Adoption Day

She's our baby. Forever and ever. On December 16th, Mia officially became a Burgess. The day was very surreal, and somewhat anticlimactic. We got to court at about 9:30am, and waited for our turn before the judge. We went into the courtroom with Mia, and our lawyer asked us some very simple questions. For example "Have you ever been convicted of.?" and "Please state your full name." It was pretty much just going through the motions. The whole process took about 15-20 minutes.  Our lawyer was so great and really guided us through the process so that it felt like a piece of cake. We are so blessed that everything moved so quickly and without any issues!

 From the left: Our lawyer, the judge, us, and the guardian at litem

The official Burgess family!

 A Proud Daddy:)

One very happy Mama

I've been a bit behind on blogging lately, but we just got back from CT. I'm excited for new blog posts to come!!

I love comments! Feel free to post anonymous if you don't have an account.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

The Great Nursery Reveal

So I am finally putting up pictures of Baby Girl's room. Most women have about 20 weeks to plan a nursery, I had about 6 days. Thankfully we had some help. The night before we met the birthmother, our friend Joe Turner came over and helped us paint. I had an idea in my head of what color I wanted, and the first one I chose at Lowes was a perfect match! When we came home from meeting her, my sweet friend Elysia had bought us the rug we registered for. It was Mia's first nursery item, and again, a perfect match!

 Her crib is from my dear friend Carissa. I am so thankful for it! She gave us the mattress and everything and it was white which is exactly what I was picturing for her room. The cozy rug is from my Target registery.

 It took forever to get her bedding because I had it custom made. I figured I would just get bedding from Babies R Us or something, but its pretty much impossible to find pink and aqua colored bedding for babies. Everything is either pink and green or pink and brown. This amazing lady on Etsy made Mia's bedding in 6 weeks, if you want her name let me know!

This is probably my favorite part of her room. I love this little corner. The best part of the day is rocking her to sleep at night in this chair. I got the pillow from Marshalls (I'm a budget shopper!) and the blanket on the chair from Etsy.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to get a glider or not, but I found a really inexpensive one on Craigslist from a really sweet woman right in town. I was glad to take it off her hands! I would love to say I painted the flowers, but they are actually decals. One of these days I'm going to make an awesome painting for Mia's room; just not today ;)

A changing table was a must have for me. We have very limited storage space in our house, so this was a great way to utilize extra storage! The bins are from Target (of course) and the changing table is from Once Upon a Child (an amazing consignment store in West Ashley).

This sweet verse is above Mia's crib. I couldnt seem to get a clear picture of it but, it says "For this Child we prayed, and the Lord answered our prayers" I Samuel 1: 27, with her name at the top. This was also a custom designed-decal from Etsy.

 Her dresser is from Target. I really needed one and didn't have time to shop around or wait for one to come in the mail (seeing as Mia was already home with us!) so Target had this in stock and it works perfectly. I love the drawers and the white looks so pretty with her crib. The letters are hand-made by my friend Elysia, such a sweet gift! The lighting is slightly off in the second picture, but I wanted to showcase the the work she put into the letters. I love it!

Having a little girl is SO fun! I had a blast decorating her room. Its very budget friendly and the best I could do with a newborn at home!

I love comments! Thanks for stopping by :)



Little Miss Mia

We are gearing up for baby's first Christmas! We put up the tree this week and I decorated with pink and purple. Of course Dan didn't have much say in this. I bought some new decorations on a whim and decided that the color scheme would be in honor of Mia. I mean how often do you get to celebrate a little girl's entrance in to the world?  My only issue with the tree is that its not real. We bought a fake one last year because we were going out of town for Christmas and didn't want to come home to a dead tree and pine needles everywhere. This year, we'll be in CT so alas, the fake tree made an appearance again. I only consented to having this imposter tree if we can replace it with a real one every time we are home for Christmas. There really is nothing like the smell of fresh pine at Christmas! I just love everything about this time of year!!

I'm still getting used to not having snow on the ground at Christmastime, it seems like we are celebrating in April. All part of the "sacrifice" of living in the South I suppose. ;)

Now for the part you having been waiting for-an update on the littlest princess!She is almost 10 weeks old! I cant believe how quickly the time is going, I am learning to savor every moment with her. She has been full of new surprises these past few weeks:

• At her 2 month visit, she was 12 lbs, 4 oz and in the 90th percentile! what a big girl! her pediatrician thought that she was perfectly healthy. she is finally starting to get a little baby chub, which is absolutely adorable.

• She can just about hold her head up by herself, which is exciting because I can hold her in more positions now. She loves to make eye contact and look all around, especially at lights.

• One of my very favorite things that I have yet to capture on camera is her smile. I remember not too long ago waiting for that sweet smile, and now she pretty much smiles constantly! In the last few days, she's started smiling when she sees me or her daddy. It's the best thing ever!! She is SUCH a happy baby and I can take her pretty much everywhere. My cousin and his wife came to visit and we spent about 2 hours on the USS Yorktown. Mia was perfectly content to hang out in the baby bjorn the entire time, it was great!
• Another one of my favorites is naptime. Pretty much every afternoon Mia and I take a nap together. She just loves to snuggle. I'll put my head right next to hers and she'll cozy up to me and fall right asleep.

Queen of the bed!

•  Mia made a most hilarious discovery recently; her fist. She noticed it one day and stared at it in wide-eyed wonder for the longest time. Sometimes she forgets about it and then finds it again. Dan and I crack up every time she stares at her hand. I'm sure she'll soon discover that it's tasty too!

I fall more in love with her every day. Some people have told me that they worry that if they adopted, they wouldnt be able to love the child the same way they would a biological child. The love I have for my daughter is something I cant even explain, it just grows stronger and stronger and I can't even imagine loving a child more than I love her. So no, it doesnt matter if we share blood or not, she is my beloved.

Up next, pictures of Mia's room, yay!! 

ps- Feel free to leave a comment, I love comments! if you dont have an account, you can post by using "anonymous"

cruising and Ohio-ing

Wow. We have had an amazing two weeks. We have been living out of suitcases, thus the reason I haven't blogged in a while. A few months ago, Dan and I decided that we needed to do something to celebrate our 5 year anniversery. We really never go on vacation; we travel it's pretty much just to see family. The last time we took a real vacation was our honeymoon. We were still working on our homestudy, so we figured it would take a long time before we adopted. This would be our last big hurrah before starting a family! So, we decided to book a cruise. There are very inexpensive cruises out of Charleston, and we had never done one before, so why not? Our friends dear Daniel and Katherine actually asked us to go and it was just the opportunity we had been looking for! What could be more fun than vacationing with your friends? Well then, as most of you know, Mia happened. What an outrageously wonderful surprise. Dan and I remembered we had a cruise booked, and thought oh crap, so much for that. We thought about it and said, you know, Mia will be almost two months, we might need the vacation, lets just do it! I'm so glad we did, we had an absolute blast. My sister Emily came down and watched Mia which was an amazing blessing. Other then Mia's grandparents, Emily is probably the only person I felt comfortable leaving her with!

The day we left, charleston was absolutely freezing!!

you can see the ravenel bridge behind us!

Ok well it was really like in the 40s, but to those of us who are used to the warm southern breezes, it sure felt freezing. The first night we all really felt the rocking and I thought I was going to fall over!  The first morning we went to breakfast-cafeteria style and I was saving our spot at a table. I literally felt my body swaying back and forth in my chair. But after a while we all got used to it and it wasn't so bad.

The first night on the ship we were all freezing so we threw style to the wind and bundled up in the warmest clothes we brought. I clearly did not pack appropriately, since most of my attire consisted of summer dresses and cute tops and skirts. Thankfully, our first full day at sea was a good bit warmer and we were able to enjoy walking around and exploring the ship.

We enjoyed a yummy outdoor lunch by the pool!

Our friend compared a cruise ship to a giant floating Golden Corral. I thought that was the most hilarious comparison but also so true! We chose to eat in the semi-fancy restaurant every night which always included a 3 course meal. You could literally order two of everything if you wanted to, and then get room service later that night. Now, how do they expect you to eat like that then try to squeeze into your bathing suit? That is just cruel! ;)

One of my favorite experiences was "formal night." Since Dan and I are not super-fancy people (I prefer maxi-dresses and flip-flops) we didn't bring crazily fancy clothes, just something we would wear to a more formal church (I can't really even say our church because Seacoast is so laid back!). A TON of people however opted for their finest attire which made our night all the more interesting. Women wore the equivalent of prom dresses and men wore tuxes. There was even a rental shop in case you forgot your tux or fancy handbag.  I wish I had taken pictures of some of them! Some women decided to accessorize with cleavage, and I thought really, do you want every man on this ship staring at your chest? I guess you do!

Ha! Well anyway the rest of the trip was a blast. We enjoyed the onboard entertainment, specifically the comedian. It felt like Showtime at the Apollo. The guy was just hilarious. People were literally fighting for seats.

Our favorite part of the trip was probably the Atlantis Resort, in Nassau, Bahamas. I had no idea a giant waterpark/aquarium could be SO fun!!

We found a secluded "adults only" lounge area on the ship and made a habit of watching the sunset in the hot tubs. Well, Daniel and Katherine made more of a habit then we did, Dan and I usually caught up on sleep in the late afternoon. The last day, Katherine and I spent the afternoon laying out and eventually moved to the hot tub where we enjoyed Mai Tai's and a gorgeous sunset!

So, to conclude the cruise tale, Yes, I would recommend going. It really is what you make of it. You can have as little or as much fun as you want! We opted for FUN! (and plenty of sleep!)

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was so so amazing. We had a wonderful time with my family (mine is in Ohio, Dan's is in CT where we will be heading for Christmas). It was almost surreal to be enjoying such precious time with our family and having a sweet baby girl with us. Every day I am more amazed by her and more blessed by her. She is so so cute and sweet I just can't seem to get enough of her! She changes so much on a seemingly daily basis. But the best change of all is...SHE IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! thank the Lord!

We had a very full and eventful thanksgiving. My mom finally met Mia. I am so thankful for how well everything went. Without going into detail, our family has been through alot the past 2 years, and it was so nice for my mom to have a nice time with Mia.



My sister Emily and I dragged ourselves to Walmart at 9:30 on Thursday night. I know, we bought into the consumerism, but it was so worth it! We got 1 out of about 20 40" tvs for a ridiculous price. It was my dad's christmas present. He is the type of person who will never spend money on something for himself, so we sneakily got it for him! The funny thing was, he didn't even notice it and we had to point it out to him. He was like, "OH!!" Well it really was the best gift ever because the kids (my little brother and sister, Carmen and Chessie, respectively) had a blast playing the wii on the big screen. Ok, Dan had a blast too. ;)

Pretty awesome. who knew a wii could be so fun? Especially for a 28 year old!

Our favorite family tradition is going to the Pine Tree Barn to pick out a Christmas tree. There have been many miserably cold trips to this place, but we happend to go an a gloriously warm day. Its always a hilarious adventure.



On Sunday, we had a get together with close friends and family. My two best friends from home came with their significant others. I adore those girls and I am so grateful for our continued friendship through the years!

Me, Christine and Kristen :)

My Uncle Tom and Aunt Julie also came, and brought a good portion of their kids and grandkids. It was sooo nice to have them there, and needless to say, we had a full house!!

Uncle Tom, Aunt Julie and a very special dress

Faith, my cousin Shawn's daughter, and Chessie my sister comparing hair lengths

My cousin Jeanette also dropped by. So great to see her!!

All in all, we had an amazing time in Ohio. We are beyond thankful. God has chosen to bless us richly. My family has been through alot of heartache, and this visit was such a sweet time. Having Mia is bringing healing to our family in a way. God allows suffering, but he also offers redemption and joy. I am continually humbled by His grace.

Ok, sorry for the extremely long blog. Next blog-dedicated to Mia pictures!!