All creatures great and small (poop)

Today was the big in-home visit for our international adoption home study. Yay. It was kind of an anxiety-producing event. It's not everyday that you have someone coming into your home to approve or deny your home's suitability for a child. It's strange to think about child-proofing a house for a child that we know very, very little about. It seems like something most parents probably do at the end of the process. I know I would have. We'd have the crib, the colors, the blankies, the toys, the clothes, the bottles, be walking out the door to the hospital and then think, um, hope the little kid doesn't want to stick its fingers in a socket, because we don't have socket covers. Not so now! Right now, I hope the kid doesn't want any of that other stuff, but if the child wants to stick its finger in a socket, we've got those covered!

So, obviously, we're busy last night double-checking every little detail. Fire extinguishers, check. Carbon Monoxide detector, check. Knives and fireworks, um...

Just kidding. I don't have any of those.

Anyway, one of the things we do have now is a new rug. Check out Mrs. Bailey's blog for pictures. It looks great; I like it. I like it more than the semicolon use in the previous sentence. It gives a nice fresh feel to our main living area, and out of all the things that needed thorough cleaning last night, it wasn't one of them. Which is good because we're double-checking and double-cleaning everything else.

And then, we wake up. Early for Mrs. Bailey, usual time for me. I take the dog running so he'll be super-tired and less jumpy when the case worker arrives. I clean up and begin the wonderful process that all morning people go through: waiting for the rest of the world to catch up. About that time, Owens gets a little anxious.

And by anxious, I mean throw up. On the brand new rug. That we hadn't had to worry about cleaning. Because it was brand new. And did I mention it was brand new. At the time, I didn't have the clarity of mind to see it for the sweet gesture it really was. At the time, I politely said, "Really? Are you kidding me?" and let him go outside. But now? Now I think it was such a sweet thing for him to do. Clearly, Owens understood the significance of this morning's visit and clearly he could sense our anxiety. That was clear. Like, 6 paper towels and 15 squirts of Febreeze clear.

Clearly, he just wanted to remind us that we have nothing to worry about. Adding a child to our family will just mean one more member of our house that needs help and makes noise when it wants to poop at 3 in the morning (that'll make 5 of us). It'll mean just one more member of our house that whines when it wants to be fed (that'll make 4 of us). And just one more member of our house that throws up at the worst possible times (just 3 this time). Thanks for the reminder, O. Next time, a card will do.