Started the nursery!!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas!! We sure did. It was nice spending time with all of our family. We have lots of houses to hit on Christmas, so it gets a little crazy but it was great. Baby P even scored some nice gifts. Little toys, blankets, etc... It was nice that people remembered our baby this Christmas even though he/she isn't physically here. The baby is definitely in our hearts on our mind LOTS!!

Here's a picture of us with all of Tim's siblings and spouses. We're a pretty fun group if you ask me. They all came over to our house the day after Christmas and we had lots of laughs. We played some Rockband and even busted out the camcorder for a couple songs and my oh my... if I posted them - you would pee your pants laughing... no joke... you would. But, am I dumb enough to post a video of me singing Eye of the Tiger for the whole world to see?! NO!! So use your imagination! Our baby has NO idea how dorky his/her parents are... hahaha.

And here is a picture of all of our nieces & nephew. I can't wait for our baby to be in the picture!!

I've been keeping myself VERY busy - makes the time go faster. 6 more days until AGCI opens - woohoo!! So, some fun news to share.... my friend Jenna and I started painting the nursery tonight and it's looking good!! We only did one wall, but that one wall looks FANTABULOUS! We got a late start, so will have to finish later. The color looks good. My edges...not so good. Definitely going to have some touch-ups to do. I'm hoping to do some more painting tomorrow. Oh and Tim did a wonderful job "supervising"... ha. My goal is to have the room painted before I go back to work on the 5th. My mom is throwing a shower for me on the 10th, so need the room done so we have somewhere to put all the goodies!! Can't wait to post pics when the nursery is done.

Merry Christmas

So... no phone call. Boo. It stinks, but I know we are close. We didn't get a referral by Christmas like we'd hope, so now I'm aiming for one by Christmas in Ethiopia which is 1/7.

I did want to say CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who passed court - that's wonderful!! I'm so happy that you found out right away and didn't have to wait until the 5th. Now we all need to pray for Autumn's court date on the 3oth!!! She has waited much too long.

I hope you all have your shopping done, gifts wrapped, groceries bought, house cleaned, etc.. so that you can enjoy the next 2 days with your families!!

From our house to yours... Merry Christmas!!

45 hrs

In 45 hours it will be closing time for AGCI until Jan.5th. Almost 2 weeks of hearing nothing... that's going to stink. So, I'm praying so hard that we hear something in the next 45 hours! I know the chances of us getting a referral before Christmas is very slim, but I'm holding on to just an itty bitty ounce of hope for a Christmas miracle. What I wanted more than anything was to be a Mom this Christmas.

Saying prayers for all of you who have court dates this week!!

Snow Snow and More Snow

Well we got dumped on here in SE Wisconsin... and I mean dumped on. The snow started Thursday night and didn't stop until about noon on Friday. We got about 11 inches. Here is a picture of us opening the back door. Now, keep in mind that there is about a 7" step down and you can see how far the snow is above the door.

Here is a picture of Addy out with the snow. Poor Addy doesn't get the whole yard to run around in. We have to shovel a little circle for her to do her "business" in. And yes that is a little coat she has on. It gets very cold here in WI people! And she wears little fleece boots too otherwise she stands on 3 legs because her feet get so cold. She LOVES her boots and doesn't like going out without them. We don't have any kids, so yes she is our baby and we spoil her. I'm fully aware of that. And Addy is going to have some major issues when Baby P comes.

So we had our Profit Sharing Program at work on Friday despite the snow. Our President brought in the group Three Graces to sing for us. I had never heard of them before, but they were really good. I just got done downloading some of their songs onto my ipod. You should check them out. Alright, it's 1am and past my bedtime. Good Night.

Random Thoughts by Dawny P

So... I'm sure you are checking my blog to see if we've heard anything yet... NOPE! I don't have anything interesting or fun to blog about, so I'll just let you inside my brain for a few minutes. Here are my random thoughts swarming my head....

- I need to send out Christmas cards - no I did not take you off my list - I just haven't sent them yet.
- I need to get some little Christmas gifts for 9 co-workers. *sigh* what should I get?
- I need to get some laundry detergent. How come when Tim does laundry he pours like 1/2 a bottle of detergent in... ugh
- I'm watching Medical Incredible on tv right now and there is this woman with no legs scooting around her living room floor vacuuming. I have 2 legs and I don't vacuum.
- I've been on the hunt for the perfect little teddy bear for the baby. My mom finally found one - the hospital gift shop of all places - it had a dorky little tshirt on it, so we just took that off. I want to send the bear over after we get our referral, but I want it to smell like us, so I'm starting to sleep with it everynight. :)
- I have 7 mos to lose about 30 lbs. I'm in a wedding in July. The bridesmaid dress is very pretty. Not so pretty on me though. Gotta get to work.
- How am I ever going to lose weight around the holidays?! I ate out for lunch today for a celebration lunch thingy with work. I am eating out tomorrow night for a family dinner thing, eating out for lunch on Wednesday with some friends at work, going out on Wednesday night for a holiday dinner/gift exchange with 3 of my very good friends... Oh man....
- What am I going to wear on Friday to the Profit Sharing Program (Christmas program type thing that work does every year - its a dressy occasion)
- Need to get a birthday gift for my friend by Thursday
- Why do I live in WI when it's so stinking cold?
- I need to bring an appetizer to work on Thursday for a potluck lunch
- Need to go shopping for baby gifts for a co-worker to give her on Thursday
- Autumn was right... being #1 is not all it's cracked up to be... I already have anxiety sometimes and I am constantly anticipating a call. Not fun. I mean I'm glad I'm #1, but just very worried that it won't happen before Christmas. I will be very sad if that's the case.
- I need to finish up my Christmas shopping
- I'm so thankful that my work gives us off from the 19th to the 5th!! Thank you SCJ!
- I always read blogs that say how much people struggle with keeping the house clean and doing laundry now with their 3rd, 4th, etc child... I have NO kids and I already can't keep up. How am I going to keep up when the baby comes?
- I'm so happy that I met my buddy Jody!! We've become great friends and I REALLY hope we get to travel together!!
- I really miss our friends in Australia and wish they were going to be here for Christmas.
- I really hate it when I'm driving and the person in the car next to me or in front of me is smoking and the smell of their cigarette smoke gets in my car through the vents. That's so gross and I don't like it.
- I made some chocolate peanut butter bars tonight - they are really really good

Ok, thats what's going on in my noggin right now... As much as being #1 is stressful, I think being #1 right now around the holidays is pretty cool. I'm super busy at work and at home, but there's not a minute that goes by that I don't think about the child that I love more than anything that's on the other side of the world right now. So, I'll just continue to hope and pray that we receive a wonderful phone call this week!

Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Waiting Sucks

Waiting sucks. That pretty much sums up how I feel. I was SO super excited about the thought that we might be #1 last week. Now that it's been a week, I'm feeling antsy. I find that I'm just drained at the end of the day. I find myself ALWAYS anticipating the call. If I walk to the water cooler without my phone I freak out and run back to my desk to see if I missed THE CALL. Nope. About every 20 minutes I look down at my phone - just make sure it's on... make sure I have several bars... yep it's all good - why wouldn't it be. It's always fine... but I just have to check a gazillion times... just in case. Everytime I do anything I think "oh I wonder if I'll get the call in this meeting...or I wonder if I'll get the call while eating lunch with friends today... or I wonder if the phone will ring while I'm going to the bathroom (seriously that's probably when it will happen - my luck it will and YES I will answer!!)... or I wonder if it will happen while I'm driving home from work..etc...etc...etc". I also find myself thinking of our child A LOT. Julie said that there are babies at HH - just waiting on paperwork to get processed. So, I'm pretty sure our child is there. So, I wonder what they are doing... are they in a swing, are one of the special mothers holding them, are they sitting outside watching the older kids play, what's their birth mother doing, etc.... These questions run through my mind all the time. So... I guess I'll continue to just sit and think and daydream... what else am I going to do?

We went to dinner with my cousin & his wife tonight. Today was her due date, but no baby. I was hoping for some action during dinner, but that didn't happen. I said "what would you do if your water broke RIGHT here at Olive Garden!!??" She just looked at me like "uhhh not cool". They asked Tim and I to be the Godparents of their little baby boy that should be coming soon. So, we of course were very honored. I'm so thankful that we have lots of babies in our family - our baby will have lots of cousins his/her age. On our way home from dinner my parents called and said that they were going to stop by to pick up a book...well surprise surprise they brought over the crib that we wanted!! :) WOOHOO!!! I think they are trying to give us a hint to get working on that nursery. Yes, we've been slacking. But we are never home! I'll be off from the 19th to the 5th though, so I'm hoping to make some serious progress. I have lots of ideas swirling in my head, so can't wait to get started. Thanks Mom & Dad - we love you!!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Tim and I went to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party last night and oh man were there a lot of ugly sweaters!

Like our sweaters? Whoever made my sweatshirt was obviously torn and did not know what to do so just did it ALL - whole lotta everything going on! I also have some blinking earrings on, but you can't see those.

We also had a white elephant gift exchange. These are the lovely gifts that Tim and I came home with. Don't ask me what this first thing is - it's one of the strangest/ugliest things I have ever seen! It's a ceramic dog with a furry tail - that's just wrong.




Our little niece Emry was dedicated this morning, so I took a few pictures. Seriously - are they not the cutest red heads ever?!?!

Well...we do know that we are #2 for a girl and there is a very good chance that we are #1 for a boy. We are SO very excited!! Tim wanted to avoid the #1 spot all together and just get a referral before we had a chance to know that we were #1. I'm just thrilled right now, however I'm sure that won't last long. Those that know me know that patience is not one of my strengths. I would LOVE to get a referral by Christmas and Julie said she would hope we would too, but to be prepared just in case that doesn't happen. Well, I'm just pretending like she didn't say that second part. If we are #1 going into Christmas I think I will go crazy. Let's hope for another exciting week of referrals!!!

Could it be?!?!?!

Yeah - that look has been plastered on my face for the past 5 hrs!!! There is a chance that we could be #1 and #2 !! YES PEOPLE - #1 AND #2!! I am freaking out (in a good way)!!! Now, I don't know for sure... but reason to believe... and well Erin thinks so too! :) I haven't gotten our # update yet this week, so I should be hearing from Julie tomorrow. Wouldn't it be nice if she called me with a referral though instead of a #?!?! It would be so nice to not have to sit at that #1 spot long, but I'm just thankful to possibly be at the #1 spot... so no complaints here! I'm sure I won't be sleeping much tonight!

Congrats to all those who received referrals!

WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!

blah

This is what I look like right now. Sneezing, eyes watering, nose running CONSTANTLY, etc etc... BLAH! I couldn't help but think... what if Julie from AGCI calls today and I'm so out of it from my cold medicine and ambien (oh ambien I love you) that I don't hear the phone?! I'm going to sleep with the phone next to my ear!

Dozing off to benadryl....

Thankful

I was tagged by my bloggin buddy Margaret to post 5 things that I'm thankful for.

1. I'm so thankful for adoption. We are loving this journey and feel fortunate to be able to start a family this way. I'd be even more thankful if we'd get a referral call SOON!!! :)

2. My husband. Tim is wonderful....he loves me very much and I know I don't tell him enough how much I appreciate him. I love you Tim!

3. My family & friends. They support us in everything we do and are always there for us. Plus they are fun and just awesome....I love them so much.

4. For the birthmother of our child... for the most unselfish decision that she is going to make. We are forever grateful.

5. I'm thankful that Tim and I both don't need to worry about losing our jobs in this stinky economy. Everyday I'm hearing of more and more companies laying people off and I think I often take it for granted that we don't have to worry about that. So, I'm thankful for our job security!

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!! I know we did - I got to spend lots of time loving up my nieces and nephew. Oh and the gravy I made today was pretty much amazing if I may so myself!! I know several of you have all done posts on what you are thankful for, so if you haven't yet - consider yourself tagged!

Turning that frown upside down!

I was SOOO happy that there were 2 more referrals given out today - YAY!! That puts us at...

AND

I have now officially set a different ringtone for when the agency calls. I chose "More than Anyone" by Gavin DeGraw. It is my FAVORITE song!!! Now, I just hope I don't get any false alarms from them! Hopefully we'll get an email next week instead of a phone call for our number update! Congrats Sunday & Kristi!!!

Barbados...I miss you

Well, I haven't posted in quite awhile now. I guess I didn't have much to post about - pretty quiet on the referral front (besides my bloggin buddy Erin - wohoo!!). That puts us at #5 and #8. I have to admit that the wait is getting hard. Really hard. I am glued to the computer everyday in hopes of hearing of some referrals. We are longing to know if it's going to be a girl or a boy... an itty bitty thing or a little chunk... it's so hard not to know. It's been 4 months, 2 weeks and 3 days on the wait list... but who's counting. However, we are very excited that more families got their travel calls and will be going over in a few weeks!!

Since I woke up this morning to yucky snow, I thought I would take a little trip down memory lane to one year ago today. This is what I was doing.....

Last year at this time was tough. Tim and I were not in a good place. It was clear that we would be spending another Christmas without a child. The infertility stuff was really wearing on us and we needed to escape. So, what better to do than to go on a 10 day cruise?!?! It was AMAZING!! It was exactly what we needed. We needed to get away from our everyday life, doctors, cell phones, tv, etc etc... It was soooooooo nice. And oh do I miss Barbados....

Tagged

Ok, I've been tagged by Amy... so here it is folks. I'm supposed to take the 4th picture out of the 4th folder on my computer and tell you about it.

This is a picture of 2 of my nieces - Bayli & Ava catching some sun on our patio this summer. Oh do I miss summer and my flip flops. You can't see their faces, but trust me - they are the cutest redheads you ever did see. I promise!!

I'm SO very happy because I took tomorrow off - WAHOO!!! And what am I doing? Oh nothing. Sleeping in and just catching up on housework. We've been so busy lately and I've gotten so behind in the housework, so I need a day to just catch up. It's kind of sad to look forward to a day of cleaning....lame-O!!!

Ok, now I need to tag others. I have no idea who has been tagged. So, if you were already tagged - sorry. Let's go with Jody, Kristi, Erin, Kristin and Karen. And I have no idea how you other girls link the names to the blogs. Someone needs to tell me how to do that.

Bizarre Foods in Ethiopia

Have you ever seen the show Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel? I've never seen it, but I saw a commercial for it and I set the tivo to record it. Tomorrow night Andrew Zimmern is in Ethiopia experiencing Bizarre Foods. Just thought you all might want to check it out. He goes to a few different villages and cities and one of them is Addis Ababa. Check it out!!

YES

Are you a "yes" person? I'm a YES person...completely. I never say no. It's definitely an issue I have, but I just can't stop. I have a very hard time saying no to anyone. Why am I that way? I have no idea. I guess I'm afraid to disappoint people. Whether it's someone at work asking for help, or a friend asking me to go to dinner, or an invitation to a party, or a family member asking me to watch my nieces, etc etc etc... you name the circumstance... I can't say no. Now it's almost always something I do want to do or help with, but I have a hard time fitting everything in. I've been very overwhelmed lately - the social calendar has been a little out of control. So, I'm trying my best to pull back a bit and give myself more time for ME. If anyone has any advice out there on how to say "no" nicely... I'm listening. I wish I could just be ok with saying "I'd love to, but I can't". I think it, but I just can't say it. Ok, well thanks for listening to my rambling post about nothing.

P.S. No I have not received new #'s from AGCI yet. But, I'm not too concerned seeing as I know what our #'s are. Oh and waiting sucks...as if you didn't already know. I'm not a patient person - at ALL.

Halloween Party

Tim and I went to a little Halloween Party on Saturday. Tim came up with the great idea of being Michael Phelps & his mom Debbie. So... introducing...Michael & Debbie Phelps...

A Fax With Wings...

I was just thinking of this story earlier today and thought I'd share it with all of you. This happened back in January and well it's just funny - read it. I promise it will make you chuckle. And we all know we could use one right about now.

Little background - my boss was having a meeting all day at an offsite location and I had requested that this place fax me their menu, so I could pre-order some food. Well, the fax wasn't coming, so I called back a few hours later to remind her. Here is our conversation.

ME: Hi, this is Dawn calling to remind you to please fax me that menu so I can order food for tomorrow.
LADY: Oh, I'm so glad you called because we have a problem.
ME: Ok – what is the problem?
LADY: Well, I only have 1 copy of the menu, so I can't fax it to you because then I won't have my copy left.
ME: (shocked and stunned that she just said this…I sit there in silence)
LADY: Hello – are you still there?
ME: Uhhh…yeah
LADY: Yeah, so I'm sorry I can't fax that to you.
ME: Umm…when you fax something it doesn't go away, it just sends a copy.
LADY: Oh, I don't think so. I mean, I'll try it. But I don't think so.

So, I had to just hang up right there because I was about to bust a gut laughing. Does she think that when you put something into the fax machine that it grows wings and flies over to the person?!?! So, there is your little laugh for the day.

I did eventually receive the fax about 5 hrs after our conversation. TOO funny!!

Adoption Benefit...AMAZING!!!

Ok, as I said the other day...our friends and my mom planned an AWESOME fundraiser for us last week. They had bingo, beautiful gift baskets and a 50/50 raffle. There were 100 people there on Thursday night. It was an amazing feeling to look around the room and see all of our friends and family there to support us. There were lots of people there that don't even know us. We are very overwhelmed by all of the love, support and generosity.

As most of you know, our #'s right now are #6 for a boy and #9 for a girl. So..the first game of bingo that night...first number called was #69. I was thinking wow - that's cool those are both of our #'s. Second number called was #9. Wow - alright now I have the goosebumps - very cool. Third number called was #6. Ok, the tears started coming at this point. SERIOUSLY?! How cool is that!! Everyone in the room was amazed - VERY cool little story!!

Again, thank you to everyone who came out to support us. And thank you to my very best friends and mom for all of your hard work on putting this together. We are forever grateful...

Here is a little slideshow that Tim put together of the event. Turn up the volume - there's a nice little song to go along with it! :)

Speechless...

Tim and I just got home from our fundraiser. We are absolutely speechless. We are so overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and generosity from people! The night was AMAZING!! THANK YOU girls for putting this on and thank you to EVERYONE who came to show us support. We cannot thank you enough...from the bottom of our hearts we thank you.

I'll post more about the event this weekend. Tim and I are pooped and off to bed - we are exhausted!

Love to you all,
Dawn & Tim

Single Digits

We are now in the single digits on BOTH lists! This makes us VERY happy!! I'm doing a happy dance as we speak!

For a BOY...



For a GIRL...

So Cute

My little cousin wrote this sweet letter to my aunt last night. She is undergoing chemo treatment right now for breast cancer. She woke up to this note sitting on her computer. So precious...

Friends

Ok, I know I always say how I have great friends, but I REALLY do. This group of friends and my Mom have organized a fundraiser for Tim and I. Neither Tim or I are good at asking for help. We would have never asked for any help financially for our adoption expenses. So, this is a huge blessing for us! The group got together last night to put together gift baskets, make signs, and wrap up some details. Here are a few pictures.

These are some of the gorgeous gift baskets they put together!!

And here is the flyer that they did.

We are very excited for Thursday!! Thanks again to all my friends (and mom)!!!

Today, I had coffee with my new friend Karla (Hi Karla - if you are reading this). Her family is adopting from Ethiopia (with Gladney) and just relocated here from Texas. She is the first person I've met in town here adopting from Ethiopia. She is very nice and I'm looking forward to having an "adopting friend" here in town. I'm also working on getting a group started for Southeast WI. So, if anyone out there reads my blog and lives around the area and has adopted, or in the process or simply just thinking about it - PLEASE let me know and I'll add you to the list!

Ok, now I'm off to continue moping around the house because it's Sunday night. Does everyone else get super depressed on Sunday nights? Tim and I get pretty pathetic on Sunday nights. Blah.

TAG - I'm it!!

Ok, I've been tagged by Autumn & Margaret - so here I go. Here are 7 random/strange things about myself. I could probably do like 100, but we'll just stick to the required 7.

1. I often say that certain things should be "illegal". My #1 thing that I think should be illegal is waking up when it's still dark outside. I'm sorry, but that's just not right. Come on people - let's make that a law, ok? Mullets...well that's a close second.. I have a whole list - but we'll save that for a future blog.

2. I have a large patch of grey hair in the back of my head. I've always had it since I was a little girl. I dyed my hair once in high school and my grey patch turned purple. Safe to say - I've never done that again.

3. I'm a picky eater...a really picky eater. Growing up my brother and I were allowed to have 2 foods that we didn't ever have to eat. Mine were mashed potatoes and steak. Yes, I know those are most people's favorite foods. I'm weird...I know.

4. I'm 27 yrs old and I still run up the stairs when I come up from the basement...JUST in case a weird man is chasing me.

5. I love wearing sweats and a t-shirt. As soon as I get home from work everyday - the work clothes come off and the comfies come on.

6. I won the spelling bee in 4th grade. I LOVE spelling still. I almost always notice when people mispell and it really bothers me and I want to correct them. But, I don't...but I really really want to. Well..I do to Tim all the time and it bugs him

7. I carry chapstick with me everywhere I go. If I don't have chapstick on me I'll freak out.

Ok...that wasn't so bad. So...I'm now tagging...

Jody, Kristi, Erin, Karen, Kristin, Christin, Renee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So...the adoption education class today went really well. A bit of information overload, but all in all it was good. We really enjoyed the speakers and sessions that they had. Lots learned!

Ok and I just have to tell you. You know our crazy squirrel issues, right? Ok..so in our local newspaper this week there was an article on how this squirrel attacked a man outside his home!! He had three 1/2" deep scratches. A police officer came to the scene and the squirrel came back and started chasing them again. The police officer ended up having to kill the squirrel. He gave it a beat down with his baton. Ok people - now you know I was not exaggerating! We have crazy squirrels in Southeast Wisconsin! Watch out people...

Slacker? Yes...I am

Ok, so I have been very busy and have been slacking - sorry! Ok, so what have we been up to? Lots! First of all...Oprah was great!! The show aired on Monday and if you looked closely you saw my 4.3 seconds of fame. The camera was panning the audience and everyone has a normal look on their face and I have this huge smile plastered on my face like a major cheeseball. There wasn't a funny joke or anything like that...nope just me being giddy because I was at the Oprah show. Haha...oh well. AND I must say that I did make eye contact with Oprah and I think I could tell what she was thinking. "Hmmm...that girl looks fun - I think I want to be her friend". MOVE OVER GAYLE!! Yeah - maybe not, but I'm kinda hoping for a phone call from her. So...all in all it was a fun experience.

Then over the weekend Tim and I did lots of projects around the house. We have to convert our office into a nursery. So, Tim built a new shelving unit in one of our closets, did some major cleaning, moved the desk out, etc etc. We made some good progress, but still more to be done. I've also moved to a new job at work - so things have been pretty hectic and I've been working some extra hours. And tomorrow Tim and I are headed to a Adoption Education class (it's mandatory through our homestudy agency). I'm looking forward to that because it sounds like we'll be discussing some good topics and we'll also get to meet other families. One of the families that we'll meet there is on the siblings list with AGCI - so that will be nice. Then we have our fundraiser next week that our friends are pulling together for us - I can't wait!! As far as adoption stuff...not much to report. I think we are #11 and #12 - hopefully we see some more referrals come out soon. And hopefully some families make it through their court dates so that they can go and pick up their children - there are soooo many families wanting to pick up their children SO bad!! Some have been waiting since June!! Ugh - I can't even imagine. So, please say a little prayer for those families. Well, seeing as I have to get up in 5 hrs I should probably try and get some sleep. Good night!

Numbers Numbers & Oprah Scoop

Ok, so we got our OFFICIAL #'s from AGCI today, but I know that they aren't necessarily accurate because there were some referrals given out this week that aren't reflected in the #'s we were given. So...the #'s that we were given are #15 for a girl and #11 for a boy. I know that there were 3 girl referrals given out and 1 boy referral given out this week. They do not make the change in the #'s until the referrals are officially accepted and that takes a few days. So - I think we are #12 for a girl and #10 for a boy. I'm very excited that we are close to being a single digit. I don't know why, but in my head that is a BIG deal!! So, when I think we are a single # - I will be doing a little happy dance here in WI.

Ok, onto my Oprah news. I heard back from the staff today and got the dillio. So, the first thing everyone keeps asking me is how in the world did you get tickets. I've tried calling for years and have also sent emails - nothing worked. Then Monday night I just thought I would try again, so I sent a little email and badabingbadaboom....THEY CALLED ON TUESDAY!! The other popular question has been who are you taking. Now, I know many people that would love to go, but there are only 3 other tickets. My friend Jenna was a given. We've always had a pact that we would take eachother if we got tickets. Then of course I have to bring my mom - cause well she's my MOM. Then there was the last and final ticket.... I asked Tim if he was interested. Now it's not something he would necessarily admit, but yes he does watch Oprah with me. No, not everyday but probably twice a week. He said that he would feel bad going when he knows that my friend Debra is a huge fan. He said that she would appreciate the ticket way more than he would. So...there you have it. That's my little Oprah Show crew. The show is being taped on Friday. We have to be there no later than 11am (but people stand in line early) and will be there until 4pm. Ok - you want to know the topic, right? Well, it's not the IDEAL topic, but hey I'll take it. It's a show called "Can you afford it" with Suzie Orman. I mean I guess it could be worse...it could be one of the book club shows or a show on erectile dysfunction. You laugh, but that would be my luck. I actually like Suzie Orman, yes sometimes she can be quite mean...but I like how she is very direct. And I'm sorry but if you are going to go on National TV and tell the world that you have $90k in credit card debt and act surprised that you need to sell your house...then you need some harsh reality. Now, I just need to figure out what to wear! They said no beige or white. They told me that they would tell us the air date on Friday, so I'll let you all know when I find that out. I'm off to rummage through my closet.....

I'M GOING TO THE OPRAH SHOW!!!!

My friend Jenna and I have tried for YEARS to get tickets to go see the Oprah show and we never get through the phone lines. But, guess what?!?!? I GOT TICKETS TODAY!!!! I'm SOOOO excited!! I don't know details yet because I'm still waiting for one of the staff members to call me back...so I'll post tomorrow when I have more details. WOOHOOO!!!!!! What am I going to wear?!?!?

P.S. no, I don't have official #'s yet, maybe tomorrow. I think I have a good idea of what they are, but I'll wait to hear what AGCI has to say.

Infertility Sucks

For those of you who have dealt with infertility and those that haven’t, I think we can both agree that infertility sucks. I’m often asked about our infertility and I have no problems discussing it. Tim and I tried to conceive for almost 3 years. They were the hardest 3 years of my entire life. Infertility consumed my thoughts every second of everyday. Everyday it seemed to get harder and harder. Everyday was a struggle. I woke up in the morning and went to sleep at night with the same thoughts everyday…”I’m not pregnant”. The 5 million pills a day surely didn’t help either. I had anxiety, insomnia, emotions up the wazoo, hot flashes, you name the symptom…I had it. Towards the end I was literally choking the pills down everyday. One of the hardest things was hearing that both of my sister in-laws were pregnant. You have no idea how hard it is to love someone so much, but find it so hard to be happy for them. It’s horrible…I hated it. I wanted nothing more than to share in their happiness with them, but couldn’t. I couldn’t find it within me. I felt so selfish, but didn’t know what to do. I do not miss those days at all. When Tim and I made the decision to adopt – all of that depression went away. We could not be happier with the decision that we made. If it took 3 years of super hard times to get to this point…then it was worth it. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. So, for those of you who know someone dealing with infertility – here are a few pointers. I had amazing support from family & friends, but let’s face it, they don’t always know the right things to say. I know that everyone had the right intentions, but when you are SO sensitive when you are dealing with infertility. Here’s my advice.

DON’T ask someone constantly “when are you going to have a baby?”
I got this question ALL the time. I admit I too would ask others the same question in the past. But, don’t do that anymore. We did not share our struggles with everyone for quite sometime, so when people didn’t know we were trying they would ask all the time. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs “I’M TRYING – LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!”

DON’T expect them to attend a baby shower
There is nothing worse than going to a baby shower. I avoided them. Not because I wanted to be selfish, but I knew that was not a healthy situation for me. The point of a baby shower was to celebrate with the mother and that’s not something I could do.

DON’T think you have to tell them in person that you are pregnant
When I would hear of someone close to me being pregnant – it was a hard time. The initial reaction is not a pretty one. I needed my time to be upset and cry and deal with it. I didn’t want someone to call me or tell me to my face because that would not allow me to react. I preferred to hear it from my husband or get it in an email. It gave me space and time.

DON’T tell them to relax and stop trying or “it will happen”
That’s just nonsense. There is nothing more in the entire world that I wanted than to be pregnant and when someone would say this to me – it just irked me. And the worst one for me personally was “oh – don’t worry – it will happen”. No, it might NOT happen. Please don’t tell me it’s going to happen when you don’t know that. As you can tell – it clearly didn’t. Again, let me say I know people mean well, but whatever you do – don’t say that to someone.

DON’T say “As soon as my friend ‘so and so’ adopted, they got pregnant”
There are many adoptive parents that have not gotten pregnant on their own. There is no guarantee that anything will help someone get pregnant. And it also sends the wrong message for the adopted child as well.

DO let them know that you are thinking of them and are available if they ever want to talk
I didn’t want to talk about my situation all the time. So if they bring it up – then that’s the ok to talk about it. If they don’t – just leave it alone.

Do acknowledge the man in the relationship
I think often times people would show sympathy to me, but forget about Tim. Tim was grieving and struggling as well. So, when someone would send him a note to tell him that they were thinking of HIM and if there was anything he needed. That was nice.

So, ok I’m really not trying to preach here. But, hopefully if you haven’t dealt with infertility – you will find this helpful. And if you are dealing with it, then please know that everyone is different and deals with things in their own way. You are allowed to have the feelings you do and you are not selfish. You have to protect yourself. Again…I had great support from everyone and still do while we are in this process. And I must say that I have the best husband in the entire world. Tim was awesome through the whole process. I was an emotional mess for a long time and he put up with me and loved me through it all. It wasn’t “my” problem, it was “our” problem. I was very surprised to hear the divorce rates for couples dealing with infertility. I found that it did the exact opposite for us. It brought us so close and strengthened our relationship so much. Ok, I’m done now – I promise. Yikes, sorry this was so long! And let me say again, we are VERY happy with where we are at right now. We feel that this was the plan all along, we just had to go through that mess to get to this point.

Good Night.

Sshhhhh...Courts in Session

Courts are back open!! I'm very excited for everyone who is awaiting travel dates. I hope things move quickly so they can go and pick up their children! And for all of us waiting for referrals - I hope those referrals come flying out in the next couple weeks!! I'm starting to get antsy...I don't want to wait anymore.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. It was a very exciting weekend for Brewer fans!!! WOOHOO!!! GO BREWERS!!!

Happy Birthday Tim & Crazy Squirrel Lover

HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY PAUL SIMON...oops I mean TIM!!!!

hahahaha....ok Tim is totally going to kill me for posting this picture, but oh well!! I love you Tim!!

I have another squirrel update for you. Yes, the squirrel saga continues. So...we have now caught 3 squirrels...can you believe it?! We've been thinking that it was 1 squirrel making our lives miserable, but nope...it was a family affair. Well, there are still more to be caught. The problem has definitely gotten better...but the mama squirrel has been spotted a few times. Our new problem is the mysterious SQUIRREL LOVER. Yes, apparently there is someone out there that loves squirrels and does not like the fact that we are catching them and letting them go out in fields. We are not killing them. So...whoever you are out there - PLEASE STOP LETTING THE SQUIRRELS OUT OF THE TRAPS!! Ugh!! Someone is letting the squirrels out of the traps and actually breaking the traps. Now come on people...find something better to do with your time. I'm thinking this lady lives in my neighborhood. Squirrels are not pets, they are yucky rodents that want to attack us - so leave them alone!

To be continued...

Cute Bib

How funny is this bib?!? My aunt got it for us and I just think it's the funniest thing!!

WHAT?!?!

So, these past few days have been cRaZy with referrals!!! I could NOT be happier!! A smile is plastered on my face!! Our new unofficial numbers are....

Isn't that EXCITING!?!?! WAHOO!!! I think it's about time I got working on the nursery!!

It's a Good Day!!

It's a GOOD day!! Autumn & Brian FINALLY received their referral - man did they wait a long time for that. SO very happy for them! And 2 other families also received referrals. So...that means we are moving down that list.

That would put us at #16 for a boy and #17 for a girl. Now of course these are not "official" numbers from our agency. But they are official enough for me!

Also...wanted to give you a little update on the squirrel situation. So, Tim was realizing this his bb gun skills just weren't doing the trick. The squirrel was not planning on leaving anytime soon. He even somehow managed to get into our attic. I'm telling you - this is a PROFESSIONAL we are dealing with here. The little bugger knows what he's doing. Tim gave in and called pest control on Monday. So, they came over on Monday evening and set 3 traps outside to catch the thing. Tim is like a little kid on Christmas Eve...sneaking outside to take a peek to see if we had caught one. Well, Tuesday morning - nothing. He came home from work yesterday to see the squirrel standing on TOP of the trap munching on some of the peanuts that were placed inside the trap. Nice.........real nice. We paid the pest control people to come over and FEED the squirrel. Ugh. Ok, so again this morning Tim goes out...yep there he is eating his breakfast on TOP of the trap. So, Tim comes in this morning and says I'm calling that pest control place because the traps aren't working. He wasn't so happy. So Tim leaves for work and I'm still getting ready and I can hear the thing whining and whining and whining. I go outside....HA!!!! HA HA HA!!! It's in there!!! Squirrel - CAUGHT!!! Take that....sucka!!!!!!

It's a good day for the Prusts!!

Introducing....

Sweet Little Emry Tayte....

Emry was born at 6:51pm on Friday after being stubborn for poor Mom all day. My sister-in law Tammie asked me a couple of months ago if I would be in the delivery room with her and I of course said yes. I think it was an honor for her to ask me and it's something I may not experience myself, so am happy to have experienced with her. Those that know me know that I don't like needles, blood, hospitals, etc... So, I was a little nervous about everything I was going to see, but none of it bothered me at all. I actually surprised myself. It was incredible, and Tammie - well, she is just amazing. She is a trooper thats for sure - no epidural (she is crazy if you ask me!!). Here are a few pictures from Friday...

Obviously, this is still when Tammie was about a "2" on the pain scale. We are still smiling at this point...

So, I'll just skip all the pictures inbetween. I'm not sure Tammie would appreciate those being posted. :)

Fresh outta the oven...

Holding Daddy's finger...

SO excited to meet their new baby sister...

Family of 5 (doesn't Tammie look GREAT for just being in labor for almost 10 hrs?!)

I love them...

Ava Grace

Tim has been having lots of fun taking pictures the past few weeks. His favorite thing to take pictures of are our nieces of course. Here are some that he took this past weekend of little Miss Ava. Don't you want to just kiss those cheeks?!

BEWARE OF SQUIRREL

Let me tell you about our little friend....Mr.Squirrel. I guess I should rephrase that because he is NOT our friend. We have had this OBNOXIOUS squirrel taunting us for a couple of months now. This thing is not afraid of anything or anyone. We will be standing 5 ft away from the thing and it doesn't move or flinch. It sticks its little butt up in the air...shakes his bushy tail and makes these noises at us. It seriously wants to attack us. The first time I got really scared and ran in the house. It does the same thing to Addy too (our dog). Tim borrowed a bb gun from my Grandpa and was convinced he was going to take care of the problem. It's actually quite entertaining. Everytime Tim hears the squirrel or Addy alerts us that it's in the backyard - he runs outside with the bb gun and shoots away. He has shot the squirrel several times and sometimes it doesn't seem to care too much and sometimes it scurries off...but it always always always comes back. Many of our friends have been over and witnessed our crazy squirrel and laugh as Tim runs in the house...gets his bb gun and plays target practice. We've set a trap and put some very enticing peanuts in there...but the squirrel isn't buying it yet. I don't mind your ordinary squirrels running around the yard - but this one is just plain cRaZy. Have you ever heard a squirrel whine? If not - consider yourself lucky - it's ANNOYING - this thing is so stinkin' loud. So, if you have any suggestions on how we can avoid being attacked by our vicious squirrel that won't go away - PLEASE let me know!

Meeting in the Flag Store & Pee Pee Tea Party!!

Want to hear a VERY cool story??!! Of course you do! Ok...here I go... So, tonight Tim and I decided to ride our bikes downtown because the Extreme Volleyball Pro Tour is at the beach this weekend and also on the first Friday of the summer months all the shops stay open late, they have live music, ice cream, you know just stuff like that. So, we locked up the bikes and just walked in and out of shops, went to the art museum, listened to some music, etc. We then decide to go into this Map & Flag store because we wanted to get an Ethiopian flag. So we get our little flag and then we walk over to the maps and Tim pulls open this fold out map of Ethiopia and we are looking at it. This woman who was shopping in there came up to us and said "Hey - you're looking at an Ethiopian map - are you planning on going there?" I said "yes - we're actually adopting from there". She says "I was born in Ethiopia". I said "really?!" (she's white - so I was a bit surprised). Turns out she was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia because her parents did mission work there. She's lived, in Racine, for 6 yrs now, but her brother still lives there. Her brother works with groups that come over to do mission work. So...she was VERY excited to hear that we are adopting from there. She wants me to keep in touch with her and let her know how things are going. She's going to hook us up with her brother while we are over there. It will be so nice to meet with him and have him take us around. I'm sure our agency will be great with all of that, but will be nice to have another "connection" there. She has some friends that live in the area here that are leaving tomorrow to go pick up their child from Ethiopia too. So...needless to say - I was SO excited. I walked out of the flag store in tears. I mean think about it what are the chances that we are in the store at the exact same time as her and when we are looking at an Ethiopian map - she walks by and sees what we are looking at?! Coincidence? Nope...I don't think so. That was God. What an awesome way to start the weekend!! Oh and the picture above is our purchase from the flag store.

Before we went downtown...we got a special invitation to a PEE PEE TEA PARTY!! Have you ever been to one?? Our niece, Ava started potty training a couple of weeks ago and once she earned 5 stickers - she got to have a pee pee tea party! Uncle Timmy & Aunty Dawny were lucky enough to get invited. We had a lovely tea party with cookies & milk (we pretended it was tea) and balloons too. I did however feel a little underdressed for the occasion because Bayli & Ava were oh so cute in their pink dresses and jewels.

(had to put one in of big sister Bayli)