Nursery Reveal (finally)

Finally, finally, FI-NAL-LY the nursery is done. We've been waiting for-ever for the crib to come in. This has been the most painstaking process, but thankfully I love the finished result, and it came out very close to my original plan. A little back story. Back in November, we started to get the feeling that our adopted son or daughter might come to us with less time on the clock, so to speak, than we originally thought. When we first started the adoption process we thought that we'd be matched with a situation with 8-12 weeks of the pregnancy left, but what we were seeing was often so much less than that. Often 3 weeks or less (if only we'd known what we'd actually get). I knew that I didn't want to throw a room together in a couple of weeks... not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just that I've dreamed about my nursery since I was a very little girl. I remember watching Father of the Bride Part 2 and looking at the unbelievable room that Frank designs and thinking, THAT-that will be my room. I knew what I wanted would take more time, so I was forced to decide. I either needed to be willing to be happy with a room I could put together on the fly, or I needed to be okay with starting a room for a baby that was only a hope and a prayer at that point.

We started very slowly. In December, my mom and I just went out to casually look at furniture and see what was available, what I might like, ect. Well, that trip really motivated me. I'm not sure why I thought you could walk in and walk out with your crib, dresser, and rocker, but that proved to not be the case. Sam and I decided that we'd slowly begin to work on the room. We knew in light of our goal to work on the nursery before the match, that we would not know the gender. Thankfully, neutrals would be my go to choice for a nursery. In light of our infertility journey, and as I thought about the space and using it prior to the match, I really wanted a calm, tranquil space, one that I could sit in and dream, pray, and wait. In January, I stumbled across a great deal on some Pottery Barn Kids bedding that I thought could work for a boy of a girl (and that I really loved). We also got a GREAT deal on a rocker from Pottery Barn Kids. And slowly the idea for the room began to take shape. We started to clear out the room that would turn into the nursery. I began to plan a little more and created a Pinterest board of things that I liked. Eventually, I whittled that down to create "the plan."

The first purchase for the room was this quilt. The colors
and design of the room were inspired by this.

I'd love to give you a tour of the little space we've created for Garrison (and let's be real here, it's mostly for me). Won't you come in?

This is the view when you walk in the door. Maybe a bit cramped with the
rocking chair,  but we're making it work. The crib and dresser are by
Dolce Babi. The traditional crib is brand new (which is why it took FOUR
months to receive) and I LOVE it. 

Same thing, just giving you an idea of layout… the dresser is directly
across from the window. The stencil on the wall is inspired by
the pattern on the quilt and sheets.

A close up of the quilt-- the inspiration behind the stenciled wall.

Photos are from Garrison's newborn session by Jessica Tanner.

We actually left the room the same color (Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray)
we originally painted when we moved in… miraculously it worked
out better than I was expecting. We added the board and batten because
A- I love it and B- it helps make the gray furniture pop.

We added the two shelves on either side of the dresser to give some
space to place a few personal touches. The shelf on the left has a photo
from Garrison's newborn shoot in a frame from my great aunt. The gold
animals are from my shower and the print is the words to "Oceans" by
Hillsong given to me by a sweet friend.

The shelf on the right has a letter G wrapped in gray yarn (because Pinterest
said to), another golden animal (I need one more), a photo box of all of
the prints from Garrison's newborn shoot, a ceramic baby shoe with his birth
stats, and the frame of his monthly stats. I'll replace the monthly stats with
a family photo as soon as I get one printed.

The rocker is from Pottery Barn Kids. It's admittedly less about functionality
and more about how much I freaking love that rocker. My dear, sweet friend
Jennie made the blanket on the rocker for Garrison. It's one of my favorite
things! The curtains are also Pottery Barn Kids. It's the world's smallest window
for the biggest, thickest, heaviest, curtains, but again, I really love them.
Oh, and cat is a bonus feature. She blends quite well, don't ya think?

Two hand-lettered prints hang on either side of the
window. These are both from the etsy shop: PENscriptink.
This one is Psalm 61:2.

The second print is part of the hymn, "It is Well with My Soul."
Rachel from PENscriptink did these prints custom for me
and I painted plain white mats to get some extra gold.

To the right of the window is a little blanket ladder
Sam made for some of our favorite blankets.

On either side of the closet I hung a set of prints of baby animals.
This beautiful artwork is from the etsy shop: studioQ 

I chose the penguin because my incredibly talented friend
 Kristin is an interior designer and she LOVES penguins and she
let me pester her for weeks with questions about the room.

The peacock was a custom order from studioQ to tie
in with the quilt from Pottery Barn Kids. 

We knew we'd need more storage and more logical 

use of the closet space.  Sam made this from IKEA

shelving. All of the storage containers are from Target. 

A close up of Garrison's "library." The "A" and "Z" bookends are one of
the only crafts I made for the room, though it feels like the
room was one giant craft project.

In the corner you can see the puzzle from our fundraiser…
it's not hung properly yet, but you get the idea.

Probably Garrison's least favorite room choice-- I removed the ceiling fan
and had Sam install this light fixture. I'm pretty sure Garrison would have
preferred the ceiling fan…you live and learn. However, I like it,
and Sam installed a dimmer so it's great for bedtime.

So that's pretty much it. It was definitely a labor of love, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who loved any of the labor. Sam will probably never again let me say, "I have an idea." I'm so thankful that he put up with all of my ideas and worked so hard on all the projects. From installing crown to board and batten and from closet shelving to light fixtures, it was a lot of work, but I love the finished product. Garrison might just keep this room until he's 18.

Disclaimer- I put the giant stuffed elephant, quilt, and bumpers on just for the purpose of photographing the room. They are all carefully packed away again. No one need feel compelled to warn me about bumpers or suffocation or anything. : )

Sitting Pretty in the Midst of Adoption

It's been a while since I've updated about the adoption, so I figured now is as good of time as any! I wish I had tons and tons of secret info that I'd been hiding away for a big announcement but, well , really I haven't been updating because there's not much to say. I feel pretty frustrated when I think about it and overwhelmed if I dwell on it, so I choose the really mature option and watch Gilmore Girls reruns rather than think about adoption.

I feel like we missed out on a pretty good window back in October and November. During those two months we were seeing A LOT of cases, like between two and five a week. But we weren't ready to put our names forward yet because we were still finalizing our home study. One of the most frustrating parts is that we did complete our home study in October, but we didn't get the paperwork we needed for three and half weeks. It really seems like we got our paperwork, applied for the one situation, and then everything ground to a complete halt. We've been seeing about one to two (or less) cases a week since then, and for all intents and purposes, it's basically none because those we have seen have been so expensive... $38,000 for a stork drop last week, $55,000 for twins due later in January. In total, we've seen about five cases in the last four months that have been within out budget. I typically skim the cost analysis, see the total number and then delete the email... what in the world am I supposed to do with numbers like that?

We were told that the end of the year, with all of the holidays, is typically very slow in the adoption world. And man, that was the truth. It's now two weeks after the first of the year and we have seen a few cases come though, so maybe things will begin to speed up a bit now. It still feels like a slow time in general. It appears we missed a good time in the fall and now we'll have to wait it out. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated. Just about everyone we spoke with that used our adoption consultant was matched within five months of working with her... many brought their babies home within that time. We have also chosen to pay a little bit of extra money in order to become clients of two attorneys, one in Florida and one in Oklahoma. They were both referred to us from our adoption consultant, but we've yet to see any cases from either of them... it's just silent out there.

However, despite the lack of movement in getting matched, we're doing pretty well in other areas. Fundraising is going pretty well, for which I'm out of my mind with thankfulness. Towards the end of the year, we got a few really unexpected donations from supporters. You guys, people I haven't seen or spoken to since high school have donated. Cue sobs and uncontrollable ugly cries. We also had a really fantastic fundraiser back in November where one of Sam's patients offered to make wreaths for the front door and sell them. She donated all of her time, which was about the sweetest thing ever. And get this, we ended up getting $3,400 from that fundraiser. Be still my heart. Who would have thought?

So far, we've raised $15,927 and sold 630 puzzle pieces. That's 370 left to go. Eeeek! Speaking of the puzzle, it's done. We actually finished putting it together several weeks ago; I've just been dragging on getting the names on the back. It's a pretty tedious process, but I think it's going to look pretty cool when it's all done (I hope).

The back of the puzzle with a very measly number of names filled in.

If you add in the money that Sam and I have put in, we're at a total of $19,421. Our original goal was for this adoption to cost about $30,000. Truth be told, I'm currently hoping to stay under $35,000 as I'm seeing our expenses continue to add up, but we're not actually any closer to bringing a baby home. We were pretty close to running out of time with You Caring (it was set to expire on January 15th), but I contacted them and got an extension, so now we're set to expire on March 15th.

In other news, I made the most insane purchase of my life... a rocker. More specifically a rocker for the NURSERY. I feel like a woman possessed... who took hold of my body? Honestly, the nursery is 50% done in theory... we've picked out a crib, dresser, rocker, and bedding. I figure that amounts to at least 50%, right? Now that I sit here with an empty email inbox, and no sign of a match in sight, it feels a bit rash (understatement of the year).

When we submitted for the first baby back in November, I was really surprised by the time frame... just five days until the due date. It was a complete shock. And since then, we've seen more and more situations that have had a really quick time frame. Some where the baby is already born and others where the due date is just a day or two away. These scenarios were really not what I was expecting... I figured we'd have at least a month or more. As I began to think about the reality that things can change in the adoption world in the blink or an eye, I decided that I might at least need an idea of what I wanted to do for the nursery... a general plan so that I wasn't needing to make decisions and search for a crib in a frantic moment.

So one weekend in December, mom and I set out to go look at nursery furniture. It was quite an odd experience. At every single store the subject came up of my flat stomach. "Oh my, you're so tiny," she'd exclaim. "Getting an early start, huh?" he'd ask. Even after I said I was adopting and wanted to see pieces that wouldn't take half a year to arrive (did you know that some baby furniture is a 12-16 week order time?!?) I'd still get comments about my flat stomach. I was mostly just overwhelmed by the whole process and the 10,000 options, so the comments were really the least of my worries. I do think a T-shirt might be called for on my next trip out. I'm thinking "My stomach is washboard flat only slightly pudgy because there's no baby in this belly. We're adopting!" would work.

After quite a bit of deliberation and math, I think we've made our choices. We're not getting it yet, because hello, as all the salespeople so often pointed out, my stomach is super flat... no baby in the belly, and no baby on the horizon. But we went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered the rocker because, well, rockers/gliders are next to impossible to find that even semi-fit Sam and his 6'9 frame. But also, we got a great deal! The rocker that we LOVE is on sale for $100 off right now, and we had a 15% off coupon, AND $75 in reward points that expire this month. It seemed financially wise to go ahead and purchase rather than waste the savings opportunity, don't ya' think?

So that's where we sit... and if we don't have a baby by mid February, I'll literally be sitting in that rocker. That or the sight of it will drive me to hysterics and I'll have to cover it with a sheet... you know another really mature way of dealing with the hard stuff. Continue to hope and pray with us that the right opportunity, within our financial abilities, comes through soon!