Little Bitty Onesies...

I just did my first load of baby laundry and Oh My, It Is CUUUUUTE!

(This is my worn-out-[but excited]-after-a-great-day look. :)

It's the little things that are making this soon-to-be life very, very real...

Alas, *completely* home

Today was a day set aside for organizing this cute little residence of ours. My mom and Tess came to join me. (Okay, more accurately, they came to guide me.) Their expertise never goes unappreciated in my home. Each time they come it's a whirlwind but never have I been as pleased with the result as I am right now. Today was filled to the brim with goodness...and laughter. Ikea furniture assembly has a tendency to produce one of two reactions: angry yelling or uncontrollable laughter. I'm happy to report that this particular story is a happy one. The instructions said that one person was necessary to assemble my nifty, new shoe rack. HA! What a claim. Tess began on her own, but it was clear that she needed something like 8 more hands, so I joined her. Surely we could tag team this thing, surely 4 hands would do. False! As it turns out it required 6 hands. My mom came to realize that we needed her too. We started over from scratch. Following a great struggle and comical dialogue we wrangled the darn thing into submission. Isn't it cute? Thanks Ikea! You're a total pain, but we like you. :)

With Mom and Tessa's help, the kitchen, living room, spare bedroom, nursery, and hallways have all received an extra measure of love and attention and they are looking pret-ty good, if we do say so ourselves.

Mom, thank you for being my official measuring lady. (Numbers never were my strong suit.)

Tess, thank you for cleaning and polishing the old drafting desk that now serves as our breakfast bar.

I am hoping to post a sort of 'home tour.'  As always, there are more projects in the works and being dreamed-up on a daily basis, but I'll work on photographing and sharing our newly organized and adorned cozy home...

Deception Pass with Dad & Mom VH

Brian's parents came to visit  and see where we now live. We spent a day at Deception Pass filled with sunshine, 'the tree,' sea anemones, a picnic lunch, canoeing, walking, napping atop a picnic table by one, and a graceful spill by another. :)

Blessed to be Bumpin' It. 14 Weeks.

We are 14 weeks along and there's no more suckin' it in...

I think he's a boy. Brian's thinks he's a girl. ;)

Finding Out...

One day in March I confided in my sister about some odd symptoms I'd been experiencing. She had a funny feeling that in addition to our pending adoption, we may have another babe on the way, but because she knows me [and our story] she refrained from pushing too many pregnancy assumptions on me. I told her my symptoms were due to stress because pregnancy, well, that just couldn't be. Two days later she called me over to her house, handed me a pregnancy test, and told me that she needed to know.

The test result was confusing, so we called Brian (who I had shooed out of the house not 15 minutes prior), and commanded him to go to the store, buy us another, and to do so quickly! 

The poor guy! I had tried to save him the anxiety that goes with taking a pregnancy test. (We had been there, done that, and it had never turned out well for us.) He asked what the first had said. Tess told him it was positive, I emphatically assured him that it was lying. He was so frazzled, he asked us what to do with the coffee and wrap he'd just ordered at a local coffee shop...we said "Ditch 'em for all we care! We need you!"
The second test came back the same as the first and had all three of us confused. It said 'pregnant' but not in the way the diagram said it should. I was so used to getting a blatant 'not pregnant' that I was convinced that this was just a new form of 'no.'
Then things became funny. Brian decided, like Tessa earlier in the day, that he needed to know, so he dialed the number on the box and had the lengthiest of conversations with the operator on the other end. Tess and I got a BIG laugh out of this. Who calls the number on the backside of a pregnancy test box to ask if their wife is prego?! Brian does. :)
The operator, after listening to Brian's detailed description of our situation and asking a few questions, explained to Brian that the test result was contradictory because I was further along than most women when they take a first response test and my pregnancy hormones were overpowering the test's ability to determine correctly.
"Pregnancy Hormones?!" I thought, "I have pregnancy hormones?!!"


The day we thought we'd never experience had come! 


Once Baby #2's existence had been confirmed I started bugging Tess about how now it was her turn to get pregnant with her #3. She kept looking at me funny and not saying anything until finally she caved and said, 'I am. ...I found out yesterday!" Here's a look at our overjoyed, tired, squeamish early-pregnancy faces. In many ways we didn't feel so hot, in other ways we were soaring sky-high.

(MillieGirl couldn't believe it either. ;)

I've decided that finding out 6 weeks into my pregnancy was God's extra special way of shortening my wait. He also gave me the best buddy I could imagine with which to share the journey. And I have learned that pregnancy is weird, I'm very happy to have a prego buddy. Praise Jesus! We couldn't have come up with a story this good on our own!

Friday, March 30, 2012, we will never forget you...

Loves to you, Mom

I've been receiving "Happy Mother's Day" text messages all morning, but to me, this whole week is about my mom. (She's just days away from her big 5-0.) By this time next year I'm sure I'll feel like a mom, until then, I'm celebrating my own maMa.

Mom, I'm so glad God placed me in YOUR arms.

Thank you for allowing me to be such a daddy's girl, despite the [closet] gas station donut and coffee habit he instilled in me at the tender age of 2. :)

Thank you for bearing with me through the years when clearly, I didn't love picture-taking. My, how things have changed! Then again, look how we were dressed! We looked like CLOWNS! It's no wonder Tess and I were so unhappy! :)

Thank you for letting us invade your peaceful place.

Thank you for finally allowing me to get my first horse! 
My life was changed by good ole John Henry.

Thank you for all the love and laughter.

Thank you for making me go to school.

Thank you for helping me become who I am today.

I think you're really, really beautiful.

I'm so glad God made you my mom. 

He knew I'd need you. :)

Happy Day to you, mi maMa! I hope you are as blessed by Dad and each of us kids as we are by you.

You are loved.

Reactions and Advice

Among the many well wishes and the incredible outpouring of support showered upon Brian and I following our "two baby announcement," there have been a few people's words who stick most in our memory....


At our first OB appt. for Baby #2 our story quickly emerged and all the nurse could say was, 

"Woooow!" ... "Exciting!" ... "Oh, that's so exciting!!!!"

..."This is exciting, right?!"

(As if her raised eyebrows and overall startled expression hadn't already said it all. ;)

*     *     *

We received a sweet Facebook message from Brian's friend Josh's mom which read,
"...I remember when I found out we were having twins. I cried ALL THE WAY HOME(!!!) thinking how can we do this?! But soon the tears turned to tears of absolute joy and we felt so very blessed to be having two babies! ... One little piece of advice--suddenly everyone (including complete strangers) are going to become experts on raising two babies--just remember you're their mama and daddy and YOU know what's best and what works for your own special little family!..." ~Donna

*     *     *

[With the knowledge that Brian's sister, Julie, is currently pregnant with twins]

After looking at our 'Bump Ahead' Picture,

"Our family is EXPLODING!!!"

~ Brian's Mom

*     *     *

And then there was my Grandma Jane, who upon hearing our 'two baby news' exclaimed,

"That's worse than twins!"

...Thanks, Grandma, thanks so much... ;)

oooh, babIES!

Just when we thought life was becoming exciting...
Just when things were seeming really, really beautiful...
Just when we were feeling sooo blessed...

God gave us another reason to rejoice.

We have a LITTLE TURKEY 

roasting in the oven until Thanksgiving.

(That's right, People, I'm PREGNANT.)

With Baby #1 due the end of August and 

Baby #2 due the week of Thanksgiving, 

Lord willing, 

our "pseudo twins" will be just 3 months apart.

We've spent the last 6 weeks (since finding out about Baby #2) reeling from God's overwhelming and undeniable presence in our life. We've concluded that He really does have a sense of humor and that His plans really are far greater than our own. 

We can hardly wait to meet our babIES!!!

We are truly blessed beyond belief.

August [adoption] Update

Baby Update:
I could no longer bear all of the "Baby this," "Baby that" talk, so we've recently begun calling Baby "August." It seemed the most obvious name considering that he/she is due in August.


Birth Mom Update:
Birth Mom has continually expressed interest in emailing. I spent about a month dragging my feet for reasons that I now see were silly, but she kept bringing it up to her counselor who would then tell our caseworker, who would then remind us. This past week, as a way to keep our last name private, Brian and I set up a new email for use when communicating with Birth Mom. We sent it in to Bethany and within a short while received our first email from Birth Mom. I have spent the last couple days chatting back and forth with her and I am so happy that we decided to comply with her wishes.


As it turns out Birth Mom simply desired informal conversation and increased communication. Both of which have proven good for she and us. Just a matter of days spent emailing directly have already opened doors leading to a closer relationship.


My Update:
God never stops working through this process/in my life.
I'm constantly being struck with these realizations, 

...It's funny how God works...

...He knows me better than myself...

...His plan is so much bigger than mine...