And we're off!....(in 4 days...)

The day has finally come!! We are paid up, packed up (almost) and heading out on Friday!!!!! The past year has been a long and gradual process but as soon as we got our approval from China to travel, it was as if someone opened the chutes on the dog track and the race was on! And I worked at the dog track for about 6 hours shoving greyhounds into their cages so I know up close what that chaos looks like and it fits my life perfectly right now.  I feel like a nervous, anxious, excited dog ready to go get that rabbit (aka-Bao)! So after a whirlwind couple of weeks, we have our itinerary all set.  Mom and I will be flying out of Boston on Friday morning and we will have a 12 hour layover in L.A. Yes, I said 12 hours!!! But Tanya so awesomely booked us a hotel room at the Marriott so we'll be able to store our bags, watch TV, swim, have dinner etc... then it's off to China at 10:30 pm.  We will arrive in Guangzhou, China (we were allowed to skip Beijing) at 5:30am on Saturday.  Then we get Bao the very next day!!!!! I'm not really sure how that worked out because I am horrendous at math and China is 12 hours ahead so there's some sort of time travel going on and I think we either gained a day or lost a day but anyhow, our "Gotcha Day" is scheduled for October 21st.

Gotcha Day is what everyone calls the day that you actually receive your child in China.  Usually, there is a group from the agency that are all getting their children on the same day and they usher all the kids into a roomfull of waiting parents and the nannies hand them over.  Now, if you've seen the Little Couple on TLC, their Gotcha Day was very calm and pleasant and occurred in a posh hotel.  Now if you've seen Lisa Ling's documentary 'Lost Girls'- you will see what is the norm on Gotcha Day- a bunch of overbundled, red-cheeked, terrified crying babies.  Obviously I would prefer the Little Couple's Gotcha Day.  My ideal Gotcha Day would entail Bao searching the crowd of strange-looking people until he found my face where he would instantly recognize me from the picture album that I sent that he will have looked at daily and fallen asleep with dreaming of his new family.  His eyes will light up and he will smile a huge smile, showing his dimples as he eagerly reaches for me, where I will promptly grab him and hug him and kiss him as he happily clings to me and lays his tiny little handsome head on my shoulder.  And I will hand him his lollipop and we will walk away into our happily ever after.  I said that was ideal. My wish. What i'm actually expecting is far different.  I will see him first because his face will be buried in his nannie's neck as he clings to her.  She will come over to me and pry his fingers off of her so that he has to look at me and as I reach for him with happy tears in my eyes and a huge smile, he will promptly slap me across the face, spit on me, and escape his nannie's arms where he will hit the ground running and book straight for the door.  When he is blocked, he will run to a bench in the farthest corner of the room and proceed to hide under it where I will try to coax him out like a rabid animal as he screams, cries and kicks.  It will end with me carrying him fireman-style out of the room, both of us crying, and will end when he finally cries himself to sleep.  Where it will start all over again as soon as he wakes up.  So anything less horrible than that and I should be good to go!

I cannot express how happily terrified I am to meet our son.  It's starting to dawn on me how quickly our lives are going to change but I am so ready and so excited for this change! Dezo is excited and I think he will be an amazing big brother but it will be interesting to see how their relationship plays out in the beginning.... We will be in China for 16 days with Bao and while there I hope to take him to the zoo.  I just hope that he likes me :(  I will try my best to keep you all updated while over in China.....wish me luck!!!!!