The to-do list is getting shorter

What a week! I got my oil changed...got my eyes checked and got new contacts for the trip...renewed the registration for both cars and got a new drivers license...put up the border in the nursery...took tags off clothes...took toys out of packages...Today my friend Jonathan came over and painted our stairwell and upstairs hallway (I helped.)....I hung a few pictures in the nursery and painted the changing table (I bought it used and so I sanded and painted it.)....I put diapers, wipes and lotion in the bins I got for the changing table shelves (so cute). All that and worked too. I'm tired now. :)

The nursery is coming together! It's very fun. I'll post pictures when it's all finished.

Yesterday we got our in China itinterary...so now we know our flight info and what hotels we're staying at. We leave April 10th (Thursday) and arrive in Beijing on Friday the 11h...at like 9:40 pm....talk about a leap forward! We do a bunch of sight seeing on Saturday and then leave for Nanchang on Sunday morning. They'll bring Katelyn to us on Sunday afternoon April 13th. Yeah!!! Then we go to Guangzhou Monday morning, April 21st and leave to come back home April 24th.

Two weeks from tomorrow we'll have our baby. After so many years....just two more weeks. God is good.

And pictures!

Here's pictures of Katelyn from today. She's nine months old now. Look at that hair...I must buy hair accessories. The second picture is of her and her nanny. I know the pics are small...

Video of Katelyn!!!!!!!!

The Laubachs are in China right now and are adopting from the same orphanage as us. They were able to visit the orphanage today and were so KIND to take a bunch of video footage of Katelyn (Zhang Bi Wan). Just click on the links below. Katelyn is the one wearing yellow. (Anyone want to take bets on how many of the clothes we have for her will actually fit her?? So much for petite. Hee hee.) You can't miss her, she's the one who's all over the place. Josh and I were so excited to get to see her. Josh just looked at me and said, "We're going to have our hands full." I'm so glad she's healthy and moving around a ton. You can see her nanny in the videos and she seems like such a sweet, happy lady. You can hear the music in the backround. I'm so thankful that our baby has been well cared for. I just love her. I just sat here and cried. We leave in two weeks. Now I'm really ready to go!!!!!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FGwdAISrb8&eurl=http://www.laubachfamily6.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vKVBS5ZV6Q&eurl=http://www.laubachfamily6.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHPih3kj5VA&eurl=http://www.laubachfamily6.blogspot.com/

This video is of the room that Katelyn is sleeping in. I'm not sure which crib.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epEEto5hvWc&eurl=http://www.laubachfamily6.blogspot.com/

Mommy brain

I was up late last night sorting through stuff in Katelyn's room. I was working on getting her closet in order...so I got all the clothes out and started sorting them by size and season. I'm sure that some of it won't fit and some of it will be the wrong season. Chalk it up to retail therapy. Overall, Katelyn's going to have a fabulous wardrobe. Now I have to wash everything and put it all in the right places.

So finally at about 3am I figured I should go to bed. (Josh has been working 3rd shift this week which has me all out of wack). So I ran outside to throw the last of the trash out and haul the trash and recycling cans to the curb. When I woke up this morning they were still sitting there untouched. Today is Wednesday....our trash comes on Thursday. I think mommy brain has set in.

Three more weeks until Family Day!!!

Ummm we'll get Katelyn three weeks from today (maybe three weeks from last night). Who's excited about this??? Raise your hand...oh, me, me, me!!! I can't believe we leave in 2 1/2 weeks. That's surreal. I ran some errands this weekend gathering items for the trip. I hung the rest of the pictures in the family room. I did a bunch at church over the weekend (Happy Easter by the way...He is Risen!!!) We had Brandon and Ashley with us this weekend and Josh was working 3rd shift covering for someone on vacation :(. I got the linen closet cleaned out upstairs (the thrift store will be happy). I went to the bank on Friday to order a whole lot of cash (has to all be in new or like new condition). Everyday is a little adventure against the clock. I really need a 36 hour day for the next couple of weeks.

A family in our travel group had to travel early because of a work conflict. They just got their baby yesterday. She's from the same orphanage as Katelyn and she's beautiful. I told this lady that I'd need the inside scoop on the trip when they get back.

Our friends Megan and Jonathan baptized their little girl Naomi yesterday. Mike and Susan were there with their daughter Maggie. The service was awesome and Naomi was hysterical. She was so excited to sit in the water. She was mad when they took her out. Naomi is almost 20 months old. Maggie is almost 16 months old. Our other friends Vanessa and Patrick's little girl Parker is 13 months old and Katelyn is 9 months old. We're calling them the Ya Ya Sisterhood and Naomi, Maggie and Parker have been waiting for Katelyn to come home. So cute. Naomi and Maggie kept giving each other hugs and kisses yesterday. Katelyn's going to have good friends. We love the Ya Yas.

I'm so thankful I know all these people with little girls. I feel surrounded by people who are right there with us. That's great because I'm not sure I know what I'm doing....

We have plane tickets....we're going to China!!

We got an email from the travel guy at our adoption agency today and our appointment with the US consulate in Guangzhou is set for April 22nd. This is our last piece of the trip while we're in China and the rest of our travel dates are set around this appointment.

So....are all of you paying close attention....are you reading very carefully....WE PURCHASED OUR PLANE TICKETS TO CHINA!!!! We are really going.....in three weeks. April 10-24th. In a little over three weeks our baby will be with us. Oh my gosh.....that's crazy!!!!

We're flying Northwest....Lexington to Detroit...Detroit to Tokyo...Tokyo to Beijing. Up and over the north pole. Oh that's cool. I hope it will be light out and that we'll be able to see the north pole out the window.

Now things are getting exciting...

Travel Approval!!!

Our agency received word from the China Center of Adoption Affairs today saying that they have approved us to travel! Whoo hoo. So our agency has contacted the US Consulate in Guangzhou requesting our appointment for April 22nd. If we get this date then we will be ready to book our flights for April 10th-24th. Whoo hoo again!!! They said we will know for sure in 1-5 days.

Great news. We're almost there. Katelyn is nine months old today. I just want to thank my friends with young children. They have humored my zillion questions...How old is your child?, How much does she weigh? How tall is she? What size is she wearing? Does she have teeth? How many? What is she eating? etc...etc... I'm a lunatic! It's very strange to be jumping in in the middle. I don't know what to pack. I just go into the baby's room, look around, get overwhelmed and walk back out. I've got to stop doing that. My brother's coming over on Thursday evening to help me with some handyman stuff around the house. Once that's done I will start washing the clothes we have for Katelyn and sort them out by size. Anyone who knows me and my mother knows that this kid already has a closet full of clothes...In our defense, we've had 2 1/2 years to shop. That's a lot of end of season clearance sales.

Have I mentioned that we're GOING TO CHINA!!! Josh said today that he's relieved that the NCAA championship game will happen right before we leave. I said REALLY this matters...we're going to get our child. And still he said he's glad that he gets to see the end of the college basketball season AND go to China. Do you all see what I'm working with here??? Josh said all we need to do is pack some clothes for him and I and some for the baby. Yeah, I'm going to let him go ahead and do that and see what his suitcase is lacking when we get to China. :)

Oh the to-do list...

My question is, WHAT THE HECK HAVE I BEEN DOING THE LAST TWO YEARS???? Somehow we've had all this time to wait and wait and now we leave in four weeks and I can't imagine how I'll get everything done before then. But I've made my list and the goal is to mark at least one thing off of it everyday. Today I got Katelyn's care package finished up. We're sending her a little photo album with pictures of our family, a disposable camera for the nannys to take pictures of her (we hope we'll get it back when they bring Katelyn to us), a blanket, a couple of long sleeve shirts, a little toy and some chocolates for the nannys. I hope the package gets to her!!!

So tomorrow I think I'll work on the packing list so that I can start gathering the stuff we need to bring with us. I've already started the gathering, but I need to see what we still need.

Amazingly enough the house is almost all painted now! Whoo hoo.... I just have the stairwell and the upstairs hallway to do. Our friend is a painter, so we're going to have him come with ladders to do the stairwell in a couple of weeks. So my painting days are numbered....thank God! By the time I'm finished it will be time to start on the first room again. :)

Okay...why am I blogging, I've got stuff to do!

We got our visas

Oh, I forgot, we got our passports back with the visas in them. We're just waiting for our travel approval from China and then we'll start buying our tickets. Yeah!!!! It's getting official. China's really going to let us crazy people into their country.

Are we in Lexington or Chicago???

Ummm, we live in Kentucky and it's March 8th...someone didn't get the memo that the daffodils should be coming up and they won't do that with half a foot of snow on the ground! This is what I woke up to this morning. I sure am ready for spring. We leave for China in 33 days!!! I'm going to stay in today (obviously) and work on stuff around the house....I have a very long to-do list.