What we've been doing with our time

After the flurry of post-referral activity, we’ve now slowed to a really nice pace. Every couple days we get something else ready for the trip. The last couple weeks have gone something like this:
Monday = get US money from the bank. Surprisingly easy
Wednesday = Steve goes to MEC to get snack foods to sample so we can decide what to take
Friday = get luggage
Sat/Sun = go to Toronto (more on that below)
Monday = Book medical appts.(prescription refills..isn’t that just amazing organization!!) and contact mandarin teacher for emergency refresher lessons (forgotten sooooooo much already)
Wed. = do nothing but sit on the couch and watch TV (hey –everyone needs a break now and then!!)
Thursday = go to Gymboree and spend on boatload on necessary clothes (there were Gymbucks to burn, after all) ,
Friday night = fish out totes (notice plural) of AJ’s old size 6-12 mon. clothes from the basement and convince Steve that Gymboree purchases were, in fact, necessary. Charlotte NEEDS more than just hand-me-downs, right??
Saturday – set up crib in AJ/Charlotte’s room! (more on that below), get computer set up to travel courtesy tech-savvy cousin Rosco and take home carseat and Exersaucer while we are there (yea - 2 more things to check off the baby list!).
Sunday – complete 100 loads of laundry to freshen up Charlotte’s new clothes.

It all feels quite civilized, actually. Now, that said, there are only 5 weeks to go and we haven’t done the calculation to figure out if we can wipe out the ‘to do’ list at our current pace. Maybe that’s tomorrow’s to do!

Here are some of the details on the more exciting highlights….

The weekend of March 18/19, we did a ‘test absence,’ and AJ had a two-night sleepover with Nana and Papa. Things went extremely well – it is now quite clear that having her stay in Canada while we are in China will be much harder for us than her. While we were missing her like crazy, she was running Nana and Papa ragged and having a blast. (OK – we were having fun too, this was our first weekend away in I don’t know how long – but we still missed her.)

For our weekend away we had dinner out in Ottawa on Friday night and then went to Toronto for the rest of the weekend. We got there for lunch on Saturday and hooked up with a number of families that will be traveling with us, all with babies from Dianbai. We had a great lunch with lots of laughs. I think this will be a wonderful group to travel with. After lunch we did some shopping along Bloor Street and picked up a couple critical items for Charlotte (soothers and her own Whoozit) and some presents for AJ (fancy dresses of course). It was nice to be back in Bloor West Village again.

This weekend AJ got us in gear. On Saturday morning I asked her what she wanted to do and without hesitating she said, “Build the crib.” Well all right then! She was really amazing. Earlier she had resisted moving her furniture around, but on Saturday she was ready to shuffle everything to get the crib in. (Yes, you read that right. AJ and Charlotte will be sharing a room. AJ is demanding to have it that way. We'll see how long it lasts.... : ) She helped clean it off, carry it into her room and she is a whiz with the screwdriver.


I’ll tell you, looking at the crib makes it very real. Charlotte’s pictures were of course the first reality check, but this weekend’s work took things to a new level. Furniture moving, washing teeny clothes, trying to find space for teeny clothes…..it was all about making room for a new baby in our house. Wow – this is such a good ride.