Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts
Friday, October 22, 2004
Surprise, Another Baby Shower
I had a baby shower at work yesterday. It really was a surprise too! We had just finished a 2 hour meeting and I was back in my office. My boss walked by and said we were re-convening in the board room to finalize the one last open issue--I was not happy as I had just left there. I opened the door and there was the whole staff just waiting for me. They had taken the picture of my daughter off my desk when I was in the meeting and made copies of her and hung them all over the boardroom. There were lots of well-wishes, food and a gift card to babiesrus. I think many of them are just as excited about the baby as I am! They all went through the torture of waiting with me. That was pretty nice, and totally not expected.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Travel Approvals Received 10/13/2004
We received the approval to travel to China on October 13, 2004. This means that we have permission to plan our flights to China. I know I shouldn't have counted on travelling to China by October 28th, but I still did. I just couldn't help myself and I really thought we'd be gone by then. I have been keeping a daily count of Days to China in my office on a huge whiteboard. Now I have to add days back since I won't beflying until November 3rd. We need to be in Beijing by November 5th.
I have been really calm throughout most of this whole adoption process, one or two tantrums not withstanding, but I am now officially nervous! I called AR to make the travel arrangements via Lotus as I cannot handle this. Like most of the women, I did all of the paperwork and now I need DH to pitch in, which he is doing. Not to gross anyone out, but when I get nervous,my stomach does backflips and vomiting ensues....I am just nervous about co-ordinating the flights. We still don't know if we are going to get a direct flight NY to Beijing or if we will go via Los Angeles. AR is partial to LA because his brother lives there and he thought it would be neat if we had a day to hang with him, but I don't know. We cannot leave prior to 11/2 because I am in school and I can't miss three classes or I will fail the course, so all of this is weighing heavily upon me. I know it will all work out and I will probably be okay by this evening, but right now I am a wreck!
I have been really calm throughout most of this whole adoption process, one or two tantrums not withstanding, but I am now officially nervous! I called AR to make the travel arrangements via Lotus as I cannot handle this. Like most of the women, I did all of the paperwork and now I need DH to pitch in, which he is doing. Not to gross anyone out, but when I get nervous,my stomach does backflips and vomiting ensues....I am just nervous about co-ordinating the flights. We still don't know if we are going to get a direct flight NY to Beijing or if we will go via Los Angeles. AR is partial to LA because his brother lives there and he thought it would be neat if we had a day to hang with him, but I don't know. We cannot leave prior to 11/2 because I am in school and I can't miss three classes or I will fail the course, so all of this is weighing heavily upon me. I know it will all work out and I will probably be okay by this evening, but right now I am a wreck!
Sunday, October 10, 2004
We have our Flight Planned
We are going with the JFK direct to Beijing Air China flight 982 departing 3:30 pm on Nov 3rd arriving 6pm on Nov 4th. We are skipping LA all together. AR wanted to meet up with his brother who lives in LA, but we just couldn't do it. I can't leave until after the 2nd because I cannot miss 3 classes or I will fail the course, so I have to go to school on Nov 2nd. I am happy because it would be too much of a strain to deal with his brother on top of the adoption...Small doses are all Ic an take!
Going home we are leaving Guangzhou Fri Nov 19 and have an 8:35 am Air China flight 1310 to Beijing. Then Leaving Beijing 1 pm Air China flight 981 back to JFK.I didn't really want to fly out of JFK, but only because I knew none of our relatives/friends would drive us there/pick us up! We'll have to get a car service, which is not the end of the world, but still more arrangements to make.
Turns out we will be on the same flight from a woman we "met" cyberly via our afoption agency's yahoo group. They are flying from Boston to JFK and then we will be on the same flight to Beijing and we have the same flights back to New York. I am glad that we will be with people we know, but they are flying Business Class and we are going coach - ugh! On the way back we are getting a seat for Katrina. I know she probably won't want to be in the seat, but it will be nice to have the room.
Now I just have to let my boss know that my last day is quickly approaching. Yahoo!
Going home we are leaving Guangzhou Fri Nov 19 and have an 8:35 am Air China flight 1310 to Beijing. Then Leaving Beijing 1 pm Air China flight 981 back to JFK.I didn't really want to fly out of JFK, but only because I knew none of our relatives/friends would drive us there/pick us up! We'll have to get a car service, which is not the end of the world, but still more arrangements to make.
Turns out we will be on the same flight from a woman we "met" cyberly via our afoption agency's yahoo group. They are flying from Boston to JFK and then we will be on the same flight to Beijing and we have the same flights back to New York. I am glad that we will be with people we know, but they are flying Business Class and we are going coach - ugh! On the way back we are getting a seat for Katrina. I know she probably won't want to be in the seat, but it will be nice to have the room.
Now I just have to let my boss know that my last day is quickly approaching. Yahoo!
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Baby Shower October 3, 2004
I had told AR that I didn't want a baby shower until after we had the referral because we didn't know how old the baby was going to be. Anyway, I was thinking that the baby shower would be kind of sad. My mom died in 1996 and it is so sad to think that she won't be here to see her grandchild. My original thought was not even to have a baby shower, or, if we had one, maybe to do it after the baby was home and make it a welcome home shower instead. I even told AR that the baby shower shouldn't be a surprise and we should just do it ourselves because my mom isn't here to do it. He told me not to worry about it and that was that.
So apparently, it was supposed to be a surprise, but my husband is no good at secrets. We received an invitation to a party on Sept 26. I asked AR if he wanted to go and I mentioned that we had a lot of stuff alreadyin Oct--on the 3rd and the 10th. "The 3rd? What do we have on the3rd????!" The FCC BBQ that I've had on the calendar for over a month. He got really upset. He just couldn't hide it and blurted out, "That's your shower. The invitations already went out. I forgot we had the BBQ." He knew I was really looking forward to the BBQ too. Sigh, why do I even write stuff on that blasted calendar if no one ever looks there???
My best friend, Gina, was orchestrating the whole thing and I didn't want her to know that I knew, so I pretended to be surprised. In the meantime, AR kept telling me stuff about the shower, but I drew the line at decorations and gifts. I wanted to be surprised by something! Gina threw me a baby shower and my uncle donated his house. He only lives 3 blocks from me and my grandmother, who bought me the crib, lives with him. Gina went crazy with decorations and food (her brother is a caterer) and it was all vegetarian! (I was vegetarian back then) All kinds of pasta - vodka, cavetelli/broccoli, veg lasagna, tortellini alfredo...Can I tell you how much pasta is in my freezer? I put everything in gladware and froze individual meals forwhen we return from China, so I am set there!
She made a diaper cake -did you ever see one of these? Using papertowels and toilet paper as the layers of cake, the diapers are pinnedto the rolls which form the layers. Then, ribbon is wrapped aroundand things are stuffed into the ribbon like baby spoons, socks,rattles etc. Looked very cute!She made corsages for me and grandma (actual great grandma) out of rolled up baby socks--they looked like flowers! She also has a computer program that makes wrappers for party favors. She made a wrapper that fits over a hershey bar. It had a stork carrying a bundle and when you looked at the bundles, it was Katrina's face! So cute!
She also dabbles in painting with watercolors. She painted a pictureof winnie the pooh and his friends. Each of them holding a balloon that spells out her name. She had it beautifully framed It is gorgeous! Gina's aunt, whom I have only met twice, was so impressed with AR and I and our adoption plans that she told Gina that she wanted to knit me a baby blanket. Well, not only did she knit the most beautiful yellow blanket ever, but she also knitted a yellow baby sweater to match. It is absolutely darling!
I am such a brat, I know, but since I knew about the shower, I kept checking the registry online to see what had been bought. I was disappointed because it did not appear that a lot of stuff was bought. (hey, I already noted that I was a brat!) Many people bought stuff I wanted, but not at babiesrus(hence the dupes) and 10 people gave me either a giftcard for babiesrus or money to buy what we wanted, so we made out really well. I can't believe that I thought about not having a shower! I still need to get waterproof mattress pads, bottles and other practical stuff, but I have so much stuff for the baby.
So apparently, it was supposed to be a surprise, but my husband is no good at secrets. We received an invitation to a party on Sept 26. I asked AR if he wanted to go and I mentioned that we had a lot of stuff alreadyin Oct--on the 3rd and the 10th. "The 3rd? What do we have on the3rd????!" The FCC BBQ that I've had on the calendar for over a month. He got really upset. He just couldn't hide it and blurted out, "That's your shower. The invitations already went out. I forgot we had the BBQ." He knew I was really looking forward to the BBQ too. Sigh, why do I even write stuff on that blasted calendar if no one ever looks there???
My best friend, Gina, was orchestrating the whole thing and I didn't want her to know that I knew, so I pretended to be surprised. In the meantime, AR kept telling me stuff about the shower, but I drew the line at decorations and gifts. I wanted to be surprised by something! Gina threw me a baby shower and my uncle donated his house. He only lives 3 blocks from me and my grandmother, who bought me the crib, lives with him. Gina went crazy with decorations and food (her brother is a caterer) and it was all vegetarian! (I was vegetarian back then) All kinds of pasta - vodka, cavetelli/broccoli, veg lasagna, tortellini alfredo...Can I tell you how much pasta is in my freezer? I put everything in gladware and froze individual meals forwhen we return from China, so I am set there!
She made a diaper cake -did you ever see one of these? Using papertowels and toilet paper as the layers of cake, the diapers are pinnedto the rolls which form the layers. Then, ribbon is wrapped aroundand things are stuffed into the ribbon like baby spoons, socks,rattles etc. Looked very cute!She made corsages for me and grandma (actual great grandma) out of rolled up baby socks--they looked like flowers! She also has a computer program that makes wrappers for party favors. She made a wrapper that fits over a hershey bar. It had a stork carrying a bundle and when you looked at the bundles, it was Katrina's face! So cute!
She also dabbles in painting with watercolors. She painted a pictureof winnie the pooh and his friends. Each of them holding a balloon that spells out her name. She had it beautifully framed It is gorgeous! Gina's aunt, whom I have only met twice, was so impressed with AR and I and our adoption plans that she told Gina that she wanted to knit me a baby blanket. Well, not only did she knit the most beautiful yellow blanket ever, but she also knitted a yellow baby sweater to match. It is absolutely darling!
I am such a brat, I know, but since I knew about the shower, I kept checking the registry online to see what had been bought. I was disappointed because it did not appear that a lot of stuff was bought. (hey, I already noted that I was a brat!) Many people bought stuff I wanted, but not at babiesrus(hence the dupes) and 10 people gave me either a giftcard for babiesrus or money to buy what we wanted, so we made out really well. I can't believe that I thought about not having a shower! I still need to get waterproof mattress pads, bottles and other practical stuff, but I have so much stuff for the baby.
Friday, October 01, 2004
Crisp New Money
With an adoption you have to pay a lot of fees. Fees to the adoption agency here in the U.S., fees to the orphanage in China, fees in China for notaries and passports, medical exams and on and on. Credit cards and checks are not acceptable forms of payment for these fees in China. We must pay in cash. Okay, that in and of itself makes me a little nervous because that is a lot of cash to carry. There is a $3,000 mandatory orphanage donation. Only two provinces allow this money to be wired and we were lucky because our daughter's province is one of them so we do not have to carry around this additional $3,000.
The money that we do need to bring must be brand new, not folded or bent money. I went to Commerce Bank in September and they actually ordered the money for me. I know yo aren't supposed to do this, but I put the new bills $5,000 in cash in my safe deposit box (I am fairly certain this is against the law). I certainly didn't want to carry around this money with me and I figured it would be safe there until we needed it. I didn't know then that the orphanage donation would be wire transferred, so all that means is that I have additional money that I can spend in China. I plan on buying whatever we need with cash versus credit cards. A lot of places in China do not take credit cards too, especially the little shops.
AR and I each have money belts so we will split up the cash and will each carry half. I will divide up the money into individual ziplock baggies and label each bag for the amount of the fee to be paid. The zippy bags will bulk up the money belt, but this seems to be the easiest way to keep the money flat and dry.
The money that we do need to bring must be brand new, not folded or bent money. I went to Commerce Bank in September and they actually ordered the money for me. I know yo aren't supposed to do this, but I put the new bills $5,000 in cash in my safe deposit box (I am fairly certain this is against the law). I certainly didn't want to carry around this money with me and I figured it would be safe there until we needed it. I didn't know then that the orphanage donation would be wire transferred, so all that means is that I have additional money that I can spend in China. I plan on buying whatever we need with cash versus credit cards. A lot of places in China do not take credit cards too, especially the little shops.
AR and I each have money belts so we will split up the cash and will each carry half. I will divide up the money into individual ziplock baggies and label each bag for the amount of the fee to be paid. The zippy bags will bulk up the money belt, but this seems to be the easiest way to keep the money flat and dry.
Monday, September 27, 2004
Visas Arrive!
Our visas were delivered on September 27, 2004. It took less than a week to get them. I didn't want to go into NYC to get it because then I would have to take off from work and I can't afford to waste any time off right now.
Most of our travel companions are flying from the midwest. They all seem to want to fly into Los Angeles and then get a connecting flight to Beijing. We've been toying with the idea of not stopping in LAX. We are thinking of going to go the direct non-stop flight from JFK to Beijing. However, we are finding that the flight appears and disappears when we are checking prices, meaning sometimes it is there and sometimes it isn't. We may just have to make our way to LAX and join the group after all. I guess it mostly depends on what happens when we are told to GO! andmake travel plans.
Most of our travel companions are flying from the midwest. They all seem to want to fly into Los Angeles and then get a connecting flight to Beijing. We've been toying with the idea of not stopping in LAX. We are thinking of going to go the direct non-stop flight from JFK to Beijing. However, we are finding that the flight appears and disappears when we are checking prices, meaning sometimes it is there and sometimes it isn't. We may just have to make our way to LAX and join the group after all. I guess it mostly depends on what happens when we are told to GO! andmake travel plans.
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