Day 340

 

December 6th, 2010

 

December 6th, 2011

We had a pretty good day today. Gus was wide-awake at 6:50 which led Steve to getting up with Gus while I got in the shower. It made for a long morning, but Gus went down for a nap at 10:00 and slept until 1:30!! When he got up he was in a great mood!

 

Snuggled in his blanket this morning

 

Helping daddy fold the clothes...  :-)

 

Playing in his frog hamper

This afternoon I decided to watch Gone With the Wind. I had never seen it, and I was certain that I'd hate it. It was on AMC at Thanksgiving and I had saved it to the DVR and decided to give it a go this afternoon. Guess what? I LOVED IT!!! I kept calling Scarlet "Charlotte" and I kept calling Rhett "Rex" but other than those to issues, it was fantastic. It had surprises that I didn't see coming and the ending... oh man. I had heard the famous quote many times before, but never in the context of the movie. AMAZING.

We gave Gus a bath tonight and he had a GREAT time as usual.

 

Checking out the water

 

Trying to catch it

 

Absolute joy!

So I posted something on Facebook asking friends if they had any connections to surrogacy to give me some info. I had several people comment on the post, and then a few messages about it. One message absolutely shocked me. A very good friend from college offered to be a surrogate for us. I wasn't really asking anyone to do this for us, just asking for info, but she offered. I'm not sure if it'll happen, or what the details are, but it's amazing to me that she offered her body for us.

She's in MI and when I looked online, everything that I found said that surrogacy in MI is illegal. Basically, it's illegal to pay someone money to be a surrogate for you. She'd be considered the birth mother (even if the baby is biologically ours) and then we'd have to adopt our baby from her and her husband. Weird. Costly. I'm not sure how expensive it'd be, but knowing that just the attorney fees to adopt would be at least $10k. Add to that the price for IVF/embryotic transplant... it could be like $20k to do it.

So, there's a lot of negatives to doing it, but she also offered some info about an infertility treatment program. She also got info for a doctor in the Atlanta area, and I am going to check it out. Her sisters both struggled with getting pregnant (she was going to surrogate for them) and then they went through this program and both got pregnant and had babies. So who knows... but I'll definitely check it out.

And then another person that we know here in NC said that she's always wanted to be a surrogate, and for me to keep her in mind if it's something that we seriously pursue. It's at least nice to know that there are people in our lives that are willing to help in this way if needed!!

Tomorrow I'm going to get my nails off. I'm doing the shallack stuff for a while and it'll give me more time between appointments and save me money. 

I started packing a bag for us today. It's got stuff in it that we'll take in the car when we move. Just clothes and towels and stuff, so that if the movers are delayed for any reason, we've got stuff to get by. It's crazy to think that we leave in three days.

See you tomorrow!

Day 339

 

December 5th, 2010

 

December 5th, 2011

We had a pretty good day today. 

 

Snuggles this morning

 

Ready to climb

We got up and had breakfast and spent some time downstairs for a bit, and then it was time to head to the park with Kristen and Grace. We met Oliver and Melanie at the Tot Lot in Braxton Village. What a GREAT little playground! It's totally fenced in and has a ton of toddler-appropriate equipment. If we were staying here, we'd be going over there weekly. I hope there's something like this in Johns Creek.

We had a great time at the park and Melanie brought us some "Farewell Cookies" to enjoy. Gus REALLY enjoyed them. In fact, he was able to get the container open and helped himself to like six cookies. However, he only wanted to eat the yellow part of the cookie (so odd)... so he had six cookies with bites taken out of all of them.

 

Trying to get the cookies while no one was watching...

 

Gus and Grace

 

Best friends

 

Our last playdate in NC  :-(

 

Oliver and his crooked glasses (that's exactly how he likes to wear 'em)

 

Cookie monster

 

The cookies with the yellow part chomped off...

 

Checking the package for his next cookie...

 

He probably had ONE cookie in all, but enjoyed eating the parts of each one

We got home around 12:15 and Gus was down for his nap by 12:30. He slept until just before 4:00. We had a meeting with our realtor (Stan) tonight and we have the paperwork ready for listing the house. It's so weird to think that it'll be listed this weekend. He's got a professional cleaner that'll come in and clean and then we have our handyman coming early next week to touch-up some spots on the walls and finish the molding on the floor. It should look nice once it's spiffed up.

I had a great night out with Kristen and Lacey. We went to the Aviator Smokehouse in FV and I had ribs, disgusting carrots, and some yummy mac-n-cheese. We stayed out laughing and having fun and when I looked to see what time it was, it was 9:30!!

I had to stop at Wal-Mart on the way home for a few odds-n-ends... that was my last trip to WM in NC. So weird. I was supposed to babysit Grace tomorrow, but I'm not needed, so instead I'll probably do some laundry and start to pack things for my car (clothes for a few days in case the truck doesn't make it on Saturday and other things).

It does NOT feel like December and certainly doesn't feel like Christmas is just around the corner. Could be from the 70 degree day today. I'm eager to just get the move over with... I'm starting to get anxiety and a lot of stress about it and I hate it. It's been looming since October and I'm ready for it to just be over and for us to get settled and ready for Christmas.

Here are some pictures from a year ago:

 

Starting to really get the hang of crawling

 

Playing with his feet :-)

 

His best pal Scout

Day 338

 

December 4th, 2010

 

December 4th, 2011

Gus was up in the middle of the night last night for the first time in a week. It's moments like that, that make me second guess the desire to adopt another baby. I feel like we're going to get Gus to where he's finally sleeping through the night without any interruptions and then a baby will enter the mix and we'll be sleepless for another three years. LOL.

Anyway, we didn't do anything much today- we watched football. The Bengals played the stupid Steelers (I hate them as much as I hate the Patriots) and they lost. The good thing was that because it was against the Steelers, it was televised, but the bad thing was that they lost and Steve gets so passionate about it. It's all fun and games when they win, but when they lose-- holy moly.

I made Gus's footprint gifts today. Steve helped with getting the footprints and then I worked my magic and finished the rest. I am quite impressed with my end result. We'll be sending these out once we move. I've got a gift for C that we're waiting for and it'll arrive in GA. So the Grandparents will get theirs in person, I've got one for each of Gus's birth parents and their families, and then his Great Grandma Marge will get one and so will his God Mother. :-)

I've got the gifts for my nieces and nephew for Christmas to mail to MI and then in that box is my nephew's birthday gift (his birthday is super close to Christmas). We renewed the Phoenix Zoo membership for my niece and nephews in AZ, so they're done. All we have left to do is something for our own parents. I also didn't get Steve anything... but he's saying not to, because of the house.

So... all is set here in our home! This weekend Steve worked really hard to take things down that we needed to remove and to get things in place for Thursday. 

HOW
CRAZY

THAT

WE

MOVE

FRIDAY.

Our last weekend in this house was good. Steve was a little sentimental tonight when we were giving Gus his bath. He's sad that Gus won't have any memories of this house. It's special to us because it's the house that we brought him home to from MI. However, I am eager for him to grow up in the new house with a nice big back yard, an awesome playset, a trampoline, and a big basement. He's going to be very lucky to have such a wonderful place to call home.

We had chicken strips and Smiles for dinner with broccoli covered in cheese. It wasn't terrible. Tomorrow Steve is on his own because I'm going out with Kristen and Lacey for a "MNO" and I can't wait. I haven't been out in AGES-- MONTHS. Should be a good time.

Tomorrow we're going to the Tot Lot for a play date and I'm eager to see Gus play on the smaller playset and it's fenced in (YAY)!! It'll be our last play date with Lacey and the girls. It'll also be the last time that we see Oliver and Melanie. I really hope we find as great of friends in GA as we have here. We've been very blessed.

Our realtor is coming tomorrow at 4 to talk about putting the house on the market and what price he thinks would be a good starting point. I pray that we are able to sell this house quickly!!

Here are some pictures from a year ago-- we had just had our first snow of the year and Gus got to experience his very first snow (though, I didn't take him out to play in it). I'm thankful that it was in the 60s today... no snow for us yet this season!!

 

We were so excited that he was FINALLY able to hold the bottle on his own!!