New Blog Design

Check out my new blog design. I was so blessed to win a blog make-over from Leigh over at The Crazy Cocoon.

Leigh is an amazing adoptive mama. Her blog is Seeking Love First. I have been following her adoption story for about two years. During this time she has taught me so much about international adoption and attachment. She also posts great meal plans and recipes each week.

Working with Leigh to redesign my blog was a breeze. She was so patient with me. And when I finally got all of my photos together she got to work on the design immediately. Within the day she had several designs concepts for me to choose from. She sought my input at every step of the way, often going back to make changes based on my preference for color, layout, font, etc. If you are looking to update your blog, I highly recommend that you check out The Crazy Cocoon!

Thanks Leigh!!!

Homecoming Fun!

We had a great time at homecoming yesterday. We started the day watching the parade, went to brunch, tailgating, and then the game. It was Leland's first football game and we all had a fun time! AND...this knocks #17 off my 30 Before 30 list!

Tailgating. He picked out a new ball from the bookstore. He really loves balls!

Family Photo with the Ramblin Wreck

Chillin" at the Tailgate

Game Time!

(Notice the new bump on the head from too much Tailgating fun!)

30 Before 30: #1 & #29

#1: Live Close to Work

Now that we have moved, I am only 2.5 miles from work and love, love, love it!!! Just yesterday I was thinking how much better quality of life we already have. When Robert got home from work we took a walk on the neighborhood walking trails. The trail is wooded and quite, winding past a pond. Then after Leland was in bed, I remembered I needed more safety pins for tagging my consignment sale items. I ran to the grocery store that is just across from our new neighborhood and I was back home in 15 minutes. Then this morning, we left the house at 7:30 AM and without rushing I had dropped Leland off and was sitting at my desk by 8:00 AM.

#29: Find a Good Bible Study Group

I joined a new Bible study group this week. There are nine ladies and they meet at lunch at the same church where Leland is in daycare. I had thought I wouldn’t be able to do a lunch time Bible study until after I stopped nursing Leland at lunch, but I generally am only with Leland from about 11:40 to noon now (at which point he is asleep). So I can just run across the street into the church for Bible study at noon. I have only been once, but I think I will really like it. Even better, two of the nine ladies live in our new neighborhood and have already met Robert – he is very social. When I introduced myself (with no mention of where we had just moved), they both said in unison “is your husband Robert?” One of these ladies actually lives directly across the street from us and is super nice. I feel so blessed to have met someone who I think could become a really great new friend.

I have 1 year and 8 months to go and 26 more items to check off MY LIST!

Long Days + #11 (30 Before 30)

This week we have started a new schedule. I had mentioned that Robert has a new job, close (25 miles) to where we will be moving, but about 68 miles from where we live now. The shortest and fastest way to get from our house to his new job goes practically by my office (41 miles from our current house). So, we have been carpooling. He leaves his car at my office overnight and we all three drive home in my car. The upside is that we save gas and get to spend the time in the car together. The downside is that 8 hours work + 1 hour lunch + 3.5 hour commute =  a really, really long day.

So here is the new schedule we are attempting:

5 AM – Robert and I get up

5:40 AM – wake Leland to nurse and then tuck him in the car

6 AM – leave the house

7 AM – drop Robert at his car and go to daycare

7:05 – 7:25 AM – at daycare; get Leland dressed and nurse him again; leave as he starts eating breakfast

7:30 AM – I get to work

8 AM – Robert gets to work

11:30 AM – Lunch date with Leland at daycare

4:30 PM – I get off work and pick Leland up from daycare

5:00 PM – Robert gets off work

5:45 PM – meet for dinner (planning to usually eat take-out at my office)

6:15 PM – leave for home

7:15 PM – arrive home; bath for Leland

7:30 PM – Leland to bed

9:30 PM – Robert and I to bed

Our moving plans are making progress, but slowly. As it looks right now we should be able to close on the house and move the second week of September. So, for the next 5-6 weeks this will be our schedule. This schedule gives Leland and I about an hour and a half each day in the afternoon to spend together. Yesterday I walked from my office with his stroller, pick him up, and walked through downtown to the park. We did not get to play at the park because it had rained and because he fell asleep, but we enjoyed our walk together immensely. And…this marks #11 off my 30 before 30 list! (2 down – 28 to go) Here are some photos from our walk:

Park Downtown

(across the street from where I grew up)

Sleepimg :)

In front of the courthouse. Still Sleeping.

(If you watch Drop Dead Diva - this is the same courthouse from the episode 2 weeks ago)

1 Down, 29 To Go

When I celebrated my 28^th birthday in May I made a 30 before 30 list. I’ve been a bit slow getting going on the list, but have finally marked my first item off of the list: #3 Get My Legs Waxed.

I did it. A full leg wax. This is something I have considered doing for years. I hate shaving my legs. And waxing sounds so easy and maintenance free. I’ve put it off not because of a fear of waxing, but rather because of cost. Every time I would think about spending the $60 for a full leg waxing (or $35 for just the lower leg) I would think of my $5 razor and shaving cream at home and forgo the leg wax.

Before the leg wax I let my leg hair grow for about two weeks so there would be plenty of hair for the wax to grab. The waxing itself was rather painless with just a slight sting. She had a lot of trouble getting all the hair off. I am not very hairy at all (thanks to the Premature Ovarian Failure) but the hair I do have is very fine and grows in multiple directions. She actually had to change types of wax to get all of the hair.

Initially – the day I got the wax – I was a little underwhelmed with the results. My legs were red and splotchy with a bit of a rash like reaction to the wax. And there were sticky waxy spots leftover until I had a chance to shower. The second day I was a little more impressed. My legs were smooth and the rash was gone. Unfortunately, it only took about 4 to 5 days before I had stubble. From what I have learned, hair grows on a cycle and you have to get into a waxing routine for several months before you can go 2-4 weeks without stubble. It’s also possible that because my hair is so fine it was actually breaking rather than being pulled out by the root.

By two weeks my legs were just plain hairy. If I wanted to get going on the aforementioned waxing routine I couldn’t shave in between as it would interfere with the routine. So to have smoother waxed legs I would have to put up with hairier legs???

In the end, I was unimpressed with my leg wax. Plus I don’t have $60 to spend every two to four weeks. Especially when shaving only takes 5 minutes and cost less than $5 a month. But…I’ve now tried it. Something I have always wanted to try. And I have only 29 more items to go!

July 2012 Updates

July has been a busy month. I was so good about blogging last month and lately I find time to read blogs (usually while nursing) but not to post. I still need to post a 1 YEAR update post for Leland. And every time I think about posting something, I think “not until I get that 1 YEAR post done.” It’s still a work in progress, but I thought I would update you in bullet points.

·         We celebrated Leland’s first birthday on June 30^th. I did manage to get a post – with pictures – done about this. Yea!

·         My parents visited from Florida for the party and the first few days of the month. We had a really nice, relaxing time.

·         The day after my parent’s left, Robert’s parents arrived for a four day stay. Leland had a great time with the new kiddie pool they brought.

·         We are moving forward with our home purchase. We had the home inspection this past Tuesday. There are no major problems, but we have asked for a few repairs and are waiting for a response from the bank. We got our appraisal back on Wednesday and it was AWFUL. The appraisal is full of incorrect information. He picked comparable houses from 5+ miles away with 1.5 acres of land when our house only has 0.25 acres and there are very recent sales of similar homes on the same street as ours. I spoke with the appraiser and he basically told me that he did anything he could to inflate the value. We have passed out concerns to underwriting with our lender and hopefully they will fight the issue on our behalf.

·         Robert has a job!!! It’s in a finance office at a “local” university. He got the call this past Tuesday and started work on Wednesday. He already loves it. Praise God - we are so thankful! It’s “local” to our new house, but about 1 hour and 45 minutes away from our current house, so we really need to move.

·         We have renters!!! Again, Praise God!!! We planned on renting our house when we moved, but hadn’t done anything to make it happen. About three weeks ago we casually mentioned to our photographer that we would rent our house when we moved. A few hours later someone asked her if she knew anyone renting their home. She passed them our information. That person was looking for something smaller and forwarded our information to someone else. They came to see the house a week ago and plan to come by this weekend to sign a lease. God is so good.

·         If everything keeps moving along – and the appraisal issue gets resolved – we should close on the house sometime during the first week of September and will move within days after we close.

·         I marked the first item off my 30 Before 30 list...more on this later!

·         We started one-on-one communication with our donors this month. Up until now all communication has gone through our wonderful social worker, but with the passage of a year we have moved on to direct communication. It's going well. 

·         Leland is moving up from the “crawlers” baby room at daycare to the “toddler” room one week from Monday (Aug. 6th). I am so proud of him, but it is very bitter sweet. This move will signal the end of our lunch dates for nursing. When I think about it I want to burst into tears. I know it will be better once we move and I am not wasting two hours of my day on the road to and from work, but in the meantime I feel like I am barely going to see him during the week. 

·         I've lost 0.2 pounds in the last month. But, we reduced my thyroid medication just over a month ago and am thrilled to have just maintained. Especially since I have added the occasional ice cream treat back into my diet!

·         Work has been crazy busy this month. I got my first Court of Appeals decision this week. I’ve filed an appeal before but withdrew it when the Juvenile Court judge reconsidered the case. This is the first time I have filed an appeal, submitted a brief, and waited for a decision. The Court of Appeals entered their decision on Wednesday and I WON! Then on Thursday, I got a call from a reporter asking for my thoughts on the court’s decision.  I have to say I felt pretty accomplished as a lawyer at that moment!

So those are the major things that have kept me busy these past few weeks. I do promise a post on Leland soon and  some posts expanding or following up on these updates. Thanks for checking in!

30 Before 30

Sunday was my birthday. My 28^th birthday. We had a nice relaxing day, just going to church, out to lunch, and then lounging around the house. Recently some of my friends have posted their 30 Before 30 list. It has inspired me to make my own list. With two years to go hopefully I can cross most – or all – of these off my list:

1. Live close to work

2. Take a week long family vacation

3. Get my legs waxed

4. Join a mom’s group

5. Go to the gym 8 times in 4 weeks

6. Take a gun safety class
7. Get my carry permit
8. Buy a gun (& gun box with fingerprint lock)
9. Subscribe to the newspaper
10. Go to the races (horses, dogs, etc.)
11. Go for a walk / go to the park with Leland when I pick him up from daycare
12. Submit something for publication
13. Finish my wedding album
14. Take a golf lesson
15. Write a “where I came from” book for Leland
16. Learn to make Mema’s strawberry cake and icing
17. Take Leland to a Georgia Tech game
18. Learn to ice a cake / cupcakes with an icing bag
19. Visit the Atlanta History Center
20. Plant an herb garden (or just an herb box)
21. Read a classic book
22. Take Leland to the beach
23. Meet a blog friend in person
24. Have a blog makeover
25. Drive a stick shift without stalling out
26. Get highlights
27. Make deviled eggs
28. Go to a drive-in movie
29. Find a good bible study group
30. Make a decision about baby #2