Noelle Dreams & Beyond

I'm now just over a week away from my due date, which is Valentine's Day. Miss Evan Rose will be here very soon! We feel ready, though we still need to do a few things like install her car seat. As of today I'm riding around with a towel in the seat in case my water breaks. I seem to be having a little trickling of amniotic fluid, which is exciting, but I guess it could be awhile yet before I actually go into labor. While I'm pretty uncomfortable, I'm enjoying these last days of pregnancy. We have prepared cc as best we can. How much can you really prepare an 11-month-old? We just give him lots of tlc (nothing different there) and his dada now sleeps with him every night on a twin mattress in his room. We figure we'll each sleep with a child for awhile. No biggie. We attempted forcing him to sleep alone a few months back, but it just didn't work. None of us were getting sleep, cc seemed traumatized, and we decided it just wasn't worth it. I r...

A lot has been going on! First and foremost, we have some wonderfully exciting news: Our niece, Maia, came into this world on Saturday, August 18. She was born at home under the care of two midwives, and everything went perfectly. I'm so proud of my sister for following her heart and having the beautiful birth experience she envisioned. Everyone is doing great, and I can hardly wait to meet Maia this weekend. We have had quite a busy summer with trips to Colorado (vacation and friend's wedding), Ocracoke Island (long weekend getaway), Winston-Salem (cookout for adoptive families), Charlotte (visiting w/ sister and fam), Waynesville (visiting w/ sister and fam), Wrightsville Beach (friend's birthday day-trip), Atlanta (Chris-work and visiting w/ friends), Enfield (Chris' brother's engagement party) and Hyco Lake (visting with friends). We've had a blast, but I have to say I'm looking forward to sticking close to home this fall, and I think our doggies will be...

The crib belonged to cousin Savannah, and Nana gave us the rug a few years back - a perfect fit and match. Mee Mee and Pappy gave us the very soft blankie. We love the rocking horse, which we found at a consignment shop for $10! The growth chart is a lively illustration of a tree with critters and kids playing instruments - awaiting our growing girl. China waiting families, check out the ladybug in the window;) Here's a closeup of the crib bedding ("Nursery Time" by Gordonsbury), which we bought practically as soon as we filled out the adoption application! We think it's so sweet. There are other nursery characters around the bumper, including two mice, a frog, a couple of bears and a rabbit - and tiny bees, bugs and flowers throughout, as in the scene here. Here's our glider rocker with blanket from Nana and pillow cross-stitched by my Grandma for my birthday when I was nine years old or so. And lots of books already, including a Dr. Seuss set from Nanny and Gra...

My new favorite CD is the Dixie Chicks' latest, "Taking the Long Way" - I got it in my stocking this Christmas from my dear husband, and I've been playing it nonstop ever since! It's so honest and soulful, and for me, tear-inducing at times. I particularly love "Easy Silence" (track 2), so beautiful in its melancholy and one of the best love songs I've heard in a long time, and "I Hope" (track 14), a bluesy, straight-forward, yet gentle call to action for creating more love in this world, reminiscent of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"... And their "Lullaby" (track 6) is just so sweet and soothing. I imagine singing it to Noelle, though Natalie, Martie and Emily's sound is so lovely that I should probably just plan to play the CD for her. :) If I was tech-savvy, I'd figure out how to play this song here on the blog. For now that will have to remain in the idea realm. I've been thinking about lullabies ...

So I seem to have missed the opportunity to participate in most of the June 2006 LID web community activities, e.g. "cybershowers" (not surprising as I tend to be late to most everything in my life, as many of you know;) . Of course we have been busy with our move and new jobs, and we really didn't need to add anything else to our plates. But there's one I truly regret missing, and that's the "swap" for the 100 Good Wishes Quilt. This is a wonderful Chinese tradition that Noelle certainly should not miss out on. If any of our friends or family members would like to get this started for her, I would be so grateful! I might actually prefer something like this to a baby shower since we've already accumulated so many things for her over the last year, and since I have no idea when it would make sense to have a shower (AND not knowing how old or how big she'll be)...hmm...still TBD. Anyway, if you're interested and would like information and ideas...