LOC to China!

LOC means Letter of Confirmation that we have accepted our referral of Maia! They should receive it in a few days and then it will be on average, 4-5 weeks before we get our travel approval to bring her home!

I apologize for taking so long to blog about Maia's referral! We've been absorbing all of the information and have started filling out a mountain of paperwork for our agency. Some of the information is sensitive, so I'm just going to share general things that we know about sweet Maia.

We know that she's most likely with a foster family who cares for her and several other babies, possibly 2-8. They've nicknamed her baby "TiTi" and describe her as timid and fond of listening to music. She has a ready smile and loves to be with people. She is an active little girl they say. :)

The report states:

"When 1 month old, baby's shinning eyes were so lovely that always made people want to hold her more and play with her. When 2 months old, she cried loudly and was strong at sucking. When she was almost 3 months old, she could turn her head and make "oh, oh" sounds. She could reach her hands to her head intuitively and scratch her eyes and ears with her hands. She kicked with good strength and always kicked the blanket away. The baby is very lovely and smart. She loves for her nanny to take her outside of the room to play. She's eating formula, rice soups, vegetable soup and fruit mash. Her favorite food is still formula. Everyday, she gets up at 7:00 China time and goes to bed at 8:00 with two naps inbetween, an hour each. She's eating around 6 times a day right now."

I think about what she's doing at any given time almost constantly. The video we watched was such a blessing. I can picture her being cared for and the type of town she's in now. We got the video from Brian Stuy's site. For you upcoming China moms, I would highly recommend this! Feel free to ask me questions about this. We're getting ready to ask Mr. Stuy to do some research for us and try to find Maia's finding ad/picture in the paper and any pictures with her nanny/nannies/foster mother. I'm hopeful he'll be able to find some additional information for us!

Next on my Maia list is to send her a little carepackage with a blanket, disposable camera, chocolates for her caregivers, and a photo album of some kind that's age appropriate. She'll likely be almost 5 months old when we have her in our arms!

Yesterday was a whirlwind day of trying to reach my Monday paperwork goals!

1) Overnight LOC (Letter of Confirmation) to our agency who then sends it immediately to China! Once they have it, we wait for our TA (Travel Approval)!

2) Take Ava to pediatrician for MMR - receive call from International Adoption Specialist while this is going on - return call later in the afternoon - find out new information from her about Maia's weight, length, blood results. All is well, but Maia may have anemia because of not enough iron in her diet right now. Encouraged to revaccinate and test for titers when we bring her home.

3) Go to see Pam Frye, our home study case worker at Harmony Adoptions, review Maia's file with her, and get her to sign a form for our agency that's required.

4) Come home, eat, and NAP!

It's Tuesday now, and my goals look different. The biggest one is to get the ball rolling on our USCIS I-171H US approval. Called adjudication officer in Missouri who is searching for our updated homestudy in the database there. If she can't get it by this afternoon, I'll need to fax a copy. No problema.

Ava's napping and I'm getting ready to upload more Ava pics tonight! Cindy, these are of your wedding! :)

Nags Head vacation coming up soon, too!