I'm doing that obsessive thing where I check every blog I know and love for updates. Why aren't you all updating daily? Write silly drivel, it's ok with me! I just want something to read to pass the time.

Today I found out you can check the status of a passport application online. I did this with Dalton's still-missing passport and it wasn't even entered into the system. This is Not Good. I submitted his with Teegan's over a month ago and Teegan's was delivered 10 days ago. I submitted my own passport two weeks ago and MINE is in the system! Where is Dalton's!?!

I called and they refused to take the call - Mondays are busy, try back on Tuesday that robotic voice suggests. SO I called back and pretended to be a spanish-speaking non-touch-tone-phone owning passport applicant and finally got through to someone. It's amazing what Not Pressing The Button will do (those guys on Lost should try it sometime). When verifying his information it was discovered that they entered his birthdate wrong on his passport which is why it wasn't coming up online. D'oh! Thankfully they were able to correct it on the spot before it was sent out (penciled in for sometime this week). I can't imagine the hassle it would have been to correct it after the fact. Must have been a typo on their part because I can't imagine how one birth certificate and one passport application verifying his birthdate could have translated to a wrong date.

On Thursday, we go for fingerprinting. I'm actually dreading it. Wanna know why? It is the beginning of the end. The end of Things We Can Do To Get Ready For The Adoption. The end of feeling powerful, in control, busy, productive, proactive. After that is done, we are dead in the water. We can't do anything for the dossier, we can't yet get a referral, we can't even state certify stuff (Shhhh - I'm going to anyway!!). We are dead in the water with nothing left to do but wait. And I'm out of projects at home to keep me busy. And I"m out of money to shop. And I'm out of patience. I know I should be happy - one big check off the list but then......NOTHING. It will be a 2+ month wait until we hear from INS again with hopefully our approval. It's possible (maybe even probable) that they will not contact us with an approval but with a request for more information. They do that a lot here. That will set us back another month. I haven't decided how long to wait before getting a congressman involved. Some people wait until 3 months go by. That is the quoted wait time. I saw someone who started bugging at 6 weeks post-fingerprinting and she got her approval at 8-weeks post-fingerprinting (still 3 months from beginning to end). But I don't want to piss anyone off and set us back either.

Today I had that same shocking realization that we have the wrong name for our daughter. I'm still trying to figure that out. Usually I am 100% sure that the name we have is the right one. The only name I have ever doubted was Dalton's middle name - I STILL regret it and feel like it was the wrong name. I do love the name Madeline - it was the name we were going to use for Noah if he was a girl. But now I just don't know (again).

Well, enough time has past where I think it's safe to go check those blogs again. Hope I'm not disappointed!