And baby makes eight

We're going to China!

2011-12-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

We received our Travel Approval on Wednesday and today received our confirmed Consulate appointment, so all that is left is to get on a plane! We have a week to finish up the packing. We are off next Friday and will be meeting He Fu Di on 12/12. So excited! We are flying to Hong Kong by way of Vancouver. Then will take the train to Guangzhou, where we'll spend two weeks doing the finalization paperwork, medical exams, and consulate appointment. We'll be home the day before Christmas. Please pray with us for smooth traveling and that we do everything right to help Fu Di through this big transition in her life. We are so excited!!

Halloween 2011 and an adoption update

2011-11-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

Mr Conductor and Ms Knight trolled the neighborhood briefly on Monday. There were just a couple of other families out and we didn't go far before we were ready to go home, but great fun was had by all while it lasted.

Our adoption paperwork has been winding its way through the US immigration approval process. Our Article 5 will be picked up at the US Consulate in Guangzhou on November 15th, then everything goes back to CCWAA, where they will issue our approval to travel. We are hoping to receive travel approval by the first week in December and plan to travel immediately after receiving approval. So ready to be done waiting.

One step closer

2011-09-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

We are one step closer to traveling to China and bringing Faith FuDi home. We have finally received the next piece of paperwork in this long adoption journey, our Letter of Acceptance from China, which is the official approval of our application to adopt FuDi. Next we file more paperwork with USCIS to assure legal immigration status, then another approval from China and then we finally travel to bring her home. It's usually no more than 3 months for these last steps of the paperwork process, but I think about the only thing we can say with assurance she'll be home with us before the end of January. So much longer than we anticipated....last January I thought we'd be traveling in August. Ha! I am just thrilled that we are finally at the end of the grueling LOA wait. We were so sure we'd be on the shorter than average and ended up way beyond an average wait. But now we're onto the next step - more paperwork. At least from here it's much more predictable. Or so they say.

What a flower girl

2011-07-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

Melinda was a flower girl for a dear friend last weekend. She was a little nervous about her responsibilities, having never been a flower girl before (or even attended a wedding ceremony for that matter). But she didn't let that get in her way. She did great! She walked exactly where she was supposed to, at exactly the right pace, and stood up with the other attendants throughout the ceremony. Makes a momma proud.

Happy 9th Birthday

2011-07-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Half a world away Faith FuDi is now 9 years old. On our side of the world we are thinking of her and celebrating for her.

Happy Birthday big girl!

Care package

2011-06-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

We're making slow progress on our adoption. Our move slowed us down a bit, as we had to have a home study update done for our new residence. We managed to get that done in just two weeks - which allowed us to receive our USCIS approval at our new address, saving us the hassle of filing an address change. It worked out wonderfully, but meant we're a few weeks behind where I'd hoped we'd be. That delay, and the extra five weeks the homestudy took with our California social worker have us very nearly using the entire six months we were given to get the dossier to China after our pre-approval. But despite the various delays, our dossier (all the paperwork we've been gathering since early January) should finally be ready to go to China this week. Praise the Lord! So the rest of the process is a wait for approvals. We'll wait for China to review the dossier and issue an LOA (Letter of Acceptance), which we sign and return. Then we wait for China to issue a TA (Travel Approval), at which time we make airline reservations to travel to China for Gotcha Day. Both of these steps can take up to 90 days...so we could be looking at yet another six months before we can go to China. Sigh. We've got lots going on as we settle in to our new community, so we are staying focused on that and trying not to get too anxious about the 'when'.

In the meantime, we've received permission to write a letter and send a little something for her birthday. I am so excited!!

Faith turns 9 on July 2nd. I saw this shirt and just had to buy it for her. The little lamb is wearing a shirt that says 'You are loved' with a small embroidered cross beside that. We'll add some candy for the other children at the orphanage before we seal up the box. I am so excited to be sending this to her!

This week we also sent her a letter of introduction. If she didn't yet know a family was working to adopt her, she will soon. Our agency's facilitator in China will translate it and deliver it to Faith, who might, we are told, write back to us! We can only hope. I am so excited to be able to send her the letter and gifts, to know that she finally will know that she has a family working to bring her home. I wonder if she is excited or simply scared. I am praying for her well-being during this transition - such a humungous change for her.

Leaving California

2011-04-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

After 12 and half wonderful years in California, we are headed to Oregon to start a new chapter in our life together. As we have prepared to depart, we find ourselves trying to cram in just one more California adventure, week after week. First it was a Friday afternoon spent riding the cable car, eating chocolate at Ghirardelli Square, and buying souvenirs along the waterfront.

Then it was off to Muir Woods for a Saturday morning walk among the redwoods.

And then some after supper bike riding in the warm California sun. (Hard to believe our boy has graduated to a two-wheeler. Didn't he just learn to pedal his trike?)

California has been good to us. But we are excited to find out what awaits us next.

Time for an update

2011-03-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

It was time for a new look on the blog. A big thank you to Blogs with Purpose for the help in redesigning the header and giving us a fresh new look, complete with pictures of each one of my blessings (and their significant others). Our latest blessing, who waits for us in China, is over in the sidebar. Just as soon as we travel we will move her on up into the header. Still hoping that happens in August!

And just in case you are wondering what's up with the process. Our homestudy should be on its way to our placement agency and then the USCIS next week. Fingerprints, here we come!

Our family is growing again!

2011-02-13T22:00:00.000-08:00

Yup, it's time to do something about the blog name, 'cause we are becoming a family of 9. We have embarked on a new adoption journey, to a waiting child in China. She is 8 years old and waiting for us in Guangdong Province. We have been paperchasing since early January and hope to have our dossier to China soon soon soon. Then we wait. For approvals (both USCIS and China) and then finally we travel to bring her home. Most likely that will happen in late summer or early Fall.

We feel blessed to have been chosen again to be the family for another precious child of God. We can't wait to introduce her to you, our family and friends!

Adoption

2011-02-09T21:18:00.000-08:00

Adoption has been on our hearts a lot lately. ALL of our six children mean the world to us. It is the joy that we find in 'being family' that calls us to open our hearts and lives to children through adoption. Amy Eldridge, Executive Director of Love Without Boundaries, has written a particularly moving article about older child adoption here http://www.lwbcommunity.org/on-my-own.

I hope you'll take the time to hop on over the the Love Without Boundaries blog and read about it. (And then watch for some exciting news here in the next few days.... you'll see a hint over there on the sidebar...)

New blog

2010-11-21T21:03:00.001-08:00

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog. We're all doing well. Another year older, maybe a little wiser.

Recently I've turned my blogging attention to another topic that is near and dear to my heart - "living more with less." We took a big leap of faith 18 months ago which led us to many lifestyle changes. Come on over and read all about it at Simply Life.

And since this blog has been all about the two latest additions to our family, here are a couple of photos from Halloween 2010. Too cute!!

Between two Gotcha Days

2009-10-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

A little more than a year ago Melinda joined our family. A little less that three years ago, we were in Taiwan picking up Alex. On either side of those travel anniversaries, they each have birthdays. Alex turned four a week before we celebrated Melinda's '1 year home' adoption day, and Melinda will turn two just two weeks after Alex's '3 years home' adoption day. So from mid-September to mid-November it is one celebration after the next with these two. I can't think of a better way to spend the Autumn!

One Year Ago

Today (believe it or not, that's a smile)

Three years ago

Today

Writing, finally

2009-03-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

One of the things Alex has shown absolutely no interest in - ever - is picking up pen (pencil, marker, crayon, chalk or any other writing implement) and putting it to paper (or any other surface). In fact, from early on he was down right emphatic about not participating in anything remotely related to writing. Finally that is changing! He's taken an interest lately in the big chalkboard easel in the playroom, drawing great sweeping circles around and around. He's always loved circles and it's been fun to see him enjoy creating his own (finally!). Tonight we had an even bigger breakthrough. His very first person:

and his very first attempt to write his name (I've highlighted each letter to help you read it - A in yellow, L in blue, E in green and X in magenta):

I am one proud mama!

wow, where does the time go?

2009-03-13T21:14:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. I guess we've been busy! Alex had another eye exam under anesthesia in early February. His condition remains stable - no better and no worse. They determined that he is nearsighted on top of everything else, so he now has glasses, which should help a little 'at places like the zoo', according to the doctor. They are just a hindrance when he's indoors and doing work at the table, so we don't see him wearing them very often. But he sure is cute when he does!

As a gift from my company the four of us spent a week at Club Med Ixtapa Pacific in late February. It was heavenly to be 'in summer' after the long cold December and wet February we've had at home.

Melinda was a pro at lounging. She's now 16 months old and has really come into her own in the last few weeks. Suddenly we're seeing lots of smiles and hearing lots of laughter, after five months of very serious study and observation on her part. She takes learning very seriously. And her work pays off. She's feeding herself with a spoon and fork, and not far from using a knife. She drinks from a cup without spilling (most of the time) and is down to just a bottle or two a day - one of which remains in the middle of the night. She's even used the potty a couple of times in the past week. My little overachiever. We invested in a Learning Station and both Alex and Melinda love being at the counter helping prepare meals. Stirring and pouring are favorite contributions.

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T21:04:00.000-08:00

Wishing you health and prosperity in the year of the Ox!

Our day in court

2009-01-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our California re-adoption day. Yippee! Regardless of which type of immigrant visa you arrive with (IR4, which means you are a US citizen upon arrival in the US or IR3, which requires a formal court process in the US for citizenship), the state of California requires the formal court process to recognize the foreign adoption. Between Christmas and New Years Melinda and I spent a nightmare-ish 2 hours at the courthouse to file our paperwork and receive our hearing date. I naively thought we were simply going to drop off some forms and did not prepare for a wait. And we went right before lunchtime! 90 minutes of crying later, we finally got to the front of the line to hand our packet of forms to the clerk. 30 minutes after that we were finally out of there. The silver lining is that we received a hearing date for just a few weeks later. And yesterday was our day! Some time in the next 12 months we'll receive a Delayed Registration of Birth (new birth certificate) listing us in the Mother and Father sections and listing her as Melinda Hui-Min. In the meantime, we have our official court order as proof that she is legally ours. The hearing took mere minutes, leaving us alot of our afternoon left. So we sped off, with order in hand, to the Social Security office to apply for her SSN, where we learned there's some 'discrepancy' with her immigration paperwork and they will need to investigate before issuing a SSN. Hmmmm.

Here's an adorable photo taken during our swearing in....I didn't notice at the time that Melinda has also raised her hand for the swearing in. Too cute!

And here we are after the festivities. We had the same judge who performed Alex's readoption hearing.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T07:20:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Santa, one year ago

2008-12-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

I've been enjoying seeing all the 'last year at St. Lucy's' photos on everyone's blogs, so here is ours! Melinda was five weeks old when this photo was taken. (If we get it together enough to see a Santa this year I'll update this post with a 'and now' photo!)

Back to work, can you tell?

2008-12-15T21:32:00.000-08:00

My family leave came to an all-too-soon end just before Thanksgiving, causing the last month to streak past me before I had a chance to catch my breath. Thanksgiving came and went, without any acknowledgment on this blog. But we did celebrate and gave thanks for all our dear children, near and far. Melinda greeted her new country's holiday with gusto - loving every little bit of the Thanksgiving dinner that was put before her. (She ate turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie.) Alex, on the other hand, ate cranberry sauce, calling it 'strawberries'. We tried offering him ketchup for his turkey, but he merely licked off the ketchup and left the turkey. This picky eater stuff is a first for me. That boy is always expanding my parenting skills! Now we're gearing up for Christmas and New Year's. We'll have a house full - and I'm looking forward to the mayhem!

Melinda is now 13 months old. In a week she will have been with us for a full 3 months. It's hard to believe it's been such a short time. She's settled in so completely it feels like she's been with us since day one. She is a doll baby! She's sprouted three new teeth in the last couple of weeks (going from 7 to 10) and expanded her vocabulary. She's now saying hi, Mama, Dada, go (which really comes out ga and is usually spoken with the pacifier firmly in place between her teeth and her arm outstretched in the direction she wants to be carried) and hot (which she uses appropriately when standing too close to the oven as I try to remove hot pans while simultaneously keeping her from getting any closer than she already is). Here's a photo taken at exactly 13 months, on Dec. 5th.

How we spent our weekend

2008-11-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was our final Parents Weekend with daughter #3. I can't believe she is graduating from college in May! So we trucked ourselves to southern California to spend some time on campus with her. With two little ones in tow, we decided not to make the drive all in one day and left late in the day, stopping at a hotel for the night a bit more than half way there. We had a nice visit on campus, but while we were there the wildfires in LA closed the route home, so we had to decide - stay until the road is open or find an alternate route. We chose to take the coast road home, which nearly doubled the length of the return trip and necessitated yet another night in a hotel on the way home. It also meant that we spent alot of hours in the car, every day of our time away. Suffice it to say Melinda is not the traveler that Alex is. She did not like being in the car seat in the dark, nor when the sun was streaming in her window. It made for an unhappy camper a good part of each drive. When she wasn't unhappy she was napping, thank goodness. We'll wait until she's a bit older to take her on another car trip I suspect.

Halloween Photos

2008-11-07T18:25:00.001-08:00

We've had a request for Halloween photos, so here you go, Jill! Followers of the blog will recognize the outfit Melinda wore this year...Alex has worn it the last two years. I think we got our money's worth. Which is more than I can say for this year's costume. I purchased a skeleton costume for Alex that he refused to wear, so we punted. He's in the suit he wore to Jill's wedding last October (2007). Still fits around him, though it's all a bit short! With a pair of sunglasses he's transformed into one of the Men In Black.

The Dalmation costume is on its way to NH. Ella and her Auntie M are swapping Halloween costumes...you'll be able to see this Dalmation again next year on Jill's blog.

I'm trying something new with photos and have created a slideshow on Photobucket. Click on the photo below for the full slideshow:

Birthday Girl

2008-11-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

Melinda Hui-Min is 1 year old today!
Happy Birthday, baby girl!

My busy girl

2008-10-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

We've been home with Melinda almost 5 weeks and in that time she has blossomed. She is a BUSY little girl, determined to keep up with her 3 year old brother, into EVERYTHING she can stretch her little self to reach. She studies everything we do - how to make coffee, how coffee brews, how to load the dishwasher, how to remove everything from the dishwasher, how to remove toilet paper from the roll. Then practices what she has studied. She smiles and giggles and laughs regularly. She is so proud of her every accomplishment.

In the early days of agreeing that sleep had its benefits, she demanded that I stay with her while she fell asleep. It took me a few days, but eventually I realized I could sit and read while I waited for the eyes to close. This revelation coincided with the arrival of a fabulous book, Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three.

Alex is thriving at his Montessori school and this book set me to implementing Montessori practices at home. We've remodeled their room - removing the bed and crib and installing a child bed for them to sleep on. There are a couple of low shelves, with a few playthings on them, which are safe to explore when they are alone in their bedroom. In addition to the room remodel, I have been allowing Melinda to do many things for herself - things I would have thought she was too young for the past. She is learning to drink from a small cup, holding her own spoon at meals, sitting on a small chair at the small table where Alex eats during snack time. I'm carrying her a lot less than I might have. I put away all the toys that were not being played with, to reduce the clutter and make for a more peaceful and inviting space. Melinda spends most of her time these days working on open/closed and in/out - opening things and putting things into the open container, closing the container, opening the container and taking things out of it. So the Tupperware drawer contains everything she needs. The basic idea for the Montessori baby is to encourage self-confidence by encouraging self-sufficiency, rather than encouraging dependency by sending the message that Mom needs to do everything for you. It in no way detracts from the attachment and bonding work that we're also doing in these early weeks at home. In fact, I think the joy she gets in mastering new tasks has helped her relax and that has helped her bond well with us. It's an interesting shift in mindset, from the mom who takes care of everything to the mom who supports their growing abilities to do for themselves. But it is one that I can see is already, in a couple of short weeks, giving her a firm foundation for the years to come.

The Fog is Lifting

2008-10-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

We've been home for 12 days now and, hallelujah, things are starting to settle into the new normal. Last week was grueling. For our first five days home we had two toddlers on Taiwan time - sleeping away the day and up all the night. We finally got Alex back on California time by getting him up for school at 7:30 one morning, despite the fact that he'd only gone to bed at 4am. He suffered through a tired day at school, but from then forward was back to his regular 9pm bedtime. Our new daughter was terrified of her new life, and clung to me in desperation, hysterical if I so much as attempted to set her down. She'd get tired, fall asleep, awaken as I laid her in her crib and scream if I did not pick her up. She'd get over tired, fighting sleep, fearful of what might happen while she was sleeping. We saw alot of movies in those first days home - late late late into the night. Then we'd sleep from dawn until mid-afternoon. It was exhausting. Gradually the 5am bedtime shifted to 4am, then 3am, then 2am. On Monday (10 days home) a miracle occurred. Melinda woke up at 7am, and took a short morning nap mid-morning. Then a longer afternoon nap. Then fell asleep at 8:30pm....and slept until 5am! All three times, she went off to sleep calmly and without a fuss. On Tuesday she repeated this new-found ability to go off to sleep without a battle for two naps and bedtime at 8:45. Today we've repeated our new, wonderful, happy, mommy-pleasing schedule. Now that she's getting the sleep she needs, she's a happier baby. And with a full night's sleep, my sanity has returned!

She has been delightful to be with now that she is relaxing and able to be herself. Last night I saw the first inkling of what she will bring to Alex's life. She discovered the DVD player (yes on a low shelf at a perfect height for baby button pressing). So I brought a large piece of cardboard in from the garage, thinking to fashion a 'cover' that would render the DVD player less appealing. As soon as I laid it on the floor, she was all over it. She thought I'd found a new plaything. Alex is a very cautious child. He will reach toward something that he would like to have, but will wait for permisison before touching anything. He's always been like that, probably because of his low-vision, he's never really sure what something is, even if it seems like it might be interesting. Without encouragement he would never show any interest in a piece of cardboard. But as soon as his little sister started walking, jumping, sitting and rolling on it, he came along for the ride and was all over it with her, without waiting for anyone's permission. It warmed my heart to see him spontaneously join in the play with her. May she bring many such moments of spontaneous joy to his life as they grow up together.

And on a sad note, our camera stopped functioning two days after we arrived back in California. The lense, which is stuck half-way between in and out, refuses to budge, so turning the camera on/off gives us only a E18 error. Here is one of the three pictures we took at home before the camera's demise. A new camera is on my 'to do' list.

One of Melinda's first days at home

We're Home

2008-09-27T13:24:00.001-07:00

Walked in the door shortly before midnight Friday night. It's good to be home and we're ready to start the hard work that is adjusting a baby to a 15 hour time change (not to mention the jetlag adjustment for all the rest of us!). Alex is still on Taiwan time. The rest of us are probably also still on Taiwan time, but are pretending to easily adjust.

The flight home was long, but not terribly difficult. China Airlines moved us to a bulkhead row upon checkin (thank you!!!!), which gave us floor space and a bassinet. Melinda slept quite a bit in the bassinet, and Alex stretched out on the floor at our feet. The rest of us didn't stretch out much, but we all managed to sleep some during the flight. The last couple of hours seemed endless. Then the New Immigrant line at customs was at a standstill. I thought we'd never get out of the San Francisco airport. We made it home just before midnight (after two stops on the way homen- one for formula and one for burgers).

I've got some 'home at last' photos but they're still in the camera...will post them soon.

We've been to Tainan

2008-09-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

Monday was Forever Family day for us and Melinda Hui-Min. We arrived at St. Lucy's shortly after 10am (closer to 10:30, actually) and had her in our arms before 11. We took the high speed train down from Taipei. The train was amazing. It took no more time than flying when you factor in all the time in the airport. And was so much easier than navigating airports these days. Last time we spent a few days in Tainan before gotcha day, but this time we went down and back in the same day, which meant our suitcases could stay in one place. It worked out really well.

This time I knew to bring a going home outfit for the baby, and so when we arrived they asked for her clothes. Fifteen minutes later, there she was! She's a peanut but already mobile. As in walking. At 10 months. Yikes. She's afraid of strangers but has handled the transition unbelievably well. She's in my arms and as long as she stays there she's a brave little girl. Dad is anxious to hold her, but is being very patient as he waits for her to be ready for another new set of arms. We were at St. Lucy's until shortly after 1pm. It was wonderful to see everyone again and to see the new facility. When we were here in late 2006 they were still in their original building, so this was a whole new experience for us. Alex was a huge hit. They were happy to see how much he's grown and what a happy little boy he is. Here are some photos from the day.

Melinda Hui-Min meets her mom and dad

The briefest of moments in dad's arms. We'll treasure this one, she hasn't let him hold her since.

Melinda meets her biggest brother

What? She's walking?!

Back in the hotel in Taipei she discovers big brother Alex has some fun stuff to steal

We're in Taipei

2008-09-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Taipei early Friday morning after a long flight from SFO. It's been two days of getting adjusted to the time. Lots of naps on Friday. One big long nap yesterday....but I think we'll make it through today with no nap at all. Alex is doing really well with the travel. He slept well on the flight over and has been enthusiastic about all the trekking around we've done in Taipei.

Yesterday we rode the MRT all over the place. Alex loved it and is eager to be riding the train again today. But today we left the stroller at home and opted for a cab instead. After breakfast we spent some time at the jade market. Now we are spending the afternoon in our air conditioned room. It has been unbearably hot, which, I will say without naming names, is making some of us a little cranky.

Tomorrow we will take the high speed train from Taipei to Tainan and finally meet our little girl! In less than 20 hours we'll have her in our arms!

Happy Birthday Alex Chien-Lu

2008-09-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today is Alex's 3rd birthday! Happy Birthday big guy!

Alex, 4 months

Alex, 3 yrs

Final Decree!

2008-09-12T19:09:00.000-07:00

We have a final decree. Melinda Hui-Min officially joined our family on August 18, 2008. Welcome baby girl! We will shower you with love and the companionship of siblings as you grow into adulthood. I can't wait to hold you in my arms.

Thank you Judi!

2008-08-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

How do you like the new look? Judi, of Doodlebug Designs, through Blogovers With Love has added some pizzazz to my blog. Thank you Judi!

Travel News!

2008-08-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

First view of Taipei, at dawn July 2006

Finally! We got the call I have been anxiously awaiting for the last three weeks. We will be at St. Lucy's to pick up Hui-Min on Monday, September 22nd. I can finally book airline tickets. Yay! It's been an anxious few weeks. Ever since we heard about our first decree I felt like we'd be traveling the week of 9/22, but our agency discouraged me from making reservations until we had a confirmed date with St. Lucy's. With each passing day of no news, I got increasingly out of sorts. This Tuesday I had convinced DH to just book tickets for a two week trip, figuring that our appointment just HAD to be sometime between Sept. 22 and Oct. 2. He almost did it, but in the back and forth of trying to figure out how to use frequent flier miles with British Airways partner airline, Cathay Pacific, for one of the four tickets we need, the seat that was available was taken. So we were no closer, despite my desperate attempts to move forward. Back in July, when our dossier was FedEx'd to Taiwan, I put it in my head that I wanted some news by August 28th. This is the 2nd anniversary of our first decree in Alex's adoption case. It is also the 3 month anniversary of our referral. It just felt right. And by golly, it came to pass that we got the news I've been waiting for late in the afternoon. Now, I'm usually the last person to accurately predict anything. Give me a 50/5o chance, and I'll ALWAYS pick the wrong 50. So while I had high hopes for today, I really had no expectation that my hopes would actually be realized. So when we hadn't heard anything by noon, I figured it wasn't going to happen. With Taiwan 15 hours ahead of us, our agency usually gets its news from St. Lucy's first thing in the morning. By noon Pacific time it's the middle of the night in Tainan, so if you haven't heard by noon, you're not likely to. It turns out that it just took some time to get to the phone to make the call. I'm fine with that. I'm so fine with not having to wait through the long weekend. Our tickets are booked. Hoorah!

Cupcakes!

2008-08-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

I've been spending alot of time knitting lately. Mostly gifts for others. But in the last couple of weeks I've turned my attention to knitting with a purpose: to help bring Hui-Min home. I've stocked my Etsy shop with some adorable knitted cupcakes. The first half dozen have been set aside for Hui-Min and Ella - special 1st birthday gifts for my two favorite nearly-one-year-olds. The others I am selling as an adoption fundraiser to help defray some of our travel costs. If you have a wee someone who would enjoy pretend tea parties complete with life like treats, please consider purchasing some!

Did I say end of August?

2008-08-07T18:50:00.001-07:00

Before I had even made it into work this morning we received a call from our agency. We have a first decree! We'll be traveling to Taiwan in September to bring her home!!! Wow! That was fast. Happy Birthday to me. It was a great birthday surprise.

August update

2008-08-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

We received new pictures and an update on Hui Min today. She's 17.86 pounds and 27.17" long. So I guess it's back into the box with those 6-9 month clothes I thought I was going to be able to use (she was so tiny three months ago!). She was 9 months old yesterday and is right on target for height and weight. We're told she is very active, very independent, likes to crawl everywhere, and is very curious. Our update also said she can stand up or sit down holding something - looks like she's getting some practice at that on the side of her crib.

We also learned that our case entered the courts on July 23rd. Which means we've been in court for two weeks now. Which means if we speed through court as some people have been lately, we could have our first decree by the end of August. We're hoping so!!

Phew, finally...

2008-07-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

...we had fun!

We seem to have reached a milestone. Last Saturday we spontaneously headed into the ballpark for an early evening San Francisco Giants game. Alex had had a nice long nap, so was well rested, and it showed! He loved the two train ride in (BART to downtown San Francisco, then the light rail to the ballpark) and was cheerful and happy the entire time we were out. He outlasted his Mom, who found it necessary to doze on the train ride home while he continued to hoot and holler....a new skill he picked up at the ballpark. It was nice to see him enjoy himself - this was one of the first times he hasn't been uncomfortable in a loud and raucous crowd. I think he's moved out of 'toddler' and into 'little boy'! Now if we could only get him out of diapers.

It's out of our hands

2008-07-16T19:12:00.001-07:00

Well, technically it was out of our hands on June 10th, when we turned in the last of the notarized documentation to our agency. But today we breathe a sigh of relief with the news that our dossier was FedEx'd to Taiwan yesterday! Now we wait to hear that it's been submitted to the courts in Taiwan....which could be news that is some time in coming. Updates on the court process are few and far between. While we waited for Alex we learned that we'd entered the courts, then heard nothing more concrete about it until we heard about our first decree months later.

In the meantime, we're enjoying the summer in California. Alex starts summer session #2 at his new school next week. I heard yesterday that he's 'feeling more comfortable' in school...which actually translates to 'is no longer doing what we ask him to do'. Ah, that's my 'spirited' boy!

June/July update

2008-07-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo! We received new measurements and pictures of Hui-Min this week. At just over 7 months she was 26" long and 15 1/2 pounds. She looks like she might also be teething, don't you think?

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a family & friend filled weekend in and around the pool. Check out Alex's new found swimming skills.

Adoption Update

2008-07-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

It's been 5 and a half weeks since we received our referral and we've been waiting for word that our dossier was at least on its way to Taiwan before posting anything more. (Although you'll notice I added her picture to the blog header some weeks ago!)

We submitted the last bit of the dossier (notarized health forms) on June 10th. Since then, our dossier has been sent to the translator, then sent to TECO for authentication. Rumor has it that it will be leaving for Taiwan this coming week. I hope so! I don't have any idea how long it will take to get entered into the courts in Taiwan....but I am hoping that will happen before July is over. It feels like we're running in place.

Since I haven't officially posted referral pictures, here they are! Introducing our youngest daughter, Hui-Min, born Nov. 5, 2007.

March, 2008

April 2008

May 2008

Our last update was a few weeks ago. (We're due for a new one!) At that time she was just over 7 months old, and weighed 14 pounds. She is now 8 months old and we're eagerly awaiting our next update.

Happy Fathers Day

2008-06-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

Wishing everyone a happy day with those they love!

Musically inclined

2008-06-07T13:40:00.000-07:00

I was headed down the hall with laundry in my arms when I discovered Alex having his first guitar lesson. Of course I had to stop in my tracks and run for the camera.

it's all good

2008-06-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life goes along exactly as you expect. You make a plan, you execute the plan, you complete the task. Sometimes, it doesn't. Over two years ago we embarked on an international adoption journey. Two journey's, actually, one in Taiwan and another in China. We envisioned two similarly aged children with similar ethnic backgrounds but from two very different countries with two very different adoption processes. Our Taiwan journey had its beginning and its middle and Alex joined our family in October, 2006. Our China journey took a different direction. We've waited (with many many other prospective parents) as referrals in China have taken longer and longer. I haven't said much about our China adoption on this blog because there hasn't been much to say. We submitted our dossier in May, 2006. Since then we've simply waited in a long line, inching closer to the front, where referrals are made, each month since. Since June, 2006 the wait has gone from about 8 months to more than 24 months. Those in the front of the line right now had their paperwork accepted on January 12th, 2006. So I could have been writing about it, but all I would have had to say was 'we're still waiting.' But now, I have something more to say.

This week our wait in China came to an end when we instead accepted the referral of a little girl in Taiwan. It is a twist in our journey we couldn't have foreseen when we started this process, but one that is all good. We are delighted to be returning to Taiwan, Alex's birth country. Knowing that he and his new sister will share not only a common country, but also a similar birth and adoption story feels very very right to us. We're scrambling to finish the paperwork that needs to be gathered for submission to the Taiwan courts. Once that's done, we'll be waiting for court proceedings to take place and ultimately, a travel date!

(And just as soon as we can we'll share a photo or two.)

still a super traveler

2008-05-11T18:38:00.000-07:00

Alex eats grapes in a hotel room in Connecticut,
holding Salty for good measure.

Alex and I were on another major cross-country trip this past month. First a business trip in Washington DC, then on to visit friends and family in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. As usual Alex was a terrific traveler. While I worked Alex and big sister Kerry rode the train and visited the zoo (7 times in 4 days). Alex became an expert at unlocking the hotel room, inserting and removing the plastic card key, calling the elevator, guessing which elevator door would open first, and generally going with the flow.

on into Spring

2008-04-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

A busy couple of months left us with no time to blog, but finally we have a quiet afternoon to catch up!

We had summer temperatures last weekend and took advantage of it by hiking in the hills above Berkeley (or Orinda if you look East). If you look really hard you can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the background behind Alex.

Alex is officially closer to 3 than 2, having enjoyed his half birthday in the middle of March. He has all of the sudden started acting like it, too. We are happy to be moving forward with him - the terrible twos have been pretty difficult with our strong-willed little one struggling to make himself understood and frustrated when 'uh uh uh' doesn't cut the mustard. He is now using whole sentences and lots of words we actually understand. And he has learned to be patient for 15 or 20 seconds before dissolving into a tantrum when what he wants doesn't appear instantly. He took charge of the car keys recently and knows exactly which button locks and which unlocks the car. After doing his job of unlocking the car for us, he is happy to hurl the keys in the front door and onto the floor...luckily he hasn't insisted on driving yet.

We learned in February that his vision problems are likely more severe than we'd originally thought. In addition to the nystagmus that he was born with, he has damaged retinas (of unknown origin; though the eyes are healthy now he has scarring inside his eyes that is pulling the retinas across the macula). The retinal specialist we saw in February says he likely has no central vision and probably cannot fixate on an object with both eyes at the same time (since the damage is in a different place in each eye)...which means he likely lacks any kind of depth perception and probably has trouble with details (like facial expressions and identifying faces in general). We've spent the last couple of months in a self-directed crash course on visual impairment and have found all kinds of helpful folks in various online groups. What continues to amaze us is that, despite the dire diagnosis, Alex seems incredibly unencumbered by whatever vision he lacks. To watch him interact with the world you'd hardly know he has an impairment. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good that he is doing so well, despite his disability, but bad because we always have to remind ourselves - and others - that he needs different kinds of help when learning new things. (Like, he needs lots and lots of verbal clues. Remembering to be vocal has been a particular challenge. With our other children I perfected 'the look' that spoke volumes when they needed motherly intervention. Alex is oblivious to any 'look' I might give and forces me to express myself with words, something that doesn't always occur to me right away. So much for all that prior Mom experience.) We'd started work with the school district last Fall for Early Intervention services, and are in the throes of his first IEP (Individual Education Plan). We've also found a warm and caring Montessori school that he will start this summer. His in-home daycare provider has been perfect this last year, but it's now time for him to venture into the wider world of peers and teachers. Transitions are hard for Alex, so we'll be spending the month of June doing damage control. In the meantime, we're enjoying the spring in California.

Ocean Beach

2008-02-17T08:34:00.001-08:00

We've had beautiful Spring weather this past week - sunny skies and warm enough for just a sweatshirt. We seized the opportunity and spent the afternoon riding trains to the beach. The trip there and back was as much fun for Alex as the destination was for us.

2008-02-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

恭喜發財

Happy New Year!

Ella in action

2008-01-26T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here's short video clip of Ella at 5 days old and her helpful 'brothers' coming to see what is up with the new arrival.

I have a good excuse

2008-01-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

I've been on the other side of the country holding my first grandchild! Yes, it's true, my daughter had her baby girl and Alex is an uncle at the tender age of 2. Ella Cassady was born January 12th at 9:54 a.m., (Eastern Standard Time). Vitals: 6 lbs 14 oz and 20" long. Two days later I was there holding her! Five days after that I was headed home with tears in my eyes. She's much too far away. Congratulations Jill & Craig. Welcome to the world Ella!

Merry Christmas Everyone

2007-12-30T11:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Yup, it was a merry one at our house. The Lionel train under the tree became an obsession (and went back to the garage the day after Christmas) but My First Race Track and a Thomas the Train starter set appeared to take its place. Both much more age appropriate. He's even allowed to touch them!

Happy December

2007-12-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

Alex loves all modes of transportation. Two weekends ago found us in Walnut Creek, where there is a free shuttle bus (built to look like a San Francisco trolley) that runs between BART and downtown. We parked at BART, and rode the bus the eight blocks to downtown. Alex and dad stayed on the bus while mom went shopping. He loved it so much he talked about it all the rest of the day. We went back the next day and just rode the bus.

Knowing how much he loves seeing the BART train, riding the bus, or taking a car trip, I had to get the old Lionel train out this year. This is the first time in all the years we've had it that it's been set up under the Christmas tree. The original track belonged to my brother many many many years ago. When Dan was a boy we added to the collection, and built a permanent track (cleverly designed to fold up when not in use) on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. The plywood stayed behind many moves ago, but the track and train have accompanied us, packed up in a small cardboard box, for the last 15 years. This year, it's out of its box and Alex is in heaven. At 2 yrs old he is much too young for a Lionel, but he's been incredibly good about not touching it and simply watching it chug around and around the track.

We're anxiously awaiting the holidays here at our house. We'll all be home between Christmas and New Years, so a nice stay-at-home vacation awaits us. Liz arrived back from college yesterday, Kerry and Mark will be here early next week. All we're missing is our Jill, who is three weeks away from having her baby....3000 miles away.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T15:20:00.000-08:00

It was a quiet one at our house this year. No company, not even all of the kids home. A bored toddler, tired college student and grumpy parents made for one of those days. Last year at Thanksgiving Alex had been home just 5 weeks. With a house full of company he was overwhelmed and over stimulated before the day was half over. This year we took the opposite approach - no excitement whatsoever. But still he was having a meltdown by the time Thanksgiving dinner hit the table mid-afternoon. Maybe he just doesn't like Thanksgiving? He certainly doesn't like eating dinner at 3:30. These photos capture the essence of our holiday.

Alex drives his cars down the piano keys

Liz does her chemistry homework

Dan and dad munch out while waiting for dinner

Travel Town

2007-11-04T17:50:00.001-08:00

We were in LA for the weekend visiting our college student and her big sister during Parents Weekend at Oxy. After the campus festivities on Saturday we all headed over to the Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park - an amazing collection of retired locomotives. And for a third time in as many weeks we rode a miniature train around the park. Great fun!

Halloween

2007-11-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

We got a second year out of the Dalmatian costume, though Alex was a wee bit too tall for it. Luckily it was still in the mid-sixties when we were out with two girls from the neighborhood, so all we needed underneath was a pair of light cotton pjs. Alex loved his first experience with Trick or Treating - he scampered along with the group, stood patiently with them at the door, and politely accepted treats that were offered. Until we got to the end of the street and started back. Then he didn't understand why we weren't heading up the same driveways we'd just come down. He lost it when I wouldn't let him visit the same house twice. So we called it a night and came home. Which was fine since none of us need the sugar.

What's wrong with this picture?

2007-10-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

California Hayride
(note we are taking a hayride through a parking lot next to a strip mall)

It's Fall in California. We've had a couple of days of rain in the last few weeks (early this year; it's usually November before we start seeing rain again), the leaves on the oak trees are turning, the nights are requiring the winter blankets on the bed, and the baseball season is almost over.

We spent much of today at the Nut Tree pumpkin patch and amusement park. Alex had little interest in pumpkins, corn or hay....but there was the back end of a semi-tractor trailer parked next to the pumpkin patch and someone's camper parked next to the hay wagon tractor and those were pretty cool, in his opinion. He did eventually warm up to the corn bath - a gigantic "sandbox" filled with dried corn kernels. He had no interest in actually getting into the thing, but when he discovered you could pour kernels over yourself like water in the bathtub, he was pretty amazed.

Trucks vs Adoption

2007-10-22T19:06:00.001-07:00

We're doing our best to set the stage for lots of discussions with Alex about growing your family through adoption. We've read all the 'talking with your child about adoption' books for parents. We've examined numerous picture books about adoption (many of which I felt were too specific to other situations to be helpful). I found one in particular that I think speaks to all children who have been adopted, Fred Rogers Let's Talk about Adoption. So I ordered it last week and it arrived in my mail today. It is a wonderful book that tells children how they needed a family and their parents needed a child and adoption made them all a family.

After dinner tonight I told Alex I had a new book to read with him.

Me: Alex, I have a new book about adoption we can read together.
Alex: Trucks?
Me: No, a book about adoption.
Alex: (without further discussion, hustles over to his My Big Truck Book, plops himself down and starts to point out the trucks)

So much for adoption parenting. Apparently not as important right now as finding that big yellow school bus in the big book of trucks.

Speaking of truck books, one of the books we took to Taiwan last year was Byron Barton's Planes. It has brightly colored pictures, few words, and is perfect for a one year old. And we knew we'd be spending hours and hours on, yes, a Plane. We have since added two others in this series, Trucks and Trains, to our collection, and Alex loves them all.

Putting the garden to bed

2007-10-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

There's something about having a toddler in the house that made gardening a tad difficult this year. Years past I've started the new gardening year in January, sowing seeds in flats and transplanting to individual pots indoors while we waited for Spring. I can garden year round here and I enjoy having a summer garden, with all the heat loving vegis, then starting all over with a winter garden in September - carrots, kale, swiss chard, broccoli and cauliflower all thrive in the cool nights, warm days of 'winter' in California. This year was a tad different. All Spring I kept meaning to get out in the garden to double dig and sow some seed. Eventually, one weekend (right around Memorial Day) I dashed out to the garden center, bought a bunch of already-6-inches-high vegetables and thrust them into the ground. DH dutifully watered them for me throughout the summer, but I think I tended to them once. I even had a hard time getting out there to simply pick the ripe stuff. Despite beyond benign neglect, those vegetables just kept on growing and flowering and fruiting. We were rolling in yellow crook neck squash there for a while (although the zuccini faltered completed). For the last month I've been meaning to get out there and compost what remains...with the noble intention of sowing the winter garden seeds.

Today, seeing no free weekend days on the horizion, I put what passed for this years garden to bed. As I yanked each plant from the soil, I gathered up the remaining fruits - cucumbers, baby zuccini, summer squash, a couple of still green pumpkins, an already yellow acorn squash, and two half eaten red ripe tomotoes. (I'm glad somebody was enjoying them!) The new compost pile is started. And there is one less thing going unattended nagging at my conscience.

Happy Adoption Day!

2007-10-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Alex, October 2006 (age 13 months)

Alex, October, 2007 (age 25 months)
(Do you think he got some sun this summer???)

One year ago today we were at St. Lucy's in Tainan, Taiwan picking up Chien-Lu. We left San Francisco for Taipei on a 1a.m. flight. We arrived in Taipei around 6 a.m. Monday morning and boldly took the city bus from the international airport to the domestic airport ($1.50 instead of a $45 cab ride and just as efficient). A second quick flight from Taipei to Tainan, and before we knew it we were checked into the Evergreen Plaza hotel. We were treated to not one but two days of sight-seeing in Tainan by a St. Lucy's volunteer who provides translation services to adoptive families. She and her husband were so gracious! The second day (a day before we were to pick up Alex) we just happened to be near St. Lucy's and had the good fortune to be able to stop in and visit. It was wonderful to meet our son and made the next day a little less nerve wracking. This is not typical at St. Lucy's, but my earlier visit in July, to meet with the medical doctors concerning a vision issue that was discovered after referral made our whole 'gotcha' experience atypical. By the time Gotcha Day arrived both DH and I had previously met Alex and so it was 'gotcha' rather than 'metcha' day for us. Wednesday morning, first thing, we were back to St. Lucy's and this time we left with Alex in hand (actually, in arms) for our return flight to Taipei. By Friday night the three of us were back home in California. It was a whirlwind week!

It is hard to believe how quickly this year has past, until we look at our little boy and realize how very much he has grown in the last 365 days. He is a constant joy, even in the midst of being a very 'spirited' child with strong opinions about what he wants and how he should always get everything he wants. We are so glad he is a part of our family!

And since 'then' and 'now' photos may not be enough, here's the video of our Gotcha Day, which we had the good fortune to share with another Heartsent family. It still brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. God is good.

More traveling

2007-10-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

In the last week Alex added four more states to his 'states visited since arriving in the U.S.' tally. We flew to Boston, Massachusetts, then visited family in New Hampshire and Connecticut. On the way back to Logan airport we took a quick detour over the bridge into Maine. As we departed for home I wondered, 'Why didn't we scoot down through Rhode Island on our way back from Connecticut??' Oh well, another time.

We were back in New England for Alex's big sister's wedding celebration. Jill & Craig eloped in August of 2006 but also blessed us all with a traditional wedding ceremony and reception at the fabulous Castle in the Clouds in Moultonboro, New Hampshire on October 6th. The weather was perfect - unseasonably warm so the sleeveless dresses we all wore weren't an issue. It was overcast and perfect for pictures. Sadly, with a two year old in tow, I took a grand total of 6 (lame) photos. But the official photographer has posted a sneak peak on her blog. It was wonderful to spend time with all our family and friends - thank you all for making the trip! Some of you came great distances to celebrate with us, and we all appreciate it!

Alex is 2!

2007-09-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 14th marked the one year anniversary of our final decree in Taiwan. Alex has been our son for a year. Last year on the 14th we were still agonizing over the length of time our case was taking in court. We wouldn't learn until the 28th that the final decree had been issued, and we wouldn't learn until late October that the actual day of the decree was one day before his first birthday. It taught me once again that you need to be very specific when you pray for things. I'd said "I want to have him by his first birthday." I had meant "have him home with us" but I didn't say that specifically, and technically we DID 'have' him before his first birthday...we just didn't know it at the time.

Yesterday was Alex's second birthday, and what a joyful day it was. We'd had a party during our visit in Pennsylvania, with family, balloons, gifts, cake, candles, and ice cream, so yesterday was a low-key day. More gifts, dinner out (Chinese food, of course), and more cake. But no party. (This may be the last year he's oblivious to the lack of a party, so we took advantage of that!) Alex's dad has been working with him on the 'Alex is 2' thing....so now when you say "How old is Alex", Alex will say 'two'. Here are some photos of Alex, age 2!

With his snazzy "My First Toolbelt"

Engrossed in a book about trains (which he says as "timi", which makes 'More go train' sound an awful lot like "Uncle Timmy"!)

Super Traveler

2007-09-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

We are just back from a marathon trip to Pennsylvania and Ohio. Alex was a terrific traveler through two short plane rides, two long plane rides, 4 long car rides, 2 shorter car rides, and two bus trips around town. We visited family and more famiy during our week away. It was great to see everyone again!

4/5ths

2007-08-27T20:44:00.001-07:00

It's not often we're all in one place anymore, but last weekend, I had the miraculous wisdom to grab the camera and capture the togetherness of four of my five.

Alex loves his big sibs, who can read to him, get the Elmo DVD playing properly, and take him for all kinds of outings. Big sis Liz is back to college this week. He'll miss her after her summer at home with us. Bye 'iz. :(

Fighting fifty

2007-08-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

Apologies for this digression from the Alexfest that you usually find here, but I have to get this out of my system.

Some birthdays slip by ordinarily and without fanfare. Others insist on being noticed. Some people age gracefully. Others of us fight it tooth and nail. I had a SIGNIFICANT birthday storm through recently and I am still in denial. As proof that it couldn't possibly be, I've taken up a new sport: the triathlon. Yup, today my oldest daughter and I participated in a triathlon. Quarter mile swim, 11 mile bike, 3 mile run. Not the hugest tri around, but since it was a first for both of us, it was a good place to start. Technically this was my 2nd triathlon. I participated in the Emeryville "Shortest Triathlon in the World for the Smallest City in the World" last April, but that barely counts. I did nearly zero training for that one (ok, I didn't do much training for this one). And it was tiny - 100 yard swim, 2.5 mile bike and 1.5 mile run. I did it just to be able to say I'd done a triathlon (who needs to say exactly how long the course was??) But small as it was, I had so much fun, I was hooked. I immediately started looking for someone to 'do a tri' with me. DD took me up on the offer and immediately started a training regiment. She was pretty good at not ragging on me too much when I took more days off than I trained.

Once again, it was a terrifically fun time. My biggest fear was the swim - at every swim practice I became more and more nervous about breathing in when my face was in the water. It was almost as if training was making me a poorer swimmer. But today I did fine. I was torn between swimming in my assigned heat (women, 40 and older) and the last heat (children under 16 and anyone why didn't want to push it). In the end, I swam in my heat, but stayed toward the back where I found other like-minded women and kindred souls attacking the swim portion of the race in a more leisurely fashion than those in the previous heats. I didn't hurry, I loved being in a lake again - it's been ages since I've been in a lake - and I was through the course before I knew it. In fact, I completed the swim and bike portion in 1 hour 3 minutes. Way faster than any of my times during training. When I got to the run, my legs were dumbfounded. Honestly, I heard them say to me, 'You have GOT to be kidding.' I considered sitting out the run. But I feared the lecture DD would rain upon me and decided even if I walked the entire 3.1 miles, that was better than listening to a lecture about quitting. So I plodded on. Literally. My goal was to finish the course in (don't laugh) under 2 hours. I did it in 1 hour 44 minutes. Darn, I could have walked a whole lot more on that run course.

So now I've proved it- I can't possibly be fifty yet.

Uncle Al

2007-07-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

Alex is going to be an uncle! One of our older daughters is expecting a baby in January. Last month they sent us the baby's first picture. DH said to her "Wow, what a cute baby!"

We can't wait! We're also imagining the day when we have to explain, yes they are all ours...these two are our children, and this one is our grand-child. This coming week DD has the sonogram appointment where they should be able to tell her the gender. I can't wait to find out if I'll be busy buying more baby boy clothes, or more baby girl things. What fun!

On the China adoption front, the CCAA (official government body in China that handles all the international adoptions) announced this week that they have completed the review of all dossiers received in June, 2006. That means our dossier went through review without a single question. Completing review means we've been approved for adoption. Next step is referral. We have six and a half months of other applicants in line in front of us, so referral is likely to be still some time away. We're still hoping that it will happen in 2008.

Something to smile about

2007-07-16T19:59:00.001-07:00

A year ago we were in the throes of waiting for the court process in Taiwan to end. We had been receiving monthly updates about Alex for five months, and were anxious for a decree that would let us fly to Taiwan and bring him home. Month after month we received photos of a very serious baby.

We wanted to see him smile. DH said it best when he said that he was anxious to have him home so we could give him something to smile about.

What a difference a year makes!

The boy is in perpetual motion, a giggle and a grin accompanying just about everything he does.

Summertime Fun

2007-07-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

We're having fun in the summer. Here are just a few random shots from the last couple of weeks. Alex modeling his new sunglasses, which much to our surprise he leaves on his face. Alex eating his first ice cream cone. And check out the new Tonka truck. This is the biggest dump truck Tonka makes. It wasn't home 24 hours and he'd figured out he could get in it and go for a ride. He was in heaven.

Sometimes haste sends the wrong message

2007-07-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

I love shopping at thrift stores. You never know what you're going to stumble upon, and there are some great bargains to be had. Especially when it comes to little boys toys. I found the perfect car at a thrift store last winter - big, but not too big, with wonderful large black wheels. Yes, it's turquoise and pink. And it's a Barbie car.

But I have no worries that playing with dolls will make him less of a man in the end. So after the car had been traversing the house for a few days, devoid of occupants, I whipped myself out to the garage and pulled down the huge plastic container of Barbie paraphernalia we have been moving and storing for upwards of 20 years. I had to root around for a Barbie that had all her appendages (gotta love that dog), but finally found both a Barbie and a Ken. Two new occupants for the Barbie car in hand, I rushed back into the house to demonstrate the delight of having drivers in the car. In my haste, I paid no attention to their attire, or lack there of. The point was to have somebody in the front seats of the car. He's too young to manipulate Barbie clothing, so why worry about something as trivial as clothing? In the end, Alex was unimpressed, and promptly ejected them. I tried valiantly to demonstrate the coolness of drivers and passengers (and drivers who could put their arm around the passenger...ok, Ken was a little large for the car), but he was having none of it. The car had wheels and that was all it needed as far as Alex was concerned. So Barbie, in just her little white panties , and Ken, in his fleshcolored, molded plastic briefs, have been hanging out at the bottom of the toy box for some time.

That is, until last weekend, when apparently they were rediscovered. I was away on business and Alex's big sister was visiting for the weekend. Armed with her camera. Checking my email one day, the top picture is is what greeted me. Man I wish I'd taken 10 seconds to put a shirt on that doll all those weeks ago.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

2007-06-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from a 10 day business trip. I knew it was going to be a long time away from home. DH knew it was going to be a long stint as a single parent. Alex didn't know what to think. Within 48 hours he was asking, "Momma go? Momma go?" Finally, late Thursday night, long after bedtime, I came home. I scooped him out of his crib and held him close. He stayed fast asleep through the entire homecoming.

He stirred at 5 am and I was there like a shot. I scooped him up again and brought him back to our bed. He slept through it all again. At 6:55 he finally woke up. I was up but in the room when he sat up. He scowled, threw his head back so he wouldn't have to look at me, and reached, whining, for his dad. He spent the first 10 minutes refusing to look at me. But I was patient. Eventually I took him from his dad and started down the hall with him. He wasn't happy with that at first, but by the time we got down to his room, he was grinning at me and holding me tight. I dressed him and we were back to normal - his anger was gone. His welcome home wasn't the huge happy smile I had hoped for, but it was exactly all Alex and I should have known that would be the reception I would get. And it was a delight to see how quickly he was able to move beyond the initial emotion...that is HUGE progress for him. Six months ago he got stuck in his initial reaction and could not move beyond that, no matter what.

While I was away he learned to play the piano. We have an electronic piano, and he's discovered not only the on/off button, but also all the tone buttons that convert it from grand piano to organ to harpsicord and choir. I haven't had a demonstration yet, but I understand many happy moments were spent at the piano with dad while I was away.

Progress

2007-06-16T18:50:00.000-07:00

When Alex came home from Taiwan he had just started eating solid food and only then when someone else put it in his mouth. He preferred to keep his hands clean and wasn't interested in touching anything that was put on the highchair tray. We worked hard those first few months to encourage self-feeding and finally, after three months, he would gingerly grasp a cheerio between the tips of his thumb and forefinger and put it in his mouth. For a long time he pinched his food rather than grasping it. Gradually we worked our way up to bits of bread, bits of cheese, bits of dried fruit. But anything moist had to be spooned into his mouth by someone else. Hold a spoon? Fageddaboutit.

Over time he's become more comfortable with texture and moisture and willingly feeds himself strawberries, grapes, and banana, among other things. And lately he's even been interested in holding the spoon and stabbing it into the empty yogurt container when we're finished feeding it to him. But mostly he is happy to sit in his chair, and let us spoon breakfast, lunch and dinner into him. And to be honest, I have been happy to avoid the disaster area that is toddler self-feeding. Yes, it is a challenge to simultaneously feed myself and keep the food flowing into him at the pace he demands (and he is demanding, there should be no more than 10 seconds of empty mouth between bites). But we can get through a meal without even needing a bib when we're doing the spooning.

Today, however, we seemed to have turned a corner. He sat down to dinner and grabbed the spoon out of my hand. So tonight, Alex fed himself. As you can see he eventually tired of the spoon and went straight to the hand-to-mouth technique. No matter that there was little solid to hold onto.

In addition to the progress with self-feeding, his vocabulary is expanding by leaps and bounds. He's caught on to imitating sounds and will try to repeat many of the words we say. This morning 'sah-ine' followed my 'sunshine'. Not too shabby. He's added 'apple' to his 'juice', so we hear 'ap juice' now, and he regularly says 'hi dada'.

He's definitely no longer the baby we brought home and is every day more and more a little boy.

Phew, what a month

2007-05-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted. We've been way too busy! Just after our trip to the ballpark we were off to Denver for four days, home for the week, then to Phoenix the following weekend. Gramma and Grandpa came for a visit and then last weekend we were at the ER with a sick little boy.

We visited Uncle M and Aunt K at their new house in Phoenix a couple of weekends ago. Couldn't pass up an unbelievable Southwest airfare ($25 one-way - wow!) Alex was a terrific traveler, as usual. He loves being in airplanes, trains, buses, cars, strollers. If it moves, he's happy.

Gramma and Grandpa were visiting Phoenix while we were there and flew home with us. They stayed for just a few days, then flew back to Pennsylvania. The next day, Alex suddenly had a fever. The Saturday before Mother's Day found us at the doctor getting treated for an ear infection. We started on antibiotics, but his fever just kept going up and up. Later that day we were back to the hospital, where he got an antibiotic injection in an effort to bring his temperature down. Mother's Day was spent holding a very sick little boy. Late Sunday night the fever finally broke and by Tuesday afternoon he was back to his happy little self. It was a hard weekend.

Today we rode the train into San Francisco for the Taiwanese-American Cultural Festival in Union Square. We ate yummy noodles and rice, watched some beautiful Taiwanese dancers who were from the same county Alex was born in and listened to great music. Alex loved the music, cheering throughout the performance.

Alex's vocabulary has taken off in the last month. Over the course of one week we heard, for the first time, Cheese, Shoes, and Juice. Later he added Socks with the shoes. And speaking of shoes and socks, he's become an expert at removing both shoes and socks from his feet. I'm going to need to get some shoes that buckle - he's onto the velcro and it's impossible to keep the shoes on his feet anymore. Good thing summer is around the corner. We'll be barefoot until winter, I think.

A night of firsts

2007-04-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

Whenever the topic of baseball and babies came up, Alex's dad was adament that Alex would be five years old when he went to his first baseball game. "Old enough to appreciate it," he said. I think Alex's big brother was five when he accompanied dad to a game for the first time. Five is a nice age - definitely old enough to know it's a special event. I wholeheartedly agreed. How much of the game do you see while simultaneously entertaining a bored toddler, anyway? Not that I see much of a game anyhow...I have a very short attention span at the ballpark. By the fourth inning, I'm ready to go home. Thank goodness for things like beer runs, and expansive outfield sections to walk around. Last year I discovered that if I spend the fifth inning out and about, I can trick myself into believing I'm just starting a new game when I return for the last three innings. But I digress.

At four o'clock Friday afternoon a co-worker stopped by my desk to see if I'd be interested in two tickets to the Giants game that night. Foolishly, I called hubby to see if he wanted them. (Did I think he'd say no? What was I thinking? Obviously I wasn't thinking...) We weren't doing anything else, sure he'd like to go. So he grabbed some finger foods and warm clothes, and he and Alex picked me up at work and we were off. Alex was 19 months old when he attended his first baseball game. Alex was 19 months old when he had his first ballpark frank. (He LOVED it.) Alex lasted exactly one batter beyond the hotdog and was then ready to be out of his seat. Alex and mom did alot of walking around the park. By the third inning, Alex was done with walking around and ready to go home. Mom was ready to go home. Even Dad saw the wisdom of going home. By the time we actually got home, it was an hour past bedtime and Alex was tired tired tired.

Yup, Alex should have been five before he went to his first baseball game....but instead we didn't make it out of the first month of baseball season before making an evening of it at the ball park. You can convince yourself of just about anything (my 19 month old won't act like he's too young to be there) if you try hard enough.

Where's mom?

2007-04-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

As you may have already figured out, I am usually the one behind the camera. Couple that with the fact that Alex can't get enough of his dad at the moment and the result is that nearly every picture of Alex these days is him in his dad's arms. I think Dad was feeling a bit guilty about that this morning. During breakfast he appeared with the camera in hand. Here are the stellar results. Hmmm.

Ok, so it isn't always that bad. Here's another one, taken last weekend.

And one where you can actually see Alex too.

And in other news, we've started potty training - check out the big boy pants. We spent a little time on Saturday being diaper free. Don't you love the expression?

"Must you?"

What's in a name?

2007-04-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

It's probably time I explained this blog name, given the fact that our dear Alex, who joined his forever family last October, is our fifth child and thus the seventh member of our family....

When we decided to expand our family through international adoption, we jumped in with both feet. We figured if we're in for one, what's one more? So Alex will someday have a mei mei from China. We were logged in last June and are patiently waiting for China to work through the huge number of applications they received at the end of 2005. There are currently 7 months of families ahead of us in this long, slow moving, line. If we're lucky we only have another year to wait. If we're really lucky, I might be able to say we're half way there: 10 months down, 10 more to go.

And that's how this blog got it's name. Alex's mei mei is lucky number 8.

Here's to summer

2007-04-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

Happy April! With March behind us and the 2007 baseball season officially underway, winter is officially over. Alex's dad is a big baseball fan. He's good at rooting for the hometown team, where ever we're living at the moment. In the 80's, when we lived in Sioux City, Iowa, he cheered for the Twins and the Cubs, in the 90's when we were in Pennsylvania he followed the Pirates, and in the 00's, here in San Francisco, he's had season tickets with the Giants and attended his share of A's games. But he was born and raised in New England, so the Red Sox will always be his first love (someday I hope to reconcile myself to my second place standing). It's only fitting that one of Alex's first gifts from the New England cousins is a cap that is identical to one his dad has had for decades, right down to the worn brim edge! I think they look pretty darn spiffy together!

Wagon

2007-03-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

Another summer-like evening gave us an opportunity for our first ride in the wagon...a wagon we've had for 20 years. This little wagon has spent the last decade helping haul things around the garden and has been more reliable than the wheel barrow, which has a finicky front wheel. It's lost alot of its interior paint, but it cleaned up pretty good. After a few tenuous moments, Alex discovered the wagon is almost as much fun as a stroller ride. After his ride he had fun playing with Dad in the warm evening air. (Yes, once again he's trucking around in just his onsie. Honestly, we do own clothes for him. They just never seem to be on him when the camera is out.)

Eighteen months - time for a riding toy

2007-03-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

Alex will be 18 months old this week, so I decided it's time for a bike. Well, sort of a bike. It has wheels and you sit on it. But he'd prefer to lay on the floor next to it and play with the wheels. The boy is obsessed with wheels. We had beautiful warm weather again this weekend, so I broke out the summer pajamas tonight. I bought these off the Nordstrom sales rack last summer. They didn't look quite so girly at the time. This is the first time I've put them on Alex....or should we call him Alexa when he's wearing them?

Happy Baby

2007-03-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

Did I mention that I posted a video to YouTube that prompted me to finally start blogging? One weekend in February we had a nice warm day. We moved the water table outside and finally filled it up with water. Alex loved it! The table (which is really just a big divided bucket on legs) came with two little boats, a yellow cup and a tower, complete with water wheel. Water poured into the top of the tower cascades over the wheel, spinning it, then down into the top level of the table, where a waterfall flows down a ramp into the lower level of the table. We poured more water over that wheel! When we were finally finished, the clothes were soaked, so off they came. Alex enjoyed some time after that sans clothing. And that's when this video was taken. He has such a great giggle!

Chinese New Year

2007-02-26T19:30:00.000-08:00

We spent the weekend in southern California visiting family and friends. Saturday we went to the Chinese New Year parade in Los Angeles. Alex thought all the firecrackers were people clapping and joined right in, applauding each time he heard firecrackers. We went from the parade to a dumpling restaurant - the perfect way to celebrate Chinese New Year! Sunday found us south of Los Angeles, visiting with Alex's best friend from Taiwan. It was great to see David and his family again.

Finally bit the bullet

2007-02-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

A year ago I thought I'd climb aboard the blog-o-sphere and start myself a web log. It seemed a fitting way to share the second round of parenting DH and I had just begun. But somehow I found one reason or another not to do it. One year and one new baby later, here I am. Finally. Saturday found me uploading a video to YouTube (of said new baby looking absolutely adorable) and trying to make sure I included all the right email addresses in the "come see the cute baby video" message that was subsequently sent out to friends and family. That got me to thinking....blogging would be easier! So here we are, where those who might want to follow our journey can find us....and those who might not want relentless email about my adorable new baby can choose to pass without having to hit the delete button.

So, for those that might be interested, here's the adorable baby.

We had temperatures in the high 70's on Saturday and finally got to take the water table outdoors and fill it up with water! What fun we had getting completely soaked.