275 days...

...and counting (give or take).

It's true. Today is our first day on the Gladney waitlist!!

So now we kick back our heels... and wait... and wait... and wait....

We expect it will be about nine months before we will receive a referral - about twice as long as the wait was when we adopted Simon - so it's sort of a strange-good feeling. Happy to have survived the paperwork portion. Relieved to be free of daily visits to fedex and notaries. But also kind of bewildering. I find it a bit hard to really contemplate the fact that, after the moments of intensity (and sometimes insanity) of pulling our application and dossier together, that there is basically nothing left to do for this adoption for probably close to a year.

(Well, nothing besides trying to keep up with a (almost) two and a half year old and a crazy dog, be a good wife, work full time, and somehow find time for the gym and maybe some sleep).

But anyway...

For the moment, we are simply enjoying this milestone and allowing the excitement and thoughts about expanding our family to take over. There will be time enough to try to let the wait go from our minds... and then, some months later, come back and take over as we live by the phone, endure the anxiety, stalk the FBI, and start freaking out about what we have ahead of us... Plenty of time.

About 275 days.