Nicolas' Room

We're putting the finishing touches on Nicolas' room. We are really happy with how it all came together. It's a peaceful, happy place...we'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Eric drew the trees on the wall and I painted them.

There are also cute little bugs hanging out on the walls too...bees and ladybugs and dragonflies.

He also drew and painted the owl :)

The red moose on the wall is from IKEA...you can hang things from the antlers and the legs.

We have curtains...they're missing here though.

The alphabet cards were the first purchase we made for our Little One!

This whole wall is one big closet.
I wish I could do something about the mirrors (I really dislike them...but for now they're here to stay)

"Lapu-Lapu"
The newest addition to our little Moose family...handmade with love by Gram-Gram.

Lapu-Lapu is a smaller version of the original Moose (Ferdinand) we used for our announcement book.

18 Months

We've finally made it to the eighteenth month! We're excited to know that we could get the call anytime now, however, we know that there are at least two families in Quebec who have been waiting for 26 months (2 months past the projected 18-24 month waiting times). We are hoping and praying that "the call" will come soon and while we wait, we're keeping busy...

In March, Tammy's grandmother fell ill and needed to have two rather risky angioplasty procedures. We're thankful that she is now recovering and is feeling much better.

Hobbes (our "puppy") had a small bump on his side that developed into a sore, following a visit to the vet and a biopsy, our vet informed us that it was a mastocytoma and had to be removed right away. Poor Hobbes had to have surgery to remove the tumour and left him with a 6" scar on his side! We've spent most of the past month nursing him back to health...tomorrow he goes to the vet to have his stitches removed! We received the report following the surgery and it said that all of the tumour was removed. We have to keep a close eye on his health, but he should be fine. Talk about a relief!

Eric had some holidays left over from last year that needed to be used up, so this past weekend, he had a 6 day weekend. While he was off, we decided that it would be a good time to begin working on mom's kitchen. So, in the last seven days, we took up the floating floor, discovered a carpet under the floating floor, took up the carpet, screwed down the subfloor, put in a new plywood floor, screwed in the new floor, put down the tile, and grouted the tile. I should mention that it was the first time we ever tried our hand at tiling... good thing that we had a good friend along to hold our hand through the process! We also decided that we should re-tile the entrance to mom's and the side entrance to our place (which meant removing the old cracked tiles - that's crazy big job). So as of tonight...the kitchen is tiled...and the entrances are ready for tiles! Poor Eric is going back to work and he didn't even have one day off! I guess he's going to go and "relax" at the office tomorrow ;)

Little One... we want to meet you so much... we are tired of waiting... we are anxious to know you and to love you and though we know that the timing will be perfect when you finally come home to us, the waiting is hard. We hope and pray that you are well cared for and most especially that you know that you are loved!

For you, Little One

We're packing...cleaning...organizing...did I mention packing? We began packing for the move, by packing up our Little One's room...it's amazing...they're not here yet...but they have lots of stuff already. We want to make sure that all of the boxes for the Little One are clearly marked...you know...just in case we get the call.

Many months ago I began a quilt for our Little One's crib...and thought that I would make a smaller version to send to our Little One when we get the call. Just to be sure the quilt would be ready, I took a break from packing one evening and finished the quilt!

14 Months

Merry Christmas...and Happy 14 months to us!

This past month was an exciting and busy one for both of us, which was great because the month passed pretty quickly! Eric had to travel for work; first to Belfast, Ireland and then (only 36 hours after getting home) he travelled to Wichita, Kansas. I was very thankful that we were able to "chat" a little every day. On Christmas Eve, we hosted a small party for some of our family and friends. On Christmas day we went to my brother's in the morning and then we came home and had a small Christmas dinner with my mom, and Eric's parents and his brother. It was a small quiet family celebration.

House Update:
We sold our house! And we'll be moving in a little more than a month! This next month will probably also fly by...seeing as we'll be packing and planning our move and once we get the new place we'll be painting and settling in. We're really happy about the move. While we love our current home, it is a little small. The new place will have more living space and Gram-Gram will be living just downstairs! We're nostalgic about leaving this house...it is afterall the house where we planned on starting our family. We have already painted the Little One's room...we're a little sad to know that our Little One won't see it.

Shared Joy...

Tonight (or rather, this morning!) I am thankful for friends!

I had a get-together tonight with two special friends and it was so fun to talk a little about our adoption and to have them share our joy!

Thanks for your support and encouragement!! It means a lot...it is fun to dream of the day we'll pick up our Little One! It is also fun to hear others talk of their excitement about our adoption! I feel so blessed to know that our Little One is loved and highly anticipated, by our families and friends!

We can't wait to meet you, Little One!

The Little One's Room...in progress...part 2

I felt inspired today to do some work on the Little One's room, so I dug out my paint and paint brushes and headed upstairs...

I worked on the deciduous trees first, and then on the grass and flowers at the bottom of all the trees, I still have some work to do on the evergreens. The main project I worked on today was to paint the Hobbit Hole. Eric had drawn an outline on the wall, but I needed some inspiration, so I looked through his copy of The Hobbit and there were some great illustrations, that was all the inspiration I needed!

Here are the pictures of some of the trees and the Hobbit hole.

The Little One's Room..in progress...Part 1

We have begun working on our Little One's room. Eric and I have had many discussions about how to decorate it. He wanted to paint a mural on all the walls in the room but I wanted a mural on only one wall (He's usually right about these things - he HAS chosen every paint color in our home!). He had tons of ideas and since I am a more visual person and was having a hard time envisioning his ideas, one night I had him draw on the walls with chalk and after living with the chalk drawings for months, we decided to bite the bullet and try to paint the mural on two walls in the room to see how we felt. After the trial paint job...the next morning, I began painting the first coat of the mural...on all the walls of the room! It took a couple of coats of paint on the bottom of the mural (that was the easy part). We had decided that the sky should have some "texture" and we chose to use two colors of blue paint and through trial and error; using many techniques; we finally have a beautiful blue sky. The next step is to paint the decorative elements...the clouds...the trees...the animals...the moose...and the hobbit hole...yes...I did say hobbit hole...Eric is a huge Lord of the Rings fan...so there will be a hobbit hole...


Here are some pictures of the room "in progress"...