There is a baby in our crib!

She's not our baby.

But it was nice to see our crib in use.

This cute baby is the 10 month old daughter of my niece who along with another niece came to visit this week.

She is such an easy going baby as the flash probably was a little startling but fortunately A did not complain. I was pretty excited about seeing what a baby looked like in our crib and didn't think about the flash.

The next couple were taken with my phone right before we left for the Zoo.

It was warm and although the parking lot was packed when we arrived around 2 the zoo was certainly not too crowded. Of course most of the animals were fairly lethargic at this hour but the Zoo is always entertaining.

One of the parrots outside the reptile house.

The new silverback gorilla who according to the exhibit sign was sitting in his favorite spot ... by the waterfall.

There was only 1 polar bear out when we were there.

A (being held by her Aunt K) seemed to like the petting zoo the best. Specifically one of the goats.

That is one friendly goat too.

Baby A and her Aunt K in our living room. This picture was taken the morning we were heading out to Jungle Jim's which is a unique mega grocery store on the north side of Cincinnati. Both of my nieces like to cook, have worked/ currently work in a grocery store and had heard about this store so they wanted to see it. Although we did not see them, the History Channel was there the day we went to Jungle Jim's. They were filming for a segment that will air October 29th on Modern Marvels. Besides being huge (285,000 sq ft floorspace which is 6 1/2 acres!) and it is loaded with quirk. For example, below are some pictures of the entrance to their "award winning" to their bathrooms.

Between the Men's and Women's "Rumpke" door entrances is an "exact copy of Henry VIII's 16th century privy reconstructed from historical photos, feel free to snap your photos sitting on the most private seat of Henry VIII's."

A & K in the "Sherwood Forest" section which is a part of the huge international zone. A is looking up at Robin Hood's stash in the ceiling (see below).

And here are some sweet pictures of John and A. The funny thing is how much A looks like John's sister when she was a baby.

Blue eyed cuties.

14 DAYS!

There are 14 less days in front of our dossier at the CCAA waiting to be matched! Now we only have 6 days in front us.

We took off more days than are left!

Technically they only matched 5 dossier day because 4 of those days were weekend and the other 5 were a holiday (Golden Week) in 2006. So the next referral(s) could have a lot of dossiers to match for ones received during the holiday. RQ took an LID poll which she will be analyzing and posting soon which should be interesting. She is estimating approximately 50% attrition rate. John and I are trying to maintain cautious optimism but there is no way to not be encouraged. My parents are following more closer now. Here is the entire conversation I had with my dad when I called with this news:

ME: Dad, do you have your calendar?

DAD: No hold on it's in the kitchen.

DAD: ok

ME: Mark off to May 10

DAD: Oh wow. That is really big.

Here are some pictures of dossiers waiting at the CCAA.

The links left until our LID.

Here it is again the before July referral shot. The blue links were April 27-30. We were only expecting CCAA to finish April this month.

But the matched through May 10, 2006. I remember what I did on that date. It was the day I mailed our finally completed dossier to FTIA. I can still remember just feeling relieved walking out of Kinko's that day. Our dossier was then DTC (date to China) on 5-12-2006 and LID on 5-18-06.

Right now I am so busy with work at Krohn (inventory recaps, POS downloads and holiday buys as well as an apartment turnover on the 25th. Additionally our fingerprints expires next week on the 27th and our I171H on December 12. USCIS has once again changed I171H renewal process so I've been on the phone with social workers quite a bit as well. It's ok to let your fingerprints expire but not ok to let your I-171H expire and we just don't have any way to assure our travel dates so we are renewing.

We registered for Odyssey Trail Running Rampage Half Marathon today

John is going to run the half marathon and I will be running the 5 mile race. We have 11 weeks to train and have posted a copy of Runner's World 10 week half-marathon training program to the front of our refrigerator. A description of this race from their website:

Run along a series of trails that take runners through this beautifully scenic wooded hills and highlands of Virginia's Douthat State Park, set in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains in the western part of the state... with steep uphills and fast downhills as well as stretches that run along creeks and waterfalls, and take the field of runners along brief stretches through Rhododendron-covered tunnels that unfold along the trails inside the 4,493-acre park.

Douthat State Park is on the National Register of Historic Places because of the role it's design played in the development of parks nationwide. It is one of Virginia's original six parks and it opened on June 15, 1936. The establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), during FDR's administration, provided the estimated 600 men who lived here and developed this park between 1933 and 1942. Since reservations for lodging in the park book up 6 months in advance, this year being no exception and the fact we made these plans at lunch today, we made reservations at a nearby B&B. We are staying at Firmstone Maanor in Longdale Furnace which is 13 miles from the park. We have never been to this town but drive past it when we go to Richmond. This picture below (c. 1890) is of the house from the front gates. The house was completed in 1873, a year before our home.

A little history from the B&B website:

Longdale Furnace played a significant role in the development of industry in the South, the Civil War, the development of the railroad and even shipbuilding.

Harry Firmstone This quiet mysterious bachelor who seemed to be more suited to creating magnificent gardens than running iron work changed Longdale from a tiny hamlet with a couple of hundred residents to a town of 5,000 in the late 1800's.

Shiploads of materials and furnishings were brought over from England to build Firmstone Manor. The mansion had 23 rooms, a carriage house, a greenhouse, gazebos, several cupolas, even a swimming pool. Flower and vegetable gardens were surrounded by acres of perfectly kept lawns. 163 varieties (of trees) were documented, 8 gardeners were employed and the mules used for cutting the lawn wore felt boots so not to leave marks on the lawns.

The front of the house.

An upstairs landing.

And this is the room I reserved for us called "The Firmstone". The furniture is original and supposedly was Harry's bedroom.

We have a crib in our home!

Yesterday at noon the crib was delivered.

It was heavy (160 lbs) so we asked the driver to leave it in the alley and we brought it up in pieces.

But it was really easy to put together. I did it as John was working.

It took only 12 screws and it was assembled.

Ta da! Placed this way we can see baby in bed and vice versa.

Based on seeing the crib in this room I came up with a new plan for clothes storage yesterday. A somewhat crafty project which at this point I'm not sure will work at this point. Our plan is try to keep the room decor minimal. This was recommended in our IAC (int'l adoption center) that we took at CCHMC (Cin. Children's Hospital Medical Center). Dr. Joy said when a kid has lived in an institution like an orphanage they can become easily over stimulated from too many things. I remember Dr. Joy saying many kids who lived in orphanages for awhile find mobiles really disturbing.

One of the 3 boxes delivered.

This crib was made in another country where I would like to adopt a child.