Sam's Room!

Samuel's room is almost done! I am pretty happy with how it tunred out. I did a couple of art projects for his room. I painted the letters on the wall behind his crib and added the ribbon and I painted the "samuel" train on the shelf. Our mothers bought us the glider and I am beyond thrilled to have it! It's so comfy. I sit in it and look around his room and imagine what it will be like once he is here!

So you can see he already has lots of stuff! What you don't see is the dresser full of even more clothes and shoes. Oh the shoes! He has a bunch of different sneakers and even hiking boots! They are so cute I cant NOT get them!

Snakes and Snails and puppy dog tails!!

Yep! It's a BOY! A sweet, little boy!

Richard and I couldn't be any happier!

18 Weeks!

I am 18 weeks today! Yay! I had a doctor's appointment this past Wednesday and got to hear the baby's heart beat again. The sweetest sound ever! And we set up an appointment to find out gender! September 11th! I am sososososo excited!

Next Wednesday we are going to tour Baptist's labor and delivery unit and then the following Monday we are going to tour Centennial Women's hospital. So we should know where we are delivering pretty soon. I would like to take childbirth classes at the same hospital we have the baby. At first this pregnancy seemed to be creeping by so slowly. Now I feel like it has really picked up momentum and is going by pretty fast!

Oh, I felt the baby move! It is obviously very subtle, but it is such a great feeling! The baby is now about 5.5 inches and weighs just over 5 ounces. Considering I was reading about the baby when it was just the size of a poppy seed, that seems huge! Oh, and my uterus is the size of a cantaloupe. Average weight gain for this week is 10-13 lbs. I am right at 10 lbs so I am hoping if I continue to eat a healthy diet I can avoid gaining something dreadful like 60 lbs! My diet is pretty good, but I have got to get more active. Before I was pregnant, I worked out all the time! Jogged, walked, aerobics, light weights. The first trimester I felt great, but I was exhausted! I definitely didn't have the energy to work out. Now I feel like I have more energy, but it's just so hard to get back into the routine. Plus if I am going to do any exercise, it needs to be in the am. After a full day of work now way can I muster up the energy to do it. I will set a goal to start next week.

Not a whole lot else going on. Richard is still plugging away at school trying to finish. We love our new apartment. There is so much more room and it just feels so much more open.

I am anxious to see what happens with the dossiers on Monday. I am saying a prayer that something wonderful happens and they aren't sent back. I am also saying a prayer for all the families who are waiting to bring their children home.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day.


Oh, and one last thing…. GGGOOO OBamba!!!!

16 weeks and hard decisions.

Tomorrow I am 16 weeks! 4 months, wow! I have to post a belly picture soon. I have really popped! Still feeling great with the exception of a few bad headaches. Other than that, so far so good.

We are moved in! We started moving things Thursday afternoon and had everything done by Sunday. Everything. From organized drawers to curtains hung! I love it. It seems so much bigger. Definitely much more open. We were able to turn the guest bedroom into a bedroom/office. So Richard now has a quiet place to go and work while he is at home. And of course we have baby-baby's room set up. I have more to do in there like pictures, rugs, etc, but I will wait until we find out if our little one will pee standing up or sitting down :)

So it looks like we are officially staying in Nashville for at least the next two years. Richard is taking a position at Vanderbilt so now all he has to do is graduate :) We are shooting for late October. It would have been really nice to move back home to Memphis. He had a great interview with ST. Jude and they really liked him. Vanderbilt just seemed to be the better fit for many different reasons. And 3 hours isn't so far, right? Plus we both really love Nashville and wouldn't mind staying indefinitely.

This week we officially withdrew from CHI's Vietnam program. It's something he and I have been talking about doing since April. We just needed a lot of time to think about it to make sure 100% it is what we wanted to do. We still plan on adopting. No question there; just where and with whom we aren't sure of. Right now it looks like we would adopt from Ethiopia, but we will of course have to evaluate all the programs that are out there in about a year. I have a lot more to say regarding withdrawing from CHI and my feelings on officially leaving the VN program but I will write about that later.

Oh! I want to say congratulations to my bestie Samantha! She and her family have started the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia! YAY!!! I am sosososos excited for her! This is something she has wanted to do forever and I am so happy they have officially started! Her 2 year old daughter, Emerson will make an awesome big sister! I couldn't be more excited for all three of them!

Heartbeat

Today I had an OB appointment. Richard and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was so amazing. It was strong and fast and it made me cry :) I feel good that baby-baby is doing well. The doctor said we still have 6-7 more weeks until we find out the gender. Why are they torturing me?? Oh well, it will go by soon enough.

We definitely have enough to keep us busy and our minds on other things. We are moving next weekend into a three bedroom. I am so excited to put the nursery together. We bought nursery furniture a while back when we expected to be bringing Sam home much sooner. I am glad that buying furniture is one thing we don't have to worry about. Plus we got such an awesome deal on what we bought.

We also have a wedding in Atlanta to attend this weekend. Richard's sister, Sally is getting married. We are leaving after work on Thursday and won't return to Nashville until Sunday afternoon. So that only leaves us 6 more days to pack. And we cant start on any of those days until after we get home from work, like 5:30 or 6:00. Gross. I hate moving. Good news is that we hired movers so we don't have to do any heavy lifting !!

13 Weeks!

Today I am 13 weeks. The baby is just over 3 inches long and is about the size of a peach. I remember reading when we first found out that I was pregnant that the baby was the size of a poppy seed. s/he has really done some growing in the past few weeks. And I must say, so have I! At 3 months pregnant I officially cannot fit into anything of mine that zips, buttons or clasps. I had to go out and buy some sun dresses to get me through the summer. Luckily it is easy to find styles that are loose fitting and flowing.

Overall I have been very lucky. No real morning sickness to speak of. Occasionally I get a 'unsettled' feeling in my tummy, but usually if I snack on something it goes away. So, eat I must :) I was really, super tired the first couple of months. I would come home from work, eat and go straight to bed. Luckily that is getting much better and I am starting to get some energy back. Resting isn't so easy though. Some nights I have to get up as much as 5 times to run to the bathroom! As soon as I lay down and start to drift off, I have to get up and pee again!

I really, really feel like this baby is a boy. Although I think that may be because for about a year and a half Richard and I envisioned ourselves with a son. So who knows. I have to admit I am one of those crazy women that obsess about finding out! I can't learn the sex of this baby soon enough! Whatever it turns out to be we will be over the moon! I can think of 100 reasons why we would love a son and 100 reasons why we would love a girl, so looks like we cant go wrong.

I have to say I still get a real anxious feeling in my stomach when I think of our adoption. I am just so sad over the whole thing. For us, for other families who are waiting on a referral, families whose dossier has been sent to Vietnam, families who have received a referral but it just may not be 'official' and most of all for all those sweet, precious children who need loving families. Our agency received the last 3 referrals they will receive before the Sept 1st shut down. When I read that my heart sunk. It just felt so final. What happen? What went wrong? When we signed up in March 2007 things seemed to be going so well. There was so much hope and happiness and excitement. Now there is sadness and confusion and fear of what will happen. The outlook is just so dreary.

Richard and I have recently discussed whether or not we should pull out and look at other options. My first instinct is to withdraw from the program and after this baby is 6 months of age, start presuming another adoption. But to be honest at this point international adoption from any country seems scary. Then I think we will wait it out. Surely things will work out between the US and VN, right? Oh, but then there is that little issue of our agency not being Hague accredited. That could be a problem seeing as how it looks like the US is pushing VN to become a Hague country. Argh. This is all so frustrating. How is anyone supposed to know what to do? One wrong move could cost you months of waiting and lots of money. No wonder everyone is as confused and scared as they are.

I realize just how blessed Richard and I are to be pregnant. It truly is a gift and I am so incredibly thankful for it. I also realize there are other families that may not have options like Rich and I do. I already feel a connection to this child that was created out of the love from Richard and I. I know that God has blessed us and it feels my heart with joy. But, it doesn't mean that we aren't still grieving for this adoption. This adoption was something that Richard and I prayed for. We already felt love for a child that we had never met.

If you know me , you know that I am easily worked up. I will find things to worry about. Once I get started it's really hard to talk me down. After being together for 5 years, Richard is learning. He always reassures me in a calm and soothing voice, "It'll all work out. I promise". I have no idea what will happen with our adoption. I am trying to live more in the moment and enjoy today. That is something that is hard for a person like me to do sometimes but I try to follow Richard's example. Whatever happens I know that it will all work out and we'll have the family we were meant to have.

In the meantime I want to focus on having a happy and healthy pregnancy. I want to surround this baby with love and happy thoughts. I want to enjoy this experience because I know how special it is and just how fast it goes. My next OB apointment is July 30th. We should hear the baby's heart beat for the first time. I will no doubt get emotional and probably cry. Hearing your baby's heartbeat for the fist time; could there be anything sweeter?

Suprise Blessings

I have been trying to think of an elegant and profound way to write about how our lives have changed in the past couple of months, but I think it best just to say it; I am pregnant. 10 1/2 weeks. Richard and I are over the moon. We could not be any happier.

He and I are still 100% committed to the adoption. We want nothing more than to bring a son home from Vietnam. If I could have my way, I would be on a plan to get him right after the baby is born. CHI policy though is that we will be put on 'hold' until the baby reaches 6 months (assuming things between the US and VN will be worked out). Honestly I was relieved when I heard that. I was worried they would make us wait a year. So, ideally we hope that we will receive a referral around the time first baby is a year old, and have Samuel home 6 months later. Ideally. Am I crazy to think maybe, just maybe it will work out that way?? I hope that's not asking too much., but I have learned you can't necessarily plan for life. It is very obvious to me now that God is in charge of all the planning. When we started our adoption a year and a half ago I never would have dreamed we would be where we are now. Not that we are in a worse or better place. Just different. We dream of a diverse family made up from adoptions and bio-babies. We just didn't think it would be in this order. But that's okay. We are starting a family and that is what we both long for so much.

I am not real sure what I am going to do with this blog. I want to put something together that will incorporate everything happening in our lives. The adoption, being pregnant, Richard graduating, etc. I definitely want to write more often. I have an account set up with word press so I think I will move soon.

It's so funny how life works out, isn't it? But if there is one thing I believe it's that everything has a purpose and a reason. And knowing that gives me comfort and reminds me that everything will always be okay.