Nesting....adoption style

All the women I know who have given birth to their children have told me stories about their "nesting phase" of pregnancy. Somewhere in the final trimester these women had a burst of energy -- all directed toward getting the house ready and making all the preparations for baby to arrive. The stories they tell sound like some sort of out-of-body experience where they were overcome with a near-obsessive desire to decorate, clean, and do baby's precious little laundry.

I assumed that with adoption I wouldn't have any pregnancy-hormone compulsions. I was wrong. We received some news -- some movement in the adoption process -- this week along with a strong "suggestion" from our adoption caseworker to make sure we have enough beds available for the possibility of kids entering our home in a few weeks. Since then I have found myself engrossed in all things nesting. Earlier this week I found myself walking out of Walmart with a bag full of children's clothes. In my defense, the clothes were on clearance and were really cute. Yesterday we bought a bunk bed. Today, I cleaned out the things we had stored in the closets of the "kids'" bedrooms and started  planning how to make the closets more functional for siblings to share. Tomorrow I plan to paint and finish cleaning. Next weekend I'm hosting a garage sale to clear out some of our clutter.....so we can make room for the clutter that children bring. My obsessive need to get the house ready may not be driven by pregnancy hormones, but I think it's as strong as the nesting my pregnant friends have described.