Last night I spent time packing Liliana’s suitcase.  The process involved deciding on what needed to go into the bag (to be honest, I actually started the “pre-packing” on Saturday), placing almost all of the items in Ziplock baggies and “sucking out” all of the air.  After hyperventilating a couple times, I finally got all of the items into the baggies, nice and tightly sealed (my head is still spinning!).  I then placed the various sealed items into the suitcase.  On my first round I did not really like the placement so I took them out and repacked, then took them out and repacked again.  After deciding that I finally liked the placement of the items in the suitcase, I thought that it was time to weigh the bag.  OK, OK, I know that I should have been doing this all along, but heck, we still have 12 days before we leave, so if the bag is over-weight then I will just have to shift some things around, take some things out and re-weigh the bag.  Fortunately, upon looking at the scale I discovered that the bag weighs 40 pounds…4 pounds under the maximum allowed weight.  Woohoo!!!

While I was tediously placing items in baggies and “sucking out” the air, Trav sat in the livingroom working on school work.  After listening for over an hour to my packing and sucking and sealing, and not really knowing what I was doing in the other room he decided to mosey on over to the room and see what I was up to.  Upon walking into the room he immediately broke into uncontrollable laughter.  He looked down at me (sitting on the floor) and said, “You look just like Monk!”  I was confused for a moment with his statement, until he pointed to the suitcase, and it all became very clear to me.  For those who are not familiar with Monk, he is called the “Obsessive-compulsive Detective.”  The TV show Monk is an award-winning program that Trav and I enjoy watching.  The character Monk, who is played by Tony Shalhoub, is overly obsessive-compulsive about everything.  So, when Travis saw the suitcase organized with everything in Ziplock baggies…he immediately thought that I had turned into Monk.  I do not necessarily think that I exhibit Monk-like behaviors.  What do you think?  Click on the image to see what is really in the bag!  Hidden elsewhere in the bag are baby bottles, stacking cups, formula, and much, much more.  Isn’t packing just so much fun?!?!?

Dearest Liliana,

Another day has passed us by and we are getting that much closer to finally being united as a family.  Oh, I cannot wait!  Today I spent some time packing your bag for our trip to China.  I never knew that one little girl could have so many things!  We haven’t even brought you home, and yet you have a huge bag filled to the brim.  Funny thing is that when we travel through China to get you, we are only allowed to take one bag per person, so your daddy and I can only bring two bags total between us (not including the bags that we carry onto the plane).  So, of the two bags that we are taking, you get one entire bag!  Your daddy and I have to share the other bag between us.  You don’t even weigh 20 pounds, but you get the biggest bag in this family.  Unbelievable!  But you know what?  You are definitely worth it.  I love you sweety.  I will be dreaming about you tonight…      ~Love, Mommy…

One month ago today we found out that we were the proud parents of a six month old baby girl named Chen Yu Huan.  When I look back on that day, I cannot believe how much has happened to us since then.  And now to realize that we will be travelling to China in less than two weeks just makes my head spin.  Although we are still trying to hash out the details of our trip once inside China, we have been able to make our airplane reservations for the “to and from China” part of the trip.   With everything that we are having to do to prepare for travel in such a short amount of time, I am sure that the tie will fly by and we will be leaving before we know it.  Fortunately, with each passing day I am ale to cross more “to do” things off my list.  Now, where did I put that list???

Dear Liliana,

Your daddy and I are so excited that we will finally be a family in about two weeks.  We have waited so long to meet you…two years in fact.  We cannot believe that we are about to finally hold you in our arms.  However, your daddy keeps telling me that once he gets you in his arms, he will never let you go…ever!  He says that because you will be “Daddy’s Little Girl,” he gets to hold you ALL the time, and he will only let me hold you if I am really, really nice.  Your daddy is pretty funny little one.  You are one lucky little girl.  He is going to be the best daddy in the world, I just know it.  After all, in my eyes he is absolutely amazing.      ~Love, Mommy…

It hit me last night while I was majorly stressed-out and running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get things done before we leave, that we are actually leaving in 2 weeks!!!  Count ‘em, only 2 weeks…that’s just 14 days there for ya folks.  Holy moly I cannot believe that we will be leaving our little city of Rapid to head half-way around the world for China in just 14 days.  And there is so much to do in the mean time.  Now, I know that leading up to a big departure can put anyone in a bit of a frenzy, but let me recap a little of yesterday’s events to give you an idea of why I ended up in tears at one point.

• First off, we sent out for our visas the end of last week.  The applications and our passports were set to arrive at the travel agent’s office yesterday morning.  Well, as of 4PM our time yesterday, they were still not there!  This is not the time to lose our passports!  Edit: our passports and visa applications were found.  They were delivered by “one of those overnight complanies” to the wrong address!
• I am still working, and will be probably up until the day we leave.  I actually have to for personal reasons.  None-the-less, I am pretty stressed that I have to think about all of my work stuff still.
• On the matter of work, I have to totally prep for a substitute to take over for me for a few months.  A daunting task.
• I am also taking evening classes right now and am having to write papers constantly.  Plus I have to make sure that I have all of my make-up work for when i am gone arranged so that I will not lose any time while we are gone.
• I am trying to organize all of the travel for the family which inclues Travis, me, my parents, and Trav’s mom.  Most of my free time is spent either talking with our travel agent (who earns every penny she receives), or my mom who has tons very legitimate of questions.
• I am currently doing all of the packing at home.  Keep in mind that we can only check two bags at the gate for the in-China travel which means that one bag is devoted to the baby, the other to Travis and me.  Boy does baby stuff weigh a lot!

I am not going to bore you will everything else that is going on because this should be a time of celebration.  And, I guess to help get me though all of the stresses that keeps hitting me, I just need to remember that fact!  Then again, crying in the middle of Albertson’s while shopping did a good job of helping to relieve some tension.  Now I am ready to start a new day!

Just 14 more days…

Today is an amazing day indeed.  Not only is this Liliana’s 7 month birthday, but it is also the day that we learned about when we will be travelling to China.  We will be leaving on the 7th to fly to Beijing.  Once in Beijing, we will tour the city for a few days, as well as meet up with the other adoptive families from our group.  The big day that we will finally meet our daughter is…

November 13!!!

For those of you who do not know, this special day is also my birthday.  So, Liliana and mommy will finally meet for the first time on mommy’s birthday.  This is the most incredible birthday present I could ever receive.  I just cannot believe how special this is.  It looks like we will be travelling to come back home on November 22. 

I will keep everyone posted on the rest of the information when we receive it.  I just wanted to share in this great joy!!!

I cannot believe that we are finally going to be parents…on my birthday!!!

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today marks the 7 month birthday of our little Liliana Yuhuan.  It is getting really tough knowing that she is over there in China, not knowing about us yet…with us over here doing everything we can to get over there ASAP.  We have fallen so much in love with her and cannot wait to finally meet her.  Some day soon…

In the meantime, Happy Birthday Baby!!!  You are 7 months old today.  This little milestone means that time has passed since we first “met” you.  This day brings all of us just a little bit closer to being a forever family! 

We love you Liliana Yuhuan,

Mommy & Daddy  {{{{{Hugs}}}}}