Preparing for the Arrival of Our Children...

We don't have a referral yet, but, we are starting to prepare ourselves and our doggie daughters for the arrival of our two little ones. 

Last weekend, Doug and I attended a Central Massachusetts Ethiopian Adoption Family party.  Although we were the only family without children, I am so glad we decided to go!  Any earlier, and I wouldn't have been ready.  I felt good about going, and so did Doug.  The families embraced us, as many new what we had been through.  I finally met Liz and her absolutely adorable daughter, and for that I am grateful.  I have been "stalking" her blog since September, so it was so wonderful to finally meet them both!  And, I finally met the family that I spoke to in September, about their adoption adventure when Doug and I were seriously considering siblings.  The best part....they only live 4 miles away...a hop, skip and a jump from my Mom on the lake.  Our children will be pretty close in age, so I am grateful that our kids will have playmates close by.

We also took both Abbey and Ellie to meet a dog trainer.  Its probably more for us than it is for them :)  Both girls are well behaved, its just that the younger one gets really excited, and I don't want our wooshas to scare the little ones.  We signed them up for 2 private lessons, and 9 group lessons.  At the end, they will take their Canine Good Citizen test.  Hooray!!  Neither are use to being around children a lot, so the classes will expose them to children of all ages, in a controlled environment.  The trainer said the ~3 year old will be the toughest challenge (for the human), since the child is at eye level as our dogs, and dogs can potentially see them as a threat.  So, we will be working on not over-using their names, and learn to say "no" only when we mean it.  That way, when they hear it, they will know we mean business :)))

We are finishing all of the projects around the house.  From carpeting our stairs (we ordered the rug in Feb, and are set to get it installed on the 20th), painting, replacing wood rot under our front door, finally getting a new light fixture for our dining room installed (let's just say the previous owners had very different decor taste than Doug and me!  A little on the gaudy side.  They were Italian, and since I am half-Italian, I give myself permission to say something like that), and, a ceiling fan/light for our master bedroom.  We bought a bench for our living room (perfect for putting shoes on, and taking them off), and a bistro table for our deck.  That should just about do it.  Actually, it has to do it, 'cause we still have to save $$ for our two trips to Ethiopia (and perhaps a long layover in London on the way to court).

And, my awesome and thoughtful Mom stopped over today to bring us our Easter gifts.  Among many neat things, she bought us an Amharic CD so we can start to learn the language.  We listened to some of it, and laughed.  What a tough language!  I am leaving tomorrow for another (and final) trip to Buffalo for the week, and Doug made a copy for the car.  I am on a mission......

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, and for all of my fellow New Englanders, I hope you enjoyed this beautiful weather!!!