Rachel's Blatherings: WOW!

WOW!

Ok, so I have been in on every stage of the development of the kids' beds from the initial design to choosing the wood, from being the lovely shop-assistant to keeping the kids out of the staining room, and finally helping with the assembly and I just cannot believe how beautifully the beds turned out!

Early in the process we started joking about how the beauty of these would be totally wasted on little kids who would abuse and misuse them! Oh well. Aaron says it was a great learning vehicle for future projects. What thing to do for instruction's sake, eh?! :)

Some details for those who may be interested: Basic construction is from maple that was reclaimed from garage sales! The BEEEE-u-ti-ful inset is bubinga (a West African exotic)veneered to maple plywood (so that the "inside" view is contiguous). The maple is stained but not the bubinga. There are enough pieces of everything to "unbunk" them and have two regular twin size beds OR to have the lower bed without any safety rails and the upper bunk with two so that you wouldn't have to be against the wall. And, that's about all the technical stuff I know. If you are really interested, email me and I'll have the man tell you whatever you want to know.

Anyway, we put them together on Saturday. It took nearly all day with the little mishaps and test runs by the kiddinkidinks, etc. It's funny how you think something is going to work a certain way, but when it comes down to it, it doesn't! Now, for your viewing pleasure...the photos...

Punk and Bear helping Dadders with initial assembly.
One of the things we didn't foresee was that the slats would need to be permanently installed. A was hoping not to because it was just added weight for if we ever unbunk, but they were sliding all over the place and we couldn't imagine being able to make the beds under those conditions. Plus, they were too easy to remove and we were afraid the kiddinkidinks might get hurt!

Another last minute fix was that the rails were actually too tall and the kids could slide between them and the mattress! Yikes! Plus, the braces were too flimsy, so A is remaking them out of wood instead of metal strips. (Speaking of "strips," I did tell Punk he couldn't be in the photo naked, but he snuck in!)

Since this is Pea's first experience in a real bed (rather than a PackNPlay or a mattress on the floor), we decided to put a safety rail up for her too.

Here A has removed the rails to work on them. We put them back on before they slept in them.

I was trying to get a shot of how beautifully shiny the bubinga is, but "all" I captured was the way the bubinga plays with the light. This is absolutely the most beautiful wood I have ever seen. Those ripples look three-dimensional from certain angles. Anyway, it's sooooo shiny you can actually see yourself in it like a very dark mirror! Altogether gorgeous!

All set up! Now we just have to work on that bed-making chore. But, since Mama never learned that one...

Look how ginormous their room looks now! There is so much space to play!

A happy helper and his best bud!

Now, Aaron still has many projects to do for me (just wait til we get to work on the storage armoir we're designing!), but we'll be taking orders in 2009! ;)

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Round Two Timeline

9/24/08 Home study update home visit for Ghana adoption
10/15/08 Dossier sent to AOHG
10/15/08 I600A application sent to USCIS
10/30/08 First heard about possible domestic private adoption
11/18/08 Last spoke with contact about possible domestic adoption; expected to hear back about meeting with birthmother
12/3/08 Withdrew application from AOHG
1/6/09 Found out another family had been chosen for possible domestic adoption
1/21/09 USCIS fingerprinting appointment
1/8/09 Received USCIS fingerprinting appointment notice
4/11/09 Sent Pre-Application to Covenant Care Adoptions for Domestic Infant Adoption program
6/8/09 Social worker visit to update home study from International to Domestic
7/24/09 Received completed home study update
8/25/09 Went "on the list" for birthfamilies to choose from
4/28/10 Found out a birth mom had chosen us
5/8/10 Met the birth mom
5/11/10 Got the call that birth mom changed her mind
5/19/10 Birth mom's scheduled c-section
11/30/10 Visit from DSS sw about foster parenting
11/30/10 Got the call that another birth mom had chosen us
12/21/10 Met with the birth mom
1/15/11 @1:42 PM BB was born!
1/19/11 ICPC (interstate) paperwork sent to GA for approval
1/31/11 ICPC Clearance Approved
2/10/11 Placement Ceremony and Pup comes home!!!!
8/3/11 It's Official! Pup's Adoption Decree was issued