Another blog

We are not the only couple, that is going to China to adopt a child this week. There are two couples, who are joining us, as you could have read in an earlier blog entry.

One family of three is joining us in going through to Xi'an, in Shaanxi province. They have a blog as well. You can read about it here: http://www.bokomtthuis.waarbenjij.nu/.

Visiting Tijs and family

We visited Ellen and Hubert, good friends of ours, to see their newborn son Tijs, who was born on easter day, 8th of April. Today we visited them to see Tijs for the very first time. He is such a handsome baby boy. He only cries when he is hungry and when his tummy is hurting (as they do with newborn babies).

We also saw Evie, Tijs' big sister, who had a nice princess' dress and princess'shoes. She also showed her new room to us, which has been nicely decorated by Ellen and Hubert.

We had 'beschuit met muisjes', which is a dutch tradition after a birth of a baby. The 'muisjes' are round and tast anicy. When a baby girl is born, they are pink and when a baby boy is born, they are blue.

When Tijs was put in our arms he hardly cried (means we do something right) ..... ;o)

Countdown begins

It has been a very very hectic week for Nina and I.

From the beginning of April until yesterday I had to transfer my work to someone from PostNL, the company I was doing a project for. Because he jumped on a rolling train and lacks the knowledge I have, I had to go to all kinds of meetings with him to support him. This even meant I had to go to all kinds of meetings on my last working day for this client of ours. from 14.00 to 17.00....... on my last day....... ;o(

Nina also has to work hard. Since she is the only one in the company with her skills, they want her to complete a lot of timeconsuming tasks. She had to work really hard on Thursday and Friday. And even next week Tuesday, the day before, she has to work hard, she tells me.

Today we tried to take it slowly, but somehow we couldn't.
We went to de Kruitvat (check out www.kruidvat.nl, to see what kind of store it is). I guess you would call it a drugstore? There we bought a lot of medicine for ZiXuan and ourselves. From there we drove to a store specialised in all kinds of things for young kids (where we bought ZiXuan's cupboard). Bought a couple of things and then we went to a babydump store (some kind of online wholesale for baby stuff). There we bought this little monkey:

In the evening we went to Amstelveen to a Bday party.

ZiXuan's room

Family day in the Efteling

Today we went to the Efteling to have a family day.

It was great fun and we all enjoyed it very much. We talked about ZiXuan a lot and everybody is very excited about our adventure(s).

Here you can see some of the video's we took:

And some pictures:

In the end we were al very content and looked back at an enjoyable day:

Visiting our neighbours

Today we went to our neighbours, who live opposite to us. They are experienced in the adoption field as well. They have a nice son called Dong. They helped us by telling us about their experience in the past and gave us helpfull tips. What to do and what not to do ! It was very helpfull.

They also gave us a bag of old clothes from their son, which he has outgrown.

Afterwards I made pancakes to celebrate the weekend !

Yummy !!

The Us family visiting

Last Sunday morning we got a surprise call from the Us family. They wanted to come and see us as well as ZiXuan's room. It was great fun. They gave us some good advice on what to take along with us to China and such.

Here you see my niece showing how to use the cloth, which we will use to carry ZiXuan if he doesn't want to sit in the stroller or if we can't use the stroller. ZiXuan will sit in the back, rather than the front, like the bunny in the pictures above.

Nice card from Koot family

Yesterday we received a very nice card from the Koot family. They sent us a card announcing the arrival of Shan, their son.

Check out their website

Folding the laundry

After doing all the laundry, we also have to fold the laundry and store it in the cupboard. Now we have completed this task and all is washed and folded. Here you see Nina in action.

ZiXuan's first mail

Yesterday ZiXuan received his first first mail (snail version). Even though he is still in China, the mailman found his way to our address delivering ZiXuan's first envelop. We were wondering what he could have received, so we did not wait to open the envelop.

My sister sent us these labels, which can be put on the clothing labels, to indicate the clothes belong to ZiXuan. This is a very nice and practical present, which pleases us very much.

Thanx Sis !!!

Laundry day

Here is a small update and the first one of 'mummy-to-be'.
Finally we can relax a little more now ZiXuan's nursery is ready. We even got ourselves a haircut Saturday!
Now the fun begins... doing the laundry (at least 5 times per day), making the checklist and discussing a little bit of what to pack for the trip. There is just so much to think about... toys, clothes (what size?!!), creams, gifts.... my head is spinning lately. Hopefully my mind will get some rest once the suitcases have been packed.... (dream on!)

Today my sis and hubby and my wonderful little niece Robine came by to check ZiXuan's nursery. I believe they were impressed by the result and Robine started playing with ZiXuan's toys immediately.
Later in the afternoon we went back to our friends in A'veen to return a 'couple of bags'. In return they gave us a maxi cosi and a car seat, which we were very grateful for. And ofcourse we were happy we could walk around in our shed without tumbling over a bag or two.

We are looking forward to go to work again tomorrow. See you next year, easterbunny...

Learn about the trip

Thursday we went to Wereldkinderen in Den Haag (The Hague). There we were informed of the trip to china, our stay there and what will happen during our stay. We also met two other couples who would be travelling with us on our trip to China.

Here you see the people who will be travelling with us. Both the couples allready have adopted a child prior to this trip. The one girl is 4 years old and the other one is 8. The couple standing higher on the stairs will not fly with us to Shaanxi, the couple that is standing next to us is. The child they will be adopting stays in the same orphanage as ZiXuan.

During this day at Wereldkinderen we found out about what our Itinerary will be. If you want to know about this itinerary, just leave a comment and your email and we will tell you all about it.

We were a little bit scared by the blog we have been reading. It is the Blog of the Gielen family and their son Yalong. Yalong is very ill and had to be hospitalized, due to the flue, apparently a sever type of flue, which had to be treated in the hospital. Fortunately everything is well now with Yalong. Yalong is from the same orphanage as ZiXuan and is only one month younger as ZiXuan.

Getting ZiXuan's room in order

Today Loes, Herman, Henk and Annemie came to help Nina and myself to do some chores. A couple of months ago they offered to help us where needed. So we invited them to come today and help us with the following list:
-Hang up chinese embroidery in frame (20 Kg in weight)
-Set up dresser
-Set up ZiXuan's bed
-Hang up chinese tiger lamp
-Put up indoors gate on top of stairs
-Hang up glass stars at front door
-Sort through clothes given by friends

Needless to say it was an eventfull day. Nina and I are very happy with the help we got from my family. We would not have been able to do it by ourselves. So Loes, Herman, Annemie and Henk, thank you very much !!