Life In Color

Hey guys,

Check it out! I've found a life book that's not ugly! Seriously, that's big news. As I'm sure you've encountered, a baby book isn't really going to cut it for adopted kids. Though I certainly experienced cravings (for doro wot) and mood swings, the topics just aren't all the same. These books by Life in Color are cute and perfect for our little ones. The pages are also removable, so if for example, you don't know anything about Birth Mom, you can just take that page out. Really customizable. Here's a few sample pages.

Cute, right? You can get yours here. 

New Week - The Grummer Family

Hey guys,

This week we've got another European family on the blog. Well, they're not European, but their adoption is. Anyhoo, we still don't have a Europe blogger and we have a LONG list of Give1 families ready to roll on there, so if ya know anyone... Just sayin'...

So, say hello to the Grummer family (yeah, you're going to want to hit that blog next). They are adopting a darling little girl named Ana. Their friends adopted her biological sister, Lana. The Grummers have three other gorgeous girlies, so it's going to be a girl party over there. They made us a beautiful (like super gorgeous, make you weep pretty) video. Trust me and watch it.

Ana is HIV positive, and has a FIG fund set up for her. You can donate through that by clicking here, then the paypal button. Thanks so much. I bet you're feeling extra generous right before Thanksgiving, right? :)

Sevenly and Show Hope

I love Sevenly. And I love Show Hope. So, um, this awesome sweater (and a bunch of cute tees) benefitting Show Hope is a no brainer. I just wanted to make sure you saw these before they're gone! Sevenly shirts have such cute cuts. It's hard to find a cute sweater, y'all. Purchasing one of these shirts this week will help fill the grant bucket to help make adoption affordable for many families. Lots of our Give1 families have received Show Hope grants as well. If you're interested in obtaining more info about their services click here. And if you'd like to buy a shirt, click here. I'll be doing it tomorrow (come on PayDay).

Overwhelmed for the Holidays

Good morning, guys! I'm so excited to tell you about this little gem. I've been really excited and just waiting for the right time to take this particular webinar, Overwhelmed for the Holidays. It's about helping your adopted child navigate our crazy time of year, especially those with sensory issues (which is actually many, many, maybe even most of our littles). Adoption Learning Partners was sweet enough to let one of our readers take the class for free so she could tell us about it. But then they decided to make it free for everyone during the month of November!!! So go go go and take this class this week. The holidays are in our lap. Two weeks to Thanksgiving, y'all!

Speaking of holidays, I've got a few shameless plugs in the Christmas gift category. Our t-shirts are almost gone, and they would make a great gift for some of your Africa lovin' peeps. They are so cute, but selling t-shirts is kind of a pain, so I won't be restocking these babies. They are $18 shipped and I'll ship them to Antarctica or Canada or Puerto Rico or anywhere. In fact, I might anyway if y'all don't buy them because I really need my closet space back.

Also, I've been painting art girls for a bunch of people's Christmas gifts. I know we have 7 more weeks, but I'm only going to be painting until December. Then I'm going to chill out because I love it so much. So if you want to have an art girl made for your daughter, mom, sister, best friend, teacher, whatever, they are $25 in my etsy shop. Just pick your color and verse. Here are a few that are already done, some still need verses, but I thought I'd let you pick.

Christmas is coming and I'm thinking we can really tone it down this year and help it be a peaceful, meaningful time this round! 

PS. We've helped our 'family' of the week, Bring Love In, bring $1400 in! Have you donated yet? It would mean so much to those kids!

Ergo Review

Hey lovely people! Jude has been home six weeks already, and let me tell ya, I am now an expert on babywearing. So I thought I'd break down the carriers as I've tried them. I've always been a babywearing fan but my two bios would never go for it. Will just wanted to nurse every time he got that close to my chest, and Abby was completely averse to snuggling. Jude, however, LOVES being carried. I bought several carriers before he came home. The stylish and super cheap Seven sling. They are stinking cute, but I've found them to be really uncomfortable and they just don't feel too terribly secure to me. I wanted to love it. I really did. Then I tried the Moby. I do like this one. It's cute and comfy. Jude likes it pretty well. But honestly, Ergo has been the ticket for us and here's why.

This thing is high quality and is designed for comfort. And if you're serious about babywearing, like as a "lifestyle" (hang on, that sounded really cheesy), and not a fashion statement, then comfort is pretty much the number one priority. Adoption specialists recommend holding and/or wearing your child for several hours a day to help facilitate bonding. When I heard hours I thought that was crazy, but really we actually do wear him hours a day, and the Ergo has saved my back and arms. I'd love to say that we hold him that much because I'm super attentive to our attachment, but it happens quite naturally because if we don't hold him he will whine at us. And then the other kids whine too because the baby's whining. So we have to. So anyway, we've got this handy green one because me and my hubs can both wear it (not too girly), though I have my eye on this one.

Another HUGE, I mean huge, reason I love it is for the ability to carry on my back. Not all carriers have that, and some are really so complicated that it's not worth it. But this one is actually really easy and comfy. I can really get stuff done (dishes, typing, etc) with Jude on my back and he's happy as a clam there.  He hangs out and chews the Ergo. Oh, and here's a little bonus, the cleavage enhancer is an excellent bonus feature! Oh? Not a cleavage enhancer? Yes, it is. But I think they call it a security clip. It definitely make the whole thing feel like it's not going anywhere. 

They are priced around $120 each, which is not a no-brainer for us. It was a bit of an expense, really. But it's saved us. In fact, I'll probably get another. They carry up to 45 lbs. That's like a 5 year old! So you'll get plenty of use out of it. Anyhoo, Ergo doesn't pay me or anything. I'm just passing on my experience. For a serious babywearer, this is the way to go. 

Bring Love In

Good morning, you guys! Normally we support an adoptive family a week on this blog, but this week we're changing it up just a tad. Instead of giving our dollars to one family to help bring home one child, this week we're looking after 45. This week we'll be helping out Bring Love In. 

Many of you are already familiar with the book Bring Love In by Levi Benkert. The Benkert family has given up the American dream and headed to Ethiopia to help care for orphans. That vision has morphed into a beautiful thing. Bring Love In works with widows and orphans both, bringing them together to form a new family. Real forever families. The money that we send to Bring Love In goes towards the success of the families, paying for things like their rent, food, clothing, and education. Right now the kids are in need of some computers and a full time teacher. Would you help us get that for them this week? If you're new to Give1, all we do is donate a dollar and spread the word. Many of us are adopters, ourselves, and don't have much to donate, but everyone can donate a dollar. You can certainly donate more, but what we're really hoping for is that you'll hit up Facebook when you're done and see if you can get some friends in on it too. That's when it starts adding up!

And to make it just a little sweeter, there is a giveaway for this beautiful print donated by Poppy and Pinecone.

So go ahead and donate (not Paypal this time, no biggie), enter the giveaway and let's help these kids out!

Oh my gosh, this is so cute!

I LOVE this update. Too cool.