When does parenthood begin?

Was browsing our July DTC group* message board and saw a message that gave me pause. A woman wrote that she was surprised to realize that in 14 short weeks she will be a mom. HELLO! What's this? 14 weeks? I sat there vainly trying to do the math in my head then gave up and consulted a calendar. And, amazingly, she was right. If everything goes as expected (I just heard "Ha!" in my head) we will be getting our referral at the end of January, which is in FOURTEEN weeks. Wow. Now that's a sobering thought. And a butt-kicking thought. I need to get my butt in gear and start crossing things off the To Do list. Like, yesterday! So I'm off like a shot (initially to try to find that stupid list). But first I leave you with this thought, which has been tumbling around in my head since I read the woman's message. (It's kind of similar to the "when does life begin?" question I guess, which we will NOT get into on this blog.) So here goes: when does parenthood begin? Am I a mom when I receive that referral picture? Or am I a mom when someone in China places that baby in my arms? Or am I a mom when we sign the final adoption paperwork? When will it feel real? When will it be real? Because right now it feels like a mound of paperwork and a dream. * The July DTC group is all of the people whose adoption papers were logged into China's system in July