Lucky

December has been a very busy month for us, but I'm finally able to post a few pictures.

Anna doesn't seem to have a clue about all this comotion, tree inside the house and all the lovely presents under the tree. Luckily she hasn't been nosy about them & just leaves them alone. And as far as the tree and ornaments, she loves to play with the ornaments on the bottom section that she placed on the tree herself. Her favorite is a tiny furry kitten, curled in a ball (it "sleeps" on the branches.

Natalie DOES have a clue about all the comotion and is, of course, extremely excited about all the gifts and impending visit from Santa. She's out of school now, so we all have some time together. They just sat down to watch Mary Poppins, so I'll join them when I'm finished blogging.

We are so incredibly blessed to have both of our girls home now safe and sound. And we're even more thankful to have them, now that CCAA has instituted more stringent rules for their international adoptions. The wait for those new families will get longer and longer. We are SO lucky. And that's what I need to remind myself on those days when they're both driving me crazy! :-)

I really hope Santa brings Natalie the "real alive" Pegasus pony (and all the accoutrements, including a stable for the backyard)... :-) We would be the talk of the neighborhood! She said if Santa doesn't bring it, she'll ask the Easter bunny.


What can you say about this.....it truly speaks for itself.
This is probably my all time favorite photo of our girls.

You can see the protective love of Natalie, as well as the trust Anna has placed in her big sister's care.
Little trouble-makers!

No miscevious smiles here!!! Yeah, right!
Exuberant.

That's my most oft used adjective for Anna. (Well, that is when I'm not calling her an imp :-)

This picture really shows that side of her. It is so hard to capture her playful side on film.

This was a typical weekend breakfast time...Natalie is a voracious reader and Anna, well, she likes to "read" too. I managed to sneak the camera in to catch this moment!.

This day she was very interested in reading the bird book I keep in the kitchen (to help identify different birds at the feeder). I saw a red-bellied woodpecker that morning!


I really don't know why it is called a red-bellied woodpecker, since it is actually red-headed, but that's what it is! It was quite large & scared off all the other birds when it decided to raid the feeder.

Earlier tonite the girls decided to try their hands at a game of "war" with Daddy.

I just love our family.

Lucky....that's us.

One BaoBao: Priceless

Anna has always been very affectionate and freely gives us lots of kisses. And she warmly welcomes lots of hugs and oodles of kisses from us.....but....maybe I was the only one who noticed that we didn't get a big, ouchy-squeezy hug in return. I would regularly say "QinQin, BaoBao" to her & from day one, we would get a kiss (QinQin, pronounced Chin-Chin).....but no hugs (BaoBao is "hug").

Today at naptime, as she lay in her crib, she gave me a billion-megawatt smile, held up her arms and said so clearly "BaoBao!" She said it with a mischievous look in her eye that said "I've known all along that you wanted a hug....I've been teasing you :-)" And she gave me a kiss and a wisp of a hug.

But tonight....it was something all together different. Maybe it was the hotdog she got for dinner.....who knows, but as I removed her from her highchair, she reached out to me and looked me squarely in the eye and said "BaoBao" and wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a big squeeze. Finally.....

I'll never forget that first real lovey hug Anna gave me.
Just like I have never forgotten the first hug Natalie gave me.

Some things in life are truly.....priceless.

Yes, we are still on the planet.....

I know it has been a long time....so sorry friends! It has just been a teensy bit hectic around our house lately. Nothing is wrong, just trying to get into the rhythm of our foursome. Maybe I'm the only one having more difficulty? But it really isn't bad. I still cannot believe how easily Anna has blended into our family. She's such a happy little tot (but she does know how to try to pitch a fit to get her way....but it doesn't work :-) I just dig in harder (well, usually!) The girls love like sisters, play like sisters and fuss like sisters! I hear the constant "sttooooop" from both of them....that must have been Anna's first english word. Speaking of english, she tends to pick up at least one new word each day. And the past few days she is easily putting 2-3 words together...."I got you", "hold this", etc. I still try to get her to say Chinese words along with her english words too. And she tattled on Natalie in Chinese tonight! It was pretty cute....they were in the bedroom & I could hear a bit of fussing going on....then Anna burst out of the room saying a mouthful of chinese, followed by "Natalie!" and pointing her finger at Natalie :-) The Roger walked in and she repeated the whole offense to him....Meanwhile Natalie was smiling and trying to defend herself. I guess tattling comes in all languages! We can tell that she speaks chinese in sentences, not just baby talk. I looked up some things tonite & she says things in chinese alot such as "take a bath" or "wash hands". It is really quite clear (if you can understand chinese that is :-)

Here are a few more pictures we took recently.....and by the way, thanks for the comments! I always enjoy them (and it is nice to know you're out there!)


Natalie and her cousins were having pictures made at the beach by a professional, and when she was finished, Natalie claimed a wave came up and knocked her down....hhmmmmm.....me thinks she msut have been in the water more than her ankles to get this wet! I was busy trying to coax a smile out of Anna....who was freezing at the time!

Aaaaggghh! A dingo ate my baby!!!!

Natalie hangin' with a few Melbourne buddies

" Yo! " or is that "Peace - Out!" ?? Anna is quite the Florida Gator fan, which makes her daddy SO proud! She can do a mean "Gator Chomp" and anytime she sees a Gator logo she screams "touchdown Gators" and throws her hands up in the air!

Just another day at the beach....

We travelled to Vero Beach, Florida to visit Roger's parents during the Thanksgiving holidays. Here are some teaser photos we took at the beach. I was going to post alot of photos tonite, but when I started looking at them, I realized I had taken over 70 photos over the few days we were gone, so I need more time to pull together a decent posting. In the meantime, here are some of my favorites! (P.S. We are doing great and the adjustment is going well too. Anna is an amazing bundle of energy and Natalie is the best big sister in the world)

Great news and bad news

Sorry I've been not posting for so long. It was both a great week and a terrible week. I have been sick with pneumonia this week and it has been a long horrible week. I'm finally feeling a tiny bit better but still tired, but I wanted to get some recent pictures posted.

I also wanted to update everyone on the GREAT news we have about Anna. She had her cardio appointment this past week....her EKG was perfect, as was her heart rate and respiration. The cardiologist could not detect any murmur or anything with the stethoscope, but when we had the echocardiogram performed, they did still find evidence of her VSD. But the great news is that since her last echo, the hole has reduced in size and is now only open about 1mm! It has been closing over on its own, so our cardiologist said surgery is not indicated for her and the only thing we need to do is have her come back in one year for another look. With hope, it will be completely closed by then! But even if it stays like it is, she will have a perfectly normal life! It is the wonderful news we were hoping for and we are so blessed!

Anna and Natalie continue to do great and still no problems. They are both doing fine & getting along very well. Halloween was quite a treat for Anna!

I'm going to post some pictures and try to catch up before time slips away!

Princessa of the Sea - Anna

Happy sisters on a beautiful day

You can see why we always say "monkey see, monkey do" around our house! Anna copies everything Natalie does......which is not always a good thing :-)

Poor Simon is now the constant center of Anna's universe. He tries to stay away, but she always finds him!

Natalie was "Little Red Riding Hood" at the Fairytale ball at school last week. Too cute!

Anna the princess figured out really quickly that it was pretty cool to get candy handed to you at each house! She has a sweet tooth and would love to eat the entire bag if possible! Natalie the queen was in charge.

Back to the land of the awake...

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting in a few days....I was stricken with a horrible case of jet lag and pure laziness I guess! I have finally recovered (I hope...we'll see if tonight brings another solid night of sleep for me).

Roger and the girls have been sleeping just fine and on a normal schedule, so that's good. I have forced myself to get up at the normal time (just like work) to get my shower, dressed & some makeup before taking Natalie to school at 7:35 each morning. It would be so easy to just be lazy & sleep later but I want to try to keep on as much a normal schedule as possible. Even Anna doesn't mind getting up that early to have her breakfast and get dressed for the day! Whew!

She still amazes us every day. She has given up on us learning Chinese, so she just gives us the hand or head motions & points out clearly what she wants. She's not a fan of Southern American food (imagine that!?!?) But we're figuring it out together. She did drag me to the pantry the other day to let me know she wanted something in there. I pointed out several things to which she shook her head....then she grabbed a bag of Ramen noodles....she saw that Chinese looking food and went for it! She couldn't get enough! ha! She's learning English every day & can now say stuff like NO :-), hello, hi, bye bye, more, thank you, Hi Simon, one, two, three. She calls Natalie "Nat Nat" or Jie Jie and she calls us Mama and Baba (in a cute almost French sounding accent).

Natalie is doing great in school and had good test scores this week. She was glad to get back, but boy is this a busy week for her! She has dance on Monday and Friday, along with Trunk or Treat at church Wednesday evening, Friday at school she will perform in the Fairy Tale Ball (Little Red Riding Hood), followed by the Fall Festival at school, and then cap off the evening with a big Brownie event.....a sleepover at the church to celebrate Juliette Lowe's birthday (founder of the Girl Scouts). How am I going to keep up? Next week she starts basketball practice.

We took Anna (and Natalie too) to the pediatrician today. He proclaimed her healthy as a horse! She's a whopping 23 pounds of kiddo. They poked her toe for a blood test....and then she got 4 shots to which she protested loudly (as my eardrums can attest!) As soon as I grabbed her off the table to comfort her, she quit screaming & glared at the nurse. But a few seconds later when offered a choice of sugar free lollipop, she amazing calmed down, never to cry of fuss again! The doctor said he couldn't even detect a murmur in her heart, but we'll still see the cardio next week or so. And he said she had the best hemoglobin he's seen in a long time! He also said she was also obviously very well taken care of, as evidenced in her teeth and overall good health. Yay!

We went ahead and got Natalie a flu shot (she knew she had to be brave and not cry in front of Anna :-) She did great. I had the dr. also look at her hand....it seems the night before we left China, Natalie was bitten on the hand by some spider. We didn't know it until we were at the airport. I remember her saying her hand hurt, but we were too busy to even look (bad parents!) Then we noticed her hand was really red and swollen. I put itch cream on it & then later when I looked closely, I saw two big puncture wounds! Like fang marks! I kept antibiotic cream and a big bandaid on it. The next day the swelling went down, but even now, almost a week later, you can see the 2 holes and the area around it (approx 2" in uneven diameter) is darker.....almost like a bruise, but brownish not blueish. She's obviously not in mortal danger, but it is creepy to think of what was crawling around in the hotel room that night! A big hairy tarantula?? Ewwww!

Overall, we're really doing just great and we couldn't be happier that we finally found our second daughter! It has been a very long road, but it was all worthwhile. She is a complete joy to us and she is definately the funny one of the family! I predict she will be the class clown in school! She is our monkey (and that's actually her favorite word...MONKEY! She will pat her monkey's head, say Monkey, then pat her head, say Monkey and laugh like it is the funniest thing in the world! :-) I know everyone who has met her doesn't believe us that she is so silly....because when she's around anyone else, she clings to me and just gives her stoic expression. The only time she'll speak is when it is time to say goodbye.....then she waves happily...ready to get away from all those admiring strangers.....and says "bye-bye" with a smile.

Pumpkin patch time!

Baby and BaBa on such a beautiful clear day! So nice to see blue skies again!

She's really digging the backyard swing....good thing it is a bit cooler.

This was the first morning in her crib....she was pretty sacked out!
Can you even find her amid all the animals? The girls are 2 peas in a pod when it comes to sleeping.

Safely Home at 3:16 a.m.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are safely home and the girls are tucked into their own beds at home. When we arrived in New Orleans at about 11:30, we decided that we were all wide awake enough to make the drive home.....we couldn't stomach the thought of another hotel room! So we stopped at a McDonalds for a couple of big cups of coffee and a couple of Happy Meals since both girls slept on so much of the flights they missed their meals. After we pounded away the food, I remarked...."Boy, that was the best McDonalds meal I've ever had....to which Roger replied "me too!", followed by Natalie remarking "me too!".....and then, our sweet Anna followed along with her own "ME TOO!" in perfect English! It was the cutest thing and we were all laughing so hard! A memorable moment for us all.

So....off to bed to try to sleep for a few hours and then try to act like tomorrow is a normal day for us.

Our new normal.

Goodbye from China!

We're finally pretty much packed and ready to go home tomorrow morning.

We had a very busy day of shopping and of course our consulate appointment which went fast and now as soon as we land in Newark and the immigration officer stamps her passport, Anna will automatically become an American Citizen. Yay! I heard that some airports even issue the Certificate of Citizenship paper right then.....boy, that would be nice!

She's still doing great, just testing her boundaries (which are pretty limited some times with me :-) She's really funny to us after she gets in trouble, she just ignores us (like we'll disappear or something! ha!)

Roger actually got in to the shopping fun this evening....not normally his thing.

It is late and we're beat....just a few hours until we need to get up, so I'll close from China with these last few pictures. See you on the flip side!!

As you can see.....her devil horns manage to stick out when her hair is wet :-)

Anyone want to guess how much Roger paid for his genuine Tag Heuer watch???

Sometimes a girl just has to have her ice cream.....even on the commode (or is that a'la mode?)

Tuesday evening

It is Tuesday night now and tomorrow will be our last day in China. We have our consulate appointment for Anna's visa tomorrow afternoon and then just finish packing and we will leave the country early Thursday morning.

Today was a very lazy (and much needed rest) day. For the first time in over two weeks, we did not have to be up and out the door at any specific time. Boy did we ever need that! We were pretty lazy this morning & when we finally made it out of here it was almost lunchtime so we went to the Cow and Bridge again. Anna has no problem showing her snarly side, so mommy has now pulled out her snarly side and the battle of wills has begun :-) I'm too old and crotchety to put up with a toddler pitching a fit for chopsticks (only to bang them like crazy on the table waiting for food)....so today when she threw a hissy fit I just took her out of the restaurant and we had a little chat outside (just like I used to do with Natalie at that age). Of course she was mad at me throughout lunch (oh well) and just gives the cold shoulder when she is mad at you. She survived and so did I. She has been quite spoiled (I could tell that when we visited the foster family) and she absolutely cannot stand to be told "no" or scolded in any way. Well, sorry, but she just better get used to it :-) She especially hates it when Roger scolds her. But then, he has a way of making all 3 of his girls cry if he is "mean" to us :-) ha ha

After lunch, we took the girls to a little park nearby to play.....they had alot of fun as you can see in the pictures. Then it was time for Jophy to pick us up for a trip to the Jade and Pearl markets. Luckily I had enough sense to have Roger stay back in the hotel for nap time with the empress (or is that IMPress??) Natalie and I went and it was just stall after stall after stall of any type of jade you could imagine....I did some pretty good bargaining! Then at the Pearl market I purchased a pink baby pearl necklace for Anna (just like Natalies) and two matching pearl drop pendants for them when they are married. It is insane how inexpensive it was.

Tonight I wanted to do some shopping without the kids (smart mommy!) so after dinner, I sent Roger on to give them a bath and I went to Sherrys and got a couple of cute shoes and looked for some things for Angie (Angie, if you read this, Sherry said she should have those items for me tomorrow.....but I have seen them elsewhere, so I'll just get them wherever) I also went and bought two matching silk dresses for the girls....one set in lucky red and gold and the other is a pretty lilac. I got the 4 dresses, 2 nice fans, 2 papercuts for 290 yuan, which is about $35. It sure seemed like alot more at the time. I really should have brought my calculator.....

I'm tired & everyone else has gone to bed......here are some more pictures from yesterday and today.

Already looking like Grammy with the sunglasses propped on her head!

HEY! Did one of you guys eat my goldfish????

I think the girls need to work on their poker faces....not much of a bluff here!

Sliding with your new sister is too much fun!

Not exactly weight-balanced on the teeter totter! Anna needs a bit of daddy-power.

Whee!!!!!

Guanzhou pictures (repeat)

Sorry! That last time didn't get these pictures uploaded.....I'll try again. OK....so here we are today in Guangzhou. I had to get up at 4 a.m. and the girls got up at 5:15....not happy campers about that I'll tell you. But our guide had ordered breakfasts to go for us & they were boxed and waiting....We were actually pleasantly surprised when we finally got to our gate at the airport and found pretty tasty breakfasts of boiled eggs (a big hit with both girls!), bananas, assorted breads from the bakery, an apple, water and a ham and (?) butter sandwich. Not having coffee really hit us hard later on. But the girls both did great on the flight and Anna's first aviation experience was again....just perfect. BUT, it was only one hour. She stayed entertained with her dress-me bear and her tea. Of course she has a bladder the size of a pin head and never has to go niao niao unless it is an impossible situation......like landing an airplane. She howled and cried as we were landing and was not happy at all the people in front of us taking their own sweet time getting their luggage off the top racks and getting off the plane. Then naturally the ladies restroom had a line a mile long, so Roger.....ever the improviser took her into the men's room. She's getting used to the sight of a urinal :-) She fell asleep in her stroller while we were waiting for our mountain of luggage and then we were met by our very nice guide, Jophy. We went straight to the medical exam station. Boy what a difference from last time. I really like being in a group of one family! We went straight in...no waiting, no crowds or chaos....it was SO easy. You could tell that Anna was very accustomed to being examined and measured.....she was very cooperative and just laid down and put her hands behind her head while they listened to her heart. Speaking of her heart....you sure cannot tell she has any heart condition! She is extremely energetic, healthy, strong...etc..... If she is being slowed down by any defect, I'd hate to see how much more energized she could become! Oy!!!

After the medical and visa photos were done, we checked into the Victory Hotel (annex) and were presented with a really cool suite. The bedroom is actually round and around the exterior or that room is another small room with the computer & chairs, etc. There is also a sitting room with a love seat and a few comfy chairs. Not bad! The beds have been getting increasingly harder, so this one tonight must be made of granite. No wonder the Chinese do Tai Chi each morning....you have to get the soreness out somehow!

Time to go wake these guys up! They won't sleep tonight at all!! I'll probably write more later after dinner....it is so much easier now! In the meantime, here are some pictures from today.

Get a load of this shiner! It actually isn't too bad, but it is still a bit swollen. Ouch!

Two sister who love their books! They're really getting along great!

No more paparazzi-----PLEASE!!!!

More pictures from Guangzhou

Pictures from Guilin

On Sunday we took the Li River Cruise (aka Squatty Potty Titanic). It would have been incredibly beautiful, but it was so foggy, hazy, smoggy(?) we really could not see the beautiful mountains as clearly as I had hoped. But as you can see from these pictures, it was still quite a sight. The entire river was lined with these wonderful peaks. And all along the river banks you would see farmers in the fields with their water buffalo, or children swimming (ugh!!!) in the water. I was also fascinated by the people who were on their flat boats (or rafts?). And yes, I didn't have the squatty potty disaster until the very end of the cruise....when we were getting ready to dock. So at least we got to enjoy the whole cruise. Including some food that I have no idea what it was, but we pretty much ate it and it was pretty good. AND the best part is that we lived thru it! And we're not sick from it. But stay tuned....who knows what we could get sick from! We ate lunch today at the Cow and Bridge Restaurant (weird name for a Thai Restaurant). It was good, but I still think I prefer Busaba's or Bangkok Thai back home. And Anna prefers green tea and on the airplane today she guzzled chrsyantemum tea (ewww). She was very happy with the cruise cuisine (she said "finally! Something decent to eat and I can understand these normal people insead of these weird parents who don't understand me....")

Look at these amazing mountains!

Natalie finally found the "headless water buffalo" from Big Bird in China movie!!! A clue!

More cool mountains

They don't like each other, do they?? She loves her daddy! Yay!

This picture of the waterfall at the hotel our first evening does not do it justice. It is the coolest thing! At 8:30 each evening, they put on a show which includes the whole side of the building turning into a huge waterfall. VERY cool indeed.
The Chinese are very hard workers....I really admire their stamina.

Monday Pictures

Now that I have a computer in the hotel room and a napping toddler and husband, along with a Leapster-occupied older child, I'll try my best to see if this thing will let me download a bunch of pictures....so here goes!

Red Ink Stamp of Approval that Anna will keep us :-)

Natalie has decided to become a Nascar Boat Driver

Sunrise in Nanning - I would often sit and watch the sunrise over Nanning before everyone else got up. It was always so quiet.....this is the view from our hotel window.

Natalie at the Guangxi Ethnic Museum with a large drum.

Anna's adorable smile :-)

Natalie playing 2 instruments at the Ethnic Museum. They offered us tea and played beautiful music and then were so gracious and let Natalie play the violin-type instrument which also had foot pedals for drum-like music. She was pretty good!! Note the determined concentration!

On the train to Guilin, daddy and daughter took a nap. (Note the cell phone and photo album Anna always sleeps with.)

OK.....let's keep our fingers and toes crossed that all these pictures will publish to the blog. If so, I have another list of pictures to post in a few minutes from Guilin and up thru today.