It Came :)

I got two deliveries today. The first was this adorable blanket for Miss Gracie Joy. I LOVE it! I got it HERE. I hope she loves it too!!

The second was my TA! Yes, I am very excited to have gotten it before the Aug. 1 rule change. But it is bitter-sweet with the news that I will not be able to leave next Friday with my dear friends Diana and Stacy. I am sad. It just doesn't seem right to be this close and miss it by 1 week! The best news is that I get to meet my girl in just a couple of weeks :) I can't wait!

I will let you know when I have more info!

In Case You Were Wondering...

* NO...I have not heard anything about my TA!!!

* Yes, I am stressed about it. There hasn't been anything coming from China this week...so frustrating!!

* Wesleigh woke up 3 times last night!

* I am trying to leave for China in ONE week!

* Which is the same day 2 of the boys start school!

* I have a large gathering at my house on Aug. 7

* I will not be here for it if I leave on Aug. 5 :)

* This fact does not stress me out :)

* Wesleigh woke up 3 times last night!

* I am very thankful that I am someone who loses weight instead of gaining when stressed!

* Adoption is a great weight-loss plan!

* I am getting my hair done today!! Thank you Lord!!

* Wesleigh woke up 3 times last night!

* I have to bring a meal to Bryce and the other French horn players today at 3:00. He wanted me to make shredded pork. Very sweet!

* I was up 'till 11:30 making shredded pork last night!

* Wesleigh woke up 3 times last night!

OK...you get the jist! I am trying to keep it together, and I am pretty sure I can hold it together today...No guarantees for tomorrow though :)

I Not Seepin'!

For a while now (even in the crib), Wesleigh has not been taking great naps. And when she does, it takes forever to get her to sleep at night. It wasn't so bad when she was in her crib and I just laid her down. Now that I'm having to lay down with her...not so good.
Here are my choices:
1. Put her down for a nap (I'd have to lay down with her to get her to sleep), enjoy the peace and quiet for a while, then lay down with her from 9:00-11:00 waiting for her to go to sleep.
2. Don't put her down for a nap. Deal with any crabby outbursts (not very many). Lay down with her from 9:00-9:10 while she crashes.

It's a no-brainer!! I do miss nap time, but I have to say...I love not being tied to that nap. If I'm not home at 1:00, no problem!

Monday, when she had such a hard day at the doctors, she fell asleep on the couch at about 5:30. She has never done this! I took this picture with my iphone because I wanted to send it to Richard.


I just couldn't bear to wake her up after such a rough day, but I definitely paid the price later. She could not fall asleep!! UGH!!

So, yesterday at 5:30 or so, while I was cooking dinner, I notice her getting cozy on the sofa. I called her name and when she answered, I told her she'd better not go to sleep. I did this a few times and each time, I know she was about to crash. I had to leave and pick up Bryce, so I left her with Braden. He said, he walked into the living room and saw her with her eyes closed on the couch. When he called her name, she jumped and said, "I not seepin'". I could just eat her!!

Cruel...maybe, but guess what? I laid down with her from 9:00-9:10 and got to have the rest of the night...and it's 8:46 and she's STILL sleeping!!! Whoo Hoo!!!

On a different subject...her measurements at the dr. show that she is exactly the same height as Gracie. (at least the measurements we have been given). Gracie still outweighs her by a few, but I think they're going to be very close in height. I can't wait to see them together!!

Clothes Posted

Well...I don't have any exciting news to share about our TA, but I did finish posting all the fall clothes I'm going to sell. Go HERE to take a peek!

Because I have Nothing to do....

OK...maybe Lisa won't come to my blog today to see that NOTHING in this picture is in focus :) And what's worse....I don't care!!!

This is just a portion of my dining room table. The other half is covered with shoes that will be mailed tomorrow!

I decided that I would go on and clean out Wesleigh's fall/winter clothes. I know I won't want to do it when we get back from China, so why not now? I will try to get them all listed for tomorrow...but there's quite a bit, so don't hold me to that. I have quite a few MJ items too :)

So....no TA today :( At least they didn't get a packet that was missing mine. I am hoping and praying that it comes tomorrow.

As I type, Wesleigh is clinging to me like a monkey (which is why that pic looks like it does ;) She had quite a day. She is scheduled for some tests next Monday that require her to be sedated, so they're treating it like a surgery. She had to have a full pre-op appt. with bloodwork, EKG, chest x-rays. That was before we even made it in to see the doctor. To add insult to injury...they decide she has to have 2 immunizations! Geez!! I was going to make them wait, but figured we'd might as well get it all taken care of. Poor baby wants to fall asleep so bad (and did on the couch until I woke her up). She has gotten so bad about not going to bed at night if she's taken a nap during the day. I will be thanking myself when she's asleep by 8:30 tonight!!

Hopefully, I'll have some big news to post tomorrow!

Wesleigh's Crib Bedding

I had full intention of putting up Wesleigh's spring and summer clothes from last summer today. I had even done all the posts, but got a text from a sweet "real life" friend that said she wanted to buy everything! This sweet friend has been waiting for her sweet Julianna for over a year! Julianna is in India and this friend has had her referral for a VERY long time. They are in a fight with India right now. I can't even imagine. She wanted to bless me and be a part of bringing Gracie home. How awesome is that?!?

I did want to sell Wesleigh's crib bedding, though. Since she is officially in the "big girl bed", I would like to pass on the bedding. This set is from Restoration Hardware. I have 4 pieces: crib sheet, dust ruffle, quilt and blanket.


The blanket and quilt have never been used, so they are in like-new condition. The sheet has been used for a year, but has no stains are marks on it. It's just softened up good :) The dust ruffle has some issues...

Since Wesleigh was already 2 when we came home, the crib mattress had to be at the lowest setting. This meant that the dust ruffle would drag on the floor. Instead of letting it fall too long, I folded it up to make it shorter. The problem is...the springs tore the fabric.

Go HERE to see what it looked like in her room.

Here are some closeups of it now:
This is the worst side.

The other "long" side is almost perfect.


Actually, one long side and one short side are messed up. The other sides are fine. And if you wanted to use it shorter, like I did, it's totally fine.

I hope I explained it well enough.

I paid about $350 for all 4 pieces. I was hoping to get $120 (including shipping) for it.

If you have any questions, please let me know. If you want it, just post "sold" with your email address.

Almost all the shoes have sold!! Thank you all!! I will start mailing tomorrow!!!

Please say a prayer for me...I am hoping to get some good news tomorrow!!!

SHOE SALE

I finally pulled out all of Wesleigh's shoes that don't fit her anymore. There are some awesome shoes for sale!! Go check it out HERE at Wesleigh's Closet! I also have some summer clothes that I have been meaning to post, but it's probably too late in the season for that :( Let me know if you'd be interrested in seeing them. They are mostly size 18-24mos.


Be sure you scroll through all the pages. There are about 20 pair listed!!!

* I've decided to go ahead and list the clothes. I am working on them tonight and will list them tomorrow.

Progress? Hmmm.....

So...2 nights ago, Bryce had a couple of boys spending the night and Cade was exhausted from football practice. He decided he would sleep on Gracie's trundle bed. I thought it was a great idea because I felt like it would help Wesleigh stay in her bed. It did help. She got up once at 4:00 but that's it. I did find out, after the fact, that Cade had laid with her in her bed until she fell asleep and then climbed to the other one.

Last night, he decided to sleep in there again. This time, I told him to not get in her bed with her and let me help if she couldn't go to sleep. I never heard a word from them, so assumed she had gone to sleep by herself. Yay! At 8:00 this morning, when I hadn't heard from her all night, I decided to go peek and bask in the progress made. Well...this is what I found:



Cade climbed in bed with her as soon as they went to bed because she wouldn't go to sleep. He fell asleep and slept there the whole night! Dang it! I thought we had made some real progress! Oh well, I wouldn't trade this sweet moment...and I totally enjoyed my full night's sleep!

Blahs...

Lately, I have been in no mood to blog. We were at the beach for a week with Braden's ball team. The first half was alot of fun...but then came the rain! :( They couldn't even finish the ball tournament, so that was a bummer. I did have to post this picture though, because it makes me laugh every time I see it. Cade was dancing back and forth on this divider wall for quite a while. There was a group that had some awesome music blaring, and he was taking full advantage :) You will never be bored, as long as Cade's around.


I got word this weekend that my paperwork was delayed (without any good reason) for a week. We are in the last stage before we can plan our trip, and this extra week has just about put me over the edge! We are trying to travel on Aug 5, so we are really cutting it close now!! Please pray that our TA would come in record time...and definitely before the Aug. 1 cutoff for the new requirements.

Adding to this frustration is the fact that Wesleigh's crib is down. It is not going so well!! She has been waking up throughout the night and wants me to lay down with her. UGH...I am so tired, and hoping we will turn the corner soon. My boys always transitioned really easily, so I'm kind of at a loss.

I am trying to get everyone ready for school...yes...already!! Cade and Bryce start on 8/5! Braden is a week later, but honestly, I'm hoping to be in China!! Since I am in limbo waiting for our TA, I'm trying to get some of the things done that I can.

OK...enough whining! I will be sure to report the good news when our prayers are answered!

Gracie Update

I received a new update on Gracie this week! I am hoping this will be the last update we will get before we go to China...but I guess, it might not be. She is Miss Personality, as usual. These pics seem to be taken on 3 separate days. In 2 of the 3, I can see that she is wearing the pink pearl necklace I sent her. I can't believe it! I bought that thing at Tarjay for $1. I went back to see if they still had them, but didn't find any. I'm going to try to find some more before we travel. It's only a matter of time before it breaks.


This seems to be her signature pose.


These are the pj's I sent her. Not quite sure if they knew they were pj's or not :)




I love this because everyone else is looking where they're going. Not Gracie...she's posing for the camera :)


They took the Pearl River kiddos to Seaworld :) Looks like they all had a great time. (She has on the shorts of the pj's)


This is the first time I've seen her hair like this. I am anxious to see what her hair is going to look like when I get it out of the pony tails.


I just think she is the most beautiful child. She looks so much bigger and older than Wesleigh to me. I can't wait to see them side by side.


Her update this month had some very interresting information in it :) It stated that she likes boy toys. She plays with toy planes, cars and popguns!!! Seriously?!?!? If she had been my first girl, this would have been great news. I am very comfortable with "boy toys". However....I am thinking my girly girl here at home will not be very pleased with a sister who would rather shoot her with a gun than have tea!!! Hopefully, those are just the toys she has to play with and she will love a tea party as much as Miss Wesleigh. I am thinking...anyone who wears a pink pearl necklace all the time, can't be that much of a tomboy :)

So....where are we in this waiting game? My article 5 has just been delivered to the CCAA. The next step is our travel approval. Some of these approvals have been coming very fast (2 weeks). However, we could end up waiting much longer. I have no control over when it comes. We are prepared to turn around and travel pretty quick, if we can work out the details...we'll see. I am still hoping to be in China in August.

I also wanted to share how I get these updates. Gracie has been sponsored in the Pearl River Outreach program. One of the things this program does is send monthly updates to the families who sponsor the children. I am blessed to get monthly updates because of it! The birthday parties and trips they are able to take are because of a very generous donor to Pearl River. What a blessing!

Happy 4th Of July!!

One of the reasons Bryce wanted to come home Saturday was because the show "Sons of Guns" was going to be in town filming at our downtown 4th of July celebration. Every year, they do a re-enactment of the bombing of a local warship, but this year they did it for the tv show. The Sea Cadet group enjoyed it together. We decided to make a day of it. Of course, before we left, there had to be a photo shoot. You are probably getting tired of seeing this sailor...but I'm not :) I certainly couldn't pass up the opportunity with Wesleigh dressed in her 4th of July finest!


I love this little pillowcase dress. I have a feeling Miss Gracie might have to wear it in China :)






We had everyone but Cade. He found somewhere "better" to go :)


She has a thing with Bryce's head and hat. Since he has come home, she keeps rubbing his head and asking what happened to his hair. It's so cute. When he has his hat on, she is constantly taking it from him. Here, she is trying to put it back on.


Hmmm.....Something's just not quite right.


I LOVE this shot with her "hiding" it behind her back.


Hands on her hips as he puts it back on.


For about 30 seconds, I actually thought she was going to fall asleep. She is such a trooper, even though she's tired, she is still pleasant as can be. (I can't always say the same for myself ;)


These are from the show. I thought she might be scared because the shooting is really loud. I couldn't have been more wrong. She loved it! When the planes would fly over and the shooting was going on, she would clap and cheer. She is still saying, "airplane... boom, boom"




Two cuties. I don't think you've seen Braden out of his baseball uniform recently.


Of course, the night ended with the fireworks show. The best part was we waited for them with a retired Navy pilot who was the actual pilot of Tom Cruise's plane in Topgun! Very cool! Wesleigh was so excited about them and cheered when they started. After a minute, she said, "Mommy...we go home now?" And we did! We get a great deal of satisfaction when we can beat the traffic ;) Yep...we're officially old!!

Hope you all had a great 4th!!

Site For Sore Eyes...

Richard and I drove to Fort Benning, GA Friday to attend Bryce's graduation from Recruit Training Saturday. The plan was that we would spend a few hours with him and then deliver him back for the advanced training (another 10 days). We couldn't have any 2-way communication, but I received a letter Friday that made it clear...he didn't want to stay for the extra 10 days. Fine by me! When we saw him Saturday, he was in much better spirits. The letter had been written on a very bad day, and he was actually considering staying. In the end, we brought him back with us! Which made this mama very happy!! I have decided that I am NOT ready for him to graduate and go off to college. We missed him so much around here while he was gone!!

They are so handsome in their uniforms!!


This cadet is from Bryce's division. He won a special award. I just LOVE how this photo and the next one came out.




Finally...got my hands on my boy!!




The 3 cadets from our division.


Bryce's bunk. He loved the locker so much, he wants one for his room :)


Happy 4th of July!!!!
We are headed downtown this year...we'll see how that goes! I can tell you that Wesleigh has the cutest dress for today!!!