51

Fifty-one days until I get on a plane headed east to my baby girl.

While it seems like a long time, there are so many things rushing through my head that I want and need to get done before she comes home, I can't think straight. I'm trying to just accomplish as much as I can each day, but it's all so overwhelming, I end up feeling like I've accomplished nothing.

Today, I finished painting her small dresser. It was grandmother's in her last apartment. I also finished painting her baby doll cradle. I spent two hours in her room going through the piles of stuff and trying to organize. Everything this is too big or too small for her is now in either a storage box or a bag designated for the orphanage (too small items). All items are sorted by categories into a separate drawer: socks, shoes, hair bows/headbands, diapers, books, bibs (how did I end up with over 20 bibs??), toys, sleepers, blankets. We have not painted her closet and installed the closet system yet. That is "still to come". I did install the plug covers tonight as well. There are still some boxes to move out of her room. I need to order her curtain and hang it and finally finish the stencil I started ages ago. We still have the things to hang on the wall.

And, that's just her room. How can a baby so small take up so much space? This week we will enter the "forties" of our wait. Time is passing -- surprisingly more quickly than I thought. I hope we will be ready.