Saturday, October 24, 2015

Baby Business


Last week our birth mom had an appointment. I've been going with her to the appointments and last week, we got one last look at this sweet boy before he comes. The ultrasound machine didn't have a printer and I snapped this terrible one with my phone. He was playing with the placenta with his hands. He's head down and dropped. 

Time seems to be crawling and flying at the same time if that makes any sense! Birth mom is doing good too. We all had lunch after the appointment and she and Terry talked FSU football while my friend and I caught up on life. Sometimes when we're all together I really can't believe any of this is my life. When I think about it, a lump automatically forms in my throat and tears in my eyes. I feel so unbelievably blessed.


We've been getting things in the mail here and there. Madeline is loving it! 


We pretty much finished the nursery this week. Terry wanted a sports theme and we both kinda like the more vintage sports look. We finished decorating on Tuesday...I need to get something to keep his toys in but that will come later. We'll also probably get a small chair/glider to go in there since I am sure I'll be spending lots of time in there in the middle of the night! 


Terry got to display some of his collector baseballs finally :) When we bought the furniture, Terry bought this mamaroo swing too. It's pretty awesome - you can turn it off and off from your phone and it plays music via wifi. What in the world will they come up with next? 


Panoramic view


We had the tv in here because it was the guest room and decided to leave it for now so I'll have some 
entertainment in the middle of the night! I'm obsessed with his lamp. We also decided against a changing table - I kinda thought Madeline's was a waste of space so for now, we'll see if this works. 


Here's his little coat rack behind the door. 


I really love how it all came together! Terry says the nursery is just pinterest fodder because we all know the baby will end up sleeping by me and he'll end up on the couch! haha I am so excited but I think I've definitely forgotten how tired we're going to be! 

23 days and counting! 


Thursday, October 22, 2015

32

My birthday was Monday, and it was pretty much the best day ever. I took Madeline to school and went to Target all by myself. Our Target has a Starbucks which is an added bonus. I bought some really exciting things like a laundry hamper for Madeline's room, a curtain rod, and some thank you cards. It was heavenly though...I looked at baby stuff and snagged a couple of cute outfits on clearance for our sweet boy. I love Target! 

Then, I went to the mall which wasn't the best experience but oh well. I picked Madeline up from school and we had lunch. Terry surprised me and took half a day off. He bought me a gold watch - I have secretly been wanting one since mine got stolen last year but never even mentioned it to him. I was so surprised he got me exactly what I wanted! After lunch we all took a nap and then went to Hobby Lobby and Babies R Us. We finished the day at Texas Roadhouse and Terry and Madeline got me the cutest puppy cake. Madeline made me a Bible out of construction paper and even put a "receipt" in the bag with it. The cuteness of her on my birthday was almost too much! 

It was seriously the best day filled with my favorite people! 


Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Weekend Recap


We had a good weekend! 

I"ll spare you the picture but we started off the day at Urgent Care on Saturday. Madeline cut her finger on a kite string about two weeks ago and I put a bandaid on it and never really gave it a second thought. Well, Saturday she showed me her hand and it looked like something was eating it - it was terrible. Apparently she got a staph infection so she's been on a topical and an oral antibiotic every few hours. It is SO much better, Praise the Lord! 

We took Phoebe to the groomer Saturday morning, and she looks like a new dog! 


Saturday night we went out to eat on the beach with our good friends for my birthday dinner. It's the first date night we've had since July and we had SO much fun! 


Sunday afternoon we went to the pumpkin patch with a few other families. It was SO crowded...I think next year we'll go earlier in October. It was fun but lots of people! 



Madeline LOVED this zipline - she did a few times and cracked up every time. 



It only took her 6 days to pick out this pumpkin...well maybe it just felt like 6 days. 


Her favorite thing by far is the "candy corn"...she made "corn angels". That's pretty southern if you ask me! :) 


These two are a mess...they get into some trouble together but gosh they're cute! 


I took this picture off Facebook - I was missing Terry's dad so much Sunday. He took Madeline and me to the pumpkin patch last year before Terry got here, and we made such sweet memories there. 



 
I hate that he's gone, I really do, but I know he's so much better off in heaven. It also sweetens the memories we made, especially since we moved here. God is good - even in the hard things, He is so good. 

Sunday, October 18, 2015

What's In A Name...

I think the hardest decision of all time is naming your child. They'll have it forever and I think people associate feelings and emotions with names. You know you can instantly feel good or bad about hearing certain names! 

My ladies at work - I call them ladies because all but about 2 of the women I work with are my parents age. They are God loving women and some of the best, brightest nurses I've ever been around. Anyway, the ladies knew we were looking into adoption and had kinda put it all on hold so when I told them about this baby, there was lots of excitement. One of the ladies I work with instantly said "let's google the Hebrew name for blessing!". So we did and Asher means happy/blessing. I loved it from the get go but had a feeling Terry may not. I thought it would be a great middle name. 

Well, I talked to Terry and Asher wasn't his favorite but he liked enough for a middle name. Plus - you just can't not love the meaning! So I told him he could have the first name  - I kinda liked Joseph but would call the baby Joey. Madeline actually came up with that but Terry wasn't a fan. He said Ethan almost immediately, and I loved it so much! Ethan means strong in Hebrew - so we literally have "Strong blessing" as a name. 

That means his initials will be EAR! haha But on a monogram it will be ERA so that's all that really matters! :) 

Here are the latest pictures of our sweet boy!!! 









Monday, October 12, 2015

September

Here's a little recap of life in September...

Madeline decided to fix herself a healthy snack one day...about 78 marshmallows in a jello jigglers container! 

She tasted baked some cookies! 


She got to spend some quality time with Papaw! 


She hung her sunglasses from her shirt like Big Poppy! 


We celebrated Terry's 34th birthday! Madeline picked out some presents for him at the dollar store all by herself. 


He scored some new flip flops, a football, a punching bag, and some candy! 


She was so proud and I could've died from the cuteness. 


We had birthday dinner and cake at Terry's dad's house...Kasey wasn't a fan of her party hat!





Terry got some help blowing out his candles! 


I got the best video of us singing Happy Birthday...it's the last video I have with Terry's dad and I am so glad we got to spend Terry's birthday with him. 

Madeline practiced being cute...


She's obsessed with the Star Wars section at Target. She loves "Dark Mader". :) 


Madeline had her first trip to the dentist. I know I am late with this but she did so good. We went to a pediatric dentist and it could not have been a better experience. Except for when the dentist jokingly asked Madeline if she drank coffee and Madeline told her yes! I could've died! 




We got to celebrate Aunt Nat's birthday with her too! 


Madeline took good care of my parent's dog, Pebbles. 


She also practiced her photography skills on me and Uncle John. 


We also got to celebrate my dad's birthday with him. Guess who his cake was for? :) 



One of our friends moms bought Madeline this cute puppet kit and she had a ball making puppets! 


Madeline also practiced having a baby in her belly. She got to meet our birth mom and feel the baby kick which prompted this...so cute!!! 


Madeline started complaining about being hot at night and had to have a cold rag to go to sleep. #highmaintenance 


We announced our adoption...


Huggy (Steph) had a birthday too and her mom posted this picture of her. Isn't she the CUTEST baby? 


When Madeline came back to school from Terry's dad's funeral, her teacher gave her a kite. She has had the best time with it. I think the string finally broke, but it was so fun while it lasted. And how sweet are her teachers to get her a gift for her first day back? 


That's about it. September was a full month...we had lots of tears, lots of birthdays, found out about our sweet boy,  and said good-bye to one of the best men I've ever known. We will miss him so much, but are so thankful for so many good memories. 

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Baby # 2

A little background on baby...

Terry and I had put the adoption stuff on hold toward the end of the summer. There were so many decisions and it was really causing stress - the finances, decisions about the baby or toddler - we just weren't finding ourselves on the same page about some things. So we decided to spend some quality time with Terry's dad and also Madeline since she was starting school and maybe give ourselves some time to really think through every angle. 

Sometime in July, a good friend of mine from work who knew from the very beginning about us adopting had mentioned that her stepsister was considering adoption. She was about 4-5 months along though and not really sure. Then we went out to dinner one night for a girl's night and my friend's mom happened to be there. She brought it up again and mentioned they were going to have a serious talk with her about it and asked if Terry and I would adopt the baby if that's what she decided was best. I was a blown away but tried to keep my cool and said we'd all have to talk about it. Well after they talked, the birth mom wasn't sure what she wanted and just wanted to think about it. I honestly never gave it a second thought. This was all in July. 

Fast forward to September 15th, the day Terry's dad went into hospice care I get a text from my friend asking me to call her. Next thing I know, I get this text..


The birth mom had made up her mind three weeks earlier that she was certain adoption was best for her and the baby. They waited to be sure before asking us if we would adopt him. I was sitting in the hospice family waiting room when I got the text and the tears started flowing. They're flowing now thinking about it. God's timing is never wrong but I was so conflicted. I talked to Terry about it the next day and I was so nervous. He had so much on his plate and I was scared to put more stress on him. He looked at me and just said, "Well, you know this is what we've wanted for years so we'll just do it. Let's get through this first though. I don't know why you were stressing about talking to me. This is a good thing."

I planned to keep it quiet until we had talked to an attorney and all that but Terry just started telling everyone. For some reason, he didn't hear me tell him the baby was a boy when we firs talked, and when it came up again, I wish I had a picture of his face. It was priceless - he's never acted like he cared about gender but he was over the moon about having a boy and still is. 

So we have an attorney and our home study went well. There is so much that goes into an adoption even though ours is a little unique. Everything looks good so far though and our social worker assured us that she would vouch for us with the judge if he comes before the paperwork is done. I wish I could write all the ways God's hand could be seen in this but it would be a book. From the get go, I have had such a peace which is not like me. haha  We are so excited and can't wait to meet him!