I have nothing important to say. Live goes on, red X's slowly ticking away the days on the calendar. I'm counting in so many ways now: One more Costco trip; 2 more mortgage payments; 4 more Survivor episodes; 4 more weekends (chances to sleep in); 4 more tanks of gas… And finally, as I opened my yogurt this morning, I notice that the expiration date is 11/07/07. When this yogurt goes bad, I'll be a new mom. The things this process drives us to think about. If I were pregnant, I would be big as a house and saying "get this kid out of me" "epidural, NOW!"… That kind of stuff. I feel just about that fidgety. "Get me on the plane, now!" That's what I'm feeling today. So as the days countdown and we wait for our travel visas to come back, I'll sit here eating my yogurt…thinking about what life will be like a month from now.
New pictures came today of Ian thanks to Adele at Blessed Kids! He doesn't look too terribly different from 14 to 18 months, but he is losing a bit of that baby pudge. It must mean he's up and running around finally!
Take a look at his progression: 18, 14, & 8 months. I'm hoping that's his "going home" outfit… I've become a little attached to it!
Mom & Dad are staying in this RV park in the middle of the city tonight... poised to head south tomorrow morning. They're in one of the RV's. Is that my dad sipping iced tea at the pool?
Here we are almost a month past receiving our Travel Approval and I'm just now booking our plane tickets! Families with our same TA date are in China now meeting their babies. I thought that would be really hard to take, but I'm too busy trying to tie up loose ends at work and home to obsess too much. I still can't stand that we still have 6 weeks to go, but hopefully the time will fly by.
Thanks to Shawn's travels abroad in the past year or so, he had enough miles to allow us a couple of options... 1) Upgrade to Business Class from Seattle to China, or 2) Pay for a majority of coach tickets. After much thought, we decided to go with the savings on coach. After all, we planned to buy Ian a seat home, afraid of what 15 hours with a 19 month our laps would be like.
We ended up getting our tickets for half price, which is a great thing because Ian's one way ticket was almost as much as an adult round trip ticket. Oy!
Unfortunately, to use our miles, we had to shift our departure dates by one day. So, will a little in-country tweaking still to be done, here's our itinerary:
October 29th: Leave for China
October 30th: Arrive in Beijing
November 3rd: Fly to Hangzhou
November 5th: Family Day! Ian is ours!
November 9th: Fly to Guangzhou
November 16th: Fly home
I mentioned in my last post that Ian's room is a mess... what mess? I guess I cleverly positioned myself to hide that side of the room.
It wasn't until I took this picture that I realized how supportive I've been of Target and REI's profit margins lately. If only you knew what's in that big box... Yes, more Target bags!
Ian's room has gotten off to a slow start. We found a loving home for our parrot, Gonzo, who used to call that room home. It also served as my craft room and computer room. Across the hall, our 2nd spare room became…no, not a guest room… but my TV and reading room (since Shawn and I watch TV in separate rooms…sometimes the same show, but separate rooms J ). I used the computer in Gonzo's room maybe twice since buying it new, because I preferred using my laptop in the TV room (Gonzo also had a huge problem if his Spongebob videos where interrupted by web surfing) . My craft gear migrated west to the closet in the TV room and has gone barely touched since. Now that we were able to combine the two rooms, Ian could finally have his space. I set up his crib by myself in less than an hour. It is great quality furniture and should last. It is a "lifetime crib" that will convert to toddler bed and then full sized headboard. Chances are we'll change to something incorporating a desk or storage when he gets older, but for now it will do just fine. As for the dresser, Shawn and I planned to carry it upstairs ourselves, but once we realized that the drawers don't come out (for safety reasons), it became apparent that it would be far too heavy for me to help with. We had several 90 degree turns and a standard nightmare stair landing/turn to make…In all, it weighed at least 250 pounds if not more, and was long. I'm glad it's heavy and low. I won't have to worry about it toppling over on Ian if he decides it will make a good jungle gym. They also did a great job of fixing the drawers and shelves so the don't come out without the help of a screwdriver. Headache for dad; piece of mind for mom. We wound up bribing half of Shawn's family with dinner and margaritas to help us with the dresser. Getting it upstairs only cost us an additional $200 once it was all said and done…When they offered to deliver, why didn't we think about this? So, unfortunately, these pictures only exemplify the bareness of his room. As of now, he has plenty of clothes (most of which probably won't fit him once he's home) and a few books. That's it! Nothing on the walls, no toys… poor kid (actually no mattress yet either…note to self). His room is also acting as packing central, so please forgive the mess.
Ian turns 17 months old today! Only 3 months ago, we received our first pictures of him since his referral pictures, which were from 8 months old. He had transformed from a bald headed chubby cheeked baby into a little boy. Still chubby and not as bald, but growing with or without us. Who knows what he looks like today, SO MANY days and weeks later (well, not that long ago, but it still seems like forever!)
Now, almost 3 months since our last pictures of him, we are into our 8 week countdown to travel. I imagine that by now Ian is walking and has teeth to show for all that drool that was in that first video we received.
The above pictures are of his home province Zhejiang. Namely, Wenzhou, his hometown and Hangzhou, the capital, which is where we will meet him for the first time.
His picture here is from 15 months and he is already looking thinner than his first chubby pictures. I imagine it is probably because he had started walking by then and was running around like a little mad man, burning up calories and growing like a weed.
I found an amazingly useful tool for surviving the wait. Click Here
