The Mamahood

Sorry for the sparseness of the posts...

But it's been a little busy here in the Mamahood lately. Lots of packing and prepping going on around here for the little one's imminent arrival. So far, big sis is still very high on the idea of bringing home her mei-mei (little sister in Chinese). Lots of talk about offering her snacks, changing her diapers, and carrying her around. We get the feeling that our eldest is thinking her little sister is a nearly newborn, based on her current cooing around infants...even though we've been pointing out toddlers near Mei-Mei's age. She is going to be in for a big surprise, I think.

Maybe I Shouldn't Organize...

You'd be amazed at the kinds of things we need to pull together to get this whole China expedition off the ground. For instance, in an effort to control the types of people who enter the country leading up to the Olympics, China had us clear some new hurdles that weren't there a few years ago.

For instance, we needed to provide a copy of a bank statement and letters from our employers indicating our salary and saying that they know we're traveling to China on certain dates. Since I'm self-employed, that presented a bit of a challenge (though thankfully, one of my clients was happy to do the deed for me). And since we're traveling with a former Chinese citizen, we needed to provide her old Chinese passport as well.

Which leads to the subject of this post. Imagine what might happen if you discover, at 11:30 p.m. the night before the information is due, that the old Chinese passport isn't in the safe, as you expected. Imagine the level of stress when after two hours of combing through files and large piles and baskets of papers you still fail to track down that little red booklet. And imagine climbing into bed at 3:30 after hunting under couch cushions, through boxes of photos, and checking that safe for the 10th time hoping you missed it the first 9 times—wondering how you're going to break the news to your daughter that no, she's not going with you to China to get her mei-mei.

Then imagine how many times you wanted to kick yourself when you woke up the next morning at 6:30, dragged yourself into your home office and decided to thumb through a little file box you'd bought but thought you hadn't used—and discovered that the passport has been sitting in an appropriately named "Important Papers" folder all this time.

That would be me this morning.

travel approval!!!

We got it! Travel dates to come!

Today's Mood: Blacker and Blacker

So, still no word from our agency. And the strange thing...people who got their letters of approval 10 days after we did got their travel approvals today, while the 5/29ers all seem to be still waiting. Maybe there was a snafu at the CCAA? I'm happy for the 6/9 people, but I don't understand how they got theirs first.  I just want to meet our daughter.

Today's Mood: Mega-Cranky

No news = some very unhappy campers around our house. Including our little camper, who this morning threw a fit about attending her summer camp. (It can't be all that bad, since it includes two swim sessions, ice cream and brownies, and her best bud.)

My husband and I have been oh-so-cranky, sniping at each other about the smallest things. (Fortunately, we both know that this is all about the lack of TA, so we've been cutting each other a little slack when the snottiness starts.)

It's looking pretty unlikely that we're getting TA news today, since all reports have TAs possibly in the air en route, but none received. Word to the wise: If it's at all possible, best to steer clear of our family, until further notice.

Stress Stinks

There's still no travel approval (which means no travel dates yet) in our house. And since patience isn't one of my strong suits, no travel approval = oodles and oodles of stress. And my body reacts to stress by tensing all the muscles in my back until it's totally thrown out and I'm dragging around the house hunched over like an old lady. Which is exactly what I don't need right now, with so much left to do before the little one comes home.

Nursery Eye Candy

Here's a long promised image of our soon-to-be daughter's nursery...we still need curtains, but we're pretty excited about how it turned out. It was a family affair...my dad painted the blue, my daughter and I teamed up on the clouds. The tree, as mentioned before, is actually a collection of stickers from Land of Nod. My mom painted the beautiful birdhouses on the wall, and made the baby blanket hanging on the crib. The desk is an antique that we had custom finished for us, the crib a lovely loaner from a friend (our original crib bit the dust).

The green rug here is a Target special (which one of our cats thought was so grasslike it was like peeing outside...YIKES). And the bookshelf is a nice, solid piece from Land of Nod.

I really love our other daughter's nursery/room, but I think we outdid ourselves on this one.

Frustration

We're still waiting for our travel approval. Which could have come today...but hasn't. And at this point, likely won't. We're partially packed, and we have long-standing plans with my family that may change when we get our TA...so we're all in limbo right now.

I just want to hit the road and meet my baby.

Flooding Worries

Our soon-to-be daughter lives in Guangdong province, where there's been terrible flooding over the past few weeks. I believe she's okay, because I've been following the travels of someone else who just adopted from the same orphanage, and other than a road outage that delayed the mom's follow-up tour of the orphanage, it sounds like it's just rainy there.

But boy, it makes me even more anxious to get our daughter home.

Plane Fear

I'm not afraid of flying...but what I'm about to experience would make any mom tremble. Fifteen hours. On a plane. With a high-energy four-year-old and a husband who borders on flying phobic. And two weeks later: Fifteen hours back. On a plane. With a high-energy four-year-old, a husband who borders on flying phobic and a 18-month-old who may not like us much at that point and will probably be suffering from some sort of ear infection/stomach virus/nasty cold, courtesy of the brand new germs that we'll share with her.

I'm already picturing the "Dear God, please don't let them sit next to me" looks we'll be getting from the other passengers as we board the plane. I think I've got a pretty good strategy for handling the four-year-old. We're bringing my laptop, an airline adapter and a thick book full of her favorite DVDs. If she wants to watch Cars seven times through, she can be my guest. (I will have some cool travel art sets and a few of her favorite treats to keep her occupied during the "intermissions.")

We've tried various means of medicating my husband to calm his nerves, but with disastrous results, so we'll just have to download a few movies to his iPod and hope for the best.

I'm bringing a book and a movie on my iPod, just in case I get a few seconds to relax on the way there. I doubt I'll have the same luxury on the way home.