our LOI! I am praying hard every night that we get that LOI some time in December and travel in January. I wish there was more consistency so I could estimate, but I have seen people get it anywhere from one month to three months! I have no idea if the region you are traveling to makes a difference or the agency or the sex of the child - or if it is simply just whenever they get to it.
It would have been soooo nice to have him home for the holidays, but that is obviously not going to happen - so I will just have to dream how nice it will be next year. For now I am trying to keep my mind occupied! I am glad I have work to keep me busy. I am starting to pack as well...and with that comes shopping too! Fun :-) I purchased everything I can think of "just in case" - exzema cream, children's Tylenol, Baby Oragel, Baby Vicks, and so on...
I am curious what others did regarding feeding when they adopted toddlers. I saw that Nestle Good Start has a toddler formula with Vitamin D and Iron added. However, he should be starting to eat solids by now, right? I am guessing that we will have to see as we go. Any suggestions from you smart bloggy mommies?
Friday, December 01, 2006
All I want for Christmas is...
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12 comments:
Hi Dawn...I'm Lisa and my husband and I adopted a 16 month old from Kaz in October of 05. When we first took custody of him in Kaz, we fed him baby food, which we could get there...don't bring it with you, it's heavy ;)! He drank milk, watered down juice and water from a sippy cup. We didn't go the formula route, but when we arrived home, we did supplement his diet with peidiasure(?). Can't wait for you to get the news of your LOI!
We adopted a 12 month old in the summer of 2006 from Astana. We tried to mimic what the orphange did for the first couple weeks, including our time in Alamty at the end:
cereal at breakfast and dinner
soup and mashed potatoes at lunch
yogurt at breakfast and snacks
Once home, In the cereal I also mixed in 2 scoops of the formula for 9-24 month olds. I forget who makes it, but it's a common one at WalMart.
After 2 weeks we went with Gerber or Beachnut baby jarred 3rd Foods to make sure he was getting 1-2 veggies, 1-2 fruits and a meat each day. And we were giving him 3 - 4 Yo Baby's a day for dairy and protein. He would eat as much yogurt as we put in front of him.....good to know for when you need to give meds or vitamins.
It took our son a month or 2 to get used to a sippy cup. He would no longer use a bottle so all fluids were from an open tea cup we would hold for the first couple months. When he went to daycare the 4th month we were home to picked up the sippy cup immediately when he saw the other kids. He also began feeding himself at daycare.
For the baby food overseas, I bought the HIPPA brand at the Gros. It's color coded and easy to read as it's partially in english and german (I think).
If you know the region, you might want ot ask people who went to that region where to go to the foodstore.
And when packing your clothes fro the trip, try to bring clothes a tthe end of their lifetime that you can leave over there. We washed our clothes every 2 - 3 days because the washer was so small,and came home with 1 less suitcase (we planned to ditch an old one over there) even with the souveniers and gifts we bought.
I would wait until you get there to buy food. It's too hard to guess your child's eating habits. I had taken down some Gerber baby food in the plastic container, and Elijah didn't eat any of it! We bought lots of food/formula down there and when we got home transitioned him to our food. Granted, Elijah was 10 months old when we brought him home, but he transitioned quickly with no problems to our food. I'm praying that you'll be able to travel quickly!!
I know how you feel about longing for your little boy. I miss him more each day. I hope you hear something soon.
So here is my vent. Today an old friend of my mothers actually said to me "you know that you are not bringing home a doll to play dress up with, it is a real baby" I almost went through the roof. I said do you have any idea what it feels like to watch all your friends get pregnant and have such a difficult time? Do you know what it is like to want to be a mother so badly it hurts. Do you know what it is like to not be able to give your husband a baby? Do you know how it feels to go through months of paperwork and jump through hundreds of hoops so you can adopt a baby? Most importantly ...DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO DEAL WITH CLOSE MINDED OPEN MOUTHED PEOPLE LIKE YOU? Sorry to vent on your site but she reads mine and I don't want to start WWIII
I hope you get your wish very very soon! I can't wait to hear you are travelling.
Natalia was just one and she ate all solids already - she even ate my steak on the plane ride home - yes I'm for real :-) Of course she had a mouth full of teeth :-) I'll be praying that LOI gets moving, too!
I know for sure its the region; well, at least that is what I was told when I was over there. Every region is different. Just like every state here is different and does things different. I know its hard to wait, but I promise you, you will forget it all when you come home with that cute little bundle. Happy Holidays! Love, Tam
Dawn, since I'm not really familiar with Kaz adoption can you explain what LOI stands for??
Thanks! Whatever it is I hope you get it soon!
Can you put my new blog address on your blogroll? Thanks!
Hi Suz! The LOI stands for Letter of Invitation. That is the last thing we need to travel!
Hugs,
Dawn
They have Nestle Good Start over there actually - he needs to have it for the vitamins even if he is eating solid food. I bought all the same meds over there too! DO start giving him vitamins and calcium - extra food on day one. Talk to the baby house doctor and get permission if it worked the same way mine did - I just showed her Kaz bought products at her request so she knew what I was feeding Dinara. The doctor made recommendations for me for specific products so I would know what the "best" was, actually. - Lisa
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