ABC Wednesday---J Is For "Surely You JEST?!"

ABC Wednesday is hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

Oh yes, oh yes, oh YES it's that time again. It's time for getting rid of the crib and bringing in the Big Girl Bed. If you don't remember the fun we had last time when we went through this with Hope you can refresh your memory here.

Well...silly us...we thought we had it DOWN this time. Again, you may remember how excited we were when we finally decided to furnish Claire's nursery and how we FINALLY decided on what we wanted. No? Ok...that one is here. We decided that we loved the style of Hope's furniture and we loved the quality that came from Morigeau...and we loved the service from Baby Tyme where we had purchased Hope's nursery/bedroom furniture. We ended up going with the exact same furniture, only in a different color combo. The above picture is NOT from our home! It is from the Morigeau catalog. The colors in the picture are "latte and mahogany" which is the combo we chose for Claire...Hope's are "latte and wheat".

We planned on buying Claire's new big girl bed around her third birthday...which was last week...and we also planned on using our IRS refund to make the purchase. We received our highly coveted income tax refund last week and were poised and ready to head to Baby Tyme on Saturday. On Friday night I sat down at the computer to check when Baby Tyme opened on Saturday. Just for grins I started looking around their site and guess what? There was no mention of them carrying the Morigeau brand. I got the sweats. Garry called them. Morigeau declared bankruptcy in December of last year. The person on the phone apologized for not calling and letting us know. My stomach dropped. (Surely you JEST was putting it as nicely as I could AND use a j word!) I spent the next hour or so online trying to locate anyone with any stock left. If we'd have needed a crib, we'd have been golden. But other than that? No go. Sooo...no matching desk for Hope's room...no bed...nightstand...bookshelf...wall shelf...and eventually desk for Claire's room. It wouldn't have been so distressing if we hadn't already purchased the dresser/changing table and mirror in that style for Claire's room years ago. And as you can see...they have a pretty distinctive look that I wasn't having good vibes about matching. I sent an email to my friend Carrie telling her what was going on and that I was going to give it over to Him once I hit the shower.

I was pretty close to tears when I checked my email before shutting down for the night and found I'd sold not one but TWO Barbie's on Amazon. I printed out the packing slip, turned off the computer and started getting the dolls ready to ship the next day. My frustration grew when I realized both dolls wouldn't fit in one box. Back to my office/studio...turn the computer and printer back on...print out another packing slip. With my frustration starting to turn to anger I thought, "Why do I have to WAIT to turn something over to Him?" ") So I simply said, "It's yours. I can't do anything more about it." Almost immediately the name "Wayside" popped into my head. Wayside is a furniture store nearby that we've never been to. We usually make a day of it and drive to Amish country to browse the selection there...but Claire was in DIRE need of a big girl bed, we had other errands we HAD to do, and we needed somewhere close. I looked them up online and they had pages upon pages of youth beds. I printed out the directions and the next morning we headed out to Wayside.

We walked in the door, read the store directory, went through the doorway to the right into the youth bedroom furniture department, and sitting to the left was a bed and nightstand that didn't match perfectly, but was close enough that nobody is even going to have to look twice at them. The hardware doesn't come anywhere near close to matching but we also saw another bedroom set that we liked the hardware on...hardware that we can easily duplicate by taking a trip to Lowe's. It was so quick and so painless my head is still swimming. Why is it that I have no problem going to God with the "big" things but I let the little things pile up until they are choking me? Obviously something I'm not going to do any longer! Oh! The new furniture is from Young America by Stanley. They have some gorgeous pieces too. You can take a look here.

Our next trip will be to Medina Mattress. I KNOW it's still there because we just went past it!

Oh my friends...I couldn't have made this one up if I tried! And I'm not EVEN going into the feelings that Mama is having about putting her last baby out of the crib and into a big girl bed. I'll save that for ANOTHER post! ")

UPDATE...NESTING

Claire's wallpaper is finished...and beautiful. Bridget was scheduled to come in and hang it the day after we received the first "happy" letter from EAC. I was such a mess I almost called her and cancelled. I was afraid it would be too painful. But, I did what I have been working VERY hard at lately...I did what I knew was right even though I didn't FEEL it. I'm so glad I did. The room is absolutely gorgeous. A big THANK YOU to Bridget and Cheyenne. You are the best! My apologies to everyone that was here for Hope's birthday party the very next day...I had every intention of showing off Claire's new room but my mind was elsewhere!

Garry went to Hartville and picked up the rest of Claire's furniture. He and Tom he-manned the changing table/dresser up the stairs a couple of weekends ago. I cleaned it up and hefted it into place. I dug around Garry's office upstairs...which has become our dumping ground...and found the lamp and lampshade we'd bought for her. A couple of days later I covered all of her switch and outlet covers to match her new wallpaper. Last weekend we bought her a little stuffed Dumbo which now sits next to her new lamp. Hope has helped me fill the bottom drawer of the changing table with crib sheets, blankets, etc. And as soon as the weather warms up Garry is going to paint the inside of her closet.

We are going to get through this! Only God knows the big picture...and I prefer it that way!

One final thought...in September of 2004 we signed up to participate in The Asia Threads Project. Run by an adoptive parent, she coordinates projects to various orphanage cities in China. Photographs are taken of the city, the surrounding countryside, the orphanage, and where your child was found. That was one of the only regrets that Garry and I had from our first trip to China. We were unable to see the location where Hope was found. We also were able to send a letter to the director and caretakers of Hope's orphanage as well as lots of pictures of her. Well, the project has been a no go for the longest time as not enough families had signed up...until two weeks ago when our project was sent to China. I simply cannot help but think that God has something wonderful planned with the timing of this.

I'll keep y'all posted!

You'd think that after 42...and 1/2 years I would've learned by now that anything I perceived as being easy and simple would turn out to be exactly the opposite. Yeah, well...hope springs eternal. Let's call this post, "The Comedy Of Errors" or "The Mattress Warehouse Hidden Valley Is Now Closed".

In July I told you about ordering Hope's new bedroom furniture and Claire's nursery furniture. Early in August we got a call from Baby Tyme saying everything was in. We decided to leave Claire's furniture there until we are ready for it. That way we don't have to worry about where to put it while we are getting her room ready. We piled in the Jeep on a Saturday and headed for Hartville to pick up Hope's new bed and nightstand. Newsflash...it wouldn't all fit in the Jeep. We took what we could and while Hope was napping, Garry drove back to Hartville and picked up the rest. After unloading it in the garage he drove to Medina to buy her a mattress and boxspring. He came home, unloaded those and we all took off for Kohl's to look for sheets, mattress pads, pillows, etc.

With the washing machine running at full capacity the next day laundering all of her new linens, Hope napped in her crib, blissfully unaware of the angst her parents were about to go through. After she woke up I moved the crib to the other side of her room so Garry could build her big girl bed where the crib used to be. We planned on leaving the crib in the room for awhile after she was in her new bed for security reasons. We had been preparing her for this for quite awhile so she was really ok with it!

Garry put the new bed together and right away we knew we were going to have problems. It was a platform bed, raised significantly higher off of the floor than a traditional bed, and doesn't require a boxspring. Garry put the new pillowtop mattress and boxspring in and my stress level just about shot out the top of my head. It seems soooo totally ridiculous in hindsight now but at the time all I could think about was how we had Hope so psyched up about this and it wasn't turning out perfectly. (Linda...stop laughing! I can hear you in *this* country!) The top of the mattress was only about two inches away from the top of the headboard. It reminded me of the story of The Princess & The Pea where the princess sleeps on a tower of mattresses. Garry removed the boxspring, leaving only the mattress which was just the perfect height. Great, right? NOT! The bedrails we had purchased will only work BETWEEN a mattress and boxspring. It was getting later and later, we hadn't had dinner yet, and Hope still didn't have a bed ready to sleep in. Feeling beaten and dejected (and I know Garry wasn't feeling the love either) I pulled the nasty old 1950's-60's mattress and boxspring off of the twin bed in "The Boys' Room". The room is set up as a guest room but since we never have guests, it's always been called The Boys' Room as the cats love the peace and quiet they can find there. They're going to have to find a new spot soon because it's going to turn into Claire's room!

Garry put those two horrid looking old things on our baby's new bed while I proceeded to spray Lysol all over them and set about putting her new linens on them. Gads...they looked AWFUL but they were the perfect height and the bedrails worked. She didn't seem to care that they were old and disgusting and that if Garry or I tried to sit on the bed with her she just about shot off the other side. She was so excited she couldn't go to sleep. She had a ball until around 11:00 when I couldn't take it anymore. I airlifted her out of the bed and put her in the crib...she was asleep within 15 minutes.

Her nap the next day was about the same...I gave up after an hour of happy chatter and put her in the crib. That night she slept in the bed! YAY! The next day's nap was just the same, but after that she has slept and slept well in her big girl bed.

Garry called the guy at Medina Mattress the next day and "explored his options". The guy is one of the nicest men you could ever hope to do business with. He genuinely cares and will do just about anything to work things out to your satisfaction. He told Garry to come in and take a look at what else he had, he could also order something else, and if all else failed he'd take everything back.

That next Saturday while Hope was napping Garry took another trip to Medina. He didn't find anything that would work and the only sets that were the right height were just newer cleaner versions of the yucky mattress/trampoline set that she was already using. The owner told Garry that Sealy makes a low-rise boxspring. They both looked all over the warehouse but he didn't have one in stock. He told Garry that he would order it for us, we could try it with the mattress we had purchased from him and see if that worked any better.

The next day Garry dismantled the crib while Hope and I watched from her big girl bed. It went very well until he actually started removing pieces of the crib from the room. She tried very hard not to cry, but in the end, there were tears. With tears streaming and bottom lip quivering she said, "Claire sleep in crib...Hopie sleep in big girl bed...when Claire done, Hopie sleep in crib again." It was HEARTBREAKING!

SO! Inside the guest/boys'/Claire's room we now have Hope's brand new pillowtop mattress and boxspring sitting on the nasty old metal bedframe, the crib and it's mattress, AND our old queensize mattress and boxspring that was waiting for disposal.

The next Saturday, another trip to Medina for Garry while Hope is napping. He came home with the smaller boxspring and ladies and gentlemen, we have a winning combination! The Sealy boxspring with the Serta pillowtop mattress works! YAY! Garry called Medina Mattress right away and let that wonderful man know how appreciative we were for all of his help. Then do you know what he offered to do? He said he would come over the next day after the store closed and get whatever we didn't want out of our way. He pulled in Sunday a little after 4 and took the unused Serta boxspring, the old nasty twin mattress and boxspring, AND our old queen set. As he was getting into the truck Garry was cleaning up a bunch of the plastic that the mattresses had been wrapped in and moving the old steel bed frame. The guy gets out of the truck and says, "You want me to take all of that too?" Medina Mattress in Medina Ohio people...the owner is a prince.

Enjoy your week!

Technically, it's not time for fun stuff yet. During Hope's adoption we delayed the right to have fun until our dossier was in China. This time? NOT!!!! We are still so ridiculously happy about receiving that silly I-171H form so quickly that we've thrown caution to the wind! ")

Last Saturday I picked up the Morigeau catalog that we got at Baby Tyme during our last visit. Baby Tyme is a fabulous store specializing in, you guessed it, baby furniture. We looked at all the big chains when we were furnishing Hope's nursery and were highly disappointed. Baby Tyme was the only place we found that sold "real" furniture...not stuff that looked like it was going to deconstruct before you had a chance to use it. As Garry said, "What? You think I'm going to go all the way to China to get my baby and then bring her home and put her in something that's going to fall apart?" The staff there is so friendly...we wouldn't think of going anywhere else. Remember folks...that's Baby Tyme Furniture in beautiful downtown Hartville, Ohio! ")

All right, back to last Saturday and the Morigeau catalog. Morigeau is the name of the Canadian company who manufactured Hope's furniture. I finally came to the point last weekend where I'd had enough of looking at the catalog and I was going to make a decision then and there. I chose the same collection that we have in Hope's room, only in a different color combination. When Hope got up from her nap we all piled in the car and headed for Hartville. When we got there we went straight to the back of the store where the color samples are and Garry and I tried out all the combos until we settled on one we liked. Hope's colors are "Latte & Wheat". Claire's colors are "Latte & Mahogany". Hope has the crib, mirror, changing table (minus the shelves), free standing bookcase and wall shelf. We ordered a mirror and a changing table for Claire, and she will be using the crib we already have...it won't match exactly but who cares?! We ordered Hope the twin bed and night stand. Melissa, from Baby Tyme, called on Monday to say that the bed, night stand, and changing table would be on the next truck. Things are definitely moving faster than last time!

And...drum roll please...Wednesday, July 6 is our adoption roadtrip day! Our day will start at 10:00 a.m. at our lawyer's office getting the dossier notarized. Once that is finished, two hours in the car to Columbus to get the dossier certified. Two more hours in the car to drive home so I can make copies of everything in the dossier. Back in the car for the 30-45 minute drive to the agency to turn everything in. Then...you know what we are going to do? BOOK OUR TRIP TO WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!

Ok...ok...so it's been awhile since my last post. Yeah, well...life happens! Tomorrow I promise to start typing in all of the highly interesting and informative details that are The China Dossier.

We received our completed/signed/approved home study today in the mail! YAY! This was so much quicker than the first time it's actually kind of scary. We had our fingerprints taken Tuesday for the INS...or the BCIS...or whatever initials they are using this week. The completed home study was forwarded to the INS/BCIS the very next day. During our first experience, our fingerprints were taken in September...the home study was forwarded in December...the HOLY GRAIL of adoption documents (more later!) was received in February. The published wait time with the INS/BCIS for the holy grail is 60-90 days after receiving the home study. So...we'll see!

We've already made our first trip to Hartville to look at furniture for Claire's room. We got prices on a couple of pieces and also on a bed and nightstand for Hope's room. We're still undecided on what to do concerning Claire's furniture as compared to Hope's...same style different color...different style...similar style...similar color? I know...we have plenty of time and eventually both girls are going to develop their own tastes and hate everything we've chosen for their rooms!

Until tomorrow...