Crafty for a Cause

Those of you who know me personally know that sewing is my hobby, specifically baby items.  Ironically sewing these things proved to be rather therapeutic over the past few years.  While sewing has been put on hold to get everything in order for the adoption, as soon as the home study is complete I have a longstanding date with my sewing machine and this time for a cause.  All proceeds from sales will go to our adoption fund.  Every little bit helps and is greatly appreciated.  I am working to get all my available items on my Etsy page and will soon be adding more.  I accept Paypal and will ship anywhere within the continental US.  Currently I only have two items listed (a little behind in the game here) but stay tuned as soon there will be many more.  You can visit my shop by following this link; http://www.etsy.com/shop/KayLee4Baby?ref=si_shop.   Until I can get around to listing everything I will post some sneak peek pictures here.

 Guitars flannel and minky (fall - winter)

Monkey Around flannel and minky (fall to winter)

Mod Mama flannel and minky (fall to winter)

Little Buddy flannel (spring / fall)

Bumbles flannel (spring / fall)

Butterflies cotton (summer)

Zoofari cotton (summer)

These are great for keeping baby safe from the elements while ensuring nothing gets too close to his or her little face.  Please keep me in mind for your next baby shower or welcome baby event.  Feel free to contact me with any questions or requests.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and God bless.



Domestication

Despite our crazy busy day we did manage to get a few things checked off our lengthy adoption related to-do list.  I will say its a great way to finally get around to all those little things you had excuses to avoid before.  But right now the hubby is feverishly working to complete a presentation for tomorrow which pretty much eliminates my ability to do things that make noise.  So I have decided to blog with nothing too terribly exciting to report.  The first thing checked off the list are all these little buggers.

Truly amazing how the impending arrival of a little one changes everything.  Should we have had one of these installed in every bedroom in the house from the day we bought the place?  Absolutely.  Did we?  Not so much.  Really puts things into perspective.  But I feel this is true with pregnant mothers as well.  So many times I will hear a pregnant woman say "Oh I am really trying to eat healthy for the baby."  Aren't YOU worth eating healthy for all on your own?  Weren't we worth being saved by a smoke detector, baby or no baby?  Needless to say we now have them installed just about everywhere.

The next two items checked off the list are things that are not an adoption prerequisite but more a neurotic house wife's desire to have everything just so.  About 4 years ago I purchased some wall decor from a company called UpperCase Living.  And they stayed in the package until yesterday.  Here is a picture of the first one.  Boy was this guy a beast to put up straight!

This last one I bought with our guest room in mind but when we suddenly had this HUGE empty wall in the living room that I wanted filled before Marcy's visit so I decided what the heck.  Worst case we take it down, no harm done.  So I put it up and please feel free to let me know what you think.  The jury is still out in our house as to whether it's found it's permanent home.  I can tell you our 14 year old dog sitter is a BIG fan.  She told us she just kept staring at it for like 5 minutes when she first came in to let the dogs out.  And because kids say the darnedest things she followed it up with "boy do we need to do some home improvement projects at my house".  That girl cracks me up.

Don't mind Sprocket taking his afternoon nap on the back of the sofa. So that's about all the boring news I can think to report.  Another big thank you to everyone following the blog and keeping us in your prayers.  Please keep them coming. I can assure you we appreciate each and every one. 

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the best part lol.  Every time I walk past the living room I do an instant double take thinking there are giant bugs on the wall.  I supposed it's going to take some getting used to.  Similar to when us ladies get a drastic haircut or dye job and you freak out for a quick second each time you pass a mirror.  If you have ever done this I imagine you are chuckling to yourself right now.  Makes for a great laugh once you get yourself together. 

A life line

Today we have a baptism for baby Jack and a baby shower for baby Noah all in the same day!  Less than 6 months ago I would have told you today was my worst nightmare come true.  I would have hoped to catch the plague or have a sudden out of town obligation arise.  Baptisms and baby showers were among the hardest thing to attend for a woman with an empty nest.  But today we are excited and we have baby Jack and his parents to thank for that.  It was a Sunday morning at Starbucks that Jack's adoptive parents met with us to share their experience and crush any myths, fears, and misconceptions we had surrounding adoption.  It was a morning I will never forget.  We sat for hours, me monopolizing Jack of course, and talked about the entire process start to finish  We asked the tough questions and they answered them all.  Seeing Jack with his new parents was so natural, like God really had made him just to be their son.  We left that day and my husband said to me, "Why on Earth have we not done this already?!"  In that moment our lives changed forever.  My outlook on the future changed forever.  Babies were no longer a source of pain, mourning and loss for us.  They became a lifeline to the future.  Because in that moment, me being a mother went from 'if' to 'when'.  Thanks to Jack we have reconnected with some amazing family members and begun the process of expanding our own family.  So today we celebrate Jack and everything that he has done for us.  Today we celebrate new life, new beginnings and the blessings that children bring to our lives. 

Print available on Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/listing/62093929/nursery-art-print-adoption-print-love

Intervention

I fear I might be one purchase away from a full blown Craigslist intervention.  I can't help it.  I love the idea of reusing and saving money at the same time.  After waiting 4 years to start our family hearing our social worker say it was a good idea to have the nursery set up for our home study and adoption profile was music to my ears!  Adoption can be costly so it was time to combine two of my favorite oxymoronical hobbies, shopping and saving money.  Yes this can be done.  Enter Craigslist.  Since I am very proud of my current savings I thought I would share some of my fantastic finds :)  all baby related of course.

Beautiful white crib retails for $210 new, paid $80 for gently used.  Savings $130

Pottery Barn changing table retails for $399 new, paid $75 for gently used.  Savings $324

Carter's Giraffe bouncer retails for $64.99, paid $35 for it still in the box!  Savings $29.99

In Step 5K jogging stroller retails for $99.95 new, paid $20 for gently used.  Savings $79.95

Arm's Reach Co Sleeper mini retails for $149.99 new, paid $40 gently used.  Savings $109.99

Evenflo Pack and Play $99.99 new, paid $25 gently used.  Savings $74.99

Chicco Keyfit30 carseat and base $189.99, extra base $84.99, Chicco infant carseat stroller $99.99, JJ Cole Bundle Me $49.99 Total new 424.96, paid $140.00 gently used.  Savings $284.96

While I'm not sure we will use the car seat as buying one used makes me nervous we certainly needed the bases, caddy and bundle me!  And I paid less for all of these items than I would for a new carseat alone.  For those of you keeping track that's a total savings of $1033.88!!

That number makes me smile and so does seeing all this fantastic baby stuff around the house.  It's making things more real by the day!  Now, back to my Craigslist Ipad app :D

Right on Track

Blog on your lunch break?  Why not!  For those of you following along here's the latest.  We have chosen an agency and completed the application process.  They have assigned us a social worker (Marcy) and we've already had our first joint interview.  I am now immersed in the daunting task of gathering all the paperwork, completing physicals, getting finger printed, getting all the animals up to date at the vet, dotting my I's, crossing my T's and eating, sleeping and breating adoption paperwork!  All well worth it in the end.  We have our official Homestudy scheduled with Marcy next week Sunday and are filled with nervous excitement!  This weekend will be filled with cleaning, organizing and checking those smoke detector batteries :)  They are all 9 volts, anyone want to volunteer their tongue?  Just kidding.

Welcome

Welcome to our adoption journey.  My husband and I have always known we wanted to have children but had no idea what God had in store for us.  Nearly four years of wedded bliss and four critters later we are ready to adopt a child of the two legged variety :).  We have chosen domestic adoption and are leaving the sex of our child in the hands of the Lord.  We could not be more excited about expanding our family and have been given so much love and support in this journey.  What better way to keep all of our supporters updated than to start a blog.  We appreciate all of you and hope you enjoy reading about this next chapter in our life.
xoxo

"No, I didn't give you the gift of life, Life gave me the gift of you" - Unknown