Bags are Packed!! Well.... sort of....

Yes, Baby B's bags are packed....  ours are not but I am a pro at packing my suitcase fast so it won't be hard for me to throw some clothes in a suitcase.  A lot of people have been asking how this is going to go as far as when our birth mom goes into labor so I'll just use our blog to fill you in.  First of all ...  we have NO idea how this is going to go :).  We are so very scared and nervous and excited but we have faith that we will make it through this next few weeks together.  Our birthmom will call us when she goes into labor ....  she has already gone into false labor twice so far.  Bless her heart, she is ready to have this sweet baby.  She is as excited for us as we are!  Though I know inside this will be very hard for her and her family, she has SUCH a giving heart that she is excited for us to start our new family and she is trying to focus on what we are gaining rather than her sadness.  She is and will always be a mother we GREATLY admire for her gift she is giving us! So... onto how this will go, she will call us when she goes into labor and when we KNOW it is the real thing we will throw our suitcases into the car....  got a Mommy car.... my early Christmas present from Justin.  The jetta was just not big enough for this sweet baby.....

We will head up 287 to Wichita Falls... the road we have taken a lot the last 16 months of this adoption journey.  Every single time we head to our agency (whether it was for our adoption orientation, meeting another birthmom, meeting our birthmom for the first time, the doctor appointments I have gone on with her) I think of what it will be like when we get the call that her water has broke and we are flying down the road to try to make it in time to meet our baby.  That car ride will be entertaining to say the least, if you know me and Justin, you KNOW we will be a total mess ;)! I also dream about the car ride home and everytime I do I cry.  For us that will be the most exciting time, the time we know it is for real, the time we are driving her home to meet her new family and welcome her to our home. I can't wait to put her in our grandparents arms, to introduce her to big sister Lucy (her 100 lb rotweiller sister!), to introduce her to her Nanas', her Papas', her aunts, uncles, cousins, friends!  I am crying just writing about it.  I can not wait! As of right now our birthmom is scheduled to be induced on the 27th so unless she comes sooner we will make plans to leave early on the 27th (probably all jacked up on lots of coffee for me and Monsters for J which I am sure we will drink lots of for the next few days!) and prepare to welcome this sweet baby!
We can't have any family at the hospital, it will be just Justin and I.  This is totally appropriate considering our family would be overjoyed for us and this is going to be a tough time for our birthfamily emotionally.  I would be lying if I said this didn't make us sad, when we envisioned having children we envisioned our whole family being there....  when my niece Abby was born I will never forget ALL of us running down the hall to see her through the glass.  We were like a herd of elephants. Of course only two visitors were allowed at a time I think through the doors and I am pretty sure there were about 25 of us! When my nephew was born we all camped out all night long in my sisters room and made a slumber party of it, those are such great memories! It is okay though, through this process if there is one thing I learned it is life isn't always what you expect or even want but in the end God will take you where you need to be and where we believe we were meant to be.  Having just each other there to lean on will be special in a way and will bring us even closer together than we ever imagined I am sure! Our birthmom put on her hospital papers she would like us to be able to stay in the hospital... this means that IF there is a room available the hospital will actually let us stay there which would be just perfect.  If there is not room we will get a hotel room close to the hospital.  I know so many people who love us will be eager to hear how things are but really after this we will just wait.  We will more than likely stay in the hospital a couple days before heading home just like any other parent would.  This will be a very emotionally tough time.... we are excited for our blessing but I am so nervous about our birth family and how they will be.  We have developed a bond with them all and it will be tough for them. I asked anyone that was willing to to sign this special book for our birthmom and write a note to her expressing their gratitude and the love and respect they have for her.

We plan to give this to her in the hospital along with a few special other things (including one sweet friend who actually before even knowing about this book bought our birthmom a card and wrote her the most lovely note, thank you Robyn Rye) just to show her how much people love and respect her decision. I hope she will always look back on this and be happy about her decision, I have told her so much I will always hope to make her proud for this gift she is giving us.

Every single day I wake up wondering if this is going to be the day.  The closer it gets the more anxious we both get.  I am sure any parent feels this way at 38 weeks pregnant.  As I sit here typing this Justin is on the floor of the living room "attempting" to put together a very difficult swing after putting together a difficult bassinet - I am good at watching him and supporting him (ha!) he is good at doing the hard stuff.  We really can't believe this is finally happening!

We have been MORE than blessed with people showering the baby with sweet wonderful gifts! Because this is an adoption and sometimes things do happen I really wasn't going to do anything at all beforehand for the baby.  However our birthmom insisted we go ahead and prepare her room so I gave our family and friends our go ahead to plan showers.  Our birthmom really wanted us to enjoy every moment of "expeciting a baby" just as other people do.  So....  with that being said we had two of the most BEAUTIFUL showers I have ever ever been to thanks to ALL of our hostesses who did SO much to make it perfect!!

Shower #1 - Liana and Lexie Lauterbach, Tish Burns, Miranda Thomas, Chelsea Harrington, Lorene and Bella Ferrante, Mary and Jessica Sink, Amariss and Abby Nash, Mom, and Yvonne Glass

Shower #2 - Dana Boyd, Tracy King, Michelle Spradley, Becky Wiginton, Cyndi Moore, and Stephanie Rye

Our shower invites....

Everything about these showers were just beautiful as far as the decorations go!

We have been truly OVERWHELMED with how many people have bought sweet gifts and cards and said sweet encouraging words to us! I think when people know how badly you have wanted something for so long it makes them ALL the more excited for you when your dream is finally coming true....  Here are just a FEW sweet gifts, we LOVE each and every gift we have received and it will ALL go to good use!

Birds eye view from our first shower

LOVE these petti rompers that are in style right now for baby girls!

Baby B's future Nanny (cousin Kerri) made this adorable diaper bag - perfect!!

My sweet cousin Jennifer made this lamp!

The first little love in our life, Abby Grace, wrote the sweetest poem for her new cousin!

One of the first students Justin ever taught brought us this adorable outfit! Thank you sweet Halbrook family!!

Justin modeling one of her 250 bows she has! LOVE them ALL!

A PRECIOUS new friend of mine Stephanie made this for her room and it means so much to us!

My Aunt and Uncle MADE this adorable doll house book shelf! LOVE it!

Abby showing off baby B's precious Panther shoes!!

Another one of Justins' former students, sweet Kelley, MADE this cross! I LOVE it and we LOVE Kelley!

Baby B already has SO many shoes! I am jealous!

Love it! She has two precious football hats for footballs season! Different sizes too so thats great!

Thanks Kerri and Mrs Gilmore!

This is too cute! One of Justins' coaching buddies Matt bought baby her first guitar! Justin and Matt love staying up late playing guitar together now baby can too!

My dear friend owns her own shop - GlamRBaby - and makes the cutest clothes! She has made so many cute things for my niece and now for baby B! Love them ALL! Thank You Noelle!

Yes, doesn't every baby need an I Pad???!! We are already getting LOTS of use out of this gift! 

Thanks Aunt Tammy and Nancy!

We have been more than blessed by everyones' sweet gifts..... We haven't had to buy a thing for her because everyone has showered us with so much.  I bought ONE thing for her room the rest was sweet gifts of love from our loved ones...  This was what I bought, this was our candle lighting song at our wedding almost 7 years ago and I thought it was perfect for Baby B's room too!

I also ordered these for her....  couldn't resist.... she already has SO many precious clothes, but she needed these too I think!

Number 14 was Justins' baseball number! Hope she loves her football and baseball jerseys!
They are this great soft, silky material too! I loved them! Found them on etsy!! You can find everything there!

Now for her sweet room....  I had an idea of what I needed to do, thanks to my Mom and all of her help helping me pick out just what I wanted for her nursery! She helped me so much when it came to picking out things for her room! I really love her taste and love how she always knows my taste so well! I love you Mom!

Mom and Justin worked very hard to get this on the wall!
It looks perfect and is very fitting!!

We were so busy with football season and I have been working a little more than usual before baby arrives so my Aunt and Uncle helped us out SO much! They offered to paint her room for us (twice! yes I changed my mind on the color once! I'm horrible!) and built custom shelves in her closet.  Huge thank you to them for that! My mother in law and father in law bought baby B's crib and changing table and it is perfect! So thankful for all these things that make her room ready for her big debut!!

The top of this closet is now FILLED with diapers!! Thank you friends for all the diapers LOL!
They may not be as FUN to get as the FRILLY stuff but they are WAY needed!

Thanks Ma for her beautiful bedding! It is so precious!

Her sweet room!
I love walking in here and knowing EVERY SINGLE THING in here was a sweet loving gift from people who love her already so much.  Every sweet gift - big and small means more to us than you could ever know!

My Aunt Bobbi found that cute B and I adore it!
She even has her first Panther on the shelf watching her!
And of course the precious bow holder my dear friend Meghan made her!

Best mother in law ever bought her the adorable changing table and I love the mirror Mom picked out for her!

A girl can never have too many bows!

Went on a fun little overnight getaway with friends to Stephenville where we LOVE to hear live country music, (saw Wade Bowen who is awesome) kind of a last getaway before our lives as we have known it for last 7 married years changes forever.... Not that we still won't do lots of date nights! I am a big believer that us doing fun stuff together is important and will be healthy for our baby to see.  Not to mention we are lucky to have an abundance of great people already asking to babysit!

Sorry this has been such a LONG post...  I just haven't updated in a long time and some people have asked lots of questions since this isn't so much a "normal" pregnancy I guess, figured this was best way to update.  Next post will hopefully be us introducing this sweet girl to everyone.  I do ask as you finish reading this that you take a moment to pray for our baby that everything go well in the coming days and that she be healthy! Please also pray for our birth family, as joyous as a time for us this is, it will be understandably tough for them.  Please pray for us that we have patience, understanding, and that I don't drive Justin nuts till we get her home ;).  I am a walking mess these days, happy one second, crying the next, I blame it on the adoption hormones!! What an exciting time of year this is for so many!  We feel so blessed to have the encouragement and support of our friends and family through this.  As I said earlier, this isn't maybe the way we "thought" we would grow our family but we are thankful for the gift of adoption and we know when we look into this little girls' eyes we will realize then why God wanted us to wait! The best things in life ARE worth waiting for! We wish you all the best and a very Merry Christmas! Looking forward to all 2012 has in store for us all!

Love, Justin and Heather 

FYI - this was before our 5K we ran! wanted to do this before baby was born!
may seem small for some but I am not much of a runner so this was a big deal for me  - ha!