Pictures

Here are some mom took while we were setting the crib up!

Registering

I finally convinced Brian that we should go ahead and register for baby stuff. On many tasks in my life I like to procrastinate. When it comes to things like this, I want to get it done as soon as possible and make sure I have it all planned out. Here it is already in the midle of June, vacation is in a week, July is practically planned out, then it is August and time for school again. I know once school starts and I am in GO mode, I won't have time to think about any of this like I have now. Or if I do have time, I won't enjoy it as much because school will be on my mind. Therefore, we had an open Saturday and jumped at the opportunity.
LIke I stated before, I like to plan things out. I"m a list kind of a girl. So, I called up my sister and tasked her with the job of creating a list of all the things I would need to register for. That way, I wouldn't be overwhelmed when we got in the store and forget everything I knew. Ha! Joke's on me! I thought I knew a lot about babies. Everyone (and I do mean everyone) around me has a baby and I spend great amounts of time with them. Technically, I shouldn't have any questions, right?! WRONG, oh so WRONG.

Now you should also keep in mind that I married an engineer. A very hands on, wants to be involved, engineer. This sounds great, but it isn't always the case. I do love that he wants to be involved, but sometimes I don't want to explain why I like this or that, I just like it. Period. End of story. No explanation needed. Unless you are married to an engineer, where an explanation (and data supporting it) is ALWAYS needed or there is frustration to be had. Which in turn, frustrates me! We were in for a long day!=)

Ok, now that I have made that disclaimer........

WE began at Target. I wanted to start at the top of the list and work my way down. He wanted to start in one aisle and just click what we saw we wanted. Five minutes in and we were already annoyed! So, we did it his way. A few clicks from the scanner and we are on our way. Then the questions came. "Why do you need one of those? Will you actually use that? How often do you think you would use it? Which one is more functional? I like that pattern better." And those were just from Brian. How in the world am I supposed to know if I will 'actually' use that or not? I don't know! Please refer back to paragraph 2, sentence 4.

So, we make it through and finally get to the diapers. Easy. Whew! No thoughts needed, just click on the ones you want and you are good to go. NOPE. "What size are you going to register for? How many should we click? Why only that many? Shouldn't we do more?" Misery.

Babies R Us here we come! After looking at bottles, nipples, levels, flow rate, etc I was done. "They should totally have a class that teaches you what to register for, how many, etc," I stated. This was craziness! At this point, I had talked to my sister 3 times, my mother 3ish times, and texted my friend several times (thanks, Ashley). So we moved on to something more exciting....strollers! This is where I pepped myself up a little. I wanted a Graco, but hadn't really found one I was in love with yet. Until today! There was a black and beige one that was just perfect. I loved everything about it, so we scanned it! Now, I feel certain it will be discontinued between now and the time I get it, and my dreams will be crushed.

From here we scanned a few random other items and left a few off so we could "think over" it a little more. We turned the scanner in and began walking out when I saw the sign. The sign that advertised the class Babies R Us offers for first time parents to learn more about registering.(see paragraph directly above this one and the second sentence) Seriously? Why didn't anyone tell us this?!
Oh well, we survived both places and got a good start. Now, if we are chosen and the baby comes quickly, that will be one less thing we have to worry about. check

Closure

We heard from the agency today about the birthmom. She chose the other family. The director told us that she really liked us, but felt a connection with the other family. The other family also had one child already. Due to the constant prayers of so many of you, we felt a complete peace about this decision. Not our baby! The agency did tell us that quite a few birth moms have seen our picture on the website and have asked about us. God is stirring the pot for something big! Patience until then.......

Complete!

Thanks to a dear friend and coworker the scrapbook is complete. I worked on it for about 4 hours on Friday night, 2-3 hours of Saturday night, and my friend came and topped it all off Sunday afternoon for about 2 hours! We sent it off to Costco for 1 hour printing and BOOM! it was done! Mom picked out a beautiful black scrapbook to put the pages in and it is ready to be sent. We also were able to get the crib set up (Mom brought it down) and the nursery looks amazing! We moved one bed upstairs, another one to another room, and one down stairs and back up again! All three rooms look great. It felt like a cleansing and I am so glad mom got to be a pat of it all. God is good! His timing was perfect as usual.
Thank you, Lord! And, thanks for all the prayers from our friends and family.

Shock

We got an email yesterday from the director of our agency. She told us we needed to get our scrapbook to them ASAP. She asked if it was ready to go and if we could get it to them quickly. I replied and told her that we were working on it ( sort of) and I thought I could have it to her by the end of the week. She told me she needed it by Thursday! I wasn't really sure what that meant, but it sounded promising. I called my friend who was helping me get it together and asked if she could bring her laptop to me at school so I could get started on it. I had a nervous feeling in my stomach all day, and wasn't sure why. I got home today and checked my email again just to be sure there wasn't anything else. We got another email from her today saying she needed it by Wednesday because a birth mom was trying to choose between us and another family! They normally do not share that information with adoptive families, but since they did not have our scrapbook, they had to tell us.
Please be praying that we can get this scrapbook completed in the next two days and sent off to get there by Wednesday. Also, be praying for peace in God's plan for our lives whether this be the right birthmom or not. I don't want to have to make a decision. I want complete peace from God that this is the one for our family or this is NOT the one. Reserved excitement and anxious feelings for now..................Pray!

Mother's Day

Thank you for all of those thinking of me and praying for me on Mother's Day. It really did not bother me at all. We even had baby dedication at our church that morning, and I was just fine. God's grace was sufficient! No worries because Higgins and Murphy gave me a Mother's Day card. Thanks, mom for helping them pick it out!

Busy, busy

Wow this time of year is so busy! I am exhausted when I get home! This past weekend mom and dad and Brian's mom came in for the weekend (hoping to see the crib that didn't come in). Mom and dad brought the changing table dresser and 5 drawer dresser for the nursery room. It looks beautiful with the green walls. I am so pleased!
The ladies went to Hobby Lobby on Saturday and found black material to cover the rocking chair my sister and brother-in-law loaned us (thanks you guys!), and we found a neutral material to use for the cradle bumper. Mom sewed it up that night and now the cradle is ready to go. I will post pictures soon! I am so pleased with everything and super excited we were able to get that finished. Mom is taking the material and cushions home to finish the rocking chair but I know it will be great! Now if we could just get that crib! Oh well, no hurry, right?