We are here!

We got to Beijing today!  We went right to the hotel and are now getting ready to sleep.  I did not sleep at all on the plane but Rusty and Jaden got a total of three hours!  Tomorrow we begone our sight seeing so more to post tomorrow!  I will try my best to post come pictures!  Now good night, well goon morning to y'all!                

T- 5 days and counting!

I can not believe the time has come to go to China once again for our little guy! It seems surreal. But the checks have been written and the plane tickets are in hand so it is very real! Up until today I was super calm. As a matter of fact many of my friends have called and commented on how calm I am. But today has been another story! I am FINALLY freaked out! It all started when I went to the bank to get the clean $100 bills. They told me it would take 2 days and I even questioned that since it was so fast but they said that was right. I went into today and now they say it takes a week!!! Thats a problem since we leave Wednesday! They are trying to get it and I should know by tomorrow if I have to start visiting different banks! So after freaking out I decided to drop Jaden off at the neighbor's, covered in chocolate ice cream and do some last minute running around ALONE! Now all the prescriptions are filled, OTC meds are bought and many coloring books are now packed in kiddie backpacks! Oh and remember that room renovation that Rusty started on 4 weeks before we leave for China? Well it didn't get done! But I guess its a good thing because now my dinning room looks like this...

My dinning room is now packing central! So far the only thing I have packed is Warren! Oh and of course 5 shirts for myself! And these two little things too...

The kids' backpacks are packed and ready to go. Now to keep Jaden out of her's until the trip! And yesterday was proof to me that we are going on a trip. When I get stressed I get clumsy! So of course yesterday I fell! I landed on my knee which is now black and blue and swollen! Luckily nothing is broken but it hurts like crazy. I am hoping it is better before that long flight! So the next few days will be filled with packing and stressing! I plan on keep this blog updated while we are in China, plan being the key word! :-) We leave Ohio on 10/24 at the crack of dawn and fly to Chicago. We have a 3 1/2 hour layover and then our flight takes off for Beijing around noon. We will get to Beijing at 2:30pm on Friday their time. On Sunday we will fly to Warren's province and have our Gotcha day the following day! Then later in the week we fly to Guangzhou. We will take the train to Hong Kong on 11/9 and then fly to Chicago 11/10. We will FINALLY get in Columbus at 6:30pm 11/10! Luckily Jaden will be getting home the day before she turns 4! Rusty on the other hand will turn 39 in China! We are all so excited to meet our son and brother!

C freaking A!!!

We finally got our CA yesterday!!! So that meant yesterday was the day I dreaded! Booking our flight day! With Jaden's adoption it was crazy and plane tickets were going up right before my eyes and they were selling out. I promised myself then that never again would I do that! So this time I contacted a travel agent and let him deal with it! It still ended up taking all day but finally at 6 last night they were booked! We will leave Columbus at the crack of dawn on the 24th and make a connection in Chicago that will take us straight to Beijing! Notice I said Chicago and not Newark. That was my one request to the agent that we NOT fly out of Newark! After an 8 hour delay which caused us to spend 11 glorious hours in the Newark airport I NEVER want to be there again, so Chicago it is!!! We can't wait! The countdown is on!!!

TA!

We finally received our TA(travel approval) yesterday afternoon! CCCWA was nice enough to send it before they went on vacation for a week. Our two choices were leaving 10/24 or 10/31. Of course we went with 10/24! We now have to wait till next week to find out our Consulate appointment since they are on Holiday all week! Nice timing! My WONDERFUL friend Kelley surprised me yesterday with the cutest shirts for Jaden and Warren!

Can't wait to see them on! We are pretty much ready to go! We met my wonderful parents this weekend in Nashville so they can keep our three dogs! Thanks mom and dad!!! We had to buy new luggage because on our last trip to China ours was damaged!

Our passports with visas are back and ready to go!

Warren's clothes have been washed and put away.

Oh and Rusty decided to add a little stress to my life along with the adoption, planning Jaden's party this weekend and holding our adoption reunion next week. He decided to remodel the dinning room! He promised it would be done by next Wednesday but for the last 3 weeks it has looked like this...

It's getting closer!

Well I can hardly believe it but we are getting so close to picking up Warren! Yesterday our Article 5(I have no clue what this is)was picked up in Guangzhou and is on it's way to Beijing. We are now waiting for our TA(travel approval)! I have seen these come from 8 days to 3 weeks after Article 5. After that our agency will find out our Consulate appointment and then flights will be booked! It is hard to believe that it has been less than a year since this started and we are almost on our way to China! It looks like I will not be getting an update on Warren before we go. I am going to plan for him being on the big side like his sister, but I will take a few smaller outfits just in case. Not sure if he is potty trained or still on a bottle, guess I will prepare for that just in case. Here at home we are nesting! The funny thing is that its not me but Rusty. He decided we needed to move all the furniture out of the living room and clean the carpets!

Jaden and I have gotten our flu shots for the trip and all of the prescriptions we hope not to need! Now I am planning Jaden's birthday party a month early which will be followed by Jaden's China sister reunion here the next weekend! But I am not stressed! This reunion will be very low key! Somewhere in there I have to take the dogs to Nashville to meet my parents so they can keep them while we are in China! The next few weeks are going to be a little hectic for sure! Jaden is so ready to go get her little brother! I really hope that she can help him feel more comfortable with his new family!

Making progress!

First I have to say that we got our I800 approval and it was done 8/21! One more thing done! Second I never posted pictures from the day after LOA! You know the day that I stalked the Fed ex guy to get a picture, only for him to almost make a get away before I could get the picture of his truck after he delivered our LOA!

I have also made a little progress on preparing for our trip to China. First my wonderful friend Kelley bought Warren his own little backpack and I picked up a few things to put in it for Gotcha day...

I also made the trip for all of our medicine that we may need in China! $150 later and I feel like a walking medicine cabinet.

I have also gotten the kids' prescriptions for the trip! Need to make an appointment for mine. And we got the last thing we needed for Jaden to make the trip!

Jaden and I also headed to Build a Bear to make Warren a Teddy Bear!

The main purpose for the trip to the mall was to meet two new wonderful friends who are adopting their first daughter's from China! Luckily Jaden was on her best behavior and she didn't scare them off from adopting!

I can't wait to see both of their girl's in those jackets!

LOA!!!

I was SO not expecting to get my LOA so fast. I really expected to get the call on day 60 or later. But yesterday was only day 47 and at 6:00 P.M. I got the call from the agency saying they had it!!! I was shocked to say the least. I already have that coveted paper in my hands and will be sending it back tomorrow after Rusty signs it all! I tried to get a picture of the Fed Ex guy but I was upstairs and he took off! I was able to get a picture of the truck though!

Not the best since it was through the glass! Now it is confession time! I have done NOTHING to get ready for this trip! I guess because for Jaden I expected a 6 month wait and that didn't happen so I was thinking this time would be longer. Boy was I wrong. I will say that I finally took Jaden to get her passport last week! It should be here in less than 6 weeks(we hope!). I have bought Warren a few outfits, but I don't know what size he is so I have held back. After buying Jaden tons of clothes expecting her to be a tiny 8 month old and then getting to China and finding out I had an amazon baby, I have learned my lesson. Once we get home we will stock up on clothes! So know I am going to be busting my butt for the next couple of months getting ready for China. And of course I also am planning Jaden's China adoption reunion and now moving up her birthday party because it looks like we may be in China for her 4th birthday!