Andrew and I have been “in the book” for a bit over a year now. During that time, we have made concrete steps towards preparing for a match but it has mostly been just a waiting game. When I started this blog, I planned to do more posts about what we were doing to prepare as we were doing them, but I’ve clearly taken a different approach. So I thought I would share the different steps we have taken to help cope while we wait for a birth mom and birth dad to choose us.

• Before starting this process, we knew which room was going to be our nursery and that we wanted a Winnie the Pooh themed nursery. Our first step in preparing for baby was to paint the nursery. Two Christmases ago now, Andrew got me a hanging wall mural of a scene from the hundred acre wood. So we picked a nice shade of blue that coordinates very nicely with it. For a while, we kept it as a guest room after painting it. Below, see pictures of before, during, and after painting.

• When my sister and her husband were up visiting this summer, I joined them as we went to Baby’s on Broadway to help get them ready for my niece to arrive. While we were there, we learned that there was an amazing sale on the Uppababy stroller my cousins both have and that we really like. So we got our main stroller for our future kid(s). It is flexible for one to two children, newborn and up. When we get a match, we’ll get a carseat and adapter so that it works as a frame stroller. It also has a bassinet that is sleep safe and a normal seat. We can get adapters to be able to have two seats/basinets attached. It is so slick and easy to use! It folds up small and stands when folded. Please excuse the mess in the photo, it was just unboxed and I was so excited to share with my family that it had come.

• Another thing Andrew and I have done to prepare for baby is order (and eventually put together) our nursery furniture. We picked out a set from Target that we like and that fits nicely into the room. While we haven’t put everything in it’s final position yet, we are loving how nice the furniture looks. We are short one guest room but have a nursery ready for baby! Also, ready for visitors since all of our family and some of our close friends have babies or toddlers. In addition to the crib (with bedding) and dresser (with changing top), we also have a matching bookshelf. The only things we still need furniture-wise are a chair and a lamp.

• Buying loads of children’s and baby books. I have a confession, I’m addicted to buying books. Books for me and Andrew to read are great. Books to read to and with our future children and nieces and nephews are even better. Our bookshelf has three shelfs and I’d say that if all the books I had were on the same shelf, it would be a full shelf. I love reading and cannot wait to pass my love of books on to my children.

• We also found a good deal on a pack and play that has a changing top and bassinet attachment for our family room when we get a placement. That way, baby doesn’t need to always be changed and sleep upstairs, but can stay on the main level with us as well.

• The final thing I have been working on to physically prepare for baby is make some decorations for the nursery. As I said before, we have a Winnie the Pooh themed nursery. So naturally, I’m using my cricut machine to make winnie the pooh wall hangings! Check out a couple I’ve made below. These will go up on the walls around the nursery and be able to be used as baby grows up to play around on the mural that Andrew picked out. He also got me 4 baby pooh character cut outs for use with the mural.

• To help with the wait, we are also meeting with other hopeful adoption parents monthly by zoom. These parents are at the same general stage as us with Adoption Minnesota and it is nice to be able to discuss what we are thinking and how the wait is going together. Starting in April, we’ll have a baby care class for 4 sessions and we are really looking forward to that!

Andrew and I are looking forward to being parents so much. Sometimes the wait is hard, sometimes it is easier. I’d love to know what else you all did to help be ready for baby, comment below!

~Natalie