Great News!!!!

We received an email back from our social worker today that told us we were the next couple in line for a home study. My first thought was ok so we will wait a couple more weeks...even BETTER...we have our first meeting on Wednesday the 8th or Thursday the 9th!!!!!! Our anniversary is Tuesday the 7th, and I told Michael this is the best anniversary present I could ask for!

Tree

The painting of the tree is done! I spent some time today touching it up. Michael did such a good job!!! :)

 

It is a little bare right now...I'm working on the owl and the leaves that will be added in the near future! 

Surprise Ending

I really enjoy teaching, but sometimes it can be a difficult job. Today was one of those days. I just need to accept the fact that no matter what I do I'm never going to make everyone happy, some people won't like me and our personalities will never mesh. I'm not going to go into details, but I feel a little beat down this evening. I know I shouldn't let someone make me feel this way...especially when I know I have done nothing wrong. I am a great teacher and need to learn how to not take things personally.

After a tough day at work I came home to a surprise...Michael started the tree in the nursery!!! It looks great! He has most of it done. I was so excited to see it on the wall! I will post a picture when it is completed.

Home Study, Please?

The time has come again to contact the adoption agency. It has been almost two months since the social worker told me it would be another few months. I was going to wait until the end of February, but a few people have told me they think I should do it at the end of this month. I'm not expecting good news for a couple of reasons...1) I've been checking the family profiles on the website and not a single couple that was at our training have been posted on it and 2) we aren't used to hearing good news. (I know negative thinking.) We are at their mercy. There is no point getting upset or frustrated with them...it isn't going to change anything and it's not like we can do anything that will magically make us parents. Every day when I turn on my cell phone, after school, or see there is a voice mail on the home phone...I hope and pray that it is the agency telling us they are ready to start our home study.

I've been so happy lately working on the nursery, but the last couple of days I've been a little emotional thinking about whether we are ever going to get our home study done or actually get to adopt a child. Michael is going to start on the tree in the nursery this week, so I'm sure it will put a smile back on my face. :)

Looks Like A Room

I spent the weekend painting the nursery. The color is called Lighthouse Shadows and is a bluish gray. When I started on Saturday, I thought it was going to be too dark, but my optimistic husband told me it would be fine...he was right. I really like it! Yes, it is a shade of blue, but blue is so calming to me. I can't decide if I'm going to decorate it neutral or wait until we know the sex, of the baby we are going to adopt, and make it either girly or boyish.

Before

Lighthouse Shadows

We also bought a crib (actually it was a gift from my mom...love you) last weekend that we got a good deal on at a children's furniture store here in Columbia. It was in their clearance center. It was actually a new style crib they had received, but someone accidentally assembled two for the floor so they moved one to their clearance center. After I finished painting, Michael put the crib together.

Pathetic...although we decided she might have been high from the paint fumes. :)

After

As far as other furniture goes...we are going to buy a glider and a dresser to use as a changing table too. That is pretty much all that will fit. I've been looking on Craigslist and consignment stores for the other two. I'm actually happy that we have this time to work on the nursery. 

The nursery has been empty for so long and has really been a storage room. I'm not used to going upstairs and seeing another "room".

Ugh!

Michael and I went out to eat last night. We sat at the bar of the restaurant and were talking to the people around us why we watched the NFL playoff games. I can't remember how the conversation started, but a woman asked us how old we were and then if we had kids. When Michael told her his age she commented with something like...oh, you are waiting later to have them. I told her we were adopting. She then responded with the comment that I HATE hearing from people..."enjoy your quiet time now" or another one I get a lot is "enjoy this time as a couple". I understand that my life is going to completely change once we have a baby, but we have waited for almost 4 years to have a baby, and I don't want anymore quiet time! (I'm sure I'll eat those words later, but I think you know what I mean.) Yes, I enjoy our couple time so I can't say I don't want anymore of that, but we are ready to move from a couple to a family of 3!!!

Modern Family

Love Modern Family! Cam and Mitchell, the gay couple, are looking to adopt another child. Their meeting with the birthmother was interesting. Cam compares meeting perspective mothers to a first date and Mitchell chimes in with "It is kind of the opposite...you don't want to have sex, but you want a baby." When the birthmother arrives Mitchell starts off the meeting by correcting the birthmother when she says a dolphin is a fish. He says it is a mammal. Well Cam pulls Mitchell in the kitchen and tells him to stop correcting her. Mitchell says he was giving her a basic biology lesson. Cam responds with "Let me give you a basic biology lesson...you and I can't make a baby so if she says the lamp is Uncle George, it is Uncle George." They continuing talking to her and when she goes to the restroom they are kind of frustrated with her intelligence (for lack of better word). When she sees a keyboard she wants to hear them play and sing. It was Cam's keyboard and Mitchell wasn't really into doing the whole "song and dance". Cam tells him..."Look at it this way, we are not only adopting a baby, but we are saving it from a life spent searching for East Dakota."  They end up singing Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John. After they sing she says...I thought Cam was the singer because Mitchell has a great voice and Cam was a little pitchy. Anyway, she loved the two of them and unofficially tells them they are "the ones". While Mitchell is getting the sparkling cider to celebrate, Cam wants to prove to her that he is a great singer so he chooses to sing Baby Please Don't Go. She gets emotional and decides to keep the baby. Not the best celebratory song.

Television makes everything seem so easy! A month or so ago they decided to adopt a second baby and now they are already meeting birthmothers. What a quick home study! I wish our life moved as quick as television!

It was a funny episode, but I know when we meet our birthmother it won't be funny or silly, but very serious, nerve-wracking, and emotional. I will want everything to go perfect just like Cam, but as I have learned though this journey there is no perfect plan.

Modern Family Episode

New Light

Michael and I spent some time in the nursery today. He changed the light fixture and I taped off the trim so I can paint it next weekend! I love to paint...I find it relaxing. Once the room is painted Michael is going to paint a white tree. He is very artistic...just not on such a big scale, but I'm sure it will look great. If not, we can always paint over it and try something else. :)  

  Of course...Trixie had to be in the room where all the action was taking place. 

Happy Birthday, Tricia!

 Happy Birthday Sis! I hope you had a great day! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you. Love you tons!