Jet Lag!

Jet lag has been kicking my butt. That and I picked up a cold in Guangzhou and have been runny nose, coughing, ear achy the whole week as well.  I don't think I really believed people when they said it would take a week to get over jet lag. They weren't kidding. So if you are going to go to China soon, I'm telling you now, plan to have someone at home to take care of you when you come back. I was bone tired most of this week and am just now starting to feel human again!!

Emily is a love.  She is absolutely the most perfect baby on the entire planet. And she really knows I'm the momma now too! It's awesome. I can't explain how much I adore her. She is eating really well and can feed herself Cheerios and Gerber puffs, which is way cool.  She sleeps like a champ, 8  hours in a row most nights, which is also helping me to get over the jet lag. Tony is totally infatuated with her. We think everything she does is so cute and so funny.  We're hopeless!!  

Ok...must run, time for her to go to sleep. A few pics from china to keep you happy! 

Us at the orphanage, this was Emily's favorite nanny.  
We're at breakfast at the White Swan here...
At Lucy's in Guangzhou...they had REAL AMERICAN FRIES!! WOOO HOO!!

Emily pictures!

Hey! This is Shannon from Bless Your Heart again. I thought I'd share the few pictures I managed to take at the airport when Shannon, Emily, & Mustachio came home. It was chaotic and crazy but I did get a few shots in. Look how sweet Emily is with her Grandma! She was so laid back and chill, even in the midst of all the crazy travelers.
Click here to see them all.

Merry Christmas!!  God bless us, every one. 

Back in the States

I love America!!  I'm soo soo glad to be home and to have Emily legally, finally, OFFICIALLY be my daughter! It is an amazing feeling. She is sleeping right now, and I should be too, but I took a 5 hour nap today so I'm up! Jet lag is not my friend. 

The flights yesterday were horrific. Emily did fine, she slept and was quiet the whole time, but for us grown ups...it stunk. We were up for like 32 hours. My advice to anyone waiting to go, save up every single penny you have to splurge on upgraded seats. Or buy 2 regular seats. It is a LONG flight with very very little room in coach. I would have paid for business class, but because it was so close to Christmas the tickets were $9000. EACH.  So, since I'm not Donald Trump, we had to fly like cattle.  Thank goodness Em was so good on the flight.  I would have been in tears if she had a rough time. 

Everything at home seems to be going well. We had a huge group of people meet us at the airport and bring us and our luggage home. It was really great.  Emily smiled at everyone and I cried and there were balloons and posters and family and friends, and man, it just totally rocked. It meant so much to me to have everyone there, so a big shout out to Erin, Kevin, Colin & Cody,  Jody & Scott, Shannon and little Jake, and Lisa and Jerry! And of course my Mom. We were all crying in the airport making a scene, but it is something I will remember always and forever. 

 Emily slept pretty good in her very own crib last night (better than me actually) and has been her happy self all day today. Grandma is over the moon about her and Erin came to visit with her husband Kevin and the boys and so we had all 3 grandbabies together. That was neat. Emily seems very taken with Cody, Erin's youngest son.  Oh, and she LOVES my dog. She laughs out loud when she sees him and doesn't mind petting him at all. She only gets scared if he licks her face, which is understandable, since his head is sooo much bigger than hers! 

OK...I'm rambling here.   Remember I have jet lag brain, so I'll get to the real catch up posts in a few days.  

They're Home!

Hey, it's Shannon from Bless Your Heart.
Shannon, Mustachio, Shannon's Dad, and Miss Emily are home safe and sound! I met up with them at the airport along with other friends and fam. Emily traveled like a champ and is way cuter (and so tiny) than you can imagine. She slept for most of the flight home and gave everyone smiles at the airport. I got to hold her for a hot minute and she smiled for me and it just melted my heart.
Today is Shannon's birthday. What a fantastic birthday present! To come home a family!

Final From China

Hi guys
This will be my last from China. We leave the day after tomorrow. It's hard to believe. We've been here for 2 weeks and in some ways it feels like forever and other ways like only 2 days!! Emily is awesome.I can't even begin to describe how much I love her. When she wakes up in the morning and she sees me, she SMILES. It makes my heart feel like it's going to bust open! Tony is so great with her they are snuggling on the bed right now. It's sooo sweet. And my dad has talked about her with every single person he's met in China!! Even those who don't speak English. He's just the proudest grandpa.

We're now in Guangzhou. It's not like China at all, it's very very western. We are staying at the famous White Swan Hotel. it's OK. If we had stayed here first I would have thought it was pretty great, but the hotel we had in Chongqing was definitely much nicer. Oh well, the breakfast buffet here is really great and at this point it's nice to get skim milk in the morning! And to recognize most of the food choices. (for the record T's lost 12 lbs!!) I'm sure i've lost some as well, but I'll weigh myself at home. I did CRAZY shopping here today, and *fingers crossed* I ordered a handmade shirt for me and a matching outfit for Emily and used the same fabric to make T a tie. Family picture once we get home!! Hopefully it will come out ok. We pick it up tomorrow (1 day turn around, can't beat that!)

So here are some last pictures for now. She's crawling across the bed in some and just too cute not to share in others.
This trip has been amazing in so many respects. We've taken a ton of photos and really took in everything. I'm so glad I'll be able to share all this with Emily when she gets bigger. I think about it a lot. what will I tell her? But you know, I just have good things to say. I'll go home and be happy there, but I think I'll always have this place in me too. So now, I'm an Irish American with Chinese highlights!! HA HA HA

Emily update and pics

Hey Bloggers, its Erin again. Shannon sent an email with new pictures and a cute story about Emily. So I am just going to paste her email and add the cutie pictures of Emily!
Thanks!!
Hi guys
here are a few more pictures of our girl. She's doing really well, sleeping like a champ and smiling at us now and everything. She slept last night from 9 to 730 this morning!! we definitely have the best baby in the group! Yesterday we got to go to the zoo and see the panda bears. they are adorable. Every where we go, people stop and look at Emily. The Chinese people love babies. At dinner last night, one of the waitresses snatched Emily up and walked around with her!! It about gave me a stroke, but they brought her back. Our guide said they only do that with the pretty girls. So i guess it was a good thing, but I hope it doesn't happen again. Tony is crazy in love with her. He told me last night that he likes her more than he likes Dixie, so that's huge! Poor Dix doesn't know she fell off the ivory tower!! But the more time we spend with Emily, the more we all just adore her.

Emily Pics

Hey folks..its Erin. Shannon is having a hard time getting into the blogger site, but i am going to try and post the ones she sent me. Wish me luck!!!

Gottcha Day

This is Erin again!! EMILY is here!!!!! They got her around 4 in the afternoon and say she is just beautiful. She has very little hair and a couple of teeth. She has not cried(which is good..shannon was worried about that) and goes to Tony and Dad with no problems. We asked Shannon if she could crawl yet and she said she didnt know cause they hadnt put her down yet!! There are tons of pics, but they are really tired and wont get a chance to post till tomorrow morning. They are heading to the orphanage tomorrow to meet Emily's nannies and see the facility. I am sure that will be emotional for everyone. The only thing that shannon said was weird was that they were having her fill out an essay (100 words) about why she wanted to adopt Emily. So she was trying to get to know her daughter, eat and write an essay at the same time. Talk about multitasking. Okay..shann will post pics in the morning(later this evening for us).

It is taking a long time to upload pics, so this is all I'll do tonight. This one is me, dad and Tony in the forbidden city. We are all bundled up because the wind is pretty chilly!!

The one below is me and dad at the Great Wall. See the snow on the ground?!?

Hi From Beijing

Ni Hao! We're in Beijing! This is Shannon. Yesterday we saw the Great wall which was awesome. It was snowing here yesterday too! Very cold, but we had fun. Today we had lunch at a family's home. It was delicious!! The best meal we had here by far! (well at least to date it is) Also today we went to the Forbidden City and that was very impressive. It's humogous!! It goes on and on forever it feels like. The snow stopped today and it was blue skies and sunny. COLD as HECK!! There is a very sharp wind, my face is still all red, but at least it wasn't snowing anymore.

Tomorrow we fly to Chongqing and pick up Emily. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. She has no idea that tomorrow her whole world will change forever. I know it's coming and still I'm a wreck!! LOL but I'm really looking forward to it. The flight tomorrow is only 2.5 hours, but i'm sure i'll be shaking in my shoes the whole time!! Wish me luck!!

Hope to get pics up in a moment.

Sorry for the Delay

Hey bloggers this is Erin, Shannons sister. Sorry for the delay in updating, but you would not believe the computer problems I have had!!!
Anyways, they are in china. She said the flight was horrid, but uneventful! They spent the day at the great wall and will be having dinner with a chinese family tonight in there home.
Other then that, I dont have any other news. I hopefully will be getting pics tonight so I can post. Gottcha day is Wednesday around 2:30, which will be early early wednesday morning for us.
thanks for following along!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love ya, Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I fly to China to pick up my baby girl. I've been dreaming about this for 3 years and it is finally FINALLY going to happen. I can not believe it. Every time I start to believe it, I just get all emotional. It's going to be a long flight, but it will be worth it!

Here's the run down of our itinerary.
Dec 8th Fly to Beijing (and isn't it weird it's exactly 2 years from my LID)
Dec 9th arrive late..9 pm
Dec 10-11 sight see...Great Wall and forbidden city and such
Dec 12 MEET EMILY DAY!!!! We fly to Chongqing in the morning and meet Emily at 2:30 pm. WOOO HOOO!!!

The rest is a blur, but who cares really? What you want to know is when I get Em, right? LOL We do get to go to the zoo and see the pandas one day, so that will be cool. And their is a river cruise in Guangzhou, so I'm looking forward to that.

Wish me safe and happy travels. I'll post when I can, and my sis has my back. Thanks to everyone for their best wishes!!

Tomorrow!

My little Emily Marie...Soon baby, soon!

Cluck Cluck Cluck

The running around like a chicken has begun in earnest today! But I've gotten sooo much accomplished! I feel tons less stressed out than I was 2 days ago. Here's a recap of my crazy day.

Start laudry first thing. (how on earth do I have so much laundry?!?)
Go to Goodwill...out with the old, in with the new!
Go to Sharon Luggage and get a converter that will hold my power strip and has a surge protector.
Go to the mall and get gifts for nannies. I hit Bath & body works hard, and got tons of little lotions, perfumes, lip gloss and shower gel. I'm told these things are big hits, and all Bath & Body works are made in the USA. So good deal.
Meet up with Will to get goodies from Susan. Thanks Susan, you totally rock!
Lunch.
Off to work for an hour to do FMLA paperwork. If I have to fill out one more form, I may officially go bonkers.
Go to Best Buy. I was looking for a camera bag, but i didn't see any I liked. I ended up getting more rechargeable batteries, because you can never have too many of those.
Target run. Hopefully the LAST run to Target. I really can't think of anything else I need.
Stop at the post office
HOME.
Now I get to sort through everything I bought, clean up the house, cause really, it's a wreck right now, and pack pack pack.


I'm still waiting on our official schedule of events in China, but it looks like I'll get Emily on Dec 12th. WOO HOO!
I'm taking a break now! I need it! Only 2 nights of sleep left until we go to CHINA! YAY!!!

Better

I HAVE A PLANE TICKET!!

Actually, I have several being charged to my credit card as we speak. OUCH. But here is the good news: I leave Sat Dec 8th at 930 am and fly very round-aboutly to Beijing. We leave from Guangzhou on the 22nd and make it home that same day by 7pm. WOO HOO!! It's like official and junk!

Plus, as a bonus I got our passports and visas back and my offical "travel to China" forms, which are really neat looking.

The baby shower was a success and Emily has lots more clothes and stuffed animals than she did before. I also scored a few really pratical things like bottles and car seat accessories and gift cards! WOO HOO!

So, I'm a lot less stressed than I was before. I'm going to work tomorrow for only an hour, to do FMLA paperwork and answer last minute questions for my replacement and then I'm off the next two days to pack and what not. So far this week has totally flown by, so I hope that continues.

I'm raring to go!!

Leaving On A Jet Plane

And I literally don’t know when I’m coming back….yet. My travel agent is having a hard time booking us a flight home, he says everything is sold out because it is a few days before Christmas. EEK!   I found another travel agent, and they are looking at it.  They don’t know it, but I’m putting my purchasing skills to use here, whoever has the best deal, that’s who wins!

 

The only thing I know officially is that I have to leave by Friday the 7^th.  I have no itinerary, no ideas what time my flight leaves or how many connections I have to make. I don’t know what hotels we will stay in. I don’t know the date I’ll meet Emily or when our Consulate Appointment is…although, I’m assuming it is the 21^st, because we were told we could leave on the 22^nd.   

 

It is a LOT of unknowns.  And that is stressing me out. A lot. I am a planner. I don’t know anyone who can do adoption and not become a planner on the way.  All that paperwork forces you to be organized.  Anyways, it’s not all bad. I do know that next week sometime I’ll meet Emily, so that’s good.

 

Things I’ve been working on:

The mountain of paperwork

Packing for Emily, and packing all things “not clothes” for me

Making lists of things to do (call insurance co, call pediatrician, file for FMLA)

 

I feel like I’ve made 800 phone calls today. And it’s not even noon!!  But it’s all good, we’re getting stuff worked out.  In HAPPY news, work is throwing me a baby shower this afternoon. So that will be fun. AND my Mom is coming up to come to it. YAY for Mom!  I could use some cake, I think chocolate will make this whole running around like a chicken so much more pleasant. Don’t you?!

 

As soon as I have details, I’ll share. Everyone keep their fingers crossed we can get a plane ride home.

 

Dixie Rescued!

Dixie finally escaped the sewer last night and came home shortly after midnight.  WHEW!!  Tony went down right before 12 to put a ladder down the sewer. I found on line that a lot of cats can climb ladders and we were getting desperate. Just as he got to the sewer grate, he saw her run by! She had climbed up the sheet! YAY!!  So I ran home and opened a can of tuna and she came running right to the house.  Thank goodness!!  That cat took a good year off my life last night.  I was so relieved to have her out of that sewer.  She’s a mess, but after a bath today she’ll be fine.

 

Now I feel like I can really get into the OH MY GOSH WE’RE GOING TO CHINA!   Still waiting to hear from the agency to get the final confirmation and the A-ok to buy tickets.  Wish me luck. I have at least 800 things to do still!

 

 

CRAZINESS SETTING IN!

First off, Yay for my sister who figured out blogger!! And isn't my nephew the cutest thing on earth (besides my own Emily?)

Secondly, my agency called me tonight around 7pm. I got my TA. WOO HOO. I leave for China...are you ready for this? On FRIDAY. This friday. The 7th. as in, like 4 days from now. Not even. I'm a little flipping out! Ok. A LOT flipping out. It's not 100% confirmed yet, but i should know in the morning for sure. They are thinking leave the 7th return the 22nd. Which is my birthday. How great of a birthday will that be?

Thirdly. Tony's cat Dixie has escaped from the house. We found her down a sewer around 730pm, and there she stll is. It's too deep (about 10 feet) for her to jump out of it. She must have fell in. We got some neighbor friends to help move the grate over top, and Tony climbed down, but it makes such a racket that she freaks out and runs and hides down one of the sewer pipes. She won't come when he calls her, so she's stuck down there. I called Animal Control and they suggested that we tie a bedsheet to the grate and that the cat will be able to climb up herself. Well, we did that about an hour ago and I just went back to look and she still stuck down there. I'm sooo upset about this. It's 30 degrees here tonight and the poor cat is stuck down in a sewer and we have no way of getting her out of it! I'm just distraught. Tony loves this cat more than he loves just about everyone else on earth. I know it is ridiculous to ask for prayers for a cat, but she's just a wee thing and oh, it just breaks my heart to think of her stuck down there. At least pray that T and I can find a way to get the baby up out of there. Cause nothing is coming to me. (we fed her and stuff down there, but obviously we can't do that forever)

So for tonight, I'm a wreck. I'm waver between thrilled and panic stricken about leaving THIS WEEK and then I'm crying my eyes out over a cat for goodness sake. I'm a mess. Oh...and Tony has a wicked cold. So together we are snot city. I know, I know. Once again you are jealous of my fabulous life. LOL