I Carried You In My Heart

Retirement

2012-01-28T08:51:00.005-06:00

Happy retirement to my mother! Last night we went to T-town to help my mom celebrate her last day of work... EVER! I can't even imagine! She's worked at the VA for 37 years; that is some loyalty. Here are some pictures of the evening:

(My mom loves flamingos)

Also, Happy Birthday to Dad Z! We hope you had a great day yesterday!

xxoo

High School

2012-01-26T20:06:00.005-06:00

Guess where the hubs went tonight.... Tristan's high school orientation! OH. MY. GOSH! Is she seriously old enough to have high school orientation?? Wow, I feel old! She is growing in to such a lovely, smart and talented young lady.

Just a few short years ago...

And now... She's growing up so fast!
xxoo

Pizza!

2012-01-24T18:13:00.004-06:00

One of the things John loves most about going home (aside from his lovely family and friends) is his mom's pizza! He would eat it for every meal if he could! She makes the dough from scratch and he thought it was too much work to do himself.... until this weekend that is. Saturday he gathered some yeast, flower, salt and sugar and whipped up a delicious dough. He said it was a lot easier than he expected. Here are some pictures of my chef and his work:

It was delicious... almost as good as his mom's. My side has zucchini, squash, jalapeno, olives and mushrooms. YUMMY!

xxoo

3 Months

2012-01-20T17:59:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow marks 3 months on the waiting list! This wait is TERRIBLE! I was really hoping we would be one of those couples who get chosen right away. Well, I guess we were since we were chosen after only two weeks. That one just didn't work out. Please pray that a birthmom will choose us soon and that she will have peace in her decision!

xxoo

Man vs. Food

2012-01-15T20:35:00.007-06:00

Man vs Food is one of John's favorite shows. He thinks the host has the BEST JOB EVER. Friday night he got to semi/sort of live out his dream. My sister gave us some steaks and when we opened the package this is what we found...

Two of these suckers! They didn't even fit on the plate! Yes, these are full size dinner plates. Any one who knows me, knows that I ate about 1/10th of mine. John however decided to eat his Man vs. Food style. This time.... Man won! He ate the entire thing plus french fries! I guess he could make it on that show.

xxoo

A New Case Worker

2012-01-13T22:09:00.004-06:00

We received an email from our case worker at AH saying that she will be out of the office for two months and we are being reassigned to another case worker. She ever-so-thoughtfully tiptoed around what would be keeping her out of work for two months. I'm sure it's hard being pregnant and talking to women who so desperately want a baby all day. Or encouraging birthmothers to place their babies. Any way.... our new case worker is very nice. She reviewed our birth mother letter and said she thought it looked great. We've been shown to a total of 18 birthmoms so far but quite a few of them still haven't made a decision or have decided to keep the baby. Hopefully our match will happen soon.

I realized today that I never posted our birthmother letter that my sister worked so hard to complete. Here are the front and back covers...

I'll leave the middle pages for another post.

xxoo

Rematch?

2012-01-10T18:23:00.004-06:00

The Alabama Crimson Tide was ready for the rematch against LSU last night. Our boys played with heart, passion and determination. It definitely paid off in the form of a 21-0 victory!

(picture from rivals.com)

Roll Tide!

Name Day & A Petting Zoo

2012-01-07T18:12:00.007-06:00

Happy Name Day to my wonderful husband! We have had a fun and relaxing day filled with friends, toddlers and farm animals! What more could a guy ask for on his day?

Emma had her birthday party at the petting zoo today. Jessica's best friend from college came in town, with her mom and son, and needed a place to stay last night... so they all stayed with us. Her son is just over two and he is ALL boy! I'm so used to Emma being quiet and reserved. Wow, are boys different! We had a lot of fun with him. Here's a picture of the little man.She also has a blog so I feel like I've known her for years even though we've only met a few times.Since Emma's party was at the petting zoo, she had a barnyard themed cake too. Isn't it cute!
The kids also enjoyed the party favors...

... And the pinata.
The kids (and the Hubs) enjoyed the baby goats. Emma was a little scared so I got to hold her for a bit.

Here we are looking at the bunny rabbit.I can't believe our little princess is already three!

xxoo

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T20:03:00.005-06:00

Hope you all had a great weekend! We did! How many parties have you attended with nude models at the entrance??

We attended one New Year's Eve night. It was a party at an art gallery. We had a lot of fun. John got to play a little black jack but thankfully there was no money involved... he's the worst!

And here's a pic of the hubs and me. I'm not sure why my iPhone always makes my eyes look like this.
It was pretty warm New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. We were walking around in T-shirts and shorts. However, a cold front came through yesterday and now it's frigid! For you Canadian's reading... I took a picture to prove that it gets below freezing here.xxoo

Oh My Aching Booty

2011-12-31T11:23:00.003-06:00

I don't know what made me think that doing 100 walking lunges after not working out for months was a good idea! I can barely walk today! When did I get so out of shape? I guess I know what my New Year's resolution needs to be. I'll start 2012 the same weight as I started 2011 but I'm a lot gooey-er. Therefore, I resolve to firm up in 2012.... at least until we get our baby! I can't make any promises after that. :)

Tristan News:
She goes to her pitcher's pitching lessons so she can practice catching. The other night a pitcher from a local college was at the facility and the girl who was going to catch for her didn't show up. Tristan volunteered to catch. The pitcher took it easy on her at first b/c she's only 13. After a few pitches she realized how good Tristan is and started giving it her all! She told Tristan that she's awesome and can't believe she's only 13! It made Tristan's week!
Also, we finally got Tristan's volleyball picture. I tried to take a picture of the picture but I couldn't get the lighting right. Anyway, here's what I got:xxoo

Merry Christmas

2011-12-27T19:36:00.006-06:00

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We had a great time with my family on Christmas Eve. I ate way too much (and I'm still eating way too much!) Here are a few pics of the day.

My Mom and Sister
Cait, Julie and Mom

A sweet one of John and Tristan

And here are some pics from Christmas Day.

We were so tired after we left Tristan that we went home and had a movie day. It was a cold, dreary, rainy Christmas Day which was perfect for snuggling on the couch together.

xxoo

Busy Week

2011-12-22T21:48:00.004-06:00

My goodness it's been a busy week. I've had dinner with the Harbert girls Monday night, Supper Club Tuesday night, movies with John and Tristan last night and dinner with Rebecca and Bree tonight. I am worn out! I'm ready for my four day weekend!

Here are some pics of Tristan and Chloe from last night. She looks so grown up!

We hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!

xxoo

Who Knew

2011-12-16T17:54:00.005-06:00

Who knew there were infertility cards? Hallmark thinks of everything! My good friend Gloria (aka G-slo) sent me this card this week. She's so sweet! She wrote a lovely note on the other side but I'll let that stay a special moment for just the two of us (and the hubs... so just the three of us.)

I apologize for the picture quality. I took it with my iPhone instead of my new fancy, shmancy camera.

This has been a busy week so I apologize for my lack of posting. I'm the president of the Charitable and Social Committee at work so I was immersed in Christmas Party details! Thankfully the party was last night so I can take a breather this weekend.

Speaking of work... I don't know how many of you remember my post about my review last year but this year went much better. Last year they told me I was great and doing a wonderful job. They didn't have any complaints, however, I got a 3.4 out of 5. Well you don't have to be an accountant to figure out that's a 68 out of 100. I got a D! So I cried when I got home that night and was so upset about it that I asked next year for them to not include numbers in my review. The COO came in at the beginning of my review and said that they decided to include numbers this year but that hopefully I'll be happier about my scores. She also said that under no circumstances am I to multiply my number by 20 to get my "grade." Ha! They know me so well. Of course it was the first thing I did as soon as I saw the number. I got a..... 4.1. Ummmm still not an A but at least it's a B. The main thing was that she said I got one of the best reviews in the company and I got my full bonus. Score! I guess I can live with that number.

Last but not least, I want to wish Rach a very Happy Birthday!

xxoo

So Tired

2011-12-11T15:05:00.004-06:00

My mom came up yesterday to go shopping and she wore me out! I'm not used to marathon shopping anymore. (Rhonda - I certainly had to stop for a drink and a snack.) After many hours and many stores I ended up buying one Christmas present.... ONE! I found stuff for myself, of course, but only one name was marked off my list. I'm going to have to do better next weekend!

Tristan came over yesterday and we took our Christmas picture. Here are a couple:

Lexi decided to surprise Tristan with a kiss for this picture.

xxoo

Our First Call

2011-12-07T18:08:00.000-06:00

I want this blog to have an honest portrayal of adoption the same way I was completely honest about infertility. Infertility isn't for the faint of heart and it turns out that neither is adoption. This is the story about our first failed call.

It was Monday, November 7th, only two weeks after we started being shown by AH. I was in my bosses offices at 4pm and when I came back to my desk I had a missed call and a message. I listened as a caseworker told me that we were chosen by a birth mother. I sit in a room with three other people so I tried to restrain the tears and screaming. I immediately jumped up and ran to the closest room... my bosses offices. By this point I had tears streaming down my face. She looked at me in shock and asked what was wrong. I tried to say "we've been chosen" but it must have sounded like "wvlkisj blikjn chlksne" because she told me to take a breath and try again. Ok... breath... we've... breath.... been... breath... chosen. She squealed and I squealed and then we hugged. I then realized that I haven't even told my husband. I left her office and headed to the bathroom to call the Hubs.

He couldn't believe it and made me say it about 5 times. The caseworker sent us an email with information about the birth mom so he opened it and started reading. It was a little boy and he was 4 months old. We both paused a moment; we were expecting a newborn. We decided to look over the information together when we got home. I got home an hour before him so I peeked at the email. There was a picture. I opened it and instantly fell in love. He looked just like my husband. I felt like this was meant to be. We were chosen so quickly and he looked just like John. It was perfect.

Once John got home we read everything together and called our case worker to say we were interested. She told us that we were the BM's first choice and she was excited to talk to us. I tried extremely hard to stay grounded. I couldn't get too excited until we were sure this was actually going to happen. John, however, was over the moon. I'll never forget him texting me on Tuesday to ask if I had looked at the picture 100 times that day like he had. I hadn't. I was trying so hard to remain cautious.

The case worker set an appointment for us to call the BM Friday night. That week seemed like it would never end! Everyday that passed was another day of his life we missed. We were SO nervous when it was finally time to call on Friday. I thought my heart would beat out of my chest! We sat down, put the phone on speaker and called. Ring.... Ring.... Ring.... Ring.... Voicemail. Voicemail?? That's not a good sign. I called the case worker and told her what happened. She said she would try to call her and get back with us. Hours passed with no news.

To this day we still don't really know what happened. She wouldn't return the caseworkers calls or emails so we assume she changed her mind. I can't blame her for it. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to place a child for adoption much less a child that you've bonded with for four months.

We were brokenhearted (and still are a bit) but we know that this child wasn't meant to be ours. Once we do find our child we will be so thankful that it worked out the way it did. We will look at our child and know that everything we went through was worth it. It's just so hard to remember that now while we're still muddling through all of the murky waters.

So now we wait. We wait for our second call. I'm scared that we won't be as excited next time. It feels like infertility all over again. How we were robbed of being excited when we saw a positive test because of the fear. One thing that doesn't scare me anymore is the thought that we won't have a child. Adoption has given me that and it is that gift that keeps me going through all of the lows.

xxoo

Christmas Brunch with the Girls

2011-12-05T19:16:00.003-06:00

First, I have to put one up of my sweet Emma.

We set my new camera to what we thought was a 10 second auto delay so we could get a group shot. However, it turns out that it was a setting to take 10 consecutive pictures. This turned into many amusing "photo booth" shots. Enjoy.

Thanks to Em for hosting! She is due at the end of December so I'm sure she was pretty tired by the end of the party.

xxoo

A Few of My Favorites

2011-12-04T09:13:00.005-06:00

We got our new camera this week! It's our Christmas gift to each other. It's a Canon Rebel T2i and we are loving it so far. Now I just need to take a photography class to learn how to use it. I've taken pictures over the past few days and here are some of my favorites:

1. My tuckered out babies snoozing on the couch.

2. Lexi decided to make a run for it and we had to go into the woods to get her. She was grounded the rest of the day!

3. I babysat Emma this week. This little stinker almost had me convinced that she doesn't wear a pull up to sleep anymore. She was pretty convincing but I didn't fall for it.

4. Tristan came over for a bit this week. Aren't they sweet snuggling on the couch?

5. I made oreo truffles yesterday for the Bundy's party. We had a great time and everybody gobbled up these babies.

6. I also made these cookies from scratch yesterday. This was my first time to make "from scratch cookies" all by myself. I think they turned out pretty tasty!

Today I'm meeting the girls for brunch and then cleaning my very cluttered house! Hope you guys are having a great weekend.

xxoo

Nursery Pics

2011-11-29T21:53:00.004-06:00

Before: Purple on Purple

After: Chocolate and Cream

To give you an indication of how tall the ceilings are in this room... this a 20' ladder. The hubs (who does not like heights) was gripped on for life.

xxoo