8000 Miles

If I can make it there

My girl does not enjoy the city that never sleeps.

Maybe it was the spaghetti with sausage she ate for dinner last night. Maybe it's the stress of being an overwhelmed 3-year-old extrovert. Maybe she just wants to be held a little more before her little sister enters the family.

Whatever the case, our Bee has not enjoyed the Manhattan excursion.

She woke up at 5 a.m. and threw up on me. Several hours later, she seemed to be feeling better, so her dad took her to get some breakfast. She threw up on him.

After I got out of my training class and walked all the way back to the hotel, Bee seemed to be feeling better again, so we decided to go to see the big tree at Rockerfeller Center.

I'm not going to say it was a bad idea, but it also wasn't an unadulteratedly good idea, either.

Bee liked the tree. Didn't like the taxi. Didn't like the crowds. Wanted a Sprite. Wanted to go back to the hotel.

We had some trouble getting a taxi, so we walked all the way back to the hotel. It's not a bad walk, unless you're carrying a toddler who seems to be getting 5 pounds heavier with every passing block.

Now she is asleep in our hot hotel room. She has kept down several cups full of Sprite, a few bites of pizza and a few bites of a white rice and cheese taco (shuttup, it's what she wanted).

I'm wondering how we're going to wash our bepuked clothes before we leave for China at 6 a.m. Saturday.

Speaking of clothes - I shopped at Anthropologie today, y'all!  And didn't buy anything.

Anyone out there know of a good place to eat in the general vicinity of Madison Square Garden. SOmeplace that won't make my daughter throw up at 5 a.m.? Someplace that has a few vegetarian selections? A place whose name does not begin with initials followed by the suggestion of sexual violence. B.T. Stuffers, KillAN BROTHERS FAMOUS FISTERS.

Also - how much does one tip a taxi driver?

The Entourage

Our tickets are in hand and, after we solve a costly last-minute visa rush issue, we'll be ready to go. Don't ask me to talk about the visa issue, because I can't do it. I just can't. Not without drying or feeling my eyes roll into my head.

So let's talk about the trip.

We leave on Saturday, Dec. 2 (stalkers - take note! Also, take note that we have a strapping housesitter and three junkyard guard dogs, any one of whom may just have a scorching case of herpes.) We will be in China until Dec. 16. We don't yet have all the in-China details, such as which hotel we'll stay in (probably the White Swan, with its sweet, sweet breakfast buffet) or when we will meet our new daughter and begin gobbling her cheeks forthwith.

We'll be travelling with a full entourage.

Buttercup the Contrarian

(aka Bee, Little Bee, Bebe) She's 3-years-old and 35 pounds of iron will. She can't wait to see Her Baby. And hold Her Baby. And take care of Her Baby. And push Her Baby in a stroller.

You get the picture.

Those of you who live with 3-year-olds will understand just how much love I have in my heart when I say I am dreading this much close-quartered contact with my daughter. She's an intense little laser of a girl, except that her trajectory is not so easily manipulated.

This will make for some fun stories. If we get through the trip without causing major international incident, I'll be happy.

My Hot-Shot Husband

I can't say enough wonderful things about his travel abilities or the way he brings totally unexpected and unequalled fun to experiences like this.

Also, he can drive like a sumbitch and swims a mile like it's walking the dog.

Zee

Two years ago, when we got our referral for Bee, it was unclear whether I would be able to make the adoption trip with HSH. My mother had been talking about accompanying HSH, but she had the unqualified nerve to die on the very same day that we received our referral.

I was sitting on my sofa a couple days later when Zee called and told me that if I needed her to go to China to help bring home my daughter, she was on board. She had already cleared the time off with her supervisor and made an appointment at the local travel clinic.

One day, after the evolution that comes from many lifetimes of suffering and learning, I might be half the person Zee is. But only if I'm exceptionally lucky.

She did accompany us on that trip, and I have since informed her that she will be required to accompany us on any and all international travel excursions. She was the perfect travel companion, and she's making a return engagement.

Smiley

The summer of our paperchase for Bee, Smiley got married in what may have been the only beachside wedding I've ever enjoyed completely without reservation. When she arrived at the reception - all aglow with sunset and pearls - she rushed over to our table and gave us a gift for the Bee to Be.

And she also had volunteered to come on that first trip. This time, we have taken her up on her offer.

In addition to being so enormously thoughtful, she is organized and a seasoned world traveler.

Basically, I have assembled the China Travel Dream Team, and we are going to kick this trip's ass.

At least she'll have some place to eat

We spent the day on our last-dash shopping excursion in preparation for our trip.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my baby has a high chair waiting for her.

I gave in and bought a very (I was going to say "yuppie," then realized I don't know what the modern equivalent to that '80s throwback would be) brand high chair. In my defense, I was not sold by the brand name, but by the supreme and wondrous functionality of this high chair.

Also, my brother and sister-in-law's first baby had better be a girl, because I had to get the pink model. First, it was on clearance for some $50 less than the more neutral colored model, and then we snagged an extra 10 percent off because they were out of stock, so we had to buy the floor model.

The sweetest part was hearing another woman looking for the same product just 10 minutes after I had bought the last one.

In your FACE, random other mom! In your face.

Meanwhile, our living room is becoming a staging area as we begin to arrange everything we're going to take to a.) Manhattan for two days and then b.) China for two weeks.

The part where you wish your referral would come and you plan the nursery and you talk about names? That part is much more fun than this part.

Get packing

The travel agency called today to let us know that we are leaving one week from tomorrow.

Everyone we tell squeals in excitement. Our stomachs hurt. Oh - we are so unprepared.

We do have an assembled baby bed now, though. So our little one will have a place to sleep without disturbing my dresser drawer full of novelty socks.

Tomorrow we travel to the Big City to load up on supplies such as saline nose spray, baby prunes and glycerine suppositories. We might get some stuff for the trip, too.

And we will definitely partake of some restaurants.

121 Days later

We got the word today: The Chinese government has approved our travel for the purpose of adopting. Now we wait for the date of our consulate appointment, and our travel dates will be slated.

The sound you hear - the shrill, maniacal, hysterical sound - is my head exploding under the crushing conundrum of how we could be so unprepared for something for which we have waited so long.

The agency doesn't like to have families travel over Christmas, so we hope to be there and back before then.

See how I'm not cursing? That's the mark of a seriously mature person - the kind of person who is allowed to adopt internationally.

On Wednesday, our local social worker will come for her second visit so we can get our homestudy updated in time to take it with us to China.

Meanwhile, I'm furiously writing the Big List of things that have to be accomplished before we step on a plane.

- Get visas
- Pack
- Collect DVDs
- Figure out the best way to post photos from Chinese hotel room
- Visit doctors for precautionary prescriptions

Oh, there are so many more things to be done. So many, many more things.