Our Itinerary!!!

We just got the news that the American Consulate has approved our appointments, and therefore our travel dates have been confirmed!!!! WE'RE GOING TO CHINA!!!!

Nos dieron las buenas noticias que el Consulado Americano ha aprobado nuestras citas, asi que han confirmado nuestras fechas de viajar!!! VAMOS A CHINA!

Wed, March 26: Leave the US
Thurs, March 27: Arrive in Beijing; Summer Palace tour
Fri, Mar 28: Temple of Heaven in the morning; Lunch at Dai Jia Cun Restaurant; Hutong Tour and the Chinese Acrobat Show in the afternoon
Sat, Mar 29: Great Wall of China; Forbidden Palace

Sun, Mar 30: Fly to Xinjiang (Urumqi)
Mon, March 31: Meet Toñito!!!!:)
Tues, April 1: Do adoption process
Wed, April 2: Sightseeing around Urumqi
Thurs, April 3: Sightseeing around Urumqi
Fri, April 4: Paperwork for the Consulate

Sat, April 5: Fly to Guangzhou
Sun, April 6: Free day/shopping
Mon, April 7: Medical exam & visa photos for children
Tues, April 8: American Consulate (ACS) appts- at 9:00am
Wed, April 9: Take oath at ACS about 6:00pm and farewell dinner

Thurs, April 10: Take the train to Hong Kong
Fri, April 11: Sightseeing in Hong Kong
Sat, April 12: Fly home!!

Can you find Urumqi??

Updated Photos of Toñito!

We just got updated pictures and measurements of our cutie-pie! He is almost exactly the same height and weight as Vivi!:) They also say he has 20 teeth. Look at his beautiful smile and dimples!

Given name: Xin Zhu
Xin= last name, given to kids at his orphanage in Xinjiang
Zhu= "pillar"

Name we will use: Antonio Zhucai
Antonio (Toñito)= name used for many generations in Toño's family
Zhucai (zh like s in measure, c like the zz in pizza or the c in potica: shoe- tseye)= we are keeping the Zhu part and adding "cai" which means "talent/ability." When put together, Zhucai connotates a leader, or someone who excels

Born: 9/9/04 near Urumqi, Xinjiang

Current Height: 94 centimeters= 37 inches
Current Weight: 13 kilos= 28.7 pounds

Right now we are waiting for our "travel approval (TA)," which is issued by the Chinese government. This week I need to apply for our visas at the consulate in Chicago. Then, as soon as we get our TA we can get our flights. We are tentatively traveling March 27-April 12!! So exciting!!!

Mush! Mush!

We are having a LOT of fun in this deluge of snow this winter. We've been trying to train Boo and Mingo to pull Vivi on the sled for the past 3 years and they finally (kind-of) have assumed the inevitable role of Morales sled dogs. The little guy at the end of the video is Vivi's good buddy, Ewan.

Mommy, you nice?

Vivi: Mommy, you nice?

Me: Yeah, I think so.

Vivi: (batting her eyelashes) Can I have some chocolate? (said in her Spanish sounds more like "cho-toe-da-tay")

Me: Not right now mi amor.

Vivi: Mommy nice? Cho-toe-da-tay?

Me: Let's go read a book.

The Master List: Family Members in Chinese

The Chinese language distinguishes between maternal vs. paternal relatives, and younger vs. older relatives.. So here is the grand list of family members in Chinese: (please copy and paste for your own use- I got many from APC... also let me know if any are wrong!!!!)

First page: 你的家庭........................................Last page: 我们爱您
Ni de jia ting......................................................Wŏmen ài ni3.
Your family.......................................................We love you!
Tu Familia.........................................................Te queremos.

Family

爸爸....................妈妈.........................妹妹
ba ba.................ma ma.....................mei mei
Papi..................Mommy..................Vivi and Maya

公公........................................婆婆
gong gong..............................po po
Grandpa (maternal) ...........Grandma (maternal)

爷爷.............................................奶奶
ye ye............................................nai nai
Abuelito (paternal Grandpa).....Abuelita (paternal Grandma)

阿姨
a yí
Tía Didi and Tía Mimi (aunt: mother's younger sister)

舅舅
jiù jiŭ
Uncle Tim and Uncle Nico (uncle: mother's younger brother)

舅妈
jiù ma
Auntie Colleen (aunt: mother’s younger brother’s wife)

叔叔
shú shū
Tío Mayo (uncle: father’s younger brother)

婶婶
shĕn shēn
Tía Sandra (aunt: wife of father’s younger brother... Sorry Mario! I couldn't find how to say "girlfriend" LOL!!!)

姑姐
gū jiĕ
Tía Normita (aunt: father's younger sister)

表弟
biao di
Iñaki (younger male cousin)

姑丈
gū zhàng
Tío Roberto (uncle: father’s younger sister’s husband)

Other useful family members:
Older brother.... younger brother
哥哥....弟弟
ge ge....di di

Older sister
姐姐
jie jie

Older male cousin
表哥
biao ge

Male cousins....................Female cousins
表兄弟 ...............................表姐妹
biao xiong di ....................biao jie mei

Older female cousin.....................younger female cousin
表姐...............................................表妹
biao jie..........................................biao mei

Father’s older brother.............Wife of Father’s older brother
伯父.............................................伯母
bo2 fu4........................................bo2 mu3

Mother’s older sister...................Father’s older sister
姨妈 ................................................姑妈
Yi2 ma1.........................................Gu1 ma1

Package for Toñito!

Our agency allows people adopting kids 2+ to send a little care package during the wait. We are sending a disposable camera (I can't wait for these pictures!), a little car toy, a monkey beanie baby (Toñito was born in 2004- year of the monkey), and a little book I made for him with pictures of family members. I really like the book, and am hoping they don't lose it! On each page I have a picture, and then the person's name in English and Chinese (the characters and pinyin). Then I laminated it for messy 3-year-old hands and put the cards on a key chain ring.

Fundraiser for Urumqi CWI

The Urumqi CWI's front doors

Toñito lives with a foster family, however he goes to pre-school every day at a nearby orphanage called "Urumqi CWI (Children's Welfare Institute). Most of the healthy children have a similar living-schooling situation. Nonetheless, there are many children with special needs (many times they are a little older) that live at the CWI so they can receive appropriate care. We have heard from other families that have visited that they are in need of certain items that are harder to attain in this off-the-beaten-track location. Therefore, I am currently collecting the following items to bring with us this spring:

• art supplies/manipulatives- to be used for therapy for children in primary school/jr. high
• rubber pants, all sizes- to be used for children with spina bifida/no bowel control
• clothes sizes 6+- these definitely can be gently used!
• cleft bottles- to be used with kids with cleft lip/palate

Enfamil sells a bulk box of 72 cleft-bottles for $144, so I will be collecting money to purchase these. These bottles really save lives, and are unavailable in China- here is a quote from one advocacy article on rainbowkids.com:

"It’s such a little thing. A $3.00 special bottle for infants who are born with cleft lip/palate. Here in the U.S., and throughout the industrialized world, these bottles are sent home with every family that gives birth to a child born with this craniofacial disorder. Unfortunately, these bottles are ONLY available in developed nations. For the thousands of infants born in developing nations and living in orphanages, their chances of survival without this $3.00 nurser, are about 10% or less."

In addition to collecting the above items from my MOMs Club, family, and friends, I am also collecting donations to sell at a garage sale this spring, with the proceeds to benefit this orphanage. So, if anyone has any gently used furniture, tools, electronics, household items, baby items, sports equipment, books, etc, etc, that you were already going to donate (or you just want to remove some clutter from your basement and help out a worthy cause!) please let me know! Remember, a little bit of US dollars goes a lot farther in rural China...

Finally!

After many months of procrastinating, the Morales Family has a blog... we are sharing our story with our family and friends as we travel to China to bring home our son, and then come home and enjoy life with our kids. Having loved ones around the world, it is important for us to stay in touch and share little snapshots of our daily adventures (and colorful at that with 3 kids under 4!). So come for the Great Wall pictures and stay for the snowball fights (learning to ride a bike, sand castles in Mexico, eating too many blueberries, and other accounts from the frontline). And we'll see you at the next fiesta?