Sunday... on to Guangzhou

Today we had to have our luggage outside our door at 5:20am and be on the bus at 5:45am. There was some significant shifting between suitcases, weighing, moving more stuff, reweighing, etc... but, we got our 3 suitcases all to less than the 20kg limit. The China Air flight was fine (much better food, space, and friendliness than our Delta flight to China!).

It's 97 degrees and steamy here...

We are now settled in the White Swan hotel in Guangzhou. We have one suite (on the 23rd floor with a beautiful view of the Pearl river) where we're all planning to hang out and a separate room so we have 3 beds. The beds here are still hard but not nearly as much as Beijing. The room also has a crib all ready for Sonia's arrival.

We got water and Coke Zero from the 7-11 across the street, unpacked all our stuff (as we'll be here for 11 days) and are now relaxing in the room. Our guide is planning a group dinner for tonight.

Tomorrow is the big day... Sonia Day! It's hard to believe and I'm feeling rather edgy (excited and nervous at the same time). Thank goodness for great friends who try hard to keep me sane!

We're Here

Well actually we've been here since 11pm on Friday evening (and now it's Sunday afternoon)... but, it's been busy!

Here's a quick summary...

We (Lacretia, Lori and I) got into Beijing at 11pm on Friday. Our guide Grace was there to meet us and another couple from Texas who arrived on the same flight. We were put on a bus and taken to the hotel. The beds were HARD! But, we slept pretty well for the few hours we were able to sleep.

There were 5 families on our Saturday tour... 4 of the families will adopt girls in Guangdong province. One family went to Nanchang and will meet up with us later in Guangzhou. One of the family's daughters is in the same SWI as Sonia.

Saturday, we had breakfast at 7am and then exchanged money and were on the bus by 8am. We visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, had lunch in a Jade factory (a nice Chinese style lunch) and learned a bit about Jade cutting, carving, polishing and how to tell if it's real, polyester, glass, or marble. Of course, there was shopping potential but we resisted (at least for now). We then took the bus to the Great Wall where I almost died of heat exhaustion. But, it was incredible!! Everyone was tired and most people napped on the long bus ride to the hotel. We managed to have dinner at the hotel buffet and pack up our stuff to leave Beijing the next morning before falling asleep!

Here's a few pictures from our tour...

New Birthday Pictures of my girl ...

I sent a care package to Sonia for her birthday last week (using Ann - Red Thread - who has excellent service!)

Ann emailed me on Monday that she hadn't received any pictures yet from the party. I was disappointed but figured my vision of her enjoying the party was enough, especially since I'll get to hold her so much sooner than I expected (only 5 days from now!). I thought maybe they took some pictures on the disposable camera I sent and would give it back to me next week.

But... last night I received an email from Ann that said "I have received 62 pictures and videos from her party". I almost fainted. What a gift that I will treasure forever! It took until this morning to get the email (as it was a 68 MB file!) but I've been gazing at them ever since.

Here's a sample of a few pictures...

Happy Birthday Sonia!

Today is my little girl's first birthday... Happy Birthday Sonia!!

Sonia received a first birthday card here today from her Grandparents. (Thanks Mom and Dad - you warmed my heart)... as well as many warm thoughts from friends. I hope she received her care package and was able to enjoy a little extra attention and fun. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get a picture or two of the "party". But, I know that I definitely imagined it both last night (her birthday day in China) and today (even though she was probably sleeping by the time I woke up).

I can't wait to give her a hug and wish her a million more birthdays with her family and friends and all our love surrounding her!

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl.

It's Official ...

I got confirmation from my agency today that my Consulate Appointment is set for August 16th.

I'll fly to China on 8/4 (arriving at 11pm on 8/5), tour Beijing on 8/6, fly to Guangzhou on 8/7 where I'll meet Sonia. I fly home on 8/18.

I've booked our tickets and my agency is working on the other arrangements.

Just think... in only 10 days I'll be on my way to China!

How much stuff can a tiny person need??

After shopping for everything left on my list yesterday, I was feeling pretty good about being prepared for travel. (Thanks Lacretia for your help in making sure we finished EVERYTHING in one day!!)

So, today my job was to get all my paperwork organized and packed in an expandable folder for the trip and then to get far enough on the suitcase packing to have a plan.

The paperwork is done except for one document that needs to be notarized and a few pages I need to print after I get a new ink cartridge. I've gone through 2 already this year given all the paperwork, guides, and other documents!

Then I tackled getting everything ready to be packed. Baby clothes are washed and those going on the trip are folded and ready. All the assorted stuff is unpacked, compacted as much as possible, and put into ziplocks. My lists are checked off and everything going on the trip outside of my clothes is in one room. Good start...

I then tried to put everything (outside of my clothes, paperwork, electronics, etc) into one suitcase. Guess what... it fit! But it weighs 50 pounds! This would be great if I was just on the international flights or Delta where I can have 50 lb. But, this is 10 pounds over the "inter-China" flight weight limit. This will be our flight from Beijing to Guangzhou (one little flight). Also, the carry-on limit is 10 pounds which doesn't allow for my usual carry-on suitcases either... hmmm.

Back to the drawing board... It's crazy and a bit ironic that I who can take a 1.5 week international business trip with just a carry-on (albeit a 35-40 pound, very dense and tightly packed carry-on) am over-packing so much for this trip.

So, I'll need to go back to the drawing board for a plan B. This will be my puzzle for the next days...

Care Package Picture...

I sent a birthday care package using Ann at Red Thread China. The care package and a fresh cake will be delivered on Sonia's birthday - July 28.

The care package I chose contains a little baby photo book with a picture's of me, her Grandparents and her house and room inside. If they show it to her, it may make me a little more familiar when we meet. The package also contains a camera (with the hope they'll take pictures of her in her daily activities and give back to me when I'm in China, an outfit, a little panda bear, a cute bug toy with letter feet, a bag of candy for the nannies and other kids, and I was able to send a 400 word letter (which Ann translated to Chinese). These items, with her cake, will be taken to her on her birthday. If I'm lucky, I'll also get a couple pictures of the "party".

In any case, I feel happy that I was able to get something to her for the special day. I'll definitely be thinking of her and anxiously awaiting being able to meet her in person (maybe only a little more than a week later!).

I so hope I'll get confirmation on Monday that I can travel on Aug 4!!

Travel Approval !!

I've been waiting for the next step in the journey to my child, my travel approval or TA. The travel approval then allows my US Consulate Appointment or CA to be made. Once they have the CA, my agency can finalize my travel dates and I can move forward with buying plane tickets and all the other final details before travel.

I didn't expect to get my TA until the end of the month (or later). But, I received a wonderful surprise on Wednesday in the form of an email from my agency. They won't have confirmation until next week but are tentatively planning for my group to leave on August 4th.

That's less than 2 weeks away!! WooHoo!! and Yikes!!

This weekend will be busy with shopping, preparing, and starting to think about packing!! I'm so excited and happy to scramble if it gets me to my daughter quicker!

A few more details on my girl

A few fun facts from the information I received yesterday.

At 7 months, she was 27.2 inches long and weighed 16.5 pounds...
and she's described as...

1) Active and outgoing
2) Loves laughing and has a ready smile
3) Crawls
4) Likes walking everywhere in her baby walker
5) Likes listening to music
6) Fond of playing games
7) A deep sleeper

Sounds perfect! It will be interesting to see how this fits her once I meet her.

If anyone wants to give a projection in the comments on what her length and weight will be at 13 months, I'd love to hear it!!

The Delivery!

I received the FedEx package from my agency yesterday afternoon. This contains the originals of my referral documents including a few details on her growth, personality and development, vaccinations, and a bit of medical testing results. The packet also contained the documents I needed to fill out and sign to accept my referral.

Needless to say, I was very excited to be able to complete this next step! When I saw the FedEx truck pull up, I threw on sandals, grabbed my camera and was out to the street before the delivery woman could even get out of her truck!! She was surprised but very nice about letting me take a picture of her with my package (once I explained why I was so excited).

I had the papers reviewed and sent out overnight FedEx back to my agency within 2 hours of receiving them. They will be reviewed by my agency and sent back to China (CCCWA) on Friday. From there, CCCWA will review and send back my TA (Travel Approval) in about 3-4 weeks. This is a critical step to setting travel dates. So, hopefully by early August, I'll know these dates and be able to work on flight plans.

Here's a picture of my FedEx delivery...