Vote for my dog children!!

There is a local contest where dogs can win the cover of a phone book and $1000!! Please vote for my "kids" at:

www (dot) windstreamcoverdoglincoln (dot) com

Click on "vote for favorite" and then vote for our doggies. Cap't Jack is our white boxer and Sophie our brown boxer. You can vote daily!! :) :) :)

Nursery progress and mojitos...

This weekend was another productive one on the "baby prep" front but also a blast on the social front.  We registered at Target on Saturday (probably the highlight of my husband's life...not) and went out with family and friends to our favorite restaurant for drinks and dinner. As we walked to our car, we discussed the "drop everything and go" outings will take a little more planning with a little one. We're determined to still maintain our social lives post-baby. So, if you have kids and you're laughing at me, check in later and we'll do a progress check. Ha!

I worked most of the day Sunday but we (I mean-Mark) did manage to set up the crib. 

It's so fun to see my "vision" come together. Here is a progress shot of our nursery. We know that the dogs will eventually need to move to the basement. :( We'll do it soon and the room will feel huge!

We just LOVE our modern crib. It was well worth the wait for BabyMod to manufacture more (they were sold out for months and months):

Our good friends C & M came over for some chill time with pitcher of the best mojitos I've ever had. They also gave me a "mommy gift"...a super cute diaper bag! I love it! M knows my taste. :) Here's the cute-o bag:

We're baaaaaack...

We are back and settling in from our 2 day ADOPT (A Day Of Parent Training) seminars in North Platte. For anyone following along, we have one last meeting with our case worker and then we're DONE with our home study!! It's gone so fast! 

We had some unexpected adventures on this trip...one which included waiting out a tornado warning with a room full of strangers in pajamas. :)  Anywho...

The classes themselves were great. They were very informative and featured several "panels" with birth parents and adoptive parents. The panelists shared many joyful and not-so-joyful details of their adoption journeys. There were stories that were scary, encouraging, sad, amazing. Open adoption is such a blessing but requires such effort as well.  Birth parents are an extension of your family and I think that is a bit intimidating but also so very exciting.  

The 2 day getaway gave me a good opportunity to do some reading. I got the book "What to Expect the First Year". My husband told me it was thicker than his Bible. It is. I feel like I could maybe handle a newborn sometime soon. ;)

Oh, and we missed our dogs terribly. :) 

Baby Steps

We're slowly getting ready for little 'H'. In case you're not keeping track, birthmom is due in 52 days.  If all goes well, we could be parents soon. Yikes. I've been waking up in the middle of the night thinking of all we need to do before he's here: what we need to buy, what we need to be reading, etc. 

Today was pretty productive on the baby front. We went to a local baby store and picked out and registered for a few things (car seat, stroller, changing pad, mattress). It was surreal. Last weekend we painted the nursery a yummy chocolate brown but it didn't turn out the way we expected. See, we used a semi-gloss paint over our already painted wallpaper-covered walls. The dark color totally magnified ever imperfection of the 1920s walls. Yuck. I went and consulted the experts at Sherwin Williams and they hooked me up with a flat paint that can be washed and wiped with no problems. Despite my grumbles about spending ANOTHER $40 on one gallon of Sherwin William's paint, I think we'll be much happier with the outcome.  So, tomorrow will be another day of painting. Joy. 

Today I also sanded down a dresser that we'll be using for a our changing table.  It fit right in with our "baby mod" not-so-themey theme. I sanded it down and painted it with 2 coats of Kilz followed by 2+ coats of "Crumb Cookie" (a Behr shade of white).  I'm super happy with the outcome. 

Here is my only "before" pic. It is from last weekend and the dresser practically blends in with the walls:

Here is an after pic after lots of paint and spray painted hardware. Please ignore the shine to the walls...remember we are re-painting with a flat paint tomorrow:

Adoption Update

I know it's been a little while since I've specifically spoke of what is going on right now in our adoption journey. If you haven't read the history of our current match you can start by reading this post about the day we found out we were chosen and then this post about the day we found out the birthparents were strongly considering parenting.  

Over the last couple of weeks there have been changes on their end, and they are currently leaning toward adoption.  I am so aware that this can change quickly (notice it was a week in between posts last time) but we are definitely preparing ourselves right now for the possibility. She is due in 60 days and last night I realized it could definitely be before that. I spent some time with her at the hospital where she was monitored after falling.  She was contracting every 5 to 7 minutes! Yikes! Thankfully, with some good drugs, her contractions have stopped and baby is doing great. He's measuring 3 lbs 14 oz!  This next week I'll be going to a midwife appointment with her and they're doing an ultrasound! I can't wait to see the little guy!!

I still haven't found an emotional balance these last couple of weeks since we heard the "tides had changed." We need to try to be ready...practically, spiritually, financially, emotionally. BUT, we need to keep guarded hearts and have cautious optimism and understand that they can still change their minds.  It's surreal to think of having a baby turn our world around so soon...or maybe not... One thing I know for sure- the emotions will only run higher. I try to imagine the day she goes in to labor. The anticipation, the unknown if they will change their minds, the pain we'll feel for them if they do an adoption plan, the pain we'll feel if they don't, the excitement, the joy. Yikes. 

Mark remains skeptical that we will be parents in September. Maybe I should try his chill approach. Until we know more, we'll keep on working on the nursery and reading adoption and parenting stuff and try to prepare for the child we will have some day. Whether this specific child or another. Fortunately God is so big and He has a plan. Thank goodness.

On a lighter note (literally). I did go blonde and short!! Thanks for all that gave opinions. Here is a cheesy "after" pic for you:

To chop or grow? That is the question!

I have a real serious subject here. Ok, not really...but, I'm not sure what to do next with my hair. Here is a bit of my recent history. I grew my hair out forever last year. I normally have short or medium length hair. Here is right before I chopped it off to donate 10+ inches to Pantene Beautiful Lengths (they make wigs for cancer patients, etc...everyone should do it :) ):



I roped in my sister-in-law to do it and it was a good time!! The day of the "big cut":





Here I am checking out my new cut:



I really loved it! Here is the first night I had my new short locks:



SOOOOOOOooooooooo....do I start growing it out long again or go short?? Right now it's about an inch or more longer than the last picture (basically a grown out version of the hairstyle after I chopped it last). I really want to go away from the popular bob so, if I stay short, I'll want to do something slightly different. BUT...I could grow it out again! I can't decide!! I sort of miss my pony tail and if I'm going to be a mommy in the next couple months, it'd be nice to be able to throw it in a pony tail. But, having it short cuts down in shampooing, drying out and styling time. Hmmm... thoughts!?!

Also, I'm getting my hair colored for the first time in over a year. Right now it's a natural boring brown. Here is 4 years ago when I went nuts with blonde:



I won't probably go THAT blonde, but any thoughts on how blond to color it? Thanks in advance for your opinions!! :)