Top 10 most used baby items

Well, I probably could have written my top favorite baby items long before I had a baby, after working in an infant room for many years... And it probably would be the same list (minus the cloth diapers, a few years ago, I would've thought that was nuts!:-) So here are a few baby items that I use most often and love and pretty much couldn't live without now that we have sweet Anna.

1) My Moby wrap and Mei Tei!  I love that I can carry Anna around (since she loves to be snuggled) and still get things like laundry, dishes, vacuuming, etc... done around the house.  It's nice to have her close and when she's fussy, putting her in one of the carriers instantly calms her down. 

2) The swing!  Anna LOVES her swing.  She likes to play in it and sleep in it and it's so fun to see her enjoy it! 

3) The infant sleep and play.  It's like a hammock/cradleish thing that we found for her to sleep in.  She HATED the pack n play, I think it was just too open for her, she likes to be swaddled and snug when she sleeps.  So we found this and she sleeps GREAT in it!  It's wonderful and it rocks, so putting her back to sleep at night is super easy!  We've started to have her sleep in the pack n play more during the day and she's doing better, so when we decide to move her to her crib, hopefully it goes weel!

4) Formula dispensers.  We have some single and triple dispensers that you can pre-scoop formula into!  It's life saver in the middle of the night and for going out places.  And since the formula scoopers are the same size as the opening of her bottle, the formula dispensers save us a lot of formula mess and waste!

5) Cloth diapers!  I love using cloth diapers even more than I thought I would.  They're so easy and her bottom always stays dry with them.  We had a little leakage issues at the beginning but soon learned we just weren't drying them enough.  Now we very rarely have a leak and if we do, it's usually when we're out and I just didn't change her as often as I do at home!  I just love the fact that her little bottom is covered in a soft material that keeps her free of chemicals and scratchy paper!  And it works well that the little 4 month old that I watch every day uses cloth as well, so I never have stinky diapers sitting around in trash cans until garbage pick-up.  My house doesn't smell like poop :-)!  Her little bum is just so cute in the diapers!

6) Cloth wipes.  Well, with my diapers, I use cloth wipes (actually, most of them are just baby wash cloths).  I just spray them with water from a spray bottle and wipe!  I very rarely have to use more than one (unlike the slimy store bought ones when you have to use a billion to get the job done) and again, they're nice and soft on her butt and don't make it raw like I've seen wipes do a lot! 

7)  Wet bag.  Since I'm on the cloth diaper theme... I couldn't live without my wet/dry bags.  They keep dirty diapers contained and I wash them when I wash the diapers.  They're easy to take with me wherever I go and they keep the smell/any fluids from escaping!  We just got a second one for a shower and it's been wonderful!

8) Miracle blanket.  Since she loves to be swaddled and she's a little escape artist, the Miracle blanket has been WONDERFUL!  She can't get out of it and she falls asleep almost instantly when we wrap her in it. We reserve it only for night time and that seems to help her distinguish longer sleeping times vs. naps! 

9) Dishwasher bottle holder thing...  Very practical and kinda boring, but we use it like 2 times a day.  It's got a place for all of her bottle pieces and keeps them contained and gets them washed nicely!

10) Finally, the play gym.  Anna loves to lay and play on it, it's got lights, sound, and a mobile that spins and she spends a lot of time playing on it!  Enjoy the video of her playing on it!

 So with that, we are so thankful to all of the people that have sent cards, gifts, and most importantly prayers.  We couldn't function without all of our family and friends and their support and prayers!  We are so blessed and so thankful!  It's a huge load lifted off knowing we are surrounded by people who love us and who love Anna so much!

Happy Girl

Anna is such a wonderful baby.  She is always happy and is so calm!  She very rarely cries and when she does it's usually because she's hungry!  The girl loves to eat!  She's growing like crazy and is going to soon outgrow her newborn clothes.  They still fit, but her arms are super long, so they look like 3/4 length sleeves on her now!  But she's not quite into the 0-3 month clothes yet, they're still pretty big on her! 

She loves to lay on the floor and play and she also loves tummy time!  She enjoys her swing and she loves to be held and snuggled!  She's a very cuddly baby and is quick to give smiles and contented sighs when her daddy or I pick her up and give her hugs and kisses!  She also loves to be carried in my Mei Tai and in the Moby wrap as I do chores and stuff around the house!  If she's fussy (which is rare) it instantly calms her down and she smiles and sighs!  She knows what she wants, that's for sure!

We have quite the social butterfly on our hands.  Anna loves a crowd and generally is VERY alert and willing to show off her cute facial expressions and gaze sweetly at every camera!  We're in trouble when she starts talking, she's never going to stop!  She's definitely not shy! 

Overall, we have a super sweet baby who is calm and just loves people!  We are so blessed!  In addition, she is a fantastic sleeper and we're getting as much sleep now as we did before Anna!  Last night, for example, she slept 10-6, getting up only at 3 to eat, burp, and go back to sleep!  We thank God for her a million times a day.  She is truly a joy and a delight in our lives, and we're so lucky to be her parents!  I can't wait to watch her grow up and become a beautiful young lady!  I am so blessed to get to stay home with her and take care of her all day long!  I get to snuggle with my girl for hours and hours a day! 

Here are a few fun pictures of her!

Just the beginning...

One week ago, we were going about our business as usual, working, teaching RCIA, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, etc...

Who knew our lives would do a total 360 in a matter of hours.  Here's the beginning of Anna's adoption story.  It all started back in November when we were first identified by a birth mom.  After three months of preparation for the coming of our baby boy, he was born on February 7 and he quickly melted our hearts.  24 hours later we were devestated by the news that his birth mom had decided to parent him and we would be going home empty handed and a little upset that God would let something like that happen to us. 

We then proceeded to take some time to grieve.  It wasn't easy and just when I thought I was "over it" my emotions would take a toll again.  I went to the Behold Conference, a conference focused on the dignity and roles of women.  It was one of those experiences that allowed me to really think about my emotions and kind of allow them to "do their thing."  You see, I don't like to show "weakness".  Or at least that's how I perceived it.  I don't like to show my emotions and I like to appear strong at all times.  It was the first time that I let my guard down and let myself go through the grieving process.  I really listened to what the Sisters for Life had to say and their words stuck with me.  It is natural, normal, and expected that I should feel like I did, like I had lost a child.  I left that day with a renewed sense of hope, hope that God had a plan for our family, a hope that I had lost just a few weeks prior.

And then I continued on with my daily life, taking time to really make meaningful Lenten sacrifices and added prayer into my day. 

Little did I know that as I experienced these extreme emotions, there was a woman out there who gave birth to a baby girl, made an adoption plan, chose us without even seeing our profile (she looked at our video only and fell in love) and on Thursday made the hardest, but most selfless decision of her life and she signed away her rights to her child.  Thereby giving those rights to us, as the parents she had hand chosen, and that God had hand-chosen, for this child.  God created her perfectly and held her lovingly as he guided her birthmom in her decision.

On Thursday at 11:30 I received a phone call that will forever change our lives.  Our caseworker called, and quickly told me the reason for her call.  A baby girl had been born, we had been identified as her adoptive parents, and her birthmom had already signed her surrenders.  She was our daughter and we could come pick her up in just 4 hours.  She was unnamed and while the birthmom had mentioned possibly having her first or middle name be a part of our decision, she made sure the decision was ours to make.

In a whirlwind, we made some necessary phone calls and quickly ran to buy anything and everything pink.  We were picking up our daugher!  Talk about a whirlwind!

When we got to Catholic Charities, our case worker filled us in on some details, letting us know that Anna had been in two different newborn care homes, due to one being on vacation.  She was born in Urbana and transferred to the newborn home in Lasalle until surrenders were signed.  The foster parents were on their way with her and I had talked with them on the phone some.  They had even called when she had cried just to let us hear her!  It didn't feel real yet!

Finally they arrived with her.  We decided on the name Anna.  While we had a different name picked out orginally, we changed our mind.  We had prayed a novena to St. Anne, asking for her intercession, that God would bless us with a child soon.  The novena ended the day she was born.  We had since then continued to ask St. Anne for her intercession and boy were her prayers heard!  So we named her Anna, after St. Anne and Clare after St. Clare of Assissi, whose story of strength, trust, and love of the Eucharist is a reminder daily of how our love for God should be.  After being in Assissi two years ago, we knew we would name our first daughter after her.

So anyway, I bawled when they handed her to me.  SHE. WAS. PERFECT!  Everything about her was perfect.  What a beautiful gift.  The foster parents that had cared for her were beyond wonderful and had only good things to say about our daughter.  She was a great sleeper, a great eater, and overall a very content and wonderful baby.

We brought her home and quickly had many visitors.  We celebrated her arrival and I spent the entire night looking at her (while she slept through most of it). 

As I went through the chain of events in my head, I realized quickly that God had his plan so intricately woven.  Had this birth mom contact Catholic Charities months ago, we never could have been Anna's parents.  We were out of circulation due to being identified by another birthmom and we went back into circulation the week after our fall-through.  However, it had been her plan all along to choose adoption and due to keeping the pregnancy a secret, she had chosen to wait until she was born.

We spoke with our case worker yesterday and she relayed to us that the birth mom's caseworker shared with her the name that we chose and she absolutely loved it.  She said it was beautiful and she was overjoyed to hear about us meeting her and how things were going with us.  Whiel she's not at a point where she's ready to meet Anna yet, she does want to get to know us in the future and we can't wiat to hear her story and meet the beautiful woman who gave our sweet baby girl life.  She gave us the most precious gift and she selflessly chose a path for Anna that she knew would give her the life she deserves.  I am eternally grateful for her sacrifice, for the sacrifice of her body for 9 months for Anna, and for her sacrifice of her child so that Anna could have a wonderful life.

I can't even put into words the emotions that run through me when I look at how beautiful, sweet, and wonderful she is.  I can't get enough of holding her, kissing her, cuddling her, or seeing her daddy do the same.  My heart melts each and every day and while my extra Lenten prayers have been a little neglected, my prayer of thanks is radiating all throughout the day.  I would do it all again in a heartbeat, including the 5am ER visit this morning, for that precious girl sleeping next to me right now. 

And now less than one week later, we live by Anna's schedule.  We wake up with her in the mornings and go to bed with her at night, and we spend all day trying to make sure that she is loved, cared for, happy, and that she knows who her mommy and daddy are.  What a difference a week makes!

Sweetest baby!

Anna truly is the sweetest baby in the world.  She is almost always content, and she is extremely calm.  Really the only time she cries is when we take her clothes off (which happens VERY frequently as she pees through EVERYTHING) and put them back on... She hates to be naked...  She also cries for like a second when we buckle her into the carseat, but once the paci's in her mouth, she's great! 

We took her to Mass last night, she got a blessing from Mnsr. and she made her debut with a massive poopy diaper during the Eucharistic prayer...  Her shining moment for the day :-)!  She's so cute, no one cared!

And she slept great last night!  After being up all night the night before with some major gas, she had lots of stinky diapers and slept great last night!  She only got up once, sleeping for 4 hour stretches!  Which means I feel like I just slept for 100 hours (after 1 the night before).  This is what we were told she's been doing, but weren't going to believe it till we saw it!  We are so blessed!

Here are some pics of her from the last day or so!  How can you not love that sweet face?  She is truly the sweetest baby ever!

Her photo shoot the morning.  Her Godparents, David and Stephanie, gave her the pretty outfit!

Watching the Illini lose... Daddy's training her early!  He even dressed her in this orange outfit for the occassion!

Daddy learning to multitask while at Olive Garden to celebrate family birthdays!  We just added one to the list!

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa came to visit!

Anna says she's just too cute for words!

Our daughter

Today we welcomed Anna to our family!

Isn't she beautiful?

Whew, I'll have to write the whole story later, cause it's getting late so I'd better get some sleep while I can.  Although I will gladly wake up with my baby in the middle of the night and enjoy it while it lasts.  She doesn't even realize yet how long we've waited to get up at night with her!

Here's a picture of her and our caseworker!  She said this is the best part of her job.  And she was even happier knowing she had the make the hardest phone call of her job just a few weeks ago! 

Anna is so loved.  These are the wonderful people who took care of her for the first week and a half of her life.  They truly love what they do and we are so thankful to them and the love they showed her!  She is so blessed!

Here are her Godparents, David and Stephanie!  And of course Anna's best friend who we will meet in September!  Thanks for all of your prayers!

Anna was born on Monday, February 28 at 8:30am.  She was 6 lbs, 11 oz and 19.25 inches long.  I don't know how big she is now, but we hopefully will go to the Dr. tomorrow and see!  She is also an overachiever in her young age and scored OUTSTANDING on all of her newborn tests!  Overall, she's 100% healthy and with the exception of a little dry skin, her original doctor had no negatives to report!  She eats perfectly and according to the people who took care of her, she sleeps great too... We shall see :-)  She is beautiful and such a blessing in our lives.  It's surreal that 10 hours ago we were going about our lives as normal hoping and praying for our day to come soon and today it did!



It's a GIRL!!!

I'm going to be a mom in about 3 hours to the world's sweetest baby girl!

Our case worker called this afternoon and said, "Karen, are you sitting down?  You've been identified by a birth parent again, the baby was born a week ago, and she signed surrenders this morning!!!" 

And then I bawled hysterically for like an hour!

Meanwhile, I talked to our caseworker about 15 times, talked with Jeremy about 20 times, called my mom, and basically spun in circles!

I've talked with the newborn care foster care people more than once and have been told repeatedly that she's the sweetest baby in the world.  She sleeps great, eats great, and is overall a happy baby. 

The coolest part... We prayed a Novena to St. Anne starting a few weeks ago... and ended like Monday, the day she was born (Monday, Feb. 28 is her birthday!) No coincidence for sure. 

We haven't officially decided on a name yet, but have a pretty solid choice.  (Since my hubby's not home yet to confirm, I'll post it later...)

So basically in 3 hours I get to pick up my daughter!  After the last month of emotional rollercoasters, this is the greatest surprise I could ever ask for!

Bye bye tax return

It feels like we're always working on some kind of home improvement project, I guess that's what comes with owning a home.  I feel like the money flies straight out of the checking account about as quickly as we can get it in there...  But since the adoption fell through, and we have more time and money on our hands, we decided there's no time like the present to get working on a few things we were saving for.  So this last week, we've very quickly spent our tax return money! 

First we put up corner trip pieces in our home.  There are a lot of corners where the paint color changes as well as a lot of high traffic corners where dings and dents happen often, and we don't even have kids yet!  So we put up some inexpensive corner trim and after trips all over town to different hardward stores, we finally found enough of them.  For some reason every place was out of the one color we needed!  So Jeremy got to use the saw he got for Christmas and with a little bit of caulk, voila, clean edges!  They look so nice and really complete the look of the rooms for us!

Then we had our radon mitigated in our crawlspace.  When we moved in, our radon levels were just barely above the "safe" level.  Not really of concern, but still important to get fixed.  (Especially if we ever intend on selling the home, not for a long time though!)  So the guys came to install a fan and put down plastic that sealed it all off.  They sent the fan through the roof of the garage and outside.  They also sealed off the sump pump.  When it was first tested, it was 4.5.  When it was retested, it was like a .3!  They said that was lower than outside!  Yay, it worked!

Then our computer kind of bit the dust.  It was becoming an hour long process just to turn it on and try to get the internet to work.  It has been slowly fading away for a while and when a really sweet Presidents Day sale came up, we jumped! So the first bit of our return went to purchasing this new one, which is oh so nice and very fast!  Yay!

Finally, we had GutterHelmets installed on our exterior.  We got a flyer in the mail last spring for them and saved it because it sounded like a good idea.  We have 5 trees in our yard with another in the neighbor's yard that hangs over our house as well.  Of these 6 trees, 4 of them are those maple trees that drop the helicopter seeds (those things were pretty cool when we were kids, not so cool now that we have to rake them up...).  So needless to say our gutters fill up with leaves and seeds pretty darn quick.  Jeremy had to climb up there and clean them out over and over again last year, and that was just on the front ones that he could reach.  We hadn't even tried the back, they're too high.  We also had a spot that was sagging a little bit and causing massive overflow into our mulch which led to mulch in the yard and quite the experience when mowing.  So anyway, we called them up, they honored last year's deal since we still had the flyer and although they were pricey, they are going to pay for themselves very quickly!  They also come with a lifetime warranty and if for some reason the gutters were to ever get clogged, they'll come clean, fix, replace for free. 

So bye bye tax return.  And hopefully hello to more value added into our home!  And hopefully we'll need our savings for another adoption in the near future...