anniversary + little things

on the 18th tim and i celebrated four years of being mr. and mrs. tim did a wonderful job of surprising me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers from sprout along with the vase i had admired the day before. he always gives me the most gorgeous flowers. over dinner we discussed how this was to be our last anniversary as a family of two.

speaking of bobo #3, the little handmade bear i ordered for him in may finally arrived. i also got his jambo tshirt so he can support his future friend arthur! tim and i are hoping to meet our son any day now.

gearing up...

our dossier (paperwork) was sent off to Uganda on the 9th. so we assume its arrived in Uganda by now and have only to wait for a referral. we've been told that should take 2-3 months but Tim and I still feel like we could hear any day. we know that is wishful thinking but who knows. meanwhile, i've been researching the vast world of baby gear. folks, its gotten ridiculous! tim and i want to do this simply so i've been wadding through all the stuff out there trying to find out what one really needs with a baby in the family. i don't think we will really know until it actually happens. 

i've been researching strollers quite a bit. some things that were important to me are that it will last from infancy to a 4 year old (i don't want to have to buy multiple strollers) and that it has a reversible handle so when he's still a little guy we can look at each other while we are out for a stroll. since tim and i are going to be equally as responsible in caring for our son, we need a nice manly diaper bag for tim and i to carry. its so nice to know that tim is one of those capable men who isn't scared of holding a baby. i remember the first time i saw him hold an newborn i was terrified to hold. he was so much more calm than me. :) 

the beach.

Every year Tim and I get to take a trip to the beach with the Bobo family. This year as always it was a wonderful 4 days at the Texas coast. Next summer, will be our son's first Bobo family trip. I know he will love playing with his little cousins Bryson and Landon, fishing with his daddy and his poppy, collecting shells with his nana, and hanging out with his aunts and uncle. 

our baby's home!

tim and i were recently informed as to which babies home our baby will be from. its exciting to have just another little clue as to what this unknown adventure will look like. i am so grateful because the Sanyu Babies Home is a privately run Christian home where the babies seem to be loved and well taken care of. they are also very emphatic that these babies have no known parent's or relatives so we can rest assured that our son wasn't taken away from family which unfortunately is sometimes the case. tim and i found this adorable little video on you tube of children from the Sanyu Home playing together. we love hearing them babble. its too sweet.

in addition to finding our the name of our son's home we also discovered we will have to either make two trips to Uganda or stay for 5 weeks with two weeks of down time away from our child. at first, i was very distraught by this news. but tim came up with a very enticing solution that might just be the opportunity of a lifetime! 

baby...we are ready for you!

or should i say, we are ready to get ready for you!

the door to your room is hung. this way we can close the door when you are taking naps. i'm still trying to decide if those green floral curtains are too girly for you. they do go nicely with the plans i have for your room and your pops has lived with them for the past 3 years and he's about as manly as a man can get. 

A is for Atticus

i've come up with a list of things for tim to construct for your room as well. first off he is going to make you a dresser/changing table with these mid century modern dowel legs i found here. today i added some corner shelves for your toys and books to the list. tim loves projects and i think he will especially enjoy working on these since they are for you. we are working on that name of your's as well. i downloaded the above title today hoping to find some good names. classic novels have been a big part of my life and it seems fitting your name should come from one of those storybook characters. i made a list tonight to be approved by your father. i will tell you this- your name will probably contain the name timothy and your ugandan given name and then one more (to be decided) which will be what we call you by. don't you worry about having four names. i have four and i've managed quite well. ;)

great news!

i've got some rather exciting news! yes the new set of shirts have arrived but that's not it. ;)

after shipping off our dossier mailer i emailed our adoption agency asking what the current wait time for referrals from Uganda were. to my utter shock, she said TWO-THREE months! what?! i had planned on 5-8 months. so, being generous with time estimates i'm going to guess it will take 1-2 months for our dossier to arrive in Uganda and then 2-3 months for a referral and then we travel 2 months after that. at the most, we could have our baby home by the end of 8 months. we have been so blessed through this entire process. its all gone swimmingly. thank you God. :)

i have to say, the shirts turned out amazing. i had them printed in austin and the prints are very light handed and vintage looking. the shirts are super soft. the women's style is so utterly hip and the children's are completely adorable. you can shop them here. 

paperwork is complete.

we received our completed and approved home studies today which means all that paperwork is complete. all that's left to do is mail everything in. if anyone out there is considering adoption but is intimidated by all the paperwork...don't be. it seems so much worse looking in from the outside, but once you make the decision to adopt it all goes relatively quickly and easily. you know when you are excited about something, you sort of enjoy doing anything that has to do with that something. :) i'm still not exactly sure how long it will take before our dossier ends up in Uganda, but after it does the wait for a referral should only be 5-8 months. can you believe that? 

we've been really good about not buying baby stuff. but i figure it might be good to get a few things here and there so we can spread out the cost. tim was very sweet and surprised me with a crib i'd been wanting. it went on sale and i mentioned it to him, but figured it still would be too much. one day when i was being a bit grumpy he told me to cheer up because he bought me the crib. the wonderful wooden toy pictured above was sent to us by my sister in law, jennifer. i absolutely love it! i've decided to leave it out like a little decorative sculpture to remind us of what's to come. not that i really need a reminder. ;)

o, and i started a new part time job which i absolutely love! i'm working as a freelance graphic designer for Hill Country Memorial. i can make my own hours and come and go as i please as long as i get the hours in and the work done. this is a big step for me. i'm self taught in indesign so i was a bit intimidated by it all. i've found online tutorials to be a big help in improving my skills. 

and lastly, to all the people who've been helping us out along the way with this adoption, whether it be selling our shirts or buying our shirts or just giving us some extra cash we couldn't be more appreciative. at times people's generosity and encouragement have brought tears to my eyes. it truly makes me want to give more to those in need as well.