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.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
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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