Baby Maybe?

April, our expectant mom, went to her doctor's appointment last week and he told her that her baby had grown so rapidly since he had last examined her (three weeks prior) that he would most likely decide to induce her after her appointment tomorrow. He said that if the baby kept growing around the same rate that she would be 12-14 pounds by her due date! Holy Schmoly! She obviously knows her body because she told us back on May 22nd that she thought it was impossible she wouldn't deliver before her due date because she felt so much bigger than with her last two children.

We are very excited (and nervous) that it is so close to the time when the baby is going to be born and that we are going to have the opportunity to plan some and not just wait for the "she's in labor" phone call in the middle of the night.

Please send your positive thoughts our way. Who knows? We could be parents by tomorrow night. Crazy!

The Meeting

Our meeting with the expectant mom went very, very well. She seemed like someone I would be friends with anyway. I really liked her "energy" and got a good feeling from her. At this point she doesn't seem very interested in contact except pictures and letters through the agency. Whatever works for her works for us. She thinks that she will deliver the baby before July 1. She says that she feels bigger than she has with her other pregnancies so she thinks she is farther along. She feels like it will be sometime in the last few weeks of June. Her last labor only lasted about an hour (!) so I doubt we will be able to make it in time for the delivery. She is worried she is going to have the baby in the car on the way to the hospital! Luckily, she lives very close so hopefully she won't panic too much once her contractions start.

She brought us pictures from her ultrasound. She looks pretty good to me, for an alien!


I am feeling very good about her, as a person, and the reasons she is choosing adoption for this baby. I am holding all of it in a positive light and know in my heart that it will work out like it's supposed to.

It's A Match

Wow. Am I a crappy blogger, or what? So sorry for the long breaks. I should either do it or don't, for goodness sakes. At least I am back with some good news.


My husband and I were matched with an expectant mom in Florida who is due with a biracial (cc/aa) baby girl on July 1st. We are flying to Florida this weekend to meet her and have dinner. I am excited, apprehensive and a feeling a little more than jaded. Certainly not with domestic adoption specifically as this is our first match and so far, everything has gone as it should, but with just adoption in general. I have the feeling of been there, done that, waited before, lost a referral, lost money, emotional drain, yada, yada, yada. I am not consciously trying to protect myself I just feel kind of numb. I just can't seem to work up a lot of "feeling" right now. I am really hoping that after our meeting with her I will get that buzz. The excitement and nervousness and mental planning and shopping! Believe or not, after all the shopping I did in anticipation of our first adoption, there are LOTS of things we need. I didn't by any clothes for a baby under 6 months of age and we don't have anything practical like a car seat, stroller, bottles or diapers! I still haven't bought much and want to wait until I "know" it's going to happen but that just isn't practical.


So here we are. Waiting again. I feel kind of sad that I'm not climbing the walls with excitement and nervousness. I know that feeling will come eventually and I am very much looking forward to counting down the weeks, days and minutes until she goes into labor and flipping out every time the phone rings wondering if it's "the call". I can't even imagine how long the flight is going to feel! Wow. Actually, just thinking about all of that makes me feel more excited. See, blogging is good!

Thanks for reading.

There is a Man in my Shower

(and it's not my husband) and other happenings around the house this week.

You know how some people see shapes in clouds, can read your palm or tell your fortune from tea leaves, etc.? Well, I see people and animals in tile and other surfaces. This is the man I discovered in my shower. He is in profile facing left.

If you aren't a whack job like me and can't see The Ayatollah Kramer, I have attached a picture with some notes on it.

I went to Lowes last week and when I opened my bag I found this flyer in it:

Maybe I am just narrow minded but I am trying to figure out the appeal here. Ants aren't cute (unless you're an animator at Pixar or Disney) and have you ever been stung by a teeny, tiny fire ant? It feels like a tiny match is burning you. I'm not a scientist or entomologist or anything but I am pretty sure that being stung by a 30 foot fire ant would kill you and if it didn't it would certainly hurt like a mo fo. Maybe that's what they mean by "plus other fun surprises!!"?

I already had a tomato ripen on one of the plants in my garden. It seems early but I'll take it. It's small because it's a "Patio" variety but dang, it's cute and I grew it all my own self.

Photographic evidence that a little person was in my house this weekend. A perfect hand print on my bathroom mirror.

Etsy Friday

I'm sure a lot of you have seen this poster:

During World War II the UK was being bombed constantly. The British War Ministry put out this poster in 1939. Lately, it has been shown in homes in designer-y mags and such and has become quite trendy. I hate when that happens.

My first Etsy shop today has an awesome spoof. This calendar is from Little Brown Pen. I think my favorite months are February and July. This girl is some kind of funny and very talented. Her printable stationery is an awesome idea. Check it out.

Next is Lady Bird Land. I heart Allison Strine. I purchased three of her prints for the nursery so I have been in contact with her because of this and she is an absolute sweetheart. I felt a bond immediately. Below are the three prints I purchased. I haven't received them yet but will post a picture of them in nursery when they get here. She also sells pendants, notecards, etc.

This one says: "She's sassy, classy and a little bad-assey".

This one says: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single trip to the shoe store."

And this one says: "Candy corn is her favorite veggie."

This is Nea: Jewelry and Wall Wear. I have had this shop bookmarked forever. I thought I had posted it before but don't see it on my other blog. I ADORE her cross-stitching. Who knew it could be so modern & cool? Check it out.

And last, but certainly not least, is LoveMely. Take a gander at these awesome headbands. You aren't going to find anything that looks like these babies down at Target.

Happy Friday.

The New Nursery

I always seem to work way better with a deadline and too many things to do. Being a woman with no children who doesn't have a job outside the home is probably not the best combination for me. I don't accomplish much because I have a lot of time and not a lot to do to fill it up. I am looking forward to a new baby in the house making this current situation I'm in to become a non-issue! The reason I bring this up is because I got more done around my house in the week before the home visit by our social worker than I did in the month previous. I hung a curtain rod (in the spirit of full disclosure, my husband hung the rod), bought and glued 8 yards of pink pom poms to curtains to go on said rod, painted a tree in the nursery and finally unpacked, put together and decorated one of the last remaining rooms in the house we moved into in November.

Our social worker came out to the house on Saturday and she was totally awesome. I was comfortable with her from the moment she walked into our home. She made a situation that could be awkward or uncomfortable feel like meeting a new friend. Our home study should be ready by the end of the month. I finished putting together our adoption profile and really enjoyed the process more than I thought I would. I thought I would totally stress out about how it would look and what I would say. I mean, for the most part this document alone is what a birth mother bases her decision on. No pressure there! It turns out that the creative process was a lot of fun (I haven't done any digital scrapbooking in a long time) and as I was going through photographs and writing about our life it just made me appreciate my husband and the life we share even more.

Now that we are only a week or two away from being fully ready to start the adoption process, I have been downloading applications and such from several different agencies. Egad! More paperwork and most of it redundant. I am hoping that most agencies will take what is already in the home study and not make us recreate it just so it's on their letterhead. A girl can dream, can't she?

I am attaching a couple of pictures of the finished nursery. The tree I painted this time is more whimsical than the one from the last nursery. I don't know if I like it better or not. I think the last one suited my design sensibility more but I didn't want to create the exact same room, although I did use the same items as last time. I found the tree I used (painted using an overhead projector) at The Shabby Shoppe. It was included in the digital kit called Yours Truly. If you like digital scrapbooking at all you should check out this site. They have really cute stuff.

Here is the nursery before: (not from the last house just before I painted the one in this house)

After:

Here is the nursery bath before:

And after. I still need some new towels and such but I am just using what I have for now.

Spring Forward

I live in Texas so winter here is not a big deal. We barely get to wear our sweaters, much less coats but I know it has been a very different experience for a lot of other people. Snow, snow everywhere and I know my friends are sick of it. Here is a video I saw on another blog that I think you will relate to and it will give you hope of what's to come. The song is lovely and the animation is so sweet I can barely stand it.



And it anticipation of Spring, here are some fresh items from Etsy.

From Paloma's Nest. I think this would look great on a table in the entry hall of a house. Maybe my house, hhhmm ...

Here is a whimsical necklace from Bionic Unicorn. This would look really great with a crisp white shirt. All of the jewelry here is very "happy".

Check out the pretty, fresh paintings at Gallery Zoo Art.

Now these from Lori's Place Gourmet Delights look good enough to eat. Wait a minute ...

And a little spring happy from my house to yours. Azaleas are in full bloom here.

Happy Sunday everyone.