photo of the day

This is my 17 month old, Finley Helen, at the Audubon Zoo last weekend. The weather has been so beautiful, especially for New Orleans this time of year, and all the animals were out, but Finley liked this baby elephant sculpture best… go figure! She is so much fun, but growing up so fast. I am also currently 6 months pregnant which makes just about everything feel like it’s moving faster than normal! I had written you on Facebook about the baby name disagreements between my husband and I thank you for the post yesterday! Keep the names coming, we still have (next to) nothing! The nursery ideas are the greatest too!
~~ Leah

do you have a photo you would like featured for “Photo of the Day?”
please email it to spearmintbaby@gmail.com (subject: Photo of the Day)

DIY Dresser

A fabulous dresser makeover via norskeinteriorblogger.blogspot.com. She used pretty paint and wallpaper to create this amazing look!

Just think of all of the old, ugly dressers on craigslist and at the local goodwill store that you could give new life to….

Randoms from Our Weekend

Win a new dress on Spearmintdecor.com

Hi Mamas! Looking to update your summer wardrobe with a new dress? Stop by Spearmintdecor.com this week to win a new dress from Shabby Apple.

P.S. They also have AMAZING maternity dresses…coupon code on spearmintdecor.com.

Alexa Blog Hop 5/26 – 6/1

Grab This Banner: (this banner links to this week’s Alexa hop so please update your old banner)
<a href="http://www.spearmintbaby.com/category/blog-hop/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.spearmintbaby.com/badges/sb120hop.jpg "></a>

if you’ve been participating in our Alexa Blog Hops the past few weeks, you have probably seen a significant improvement in your Alexa rank. if you are a new blogger looking to decrease your Alexa rank & gain new GFC (Google Friend Connect) followers, please participate.

you will need to install the Alexa Toolbar on your browser. it only takes a few seconds! there are toolbars for Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. (for those that are worried, don’t be. this is NOT an additional toolbar, just a little “A” icon that will show up in your toolbar)

the Alexa Toolbar will allow you to keep track of your daily Alexa Traffic Rank- which will give you an idea of how your blogging efforts are paying off. you can also use it to check out the Alexa Rank of any website.
e.g. Facebook is ranked a 2, Blogspot is a 5, Anthropologie is 5,346, and today Spearmint Baby is 79,877. your Alexa Traffic Rank will most likely fluctuate daily and the lower you are the better.

here are the rules:
*download the Alexa toolbar
*add your blog name & URL to the linky list below.
*then, follow any blogs on GFC that interest you (be sure to leave a friendly comment on their blog letting them know that you are a new follower so they can follow back!) if you are already a follower of their blog, just leave a comment asking them to visit you for the Alexa hop!
*feel free to grab the Spearmint Baby Blog Hop banner & post on your blog to get new people involved. (the more new people the better!)
* please note that i keep this blog hop open all week so you have plenty of time to visit all of the blogs on the list.

we have a 3 cohosts this week: Kelly’s Lucky You, Scraps of Life, & Our Family World. Be sure to follow them as well.

***please post a comment if you want me to follow you***

**for those interested in cohosting, you must have an Alexa rank lower than 200,000 or 1,500 plus followers. contact spearmintbaby@gmail.com for details.

Adoption Baby Bump!!

April 17th, 2011
Since I first started reading your website I have been hoping I would be able to send a “Baby Bump” photo to you. Well here it is…however it is not your traditional baby bump. My baby bump is in the form of a completed homestudy that says we are allowed to become adoptive parents. YEAH!!!! After 2 years of trying to conceive and 6 failed IUI’s we decided to move forward with adoption. On April 11, 2011 our homestudy was finalized and signed. This moves us into the Second Trimester of pregnancy. Our profile books, Birthmother Letter and homestudy has been sent to two different agencies and now we wait…we wait for a Birthmom to choose us…we wait to begin our Third Trimester. While we wait I nest. Sewing new baby clothes, bibs, blankets and more, beginning the nursery, choosing names and basking in the happiness that in a short while our little baby will come home to us. We are told our wait will be shorter than some because we are open to any race. It was important to both of us to be open not excluding a child a home because it may not be the same color as us. We will love this child and expose it’s culture no matter what that culture is.

Thank you for considering to post my non-traditional “Baby Bump” photo. You are an awesome blogger I so love reading your posts!
–
Warmly,
Jessica Herling
Maine Girl Creations
www.mainegirl.typepad.com
www.etsy.com/shop/mainegirlcreations
www.etsy.com/shop/hotyogabags

***UPDATE***
May 9th, 2011
Hi there Shari. Happy Belated Mother’s Day! I hope it was a most fabulous one. I am writing with an update to my baby bump photo and story I submitted a couple weeks ago. We have been matched!!!! I will be the proud Mama of a Baby Boy, his due date is July 1st!!! Can not wait to see your new blog! Have a great day!
–
Warmly,
Jessica Herling
Maine Girl Creations
www.mainegirl.typepad.com
www.etsy.com/shop/mainegirlcreations
www.etsy.com/shop/hotyogabags

are you EXPECTING?

send a photo/s of yourself (and your BUMP) to Spearmintbaby@gmail.com

feel free to include wks pregnant, boy or girl, 1st/2nd/3rd baby, cravings, and/or something interesting about your pregnancy. we all enjoy reading fun pregnancy details!! if you have a blog, etsy store, or website we would love to give you some link love!

Geronimo Balloon-Troopers

Lauren’s post got me brainstorming yesterday. Wouldn’t these be fun for baby’s first year photoshoot? HUGE, round balloons surrounding baby would be so fun!  I love all of the fancy frill.

visit geronimoballoons.com

Distractions are Divine

Missed something? Catch up here.

After the holidays, we had an amazing distraction to get us through the first part of the year. We were selected to be on a new show on HGTV called Secrets from a Stylist with Design Star winner Emily Henderson. You can watch our episode, titled Mantique Minimalism, here.

Our living/dining room before:

And after:

Photos by Laure Joliet. See more here.

The anticipation of filming was the perfect thing to get me through all the worries I had about getting pregnant. I just sort of ignored it for a while. I got my period in December with the help of Provera, but didn’t get it again for two months. Then, in March, I got my period all by myself. I have never in my life been so excited to get my period. My husband and I jumped up and down in the kitchen, that’s how excited we were to see Aunt Flo.

We decided that we would start clomid in April and we were hopeful that this would be our year. Then, I got some terrible news. I received a RIF or reduction in force letter that said I would be laid off at the end of the school year. I was also RIFed two years ago, but it was rescinded right before the end of the year and I was able to keep my job. However, this time my school’s enrollment was projected to decrease, so even if the RIF was rescinded, I would not be able to stay at my school and could be placed anywhere in the district. Even though I’ve worked for the district for four years, I still have the lowest seniority in my subject area because they have laid off everyone below me.

So, I began the job search. In addition to teaching full time, everyday after work I went to as many schools as I could to submit my cover letter and resume. I had a couple of good leads and was ready to interview and land a job.

We wavered back and forth trying to decide whether or not to move forward with our plan to start clomid. I felt kind of stupid trying for a baby when I wasn’t sure if I would have a job after June. At the same time, we felt like if we waited, we’d never make any progress in the baby-making direction.

After discussing it with my therapist, she advised that we see the job situation and the baby situation as two separate issues. She told me not to think of one as dependent on the other and to make a decision on the baby thing without thinking about the job thing. So, with that in mind, we decided to move forward with clomid in April!

Next week: clomid sucks. For real.