Guess what we did today...

Yup, we finally painted the nursery! We did all the tape up work last night and started right in on the painting this morning.
We did two shades of violet...lighter on top and a little darker on the bottom. There's a border that will run between them at chair rail height.

It's funny how different the color looks depending on the lighting on the walls. I think it looks different in the two photos below of opposite walls. The photo on the bottom is a little truer to how it actually looks in the room.


Now that Joe has the blinds back up it looks even more different. We're going to let the paint cure for a few days and then put the border up.

What a strange feeling it is to finally paint the nursery after two years of waiting. On one hand it makes this feel more real, but then I think about the months we still have ahead. In any case it is sparking up my excitement and now I can't wait to get the border done and start decorating!

Same photo one year apart...

I just posted the most recent of these photos the other day, but I just ran across the same photo taken almost exactly one year ago. It's funny that Tess is on the left and Lily is on the right in both photos. Look at how much the girls have changed in just one year...

Hummingbird update...

I'm off again today so I've been keeping an eye on our tiny new tenant. I noticed that she actually left the nest for a little while, so I got a couple more shots. Here's the nest from the back side where it's really built up...


and here's how it looks from through the lantern...


We put out our feeder hoping that she would use it, but I don't know if she's found it yet. I think we need to get something so we can hang it up high for her.


She's back again tending to her eggs. Isn't she darling?


I did a quick Google search on hummingbird nests and our new little resident may be with us for a while. Check out this video of a patio nest. It took 40 days for the babies to hatch and be big enough to fly away. This video is awesome...

She's not paying rent...

but she's definitely moved in. This little hummingbird has taken up residence on our back patio...


It wasn't until I took these photos that I noticed she has a tiny little nest up there! If you pull the photo below up big, it looks like a nest...don't you think?


What a strange spot for her to choose. Lucy sits right under her and we bar-b-que and eat dinner out there and she just stays perched right up there. She spends hours sitting there, so I'm thinking there must be an egg in the nest.

I'm at home today and she's up there right now and I bet she'll be there most of the day. Hoping to see a baby hummingbird soon.

Baby high!

Guess who I got to hang out with this morning! I'm still on a baby high from the sheer cuteness.


Julie and Tess are in town for Easter so I met them along with Nancy and Lily at the mall for breakfast and fun at the kiddie play center.

Tess is all smiles and has a little mischievous side. Her facial expressions are so darn cute...


Lily is quite a bit more reserved, but very sweet and contemplative. She has the cutest dimples, but I just couldn't catch them on camera...


The girls had a good time playing and going down the little slide...




Tess got a new pair of sunglasses and she was modeling them for us. Could this shot be any cuter??



I had a couple of little heart melt moments...once when Lily reached out to grab my hand while walking and in the parking lot when Tess said my name as we were saying good-bye. It sounded so darn sweet. Julie, it was SOOO great to see you and Tess...it's amazing how big Tess has gotten since the last visit! I was in pure baby heaven!

25th LIDversary...

It's hard to believe that it's been over two years now!

If there was a crystal ball when we first started this and someone had told me we would be waiting over two years for our daughter, I would have never believed them!  I would have laughed and said that no one would make us wait that long to become parents...no country would put us through that. Well, I would have been wrong...very wrong.   

I spent the weekend with a few friends up in northern Arizona at a friend's cabin. We had a nice, relaxing day on Saturday and on Sunday morning we woke up to snow. I haven't been in snow for years, so it was really nice.  



Here's my little friend Ruby...


As you can see, she's a big fan of ice cream cones...

Wedding anniversary...

Joe and I were married 14 years ago today. This afternoon, I was flipping through the album I made of all the photos taken with the disposable cameras on the reception tables. I love these two photos because my grandmother is in both of them and she looked so pretty that day. She has since passed on, but I think of her often on days like today.

Here I am with my mom (she must have been on a happy pill that day) and my grandmother...


and here's Joe with my grandmother...


I so wish she was still here to meet her great-daughter. That would have been really nice.

Registry fun...

This past Saturday was a big day...we decided to start our baby registry at Babies-r-Us (BRU). We got up bright and early and went to Mimi's Cafe for a nice breakfast. We knew we wanted to be at BRU shortly after it opened since it gets packed. We were the first ones at the registry desk and it wasn't long before we were armed with this...


...our very own scanner. This is a shoppers dream come true. We started out with the strollers, then the high chairs, and then moved on from there. I think we spent the most time at the baby carriers, which is kind of silly because will we really use it after we get back from China? Some of them were so hard to figure out that we just gave up on them and we never even picked one. For those of you who are already home, do you still use yours?

This is the carrier that had the most back support, but it has a big price tag to go with it. All the other carriers seemed like they would cause back pain/shoulder pain after about an hour or so.

Here's Joe testing out the chairs...


This is the only time the poor guy got to relax during the entire 3 hour shopping spree. Who knew that registering took SO long!

We registered for two different kinds of strollers...a regular full day out stroller and a light weight stroller. The Combi Helio Ex Stroller has a unique tri-fold for traveling and it's super lightweight. The Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe is the one we selected for a full day out. For those with little ones at home, is it a good idea to have two strollers to use in different situations or is this a waste?

Also, I wasn't quite sure which type of bottles are best so I decided on the Playtex Drop-Ins and selected both the 8oz and 4 oz size, plus fast, medium and slow flow nipples. Any advice on this?

Finally into 2006!!

Oh happy day...we are finally seeing referrals for 2006 LID's!!!

So far it's looking like January 4th is the cut off this month, which means another 8 day batch. If they can keep up with 8 days per month, we would have our referral in September. It's pretty crazy to think that they are only 44 days away from our LID and it may be 6 months or longer before we have our referral.

For some reason, just knowing that families who are LID in 2006 are starting to get their referrals has gotten be excited! I can't wait to get registered and start the nursery...it's time to kick it into high gear now.

As you can see, Joe can hardly contain himself over the news...

This and that...

I've been very impatiently watching the Rumor Queen over the past week or so waiting to see how far into 2006 referrals will get. So far, it's looking like possibly January 4th, 5th or 6th. Heck, just getting into 2006 will be a MAJOR milestone at this point!

I had a really nice weekend. Saturday morning I met a few friends at a new breakfast place. My friend Jennifer and I met up with two women we used to work with and are now retired. What a wonderful life they have...grandkids, traveling on a whim, hobbies, etc.

I came home to Joe putting together his workbench for the garage. He's had that thing forever and I think the garage stool I bought him for Valentine's Day (I know, not a very romantic gift) sparked his interest in finally pulling the workbench out of the box.


As you can see, Lucy had to supervise the project...


She's always in the middle of the activity...


On Saturday afternoon I met a friend and her daughter for some shopping at a new outdoor mall. I've been pretty good about not buying too many outfits for Lauren, put the Old Navy clearance racks got my attention. These little blouses were priced from $2.99 to $4.99 and I LOVE this color. At least I took everyone's advice and started buying outfits in 2T and larger...