Moving Day Saga

It's been a crazy week around here. A few days after our things destined for Shanghai were moved out of the house, we had a major change of plans. We decided to go ahead and have the rest of our stuff moved into storage. This, of course, created a ton more work for ourselves as we suddenly had to plan a second round of moving and get rid of our cars, but we hope to be able to rent out the house while we are away. Getting ready for the movers this time was a little tough. Since our air and sea shipments were already gone, we knew that whatever does not fit into our luggage will have to sit in storage for 3 long years.

Yesterday, the movers spent the whole day packing, and today they'll finish with packing while some other guys come over and crate the large fragile items, like standing mirrors and glass-tops. Then in the afternoon, they'll start emptying out the house. Of course, doesn't it figure we always seem to move house in the middle of a snow storm. I don't know how that happens.

Leah did great again during moving day #1. We had actually investigated the idea of putting her in daycare for these two days, but ended up not having enough time to make the arrangements since the movers came a day early, to our surprise! Like last time, we parked her in her booster seat in front of the TV, (thank goodness for the Sprout channel. She gets so engrossed in it!) and that kept her busy and occupied for the first half of the day. After lunch, John took her out for a drive so she could get a change of scenery and take a little nap.

Here she is hanging out in her booster seat. She calls it "seat" and loves sitting in it.

And here she is helping to clean...

So anyway, starting tonight, we'll stay in a hotel while we tie up loose ends around here. We still have so much last-minute stuff to do before we leave. On Saturday, we will begin our very long journey to our new home. I'll keep you posted.

Smooth Move

Well, to our surprise, moving day went pretty smoothly. The movers were here bright and early on Thursday morning to pack up the stuff we're bringing to China. They showed up with two trucks and two containers, one for our air freight and one for our surface goods. We had to be pretty organized and prepared before they got here so we could tell them what stuff was going where. It was a pretty busy morning with the whole house in disarray, as you can imagine. Since we're moving into a furnished place, we're not bringing any furniture, except for a chair and a side table. But still, it was a lot of stuff! Leah's toys and clothes alone were quite a load. We managed to get most of her stuff in with the air shipment, except for the big stuff.

While we were planning for the day, we were not really sure what we would do do with Leah while the movers were here. We imagined that with the stair gates removed, the basement door open, boxes and packing material all over the place, and the whole place torn up, she'd be really in the way and would become a hazard to herself. Our plan was that if necessary, John would take her out somewhere for the whole day and leave me to make all the last minute decisions.

Would you believe that she sat happily in her high chair watching kids' shows for the entire 3.5 hours? All that couch potato training really came in handy! She never got scared of the guys or worried about all the noise and commotion. There was an occasional "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" when she saw her toys being packed up, but other than that, she did great! In fact, we almost even forgot the high chair and it was the very last thing we threw in the truck. Once again, Leah amazed us!

A new year, a new journey

After a wonderful visit, Beppe left today in the middle of a major snowstorm. I bet she'll be glad to get back to balmy Louisiana. Wish she could take us with her!

Anyway, now that Leah's adoption is finalized and the holidays are officially over, our eyes turn toward our next big adventure. I might as well re-title this blog to "Our Journey to Shanghai with Jin-Ri". Yes, we have indeed decided to make the big move to Shanghai for 3 years as expats! While I have mixed feelings about making yet another international move, I am at peace with our decision and will try to make the best of it. It will be exciting to be part of all the progress and change that's happening in China.

We will spend this month working out the details of our move. An international relocation is a major undertaking, as we know from our previous moves abroad, and there is a ton of planning and preparation involved, so this will be a really busy month.

For the moment, the timing is a little bit up in the air since we still have a few loose ends to tie up regarding Leah's paperwork. We are still waiting for Leah's new birth certificate, and once we have that, we can apply for her passport, social security number and certificate of citizenship (COC).

So, I'll keep you posted on our progress, and in the meantime, will continue to bring you Leah's updates as usual.