Dear CTV, CBC, and other news organizations:

I see you.

Yes, I see you in my stat reports, clickity-clicking around my blog, looking for bits of information on this whole Imagine Adoption going bankrupt fiasco. I see you, nosing about for all the news that is the news. I see you, scratching and pecking about like chickens in the barnyard for kernels of info.

Well, I am here to tell you — there is no news here! (Well, unless you count That Baby discovering the wonder that is The Big Multicoloured Ball. Now THERE is some EXCITEMENT. But hardly 6 o’clock-worthy.)

Oh, and CBC? Even if there WERE news, even if I were the FONT OF ALL INSIDE SCOOP on Imagine Adoption, I would TOTALLY not tell YOU. For YOU, CBC, are on my shit list for your assoholic reporting of international adoption. Like, “Buying Babies”, for example. (Yeah, I am looking at YOU, CBC Manitoba.) Or that shitty piece you did on CAFAC. YOU, CBC, are in the penalty box. We’re talking GAME MISCONDUCT, here.

The rest of you? We love. But still? No news.

And while we appreciate you embracing technology to find this news, there’s a lot to be said for good, old-fashioned news gathering. Instead of hunting around blogs, which are just people blathering on about their lives, why not, oh, I dunno, CALL THE BOARD OF IMAGINE AND ASK WHAT THEY POSSIBLY NEEDED TO BUY AT PETSMART. OR CAMBRIDGE POOL SUPPLIES. Sheesh.

Now go do something useful. Help resolve this situation. Help these children and their caregivers get taken care of. Help these families be united. Help these families find some peace.

Go. Use your powers for GOOD. NOT evil.

Love,

Me.

(Oh, and PS — Global News? Saying people paid for children? In an adoption story? This is why you are the third-rate network. Just sayin’.)

I was trying to maintain a little bit of radio silence here today.

By now, many of you already know that That Agency has gone bankrupt, stranding 60 or so children and their caregivers in Ethiopia (and kids and staff in Ghana and Ecuador as well) with dwindling food and supplies, not to mention money, and causing many adoptive families in Canada more grief than they should have to experience in a lifetime.

I just didn’t think it was appropriate to post about my life with my child, home and safe in my arms, when so many out there are struggling to find a way to bring their children home, or wondering what will happen to the child they were waiting to become legally theirs, or coping with the devastating loss of a dream of a family. It’s not fair. And it would be ridiculously insensitive .

I also didn’t think it appropriate to bring my opinions to bear on the matter. I am emotional, I am angry, I am concerned, and I am hurting for everyone involved. But not nearly as much as those in the centre of the storm. And they don’t need my ill-informed, bellicose ranting to add to their pain. And I know there is nothing, absolutely nothing, I can say to ease it. No amount of “I’m sorry” will fix this.

But most of all, I think of the 60 or so children whose lives have been changed, and in some cases devastated, by this. I have seen the babies and the toddlers. I cannot forget looking at them and thinking that each and every one was so well loved by their caregivers, and would without question become part of a family that would love and cherish them. After who knows what happened to them in their little lives, they were going to be taken care of forever after. And now, that is not necessarily the case. Their futures are now clouded and uncertain. I can’t bear the thought that any single one of them might not be welcomed into loving family and a happy, healthy future.

There but for the grace of God goes That Baby. That Baby, who is my life, and my miracle, and my joy. That Baby, who I love more than life itself.

I can’t stand it.

I’ll post about it when I can think of something useful, something helpful to say. Or maybe I won’t. Maybe there will be nothing useful I can say.

In the meantime, please bear all of That Agency’s families in your thoughts and in your prayers, if you are the praying sort. They need positive energy, they need answers, they need time, they need healing. They need their hopes renewed, their hearts mended, and their families completed. They need all our support.

And hold those children and their devoted caregivers in your thoughts and prayers. No doubt, there’s no need to tell you why.

Alrighty, here’s an interesting list for all you packers out there: it’s the list of odds and ends that we took along for US, the grownups. Mostly it was for entertainment purposes, but there’s some practical stuff too.

I was surprised at how big the list was, but knowing us as I do (us travelling = packmules), it could have been much, MUCH worse. And most of it worked really well for us, so I can’t complain.

• Laptop: Packed and invaluable. I cannot tell you how great it was to have a laptop with us. Both BDH and I have fairly intense computers (big, heavy, lots of software, etc.) and so we went out and got a cheap, lightweight laptop for the trip. It was awesome to have. First off, we could keep in touch via email with anyone at home we needed to reach, or that needed to reach us. We could also blog, which turns out to be a big thing for quite a few people. (Hello, Peeps! ) And it was storage for pictures and video as we needed it. But another great thing was for sheer entertainment value. We brought a couple of DVDs along, and could entertain ourselves after a long day, or Stinkerbelle if she needed something fun to do. And we also had music on it, so we had lullabyes to help the girl sleep, and tunes to have a dance party with the girl… it was great.
• Power cords: Packed and invaluable. No use bringing along any gizmos if you don’t have anything to power them up with. So wherever you see something that needs power, assume there’s also an entry reminding me to bring the associated power cord (because there was. Trust me.)
• Canvas laptop bag: Packed and invaluable. Our laptop came with a kind of shoulder-bag/napsack kind of thing, which was perfect for carrying our documents, our money, our camera (and of course our laptop, when required) whenever we were out and about.
• Power converter (1): Packed and invaluable. We bought a power converter because, of course, they’re on different power and use different plugs in Ethiopia than we do in Canada. And we used it All. The. Time. As a matter of fact, it probably would have been nice to have another one, but we made do with one just fine.
• Power bar: Packed but didn’t use. Yes we brought a power bar along so we could power up several things at once, but we did not use it… because WE FRIED IT. As soon as we plugged it in, there was a big ZAP and the smell of burning somethingorother. So, our power bar spent the rest of the day on the balcony, and then got tossed in the trash.
• Canon digital camera: Packed and used… but only briefly. Because it unfortunately chose this trip to die. It would have been nice to have, since it’s an older, cheaper camera but I fear it got busted bouncing it around half the planet.
• Digital SLR camera: Packed and invaluable. This is our “good” camera. As Grammy, and anyone who have asked for pictures can tell you, we took many photos of our girl. And continue to. The kid is UP TO HERE with me taking her picture a billonteen times a day. The only thing we probably could have done better, in retrospect, would have been to leave the zoom lens at home. As it turns out, there was not much use in having it, because although we had lots to take pictures of, the smog made the pictures pretty hazy and unclear.
• Video camera: Packed and invaluable. We took video — a sort of video blog of our day — at the end of each day (well, except for days when Stinkerbelle kept us too busy). It was actually a lot of fun to do, and turned out really well. We captured so many thoughts, impressions, and events from our time away on video. I only wish we had done more. It will be awesome for our daughter to have, years from now.
• Books: Packed but didn’t use. Okay, I cracked my book, and read two pages, but otherwise… who had time to read? And it was all far to exciting, exhausting, interesting to spend time reading — and the entertainment system on Emirates Airlines was so awesome, we didn’t need books to entertain ourselves on the flights.
• Knitting: Packed but didn’t use. Same as the books.
• Rechargeable batteries for digital camera: Packed and invaluable. They also worked for the video camera, and we used both so frequently, it was good to have rechargeables.
• Flashlight (2): Packed and used. We brought flashlights in case of power outs, which — interestingly enough — we ended up seeing while in the airport in Addis. The lights went out, and we had the flashlights. Go figure. But the other cool thing is that we used the flashlight as a nightlight for midnight diaper changes and feedings. We set the routine with our daughter that once it is nighttime, there’s no fooling around, so we don’t speak to her and we keep the lights low while we feed and change her, and then it’s back to bed with no fussing. So the flashlight came in very handy for that. We set it up on end near her change table, and the light was just enough to change and feed her.
• Swiss army knife: Packed and used. This was a fun one to have, because it got pressed into service for a bunch of stuff: bottle opener (Corona for me *blush*), other oddball tool needs, and interior decorating (BDH used it to cut the top off a water bottle to use it for a vase for our flowers)… it was handy dandy.
• iPod: Packed but didn’t use. Again, there’s that Emirates entertainment system saving the day! We didn’t need our iPods because the in-flight system was so awesome, we were totally entertained the entire trip.
• iPod charger: Packed but didn’t use. See above. Not using the iPod, not using the charger.
• Nintendo DS: Packed and invaluable. But not for what you might think. There was no clock in the Dubai hotel we stayed at, and the clock in our room in Addis was not easy to set, so we just used the DS as an alarm clock, and it worked great!
• DS games: Packed but didn’t use. Well, it was being used as a clock the entire time. And as you well know, between a baby, a laptop and the Emirates ICE system, who needs a DS to keep entertained?
• DS charger: Packed and used. Of course, since we were using it all the time, we had to charge the DS. However… like the power bar, the change in power or the converter fried the charger, so we had to buy a new one when we returned home. I wonder how many others we’ll need to replace as we start to use these things agina here at home.
• Fanny pack: Packed but didn’t use. We had a backpack-type laptop bag we carried everywhere, so we used that instead.
• Journals: Packed and used. We actually got a fair bit of use out of our journals, writing down words we learned or things we wanted to remember. But the best use of all was the idea to jot down Stinkerbelle’s schedule each day (which we still do, for her doctor and pediatrician, and to help us keep track of her days). And that way, it was portable when we were out, too. Nowadays, we do it on computer.
• Life book: Packed and didn’t use. I had started a lifebook for our daughter, but it got woefully neglected. We just didn’t have the time or the energy to write after a full day with our daughter in Addis. And I don’t know if I am going to carry on with it, either. Our friends gave us a scrapbook set, which is more along the lines of what we want to do for a lifebook.
• Pens/pencils: Packed and used. See the entry about the journals above.
• USB cable for camera: Packed and invaluable. If you’re going to take as many pictures as we have, you’re going to fill up memory on the camera pretty quick. And so, transferring it to the laptop is important.
• Firewire cable for video: Packed but didn’t use. We thought we might transfer the video to the laptop as well, but we had lots of tapes and just didn’t get around to it.
• Money belts: Packed but didn’t use. Well, we did, but just for storage. We didn’t go out shopping or anything so there was really no need to keep our money and documents close to our bodies (pickpockets being a distinct possibility in Addis). We just carried everything around in the laptop bag and that worked fine. But if we had gone out to a market or something, they probably would have come in very handy.
• Travel pillows: Packed but didn’t use. Once again… Emirates Airlines rocks. We were comfy enough that we didn’t need them.
• Ziploc bags (small, box of 100): Packed and invaluable. We used the ziplocs for everything — absolutely everything. From keeping things watertight (which turned out to be really necessary, because our bags got left out in the rain at the airport in Toronto and everything inside that was NOT in a ziploc was drenched), to parcelling out snacks before we left, to keeping things organized in our baggage, the ziplocs? They RULE.
• Ziploc bags (large, box of 20): Packed and invaluable. Even more than the small ones. We packed 4 large ziplocs, each with one outfit, a diaper, a washcloth, and a small ziploc containing several wipes for the trip home, and put them in our diaper bag and carry on. This made trips to do diaper changes a breeze. It was also a great way to pack formula for the trip home — measure the formula powder into a liner, twist-tie it shut, and pack 15 or so of them into a large ziploc with a measuring cup and VOILA, easy bottle prep. Good dog, we used ziplocs for EVERYTHING.
• Twist ties: Packed and invaluable. See the little formula packing tip above.
• Grocery bags: Packed and invaluable. We packed about 50 plastic grocery bags (25 will fit into a medium ziploc if you fold and compress them well) and we used them to pack up our garbage each day — specifically stinky diapers. It helps keep the smell down and the garbage well organized if you are spending a lot of time in your hotel room (which we did).
• Rolling luggage: Invaluable. Now, BDH and I are sports-duffelbag-kind of peeps. We have two big sports bags and that’s what we use whenever we go anywhere. But then this trip came up, and we knew we’d need something more… durable. With real sides and stuff. So. There was a sale on before we travelled at the luggage store in the mall, so we bought luggage with wheels and handles. You know the type, — the handle comes out the top and slides in when you don’t need it? Travels up on end and ypu can pull it behind you? Now, this came in handy because these sorts of bags also come with a strap that allows you to sort of “wagon-train” your bags together, and let me tell you, with a baby in the snugli and a diaper bag and other carry-ons to carry, this little wagon-train-dealie is THE ONLY way to get around an airport. It ROCKED.
• Earplugs: Packed and invaluable. The first night in the hotel was New Years Eve, so hey, you think there was partying noise to be blocked out? But also, any time we needed to sleep, we pulled out the earplugs — the squishy foam kind, that you smunch down, put in your ear, and they expand to fit your ear — and we slept really well. AWESOME to have.
• Canadian flag baggage tags: Packed and used. Again, not as you might think. Apparently they are VERY prized possessions among the staff at the airport in Addis — so much so that when we went to enter the airport (you have to go through a baggage scanner to enter the airport) the baggage handlers ACTUALLY STARTED REMOVING THE TAGS FROM OUR BAGS. While asking us if they could have them, of course, but STILL. We managed to keep the ones on our checked bags, and gave them the ones on our carry-ons (I admit I was a little annoyed that they just assumed it was okay to take them off our bags, but whatever). It would have been nice to have a few more.

There are also some things that we WISH we had brought:

• Umbrella: It was rainy season, and it sure would have come in handy a couple of times.
• Mini tripod: This would have come in handy for our little video blog. The first few, one person was holding the camera and the other was on camera. After awhile, we McGyvered a little setup so that we could both be on camera, but the mini tripod would have come in really handy.

So, yeah. There’s a big list. But like I said, we are packmules and could carry everything AND the kitchen sink when we travel. So this was a vast improvement.

Next, we’ll talk SNACKAGE. And other important food-related items. Because who doesn’t love the food? Am I right?

Okay, here’s one of our shorter lists. Hey, she’s a baby — how many clothes can one baby wear?

Surprisingly, quite a lot…

• Sleepers (12): Packed and used. We were concerned about the air conditioning in our room being too cool for our daughter at night, and the problem was that no matter how you adjusted the A/C, it never actually CHANGED. But there was no need to worry, because our daughter is a warm kid. She would kick off all her blankets by the time we got her up out of bed. So the sleepers came in handy because we knew that even if she kicked off her blankets she’s still have warm toes. We took a mix of 0-6 month and 6-12 month sizes, and the 6-12 month size were WAY too big.
• Shirts (1): Packed and used. We only brought 1 t-shirt. It’s just too much of a pain to put a shirt on a squirmy baby. But this was a very SPECIAL shirt, one that I designed that said “PEEVISH. PEEVISH. PEEVISH.” on the front. It came from Auntie Sherri’s box of hand-me-downs, and it ROCKS.
• Undershirts (6): Packed and invaluable. Like I said earlier, our kid is a warm kid. And when we went out on outings or whatever, we took great pains to dress her accordingly with the Ethiopians’ expectations of how a child should be dressed for their “winter” — so she always had on a coat, some shoes, and a hat as well as her regular clothes. So a lot of the time, our poor baby was melting from the heat of all that gear. (She never complained — she’s a trooper.) But as soon as we closed that hotel room door, we’d strip her down to a diaper and an undershirt and she was HAPPYHAPPYHAPPY.
• Onesies/Diaper shirts (12): Packed and invaluable. Onesies were another great way to keep the girl cool, along with her undershirts. We brought a mix of long and short sleeves, and all 0-6 month sizes — and they fit perfectly. And we had a lot of onesie/pants combinations to dress her in, which was nice.
• Pants (9): Packed and used. We had lots of yoga pants-type and tights-type of pants for our girl, which are the easiest to get on and off a squirmy kid. I took mostly 0-6 size, which were plenty big, and a couple 6-12s, which stayed in the suitcase.
• Outfits (4): Packed and used. I wanted to bring along a couple of outfits to dress her up specially, mostly for photos: in particular, one outfit to bring her home from the Transition Home in — just like a birth parent would do with a baby they were bringing home from the hospital. Call me sentimental. Another one I had was for coming home to Canada — that one actually had a “Canada” onesie. And most of the outfits were given to us by certain people: one was from Auntie Sandy and Uncle Jeff, another from Auntie Heather, and so on. So we had packed them with photo ops in mind.
• Hats (2): Packed and invaluable. I mentioned previously that we tried to adhere to the expectations of our hosts in dressing our child during their winter season, so we brought along a pair of hats for the trip. But one was so cute, we used it exclusively… and still do. And everybody was falling all over themselves remarking how cute she was in that hat. Also it was one of the easier ways to help people identify if our baby was a boy or a girl, since “pink” and “blue” are not strong baby identifiers to Ethiopians, but apparently a big floral hat is.
• Shoes (3 pair): Packed and invaluable. Also for the purposes of being culturally sensitive, I ran out before we left and got two pairs of shoes for about $6. But the shoes we put on the girl the entire time were a pair of Robeez from Auntie Sherri that arrived the day before we left for our trip, and had strawberries on them.
• Socks (12 pair): Packed and used. Pretty self-explanatory, really. And of course, our daughter blows a sock as soon as is humanly possible, because she likes to have bare feet.
• Bathing suit (1): Packed and didn’t use. Although the Hilton has some very nice pools, we just didn’t get around to swimming. Too bad, too, because that swimsuit is ADORABLE.
• Sweaters (1): Packed and didn’t use. I had heard that the rainy season could be quite cool, but I found that the sweater was overkill combined with everything else I had for our girl to wear.
• Coats (2): Packed and invaluable. I brought a little fleece jacket and a denim jacket for the girl to wear out in the cool weather, and the fleece was perfect for the weather. It was also 0-6 month size, which fit well, while the jean jacket was 6-12 and so it was a fair bit big. The fleece coat is also still what we dress her in whenever we go out.

I think that pretty much covers the clothing for the time we had our daughter, which was about a week. We had planned for about 3 clothing changes a day based on what other parents had said they required (with exploding diapers and all) and then packed a little more than we needed because we had no plans to send out laundry. It worked out well — the only things we did not use were the clothes that were too big.

So there you have it! Next up? Gear for us.

Along with all the lists and stuff, there are some practical things to mention about our trip. One of those things is about where we stayed.

There are a lot of options for places to stay when travelling to Addis, suiting all sorts of price ranges and needs. And it took us a long time to decide on where we were going to stay when we first started planning the trip. I am all about the cheap; I love saving money. But we also like our creature comforts too. So where to stay was a tough call, and we looked at a few options.

In the end, we chose to stay at the Hilton in Addis for a number of reasons. First of all, we could get a really good “adoption” rate (actually it’s a corporate rate) through our agency. That meant that for the price of a Best Western here in Ontario we would be able to still have some of the amenities we wanted, and that pretty much made the choice really, really easy.

The things we wanted in a hotel were not too flash, I don’t think: we wanted security and cleanliness, access to reliable power/water in case of rolling blackouts, a place to take the baby out to walk, and internet access. Security is an obvious thing, and one you’d consider when travelling anywhere internationally — with the outings and whatnot we’d be on, we didn’t want to have to worry about our passports or money (all cash, as is necessary in Ethiopian travel). So the Hilton has in-room safes or a safety deposit box to take care of those things. Access to reliable power and water is also a nice thing when you’re travelling with a baby, and we were told that the Hilton has generator power in case of emergency.

I was pretty insistent on having some sort of grounds to be able to take the baby out. BDH thought I was nutty, but my thinking before we left was full of “what ifs”. I thought about things like wanting to have a place to walk the baby if she was fussy, or being able to get out and walk around if we all got a little stir crazy in the hotel room, or one of us taking her outside if the other needed a nap. So that was important to me. And the grounds of the Hilton are really nice. You can walk around by the pool or the shops, or take a walk to the coffeeshop or grocery store on site. And it was really nice for Stinkerbelle to get out a bit, since she loves the outdoors and she enjoys walking in the snugli.

The power outages we’d heard to be prepared for were intermittent, but not at the Hilton. In the short time we were at the airport, the power went out repeatedly, but we only ever experienced flickers of power at the hotel. And that was a nice-to-have thing for us, just to be able to boil water to wash bottles and nipples whenever we wanted, or to have power for a bar fridge to keep drinks cold. Same thing with the water — only once when we were there did I notice any appreciable loss in water pressure. And after a long day of trooping around bumpy roads in a crowded van, I really appreciated a hot shower. And being able to flush the toilet, especialy toilet paper… LUXURY. Especially when some intestinal distress hits you.

Security was good at the Hilton, too. A little intimidating, perhaps, to see an armed guard at the gate and have a metal detector and bags scanner at the entrance, but in a lot of places a guard is de rigeur. It’s weird for me, since I don’t know exactly what the guards and scanners are protecting me FROM. My security concerns are more of the everyday sort, like I would look for in a hotel in any part of the world: Do I feel safe in my room? Is there someplace safe to store my valuables (money, plane tickets, documents and passport)? And as for cleanliness, the Hilton was clean and neat, and stylish in a late-70s sort of way. But comfortable.

Internet access was important for us to be able to keep in contact with people at home. We are not cell phone people. But we ARE email and internet people. So that was a nice thing, even though “high speed” in Ethiopia is not what we’re used to back home, and was out for the better part of a day at one point. We also downloaded some lullabies from iTunes for Stinkerbelle while we were sitting in the room one night, which turned out to be a great thing since she was used to the lullabies being played at the Transition Home.

Other great things about the Hilton:

• The staff. The staff were fantastic, and fawned over the baby like crazy. The service we got was friendly, and the help always appreciated. We are big proponents of treating people as we’d like to be treated (we’re big believers in the saying “you can tell the quality of a person by how they treat wait staff”) and so I think that really helps — if you are friendly and appreciative to those you meet, you get the same in kind. We got to know some of the staff quite well, like Misrak who did our housekeeping at night and always played and laughed with the girl, and all the security staff who had big smiles and love for her whenever we came by.
• The shops. I can’t tell you how nice it was to have a coffeeshop and a grocery store on premises. We loved going to the coffeeshop each morning, not just for the excellent baked goods and cappuccino, but more for the lovely staff who smiled and played with the baby and taught us at least one new word or cultural thing every day. They became like friends we were eager to visit.
• On site restaurants. Okay, so the food was… meh. And probably way overpriced by Ethiopian standards. But nothing beats ordering in room service when you’re tired and don’t feel like going out hunting and gathering or cooking for yourself.
• Peace and quiet. We’re homebodies a lot of the time, me and BDH. And we like some quiet time. So it was nice to be in a peaceful, quiet environment for sleeping or for just spending some face time with our new daughter. We were central to getting out and doing stuff if we wished, but we had the option of staying in for quiet time too. And that was nice, on such a long trip.

So would I recommend it? Absolutely. Not a budget option, obviously, and it doesn’t have the camaraderie of a guest house. But it was perfect for us.

Okay, peeps. It’s time for another of our packing lists, from the Great Ethiopian Baby Odyssey of 2008: Miscellaneous Baby Stuff.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “Self? What kind of miscellaneous baby things could one possibly need?” Well, I am here to tell you, we took a buttload, and our daughter is just 5 months old. I can’t imagine the wagon train of stuff required for a toddler, for example.

So here’s our list:

• Teething keys: Packed and used. But not much. We brought along some teething keys, in case of… well, teething issues. Plus they were small and colourful, but didn’t make too much noise. Turns out, our daughter was only just learning to grasp things when we met her, so holding the keys was a bit too challenging to start with. She got better as the week went on. Now, she jangles ‘em like crazy. We tell her if she can get those keys to work in one of our cars, she’s more than welcome to take it for a spin.
• Ball: Packed and invaluable. Auntie Sherri to the rescue again! In her box of goodies, Auntie Sherri had sent along this fabric ball that has crinkly cellophane in it. It’s bright and colourful and soft, and The Girl took to it like a duck to water. She loveslovesloves that ball.
• Rattles (2): Packed and invaluable. We brought along two rattles. One is Mr. Toy, the famous toy of song and story, which she absolutely adores and could be contented playing with all day long. (It’s actually called My First Rattle.) The other was a soft, fuzzy animal-shaped rattle which was of no consequence whatsoever — again, because of the whole grasping issue. But Mr. Toy kept her amused for most of her waking hours during the week, and so it was the best $4.98 I ever spent (of course, I got it on SALE).
• Soother strap: Packed and didn’t use. Our daughter does not take a soother, so a soother strap, no matter how cute, was of no help whatsoever.
• Plastic pants (4): Packed and didn’t use. We brought along plastic pants for two reasons: 1) if the quality of Ethiopian diapers was sub-par, and b) if The Girl had the runs on the way home and we wanted a little extra protection on the plane. Turns out, Ethiopian diapers are fine — definitely not as high absorbency as we get here, but they were fine enough while we were hanging out at the hotel and all. And she had the runs, but nothing too much to handle, and certainly not more than could be handled in a quick diaper change on the plane. So one pair will be used for swimming lessons later on, and the rest we’ll pass on to somebody else.
• Loveys (2): Packed and used. We brought along two loveys for her to snuggle with, a teddy bear and a giraffe. The giraffe turned out to be too big for her little hands, and so was just a friend in the crib all week. But the bear, a simple little bear we got at Ikea, had a simple, friendly face which she liked and was small enough that she could grab his arms or legs and wave him about and such. They became fast friends. One night, when she did not want to sleep, we found her dragging Mr. Bear along the bars of her crib like he was a tin cup being dragged along the bars of a jail cell. We howled with laughter. “Noooooobody knoooooooowwwwws the trouble I seeeeeeennnnn…”
• Teething ring: Packed but didn’t use. Girl isn’t teething. And she would not have had the manual dexterity to use it anyway.
• Soothers (8): Packed but didn’t use. We brought a bunch of soothers — all ages, silicone and latex, everything. She would have none of it. Despite the nurse telling us she took a soother after her bottle, she had absolutely no interest whatsoever. Except for to fling them around like toys. THEN they’re cool.
• Bottles – 4 oz. (4): Packed and used. We brought both 4 oz and 8 oz bottles, because we were not sure how much she’d be eating, and a lot of families had advised the 4 oz would be plenty. As it turns out, she eats 6 oz. So, we did use them, but we doubled up. And quite honestly, without proper washing and sterilizing capabilities in the hotel, it was nice to have the extras. It meant we had to do dishes less frequently. We also thought they’d be a more space-economical packing option… yeah, well, we really could have done without and packed extra 8 oz bottles instead.
• Liners – 4 oz. (1 box of 100): Packed and used. See above.
• Bottles – 8 oz. (4): Packed and invaluable. Our daughter can eat like nobody’s business, so 8 oz was the way to go. And honestly? If we’d have been smart we’d have just taken the 8 oz, even if she ate less. It’s easier to throw out excess formula, but a hassle to make up bottle after bottle of the 4 oz size.
• Liners – 8 oz. (1 box of 100): Packed and invaluable. See above.
• Nipples – slow (5): Packed and invaluable. We brought the old fashioned, standard issue slow latex nipples, and they rock the house. We tried the silicone nipples when we got home and our daughter just hasn’t any idea what to do with them. Same thing with the newfangled high-tech, environmentally-friendly, BPA-free bottles and nipples we saw other parents TRYING to use while we were there. These babies are started on the basics in terms of bottles and whatnot — it’s what’s available in Ethiopia, right? — so anything else just causes “nipple confusion” or flat-out rejection. So it’s best to continue with what they know. I just wish we had brought about 5 more.
• Nipples – fast (5): Packed and didn’t use. They’re just too fast for our little girl, and not what she is used to.
• DVDs (4): Packed and invaluable. We brought 2 Baby Einstein videos along, as well as a couple of Disney movies. And when we needed a bit of time to eat some lunch, or when our daughter needed a little bit of stimulation or something different than just us, we popped in a video and she was enchanted. Plus the Baby Mozart music was great lullaby music, because it is similar to what they pipe throughout the Transition Home during sleep times.
• Disposable washcloths (1 package of 15): Packed and invaluable. For convenience sake, these rocked. They have soap and shea butter in them, and get all foamy when wet, so it saved us packing bath stuff. And disposables freed up packing space on the way back.
• Disposable face cloths (2 packs of 30): Packed and used. They were also a great convenience item, like wipes but for baby’s face and hands. It was great to have these since we were skeptical about using the water when wiping her face and hands, since it might get in her mouth.
• Bibs (wipe and wear) (4): Packed and didn’t use. These are the plastic kind, you can just wipe off when you’re done. But our daughter just wasn’t that messy. Soon, when she eats real food? THEN they’ll be great.
• Disposable Bibs (2 packs of 15): Packed and used. For convenience, so we didn’t have to wash any bibs, these worked well. However, I much prefer conventional cloth bibs (and so does The Girl).
• Washcloths (10): Packed and invaluable. DUDE. They’re baby washcloths. They work for EVERYTHING. And you can wash ‘em and hang ‘em to dry in the shower.
• Burp cloth (1): Packed and used. Our daughter didn’t seem to get the whole burping thing when we got her. I don’t think they burp the babies as a matter of course at the Transition Home. So the burp cloth was really kind of useless — we could have used washcloths for that.
• Change pads (2): Packed and invaluable. We used our change pads for everything: as an underpad for the crib, to set up a change table in the hotel room, for using at change tables on the road, for lining the bassinet on the plane… They rocked. Versatile and portable. Should have brought one or two more.
• Sheet set (1): Packed and used. We brought an extra sheet set in case of midnight diaper blowouts, because we didn’t want to wait on housekeeping if a change of bedding was required. And it came in handy: one change of bedding, no waiting, and no interruption in schedule. Perfect.
• Diapers (1 72-pack of size 2s): Packed and invaluable. We brought a pack of diapers, specifically for the trip home. And they came in VERY handy. However, we also got caught in the rush of parents being carted to and fro and so our need to go to the grocery store for FORMULA AND DIAPERS was kind of shuttled to the side in favour of SIGHTSEEING AND MARKETS (don’t get me started!!!). So we made do for a couple of days on this emergency supply of diapers until we could get out to a store and get some.
• Wipes (1 package, 3 bricks of 250): Packed and invaluable. Who doesn’t need wipes? Also, see the shopping fiasco above.
• Travel pack wipes (1 package of 12): Packed and used. But unneccessary. We had TONS of wipes.
• Nipple/bottle brush: Packed and used. Great for cleaning the nipples, and the bottle brush worked for the juice bottles and formula mixing bottle we brought along.
• Mixing bottle: Packed and used. We used this to mix up formula for the 4 oz bottles since measuring was a pain. But once we moved to the 8 oz bottles we didn’t need it anymore.
• Snugli: Packed and invaluable. The snugli was an awesome thing to have, for so many reasons. For one thing, there are no baby car seats in Ethiopia, and some of the roads are unbelieveably rough. Having the girl in the snugli, strapped tight to me, made us feel at least that she wasn’t getting her little head and neck whipped about all the time. Plus it was nice to have to take her out for walks, and out on outings. And it’s a great bonding tool. Even still she loves to be carried like she is in the snugli when we go into a store or whatever.
• Play blankets (2): Packed and invaluable. It was great to have a couple of quilted blankets to lay down for her to play on.
• Cuddle blankets (3): Packed and invaluable. Our daughter likes to have a blanket to pull up and rub on her face whenever she is tired, so these blankets were a godsend to comfort her. One is a hand-knit one that she used primarily for sleeping and stayed in her crib, and we’ve continued that here at home. The others were just cheapola fleece blankets ($2 apiece) that she used to cuddle with with Mom and Dad or while she was playing, but we also used to cover her when we went out anywhere.

SO that’s the miscellaneous baby stuff list. I TOLD you there was a ton of stuff.