Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Home Safety Review

Monday, we had our first home inspection. Over the weekend, Chris, Hondo and I deep cleaned the house. We made sure to mow and clean the backyard, deep clean everything inside the house and emptied out stuff in the garage.  I was a bit nervous because I didn't know what to expect and I didn't know if our house was "ready" enough to have a kid in there. When Barbara (from our agency) called to schedule the home inspection she told me to plan on 2 hours. Me being an OCD clean freak thought to myself, this place better be spotless if she's going to be here for 2 hours! What would she possibly be looking at if she was going to be there for that amount of time? Turns out that it went a lot better than what I expected.
 
 When she first got there she went over some paperwork that we needed to finish. We have about 5 more things we need to turn in. Then she continued with the home inspection checking drawers, temperatures, smoke alarms, bedrooms, bathrooms, backyard, everything. We didn't really know what to prepare beforehand so for not knowing, I would we say we did a pretty darn good job. There were only minor things she found that we have to fix. For example, we need outlet covers, some locks to lock our cleanings supplies, we need to buy a first aid kit, hide a little bit of our cords, and set up the baby room. The "biggest" problem was the wood that we have outside. They have nails on them so we need to take them off and Chris has some tools in the garage that need to be put away. And that to us was still an easy fix.

So after she was done inspecting, she went over those things with us. And she was really impressed with everything we have already accomplished. As of right now, she told us that we are about 85% done with the process. Other than the last few papers that need to be turned in, we have one last class we have to attend, some interviews with our social worker (that will soon be assigned to us) and our final home study. So we are almost there!

Now comes the fun part. We get to decorate the baby room! I have waited for this for a while now and I'm really excited. Chris got some paint from his buddy yesterday. So hopefully this weekend we will be able to start painting. Two weeks ago, we bought a 4 in 1 crib that we got a super good deal on. It's super nice because the crib turns into a toddler bed so if we end up getting a 3 year old, we can still use it. Since we are willing to adopt up to two kids, we need to go buy another one and also buy some car seats. I'm really going to have some fun with this. I have always had baby fever so this makes me really excited! We couldn't be any happier with what has been going on so far and we can't wait to finish the process. We will keep you all updated as we take the next final steps.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Update

 There has been quite a bit that has happened since the last post. Here are a few updates:


  Our agency told us that one of our requirements was to complete 24 hours of training. They provided classes for us but they didn't know if they had any openings for us until January. I was not too happy with having to wait that long but luckily in October, we were fortunate to get in. Most of the classes focused on trauma, but I honestly believe that those classes also taught us how to prepare ourselves to become good parents. 


There were a total of 3 packets of paperwork we had to fill out. Earlier this week, we were able to finish the last of our paper work packets and send them off. We also took CPR classes and are now certified. We stopped by lowes and picked up a fire extinguisher for our up coming home inspection on the 29th of January. 

We are extremely nervous and excited for everything that is happening! Now the holidays are over and the new year has begun. We have an extra boost of energy and excitement to finish the last few items we need to check off our list.