We're matched!

I can't believe it! We're matched! We're actually matched! Here's the story:

On May 8th (a Wednesday) around 4:00 I got a call on my cell phone while at work. I don't answer calls I don't know so I let it go to voice mail. Then a few seconds later Matt comes over and says "go answer the phone". I thought it was odd that he knew I got a call on my cell phone so I asked how he knew that. He said that they paged me that I had a call on hold. I never heard it! I immediately got suspicious. I took a few seconds (much to Matt's dismay) to listen to my voice mail on my cell phone. It was Stephanie, our social worker asking me to call her right away. I got very excited and started walking toward the work phones out in the hallway. I looked back and saw Matt just standing at my desk and I motioned for him to come with me (being that I was pretty sure I knew what the call was).

Once I picked up the line, it was Stephanie. She asked me if I was sitting down and I said no and she then proceeded to tell me that we were matched! I asked if she could repeat it and I held the phone so that both Matt and I could hear and she said yet again "You're matched!". I about fainted! We told Stephanie we'd call her back in a few minutes once Matt and I got to a meeting room so that we could have some privacy.

We went into a meeting room and called her back. She then told us all about the situation. About a month before, we were asked if we wanted to be shown to this specific couple. They matched all of our criteria that we wanted except for one small detail. So we had to decide if we were ok with this change to be shown to them. We were ok with it and we were obviously shown. They took one month to choose and they chose us!

We can't believe that we're matched. It's completely surreal and amazing. I knew this day would come but no matter what, it still doesn't prepare you for the excitement, fear, anxiety and every other emotion you may have.

Oh, and the craziest part... the birth mother is due in only a week and a half! The due date is two days before our 6 year wedding anniversary!

Mother's Day

So, this past weekend was Mother's Day. It was a tough day for me. I have the best mother and mother-in-law but not being a mother yet myself made it hard to get through the day. Instead of celebrating with a child of our own, we celebrated with our furry child, Teddy.

I'm sure the day will come when I will be a mother (to a human baby ;D)... this Mother's Day just wasn't it.

Newborn & Toddler care class

Monday Matt and I had a newborn and toddler care class. It was at a Giant grocery store in Harrisburg (I found it kinda weird for grocery store to have a community room but hey, whatever).

We headed over right after work even though we knew we'd be very early. We didn't know what the traffic would be like and we wanted to make sure to get there with enough time. Plus, if we went home we'd only be there for about 10 minutes before we had to leave anyway.

So we get there just before 5:30 (an hour before the class starts). We go into the store to look around. I found online that this store is a bit more like a Wegman's, where they have hot food, deli sandwiches and a place to sit down and eat. So we looked around and got some dinner (Matt got pizza, I got a turkey sandwich) and we sat in their little cafe area and ate our dinner. Then at 6 we went upstairs to the community room. We were the first ones there (not really a surprise since we were now 30 min. early!), but no problem, we just sat and played on our phones for a while. Finally people started showing up. One of the couples had a teeeeeny tiiiiiny little girl with them. We later find out that she's only 3 weeks old! Adorable!

Anyway, around 6:30 one of the case workers from our office comes in with the teacher. We all gather around the table in the room and have a seat while the teacher passes out large cloth bags. (I didn't realize we'd be getting goodies, so I was pretty excited!)

We open up our bags to find: A binder with a lot of information and articles regarding what we're going to learn about, a children's book (the book nerd in me went WOOOOHOOOOO at seeing this), a magazine, a boo-boo bunny, and a cooler with two ice packs for bottles (or beer–apparently the cooler holds two beers perfectly). Then we introduce ourselves a little and we start in on the learning.

We got a LOT of great information. The main thing I learned is how to start and keep a routine to get baby to sleep through the night.

We talked and learned for 2 1/2 hours. At the end, we got to chatting with one of the other couples there. They were really nice and we decided to exchange business cards for contacts. It turns out that the woman is actually a wedding and event floral designer! Hopefully we'll get to work with her in a business capacity sometime.

It was a great class and it really made us so excited to become parents! Seeing that little girl just made me want one even more. And of course there is always the excitement and enjoyment of meeting others who are going through the same thing you are. Having a support group of friends really helps out!

More Paperwork

So, we got a letter in the mail from our adoption agency. Apparently, some of our paperwork is expiring soon and we need to get it redone. Things like fingerprinting, physicals, child abuse checks. These things are only good for one year. Its hard to believe that it's been a year since we started our home study and got these things done! I went online to one of the websites to get the clearance done and I filled out all of the information and paid the fee. Then, the website said it timed out and to hit the back button and try again. Well, I hit the back button and nothing happened. So I go to the part where it says to check on a status... It asks me for a specific number... which they never gave me. So I'm pretty frustrated right now! Guess we're going to have to call the help line sometime soon. Just another thing to add to the list.

On a better note, we're planning another fundraiser. This one is going to be a mini photo session fundraiser. We have multiple photographers helping us out with this one and we're pretty darn excited about it. We get to combine our passion for photography with helping to build our family. We're not 100% on all of the details yet but we do know that it will be on Sunday, May 19th. We really hope that we get a good turn out. So if you're interested contact us and I'll give you some more info!

When will it be our turn?

I'm having a bad day. I'm just ready to be a mother! When will it be our time?

Aaaaand....we're still waiting

We're now in our almost 4th full month of waiting to be matched. Most days I have no problem with it, but there are a few here and there where all I can think about is being matched. Who will we be matched with? What state will the baby be born in? What will the circumstances of the match be? Will it be an emergency placement or a match a few months before the due date? What sex will the baby be? All of these questions just come flying forward in my brain and I can't push them down. It usually happens out of the blue for a day, and then the next day I'm back to not really thinking about it.

I think the hardest thing for me right now is seeing so many of my friends, coworkers and family who are having children right now. EVERYONE I know is either pregnant or just had a baby. Its hard to get over that sometimes. It's hard to think about how we've been wanting and trying for a baby for almost 4 years now. I know there are millions of other people out there who are going (or have gone) through what I'm dealing with but it still hurts.

If you can't tell, I'm having a bad day today. I'm really just writing this to get some of my feelings out. I'm just ready to be a mom. It hurts so badly that I don't think I can take it anymore. I just want our time to be here!!

Our Nursery

I know I've said I'll show you pictures of our nursery soon but then I kept putting it off. I wanted to wait until it was almost done until I showed everyone. Well, it's ALMOST done, so I figured it was time. We have 95% of everything finished, all that's missing is:

1. My mom and I still need to make the crib skirt

2. My mom and I made a hamper liner but sadly, we made it a bit too small so we need to fix it to fit and

3. We're hoping to switch out the small bookshelf in the corner with one that matches the dresser and nightstand

oh, yeah and mostly we need a baby!

Since Matt and I have been going through the "I want a baby NOW" feeling for years, we've had a lot of time to think about the nursery. Ok, honestly, I'm sure Matt didn't think about it too much but I sure did! I have a board on pinterest for nurseries and every free minute I had I would be scouring the internet for ideas. I came across another blog one day and I fell in LOVE with the color scheme. I was torn between this color scheme (a bright, vibrant series of colors), and a more relaxed calming color scheme. We went with the vibrant one!

Thankfully Matt allowed me to basically do whatever I wanted in the nursery. He of course helped choose the rocker, the crib, the pictures etc. but it was mostly my design/vision. In the end, he loves it just as much as I do. It truly is my new favorite room in the house.

Now, we've been so blessed with time to be able to do this, but now that it's done. We're ready and so very excited to fill it with a wonderful little baby.

Without further ado... here is our nursery!!!

(and yes, there are multiple images of the same view but the room is VERY small and the spot from the door is really the best spot to show mostly everything).


The original room was a very pale blue. Blech. Just not a great color in my opinion.


Matt working VERY hard painting!























These are just cute blocks that I saw on etsy and had to have. We got them from this seller.




The prints were the one thing that Matt and I fought over the most (no surprise there since we're both artists and designers and we both have different design tastes). I only bought one of the prints. The other 4 we created ourselves. I went onto etsy and found some that I liked and then just created ones like it, while adding our own little touches.


This is really only because I LOVE dinosaurs. :D



This is one of the scenes from Dumbo and the words are from the song that Dumbo's mom sings to him.



The saying on this one is from the movie Bambi II



This is the one print that we bought. We got it from this etsy seller




And of course we have to finish it off with a picture of our current baby. Teddy LOVES the nursery. He's always going in there and he loves jumping on our laps when one of us is sitting in the glider or sliding himself under the crib.



Well, that's it. Was it worth the wait? What do you think of it?