giraffe.

My latest purchase:

by OiOi

I love it! Isn't it such a cute diaper bag? I think I want a baby now just so I can carry this adorable thing around!

Papers are in. Home study complete. Contract signed. Now, we wait.

waiting.

Just for you, Rachel. :)

I've been a bad blogger lately. No excuses.

We signed our contract on Wednesday. Now we wait. I'm used to waiting. So, I think I can manage that. DHS hasn't received our packet yet. They should have it early next week and hopefully they have a little one just for us!

Also, please be in prayer for us and a birth mom who now has my phone number. My friend, Misty, is a family medicine resident. She called me today to say that one of her clinic patients is 13 weeks pregnant. Misty spent an hour and a half today discussing options other than abortion with this mom. She was originally considering abortion, but thankfully has not gone through with it. She's unsure if she'll be able to carry a baby for 9 months and then give it up, but also knows that she doesn't want this baby. She has about two weeks to make a decision and please be in prayer that she does not choose to go through with this abortion. Regardless of her final decision, and if it involves us, I want her to maintain this pregnancy and choose life. I really haven't given it too much thought - we've definitely been down this road before. But, I also know that God is bringing these people into our lives repeatedly for a reason. Three (and a half) independent adoption opportunities so far - one day, one of them is going to go through.

In other news, I spent the evening last night in a cabin with my intern class. We all got Thursday and Friday off of work so we could spend the evening bonding. We had a blast! I'm exhausted and have been completely worthless today. I'll have to post some pics whenever they start to pop up on Facebook - and a hilarious video. It was 24 hours of canoeing, paddle boats, hooka, tons of food, hiking, drinking games and LOTS of laughing.

Plans for Saturday...
cuddle my husband and work on the nursery. It currently looks like this:
Which is a HUGE improvement if you remember what it did look like.

Posting that picture reminded me that I hadn't blogged about our shower. It was amazing! We are so very, very blessed to have so many friends and family who are understanding and supportive of our unique situation. I could cry just thinking about how much I love these people in our life. We are more than prepared for a little bundle to join us any day. That crib is crammed full of things. The night of the shower, I just sat on the floor. Folding tiny onesies and wash cloths and trying to really let it sink in that this is happening. Do I really have a nursery? And a crib? And (amazing) stoller? Insanity. I love it.

p.s.

In response to a comment below.

No, I did not get the dresser. We went back to Rink last weekend and everything I had taken pics of was gone! I didn't realize they had such high turn over! I realized that the dresser probably would have been too short to use as a changing table anyway. I'm on the look out for something else and it will be even more fabulous than that perfect, beautiful yellow one. Tear...

The crib bedding is from Carousel Bedding. I just ordered a plain white bumper and crib skirt. I think it looks good and it will be versatile.

Ok, back to work. Sick babies need me.

white out.

My bedding just arrived :) I'm sure my sister appreciates that I decided to buy all white bedding rather than have her make it. I figured that after purchasing quality white fabric, mailing it to her, having her buy the rest of the supplies, labor and mailing it back - it was worth the money to buy. Not to mention, she didn't know what a bumper was - which made me nervous for the final product!

We put the crib together Wednesday night and I'll try to get the room cleaned out enough for a picture. I work all day Saturday and Sunday so I'm not expecting to get much done. But, trust me, it's nothing to see. Hopefully Sarah will have the curtains done soon (hint, hint, Sister!).

Have a fabulous weekend!

tired.

I really should update more often. It would save me some trouble. I'll try to do better.

So, after the post before last, I found out that we would, in fact, be ready to take a little one once we signed our contract. We don't even have to finish our DHS classes!

The only thing that could get in the way is our fingerprints.

Wouldn't you know that I found out a few days later...that would be yesterday - that my fingerprints got rejected. Not because I'm a wanted criminal, but because I have sweaty little fingers (gross, I know) that won't pick up ink very well.

After emailing our case worker and Beth (A'sH) a few times, I find out that fingerprints usually get rejected three or more times before the Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) approves them. This seems to be the huge rate-limiting step in the whole process. I decided to give OSBI a call this morning and they inform me that they won't do my fingerprints themselves until they've been rejected at least two times. That would mean I'd have to wait another month just to find out if repeat prints were rejected before being able to have them done at OSBI.

In comes Heath to save the day! Thank goodness for my husband being a pain in the butt (not mine) sometimes! He spent all day yesterday emailing our State Representatives and Senators about how awful this process is and giving suggestions about streamlining. Some of the fancy pants political guys actually emailed back. So, Heath called OSBI today after I did and threw around the name of one of his new BFF senators and all of a sudden it's okay for me to come in and get my prints done right away!

So, get my prints done I did! And they got approved by OSBI. Now we just have to wait for the FBI to approve them. And, since I got that tiny incident involving a reindeer, a loaded gun and a six pack expunged from my record - I should be good to go! (p.s. that was a joke).

In the last week we've gone from baby in June, to baby at the end of the month, to baby in who knows when, and then back to baby at the end of the month-ish. It's exhausting!

So, second home study tonight. Just to go over our questionnaire and then our contract should be ready to sign in a week or so! Our crib came in today. I'm exhausted from working so much and taking these painfully long and boring classes. And, now I must go cook dinner and make myself presentable.

End scene.

i love...

Your desire to always learn, I could use some of that
You are determined to do things yourself, where as I would just pay someone
Although I'm stubborn and not very willing, you make me open my eyes to things that I had decided long ago didn't belong in my life.
You are a pretty good driver. Sometimes. There, I said it.
You lose 15 lbs after running twice. Nevermind, that's something I dis-like about you!
All of my girlfriends are always asking about my hot husband. :)
You make me laugh. And you laugh at me. We're silly, and I love it.
You want to be a parent as much as I do. And you're okay with us doing it in a non-conventional way. I know that I'm so lucky to have found someone who is open to the idea of loving a child who isn't biologically theirs.
You are going to be an amazing father. I get giddy just thinking about watching you with a baby. I know I will see you in a whole new way and I can't wait.

I love you.

Happy three years, minus three days anniversary.

easy peasy.

30 minutes. That's how long the contractor was here. She was young, cute and totally someone I'd want to be friends with. She handed us about 2,364 questions to fill out (rather than spending hours asking us and then typing our response) and said that she'd probably have our contract ready to sign in 3 weeks or so!

Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm pretty sure we were told that once our classes were complete (March 30th) and our contract was signed we could have a placement at any time. Seriously???

I'll be emailing Beth at A'sH tomorrow to clarify before I start dancing around my living room - I'll let you know the verdict.

So, the big question that everyone keeps asking is "how the heck are you going to deal with giving a baby back after loving on it for x amount of time?"

I HAVE NO IDEA! All I know is that I feel, with 100% certainty, that this is what we're supposed to be doing right now. I am scared to death to think of having to give a baby back. Tears are sneaking up on me just typing about it. I don't know why God has chosen us to do this. It certainly isn't how I ever imagined I would build a family. But, I have faith that, if this is what God has had planned for us all along, He will give us the tools to deal. It's scary, and I hope that we don't have to say goodbye to many little ones before we find our forever baby, but I know its a possibility.

As scared as I am - I am giddy with excitement about what this means for us. I talked to my friend Kisha today. She said that just reading my last post, she could see the smile on my face. And, she's right. I feel so at peace, so full - and it's amazing! I really am happy. And, now that I think about it, it's been awhile.

That's all for now. I've got a questionnaire to knock out.

p.s. I'm totally going back to Rink to pick up that yellow dresser this weekend. It better be there - it's meant to be :)

wow.

It's been awhile, huh?

Where to start?

1. I'm in the NICU this month. Working 6a.m. to 4p.m. six days a week. Suck. But, this is my one and only month without call all year - which just happens to work out perfectly because...

2. We have started taking our DHS parenting classes. Our first class was last night. We'll be going Monday and Thursday from 6p - 9p. Which means on Mondays and Thursdays, I wake up at 4:30 and won't get home until almost 10. Kill me now.

3. I picked out fabric for the curtains. My lovely sister will be sewing them (quickly, I hope) and then making the crib bedding. I decided to go with this for the curtains:

It's a little more 'tangerine' in person.

I think it will look good with browns and neutrals. And I'll do all white bedding so that I can change it up a bit. I have some cute prints for the walls (like the months from this cute little calendar from Orange Beautiful) and ideas. We'll see how it comes together. I have tons to do, but...

4. I did buy a crib today! Eek! My first real baby purchase. I didn't go all out. Just a dark, cherry Jenny Lind crib. It's simple. I like it. It will be here in a week or so. A million other things to buy but...

5. My lovely friends at work are throwing me a baby shower! I was dead set against not having a shower, but they were pretty adament. And, once I gave it some thought, I realized that we do need a lot - and would totally appreciate some help. I'm still not sold on the idea of registering, but we'll see.

6. My fabulous, handsome husband sent me some beautiful flowers to work today. I think I'll keep him.


7. I'm lusting over a dresser we saw at The Rink - the most amazing antique store everrrr.

How amazing would that look in the nursery? Must.have. And only $169!

This one is also pretty fab. I'm a major fan of the robin's egg blue, but love the lines of the yellow one.


And, since I love the color. I think I need this lamp for our office too.


8. I kind of lied to you earlier when I implied that I hadn't bought anything baby-related yet. I'm a big fan of Etsy, so I had to support my peeps and purchase a few things...

Like this cute wipe case.

And this cute, applique onesie.

Okay, I think that's enough catching up for now. I need to go clean the house because...

oh, I forgot to mention - OUR FIRST HOME STUDY IS TOMORROW!

We're crazy nervous, but so excited that things are moving along!

I'll post more soon. I have tons of emotions about all of this happening and want to post about it when I have the time.

Is this really happening?