When do/did you start buying things?

I understand your dilemma. As a shopper myself, it has been very difficult not to start buying things. And since these are our first children, we have nothing! But I am waiting until we have our referrals until we start to really buy anything. I hate to start buying clothes now and have sizes be really off. And my bigger fear is that I will have a closet of clothes and the referrals will take longer than I anticipated so now they're outgrown/ wrong season, etc. I have been picking up the little things...books, butterflies and birds to hang in the girls room, frogs, fish and turtles for our boys walls (notice the nature themes). I have also been picking up things for their lifebooks. That gives me a shopping project! And spending lots of time wandering through the Pottery Barn kids store! Hoping for referrals so I can register for that surf boy bedding before it's out of season! My palms are itching to buy those cute summer dresses, but I am going to wait! Christina

It started the day after I got height, weight, head and chest circumference. Thought I would hold off until she was here, (being a little superstitious). But my frugal ways outweighed superstition and I have yet to bypass a sale. The room is decorated, new girly-girl quilt and dolls. Everything has its tags, and bags. But I hope too much won't have to go back. I have new clothes, hand me downs in 2 sizes above and below my predictions, as well as clothes from garage sales. Nothing slides by my eyes. My justification (like I need one :) ) .... the last few days before her arrival (summer program) will be so busy, I'll be thankful I shopped ahead of time. Go with your gut, have fun and keep the receipts!

If you have the basics, then you are set. We had absolutely nothing, since these are our first children. We know we are adopting a boy and a girl, so we went ahead and decorated one boy room and one girl room. They both have beds in them, but if we need a crib, we will make a switch-out in that room. Their playroom furniture is pretty generic, primary colors. We have some basic multi age toys like duplo blocks and dolls, bath toys, stuffed animals and trucks and cars. My best friend re-did her girl's playroom and gave me everything big. She also gave us a double stroller - she had an extra brand new one she received as a gift that she was unable to return. My parents bought us car seats for both cars and we joined a book club. We have been buying books that range from infant to 5 or 6 yrs. Anything to spread out the costs. We have bought tons of clothes (at least 30 or 40 outfits). We really bought them for orphanage donations since we got everything on clearance. I haven't spent more than $5 per outfit, so it is a cost savings for our clothing portion of our donation. We plan to buy diapers and formula in region also. If something will work for either child, we will keep it, but otherwise, we have not bought clothes for our kids to be. We also have not bought anything personal. We will wait to meet them before we buy them personal items

adopted 2 at once and travelled blind, only knew we were adopting aboy and a girl b/t ages of 9 mo and 4 years (our son was 10 MO and daughter 34 MO) We decided to share a room since institutionalized children are not accustomed to being alone. We used red and navy blue, and Blue Jean Teddy since it's cute and unisex. We bought little else other than a crib and toddler bed and dressers. We decided to wait till after the 1st trip and meeting them before we bought more. And also then we could give specifics to others, and we got tons of clothes, toys, etc at showers!!

we were given a used crib and changing table by a friend so when that arrived it didn't make much sense to leave it in the basement! Just before our dossier was sent over we started buying clothes and small things. We still need plenty, but I figure if I can buy clothes on sale and second hand now, it will help w/ money when we are trying to buy plane tickets, etc.. I just guess on size, if it doesn't fit we can use it as our donation. I am a planner and I know things can happen swiftly at some points so I prefer to get what I can in order now while I have time.

My dh keeps fussing at me because I have picked up a cute little stuffed animal here and there and came home with a bag full of pretty little dresses last weekend. I am sale shopping and clearance minded. We are still in the 'standing at the mailbox everyday like a dog' waiting for paperwork stage - so I am really early. I look at it this way, if my child won't fit into it - it is a donation to the orphanage. It is my little reward to get a little dress when I get another form completed.

I agree with you Sipper...You go girl! If buying things here and there keeps us sane it is a perfect release for the waiting blues. And like you said if it doesn't fit then it can be donated. I think when you are pregnant people probably ask how are you feeling, when are you due, etc., but I know alot of people that are aware we are adopting and never mention it. I think it is my way of outwardly reminding me we REALLY ARE expecting!

Maybe my mom and dad were a little crazy, but they began buying random baby supplies when they applied to be begin the adoption process. They were all stocked up, "just in case." My mom even had a diaper bag packed and stored in her trunk in case the adoption agency called!! :D It was a good thing she was prepared when they got that special phone call! She also mentioned that shopping for baby things was sort of theraputic and gave her something to look forward to, not to mention how much fun she had doing it! I may have worn some funny outfits that didn't fit exactly right for the first month or so, but I still looked pretty cute. :D Good luck.

I started buying things way too early, but I figured if the size ended up being wrong I would donate the things to the orphanage. I did end up donating lots of things. But the buying was therapeutic for me...it made me feel that the adoption really would happen one day! I also decorated my daughter's room early and I was glad I did that. Some of the things I wanted for her room took quite a while to be delivered. Besides, it was fun! :) When I got busy with the paperwork and then the traveling, it took up so much of my time and energy I was glad not to have to worry about decorating. It is fun to buy girl things, especially if you have been only buying boy up until now. I had that situation too. My feeling is that if it makes you feel good....do it! :D Have fun, LilyMoon Lucky Mom to Zak and Anastasia

I had been waiting for 5 years trying to conceive. When we finally made the decision to adopt, I went a little crazy. The first thing I bought was a snowsuit in 2 different sizes and a snugly. My Husband just laughs it off and says that every time he looks at me he sees dollar signs in my eyes! CHA CHING!!! Shopping for her makes this very real. We painted her room approximately 3 months of making the decision. We are using my husbands old baby crib, changing table, dresser and rocking chair. (all safety inspected) We painted all the furniture an antique white and the walls are a very light shade of lavender. I catch myself in her closet just imagining her in all her clothes. I have had pregnant sisters and frienwhat it will be like with her here. JUST CALL IT NESTING! I pray for her safety and a speedy arrival into our arms. Aimee and Matt Applied to agency 12/17/2004 BCIS I600 1/15/2004 Homestudy complete 2/4/2004 Fingerprints 4/17/2004 Dossier sent to RUSSIA 4/19/2004 BCIS approval 4/29/2004 Waiting for referral of infant girl!!!!

I'm really supersticious. NOTHING gets bought until we know the baby is ours (i.e. after court). Here is my plan (some of it done already): 1) To combat the crazies, I shop only for donation items. That way I can buy something each week, but since I know it's all for the baby home, there's no attachment to it and no problem if I have to get rid of it all because something goes wrong with the adoption. 2) Before the first trip, buy a couple of things for the baby, to use as introduction items. One toy and a duplicate, so that we can leave the toy between trips, and bring the second one on our second trip in case the baby home doesn't give the first one back, plus a photo album (they sell special ones for babies that are soft and chewable) of family members, labeled in English and Russian. 3) Between trips, buy what's needed for the second trip (and ONLY what's needed on the second trip.) 4) In the meantime, we registered for everything we'll need. After court, we will e-mail or call my parents, who will go to Babies R Us and buy the things we'll need when the baby comes home (crib, stroller, carseat). Then when we get home, we can buy the rest. Mostly, I'm terrified that something will go wrong, and I'll be stuck with a decorated nursery and no baby. Xanny

With our daughter I bought very little until the first trip was over, mainly only donation items and a few small odds and ends. Oh and some winter clothes that were on clearance since we live in Florida and I wanted to make sure we had some winter clothes in case our 2nd trip was soon after the 1st. Between trips we ordered the furniture and started buying clothes and everything else. The furniture arrived 6 or 8 weeks later and still no court date. But lots more clothes...lots!! She had almost 200 outfits in all sizes before we finally went on our 2nd trip 14 weeks after returning from the first. For our son I was using our daughter's crib so I didn't order his furniture until we returned home from trip 1 also. However he arrived home before the furniture did since we only had 4 weeks between trips. I bought some clothes for the 2nd trip (again we needed cold weather clothes for Russia) but waited until we got home from the 2nd trip before buying too much. Plus, we live in a very family oriented close neighborhood so I got lots of hand me downs. My SIL also has given us a ton a very gently used clothes so now Alex has more clothes than he will ever wear! The one thing I did stock up on for both of them and am so glad I did was tons of diapers in different sizes, wipes, bath wash, powder, soap, lotions, jarred food, formula, disposable bibs...things that could be used for any baby. For our regions, we were required to have pictures of the completed baby room for our court dates; so if you are waiting to buy, double check with your agency that you won't need the pictures. Or, I guess, make sure there is someone who has a completed nursery that will let you take the pictures.;)

We have no children (YET!!!!!) so this is all new to us. I told DH and friends that I was concentrating on getting paperwork done and nothing else - not even thinking about what things will be like. Now that I am pretty much done the paperwork we have talked a little bit about stuff - we will buy a crib and a car seat before we travel. There are several people ahead of us that are specifically requesting boys so the SW said it is possible we could get a girl. I have had 6 friends/co-workers give birth in the last few weeks and I pretty much shopped for them all at once to stop me thinking of things for our child. I'm with Xanny - don't want to jinx it till all is said and done. My mom had a good idea - to register for basic things we need (whether it be now or when we get referral) then once all is official it will be easier to send one of them or ourselves to buy off a list than it will be to shop for the first time. As for clothes I really am going to try to hold off on buying more than a few things until we come home from trip 2. I figure there are plenty of cute clothes out there no matter when I shop or for what size/gender!!!