Fashionably Late

This post is really overdue. My sincere apologies. Things have been pretty crazy from the moment my plane landed last week Monday.  But I'll get to that in a minute. 

First ... Texas was AMAZING!!

The trip began with this picture message sent to my mom saying I was ready for our flight! I didn't really fly in my pajamas but I totally would have had she not been mortified to be with me in my Jammies :P

Then the dreaded drive to the airport. I had loads of anxiety about being away from my heart for the first time. I think he knew it too because he held my hand the entire hour plus ride to the airport. 

I cried when I left him but I'm sure you're not surprised. Ticketing, check in and boarding was a piece of cake. Mom and I weren't intially seated together but the sweetest Texan agreed to switch seats. He said "He was fixin to be closer to the front of the plane anyway" and I was in LOVE! I need to use the word fixin in my daily vocabulary for sure. 

We ended up being seated next to the nicest guy who bought wifi so we could cheat on all the games I downloaded on the iPad. It's probably a good thing the audio wouldn't play ;)

We arrived in Dallas pretty late so I'm lucky my friend Jill is a night owl. I was so excited to be there that I didn't take a single picture that night. Sorry 

The next morning she made sure I felt right at home. 

After some coffee we began our journey to finally meet our beautiful expectant mommy (we shall call her J) and her family. 

If you can believe it I didn't take a single picture that first day. Every second was amazing and love filled and just natural. It was like spending the day with my oldest bestest friend and her family. They welcomed us into their home with open arms and before we knew it hours had gone by. I couldn't believe I was going to get to spend 2 more days with them! 

Sunday we had a lunch date with a table of amazing women. It was mothers and daughters, friends brought together by adoption and the friend who made this adoption possible. In true sucking with pictures fashion this is my only picture from lunch. 

Lots and lots of uninvited guests. Ick!

After lunch we walked around the stock yards and it finally occurred to me to bring the camera (phone) out. 

Here's a whole lot of love in one picture!

And then there's Mom and I at the Love Shack!

It was a great great day! 

And the next day I got to tour the hospital, meet the doctor and have our big sonogram!!

Here's J and I killing time between the hospital tour and doctor appointment. 

The hospital was beautiful and the staff were super supportive of adoption and adoptive breastfeeding. I just know his birth is going to be a beautiful experience. 

And here he is ...

Absolute perfection 💙💙💙

I could have stayed in that sonogram room forever. As a momento I was sent home with lots of pictures and a bear that plays his little heartbeat. 

Sadly we had to head home after that. 

Mom and I had one final celebratory meal at the airport. 

And the most incredible dessert. 

And then we were off! Leaving our new family to return to the ones missing us terribly in Wisconsin. 

The end of mother daughter weekend :)

And heartbeat bear got in on the action too 

Before we knew it we were home and I was reunited with my heart once again. 

I figured he missed me but it turns out he missed me SO much that he needed to come down with a double ear infection and Roseola virus to insure one full week of mommy to himself. 

Let's not repeat this or the trip to the Children's Hospital ER ever again, okay?

Thankfully he's better now and back to his silly self. 

I had a lot of expectations when it came to this Dallas trip but what I never expected was to miss J and her family this much after I got home. 

Stay tuned ... our tickets are booked for November!

Best Friends

Luke has his first best friends and it's adorable!

Being a stay at home mom allows me to help other mommies with childcare when needed. Luke thinks it's great!

He hugs his friends!

He hosts awesome dance parties. 

They've got the double trouble look down pat. 

He shares with his friends. 

And they sit and tell stories. 

I can say with complete certainty these kiddos are going to be heartbroken when we finally get around to assembling the shelf in that box. 

claustrophilia?

This kiddo is really drawn to small spaces. 

Once he gets there ... not so sure ;)

He let's out a screech until you rescue him. 

I'm hoping this one is a phase. 

Isn't exploration fun?

Success

Our rummage was a huge success!  While we had only intended on having a single rummage weekend we were blessed with so many donations that we extended it another day!
I am so happy and blessed to report that we were able to recover about half of the funds lost with our failed adoption through this rummage event.
That is pretty huge and we could not have done it without your help.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated, stopped out to say hi, made purchases, told a friend ... the list goes on!
The most amazing part was all of the families who came out because they adopted or were adopted themselves and wanted to share their stories.  Adoption is so beautiful!
Stay tuned ... mom and I travel to TEXAS this weekend!