First road trip

Our first road trip was wonderful. We found out that Mark is an excellent traveller. He pretty much slept the whole way there, or sat contently smiling away. We stopped once to feed him (actually I sat in the back feeding him while he was in his car seat and Mike continued driving).

When we got there, he charmed our friends. He loved to snuggle with Joy, and give her smiles and lots of love. Hopefully the baby luck will rub off on her and she'll get the call soon! Joy and I let Jeremy hold him for a little while, and even Daddy got to hold him a tiny bit. He was so comfortable in Joy's arms, he fell asleep.

Joy and I taught the guys about the finer art of changing a wet diaper in the back of a car. There weren't any changing tables, so we improvised. Joy and Jeremy gave Mark the cutest layette set- he's going to take a picture in it soon. It has sailboats and cars (Mommy and Daddy's favorites) as well as planes. Perfect for the kid who is going to travel quite a bit!

When we left, I sat in the back of the car to give him a bottle again. By the time we got to a gas station to fill up, he was finished. And he slept the whole way home. He was a perfect little boy.

That's great to know, for when we take our long road trip! (hopefully soon!)

preparing for a storm and keeping busy

Well, I guess a positive to not having a little one yet is that it's easier to prepare for a storm. We are supposed to get hit by a tropical storm that just sort of popped up in the Gulf of Mexico today. No biggie. We have food, water, groceries, cat supplies and today was laundry day- so we should be set. =)

When you have a little one, you need to think of making sure you have enough diapers (we're already stocking up on them, we use coupons when we have them!), formula (same thing- coupons are awesome) and clean clothes for baby. Plus all the other little extras to keep a little one entertained should the lights go out or you get stuck inside for a while.

Our nephew is coming over to visit this weekend. He's 5. I am going to pick him up tomorrow after school lets out, and bring him home. He and I are hosting a cookie decorating party this weekend. Since it's probably going to be rainy the rest of this week- baking cookies is the perfect thing to do with him.

We are also going to go visit day care centers. I put together some kits for Noah's Ark to drop off at day cares (there are about 8 within a 2 mile radius of my neighborhood alone!), and figured it would be something fun we could do. We'll just go down the one major road, and he can be my "helper" when we go in to the day cares and drop off a packet. I was at convention, so I was able to preorder (and have now received) 400 of the $5 promotional gift cards with mini catalogs. So I am taking them to all the schools in the area, along with a packet of information about Noah's Ark.

My Adoption Shop is taking off well. I added another name to it as well, bought the domain name Unique Baby and Parent Gifts. I was receiving some feedback that my shop was going to be too restrictive and not encourage everyone to shop there. So, I have both names now =) Though the official name is My Adoption Shop. I am really enjoying getting it together, and ordered my moby wraps today. My onesies are also on the way, as well as bath toys and some other goodies. But my lollipops are really popular right now. Which is cool. They are fun to make!

One thing is that it keeps me busy, which is really good- and takes the thinking of adoption constantly off my mind. The best way to let the time go by is to keep busy! But I do like that once I get up and running, both Noah's Ark and My Adoption Shop are both extremely family friendly. I will be able to work as little or as much as I want to, and can get together the My Adoption Shop orders at night, after our sweet little one has gone to bed. Yay for flexibility!

Well, off to scrounge up some dinner for Mike and I.

The Today Show- "I want a baby"

The Today Show on NBC is running a weeklong segment called "I want a baby...."

Today's show was on "understanding infertility". It gave an overview of infertility, and talked with a reproductive endocrinologist who recommended when you ought to start seeing help for infertility.

Later this week, they will be talking about adoption. The founder of Lifetime, Mardie Caldwell is going to be on the show. I got this email today:

Dear Elizabeth,

I'm writing to let you know about an exciting event happening this week. Award-winning author Mardie Caldwell is scheduled to appear live on NBC's 'The Today Show' on May 9.

Caldwell will be discussing adoption as part of a feature this week about different ways to build your family. She will be sharing some important upcoming changes to various adoption opportunities.

Check your local listings for exact times and be sure to set your TiVo so you won't miss this information!

Warmly,
The Staff @ American Carriage House Publishing

I'll be watching, it will be interesting to see what she has to say.

So apparently if you know me...

..... and are adopting, this is your lucky month :)

I got an email from a friend in our agency yesterday, they were to chat with a birthmother last night. A bit later, another email that they are matched!

Wow, in the past month, I have known 3 who have brought their babies home, 3 who are matched, and 2 who got referrals (adopting internationally). Four of those were from our agency, so obviously they are working hard this month.

Fantastic adoption news!

Adoption Stories

I just discovered a show on the Discovery Health Channel. It's called Adoption Stories. Similar to A Baby Story or Birth Day, but it focuses on the adopting family. Occasionally A Baby Story will do a show on adoption, but it is rare. So, it's nice to see a show that focuses just on adoption. From the few shows I have seen, it appears to focus on international adoption as opposed to domestic adoption. It also shows birthparents, and often shows the meetings between birthparents and adoptive parents. It's been very interesting so far...