Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Simple blog but it works at least!!!!!

We will egt our cute blog back after we figure it out what went wrong.Thank you everyone for boosting my spirits. It's so nice to chat with people that were and are in the same boat as us. Is there something we should bring or know for the first trip. Our bundle of joy is 12 months old. So far I got teething rings,toys,bunch of nice clothes,shoes that are variety sizes wasn't shure which size to get,and I also compiled questions for the caregiver/director. I just hope we did'nt miss anthing. Is there something that I should really be asking. I just want to make sure that it's on my list. One thing on my mind is all the darn paperwork .UGHHHH but looking at her picture makes it all better. Any suggestions would be welcomed..........Shelly you never know maybe we'll meet in Vlad........if not now than maybe for court........Thank you everyone....Hugs!!!!!

11 comments:

Heather said...

Congratulations on your travel date! Such a great anniversary present. Maybe you would want to take something similar to Gerber Puffs and Yogurt Melts. Of course you would want to make sure it was ok to give them to her, but if she is able to have them I am sure she will love them. Congrats again!

Jeanette said...

Congratulations!!!! So glad you got your travel dates! One piece of advice we got from our IA doctor was to not pull out too many toys on your visit. You should be her toy! Play peek-a-boo., sings songs, tickle. But then again, it's nice to see what the baby can do with the toys.

Tracey and Chuck said...

I agree with the yogurt melts and gerber puffs....our son loved both of them. We also took the Gerber cookie biscuits and he really liked them!!! On our 1st trip, we had this little cell phone that never left his hands while we were with him and it was good to see he could be doing a couple of things while still holding on to the phone. Also the stacking rings were a great thing to have!

Snugglewormy said...

our adoption agency said the same thing. Don't go overboard with presents. They suggested us to bring a blanket that we had slept with for a few nights so it would have our smell and a picture book. We brought a musical toy for each of our kids (we adopted a sibling pair) and that was a huge success and we got it back when we picked them up after court.

baby cookies are a good thing too and the orphanages usually allow them. Don't get anything with fruit. they are terrified of anything beyond bananas and green apples because of allergies.

What babyhome is your little girl at?

amy said...

Woohoo! I am so glad I can finally post ~ I had put something on my blog instead :) Our daughter liked anything with music and lights (baby einstein makes a great "takealong tunes" that is small for packing). Mostly she just wanted us to hold her and sing/talk to her... but she was a little younger (8.5 months). I bet your little one is more mobile and might like one of those blow up toys like Infantino's farmroller. I am so excited for y'all!!!

Steve and Stella said...

So glad your blog works again as we could not post any comments. Yesterday I was very happy to read the good news!!!!!! AWESOME!!!!! Your guys flying via Seoul or Moscow?
On your first trip, don't bring much clothes for the baby as unfortunately they will be worn by all the children..same with blankets and you will not get them back. we brought it back so he can have it again later once home. We made a pillow with our picture on it so we could leave it in the crib and also did a photo book with a picture of our boy, us and our house so again he could play with it in the crib. I also hear the caregivers do tell the child who is on the picture."Dad and Mom"
On trip number 2, when it was time to bring him clothes, since I was not sure how old he will be until court date, I had 18 months and 24 months old clothes and boy was it too big!! All the kids are small due to the orphanage. Once home, we had to get 12 months clothes for our 18 months old boy ..hope that gives you an idea.. If your daughter is 12 months, she may need no more than 9 months old clothes.
Also just fyi, the Vlad Motor Inn has a washer and dryer for all guests if you do not want to bring too much clothes :-) Feel free to contact me via email at stella.spera@marriott.com if you have any questions .... so so excited for your guys!!!! You will have a great time!!!!

Randy, Denise, Camden and Dasha Denson said...

Congrats on your travel date! I know ours is well down the road, but happy for others. One person told me that on trip 1 take some paper and trace their feet so that you could buy them the correct size shoes for the trip home. Have fun.

Steve and Stella said...

Yes Randy you are right. I forgot we did that too and it worked great. I bought a size more than the fit and bingo! He was all set :-)
Once there the baby home will give you get info on current height and weight. Make sure to ask all your questions on trip one as on trip 2 you may not have a chance to speak again with the doctor of the orphanage. Also on trip 2, they gave us all his medical which was suppose to be for us. Apparently the US embassy needed too so I had no time to make copies and thought we will get them back.. Well nope! So on trip 2 make sure to make copies of the entire medical dossier (I ended up only with one page.. at least it was the vaccinations.)

Craig & Kelly said...

Guys:

I back Steve and Stella. The clothing, toys, even the blanket, we were told would just end up being community property with no guarantee that Katerina would have it when we came back for trip 2 or 3.

I would just bring toys aged for 9 months to a year. Noise makers and teething stuff. Katerina was 10 months old when we first met her. She was not really crawling (although trying). We were happy to just hold her and play with the toys while she was in our laps. Your little girl is slightly older, but Katerina was not crawling until we got her home three months later.

We also brought the treats discussed here but we did not give her any due to her age and the visitation versus eating schedule.

You guys can call Kelly or I on our cell phones if you have any other questions.

Corinne said...

Congrats on your referral from Vlad. We are in process of adopting two little ones from there too.I agree not to overpack. The Vlad Inn is very equept for adoptive families.We took some small light up toys, a photo book of our family and a blanket for each which they asked us if we wanted back. We also left a couple disposable camera for the caretakers.I only brought a few outfits but, they ended up being too big. Our little girl is still wearing 12 to 18 months and she just turned 2.Good luck and enjoy the experience.

Jeanette said...

I'm adding more after reading some other comments :) We slept with a blanket for weeks and I don't think Grace ever got it. We even saw her crib on gotcha day and it wasn't in there. We also did the album and we have no idea if she was ever shown it. As far as size, our Grace is wearing 18-24 month and she is 13 months old!!! Some babies are big!!! I wouldn't buy much until you see her a court (unless you are staying for the 10 day wait). I forgot the stacking cups were a favorite and still are. She also loves musical toys. So excited for you!