product review coming soon!

Recently I was contacted by CSN Stores to do a review of one of their products on my blog. Well...of course I agreed! If you're not familiar with CSN Stores, it is an online shopping experience with several different stores from which to shop. Their 200+ sites offer the largest selection of home and office products - from bar furniture to luggage to baby products to kitchen gadgets...and much more!

So, if you haven't shopped CSN Stores before, be sure to check them out! And stay tuned to my blog for my product review...coming soon!

front door makeover

I'm really not sure what possessed me to want to paint our front door, but a couple of months ago, I got the urge. And once I got the urge, I'm not sure what drew me to this color, but when I saw it, I LOVED it. So, we did it! It still needs one more coat but we have to wait for the pollen to die down a little before we can tackle that project. Otherwise the blue door will look green.

Before:

After:

the Natalie diaries - part 2: the call.

It was Monday, March 22nd.

I knew this was probably "the week". Georgia (our birthmother) was going to the doctor this morning to hopefully find out what day this week she would be induced. I had planned to go to work, knowing I could very well leave after talking to her. I woke up that morning, and for some reason felt the need to stay home until after talking to her. Her appointment was at 10:30, which is 9:30 our time, so I decided to stay home until I knew what her doctor told her. I got a few things done around the house, but I was mostly relaxing. I had a lot to do before going to SC for the birth of our daughter, but I was resting a little after my nesting frenzy over the house that weekend. At about 10:45 that morning, she called me. The phone conversation went something like this:

Georgia: Well, I have good news & bad news; which do you want first? {She liked to start her updates like this ;)}

Me: Ummm...the bad news?

G: It could be up to a couple of days before I have her.

Me: Well, that's not too bad! Ok, what's the good news?

G: I'm going to the hospital right now.

Me: {can't breathe} WHAT. Right now?!?!

G: Yes, right now! I'm going to McDonald's to get a sweet tea, and then I'm going to the hospital!

Me: {pretty sure my heart stopped beating...} Uhhh...ok....{I have no idea what I said at this point, as I was in shock, even though this is the conversation I was halfway expecting.}

G: Are you packed & ready to come up here?

Me: No...I was too busy getting the nursery ready!

G: I told you to have your bags packed & ready to go! {True. She did tell me that. But I'm a procrastinator. :)}

So, after talking to Georgia for a few minutes, of course I needed to call Baron. He had about 5 minutes left in his last class of the day, so I texted him instead of calling. I made the mistake of making it seem like an emergency. I guess when you text "CALL ME ASAP!!!" then it does kinda seem like an emergency. :) He actually stepped out of class to call me, and I told him the news. Then I called my mom & got her to call the rest of our family so that I could focus {yeah right}on packing. I packed Natalie's suitcase {which, BTW, I was nearly clueless as to what I would need, so of course I overpacked}. Then I realized that we had to take a MOVIE back to BLOCKBUSTER. Of all things, the morning I'm getting ready to go out of town to adopt our daughter, I have to go to Blockbuster?! Whatever. It was New Moon, so it was worth it. ;)

The rest of that day is sort of a blur. Baron got his stuff done at school before leaving, and we finally left town about mid-afternoon. My dad was working on finding us a place to stay, and he settled on making reservations at a vacation house just 10 minutes from the hospital where Georgia would deliver. By the way, did I mention my mom & dad and Baron's mom were going with us? AWESOME help. We were so glad to have them with us!

We got to Greenville later that night, and went straight to the hospital to see Georgia. She was feeling pretty bad at that point; her head was hurting like crazy {a symptom of the preeclampsia, which is why she was being induced early} so we didn't visit long. She had been given a drug to soften her cervix {can't remember the name of the drug} to prepare to be induced on Tuesday morning, and she hadn't progressed at all that day. So we were expecting it to at least be mid-day on Tuesday before we saw any action. We left the hospital to go to the vacation house to get some rest. Little did we know what lie ahead of us that night!

{To be continued}

the Natalie diaries - part 1: nursery + nesting

I am finally getting around to blogging about our adoption experience. Sorry it's taken me so long, but well, I've been busy. :) And still am, for that matter, but I'm forcing myself to document the experience before Natalie turns 13 and I can't remember what happened when she was born. Anyway, I'm putting this into a few different posts, since it would be way too long to put into one post & I would most likely lose all 4 of my readers. So to begin, I'll take you on a tour of the weeks approaching Natalie's birth, and how I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.



We had started collecting items for the nursery months ago. {Well, technically, a couple of years ago, when I bought the awesome rocking chair that Ashley recommended to me - SO COMFORTABLE. I bought it with the last bonus check I received from my previous employer, before the economy went kaputs & bonus checks were no longer in existence.} We had the room painted "soft mint green" last year - a gender neutral color since we didn't know at that time whether we'd adopt a boy or a girl. I bought a crib at a consignment sale last fall. My awesome friends & family threw a "pre-adoption" baby shower for me last November, and I got a jump start on the "basics" that we would need in case we were to get one of those "we have a baby for you to adopt in 3 days" calls.



So we were on a good start to planning the nursery. Then, in January, we did get "the call". {Read about it here.} At this point, I'm eager to start the "real" nursery planning, and since my friend Ashley Mills over at pure + lovely {shameless plug} had offered to help me design the nursery, she was also eager to get started. I had initially thought I wanted to do owls in the nursery, because I was planning a gender neutral nursery & I started to become obsessed with retro-looking owls. But after "the call", we found out we were adopting a girl, and I just couldn't help but choose something more girly. Ashley has these awesome bird prints that I decided were totally the inspiration I needed for the room. I began searching for color/theme inspiration online, and found the perfect room that represented the exact feel I was going for:

{Norah's nursery by Caroline Armelle}

Piece by piece, the nursery started coming together. Ashley designed the fabric on spoonflower, my grandmother made the bedding from the fabric, Baron & I {ok, mostly Baron} painted a dresser & a bookshelf, and I shopped...and shopped...and spraypainted...and shopped. And finally, on Sunday, March 21st, the nursery was finished. FINISHED. The day before, I had gotten into my frantic nesting stage, cleaning the house like a mad woman, because there was a possibility of our birthmother being induced on March 22nd. I felt it coming. I don't know that nesting is necessarily a hormonal pregnancy thing, because I was totally into it that weekend. And for good cause, because...well...that's another story, for my next post. :) Here are pics of the finished nursery!

{crib from consignment sale; bedding fabric by Ashley via spoonflower & sewn by my grandmother; rug by ekra via etsy}

{beanbag ottoman from Kohl's; chandelier from ikea; round side table from ikea}

{bird fabric designed by Ashley & pillow made by my grandmother; quilt by "Mimi" (my mom); puff rocker via ebay (sorry, can't remember the seller)}

{handmade rug by ekra via etsy; bookshelf by Baron's granddad when Baron was little & painted with Valspar Laura Ashley in pale cowslip}

{shelf from local flea market & painted with Valspar Laura Ashley in pale cowslip; figurines from Hobby Lobby & my personal collection}

{fabric swatch project from The Purl Bee; wall lamp from ikea}

{part of closet turned changing station: dresser from Baron's grandmother - painted in Valspar Laura Ashley's pale cowslip; drawer knobs from Hobby Lobby; curtains from Target}

{Tweet Tweet prints & custom frames from Ashley at pure innovation}

{fabric designed by Ashley via spoonflower; bedding made by my grandmother}

{birdcage from Hobby Lobby; fabric box from Target; mirror from Baron's grandmother & painted with Krylon spraypaint in ballet slipper}

Thanks for looking! :)

welcome, Natalie!

We've had quite an eventful two weeks...all revolving around the newest addition to our family. More details to come later, but I want to introduce you to Natalie Rebecca, our precious angel who is now a part of our family through the miracle of adoption. We traveled to South Carolina on Monday, March 22nd and stayed until Friday, April 2nd when the paperwork was finally approved for us to bring her home. Natalie was born on March 23, 2010, weighed 5 lbs 13 oz, and was 18.75 inches long. She is a sweet baby and already has her daddy wrapped around her tiny finger. :) I will write more about our trip later...you know, when I have time. ;)

{just arrived!}

{I love mommy}

{the apple of my daddy's eye}

{precious angel}

{happy baby}