LOUSY DAY TURNS TO GOLD!

So my day started reaaaalllly early today. 1233 am to be exact! Because I am a nurse in a post-anesthesia care unit I have to take call. Meaning if there are any emergency surgeries, I have to be there to wake them up. I love my job but I suppose, night time call...not so much. I go to sleep with the phone by my ear and then if there's a c-section or appendectomy or any kind of something, I have to haul my sorry little you-know-what out of bed and drive into work. Frequently I go in for C-sections and those are my favorite. If I'm not going to be sleeping, a brand new baby seems to make up for it. So I finished with the c-section and drove home at about 330 am. While I was driving I came upon one of these...

except that she was I think at least twice as big (you know how these stories grow!) So I basically slammed straight into her and that was that. I really like animals and this made made me very sad. It made my car sad and that in turn made me even more sad and well, it eventually made my husband extremely sad. Oh such sadness!! So it pretty much disabled the car and did I happen mention that I forgot my cell phone? So poor me, I am out there in the middle of the night pulled off the freeway trying to flag someone down. Any axe murderers need an opportunity? Here I am. Totally available. No axe murderers to be found, thankfully. I did however, meet my new best friend who helped me lift up the bumper, stuff it under itself and make the car at last capable of limping home. So I did creep home, having to stop every few minutes to re-stuff said bumper. Oh the humanity! So then when I got home, I slept a couple of hours and woke up feeling so fresh and kind to all those around me. Ha! We then took "Rosebud" the deer killing wonder-mobile to the body shop. And you bet there was some wonderful news at that establishment! Thank you sweet Jesus for car insurance. Then....I have to go get these...

"Oh my we saw something on your xrays this time....we're going to have to get those wisdom teeth out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I think I need to cry now. Really. Right now.

I trudge my sorry little self home, thank goodness we still have one working car!
And do you know what came in the mail? A CD filled to the brim with glorious pictures of our sweet Elias. He is gorgeous, happy, healthy and completely perfect. And all the yuck of the day just kind of floated away. Not to mention that the courts in Ethiopia opened back up today. Now every day that goes by...a little closer to bringing him home.

PEOPLE....WE'VE GOT A CHUNKY MONKEY!!!

Oh the joy of fat babies. Rubber band wrists. Wonder thighs. Kankles. Belly pudge. We are pleased to announce that we got a lovely update via email about our sweet little Elias. He was weighed a few weeks ago which would have made him around 11-12 weeks and yes, he's a fatty. 14.3 pounds to be exact. His "delicate" weight was even mentioned in a brief description of his personality. I love it. Our girls have always been pretty petite so it will be fun to have a BIG BOY in the house! We are so thankful he is growing and healthy. Now I just NEED to get my hands on those thighs myself!!

MMMMM, ME LIKEY!!!!

Look what came in the mail!!!!!!!! I am so stoked. This necklace was made by ERYN. She is a fellow All God's Children Int'l adoption blogger who is raising funds to bring a little baby girl home. You can find all kinds of lovely little goodies that she makes HERE. If you want to be oh so fashionable and cool like moi, you will definitely want to pick one up, maybe with different names though.
*Note: For those that don't know me well, you need to know that I am not fashionable nor am I under the impression that I am cool. However, I can try.

AND THE WINNER IS....

We finally decided on a name for our sweet little boy...Elias. To be clear, that is not his current name given by his birth mother. We are reserving that very special name for his middle name.

So I think crossing over the threshold of September was huge for us, WE ARE BOTH REALLY EXCITED. So excited that I started shopping for our trip. Why are those little travel things so dang cute? I am a sucker for all of it! Could I not have wadded up a bunch of toilet paper into a ziplock bag and called it good? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I could not pass up on that cute little roll of Charmin in its cute little container!

Here's the rest of the room...

Changing area (Meris was very displeased that I changed Kiera on it, "it needs to be all clean for brother!!!")sorry...


Center rug


Photo-holder bulletin board- I made this with the matching receiving blankets



The bags that are in the crib...my version of organization. I'm starting to put all the appropriate stuff in the right bag. Trying to visualize how much room for all those donations, can't wait for that!!

Thanking God today that He is getting us through this crazy wait.

AHHH....THE SWEET MOMENTS OF LIFE!

I'm training for this....

City to Sea 1/2 Marathon
Click above for more details and join me!!

but I feel like this....

and this...

but if asked what really makes me motivated and happy it would be this....

Big Girl in the HOOOUUUSSE!!

So today our sweet little lady headed off to kindergarten. I did not surprise myself, completely dry eyes for both of us. I was just so excited for her, I guess I didn't have room to be sad. She looked so darn cute. And so infinitely more important, she is so darn sweet and gentle. So proud of you Meris! So here is a sample of the day....


Pre-coif for the day, we treated them to McDonald's for breakfast. Some brief worried tears were shed by Meris over her pancakes.



Ok, just so we're clear, Meris has a love affair with Hello Kitty (I cannot, I mean cannot stand the videos so we just stick with gear). So again, hello kitty underwear, backpack, skirt, socks and lunch box represented here.



Somebody thinks they just might be the cat's meow (get it...Hello Kitty?) I am just so freaking funny....



The contract she had to sign for school, too cute!!




Finally in her classroom. We transferred Meris out of our school district so that she could attend this school. Why? Because this is a special place. It's a dual immersion school. She will essentially only be taught in Spanish making her bilingual by 4th grade. And being in California, that is a huge bonus!!

GETTING READY FOR "BAHEY-BRUDDER"

Did you catch that? That's Kiera speak for baby brother. We have finally moved the girls in together, which has been errr...pretty much a lovely little nightmare! Kiera would like to party like a rockstar all night long. Meris agrees for a shorter amount of time. Pretty soon we have an all out screaming of glee and crying fit because Meris wants to go to sleep and Kiera is still thinking it's time to well...let's see 1. stand on top of their Dora table and turn the light switch on and off. 2. Crawl into sissy's bed. 3. Crawl under the pink couch and sing. 4. Pull sissy's blankets off. You get the idea!! Anyone got any great ideas to curtail the late night fun? Threats have not worked and it's well on to 10 pm when they finally drift off. But meanwhile, we are very excited about baby boy's room. I chose the bedding and it's displayed by the party girls mentioned above. Help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!