34 Weeks!

No updates about the moving status yet. Not sure if the current tentant closed on his new house or not, so we're just waiting to hear one way or the other.

It's been a great week! I remember when we were first matched with D and G, we said "We'll know the baby is close when we get past Memorial Day and July 4th!". Well.... July 4th is next week.... we're getting close!

I'm still looking ahead to the bittersweet time of spending time with D in the hospital. I'm so excited to meet Little Roo - to see her sweet face and count her little toes. I can picture the look on Bill's face when he holds her for the first time. I'm imagining what it is going to be like when our parents and our siblings meet her for the first time. It's going to be an amazing journey! I also know that it is going to be so hard for D and G to say good-bye. I don't want to see them cry, I don't want to see them in pain. I accept that this is part of the journey. I'm just not looking forward to it, but one does not come with the other.

We had a surprise show up at the door on Wednesday! My friend Glenn from work bought us some gifts off our Target registry and I was so surprised! Everything arrived in perfect condition and was wrapped beautifully. It was very fun to open these mystery boxes!

I've been doing a little shopping of my own as I find goodies (with a good price for sure!):

Baby Banz in red. The earlier you start using them, the faster the baby gets used to having something on their head. We're planning on using hats too, but we protect our eyes, we should protect hers too.

Secure2Me Solarveil blanket in khaki. I've been searching for a solution to keeping the UV rays off the little one, especially when we will be at Disney World in September. This is a great invention and I can clip it onto either stroller, her car seat, anything! It blocks 95% of UV rays and it should keep her cool and comfortable. True confession time.... I bought the Lime Meringue one off the main page too for cooler weather! Hey, I know we'll be back at Disney in January and we are so lucky that that weekend is usually the coldest one of the year! I talked to the owner of Secure2Me - Amy - and she is the greatest!! She answered all my questions and shipped my order right away.

Maybe I'm over-doing the whole UV thing, but I also picked up these Sun Sensors from Huggies Little Swimmers. Realistically, we live in Florida. I don't do the sun. I can't say that I'm a huge sunscreen wearer, because I'm not diligent about wearing it every day. I'm either white or red - no in between. I am very careful to stay out of the sun during the day and one of my favorite products is Del Sol nail polish. I call it my "UV meter" but it's fun to see my clear glitter nails turn to a bright ruby red!

We'd like to get Little Roo swimming pretty quickly. I did it, my brother did it. We could swim (or really turn on our backs and float) before we could walk. I found this swim diaper from Bummis in Red Cows. Pretty darn cute if you ask me!

I found out Babylegs is having another buy one, get one free sale. Not what I wanted to hear.... these are so cute and I have quite a few pairs for the baby. I think she needs some blue ones though....or maybe the watermelon one.... as I said - Oh No!!!!

My mom popped over yesterday with all the crib bedding that she has been working on. It's not finished yet, but it is looking sooooo cute! I love it!!! I need to take some pictures. The striped crib skirt, the diaper stacker, toy organizer, and waterproof changing pad are all finished. The green gingham bumpers are all put together but we have to put the ties on them to hold them to the bars. My mom spent hours making these velcro wrap-around flowers instead of putting ribbons on them to tie. They are amazing! She also put these same flowers on the diaper stacker and the toy organizer to tie it all together. I'm blown away. I have no idea how to thank her for all her time and hard work. Again.... need to get some pictures taken of the work in progress.

My brother is almost done with the roll-out drawer underneath the crib to store all the blankets. I can't wait to see it! I'm envisioning that the Harley cat is going to discover this magic sleeping space, but I guess I can't complain. Jon is also wanting to add another cross beam under the crib to help make it super sturdy. That's the architect in him talking so that's his next project!

Haven't done this in a few weeks..... according to the pregnancy calendar:

Week Thirty-Four

• Your baby acts completely like a newborn, with her eyes opened when awake and closed when sleeping. You may also find her settling into more of a routine for sleeping & awake times.
• She has learned to blink. She can also see more clearly when there is a bright light on your stomach and probably has the outline of all your organs memorized!
• Fingernails have reached the end of the fingertips now. She may scratch her face even before she is born!
• Your little one's length is 17.7 inches (45cm) and weight is 4.7 pounds (2146 g).
  

A Nice Note!

I dropped a note to D's social worker yesterday giving her a status of everything that I know. D calls her pretty regularly but we talk much more frequently. I make sure the social worker knows about the situations that I'm aware of. I really wanted to make sure that she knew about G's grandmother so she could help D out with that. I also said that they could be moving back here within the week if all goes well.

This is part of the note that she sent back to me....

I talked to D today and she basically told me the same things that she told you. She also told me about G's grandma. D sounded great and AGAIN thanked me for helping her pick you guys! She couldn't feel happier about you guys or more secure with her decision to place with you. Whatever you're doing, it's working.

I love getting these notes or hearing that D talks so highly about us! We talk so highly of them.

What have I been doing? I haven't been working some master plan! I've been a friend. I listen, I don't pry, I don't tell her what I think she should do. I tell her that she can call me anytime, for any reason. She can talk to me about anything. I won't judge, I won't get angry, I'm just here for her. She can talk to me when she wants to, I don't force myself on her. I celebrate the happy things with her, I validate her feelings when she is sad. I let her set the conversation. If it's a day she wants to talk about the baby, we talk about that as much as she wants. If she doesn't want to talk about the pregnancy, we don't because we have plenty of other girl stuff to discuss!

Mostly, I've been myself. I treat her like I treat my best friend, we just don't have a long history. There was a reason why they picked us and why they felt drawn to our profile. It's much deeper than "they have a nice house and a cute dog, what else could our baby need?". From the beginning, I wanted them to know that they picked us for us, not the perfect version of us. What better way than to be yourself? We understand that they are scared and we are scared too, but together we can do this!

They Are Coming Back!

Bill and I resigned ourselves to the high likelyhood of driving north for the birth of Little Roo. We came up with a plan and felt like we were prepared.

D called Saturday night with exciting news! They are moving back here, possibly as soon as next weekend! The person that is living on the property they are buying here is supposedly closing on a new house on Wednesday. D was so excited and I could tell she was doing the dance of joy. She said they really needed to be back here for their sanity because things with the grandmother are getting more and more tense.

We are so excited for them as they have been praying for their own place for a long time. We are looking forward to spending more time with them before the baby comes. There is still much to talk about, including what we both envision our relationship to be once Little Roo is here. We need to talk about our expectations and also set the boundaries. I think good communication here is key. If one of us feels uncomfortable with something, we should be able to say it without the other getting upset or angry.

We don't have a crystal ball, we have no idea what is going to happen down the road. I think at this point, D and G do not want to be involved any more than the pictures and letters that have been agreed upon. She may not want to keep talking to me on the phone, as it may be too hard. We will give them the space they need. But as D and I have agreed on several times about a variety of issues, this is our plan so far and if it changes, so will we! Situations change, feelings change... it's all good!

Oh and no birth date yet.... but the doctor keeps telling D that the baby is doing "amazing". She is as healthy as she can be! Stay tuned!!

Bill says July 27th.
I say August 2nd.

33 Weeks!

OH MY GOSH! Time is FLYING!!

Today D is 33 weeks and she is 28 days away from officially being full term!!!

She called me yesterday and needed to vent. G's grandmother has been sending her a ton of emails about "baby stuff". I'm not sure exactly what the "baby stuff" entails, but some of it is making D uncomfortable for whatever reason. Maybe some of it is anti-adoption. D mentioned that "granny" was putting in a lot of religious comments, like the adoption plan that D and G have put together is a sin. D is just not sure what to do. This is not her grandmother, so she is trying very hard to be polite with the unsolicited advice. She hoped it would eventually taper off, but it hasn't. D's not sure how to tell her to "back off". I really didn't have any good advice for her, I could tell that she just needed to talk about it.

D said that everyone has been very supportive with their decision so she was very surprised by "granny" and her emails. They are still very commited to following through with the adoption. Then she wanted to change the subject and talk about more important things - Little Roo! She asked how my mom was doing on the crib bedding. She said she hoped Little Roo would have a big doll house to play with. D is absolutely giddy knowing how spoiled this little princess is going to be!

D and G are still with family up in the north part of the state. The place that they are going to buy when they come back here still has a person living in it. They have to wait for him to move out first and he is trying to find another house. I'm preparing myself that she might deliver Little Roo up there instead of the hospital here down the street. It's not a big deal for us at all, just a few hours drive. Bill's parents already said they will take Biscuit for us if the situation comes up. I told D that we want her to be where she is most comfortable and we will be wherever she is. This is one of those things that we are going to have to play by ear.

She has another doctor's appointment today and she was going to ask when to schedule the c-section. Just for the record, Bill predicted July 27th as Little Roo's birthday way back when. We'll have to see if that's close! D has been having a lot of Braxton Hicks "practice" contractions. She is still enjoying her daily floatings in the pool to stay comfortable. She has not gotten the newest card that I put in the mail last week. I'll have to get with her social worker to make sure she sent it out!

We had the big V install the fiber optic network at our house this week so I was off the computer for a while. Since I couldn't work, I got more sewing done! I finished another Mei Tai for a momma that wanted a certain fabric for her little one. I'm getting paid for that so that is really fun for me! I'm wanting to do more sewing this weekend. Oh yeah and take more pictures of Little Roo's room to put in her journal!

D's Bag

I can't believe that I've neglected my blog for so long! It's not like there isn't stuff going on - it's just been a little mad around here! Work has been kicking my butt this week and I've been working 16-18 hour days. Not cool! Summer is a busy time for us since our applications are rolling out so much new functionality after the budgets pay out the money.

Our Amby bed came today! I am so excited... I will have to take pictures once it is all set up. We ended up getting the blue one and I really like the color!

Over the weekend I finished the tote bag for D that we will give her in the hospital. I found a bunch of "sheer freesia" items at BB&W that I hope she likes. It is not too overpowering and very pretty. I also have picked up a pair of fuzzy slippers. I'll be sticking a bunch of other stuff in there as well, but I really wanted to make her something. This is how it turned out:

It's pretty good sized.... a tote for sure with a matching zippered case!



I even lined the inside of the zippered case... I was so darn proud of myself!



Here's a peak at the inside... I put 6 pockets in the inside for all her goodies and there are 2 pockets on the exterior. It has a hard covered bottom too.



And here's the bottom with the "feet" I put on the bottom, but that really covers up with I had to attach the straps.



I think it's quite fun for the summer and I really hope D likes it! I'm going to make a smaller version for her social worker since she has been so helpful and supportive for both of us! I think she would be very surprised!

D called me this afternoon. She sounds in very good spirits and she was just about to take a dip in the pool for her daily "floating". She said she is getting very very big! I can only imagine... She said she was thinking about me and I said, "Well, I've been thinking about you! I'm heading over to the post office right now to send you something in the mail!" Too funny! She said again how excited they were for us and it makes her so happy to know that we are going to be Little Roo's parents.

I can't believe how amazing D is. I am so grateful every day for this experience.

Little Roo Update at 31 weeks!

D's level II ultrasound this week went very well! Little Roo is as healthy as modern science can tell us she is. He looked at all her organs and joints and she is normal and growing in every way. He didn't confirm the GIRL part so we are going to go with the initial gender scan! The doctor estimates that Little Roo weighs around 3.5 pounds at this point.

D asked the doctor what the dark spots around her head were. He responded with "That's all her hair!". LOL - No bald baby here! Both D and G have lots of dark curly hair and hopefully Little Roo will be just as blessed as they are!

From the pregnancy calendar:

Week Thirty-One

• The rate of physical growth slows down just a bit, but even though she doesn't get much longer, she will gain a lot of weight the rest of the pregnancy.
• Fat continues accumulating. This layer of fat turns her skin from red to the rosy pink she will have as a newborn.
• Calcium, phosphorus and iron are being stored and his bones are growing and hardening.
• Your baby is 16.2 inches (41.1cm) long and weighs 3.3 pounds (1502gm)
• His brain enters another period of rapid growth, producing hundreds of billions of new nerve cells! Amazing!
• She may move to the rhythm of music. Studies with heart rates show that she also prefers some types of music to others -- already!
• Lungs are the only major organ left to complete development. Remember, that while you may be anxious to meet your little one that these last few weeks can be vital - with each day increasing your baby's ability to breathe on her own.
  

Quiet Times

I know... I haven't posted much lately. I've been trying to keep myself busy with a million sewing projects of my own. Most are gifts that I want to get done before Little Roo gets here. On the other hand, I am realising how many weekends we have left child-free and there is so much left to do!

D and G both have new jobs, so I haven't talked to them in a few days. Things are busy for them and I'm happy they are doing well. They did check in with their social worker yesterday and had some really nice things to say. D thanked the social worker for presenting us to her and G. Apparently D is so thrilled that they found us and even G, who was somewhat pessimistic about the whole adoption process at the beginning, couldn't be happier! D and G had a conversation about if they should buy us a baby gift or not and D said "Don't you think the baby is a pretty good present already?"

They think they are lucky to have found us. We think we are the lucky ones! All around, this was God's plan. We both happened to be at the right place at the right time. We found each other because it was the right plan. If any little thing would have gone differently, we would not be at this moment today, dreaming about a sweet baby girl that we can't wait to meet.