Updates on Madeline

She's the incredible shrinking child....well, not really. But this week we finally received some updated measurements on Madeline. And as we suspected, she must have been heavily clothed when they last took them in January. She has grown one inch and now stands 34.5" tall and without her winter coat now weighs 26.5 lbs, which is just a little less than the 27lbs she supposed weighed in January. Her head, chest and foot all "shrank" too by an inch or so. I thought Madeline's suitcase was good to go after I made Leah try on at least a dozen outfits this past weekend. But now armed with the latest measurements, I have to repack and simply find all the smallest clothes I have...which isn't much. I have mostly 2T and 3T in brands that run big. I did this on purpose so that she would get some wear out of them. I have just a few 18-24month and even those might be big, as those brands run big too. Oh well. We'll beef her up just as soon as we can.

Also today, Madeline's dear friend, Iris, was united with her forever family. My heart is filled with such joy to finally see this family together. Melissa was kind enough to ask the orphanage staff if Madeline was potty trained and found out that she isn't. I am so thankful that my sister will be picking up the little travel diaper caddy thingie that I'm going to need. I also had to ask my sister what size diapers I'm going to need and what brand is best. LOL. Diapers....wow. We never needed them for Caleb. So this is all new. I just about drove off the road when my sister told me 5-7 a day. LOL. Anyway, the good news is that Melissa said Iris is going in the potty when she takes her. So hopefully this will be short lived. She also told me that Madeline is still getting formula and to bring a bottle!!!! She's 27 months old tomorrow. I was like, WHAT? But okay. I know we'll have to keep her on it for the sake of her little GI system. So it's totally fine. But wow, I was thrown for a loop.

This morning I also mailed off our travel visa applications. Yep....I procrastinated big time on this one. But we finally got them all off. We should get them back with plenty of time to spare though because we likely won't get TA for at least another 1 or 2, likely 2. And then consulate appointments are filling up. So I don't think we'll get to leave when we want anyway. We are hoping for early to mid July at this point, which is fine with us. We still have lots of loose ends to tie up with Patrick not working for 2 weeks. So it gives us the time we need to be ready once we get the green light.

Anyway, although I wish we were traveling with Melissa and Joel to bring our daughters home, I am nonetheless thrilled to be following their trip. It warms my heart to no end to finally see this family together.