Vacation

My plane leaves tomorrow morning at 7:15.  I am so excited.  I'm packed and ready to go.  I cleaned the house and went out and got stuff I knew Barry would want/need while I was gone yesterday and today.  I can't wait to see my family and friends.  I'll have two entire weeks to spend with them!! 

I haven't blogged much this past week.  I just haven't had anything exciting to share.  I've spent part of everyday in the pool reading.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE summer vacation?  I love it!!  I have done some organizing around the house, researched baby products and spent time with friends.  We had friends over a few times last week.  It's nice to be able to entertain and the pool makes it even more fun.  We used our grill almost every night last week.  I've been eating super healthy and am going to continue to do so on my trip to Michigan.  I've already lost some weight and am feeling so much better.  Oh I also managed to go to my school and get the rest of my stuff moved into my new classroom.  Now I just need to put it all away.  But, that can wait until I get home from Michigan.

So that's it...my life is slow and boring in the summer and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Can't wait to share some pics from my trip with you.

Baby Gear

I've been doing my research for quite a while on baby products. I want to at least know what we want so if we are matched with a baby we won't have to scurry around wondering what we want or what is the safest. We have our car seat and maybe the stroller picked out. I want to go with a 3 wheeled jogging type stroller because we are outdoorsy people and wanted something that can work on any type of ground. There are a couple I am deciding between right now.  We want to make sure our infant car seat will fit into it too so that is a consideration.  Do any of you have a jogging stroller that you would recommend?
I'm still trying to decide about high chairs. I love the look of the old wooden high chairs. That style goes so much better with our decor. ha! But, I like the convenience of the more modern high chairs. I like that you can adjust the height and that they also recline. Of course that's not something I will have to have the minute we bring our baby home. I'm just a planner. Any advice?

Bottles is something I'm checking into as well. So many choices. It can be a bit overwhelming. What are some of you using? Any thoughts on this subject would be great!

What are some of your must have baby items? What were some of the things you thought you had to have and turned out to be a total waste? I've got a pretty good list going, but of course it's great to hear from those of you who have BTDT!

It's Official!

We are on the list!! We are so excited! It's been a great day! I met Barry at our agency this morning so we could turn in the remainder of our information and meet with the financial person who is in charge our case. We got that all figured out and then we were on our way. It was a great feeling walking out of there this time knowing that at anytime we could get a call for a match meeting with a birth mother. I just can't describe how that felt.

I stopped to see my friend Katie on the way home. She just recently moved to the metroplex and has an awesome house!! We had lunch, chatted about baby stuff for a bit and then I headed on home.

Tonight I made dinner and we took it to our dear friends who just had a baby on Wednesday. We'd already been to see them for a quick visit on Saturday. But, tonight we had dinner and watched The Bachelorette. Is anyone else watching it??? We were laughing so hard during some if it tonight. Poor Kasey...he just had to go! That tattoo did not impress Ali. We had a great visit and baby Ansley is just BEAUTIFUL! We love her so much and can't wait for our little one to get here so they can be sweet friends.

There's really no way of knowing how long it will take for us to be matched. We just have to wait for the right match. We trust that however long it takes we will get the baby that should be with us.

Welcome to all of you who are here from IComLeavWe. As you probably guessed from this post, we just finished our homestudy and are waiting for a match for our domestic adoption. I can't wait to "meet" you all and check out your blogs. Now I need to go and once again catch up on my blog reading. I'm behind after a weekend of family fun.

Update

I got an email from our social worker yesterday. He is going to be done with our homestudy by Friday!! Then we will be contancted by the finance department and make our payment and set up a payment plan. I still have a couple things to turn in this week to make everything final. I just can't believe it's happening this fast. It looks like we really will be on the list by the end of the month.

I'm leaving to spend two weeks in Michigan on the 29th so I am hoping we have all this settled by then. It will be so wonderful to spend some time with my family and friends. I can't wait to see them all.

I've been doing some planning for the nursery. I haven't purchased anything because I wanted to wait until we were oficial, but I've been looking and researching. I think I've found the crib I want and I am most likely going to go with a dresser as a changing table. That way we have lots of storage. Plus it can grow with the baby. It's lots of fun to look.

I've done some research on the safest baby products too (high chair, car seat, etc). Lots to learn! If you have any suggestions, I'd love for you to share them with me. I'm also checking out rockers/gliders. Which one do you have? I am leaning towards a comfy/fluffy glider with ottoman. Not the basic wooden and cloth covered glider. I want something that I can just snuggle right into and rock our baby as long as I want to. What do you have or what do you plan to get? Feel free to post about other ideas too.

Pool Weather!

I cannot begin to tell you how much we are enjoying our newly replastered and tiled pool. We were unable to use the pool most of last year because the plaster was flaking off and getting caught in the pump. By the time this spring rolled around it was looking pretty green. We were unable to run the pump most of the winter because we were afraid it would burn up with all the plaster getting clogged in it.

We got estimates this spring and decided on a company. The end result of what they did is amazing. They worked on the pool just 4 days over about an 8 day period of time. They had to scrape out the old plaster 4 inches into the pool and then put some sort of bonding material on. They added the beautiful new blue tile and then put down the new plaster. I was working while they did this and Barry sent me pics from his phone. I couldn't wait to get home and see it. What a difference!!

We started filling the pool last Wednesday at about 11:30 am and the pool wasn't full until Friday morning at 6:30. Anyone want to pay our water bill that cycle?? ha! Me neither! It will be worth it though. We don't have any vacations planned this summer...maybe not for the next 4 summers for what we spent on the pool. Throw in the adoption and we may never vacation again. :)

We had our first official pool party with our small group friends on Sunday evening. We had a blast!

Check out our pool!

You can see Barry's organic garden in the raised beds at the back of the yard.  We've already started getting some veggies out of it!!

Barry having fun!

Avery jumps in. 

Some of the gang. 

 We are so blessed with the most amazing friends.  Our small group is made up of other young professionals, many with children.  We look forward to Sunday all week because we get to spend time with some of our closest friends.  If your church has small groups and you've been considering joining one, I highly recommend it.  I feel more connected than ever to these people.  It's been the best thing for us. 

I've got to head out to my garage sale.  Hopefully we won't get too hot.  94 degrees and a garage sale may not be the smartest thing I've ever done.  Enjoy your Saturday!

China Patterns

Most of you probably know Kelly from Kelly's Korner.  She does a Show Us Your Life post every Friday.  This week is show us your china patterns.  I've never participated before, but decided to this week.  I have my grandmother's formal china so I didn't buy any formal china when I got married.  We had a very small wedding and didn't really register for anything.  Barry surprised me for my birthday last year and bought me 12 pieces of the Maribeth dinnerware from Pier One.  I had been drooling over it since I first saw it.  Isn't he the best?!!

I'd also been wanting dinnerware I could use at Christmas.  Dillards carries the Noble Excellence Twas the Night Before Christmas pattern and I love it.  I started getting pieces last year.  I think I'm going to ask for pieces each year and also buy my own. 

If you want to play along, go here to Kelly's blog and add a link to your post. 

Finished

I'm so glad today is behind us.  Not because it was terrible.  Quite the contrary.  I'm just glad I don't have to do any more projects right away...well until I start on the nursery.  I'm glad I can sit back and enjoy some of my summer vacation.  Well, after my garage sale this weekend anyway. 

Our home visit was amazing today!!  We were supposed to have our joint interview Monday, but something came up so he said he'd do all of that when he came out today and he did.  Have I mentioned just how much we love our social worker?  He's really amazing!

The good news from today....we will be on the list by the end of the month and maybe before!!!  That means we can be shown to birth parents by the end of the month!  I can't even believe this!!!  I'm not saying it will happen right away.  I know we could wait a while, but at least our profile can be shown to parents then.  I'm starting to get excited.  This is really going to happen...someday!

Lights, Camera, Actions!

I'm addicted to actions.  I downloaded some free ones to Photoshop and can't stop using them now.  They make editing photos sooooooo much easier.  What did I do before them??  Oh I remember!  Spend an insane amount of time editing my pictures and they still never turned out great!  My friend, Ree, otherwise known as The Pioneer Woman has some free actions.  OK..so we aren't really friends, but I did meet her and she did sign my cookbook so I like to tell myself we're friends.  I also got some wonderful, free actions from Rita at Coffee Shop Blog Design.  Rita did my awesome blog makeover.  She has all sorts of neat stuff on her blog.  You probably know all about her site, but in case you don't, go check it out!

Here's an example of a before and after.  I took this picture of my nephew last summer when I was in Michigan.  

Before

I used one of Rita's actions on this...I think it was a vintage one.  I also added a texture.  I need to get the hang of textures, but for the most part I am pleased with it.

I used Rita's Sun Kissed action and a texture on this one.  The spot on his lip is from the sun flare from the action.  I could move it around so it's not there, but I didn't take the time to do that yet.

I am definitely just a beginner at all of this, but the actions allow me to edit with the click of my mouse.  They come with really easy instructions on how to download too. I know I will be taking a lot more photos this summer and doing a lot more editing.  I want to be ready when we finally have our little one home.  I'm also wanting to learn to shoot in manual more than I do now.  Goals for the summer.


Thanks for all the well wishes on the last post.  Our social worker called today just a short time before our appointment (our agency is an hour from our house).  He had to cancel today due to something going on.  The nice thing is that he is just going to do everything when he comes to our house on Wednesday.  I was freaking out a little at first because I am such a planner and control freak.  Once again I learned....I'm not in control here.  So we'll see what Wednesday brings.

School's Out, School's Out!!

Yippie!!  I'm just so thrilled to be on summer vacation!  Lots has been happening here so let me fill you in. 

Our pool plastering job is finished, the pool if full of water and we are able to swim!!!  It looks amazing!  I'll have to post some pics soon.  I haven't had time to take any this past week because I've been furiously trying to move all my school stuff to my new classroom and finish the end of the year stuff up.  I still have a bit to finish moving and will do that later in the week.  AND...I'm also moving to 2nd grade.  That will be a change, but I'm excited about it. 

The really exciting news is that we had our individual interviews with our social worker last week.  We love, love, love him!!!  Barry had his interview on Tuesday and then I went on Thursday.  We are both very outgoing and can talk to anyone so it wasn't bad at all.  The even better news is that our joint interview is tomorrow (Monday) and our home inspection is Wednesday afternoon.  Can you believe that?????!!!!!  Then we'll just have to meet with the financial people, pay our fee, make payment arrangements and we will be on the list.  Our SW said it won't take him long to have the paperwork finished.  He will be traveling the end of the month and wanted to have it all done before he leaves.  See why we love him?!!

Our Dear Birth Parent letter is done and so is the adoption portfolio.  My sweet friend Nikki takes some amazing photos and was sweet enough to do some for us to use in the portfolio.  We already had lots and lots of fun photos, but nothing really great for the cover.  We got together with her last week and went to our church prayer garden to take some...it's an amazing place for photos and also a great place for some quiet time with God.  Then we went downtown and took some fun ones too.  I haven't seen them all yet, but she gave me her favs and then I did a little editing. 

We are going to use the one above for the front cover of our portfolio.

This one is just a fun one.  We aren't using it, but I love it. 

We are using this one in our portfolio too. 

I've known I need to lose some weight, but after looking at these pics I am going to be hardcore about it!  I've made up a menu for the entire month of June with lots of healthy meals.  I'm starting at the gym next Monday.  I would start this week, but I have a LOT of stuff to finish up before our home inspection on Wednesday.  Plus, I'm fighting a cold/laryngitis right now.  Not a fun way to start the summer.  If any of you have any great and healthy recipes, I'd love for you to share them with me!  I feel like I get stuck in a rut sometimes.  I have lots of yummy recipes, but many of them are not super healthy.  ha!

Have a great week friends!  I know I've said this before, but I am hope to get caught up on commenting and blogging this week!  Summer is here and my life is much calmer now!  I miss all my favorite bloggy friends!