Getting ready

I was so wrong.
I thought that once we had been matched - once we knew for sure who our daughter was that this would get easier.
The waiting is hard! 
I've never been very good at waiting - my main mode for being patient is to keep busy with things to distract myself.
So... we have been very busy! 

We built a small extra room in the basement for Adrian to have his own little cozy place.  With stained pine boards and metal wall lights that have moose-shapes cut out, with a rustic duvet cover and and black wall decals that read "Courage means being afraid, and saddling up anyway," Adrian has his own little cabin getaway. 
I'm so proud of Dean for finding a way to cut his own whole in that thick basement wall and put in a new window by himself!  It looks awesome - and that wide window ledge makes a great place for AJ to clutter up with stuffies and knickknacks!

Moving Adrian into his own room, meant Carson could move downstairs to share a room with Kaden.  Those two creative, imaginative souls have quite the disaster constantly.  They seem to enjoy their little pig pen, and get so frustrated when I come down to make them clean up.

Then began the big job of redoing the upstairs bedroom for Bronwyn.  It used to be AJ's room, then Kaden & Carson's, then just Carson's.  Until now. 

--dents in the wall from ramping hotwheels cars off the top bunk

--ketchup stains in the carpet:  looong story...

--peeled off wallpaper trim (which once looked nice for about 3 days before the boys found a loose edge to pick at)

--a large hole in the wall behind the door from someone flying into the room and putting the doorknob thru the drywall

My boys aren't excessively rough - really, they aren't.  It's just that life happens, and my boys do have a lot of ideas about what makes up a fun day.

This is what was left of the room when Carson moved out:

So we began by ripping out the carpet and taking off all the trim.  Light blue went on the walls, and we turned the trim white.  My sister Theresa came over - and she usually brings the party, so things went along with a lot of laugh.

We pulled out the crib - but it took us a long time to set it up.  It seems that in the past 5 years we had forgotten a few of the steps.  Finally we got it figured out.

The big white cubby shelf from the music room came upstairs, and my friend Diane gave us a little white dresser to use. Madison and I had fun filling Baby B's closet and drawers and shelves with pretty little things and cute books and toys.







And then I insisted on a new light fixture.  I hate every one of the ceiling mounted globe lights that were in this house when we bought it.  Thank goodness way back when I'd painted the boys' ceiling years ago, with brown paint, I'd gotten a good splotch on that ugly light.  It just had to be tossed out.  And with a lot of mumbling and nattering, Dean got this one up just perfectly. 



So that's done...

And we still haven't heard when we fly to get our little one...

So I began to collect the thing we might need in China - according to numerous blogs and suggestions from people who have done this before. 

Here are the main things I learned from those who have gone before me:

1. Pack light but bring everything you can think of.

2. Don't bring too much money b/c it's expensive to change it back into Canadian - but bring lots of money because you never know what you'll need.

3. Some people try to travel for adoption purposes with only a carry-on.  But be sure to make enough room to bring back many presents and purchases for baby in the coming years. 

Wow...

But truly, many of the sites and individuals were very helpful, and so I got stashing things in this waiting room.

We are ready as we can be for this new little person!