Part 1: A Few Firsts

I have been dreaming for a long time about finally turning our third bedroom into the nursery for our little one. Ever since we moved into our house the third bedroom has been the junk room, ironing room (can it be an ironing room if I iron three times a year?) and the room for my elliptical machine. When we went on the waitlist we decided it was time to slowly start clearing out the room. However, Damon doesn’t really do anything slowly and when he makes up his mind to do something he pretty much goes full speed ahead. What I am saying is that I came home one day and he had pretty much emptied the room in a matter of a few hours. There went the doing it slowly over time. But it has been a tough balance to try and figure out what to do about planning the nursery. With a pregnancy the couple has a clear due date however with adoption there are so many unknowns. A lot of people recommend holding off on the nursery until after receiving the referral. I think one of the ideas behind it is that it can be sad to continuously walk by the nursery and see an empty crib when you aren't sure when that crib will be filled. Also, I think the agencies suggest having as many distractions as possible during the time in between having your referral and waiting for the court date. I obviously don’t know what that is like on a personal level. However, I know from reading other blogs and from talking to my friends here in town that the post-referral/pre-travel stage of waiting is by far the hardest. So we are trying to heed that advice and not get too wrapped up in preparing the third bedroom quite yet. We are taking the approach that if we find a good deal on something we are going to go for it. Who can turn down a good deal?

Confession: We have a crib and it is assembled. I know I am not supposed to but my mom found it on sale at Pottery Barn Kids and she got it for us. I had thought it would get delivered and we would just let the boxes hang out upstairs. I am not sure who I thought I was married to when I had that fleeting thought. Once again, I came home and the boxes were in the garage ready to be recycled and the crib was totally assembled. He just cannot help himself. Other than that, I promise the nursery still has a long ways to go.

We have received a few firsts that I want to document for the little Buster.

First Stuffed Animal: My friend, Nancy, gave this to us. She literally brought it over to us the day after we told her we were adopting!

First Books: I think you can guess a certain librarian (aka Mom) that sent us these. I am glad that I have already started a collection of books, especially books that have African themes and characters.

First Handmade Blanket: Nancy's mother made us this. I was so touched. It is very soft and I love all the colors.

First Nursery Decoration: This is from Land of Nod but is designed by Zid Zid kids. I fell in love with it a while ago and was nervous it would get discontinued so I went ahead and ordered it. I love most of the stuff at Land of Nod and the bonus is that they have a lot of eco-friendly products. You can also get the stuffed animals that are in the quilt directly from Zid Zid kids. Too cute. I will have to keep myself from going overboard.

Obviously, at the core of all of this is we are excited. It is hard to hold off on getting this stuff ready because we are so ready for him/her to be here!!

To be continued. Part 2: We are taking a little road trip to Cleveland on Friday because Damon is super gifted at finding good deals online.