Trip to TECO

Okay so this is TECO in Houston(well the 20th floor) Greenway Plaza. You can see there are still some windows out from Hurricane IKE, but it was easy to get there and in and out quickly.....and they were really nice, very unlike my trip to the Chinese Consulate so long ago.
Here is the actual office, and I was one of 3 people in there, walked in handed her my papers, she doublechecked them, wrote my receipt, collected the money, and said to come back in 2 hours. She then asked how old my baby was, and how I was matched with her. I then of course had to show her a picture. She was so sweet about Hayden, and then proceeded to show the other ladies in the office the picture. They were all just telling me what a beautiful girl I had, and what beautiful eyes she had. It was very sweet. When I came back to get the paperwork, they had it ready for me, and as I left they said I would have to stop back by when I got her home so that they could meet her:) Yeah that didn't happen at the Chinese Consulate.

Here is the TECO stamp that you need for your paperwork. I was expecting a sheet on the front, but all of the documents had this stamp for the authentication. The paperwork for this adoption has been so much easier than our paperwork was with China. It is to the point, and clear cut on who needs to do what, and not a lot of duplication.

Our paperwork left for the agency last night with Fed Ex, and should be leaving for Taiwan today!!! So things are going well, and smooth at this point, and we are now looking forward to our first update.

High Ho, High Ho it's off to TECO I go

Well one last step in the process to get us started in our court process, and that includes a trip to Houston to TECO(Taiwan's version of a consulate) I have to get our paperwork authenticated, so I am headed this afternoon to Houston to spend the night with my sweet MIL, and will be at TECO when they open in the morning to drop off the paperwork and go back to pick it up a few hours later I hope, and then into the FedEx envelope it will go. After a stop at our agency, it should be in Taiwan on Thursday.

I will post the process that we will go through once I am back home. But I don't expect to be hearing much for at least 6 weeks or so. I do think we will be getting an update right before Thanksgiving, so we will get to see how much our girl has grown, and how much she has changed. So we will be looking forward to that update.

So that is all that is going on right now except for the fact that I have started to get really busy with Holiday stuff with my business. I am knee deep in things that need to be embroidered. So I have plenty to keep me busy for the next 6 weeks. We are boxing up our care package, and I will mail it in the next week or so. We think Hayden is probably about 2-3 weeks from being moved to her foster home. So I want to send it, so that it arrives shortly after she moves.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend, and the upcoming week looks good!!

Thank You

I will never be able to email or write thank yous or call everyone that has been in touch with me the last week. We received so many nice wishes, and congratulations, flowers, gifts.....it was all so overwhelming. You forget how many people care about you.

I truly want to say thank you to each and everyone of you that has been a part of this journey with us. I do not know how I would have ever made it without my friends, the friends that I made, the stories, the blogs, the good and the bad and the ugly. This is really a journey no one understands unless they witness it themselves.

So from the bottom of our hearts please know how important each and everyone of you are, and know how thankful we are to have you in our lives and along for this journey.

We are still just flying high, and looking forward to finishing up our paperwork and getting this court process started.

You can go to You Tube and search Hayden referral and see the video I have of our little Missy.
I think she is already a little dramatic just like her mama!!

Our turn has finally come!!

For reasons I will not share, I have had to remove our good news. Thank you to all that have sent such lovely messages to us....they have meant so much. I especially would like to thank everyone for their friendship over the last 30 or so months, could not have made it without you. You have helped make this one of the most amazing weeks of my life.............I am a MOMMY!!


I will be going password protected, so make sure to those who know me, and I have communicated with to send me your email so I make sure you can continue along with our journey.....it is just starting to get to the good stuff!!! I will send you an email letting you know the new address as soon as I get it ready, trying to do it myself, and redecorating my house~piece of cake, new blog~not so much:)

"i" love you

Look at my newest toy!!! I am in love:) My very sweet husband was feeling bad for me(those who know me, know why) and he came home on Thursday night and surprised me with this little gadget that I didn't even know that I wanted, needed, or couldn't live my life without. Now I understand why everyone that has one says it is amazing, and you can never go back to a regular phone. I am pretty sure this phone would clean my house and do a few loads of laundry if I asked....it is that amazing. So thank you to the sweet man I married, it did make me feel better, and now I also have a really cool phone too.

Project Dogway

I bought the dogs pink coats....no, not for winter, no, not to keep them warm and dry, mostly because I thought it would be funny.....it was and it is, not so much to them:)

If only I lived in PA.

If I lived in PA or NJ or even NY, I would be driving to the Lilly warehouse sale. Someday, I will actually make it to this preppy crazed shopping experience. I will be in heaven, and I will buy to my preppy hearts content. If you live in the area I highly suggest you high tail it over there and check it out.....I have heard it is amazing. Oh how I love pink and green and boy do I love LP, hail to the Lilly!! They will have really cute little girl clothing as well.

Look what the postman delivered!!

I have been patiently waiting for this pinnie to arrive, and it did today. It far exceeded my expectations. How cute is this pinafore? It is reversible, and I can just see it with jeans, leggings, a long sleeve t-shirt under it, maybe some cute bloomies. I am just in love. It could have only been made better had I been able to monogram it. I bought it here
Ashley's things are really well made, and the fabric is great quality. Trust me when I say that I will be frequenting Lassie girl's shop a lot. I covet many of the things she has on there. Go visit her and let her know I sent you:)

Can't wait to see my sweet girl in this darling dress. It is my favorite thing in her closet right now.

Look what I made.

I have no idea if I will need this or not, but I have always wanted a boppy, and now I have a boppy. You can buy a boppy insert at Jo-Ann's using your 40% coupon, and I have had this old chenille bedspread for about 3 years now waiting to do something with it. Well now I have done something with it. How cute is this cover?? I tell you I don't care if we ever use it, it looks really cute, and right now that is what I care about:) It can just look nice in the nursery.

Is there a twelve step program for this??

I don't think the numbers are that bad if you are already home with your baby, in fact I think you could use a bit more in the way of choices if you are already home. But considering we have no idea when we will be home with a baby this seems a little obsessive. I know you all can make me feel better with some good justifying reasons for having this many accessories when it is all still pretend. That is 19 pairs of shoes and 51 hairbows. I have actually added to those bows since this picture was taken, I now have no room left on the hanger and will need to take off the ones that will be too big for her to wear for a bit so that I have room to add.

$o You Think You Can Dance???

Yup, I love this show!!
Yup, I love Twitch!!
Yup, I was there Friday night, and I will load some pictures tomorrow for your viewing pleasure. It was awesome, it was better than the show, and they did all the dances I loved on the show.
Yup, it was great!!
Yup, there were a lot of teenage girls there!!
Yup, didn't care, we still had a ton of fun.
Yup, if it comes to your town it is worth the price of the ticket!!

For the love of Monograms

I am absolutely giddy with how the baby's monogram turned out. It is in chocolate brown, and I think it looks amazing. I ordered it from here This is above the daybed I have in her room, and I think it has added a nice little touch to the wall.

What I love about fall

I love how my entry way looks in the fall.....how cute is that wreath holder....zoom in so you can see what it says.

Look at that little pumpkin

Sorry, but just had to post this picture. Look at my little girl!!! Is she so cute or what??

Wishing everyone a great weekend!!

My latest purchase

Okay, over the course of 2 1/2 years of being in the adoption process I have looked at many items that I knew we would need. I have spent hours reading consumer reports on items that have safety standards. From traveling I had seen every make and model of stroller checked on the plane, and been to cities where it is a must to have a really good stroller. So I had long ago determined that I was getting the Maclaren Techno brown and pink stroller for my car. I had already purchased a less expensive Maclaren for D's car.

Well last week while at TJMa## with a friend(not shopping for a stroller) I come across this Peg Perego Pliko M3 stroller, it caught my eye because of the kelly green color. Because I have been looking at strollers on-line I know how much they all cost, and had just relaxed about the price of the stroller I was vying for. But I started pushing this green machine around and feeling how good it felt to drive, and then attempted to fold it up, which happend rather easily(not normally an easy task for any novice such as myself) I knew it was a fairly expensive stroller, and I was loved, loved, loved the color, the features it had and the the ease of driving it. But there was no price to be found....I love free!!


Anyway, we asked one of the sales people and she told us how she was not sure why someone had even removed it from its box(that was priced) and that she would have to find out for us. In the mean time I continued looking at it and experiencing all that it had to offer me. Then the manager came and said he had another particular stroller in the box if I was interested in looking at that one....it was more expensive than the one I am looking at and says it is $149.00......hmmmmmm I am thinking well then how much is the green machine if it is cheaper. He then says, how about I sell it to you for $119? I was in utter shock that I couldn't even speak for a minute, and then the thought raced through my mind that if I jump too quickly he will realize his mistake and tell me the "real" price. Thankfully my friend was there to tell him to mark it and we would take it!!! I almost felt guilty walking to the checkout, as it felt like I was shoplifting I was getting such a great deal. Needless to say the Maclaren pink and brown stroller will be going home with someone else, and I am thrilled with my big new green machine that I can remove the hood on and a big pink monogram will be going on soon:)

Good deal huh? I love when this happens, it doesn't happen often, but when it does it feels sooooo good.

Look who's home

Baby Finley is home now. I flew home with her from Birmingham last Thursday, and she was treated like a famous first class passenger. The flight attendants on AA were beside themselves once they laid eyes on her, and Finley never saw the inside of her bag again! They carried her around the plane, she met the pilots, her mommy was treated to a sweet note and some yummy champagne, and then I got to hold her for landing and carried her right off the plane. Thank you to those girls, they made our flight quick, and fun, and memorable. Finley did great, she loves to be held, and snuggle, but she also likes to play tug a war with your hair(ouch) She and Sophie are getting along great. I think Sophie thinks we bought her a toy... a very small toy. Finley only weighs 4 lbs right now. Finley does not hesitate to let Sophie know that she is done playing, or that she doesn't like the game Sophie has picked(pull Finley by the tail game) and seems to be very capable of taking care of herself:) She is a fiesty little 4 lbs:) We are happy as ever to have two now, and we just need to bring home our last little girl, then we will be full!!

Nursery work has begun

**good idea on the tulle, I will either figure out a way to secure it so that Miss Priss can't take it from the post, or we will do without the tulle:) Thanks for the suggestion. Things we don't always think about.

**I have always needed this room as my guest room, and once Shiyu left, that room really became available for us to start working on the room. No news right now, sorry didn't mean to stir up any notions, just thought I would share what I am doing right now. I do love to walk in there and sit, so I am happy that we did start**




I have always wanted a chandelier in the nursery, and I was so pleased to have found something close to that vision. I think it adds just that little extra that every princess should have in her room. My biggest challenge to date has been those little pink shades. If you have never looked for them, let me explain that they are not easy to find nor inexpensive, but it was something I had to have, and once D had it installed I just had to smile with such accomplishment. If we sell the house, the chandelier is going too!! The picture does not do it justice. We just need to put it on a dimmer now.



First let me say that I love the crib, I think the crib looks amazing with the pink walls(pink potion if you are curious) but that has not how I have felt for almost 3 years. Let me explain; my nephew is 14, and when my SIL was pregnant with him my MIL so generously bought her all of her nursery furniture. This was the crib, and it was beautiful in his nursery. But I had always envisioned either painted white wood or cream wrought iron for our crib. When we announced that we were adopting both my SIL and MIL immediately and generously offered Michael's crib. They said they had both hoped that it would get used again someday by someone in the family. Well with such a gracious offer how could I turn them down? So we happily accepted and loaded it in my car for the drive back to Dallas. While the practical side of me was happy about not having to buy an expensive crib, and the sentimental side of me was happy to use something that had been bought with so much care and love, there was this other part of me that was saying that I have waited nearly 40 years to have a baby, and like your wedding dress you just want to pick it out yourself....no hand me downs. Well obviously shortly after we took the crib we realized that we would not be getting a referral in 10-12 months as quoted, so we packed it away for "someday" Well as you can see someday has arrived, and when we painted the room, and put the crib together(no easy task) I just couldn't believe that for one second I considered not using this beautiful crib. I think it looks great and it doesn't even have the bedding yet. I think it will look amazing with the bedding. I am going to do tulle down the post to soften it a bit. I discussed with my MIL of putting some sort of small brass plaque with each childs name and birthday on the crib, and we will hope that someone else in the family will decide to use it as well and we can just keep passing it down.


This is the fabric I chose for the bedding. I love any and all Toile, and so I knew that I would always be using a pink toile once I was ready to start searching. So the toile will be the primary fabric on the bumper(with one panel that will have her monogram on of course) and the long crib skirt, and the choc brown shantung will be the ruffle and ties on the bumper, and the bottom trim of the skirt. I am using a pale pink shantung for the curtains, and I need to find one more complimentary fabric to make basket liners and such. The picture below was what I used as my design inspiration.




I still need a really cute dresser that I want to paint either cream or pale pink, and I will use that as a changing table, planning a trip to Canton to look for that piece. I also have ordered an overstuffed glider for the room. It is so comfortable, and look forward to sitting and rocking our sweet girl in it, and hoping that someday when she is old enough to appreciate it, that she will love her room as much as I do:)

Anyway, it feels a bit strange to be working on this room. But it was time, and it has proved to help me feel a bit better, and make things seem a bit more real.
I have loved buying things for her room, and since I have always known what I wanted the room to look like, I have been buying things for a really long time.
I will take a few pictures of the room once it is completed. I still need to get pictures and such on the wall, and then I have ordered a very large cocoa colored monogram that will go over the day bed in her room. I think that will add to the room. So that should arrive in a few weeks, and I can't wait to see how that looks on the wall.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think. Again, I know it is not finished, but at least it is a start!!

A sneak peek into our CA vacation

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Back from Vacation

We are back from our 9 days at the beach! Had a great time, it was hard to come home. But have a lot to share(I think) and will try to get things updated around here soon. Hope everyone is doing great, and getting settled back into the school year.

I have caught up on most of the blogs I follow, if I didn't comment I am sorry, I had a lot to read, and not a lot of time. Fair amount of good things going on, and it was fun to be gone, and come back with so much to read:)

check back, cause I will be back I promise:)

One way or another I am going to have a house full of black headed little girls.

Here is our latest baby born:







This is baby Finley, and she was born on Aug 4th. We will be going to get Sophie's little sister the end of September. We can't wait. She is a cocker spaniel.

Here is an updated picture of Miss Sophie who does make my heart feel good.





Sorry to have been such a bad blogger, commentor, and friend. Just feeling guarded, isolated, and trying to just cope. I will again be a good friend. I am thinking of you all, and try to catch up on reading periodically. For my friends that really are getting close, I am really thinking of you. I know the wait and the unknown must seem unbearable, but I hope it all just melts when you finally get that picture.

Taylor is coming home tomorrow, and we are happy to be able to have a little more time with her before she returns to school for her last year. She is doing well, and her leg and ankle are improving everyday. Thank you to everyone who sent us well wishes, they were very appreciated.