Lauren and Caroline!

Haven't posted in awhile

As you can imagine we have been really busy. Caroline is adjusting quickly and we have more good times then not so good. Although Caroline sleeps 10 hours straight at night without too much noise, she is having a hard time with the naps. If she doesn't get a good two hour nap in during the day she is really cranky and tired at night when everyone else is at home. The other problem is that the orphanage allowed her to go to bed with a bottle of formula. (Dentist not very happy). We had changed the bottle to a bottle of water, but still allow her to have a bottle in her crib. We found a toddler program at our local town recreational center and started going this past week. We now have on our schedule to go two days per week for 2 hours. She loves hanging out with other kids, and I am sure this will help her get adjusted to our life. I will soon have to go back to work and my mother is starting to organize her time so she can take over. I think I will try to work part time for awhile. I would like Caroline to get in a toddler program twice per week in addition to the recreational center program.

Eating is going well, she does not like any baby food, so whatever we have she tries. She likes macaroni, noodles, rice, vegetables, watermelon, apple, melon, raisins, oatmeal, cheerios, eggs, toast, peanut butter (thank goodness she is not allergic to nuts!).

The first doctor's appointment well really well, besides the few vials of blood and other samples we had to have done, the shots went relatively well. All her test came back really well, and it appears we have a very happy healthy little girl. On the "American chart" they have at the pediatrician, she is not yet on the scale for weight, but is at 10% of height. Interpretation: We have a very petite little girl that is considered a little taller than her weight.

Caroline goes to Lauren's basketball games, but has not yet seen Michael play soccer. His games are much too late, but looks like maybe next week she will be able to go.

Well, that is it for now, we are busy with Christmas and decorating the house. Very hard to take care of a 16 month old and clean house at the same time. I am surprised I got this much time on the computer!

Six days

In six days we will be traveling to Beijing China. Work has been so hectic, and trying to get all open projects completed by Tuesday. I will take next Wed off to finish packing and getting those last minute things. I ordered an international cell phone today. For me, not having a cell phone or internet for two weeks, I will die! I hear that we can get on internet at the hotel.....so hopefully I will be able to post or send emails.

Travel

Day 1 - Leave 9:00am in the morning to Detroit then to Japan then getting to Beijing 19 hours later.
Day 2 - Tours of Artwork Factory, Great Wall of China, lunch then back to hotel
Day 3 - More sightseeing, Forebidden City, TienAn Men Square; check out of hotel then go to airport to Jianjxi Province. We may get Caroline tonight or first thing in the morning.
Day 4 - If we didn't get Caroline, we would get her first thing in the morning. We have a total of 10 minutes to meet with the nanny with a translator to see what she eats, sleep patterns, etc. We have previously sent in a list of questions that I hope they answered. Documentation process begins. We will have some diapers, but we will need to go in search of good.
Day 5 - more paperwork and sightseeing in the city we will be.
Day 6-8 Paperwork, sightseeing, getting to know Caroline, getting Carolines passports.
Day 8 - heading for Guangzou at night
Day 9-11 consulate appointments, doctor appointment, Visa's
Day 12 Group pictures, final dinner, wrapping up any paperwork not completed
Day 13 - Flight home!

Official

Okay, this is the message from the agency today, your travel has been approved and we are working on getting you out on November 8th and returning home on November 22nd.

Wow....! It really is happening. Fingerprints were updated today as well as Visa applications overnighted.

TA Updates

Okay so after a stressful day today of thinking that we were traveling by November 1st, I spoke to the agency and they said it looks more like November 8th. We would be returning the day before or on Thanksgiving. Meg was concerned that we would miss Thanksgiving with our family....I said, they will be fine eating Turkey at their Uncle Tom's house! Better idea on when we are traveling in the next few days. Bought more socks for Caroline today. We now have 10 pairs of socks, enough for the trip. I am worried now about clothes, diapers, and other toiletries. Oh well, at least we got the socks!

TA!

Oh my gosh, I received a call yesterday that it appears we are getting our TA on Thursday. Not sure how my agency knows this, but they asked me if we could travel November 1st.....I said like in 2 weeks? Yes....they said.....is it a problem? When you have been waiting as long as we have, and all of a sudden everything is coming so quickly you have a tendency to panic.....Holy crap!

Tomorrow we get our fingerprints updates, we have to complete our Visa applications, and I need to calm down.

Fall

It is Monday night and the kids are very busy with mid semester homework. They seem to be doing fairly well in school. Fall semester is always the toughest for any kid, especially after having a free summer. By mid semester they usually are getting accustomed to getting up early, organizing themselves and doing their homework. For both, it is usually a shock the first couple weeks of school.

Soon we should hear about when we can travel. Usually 3-4 weeks after we receive our LOA (letter of approval) we get our TA (travel approval). For those that are involved in adoption you know what all of this means, for us, this is all brand new.

It is starting to sink in that by Christmas we will have a new baby. I have even gone to the store and bought socks! You probably ask, why socks? I am not sure, but to me when Lauren and Michael were little it seemed like we didn't have enough socks. I need to pack 10 pairs of socks for her when we go to China. I was thinking of what kind of shoes should we get? I am sure once we get back to US, we will need to have her fitted into good shoes. In the meantime, I think Lauren and I will go get her crocs...this seems to be what all kids wear and the sizes run down to the 4-5. I am thinking she should be around this size.

There is a whole list of clothes that I need to pack including diapers, wipes, baby shampoo, lotions...they even suggest that you get a prescription antibiotic just in case for the baby. I hope my pediatrician goes for this one! I also can't remember the last time we changed a diaper....I think it will all come back pretty quick.

I will post tomorrow, because I want everyone to read about how we will spend our days in China. I think three days into the trip we get Caroline. "Gotcha Day" is the big event day when we actually get her!

Have a good night....and go Red Sox!

Room

I think it is time that we work on Caroline's room this weekend. We will set up the crib and go out and buy her blankets, pillows, sheets, etc.

Approvals!

wow, I received a call this morning at 8:30am from our agency that we have been approved to adopt Caroline. Now we are just waiting for the travel approvals. Travel approvals can take up to 4 weeks then plan to travel. Right now we are looking at traveling end of November. We were hoping to get updated information on Caroline, maybe in the next few weeks?

Happy Fall! It is October 1st

Okay, I am trying to be positive that maybe this is the week that we hear something. I do hear that the CCAA is closed this week, but they worked this past weekend. I also see from their website that all of August 2006 is out of the review room, this means (since we haven't had any questions) that we should be fine, just waiting for the travel approvals. Anyways, beautiful weekend in New England, went to waterfire on Saturday night with the girls. Watched soccer all weekend. Back to work and school today.....hopefully that call comes in today!

It is Monday night and no news today. We did talk to the agency about our fingerprints expiring. We have sent a registered letter to USCIS to get appointments to have them updated. Our agency also contacted them. Nothing else knew. Very nice day here in the Northeast, sun was shining, very warm fall day!

Jiangxi Province

Okay well I am not sure how to put on a star but Zhangshu City is in Yichun.

Where in the world is Caroline?

I have been getting emails on where Caroline is right now. I have attached a picture of China and put a star where we think she is....China is a really big country!


Zhangshu City Social Welfare Institute
7 Gan Yang Road
Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province
Postal Code 331200


Zhangshu (Chinese: 樟树; Hanyu Pinyin: Zhāngshù) is a county level city in Yichun, west-central Jiangxi province. It has an area of 1,291 km² and a population of 536,500. The literal translation of the name is Camphor laurel, because traditionally, the city was a major commercial hub for camphor laurel

No news....hopefully Monday we will hear something

Do they say no news is good news....well I am not sure. We were really hoping to hear something this week from our agency with regards to the LOA and then TA. The Letter of Approval means that the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) has approved us to adopt Hanyan Zhang (Caroline). Then we wait for the TA - Travel Approval. As superstitious as we are, we haven't set up any type of bedroom yet for Caroline. Once we get this LOA, we will start working on her bedroom...... We are also waiting for updated pictures and medical records so we have an idea how big she has gotten. Then we will start shopping for clothes for her!

Isn't she beautiful!

Let's start from the beginning

I am pretty new to this blogging thing but I thought I would give it a try. February 2006 we decided as a family to look into the possibility of extending our family through adoption. People ask us why we would do this since our other two children are just a few years away from college. We feel that we are good parents, have a lot to offer, and can offer another child a home full of love, provide a great education and enter a family with lots of friends and family members. Through a lot of research we decided to go the international route and adopt from China. In June 2007 we were given wonderful news that there was a little girl waiting for us from Zhangshu Welfare Agency. To say the least we were ecstatic. Hanyan Zhang turned 1 August 5, 2007. We hope to meet her soon!

September 20, 2007

Terry and I wanted to give everyone an update on Caroline. We have been in contact with our adoption agency at least a few times per week and have been assured that our paperwork is being “worked on” in China. Our agency has not been given any indication that we would be denied….it is just that the paperwork has to be all matched up. This can take up to 4 months after we are referred our daughter (our referral date is June 18), then after the paperwork is matched up we wait for the “travel approval”. The travel approval can take up to another 2 weeks then we will receive dates to travel. So the magic question is…..when do we think we travel…..our agency is expecting mid to late November. We will have at least a few weeks notice before we go so it’s not like we will get a phone call one night that we have to travel the next day. When we do travel we will be in China for 2 weeks, we will bring Caroline back with us.

To say the least we are getting antsy, we would have liked to be traveling by now. However, (always looking on the positive side) Michael started High School this past month and we have been able to make sure that the transition from Middle school to High school has gone smooth. Lauren, who goes to the local Catholic school, had surgery on her knee late August; so again, we are glad that we have been around to make sure that her therapy has gone well.