Our ten days where up on Saturday at 12:00am So we are officially Garrett's Mommy and Daddy!!!!! Hooray so here are some picts! FINALLY!

home sweet home!

It is amazing to think that only a week ago, our son was born. Tuesday June 23rd at 2:34am we welcomed Garrett Gregory Erlandson into the world and with one glance he stole our hearts. He was 8.5lbs and 22inches long. We where so lucky to have been in the room with the birth mother while she was giving birth. It was an amazing experience. We all, including the birth mother where able to come home the following evening. Prior to our discharge the birth mother had her pastor come and do an intrustment ceremony. It was the neatest thing we have ever experienced, other than his birth. There was not a dry eye in the chapel. It was one of the most humbling experiences I have even been a part of. Prior to the ceremony the pastor talked to all three if us and said that after this ceremony in the eyes of god Garrett was our son. It was a beautiful thing to hear. I highly recommend anyone whom is adopting and has a open adoption to have an intrustment ceremony. As for Garrett, he is AMAZING! I never knew that something so little could bring so much joy to someone. Brian is an amazing daddy, he loves his so much and it just warms my heart when I see them together. Garrett sleeps most the night but just waking up for his feedings. Brian and I have great team work...We don't go to be until midnight, and Garrett gets a bottle before Brian and I go to bed, I wake up at 3am to feed and change him and then he wakes back up between 6 and 7 and Brian gets up and feeds him and we start our day! Perfect-o! We are so in love it is silly, I wish I could express in words how we feel, but every time I try it just doesn't seem to do it any justice. I do feel like I finally after years and years of trying to decide what to be 'when I grew up' know that I am meant to be a mommy. I have never felt so much contentment and peace as I do when I am with Garrett. It is an amazing feeling. Because of the laws in MN regarding the time line that the birth mother can change her mind and decide to parent, we have decided not to post any pictures until we can say 100% that Garrett is OUR SON! We are not concerned that she will decide to parent but we are just being safe. Friday July 10th is the final day. So you bet your bottom that July 11th at midnight Brian and I will be celebrating! So please keep us in your prayers. Also if you would pray for his birth mother we would appreciate it. She is so amazing and is now part of our family too.

hospital day one

Here I sit in the hospital room with the birth mother sleeping and Brian sitting by my side reading “What to expect the first 48 hours” He had been so wonderful today, helping the birth mother with everything she needs, he has really stepped into the “husband” role today! Although we have been here for 15 hours is seems like its only been 2 or 3. The birth mothers water broke on its own at 7:10! But we are still waiting for the little man to decide to show himself to the world. Brian and I are so lucky the staff here is great, they offered us a room to stay in, two doors down from So we will be able to get some rest and not be afraid we will miss anything. Brian and I are still in ahh with all the wonderful blessings that have been happening to us over the past few weeks, and today. Please continue to pray for all four of us as we wait for our son.

I am so excited it is hard to form a sentance

Friday was such a wonderful day. As you know we where invited to go to a doctors appointment. We where able to hear the heart beat and see an ultra sounds. It was amazing. They scheduled an induction day….Monday at 8am she will be induced. The midwife wanted her to wait until Wednesday but thankfully her social worker stepped in and said that was to long. So we got locked in on Monday! Hooray! After the appointments we went to lunch and than off to the car dealership to find a car for the birth mother. She had bought one earlier that week and it broke down so she asked if Brian and I (mostly Brian) would help her look for a better one. Sure enough she found a great car! It was really nice to be able to spend the day with her and get to know each other better. For Monday, She asked if instead of us meeting her are the hospital if we would meet her at her house and all ride down to the hospital together. We are so excited to be with her every step of the way! It is incredible to know the exact moment that your life is going to change. Brian and I are so excited we can hardly stand it. Today, being fathers day Brian and I are feeling so blessed. My parents are visiting from D.C. so we all went out for a fathers day brunch and than off to Babies R Us to get some last min items that are a must have before Garrett comes home. While we where shopping, I have a horrible habit of checking my email on my phone several time through out the day/hour! I noticed a email from the birth mother, and she said…I just wanted to wish Brian a happy fathers day. Ahhh my heart melted and my eyes filled up with tears. What an amazing thing for her to do. When I told Brian he had the same reaction that I did. We are so blessed to have her in out life, she is an amazing person. Brian and I are staying in a hotel tonight so we can be closer to her house and not have to get up so early in the morning. We just left our house, made sure that it was all picked up and ready for us to leave as two and come back forever as three!

Just a quick update... Still no baby, seven days over due. Although we had dinner with the birth mother tonight. It is always so reassuring when we meet. Both Brian and I are super excited because she asked us to go to a appointment with her on Friday (if she hasn't already had him) At this appointment they will be checking to make sure that there is enough fluid around the baby and will be setting up a time to induce him. Everyone is hoping that he comes sooner and on his own before than! So if you all could

EXCITMENT

December??? holy cats how life gets away! Lots of amazing things have happened for the Erlandson's since December! Here is the really short version... December: Started to get our foster license, but mid way through there was a tugging at both Brian and my heart to stop the process. We didn't know why but we listened. January: I got pregnant! What What?? It was an amazing moment. February: Sadly 7 weeks into my pregnancy I miscarried. But I was lucky to have 2 of my best friends from GA in town to help me through it. March: I turned 28...I know there are so many people that wish they where 28 again but I had a really difficult time with it. Until... April: Brian turned 29!!! Now that made me a bit happier to be 28! Brian and I took a 10 day trip to GA to get out of our 'funk' that we had been in for the last few months, and man o'man was that fun! May: Wow May goes down in the record books...here's where the story begins... May 9th I was photographing a wedding with a friend of mine and I kept getting a phone call from my Aunt, than my sister kept calling. My first reaction was ok what happened? So I snuck away for a moment to call my aunt back and this was our conversation...(actually rewind to October, My aunt called and said there her best friend's co-workers daughter was having a baby and giving it up for adoption, and wanted to know if she would be out of line to mention Brian and I. I of course said she could tell her about us, but didn't give it much thought after that since it seems like everyone knows someone and wants to tell them about you. So we swept it under the rung and really didn't think about it again.) Ok fast forward to May...here is the conversation that my aunt and I had when I was able to call her back... He jeanne its Jill. oh my gosh Jill you know my friends coworker who's daughter is putting her baby up for adoption. yeah well she is asking about you and Brian and wants you to call her mom. Hu?? yeah yeah crazy I know. Jeanne, I am shooting a wedding and going for Margaretta's with the girls tonight, and you are telling me that there is a pregnant woman out there waiting on me to call her mom...holy crap my biggest worry was if i was going to have my Margaritas on the rocks or frozen...holy crap...ok ok (as I am scrounging around the car to find a pen or something sharp to carve the number into something) Ok whats the number. Umm Umm ok ok... I called Brian who was on the way home from the cabin (where the cell phone reception is not good) and all I was able to get out was..."remember when Jeanne called in October about that chick that was putting her child up for adoption? Well she is asking about us"...and the phone went dead! So poor Brian had to drive all the way home 3 hrs. He said it was the longest drive of his life! So I hung up the phone and made what was the most important call that I have ever made at that point in my life. I called the birth mothers mom. She and I chatted for a while and she told me all about her daughter situation and their family. She ended the call by saying, "ok well here is my daughters social workers number, she is expecting your call" I hung up the phone and cried in my car in the driveway. Still at this point I hadn't had a chance to tell Brian what was going on in detail. Finally he came come and we talked about it as we waited for the social worker to call us back. Finally she called and we talked some more about the situation, she asked us some questions and asked that we send in a 'Dear Birth Mother' letter along with some pictures of the two of us and our family. Remember this all is taking place on Saturday and she wanted all this by Tuesday so the birth mother could look at it on Wednesday along with 5 others. So Brian and i frantically wrote the most important letter of our lives. The social worker said that she was going to put our letters and picts in with the other 5 families and not tell the birth mother that we where the friends of her mom's coworker. Just so that there wasn't any pressure. We got a call on Thursday morning saying that the birth mother picked our profile along with another couple, and that she wanted to meet us on Monday. So after 3 sleepless nights I finally picked out an outfit that screamed...I'm hip, I'm fun, I would be a great mother to your child, I and responsible, and I am classy. :) We met the birth mother and two social workers at a restaurant. Brian and I where so nervous. But oddly enough the birth mother said she was really nervous too and after that we all calmed down and where able to chat and get to know one another. She asked us lots of questions and we did the same. Our meeting lasted about 3 hours, as we where getting up to leave, the birth mother asked if we wanted to feel the baby..aahh it was perfect. She let us know that she would know by the end of the week since she was meeting with the other family on Wednesday. Both Brian and I thought the meeting went really good. We just kept telling our self's that we are good people that deserve a baby and if it is not this child it would be another. So the next morning I called her social worker to give her some information that she needed and she told me that the Birth Mother wants to go with us. That she didn't want to meet with the other family, she said it so casually that I made her repeat it a few times. When I hung up the phone both Brian and I where in shock. Since she is due June 10! So it was exactly 5 weeks from when we found out. There was so much to do in 5 weeks...home study...finger prints....get a nursery done...finish all our half done projects. We met with the birth mother again and went over the birth plan and other stuff. She asked that I be in the room with her during delivery and that I cut the cord!!! I was blown away we where really just hoping that she would let us come to the hospital at some point. So to be in the room and cut the cord is so amazing. She also asked if she could name the baby. Both Brian and I thought that would be pretty neat if she did that (as long as it wasn't something really crazy!) Luckily it was a name that both Brian and I loved, something we never thought of be when she said the name it was perfect. She named HIM Garrett, we picked the middle name so his full name will be: Garrett Gregory Erlandson (Gregory is my dad's name) June: Garrett's room is complete! Being that it is a semi open adoption Brian and I where invited to the birth mothers parents house for a BBQ to get to know than and the birth mother on more of a personal level. We had a blast. They are all such great people. Brian and I are excited to start a relationship with them. In the main time Brian finished a bathroom downstairs and a bedroom for when Grandma and Grandpa come up to visit (and hopefully decide that MN will be there new home instead of D.C) June 10th (the due date) came and went. Now Brian, our hospital bags and I all sit waiting on the phone call. Every time the phone rings our hearts jump with excitement. The birth mother is really good about keeping us in the loop on what is going on. She has emailed us every day for the past few days letting us know whats happening. She went to the dr today and is not dilating yet. So if she is still pregnant next Friday she has another appt to check the fluids and figure out what happens next. At that point she will be 11 days over due. So lets all pray that she will have our baby this weekend. My parents are coming up on the 20th (Saturday) to see their first grandchild! Please keep Brian, Garrett, the birth mother and me in your prayers as the next few weeks are going to be emotional for everyone. And i promise to keep you all in the loop!

We are back in action

Wow I am amazed on how many people follow! Now the pressure is on to blog more often I guess you all really are interested in what I though was a boring little life Brian and I lead. As you all know we had our foster home study a few weeks ago, it went perfect, we just have to get a bigger fire extinguisher and reset our hot water heater so it doesn't get hotter than 140 degrees. Unfortunately we have to have someone come and do that for us since our gage is inside the water heater. After that's done, we have to have one more meeting separately. The called it a 'mental health exam' That sounds a little intimidating, but I am sure we will pass! Our home was approved for 2 kids but now that Brian is laid off he is getting the basement bedroom finished so we will be able to be approved for 2 more kids, depending on their gender and their age. We originally where not going to take kids over the age of 2 but as we got talking we decided that we would take children up to the age of 8. So it won't be long before we start to hear the pitter patter of little feet! Also I know that some of you have blogs that I don't have invites to, I would love it if you could send me an invite. jerlandson2005@hotmail.com

Changes

Some great things are happening at the Erlandson house. So I am going to be setting our blog to private. If you would like an invite please shoot me a email. I will not be setting it private next Friday. I will start blogging agian Friday when its set private and hopefully everyone has sent me their emails. You can email me at jerlandson2005@hotmail.com Have a wondrful Thanksgiving, we all have so much to be thankful for!

Happy Fall, Ya'll

Ok Ok I know I have been a HUGE slacker the past few months! Some good things have been going on to make September and October just fly by! First of all my wonderful sister got married in September in Lake Tahoe, CA it was beautiful! Here are some picts... My Grandpa, my hero, turned 98! And still is quick as a whip! He and my grandma decided to make a huge life change and they are moving back to MN...why from beautiful CA to cold MN...other than most of their grand kids are freeze babies...I'm not sure!!! :) On the adoption front, not much to share. But some other exciting news is that we have put in all our paper work for becoming foster parents. This is something that we have both wanted to do for a long time. We actually got all the paper work years ago but being that it was around the time our Invetro failed we both agreed that we just couldn't take anymore heart ache at that time. But we are ready now, and really excited for everything to get rolling with that. We had a meeting with the county social worker and said that we are really interested in the foster to adopt program, but of course we will take children that are not going to be eligible for adoption as well. We where able to put a age limit on the children and we said the oldest we would like would be the age of 3 although would consider older children if they where in a sibling group. Brian jokes that we could go from a quiet house of two to a really really loud house with lots of kids running around within months! Ahh that would be great!! We still have to get a home study done and that has to be through the county, but we scored huge, we already had all the paper work done for the adoption so we kinda slid to the top of the pile in the home study line since we didn't have to wait for letters of recommendation, medical letters ect. We don't have a date set for our foster home study but I will keep you posted! I hope you all enjoyed Halloween, I had a great time 'oohing' and 'aahing' over all the cute kids in their costumes!

Craft Fair....SUCCESS!

I am happy to say that our booth was the busiest on our strip! At times there was a line just to get in! We had a few girls who where most likly middle schoolers that came in and said "this is my favorite booth in the whole fair, I could spend all day in here looking at all the pretty bows!" And the kept coming back, and buying something different every time! The fourth time they came back we told them that they could all pick a free bow and holder for being such good costumers! I have to agree with them it was very appealing to the youngsters eye! Its all about marketing!!! We had such a good time, it was a blast! My mom came up from D.C., some friends from North Dakota came down to lend a hand, and of course as always, my sister was there as well. We had no idea what to expect from a vender's point of view. Knowing when I go to the fair I am usually just there to look, maybe steal a few ideas, and rarely ever buy anything. But we did great! We made just about $3,000! We are so happy about it. Our best seller was the little hair clips($2) that my dad made, and the baby snuggles ($50). We where asked from many of our customers if we where going to be back next year, and I am pretty sure the answer is YES! (unless of course we are out of the country meeting our little one! But even if we are my sister will man the booth!) I was talking with our vendor neighbours and they said that attendance and sales where majorly down this year, with that being said I am THRILLED with the amount we made! Here are some picts of the craziness...

2nd Fundraiser underway

As some of you know, during a moment of instability I signed up for a craft fair. Not any craft fair one of the biggest in MN. Most people work all year making product for this fair, but not us, we started just a few months ago. I just got a letter saying that 100,000 people go through the fair every year! Ugg what did I get myself into!!!! Luckily I have a VERY crafty and supportive family. My dad a very manly man, yet a very wonderful dad has jumped on the crafty ship and has made over 100 bow holders and 400 little girl clips. My mom, an amazing sewer has come up woth so many wonderful things and has been working day and night to make sure we have enough product to stay a float! My parents are coming up from D.C. to help man the booth, and some friends from ND, who I haven't seen since I was 14ish are making the treck down to help out as well. I can not wait to tell our little one how much and how many people loved him/her even before any of us know him/her. This child is going to be showered with love! If your going to be at the craft fair swing by our booth I woukd love to meet my loyal readers! We will be at booth numbe A 02. Hope to see you there!

Practice make perfect....Right?

Talk about a long time without a post! Man I am slacking'! Last weekend my heart melted...Zahria stayed with us for the weekend and what a great time that was. It is so much fun to watch Brian with her. There is nothing more heart warming when she takes his hand and they walk down the street, or when she is needing a little more attention and she walks up to him, throws her arms up and when he picks her up she snuggles right into his shoulder. Ahhh too cute! Although I am a little concerned because he is a major softy when it comes to her! Sweet I know but hopefully he'll get a little tougher when we bring our little on home...or not! :) I just got an email from or coordinator and from what I understood we are not allowed to specify gender anymore. I haven't talked to her yet so my facts may not be 100% correct. But even if that is the case no biggie. I have total faith that no matter the gender the child that is waiting for us will be the perfect child for our family. I will be sure to keep you all updated on that.

Garage Sale

Well it is FINALLY over! After weeks and weeks of thinking that we would not make it through the Garage Sale Extravaganza we are glad to report that we are all alive and well. As for our garage, the aftermath is not quite all cleaned up! We made a trip to the Salvation Army and are waiting for ARC to come this week and grab the rest. We ended up having to use my neighbours garage for all the clothes, shoes and purses. It actually worked out perfectly! We decided to open the sale Wednesday for 3-8 and are we ever glad we did. It was crazy busy we brought in $600 that night and were able to maintain that amount every day. We didn't open on Sat the weather was just to nice and Brian made some rounds to other sales to see what the traffic was like and there wasn't anyone out. They all must of headed up to their cabins! (I know that's where I would of been if I had the chance!)Brian and I where hoping to make at least $1,000 and we are happy to report that we have surpassed that goal and made $1,699.55. I threw in a some change right before I brought everything to the bank to make it an even $1700! Although there is still money coming in. I went out with some gals on Sat night and one of my friends called me to let me know that her aunt ( who was with us that night) handed her an envelope with Garage Sale written on it for Brian and I. People are so generous. We are now 100% focused on the Little Falls Garage Sale in September, than I will be able to breath again! Here are some picts of the sale...

It's about time!

After a lots of days and nights in the hot garage getting ready for our garage sale. Its finally time to open the doors and start the sale! I am super pumped, I am not sure if I am more excited for the extra cash for all our expenses or if I am more excited to get my garage back in order! As of today, may whole garage is full of stuff, my neighbour across the street's garage is full and their neighbour's house as well. We decided that we would have all the clothes,shoes and purses across the street and everything else at our place. With big signs that say MORE -> There was just to much stuff for one garage, it was way to overwhelming not to mention you couldn't walk in there! I do have a fear that no one will show up...same fear I have when I throw parties, I have no idea why I have this fear, but it always ends up being a success! I am worried about the traffic. We live in a neighbourhood so hopefully with all my bright signs, people will be mesmerized and follow them! A special thanks to all my friends and sister who has spent endless hours in my garage sweating their booties off to make this happen. One special thanks to my neighbour Taylor who would have much rather been hanging out with her friends all summer being that she is going into 9th grade. But she has been a solid consistent in the garage sale extravaganza! Thanks all!

My friends are rock stars!

First of all I would like to tell you all what wonderful my friends are! They are amazing! I sent out a email to all my gals the other day, asking if anyone would like to come over and help make aprons. Thinking one or two people would come over for a few hours but to my surprise I had 9 people show up. Some of them staying for 10 hours just trucking away at aprons! Although in the middle of the day we where interrupted by a tornado that took out the power for an hour. So we thought that would be a great time to break out the wine and martini's! We where able to whip out about 120! I am pumped! I was hoping to have at least 500 to bring to the craft fair, I was feeling that, that was a out of reach goal but after today, I don't think that is to much to do. Thank you, Liz, Jamie, Shelby, Darla, Angie, Christy, Stacy, Kelly, and Callie, you all are rock stars!

A week off

Last week I took a girls week. My sister, mom and I went out to CA to visit my grandparents. We droe out to Lake Tahoe to check out where my sister is getting married. It was amazing, words and pictures do not do justice to Lake Tahoe. Although our trip was not totally relaxing it still was nice to get away and lay at the beach/pool, and not feel like I should be doing other stuff. Although I was relaxing at the pool, my wonderful husband was busy doing all the things I would have been doing...faxing papers, filling out papers, finding tables to use for the garage sale, picking up items for the sale, setting up another bank account just for the adoption....and as you know the list goes on! Here are some picts of the beutiful Lake Tahoe...

What a week!

What a week! My mom who lives in D.C. has been visiting for about a week now and what a whirl wind its been! We have been getting ready for the Little Falls Craft Fair for our hopefully biggest and most profitable fundraiser. For those of you whom don't know, the Little Falls Craft Fair is the biggest craft Fair in MN. Around 30,000 people attend it every year. They pretty much close down the city of Little Falls and it turns into one giant Craft Fair. We are making Purses, Child and adult aprons, children's hats and burp cloths. So needless to say we are sewing our little fingers off! Here are some pictures of just a few of the thousands of aprons what we are making if anyone is interested in buying anything let me know! We can personalize everything. Brian my wonderful husband was busy all weekend picking up donations for out enormous garage sale that we are having at the end of Aug. I have had so many people donate to our garage sale that it is taking over 1/2 our basement and our third garage stall! We are thinking about pushing the sale up to the middle of July because we are running out of space to store it all! What a terrible problem to have, right! In between driving all around MN he ran and finished his first 5K run! I am so proud of him he ran it in just over 20 min, that's almost a 5 1/2 min mile. Yahoo My sister is getting married in the fall in Lake Tahoe, so we are taking a girls week and heading to San Fransisco and then driving to Lake Tahoe for a few days. We leave Thursday. What a whirl wind this week has been! On the adoption front, we are filling out the paper work for LMI and hopefully Brian will be sending it in while I am in CA. We have chosen Summit to do our home study so we have been tring to get everything in order for that. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Books

Brian and I went to the book store the other day and searched through the TINY adoption section. We purchased 'The complete book of international adoption' and 'Twenty things adopted children with their adoptive parents knew'. When we got home we searched the web for more and of course we found hundreds. Please let me know what books you have read that you thought where interesting. We are ready to start hitting the books!

O.K. now its offical!

Today, to much of our suprise(we wern't expecting it so soon) Brian and I got a letter in the mail saying that our application for the Kaz program was accepted! Horray! So here starts our adoption process...

Bloogers Unite!

I have been just blown away with how many wonderful supportive people there are out there! Thanks to Christy I have been befriended by so many other bloggers, its amazing. I enjoy reading all of your blogs, yes I am an official blog junkie, thanks Christy, but it is totally worth it! I have even been contacted by a few of you that don't have any connection to what I call the 'Christy Clan!' Its just wonderful. I am taking lots of notes from your blogs, great information for beginners like us we appreciate it. Brian knows my new nightly routine; quick run after work, dinner, wine, couch, check all 11 blogs that I am addicted to, fill Brian in on everything, than bed! How great, thank you all for the supprotive and insprational stories, I look forward to tuning in nightly!