Heading to Michigan

We had an AWESOME visit with my sister and brother-in-law. I got to visit with Lilly at least 3x in the hospital. She is doing really well. Billirubin went down, billi lights off. She is up to 20cc q3 hours for feeding. Brusing has gone down. I promise when I get to Michigan I'll download some pictures. Will and I are packing up the Subaru and heading out this morning. We hope to make it about half way through Iowa and stop for the night. We should arrive in MI Tuesday evening. The dogs are tolerating the drive and we are going to start another murder mystery book on tape! All is well. T- 7 days until we leave. Our visas have arrived at my parents house and so I guess we are good to go officially.

We're in Denver!

We left Austin on Wednesday afternoon to head to Denver. First stop was Dallas to see Will's Dad and Stepmom - Carol. We had a great (but too short) visit with them and got to see Cozmo (our 3rd dog) one more time before heading to China. Saying goodbye to Ray and Carol was tough and I think it is finally starting to hit me. I got upset that evening at the hotel about having to leave my weiner dogs with my parents, but, shhh, don't tell Wyatt and Happy Scrappy that yet.

We had good news that our visas had been approved and we got our plane tickets confirmed. Visas are getting fed-ex'ed to Michigan and should be there on Monday (my parents will be at the house to pick them up). Whew, can't believe we have a week to spare. One less ativan to take, right? :)

We made it to Denver this morning around 9:30am. We got to check out my sister's new condo and then headed over to the NICU to see little Lillian! I don't know what happened but she got all banged up in the birth canal - OP sucks! She supposedly looks much better. They have just one IV going in, she is on 1/2 liter O2 through her nose and has a NG tube - she is up to 10ml every 4 hours! Maintaining her weight. Neo said she looks good. My sister and husband are both great.

We will head out for Michigan on Monday. I'll see if I can post some pictures of Lillian in a fe days.

Personal movers

Today was another first. Instead of having half a semi truck full of stuff to move to Shanghai (which was Dell's original offer). We said we would take cash. So they gave us cash and said we could bring a "smaller" air shipment of stuff. They gave us the measurements and it had to be less than 400lbs. We barely could find 200lbs to add to the pile. Will even decided to bring his guitar over to China, because, hey, what the hell. Another girl that we know that is going over to Shanghai to teach dropped some stuff off as well (she was sooo grateful). The movers rule was that we couldn't pack anything. They had to pack it. (Well, twist my arm). I felt bad at the pile of stuff we had, but that is what they said. They showed up at 0930 and were pleasently supprised to see such a small pile. They took a little over an hour to pack our stuff - wrapping individual clothing items and shoes, etc... they made me sit down and said I couldn't help. (WOW!) The grand total was 12 boxes and a guitar (which took up a half page on their inventory sheet. The head moving lady was so nice. She said this was nothing, the day before they moved an entire household and it took 7 pages of inventory - a family that was moving to India! I told her to tell her boss that it took an extra hour and that they should go get some coffee and breakfast. They laughed and then went on their merry way. Hopefully we'll see the stuff in China in a few weeks! Its insured!

Lilly is here and doing well!

My sister called last night and said Lilly was born OP (and so a little bruised) at 7:52pm on 7/24. She weiged 3lbs 6oz and is doing well today. She was on a vent for a little while, but they took her off at some point last night and she has been breathing on her own. Neo said things looked good and like they tell everyone conservatively, she will probably be there until her due date of 9/30. Kelly is doing much better today and will probably go home tomorrow (Wednesday). My parents are on the road this afternoon. Will and I are going to leave a day early - Thursday afternoon and head towards Denver for a short visit and then meet my parents back in Michigan.

My other exciting (but sad news since I loved my car) - I sold "Heidi" my passat. Good news: The girl that bought it - her name is Inga and she is German. Go figure...so I'm happy it went to a good person. CRAIGSLIST ROCKS! I posted the car on Saturday evening and we sold it yesterday evening. Check is in the bank!

Lilly is coming early

My sister called this morning at 0730 to tell me she was in the hospital. Maybe preterm labor! Her due date is not until 9/30 so I was a little concerned. I tried for about 45 minutes to get in touch with my parents. When my mom finally called back, it sounded more like she was having appendicitis and maybe surgery. My sister just called about 30 minutes ago and she had changed to 3cm. They are not going to stop the labor because it looks like she has an infection of some sort. Please pray that everything is going to be fine and both Kelly (my sister) and baby Lilly will be doing well. I think we are going to leave earlier than expected now and take a side trip to Denver to see my sister, husband and the girls....

Wait for it.....can you say Ritz Carlton?

Well, after all the hub bub about visas and drama...Tracy gets a break. In reading Will's relocation "addendum," we get a choice of 3 hotels to stay at while we are in Shanghai. To think that I was hopeful for the Motel 8? Hee hee... you all don't have to worry about me for the month of August...I will be living it up at the Shanghai Ritz Carlton. THANK YOU DELL!!! I will be in la la land for 28 days. Check out: http://www.ritzcarlton.com/hotels/shanghai/. I don't know if this is a good thing or not...after this I'll be spoiled...but at least Dell is throwing in 200 hours of language training - you know...right after the afternoon massage! :)

Government Bureaucracy T-18 days

We FINALLY have someone that has a brain working on our visas. 3 days ago we had the first relo "specialist" tell us it was impossible to get to China in 2 weeks, it would take at least 4-6weeks to get Will's work Visa..and BTW, he needed to come to China to do his health physical first and then fly back to the US in order to wait for the visa to be processed. Que? Say what? ...the short version, enter relo specialist #2 who assured us that we could fly out as planned and work on the work visa once we got there. Phew, right? They needed a few simple things, our marriage license (so I could get my entry visa) and Will's education credentials. Easy, right? So we faxed those off. Well this morning they said Will's transcript wasn't good enough and they wanted a copy of his diploma. Our hearts sank because Will packed his degree in the back of the POD (8x12x10) that is now in a warehouse somewhere in Austin. (!!!$$@@???!!!!). First stop was to the UT registrar's office. They were gracious and said instead of 4-6 weeks, they said they could have it to him by next Friday (ie the day we are leaving for Michigan and one week before we leave for China - not good). Will then called the POD storage place and found out he could indeed access the POD and they said "tomorrow." Not giving up, my ingenius husband decided to go there anyway, slip the worker a $20 over lunch and the guy said "come back in an hour." Will proceeded to home depot, picked up a few things including a day laborer and went back to the POD. 45 minutes later they unpacked and repacked the pod and now China has his diploma. Whew....our timeline is still intact!

Poisen Oak has struck the weiner dog!

I promise I'm not going to be a freak about this blog, but hey, who else is there to call at 3am to scream that you've been up on and off all night with your dog (wyatt) that has gotten in to some kind of poisen oak or ivy and is itching and scratching nonstop. Calgon take me away. This is for posterity as I mentioned earlier so I might as well mention the good and the bad. And why doesn't benadryl work on dogs to knock them out? Alas, I hope I put enough cortaid on his body to appease him until we make it to the vet appointment at 830am.

T - 25 days

Although this picture was taken in Peru along the Inca Trail, I wanted a picture for you all to remember us (at least until I post more). Who knew we would start on our next big adventure so soon. I know that in my title I'm copying Bea re: the countdown to Ava's arrival, but hey, moving to China feels like I'm about to give birth to the contents of my stomach.

So if anyone hasn't noticed, I'm a little nervous and not sleeping very well lately. My mom told me to go have a drink. Did I fail to mention to her that at that time I was on my third? :) I have 4 shifts for a total of 24 hours left at Brackenridge Hospital and it is a little bittersweet. I know Will and I will come back with great stories so all this stress is for posterity and to laugh at this stressful time...but geesh! Okay, I can't think of any more clever or witty things to say - hey, tonight I'm only on my first glass of wine. I hope that everyone stays in touch and enjoys this blog with the misadventures of Will and Tracy in China.

Thanks again for everyone's support, comments, advice and prayers (jenny you know who you are - I pray that God will spill many dimes and nickles in your sofa to allow for a Shanghai visit). More to come....