the baby closet project

I've been busy. Organizing, crafting, cleaning, organizing, getting rid of crizzap, and organizing some more. I've begun to organize the baby closet, which has been fun.

I should first tell you that my good friend, Kim, loves to shop. A whole lot. In fact, I'd say she's a professional shopper. And when she found out we were having twins, she was WAY excited. As the mother of one son, she took full advantage of the opportunity to shop for a little girl, and went slightly bezerk. Like 25 or so outfits bezerk. Then I think she began to feel guilty for only buying girl clothes, and decided she should buy an equal number of outfits for the boy. Afterall, that's only fair... right?

Long story short, we have a closet full of beautiful clothing for our babies. I don't think they're going to need any more clothes for the first 6 months they're home! Look at these outfits! Don't you just want to squeeze the little babies you're imagining in them???

How lucky I am to have a shopaholic friend like Kim! And with such great taste.

More projects to post soon. :)

And the clock is ticking...in a good way

Yesterday, Eric and I had a cookout to celebrate our retirement...you know, from being Singletons. In our definition: Marrieds that can still fly by the seat of their pants, due to no strings (kids) attached. Now that we've got the court date, we're starting to realize our days of spontaneity are coming to a slow. A bittersweet reason to celebrate, I suppose.

With our court date approaching, parenthood is starting to seem a little more like reality. Though honestly, it still feels a little unreal to me. Almost like a crazy dream. I find myself becoming more excited... but also more anxious and nervous! And people giving me looks of sympathy ("ohhhhhh....twins?") -- or telling me adoption horror stories of someone they know -- is not helping. As if this process is not stressful enough!

An acquaintance of mine—a mother of twins—came to the cookout yesterday, and was a Debbie Downer the whole time; warning me of the perils of being a mother of twins, and all the stresses and difficulties that go with it. (I tell you, I could not drink my beer fast enough!) It is this kind of negativity that I don't want right now. I am aware that this is probably the most difficult thing I may ever undertake. But I also expect it to be the most rewarding!

Then again, there have been many encouraging words during this time. Another acquaintance of mine who is also a mother of twins (it's crazy how many we know, really), had such positive things to say about her experience... without sugar coating anything. The thing was, she had an entirely different outlook on it and it made all the difference in how she feels about the work involved with raising two infants at once. It was refreshing. Talking with her made me realize that I can do it. I will rise to the occasion and do it as well as anyone I know. I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!
Okay, I may have gotten a little carried away. But I do realize there will be days when I may have to give myself this pep talk in the mirror.

And so that I don't start to sound like a Debbie Downer myself, I must say that we have received an incredible amount of support from our family, friends and neighbors. I am overwhelmed at how kind and generous our community is. They have been our cheerleaders throughout this process, and I appreciate it more than words can express. It has brought to light how precious family and good friendships are! I cannot wait to bring M&M home so they can meet all the beautiful people that will help shape their lives.

Oh, and one last thing. I had another reality check yesterday. One of our neighbors brought her 2 month old daughter with her, and as I'm holding her, just in awe of how beautiful and tiny she is, and imagining that she must be MUCH smaller than our babies — her mother mentions that she weighs 13 pounds. Ok... 13 pounds. So, like, 5 more pounds than my babies?!? Holy crikees, my babies are itty-bitty teensy-weensy teeny-tiny babies, weighing in at just over 8 and 9 pounds each. At 3 months. Crazy.

That sort of put things in perspective. I may actually be able to carry these babies around in my pockets. Won't that be handy?

We have a court date!

6.12.08

Keep your fingers and toes crossed!

Life... as we now know it!

Recently I was visiting our friend and neighbor, Eve. Such a sweet lady, and our babies' self-proclaimed grandneighbor! She's also an artist. I often admire the paintings and drawings she has on her walls... much of it she created herself. Right in the middle of the room was her latest work—her own version of an old Life magazine cover. This one:

I love this piece! Eve had an experience with a particular Monarch appearing in her home this winter... but that's a whole other story. Let's just say, it changed her perspective on some things. I'll stop talking about it, before I start to sound as crazy as her. (Just kiddin, Eve! haha!) Anyway, the monarch was the inspiration for her new artwork.

Last night, she invited Eric and I over for coffee. When we got there, she not only treated us to some sinfully delicious donuts, she also presented us with her latest piece of artwork. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Butterflies M&M!!

Isn't this awesome?? It even looks like them! (Well except that M-boy doesn't have quite as much hair... yet!) We cannot wait to get this on the wall in their room. :)

Presenting...our little M&Ms!

Well, it turns out some things have come full circle. Remember that post I made a while back with the twin bibs? It looks like Eric and I will need a matching set.

Yep, we've been referred TWINS!!

We got the call Monday afternoon. Eric got the call and then the email at work. At first he was confused, because there were 4 pictures. Why 4 similar pictures of the same baby? And that's when the adoption coordinator explained to him... that's not one baby, it's TWO!! One boy, one girl!

He immediately called me to share the news. I was also at work, and to say the least... I was in complete disbelief, and happy, and excited, and surprised, and well, pretty much ecstatic!!

Since I'm not sure what the rule is on giving out names, let's just use their initials --M&M. They are currently 2.5 months old, and are possibly the tiniest, sweetest little creatures I've ever seen. We've pretty much stared a hole through the photos we've printed out, and neither one of us can hardly wait to get them into our arms.

It's funny that even though the photos aren't that great (see above), you can tell that they have vastly different personalities. M-boy appears to be quite the busy body, as he is wiggling in his photos. Meanwhile, M-girl seems to be rather calm and collected. (Oooh, wouldn't that be nice for the plane ride home?? hee hee) Of course, I could be making this all up in my head. It's probably not fair to base their personality profiles off two photos. (Lord knows, I'd probably be filed under "dense" if that were fair judgment.) But, it's fun to think about, eh?

Anyway, we are on cloud nine. We feel so incredibly blessed to finally be thisclose to them... it's hardly fair to make us wait 2 more months until we can hold them. But it looks like we'll have to. No word on a court date yet. Hopefully soon, but I have to remind myself that this stuff takes paaaaaatience.... that word I've grown to appreciate. Or loathe. One of those.

We have finally picked names, I think. We (Eric) thought we had done that yesterday, but I kept waivering. And today we (Eric) thinks we've done it again. I'll sleep on it, and see what tomorrow brings. But really, I don't think I could pick better names than what we've got in our heads right now. They just fit their sweet little faces perfectly... and we could only imagine, their personalities too. We will be using their given names as middle names.

Well, off to make a list of what needs to be done in the upcoming weeks. I feel hugely dumb at this point in the process. Where to begin? What does all this mommy lingo mean??

So much to learn!

What an unbelievable week...

Last time I posted, I thought I'd be posting projects and other random things for the next few months.

Well, guess what? I was wrong!

WE GOT OUR REFERRAL THIS WEEK!!!

More to come. Right now we're just trying to update family and friends. Trust me, there are some real surprises ahead! Details soon...

Cha-CHING

Yup, I said cha-ching...like a register. As in... we're now registered in Ethiopia!

This means we officially begin the 3-4 month wait until referral now. I know, I know. I've probably said that before. But for REAL. We're really really waiting now. No more nexts. Just the wait! Throughout this process it seems like there has always been an unforeseen step pop up. But not this time. It has been verified that we are WAITING!

Whoever thought I'd be this excited about...waiting?

Anyway, hopefully this means our next big post will be a referral!

Of course, I will probably be posting on some of my latest projects, just so you all still know I'm still here...and distracted. So much to do! And it's finally spring!!

Say a little prayer for Jesi and Joe, who are in Ethiopia right now, picking up their precious twins–Ezra and Olivia.
Oh happy day. :)