Keepin' Busy

So today I actually went running during my lunch hour. And took a shower. In a public locker room. I can't remember the last time I did that. Heck, I'm not sure I've ever done that. Maybe once. Do dorms count? Hmm.

So I opted to join the Y. It's not as nice as the super-swank gym in the office building. In fact, it's downright dungeon-like. But after checking out the Y near our house over the weekend and discovering they offer affordable year-round swim lessons, it was hard to justify joining the swank gym. Instead, we joined the Y as a family. We signed up Casey for baseball and swimming, and now that I'm home when the kids go to bed, Jason can even go work out if he wants. So the Y it is.

Aside from running, though, I'm keeping busy. At work. But just as much at home, too. This past weekend, Marcie had music and Casey had sports. Then after nap Jason headed off to a birthday party with Casey and Marcie. They got to see their cousins Joey and Ethan and their cousins, too.

Sunday Casey insisted we go to church. I was exhausted because I'd spent Saturday afternoon and evening scrapbooking (working on Marcie's baby book finally). It wasn't until we were on our way that I realized Casey's real motivation-- he knows if he behaves during church that he gets to go to the Walter Anderson's afterward to watch the trains run through the Bonsai display. After watching the trains, we made a special stop at Starbucks for child-friendly snacks, then headed over to the Y to enroll. After naps, Casey boogied it up at Baby Loves Disco here in San Diego. We met up with a couple of his friends and he danced away at a night club set up for toddlers and preschoolers. The best part was after the hula hoop contest, which Casey didn't participate in. That didn't keep him from slowly making his way to the front of the dance floor during the announcements of the winners. When the woman finished awarding the hula hoop prizes, I saw her say something to Casey, who was standing directly below her. Then she put out the microphone toward him, and I heard Casey's voice over the speakers say, "CASEY!" and then I observed him clapping for himself. It cracked me up. He did run around a bit, but mainly he was enthralled with the projection of the They Might Be Giants DVD of alphabet songs onto a wall in the club. He recognized the video immediately, but it took me a couple songs before I realized what it was. I don't know what he liked more-- seeing the videos or watching his shadow on the wall! Anyway, I will post pictures as soon as I download them.

Yesterday Jason joined Casey's class at the pumpkin patch and bought an extra pumpkin. Jason convinced Casey that Other Grandma (the name Casey has given my mother because she doesn't live in our city) can make pumpkin pies from actual pumpkins. I tried explaining that my mom usually uses the pumpkin that comes in a can, but it was to no avail. You see, my mom is coming to visit for the next few days, and Casey has been chatting to her on the phone, insisting that she make pumpkin pie with him-- from actual pumpkins. Jason and I will be out of town for a couple days, so I'm interested to see what Mom and the kids come up with while we're gone! (I'm personally all for pretending to heat up/mush up the pumpkin or whatever you do and just pouring the canned pumpkin in the bowl to show what happened during nap time or something!)

I guess that's about all. Oh. Except that the top of Marcie's 100 Good Wishes Quilt is finally complete! Vicki, who I used to work with, has been working on it for about a year now-- and it really is amazingly gorgeous. I was thinking of not doing one for B.S. #3, but after seeing Marcie's, I think I'm going to. Well, I'm not going to quilt it, but I think I will ask for that fabric from friends, family, and strangers alike! :) I'll post pictures soon. I promise.

B.S. # 3- Dossier Delivered

We just received word from our agency that our dossier was hand-delivered today to the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs). Though it's in their hands, they have not officially logged it in yet. It's that LID date that's magic! We'll keep you posted. . .

BS # 3-- DTC (Date to China)

Woo Hoo! We received an e-mail this morning. Our completed dossier was mailed to China yesterday. That means our DTC, or date-to-China is October 4, 2007.

China used to match families based on the date their paperwork was mailed, not the date it was received, which is why the DTC matters. Now China matches families to babies (or vice versa) based on the date the dossier was received, or logged in (this is the LID). There is some theory that on occasion, when China doesn't get all the way through a particular date, or if that were to happen, they would honor the DTC. That means that if my paperwork was sent October 4th, but China didn't log it in until October 20th for some reason, theoretically we should get matched before someone who mailed their paperwork October 10th with the same LID of October 20th. Not sure that's accurate. Anymore at least.

We should know our DTC within the next 8 weeks. That doesn't mean our LID will be some time in December; it just means that we'll know what our LID is by early December.

To further complicate things, China has an enormous Trade Fair in October, and the CCAA shuts down for a while (maybe a week?) during it. They were closed this week (October 1-5, 2007). Our paperwork won't arrive for a few days (it usually takes about 4 days), so it may not impact us.

In any event, once we have our LID, we'll officially be paper pregnant for B.S. #3.

Still, a DTC is something to celebrate!