Message Board

I-171H approval + question

JenNC — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:53:56 GMT

We got our I-171H approval in the mail today!!! Definitely not expecting such a quick turn-around!

Question is this - At the top where our names are listed: on the left with our address my name is correct, but my name on the right side in the box has the wrong middle name. What do I do?

Jen

Forum: Ethiopia

new member needs help!

pwild12u — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:05:40 GMT

Good evening.

my husband and i are looking into CHSFS for our Ethiopia adoption. We have no children and from what I understand we have no choice in gender. This is fine with us!

I would just like to hear an honest oppinion of your experience with CHSFS the great,good,bad and the ugly. We know there are snags, disappointments, so be honest as you can.

Thank you so much for any info. you can supply. We are excited to get started and what to make the most informed choice.

Warmest regards,

Pam Wild

Forum: Ethiopia

Vaccine reaction - adoptive mom's labor?

mjwilson — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:42:13 GMT

Well I have just spent 48 hours absolutely miserable! Vomiting, diarrhea, 101 fever, and a headache that rivaled the migraines I had years ago - all thanks to the HepA/B vaccine. I am usually fairly tough but I thought one more day of this and I will do myself in just to make it stop. The worse part is that in three weeks I get the second shot - UGH - I hope the second time is better. Today I can sip poweraid, eat dry toast, move my head without wanting to scream (but screaming hurt worse than moving my head) be more than 10 feet from a bathroom and I actually felt good enough to shower (boy did I need one!). So although I will never experience labor I feel like I just went through the ringer for our baby!

Did anyone else get a bad reaction? Please tell me that shot two wasn't as bad as the first. (If it was just lie to me!:)

Forum: Ethiopia

Traveling July 17th??

tlmaple — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:09:34 GMT

Hi!

Just checking to see who is traveling July 17th? I haven't kept up on all the posts, so I was hoping to "meet" our fellow travelers.

Thanks!

Forum: Ethiopia

Purchases

MBecker — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:13:04 GMT

My SIL and BIL adopted a 9mo old from Korea and they said that they had a website were they could purchase items from there. Does anyone know of a website for Ethiopia?

Thanks!

Forum: Ethiopia

Home safe and sound

kfmcginnis — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:01:15 GMT

We made it home yesterday. The flight was long, but our six year old and Evelyn did great. Evelyn has been so good- knock on wood! Basically for the past twenty four hours she has slept- she was up once this morning from 5-7 and then again tonight from 9-10, but other than that, we have a sleepy girl. We feel blessed that she hasn't been too sad, though we know that could come once her schedule is on US time. She is very smily and has taken to both my husband and me. I think the biggest adjustment has been for our daughter who is a bit bummed her sister has slept most of her time at home so far. I think she thought she'd have more play time with her.

The hardest part of this whole thing was the blessing ceremony and saying goodbye to Evelyn's foster mother. She was very loved by her and well taken care of. We couldn't have asked for a better situation. We did get Evelyn the night before we left and she did great at the hotel with us- slept most of the time. She is cutting tons of teeth right now so it's drool city at our house! And I made the mistake of getting my fingers too close to her mouth- that girl has a bite, I tell ya!

I also just found out by my parents after a little research that the eldest Dr. Kim at Eastern is the same man who signed my adoption papers thirty two years ago when I was adopted. It has really been a full circle experience for me. I feel blessed that we have a family photo with him from our trip. It was a high point of our trip meeting with him and being in his presence. His work and dedication to children and families around the world is awe inspiring. 94 years old and still going strong! We could all only be so lucky.

I hope everyone had a good holiday and I look forward to following everyone's journey on this forum. It has been an amazing source of support for me, especially during those hard days of waiting.

Forum: Korea

Just wanted to share! news about AHOPE

Jessica — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:17:34 GMT

Just wanted to share!

Did everyone hear that the new AHOPE store is open?

You can order your AHOPE T-shirts and 100% of the profits go to AHOPE!

What a great way to contribute and spread the word about AHOPE!

http://ahopeforchildren.blogspot.com/

Jessica

Forum: Ethiopia

Really dumb question (sun burn?)

HopingToAdopt — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:05:42 GMT

First, Happy 4th of July everyone!

Second, we were outside ALL day today. I use sunscreen SPF 70 on all of us (I burn so incredibly easily it's not even funny). Charlie, who has been "blessed" with my skin tone, wasn't burnt at all today and neither am I. Calla has "tan" lines - I covered her as well as I covered the rest of us. I even put sunscreen on her feet and when I took off her sandals this evening, she's got "tan lines" on them (on her feet, not the sandals!).

My question is this -- how can I tell if she's ever burned and not just "tan?" Charlie & I fry in the sun so if we ever get burned, it's pretty easy to tell because our skin is RED. Will Calla's skin get red? How can I tell for future reference?

Obviously, I don't want any of us to get burned -- hence the SPF 70. ;)

THANKS!

Forum: Ethiopia

awesome body butter

aimeec74 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:07:11 GMT

Hi there,

I have tried a bunch of different lotions, etc. I wanted an all natural (or close to all natural) product and was making my own body butter for a while. The problem that I was having was that most products/oils sat on top of my daughters skin and didn't absorb well. It wiped of on her clothes, our carpet, furniture, etc and then her skin would be dry again.

Well, my search is finally over!! I started using Alba body butter. It has kukui nut oil in it which is known for it's amazing ability to penetrate skin. My daughter's skin sucks it up and then is super soft, not oily. People comment often on how soft her skin is and how she smells like cinnamon rolls. Now here's the kicker... It's available at Walmart! It's in the cosmetics section by the Burt's Bees products. It comes in a green tub for $11.99.

I am so excited about this product I just had to share!

Aimee :)

Forum: Ethiopia

Amharic kids DVD

CindyN — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:05:08 GMT

I remember a post awhile back about a children's Amharic DVD that had a Barney-like character and was in Amharic. I can't find this post anymore. Does anyone know the name of this video and where I can find it?

Forum: Ethiopia

Forum "Soundtrack" now on itunes

Otis — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:01:57 GMT

From "adoption Soundtrack" thread I published and iMix with every song (that I could find) mentioned in the thread. It's quite an eclectic mix, I don't think anyone would want the whole thing, but you can pick the individual songs and make your own mixed CD.... of course, if the songs aren't already in your iTunes, you'll have to pay .99/song.

Anyway the name of the iMix is "ForumET: the sountrack", here is a link (I think you need itunes to open it..):

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=284865340

Enjoy.

Forum: Ethiopia

International Adoption Doctor

EAsh — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:48:19 GMT

Do you plan on having your referral looked at by an IAP? If your referral looked medically clean, would you still send it to the IAP?
Thanks.

Forum: Korea

Great Lotion on Sale 7/4 only

Haraldsworth — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:35:14 GMT

We have some of this lotion and I really like it. The scents are awesome and I like that they use natural products. Here is the info from their site:

Stuff for Sprouts

Fun, natural skin care for kids.
Because kids shouldn't crunch.

DECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE FROM CRUNCHY SKIN DAY!

July 4th Only!
1/2 OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER -
Just Enter the code CAMPAIGN at check-out!

https://stuff4sprouts.3dcartstores.com/index.html

Forum: Ethiopia

CDC Growth Charts for Waiting Moms and Dads

meghanmw — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:18:26 GMT

After recent threads regarding growth, I thought perhaps you'd like to use the growth charts that your pediatricians will likely use to plot your child's growth. It's been GREAT for me to do this while waiting for Zeke. The key is not so much the percentiles, but the picture over time. One point in time only tells you information about that moment - it is the view over time that really indicates how our little people are doing. For instance, my little guy is tiny and lands below 5% BUT his growth arch continues. This past set of measurement the arch for weight is a little interupted, and so I'll be a little concerned about next month's numbers - hoping he's not flattening out in weight gain. His lenght, however, is nicely plotted. Because my sweetie pie has rickets, I'm particularly happy to see his height arch as one of the results of rickets is stunted growth (height) - so far so good!

I hope this helps some of you think about how to use the measurements we have been given. :crazy: I hope my personal sharing helps you see how I use the chart to have a good idea of my little banana boy's progress (banana boy is a term used by folks like Dr. Sears to refer to long and thin bambinos!).

Here is the link: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nhanes/growthcharts/charts.htm
Scroll down a bit on the page to "Set 1 Individual Charts With All Percentiles". Then, choose your chart based on your babes gender. You can plot the numbers yourself.

There are a lot of great conversion sites for kg to lbs and cm to in.... or use this one for a point in time glimpse of how your babe is doing: http://allnutritionals.com/calculators/body_percentiles_infants.htm

Forum: Ethiopia

New Airline Bag Restrictions

keithandshel — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:31:38 GMT

Has anyone checked with the airlines to see if the new bag restrictions that went into place on July 1st for most airlines will affect international travel. I know that a lot of airlines are now limiting checked baggage to 1 bag per person. I'm curious how this will affect those of us wanting to take an extra suitcase or tub full of clothes to the care center. If we have to pay extra for it, we will, just curious.

Forum: Ethiopia