4 days until travel time!! The challenges of parenthood have already begun --- Neil is currently on the living room floor constructing a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe for Mia. Earlier today there were 5 adults working on figuring out the instructions and we weren't getting very far! Neil and I nearly broke our brains a couple days ago trying to get a used pack 'n' play to stay up. I'm happy to report that after some desperate googling for instructions Neil figured out the trick.

I worked my last day for a while last Monday and have been busily shopping, packing, and babyproofing since then, with the exception of one very lovely day at North Beach on the Chesapeake Bay with Betsy, her son Nate, and Nate's cousin Anna. Neil is still working. He traveled for work to Albuquerque this week, so he didn't get to see just how hairbrained all the trip preparations have been making me.

We had a very nice visit from friends Holly and Chris, and their soon-to-be one year old Carter earlier today. Carter tried out some of Mia's toys and broke in her Wondermat. He seemed to be having a blast. Poor Smoky, however, was not. When Carter crawled up to him on the opposite side of a glass door Smoky looked at Carter in terror and fled. Difficult adjustment period to come for the felines of the house!!!


Friday a week ago Neil's workmates surprised him with a very sweet guy-style baby shower. It consisted of pizza in the conference room and a very funny powerpoint of parenting tips from 2 dads in the office. We were very touched!

After the shower we met with fellow adopting parent Vicki and her 7 year old son Danny, both of whom will be traveling with us in China. Their family actually just left today so that Danny can see the giant pandas before they get their daughter/sister. Neil and I really enjoyed getting to know them a little and are looking forward to spending time with them in China.

We have received our itinerary, which will be basically 8/31-9/3 in Beijing, 9/3-9/8 in Xi'an, and 9/8-9/13 in Guangzhou. We will be seeing many famous cultural and historic sites in each city and will try to tell you about them in the blog as they happen.

We recently received Mia's new measurements, or dimensions as Neil the Builder likes to say. At last check-up she weighed 22 lbs. and was 29 inches tall. She had 2 teeth. Not much additional detail in this report. It is amazing to think that 1 week from tomorrow we will be with her.

Kate