Preparing to Travel

Monday, June 16th-Friday, June 20th, 2014
I used one of my professional days and stayed home from school today to catch up with all things baby! I had a wonderful morning, preparing the nursery, with two dear friends: Cindy Ripley and Beth Gerardi Wharton. These talented, artistic ladies arrived at our house at 8:30am for a breakfast casserole, coffee and mimosas, before I put them to work decorating one of Eli's nursery walls. We caught up for awhile around my kitchen table and then headed upstairs with Cindy's laptop and projector. The plan was to create some sort of simple representation of our journey from Buffalo to Bogotá. I had found an idea on Pinterest that I liked, but it was an outline of Europe and Asia. I also wanted to incorporate a little red airplane, but that was about all we started with. We found an outline of North and South America in Google Images that we thought would work and the ladies got to work! For my part, I ran around the house collecting any supplies they requested, and offering my opinion when asked.
The Tierney family stopped by with their daughter Sara and dropped off Jerri's famous duffle bag, or as Lisa affectionately calls it, "the body bag!" It is the largest duffle bag you've ever seen! On the plus  side, it is super durable and has wheels for easy rolling. Also, it provides you with a luxurious amount of space to pack in. Every family that adopts from FANA takes the bag, full of any gifts our Buffalo chapter may currently have for FANA, supplies, etc. Depending on when you go and how close your travel is to another family's, the bag could be very full or quite empty, leaving you room for your own belongings, gifts for FANA, baby supplies, etc. In our case, the Tierneys had just been down to Colombia, so the bag wouldn't be too packed. The down side is that it is an extra checked bag you are charged for and that although it can hold an immense amount of supplies, if it exceeds 50lbs, the $75 charge for taking the bag doubles through Delta. So, you have to pack carefully. The Tierneys stayed for awhile and talked me through some  details of their recent stay at the Plentitud apartments in Bogotá, where Jamie and I had decided to stay, as well. It was so nice of them to make the time to visit me and give me some useful tips and advice. Plus, I got to hold Sara for a bit and feed her grapes, which turned out to be a big hit!
By the time I got back upstairs to the nursery, they dynamic duo had an outline of North and South The result is stunning. It is the perfect focal point for Eli's nursery. Simple, but whimsical...Cindy added his initials to the wing of the plane, EJH, and I stared at them in surprise. "Eli, Jamie and Heather," I whispered.  "Wow! Look at that!" Eli's initials also stand for the three members of our little family. I love it!

Jamie came home for his lunch break and got to see the room. He took several pictures and headed back to school to share! Everything was starting to come together and move forward so quickly now...We were wired with energy and excitement. I spent the afternoon with Beth, lining the drawers in the big dresser my dad refinished for the room and creating little tags for different size clothes in the closet.  After she left, I continued nursery work and in the evening switched over to writing the thank you notes for our Holmes shower. It took me well into the middle of the night to finish, but it was worth it. Since I was going to school the next day,  for the last time before our travel, I wanted to finish them all. It is so important to me that people know how much we appreciate all that has been given to us- not only material and financial gifts, but spiritual and emotional support that was so needed. We are indebted to our community of friends and family. They are all a part of our adoption story and woven into the fabric of our little family.

On Tuesday, I headed into Holmes to close up the work part of my life for a while. I'm ready to turn my attention to our family. I taught a full day of classes and said goodbye to my students, colleagues and friends. At the end of the day, I packed up my personal belongings and walked out to Jamie, who came to pick me up. It was such a strange feeling to be done. It really hasn't hit me that I'm not going back in September. Jamie and I have decided that although it will be financially challenging, it is absolutely the right thing for Eli and for our family. I will take some time off to help our little boy transition to life in the USA, life in the Holden house, and life with parents who are going to love him like he's never been loved before! My students are so important to me, and that won't change. But, I need, just as much as Eli does, to have some time to adjust to my new role as "mama" and shift my priorities and schedule appropriately.

After school, two of our friends and "TLE wives," Amy and Renee, stopped by to see the nursery and say goodbye. Our friends, Joy and Adam Hardbattle, also joined us, with their beautiful 7 month old daughter, Naomi, and Adam helped Jamie put our new car seat in the Honda. Adam's work involves testing car seats for safety, so he's a bit of an "expert" at this sort of thing! The boys went to work out in the driveway, while I some wine, cheese, and parenting advice was shared amongst the girls!

Wednesday was spent, shopping for recommended essentials for our trip (medicines, a first aid kit, sunscreen, etc.), writing more thank you notes, the very beginnings of packing, uploading pictures to my computer of all the showers, nursery work, etc., and spending a few hours catching up on recording all of the details of the past week or so in a little journal I am keeping for Eli. I write just a little bit about each day, it also helps me keep track, when I am blogging, of what happened when!
When Jamie came home, we ran out and did a little more shopping, picking up the Playtex Vent-Aire bottles several families had recommended we use because they are similar to the ones the children use at FANA, and deciding at the last minute to buy a smaller, light umbrella stroller to take to Bogotá with us. The jogging stroller is amazing, but we were told that the streets in Bogotá are very rough on a stroller and we also didn't want to risk checking the Baby Jogger and having it returned to us damaged. So, we stopped and spent an hour with our friends at Buy Buy Baby and decided on an Uppa Baby umbrella stroller. It's sturdier wheels will be good for the rough sidewalks and it reclines so we can change Eli right in his stroller, if need be. But, it is still very light weight for traveling.

Thursday, I got more serious about the packing. It is so hard to know what we will need, want or how much of something we should bring, but I really tried to be reasonable and pack as lightly as I could. Now, anyone who has traveled with me before is laughing right now, because my travel history has not revealed me to be a low maintenance gal...I have a hard time making decisions about little things. I'm always afraid if I don't take something, I will regret it later. So, I will admit (with some embarrassment) that there have been trips made that included a separate suitcase of shoes, or in one case a 10lb bag of jewelry that pushed my luggage over the required weight limit! That being said, this time is different. Honestly, I am different. I haven't been on a vacation in several years due to the adoption budget, and in the process of this adoption I have learned to be more financially responsible and to live with less. So, I started this particular packing party with a mission. I wanted to take as little as possible!

That didn't happen.

But, considering what we needed to take supply-wise and for Eli, I think I did pretty well. Jamie was proud, Angela (who was my travel companion for the jewelry incident) was impressed, and I think I'm a much improved, if not perfected, packer!

I also took an hour out to run to Kohls and look for a dress to wear for Eli's presentation. I don't do much shopping for myself anymore, so it was a little overwhelming and I didn't have time to try a whole bunch of clothes on before picking up Jamie at school. On Father's Day, Jamie and I had stopped at the Baby Gap store at the Walden Galleria, on our way back from my parents, to find Eli's presentation outfit. FANA asks you to bring a nice ensemble that they will dress your child in before they present him to you. We aren't too concerned with what that beautiful boy is wearing! We just want to hold him! But, we decided we had better take care of this detail and we had some fun picking out little khaki pants, a white linen button up shirt and a blue striped sweater for him to wear. We even found little navy blue suede loafers to match and a white linen sun hat for the way home.  Jamie had decided to wear a beige suit and light blue dress shirt with a beige tie to match Eli. So, I was the only missing piece in our first family photo. I ran through the store and grabbed anything that was available in my size and in the same color family and my husband's and son's clothes. I headed up to the cashier with my arms overflowing and double checked that the return policy would work for me. Then I was off to pick up Jamie from work and head to Orchard Park to drop off our FANA donation check to Jerri and pick up some gifts she had helped us purchase for the FANA staff who have been taking care of Eli.

When we got home, Jamie continued packing for Eli while I paraded each of my Kohl's dresses through the nursery. We decided which one would look best and I set it aside for packing. All the others were going back to the store the next day!

Friday was Jamie's last day of school. I woke up early and took him to Lindbergh and then came home to continue packing to visit with friends, Judy Anthony and the Harters, who stopped by the house to say goodbye. We packed and repacked our two large suitcases and the duffle bag several times util they met the 50lb requirement on our bathroom scale. We also moved all three of our presentation outfits into our carry on bags, just in case our checked bags were lost. We ended up taking 2 checked suitcases, the duffle bag, a backpack, a carry on suitcase, a diaper bag and the umbrella stroller!

I read the following blogs, as well as the FANA travel packet several times for packing tips and hopefully, we have everything we need to survive in Colombia for two months with our new son!

These blogs were very helpful to me. I list them here as a resource for anyone else who is interested or is going through an international adoption:

http://raisingcolombiankids.blogspot.com/2009/12/one-familys-journey-packing-and.html

http://raisingcolombiankids.blogspot.com/2010/01/one-familys-journey-packing-list-update.html

http://www.addingaburden.com/2012/08/packing-tips-for-international-adoption.html

http://www.adopting.org/adoptions/international-adoption-travel.html

http://www.scarymommy.com/pack-for-an-adoption-trip/

And if you are traveling with an older sibling, this might be helpful:
http://raisingcolombiankids.blogspot.com/2010/07/one-familys-return-trip-dealing-with.html