At a newspaper, it's called "burying the lede."

I noted in the previous post that it was a busy weekend here. We had a mandatory appointment in Cranston, so we decided to combine that commitment with several other "overseas" appointments and make a full day of it.

First off, fingerprinting with the USCIS. Part of pursuing an overseas adoption is getting pre-approval to bring an orphan into the country and anyone with an open immigration case has to be fingerprinted every year. Our previous experience with this process was a gargantuan cattle call, predictably time-consuming and bureaucratic ... and that was before we dragged a 13-month-old along.

So we geared up for an all-day mission with sippy cups, snacks and toys, clearing our schedule for the day well into the afternoon. So of course, when I opened the door to enter the facility...it was empty. Just the three of us, one older lady, and the USCIS employees. They took our prints, played with Theo, asked a lot of questions about our adoption, commiserated with us regarding the current indefinite waiting period for adopting from China and gave us some advice about what we have to look forward to. Not that our first visit for fingerprinting was bad -- it was what we'd expected -- but the relative ease of this visit was refreshing and set the tone for the day. We even used some of the the extra time later in the day to complete a couple other adoption-related errands that could be finished on a Saturday.

Once the fingerprinting was done, we had some merchandise to pick up at REI, which is fast becoming one of my favorite stores. We spent all the time we'd expected to be at USCIS browsing the clearance sale and Daddy managed to pick up a new pair of sandals and some hiking shoes that are already seeing good use. I don't think I've spent so much on shoes (and they were even on sale) in years, but my feet can't handle being abused by unsupported shoes anymore.

Later, Ruth had an appointment for a dress fitting, so the two boys ran some errands at Babies 'R' Us and Target. BRU on a Saturday was exactly the sort of clusterfuck of oblivious self-absorbed pregnant couples, new parents and prospective grandparents I'd expected, combined with a staff who sees so many cute babies that my cute baby garnered no attention whatsoever. But in addition to the shopping it gave us the time and facilities for a much-needed diaper change and sippy cup fillup, so all the better. Biggest surprise was the small, inadequate changing table setup in the men's room. C'mon, BRU, I get better at a rest stop in Jersey.

By mid-afternoon we were pretty beat up and Mr. Man hadn't had a proper nap, so we made our way home to make sure he got some rest. And Sunday? Sunday was boring. Thank goodness.

One more major development from the weekend: Daddy is no longer the only person in the house staggering drunkenly from room to room, falling forward every four or five steps. I'll have video as soon as I can catch him in the act...