Our first profile view!

We finally had a chance to be profiled! And oh my gosh, what a whirlwind it was! I got a call from our agency around 9 this morning. She told me that they were sending over profiles to a birth mother, for a baby boy born two days ago! And they were leaving in about half an hour! Kyle was at work, so I had to call around, until I was finally able to get ahold of him, to make sure that we had the "ok" from him. Unfortunately she ended up choosing another family. But still, it's nice to finally have that first one out of the way! And like I keep telling myself, you have to go through some "no"s before you get to your "yes"!

Today was Kyle's birthday. Brina and I made him cupcakes for him to take to work. The boys really appreciate when I send goodies! He said they were demolished really quick! And then tonight, we went out with the Macready family for dinner. We both worked all day, but we still had a nice night.

I think this weekend we are going to do the drive up to/through Vermont. Fall is here, and it is absolutely beautiful! I can't wait to take pictures! Hopefully the weather cooperates! Right now, we're getting all of the gross weather from the hurricane. It's pouring, and the wind is blowing like nobody's business!

Hmm...let's see...what else? What else? I'm sure there was something else. But I'm tired. And ready for the weekend! Hope you all have a fabulous one!

Slacker!

I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet, but I've been kind of busy the last few days!
Anyway, on Thursday I received a call from our agency. It was for our first profiling opportunity! Exciting right?! I was so thrilled! And it all seemed fantastic! It was a little boy, due at the end of October. I know right?! But unfortunately, we had to turn it down because the fees were too much. E-mom is in FL. And after we added in an estimated travel expense amount, we just didn't think we could swing it. I was crushed. I know that it's awesome that we had a chance so quickly. But it was just such a painful reminder of all that we have to go through to become parents. How many people have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to have their family? Or better yet, how many don't? It sucks. But what can you do right? I should just be grateful that we had a chance to be viewed, and just keep hoping that we don't have to wait long for another chance, and that the next time we'll be able to say yes.

September has been such a busy month! We've been on the go constantly! But you know what? I don't hate it! We're having a great time! And I just realized that Kyle's birthday is Thursday! I knew it was coming soon, but I didn't realize that September is already almost over. Nuts, I tell you!

My birthday is in two months. Brina's is a week before. We always do something together. Trying to figure out what this year's plans will entail. Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll have a great time!

It's officially fall now, and I love it! The leaves are changing, and oh my gosh! It's absolutely gorgeous! It's been a long time since I've gotten the full fall colors effect! Washington really is the evergreen state! I think next weekend we might take a day trip up to Vermont so that I can get some great photo opps. Don't worry! I'll share!

Anyway, I really need to go clean up around here. I have been reading, and keeping up with everyone! Just being a slacker on commenting. I'll try to get better.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I've got a hot date tonight!

 Here is us the night that we found out that we were officially home study complete! The lighting was not so great in the house and it took 10+ photos to get this one. Kyle was less than thrilled. Haha! But for the last 8.5 years, he's been used to me shoving a camera in his face always! So he sucked it up and smiled like a good boy!

Tonight we're going out to dinner to celebrate! I think we're going to The Cheesecake Factory. Not only is it one of my all time favorites, but it's always been our kind of go-to place to celebrate anniversaries, my birthday, ect. Plus hello?! Cheesecake! Yes please!

Things are going great! Kyle is off the next couple of days, then will be back on a daytime schedule for the next two weeks or so. That will be nice! The rotating shift work takes some getting used to. But a.)we did it when we were in Charleston. And b.)Even with the constantly changing schedule, it's still waaaaaaay better than when we were in Washington. He comes home everyday! And that is awesome! His schedule here is crazy though. Starting Saturday, he'll work 7 days of daytime hours, then gets 2 days off, then he will work 4 days of daytime hours for training, then gets a 4 day weekend, then he works 7 days of swing shift (2 p.m.-12a.m.- I hate this one the most!), 2 days off, then 7 days of mids (10p.m.-8 a.m.), 2 days off, then starts back with days! Confusing right?! Haha! But that best thing is that it's set! I can look at a calender, two months from now and make plans. Which is a luxury we didn't have when he was on the Lincoln.

Anyway, now I'm just rambling. I should probably pull myself away from the computer and go shower, and I still need to figure out what I'm wearing. I hope you are all having a lovely week! And hopefully soon enough I'll actually have something exciting to blog about!

We are officially paper pregnant!

We FINALLY got our paper today saying that we are officially home study complete! We are now active at the agency, and our profile can now be shown. We are so excited!!! According to my ticker, its been exactly 5 months and 1 week since we started. I think I may do a new ticker starting with today. Not sure if Ill keep two, or have the new replace the old...

My phone has been blowing up today with texts, calls, Facebook, and Twitter notifications! We have received so much love, support, and excitement from everyone! To us, this is the equivalent of getting a positive pregnancy test! And its nice to see that so many people feel the same way, and our sharing in our excitement and joy. Now I can finally paint the nursery, buy some more stuff, and register without feeling like a complete loser! LOL

Today, one of my best friends took me shopping. She bought 3 outfits and a toy for little Babycakes Cope! I love that she is as into it as I am! Thats a good friend, right there! We also celebrated by shooting off some of those little plastic party poppers that shoot out confetti! Hehe! Weeeeeeee!

Anyway, I just wanted to share our great news with all of my lovies in the bloggy world! Thank-you all for all of the support that you have given me on here. You are all amazing, and I'm so glad to have "met" you! Hugs and love!

WTF September? Where did you come from?!

Seriously? It's September? Really? Am I on candid camera?

I cannot believe that August is over. It's going to be 2011 before we know it! That's crazy! Here is a list of things that I cannot believe, that come along with it already being the ninth month of the year:

* I cannot believe that it's been almost 5 months since we started the home study process. (And we still haven't received the final paperwork to be complete! Any day now?)

* I cannot believe that Kyle and I have been married for 6.5 years, and together for 8.5, as of this month.

* I cannot believe that as of this month, Kyle and I have been trying to build our family for 4 years. Gosh that's a really long time.

* I cannot believe that Kyle will be 26 this month, and I will too in just 2 months. i'm officially closer to 30, than 20.

* I cannot believe that at the end of this month, we will have lived in New York for 6  months.

Obviously a lot of disbelief comes with the start of September. Kyle and I have been through a lot together. And I have no doubt that we'll go through a lot more together. We should be home study complete any day now, and then the official waiting begins. I'm really hopeful and optimistic that maybe we can be matched by the end of the year. I know it's wishful thinking, but not entirely unrealistic. Only time will tell!

My parents and sisters are in Texas visiting my brother, his wife, and their new baby. I'm jealous that the whole family is there, but me! I wish I could have gone too. But hopefully this spring, we will all be able to go home at the same time. That's the possible plan, anyway. My Mom hasn't had all 4 of her kids home at the same time since 2006. Sad, right? It would be so great if we could all get together this spring, and even more amazing if Kyle and I go with a little one in tow!

That's all I've got for now kiddos. It's a "school" night, so I better get to bed before long. My fingers are crossed that by the end of the week we'll be paper pregnant!

Oh and by the way, my blog is currently under construction. My lovely PLP Brina is re-doing it for me. Looking good so far! And she also created a new button to match, so if you haven't yet grab it, and add it to your page! If you have one, let me know and I'll add it to mine!

*kisses*

Boo hiss!

I heard back from our social worker last night. Apparently he is out of town until late Friday night. Which means that the earliest he could get it notarized and back in the mail to the agency would probably be Monday. Meaning we won't receive it until the end of next week. Suck.
I know it's not a huge deal, because in reality, we're just waiting to be home study complete, so that we can wait to be matched. Hurry up and wait, as they say! But I was really anticipating being done a couple of weeks ago. *shrugs* Oh well. What can you do, right?

How long did your home study process take? We'll be just shy of 5 months, it looks like.

It's my day off. I have a ton of photos to edit. And we're having a BBQ this weekend, so I also need to clean some. But before I go, let me leave you with my newest work of art! I'm going to print each letter individually and hang them in our front hallway. Tell me what you think! I think I'm a fan!

Thinking of You...

It seem that over the course of the last month or so, not only has their been a baby boom in the adoption blogger world, but there's also been a trend of failed adoptions. There have been several of my blogger friends that have recently gone through one. And it just breaks my heart. But somehow, they have all remained strong, kept their head high, and kept right along. And when it happens, there's nothing that you can say to make it better. I think anyone in the IF community knows that there usually aren't any words. All you can do is tell them that you're thinking and praying for them. And that you're there to cry to, if needed. It sucks to see someone hurting.

And it also scares me. Of course, with adoption, there's always the chance of these things happening. But seeing it happen, first hand to people you "know", it's terrifying. I know that without risks, there are no rewards. And I will continue down this path that we are going. I will try to remain cautious once chosen, but I'm also not naive. I know that when it happens, I will fall head over heels in love. And just have to hope to God that he has chosent that baby to be mine!

Anyway, this has been something that's been on my mind for awhile now. And after hearing about another failed adoption today, I felt the need to get it off of my chest. On our adoption front, still no papers. I'm about to email my social worker and check to see when he mailed them back to the agency. Still holding out hope that we can celebrate our paper pregnancy this weekend. Guess we'll see!

To the ladies who are dealing with this right now, you all have so many people who care about you, and who are thinking about you. And I won't try to say anything to fix it, because that's impossible. So I'm sending lots of hugs your way!

::HUGS::

This and that. And a lot of photos!

Hello friends! How's everyone doing??

I'm doing pretty good! I have my days though. Lately, I've been feeling very overwhelmed with everything. Not just adoption related stuff. But what can you do about it, other than suck it up and go with it?
Here are some things going on lately:
   * I have been taking a ton of pictures with my new camera! I'll post some at the end of this post. I even had my first paying customer, since moving to New York! It's a start to re-building my clientele out here.
   * Our home study papers should be here any day now! I've been saying this for over a week. But I was confused by what our agency told me. She said she put it in the mail last Friday. I assumed it was coming straight to us. But then I found out that it goes to our social worker, back to the agency, then back to us. Assuming he was prompt about getting it signed, then it should be here to us sometime this week! We are this close!
   * Kyle and I have been spending a lot of time together! I LOVE shore duty!!!
   *  I have been extremely self-conscious lately. I always am, but it's just intensified recently. Especially last night when I went out with a few of my much thinner girlfriends. Nobody wants to be the fat friend in the group. And even though I almost always am, last night I was so incredibly uncomfortable. I hate that feeling. But luckily, I have a husband who loves me no matter what I look like, and still finds me sexy even! When he woke up this morning, and I told him about my night, he made me feel much better and loved up on me!
   * Both of my sisters passed their state boards for their nursing licenses! Good job Erika and Whitney! I'm so proud of you both!
   * My nephew made his entrance into the world last week! Mom, Dad (my brother), and baby are all doing well! This is him.

And for some of my newer pictures! Sorry if I go overboard! I love taking pictures! Oh and if you're on Facebook, you should become a fan of my photo page!

These first few are of our good friend Billy and his son, Bly. Billy lives in Virginia and his son lives up here in New York. He comes up to visit every chance he gets, but of course its never often enough. I volunteered to do a photo shoot for him!

Kyle and I went to the fair to test out my new camera! And to eat funnel cake. Mmmm.

This cute family was my first official paying shoot in NY! They are my neighbors, though not for much longer. :( They are so sweet, and we had a great time doing the pictures!

Their girls, Randi and Hannah. Sisterly love!

This is where we did the photos at. Beautiful right?!

And just for funsies, a new self portrait of Kyle and I. Neither one of us have been terribly photogenic lately! LoL

  

Tarnished.

I hate that my feelings have to tarnish everything. But I can't help it. After everything we've been through, those feelings and emotions are there. And they effect my life. I can't hear a pregnancy or birth announcement without having that bit of resentment. I can't buy baby gifts for others without desperately wishing that it was for my baby. And I can't see a happy little family without biting back the tears.
Wednesday, my brother and his wife will be welcoming their first child into the world. My big brother is going to be a daddy to a baby boy. And while I am so happy for them (they were IFers too), I still can't help but feel that sharp pain of sadness/jealousy/resentment. It seems like they just found out they were pregnant last week. Time flies.
In the last four years, I have seen so many people get pregnant and have their babies. And a lot of them I've seen do it more than once. Everyone around me is building their families. While we have been working at trying to build a family for nearly four years. Life is not fair. So cliche', but so true. I know that we are getting so close to finally achieving the dream. Closer than we've ever been before! But until we have our baby in our arms, it's just not close enough.

On a brighter note, I am so thrilled for all of my adoptive mommy friends out there who have recently been matched and/or brought home your babies! How exciting! It seems like it's been a baby boom in the adoption blogger world in the last few weeks! Congratulations to you all!!! I cannot wait for our turn! But in the meantime, I will bask in your glow. And you are all helping to keep me optimistic! Eyes on the prize, as they say! And for those of those that are still waiting (IFers and waiting to adopt), we'll get our babies, one way or another, they will come to us. Keep your chins up, and your cocktail glass full! ;)

Working for the weekend!

And it looks like my hard work has paid off! Weehaww! I'm kind of bummed though. We were supposed to go out on their boat with our neighbors, but apparently a lot of family popped in, so we had to reschedule. Boo whore! I had to go play on the lake. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Pete the social worker says that he will have our home study written up by the end of next week at the latest! Then it goes to our agency to be proofed, then to us to be signed, and voila! Home study complete!

As soon as we are complete, Kyle and I are going to start on the nursery! Yippee! AND we will go register. I will finally get to register! Do you know how long I've been waiting for this?! To some, lame. But to me, BA!

My blog needs a face lift. But I'm too lazy/don't have the time to re-do it. And I really am not into paying to get it done. Even though I have seem so CUTE ones!

As always, still reading, just sucking at commenting. My bad.

I'm off to go snuggle with my Boo! Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Our home study visit is over!

Wednesday was the big day. The day we met our social worker, Pete, and the day that of our complete home study visit. He was awesome enough to roll them all into one meeting. We covered it all that day; couple interview, individual interviews, and our in home visit. He was here for over 4 hours. But it all went really well! Pete is extremely laid back, friendly, and put our minds at ease. He laughed a lot (but I mean, come on! We're really funny and charming people!). Prior to the visit, I posted on Twitter, asking for things I should not say to him. We got some really funny responses, including telling him about the matching kennels that we have for the dog and the baby! I have great friends! Ha!

But now, that visit is done and over with! He said it will take him a week or two to write up a draft. Then we'll get together again to review it, he submits it, it gets approved, and BAM! We'll be home study complete! Hooray! And then? More waiting! Oh well, it's not any worse than any of the other waiting we've done. I'll take it!

Everything else is going really good! Still really liking the new town. Work is good, the girls are growing like whoa! Wanna see a new picture? I took this earlier in the week with my bad ass new camera! OMFG its awesome and I totally want to make out with it!

How stinkin' cute are those girls?! Katie is on the left, Maddie is on the right.

Oh and I'm finally making some new friends! Thank goodness, I felt like such a loser for awhile. But I'm getting out there, and meeting new people. Including a couple who doesn't have any kids (which is such a rare find in our age group!), the new adoptive parents, and some other really great women. I'm such a social person, and I love having a large, diverse circle of friends. Moving around a lot, you have to rebuild that circle every few years. And I'm working on it again.

Alright, I gots ta go! Brina is bringing over her youngest and her dog. We're watching them while they take their two big kids to an amusement/water park. Plus I've got a ton of pictures to edit. Oh don't you worry! I'm going to have a large picture spam post soon! I have to show off my skills/the awesomeness that is my new camera! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Sweets!

My first Blogger award!

The Rules

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

Thanks to Brina! She's one of my bests, an amazing mother, and a crafty lady! And funny too! Plus, she gives away shit all of the time! What's not to love?!



2. Share seven things about yourself.


* I HATE cotton balls! I cannot stand the feel of them or the sound. And yes, they make a sound. Just pull one apart. ::shivers:: Ugh. I think I just threw up in my mouth!

* I have OCD tendencies when it comes to certain things. Example, my closet. I like everything hung in a certain order in there. I don't like it when it gets messed up. But most other things, I'm pretty haphazard about.

* I LOVE coffee and diet soda! They are two of my biggest addictions. And  Coffee Mate Coconut creamer in my coffee is the absolute best! Well, as far as home brewed coffee goes. Hands down though, a venti, non-fat, no-whip white mocha from Starbucks is my favorite though! (iced or hot, depends on the weather!)

* Even after more than 8 years together, most days Kyle and I are still ridiculously head over heels in love. We even play the "'I love you!' 'I love you more!' 'I love you more than that!' 'Not possible!'" game on a regular basis. He makes me so insanely happy!

* I'm not really a hugger anymore. I used to be, but grew out of it. I will hug you if I haven't seen you in a long time, if I'm not going to see you for a long time, if something great or awful is going on, or if you just need a hug. But other than that, not so much. Kids and Kyle are excluded from this. I will hug and kiss on them all day long!

* I love to sleep!

* I have an extremely hard time keeping secrets! Haha! I don't do it intentionally, but I'm a talker, and sometimes I forget to stop!



3. Pass this award along to fifteen bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!


My 15 Fab Finds are as follows:
 
1.) Kim's Clever Notions She makes some of the neatest things! She is super talented and incredibly sweet!
 
2.) Barefoot Foodie Brittany is hands down, one of the funniest blogs that I have read! She cracks me up!
 
3.) Christa She is one of the many infertility blogs that I follow. She is a sweet girl, and I found out that we lived 2 hours apart in WA state, but never knew it until we had both moved!
 
4.) Her Womb, Our Hearts One of my first adoptive blogger friends that I made. J is an awesome person, who is currently learning the ropes of becoming a military wife!
 
5.) Journey to the Center of the Uterus Another IF blog. She puts a funny spin on the not always so funny world of infertility.
 
6.) Life's Crazy Joke Another very funny lady! Her posts always have me cracking up!
 
7.) Lucky 13 and Counting Sandi is a mother to 15 beautiful children. Most of them are adopted, and over half are special needs. She is an incredible woman!
 
8.) Lynch Laughter Another IF blogger. I never get tired of reading other stories of people who have been through so much of the same stuff as I have.
 
9.) Nuture Your Hopes Faith is a woman waiting on the miracle of adoption. Even after all they've been through, she still manages to be such an incredibly sweet and positive person.
 
10.) Southern Comfort is a blog on the musings of a southern girl, stuck in the northwest, but getting ready to head back home.
 
11.) The Montes Kim is a new mom to three! She has three handsome boys that keep her on her toes!
 
12.) Waiting for Something Beautiful Trisha is another one of my many adoptive blogger friends. They are playing the waiting game, ready to bring home their baby!
 
13.) Words from a Free Spirit Jen's blog about her hobbies, her kids, and whatever else happens to pop into her head while at the computer!
 
14.) A Day in Alex's Life Emily's 365 day photo project of her baby boy's 2nd year of life!
 
15.) Simply Shelby Shelby is an amazing photographer! Hopefully once the weather starts cooling down, her photo shoots will increase! I love to see her photos!
 

Helloooooo Weekend!

I made a new friend in town! And her and her husband are not only Navy, but they also adopted their first son two months ago. We went and had ice cream with them last night and had a really nice time. It's so nice to be able to sit down and talk to someone who knows what we've been through, and what we're going through. I don't have that IRL. Just on here. Don't get me wrong, I love you all! And have been an invaluable source for info, knowledge, comfort, ect. But to have that in person is also pretty great! She said she knows a few other people in the area who have adopted as well. And once we're home study complete, our agency has a Yahoo group that I can join. I'm really hoping that I will find some more local families. I've still only met a small handful of new people here. I've been so busy lately, I just haven't had time! I've barely seen the friends I already have, much less trying to go out and make new friends! And at this age, it's so hard to meet new people! Especially if you don't have kids. I'm sure I would creep out more than a few Moms if I should up at a Mommy Meet-up! LoL Oh well, these things take time I suppose! It's not like the waiting game is one that I've never played before!

Hooray for the weekend! With this damn cold, I haven't been sleeping good at night all week. I'm so looking forward to not waking up at 6 a.m. tomorrow! Holler!

Finally!

Finally, for a couple of things!

Finally, I was able to get back into Blogger! For whatever reason, I haven't been able to log in or look at any blogs for nearly two days now. I have no idea what was up with that.

And, we finally got a call from our social worker! He's a really nice guy, who seems laid back.  His name is Pete (and yes, I'm using his first name. I'm not really into the whole initial thing. Seems pointless), and we have our first (of two) meetings with him on Wednesday! Ahh! It's so soon! And he's fairly optimistic that he can have us home study complete by the beginning of August! Hooray!

I have a head cold. Ick. And I have successfully passed it on to Kyle. Oops. Sorry Boo. Hopefully I avoid giving it to the twins. I've been wearing face masks during feeding and changing. And I've been avoiding being all up in their face and giving them kisses. Hopefully we start feeling better soon.

I'm off to bed. Tomorrow morning will be here entirely too soon! And we have a dessert date with a local adoptive couple tomorrow night. That should be fun! They have a two month old son! I'm sure I'll update in a few days, freaking out about the upcoming meeting! Words of advice to not freak out would be great! Thanks ladies! I'm so lucky to have made so many great friends through the blogosphere! Thank-you for always being there to listen, give advice, and lead the way!

Still playing catch-up!

I know I'm still not being the greatest blogger and/or commenter! But I am reading! I promise! Things are finally calming down. Some. Here's a quick rundown of what's been happening at The Cope House!

* Kyle's mom is staying with us. She's been here for a couple of weeks, and she isn't sure how long she will be here. She was going through some stuff at home and needed to get away. It's going surprisingly well! I love his Mom and get along with her well. But for the last six years, we've been living on our own, only seeing family a couple of times a year! But for now, it's been nice. Plus she helps out around the house, which is great, because I hate to clean! Ha!

* We bought a new car yesterday. It's for Kyle. It's a Mazda Speed 3, and he is so excited about it! I'm happy for him!

* The agency called yesterday. She is choosing our social worker, and we should hear from them this week or next! YAY! And she also said that she is optimistic that we should be home study complete by the beginning of August! AND she also told me that I could send in my five copies of our profile and if any situations come up, she will start showing us!!!! AHHH! That made me so happy!!!

Those are the main things for now. There's others, but nothing huge. But as always, I need to go. Kyle is on mids this week, so I'm hanging out with him before he goes into work tonight. Peace out players!

Chopped!

My hair, that is! I've been growing out my hair for forever. Kyle loves it long, so I did it for him. But it finally just got to the point where it was looking more stringy than cute. Time to chop it off! I'm not sure how many inches went, had to have been 5 or 6 though! I think I'm a fan of it! Still getting used to it; I haven't had short hair in quite some time. But boy does it feel great!

Cute, no?

Happy 100th Post! And other exciting news!

First of all, I feel the need to state that this is my 100th post! Hooray!
Now that that's out of the way, I got some great news today! Our background checks are done! We got our clearances! Yesssssssssss! We are now moving onto the final phase of the the home study! Tomorrow, I'll mail out yet another check (LAME!), and once they receive it, they will assign us our social worker! I can't wait! We are so close! I'm hoping by August 1st we'll be done! But we'll see. We have to have three meetings with our social worker. And our family advocate at the agency said that depending on where the social worker is located, she may even cut it down to two! That would be awesome! But either way, we are sooooooo close! I'm in such a great mood today! I'm so happy and excited! And I'm feeling so super optimistic! I can't wait to be matched and find out who our birth parents are, what they look like, what gender our baby will be, and what our baby will look like and be like! I cannot wait to be a Momma!

Anyway, that is the big update for now! I have added a new button! Grab it and add it to your page! If you do, let me know if you have one, and I would be happy to add your button to my blog!

I hope everyone is having a great week! I know mine is off to a great start!

Just like the circus!

Sorry I've been MIA lately, my house is pretty much a 5 ring circus these days! As I've mentioned before, Brina's family is here. And then, as of Sunday night, we have another house guest! It was unexpected, but we're happy to have them here. Probably going to stay for awhile. But I'll get into that another day. Can't really go into details just yet.

In our 1.500 sq. feet townhome, we have 5 adults, 3 kids, 2 dogs, and a cat! Chaos, I tell you! But it's not been nearly as bad as I anticipated. I figured it would be unbearable. But it's not. Her kids are so well behaved, and it's fun having them all here! The Macreadys should be closing on their house on the 28th, then they'll be into their own home. And we'll be down to one guest. And life will attempt to regain some normalcy! Ha!

Other than that, I don't really have anything to report. On the adoption front, our family advocate said that she thought our profile looked great! And she really liked it! That was nice to hear. Still no word on our background checks, but it's been about a month, so I figure any time now. I'm so ready to get assigned and meet with a social worker! I'm ready to get that part done, and be home study complete! Shouldn't be too much longer, I'm hoping!

Well dearies, it's my day off. But this girl has a lot to get done. I need a haircut like whoa! I've kept putting it off because I hate finding someone new, and the trial and error process that comes with it!Wish me luck! Luckily I'm only going in for a trim, for now. My hair is getting long, I want to cut it short. But not ready to commit to that just yet. I need to find someone who does a good job on my hair first! Hehe! Alright, I'm out! I'll try not to be such a slack ass with my blogging!

We have a winner!

The give-away is officially over, and we have a winner! I jused http://www.random.org/ to select a winner, and it chose number 7! Which was Krystal! You're the big winner, Lady! Email me your address, and I will get your box filled with goodies mailed out ASAP! tiff (underscore) nichole 0 3 at hotmail dot com

Congratulations Krystal! And for everyone else, thanks for participating, maybe we'll do another give away soon!!! In the process of this one, I gained a ton of new followers! And I hope you all continue to follow our journey to parenthood!

P.s. The give away ends tonight at 9 east coast time!!! This is your last chance to enter! And if you have posted it to your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, be sure to leave a comment letting me know so that you get your extra entries!!! Winner will be announced tonight!

Some days, I am filled with such an incredible, overwhelming, indescribable love for our future baby (as opposed to a sadness for not being here yet)! Today is one of those days. I can't wait for the day that I finally get to meet my baby! And I can't wait to finally be a Mom! I have so much confidence in the fact that Kyle and I are going to be amazing parents! We have so much love built up for our child. And we have waited and wanted this for such a long time. I can't wait to finish up the home study so that we can move on to being matched! I know we still have a bit before we become parents, but we are closer than we have ever been! And that alone puts a giant smile on my face!

I love you Babycakes Cope, and we can't wait to meet you!!
All our love, Mom and Dad

Hooray! Its Friday!

Now that I have a real job again, I can go back to appreciating the weekend! When you don't work, all of the days kind of run into each other! Today the girls were fussy! I think it was because it was warmer today than it has been for the past few days. But they were giving me a run for my money! It's a good thing they're cute! Haha! This was us at the end of the day! I had them both in the chair with me to try and avoid some fussiness! It only worked for a few minutes. Haha!

Sidenote, my boobs look good in that picture! Hehe!

I have gotten so great answers on what everyone would put in their Give Away Box! If you haven't answered yet, go there now! Clickety click click a roo! Y'all have even listed quite a few of the things that I have put in my box! You have until Monday night at 9 p.m. eastern time to enter the give-away! I can't quit picking up stuff to add to the box. There's no telling what else will be added by then!

Sabrina and her family will probably be here tomorrow night. Yay! I'm so excited to see them all! Mostly the kids, but Chad and Brina too. They have been making a fairly similar trip to the one we did a few months ago. And it is a looooooong trip! They will be staying with us until they close on their house. We'll have Kyle and I, our cat and dog, Brina and Chad, their 3 kids, and their yellow lab! All in our 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom townhouse. It will be interesting! But never a dull moment, that's for sure!

Alright, I'm out of here! I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! And if you haven't already, go enter to win the box!!!

Its finally time for the give away!!!!

I should have done this last night/today, but I was slacking. BUT, I'm finally here! And We hit and passed the mark of 50 followers! You know what that means! It's time for the awesome box give away! If you missed those posts, go here!  It's a box filled with some of my favorite things! The picture doesn't show everything. There are some more things that I have picked up since, and I'm sure I will continue to pick up in the next week!

So here's the deal! (One of my favorite phrases, ever!) If you want a chance to win, here are the rules and some ways that you can get more than one entry!

*You must be a follower of this blog! If you are not, now would be an excellent time to do so!

*You have to leave a comment and tell me 5 things that you would put into a give away box of your favorite things.

Now, by doing those you get one entry to win. But, if you want more, here's what you've gotta do!

*Blog/Tweet/Facebook about my give away! Linking back to here! (You'll get one entry for each one, as long as you can show where you did it.)

*If you were brought here by someone who did one of the above, tell me who sent you, and you will both get an extra entry!

*Be sure to leave a seperate comment for each thing that you do, that way I know how many entries to give each person!

The give away is going to go until Monday, June 14th 9 p.m. EST ! And then, I will announce the winner! Your box will be mailed on that Wednesday and to you, shortly thereafter!

GOOD LUCK! And I'm excited to see how will win this box!!!

I just need two more!

I'm only two people away from doing the Awesome Box give-away! Want to see preview of what is in the box?

And that's not everything! There will be a few more extra surprises in there! Including a Crochet Candy from Kim's awesome blog! She said she is a sucker for a give away, and she wanted to contribute! She is so creative and makes the cutest stuff, and takes some amazing photos! Go check her out!

The box is nothing super fantastic, but it has some fun stuff in it. And besides, who doesn't love free?!

I'm going on Wednesday to print out one copy of our profile for our agency to review. She saw the link online, but asked if she could see a hard copy. But from what she saw, she said she loved our photos!

Ooh! I also got the mobile for our crib set today! I got the bedding quite awhile ago, but the mobile was back ordered. But it showed up today! How stinkin' cute is this?! Crappy cell phone pic quality, but you get the idea!

I am in love with our crib set, and I'm so happy that I went with it! I can't wait to paint the nursery! As soon as we are home study approved, it's on!

And while I'm spamming you with pictures, here is one more! Kyle finally re-stained our kitchen table! We have had it since we got married. But it was made years ago by Kyle's Grandpa. We also have a china hutch and our bedroom set that was made by him. Anyway, I never loved the color of the table. I'm a dark wood kind of girl. He's been meaning to do it foreve, but he never had the time in Washington. But here, he finally did! Now all we need is to buy a new set of unfinished wood chairs and stain them to match! He did such a good job on the table! It's not my style of furniture, but it means a lot to him to have it.

Nice, eh? Once again, crappy cell phone picture. But it was easier than busting out the big guy, and then uploading to the computer blah blah blah!

Well my dears, I need to go tuck Kyle into bed! He has to go into work at 3 a.m. Ick! Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

P.s. If you aren't a follower, become one! Right NOW! Please and thank-you!

Hand Picked

Whenever I go to Target (or anywhere for that matter!), no how much I try to fight it, I ALWAYS end up in the baby section! I just can't help it. There is a gravitational pull there, I swear! Anyway, I have been eyeing this set since it first came out at the beginning of spring. When I first saw it, I always thought it would be perfect if we adopt a little girl! But I never bought it, because who knows if we'll get a boy or girl. But today, I just couldn't resist any longer, and I bought it! I figure if we end up with a boy, then I'll just pass it on to one of my bloggy friends who has a girl! Tell me that this isn't so precious, and so perfect for adoption? I just love it! The first one says "Hand Picked", the middle one is just daises, and the one of the back says "Watch Me Grow".