A Gorgeous Girl

Day 269 Waiting for our miracle babies


So, my friend Beth has one of the most gorgeous daughters of ALL TIME. Seriously, she is so beautiful. She also happens to be adopted. Awesome, right? Anyhow, Beth's baby is in a contest on this website. If she wins the most votes, then she will receive a gift certificate to my friend Meka's Beautiful Baby Boutique. So, head on over to Meka's blog and VOTE VOTE VOTE! Beth's baby is #7. And be sure to hurry because I think there are only 2 or 3 days left to vote! Oh, and while you're there, be sure to take a look at Meka's amazing baby items. They are gorgeous, and priced really affordably. And guess what? Every purchase you make helps Meka raise money for their second adoption! So, you get amazing products, and sometime in the near future, Meka will get a son/daughter. Everybody wins!

Ummm...

Day 267 Waiting for our miracle babies

As you all know, adoption is incredibly expensive. And I'm sure you can all guess that my pregnancies are also incredibly expensive. Combined, it creates somewhat of a financial crunch. We're not complaining, obviously any expense is worth it. But we are really trying hard not to go into debt for any of it. So, we have been saving as much as possible, we have done a fundraiser garage sale, and we have added a paypal button on our blog for donations. It hasn't been successful enough though. So, we are going to make and sell the little rocking chairs that we make. You can see pictures of them in this post. Our dilemma is that we really don't know how much to sell them for. Malone estimates that it costs us somewhere between $20-$25 in materials to make each one. Then I hand paint each one and customize it for the person it's going to. So, how much do you all think we could sell them for?

And... 18

Day 264 Waiting for our miracle babies

Well here I am at 18 weeks. I had a doctor's appointment today and she confirmed that our little baby is still growing and has a great heartbeat. She scheduled me to have an ultrasound with a perinatologist (a high risk pregnancy doctor) on November 24th. He will do all the regular ultrasound stuff. He will also assess the status of my cervix and offer an opinion about how much longer he thinks I'll be able to hold onto the baby. Sounds fun, right? NOT. I'm actually terrified that I'm going to get there and he's going to have bad news. We shall see. Hopefully the worst thing that will happen is he will order me to stay in bed for the duration of my "confinement." Frankly, if that's all that happens, I will be relieved. After all, I never expected that I'd make it this far without getting strapped down, so I'm grateful for every day that I can still do the normal things. You know, walk to the bathroom, bathe myself, work, go to the store, etc... Stuff like that really makes me thankful! (Don't mock)

On a brighter note, I have now posted the poll where you can guess whether I'm having a boy or a girl! It's in the right sidebar.

Just ignore our laundry in the background. Oh, and the fact that I'm not wearing makeup. Just one of those days...

For starters

Day 262 Waiting for our miracle babies

One thing I would like to do this month to help spread the word about adoption is feature waiting couples. What better way to promote adoption than to try to help connect families? So, if you are a waiting family, send me your information. Include a photo, a way to contact you, a link to your online profile, and a short paragraph about your family. You can send this information to me at maloneandbrittanyadopt@gmail.com. I will ask my contacts to spread the word for you too. The only thing I ask in return is that you be sure to let your waiting friends know about this opportunity so that I can spread the word for them too.

Somethings brewing...

Day 261 Waiting for our miracle babies

What many of you don't know is that November is national adoption month. It's a chance for all of us to educate others about the miracle of adoption. With that in mind, I have decided that I want to do something special on my blog throughout the month to do my part. I'm not sure yet exactly what I'm going to do, but stay tuned. I have some ideas brewing in this brain of mine...

17 Weeks

Day 257 Waiting for our miracle babies

I have made it to 17 weeks! In 19 weeks the doctor will cut the stitches. Next Friday will be the half-way point. I feel like I'm getting HUGE. I don't think I ever got this big with Gavin, and his gestational age was 24 weeks. I guess it's true when they say every pregnancy is different!

Our Big Halloween Tradition

Day 255 Waiting for our miracle babies

So this is a lot later coming this year. We have been SUPER busy. But, at least we got it finished! Anyway, from our house to yours... We give you the haunted gingerbread mansions of 2009.

Here's a shot of the two houses together. The house on the left is the one that Malone and I did. The house on the right is the one that my brother, Garth, and his wife, Laura, did.

This is Garth and Laura's mansion. They imagined their house was the headquarters of a head hunter. I thought they did such a good job with that idea in mind!

This is the house Malone and I decorated. Have you ever read the book called, "The Witches" by Roald Dahl? Well this is what we imagined the witches lair might look like in that book. So we did lots of crooked angles on the house and we used food coloring to paint the walls purple and grey.

We normally use a pattern that a lot of people recognize. For example, last year we patterned it off of the haunted mansion in Disneyland, Paris. But this year with everything going on we decided to just do a more simple design. So we made up our own!

Week 16

Day 250 Waiting for our miracle babies

So, I decided just now that I want to take a weekly photo to document my progress with this pregnancy. Because of the possible complications with my prior history of incompetent cervix, every week completed is something to celebrate. So, as of today I am 16 weeks along and this is my photo. I have to admit it's not the most beautiful picture of me. After all, it's late at night and let's face it... I'm pregnant and not feeling my best. But it will have to do because I'm not about to get all gussied up. This is REALITY people! Now if only I could find a way for our birthmom J to do the same... unfortunately she does not have a digital camera. Darn it!