It's me - Char

Hallo all of you groovy blog-reading peoples! I am back in bloggerland with a huge grin on my face and cracked-boozie-pointies and huge sleepless bags under my eyes and cabbage leaves in my bra and truly, I've never been happier! I have SO MANY stories to tell you and I can't wait to get stuck in. But for now, I'm just saying howdy and I've missed you and I am totally in love with our gorgeous baby and we are so totally over the moon and who knew Mommyhood would be SO awesome and I have pics to share with you and and and... but first, I need to read all of your comments and emails and just get my feet back on some solid ground.

As if that will ever happen!

Seriously, this is LIFE changing stuff, being a sudden mommy... and as one of you (sorry, I can't remember who!) pointed out, my web address is BABELESS! Dang. I really never thought I'd have an opportunity to change my web address!!! I probably won't change it, but at least now I have a CHOICE.

Who'da ever thunk it?

Anyway, here's to life changes of the brilliant sort. To babies, nappies, sleepless nights, emptier wallets and warm squishy feelings of total bliss!

And to Chrissy, my fave in-law cousin who lives in Brisbane (my cousin Quinton's wife), who has been filling you in on all the happenings in my absence... what would I do without you? You're awesome and I love you to bits and thanks so much for updating my blog everyday!

Now, please exuse me while I attempt to burp my baby and do the wooty-tooty-fruity-loopy happy jig at the same time. If it can be done, you'll be the first to know.

---

(PS a few of you left comments anonymously with "love from me" at the end of it. Who goeth there? Who be ye? I'd like to send some loves back to you too.)

New picture of Jesse-Lee

Hi all, This is a new picture taken Thursday 14h45 of little Jesse-Lee, Char sent to me and wanted me to share it with you all.

Update on Char and little Jesse-Lee

Char wanted me to update you all on what is happening. She wanted me to let you know that she is stuck in hospital with Jesse-Lee until Friday, Then at 14h00 they will have the court case for adoption of little Jesse-Lee. Char, Robin and Jesse-lee will stay in Durban with family for the weekend and then head back home on Sunday. I was also asked to Share these pictures with you all.

JESSE-LEE

I Have the honor and pleasure of sharing with everyone on Char's behalf that little JESSE-LEE has arrived, she was born at 21h05 on the 26th of may, she weighed 3kgs and her length was 51cms. Char also wanted me to share with you guys in her words " Her boob-juice is working"

Please pray!

Lindsay's gone into labour. Baby is breach so doing emergency caesar. Robin and I are about to shoot down to Durban. Please pray with us that all goes well! Thanks guys. God is in control! He made this baby and everything is going to be ok! But I'm still scared whitless!!!

Wooty Tooty Shaky Booty!

This time next week we will be busy signing the adoption papers for our baby!!! Yay!!!

Sleepless in Seattle Hillbillyland

This is my last Monday as a non-Mom. Can you believe that? I know, me neither. I think I'm in denial. Although last night, if I slept for ten minutes straight, then that's a lot. Maybe my body clock is starting to adjust to baby-feeding times etc.? I doubt it though - it would be surprising that my body is actually DOING what it's SUPPOSED to be doing, for a change. But I have dozens nay, hundreds of people telling me to get as much sleep as I can before the baby arrives, because apparently I will be willingly exchanging body organs for sleeptime after little Jesse-Lee arrives. Which is just as good as telling my body to never sleep again. Grrr. Because my body is really rebellious that way.

Just ask my fertility specialists. They'll tell you.

Anyhoo. Let me get some work done today. What a pity Dunhillbillydee doesn't have a starbucks. Where is a good caffeine kick when you need one?

News!

Gawsh, sorry guys. I was totally AWOL for a few days. Robin and I were down in Durban for the next doctor's appointments with the birthmom and we landed up staying longer than we expected... Remind me never to go to Durban for a day, expecting to return that afternoon and then having to sleep over and not even have a spare change of rods with for the next day. Mmm... Not too pleasantsmelling. We went and bought some underwear, and a toothbrush each... luckily we had forgotten some clothes at my inlaws' home the previous time we slept over, so we each had a fresh shirt to wear. Needless to say, I have learned my lesson. And so have my nostrils.

Anyhoo...

But we have BRILLIANT news. Bril. Liant. I am soooo excited. OK, so the baby is breach. Which means that I won't be the cheerleading team in the delivery room anymore, because the birthmom will now be having a caesarian section next Friday the 30th of May! Never have I been SO happy to get bad news before. I'm blaming my nerves for this one. I was so relieved that I wouldn't have to be shouting "push! push! hee hee! hoo hoo! push! breathe!" that I almost broke out into a moonwalk accross the doctor's rooms when she said that there's no chance for normal delivery.

Which just goes to show that I still haven't quite outgrown my penchant for 80s music.

Also, big bonus: now we also have a definite date for Jesse-Lee's birth too! Which means that Robin and I won't have to accumulate a few speeding tickets as we drive down from Dundee to Durban when Lindsay goes into labour. (If Jesse-Lee had arrived prem, of course). AND, Lindsay doesn't want to have an epidural, so, at this stage it looks like she will go under general anaesthetic, so she will sleep through the "birth" and not even hear Jesse-Lee's first cries! Of course, that's not entirely certain yet, but at this stage, it sounds like that is the plan.

Seriously, if all my wishes keep coming true like this, I might be winning the lotto soon at this rate.

On with the good news. OK, so now Jesse-Lee is arriving next Friday. I will obviously be in the surgery with the birthmom (Lindsay). I will then accompany little Jesse-Lee from the moment she's born onwards. Which means that I will be sleeping in the hospital's nursery like all the other moms until we get the "get out of jail free card" and can come home. Lindsay will be in the post-operative recovery ward, not in the moms ward. Our official adoption date is Monday the 2nd of June at 14h00 South Africa time. By then, little Jesse-Lee will have her birth certificate, and all relevant parties will be required to appear in court for the redtape and paperwork to be completed. THEN, I get to come home with my baby! Yay!!!!! MY baby! I am so excited. Of course they get 60 days after the courtdate to reconsider, but they really aren't in any position to reconsider. They live in shocking circumstances of poverty, and right now there is no way they can possible rethink their decision to place the little girl for adoption. Which makes me feel very relieved, obviously, but sort of like a bit of a scavenger for being so happy that they can't keep her! That's the nature of adoption though, so I mustn't dwell on it.

Other good news: our police clearance has been sent to us and we will be in possession of the certificates tomorrow morning already! How good is God? I just stand back in amazement when I see the doors swinging so wide open for us all the time. Every time we have taken something relevant to the adoption to Him in prayer, He has opened the doors for us. I have NO doubts whatsoever that this little baby was intended for our family. Every day we are seeing answers to our prayers and I just praise Him every step of the way. Wow.

What else do I have to share with you? My friend Charlene (sorry, my linky isn't working, but her blogaddress is: http://heathelsa.blogspot.com/ ) mailed me with a whole list of questions... So I better check that I haven't skipped anything!

About the little boy... Right now nothing is forthcoming. At the moment his mom (Michelle) knows that she needs to give him up for adoption, but just can't. Shame, it's heartbreaking! The poor woman. I can't imagine spending two months bonding with your baby after he's born, and nine months before that, and then having to make such a heartwrenching decision. So we are stepping back and allowing her to make her decision in her own time. And if she ever gets to the point where she's ready to be dealing with social workers, etc. then we'll get involved again. We haven't met her or the little boy, which is much better. We'll only meet her if she starts seriously pursuing adoption for him. For now, Robin and I don't really think that anything's going to come of it. But at this stage we aren't too heartbroken over it. We are trusting in God on this one too, and as soon as we know something more, of course, as usual, you'll be the first to know.

Because, as you all know, I am totally incapable to keeping anything from you. Not even my dirty clothes that I had to wear for two days in a row because we didn't pack an overnight bag.

I also got my galactogogues yesterday while we were in Durban and started popping dem pills immediately so that hopefully my boozies will produce some boob-juice by the time Jesse-Lee arrives! And - woot woot! - they are actually prescription tranquilizers that have lactation as a side-effect! So, guess who is sooooper doooooper relaxed today? No prizes for guessing correctly, guys. Hint: has super-hot boozies and wears stinky dirty clothes for two days in a row. Me thinks these galactogogues are going to be ranking right up there with cappuccinos and David Cook soon. Speaking of which, if my booty doesn't stop shaking from all the happiness soon, I might need to pop a few more galactogogues / tranquilizers to slow down and stop doing the happy-that-I'm-going-to-be-a-mommy-soon-and-happy-that-David-Cook-won-and-happy-that-I-am-wearing-clean-clothes-and-that-I-smell-good dance. Because at this rate, I'm going to shake something loose soon. And it probably won't be footloose either. Although it does fit into the fave-80s-tunes category.

Ok, I really need to go now because I'm starting to talk rubbish. I'm blaming the tranquilizers. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Papers!!!

So I phoned about the Police Clearance and guess what? Apparently the "system was down" and now there is a backlog of about 12000 people's police clearances awaiting signatures! Oh man. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate being a statistic? Especially when said statistic is grating is on one of my only working nerves. You guys need to please pray with us about it ok? I shudder to think that this one thing might prevent me from getting my family! OK, I mustn't think that way. Where's my faith? God knows exactly where in that pile of thousandsofpapers our police clearance is, and seeing as His finger is in our pie with this, I'm certain that He can find our papers inbetween all of that lot and get them signed and sent off to us before the court date for our adoption. Oh me of little faith.

Counting my chickens and babyclothes

Well, I certainly got my money's worth with those pills for my Stress Spots. (I should think so, at that price!) And I've even been sleeping too! Bonus! I need to get as many ZZZzzz's in now as possible, before the babies come home. It's min dae* now. Yay! In the meantime I've been keeping myself busy doing a stocktake of all the baby clothes. Yes, again. How anal am I? OK, don't answer that.

This is a portion of the clothes and bedding etc. that we have for the babies... I'm going to return all the duplicates we've been given, as well as any clothes that still have their tags on that I have enough of. Then I can also exchange it for more 'neutral' things that little boys AND girls can wear. Just in case everything falls into place for the little boy to becomes ours too. There are still a few questions there, so I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch. But at the same time I'm planning as if he is ours already. Hectic. All these "ifs" are going to drive me loopy.

For example, IF we get him, I am going to stop working at the end of this month already - yup, in two weeks time. If we don't get him, I'll probably carry on working, but flexi-time. Which would mean that I'd still be earning dosh, which we reallllly need, but if we get the two, there's no way I'll be able to juggle two babies and work. Not to mention sleep! So, I'll sort-of have to stop working. Which actually suits me fine, what with my lazy, unambitious tendencies and all. Not that I'm going to get much rest, but frik!, I've been waiting my whole life to become a mommy, so nothing is going to stop me from enjoying every financially bankrupt, sleepless moment along the way!

I laugh in the face of danger, y'all.

I must tell you about something though that just shows me all over again that God has His finger in this pie of ours... As you know, our social worker was supposed to come and do our home study this past week. Well, the day before she was supposed to come to do the home study, she found out that she has colon cancer. So sad! I've been praying for her, and you all can too ok? Anyway, the way this impacts on our adoption is that she can no longer come to do the home study. But she will prepare our report just overlooking the fact and hopefully the judge/magistrate on the day of the adoption just won't ask about it. If he or she asks about it, then we'll tell the truth. But if he or she doesn't ask, well, then we'll let sleeping dogs lie and all of that. But, the way that the timing has been a blessing to us is that we would have had to pay approximately R4000 for the homestudy to be completed, including the social worker's time, travel, etc. And now? Well, we just won't be doing it anymore! Can you believe it? Of course, I know that God didn't cause Debbie to get cancer... But it just astounds me how He knew that she would find out the day before her trip to us in the bush, and helped to pan things out that the timing wouldn't allow her to complete the study for us! And in so doing save us four thousand smackaroos! Tell me that's not God's helping us! I just praise Him all day long.

Please pray with us about the Police Clearance too? We should have had it weeks ago already, but still nothing has arrived. Will you ask God with us to sort this out for us? It's out of our hands and it's making me a bit dippy.

Anyhoo... I'll chat again tomorrow. Enjoy the last of your weekend, guys. I'm going to get back to my stocktaking. Again. Just in case I've missed something.

Hypo-spotty

Ugghhh... It would seem that I'm just as big a hypochondriac as my dad and Robin. And that means that I will no longer be able to laugh mercilessly at their "old sports injuries" and "broken toes". Dang! I did so enjoy making fun of them. But now, alas, that will have to be a thing of the past.

.

See, the other night, while I was painting butterflies and bumble bees, I suddenly got the itches. All over my body. The back of my legs, my arms, my stomach, even the tops of my feet were itching. When I investigated what was itching, I found little white blisters adorning my previously-creamy-white-skin. My immediate reaction was "Oh no! It's CHICKEN POX!" then a smile began brewing at the corners of my mouth as I imagined TWO WHOLE WEEKS of peace and quiet at home, preparing for our babies, getting the final thingies finished... So, with a spring in my step and an appropriately demure expression of imagined illness on my face, I waltzed into the doctor's rooms this morning loudly proclaiming the fact that I was, in fact, UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN! and oh so very contagious. In fact, I had to restrain myself from tying a handkerchief over my mouth and nose, so as to avoid spreading the voracious chicken pox germs to everyone I breathed upon. Imagine my disgust when my doctor took one look at my spots (which were REALLY THERE, by the way!) and said, "Oy, what are you stressing about, sweet lass?" and I replied disdainfully that I was "stressed about, like, um, having chickenpox!" As if it wasn't very obvious! Well, you could have blown me over with the fart of a feather when he said, "No, I'm sorry to burst your (chickenpox) bubble, but those aren't chickenpox spots... those are STRESS spots! You need to just relax!"

.

Where have I heard that before???

.

Dang. So, I've been prescribed a bunch of friggin expensive meds, sent back to work (no restful 2 week stint for me! sob!) and been duly instructed to just relax. As if that ever worked for me before.

Not home yet...

... but I thought I'd load some almost finished nursery pics. We still need to put up the dado rail on the walls, and put up the new curtains, and the cott bumper etc. But for now, if little Jesse-Lee is born early, we are READY! Things that still need doing:-

• Robin needs to build another cott for our little boy (he made the one in the pics - isn't he just totally gorgeous and irresistable?)


• I need to make another baby mobile that's not as feminine (I made the one in the pics)
  
• I need to sew roman blinds and new curtains for the two windows, and make a slip cover for the window seat (not in the pics yet), as well as a funky scatter cushion for in the rocker.
  
• I need to put another coat of paint on the refurbished rocker's arms, the bookshelf and the sidetable. LOADS of fun! Wouldn't mind someone would pay me to do it though!

• We need to put up the dado rail that goes around the room as the "divider" between the green and the blue, and then give it two coats of paint.

But, if our kiddies were to arrive tomorrow, we'd be ok. Which takes a weight off my shoulders. Which is also just as well, because right now I'm still stiff from all the armbreaking labour of painting those blinking walls!

Believe it or not - MORE showers of blessing!

Hold onto your seat folks. Robin and I drove down to Durban today (hence the no blogging for a few days - hectic preparations for meetings, painting the baby room, working inbetween paint sessions, more baby room preparations, and did I mention painting?...) and guess what happened tonight? ANOTHER Baby Shower! It's like a wonderful dream that I just don't want to wake up from!

And being a bit of a freebie whore, I was in "present heaven" tonight, unwrapping gift after gift after precious gift for our baby(ies).

What's that I just said? BabIES? Woot woot! Yes, babies. It looks like we might be getting the little boy after all. And probably a whole lot sooner than we thought too. The mom (oh, my heart just breaks for her!) has requested a week to just gather all her ducks and get them into a row, and then we shall start proceedings for the adoption. OH MY WORD! I'm going to be a Mom to TWO CHILLENS! Robin and I are totally over the moon. He tells me I'm the cow that jumped over the moon. You know - Hey Diddle Diddle, the cat and the fiddle?... Yup, that one. What. Eh. Va. I'm so going to be a Mommy soon! Yay!

Bring it on.

So, I thought I'd share a few pics of tonight with you guys. I didn't even bother doing a tally of all the gorgeous gifts we got tonight. We got TONS of gorgeous thingies for the baby(ies). Loooooots of pink. We're going to have to use all the vouchers and dosh we got to stock up on little boy clothes (especially from 3-6 months and older, because he's 2 months old right now). Our vet (we're quite good friends with him after all our pet palavas) and one of his office ladies named Dee, got us a whole bakkieload of boy things! And I mean a WHOLE bakkieload. They even bought us 120 nappies. And they're getting us a baby-bath, and another pram and and and...! I mean??? What planet is this that we're living on that people are SO generous? I keep telling you guys how totally bowled away we are by the generosity of people, but until you could see all the things we've been given, there's no way you could fathom how humble it's made me feel. Wow. God really does have a thousand ways of providing for us of which we know nothing.

Now for some pics. First, some pics of the Baby Shower in Dundee this week ... and then some pics of the Baby Shower tonight here in Durbs. I'll put one or two pics here too, but click on the links if you want to see more.

Tomorrow morning early, we have doctors appointments with Lindsay (and Victor will come along too) for a standard pre-natal checkup. Afterwards we're taking them out for tea somewhere nice, then heading back home to the semi-newly-painted Hillbilly Dump. (And then I'll post some pics of the nursery! yay!)

Seriously, could life get any better than this?

The Showers aint stopping!

Sorry guys - dunno wassup with blogger right now. It's published my thingy twice and when I try to correct it, it keeps making the unedited one the draft version... so don't ask me how many 'Showers of Blessings' ya'll have been getting in your Readers... woops. Sorry guys.

Showers of Blessing!

And all along I’ve really secretly thought I was quite a sharp bird. But clearly, I'm not as sharp as I thought. Which totally burst my I-Think-I'm-Pretty-Darn-Nifty bubble. But not without reward, I'll tell you that much!

Guess what happened last night? I've got to hand it to my friends, they're really quite a lot sneakier than I ever thought possible. They planned a whole big Baby Shower bash for me!!! And here's the most amazing part: they did it all without me ever getting a whiff of what was up! Now that’s what I call sneeeeeaaaaaky! (But you have to say it with the Jim Carrey "mask" accent, and then it's a total compliment in my vocab.) Yeah, sneeeeeaaaaky buggers! Pulled the wool right over my eyes.

On Monday evening, Cornia (the friend at who’s house the bash was held) invited me over to do some beadwork with her last night “for Mother’s Day gifts for the ladies at church.” Never one to turn down an opportunity to steal some other people’s crafty goodies do some fun arty fartsy things with my friends, I jumped at the opportunity. When I walked into her house I almost died of fright! Her entire lounge was full to the brim with church friends (ladies) and everyone starting blowing those funny squeaky things that make the sound of a duck in labour, and my heart just went and stopped on the spot! I was so totally caught off-guard! I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole night. I was so NOT expecting a party, leave alone a Baby Shower. I never thought I’d ever get to experience the joy of opening gifts for my baby!

Robin’s in for some competition by the way. Right now, she’s mine mine mine.

Almost nobody had heard about the little boy that we might be adopting, yet, (not many of us hillbillies have access to internet, so I have more friends in the computer who read my blog, than real live friends in real life who read my blog. Thus, they never knew of the developments with our Maybe Baby little Boy! We got so many beautiful gifts. Gorgeous, cuddly, fluffy, fun, practical, beautiful PINK gifts! Haha.

I don’t mind though. I wonder if he will mind if we dress him in pink? Just kidding. Then, again, pink is the new black, right? Then again, who’s going to go and dress their little baby in black? Oh well, there goes that theory then.

I’ll be showing you all some photos as soon as all my friends have emailed me the pics from their cameras.

---

In the meantime, here’s the list of all the things we were given! (last night and before, from friends and family):-

Clothing:

13 vests
5 church outfits, complete with stockings!
5 pairs of trousers
6 cute t-shirts
3 pairs of tights or stockings
8 pairs of leggings
2 jackets
6 pairs of slippers
2 pairs of little fur-lined boots
1 pair of crocs
8 pairs of socks
10 hats or beanies
2 denim dungaree sets with matching unders
26 baby grows! Ta-wenty six, people!
9 tracksuits
9 bibs
1 set of woollen gloves
2 skirts
3 dresses with matching unders
2 sets of pj's

Other items:
2 car seats, 1 pram, 1 cot(t), 1 campcot(t), 1 wooden rocking chair, 2 rattles, 2 pram toys, 3 tune toys, 1 jingly ball, 1 bouncy silicone ball with 'spikes', 10 baby hangers (for clothes, not babies!), 1 car "baby on board" sign, 1 big feeding chair, 1 portable feeding chair, 1 kangaroo pouch, 1 hiking backpack to put babe in when we walk long distances

Bathing & Baby-Bum-Changing goodies:

1 medical aid kit, 4 jars aqueous creams, 3 jars bum cream, 4 bottles baby powder, 3 bath gels, 3 baby shampoos, 2 Elizabeth Anne's Conditioning Baby Shampoos (which I could just eat, it smells so good!), 4 sets of floating plastic ducks, crocodiles, etc., 5 packs scented nappy refuse bags, 1 bottle Gripe Water, 2 bars of baby soap, 2 jars earbuds (I think you guys might call that Q-tips?), 2 sets of nail-clippers, 2 bottles baby lotion, 1 baby wash, 1 baby cologne, 1 baby oil gel, 1 speciality baby massage oil, 1 training set of toothbrushes from newborn through teething and onto teeth, 1 big pack of cotton wool, 4 packs of nappies size one, 2 packs of nappies size two, 1 nostril vacuum sucker thingy (ick! Robin will have to do that job!), 1 bath thermometre, 1 changing mat, 1 changing mat cover, 1 towel with hood, 1 fluffy towel, 1 nappy dispenser

Feeding equipment:

8 spoons, 7 feeding bows with lids, 2 sets of medicine feeding bottles, 2 large bottles, 2 small bottles, 1 formula storage cup with lid, 1 large bottle brush, 1 bottle drying rack, 1 bottle sterilizing bucket

Bedding, etc.

1 quilt, 1 quilted fleecy foldaway baby sleeping bag with built-in-pillow (handmade by a very special lady! Baie dankie Tannie Manda!), 19 blankets, 2 exquisite handmade crocheted / knitted blankets, 1 fleecy "elephant" cover with miniature hot-water-water-bottle, 1 mosquito net, 1 pillow, 1 cot(t) bumper, 2 picnic quilts

---

How spoilt are we? I am SO grateful for the generosity of our family and friends! There is no way on this little planet, that Robin and I ever have ever bought all of this ourselves. God knows a thousand ways of providing for us, of which we know nothing! I should have learnt to trust Him sooner! I am just SO amazed. I can't wait to post pics of the awesome party that my friends threw for me. It was SO much fun. I am so overwhelmed. (And you should believe me, otherwise I'm going to need to keep saying "SOOOO" over and over again! haha! As if I haven't said it enough in this paragraph. My vocab stinks when I'm happy. Hehe!)

But this post wouldn't be complete without me thanking two very special people, who made my surprise Baby Shower Bash so absolutely awesome! Lani and Cornia, I love you guys so much. (See, there I go with the "so's" again!) Thank you, thank you, thank you for spoiling me with the most beautiful Baby Shower Bash I've ever been to! I noticed all the details: from the exquisite chiffon ribbons; to the 'baby' glitter on the tables; to the handprints with all handwritten notes of love on them from everyone who attended; the baby photographs of everyone who came; the little Cinderella coach beside the cupcakes; even the handmade invitations you sent out, and thinking to set one aside for me too!; the time it took for everyone to get all dressed up as little girls at a party; the plates and plates of eats; the handmade decorations with teddies, and little nappies, dummies and ribbons. I noticed all of it, and especially the love that prompted you to do it all. Just for me. What did I ever do to deserve such amazing friends? Surely God has blessed me beyond measure. Thank you so much (you sneaky buggers)!

Showers of Blessing!

And all along I’ve really secretly thought I was quite a sharp bird. But clearly, I'm not as sharp as I thought. Which totally burst my I-Think-I'm-Pretty-Darn-Nifty bubble. But not without reward, I'll tell you that much!

Guess what happened last night? I've got to hand it to my friends, they're really quite a lot sneakier than I ever thought possible. They planned a whole big Baby Shower bash for me!!! And here's the most amazing part: they did it all without me ever getting a whiff of what was up! Now that’s what I call sneeeeeaaaaaky! (But you have to say it with the Jim Carrey "mask" accent, and then it's a total compliment in my vocab.) Yeah, sneeeeeaaaaky buggers! Pulled the wool right over my eyes.

On Monday evening, Cornia (the friend at who’s house the bash was held) invited me over to do some beadwork with her last night “for Mother’s Day gifts for the ladies at church.” Never one to turn down an opportunity to steal some other people’s crafty goodies do some fun arty fartsy things with my friends, I jumped at the opportunity. When I walked into her house I almost died of fright! Her entire lounge was full to the brim with church friends (ladies) and everyone starting blowing those funny squeaky things that make the sound of a duck in labour, and my heart just went and stopped on the spot! I was so totally caught off-guard! I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole night. I was so NOT expecting a party, leave alone a Baby Shower. I never thought I’d ever get to experience the joy of opening gifts for my baby!

Robin’s in for some competition by the way. Right now, she’s mine mine mine.

Almost nobody had heard about the little boy that we might be adopting, yet, (not many of us hillbillies have access to internet, so I have more friends in the computer who read my blog, than real live friends in real life who read my blog. Thus, they never knew of the developments with our Maybe Baby little Boy! We got so many beautiful gifts. Gorgeous, cuddly, fluffy, fun, practical, beautiful PINK gifts! Haha.

I don’t mind though. I wonder if he will mind if we dress him in pink? Just kidding. Then, again, pink is the new black, right? Then again, who’s going to go and dress their little baby in black. Oh well, there goes that theory then.

I’ll be showing you all some photos as soon as all my friends have emailed me the pics from their cameras.

---

In the meantime, here’s the list of all the things we were given! (last night and before, from friends and family):-

Clothing:

13 vests
5 church outfits, complete with stockings!
5 pairs of trousers
6 cute t-shirts
3 pairs of tights or stockings
8 pairs of leggings
2 jackets
6 pairs of slippers
2 pairs of little fur-lined boots
1 pair of crocs
8 pairs of socks
10 hats or beanies
2 denim dungaree sets with matching unders
26 baby grows
9 tracksuits
9 bibs
1 set of woollen gloves
2 skirts
3 dresses with matching unders
2 sets of pj's

Other items:
2 car seats, 1 pram, 1 cot(t), 1 campcot(t), 1 wooden rocking chair, 2 rattles, 2 pram toys, 3 tune toys, 1 jingly ball, 1 bouncy silicone ball with 'spikes', 10 baby hangers (for clothes, not babies!), 1 car "baby on board" sign,

Bathing & Baby-Bum-Changing goodies:

1 medical aid kit, 4 jars aqueous creams, 3 jars bum cream, 4 bottles baby powder, 3 bath gels, 3 baby shampoos, 2 Elizabeth Anne's Conditioning Baby Shampoos (which I could just eat, it smells so good!), 4 sets of floating plastic ducks, crocodiles, etc., 5 packs scented nappy refuse bags, 1 bottle Gripe Water, 2 bars of baby soap, 2 jars earbuds (I think you guys might call that Q-tips?), 2 sets of nail-clippers, 2 bottles baby lotion, 1 baby wash, 1 baby cologne, 1 baby oil gel, 1 speciality baby massage oil, 1 training set of toothbrushes from newborn through teething and onto teeth, 1 big pack of cotton wool, 4 packs of nappies size one, 2 packs of nappies size two, 1 nostril vacuum sucker thingy (ick! Robin will have to do that job!), 1 bath thermometre, 1 changing mat, 1 changing mat cover

, 1 towel with hood, 1 fluffy towel, 1 nappy dispenser

Feeding equipment:

8 spoons, 7 feeding bows with lids, 2 sets of medicine feeding bottles, 2 large bottles, 2 small bottles, 1 formula storage cup with lid, 1 large bottle brush, 1 bottle drying rack, 1 bottle sterilizing bucket

Bedding, etc.

1 quilt, 1 quilted fleecy foldaway baby sleeping bag with built-in-pillow (handmade by a very special lady! Baie dankie Tannie Manda!), 19 blankets, 2 exquisite handmade crocheted / knitted blankets, 1 fleecy "elephant" cover with miniature hot-water-water-bottle, 1 mosquito net, 1 pillow, 1 cot(t) bumper, 2 picnic quilts

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How spoilt are we? I am SO grateful for the generosity of our family and friends! There is no way on this little planet, that Robin and I ever have ever bought all of this ourselves. God knows a thousand ways of providing for us, of which we know nothing! I should have learnt to trust Him sooner! I am just SO amazed. I can't wait to post pics of the awesome party that my friends threw for me. It was SO much fun. I am so overwhelmed. (And you should believe me, otherwise I'm going to need to keep saying "SOOOO" over and over again! haha! As if I haven't said it enough in this paragraph. My vocab stinks when I'm happy. Hehe!)

But this post wouldn't be complete without me thanking two very special people, who made my surprise Baby Shower Bash so absolutely awesome! Lani and Cornia, I love you guys so much. (See, there I go with the "so's" again!) Thank you, thank you, thank you for spoiling me with the most beautiful Baby Shower Bash I've ever been to! I noticed all the details: from the exquisite chiffon ribbons; to the 'baby' glitter on the tables; to the handprints with all handwritten notes of love on them from everyone who attended; the baby photographs of everyone who came; the little Cinderella coach beside the cupcakes; even the handmade invitations you sent out, and thinking to set one aside for me too!; the time it took for everyone to get all dressed up as little girls at a party; the plates and plates of eats; the handmade decorations with teddies, and little nappies, dummies and ribbons. I noticed all of it, and especially the love that prompted you to do it all. Just for me. What did I ever do to deserve such amazing friends? Surely God has blessed me beyond measure. Thank you so much (you sneaky buggers)!

Instinct (and some pics)

It was my Mother Bear instincts that kicked in yesterday. I think it was also the deciding factor for me about accepting the little boy or not. See, our neighbour (on the farm next door to us, with the zebras) got wind that we were offered a little boy in addition to the little girl and phoned to ask if she could come and visit. First time ever that she came for a visit too! So, I was a bit curious about why the sudden visit? What I never knew was that she was struggling with infertility! She lives about a kilometre away from me and I just never knew! But how is this for a coincidence? She was getting treatment from the very same doctors as I was, in Durban. I mean, there's a team of doctors that work at the Life Centre (300 kilometres away!), and out of that team, she was working with the very same doctors at the very same practise as were on my case! How crazy is that coincidence?

Oh, my heart just broke for her! She said that it was the first time she'd ever spoken to anyone about her feelings. She and I shared our stories with each other, and many a tear were shed. But I realized while we were chatting, that though I understood EVERYTHING she said; though I shared a "been there, done that" t-shirt with her, I was already on "the other side". She already looked at me in much the same way as many of us infertiles look at those lucky ones who have gone on to become pregnant and have their dreams come true. She was envious of me! It was such a weird, awkward realization for me! Almost like, I no longer fit in the category of infertile anymore! Such a strange, out of sorts feeling. I mean, I am still one hundred percent totally incapable of having a baby pop from my own loins, but now I am getting two! Two precious little bundles that will call me Mommy. Me! How did that even happen? I'm telling you, it was all God. This can only be God's doing! And it just makes me want to sing His praises at the top of my lungs!

So, anyway, there we were sitting, dishing out tissues ten to the dozen, and then she piped up in a warbly, squeaky, too-afraid-to-even-ask little voice: "Char, are you sure that you want this little boy too?" and in her eyes I saw that kind of hope lurking, that only someone at the very edge of their resources has - a steady, quiet, determined type of desperation that prompts you to do things you would normally never do; that would prompt her to say, if given a chance, that she wanted him more than me. She never said it, but I felt it in her quiet little question. And that's when my Mother Bear Instinct kicked in. And I steeled my heart and said "Yes, I want him. With all my heart I want him. If I can have him, I will."

I told Robin later, when my defences were down again, that she was unwittingly the person who pushed me over the edge of indecision. Call it greed. Call it selfish. But I have a choice. And I've chosen him. I want him. And if I can, I will take him and love him till I breathe my very last breath. And then I will love him for eternity afterwards, when Jesus raises us from the dead at the resurrection. If God gives us these two little babies, I will treat them like the treasures they really are. Gifts from God Himself.

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Time for some pics of our progress in the nursery. But first I want to show you some really nifty things that I bought for the nursery that I just LOVE LOVE LOVE! It's weird how I always sort of had an idea of how I wanted to decorate my nursery one day if I ever fell pregnant and now that I'm preparing for our baby(s), my ideas are totally different to what I thought I'd like. And boy oh boy has my Nesting Instinct kicked in! It's kicking butt actually. (Almost as strongly as my Mother Bear Instincts, but a bit more frantic!) Anyhoo... So, I love storage and clever ways to make storage pretty. I found this AWESOME retro funky box and I just couldn't resist it. So I bought it on the spot. It now serves as my inspiration reference for everything we're making in the nursery.

Above: Inspiration Box

And then I went and chose some paint thingy-majiggies so I could choose the wall colours. I am still a bit undecided, but we have a thick chunky warm rug for the floor (because at the moment we have HORRIBLE cream lino floor tiles on the floor and I need something to hide them away. I console myself with the fact that they aren't green. Or grey. Or worse: patterned! Ugghhhh!... we're hoping to tile out the house soon, and then hopefully we will be forever rid of the dreaded lino floor tiles). But the rug we have is peach. Which just isn't my colour at all. But we'll work with it. Here are the paint sample thingy-me-bobs:-

Obviously I won't choose dark colours for the walls... but I don't want a pink room. Which is just as well, seeing as we might be adding a little boy to the room too! Yay! Once I've made my decision and started painting, I'll show you some pics again ok?

And then, I thought, well, let me paint all the wooden furniture white. And allow the room colours to be dictated by the accessories, rather than the furniture. So I painted even the toybox white... And then it looked bland to me. So I've pimped my toybox a bit too! haha. I couldn't resist. So, now it matches my inspiration box a bit! But that will be the only "wild" furniture in the room.

And then I bought some more nifty storage baskets. These will eventually go on the "bookshelf" next to the changing table, along with my inspiration box. At the moment they are just stashed in the cupboards with the other baby stuff, while I paint the bookshelf white. What a job! But eventually they will have a pretty spot to sit on.

We've been busy with plenty more too, but I thought I'd save a few photos for another day. And for when the room is looking a bit more loved and organized. I just can't believe that this stuff is all ours! Not someone else's for their baby. But ours. How lifechanging! Have I mentioned how excited I am??? (And poepbang at the same time?)

Choices choices...

It's like a yoyo this side. One minute we are so totally grabbing the little boy and adopting him too - the next minute we're poepbang (South African for scared as all, well, youknowwhat). Oh my word! Can you actually believe that this is happening? Because if you can't believe it, just imagine how shellshocked we must be. Oh my word.

We have sort of decided that we will adopt him, if Lindsay (the birthmom of Jesse-Lee) is ok with the idea. You guys are quite wise, you know! We hadn't even really thought of how it would impact Lindsay's decision to choose us, if we had another baby in the house. So, next week Wednesday, when we get together with Victor and Lindsay again, we will approach them and ask them if it would influence their decision if little Jesse-Lee would be getting a brother pretty soon afterwards too. If they say no, they don't like the idea, then we'll say no. We have already spoken to Debbie (our social worker) and she says it sounds fantastic! And she would be able to piggy back the two adoptions simultaneously.

Oh my word! Can you even believe we are considering this??? I know. Me neither!

Wow, what a different Mother's Day this Sunday is going to be, compared to all the previous Mother's Days! Yay! I can't wait!

Crazy Confucious

Well, you will NEVER BELIEVE what's happened now. Seriously. Are you sitting down? (If any of you take medication to regulate your heart, now would be a good time to pop a few of them.) I get the shivers when I even think of it.

Last night I got a phonecall from a friend of ours in Durban, who happens to be a pastor. Long story short, an extended family member of his is putting her 2-month old son up for adoption, and they want Robin and I to adopt him!!! I know! How crazy is that? I mean, talk about sending us on a tailspin! Needless to say, we are totally hooky-kooky right now. Of course we WANT him... but can we afford another baby at the same time? I don't know... my wallet says no. My heart says yes. Then again, I'm thinking... Maybe I could sell a kidney or two... just kidding. I'm going to need them if my gazookas will ever produce some milk.

I am at a loss for words. And you all know how seldom that happens to me. I'm asking God questions like, "OK, are You serious? Is this even Your doing? Are you preparing us for something? Is it possible that the adoption of Jesse-Lee might fall through and that You're getting us ready to consider other babies? Or is it simply that You think we need two babies at once? Is this Your will? What would You like us to do?" Gawsh. I am totally gaga right now. Speechless. (Well, apparently, from the length of this paragraph so far, maybe I'm not as speechless as I thought!)

There is so much more to consider than JUST money. Of course. But actually, if I were Rockerfella, I'd adopt both. Without blinking an eyelid. Dang, I'd adopt all of China's orphans too. (Which just goes to show that in my previous life I was Angelina. Just kidding. I don't believe in reincarnation. Although, I have always secretly thought that I was destined to be rich and famous. Maybe I was the milkman's child?) Unfortunately I'm NOT Rockerfella. I'm the other fella. Which sucks when I'm eyeing a particularly nifty pair of shoes. Or contemplating whether or not it would be wise to adopt the little boy right now too...

So, you guys really need to stop praying that God will give us children ok? haha. Seriously. Sort-of. Gawsh. What are we going to do??? Please pray with us for God's guidance ok? My heart is going to land up killing me here. Too much going on. Too much.

Just call me Confucious.

Galactogazookas and other instruments of torture

Galactogogues, guys. It's all about the galactogogues right now. Galactogogues and boob suckers breast pumps. As if my poor little, wait, make that ginormous gazookas haven't been punished enough!

I have done some research. And my mom-in-law has also. (If you ever want to know anything about natural medicine, she's the lady to ask! She knows people who know people who know things. Clever things. Like home remedies for infections. Which may or may not include nutmeg. And if you know my mom-in-law, then you'll probably have had some of those famous concoctions. With nutmeg. Feel free to send requests for home remedies - unless you’re allergic to nutmeg, that is. Me and my mom-in-law - we're tight!) Together we (mom-in-law and I) have found something called Eglolyn. And that's supposed to help me to be able to breastfeed. I must admit I was a bit scared off of the idea of popping them after I did some googling and found a few articles which said that eglolyn is the best medicine for schizophrenics. And people who suffer from depression. Well, righty ho then. Suits me just fine!

That, and an enormous instrument of torture. The box says it's an Avent Breast Pump. Me thinks they need to rethink that name. I never knew my nipples could stretch so far! That thing could suck the lava out of a volcano on the other side of the planet! My poor pointies are still recovering, and I haven’t used it in like three days. Woe betide me when I'm popping them pills AND pumping those suckers.

The dust is settling

Did you know that sawdust is like totally funky? Seriously. It creaps in EVERY. FREAKING. WHERE. Thank Heavens my maid is coming tomorrow! Hopefully by then we'll be finished building cupboards for the nursery. Then it will just be paint fumes. And hey! Who minds a little bit of a paintfumeinducedhigh every now and again, right? It might even help me to get a little bit of sleep before Jesse-Lee arrives home.

Eating Humble Pie

So, you all know of my disdain for Faceb**k, right? Call me stupid ignorant, but I never set my notifications properly, so my inbox was always getting chockablock with all manner of obnoxious requests, e.g. Zombie application invitations... (I mean???) Hatch an Egg invitations... (WHY would I want to hatch an egg???) Needless to say, I wanted to deregister forthwith. Until I found a bunch of old school friends on Facebook. And by old, I mean ooooollllldddd... as in, as you found out this week, we actually used to watch McGuyver. And The A-team. And if you remember Chips, then well, let's just say that your walking stick is going to need some polishing. And they weren't reruns either! Those were the days folks. Days when saying "I love it when a plan comes together" didn't ellicit stares of confusion from people around you.

Anyhoo.

Faceb**k. Oh yes. Huge disdain on my part. Total irritation at the number of stupid applications on there. I became quite vocal about Faceb**k Schmacebook et Cetera.

Until this week. I found one of the girls I used to au-pair in Germany ten years ago on Faceb**k (and she is just awesome and all grown up and graceful and I am SO proud to have au-paired her!) and now I am TOTALLY in love with Faceb**k! Yay for Faceb**k!!!

Can I just go ahead and say it?

Ahem.

I was wrong. And Humble Pie aint tasty, I'll tell you that much.