Whirlwind of Wonderful

So remember how I was just saying how patient I needed to be?  Who knew that my world would change so quickly!!  Keep in mind, I wrote that last blog post on Sunday night.

On Monday afternoon, we had our regular staff meeting after school.  This time we were meeting in departments.  As I sat there meeting with the other school counselor, Kathy, my cell phone rang.  I looked down and saw, "Dawn Baker".  Now for those of you who are "Teen Mom" fans, you know that Dawn works for Bethany Christian Services as a pregnancy counselor.  I immediately got anxious as I went to pick up the phone.  Kathy quickly picked up on what was happening and ran to get Joel.  Thank goodness we work in the same building and he could get down to the office quickly to be with me.

Dawn informed us that there was a baby girl born at 1:50 AM that morning and that her birthparents chose us!!  Holy moly!!  We were told to come to the hospital on Tuesday morning to meet our baby girl!

We spent Monday evening frantically pulling out all of our baby stuff.  Every baby bin from the basement was strewn about our living room and kitchen.  (And if you ask Joel, there are WAY too many bins.)  We pulled out any clothing of Gus' that was gender neutral.  Brought up the pack 'n plays.  (Yes, that is plural.) Brought up the swing and the carseat and the changing pad....

I ran to Target to pick up the essentials like diapers, formula, Dreft, a couple of baby girls outfits (so she didn't come home in blue) and Tums (I knew I would need those to get through the next couple of days.)

I had Gus stay in my bed that night (I wanted to snuggle with him and it was our last night as a family of 3) as I laid awake the whole night worrying about everything that was about to happen and crying for my little boy who had no idea that in 12 hours his world was going to change drastically.  I spent half of my night worrying about our next adoption process, praying for this baby, praying for her birthparents, praying for our family.  I spent the other half watching Gus sleep and praying for him.  Praying for the transition that our family was about to make.  Soaking up the last few hours of his only child life and praying for him as the big brother that he was about to become.  Sad that I didn't have time to do something special with him on the last day as a family of three.  It was a very long night full of anxiety and tears....no sleep.

The next day, Gus went to his sitter's house and Joel and I headed to work for a couple of hours before heading to the hospital.  Once we got to the hospital we met up with Dawn who had some paperwork for us to fill out.  She then went to meet with the birthparents for what seemed to be forever long.  She came back to get us and we began the longest walk in the world.  The hospital we were in was huge and the room we were in was super far away from the room that "S" was in.  The walk seemed to be long, awkward and full of anxiety.  (Remember the movie The Green Mile....for some reason that kept popping in my head as we made this long walk down to meet the birthparents.)

Once in the room, we met the birthparents, his mom, her mom and her grandparents.  Nine of us in a tiny hospital room.  It sure was cozy!  We had a chance to talk and get to know one another a little bit.  I was jumping out of my skin!  Pretty sure that my nails were digging into Joel's knee as I held his hand.  We were then led back to the waiting room to wait....and wait...and wait....

While we were waiting, Dawn was taking care of some stuff with the birthparents and also introduced the baby girl to her birth family.  (They had not yet seen her.)  After what seemed to be a long time, Dawn came back to get us.  We went back to the room that "S" was in.  Once we were there, "S" made a point to hand this beautiful little girl over to me.  We held her and loved her and took some pictures with her, with the birthparents, with the whole family.  We gave "S" and "C", the birthfather, a few minutes alone with the baby before we got to take her back down to the room that we were assigned.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out in that room waiting to be discharged.  The baby was born at 36 weeks so she had to pass a carseat test before we could take her home.  We had to wait a long time before the NICU had time to do the test.  We FINALLY left for home around 8 PM.  We pulled in the driveway at 9 PM to meet up with Gus and introduce him to his baby sister!

We are beyond thrilled to welcome

PENELOPE LIN ELIZABETH

to our family!  She is absolutely beautiful and the sweetest little thing!  Penny weighed in at 6 lbs 8 oz and was 18" long.  We are cautiously approaching the next few weeks as we wait for legal placement, but we are over the moon and head over heels in love with this beautiful little girl!!

More info and pictures to follow in the upcoming weeks.  In the mean time, prayers would be much appreciated as we wait out the risk period.

Impatiently Waiting Patiently

Lately I have been talking to Gus about adoption.  I have always talked to him about his birth mom and when we say our prayers, we say a special prayer for her.  I am beyond thankful to "J" for making the courageous decision to choose an adoption plan for Gus.  And I am one lucky lady to be Gus' momma!  (Sidenote- Gus likes to call me "little lady" which comes out as "yittye yady".  Thank goodness he doesn't call me "lucky lady".  That would sound like "yucky yady".  Not nearly as sweet.)  When we talk about adoption, our conversation usually goes like this:

M: Gus, where do babies grow?

G: In beyies ("bellies")

M: Whose belly did you grow in?

G: J_____'s

M: And then what?

G: She gave me to you....to keep forever!

He is little so the fact that he is starting to know about this makes me happy.  Our adoption is semi-open.  We haven't physically seen "J" since the day we all left the hospital.  For Gus to understand adoption at this young age and in our semi-open arrangement, would be amazing.  But to start talking about it and to continue to talk about it is very important.  We have always and will always be very open with Gus about adoption.  We have always talked about it and I am kind of excited about the fact that he is starting to talk about it with me.

M: Hey Gus!  Did you know that you were adopted?

G: I a doctor??

And that is where the conversation currently ends before he is off and running to play with a car or a book.  

I am such a lucky girl and I am often amazed by how much I love this little boy.  I can't imagine my life without him in it!  I found this quote below while reading an adoption blog.  It completely describes how I feel. I would just add, "and I knew that God planned for you to be mine."

Adoption has been on my mind a lot lately, in addition to chatting with Gus about it.  As you know we are currently waiting.  I learned while waiting for Gus that I am not a very patient person.  (I know...big surprise, right?)  But with adoption, we are expected to be patient.  We have been officially waiting for over two months.  We are told that it could be two years!!  Two years?!?!  My heart is already about to leap out of my chest and yet I am expected to wait patiently for that very exciting phone call.  I try hard not to think about it too much because that will only make the waiting harder.  But that is pretty difficult to do when it is a constant prayer on my heart right now.  And to make matters worse, I did something horrible today!  Yes....horrible!  I sorted through all of Gus' baby clothes.  Seriously??  What was I thinking??  First of all, I am a super emotional person of attaches easily to inanimate objects because of the memory it brings up in my mind.  I didn't do too bad sorting through the 8 boxes....got it down to 6.  Part of it is because I remember specific days that Gus wore the outfit and what he did that day and I simply can't bear to give it to someone else.  Secondly, it just makes me ache for another baby!  I can't wait for another little one to snuggle into our arms and our hearts and into all of these clothes!  (By the way, you realize that because I have 6 giant boxes of baby boy clothes, we will end up with a girl this time around.  But because we don't have any boy names picked out, we will end up with a boy.  Yes...this is my luck.  Either way, we will be beyond thrilled...but you can see the conundrum that I have here.)  After sorting through these clothes, I realized that I just need to keep moving on and not focus on what is yet to come. So instead, I read a bunch of adoption blog posts and success stories and restored my hope in what is waiting for us in the future.  While reading, I found this poster... it is a good reminder that while I am pretty impatient, I must remain calm and continue to wait patiently to be a momma again.  Check back in about a month to see how patient I am staying.

My Crazy Organizing Quest

So I came to a strange realization.  I am the most unorganized, organized person.  I want to be organized.  I try to be organized.  Many parts of my life are pretty organized.  Many parts are super duper unorganized.  I often think about getting more organized.  But lately, it just isn't working.  In my head I am super organized!  The problem is that in reality, I am not.  I have many storage unit/baskets/bins/shelves to help with this problem.  But they are not properly utilized.  I promise that I have great intentions to get organized.

With the football season ending for the Stape Fam this next week, we will have some free time to spend getting ourselves organized before competitive cheer season starts.  (This is our life people....one sport season to the next!  We have four seasons in our house as most people do, but ours are called football/cheer, competitive cheer, track and summer.  It is hard to find a lot of free time during any of those seasons.  You would think that summer would be easier....you would think.)  In addition to getting organized, I have a handful of projects that I want to to by the time I am 33. (GULP! Keep in mind that in my dillusional head I am only 27 years old.  Being thirty-something is totally freaking me out! ) So in an effort to make the best out of the rest of the school year, I plan to get organized!  Since moving to the counseling office at school, I am no longer writing lesson plans or grading papers at home, I have a little more free time to focus on other projects.  My goal is to get our home organized and beautified by next June.  So here goes...here is my plan.  I figure if I post it for all to see, then I will need to follow through with it.  How embarrassing would it be if I had nothing to show for it by next June?  Eeekkk!!  (Yes, Mom, you can remind me about this.....a few times.)

I follow MANY organizing blogs.  I even follow other blogs that talk about their own adventures in organizing.  Very inspiring!  Now if only those bloggers could come over and help me get my head wrapped around some of this.  But one thing that they have taught me was to break it down so that it doesn't seem like such a huge task.  So here goes...breaking it down.  (I do reserve the right to rearrange these tasks at any time and should we get that super important phone call telling us that there is a baby on the way....well, forget the list!  I will spend my time putting together a nursery for that beautiful baby.  But until then....I will do my best to follow my list.)

OCTOBER

1.  Organize the entry coat closet

2.  The master bedroom/closet

3.  Go through clothing to organize and donate any unused clothes.

4.  Master bathroom organization

5.  Go through the boxes currently being stored in the loft.

NOVEMBER

1.  Organize Gus' bedroom and store old clothing

2.  Sort Gus' toys.  Donate unused.  Store some for Baby Stape #2.

3.  Organize linen closet.  Reduce the number of linens we have.  I love sheets and towels.  We have A LOT!

4.  Organize my office....this might take 2 months.

DECEMBER

1.  Continue to organize my office.  (Trying to be realistic here....this will need A LOT of help!

2.  Decorate for the Christmas season.  (I know it isn't organization....but I love it too much and it does take a lot of time.)

3.  Sort through the play room stuff...again.  I am very attached to a lot of Gus' stuff so I guarantee that I will need to go through it a couple of times this year.

4.  Hang photo wall.

JANUARY

1.  Sort kitchen cupboards

2.  Organize kitchen organizers.  (I know....redundant but we have a couple of things in our kitchen that become "catch alls".)

3.  Fingers crossed...build large built-in/desk area.

FEBRUARY

1.  Sort through bookshelf/storage unit in living room

2.  Sort/organize the storage bins that are currently being stored in the garage.

3.  Paint laundry room and half bath

MARCH

1.  Finish painting project in the loft and upstairs hallway

2.  Paint master bedroom/closet/bathroom

3.  Organize photo storage on computer/online

4.  Organize computer files

APRIL

1.  Organize basement storage.  (This is the ONLY thing for this month....it may take many months to complete.  There is a lot of CRAP really valuable treasures down there.)

2.  Begin working on the landscaping project in the front of our house.

MAY

1.  Store away all winter clothing.  Fully install spring/summer clothing in the closets

2.  Sort Gus' clothing.  (I have a bad feeling that he will have jumped to the next size by then....it makes my stomach hurt thinking about it.)

3.  Continue the basement organization.

JUNE

1.  Organize garage and outdoor toys

2.  Finish up any organization projects that didn't get done yet.

3.  Plan Gus' birthday party.  (Super important and always over the top!!)

If I scroll up this post, I have a little bit of a panic attack.  I can do this....I can do this....I can do this..... I am hoping to get through #1 and #2 for October today.  I have about 11 hours left to get these two things done.  Gotta get a move on!!

Little Moments

I have discovered lately that it is the little moments that are becoming the most important to me.  The other night, I walked upstairs to discover a little boy who was up way past his bedtime.  He was entertaining himself by singing.  I took a moment to go in and snuggle with him while he sang.  I had so much fun that I HAD to record it.  I want to keep this fresh in my mind for a long time to come.  I want to remember him exactly as he is right now.  (And now I am obsessed with recording his sweet little voice.)  Of course I also want to share it with you!!  (Depending on your computer system, you may have to download the sound clip to hear it.)

The Whole World

ABC

And my Favorite....Little Lady (Gus has been calling me little lady lately...LOVE!)