Preparation . . .

Most expectant parents have about 9 months to prepare for the arrival of their baby.  On the other hand, we seem to have been given an endless amount of time to make our "nest".  We have purposely postponed a lot of baby-prep stuff just so we will have something to do as the time draws nearer.  We decided early on, about 4 months into the wait,  that we would wait to fix her room.  The thought of a decorated yet empty room was a little much for us.
The first few months of our wait, I jumped in and started collecting diapers and wipes that I could get on sale.  I made it a little game for myself- I looked for coupons and subscribed to formula companies like Similac and Enfamil to receive free samples.  I accumulated around 1097 diapers and Larry thought it was best I stop there, I agreed since that was a pretty good stockpile.  I also have a huge assortment of wipes and can't really give you a number there.  The funny thing, (I have to find humor in the wait), I had to give away all the formula because it was going to expire prior to our Little One's arrival and now the characters printed on the waistband of the diapers are not so popular or recognizable anymore.  I'm sure if anyone in our church nursery ever changes her, they'll think I bought the diapers at some on-line retro diaper emporium (if there ever was such a thing).
We have also participated in several Cyber-Baby Showers with two different yahoo groups on-line.  We would sign up in a database and then the moderator of the website would draw names and we would choose gifts according to themes and mail them within a certain time period.  We received everything from meal time items, blankets, pajamas, story books, bottles, towels, to stuffed animals, dresses, and matching shirts, pants, and sweaters as well as photo albums.  We've tried to resist buying much since we are unsure of her size and the season of  the year in which she'll come home.  But this year, may just be a year for a little retail therapy!!!!  We have bought a few things that were "irresistible" and we bought those in larger sizes or they were things that could be worn for a few different seasons.
We spent two weekends ago cleaning out the room we had designated as the computer/nursery/ home office/junk room.  We minimized and got rid of things, moved/relocated the computer and switched items around in the closets (still have more work to do in the closets though)  But we made a big dent in the task before us!  So this is how we are nesting and we will keep you updated as we go . . .