I'm Bored

Do you guys want to see the care package I sent FuLannie after we got her referral?

--Of course we do! We thought you'd never ask!

Oh, well, since you're so excited, here it is:

Did you say you wanted a closer look?

• We sent some baby lotion (no dry skin for MY girl!)
• A disposable camera (we're hoping that the orphanage nannies are taking pictures of her but they will probably just shoot a whole roll on the day we pick her up).
• Little socks
• A teething toy
• A soft book for FuLan and one with a basketball that makes noise. I'm sure everyone is sufficiently annoyed with that
• A pig because she was born in the year of the Pig (Thanks for getting me another one, Erin!"
• A little outfit that says "Little Princess" since clearly I am the "Big Princess"
• A small blankie with an elephant and a really comfly blanket that I'm hoping she is using (I slept with it first. If she doesn't like how I smell, we're screwed)
• A polka dot onesie.
• A big bottle of lotion and an even bigger bag of assorted candy for the nannies (Lord knows I have a ton of candy in this house!)
• And lastly, a photo album with pictures of me, Cody, my Mom (Nana "Judy the Beauty"), Grandpa "Jimmy Angles," my Dad (Grandpa Cary), Grammy Carol Sue "The Redhead", Puppa Steve, and of course, everyone's favorite: Floyd Coden.

***BIG THANKS to Jake Clark for translating "Mama, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa and Dog" into Chinese for us. I was able to put the Chinese words in the book above our pictures so the Nannies can show FuLan who will be making her crazy for the next 40-50 years.

Cody made copies of FuLan's name in Chinese so I put "FuLan" on everything. Good thinking, right? It's good practice for her camp care packages but I will probably just walk to her cabin instead of mailing her stuff. Yeah--I'm sure she'll love that...

OY!

I keep telling Cody to stop buying FuLan presents, apparently he's not listening...

FuLan's Timeline:

So this is what has been (and is) our FuLan timeline:

On Feb 4th we got the call from our adoption agency in Texas. We were sent a photo of FuLan and told her bday (4/17/2007) and where her orphanage is located. Cody videotaped the whole thing. It's totally surreal (and hilarious).

After that, we spent the day flipping out over FuLan because we were in love and then I went shopping before we celebrated with our parents and Cody's brother, Jon.

Then we had to wait on FuLan's health report (more waiting) to come so we could have a pediatrician look it over. Our agency wanted us to wait to accept the referral until we had signed off on her health report. We were told that everything looked good. She is a little delayed in her motor skills but that's just from being in the orphange. She'll catch up!

During that time, we got in touch with the other familes from our agency to make sure that we're all on the same page and timeline. All of the adoptive parents in our group must sign their LOA's (Letter of Approval). One of the families we don't know that well and the other one--we LOVE them. They are from Texas and I feel like we have been friends forever. It's like we're taking a crazy trip with our friends and their daughter (who is in the same orphanage as FuLan--and I bet they are friends!!)

We then sent in our VISA application paperwork to Chinese Consulate. (Never enough paperwork!)

Meet up with our friend, the infamous lawyer, Eric Clark, to notarize our signing of the FuLan referral acceptance letter.

Start getting a packing checklist together. (OY). We are each allowed 44 pounds including all of FuLan's clothes, medication, diapers, food, toiletries, etc. WE WILL BE SO OVER. Wendy, from our travel group--my new best friend--has been AMAZING. We are always checking with each other (me with her more than her with me) about what and how much to bring. The packing list is out of control.

Have our favorite pediatrician, Todd Marcus, fill a ton of prescriptions for FuLan. We need to bring everything from Baby Motrin to Scabies and Lice medicine (fun).

The LOA's are sent back to CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) so they can register our formal acceptance of the referrals. I think we had to do something that involved a courier but I can't remember.

After that we just waited to get our VISAs in the mail from Chinese consulate--not the good kind of VISA though. I can't use this one at Henri Bendel.

We get re-fingerprinted downtown(for the third freakin' time!!)

Get our 3rd in the series of Hepatitis B shots from Dr. Michael Kobernick (Best shot-giver ever).

CCAA confirms that they got our LOA's and issues TA's (travel approvals).
(THIS IS WHERE WE ARE NOW--We are waiting for our TA's now...anxiously waiting).

Once our agency receives the TA's, our coordinator will contact the US Embassy in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province to set up consulate appointments for everyone in our travel group. We need the date for this appointment so we can plan the rest of our China trip. Plus, the Consulate Appt is when FuLan will become a US citizen. We will be there for a few days before getting FuLan and then we have to wait for this last appointment at the Consulate before we can take her home.

Once our agency has this appointment date, we will have a rough estimate of our travel dates.

We (meaning Cody) will then schedule our flights to China. We are going to go to FuLan's province first with our friends from Texas. Our adoption agency schedules in-country flights and hotel arrangements.

That's the dealio!
Basically, I live at Target and FuLan's checklist rules my world.
Cody is knee-deep in paperwork and flight arrangements.
Floyd doesn't know what the hell is going on...

IF OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL DOESN'T COME THIS WEEK-THIS WILL BE ME:

FuLan's Bedroom!!

While we're waiting, let's take a tour of FuLan's bedroom!

I think it's best to get the girlie thing out of the

way since she may reject it later.

If she doesn't, I have great plans for when it's time to redecorate!

(Breathe, Cody...breathe....)

I love it! I hope she does too!

and STILL Waiting...

Hi!
We are still waiting on our Travel Approval from China.
We are getting anxious. It sucks, all this waiting.
Once we get it, we will know when we're leaving and hopefully know the answers to more of the questions below. In the meantime, I wish I had more answers, but I just don't:

When are you guys leaving?
Where are you flying into?
Where are you going first?
How long are you going to be gone?
What are you going to do about work?
What are you going to do about camp?
Are you going to continue to go up every week?
Are you going to take Floyd and FuLan back and forth?
Are you getting a nanny while your husband is at camp?
Is FuLan going to be too overwhelmed to go to (fill in the event)
How long before you can take your daughter to events?
How long will you guys be jet lagged?

To each question my answer is "I don't know." This is all very new to us. We're first time parents and we're first time "adopting from China" parents. We're just going to wing it. I figure for most things instinct will take over when we meet her, but for now, we pretty much know nothing more than she is WAY CUTE and we can't wait to get out there and get her!!!!

Stay tuned!
XO R & C

Here's Us!

I'm getting the hang of this blog thing now...

Floyd Coden: Cutest Dog Ever

That cute dog down there is Floyd Coden. I'm very sad about leaving him for two weeks so I haven't told him that we're going yet.

Still waiting on our Travel Approval...

Here's FuLan!!!!

We will give her an American name when we meet her in China but for now, we love calling her FuLan. She is just SO FuLan!

FuLan was born on April 17th, 2007
She was brought to the Fengdu Orphanage in the province of Chongqing, China on the day of her birth. She won't be there much longer though. It's been a long road but we're going to China soon. Finally!!!

I started a blog because I thought it would be nice to fill everyone in while we're in China and also because my Chinaadopttalk.com friends bullied me into it!!! :)