oh the contrast

the social worker came and went today, and life continues. as he climbed into his car and drove away, i looked at josh and said, "well that was relatively painless." yep. painless.

in case you've forgotten or have been followin our story only for a few weeks, i think this is the link remindin all of us of the anxiety leadin up to our initial homestudy. today's experience was not nearly as anxiety-inducin. maybe that's b/c we have our long-sought-after baby in our arms, so the "this one man can alter the course of our entire parenthoodin plans" fear has left. or maybe it's b/c we're sleep deprived and mostly concerned about our precious little girl....rather than the amt of dust on the shelves or the folded laundry on the bed. regardless, we were a lot more relaxed today.

he was here for about an hour, hour and a half or so. he asked questions about the hospital experience, the birth parents, any expectations/agreements of contact w/them since comin home, and our adjustment as parents. he then talked to each of us individually...presumably askin us each the same questions: "what are your strengths as a parent?" "do you have any concerns?" "how has the baby affected your marriage?" then he had to lay his eyes on the place(s) riley generally sleeps. and that was it.

though we were more relaxed, that's not to say we weren't rushin around an hr before the social worker's arrival. oh no. josh was hurryin to install the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors and safely store his firearms. i was clamorin to (gasp) un-do all of my organizational work and quickly combined piles of bills and congratulation cards and our two folders' worth of adoption/riley-related documents into one giant, messy pile that is currently settin rather precariously atop our printer. and about 45min before he arrived, i was finally takin a shower.

it's almost comical to consider the contrast b/w today's visit and the one in june. june - i cleaned and sorted for days. i labored in order that our home might look un-lived-in. to both the house and myself, i dusted, scrubbed, folded, stacked, organized, rearranged, polished. today? well....in one corner of the livin room are a couple christmas presents still in their wrappin paper, b/c we haven't had christmas w/my side of the family yet. also in that corner are josh's camera, camera bag, and tripod w/attached flash. a car seat, swing, and boppy-thing hide another wall. my big cushy chair has tagged baby clothes and blankets on the arms. our few lunch dishes were dirty and sittin in the sink. the dinin room chairs were dusted only by the back sides of our pants as the three of us sat to talk this afternoon. and the entire guest bed is covered in clothes....they're clean and finally folded....but put away they are not.

and as i'm sure everyone will be shocked to know - the social worker didn't even seem to notice. of course.

finally....and perhaps the best of all....as the social worker was leavin, he opened the screen door and said, "oh, you have wasps" as 3-4 of them buzzed near his face. perfect. come to find out, they're bees. not wasps. great.

if our camera was workin, i'd take a picture of our sweet girl this very moment - sound asleep in her fabulous homemade bassinet, flat on her back, tucked into the cutest little outfit that she's now too big for (it's so cute, though, i just had to get one more day's worth of wear!), both arms straight down her side, little legs bowed out (also probably b/c the outfit's too small)....just perfect :)