it's starting to feel real

So I came home from NY late last Wednesday and starting to feel the weight of everything I needed to get done.  We don't even have a car seat for Anna!  And don't even ask about her room.  It's still our "spare room" where we stuff and store everything we've never needed over the past 5 years.

So for the past few days, we've been sorting, cleaning and organizing. I meant to only sort and clean out Anna's room, but somehow the project has expanded and now we have boxes everywhere. We've succumbed to the idea of having a moving/garage sale (but I'm hiring my niece and nephew to run it for me, since the thought of haggling over a 50 cent item makes me nauseous) and so we now have boxes for the garage sale. Which means we had to clean out the storage unit in the back yard to make room for the garage sale items. Which means we had to move some things out of the storage room and where do you put that stuff?

I think you get my point.  This place is box city and we're running out of places to put things.

On a positive note, we've been talking to Ryan a lot about Anna. We've told him that mommy and daddy are going to bring her home to live with us. He knows that she will be using his old high chair, but he is not quite ready to give up his baby crib (which we left up since we knew it was a matter of time before Anna came to us).  But for the first while, we are going to try the family bed with Anna sleeping with us (Tony is thrilled!). I am learning that parenting an adopted child - especially an institutionalized child is quite different. For example, leaving Anna in her crib crying for a few minutes so she can learn to self soothe? That theory is out the door.

So that's where we are - so much to do this week! I received Anna's measurements and they don't make any sense to me so I'm not sure if the clothes I've bought are going to fit. I'm going to go buy lice treatment stuff, scabies cream (anybody else starting to scratch?) but I think I'm going to forego the recommended surgical mask and suffer through the air pollution.  But other than that, just a normal week around here at the Smart home!