Infertility isn’t something I have ever truly opened about here on the blog, until now. I have given a bit of our journey through RJ’s adoption story…
In 2010, Hubs and I decided that we wanted nothing more than to start a family. We figured I would get off “the pill†and everything would just happen. As I watched all my friends get pregnant (as you probably noticed from all the baby posts), I was eager to get started.
After a year had passed, I started to get a little worried and decided not run marathons for a bit and cut back on heavy cardio as this is what “everyone†said was best. I refused to go see a doctor as I knew nothing was wrong with me and that all was in Godâ€
s hands and when he wanted us to get pregnant, I would be.
After two years had passed, I started to get a little nervous and decided to go to a homeopathic doctor. I wonâ€
Two and half years had passed and we decided that if by the end of 2012 we werenâ€
Since the moment we were married, we both have agreed that we would adopt. Whether it be after we birthed our own children or before. Now I know what you are all thinking, “Watch! Once you adopt you will get pregnant.†We have heard it all friends! If that happened then we would be beyond blessed!
Well since I have posted those words so many things have stirred in my heart. Let me take a step back.
I have been involved with something called, “Choose Joy” an adoption, infertility and infant loss event that has truly rocked my world! I have met some of the most amazing women and have seen God work in beautiful ways through healing and hope. This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to help plan this year’s retreat with 30 beautiful women. A lot was shared and a lot was prayed for and I walked away with a lot on my mind…not just the planning of the event, but the pain that will come and that won’t be waisted at and through this event.
All of the ladies that are helping put the event together have gone through either infertility, adoption, infant loss and even watched their friends go through it as well. On Saturday night as we all went around sharing our stories, I wept for the hurt that was in that room, but I also wept for the JOY of the hope that God was and is bringing  to these ladies.
So, what about our story? I have always had a hard time empathizing with the deep pain that my friends and family have gone through with infertility, because I haven’t mourned the hope of birthing our own children quite yet.I am not there yet. I mean I know what it means to feel left out, to get bummed it hasn’t happened for you…frankly it SUCKS, but right now God has me more in love with adoption than ever and I can’t wait until we adopt more little ones!
I also know what it feels like to not be “happy” and to still want nothing more than to choose joy through infertility and honestly through life. I also am beyond blessed to have a husband that loves me, prays for me, and loves the path that God has given us. I know that adoption, isn’t for everyone and the fact that we have the opportunity to bring children into our home that otherwise would be orphans is a privilege. RJ was NEVER a plan B! She was the child we prayed for daily, the child that God gave to us. We may have waited to adopt a little later in life, but God knew exactly what he was doing.
Do I get sad sometimes that it has taken us a while to get pregnant on our own, yes. But I don’t get sad for me, I get sad because I know that my husband would love to carry on his name with a biological child. I don’t think our infertility journey of 4 years is over. We still have plans to try for a biological child and continue to adopt until God says were finished. Hey, I may be like Sara and Matt like Abraham 
Only the Lord knows.
I have many friends that long for children of their own, or who have gone through some major hurt with losing children during birth and that breaks my heart. I wish I could just FIX it for them, but I can’t. What I know I can do is love them and pray for them and be there for them when they need to vent/cry. I have a blogger friend named Heather (blend) that wrote a great post called, “A letter to my expecting and new Mommy Friends” that was amazing, everyone should read! I know choosing joy isn’t easy and it’s not always smiles…it can be truly a hard choice to make!
So there you have it, it’s where we are at in our infertility journey. Not always joyful, not perfect, not over. We are choosing joy and we have an amazing hope that no matter what, our family is beyond blessed. I love what my friend Heather said about life,
Life isnâ€
REAL Question: Has there been a time (or maybe it’s now) in your life that you have needed to just be still and choose joy?Â
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It is the conclusion to Rylee-Joy’s adoption story. We share this with you all for one reason and on reason only, it is to give hope where hope is needed. We have struggled with infertility for over three years now and know the pain that so many others are going through or have gone through. However, we also know the ‘joy’ of adoption and how it has brought us hope and peace like no other.
We have always wanted to adopt, but just didn’t know the plans that God had for us would be to adopt first. Will we ever “birth” biological children… only God know, but we share with you today, in hopes that you will see God’s grace and perfect plan in the journey that He has blessed us with.
Grab a cup of Joe and let us unfold God’s story…
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Thursday, September 5, 2013: We received a phone call that started to prepare us for parenthood.
I received a phone call from our social worker about a sibling set that was ready to be placed for adoption. Now, there were some unique circumstances in this case that we canâ€t talk about, but nevertheless, they called to ask if we would want to be ‘consider†for this sibling set.
Now, letâ€s stop here for a moment. In the adoption process with the County of San Bernardino, we were told that we would ONLY be called if we had been ‘selected†as the parents for a child or sibling set, but this time we were called to see if we wanted to be ‘considered†for this unique situation. Of course we said YES! and were told that we would know the following day (Friday) if we were or werenâ€t selected.
Through the evening, Hubs was being super cute. He stayed up all night researching about the different age groups because if we were selected, we would be parents that Friday!
It started to feel weird. It is hard to explain. The situation wasnâ€t how we expected it to feel like.
Something was… off.
—–
Friday, September 6, 2013: We received a phone call from our social worker saying we were NOT selected.
There were lots of emotions that hit us all at once, however, we were encouraged that since we had only been officially in the system for 4+ weeks and already had our profile viewed, that it was a good sign for us.
A good sign indeed.
—–
That upcoming week, we had a big camping trip that had been planned for months with over 20 adults and children (like the one we just got home from) at a beautiful campsite near Bishop, CA. It was a Wednesday thru Sunday outing in a location with NO CELL SERVICE!
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Monday September 9, 2013: Hubs took off work.
We just wanted to get away and do things that we might not be able to do for awhile if we get another ‘callâ€. So we hit up Disneyland and a Dodgers game.
—–
Tuesday, September 10, 2013: The day we will remember forever!
We received a call from our social worker saying “You have been selected to be the parents of a beautiful baby girl who was safely surrendered.†She was only days old and was currently at a foster home. We were asked to come into the Victorville office the next day (Wednesday) for a ‘presentation.’
Now see, if they had called us a day later, we would not of received this miracle phone call as we would of been camping out of cell phone service! Crazy, right?!?
It was Godâ€s perfect timing.
When we got this call, I was minutes away from going grocery shopping for our camping trip! Needless to say, we ended up not going camping
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Wednesday September 11, 2013: We had to wait until late afternoon to meet with the county officials for a formal presentation.
Being that our social worker gave us all of the information on Tuesday night over the phone, this presentation didnâ€t really give us more details. With a safely surrendered baby, there is very little information about the birth mother (or family for that matter) and little-to-no health information.
We were given a couple of photos of “Amber” (a name given to her by the hospital nurses), but photos didnâ€t do her justice!
We wanted to take her home that day, but because she was currently at a foster home, we were told that we needed to take 24 hours to decide. Blah! We knew that she was ours, but since they wouldnâ€t let us take her home that day, we went power shopping! Target, Baby-R-Us, Costco… you name it! And because we had an age range of newborn to 2-years-old that we were open to, we havenâ€t been able to purchase many things until we knew the age. Car seats, clothing, strollers, etc.
—–
Thursday, September 12, 2013:Â The day we first got to meet Rylee-Joy and also bring her home!
Through the entire year we had weekly visits from our social worker and became her legal guardians after 6 months. Then we waited.
And as you could tell by the lack of a changed blog design that didn’t include Rylee for 368 days, we were told that there was still certain things that we were not allowed to post, design or even say about her case. And so here in the next weeks and months, this website will change and be updated with more current looks of our family!
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Monday, September 15, 2014: Fast forward to exactly one year and three days after Rylee came home.
With loved ones with us in the court room (and some even joining us via FaceTime), we got to legally and permanently call Rylee-Joy McCormick our daughter!
(Some family and friends that have walked with us through the journey)Â
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What an incredible journey that the Lord has had us on. Excited to get to see our little RJ grow into the beautiful and brave women that God has created her to be!
Every child and every adoption is very unique and there is no norm! I love answering questions about adoption, so e-mail me away!
… and of course we had to spend the rest of the day celebrating at the happiest place on earth, AKA Disneyland!
]]>Iâ€ve got 5 Things for you on this beautiful Wednesday…
#1. September 11:
A day of great mourning. Today I pray for all that continue to be affected by the horrible tragedy of 9/11. I can’t believe it has been 13 years since that day happened.
On a lighter note, today is also my oldest brother’s birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!
#2. Beach Camping:
We are off beach camping at this week with 16 other adults and 18 children!
This will be our third camping trip with this community of friends, but we missed out last year because we got to bring our RJ HOME! This will be our first camping trip as a family of three. I am exited and nervous all at the same time.
I am also sticking to my #WHOLE30 challenge while camping and hope to have a post next week on how I packed and how I did during this trip.
#3. WHOLE 30 Update:
I am staying strong. We ate out a lot last week with family in town for RJ’s birthday, but I managed to to stick to clean eats and not quit (although one night I just wanted to enjoy some chips and salsa and a marg). I even froze one of RJ’s cupcakes from her birthday so I can enjoy a bite next month.
It’s actually been pretty easy, because I feel great! I think the no sugar and being able to have coffee part is helping. I just drink my coffee with a splash of almond milk. I am doing this to (a) see how this style of eating really makes me feel, (b) kick my sugar habit from this summer and (c) help my Mama stay accountable.
Only 2 more weeks to go. Best part of it all, it has encouraged me to use more whole foods and get in the kitchen. I will be sharing a meal plan at the end.
#4. Fall is EVERYWHERE:
I know we still have a few more weeks of summer, but I still decided to hang some fall decorations and start lighting the pumpkin candles.
Fall has a new sense of amazing memories for me now, mainly because it was right when we brought RJ home for the first time. I remember the few days before RJ came home, I put up all the fall decorations so when she came home, it was nice and cozy. I have always loved fall, but now I love it even more!
#5. Refresh Attire Shop closes this Sunday:
This will be the last time for a full month that you will be able to purchase Refresh Attire tanks and tees.
It will also be the LAST TIME we will be offering the FIT SO I CAN BE ME designs.
CLICK HERE to purchase!
]]>I know Motherâ€
s Day was over a week ago, but better late than never. 
I also have a full post on the Refresh Summit that took place a couple of weekends ago that I canâ€t wait to share. Oh and we had a lovely Memorial Day weekend! I have some major catching up to do because I even have a post about my pull-up challenge!
This Motherâ€s Day was so different from the last 3 years. A year ago I cried in church on Mother’s Day. Oh how I love my mama and how I yearned to be a mom and have that bond with a child. I also knew God’s plan was amazingly perfect and I sat still for 3 years with great expectations. He bared my cross, he laid down his life for me. He showed me how to love unconditionally and how to trust him with no matter what his plan for me was….I just needed to be still. I sat there in church holding my 8 month old daughter and I was crying for so many new reasons: one being how overwhelming blessed I feel to be Rylee Joyâ€s mom and another for her birth mom and how she made the biggest sacrifice and hardest decision of her life. I prayed on Motherâ€s Day for her and I give God the praise for bringing this beautiful lady into our home…and, well, the celebration of Mother’s Day was a beautiful, wonderful thing. I praise God for His grace over it all.
It was a beautiful Motherâ€s Day service at church with friends and family.
After church we enjoyed a Motherâ€s Day brunch at the Mexican Café. The mimosas were fab!
My step-mom Janice, cousin Celina, Grandma, and Aunt Yo joined us as well.
Hubby surprised me when we got in the car with some fun Motherâ€s Day gifts. This super cute beach bag
and awesome big floppy hat! He also got me a sweet card and flowers.Â
Then it was off to lay by the pool and celebrate my beautiful mama!
RJ and I had our big hats on, of course. 
We enjoyed a relaxing day by the pool while the men cooked us dinner. It was such a fun day!
Thanks to this amazing man of mine that made me feel extra special that day! He is a keeper! I canâ€t wait to celebrate his first Fatherâ€s Day with him!
P.S. I am getting excited, because I have started to get in a good rhythm of working from home and being a stay-at-home mommy. I believe regular blogging will resume next week!!! (Only took 8 months.) Â So much to COME!!!!
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]]>I am so excited to announce the NHS HOLIDAY SHRED 2013 !
I canâ€t believe this is the third year for this Holiday Shred! Iâ€ve had so much fun with you all these past couple years that I can’t wait to help you all stay healthy and fit through the 2013 Holiday Season. This yearâ€s NHS HOLIDAY SHRED will run November 18 – December 27, 2013… Thatâ€s six weeks!!!
In the spirit of the Holidays, I am giving you all the opportunity to be a part of something HUGE! As most of you know, we have adopted a sweet baby girl named Rylee Joy and I have a special place in my heart for adoption!
Our really close friends, the Avis Family and the Eaton Family, both have huge hearts for adoption as well as huge hearts for children with Down Syndrome. Recently, these friends have been contacted and have agreed to both adopt beautiful baby boys with Down Syndrome.
(Picture of the Avis Family with Macyn and Truly)
With that being said, these adoptions do involve lawyers, court fees, hospital fees, etc. So here’s the opportunity that I want to offer to my Holiday Shredders…
The NHS Holiday Shred will cost $40, but if you wish to join me in this cause, you can pay $45 for the NHS Holiday Shred and we will donate $5 to go to these families to help raise support for Baby Boy Avis and Baby Boy Eaton.
To learn more about their stories, check out their websites:
The Avis Family
The Eaton Family
To sign up for the Holiday Shred for $40 and/or to share this link with a friend, CLICK HERE. (http://goo.gl/17IpJa)
To sign up for the Holiday Shred for $45 and have $5 be donated to these special families and/or to share this link with a friend, CLICK HERE. (http://goo.gl/K52rzd)
In America, thereâ€s a mindset that itâ€s totally acceptable and expected by well-meaning friends and relatives to gorge on decadent, rich foods during the holidays; aka the “Six Week Holiday Binge.†Itâ€s been taught and modeled to most of us since childhood, and for many, itâ€s hard to break free from the culturally ingrained habit of eating for disease during that period of time.
I donâ€t know about you, but Iâ€m fed up with being pulled into our cultureâ€s holiday traditions of over eating, being a couch potato and feeling blah!
This yearâ€s NHS Holiday Shred is to encourage you to improve your fitness and maintain your weight during the holidays instead of gaining those 3-10 ‘Holiday Poundsâ€. If you want to lose weight… thatâ€s great, but improved fitness and maintaining your weight is a lot easier with our busy schedules and all the pressure around the holidays. Now, Iâ€m not saying NOT to partake in some wonderful holiday spreads, just simply eat responsibly and donâ€t settle for stagnant.
Following this Holiday Shred will be the NHS New Yearâ€s Shred 2014 where, since you didnâ€t gain those ‘Holiday Poundsâ€, you can take your training to the next level as you work closer on completing your personal health & fitness goals for 2014!
// Shopping Lists & Meal Plans:
You will receive SIX BRAND NEW weeks of Shopping Lists & Meal Plans which will teach you how to eat CLEAN without feeling restricted as well as make your life a whole lot easier through the holiday season.
These Meal Plans can be utilized by those with allergies and/or intolerances and is great for people who are: Celiac, Pescatarians, Dairy Free and basically anyone who consumes food. If you wish not to follow these specially designed meal plans, the food choices are completely up to you to choose while still following the Clean Food List and the required amounts as listed on the plan. This allows you to eat clean at each meal while making it specific to your lifestyle. With this information, you will be able to make clean eating a lifestyle and one that is sustainable, easy to follow and one that allows you to “live†a little through the holidays.
I am also going to host a local healthy holiday potluck and encourage others to host their own healthy holiday potluck where you live!
// Workouts:
Completely new weekly functional GPP (General Physical Preparedness) and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts are included!
Each workout will include cardio suggestions as well as HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) ideas.
There will also be a 5k and 10k beginner and intermediate Running Plan to help you train for a virtual Christmas Eve Morning race (BIB included)!
We will have a Facebook group and email access where we can go over the workouts, share tips & ideas with follower holiday shredders and most importantly, form the mindset needed to make it happen and KEEP GOING. There will also be video links to all the workouts moves.
// Cash Prizes!
We will be giving away lots of cash prizes through this Shred. There will be more details to come about how to win, but hereâ€s what we will be giving away…
(one) $100 VISA Gift Card
(two) $50 VISA Gift Cards
(four) $25 VISA Gift Cards
// 24-Hour Contact with Your Personal Trainer – ME!
I will be available to answer any of your questions that you might have or offer tips if you are needed some help. You will be given access to the NHS Holiday Shred Facebook page where you can ask me or get support from fellow shredders and you can always e-mail me at nhershoes@gmail.com.
The NHS Holiday Shred Facebook page is a GREAT place for motivation & inspiration, a place to share tips that have worked for you and a place for that can help hold you accountable. Weekly Check-Ins through this Facebook Group is also encouraged.
-Â Â Â A Facebook account is highly recommended so you can access the private NHS Holiday Shred Group but it is not mandatory as everything will be posted & email weekly.
-Â Â Â Cardio equipment or the ability to walk, jog, jump rope, swim, bike, etc.
-Â Â Â Set of free weights.
-Â Â Â Occasionally access to an open space or track.
-Â Â Â Determination.
-Â Â Â Dedication.
-Â Â Â A good attitude and mindset.
-Â Â Â THE WILL TO CHANGE, CUT BACK or SIMPLY MAINTAIN!
You will receive a ‘receipt of payment†email once you have enrolled.
Once we have received a notice from PayPal that payment has been received and cleared, a Welcome Packet that will be sent to you by November 11th with a link to join the Facebook group.
If your PayPal account has an e-mail address that you donâ€t access often and/or is not an email that is associated with your Facebook account, please write your email address you want us to use in the NOTES portion of your PayPal registration.
All of the needed information regarding the Shopping Lists, Meal Plans and Workout Plans will be shared via email and in the Facebook Group. These plans come weekly as PDF documents as well as links to private videos from me!
HAPPY SHREDDING! …and don’t forget to download a NHS HOLIDAY SHRED 2013 badge for your blog or social media outlet!
When I walked into my best friend Dâ€s backyard, my jaw dropped to the ground at how beautiful everything looked and so detailed and perfect! From the flowers to the candles, I felt like I had walked on to a movie. Rylee was welcomed into an amazing community and we are so overjoyed at the love that has been poured out onto our family. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the beautiful evening…
Question:
Have you ever been to an adoption shower?
The night before we went to pick up RJ, we went out to dinner and decided to write down some names that we liked and would decide her name after we saw her. We’ve always had a few ideas for baby names, mostly boys. I loved the name ‘Liberty’ (still do), but Matt wasnâ€t too keen the nickname ‘Libby’. We tried downloading a few iPhone apps for names (none that were too great) and went on the website Nymbler to get some ideas.
Nymbler is the smart baby name guide that responds to your personal taste. Just choose a few names that appeal to you or let Nymbler offer ideas. Then press “Find Names” and Nymbler will start using its expert knowledge to brainstorm names tailored to fit your style. Nymbler combines human expertise and artificial intelligence to sift through thousands of names and find the ones that fit your taste.
Through the process, we talked about how we love nicknames so whatever we named her, it had to have a fun nickname. We have always loved the middle name ‘Joy’ (from my mantra in life “Choose Joyâ€).
So we are left with “____ Joy McCormick.”
We narrowed it down to three names: Payton (or Peyton), Rylee (or Riley / Rylie) and Zoe (or Zoey / Zoie). We both really liked Rylee the best. There are just so many fun nicknames for Rylee Joy… “RJ”, “Riles”, “Rye Rye”…. the list goes on.
When I looked up the meaning of Rylee (using this particular spelling), we found out that it come from an Irish origin (perfect since the Hubâ€s is Scot-Irish). Rylee means VALIANT (meaning BRAVE) & COURAGEOUS! As soon as we found that out, we were sold. I love names that have great meaning and our prayer for sweet little RJ is that she would be ‘brave’ and step out in faith no matter what life hands her. I know that is something that Matt and I did when we decided to adopt and God gave us great ‘courage’ in our times of weakness.
So the moment we laid eyes on her… we knew she was to be called Rylee Joy!
She is going to be one very BRAVE girl!
We would love to tell you all of the details, but being that Rylee is still a ward of the court, we are going to leave out a good amount of detail that we can reveal hopefully more in 7-8 months if the adoption finalization goes well. However, we would love to tell you more about our lives during the last 14 days.
To learn more about our adoption story and the process we went through, check out Our Adoption Story page.
On Thursday, September 5th, we received a phone call that started to prepare us for parenthood.
I received a phone call from our social worker about sibling set ready to be placed for adoption. Now, there were some unique circumstances in this case that we can’t talk about, but nevertheless, they called to ask if we would want to be ‘consider’ for this sibling set. Now, let’s stop here for a moment. In the adoption process with the county, we were told that we would only be called if we had been ‘selected’ as the parents for a child or sibling set, but this time we were called to see if we wanted to be ‘considered’ for this unique situation. Of course we said YES and were told that we would know the following day (Friday) if we were or weren’t selected.
Through the evening, Hubs was being super cute. He stayed up all night researching because if we were selected, we would be parents that Friday!
It started to feel weird. It is hard to explain. The situation wasn’t how we expected it to feel like.
—
Friday, September 6th, we received a phone call from our social worker saying we were NOT selected. There were lots of emotions that hit us all at once. However, we were encouraged that since we had only been officially in the system for three weeks and already had our profile viewed, that it was a good sign for us. A good sign indeed.
—
The following week, we had a big camping trip that had been planned for months with over 20 adults and children at a beautiful campsite near Bishop, CA. It was a Wednesday thru Sunday outing in a location with NO CELL SERVICE!
So on Monday, Hubs took off work so we could just get away and do things that we might do for awhile if we get another ‘call’. So we hit up Disneyland and a Dodgers game.
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Tuesday, September 10th is the day we will remember forever!
We received a call from our social worker saying “You have been selected to be the parents of a beautiful baby girl who was safely surrendered”. She was only days old (and currently at a foster home. We were asked to come in on Wednesday for a presentation.
If they had called us a day later, we would not of received this miracle phone call as we would of been camping out of cell phone service! Crazy! It was God’s perfect timing. When we got this call, I was minutes away from going grocery shopping for our camping trip! Needless to say, we ended up not going camping
Wednesday came along and we had to wait until late afternoon to meet with the county officials for a formal presentation. Being that our social worker gave us all of the information on Tuesday night, this presentation didn’t really give us more details. With a ‘safely surrendered’ baby, there is very little information about the birth mother (or family for that matter) and little to no health information.
We were given a couple of photos of Rylee, but photos don’t do her justice! We wanted to take her home that day, but because she was currently at a foster home, we were told that we needed to take 24 hours to decide. Blah! We knew that she was ours, but since they wouldn’t let us take her home that day, we went power shopping! Target, Baby-R-Us, Costco… Since we had an age range of newborn to 2-years-old that we were open to, we haven’t been able to purchase many things until we knew the age. Car seats, clothing, strollers, etc.
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Thursday, September 12th is the day we first got to meet Rylee Joy (yes we got to name her and that is a whole other blog post coming soon) Â and also bring her home! Here’s Hubs right before we put Rylee in our car!
We have been so blessed with great family and friends who have helped us with clothes, crib, bouncers, dinners, diapers, etc. The outpour of love for Rylee can not be contained in words.
We have also been blessed with some beautiful photography sessions by great friends. I will be posting more photos from these sessions soon. All of the photos (except of the one of Hubs outside of the county office) were shot by Ronni Lynn Photography.
I will try to resume regular posts soon. I have so much to share, nursery tour, working out and being a mamma, new attire line, and MAMA SHRED!!!
]]>We have officially finished all of our PRIDE classes, all of our paper work is in, and now we just have our 3 home studies (they need to make sure we are not crazy) and a home inspection to make sure that our house is ready for a child!! We have set dates for this month and next for all visits, so prayers appreciated!
Last week we were so blessed by my dear friend Heather who gave us her Grow with Me Crib, so matter what age our child is we will have a bed for them! In works as a crib, toddler bed and full. She also gave us a pack and play and a wonderful swing!
While I was away at a Womenâ€s Retreat this weekend, I came home to it all put together!! BEST HUBBY EVER AWARD! I love the color and it matches our glider perfectly!
We also went to Ikea last week and found this awesome rug for only $20! Love the color orange and love the polka dots!
We also got some white picture frames that I canâ€t wait to fill with beautiful scrapbook paper and some fun sayings. Not sure what the layout will look like exactly, but I have few ideas in mind.
We also decided to get this wonderful white dresser from Ikea as well (Hubby talked them down $50 because it was mispriced). We put the other one in the laundry room and brought the storage shelf that we had in the laundry room into the nursery. My best friend D has this dresser and I just loved it! This will be perfect for any age of child.
This weekend I also painted this cute little owl which I named Hootie (thanks for the idea of the name to a friend), that will look perfect!
This is not what storage below will look like. I am going to get a few more white baskets and orange crates instead of the green ones from the container store 
I love how everything is turning out! We just need to figure out the room layout. Itâ€s kind of tricky with two large windows and some wall space limited. I think we are also going to keep the doors on the closet, thanks to the awesome tip from a wonderful reader!
Lots still to do!
- Crib Mattress
- Install Blinds
- Hang Curtains
- Install Closet Organization System
- Hang Picture Frames
- Finish Pallet Artwork
- Purchase Orange Crates
- Purchase White Baskets
- Clean Every Baseboard, Fan and Scrub the Floors
- Hang Bookshelf Ledges
- Pray Pray Pray