One Year Ago Today

We had our homestudy visit! Our homestudy was done in just one visit but they were at the house for something like 5 hours. They had dinner with us then stayed as we put the kids down to bed and for more hours after that. I remember being so nervous! It ended up being an enjoyable evening, though, and we were approved that very night :)

As I look around my house tonight (ignoring the mess) I realize just how much our home itself has changed in the past year. When you walk in the front door there's a set of 9 cubbies. The top three are filled with lunchboxes, diaper bags, and school bags. The bottom 6 each have a bin with an initial on it and is a place for that person's extra set of clothes for the diaper bag or their blanket for the car in the winter. There are 6 coat hangers on the wall sporting lightweight jackets for everyone. Photos on the walls show our family of 6 and young pictures of the 4 of us as well. Our kitchen now has a table in it whereas before it used to be in the glass-enclosed porch. There's a new highchair in the kitchen and a different occupant to the other highchair. Brianna moved up to the booster now and Kristopher sits like a big guy at the table. The family room has transformed and now has storage under the 'bar' including a cabinet for diapers and a dresser with bibs, dishtowels (for cleaning up spit-up mostly) and another cabinet with paper products. The changing table found its way out of the baby room and into the family room along with the hamper and diaper pail. A child's chair or two and a handful of toys can always be found in the family room too. The boys' room now has bunkbeds and a crib instead of the one twin bed and a new double-wide dresser in the closet. The girls' room now has two cribs and a daybed in place of the one crib and also has another dresser beside the first. Our guest room closet has become a 'hanging room' where 4 weekly clothes organizers hang and clothes are sorted and put in these each week to ease the morning rush. The guest bathroom sports a baby tub and bumbo seat because that shower's the easiest to use for the little ones' baths. The glass-enclosed porch aka Florida Room aka Playroom is now... solely a play room! It has toys on one end for the little ones and toys on the other end that are Kristopher's (but still safe if the little ones get them). There's a new gliding chair from a garage sale out there especially for grandmas but great for Mommy too. There are two hammock swings which the kids spend hours swinging and spinning in. A tiny TV sports the morning cartoons for Kristopher on the weekends. And finally the master bedroom, yes, it's transformed too. It holds a crib where Emma's been sleeping for the past 2 months.

Our house has transformed into a home where three infant/toddlers and one preschooler live. The babies might have "taken over" in areas that we've had child-free before, but I love it even more!

I do wonder... what would the social workers think if they walked through my doors today? Besides the bottles in the sink and the toys across the floor here and there... I hope they'd find it a loving environment and would approve us to have these little ones again.