Happy Halloween!

We just finished carving our pumpkins are are officially ready for trick o' treaters! Doing all of these fun holiday traditions are great to do now, as they bring back memories of doing these things with my parents and brother. I can't wait to have our little one to pass on these traditions and make new memories!

New Car!!!

Just a quick post today. Last Friday, I convinced Adam that we should go test drive a Mazda 5. This is the car that we pretty much had settled on ever since we saw it at the auto show two years ago. But what if we didn't like how it drove? That was what I said to Adam to convince him to go to the dealer. So we went, and found a used 2010, exactly the way that we wanted it. We test drove it, and told the salesman that we were looking to buy in the next 4-5 months, but just wanted to see if we really liked it. He said, would we want it today if he could knock $3000 off. Long story short, we got a new car. There is so much more room in this than my Neon, and it actually is a tad shorter too! My mom's walker can fit in the back, and so can a stroller. So now we are really getting ready to add to our family!

Wonderful

I am a bit of a Disney fan, and I was really into collecting figurines some years ago, until I moved many times and the lack of room stopped me from adding to my collection. A couple of years ago, Adam and I cleaned out the garage, and I brought some of my favorite pieces out from their long slumber in cardboard boxes. The piece pictured, the Beast, is my favorite. Unfortunately, the gargoyles arms, which held up the table, the rose, and the glass case around the rose, were broken. However, you could maneuver the table top to stay on top of the broken arms, and I felt like this was a good fix, especially if I used some crazy glue. Weeks past, well honestly months passed, and the table still sat on top of it's broken arms, sans crazy glue. Then, one day as Adam and I were sitting on the couch, the table suddenly tumbled over, taking the glass case with it. It shattered on the ground, and I was heartbroken. I still kept Beast on the shelf, with the broken table top and the sad, bended rose sitting next to it.

Fast forward a few weeks later to this evening. Adam called me from the driveway, to help him bring stuff in from the car. He handed me my chocolate shake and a box from the post. He told me the box was a present. I am sure you can guess what was inside. A good as new, Beast. I was so surprised, and so happy at his thoughtfulness. I pressed him with questions, like "how did you find it?" It was after all, over 10 years old. He went on to tell me of how he searched online for weeks, and finally stumbled upon it on Ebay. I don't know how he can keep such a thing as a surprise, I know I would have had a hard time if the roles were reversed. So, that is just one example of how wonderful Adam is.

On a completely different note, I also wanted to show the progress of the afghan that I am crocheting for our wee one. Bear in mind, that I just learned how to crochet (and do a granny square) last week. I have to say it is very satisfying to see something that you are making with your own two hands. It is in the colors we will be painting the nursery, yellow, blue and green. The green is hard to see, it is mixed in the white, along with yellow and blue. But for some reason I didn't get the solid green, as I did for the yellow and blue, and now I think it needs that. But here is what I have so far.

Photography

So there is some exciting news in our blog world. A waiting couple has been matched!

Since following these blogs I really feel as if I have gotten to know these women, and it is comforting to go through these ups and downs with others that can relate to the adoption experience.

I don't think I have mentioned my love of photography here before, but this past weekend I did a photo shoot with my favorite models, my sisters. Some day, of course I can't wait to take pictures of our little one too!
Here are a few of my favorite photos from this past weekend

Hannah, Bonnie and me

New Crib

So we finally decided to get a crib! Even though we still have not switched bedrooms and painted (luckily this won't ship for a while) But I found a nice crib at Target.com, which came with the changing table for free. I thought that seemed like a good deal, especially since I was not completely certain that I wanted to spend money on a changing table. But hey, you can't beat free and I think it will make for nice shelves later on. I debated between this color and white, but finally decided I liked the expresso color better.

Today we went to California Adventure, as we have season passes to Disneyland. We really wanted to see the new World of Color. However, we left early as I wasn't feeling that great. But here is a pic of me, while I still felt fine.

It has been a hard couple of weeks.

I really have not been inspired to come on here and write, for a couple reasons. One being that there is nothing to report adoption wise, and the other is that we lost a dear friend a couple of weeks ago. Leslie was only 38 years old, and she died of complications due to pneumonia. I have to say that pneumonia is an illness that should be taken seriously, and it has affected our lives in many ways now. Adam's mother died of complications from pneumonia as well, and my mother was in ICU for a couple of days with it over two years ago. What they all had in common was that they had/have autoimmune diseases, which made/makes them susceptible to infections like pneumonia. Both of our mothers had/have MS and Leslie had a disease called ITP. The frustrating part about all of this is that doctors really know very little about what causes these diseases, but of course research is ongoing, so hopefully breakthroughs will come sooner, rather than later.

Leslie's passing was really a shock to me, as she was very sick in the hospital in May with the same thing. She was getting better. Each time I saw her, she was stronger. Then we get a horrible phone call on the morning of the 19th. I really still have a hard time believing it.

Leslie was a loving mother to her two children, ages 5 and 3. And it really breaks my heart that she missed her daughter's first day of kindergarten, as she was so proud of her. Leslie was a wonderful friend and teacher. She loved to do crafts, and she showed me how to knit. She was also a computer whiz, and she taught me Photoshop. It was her encouragement and patience that helped turn me onto graphic design. She had a quirky, perverse sense of humor, similar to mine, so we could usually laugh at things that most people may have found inappropriate. She was kind and caring, and she was so supportive of Adam and I becoming parents. I will miss her very much.

If anyone is interested in learning more about ITP or MS or want to donate to help find cures, please visit:
Platelet Disorder Support Association
Bunny Gass Memorial page

Nothing New to Report

So, we have been 'live' or 'paper pregnant' for just about two months now. Even though that is a relatively short amount of time, it feels as if we are in this limbo state. Before, I felt like we were moving one step closer to adopting, with every question we answered, and every form we filled out. But now, it seems less real. Before, when people asked how the adoption process was going, I had an answer "well, we just did our fingerprints...." or " we just finished designing the birthletter" Now, it is "we are waiting'. I can already tell that people don't bring it up as often as they did, maybe for fear that it will hurt my feelings, and for the most part I am glad there are less questions, because how many clever ways are there to say "still waiting"? On the other hand, the less it gets talked about, the less real it all feels. I am not sure if that makes any sense.

I have bought a few baby outfits, so that helps. But it is hard to escape the fact that it feels like I am pretending. Pretending to get prepared for our pretend baby? I think this is exaggerated even more because I feel like I am the only one getting excited over baby clothes, or that others think its weird to buy clothes for a baby that is not there yet. Maybe that is all in my imagination or maybe I am just in a mood.

On a lighter note, I see that I have six followers now! Yay! I hope that my downer of a post doesn't scare you all away!