It's September and the surprise addition is due to be born some time this month. Between the busy-ness of our lives and my own difficulty accepting this turn in our lives, I'd been putting it off doing anything to get ready, beyond accruing some baby clothes. This weekend I found some free time and got started nesting for our new baby. Since this is our fourth child in four and a half years (over-achievers, making up for lost time, call it what you will!) we have most of the things we need. I dug out our Moses basket and a baby blanket, found the baby monitor, and cleared space in the low-boy dresser in Water's room.
Since there will be six of us in a 3 bedroom house, the current plan is to have the baby sleep in our room until she (Elizabeth has always said that it's a girl and I hope she's right because I just bought a bunch of second-hand girls clothes!) outgrows the Moses basket. When we're ready to move the baby to the crib, we'll switch to a boy's room-girl's room set up, with Water and Fire sharing one room and Sky and the baby sharing another.
We still don't know when the new baby will be coming home to us but our best guess is later in October. My RMI law, the court date must be at least 30 days after the baby's birth. That means that even if the baby is born today, the earliest we could go to court would be the first week of October. I'm guessing there will be some delays in getting Jobe's notarized consent, since he didn't want to travel to Majuro for court, and then a wait for an open court date. All that adds up to it being at least 6 weeks before we'll need any of these baby things.
I'm so glad that I made the time to do this, even though there's still a wait. I'm getting genuinely excited and having to hold my tongue when I see Ms B in the morning, to keep from asking her if she's heard anything from Elizabeth in Majuro!