T minus 14: More Crazy Cakes!!

When EJ was born, I decided to start her a collection of signed children's books. I thought it would be something of great sentimental value that she could always keep and perhaps pass down to her children some day.

We've picked up some interesting additions to the collection over the years--books from Jan Brett, Tasha Tudor, Eric Carle... In fact, when we sent some books to Eric Carle and explained EJ's collection, he not only inscribed and signed them and sent them back, he also drew little sketches of the characters inside the covers! Then, a few weeks later, another package arrived from his studio, and when we opened it up, it was a copy his newest book (at the time), Dream Snow, that had been inscribed to her. It came with a letter from his publicist who said that each month, Carle picks a fan and sends them a book! It, too, was inscribed to her.

Anyway, one of our favorites is "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" by Rose Lewis. From Amazon.com: "Mother-love is profound, however a baby comes into a woman's life. For Rose Lewis, the journey to motherhood begins with a letter to Chinese officials, asking if she can adopt from the 'big room with lots of other babies.' The infants in that room in China are each missing a mother, but Lewis is missing something, too--a baby. She travels to China to meet her new little girl and falls head over heels in love. Taking her baby home to America, Lewis introduces her to all her family and friends, and they begin their life together."




I bought this signed book for EJ from a little local bookshop that, sadly, is no longer in business. I bought it on a whim one day, when I noticed it was signed by both the author (Lewis) and the illustrator (Jane Dyer, one of my favorites). EJ might have been 2 or 3 at the time, and we already had an interest in adoption from China. So, two years ago, when we told EJ that we were going to adopt a baby, she knew right away what that meant and how it worked.

Rose Lewis, an adoptive parent herself, now has a new book titled "Every Year on Your Birthday". She's going to be at a local bookshop to sign copies on Saturday afternoon. Since we already have EJ's early birthday celebration booked during that time, I called the bookshop and made arrangements to prepay for a copy tomorrow. The shop owner assured me that Rose would inscribe the book as we wished. I am SO excited to get this as the first book in Miss Sophie's book collection.

The Amazon description reads: "In I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, Rose Lewis and Jane Dyer told the heartfelt story of one woman's adoption a baby girl from China. These sentiments are brought to life again in this touching portrait of birthday celebrations and unforgettable moments between a mother and her little girl: from joyous hugs for a new puppy, to quiet nights gazing at the stars remembering a faraway family. Capturing the richness of both Chinese and American cultures, Every Year on Your Birthday is a poignant tribute to the growing bond of love only a parent and child can know."


I can't wait to read it!!! I can't wait to snuggle up with Sophie and read to her every night. It's my favorite time of day. In EJ's eight years, I don't think we've missed more than a dozen nights of bedtime reading. Even as a newborn, we made time for a few minutes each night to just flip through the pages of board books and point to objects and name them. It's one of the things I'm most proud of as a parent...the ability to help foster a love of books and reading for her. I hope Sophie enjoys reading as much as EJ does. And I just can't wait to introduce her to my old favorites that I haven't seen in a few years now. A few that come to mind immediately:

• Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs! (Boynton)
• Goodnight Gorilla (Rathmann)
• Guess How Much I Love You (McBratney)
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle)
• Red Berry Wool, Mabela the Clever (illustrated by local guy Tim Coffey)

And now, off to tackle chapter 5 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince...

T minus 15: Making a list, checking it twice

Yes, still tweaking that packing list! It looks like we've bought most of the things that were needed, so now we're down to the finer points, like which clothes to take. Sophie's clothes were easy... EJ's clothes were pretty easy... Mine? Still working on it. Everyone says less is more and to only take a few days worth of clothes. I'm mentally trying to figure out when we will get laundry done.

Our big group travel meeting is Friday afternoon at the agency. It will be fun to meet all 20 families (well, most of them...some of them live in other states!). We should get a few itinerary at that meeting.

There is another CAWLI travel group in China now and they received their babies earlier today!

T minus 17: Spring Fling

Today was spent finishing up the spring cleaning before we leave. More cleaning of window treatments, washing the bedding, scrubbing all of the baseboards and windows, and even wiping down some walls. I'm EXHAUSTED! Since I spent January through March organizing and cleaning closets, dresser drawers, cabinets, the entire attic (both the finished side and the storage space), this is about as clean as it's ever been. I claim no responsibility for most of the basement or the garage, so I figure I'm done.

We also went shopping (again) for more trip supplies. This time, it was a trip through the HBA department at Walmart to get all of the over the counter medications suggested for the trip. Let's just say that I now have enough small little bottles to open my own little pharmacy, and I have many of them in multiple varieties...Infant Tylenol, Children's Tylenol, our Tylenol, Tylenol PM, lots of different cold and cough meds, baby Orajel for teething...the list goes on and on. We also bought a few of those reusable vacuum packing bags.

This concludes the shopping portion of the packing phase...please stay tuned for the next episode, "Selecting my wardrobe for travel."

T minus 18: Someone. Stop. Me. Now.

It was a morning of shopping...first to the grocery store, where I stocked up on extra snacks for the trip (granola bars, crackers, cheerios) and extra food for when we return. Then, it was off to Target and Babies R Us to look for more supplies for the trip. We were able to knock a lot of things off of the list. Tonight or tomorrow, we'll probably need another Walmart run to finish up the long list of over-the-counter meds we need to take. Here are some things we picked up along the way.

Cute sleepers with matching onesies:

Sophie's new bathing suit for the trip:


Finally, one of the things on the required packing list is a thermos so that we can keep water hot for Sophie's bottles. We already have large and small thermoses (hmm...is that how you pluralize thermos?), but we needed a 16 ounce one that will hold enough water for two bottles. We thought this shocking pink one was perfect:

But now the fun is over and I'm in the midst of finishing the spring cleaning...washing curtains. Oh joy.

T minus 19: We're leaving on a jet plane...

...on May 23rd! Woo hoo!!!! We have a confirmed travel date. And our passports with visas arrived back yesterday. The visa is actually a sticker that is almost the size of a passport page. It's pretty cool...has a drawing of the Great Wall on it. So, right now, as I type, it is 8:30 on Saturday morning in Beijing. In just three weeks, we will be on our way to the Great Wall! And only three weeks and 2 days until we get to pinch Sophie's precious chubby cheeks. Okay, I promise I won't pinch too hard and scare her right away!

Today, we did get the whole travel clinic fiasco settled. Of course, it means we're driving to a travel clinic that is about 70 miles from the house, but it saves me a lot of out-of-pocket expenses (at least $500) that were not covered by insurance at the closer clinic. Many thanks to co-worker G.P., who I happened to bump into this morning to ask where she had her kids vaccinated before travel. K called them and they were able to squeeze us in next week.

K had a busy morning...not only was he arranging travel clinic visits and getting prescriptions for all of EJ's and Sophie's meds, he also visited EJ's 2nd grade classroom to help out with a Top Secret Mother's Day Project. Hmmm...wonder what it is?

Now that we have confirmed travel dates, the grandparents were able to arrange their summer travels to New England. Pap Pap and Mamaw S from PA will arrive a day or two before we return from China to help "set up shop" (buy a few groceries, meet us at the airport, etc.) and then help us hold down the fort for a few days as we sleep off our jet lag. And Grandpap and Grandma H from AL will arrive the following week for a two week stay.

We now know that we will definitely be back in time for EJ to participate in her dance recital and her first-ever piano recital. We've been a little nervous about this one for some time, as we knew she would understand but still be disappointed. And she's such a beautiful dancer! Here are some pics from last year's dress rehearsal:

And, the travel schedule also allows EJ to have the biggest adventure ever for her 8th birthday, since that's the day we leave! We already gave her the new bike, so we'll have to have the cake and ice cream (and maybe another gift) a day early. We are taking her and a few of her friends to a bead shop to make jewelry for an early party next weekend.

DAYS 23 & 24: Malaria, Tetanus, and Typhoid...Oh MY!

We are in the midst of figuring out what additional vaccines we will be getting before traveling. Malaria and Typhoid vaccines are recommended, but many people don't get them because they're not planning to be in a rural area. I think we'll probably ere on the side of caution (my father-in-law's motto: consider the cost of being wrong).

Now, if we can just find a travel clinic to give us the meds... When we started the Hep A/B injections two years ago, we went to the travel clinic at the local hospital. The hospital is on my top-of-the-line Blue Cross/Blue Shield PPO plan. However, the travel clinic, WHICH IS PHYSICALLY LOCATED INSIDE THE HOSPITAL, does not take insurance. So, we paid for it and then submitted the expenses. The claim was denied and then I had to call and complain and say HOW COULD I POSSIBLY KNOW THAT A DIVISION OF A COVERED HOSPITAL WOULD NOT BE COVERED!!! Then, we went back for the 2nd and 3rd shots, which again were denied, and I called and complained and said YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD PAY FOR THE FIRST INJECTION AND NOT THE OTHER TWO?!?!?! Of the covered clinics in the area, the doctor is on vacation for the next three weeks at one and the other will not provide travel services for children. Is this insane or what?

While shopping for travel and baby supplies, I found the cutest little onesies with pink Red Sox logos all over them, so of course, Sophie HAD to have them. Now, if I could just find a mini pink cap to go with them...

DAY 22: The TA arrived!

We received an email today that our travel authorization did indeed arrive. They still need to confirm the visa appointment, which may not happen for a few days since everything in China is closed for a holiday right now. As long as that is confirmed, we will travel between 5/23 and 6/7.

Today was focused on finalizing the packing list. Our agency offers a wonderful service called PTAG - the Parents Travel Advisory Group. They hold monthly meetings for those who are waiting so that a parent who has already been to China can fill you in on what to expect, what to pack, etc. Well, our travel group is lucky enough to have a PTAG volunteer mom in it! I emailed her all of my silly questions today and she responded with the much-needed answers!