisfying about adding a new birthday.


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Livestrong Challenge
In other news, D will be running in the 2008 LIVESTRONG Challenge this weekend. He is hoping to raise money for a good cause, so if you are able to spare a few bucks, please donate! Here's the message he sent out via Facebook:

Partly as a result of my new found passion for running as a result of the fat loss competition at work, and partly because it’s a great cause, I have signed up at the last minute to run in the Livestrong Challenge 5K at the Nike campus this weekend. Apart from being another great run, this event is designed to raise awareness and funds to help fight cancer and support the people undergoing treatment.

As many of you know, when I was 18 I was diagnosed with cancer and spent 9 months of my life enduring surgery, in-patient chemotherapy, out-patient chemotherapy, incredible nausea, hair loss, weight loss and yet more surgery. Needless to say, it was not a fun time, especially at a point in my life when I was supposed to be partying hard…don’t worry, I made up for it later. The good news is that I survived and have been cancer free for over 20 years. As the doctors kept telling me at the time, if I’d been diagnosed even 10 years earlier I would have died because the treatments that saved me didn’t exist back then. Since I got sick, treatments have improved even more, but still far too many people die from cancer and endure some fairly horrendous and invasive procedures, including way too many children.

So, if you have a few extra bucks this month and are looking for a good cause, please click on the link below to sponsor me in the run and donate to the Lance Armstrong Livestrong Foundation.

Donate

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Meme
I have been tagged for my first meme! I have done many a meme in my time, but I have never been tagged for it via my blog. I am officially part of the blogosphere! Thanks, Christie! So, without further ado, I present to you 6 random things about me:

1. I am particular about my feet. I absolutely cannot wear socks to bed, but I must wear socks in my house at all other times. I cannot stand to have dirty feet. If I get them dirty, I spend the entire time thinking about how and when I will be able to clean them. I don't like to have long toenails. In fact, I prefer to have very short toenails. This presents a problem during the summer months and/or vacations in hot climates as I try to look a bit more presentable in terms of my feet and paint my toenails, however, stubby toenails are not attractive. So I actually have to work at growing out my toenails. I also cannot walk barefoot or in just socks for any period of time. I need arch supports and they must be good. Even my slippers have arch supports. I have been known to wash my feet several times a day during the summer sandal wearing season.
   
2. When I was in second grade, I decided that my book collection was too disorderly. Not aware yet that the Dewey Decimal system existed, I set about numbering my books. I took pieces of paper and, with my grandmother's help, numbered my 100+ books. I taped the number to the side of each book and then lined them up in my bookcase. A few years later, not yet aware of the Readers' Guide to Periodicals, I set about writing down and cross-referencing each topic listed on the side of each of our National Geographic magazines. We had about 10 feet of these magazines if you lined them, so I'm not sure how many years worth that was. I thought this was a perfectly dandy summer activity, but I do remember my friend asking if we could do something else and me just sitting at my little table writing down each of the topics for each magazine on the proper index cards.
   
3. It was around the time I was in fifth grade when the Lebanon Hostage Crisis was going on. I clearly remember thinking how difficult it must be to be a hostage because I was sure that it was quite dry in the Middle East and I was also quite sure that the hostage takers wouldn't give their hostages lotion. That they could be tortured was of little concern to me, but that they might not be given lotion in such a dry climate was absolutely unbearable for me to think about. Obviously, growing up in dry, dry Colorado took its toll on me.
   
4. I almost never watch the local TV news. My life rocks as a result.
   
5. I have gotten better sleep in the past six months with Avery than I did for the previous 2-4 years before her. I also have more energy since having her, and I'm much neater in the house. It's like being a parent has had the opposite effect on me.
   
6. I'm almost always cold. I need a sweater in 70 degree weather. The thought of going into a movie theater at any time of year in shorts or a short-sleeved shirt is absurd to me. I also get very cold immediately after I start eating (which is likely due to the blood rushing to my stomach). I rarely go into a restaurant without a sweater. The only time I am ever hot is when I am lying in bed and then I'm roasting. There is something that happens to my body temperature when I lay down to go to sleep, but if I'm just laying down, I'm cold. It has to be to sleep.
   

Clearly, I am a very complicated person. As I tell D when he's just about had it with my quirks, "If you think you're annoyed listening to my quirks, just trying BEING me!" That usually shuts him up, though mostly just so he can stew about what a weirdo he married.

Since I don't know that many people who blog, I am not going to tag anyone. That must be #7 - I make up my own rules!

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Passport
So, if you're wondering whether a court order and an official adoption certificate can get a passport for a baby, the answer would be a big fat no. After waiting in line for about 30 minutes, and reading carefully all the instructions, it turns out we cannot get Avery a passport until we have her birth certificate. When you adopt a child, the state reissues a new birth certificate once the adoption is finalized, so we have never had a birth certificate for her. We thought the court order granting us permission to get a passport was sufficient, but apparently judges and lawyers know nothing and the postal clerk knows all. We also thought that since we have a court order granting us permission, and it just says you need a birth certificate OR proof of citizenship, that proving she was born in the US would be enough. Nope. You need a birth certificate.

Anyway, this could very well put a damper on our England trip. So, in summary here's the status:

• We cannot apply for her passport until we have her birth certificate
• We got a letter with her adoption finalization papers that said the birth certificate would be sent in about three months, but I recall them telling me the state was backlogged by five months - if it's five months, we'll have to cancel our trip to England I will be a seething ball of rage at the stupidity of this situation
  
• Then there's the delay in getting the passport, so regardless of when we get the birth certificate, we'll have to pay for the expedited service