We have had several rounds of paperwork to complete. The first was about 30 pages to read and submit about 10 pages completed paperwork. The second round was about 40 pages to read and at least 20 pages to complete. The third is at your leisure pace and we are working on it.
We have had doctors appointments to check us all out ok to travel. We also have our prescriptions, just in case we were to get sick. We even have meds for our baby girl.
A very dear friend of mine so bravely came with me on a shopping for travel items trip. The list was a long one, but I almost have everything on the list. There were a couple things we couldn't find, measuring cup from ml to tsp, plastic pants for a 8 month old, and something else that I cannot think of right now. We had alot of fun in the Carter's Outlet Store. We got several warm cozy sleeper and a few lighter weight ones. I figure the weather will still be somewhat cold when we get back and also we keep it pretty cold here in our house and also at the lake, so we are going to need some warm sleepers. And the good thing is that they are clearanced right now. My dear friend is all about the zebra print, it is their style. So we found the cutest zebra print with burnt orange color outfit and my friend bought it for the baby. It is absolutely darling and I can't wait to try it on her and see how she likes it! The baby also got a swimsuit and cover up, I was told we will have a chance to go to the swimming pool while traveling and swimming is great bonding time. So if figure we are going to need the suit.
We are working on a care package to send to Long Shi Yue. My husband is making the box to ship the items in. Since that is his line of business, he is making one with pictures of us and her all over the box. I have been emailing Anna at the Red Thread China to find out about how to go about doing this, and she has been more than helpful so far.
We have celebrated #1 and #3 nephew's Birthday's and this weekend we are celebrating nephew #2 Birthday.
We are so thankful that we have been so busy and the time is flying by. I think by next week we should hear something about our travel approval. Fingers crossed!!
3 comments:
I have a few good tips for you....
1. It really helped to have freezer sized ziplock bags with the clothes she needed for the day, including a teeshirt, socks, and the hair bows/ties. That way, each day, we just needed to take out a baggie, and my husband was even able to dress her if I was busy. And the freezer sized baggies came in handy for tossing dirty diapers as well.
2. small 1/2 size sandwich baggies to carry the money for each on our list.
3. fanny packs, and always carry your passports in them and don't take them off unless in your room. The room in GZ had a safe in the room, so that was nice too.
4. LOTS of socks, and booties for your daughter (found the booties at Target). The carpets in all the hotels we stayed in were FILTHY. They vacuum but seem to rarely shampoo the carpets.
5. If you're taking a credit card, call around to your credit card companies and find out which one won't charge an exchange fee for purchasing times in China. (I think Capital One is the ONLY credit card that will do that)-If you find a credit card that doesn't do it, even if you don't have that credit card, might want to apply for one. Look into CapOne if you don't already have one.
6. Bring lots of comfort foods. I actually brought (in a carry-on) a loaf of bread and a tube of PB and a tube of jam...and a few other goodies.
7. a large box of Cheerios (bag only) packed in your luggage, and goldfish, and raisins. Our daughter loved that as a "trail mix"
8. a toothbrush for every day. Toss them after use so you don't have to worry about swallowing contaminated water from the faucets.
9. Bring cheap bags of under ware. Seems expensive, but trust me, you can use them then toss them. They will do your laundry at the hotels, but sending out your used under ware was a bit embarrassing...tossing them daily was great. An expense I would use again next time.
Karen, Thank you for the tips! I have already bought several ziplock bags. We have the fanny packs too!I didn't know about the socks, so I will make sure to bring plenty. :0) However, I heard about the pillow cases smelling funny, so I thought I would bring some pillow cases. And cherrios, goldfish and raisins are on my list now. Thanks again for all of the helpful tips!
You're very welcome. She is adorable. One other thing that I thought of recently. Our daughter got bad constipation in the first few days. After the fact, we had realized that we started feeding her things that we were ourselves eating. Congee is a big meal item in China. They eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner...it's a food staple...(kind of like a chicken broth porridge.) On a side note, it's actually quite good too. Anyway, we realized that our daughter was used to eating congee when she ate at a meal. Her 'orphanage sister" was still eating congee because her parents fed it to her, needless to say, she never had constipation problems as our daughter did, from changing her diet so fast.
If your daughter is already eating anything at all, she will be eating congee. It would be smart to keep feeding it to her at your regular meals while in China. - Our daughter was 16 months when we went to China, so she was a tiny bit older than yours.
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