Here. Alive. Exhausted

yep that sums it all up!  we made it last night after 20 hours of flying.  don't even want to start calculating the math on how long it was door to door.  (okay did that and it was over 24 hours.  )

Judy and I in Orlando.  waiting to start the long long flight to Dylan 

checked into the hotel, gave up sorting thru the suitcases,  (was Dylan playing in here!!!) order in some food, and feel asleep.  then woke up, didnt' to hunt thru the suitcases looking for the white noise machine.  then had to hunt for the tiny black bags of adaptors, wait the wall outlets are all different, where is the outlet that matches my adaptor!!!?  found that, by crawling around on the floor (still in the dark so i wouldn't wake up Judy) plugged in adaptor, that fit.  plugged in white noise machine.  awww sleep.  10 seconds later smelled the smoke.  jumped out of bed, shut of machine and unplugged it from the wall.  i had been warned by the agency that things with a heating element would burn, didn't think a WNM had a heating element.  wondering if i can ship it back home along with the tons of warm weather clothing i don't need!   but will most likely just shove it back in the suitcase somewhere.


very dry here.  and it's super hot in the rooms.  even with the heat off!  okay 5am here and tired.  planning our day:  breakfast, walk, nap.  lunch nap.  shopping for formula... nap!  then bedtime.  maybe some dinner first.

will start taking pictures soon and upload those.

View from our window at the Novotel Peace Hotel in Beijing.  We're on the 13th floor.  I guess they're not concerned with the 13th floor jinx!  

Been up since 5am.   time to get ready to explore a bit of the city!  

So Happy New Years to all.  and in just a few short days, I'll finally have Dylan in my arms!!!!

First Leg Completed

Well so far, so excellently good!  Yesterday, Sunday, Judy and Bernie came over to the house.  It was nice to actually sit down and start talking about what will be in store.  All this planning and prepping and not much time set aside to just sit back and say Holy Crap!  am i really really adopting another child?  Am i ready?  Is she ready to have a family?  How will we manage this all?  okay so that's not the enjoyable part, so scratch that.  flash forward instead to putting Dylan in her stroller and walking Emma down to the bus stop.  Wave bye bye to Big Sister Emma!!!!   cuddling, snuggling, holding those teeny tiny hands.  okay yep, that's the enjoyable

The trip this morning started out beautifully.  We got there early early (4:30am!!!!)  and got THE best skycap, Al.  He instantly informed us that Delta's policy was to charge ($100) for checked in strollers when there wasn't a child traveling.  It's considered luggage.  but, he told us not to worry he'd talk to the supervisor and worst case, we can take it to the gate and check it in there for free.  He whisked off all four bags and the stroller, commenting on the enormous weight of one of the bags.  Came back a 10 minutes later, (ahhh the beauty of arriving early, we were completely at ease and not feeling rushed) he apologized for the delay, told us he was able to get the stroller checked at no charge.  when he weighted the  luggage, and noted that one was 57 lbs, we tried and tried to move items to the smaller, under weight bags.  Knowing we were on an adoption trip, commenting, Oh you're adopting a girl -- all the pink in one suitcase being the obvious giveaway, he finally declared, okay that's fine.  i see that you're trying.  he took the extra stuff put it back in the big suitcase and said, don't worry about it!  this on top of the fact that we weren't charged for the 2 extra suitcases.  According to Delta 2nd checked bags would be $100 each, but we weren't charged for this.  Hey, not going to raise a flag and say, oh wait is this supposed to be free?  and to make things even sweeter, he said he checked our bags all the way thru to China.  last adoption trip we had to get our bags at LAX, schlep them thru that massive airport and re check them at the international gate.  that sucked big time!  They say it gets easier with the next child,  i guess they were right!

so that adventure behind us, we're now chilling out in chilly Detroit waiting for our next flight.  THE BIG FLIGHT.  the one that takes us to my daughter's homeland.  Beijing, here we come.

One last note, I'm tired.  so I'm taking an author's privilege and NOT proof reading right now.  so if my post seemed to make a little less sense than they should, just remember...  i was up at 2:50am and am feeling rather punchy right now.

A non comparison comparison

yesterday Jeff and I calculated that there would be, an almost to the day, six month difference between how old Emma was, and how old Dylan will be on her Gotcha Day.  Six months.  And yet they seem so incredibly different.  i remember how much i loved Emma at that age, with those giant chubby cheeks and her mookie eyes (monster) and her fierce independent (some would say stubborn) ways.  I know enough not to compare the two girls, and yet I can't help but.   With Emma we could go anywhere, explore anything, try everything,  She was totally adventurous and game.  David on the other hand was horrified.  horrified, terrified, and freaked by everything.  so i figure I've experienced both extremes and i should be well prepared for whatever comes my way.  right?  Of course the scant updates I've gotten on Dylan assure me:  she lovely girl.  Well the same might have been said about Emma and we all know how that's not always the case!!!!

Just look at Emma's cheeckies!

Her other cheekies.  Which she regularity flashed us

Mookie Eyes,  (when she played an evil monster and would chase David around the room.  Something she knew he loved!  He's squeal with delight when she did that)

My Babies.  David and Emma,  big brother and sister to Dylan.

And once again, trying not to compare, I'm really disappointed Jeff isn't traveling with me.  We really travel very very well.  I, being, the crazy annal, detail obsessed, coupon crazed one, figure out where we're going, when we're going, how much we'll spend, and how we're getting there.  Jeff swoops in at the last minute and takes care of getting us everywhere else.  hmmm doesn't sound quite equitable when i explain it that  way, but trust me, after all the planning, I'm more than happy to sit back and have him escort us everywhere and figure out what the best restaurants are.  I can sit back and enjoy the vacation.  So not having him on this adventure is going to be rough on me.  I wish he and the kids were all going with me.  but that's not the case.  I'm thrilled that my SIL will be coming with me and helping me out, (oy, all those diapers...   gee Judy can you do just one, I "think" I've got it!)  

Jeff in Da Nang.  waiting to meet the kids for the first time.

The Battle of the (other) Bulge Begins!

How to get all my clothes, Dylan's clothes, orphanage donations, caregiver and official gifts all into one (scratch that)  two.  (nope not going to happen) possibly three bags!  uh uh ohhhh.  yep try as i might i discovered yesterday there was no way i was going to get by with just two suitcases.  Thanks to the help of my most awesome friend, CJ (AKA my other husband)  she and I tried and tried and quickly realized the donations and gifts alone took up a whole suitcase (50 lbs worth)  i still had my and Dylan's clothes to pack, plus our meds and toiletries.  and while i could have possibly found a way to squeeze all that into one bag... i just couldn't think of what else to eliminate.  I had planned on only so many outfits for Dylan -- figuring at some point I'd get laundry service,  same for me.  but with Winter clothing, there was just too much stuff.

So after realizing that the fee for overweight luggage was barely less than a whole new suitcase, i decided to go with the latter.  At least on the way back, we can double up 2 suitcases (putting one inside the other) and the 3rd would be considered Dylan's so we'll be fine.  The thought of leaving behind any of the many wonderful donations, or the gifts that i bought just seemed too sad and just not acceptable to me.  Luckily, when i ran it by Jeff, he agreed.  And of course, being 10's of thousands into this adoption, another $100 is certainly not going to be a deal breaker.  so, yeah, i get to back, and haul and carry and deal with 3 suitcases AND a stroller.  Thankfully SIL Judy will be traveling with me and i will definitely need her help!

Off to pack my little heart out.

2 days and 7 hours til travel
10 days to Gotcha Day!

Christmas Eve

The Last Christmas we'll spend as a family of four before we become a family of FIVE!  I had so hoped Dylan would be with us before Christmas.  But that didn't turn out to be the case.   Luckily Santa recognized we had a new family member and remembered to bring her her presents too!  (of course the kids keep telling me that Dylan can't have chocolate yet, so if Santa brings her any...  I guess I'm supposed to surmise that THEY should get her chocolate?)  I guess she won't mind.

2013 Our First 12 Stocking Christmas:
Jeff/Daddy, Rita/Mommy, Adam, Christina, Jon, Ashley, Becky, Alex, David, Emma, Dylan and 1 for the 3 dogs to share.

Well a few more days.  5 days and 8 hours....   Nothing like those 6:30 AM flights to start your adoption journey.  Hoping and praying the weather behaves and we don't have any airport shut downs.  When we flew to Vietnam in 2007 we had to deal with the extreme heat, now I'm worrying about the extreme cold, windy, icy conditions.  But then again, thanks to global warming it just might end up being a balmy 65 degrees in Beijing!

Lots to do.  apps to load.  bags to pack.  prune juice to buy.   all things to keep my mind occupied while i wait.  Definitely the hardest part.  the waiting!!!!!

Less than a week now!

I'm racing like a mad woman,  A MAD WOMAN!!!!

Thankfully the kids recital (as beautiful as it was) is now over and Christmas is 2 sleeps away.  Luckily i was well prepared and bought all the kids presents so i can rest easy on that score.  I'd like to say i have everything done and the rest of the time i can kick back and just chill before my big trip HAHAHA

But I'm trying.  I finally figured out the whole VPN thing and got that set up.  So one less thing to worry.  Thankfully the good people on all those yahoo groups are always there to offer help and suggestions.  but where will they be when I'm in China and feeling utterly clueless?  I'm not sure why this adoption trips feels more stressful to me.  Probably because Jeff is not coming on this one.  The first go round was all about meeting the kids for the first time.  This one seems to be about how to get there, what to do when i get there, and how to avoid at all possible costs, having my sweet Dylan choke on the first piece of solid food that i offer her.  oh what stress!  and let's just throw in the fact that I'm deeply worried I'll forget something critical (like who's going to pick up Emma at the bus stop?)

Okay.....  thinking about something good:  Dylan of course.  can't wait to meet her and HEAR her for the first time.  We're so lucky to have gotten the few pictures we did, but to hear her speak, laugh, make any sound at alll.  ahh that will be sweet indeed.

10 days and counting

In ten short days, I'll be taking the trip of a lifetime!  Finally, I'll be able to travel to meet Dylan for the first time.  I look at her picture every night and wonder what she's doing.   Playing?  Eating?   Exploring life with her crib mates?   I can't even begin to picture her little world and see what she might be doing.
10 days.  just 10 days more and i'll be flying to her homeland.
10 days.  i'll be boarding a plane and headed to see her.
10 days.  it's not coming fast enough
10 days.  too much to do!

10 days.  my life, our life, her life will change forever.