With just over a month remaining before we expect this kid, our baby preparations are finally starting to come together. Christina doesn't agree with me on how ready we actually are, right now, but these past few days have marked a milestone, to my eyes. Here's roughly how our checklist looks right now. You'll notice that it's organized in rough order of the steps we'll need to go to the hospital and take a fresh baby home. This is, of course, no accident.

• prepare a birth plan we're happy with
• pack the hospital bag
• prepare some towel/plastic contraption to protect the car's seat in case Christina's water breaks en-route. We hear it's nearly impossible to get the smell out, and we'd rather not deal with that in a new car.
• Get rid of the two-seat car and replace with one that's practical for a family. We took possession of the new Golf GTI last Friday.
• Get a car seat. We got a MaxiCosi Pebble Plus last Saturday.
• Get a stroller. We got a used Hartan Racer about a month ago.
• Get a place for the kid to sleep. We assembled our sidecar crib this evening.
• Get a place for the kid to eat. My awesome sister gave us a hand-made breastfeeding pillow some weeks ago.
• Get a breast pump and some bottles. We're planning on primarily breast-feeding, but we also want to retain the ability to hand the kid off to a babysitter sometimes.
• Get a changing table. We still don't know exactly what kind we'll get or where it will fit in our apartment, but we're planning on doing some more shopping this weekend, now that we have a vehicle capable of carrying a kit.
• Lay in a stock of basic supplies. We now have on hand:
  • a small crate of newborn-size disposable diapers
  • a larger crate of washable diapers, washable inserts, and disposable inserts
  • a selection of burp cloths
  • a selection of onesies
  • a few little outfits
  • a tiny hat
• Buy some infant books. We figure that when she's tiny, we can read to her from what we're reading ourselves at the moment; when it becomes an issue, we can always enjoy bookstore trips together.
• Buy some infant toys. We got some hand-me-down rattles and soft toys from a friend last month.
• Buy some kind of harness so we can wear her around. We're planning on handling this after she arrives, so we can try things on together.

This checklist is clearly incomplete even now. I suspect that it never will be, while Christina and I are alive; there'll always be something else we can get or do for our girl. Some core supplies, such as baby detergent, and sleep sacks, even a diaper bag, remain unpurchased. Still, and for the first time, I feel like if Olive were to show up in the next few days, we'd be ready to receive her without any more panic than is implicit in the arrival of a new child.