After the visit

Yesterday, the licensure came for our "home visit". It was the complete opposite of what I thought it would be. Let me tell you, I cleaned like I have never cleaned before for this visit! She was here for about 2 hours and only took 10 minutes tops actually doing the walk through of the house. When she first got here, she wanted all of us to sit at the kitchen table and talk. Lucy of course was barking and trying to jump and I don't think she was an animal person. Tomcat decided he needed to keep jumping on the kitchen counter or the table we were sitting at too. She probably thought we were a crazy zoo- which we are. Anyhow, she asked us a lot of questions about how we met and how long we'd been together, but then she wanted to know about our families and how and where we grew up. She was writing everything down as we talked. It was a bit unnerving. She asked C about his transitioning and didn't seem taken aback or offended by it at all. Living in Vermont has it's perks. All in all, I think it went pretty good and she was pretty nice too.

The next step is her calling our doctors/therapists, I guess to make sure we are not certifiable. After that she has to write up a report and will send our license in the mail. It will be good for 3 years and only 1 child. So, soon we will be licensed and I still have a very clean house!

I'm freaking out

fMay 19th... They called and set up a date for our home visit. She said it would take a couple of hours. I guess I'll be cleaning like a mad woman until then! That is all...

The waiting game

If you know me at all, you know just how impatient I am. (go ahead and laugh, I'll wait..) Okay, so I basically have no patience when it comes to something I want, which is why this situation is slowly driving me crazy. We only have one more teleconference class left, the baby room is pretty much done , and we have bought and/or received all those little things we need. Now, we just need one crucial thing: a baby. Every time my phone rings, my heart stops because I am both equally excited and terrified about getting a baby. So, we must play the waiting game. In the meantime, here are my big furry babies making themselves at home on the changing table:

It's getting there...

The "baby room" is slowly, but surely coming along...







We finished our classroom classes yesterday, and have started the teleconference classes as well. The home visit should be soon, but we could get called at any point now, before even having the home visit. Scary and exciting at the same time!

C's first "fatherly duty"

Working hard putting the crib together...






All finished!



The funny part is that once he was done, we had to drag it upstairs and realized it wouldn't fit through the bedroom door. C had to take some of it apart and re-do it! Hey, I never said we were experts. We're new at this stuff! Next to tackle- the changing table...
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The essentials

We are buying the "essentials" for the baby room. It was so hard to find crib bedding that wasn't too expensive, is gender neutral and wasn't pink or blue, but still had a modern look to match the rest of our house. This is what we finally settled on. We also bought a very simple crib and changing table. I still feel like we need to buy a million more things before our home visit. Here is my list of essentials so far:

crib
changing table
car seat/stroller
baby monitor
baby gates
outlet covers
high chair

Am I missing anything? I'm sure I am...
We have 3 more classes left, then it's 4 teleconference classes, and next week we get fingerprinted!

Change of plans

I may have to change the name of this blog a little. After many discussions, C and I have decided to stop tying to get pregnant. I haven't let it go completely, but it is definitely on the back burner for right now for many reasons. I have always wanted to adopt, but the amount of money you need is ridiculous. For a private adoption, you're looking at over fifty grand, and even in some small agencies here in Vermont, the minimum would be around twelve grand. Who can afford this? It makes me sick. Anyway, this led me to look further into fostering/adopting through the state. I was under the impression that we would have to foster older kids or teens and C and I agree that this is definitely not what we want. Call me selfish, but I want a baby dammit! Plus, most of these school age kids obviously have a lot of problems that I'm not sure we're ready to deal with. I was pleasantly surprised when I spoke to the director of the program that wanting a child maybe 2 or under is just fine. She knows our intent is to adopt, but we are going to be "emergency foster parents" as well. I'm amazed the amount of money you get and they pay for health insurance and daycare. Of course I have fears about fostering and adopting too. I'm worried I won't bond with a child that is not biologically mine, but at the same time I'm also worried that I'll get too attached to a baby that we can't adopt and have to give back. I'm always so black or white.

We started the classes that we are required to take. There are 6 classes that are once a week for 3 hours. I've enjoyed the 2 classes we've gone to already. It's like taking a child development class for free. I think the next step is a home visit. We need to get the baby room set up for that as soon as possible. My biggest challenge is trying to find a daycare. It's hard enough to find one, much less find one that will hold a place for you and this child that you don't have yet, so this is my mission now. I wish we could afford for me to stay home or work from home maybe. This is a statement I thought I'd never say, but it's true. I would love to be a stay at home mom. So, this is the next step in our crazy journey to become parents. I will keep everybody informed of what's going on. Wish us luck!