I know I haven't written in awhile, but life has been a bit crazy! From putting a crib together (we didn't argue at all!) to scoring some great consignment things we have been busy preparing our lives for a baby. We have been in constant contact with the expectant parents and have loved the way our relationship is developing. In fact, this past weekend we headed to Florida to meet them.
To say I was nervous was an understatement. I couldn't help but have crazy thoughts running through my mind like "What if she sees us and hates us" or "What if she thinks we are annoying and changes her mind". The day we met them, I was nervous ALL morning. Jim, on the other hand, was uncharacteristically calm. I kept asking him why he wasn't nervous. He told me he felt that they are going to scrutinize me more as I will be a stay at home. Gee thanks for calming my nerves, Jim!
Out of respect for the expectant parents I will not go into great detail about the events of the trip, but I will say that when we met, we embraced and felt like we had known each other forever. We hadn't talked much to the expectant dad so I was almost more nervous to meet him, but he was super sweet and kind. We spent over 7 hours with them and got to know quite a bit about them and they got to know more about us.
On Mother's Day weekend we found out what the expectant mom was having (we are keeping it off facebook for now). The expectant mom told us previously that she did not have a preference for names but we insisted that we wanted her to have a small part of the name so we asked her to come up with a middle name we could use as the baby's second middle name. She gave us a suggestion but told us that if we decided not to use it we would not be offended. Well, she asked us while we were together if we had decided on a name yet for the baby now that we knew the sex. We shared the name with her and she cried when we told her the name as we are indeed using that name that means so much to her.
We also went to the beach with the expectant parents. I had never been to the Atlantic Ocean before (I have been to the Pacific though) and so I was so excited to spend time at the beach. We walked along the shore and took some pictures. It was a picture perfect day. We ended our time with them with dinner. It was such a great weekend and we felt that having met them a lot of our fears dissipated. We still realize that there is always a chance that expectant parents will change their mind, but we are choosing to not spend this last month (her due date is June 21st) not living in fear, but embracing the experience of preparing for a baby.
To this end, we are headed to Canada this weekend to attend a baby shower my mom and sister are throwing for us. Every adoptive parent-to-be feels differently about baby showers. Some prefer to not have a shower before the baby is here, and others embrace the whole experience of a traditional baby shower. We decided to split the difference. On Jim's side of the family, we will be having a 'long distance baby shower' beforehand but will have an official 'meet the baby' party after the baby is with us. We are excited to celebrate with family and friends, and we figure even if this expectant mom changes her mind, we will eventually be rematched and need lots of baby items.
Words cannot express how grateful we are to family and friends for supporting us! We look forward to celebrating with all of them in the near future.
