We have two BabyHawk carriers that we got before we received our referral. One we purchased and one was a gift. We took one of them to China with us, but never even used it. I think if Lauren was younger, we would have gotten some use out of it.
I thought I'd post them here and see if anyone is interested before I list them on Ebay.
They both have the espresso colored straps in the extra long size. Here's the first one, it has this fabric design on one size...
The second one has this fabric design on one side...
and this design on the other...
It also has a toy ring...
You can check out the BabyHawk carriers at their website here. The single sided one with the extra long straps retails for $85 and the double sided one with the extra long straps and toy ring retails for $100. If anyone is interested, I'd sell the single sided one for $50 and the double sided one for $65 (I'll cover the shipping cost). Please e-mail me through my Blog Profile or leave a comment here.
Thank you all for the compliments on our travel video. I'm going to tuck a copy away in Lauren's box of goodies from our trip along with a CD of all our travel photos.
Today we met a friend at Gymboree for some play-time. I think Lauren enjoyed it, so I signed us up for a month. It's a combination of structured and unstructured play and I think it will be really good for her.
Tomorrow we have an appointment for a developmental specialist and I'm hoping that she will give us a referral to our state program so they can come out to our home for an assessment. I would like to get a jump start on anything we need to work on. I know that language is something we definitely will need help with. I think it's great that Lauren tries to repeat a lot of words we say and does have a small English vocabulary already. She's added "bye-bye" and "juice" to the other words she was saying.
Here's a little scrapbook layout in the infamous "Brown eyed girl" t-shirt. She looked so darn cute and even left her clippie in for half the day before she yanked it out.
On Monday we assembled the Radio Flyer red wagon we bought while Black Friday shopping and took for a spin at the park. It was a big hit! It's so much fun watching Lauren use the items we bought for her when she was still just a dream to us!
I finished our travel video but was having some trouble uploading it. It's 15 minutes long and YouTube has a 10 minute limit. Also, the file size is too large for most of the other popular web hosting sites. After hunting around on the internet, I found a hosting site called Viddler which allows large file upload. I'm so glad I found it because the picture quality seems to be light years better than YouTube, which I find to be grainy and pixelated during video transitions.
So, when you have a spare 15 minutes take a peek at our video. It's a combination of photos and video clips taken on our trip. What I like best about how it turned out is that you can totally see Lauren's transition over the two week period as she starts to show her true personality.
Just time for a quick post with some pictures today. I need to start getting to bed at a reasonable hour. I've been staying up way too late after Lauren is asleep and it's starting to take it's toll on me. I've been working on a China travel video and that's been sucking up some time. It's done and I'll be posting it soon.
Lately, I've noticed that Little Miss seems to be a multi-tasker of sorts. She likes to Swiffer while walking her baby...
double-fisted hair brusher...
and likes to walk her doggie and crocodile together...
and then takes them up on the sofa to rest together...
We are having so much fun with Lauren and she is doing so well. She's been slowly warming up to Gramma and had lots of smiles and a high five for her last night...
Thanks to my local bloggy friend, Jeanette, I found out about an English/Chinese story time at one of the libraries nearby. We went yesterday and it was really nice. They sung songs and read books in both English and Mandarin and had playtime at the end. I think she enjoyed playtime the most. She really liked climbing through the long tube. Here's a couple of pics of that in the cutest shirt I picked up off the Gymboree sale rack. It says...100% sweet - made of pure sugar. I think that just about says it all!
Today we went to a Valentine's Day party hosted by our friends, Laura and Dan, and their beautiful son Dominic. There were lots of kids there adopted from both China and Guatemala. It was so wonderful to see the happy faces of all the kids with their forever families...it's so heartwarming to think that these kids, including Lauren, were dreamed of for so long and now loved so much...
So, can you tell we are having lots of fun being parents? We just love her to pieces! I'm just now finally feeling like I'm getting the knack of being a mommy. I think now that we have a routine going during the day, everything flows a lot smoother. Lauren is definitely everything I ever dreamed of and more!
Thank you for all your kind words about not looking like a grandma! I always thought I looked younger than my age, but as the years creep away I think I'm losing that a bit. I know I technically can be a grandma, but I guess it just bugs me that people just jump to that conclusion without thinking. That's the key...people feel the need to open their mouths without thinking. I guess I'd better get real used to it.
Here's my little shopper at it again. If she sees me with a bag, she grabs it and wants to carry it on the side of the stroller. She carried this one all the way to the car and kept it the entire time while in her car seat.
What's funny is she doesn't even pull anything out of it...she just wants to hold it.
This evening she thought it was funny to walk around with momma's slippers on...
and then she loved her horsey-back ride with baba...
Here's the scene...we are at the children's play area at a nearby mall and the women sitting next to me leaned over and asked..."is that your granddaughter?" Ughh...dagger right through the heart! I was expecting my first question to be "is she adopted?" or some other equally nosy question...but this one caught me off guard. After she left, the young mom on the other side of me said she overheard her and couldn't believe she asked me that. Ahhhh...that made me feel much better! I know I'm an older mom, but I just wasn't expecting this and I hope it's not a frequently asked question when we go out...I don't think I look THAT old!
Yesterday we took Lauren to Toys R Us to find some kind of push toy she can ride on. We got this cute little FisherPrice horse with a little basket in front to carry stuff along for the ride. She didn't know how to push her self at first, but it only took a couple of minutes for her to figure it out...
This evening we spent some time at my brother's place and Lauren actually warmed up to everyone and played with her cousins for the very first time. It was so much fun to watch!
Today we went to the zoo with a couple we meet through the FCC when we first started the wait. They have a beautiful daughter named Lily who will be three years old this month. Lauren did very well with them even though this was her first time meeting them. I think Lily went a long way towards breaking the ice for her.
Here's some pics from the day (click to enlarge)...
I went into work yesterday morning for a meeting and found this sign on my office door. Theresa has been filling in for me and changing the number of days each morning. Ha! It's nice to be missed.
Here's Lauren's new ride...
After hunching over to push around that little stroller in China, this one is a dream and I love it. It's a Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Stroller in French Roast. It's very smooth, turns on a dime, folds up very easily, and has a huge basket for bags.
Speaking of bags, I think I have a little shopper on my hands...
Oh, and by the way...I didn't realize that motherhood meant never going to the bathroom along again...
Now there's two in there with me!
For an update on our Little Miss, she seems to be adjusted to the time here now. She's been napping by 1pm each day for about 1.5 hours and we've had her to bed by 9:30pm for the past five or so days. We are hoping to creep her bed-time up slowly until she's to bed by about 8pm. We'll see how that goes.
She's been letting us put her in the crib while awake now, but we need to stay in the room until she is asleep. If one of us tries to leave, there is hell to pay! I think at this point, we're just so happy with her progress so far that this is fine with us for now.
Lauren has learned how to blow kisses and she's stealing Grandma's heart in this little video clip...
Our Arizona Cardinals may not have won the big game, but we still had a very nice day. We started at my brother's place for some great food and to introduce Lauren to my sister-in-law's family. Lauren played shy most of the time because there were lots of new people there, but came out of her shell a little bit for Grandma when she blew those kisses. Next it was off to our friend Linda Marie's house for the rest of the game. It took Lauren a good hour and a half, but she finally warmed up to Linda and Christine and was soon running around playing and laughing.
Our baby is definitely very shy and it takes her quite a while to show her true personality...but when she does she is so much fun. We've only been home a little over a week and she's doing incredibly well. On the way home tonight she fell asleep in her car seat and we were able to get her straight into the crib for the night. Ahhh...this is the earliest so far.
Yes, we got Lauren down for a nap in her crib at 1:15pm today!! This may sound like a little thing, but it's a BIG success at our house today. She has been so off on her sleeping since we've been home that she won't nap until she crashes at about 5pm and then won't go to bed for the night until WAY late.
Also, last night our bed time routine went very well...bath, PJ's, reading and lullaby music and then she actually went into the crib awake with her blankie and was asleep within 15 minutes! It was late (about 10:30pm) because she napped late, but it was a drama free bedtime and I'll take that anytime. Eventually, we'll get her into bed earlier and earlier.
Oh, by the way, don't I look cute today in my panda outfit with the little panda face on my bum...
Also, for Rebecca...I saw her comment about having some questions, but I don't have your e-mail address. Please e-mail me at suzieq1@cox.net...looking forward to hearing from you!
I've been reflecting back a lot about our trip once Lauren is tucked into her crib at night. I look at her sleeping and it just seems unreal that we've been there and back and our wait is actually over. I thought the trip would drag on with almost all our time spent in Guangzhou, but it actually went by in a flash. They had us running here and there for appointments and tours every day...there was never a dull moment. We had an amazing guide and a great group of families to spend our time with.
China is an amazing country filled with such wonderful history and beautiful old buildings maintained for generations to enjoy. There were so many things that impressed me about China and I can't wait to take Lauren back there someday for a heritage tour. We feel she needs to experience her birthplace. A couple of the things that impressed me about the Chinese culture is that people seem to take a lot of pride in what they do and that families seem to be very close. Every evening when we would take walks in the park areas, there would be families out playing together...badminton, hacky-sack, etc. It was very heart-warming to see families having so much fun together.
For those of you still waiting, please know that everyone's experience is different based on the child's age, physical condition, personality, etc. There are no two families who have the exact same experience. I can also say that this journey is not for the faint of heart, but for those of us who are determined to bring our child home no matter what it takes. We had the added degree of difficultly with Lauren's age (21 months) and her deep attachment to her caregivers and life at the orphanage. That first week was harder than I had ever imagined. All the books, videos, seminars and stories from other families prepared me to know what to expect, but until you are actually in the situation you don't realize how hard it will be...both physically and mentally. Also, the fact that we are new parents who went from zero to toddler in disress in a blink of an eye didn't help matters.
I'm happy to report that Lauren's transition over the past 2.5 weeks is nothing short of amazing. She is a smart, happy, healthy little girl who seems to pick up on things very quickly and repeats lots of basic words that we say. So far I've heard her say "uh oh", "yeah", "doggie", "baba" and "mama" (although she doesn't direct those at us yet) "good", and "all gone". She eats like a champ and especially likes strawberry yogurt, scrambled eggs, mandarin oranges, watermelon and graham crackers...oh, and of course her rice crackers from China.
We went to the pediatrician for her well-baby visit this morning and the poor baby had to get six vacinnations, a TB skin test and lots of blood work. She was not a happy camper and I was close to tears watching her scream. The doctor said to give her Tylonel and watch her for a fever tonight. It was just too much trauma for one day!
I wanted to give those still waiting some tips on items we brought with us and didn't use and items we used daily. Also some info on how many of certain items we brought...so here it goes...
Items we took and didn't use:
Small funnel for transfering the powdered formula from the travel dispenser to the bottle...worked fine without the funnel.
Cherrios...Lauren didn't want anything to do with them.
Disposable wash clothes...no need since we used hotel washcloth while in the room and diaper wipes when out and about.
Disposable diaper changing pads...just used the real thing from our diaper bag.
Toothbrush and toothpaste for Lauren...there was no way we were approaching that trauma on top of everything else.
Disposable razor for me...time to shave...ha, what was I thinking.
Jewelry...you can just use what you wear over there...this is no fashion show.
Travel shopping bag...every shop owner we encountered gave us a bag. Even Carefour (the Walmart equivalent in Guangzhou) had cheap re-usable grocery bags to buy at the registers.
Travel tiolet paper...the two times that there wasn't toilet paper, I left the darn travel roll outside with Joe in the diaper bag so I never got to use it anyway.
Stuffed bunny rabbit toy for Lauren...she wouldn't even give it a second look.
Instant soup, granola bars and beef jerky...there is plenty to eat in Guangzhou
Since Lauren wasn't sick, we didn't even touch the well stocked bag of over the counter meds or antibiotic we brought for her.
Items we took that I couldn't live without:
Scented diaper disposable bags for the poopie diapers.
Plastic baby spoons in a cool travel container (thanks Kim & Scott)...Lauren used them at every meal.
Gerber baby prunes...got the plumbing working right away.
Travel formula dispenser.
Playtex drop-in bottles...they were SOOO convenient and work like a charm.
Diaper pins for cinching Lauren's waistbands on her pants (Nancy, thanks for the tip)...otherwise several outfits we brought would not have worked for her.
Tights for her to wear with dresses and pants that rode up...kept the local clothing police away...God for bid a babies legs show in China! ;)
Long johns if traveling to Beijing in the winter!
Thermos for keeping hot water for baby bottles...used this daily.
Stacking cups...Lauren loved them (tip...get the ones with little holes in the bottom so it can "rain" in the bathtub).
Shoe box sized rubbermaid container for cleaning the bottles, nipples, sippy cups and plastic spoons every day in the room.
Dish liquid and plastic tongs for doing the dishes.
Travel packets of Tide detergent for cleaning clothes with stains you can't trust to the laundry. Lauren had sticky lollipop stains all over her coat a couple of times and Tide came to the rescue.
Laptop computer and headset for making phone calls on Skype...this was my only connection to friends and family and I don't think I would have made it without this stuff. /li>
How many did we take?
Playtex drop-in liners - 200. We used about 125 including the 40 or 50 we gave to another family who ran out. We used them for formula, water and juice bottles.
Diapers - 20 Huggies Over-nights. We bought Pampers in China and they worked out fine for day-time use. We used the Huggies over-nights each night and saved about 6 for the flights home. We bought two packages of Pampers in China and brought about 10 home.
Diaper wipes - 2 refill packs of Pampers Sensitive Skin wipes. By the time we got home we used every one of them, but we used them a lot as multi-purpose wipes when we ate out.
Spending money - $4,500. We used about $2,500 on souveniers, Chinese outfits and shoes for Lauren, pearls, gifts, meals that weren't included and a couple of minor adoption expenses that popped up along the way.
Oh, and one more thing that I didn't realize before we went...they don't use napkins as we know them in restaurants in China. They have a tiny pop-up box of what we would consider to be tissues at the table...or sometimes they would have a couple of packets of what we would consider travel size Kleenex. When you are dealing with a messy baby, these are no help whatsoever. Plan on using diaper wipes or antibacterial wipes a lot while you are out eating. Only a few times did we encounter restaurants that actually give you a cloth napkin. Even Lucy's with it's westernized menu only gives you one tiny paper triangle shaped napkin per person.
Well, it's time to get dinner started, so that's all for now. If anyone still waiting has any questions about our trip, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. You can find an e-mail link on my Blogger profile.
Here's a few digital scrap pages I wanted to share and below is a little video snippet of Lauren's first meetings with Lucy (our furbaby)...
Just a short post with some pics since I'm exhausted! Lauren's internal clock is totally out of whack and her sleeping is all off...I feel a little like a zombie right now.
We spent the last day in China finishing up our packing and relaxing a bit before taking the oath at the U.S. Consulate. Here's a couple of my favorite pics from that day...
We got home on Friday at 4:30pm Phoenix time (1:30am China time) and had such a fantastic greeting from friends and family! After two weeks living out of a hotel room with a brand new toddler in a foreign country, I was NEVER so glad to be home!!
I promise to post much more later, but it's 2am and I finally got Lauren to sleep about a half hour ago. If I don't hit the sack now and get some sleep while she is out, I'll be S O L (so out of luck)!
