Be Prepared!

So Kristen has been trying to get me to write a blog for a couple of days now and I figured that now is the perfect opportunity.  Today has basically been a "drafting day" and anyone familiar with engineering and AutoCAD knows that basically means you put on your headphones, kick up some good music and just work the day away.  This is also the time that I do most of my thinking – which could be good or bad, depending on the topic!  Today is a good day, calm down Kristen.  Eesh.

Last night was our second Adoptive Parenting meeting and I really enjoy these.  Not only does it give us a chance to meet people who are in the same situation that we're in, the counselors provide topics for us to be thinking about as we are going through the Long Wait.  Last night's topic was "The Last-Minute Placement" which was definitely on my Top 10 things to know about adoption.  When I think about a last minute placement everything in me starts to freak out.  This is how it could work, people:  I could be right in the middle of a good thoughts drafting day and BAM! there's a phone call from the agency that says there is a healthy baby at the hospital waiting for us to come pick him/her up.  We would have 20 minutes to decide if the information that the counselor has given us about the birth family is acceptable.  TWENTY MINUTES that could possibly change the rest of our lives FOREVER.  GO!

First thought?  Holy.  Crap.  Technically that might be two thoughts, but whatever.  (FYI:  those were the same words that I used when at the meeting last night when the counselor asked us what we would be feeling in two words.)  What about work?  What about the cats? Are we packed?  Do we have enough stuff?  How long are we going to have to plan to stay in the town/at the hospital with the baby?  Are we really ready for this emotionally/physically/financially?  I guess the simple, honest answer to all of those is:  No.  But you can never really be fully ready, right?  The nursery is painted, the furniture just needs to be picked up from a friend's house and we are slowly but surely buying onesies and bottles and blankets.  Emotionally, I'm so ready for this process to come to an end.  Our baby plight has taken us over a 2 year period and that's long enough.  I'm ready for my life to be about more than just Kristen and I.  I'm ready to focus on someone else now.  Financially, we're about as ready as we're ever going to be.  We have savings and checking and 401k's and families that would be there in a heartbeat should something come up that we couldn't afford.  I'm not really worried about that.

This is what I'm worried about:  As much as Kristen and I have in common, we are COMPLETELY different.  Love her to death, but my partner is a procrastinator.  Probably one of the biggest things that we fight about in our relationship.  I'm a planner.  It literally IS my job.  I have to jungle sometimes up to 15 projects a WEEK, kicking them along to meet the next deadline.  My job is all about being on time and delivering exceptional projects because if I don’t, the next drafter/engineer/firm will.  I was also a Girl Scout and you know the motto:  Be Prepared.  I'm just sayin'.  I mention all of this stuff now because we were sent a screening email about a week ago that sent me (the planner) into a tailspin of "oh-my-god-this-could-really-happen-tomorrow" freakout session and it didn't seem to affect Kristen (the waiter)  in the least.  This KILLS me.  So needless to say, I now have a borrowed car seat and stroller, onesies and blankets and burp rags.  Calls are in to my brother to borrow his truck and go and get the furniture from Gretchen.  Mom (who couldn't be more ready to be a grandmother) is getting ready to buy a crib.

I know that we shouldn't be getting a whole bunch of things because then there won't be anything for our friends to get us if they want to but listening to them talk last night the Adoptive mother that had been put in a last minute placement situation was saying we'd be going through 4 to 6 onesies a DAY.  I only have a pack of 4 right now!  I totally don't want to buy a bunch of things and ruin anything for our friends/family, but I want to (in stereo now!)  Be Prepared.  I want to make it so that we can spend the first few days bonding as a family and not bickering because we don't have enough or rushing out to go pick up things at the last minute.  That's all.

I think that we came to a compromise last night at around 11:00 as I was trying to pack for my trip home this weekend.  We're going to buy one or two things a month so that we have something to look forward to every month.  This solves the problem of Kristen not wanting to be "too ready" and my "I can't be ready enough" issues.  We also promised to not make big purchases (the car/stroller combo and crib (sorry, Mom) without the other person there.  So guess what?

I'm totally using my one or two things a month card for this weekend and going shopping with Mom while I'm home.  Bazinga!  (Big Bang Theory reference).