Baby Dreams

For the last couple days I have had dreams about our girl. In one we were walking through the airport - the three of us - and I stopped at a little shop to get her a doll. I can even remember what it looked like. A little blond baby doll in a kneeling position (like maybe in prayer). I guess I took too long because I missed the flight. I had to get on a boat, helicopter, and plane to catch up to them and saw my Uncle Mike & Aunt Sophie and a few other friends and relatives who helped me along the way. But all the while I wasn't worried. She was safe with Daddy and I knew she was just a short flight away till I would hold her in my arms.

The second dream was the next day. We got up very early to hold a yard sale. By the afternoon, we were exhausted so I laid down to take a nap. I'm not usually a napper, but this time I drifted off into a deep sleep. I can't remember all the details of that dream, but I know she was there. I was singing to her and we both felt the happiest, most peaceful feeling. I woke up with the Brahms lullaby in my head and was humming it for hours!

Good dreams. Baby is in our hearts and on our minds. I feel like a little Angel is watching over her and keeping her safe and sound until we get there. Soon it WILL be just a short flight until she is in our arms and MY, will lullabies be sung!

Happy Mail Day!

Or I should say, Happy Mail & Delivery Day! We just got our letter of approval form I797C back from the USCIS today! One more baby step closer to our girl! Then we got THIS:

The sweetest gift from our friends Deb & Michael! A beautiful little hand painted plaque about adoption. How incredibly thoughtful! We were really touched and absolutely love it! An hour later UPS shows up with the roman shades from PBK we ordered for the nursery and another box of pretty nylon butterlies and flowers I found on a website called www.bugs-n-blooms.com. So cute! Our angel's room is almost complete!

Weekly Inspiration

To love and honor and respect each other. To find friends that accept you as you are. To have the great honor of loving a child and taking care of him or her. To make a difference. To care deeply for others. To find your soulmate. To love truly. These are all our gifts in this lifetime. Today, let's take time to be thankful.

It Even Smells Pink!

Jeff painted the whole nursery in my absence! I was only gone for 2 days, but the difference is incredible. Amazing what a little paint can do! There was just a little touching up left and the heater base boards and we worked on the room all day Sunday from late morning till about midnight. We painted, cleaned it top to bottom, moved things around, washed and ironed all the linens for the crib and queen bed and put it all together. It looks so cute! We are going to sleep in the queen ourselves (when she gets home) for a few months until she gets used to her new room. The bed sits directly across from the crib so she will be able to see us when she wakes up and vice/verse.

We got a nice crib mattress (Nature-Pedic) that's organic and chemical free and zero VOC paint so I feel we did pretty good. In the middle of all this I was vaccuming and had recently put a new deodorizer in the back filter. It's some sort of berry smell. Jeff's so cute. He walks in and says, WOW. It even SMELLS pink in here! That was our big laugh of the day. It really is pretty and pink in there. Now we just need our little angel to be in it.

Here we are, hard at work...

Painting in my pj's.

The hubby tearing down the old bed frame.

Grandma Donna

My Mom is the sweetest thing. I was feeling under the weather and left her a message explaining that is why I didn't call her back sooner. Well, the next morning she called to say she had taken off work, packed her bags, and was coming down to "take care of her baby". Baby. Yea, she meant me. Even though I told her I was just fine she insisted on coming down and being by my side. In an instant it took me back to all the MANY times she was by my side as a child. For every bump and bruise and cold and flu. For hurt feelings and growing pains - for everything -she was there. She taught me to believe in myself and made me the person I am. And now here I am at almost (choke) 40 and she is still by my side. I'm pretty lucky and our little girl is going to be, too. My Mom is SO excited about her new Grandaughter. She loves her already. We spent the whole day talking and looking through the baby's things and catching up. It was the best "sick day" I've ever had. (I am fine BTW). Thanks, Mom! Love You!

The above pics are her reaction to seeing the baby's pics and video for the first time. Priceless!

Think Pink!

A little bedroom make-over! It was silver sage when we started...

Then we got to work!

After a coat of Ballerina Pink: Instant girls room!

Daddy happily painting his girl's nursery!

Today Jeff is up there putting the first coat of pink on the walls of our girls room. After I botched up the ceiling, he decided to take over. Probably a good idea. It's looking so girlie already. I can't wait to see it all done!

The Bucket List

We just watched this movie last night. Really good. Can't get better acting than that. Got me thinking about my own bucket list or what I prefer to call it - MY LIFE LIST. Made a list long ago. It includes everything from professional goals, to things I want to do, to places I want to visit. Some of the old entries no longer apply as priorities have changed but the places I want to visit are the same. Hope to take our daughter (and future sibling) to places near and far. Here are few things at the top of my list now:

Start a charitable organization to help children, orphans, and/or the hungry.

Make a difference in the lives of others.

Leave the planet a little better off than when I entered it.

Record another CD or two. This time not just for me, but to raise money for charity.

Write a book.

See more of Thailand. Visit Wat Phra Mahathat (1 of the oldest in Thailand). Also visit Chiang Rai, Phuket, Krabi, & Pai.

Go to Cambodia and see Ankor Wat.

Got to India and see Taj Mahal.

Visit South Africa and go on safari.

Go to Croatia (where my family is from)

Go to Austria (where my husband's family comes from)

Go to France & Italy again.

Meet Oprah, Madonna, Father Joe Maier, Greg Morteson, and Angelina Joilie (how's that for a mix?) There are a few more authors I'd love to meet too. All people that inspire and make a difference in this world. What?? Hey, this can be a dream list! You never know ... I COULD meet them. Stranger things have happened.

Hope this brought some of you inspiration or at least a good chuckle! 

Baby's Home Town

We found out our baby is not in Songkhla after all. She is in another orphanage about 2 hours north of Songkhla called Si Thammarat Home for Boys in Nakhon Si Thammarat. In Thai, the town is spelled: นครศรีธรรมราช.

Nakhon Si Thammarat  is one of the southern provinces (changwat) of Thailand, at the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from south clockwise) Songkhla ,Phatthalung, Trang, Krabi and Surat Thani.The name of the province derives from its Pali-Sanskrit name Nagara Sri Dhammaraja (City of the Sacred Dharma King), or Bandar Sri Raja Dharma(Jawi: بندر سري راج ضارم) in Malay, which in Thai pronunciation becomes Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Capital:	Nakhon Si Thammarat
Area:	9,942.5 km² Ranked 18th
Inhabitants:	1,519,811 (2000) Ranked 5th
Pop. density:	153 inh./km² Ranked 21st
ISO 3166-2:	TH-80
Governor:	Phanu Uthairat (since 2008)

NST is one of Southern Thailand's best kept secrets. It is about 5-6 hours drive from the popular beach towns of Krabi and Phuket. Nakhon is alive with a vibrant mixture of Buddist and Islamic cultures and a rich historical ambience. Nakhon also has fewer tourist than nearby cities, so the local people are particulary friendly and excited to introduce guests. One of Thailand's most ancient and revered temples and the spiritual heart of Nakhon Sri thammarat, is Wat Pramahathat. It is the largest temple in Southern Thailand and it is believed to contain relics of The Buddha brought to Thailand by Queen Hem Chala of Sri Lanka, more than a thousand years ago. Wat Pramahatat is considered by historians to be the birthplace of Thai Theravada Buddhism.

Near to the temple is the Kiriwong community, nestled in the jungle and mountains of Kao Luang National park. There are many local groups there that make fruit wine, jewelry, soap, cosmetics and tie dye clothing - all using only natural, environmentally friendly materials.

A little history on a special place. The place where our child was born!

I LOVE ENFAMIL!!!

Wow. The power of positive thinking. The power of a good deed. There are really great people out there and one of them works for Enfamil. I found out from our agency that while we can't send anything to the orphanage for our baby until it's official, we CAN send things for the orphanage itself. I asked her what they really needed the most and she said disposable diapers (uggh), formula, bottles, toothbrushes, baby toothpaste, crib sheets. Okay, I think, I can make this happen. I can get everything they need and not only will our child benefit from it, but so will all the other littles ones in the orphanage. I've been giddy all day just brainstorming on how best to do it. Formula seems to me to be of the most importance so I researched which is the best, the cost, and who makes a product with a corporate office actually IN Thailand. I even found out what retailers sell the product in the region where the baby is from. I was thinking I could buy it via credit card from HERE, but have it shipped from THERE. That way the money I save on shipping could go to twice as much formula & supplies and will take half the time. Haven't had much luck with that so far. The post office said a 20lb box (I just approximated) would cost $113 to ship to there. Whew! I'm not being cheap here, but really? There's GOT to be another way.

Undeterred, I called Enfamil direct and asked if I could buy the product & have them ship from their Thailand distributor. I talked to the nicest rep for about a half hour. She wasn't able to send it to Thailand or FROM Thailand, but did give me clarification on the different formulas, which are available over there, and the weight of a case of their powdered formula. It's much less than I thought - 11.98 lbs for a case of the big 25.7 oz. cans. Expensive, yes. But doable to give those kids good nutrition...absolutely! So we are just about to hang up and she asks about the adoption and says because I want to do something so nice they would like to send me a free CASE! Can you believe it? I got all teary eyed and thanked her like a hundred times. God works in wonderful and mysterious ways! I am going to buy at least one more case to match their generous donation and ship them both to Thailand along with some bottles and toothbrushes and other small things. Another idea I got from a nice woman at the post office is to send the formula over with any volunteers/teachers/missionaries that may be traveling to Thailand. I am checking into that and have some calls out. Think how much I could send then! If you live in the US (especially in PA) and can take a few cans to southern Thailand PLEASE email me. In the meantime I will be making calls and pushing Enfamil on every new mom I know! What a GREAT company! BUY ENFAMIL!

Weekly Inspiration

Fun & Games

Another fun thing we have been working on is the baby's first care package. I have been collecting things here and there and already had most of it packed in the shipping box 2 months ago. Yea...long before we even knew we had our girl. (Hey, I don't mess around!) Recently added a few more unique finds I wanted to share and a really great memory game for when the she comes home. It's called "Never Forget A Face" matching game and features pics of children's faces from all over the globe. Unfortunately, Thailand isn't on there, but other South East Asian countries are (Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myranmmar). It's a great, award winning development game and shows ethnic diversity. Love it!

Here are some of the items we will send to Thailand:

So far, the care package includes:

Baby Einstein soft photo album with teether that has pics of us and the house and animals in it.

Baby's First Winnie the Pooh reader in Thai/English (buythaibooks.com)

Little Red Hen and Little Red Riding Hood in Thai/English (buythaibooks.com)

Soft baby book that plays "Hush a Bye Baby" when pressed.

Lil' Silky mini blankie from Lilamonsters.com (so cute & we were told to sleep with it so it smells like us).

Pink pig development toy

Pink soft puppy that barks when you squeeze it (to get her used to how our dog sounds)

Brookstone Photo Ball. (This is GENIUS! Lightweight photo ball with no hard edges. It fits four pics and each photo has 15 seconds of recording so you can say hi from Mommy & Daddy and have pets meow and bark. Comes in silver or wood look. www.Brookstone.com)

Small Asian "Chloe" rag doll from Pottery Barn kids. They have a big version, too. We bought the big one for at home.

Whoozit bright developmental toy. Award winning toy from Manhatten Toy Company.

Disposable cameras for taking pics with a self addressed, stamped envelope.

Want to send gifts to the nannies too, but have no idea yet what to send. They better give us our referral soon before I have ten boxes! As it stands, I think I will break it up into 2 shipments. I don't know...do you think we are excited???

Baby Gear, Beach, & Going Green

As the knowledge settles in that we are really and truly going to be parents, the list of things we need begins to grow. Car seats, strollers, crib, bedding, diapers, development toys, etc. But which ones? Cloth vs. disposable diapers? Which crib? Do we need a conversion kit? What color to paint the nursery? Regular paint or environmentally friendly? Organic or regular baby food? Heck, why not just make our own? Will she even eat baby food when we get her?? Many questions we have pondered while at the beach this week. Fun questions. Happy, excited, and anticipating questions!

It was a wonderful and relaxing week, spent with Jeff's parents. They are really happy about this little girl and will be wonderful Grandparents. Look at their faces as they saw their grandaughter's picture and video for the first time! It was really sweet. Of course, I was there with camera in hand to capture this magical moment for our daughter's book!

We brought our Parents Magazine and Adoption mags with us and happily chatted about our girl all week long. The weather was great, too, and the beach not too crowded. Bethany Beach, DE is a quiet, family beach and Jeff's family has been going there since he was a kid. We really enjoy it now more than ever as we look forward to taking our girl there next summer. Wow, next summer. Can you imagine?

Hit the Rehobeth outlet stores on the way home and let me tell you, there are some AMAZING deals to be had!! The Children's Place had a sale rack with gorgeous sweaters for $1.99 each! Of course we bought 2 of them! And don't even get me started on Gymboree...LOVE that place and the outlet prices were terrific! Did I mention there is no sales tax in DE? Really great, great deals down there! We took a chance and got a few smaller sizes that we hope will fit her at the time we go to Thailand. Up until now we have been buying things bigger. However, they were such a good deal that if they are too small, we will just donate them to the orphanage. We were planning on buying clothes and things for the children anyway.

By the time we got home (and did some research on the net) we had made some decisions about how we would precede. We are going GREEN! First of all, we are going with cloth diapers. Yes, I know some of you think I am crazy, but the benefits to the baby and environment FAR outway a small bit of convenience. Disposables are LOADED with chemicals that can leave a gel and a nasty rash on the babies bottom. Not to mention they take forever to breakdown and fill more landfills then you can imagine. I will deal with the cleaning of poopy diapers and pick up a few packs of TenderCare or Seventh Generation disposables for road trips.

Secondly, I am going to dust off the food procceser and make my own baby food. I welcome any recepies you have out there!! Still researching the whole earth friendly/baby friendly paint thing. Haven't narrowed down the best one yet, but will definitely go for a less odor, less harmful variety.

And finally, we bought the nursery! And when I say we bought the nursery, I do mean the WHOLE nursery! Drove all the way to Lancaster, PA yesterday (2 hours drive) to hit the Pottery Barn Kids Outlet. Well, there were deals to be had, but I think a lot of people hit the sale early on because it was all pretty much picked over by the time we got there at 3 pm. The set I saw months ago was not online anymore and so I hoped it would be at the outlet. All gone. So just by chance, we hit the regular Pottery Barn Kids store on the way home. Low and behold, there it was. The one we both loved...ON SALE and CHEAPER than the outlet! Only a few pieces left so we didn't even bother to register for it. Just brought it on home. Got the crib with conversion kit, the bedding, pillows, and a few misc. accessories. Baby has a room and it is all pink and green and yellow and girly! Or at least it will be very soon! Will post pics when it's done. 

Wishing all of you parents-to-be a fun filled summer with joy and anticipation and growth while you wait for the news of your precious child. All the trappings and gear help to make it real for us. She is coming home. We are going to be this beautiful little girl's parents and are forever grateful! Of course, we want to give her the world, but also be as prepared as possible. It's so fun shopping for all the pretty girly things, but make no mistake. The only thing we REALLY want and need is to have her home. The other stuff is just the icing on the cake. God gave us the most amazing gift and it is more than anything we could ever dream of.