Our Baby's song

Our Baby's song

For some reason every time Rich and I here this song it makes us think of our future baby.  He says it will be played on a loop in our nursery.  I love it, this version is so lovely.  He also does a version where it is mixed with What a wonderful world.   It makes me melt when rich talks about our future baby.. actually this happens very often now a days.  He is going to be a wonderful dad.

Enjoy the sounds of this Hawaiian and his ukulele

Traveling Baby

Traveling Baby

So I like to shop... hey what girl doesn't?  I have been baby gear shopping just because.  I really like the new trend of large wheel strollers.  I remember pushing my brother and sisters around in those strollers where the small 4 wheels always went different directions and locked up and it was hard to fold up.. and ugly.  So here is the stroller I really like, it is not a jogger (because it lacks shocks)

Jeep Liberty Sport X stroller

Here are the awesome features that I like 

1. It is orange, which I actually really love orange and we need gender neutral stuff

2. 12in inflatable wheels for grip all types of terrain, this is necessary for the places we would like to live and        

walk the dogs and baby

3. Parent tray with cup holders.. nice bonus

4. Removable child tray with cup holders and toy steering wheel... fun and nice to be removable for trips to the zoo or something where the child wants to lean forward to see

5. One hand folding mechanism.. a must!

6. multi position reclining seat.  this is the one thing all of the reviews seem to dislike, they say it is hard to do when the child is in the stroller, so you have to position it before they get in.. im willing to take this drawback for all of the other positive things

7. grow-with me 5 point harness

8. Larg storage basket and removable cargo bags... they are not kidding when they say large storage basket, I think I can fit both of  our dogs down there and a diaper bag.  Super excited to take it to the mall and fill it up

9. Fits most carseats

10. Price is very reasonable at $150

Car seat..  honestly I chose the stroller first and looked at the car seat compatibility chart.   They support baby trend which is the highest rated carseat.. so we will probably get one of those.

I like this one

Flexloc infant car seat in vanguard. 

Again I like the orange.

here are its features from the website.. but its pretty basic as car seats go, but they are the highest rated

• For weights between 5 and 30 pounds (2.2 and 13.6kg.) heights of 30 inches or less (76.2cm)
• 5-point safety harness; easy one-hand harness adjustment; push-button release
• 4-position push-button height adjustable base with level indicator for proper installation
• Height-adjustable seat back; no harness rethreading
• One-hand easy-access seat release
• EPS energy-absorbing foam for superior side impact head protection
• Smooth carrying handle, won't scratch your arm
• Boot providing extra warmth and comfort
• Flex-Loc refers to the base's flexible (not rigid) latch straps

Adoption Agencies

Adoption Agencies

If you have been keeping up with the adoption posts, you found out that we have decided to do a domestic infant adoption that is semi-open from a national agency.  This post is to profile the two agencies we are considering.  I think in my head I have narrowed it down to just one that I like the best, but we are still a little while out from actually starting the process, so my ideas about it might change. Here are some basic comparisons of each one.

The first agency that we like is called Independent Adoption Center.
The other one is American Adoption Agency.

Here are a list of their comparisons.
                                       IAC                                             AAA
Licensed                         yes                                                  yes
Location of offices     CA, TX, GA, NC, IN                  FL, AR, MO, KS
Type of Adoption:            Open                                         Semi-open
Cost:                              20k-50k                                      ave. 28k for aap*
Wait time:                       6-18months                                 1-9months for aap*
Birth parent counseling      7am-10pm and on holidays          24hours a day 
Number of adoptions/year   200                                          300
type of  profile                individually done                     Standard for whole agency
                                     (make your own website)            (they have a standard
                                                                                            set up for you)

*Agency assisted program (aap) is one that promotes and gives certain incentives for parents that are willing to adopt a child that is full or partial african american

Baby Name of the Month: Briar

Baby Name of the Month: Briar

Happy day after Valentines Day!  Time for another baby name. How about one inspired by a love story.

Briar-  BrY-er

For girls names I am drawn to very frilly and romantic names.  A lot of ruffles and lace for me. I prefer names with a past, maybe literary or mythology.  Briar has been in stories for as long as people have eaten with forks.  Of course here most famous story is Sleeping Beauty.

She is not actually a very frilly name at all, but her literary past links her to one of the most known girly love stories, so this makes her girly to me. Thanks Brothers Grimm!

Briar itself is actually in the "nature" category of names such as Willow or Lilly. A briar is a thorn bush, but the stories have turned her name into a soft beautiful moniker.  I do tend to like nature names as well, but not as much as hippies did.

The down sides to Briar?  Well the number one is that the end of her name is -er sound.. which rhymes with our last name and sounds terrible.. Actually some of my most favorite names end in -er and will never be used because I fell in love with a man with the last name tray-GRRR.   Oh the sacrifices we make for love =)  Ok to be honest it is no sacrifice at all because I love many many more names, in fact my fave girl name of all time doesnt end in -er.

Adoption Blogs

Adoption Blogs

During the process of narrowing down our adoption options, I began to read personal adoption blogs.  These people have put their whole adoption processes on their blog, and they are a wonderful resource to find out what you are getting yourself into.  Here is a list of blogs I read with short descriptions.

Adoption Creates Families  Laurie writes about 4 transracial adoptions their family has done, 2 domestic infant adoptions and 2 foster adoptions.

Always and Forever Family Debbie writes about 1 transracial domestic infant adoption, and is currently a foster to adopt parent...  on the left side of her blog, she has links to a bunch of other adoption blogs as well.

Watershed "A" writes about 1 transracial international adoption from Ethiopia.

Goggy Coffee Billy is Laurie's husband and writes about his adventures as a dad in transracial adoption.

Now, you may be asking yourself.. what is transracial adoption?  It is the adoption of a child that is outside of your families race, therefore it is usually very obvious by sight that the child is adopted.  This brings its own rewards and challenges, and these people address many of those issues in their blogs.

If I had a big family

If I had a big family

Do you know the Duggars?  Of course you do.  They are that TV family with 19 kids (20 if you count the recent).  They intrigue me, and millions of people.  I often think about what I would do if I had that many kids.. 1. be proud of my fertility, 2. be tired all the time, 3. hate laundry more than I do now, 4. never go a month without a sick kid.  The thing I wonder most is, what would I name all of them.  So I decided to name my Duggar family.  I did it in the same order that they had children ( ie boy, twins (boy, girl), girl.. ect.) and included the 20th . I also picked my letter to be P, cause most of my favorite kids names start with P  Here is my list.  If names are on the same line they are twins, and sex is denoted as M or F.  Also, you can look forward to seeing some of these names as Baby Name of the Month.

1. Percy (M)

2,3.  Penelope (F), Phoenix (M)

4. Piper (F)

5. Pearl (F)

6. Persephone (F)

7. Preston (M)

8. Penn (M)

9. Poppy (F)

10, 11. Piers (M) Phineas (M)

12. Peter (M)

13. Pacey (M)

14. Pax (M)

15. Pascal (M)

16. Primrose (F)

17. Pepper (F)

18. Phoebe (F)

19. Posy (F)

20. Pomeline (F)

What would you name your Duggar family?