Packing and updates....

Here is a picture of the announcement we sent out to friends about Sydney's referral... I must give credit to a friend who created it, she did a great job...Thanks Darcy!!! Sydney got updated weight which is now about 16.5 lbs and is about 26 inches long, AND has three new teeth!!!!! She just turned 9 months on October 21st :( We will also miss her 10 month birthday as well (November 21st)...but we BETTER not miss her 11 month(December 21st)... I would be VERY hurt if we can't be with her before she is one.

We sent her a care package that included a camera for the nannies to take pictures, a blankie for her, a stuffed panda for her, and a ton of candy and treats for the nannies and kids to share. The package was received on October 28th,hopefully we will get the camera back when we have Gotcha Day with her and her nannies!

Wow...it is already November 2nd and we still have not received TA yet...very frustrating...goes with the rest of this process. In the mean time since referrals, we have purchased all of our medications, both OTC and Prescriptions to take with us for both Joe and I and for Sydney...the DR's were way cool about the whole thing...can you say, shocked? Anyway, we also got our visas done (all by myself thank you very much) and are getting updates too regarding travel from our travel group. Not much excitement until we get TA's and CA's...that is when the craziness really starts! We have decided that we will fly out of Houston to LAX and get on a China Southern Flight to Guangzhou. Oh wait...these are premium economy seats... pretty much business class seating, so we want to be VERY comfy for a long flight. Then we are not going to tour Beijing this time, but try to tour Chengdu and Chongqing before we get the baby. Chengdu has a Panda Breeding research facility there...very cool and there is another place we want to visit called Dazu that has some fabulous carvings in the walls of this "thing"...not sure all the details yet!
I have worked on packing since we got Sydney's referral, so with the exception of Joe's clothes, the video stuff, the lap top and converters etc... all the rest is packed already and we are way under the 44 lbs limit, so I am feeling quite confident that we shoul be more than fine on weight. I got all the over the counter meds along with the prescriptions from our DR and the Pediatrician...TamiFlu, Levaquin, Elimite, Ambien, Zithromax, Xanax, Lorazepam(Valium I think), and every OTC drug known to man...all fitting in 2 ziplock baggies! Gallon size of course, but still! We used packmates as well and I don't know whow people do it without them...they are WONDERFUL!! Highly recommend them. Only catch is you still need to watch your weights as they get smaller, but the weight stays the same and you pack more because you think you have more room! I cannot wait to meet our happy baby girl for the first time... I am so in love with her picture, it hurts to not be able to go get her right now. If TA's don't come up soon.... you are going to see one crazy mama!
AM