Here is my packing process so far. Pictured below are the clothes I have for Abby. The list as follows : 2 pairs of overalls with matching shirts, 2 pairs of jeans with matching shirts, 4 two piece outfits (shirt and pants), 2 skirts with matching shirts, 2 sweat suits, 5 dresses, 2 sweaters, 1 hoodie, 7 pairs of PJ's, a one piece fleece (for outside), poncho with attached hood to wear over the fleece, 1 hat and pair of mittens, 2 blankets (1 flannel and one fluffy), 10 pairs of socks, and 10 onesies. Too Much??????
Here are some of the supplies I have collected for both Abby and I.
In other news, I also had my homestudy update today. Hopefully all went well and she will send me the draft tomorrow.
26 comments:
A that schedule will bring you home the day before my birthday! That seems like a fair amt of clothes, do you have weight on abby so you know what size diapers to get? Do you bring a car seat for the flight? Do you have to bring things to give to the orphanage, I've heard of this before. It is so amazing and i am proud of you Daisy
Good luck on the packing!
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I definitely think you have enough for Abby. : )
It has been a few years since I went and I packed for warmer weather so your packing is a bit different than mine. I think I had about 10 oufits for my dgt. A sweater. No coat for 80- 90 degree weather! Bathing suit.
Definitely bring some diapers,ours are better, especially for the long trip home!
Sorry your not leaving until after Christmas. Sometimes it depends on how big or small your travel group is for getting appt. slots for the consulate.
When my friend got TA for SN they got her an appt. right away because it was only 1 slot/appt. that was needed. She traveled with the NSN group and returned home before them, due to their later consulate appts.
I cant help but look at her eyes. She is going to be staring into her mommas eyes soon, precious..
How fun!
Woohoo!!! So excited for you and Abby!
Jenny
we made our own travel arrangements to and from China and our agency made the "in China" arangements.
Wow that is a lot of clothes! Don't forget you have to carry this stuff and on the way home you will have more than that plus the cutest baby ever!
Laundry is cheap.
What a wonderful new year this will be with Abby home! Can't comment on the clothes, but I'd like comment on how cute her rug/carpet is! =)
Yay! We did try to use miles but it did not work out for all our seats. A lot of times they only allow a certain number of seats per plane for the miles. But certainly try!
P.S. Yes, I really do believe that you are bringing to much. You are not really sure what size she will be and you can buy a lot for cheap there. I would recommend cutting what you have in half, at least. You can also get laundry done there.
YEAH....
You are almost done...
Pretty soon you will have Abby in your arms..
Hugs to you
Kim
Wow it looks like you're already. It was quite awhile ago that we went but now with being able to buy so much there I'd have to agree with Julie. After collecting all those cute outfits I know all you want to do is put each one on her and just marvel at how beautiful she is.
Can't wait until Jan!!
This is so exciting! As I said in the past, China in Jan is great! Looks like enough. If you overload in china, extra suitcases are cheap and there are lots of people you can hire to assist you with luggage at the airport. Splurge! This is a once in a lifetime trip...for so many reasons.
Good luck and happy packing!
Wow, I am sorry you are leaving later than some of your fellow DTC mates. That must be depressing.
I think you can get buy with less clothing. I would do a lot of stuff than can mix and match. That way if she soils half you do not have to change the entire outfit.
Congratulations on your TA! It won't be long before you are boarding that plane for your daughter!
Whoa.. that's a LOT of clothes. We took 14 outfits total for Madison and I didn't even use all of them. Pack light.. you'll be glad you did!! I didn't find laundry to be that horribly expensive in Guangzhou. We packed 6 outfit for us and did laundry when we got there. Another thing to consider.. you are going in cold weather so you can re-wear jeans etc which are heavy in the suitcase.
So happy that you finally have TA and a consulate appointment though!
Congrats on TA...and packing is such fun. My advice..PACK LIGHT...you won't need over half of what you take and you can buy most things there : )
thanks for stopping by and leaving your kind words. Even though we have done this before I think I will email you for packing tips cos I have gone brain dead!
I gotta agree with the others...too much. Once the baby goes to sleep, there's not much to do, so I would wash Leila's clothes while she slept. I did end up buying a lot of clothes...mainly because Leila was so much smaller than I thought she'd be at 29mos. Even tho I brought 2T stuff for her, it swallowed her, and she was wearing 12 & 18mo clothes. Even now, at 4, she can still wear 2T clothes, and she wore a shirt last weekend that she wore while we were in China. Clothes for you...again, I only brought 3 outfits...and did the Chinese laundry thing. For toys, bring the minimum, I brought a doll that terrified Leila and it was bulky to carry and I wish I hadn't brought it. Leila LOVED the stacking cups, my keys, the tv remote, my lipstick holder, mainly stuff that was there, or I had anyway.
I was in China 2 years ago January, it was cold one day and warm the next, so be prepared either way. One day it was like 75 degree's and I had Leila in a T-shirt, and I was properly chastized by the Chinese people. To them, 75 is sweater weather!
For travel, I used my points for my RT ticket, and bought Leila her ticket. I let my agency do the in China travel. I was lucky, as I was in Guangzhou the entire trip, so getting tickets on points was pretty easy.
Congratulations...I can't believe you'll see her in less than a month! What a journey, huh?!?! :)
Oh...one more thing...you're probably going to bring some kind of food, I brought instant grits, variety pack, and Leila loved it. It was so easy to pack, and it was a quick meal if we couldn't get out for some reason. The hotel gave us bottled water and we had an electric teapot in the room, so it was easy to make the grits. Leila was older than your Abby, but you could bring the baby version of that kind of stuff.
Last bit of advice as you're planning your travels...If there's any way you can swing it, take a couple extra days in beijing, touring around. I think the hotel was only about 50.00 per night, there will be no change in airfare (probably). After all, I doubt you'll be going back anytime soon. Besides the ability to soak up chinese culture, it gives you more time to adjust to the GRUELING time change. As a single mom, I found that the biggest blessing after I finally got T.
If finances and time/leave allow, I think you'd enjoy it.
OMG, how exciting!!!
yeah!! so excited for you all. i know yoiu have a million questions and things going through your head by now. you must be spinning out on cloud 9!! i wish i had some advice for you. i would be tempted to bring a ton too. i think that these ladies have it right though. you will regret overpacking once you get there!! have tons of fun, jenny. you both remain in our prayers=)
Way too much stuff. I traveled Christmas a couple of years back to Nanchang. It snowed. Would suggest you take a snowsuit. Take 5-6 outfits total and 2-3 pajamas. 10 diapers in case you can't get to the store right away. Dresses are good as they fit babies of different sizes. Add tights. No bare legs allowed! A sweater or lighter jacket for guangzhou -- it was in the high
60s when we were there. FYI, at one year my daughter wore 9 month clothes, but outgrew them by the time she was 14 months. Have a great trip!
Just a quick question, are the overalls easy to do diaper changes with? Also (just from my experience in babysitting), she may hate the feeling of the straps over her body with the buttons and stuff. I used to babysit for a little girl who HATED the straps and did everything she could to get out of them! =)
I booked my tickets and another family's tickets. We each saved $200 on the tickets and we are now leaving from our home airport instead of the one 100 miles away (which also saves gas, parking, hotel and the flight times are good, not 6am and midnight!).
It was stressful and awful but I am super happy we did it. We are leaving a day early now and we get to crash in the hotel for a day before the rest of the group arrives. We have to pay just a little bit to our guide to pick us up and one more night in the hotel, but that cost is negated by the savings by leaving out of our local airport.
I'm booking our own travel. My company's corporate agent is also a good friend and will help me if needed. I don't have a lot of faith in my agency so I'd rather do this on my own. They will, of course, handle the in-country arrangements.
I'm still working on the packing myself - so no advice yet. :)
~Amy
http://www.avalisette.net
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