Our darling is now 1 year old!

We have now been at home for a little more than 3 weeks and we have got the most perfect little daughter. She has taken a few steps of her own, she still crawls fast and loves her toys. She also seems to know we are her parents and looks for us when on her own on the kitchen floor playing. Last night she crawled from our home office to the TV-room on her own, me in one room and her dad in the other, for a few moments she couldn't see any of us but still knew we would be there when she got there. We have managed to introduce some kind of feeding and sleeping schedule. Linnea (which is her Swedish name) still eats like a horse but goes to sleep at various times at night, we try to get her in bed at 8:30 PM latest. Sometimes she wakes up after an hour but she is easily calmed and usually goes back to sleep. Depending on the time for her last meal we sometimes have to feed her during the night, a bottle of formula is gone within seconds...

Last week our darling turned 1! Some friends, who also travelled with us to China to get their baby, came over for some birthday cake. The girls had much fun playing with all toys and we got the time to talk to some other grown-ups than ourselves. It nice to see that Linnea seems to recognize the dad in that family, I guess we will see them a lot in the future, they are the closest living friends from our China trip.

This week we made a quick visit to DH's hometown to say hi to Linnea's paternal relatives. Her great grandmother turned 92 and was so happy so see us and Linnea. The stay with her grandparents went by without any major difficulties, she seems to like her grandmother but was a bit reserved against her grandfather and aunt. We installed a webcam last week to be able to keep in touch visually and perhaps it's easier for her to remember who they are as we're about 600 km apart and won't be able to visit that often. We now have my mother and sister with family left to visit, we will go there in a few weeks.

Linnea was car sick a couple of times when going on day trips by bus in China. We were a bit worried that she would be sick going by car also when we got home but so far she likes to sit in her carseat. She often falls asleep on the way to the supermarket or somewhere else, tomorrow DH gets back to work and I really really hope she will like to sit in the back seat on her own while I'm driving (not because of my driving, thank you!) if we have to go somewhere when we're alone. We can't have her in the front seat due to the airbag, in the other (older) car there is no airbag in the passenger seat, perhaps I have to use that one with her.

We have been to see the doctor for something called "Tropical examination". They took some blood samples, pee sample, poo sample (...) and saliva sample. From blood samples they will find out if her vaccination chart is correct, perhaps she will need some extra shots but we won't know until next week. Poo sample is to eliminate salmonella and worms. She is now 74.5 cms and 8.235 kgs. We will have a home visit from the child health centre next week, our SW came to see us first week at home. I guess it's just about checking our living standards and to see how we have prepared our house for the baby, nothing to worry about. I guess.

It's no understatement to say that our lives have turned upside down since we became parents. Nothing is what it used to be but it's all for the better. OK, sleeping in weekends is just a dream right now. Taking a shower when beeing home alone with Linnea is out of the question. Linnea really loves to take a bath but hasn't been introduced to the shower yet. Another good thing is that our meals follow her schedule and we can sit together at the kitchen table (which we have realized is now too small) and eat. There is also not that much time to spend by the computer, that's why my blogg hasn't been updated for a few weeks. Sorry for that but I hope I will be able to catch up when we get her sleeping more regular.

We're back!

We're back home after the most amazing journey we've ever made! China is a fantastic country with fantastic people. We have seen just a tiny fraction of the country but have met a lot friendly and warm people, our guide Julie and local guide Monica were terrific!

On Dec 13th we met our little FuQi for the first time. Our daughter was the last to arrive to the hotel after all the other 9 girls had met their forever-families. We were told she had had 5 hours by train and was a bit delayed so we went down to grab some dinner in the hotel restaurant. Our guide came to get us after 6 PM and told us she had arrived. We went up to 11th floor and there she was with her nanny and the SWI director outside the elevators. The walk back to our room seemed to last for ages but once we got in there they handed her over to me. She looked at me curiously and then at DH who was recording. She had been a bit carsick in the taxi to the hotel but who bothered?? We exchanged gifts and then they all left. That same evening there were some paper work to be done so we washed her off and put on some clean clothes. She sat in my lap quitely and played with my necklace and leaned against my chest during the following hours, some of our new friend's babies cried loudly but she just sat there looking at me and her new dad and the other people. The next day we went to Civil Affairs and the Notary office and after that we were legally parents in China.

She is the most adoring baby girl! She smiles a lot, laughs out loud when we are too silly or tickles her tummy and she eats like a horse, just show her a spoon and she opens her mouth widely. She drinks Swedish formula and eats Swedish porridge and food as she had always done. She is very fond of both of us and loves to play with her new toys in her room or in the kitchen. She crawls fast and stands up against a chair or a bed or against our legs. She walks holding our hands and has taken a step or two by herself. Perhaps she'll be walking for her birthday in two weeks!

We brought a BabyBjörn to China and she just loved to sit in it! The Chinese people looked at all of us long-nosed Swedes where most dads carried their babies in these strange harnesses. When putting a formula bottle in her mouth while walking around they couldn't believe their eyes!

The city of Nanchang is like any medium big city. There was a supermarket not far from the hotel where we could buy all necessities like water and diapers. We went on some day trips to a park, to the Teng Wang Ge pagoda and to a porcelain store. After a week we went back to Beijing.

Beijing is a very big city and a very crowded city. Lots and lots of cars, congestions at any time of the day, extremely dry air and weather like we are used to at this time of the year. We visited the Summer Palace, the Tianmen Square and of course the Great Wall, on the most memorable Christmas Eve you can ever have! The weather this day was sunny and clear and the view was lovely! In the evening we gathered in the hotel restaurant to have some dinner all together, we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve in Sweden and one of our new friend's daughter turned 1 year this day. In the hotel there were also another group from Sweden, they had been in Guangdong to meet their babies. All Swedes sat next to each other and it was the best party ever!

The flight back home to Europe was quiet and calm. Our daughter slept 7 of th 10 hours it took us to get to Copenhagen. Then we had to transfer to a flight to Stockholm and she fell a sleep again, so did I.

We are still a bit jet-lagged but are coping quite well. She sleeps from about 8 PM to 4 AM but hopefully we will get her to wake up a bit later further on...

Her Swedish name will be Linnea, which also is the name of the province flower (Linnea Borealis) of my home province. Her middle name will be Qi, which means "unbelievable happiness".

We are so happy for her and think we have been perfectly matched! Thank you CCAA!

We wish you all a Happy New Year!

TA today!

Today our agency called to inform us about our TA, it has arrived at the agency but there is not enough time to mail it to us. One original TA is kept at the CCAA and we will receive our copy when we get there. They told us to go ahead with our preliminary flight plans to Beijing and travel agency confirmed booking later today. We will have e-tickets but FuQi's is an ordinary paper ticket and has to be mailed to us, it will arrive tomorrow.

Last weekend we changed the money we will need for hotels and domestic flights in China and also for shopping. We bought most of our currency in USD travel checks but also some cash yuan. There will be no time for gift shopping for the SWI or their nannies so we have to go shopping again this Sunday. Magnus put together the new chest of drawers for FuQi's room and I filled it with her clothes. Some of the outfits we bought will be too big for her now so she will be well dressed for a long time. Perhaps too many pink outfits though... On her list to Santa this year she wrote "clothes, but not pink ones"... OK, I wrote her list this year :)

We picked up her stroller this Tuesday. It was in two pieces, easy to assembly. It looks great and I drove around in the living room to test it. Neighbours must think I'm crazy... We bought a highchair at IKEA and some formula bottles in the baby's store. Perhaps she don't like formula, it didn't say in the report we got with the referral. It says she eats milk and cereal, rice porridge, pork bone soup, vegetable purée and fruit purée. I hope she will like nachos :)

Tomorrow is my last day at work for 8 months. We will have our annual Christmas party in the evening and it will be a nice way to end this year. My colleagues say I'm welcome to visit as long as I bring FuQi and some cake. I guess they mean homemade cake and sure hope there will be some time to bake, I just love to bake! There are still saffron buns in the freezer, perhaps because we haven't got the time to relax and take a cup of coffee and some buns at the moment... We really need to start packing now...

I don't plan to bring a lap top to China so perhaps this will be my last post before traveling to China to meet FuQi. In that case I will tell you all about out trip and our first meeting after we get back on Dec 27.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you will check out my blog later!

Working on FuQi's room

This week didn't start very well. I had to leave work with a terrible cold on Tuesday and barely managed to get myself into bed. DH Magnus left for work and I slept and wiped my nose most of the afternoon and evening. Yesterday M moved our home office into the walk-in-closet all by himself and I cheered him from the TV sofa. Today I finally could lift my head from the pillow and we painted the room in 1 ½ hour! It looks really great, just the pale pink colour I had imagined and we put some toys in there to make it more cosy for the moment. Tomorrow we will buy a chest of drawers and then we can put all of her clothes in her new room. We will also organize the bed, a bed to sit on and read or just play in. She will have her crib in our bedroom to start with. My sister and nieces let us have their play stove and a couple of friends brought a rocking horse and a doll stroller. We have tons of stuffed teddies and animals ready but will not put all in her room at once, we don't know how she will react to them.

Today we went shopping for diapers, formula, canned food and such items. Some dishes look really tasty, some don't, but they sound good :) I guess her mom and dad will have to try her food eventually. I'm not sure all of our neighbours know we're adopting but today they must have got it, the diaper pack was huge and it's logo was enormous! "Did you see the couple in no. 3? They brought a couple of diaper packs in from the car, what will they use them for, they don't have any kids!" Yet!! Our kitchen window is facing the street and we can watch all neighbours drive by on their way to work and so on. I guess some of them will crash into our fence once they see our little FuQi at the table. We will keep our camera close by, ready to take a picture...

We haven't started packing yet but we'll have to any day. I bought some Pack-Mates from the Internet and I really hope they will do their job. We plan to take one suitcase each and if we do some heavy shopping in China we'll buy a new bag there. The weather in Beijing seems to be kind of the same weather we have here but Jiangxi is warmer. I'll bring my anorak and some warm sweaters so I can choose how many layers I need. I've heard the Great Wall use to be very windy.

Still waiting for TA but hopefully they will show up soon.

Another weekend

Today's Friday and another weekend is here. DH is working the entire weekend and I plan to do some baking, first batch of saffron buns for the season. Saffron buns are special for Christmas, in Sweden and the Nordic countries at least, and I always bake my first batch around December 1st. I hope they will last until we leave for China (they seem to evaporate in the freezer while I'm at work and DH has a day off). This Christmas will be different in so many ways and I need to keep some of my "old" traditions in the middle of the chaos around us travelling to China to meet our first. There actually is no chaos but we still have a zillion things to do before we go. I'm taking two days off from work next week to be able to catch up in all the paper work that is inquired for the adoption, to finish FuQi's room and to plan what to pack and bring to China.

Yesterday there was a package in the mail for FuQi, it was a soft pink jumpsuit from her paternal grandparents. My mother came to visit last weekend and she brought a cuddly bunny with long rustling ears and a rubber ring to chew on attached to it's back. We will bring it to play with in China. The info we got about her says she likes to ride in her stroller (I hope she will like the "Off-road" stroller "Emmaljunga City Cross"we bought for her), has a ready smile and laughs out loud when being amused. I hope she likes to be cuddled, I can't wait to hug her!

Still waiting for TA but according to preliminary travel plan we will meet her in less than 3 weeks!

One step closer

This Tuesday we received travel info from our agency. Still preliminary travel date but due to the info we got it seems pretty sharp...
Leave Sweden on Dec 11, arrive Beijing on Dec 12, travel to province and meeting our babies already on Dec 13! No spare time in Beijing :) Back to Beijing on Dec 20 where we will visit famous places like the Swedish Embassy, the Great Wall, the
Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and so on. Back home on Dec 27. I guess this Christmas will be something to talk about! I also guess this New Years Eve will be filled with formula bottles and diapers and not so much partying with friends... Hopefully we will not be so jet-lagged for her first birthday on Jan 10.

Home office is almost ready. This weekend my mother will come to visit and there will not be so much time for working on the nursery. DH works for following two weekends and then it's time to travel. Guess we need to find that powerful work light we keep in the garage as we have some painting job to do. Our closest friends let us borrow some clothes for little FuQi. We got a winter zip-suit and some playsuits in a smaller size than we bought ourselves. Last info on her was 68 cm and 7.4 kgs, this was in August, we really hope she's grown a bit. We will probably have to do some shopping when we return home and really know her size.

It's only 3 ½ weeks to travel date and we have a million things to do! Visas will be ready on Monday and we have made preliminary bookings with our travel agency. Come on TAs!!

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First shopping for FuQi

Yesterday FuQi's aunt Mona (my SIL) came to visit and she bought a blankie, a plastic bib and a pair of trousers for her new niece. Today we went shopping for some clothes and ended up with two bags of pink and purple outfits! This weekend we also have to start decorating the nursery and we bought some paint, a pale pink colour. A couple of weeks ago my PIL were here and as we didn't know what gender or age we were going to be reffered we couldn't start shopping then. They bought her first sets of linnen, a pillow and a blanket for the crib. There was a car seat sale last week and we got the one we wanted for abouth 30% off! The stroller has arrived in the store but we haven't picked it up yet, we don't know where to put it, we need to re-organize the hall first. To do that we need to finish the nursery and to do that we need to move our home office (our home office is in the nursery-to-be at the moment) and that's where we are now... painting the first coat of paint on the walls in the walk-in-closet where our new home office will be.
All I can say is that coming weeks will be quite busy... but we don't mind at all!

Here she is! Is she cute or what??

Finally!!!

We have a daughter!
Today we have been referred a little baby girl from Jiangxi!! She was born mid January and we are told she is very active and a bit obstinate, just like her mom-to-be :)

Preliminary travel date is Dec 11 and we're back home Dec 29. Christmas in Beijing, best Christmas gift ever!!

Waiting...

Last Thursday and Friday referrals started to show up in the US. Our file is returned to China for translation and the agency sends out this letter that says our file is back in China, it doesn't say anything about the child. Within 2 weeks we will get The Call, a friend told me it shouldn't be that long, our referral batch was rather small. So we're still waiting... Yesterday an agency representative called me regarding an update of a document and she let me know preliminary travel date. And it's quite soon!!! Suddenly there isn't enough time, we still haven't started the nursery, we don't know if we will be referred a girl or a boy and we really need to do some heavy shopping...

I did it!

OMG, I just created my own blogg!! I thought of myself as a computer illiterate... but here I am!

Waiting for referral with DH Magnus in a snowy cold Sweden (northern Europe). Our agency will return documents to China for translation so it will be a few days of extra waiting before we can see the face of the child we've been waiting for so long.

'later!
/Ullis