I'm in the same situation as some of you. I'm sponsoring my wife who lives in Egypt, and I live in Canada. I've been approved as a sponsor and her application is 'In Process' since November 24, 2016 (I applied October 1st). My guess is that they work on applications in batches. There has been no movement on her application since November 26, and I'm starting to worry there might be a problem some where. I even ordered the NOTES, and they should nothing new.
She is pregnant with twins, who will automatically have Canadian citizenship at birth, but it is frustrating having to wait so long for an application to come through. Even the background check has not yet started. This is a very taxing situation as I cannot just leave work and travel to Egypt, and might miss the birth of my kids.