Birth by Paper

Looking back at the birth of Olivia and Frida, I feel like we cheated a bit -- other than signing in at the hospital and filling out the birth registration, I don't think that we did a mote of paperwork. Adoptions, at least international ones, are births by paper.

Here's the status of our birthing to date:

• Initial application - done
  
• Secondary application - done
  
• Adoption questionnaire - done
  
• Autobiography - done
  
• 3 years of tax returns - done
  
• I-600A (immigration) - submitted
  
• Live scan: child abuse check - done (but Luke had to re-do a second time because of a computer failure)
  
• Live scan: state criminal check - done, I think
  
• 3 (each) certified long-form birth certificates - Sheri's are done; mine are ordered from Canada, I think, but I can't be sure. Technically you can only have one long-form certified birth certificate and I requested three, which means that my request probably got thrown into the "ignore since he obviously can't read directions and don't return his calls" file.
  
• 3 certified marriage certificates - done
  
• 3 certified divorce decrees - not yet ;)
  
• 3 certified death certificates - knock on wood
• 3 notarized medical letters - medical done for both; Sheri's waiting notarization and I'm waiting to make sure that I don't have TB. My darn test came back positive and they can't re-test for 30 days. It was either accept the positive, get a chest x-ray, take six months of medecine and don't drink for six months, and get the doctor's signature, or re-test in 30 days. Though it's probably delaying us, I opted for the alcohol.
  
• 4 notarized employment verification letters - done
  
• four-page notarized financial statement - done (as long as the actual quantity doesn't matter) but still needs notarizing
  
• one-page notarized financial statement - ditto
  
• 2 notarized reference letters - picking up the second this weekend
  
• guardianship form - done
  
• bank deposit verification - hoping to win the lottery before actually verifying
  
• insurance verification for child - done
  
• I-134 affidavit of support - done
  
• certification of identity - done. We are pretty sure we are who we are.
  
• CIS fingerprints - waiting
  
• application of adoption letter - done, though I'm not sure how this differs from the first application letter
  
• 5 notarized power of attorney letters - to be notarized still
  
• 2 notarized state adoption law summaries - I think our agency's doing this one
  
• 2 notarized passport photo pages (plus, I've got to renew my passport) - to be notarized
  
• 2 notarized police clearance letters - one down, one to go
  
• 2 nursery application letters - done, I think
  
• 4 colour photographs - done
  
• 1 notarized CIS approval - waiting
  

Would I rather give birth or collect paper? Well, for the former, at least you can get an epidural.