Nesting...and pics

February will be here before we know it and that is the month-the end of the month when we will begin the process of selecting our daughter!!  That reality has got me so excited and I'll have to say very anxious as well.  I have been working on both her room and our boys room forever it seems.  The boys room is finally done!  It has been such a job to neatly combine all of their belongings into one room and closet.   I wanted enough separation for all of their things-clothes and toys-to provide both ownership and accountability for their belongings.  The boys have been sleeping in the same room in bunk beds (which you can see that we don't make them up often-it is a workout)  ever since we moved David out of his crib and into a "big boy" bed.  But we've had the luxury of keeping the toys and clothes scattered between the two bedrooms.   I have been doing so much painting!  I painted the boys' furniture red and bought some stair boards and wooden brackets that Andrew screwed together and then I painted them as well. But finally, it is done.  Kailyn's room is finished as well except for a small shelf I am painting and a picture with her name on it that I plan to have done soon.    I haven't hung the curtains either so that they won't hang there collecting dust for months.  But I feel so accomplished in how far we've gotten that I wanted to go ahead and post a few pictures of the rooms!!

Kailyn's dresser is the dresser we bought out of the paper used when we lived in Dothan.  Andrew painted it when I was expecting Joseph and it has been our baby furniture ever since.  I think the cream will work for a girl for quite a while though.  The bookshelf below was a 10.00 find at kids market and I painted it and the bedside table to match.  The small shelf I am repainting was mine when I was a teenager.  I intend to fill the shelf with finds from China to add a little heritage to her room!   I am not sure if we'll use a babybed at first or not (which we have).  It will depend on her age.  If she is 2-3, we'll likely do with her what we did for Joseph.  The mattress and box springs on the floor against the wall with a bedrail-so she is closed in on 3 sides.  This way there is a bed big enough for co-sleeping at first if necessary.  (A very real likelihood and recommendation for forming attachment to the parents. )   We have never let our boys sleep with us except when traveling or when they are sick.  But we've never really had an issue with it either.  It isn't something I look forward to-it just means she'll be sleeping and I won't. 

Besides the room, now that the paperwork process is done, I have been trying to use my free moments to read other peoples adoption blogs, and review some of the training we have been through.  I just ordered three adoption parenting books that were recommended and I hope to find enough time to read at least most of them before we travel.  I feel as if I am preparing for a final exam where the professor has just told me to just know everything.  And that is not realistic or even necessary-but I think that is just the nesting mode that I am in.   And the language!?!  I have heard that the children pick up the new language so fast-but I hate the helpless feeling of not being able to communicate fluently with her.   There is just so much that you should and could prepare for and no way to know exactly what you may encounter.  But this is just where I have to trust that God will lead us to prepare exactly the way we need to because He knows exactly who Kailyn will be and what she will need!  

Amy