Friday, May 28, 2010

Life Lately

Besides our doctors appointment Monday, it's been a fairly uneventful week around here. I have started feeling the need to get our house organized, though, so I've been working on that. There's not too much to clean out since we just moved in November, but somehow I have managed to find plenty to do. Today I organized all the diapers by size, so clearly you see that my life has taken a turn for the more interesting.

I did make an exciting purchase today for the nursery. I got Max his "first year" frame from Pottery Barn Kids, and I can't wait for it to come in!


Now if you will excuse me, Mike is watching a video about cleaning facilities, and I can't believe I'm missing it.

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Monday, May 24, 2010

Meet Max


Weston Maxwell

We had our sonogram today, and Mr. Max is definitely a boy! I thought I would spare him the embarrassment of showing his boy parts on the Internet, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Everything looked good. He cooperated, so we were able to see fingers, toes, ventricles, the whole nine yards. He looks like one healthy little guy. Praise the Lord!

The name Weston Maxwell itself isn't a family name, but we wanted to stay with the WMM initials that all the firstborn men in the McD family have. Actually, in the past three generations, I'm not sure that there's been a "second-born" son, so WMM rules the family. If Max gets a little brother we'll have to start branching out!

Here's one more for the road:

He was so still at first that he must have been sleeping. Toward the end he started to move, and he just kept yawning and yawning. He probably wasn't too happy with us for interrupting his nap!

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Sunday, May 23, 2010

More Plants


After having so much trouble with the ferns on my front porch and then finally getting them set out, I discovered that when your house faces north ferns don't always fare so well. They end up looking kind of sad and lopsided from being beat down by the wind...and repeated falling over thanks to super lightweight urns. So...I did some more planting. These things are big enough that I don't think a tornado could move them. But let's hope we don't test that theory.

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Saturday, May 22, 2010

On Baby Stuff

1. A few days ago someone at church let me know that I am starting to really look pregnant instead of just looking like I ate too much. Awesome. Good to know.

2. I saw these on somebody's blog the other day, and since then I have started noticing other people with them. Have any of every tried this (for your child, not for yourselves)? They seem like a good idea in theory...



3. I just don't know what to think about these new Huggies jean diapers. Part of me wants to laugh really hard. And part of me wants to drive to the next town, buy some in secret, and store them in the back of the closet in case I decide I need them.

image: http://blogs.babble.com

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Friday, May 21, 2010

Shelves on the Cheap

I wrote awhile back about a fairly giant cubbie system I wanted for the wall in my living room. After looking around for awhile, we settled on a smaller and much cheaper solution for the wall. I think I like this a lot more than I would have liked the cubbies. They don't take up near as much room, and they won't entice toddlers to try to scale them. Well, at least if they do they won't fall as far.




These are just two sets of the shelves you can buy at Target. I am mixing the wicker baskets with the cheaper ones to make it look a little "fancier" for a living room space. Eventually I want a basket in each spot, but we'll work on that slowly.

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Thursday, May 20, 2010

A Fair Weekend

Last weekend was busy around here, and it was a blast! My mom, aunt, and sister flew into Little Rock and then drove the rest of the way here. They got here LATE Friday night, but by Saturday we were ready to hit the town.

Saturday was A-Fair in the square. There were arts and crafts, food, and entertainment. Although it was super hot, we had a great time. And I'm pretty sure my aunt bought something from everybody there!


Sister and me in the shade


Milking the cow at the Farm Bureau booth. Much harder than it looks.

Afterwards, we went to Neely's for some barbecue, and then on to the Cheesecake Corner in downtown Memphis. Yum. Double yum.


Yes, this is the roll I ingested at Neely's. And the butter on my fingers. Don't judge.

The rest of the weekend was full of church, more good food, and shopping on Monday. I love having family in town! Ya'll come back soon, ya hear?

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Friday, May 14, 2010

Favorite Books

Today's Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner is all about your favorite books. The librarian in me just had to join in! Throughout my life, anytime I had to write down or talk about my favorite hobbies, reading was at the top of the list. I'm not sure where or why I decided I liked it so much, but I do have a mom who's a big reader. So there you go. Thanks, Mom.

Anyhow, growing up I had a ton of favorites. My grandparents bought me a computer when I was in the 4th grade, and the only thing I still remember doing on it was creating a data base of my Baby-Sitter's Club books. I also spent a lot of time in front of the bookshelves making sure they were in numerical order, along with all of the Anne of Green Gables series. Clearly, I had a lot going on as a child.

And the obsession never stopped. I've always been a big reader to the point that I have to limit myself. If I have a book in front of me I won't quit until it's done. I never finished Jane Eyre in high school English, because I was too busy going through my Patricia Cornwell phase and I was reading The Bone Collector. The sad thing is my teacher knew I was such a big reader that she would have never suspected that my five minute book report was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life. I kept thinking she would look straight into my brain and realize I pretty much winged the whole thing. I'm a terrible person. Sorry Mrs. Farr.

So for the sake of brevity (ha), here are some of my favorites.

My favorite book ever. Seriously, I have yet to meet a woman who has read this book and not absolutely loved it.


My favorite book growing up. Those March girls get me every time.


A classic I actually did read.


That sweet sweet tree. Oh the tears.


Although I could name children's books all day long, this was the most fun to read out loud with my younger elementary kids. So So cute.

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Thursday, May 13, 2010

20 weeks



As of last Saturday, this little guy's lease on my stomach is halfway up. I can't believe it's already been 20 weeks...and yet I can! Although we "unofficially" found out that he's a he, I can't wait for our big ultrasound on the 24th. I want some more pictures of him, since the only one we have looks like a speck of dust.

He has really started moving around the past few days...especially around my bladder. I can only imagine what that will feel like in a month or two. I can't wait!


(Terrible picture, but here's a side shot)
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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

A Little Upgrade

I would say our favorite room in our house, by far, is the hearth room. It's basically a den right off the kitchen where we eat, hang out, watch TV. We spend more time there than in other place in our house. But since we moved in, it's been a little...bland. Brown table, brown walls, brown sofa, brown chair, brown carpet, brown tile. You get the picture. Oh...and here's a picture:


I knew I needed some fun, patterned drapes to give the room a little color, but after looking on the Internet and in stores for the past several months, I learned that either I was going to have to settle for something that wasn't super my style or shell out hundreds of dollars to get the style and length I wanted. So...on to Plan B!

Our hearth room has four large windows, so I had to get a little creative. No curtain rod was going across the whole wall, and I didn't want to pay to curtain each window. So...with a little help from home bloggers like The Nester and Shannon at Bless Our Nest, I came up with a plan. A very easy, no-sew, get it done in about 30 minute plan.

So, for under $65 (including the fabric, iron pieces, rings, and curtain tape) I think what I did turned out pretty good. In the future I may find some fabric with more colors in it, but since a lot of home decor fabric can run from $20 to $40 a yard and I found this on sale for $6.99 a yard, I love it!

And just because...here's how I did it. Clearly I am reaching for blogging topics. Like I said, I didn't come up with the idea. But I sure do like it.

-I needed about 6 yards of fabric...3 yards for each window. Just for the record, you can't buy three yards and cut it in half. Not that I would have tried such a foolish thing.


-I got my iron pieces at Hobby Lobby. I think they are supposed to be coat and key racks, but they work.

-Grab some curtain rings (sold pretty much everywhere) and some adhesive tape (I used permanent and non-permanent) from the fabric store.


1. Cut your fabric in half so you have 3 yards and 3 yards. I asked them to do it at the fabric store, but they said they couldn't. Go figure.

2. Take your first piece, iron out the seam down the middle. Now you have your basic "curtain" shape.

3. Lay your fabric across the ironing board so you have the top edge in front of you. Fold about 1 to 2 inches down, ironing to create your hem at the top.


4. Open up your hem, add your adhesive tape, and fold it back over, pressing firmly as you go.





5. Now, you are pretty much done. Seriously. Time to add your ring clips. As I learned from the "professionals," before you clip the sides fold your fabric in (see the picture). That way, you don't have to hem the sides but they won't show when you hang them.


6. Once you have your clips on (I used five because my iron piece had 5 hooks), go ahead and hang that baby up there. Rearrange and fluff as necessary.






7. I used removable fabric tape to hem the bottom, and then I let the fabric kind of "pool" on the floor. But you can do whatever you want. They are your drapes.


8. Repeat.

I am very happy with the way my "drapes" turned out...especially for the price. Now I can afford to decorate the rest of the room too!

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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Weekend Fun

We had a visitor at Casa McD this past weekend. Amy, Mike's sister, flew in Friday to hang out in good ol' Mississippi. We aren't the most exciting people in the world, but we had fun. On Friday night, I made these, and they were so so good! Basically, anything that involves the words "brisket" and "taco" are on my must have list!

Saturday we went and saw Iron Man 2. I was expecting it to not really live up to the first, but I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked it. Some shopping, good food, and church rounded out the weekend. It was a great time, and before we knew it it was time to drop her off at the airport. I hate having to leave family! But...luckily, more family is coming this weekend. My mom, sister, and aunt are visiting this weekend.

In other news, Mike would really like for some male members of our family to come visit.

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Monday, May 10, 2010

On Pause

One month ago today we were scrubbing down our house, making last minute trips to WalMart, and getting ready to leave to go to Pennsylvania. This isn't exactly how we saw the last month playing out, but the Lord is faithful and we have been carried through by His grace and the love of our friends and families.

I know I haven't talked a lot about it lately, but honestly I don't know what to say that I haven't said. I'm sad, I wish he was here, but he's not.

I do want to update you, though, about our adoption journey. In the days after our adoption was "disrupted" our consultant at our agency began to speak with us about our options in moving forward. Basically, we could go back on the waiting list as soon as we wanted, or we could go into what they call an inactive waiting period.

At first the choice seems pretty simple, but then a thousand questions and realities begin to pop up. What if Miss C changes her mind (we realize the chances of this happening are very slim) and we've already been rematched? What happens if we are matched and then I can't travel because of the pregnancy? What happens...what happens...what happens????

And honestly, in spite of all these questions, my heart immediately leapt to one place. Of course I want to be put back on the list as soon as possible! Why wouldn't I? But, we knew prayer, guidance, and time needed to be put into this decision, so we waited. And I could go into all of the things that affected our decision, but ultimately the only thing that matters is this: God said wait. He told me I was being impatient and even a little selfish. Because I wasn't thinking about what was best and right for everyone involved (including the child that will be our son or daughter). I was thinking about myself and what I wanted.

So, in the end, when it was time to make our decision, we knew that the most prudent and wise (are those the same word?) decision for everyone is to wait and continue our adoption journey after McDeux is born.

Now, to me, that meant next spring. But come to find out, our homestudy provider in Mississippi won't clear us to adopt again until McDeux turns one year old. So...we are waiting. Patiently. Eagerly. And with lots of prayer. Seventy-two weeks. That's 72 weeks until we can begin our adoption journey again. Part of me wants it to go in the blink of an eye, but part of me knows I will want to savor the first year of McDeux's life and wish it to slow down. In the end, it will be here before we know it. Bring it on.

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Thursday, May 06, 2010

Lately

I feel like I have taken a blogging sabbatical! I have these grand ideas that someday I am going to start blogging everyday, but I think it's going to take some very persistent grandparents who live 8 hours away to make that happen.

After spending some time deep in the heart of Texas last week, I am back in good ol' Mississippi. And sadly, I find myself bemoaning the fact that it's in the 80s outside. I used to laugh in the face of 80 degree temperatures. I guess that's what a super cold winter will do to you. Or a small internal oven.

Not much to report here. We will have visitors here the next two weekends, so that will be a lot of fun. I also have adoption news to share with you. It's nothing exciting...just an update on where we stand now and how we'll move forward.

Thank you all so much for the kindness you have continued to show over the last weeks. Your prayers mean so much to us!

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