Time to Catch Up

If you've read my blog recently, you probably know that January was pretty much a terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad month at our house.  You also might have noticed that I haven't posted in wwwwwaaaayyy too long.  Well, thanks to my lovely friend Erin, I am sitting on my couch in an empty house with a slice of yummy banana bread and a mug of amazing Tr*der Joe's chai.  (Soooo delicious! If you haven't tried it, you need to.  Just don't blame me when you're hopelessly addicted.)

So, it's time to catch up.  I'm going to stick with bullet points since most of the things in this post are going to be a bit random.

*While I haven't done a good job posting over the last couple of weeks, I have spent some time messing around with my blog design.  Thanks to this amazing website, it's goodbye orange and hello vintage pink and teal.  What do you think?  I'm still debating about whether the narrower margins make my posts hard to read.  Any input? (If you're reading this on Google Reader, you'll have to click on the title of this post to check out my new look.)

*Winter has pretty much been MIA this year.  I am not disappointed.  AT. ALL.  Jeremy keeps warning me that winter doesn't just miss the Midwest and that some gigantic blizzard is bound to show up soon (even if it waits until April).  We'll see.  I've got my fingers crossed for a 2011-12 winter free of one-digit temps and sub-zero wind chills.

*Here's proof that the weather has been mild.  Check out this picture of Lil' Miss and Miss H.  It was taken January 31.

 

Yup, those are my girls splashing in the melted snow springy rain puddles in January.  Spring has to be just around the corner, right?

*If you read between the lines last month (okay, maybe not so between the lines), you know that I pretty much had a total meltdown over our adoption paperwork (and maybe just adoption in general).  Thanks to all of you who prayed for us and provided encouragement and support during that especially rough month.  I know that God has called us to this journey.  I know he has a very special little boy (and maybe someone else....) waiting at the end of this road.  In spite of the terrible, horrible days, I am determined to continue - one step at a time.

*On that note, I have some happy adoption news.  Our social worker was finally able to make it up for our home visit.  In fact, she not only made it up here, she scheduled three of our four visits with her within eight days.  WOOHOO!  After one crazy month, we are now done with our end of the home study: visits, adoption training, TB tests - done!  We are now waiting on our social worker to write up our home study, send it to our placing agency for their approval, and then mail us the final copy.  At that point, we'll be able to apply for U.S. Immigr*tion approval (which, unfortunately, is not the quickest part of this process and kinda' makes me feel queasy just thinking about it).

*In addition to happy adoption news, I made a very happy adoption purchase this weekend.  Overall, we're pretty set for another kiddo (or two) to join our family.  A friend very graciously gave us a crib/toddler bed with a matching dresser, so we now have two crib/toddler beds, a full bed, and a bunk bed (that I snagged at a garage sale for $25).  I'm feeling pretty well prepared in the furniture department for any combination of genders and ages.  Also, thanks to my garage sale-ing addiction hobby, I've collected quite a pile of 3T and 4T boys clothes.  I'm guessing our little man will probably be in 18 months or 2T when we bring him home, but that's just a good excuse to go to more garage sales this summer. :)  So, I'm down to just a few big purchases on the Getting-Ready-to-Grow-Our-Family List.  One of them is a certain double jogger that pretty much makes me drool.  The other is a new car seat or two.  

Well, guess what?  On Saturday I found this...

on clearance at our local T*rget.  Check out the price tag.

Really, a brand-new Brit*x car seat for $39.04?  Yes, PLEASE! 

I don't think "Jonathan" is going to love the pink-and-brown.  I'm pretty much convinced this means we need to add a little girl to our crazy adoption story.  (More on this sometime soon. :)

*So, that's my life right now.  I hope this post finds all of you enjoying some almost-springtime weather wherever you are!