I claim "New Baby Brain"...

Moments after publishing the last post we were on our way to Bekalu's appointment to the International Adoption Pediatrician, which will be a post on it's own...we were packing up the diaper bag and I found our ET customs form and I remembered yet another tip! ha.

Bring a pen with you on both trips and have it handy. You will also need the details of where you are staying in country, your flight number and your passport number/place&date of issue. If you don't have a pen of your own you will have to rely on the kindness of strangers, which is fine but probably one little thing that would be less stressful to just avoid. We were ok on trip 1 but trip 2 for whatever reason (ummmmm, we left within 48 hours of a confirmed embassy appointment? Maybe.) we never had a pen handy and I also did not have the address for Bjoe House written down. Anywhere. Yes, I felt like the dumb American saying... "Oh, yeah we didn't fill out that part because we are not really sure of the address we are staying." Because the smart American would have just said "The Hilton or the Sheraton" right?

I dunno. Whatevs. Learn from me people. Bring a pen and the deets for where you are staying. :)

p.s. exactly how long can one claim "New Baby Brain", anyone? Please, please someone say "For the next 10 years." At least.

one more thing, I swear this is it...

I really cannot believe I forgot to mention this tip. It bugged me every single day on BOTH trip #1 and trip #2.

Wear a watch. Here at home I totally rely on my phone for the time. We had one phone to share in ET and I rarely had it on me. I probably asked 100 times a day "what time is it?" The second trip was even worse because I was trying to keep track of when Bekalu ate last.

Ok, really, I think that's it.
No more tips from me. ...until I wake up thinking about something else you really reallly realllllly need to know.