Weekly Inspiration

BREATHE. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Now drive to the nearest beach, lake, or nature park and repeat. Taking time out to go inward is not just a novel idea - it's ESSENTIAL. As the 4th approaches most people are getting ready for parties, family gatherings, or a trip to the sea shore. Make sure to carve out a few moments (or days) for yourselves. Breathe deeply and appreciate all life has to offer. We (in the adoption world) are getting the most precious gift. No matter how long the wait or where you are in the process, take time out today to embrace the experience and use this "waiting time" to grow, learn, and love even deeper.

There is nothing more peaceful to me than the ocean. Something about it just pulls me in and calms whatever fears or worries that are on my mind. It's been a few years since we've driven down to the little family beach we go to in DE, so we have packed our bags and are heading out. Won't see a new blog till after the 4th. We will have no work, no internet, no worries....just lazy late mornings, followed by lazy days at the beach. A few strolls down the boardwalk, and a few walks with our toes touching the sand. AAAHHHHHH. Just what the doctor ordered!

Wishing you all a Happy 4th of July holiday weekend!

A Quiet Moment

In the midst of celebrating this weekend (our news, my brother's birthday, our friend Tara's birthday, and our friends Christening party)... I caught the sweetest, quiet little moment. It was in the middle of a big 80's themed birthday party for Jason & Tara (which was a blast, BTW). I came upstairs to grab my camera phone and saw that adorable husband of mine in the kitchen alone looking at her picture. I caught him on film and then he quietly slipped the picture back in his pocket and smiled at me. (The pic is only for our eyes for now). How sweet is he? I love that man SO much! This one is going in her Life Book. She will see how much Daddy loved her already!

We had such a wonderful time with all our friends this weekend. Really a great time. Happy Birthday Jason, Tara, and Susan - all celebrating this week!

WE HAVE NEWS!!!!

Yes, we actually, FINALLY, have news!!! It's not official, but, you guessed it! We got a call today from our agency saying the child we have so hoped to adopt is still available and we are going to be matched with her! We weren't even expecting news until the end of the month at the earliest. I actually thought it might be longer. I was at the hair salon with a full head of bleach (highlights) and my hairdresser's phone rings. It's my husband trying to track me down! My cell phone doesn't work in the basement where I was and he remembered I was getting my hair done and called me there. Well, right away I know something is up because Jeff is calling me in the middle of his work day on Joyce's line. He cuts to the chase and says, "Are you sitting down? We got GREAT news today! ...She's OURS!" He went on for another few minutes, but I told him he'd have to repeat that because I heard nothing past "she's ours!" He laughed. I laughed. Then I cried. Actually, I think I started crying the instant he told me the news. We were just so happy that any words I could try to say to describe the feeling just wouldn't come close. How do you describe the happiest day of your life? I have a daughter!

I hung up and screamed and hugged my hair dresser. Lucky for me she is a very good friend! I was glad she was there to share the news with me. I wanted to call everyone on the PLANET when I got to the car, but my cell phone up and died. Great timing. But heck, you still couldn't have wiped the smile off my face. I thanked God the whole way home. I think I was in shock for the better part of the day until it finally sunk in. This is real. I am a mom! We are parents of this child we have been in love with and dreaming about for months! We couldn't be happier! Now there will still be a LONG wait yet until we get our official "referral" and travel. The agency said it may still take until next Spring to get her home, but we are hopeful it could come sooner. For today, one miracle is enough. We got our girl.We know she is ours. That's all we can ask for in a day. We knew she was meant to be ours from the first moment we heard about her and now we are going to be her parents! We are unbelievably happy and truly grateful.

I Heart Daddy

Sending out love and a Happy Father's Day to my Dad, my Father-in-law, and my sweet husband, the Daddy-to-be. Jeff is going to be such a great dad! Also, wishing a happy day to all you other Dad's out there! Thanks to Jason & Melissa for an awesome pre-father's day lamb dinner last night and for including Jeff in the toast! Great food, great laughter. 

Note: You may have noticed I didn't post on Mother's Day. Sorry about that. I was so bummed about NOT being a mom that I didn't feel like posting. No offense to the Moms! You know you are loved! Next year will finally be my turn to join in on the fun.

Hey, don't ya just love that cute little onesie? Love that it has "and Daddy loves me" on the butt. So cute, how could I resist?

To Sling or Not To Sling

That is the question for me today as I ponder my newly purchased baby sling. I had read that it's great to carry your baby in a sling. Great for bonding, great for hands free carrying around, and hey, they can be fashionable, too! Upon some online "research" I find myself at hotslings.com where they have the latest in fashionable slings. I'm like, OH! I can soooo see myself and baby stepping out in style in one of those! They have a ton of gorgeous colors and patterns (which, of course, they encourage you to buy to match with all your outfits). So after drooling on several, I decide on a beautiful red and gold exotic pattern.  Then I google the one I like, find it on super sale at a site called Babysnazz.com and order it up right away. Well it arrived this weekend and instead of carrying around a big thing of flour or sand (that I have heard of some new mom's doing to get used to the weight) I decided to go for a real live specimen. I did consider sticking the cat or dog in there, but thought better of it. There is the issue of animal hair all over my baby's new sling and then there is the actually getting them in there. LOL!  I was on my way to my brother's house for a Father's Day feast with our Dad so I thought I'd try it out on my adorable, unsuspecting nephew.

The child we are waiting on is about 18 lbs now and I was thinking she may still be small enough when we get her for me to carry her around in a sling.  I know that by the time she gets home I am never going to want to put her down! Now they SAY that this sling is supposed to be good for toddlers up to 35 lbs.  At 31 lbs, I figured my nephew a good weight to try it out. It held him well, but it was kind-of a tight fit and they didn't say how you get a toddler to actually want to STAY in there! I got him to do it by telling him we were going to play "kangaroo".  It worked, but not for long! I kept him in there for a few pictures and bribed him with a little car I got him for being such a good boy. He was so cute. After a few pics, he said, "can I get down now, Aunt Jennifer?" Notice how un-thrilled he looks in this picture. He was just appeasing me, God bless him. Not sure it's for everyone and especially not after they are walking around like my nephew. Going to try returning my sling for the next size up and see if it feels better. I think it's supposed to sit the child lower on your hip. I got a size 2 (they range from 1-4) but am thinking a 3 may be better for a bigger baby.  Of course, then I have to see if I can convince sweet Ryan to play "kangaroo" one more time while Aunt Jennifer practices. :-)

Friends & Gratefulness

In the midst of everything that is going on and the seemingly endless wait for news about the baby...well, I decided to count my blessings. I have a wonderful, hard working, and loving husband. We have a great family, a nice home, 2 adorable pets. The AC is working again. We are not sick. We are not hungry. Our basic and not so basic needs are all met. Okay, so the limbo part of our lives right now sucks. But this too shall pass and none of this will matter when we hold our daughter in our arms. 

Last, but certainly not least, I was thinking about all my friends lately. How lucky I am to have so many terrific and supportive girlfriends. I couldn't haven gotten through the ups and downs without you. From the ones who always listen...the ones that inspire or encourage me to be a better person...to the ones who make me laugh. The ones who take me shopping or share the hottest trends who help take my mind off all that is going on. The friends that give me Mommy advice and are shining examples of how it's done. The friends that are just plain fun to be around. My friends from near and far that call to check in and see how I'm doing. And all the wonderful new friends I email daily who know exactly what I am going through - because they have been there or are in the same place now. Sharing the adoption highs and lows with you have been a saving grace. 

So today this post is going out to all of you. Thank you for your friendship, prayers, kindness, support, laughter, phone calls, emails, great dinners, girls-nights-out, letting me "practice" with your kids, book recommendations, and loads of great advice. Most of all thanks for sharing each of your unique and wonderful qualities with me, your friend. No need to list names. You know who you are.

Contractors R Us

Ahhh, the joys of home ownership...

The romantic ideas you have when moving into a historic house.... quiet nights by the fire, sipping tea on the porch, having friends and family over for a cook out...lovely! And then reality sets in. Gee, this is a lot of work! Don't get me wrong, we LOVE our place, but let me tell you it is a LOT of work. We did many renovations and repairs over the last 7 years and thought we were pretty much done. Well, evidently, you are NEVER done with an old house.

Over the last month we replaced one old carpet, a second one that needs replaced soon thanks to a finicky cat, got a new oil tank, got the 50 year old one dug out from the ground, and had (what seemed like) ten tons of mulch delivered for the flower beds. Now there's a fun job for ya... hauling stinky heavy black mulch around and spreading it out in every bed. Feels great on the back. Okay, I have to admit it looks really good, though.

This week the air conditioning broke and the regular guy that services it decided he didn't want to service it anymore. He actually told me to try to find someone else. Thanks, buddy! Of course, we have a 300 year old farmhouse and the previous owners thought it a great idea to put the ac unit in the teeny tiny crawl space we call an attic. Not exactly a dream gig for anyone. Luckily, I did find someone who would do it and they are coming on Monday. I told them to send their thinnest and most agile worker! Two years ago squirrels got into the attic, chewed threw the floater balls, and the condenser or something overflowed and flooded the bedroom below it. The AC was acting funny a couple days ago and shut off in the middle of the night so I ran upstairs to inspect. Yep...wet spots on the ceiling. Thank God I noticed it before it got worse!

So in addition to the fun going on at the top of the house, the bottom has been a joy as well. Heavy rains produced a fair amount of flooding in the basement so now I have yet ANOTHER contractor coming Monday to dig out the base of the gutters and pipe and replace to get the water to run away from the house. Thought that problem was taken care of long ago. Fun, stuff, I tell you. A ball of laughs.

Hey, at least all this has gotten my mind off the adoption now and then. And I still have my sense of humor! Last night I went for a well deserved, much needed massage and bought a cute pair of red Fit Flops. Feel like a new woman today. Ready to tackle whatever else life has in store for me. I think. Okay, within reason, please God!

Weekly Inspiration

Me & My Man

Yea, we're silly. Still two crazy kids in love...
These are some fun pics Jeff's cousin Kelly took of us this weekend when we were out. Kel had the brilliant idea that this old parking lot wall would be a cool background. Good eye! We LOVE 'em! Think we have to hire her to take pics when the baby comes home!

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Go Out!

Jen, Kelly, & Kirsten hanging out in Manyunk

Lisa posing with her bad self

After spending the greater part of the last few weeks agonizing over the "wait", spring cleaning and doing entirely TOO much yard work, we thought it high time we go out and have some fun. It's been way too long since we got together with Jeff's awesome cousin's, the Poelck's, so we got together Sat. night. Such a fun and loving group. We always have such a good time together. Went to a cute area outside of Philly called Manyunk, had dinner, walked around...a good time was had by all. Proof is captured above!

The whole weekend was so nice, actually. Beautiful, warm & sunny weekend. We had a wonderful time at my brother Jason's house yesterday for our nephew's birthday party. Little Ryan turned 3 and is sooo cute! He is big time into dinosaurs and they did such a good job with the themed party.  We had fun playing with him and all the other adorable babies and kids. I can't BELIEVE I forgot to take pictures!! So unlike me! It was just so nice to see everyone we haven't seen in awhile that I totally forgot to start shooting! We really enjoyed hanging with our family and friends and catching up! Such a nice laid back and relaxing day.