8 months

I am now 8 months pregnant - and still doing just great! I feel really lucky that I've been feeling so good. I have a lot of energy (probably more than I've had at any other point in my pregnancy), no physical ailments, etc. I hope I can keep it up awhile longer!
In other news, I am very excited to be wrapping up my Master of Liberal Arts degree this week! On Tuesday I have to defend my Portfolio, then my last day of class is Friday, and then I will walk in Commencement on Saturday - busy week! It's been a lot of fun, but I'll be glad to be done so I can really start focusing on this little baby :)

Still pregnant!

Well, I'm still pregnant! I'll be 29 weeks along tomorrow (so about 6 1/2 months). So far I'm still feeling pretty darned good - no real complaints! A friend of ours offered the other day to take some maternity pictures of me (and Chris) that we could use for our baby shower invitations. This one is probably my favorite:

No NSN infant referral afterall

I heard from our agency that the NSN infant referral I thought had been received in December 2008 actually fell through. Not sure if it was because of the family or because there was something wrong with the referral. At any rate, the reason we moved up to #2 (which would be #5 overall) in line was because someone dropped out - NOT because there was positive movement in the line. Very depressing. That means that so far it has been 15 months and counting since the last NSN infant referral. If this trend were to continue, we would be waiting 6 years for a referral. :( Of course there is always the chance that one or more of the families ahead of us in line would drop out, but when you're only talking about 4 families that really isn't something you can count on. For right now (considering we have some guaranteed wait time because of Fox) we will just wait and see what happens in the months to come.

Yay for the 3rd trimester!

Today I am officially 6 months along in my pregnancy, so I am officially calling this the 3rd trimester (even though I have another 3 months + 1 week to go until full term). Fox kicks me like crazy these days..he's a strong little boy. I can visually see my belly move when he kicks, which is amazing to see. I haven't had many pregnancy symptoms at all during this whole adventure, and those that I've had I've been able to take care of with herbal remedies, so I'm certainly not complaining. I don't LIKE being pregnant (it is a rather uncomfortable experience), but I must admit I'm probably getting off easy. I'm hoping these last 3 months go just as smoothly, and the birth goes the smoothest of all :)
No real news on the adoption front. Seems the wait list is stalled once again. Just waiting for an update from our agency to see what's going on, and trying to keep my mind on other things (like baby Fox!).

New Year's cheer for Taipei orpans

I frequent a couple of Taiwanese news sites, and came across this article I thought I'd share:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taipei/2009/01/25/193591/Mayor-Hau.htm

Hope everyone has a wonderful Spring Festival! We plan on having some family over tomorrow for a homemade feast :)

We're having a boy!

I had my ultrasound yesterday and found out we're having a boy! We are excited :) Most likely his name will be Fox - we're still trying to think of a good middle name, so I'm open to suggestions. He is actually slightly larger than expected (I was exactly 19 weeks, and they said he's measuring 19 weeks, 4 days) and was VERY active during the ultrasound. The tech asked me if I'd had a lot of caffeine or sugar before coming in but nope, nothing of the kind. He was just doing somersaults and wriggling all over the place - really cute :) I made cupcakes with blue frosting for Chris and I to take to work this morning to tell our coworkers the news, which was fun.

Taiwan Fun Fact #4 - Vegetarian Restaurants

Chris and I are vegetarians, so I have been doing some research on vegetarian restaurants in Taiwan. I have been very pleased with what I've found! Taiwan (Taipei in particular) appears to be very vegetarian-friendly. Sometimes it is difficult to understand their websites (many are only in Chinese), but if you're interested, check out some of the links below:

This is a generally tasty-sounding place in Taipei with limited English:
http://www.easyhouse.tw/html/meal_01.asp

This is definitely a place we want to hit when we're in Taipei. I read a review of this buffet, and it sounds like a vegetarian's dream come true!
http://www.jendow.com.tw/all/allrestaurant01.html

This is a fantastic blog by a lady in Taiwan who does reviews (which is how I found the above buffet restaurant). This is a great site for ANYONE interested in Taiwanese restaurants - both vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike:
http://hungryintaipei.blogspot.com/

I'll probably post more as I come across them :)