A Note to All You Traveling

Our CCAI reps Anita & Marie

I know there are many soon to be China travelers following our blog and I thought I'd take some time this morning to comment on what I'm glad I had and what I wish I had known. Greg and Dad are out buying a suitcase for packing today and Chloe is having a morning nap. Let's see what all I can type before she gets up. --- It's now evening of the same day. Clearly things did not go as planned. We are all packed and ready for our flight tomorrow to Guangzhou, our last stop in China. We are beginning to miss home, but it's with mixed feelings that we leave Chongqing. We are anxious to get one step closing to bringing Chloe home, but sad that this was her last day in her home town. Tomorrow she will leave the only place she has ever known.

On a happier note, we have just had a blast enjoying her today. She learned to sit on her own and is steady enough to play with toys while sitting. She's begun to give us kisses. This is very significant to us, 'cause we know that someone must have done that to her at the orphanage for her to understand how.

Just a quick Chloe story before I get on to the traveling tips. We noticed that Chloe was babbling 'jei jei' which in Chinese means big sister. We asked the orphanage director if she had any ideas why Chloe would be saying that and she said that some of the older children in the orphanage come and play with the babies. When I asked if there was a specific child that Chloe was attached to she said no, but they just call them all 'jei jei', big sister. We had sent a camera to the orphanage after we were matched with Chloe and were able to get the pictures developed this week. We were shocked to see Chloe with a big sister in several of the pictures. She has her hand on Chloe possessively and there is even a picture of her kissing Chloe. I breaks my heart to think how much that little girl must be missing Chloe this week, but we are so thankful for Chloe's 'big sister' that showed her love until we could do it ourselves.

Here are a few things I glad we did for China and a few things I wish we had known:

-have a pediatrician available 24-7 that is familiar with international adoption available
(we talked to our adoption doctor at 4am one morning about Chloe and got her started to a speedy ear infection recovery)
-do take any medication you think you or the baby may need - you probably will not need it, but I'm glad to have it along just in case
-do take some snack along as comfort food and also for transition times until you know where to shop and what's available - there is lots of things available in Chongqing, you just don't always want to have to go out and get them
-do bring lots of germex - I brought 5 small bottles and I think this is good, but I also had wet wipes
-don't bother bringing too much entertainment for yourself - we never did need it, 'cause we were either busy touring in Beijing or with the baby
-do bring clothes that mix and match - laundry was available, but not until the 4th day and then there was a 48hr. turn-around time - I wish my clothes could mix and match, so I wasn't so stuck with 1 particular outfit
-do plan to be hot in China and dress accordingly - Chinese people just seem to enjoy a warmer temp that we in the USA - our a/c only worked part of the time and the stores and airplane were very warm
-it was nice to have some plastic silverwear along for when you order take-out

for baby:

-we liked the bottles with liners, but bring lots, it takes a lot of experimenting to figure out what temp the baby likes the bottles and just when they're hungry - Chloe likes her so hot it's almost like coffee

-do bring a thermos to store hot water, but check to make sure it keeps water hot for 12 hours - ours does not and I'm not sure how we'll get home

-I wish I had brought more spitty diapers-I brought 5, but with wash times, I was always wishing for more

-do bring pj's without feet - Chloe is too long for her pj's, so I was really limited in the pj department - you could buy some here, but the sizing is confusing and not speaking the language can be very daunting

-do bring a little anti-bacterial dish soap and a shoe box size rubbermaid container for washing bottles - this is a daily event

-I wish I had more bottle tops - I'm ok with the bottles since we just switch out the liners, but I seem to always need to wash nipples and rings

-do bring enough diapers to get started for a day or 2 - you can buy the rest here

We took a group photo today - talk about drawing a crowd. 15 American families holding Chinese babies.

5 babies from Chloe's orphanage (Qian Jiang SWI)

Please pray for us as we travel tomorrow. There was a typhoon near Hong Kong this weekend and it may effect our travel or cause delays. 15 families in airport with delays when you don't speak the lanuage - it may be an interesting day!