Baby Shower!

Its been a busy week, so we are slacking in updating!  I had most of the week off for vacation but spent a lot of that time  in bed fighting off the flu and reacitons from getting the final shots for the trip!  I had some blood drawn and then 3 shots in about 10 minutes and hadn't eaten for the blood test so my body said enough I guess and I passed out in the doctor's office!  Christina had fun telling everyone at work I passed out!  So that's the latest on me.  And it looks like I may have passed whatever I was fighting on to Christina since she's curled up on the couch feeling miserable now!  I was trying to be quiet and not wake her so I figured I better download the pictures they took at her work shower last week.

They had a great turn out, around 30 people showed up!  Thanks to Amy, Melanie, Allison and Jen for setting it all up. 

Lainey's room is now filled with all kinds of gifts.  I need to put together a stroller and make room in the garage for a wagon.  Boy someone so small needs a lot of stuff! 

Thank you to everyone who came and gave us so many great gifts!

Had to sneak in the I love dad picture! The power of the editing pen is king!

As for the latest on travel, we received word this week our paperwork was finished at the U.S. consulate in China and has been taken to the Chinese offices to receive the travel approval. We're told it usually takes 2-4 weeks for the travel approval to be issued. So, some time after Christmas we will get the approval and can start getting some actual travel dates set and we can get real excited!  We are both trying to narrow down what we want to take with us. Each suit case can only weigh 44 pounds for international travel, or the airlines charge some hefty extra fees.  I bought a luggage scale for a buck on ebay! Love that!  Much better than the $20 at bed, bath and beyond!  That way we can weigh stuff for the trip back too. And we can bring an extra suitcase home too, since we get a ticket for Lainey as well.  So I would think the earliest we will travel right now is the second week of January.  Let us apologize now for not sending out Christmas cards, but we decided to wait to send a picture from China! So look for a card hopefully before the end of January!!

Visa and Birthday Pics from China

Well we received good news with my visa, its only good for 30 days, but those days don't start until I get there.  So we should be all set there.  It took a little extra waiting and some expertise from the courier in Washington D.C. to get it done, but hey its stamped and in my hands.  My job in media and being affiliated with a big network caused some rejections at first, but its all settled! 

We also received our preapproval from  U.S. immigration to bring Lainey home!  That paperwork has now been transfered to the U.S. consulate in China and is being processed.  We are just waiting for the travel approval from China officials and we can ask for our appointment date at the U.S. consulate.

And even better news was the arrival of some new pictures from China of Lainey's first birthday party!

So lets get right to them!  You can see her cake and all the fruit. We are guessing this is in the orphanage director's office.   Christina has seen similar pictures from other families, so we think this is normal.

We are thinking this is the director in the black and maybe the women are a worker and her foster mom?

We're guessing its cold too, by the amount of clothing everyone is wearing!  Look for Lainey's hands!

So that is the latest. It looks like she is growing and has more hair. The spot on her forehead is bigger too, not sure what that is.  It was in the last pictures and we thought it was a bug bite, but maybe a birthmark instead.  Who knows! We'll find out soon and get her all fixed up and find her hands too!

At this point we think the earliest we would travel would be around Christmas, but its looking more and more like we'll travel in January.  So there you have the latest!