Well, who wouldn't love me?

Just a few more days until we get to schedule our match meeting! Let me tell you how very much my head will explode if they don't call me on Monday. As much as I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get to make it out to New York at some point, I would trade New York for the opportunity to get officially matched before we head to Hawaii next Friday. It would be super awesome if boring paperwork stuff could happen whilst we're in Hawaii and we can get a jump on all the good stuff.

Now that all of our other drama has abated, I've had a few minutes here and there to do what all completely sane people, as evidenced by my passing of the MMPI, would do given this sort of delay, is try and google the hell out of my new potential IPs. I am very disappointed to say I have yet to locate a Facebook page, but I am relatively certain I've found a profile of one IF on another social media site, and have been using my apparently considerable self-control to stop myself from messaging him. :)

Even in the security of having been "chosen," I've had time to get a little nervous...what was it they chose? Who are they expecting? Did I oversell myself in my enthusiasm? To assuage these little murmurings, I went back to my profile to see who they think I am. Turns out, they love...me! In rereading my letter, especially, I felt like I did a great job of explaining who I am, which is good because I apparently wrote quite the novella. And I gotta say, I may be a tiny awesome. Of course they love me. ;) Actually, all this proves is that I have a little talent with the written word, but I think it's a fun little synopsis of Tiffany. If you've got the time. :-D (For the sake of clarity, I have to admit I've apparently left out my tendency towards messiness in my very brief list of faults.)

Dear Intended Parents,

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and I want to be your surrogate. :)  I'm sure you'll understand if this is a sort of awkward letter to write.  I'll do my best, but I apologize if it lacks proper narrative flow. :)

I don't remember when the thought of being a surrogate first entered my mind, but I can tell you that it's been somewhere in my head for at least 10 years.  It hasn't been so much a question of if I'd do it, but when.  Now, 2 children later, with definite plans not to have another right now, it seems like the ideal time.

I cannot even fathom the joy it will bring us all to work together to make you parents.  We were lucky to become parents pretty much exactly when we planned, and I look forward to helping make your dreams of becoming parents come true as well.

While, admittedly, there are parts of pregnancy that are not exactly a walk in the park, overall, I found it to be an incredible experience I look forward to repeating, especially labor and delivery.  With my son, I used a self-hypnosis program to manage the contractions, and we had an amazing, drug-free birth.

I'm hoping to be matched with parents who would like to form a real relationship with myself and my family, and to continue that after the birth of your child.  I would like to help you experience this pregnancy as much as possible with me (I hypothetically plan to keep a blog), to the extent that you're comfortable with.  After the birth, I'd like to continue to hear how your family is doing, as long as it works out for both of our families.  Depending on circumstances, maybe we could get together for a picnic once in a while.  :)

About myself: I am lucky enough to be a stay-at-home-mom to 2 crazy awesome little kids.  Our daughter, Kismet, is 4, and is the poster child for precociousness.  She's the life of any party and makes friends as easy as the rest of us breathe. She enjoys reading, exploring and experiments. Our son, Teagun, is 2, and is a loving, sensitive boy, and a study in unpredictability.  He's as likely to start a random dance party as throw a tantrum. He likes balls, blocks, trains and babies.  They keep me very busy with trips to the library, park, kung-fu lessons and just general climbing all over.

(This part is no longer accurate, but it's what they saw.) We also currently have an exchange student, Klara from Sweden.  She attends the local high school as a senior, and is managing to have a blast, even in our little town.  She'll be with us until June.  She's the 5th exchange student we've had, and we love it, despite the inevitable pain of good-bye (so we have experience at giving kids we like back to their parents).  :)

My husband, Tony, works as a critical care transport nurse, and we're lucky to have him home 7 full days every two weeks (he works 12 hour days the other 7 days).  He is my best friend and soul mate (gag, I know ;) ), and I know everyday how lucky we are to have found each other.  We've been together for 7 years, and we look forward to holding hands when we're old and wrinkly.

We currently live in Manteca, a small city just about smack dab in the middle of California.  My family lives here as well, and we're lucky enough that they are all incredibly supportive, and willing to lend a hand anytime we may need it.  Tony's mom comes out to spend the night once a week and get in her grandchildren time, and that's usually the point where Tony and I run out for a few minutes of grown up time. We also have a lot of friends and family in the San Jose area, so we try to make it out there at least once a month.

I was born and raised in Manteca, but was lucky enough to live in the Bay Area for 8 years, 6 of which were spent in San Francisco.  While I was in San Francisco, I attended San Francisco State University, where I graduated Summa Cum Laude with my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, with minors in Human Sexuality and Special Education.  I never quite figured out what I wanted to do with my degree, and have spent the years between then and now working with autistic children, as a nanny, as a tutor, an exchange student representative, a substitute teacher, and finally as a stay-at-home-mom.

If I had to describe myself, I'd first like to point out that I find honesty, in myself and others, to be incredibly important.  I despise lying, even about little things.  I find it a matter of respect, something I also feel is vital.  I try to treat everyone with respect, including children.  I'm also an overwhelmingly happy, easy-going, open person who appreciates the fun, little things in life (and was incredibly lucky to find someone to spend my life with who also enjoys pretty sunsets and silly jokes).  On the flip side, I battle laziness everyday and am only lately getting better at managing my time.  I also am finally really growing out of my shyness.  On good days.  :-)

We consider ourselves a little bit hippie.  We cloth diapered, breast fed, co-sleep and wore our babies.  We try to grow some of our own food, with moderate success (gophers not withstanding), and make most of our meals from scratch.  I make yogurt for the kids, and we just started making our own bread on a regular basis, in an effort to keep highly processed and artificial stuff in our foods to a minimum.  Which is not to say I don't enjoy my daily Diet Coke, but we do try to eat better than average.  We usually eat out once a week, and that's usually just Tony and I, for our weekly lunch date, and 90% of the time, we frequent a local Mexican restaurant or taqueria.

I really enjoy baking (I fantasize about turning my hobby into a career someday), and look forward to someday having time to play videogames again.  I used to especially enjoy Final Fantasy games and World of Warcraft.  I also love reading, mostly fantasy and sci-fi.  I'm a proud geek, and some of my major geek outs include Buffy (and most things Joss Whedon does), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Harry Potter and True Blood.  I also like running.  Oh, and bargains.  Bargain shopping is definitely a hobby of mine.  :-)  I also love traveling, and hope to finally make it to Europe for the first time in the next 2 years.

I hope that you've found this letter mostly informative, and I've given you a decent little snapshot of who I am.  I think this is going to be an amazing experience, with a lot of ups, and a few downs, probably (I hear there are a lot of needles involved ;) ), and I am really looking forward to finding an incredible couple with whom to join on this journey.  If I'm not the super-awesome surro for you, I wish you the very best in finding her, and a happy and healthy experience for you all.  And if my letter and application do speak to you, I am very much looking forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Tiffany