List of things to take for Calvin on Trip 2

1. 4 shirts ( packed)

2. 4 shorts, 1 pair of long pants (packed)

3. 2 pairs of shoes (size 7 and 8) - have size 8 sandals

4 hat (packed)

5. Sunglasses (all of us)

6. sippy cups

7 meals (packed)

8. snacks (packed)

9. toothbrush/kids toothpaste (packed)

10. pj's (packed they say little brother on them)

11. activities for the apartment (coloring book (have), stackables, bubbles(have), touch and feel books)

12 activities for the plane ride home ....any ideas??

13 Diapers for the plane and pickup trip (have)

14. baby tylenol incase he is sick/teething (have)

15. sunblock

16.lotion and kids shampoo

17. sweatshirt for the plane or cool nights (packed)

Suggestions Added:

1. socks

2. blow up ball to play inside and outside

3. kava kava for plane ride

4. sticker book (have),chalk board (have), cars

5. upload cartoons onto laptop for plane ride (you tube-Curious George, Franklin Turtle)

Public Holidays in Bulgaria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Bulgaria

May 1	Labour Day
May 6	St. George's Day		Day of the Bulgarian Army.
May 24	Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day		Celebrating Bulgarian culture and the Cyrillic alphabet.

What HE did for you and me

Holy Week: What Happened on Thursday?

Holy Week: What Happened on Thursday?

Birthday Gift for Calvin

It is wonderful how adoptive families are so supportive of one another and encouraging. I have loved reading other families blogs, following them on their journey to their child and seeing them come home.

Last month L* took a gift for us to give to our agency in country to mail to our son. This month V* is visiting the same orphanage where our son is and they took him his birthday present for us. We sent him some cars, tamborine, Easter candy and a photo book of our family, home, his bedroom and pictures of him with us on our last visit with him. I am hoping to also send him something again in June if a family is traveling in June, to give to our agency.

A friend of mine is planning a baby shower for me, so I am excited about that. It will be the 1st week of June and hopefully we will be traveling soon after that to get him.

I have been buying Calvin some meals that he can eat in the apartment for lunch (soft food that doesn't need much chewing). They are called 'Lets Grow' 12 month food that is steamed. Two containers are chicken vegetable with stars and then 1 is turkey vegetable with rice. They both have peas and carrots in them cut up. They are in microwavable plastic containers. I have also seen pouches that have applesauce in them, spinach and fruit, that you suck. The Health Food store has them and I have seen the applesauce ones at Walm*rt. I am thinking in country we will probably eat breakfast and lunch in the apartment and dinner out, to save on money. For breakfast I bought whole wheat cereal for Calvin (add milk or water to it). We will be staying in an apartment so we will have a fridge, stove and kitchen. I want to buy a few more meals for Calvin to eat. Last week I bought him a little toothbrush with spiderman on it.

I am hoping this week the MOJ will receive our translated paperwork from VESTA and get the signatures needed. Praying we hear from the courts the first week of May on a court date.

Calvin's Room

Full Bed when he is ready to transition from his crib. Dresser with his clothes.

His Crib, rocking chair and side table with books inside it.

The room was originally my eldest daughters, we moved her out 2 summers ago. We left it red and added a navy blue area rug, and navy blue window treatments. Still need to put some things on the walls.

Exciting Times

Got an early birthday present from my mom and step father. A chocolate Ergo carrier. Can't wait to use it.

Also got some good news from Bulgaria, we had our provisional visa interview at the US Embassy and were approved ( our agency represented us in Bulgaria, we had to fill out paperwork DS 230). So our agency should have our Article 5 letter Friday. One step closer to a court date. What does this mean?

1. Once we get the Article 5 it has to be translated, this takes about 1 week

2. After being translated it goes to the MOJ to get 2 signatures, this can take 1-2 weeks

3. After the signatures the MOJ sends it to the courts to get a court date, this takes 1 week to get a court date.

4. Looks like in a month we will have a court date and then court is usually 3 weeks later (end of May by then) and then after court we get travel dates which are 3-4 weeks later (end of June).

So almost 3 months from now we should have our son in our arms.

Our agency is also mailing him a package we sent to him, tomorrow. We sent him a Sesame Street coloring book, crayons, Sesame Street hard covered book (I typed the words in Bulgarian and pasted them over the English words), a picture of him and his daddy and a pair of sandals for the months of May and June. His birthday is coming up in May so I am hoping to send him a package then too. I just had pictures of him and us printed and will put into a photo book to mail to him and I am trying to come up with a gift idea, any suggestions for a 3 year old that can be mailed?