Nesting - Not just for hormones

There is a widely known phenomena that happens when pregnant couples (usually around 8 months) feverishly start "nesting," you know, weeding the garden bare, cleaning every nook and cranny in the house, paint rooms, yada yada yada, you get the point.

Most people attribute this "nesting" phase to hormones...well I am pleased to announce that is just hogwash. Nesting has hit our house in full force.

As I write this, David is trying to get the windows back into the back porch after resealing the glass into the frames, adding extra insulation and soon to be repainted to look all spiffy (or so we think). In addition to our "backporch rennovation" this weekend we decided to redo our bathroom and have already removed the tile and bought more materials than I can even list. This is where you insert your "what the ...."

Yes, as I said, nesting has hit our house as a strong as a gale wind.

We have had houseguests for a few weeks, which has somewhat suppressed our desires to create construction zones, but this weekend we woke up, houseguests were gone and realized that we have just 5 weeks to pull off all of our "before the baby comes" - which is a pretty long list and I am fairly positive we won't accomplish even half of the tasks.

Just 5 weeks, wow, October has really crept up on us.

I also realized that I never updated you all about our last trip to WA to see momma A. It was great. We didn't have the awkward first moments to deal with and we really got to spend some time talking, shopping, eating and seeing a movie - it was fun and relaxing. We are thrilled to have so much time to build a relationship with momma A before the baby comes, I really wouldn't want it any other way.

One of our friends here in Eugene is hoping to plan a shower for us, so stay tuned if you are in the area for your invitation.

Gotta get back to the bathroom remodel, building toys, knitting clothes, making curtains, sewing blankets, and oh yeah sleeping, working, eating....

Projects

Here are a few sneak peeks of some of my latest creations for the little one. More pics to come, almost finished with the crib bedding and a couple of new sweaters! Enjoy.

This sweater was actually for a friend's new baby, but it is so cute I had to share!

Little miss eggplant. I just finished a pumpkin hat for another friend's newborn.

My speciality - baby booties!

This sweater is by far my favorite piece...as of yet. It is 100% cotton and just so dang cute.

Honoring the Past

One of the things our service plan requires us to think about and prepare for is how we are going to honor the child's past. One of the ways we are going to do this is to talk with her about where she came from and about her birth family. In addition to talking about the birth family, we are fortunate enough that we have built a strong relationship with the birth mom and the birth mom's grandmother. This will help us to ensure she has a strong sense of herself.

Another way we are already honoring her past is celebrating the awesome gift her birth mom is giving to her...her name. We are excited to be a part in the naming process and think that the gift of her name from her birth mom is such an important gift and way she will always know how much she is loved. We are waiting to announce it until she arrives, but we know you will love it just as much as we do!

Part of honoring the past is taking the opportunities to talk about her birth family when we can. It is important for us (and all of you that will meet her someday) to have these conversations and not shy away from them. Being open and honest is the best way to support her while she is growing up and discovering her sense of self. She is going to go through those stages with or without us, so we prefer it to be with us!

We need to not worry about being rejected as her parents. One of the books we read in our preparation (Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge) talks a lot about this fear and how it is just that, a fear. The author points out that in actuality, adoptees feel completely committed and connected to their adoptive families.

Honoring the little girl's past is going to be a lifelong journey as all parenting is, it is just going to be a journey that our family takes.

Preparation

We have been busy. By busy I mean canning strawberry jam, blueberry jam, raspberry jam, strawberry rhubarb jam, rhubarb chutney and freezing blueberries and strawberries. For those of you who know David and I, this is our courting history! Yes we are food and garden geeks, but who can blame us? We already have so much good food preserved for the winter it is fabulous and with another little mouth to feed, we will have lots of healthy, organic fruits and veggies to feed her!

Speaking of adoption, we have also been consumed with doing our homework. Our agency requires us to complete a "service plan" before we bring our child home. The service plan includes everything from reading adoption books, attachment parenting books, educating ourselves and our family and friends on positive adoption language, take a parenting class, get life insurance, write a will, and so on and so on. It is a lot, but so far it has all been really helpful in getting our life in order to bring home a baby.

We are also planning a trip for next week to visit with momma A in Washington. She and I have been exchanging texts and sharing funny pictures with each other. I am really looking forward to hanging out with her again.

Finally, I have been up to my ears in crafts - collages, knitting, sewing, scrapbooking and so much more. I will share pictures soon. Thanks all for coming along with us on this adventure. Here is one picture of the nursery that I just had to share!

P.S. Have you seen how close we are to reaching our $5,000 goal?! Very exciting. We can't thank you all enough for your donations and support!