Babies Need Stuff

Note: This post was written a few days ago. We chose not to publish it immediately until we had more information about the situation!

So when our last post left off, we were pretty close to setting up an initial meeting with an expectant mother. There was just a bit of clarification we were waiting on from Courtney (the counselor), but we were definitely leaning towards saying "yes". Well, that information got settled, we agreed to the meeting, and set it up for the following Thursday. That meant almost a full week of nothing but nervous waiting for us!

In the meantime, we quickly discovered how entirely unprepared we are for a baby. I don't mean mentally or emotionally; that side of things is good to go! No, I mean in terms of actual, physical stuff. If a baby were to show up at our home today, we'd be woefully unprepared. Now, don't get me wrong - we actually planned it this way. We wanted to avoid having an empty nursery sitting around for potentially years as we waited, and so we planned on not buying anything until a call came. What we didn't plan on was getting picked so quickly! The hope was that we'd have a list of necessary baby items ready to go. But, I guess that wasn't meant to be.

So on Sunday it was time for a trip to Babies 'R Us to find out just how screwed we are. Wow, I had no idea how much "stuff" babies need! There's diapers, there's wipes, there's bottles and pacifiers; cribs, pack and plays, bouncers, and more. Just looking at the sheer amount of merchandise available was enough to make my head spin. And all that was before we got to the baby clothes.

Now, I'm pretty sure that baby clothes are the most adorable thing in the known universe. I mean, who wouldn't love a little child dressed up in a monkey onesie? Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?), Brian had laid down some ground rules before we went in: we weren't there to actually buy anything. Since this was only a potential placement and we hadn't even met the expectant mother yet, we were only there to make a list. *Sigh* So, no cute baby clothes for me that day. But sometime soon, I hope!

I started the weekend pretty overwhelmed by how much we had to prepare for the arrival of a child. After we got through making our lists, I realize that we still have a lot to do, but that it's also going to be at least manageable. But if this placement does indeed happen, the next six weeks are going to be a wild ride!