And this was the crib I bragged about....

Don't know if it is the portable crib or the insanely determined baby, but either way- my husband and I now have a 25lb. problem on our hands...

Enjoy the clip....

Passports: Thank you Glenda...

So, as previously reported- I had sent my passports from Toronto to Houston TX for a Chinese Visa- and somehow on their journey they were lost. Let's see- the overnight Canadian company Puralator handed them off to DHL in the U.S., who proceeded to open them, put them in another envelope, and then put a new address on them to the wrong place- a family in West Virginia. Then, as a result of major layoffs DHL had that week, they handed them straight over to the U.S. Postal Service- Yes you read that right- $60.00 for overnight delivery turned into a regular old piece of mail. And consequently- no one could figure out where the passports were- because the tracking codes had changed so much. That was until I got a call from Glenda. Glenda works in the Houston Texas processing center for the U.S. Postal Service. She said- "honey, tell me your story" and I did, and she informed me she was on the case and would call me later that day. Well, miracles happen- she tracked the passports down- put them in her hot little hand- and made sure they were delivered that day.

All is resolved and we are now back in Europe with visions of attaching our passports to our body with a staple gun. It all worked out but I would say that lady Glenda luck was on my side this time!

Did I really send our passports away.....

We are currently in Canada and have devoted most of the past two weeks to trying to get my 16 month year old under control after so much travel. Just in case you are wondering- it's not really working but anyway-

I have been told that I need to get our visas for China done in the U.S. and since we aren't going to be back in North America again, I thought I would just Fed Ex the application and passports to a service in the U.S. (from Canada) and then they will take care of it, send them back and we would be good to go. We had 15 days to get this done.

WELL- Fed Ex from Canada takes about 5 days and I have been told customs can hold our passports for up to 5 WORKING days to verify them. So- now I am praying big time that they make it back here by the time we are suppose to leave or I will have one grumpy husband on my hands. Yikes. I will keep you posted on this one.

Can we file this under- what not to do??????

Reader Question about travel to Canada and Parent Letter

Melissa wrote the following question to us that I thought may be handy information for others:

I am wondering if you could tell me if I can use a birth certificate to take my baby to Canada by bus and also where I may go to get the letter notarized from the other parent not traveling with us. Thanks, Melissa.

The rules regarding bringing a child to Canada have been a little unclear the past year. I believe that parents now need a passport while babies can get by with a birth certificate but you should check on line with the US passport agency. Check this page for information: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1082.html To get the letter from another parent notarized, you can usually go to places like Mail Boxes Etc. and other places that ship packages . If you can't find something like that near you, you can ask any law office, accounting office, mortgage office, real estate office etc. if they can help. They often will for a small fee. Sometimes there are listings in the phone book yellow pages under Notary. Good luck!