May ICLW, or, I promise not to quit my day job

Greetings ICLW-ers! I feel like I should write a little summary post of my infertile life because, well, that's the ICLW way. But you don't really need any more info than my timeline to your right.

Sooo... now what should we talk about?

Okay, well, let's talk about how I wish my blog were funnier. Certain people have a really distinctive writing voice. I like it. I try to replicate it. I fail miserably. Every time I think I've written a particularly funny post, mrohkay reads it and gets a sad face. My funny is pretty depressing, apparently. So miscarriage jokes aren't everyone's cup of tea. I'll remember that the next time I'm doing improv. Hmm, that was another unfunny joke. Because I could never do improv - way too self-conscious. I'm like the awkward girls on America's Next Top Model who can't "just let go"... only I'm not photogenic either.

I have some funny material to work with. Once I dated someone who was building Star Wars dioramas in the basement. I did my laundry just across the way from Hoth. You don't know which planet that is? Oh. I was telling one of my fellow IF bloggers not long ago about how one of my favorite girl-names is Annika. mrohkay hates it - sounds like Anakin Skywalker. I did not marry the Ewok-basemented boyfriend, obviously. (Yes, I know Ewoks didn't live on Hoth, duh. We had that planet too.) I tried to talk my sister into naming her baby Annika, but she wasn't interested. Apparently it sounded too Star Wars-y to her too. My bloggy friend agreed with me - only nerds would associate Annika with Star Wars. So my sister named her baby after a reality TV contestant that she hated instead. Whatever.

If this post didn't do it for you, feel free to try one of these other recent posts, which I am proud of, despite their relative unfunniness. Though I'm no comedian, I am pretty good at being unflinchingly honest (I'm told).

• How many psychiatrists does it take to change a lightbulb?
• The girl I used to be
• The disclaimer

Greetings ICLW-ers

Welcome! This is my second time participating in ICLW, but I won't have time to revisit my blog until the weekend, so in the meantime, feel free to check out some of my prior posts. I humbly recommend these:

• In defense of giving up (our decision to pursue adoption, which we don't at all consider "giving up")
• Dear Self (everything I needed to hear after my third miscarriage; I re-read it at least 50 times that day)
• Confessions of an infertile fraud (my struggle to believe that the "infertility" label fit me)
• Insert Three Tablets (My Creme de la Creme submission and first blog post ever)

Don't know what ICLW is? Click here.

Things I love about adoption

I can't blog about the adoption process or the country we chose because my agency doesn't permit it right now.* So here are some generalities - things I love about adoption:

• Paperwork. Sorry folks - that's just the type of girl I am. In fact, my former manager wrote in a recommendation letter when I applied to law school that I was happiest "sitting in a mire of tedious paperwork." (I don't know what gave him the idea that being a lawyer was boring!)
• Checking things off the list. Each one gives us a sense of accomplishment that we're another step closer to bringing home our baby.
• Google Earth. It's thrilling to look up maps and see pictures and videos taken in a place where my future child is living.
• Learning about the country. Language, culture, history, geography - all of it interesting. I wish that I could blog about it, but stick with me and you'll get to hear plenty after he/she arrives.
• Buying things. With pregnancy, I was afraid that buying something would jinx it. With adoption, I'm not afraid because...
• There's a good chance that our baby has already been born! I get the chills thinking about how we're all just waiting for our lives to intersect.

(Yes, there are sad things about adoption and plenty of things that could go wrong between now and then, but I am staying focused on the happy right now!)

*In case you're wondering, the restriction on blogging during the adoption process is for the safety of our future child, as well as the safety of our adoption and future adoptions from that country. One person's actions could jeopardize adoption from an entire country. (Looking at you, lady who sent your kid back to Russia!)

If you're here for ICLW, welcome! The next post down is my "story"  :)