Our Haul

Emi, Aubri and I had a short window of time this morning to hit a few local garage sales and we were richly rewarded for our efforts. We hit 3 sales within an hour and spent less than $20. This is some of what we hauled home:

Life is Good diner mug $1

Wooden duck $1

(not pictured, Breezy's 50 cent watering can ; J.Jill sweater, chocolate brown Lacoste thermal shirt and red/white striped Banana Republic top all three for $3) 

Made in PI, this $1 shirt matches my $1.50 thrift store OU capris

Wooden Cafe Table with 2 chairs for $10

I have been looking for a table set like this for a long time, something to add into the sun room for when we have friends and family over, another conversation area...like a coffeehouse...or The Mont! Not sure if I should paint or condition and reseal these steals!

Old Lawn Chair for $1

Will probably paint this chair....

Emi got a Nerf gun for 25 cents and Aubri got a thermal lunch bag for 25 cents also... not a bad morning at all!

Nine Years Ago

On this day 9 years ago we anxiously met with Emi's birth mom for the first time. A few days prior I was not sure we (I) could even handle adoption, let alone transracial open adoption. What a CRAZY concept, right? I distinctly remember calling the then Director of Deaconess Adoption the Friday before our scheduled meeting and telling her how awful I felt about potentially saying "no" to a baby. A baby that we'd gone into major debt trying to have via IVF and FET a few years prior. The birth mom had picked us from our profile and she wanted to meet with us. The director assured me that God had a plan for the baby and told me not to feel bad about my fears.

We prayed about it and when we met with the birth mom a few days later, we were immediately at peace. We just loved her from the beginning. She didn't know if the baby was a boy or girl, but she knew that whatever it was it going to have a lot of hair. 16 days later our lives were forever changed....

Twist and Shout

Emi and I started off the evening with some wonderful yoga involving lots of stress relieving twists. Then after dinner and bath we started in on the arduous task of converting her microbraids (pretty much dreds by now) into two strand twists.  So far I'd estimate that I have about 10% of her hair done.

Time gets away from us with 3 kids, 2 working parents, copious extra activities, yard work, yada, yada, yada but Emi is really low maintenance on her hair requests so we do her hair when we do her hair. We've gotten a lot of judgement from people who are not her parents, but she is so much more than her hair and she knows it...

Last year we found out about a local hair shop that specializes in black hair so maybe after I get her hair all detangled and into twists we might set up an appt to see about cornrows. Emi wants to let her hair out in an afro and I'd like something more protective (and less maintenance) so I'm thinking this might be a good compromise:

P.S. There was no shouting tonight but there might have been some whimpering from Emi during some of the yoga stretches and also during the comb out...

Trying Things

I had a whole post about my littlest girlie and how she's Trying Things (Terrible Twos? Terrible Threes?) but she was so stinking sweet and lovable tonight that I decided that that kind of post can wait (as well as the "Terrible" anything phases). Aubri's not the only one trying things though...

We woke up rushed for time this morning and I had on a denim skirt while looking for a top to wear to work. I grabbed a white top out of my closet and by the time I was in front of the kids' full length mirror to see how it looked, I realized it was not a top but a recent purchase from Athleta - a white Teelicious® Duh Dress. I was running late and it worked for me. I added my favorite belt and Emi's cool turquoise earrings and necklace, thinking folks might be distracted by the accessories (and my toes) to zero in on the fact that I was wearing a dress over a skirt but I still ended up telling everyone who complimented me on my attire about the skirt under dress. I loved the look and ordered 2 more to wear with leggings, or over a knit skirt or better yet, with a big scarf tied around the waist. This dress is very comfy, but a little thin, so that's why I was okay with wearing it to work - my office is cold and I could use the extra layer...

Duh!

What do you think? Did I pull it off?

Chick Check

This morning Emi and I were fasting for some blood work and we arrived at the lab early (7:30) thinking we'd get the blood drawn quickly, drop off the Little Ones and then proceed to a nice relaxing and filling break to our fast. Not so. Apparently 10 or so others were thinking the same thing and got to the lab before us (I bet they went to Ozzie's afterwards). We ended up waiting an hour and - truth be told - that was more painful than the actual blood drawing. The Little Ones got bored (and therefore went into "hobo" mode) and we were getting cranky because we missed breakfast and coffee....but we powered through it, got the necessary specimens drawn and after we dropped off the kiddos, we headed for Chick-Fil-A.

Bliss

 
We would have preferred Ozzie's but we didn't have the luxury of time to properly hang out and wait for breakfast. Chick-Fil-A is always good and it was nice spending time with my big little girl (who is almost 9!!!) one on one. This was her second blood draw and I am really proud that she was such a trooper this time. Last time was A Different Story. But this time she watched me get 3 vials drawn and then sat down and watched the phlebotomist draw 2 vials from her arm....wow!