This is it!

Yup, that's right... we are leaving tomorrow! I am exhausted. DH just got off shift and is running from one thing to another. Luggage is pretty much all packed, and weighs in at exactly 44 lbs each. Our carry on is over weight by 5 lbs, but I think its the 10 apples I am planning to eat from Montreal to Vancouver to Beijing that are causing that anomaly.

Hopefully we will be able to post from Nanjing. Stay posted.... if not, my Mom has graciously agreed to post stuff if we can't connect.

OMG

TA DAHHHHH!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the J&K room (drum roll please):






The blank space above the headboards is for their names, we just have run out of poop now and we need to go to bed.

WE ARE LEAVING IN 3 DAYS! OMG!

P.S. Compression bags rock!

The room is painted, dots and all!

Thank you to my lovely husband who put in 6 back breaking nights of painting (I helped for two nights). There is candy floss pink, hot pink, dark blue and my personal favorite, purple dots of various sizes all around the room! Now we are exhausted and we have to get some sleep tonight(we have had maybe 3-5 hours of sleep in the past couple of nights), cause tomorrow is IKEA day! More pics of the J&K room on Sunday, after the IKEA building party - everyone welcome and BYOAK (bring your own allen key, silly)!

By the way, the lovely green border is just masking tape holding the plastic down and protecting the borders.

Don't forget to check the travel itinerary, that we got today on your right hand side!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH part deux

All righty folks, this is part deux of our crazy life since we got TA;
1. Airplane tickets booked: check
2. Tonnes of money spent on medication: check
3. Tonnes of money spent on money: (not that much actually with the exchange) check
4. Tonnes of money spent on stuff we need (backpack, money belt, food, etc): check
5. Second car returned to dealer (we are officially a 1 car family!): check
6. Tonnes of phone calls made (Visa, M/C, Bank, Peds, Children's, etc): check
7. Paperwork for work signed off (I am officially off from Oct 31 till Sept 8!): check
8. Christmas presents bought (I am not going into Walmart with Kaitlynn!): check
9. Room painted, and painted, and painted... and painted (but not done... how do you feel about doing Polka Dots Mom?): check

What's left to do:
1. Immigration Quebec (for some reason that is the one thing that stresses me the most!)
2. Photocopy everything in double and quadruple... and kill a few trees at the same time
3. Get Travel Health Insurance for Kaitlynn
4. Get only car to the dealer for a tune up, so my Mom can drive without fear... well at least that the car won't break down on her... I can't be held responsible for Mtrl drivers, now can I?
5. Travel Meeting
6. IKEA!
7. IKEA Building party!
8. Order Panda Phone
9. Unpack and repack... and unpack and repack.... yes, I have too much stuff in my suitcase all ready... and my stuff isn't in there yet!
10. Hug my boys every chance I get, before I go - I am going to miss them horribly.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WE GOT TA WE GOT TA WE GOT TA

It arrived yesterday, but we didn't get the news until 10 pm cause we were at our Mandarin course. Funny, I really didn't want to be at the course last night - I guess somewhere I was picking up vibrations that our lives are about to get hectic!

We are still figuring out when we may leave - it may be as soon as Nov 2 or a week later on Nov 9, depending on another family (if they can wait an extra week or not). We did not sleep last night - if we leave Nov 2, DH's job in not going to like it one bit.

Sit tight everyone, will let you know when and how as soon as I can!

WE'RE COMING KAITLYNN - HANG ON!

Too funny...

So here I am feeling blue, and I pop over to a friends page on facebook's and come across this... put a massive smile on my face! Enjoy!




Note: AC/DC rocks!

Latest pics

Really late for work but I wanted to post these (Grandparents, don't worry I have copies for you that I will be sending along in the mail). Isn't he just gorgeous, our little angel, aka Munch?!

Oh my... I've been tagged

Wow, this is hard!

10 things that are splurge-worthy:

10. Coats!?! (I seem to have like 20 of them)
9. Cut flowers from our free trade florist, whom my husband knows on a first name basis!
8. STARBUCKS! (since we have so few here)
7. Big bin of Leggo... (thinking of Christmas)
6. Haircut and colour (right with you on this one Nathalie!)
5. A beautiful dress in size 12 months to 3 yrs!
4. Anything Tilley
3. Books (I want to go just like Jackie O did, surrounded by her family and all her books)
2. A night out with hubby, with kids (can anyone say St-Hub?!)
1. A night out with hubby, no kids ( hit some balls, then Le Fondue Caquelon or Baton Rouge for dinner, then a movie, then... well you know..)


10 things that aren't splurge-worthy:

1. A BBQ (for some reason we can't find $200-$300 to buy one, but we can find $800 to buy new clothing in one shot!... o'k, $900... oh, all right then, $947.74 at Tilley... I am going to China for 2 weeks and I have a weight limit of 40 lbs for one bag and I am packing for two people in that one bag.. that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!)
2. Remote control cars - that break after one use!
3. Lovely Souris Mini clothing for my eldest - he just destroys knees in pants!
4. Rubber boots
5. Rubbers... and yes, you know what I mean... (did you know that you can get them at Maxi?)
6. $300 snowsuit for kids - can get the same one at a Fripperie for $50!
7. Volvo XC 90 (oh, boo woo for me... I WANT ONE!)
8. $227.85 to buff my leased car one week before it has to be returned... to avoid getting a new paint job for it after driving it for 4 years (supposedly now its o'k since I paid them to buff it!)
9. Gift bags more than a $1 - recycle the ones you have!
10. $300 shoes from Brown's... oh boo woo again...

Thanks Nathalie that was fun! While working out this afternoon, I got inspired: I have all of my Dad's old passports and I thought I could do some wonderful scrap pages with them, showing him at the time and his travels. I would like to put them up on the wall though, in a memory box. Now, to go and dig through my papers and stuff to find what I have in mind. Hope this inspires you!

Now, to tag... Doris and Julie, consider yourselves tagged!

P.S. No TA yet.

Been a crazy week

Emotions all over the place, up and down, and up and down this week.

First off, DH has had a terrible time trying to argue his case for leaving for 7 days to go to China with me. Finally, this morning his bosses agreed to let him go in a three week window for 7 days. If we don't get TA by Oct 26 or Nov 2, DH can't go. If we get TA by Oct 19th, DH won't be able to go either as we would probably have to leave by Nov 2 and the other family that is adopting from the same orphanage would probably want to leave Nov 2 (and who wouldn't?). What is making things so very difficult for me is if I were to go into labour on Dec 8, there is no way DH would have been told "No, you can't leave. We need you operationally.", he would have been told "GO!". There is this general lack of understanding about adoption that really hurts me - this is our child and we have to do what we have to do for her benefit and for the families benefit, regardless of how she comes into our lives.

Second, finances are horrible. If we had been travelling in December we could have afforded it. As it stands, it looks like using points to fly over is way too complicated and not feasible. We have a ball park idea now of how much things may cost, which is really nice to know (thanks Leanne!) but scary at the same time. So we have been spending every night trying to figure out how to pay for all this and we are left with going into our RRSP's. It sucks, but I think in the end we want our daughter and it doesn't matter the cost. I should point out that we have a certain amount of debt too and we are going to pay that off as well, so that we can support our family by my being off till next September (yes, that's right, I would be off 11 months with my kids! they can come straight home after school, come home for lunch and no more weeks upon weeks of summer camp!) and then maybe, just maybe, only work part time when I get back!

Third, Jacob had a really weird allergic reaction to something. We don't know what it was that caused it, but he broke out in hives all over his body. Within 15 minutes of having benadryl, the hives were gone and he felt better... but what a scary thing to see, and poor Jacob got horribly scared too. Now, we are asking the daycare to document everything he is eating so that we can try and track what has happened in case he reacts again.

Fourth, Tristan is having a very hard time at school. His ezcema is getting better now, and we are trying to allievate his stress at home as much as we can but you can tell that he is wiped out.

Fifth, Zach on the other hand is doing just peachy at school. Green lights all the way! And he got his certificate for tying his shoes all by himself!


Like I said, emotions all over the place this week, from happy to sad to frustrated to "what the?" back to happy. Tell me when the station comes up, I want to get off this rollercoaster for a bit!

Miracle #2 and Giving Thanks

Miracle #1 a, b, c, and d are the Boys and Kaitlynn.




Miracle #2 is my Mom. Guess who has just offered to put herself up for sacrifice to the Triple Boy Threat while we, (yes, I said WE) travel to China to get Kaitlynn? Daddy will be there for Gotcha thanks to my Mom! I am literally speechless... we got our miracle!

Greg and I are celebrating 4 years together by going back to the Chinese restaurant, in China town, where our magical journey together began. We are then going to see the Lanterns at the Botanical gardens.

We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend.

And its off....

Crazy, crazy past couple of days. First off, I am sick as a dog so I am in a haze and I figure I am making mistakes that are costing me some effort and some time. For instance, had to run to FUF and took the wrong bridge! I was just blindly driving into downtown not realizing that I had just taken the longest possible way to get there. So by the time I get to the office, I am in a pissy mood so I just walk in, sit down at the large table, and then this lovely lady comes out of nowhere and looks at me like I am a crazy person... "do I know you? what are you doing here?"... oh... sorry, I'm Stefanie... oh, HI, its nice to finally see you... ummm, you are? Pauline! Oh my... did I feel like an idiot for a few seconds.

So, the notary has been visited and our paperwork is signed and delivered to us in quadruplet. This has been given to FUF so it goes to the embassy and to be translated. Visa pictures taken, visa application form filled out, LOA signed, travel spec'ed out and investigation into whether I can use my points is ongoing, travel docs filled out, passports located, care package put together and everything has been delivered to FUF this afternoon. Oh, and did I mention that the big T is sick too, so he has been a trooper this afternoon while we drove from Marieville all the way back to Montreal and then home.

The end result of all this, is everything that needs to be done for now, and the LOA will be sent off tomorrow which is when we officially start counting down for the TA to arrive. Also, its official DH is not going to China with me - no money, can't leave the kids alone for 2 weeks, damn satellite launch pre-launch exercises are in our window for travel. He's starting to accept it slowly and so am I, but its still disappointing.

LOA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It came, it came, it came!!!!!!!!! We have our LOA, and my, what a lovely document it is! I wish I could put it up here on the blog, but I am not certain that that would be appreciated... so you will have to trust me that its a beautiful document.

The big T and I went and picked it up at the agency last night. I have to go and get my Visa picture taken and fill out some other info, then drop that stuff off and the signed letter by Friday. Hopefully I can get a care package together to send at the same time too!

It looks like I will travel either Nov 9 or 16th. Someone is trying to convince me that its more like I will go before Halloween, but I am not holding my breath. Besides, I think I will have a coronary if I have to go that fast! The next thing we need now is the TA (travel authority) and then I go! OMG... I'm going to China to get Kailtynn in like 6 weeks... O. M. G.

Packages in the air

So there appears to be packages coming to a variety of agencies - this through RQ - so could there be referrals for families mixed with LOA's and TA's? Who knows... I'm actually quite Zen about it today, by aiming for Century Club (day 100). We hit 75 today, so 25 more days to go! I think its the fever and the flu I have that are making me Zen and delirious.

Had a major run in with our sitter last night, which is weighing heavily on me today. She got quite mad at me for trying to explain that we want to go a bit easy on the big T for a while cause he is very stressed out at school. She lost it with me, saying she would resign if we had no discipline in the house and that the boys are playing us. He just needs a firm hand and to concentrate, and that by doing what we are suggesting, we will end up with no end of trouble. DH managed to bring the situation back to a normal speaking tone, and she quieted down but not before telling me that I was not speaking to her respectfully as she is my senior (I told her that I did not appreciate how she was speaking to me). I asked her to leave politely as it was late. She is supposed to come back tonight, and I am left wondering what to do. I don't like being given an ultimatum - don't do this or I will resign - and these are our kids and our family, and it really isn't her place to yell and get mad at me for asking her to follow along with us to help our child out. Trying to give myself the 24 hr cool down before I decide anything, but as I type this I am getting all angry again. Stay tuned...