Two Packages from Boston and Tokyo

This morning we received two packages from Momo in Boston and my mom in Tokyo. Momo’s package was filled with baby goods, from cute dresses to toys. I especially liked the summer dress from Cherokee by Target. I will bring all of them to Thailand!!

Baby Clothes – H&M and Flea Market

Since we know the size of our daughter now, we started acquiring bags and bags of used baby clothing from our friends. They all told me to check out H&M, so I went there with Peter. At every tiny socks and shoes, he had to stop and say “Oooh, this is so sweet I am going to cry!!” He was practically useless, so I walked around the shop quickly and chose what we really needed.

Here is a T-shirt from H&M we did not really need but I really liked. When I told mom about this T-shirt over the long distance call, I did not hear her voice for a while. I think it was a silent protest.

Sterilization

On Saturday, Jenny, Fabian and their almost-3-years-old daughter June helped us shop for baby necessities at Migros City. Thanks to June’s professional eyes and quick decision, we got most of the items recommended by the adoptive parents from the same agency. Tonight, Peter sterilized new baby bottles and pacifiers before taking them to Thailand. I know some parents prefer a sterilizer, but we chose to cook them in a boiling water. I wonder if it really sterilizes…

* Have you noticed Peter’s new glasses? He got it from Burrioptik in Zürich. It’s my birthday gift.

Our Adoption Diary

When we started the adoption process in 2006, we bought a red sketch book and started the adoption diary. We wrote down every significant event in our life since then. When our daughter is old enough to understand, we will give her this book. Until then, we intend to continue writing.

Almost There – Becoming an Ikea Family

Thank you very much for all your comments!! I’d love to put up our daughter’s picture in this blog, but I will keep it to ourselves for the obvious reasons.

Since we received the dossier, I’ve been running around the city to certify necessary documents to submit to the youth welfare department which will then send the signed documents to the immigration office. Our child will enter the country with a resident visa stamped on her Thai passport. After the adoption is finalized in 1 year, she will receive a German passport.

Dossier

Today was a big day for us. I went to a small town in the south to pick up our child’s dossier. Until now, we only knew the gender and birth date of the child.

The sky was gray and the temperature was unusually cold for late June. When I got off the regional train, the cold wind was blowing and it started raining. I walked very fast to the agency’s office. I did not even have time to take a deep breath before “the dossier” was put in front of me. I started reading the official documents which described the child’s information in English. I could not wait to turn the page to the child’s photo, but I read every single word carefully and let the meaning sit deep in my heart. Then I finally turned the page to the photos. She was so beautiful my eyes started filling with tears. I was left alone for a while so I can look at the photos by myself. This beautiful baby girl is the one we have been waiting for.

Before I left the agency, I was informed about the official procedures and what we need to prepare before our departure – insurance, travel documents, translations.

Since there is only one train every hour and I just missed one by a few minutes, I went to the only cafe near the train station. When I ordered cappuccino over the counter, I remembered I was in the French-speaking region of Switzerland. So I ordered “café” in French and took a seat at the corner table. The cafe was almost empty. There was a skinny man sitting at the bar counter, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. There were two old ladies at a window seat chatting endlessly. Nobody paid extra attention to me, so I was relieved. While sipping coffee, I took a picture of the child from the dossier and emailed to Peter. When I looked up from the cell phone screen after a while, I was the only person in the cafe. 10 minutes before the train was supposed to arrive, I left the cafe but the waitress behind the counter was still gone in the kitchen.

On the express train back to Zürich, I watched the scenery go by and thought about many things that are going to happen from now. I promised to myself that, no matter what happens, I’ll always be there for her. I want to make her the happiest child ever as she’s already made us the happiest parents ever by entering our life. I am very thankful that the destiny chose us to be her parents.

IKEA Wardrobe

To expand our storage space, we purchased a PAX closet and a Malm drawer chest from IKEA. Joe helped us build the closet and I built the drawer chest alone. Peter and I are both thrilled that now we have a good overview of our clothes. As you might have noticed already, our bedroom only consists of IKEA furniture, besides a few handmade antiques from Peter’s grandma. Nevertheless I love the new look!!

Toy Story 3

I have been looking at the teaser for “Toy Story 3” once a week. I am so glad they are back!!

Toy Story reminds me of my friends who went to Burger King almost everyday to buy Happy Meal and collect all the toy story characters. I cannot even count how many times I had to eat kid’s size meal for them. I suppose that was in the late ’90s.

Of all the toy story toys, my favorite character is Mr. Potato Head. I wonder if Mr. Potato Head is available in Switzerland…

Home?

When I saw this house by Estudio Explanada in Mexico on Archinect.com, I thought about pros and cons of owning your own house. I never lived in a house and have a feeling that I will never own a house either. I grew up in a tiny apartment in Tokyo and always lived in an apartment thereafter. In exchange for living in a city, I gave up home ownership. I don’t like insects in the garden, I am not good at DYI, and as mom always tells me, living in a larger space means more cleaning and expenditure. Nevertheless, now that 80% of our friends and relatives bought their own house or apartment, I sometimes dream of my own place where I can paint the wall or drill the wall to hang picture frames without worrying about the landlord.

Kid’s Kitchen

I’ve been browsing the Internet for hours for inspiration for the kid’s room. We were told that the first room for the adopted child should be as spartan as possible. Since we know that toys, books and clothes will accumulate sooner or later, we decided to keep the room as simple and plain as possible with Ikea furniture.

Then I saw this wonderful photo of a kid’s kitchen in a blog called Daddy Types. If only Peter or I were good at carpentry… I would love to play with this kitchen as well!! Amzing what some dads can create for their children. I’m sure this kind of stuff makes your child thrilled than an expensive brand furniture. I regret that I suck in DYI, sawing, knitting and singing. The only thing I can do for our child is to draw or make yummy sweets. Later on when the time is right, I can also share my mass-comic-reading and window-shopping-without-spending-a-penny skillz with our kids.