Monday, June 25, 2007

Family

We went to a class the other night about discipline. Not that disciplining an adopted child is any different than disciplining a biological child, but we also have to remember the wise saying from an adult adoptee: "Don't keep reminding me that I'm adopted, but never forget that I'm adopted either". Our child's adoption will be a fact of life, and a fact that may make an impact on different situations. It's referred to as "wearing our adoption glasses". When our children act out, it's good to evaluate whether or not they are experiencing some emotions about their adoption that are influencing their behavior.


We also took a quiz on our parenting style, and were relieved to find out that we seem fairly close in our approach to different situations. It will still be a day by day discovery process, but at least we have a common starting point.


On another note, we spent the weekend with the Fisher clan up at the cottage. It was the first time in a long time that all the cousins were together - and although this generation remains "the kids", we realized that now we outnumber the "adults" (even though we're now adults ourselves). The generations move on, I guess...before we know it, there will be a crop of actual "kids" to replace us... here's a picture of the whole group together...



Thursday, June 7, 2007

Nursery Pictures




Here's Chris working on the valance for us....he had to leave for work, but he got it started and gave us some tips on how to attach it to the wall. Dad (Mike) made the valance, and mom (Sue) covered it with the cute material in the table skirt. Chris also got involved with the painting when his mom came down to help, and he's been a big help keeping the room tidy and clean and ready at a moment's notice for baby!


Chris also helped hang some small shelves to put cute stuffed animals on. If you look behind him, above the window, you can see that great valance he was working on. We're quite proud of how we hung that, but we don't let any of the guys look up behind it to see the hardware....as long as it stays up, that's what matters, right? I think we spent about an hour at Ace Hardware trying to figure out what to do!!




This is the changing table...as you can see the Sesame Street theme has gone a little crazy!! Rachel went through an Elmo phase in college, and we love they dark cherry wood and all the primary colors. Mom (Sue) and Rachel had a great time fixing things up and putting together the furniture. Mom (Mary) helped us paint the room a beautiful bright yellow. How special that both Grandmas-to-be got to be involved with their grandbaby's room!

Here's the crib....ain't it cute????!!! We also love this wallpaper border - it has all our favorite Sesame Street characters' faces and autographs. We won't be using this closet for baby, unless we figure out some other place to put all the stuff in it!! Instead, we got a beautiful matching cherry armoire (no picture yet!) to hold baby clothes and other things. Mom (Sue) made the bed skirt and table skirts. We found the bedding - and you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find Sesame Street stuff that's not pastel. We also now have a bright red rug on the floor.


That's it for now...we haven't taken pictures since we added the red rug, the armoire, the toy net, and the snuffleupagus...maybe you'll just have to come see for yourself!!