Has your house never before been graced by the wandering hands of a curious toddler? Will this be your first experience having a child in your family or has it been some time since you’ve had a baby in the house? Regardless of your situation, the adoption process provides you with the opportunity to spend some time readying your house and learning about appropriate baby proofing techniques.

Part of preparing your home, to me, includes preparing the animals that share your home. I wrote a post about helping your animals adjust to your new addition here, and know that many parents wish that they had given more thought to the changes that their animals would endure.

Baby proofing has become its own industry, complete with professionals who will come to your house and baby proof for you. A quick look at the baby safety aisle in any baby mega store or discount mega store can be totally overwhelming and evoke fear in parents to be. The bottom line is that there are measures you can take to keep your child safe, and a lot of that depends on your house. If your home has more than one level and you want to invest in baby gates, be sure to purchase models that are intended for use at the top and bottom of stairs. There are gaggles of choices when it comes to cabinet and drawer locks, and it will just come down to personal preference. When my husband and I were replacing our outdated and worn outlet covers (before we even had kids,) we installed child safety outlet covers so we don’t have to deal with those little plastic inserts-not that there’s anything wrong with them.

If your home is in need of any kind of serious repairs and it is financially possible, consider completing the work during your wait. When you get home, the last thing you will want to worry about is your roof, leaking garage, broken steps, etc.

Now for the fun part…getting your child’s room ready. Be it a grand nursery, a corner of your room or a room to be shared with a sibling, it will be your child’s own space. Pouring some time and attention into their room can help pass the time until they get to enjoy it themselves. Here’s a post I wrote about getting your child’s room ready.

Have fun – putting in some blood, sweat and tears now will be extremely rewarding and can serve as a much needed distraction during the wait. And then when you get home, you’ll have little to think about other than your new family.

photo credit

More Reading:
How to Prepare Your Child's Room
Viet Nam Family Interviews : Surviving the Wait
Surviving the Wait

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