Traveling and Nesting

It looks like our Halloween will be filled with plenty of treats this year, as that is the day we meet our Sprout! Everything in this adoption has felt like it has moved in slow motion; but now it seems as though time is racing by at the speed of light. We received word last Monday that our travel approval (TA) had arrived...2 to 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Fantastic! We asked for a consulate appointment (when we pick up her visa from the US consulate in China) as soon as possible, keeping our fingers crossed that one would be available before the end of November. Imagine my shock when I woke up on Tuesday morning (at 5:00 a.m.) to an email from our coordinator that our CA had been confirmed for November 9th! I quickly did the math (in my still sleep-hazy mind) - the CA appointment is the last thing we do in China; you usually pick-up the child on the Monday of the week before...putting us as meeting Sprout on Halloween. I couldn't believe it. We would be leaving for China in 10 days!! I was so overcome with excitement I jumped out of bed and did a little happy dance. But then it hit me. We would be leaving for China in 10 days!! Oh my! So much to do. Not only would I have to pack for Stu, myself, Chipmunk and Sprout, I would also have to get our childcare lined up for the 3 kiddos that are staying; arrange plane tickets; talk with Chipmunk's school about his homework during his trip; prepare all Halloween costumes/festivities for Monkey, HotDog and Pudding during our absence; buy birthday presents for Chipmunk, whose 9th birthday is the day we will be flying back home. Did I mention that a few weeks ago I decided to switch all of the children's rooms around? I thought "the girls" (how I do love saying that!!) could be moved to our big playroom thereby moving Pudding from his tiny room to HD's current room and finally moving the playroom into Pudding's former room. Easy enough, right? Of course not. In order for the girls to move to the playroom I've had to strip wallpaper and repaint every square inch of the room. We also have to pull up the old carpet and we have the new carept scheduled to come next week...as in two days before we leave. At this point I'm just hoping that we can get the beds set up and most of the furniture moved back into place before we leave. All of my dreams of spending a quiet few weeks putting the final touches on the room are going to have to wait until things calm down (I'm figuring 2018 or so). My awesome sister-in-law has offered to come over and pull things together as much as possible. We are also getting two of our bathrooms re-tiled while we are away. I'm starting to feel like this is groundhog day. Remember when we moved houses the week before we left to bring Pudding home just last year?? How I vowed never ever to do that to myself again? Ha! Stu is in charge of the kiddos today so I can do all of the shopping for our trip. It is probably the last kid-free day I'll have for a very long time! I'll update with travel details soon.