Waiting for Lauren Elizabeth

Goodbye dear friend...

2009-06-08T18:00:00.011-07:00

I'm referring to the end of a chapter of our lives and the start of a new one. I'm talking about saying goodbye to this blog that I've had since 2005. This blog that I've posted all my thoughts and feelings to during our adoption wait, in China, and then back at home. This blog that has been the catalyst to meeting so many wonderful friends over the years. It's funny how a tiny place in cyber-space can come to mean SO much to us, as this blog has to me.

I now have a new place to call my home and that's where I'll be for now on. You can find me HERE. Please come on by and visit often!

So now, with almost a quarter million visitors since the start, this is the end of this chapter.

2009-06-01T19:30:00.004-07:00

Baby, your Elmo is showing...

Whoops, momma's busted!

The rear view is much cuter at this age, don't ya think?

2009-05-31T21:01:00.006-07:00

Just time for a quick post tonight. Joe and I met a family from our China travel group for lunch on Saturday. They were in town for vacation and it was SO great to see them again and catch up a little bit. Here's Leslie and me with the girls...

Here's a few more pics from the weekend...

Bento? Hell no! But I can manage a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cookie cutters...

Lauren liked it just the same...

Elmo love...

2009-05-26T19:28:00.002-07:00

Update...

2009-05-25T10:24:00.010-07:00

We're still hanging in there, but Lauren is having some difficulty with the adjustment of me going back to work. It mostly shows when she gets up from her naps and someone she wasn't expecting is there to get her. When Joe is home with her she is looking for me and when I'm spending time with her on the weekends, she is looking for her Baba. She'll ask for the missing person and when she's told that they aren't here and will be back later she cries. Joe was with her all this past week and then spent the day out of town with friends on Saturday. Lauren had several crying fits after asking for Baba, including throwing herself on the floor crying and kicking. I just try to reassure her that I'm here for her and that Baba will be home soon. Once she snaps out of it, she's fine.

I don't know for sure if this is normal 2 year old behavior or if it's because of all the change she's been through over the past 4 months. I just try to be as patient and understanding as I can because I can tell she's confused at times and needs to feel secure. This is easier said than done, because we're all human and I'm not going to say that it doesn't sting sometimes when I'm with her and she's throwing a tantrum for Baba. No one ever said parenthood would be easy!

Well, let's get on to some pictures. Last weekend we went to a peach festival at a local farm. It was a nice event, but it was WAY TOO HOT to be out there. We only lasted a couple of hours in the heat, but Lauren got to ride a pony for the first time. Here's a couple of scrap pages for her 1st year book (click to enlarge)...

After the festival, we stopped for lunch. Look Dad, Lauren knows how to fold her pizza over now like a true New Yorker...

Here she is posing with her first refrigerator masterpiece...

This pic was taken on Saturday morning. We were on the way out and she had just given Lucy (our furbaby) her treat. She loves to do this...

Yesterday we spent the day hanging out with some friends at the pool. Lauren got a hold of her sunglasses and wore them all the way over there...

I'm hanging in there...

2009-05-13T14:07:00.006-07:00

but it sure is HARD going back to work!

On Monday morning Lauren woke up before I left at 6:15am, so I was able to hold her for a few minutes before I left. I told her that Baba was going to watch Elmo and have breakfast with her and that I was going to work and would be back after she gets up from "nite-nite". Then I gave her a kiss good-bye along with a quick hug. She said the sweetest "good-bye" while I was walking down the hall to the garage. I didn't loose it until I got in the car and I managed to gain my composure pretty quickly. I had arranged to pick up my friend, Christine, on the way in...I figured if I was distracted with chit chat, I wouldn't be tearing up.

The work day flew by and before I knew it, it was 5pm and time to go. I only called Joe once that morning and I got through the day without any tears until I called Joe on the way home. He said that Lauren was crying and calling for me when she got up from her nap. With that, the water works started and I had a little cry on the way home.

The very BEST part of the day was coming home and seeing her smiling face waiting to give me a big hug! Joe has been great and he's had dinner ready when I got home for the past two days so I can maximize my time with Little Miss. The three hours we have before she goes to bed flies by and it's just not nearly enough! Monday night as she feel asleep in my arms, I couldn't help but tear up again wondering how I was going to get up and do it all over again the next day.

I knew this wasn't going to be easy and it isn't, that's for sure! But, I can say with all honesty that it hasn't been as hard as I had worked up in my mind over the past few years while waiting and wondering how I'm going to go back to work. I am lucky that Joe will be home until he starts working again. The lose of his salary is hard on the pocket, but works well for Lauren right now. By the time he gets work, she will be ready to go into daycare and spend the day with other children. I think that will actually be very good for her and will go a long way in continuing to pick up the language and learning.

Thank you all so much for your well wishes!

Mother's Day...

2009-05-10T18:29:00.004-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day, especially those celebrating their very first one! For me there were some tears, but they were happy tears. As I was holding Lauren this morning I thought about the many years we had hoped and prayed for a child and finally she is here! It felt amazing!

Lauren has had a runny nose and a cough since Friday, but today she seemed a little better when she woke up. Now Joe and I both have sore throats and runny noses. I guess whatever Lauren gets will probably always run it's course through the house!

Today we took my Mom to an early lunch at Macaroni Grill (yum!) and then just had a quite day at home...just what I wanted. Also, I woke up to very sweet cards and a Brighton ID bracelet that says "Mother". I love it.

Here's a pic of Lauren showing Grandma ("ma") her gift...

The best part of any gift is playing with the tissue paper. Where's Lauren??

Oh, THERE she is!!!

This is fun "ma"!

Here we are before we headed out for lunch...

This week, blog makeovers, and Blogville...

2009-05-07T16:11:00.027-07:00

Thank you all for your well wishes and encouragement about heading back to work next week. We've been taking it really slow and savoring every minute of this week, and it's been very nice.

As we get closer to Monday, I'm getting more and more anxious about leaving her. I know she's in good hands with Joe and that does help with my anxiety. For those of you still waiting to bring your children home...be sure to enjoy every moment of being home because it goes SO very fast. I feel like the time I had with Lauren over these past four months was just priceless and I am so thankful for the close bond we were able to form.

Also this week, during Lauren's naps and at night, I was able to finish up the four blog makeovers for the winners I drew, plus I did a makeover for a friend and China travel mate. Here's the headers I did and you can see the complete blog makeovers at the links below...

All About Elizabeth (Anne)

Simply Mia (Susan, Matt & Mia)

Moments with Miya Mei (Sara)

From Dawn til Dusk (Dawn & Dale)

Our Sweet Julia (Diane & John)

I've been thinking a lot about what to do with my blog at this point. During the wait, I had always thought I would close it down once I went back to work. I figured I wouldn't have the time to keep it up anymore. I'm finding now that it's harder than I thought to just shut it down and close out this chapter of our lives. I've been blogging now since September 2005, right after we submitted our adoption application. When you're a resident of Blogville for three and a half years, it kind of becomes part of your life and it's hard to let go. Does this sound strange or do other Blogville residents get this? For now, I've decided to keep the blog up and try to update at least once a week. We'll see how it goes and how I feel once I get settled back in at work.

Last week at home...

2009-05-03T22:43:00.005-07:00

When I wake up in the morning I start the week I've been dreading since we brought Lauren home. It's my last week of maternity leave and I have so many mixed emotions about it.

After being with Lauren pretty much 24/7 for the past four months, I can't imagine not being with her during the day. I'm going back to work full-time and with my schedule I leave the house by 6:15am and don't get home until 5:45pm. That's a LONG time away from her! Joe will be at home playing Mr. Mom until he finds a new job, which makes me feel much better about going back. We already have a daycare picked out, so when the time comes we can enroll her. I may even check into having her go there one day a week to see how she does.

Part of me is looking forward to getting back to work. I've really missed the people there and the social aspect of going into the office every day. I've worked for the same employer (a local government) for 22 years so it feels like home to me. The other part of me wants to be here in the morning when Little Miss wakes up and cries out, I want to be here when she's ready to snuggle in for her nap, and I want to laugh and play with her during the day. She is constantly learning and picking up things everyday and I don't want to miss a minute of it!

I also worry about Lauren's adjustment to not having me around. She's already been through a major change in her life and I keep worrying that she'll think I left her. Even with Joe here, I worry that she will need me and I won't be here.

That first day driving into work is going to be HARD and I'm sure the tears will be flowing, just as they are now even thinking about it. I know there are many of you out there who have had to take this first drive back to work. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

Here's a few pics from over the past few days...

Also, I'm just wrapping up my first blog makeover for Dawn, who won a new header. Her blog is for invited readers only, but if you have access you can see it here.

Drumroll, please....

2009-05-01T13:19:00.008-07:00

I had Joe draw the names since Little Miss is napping...

After I took this pic, I thought of "Thing" from The Adams Family (wasn't that the hand from the show?)...

and the winners of a new blog header created just for you are...

If you are a winner, please e-mail me here and let me know the following:

What colors would you like?
What style do you like?
Do you have photos you would like to incorporate?
Is your header going to "float" on a white background (like mine above)?
What text would you like on the header (your blog name plus any other text)?
Is your blog set-up in the new Blogger format (elements style)?

I'm looking forward to hearing from you all!

2009-04-28T14:00:00.007-07:00

I've always wanted to do one of those bloggy give-aways...you know, one of those drawings for a prize. The only problem is that I could never think of a good prize. I've been thinking that since I love to mess around with digital scrapbooking and not everyone in Blogville has a blog header they love, why not create a blog header as a prize.

If you're interested in having a new header created just for you, leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a name or two on Friday morning. Oh, also leave an e-mail address I can reach you at if you have a "non-reply" blogger profile.

More Disney stuff...

2009-04-23T23:45:00.017-07:00

While Lauren was napping today, I put together some pages for her 1st year scrapbook (click to enlarge). I swear if Lauren didn't nap, I'd never get anything done!

For those of you who follow what goes on at Disneyland, you know that the Small World ride has been closed for renovations for quite some time. Now that it's re-opened there are some Disney purists who don't like the fact that Disney has incorporated characters into the attraction. For those of you interested in how they did it, I snapped some pics of the ones that I noticed...

I'm kind of torn on if I like them incorporated or not. Some of them blend into the attraction and fit in better than others. I do think that kids will like trying to pick out their favorite characters.

TIP: If you're heading to Disney soon with your little ones and it's their first time at the park, the shops have cute little "1st Visit" buttons they will give you.

Lauren ripped it off in two seconds, like her hair clips, but it makes a nice souvenir.

It was a great trip...

2009-04-22T16:59:00.008-07:00

We got back from Disney yesterday evening and we had a GREAT time! I would say the biggest struggle was the car ride there and back. Little Miss doesn't like to be cooped up in the car seat for longer than an hour or so at a time. After that, she starts whining and then goes into full throttle crying. We actually got lucky and she fell asleep shortly after we left and got a good two hour nap in. After a quick rest stop, we put Elmo on the DVD player and she was good for another hour or so and didn't start whining until right before we stopped for lunch. After lunch was another story though...she whined and cried every half hour or so and we ended up making quite a few stops. A ride that should have taken about 6.5 or 7 hours took us 8 hours.

Once there we checked into our hotel, the Candy Cane Inn,(we love this place) and headed to Downtown Disney for some dinner and to pick up our park tickets. On Sunday morning we actually got up, had breakfast, took the hotel shuttle and were at the main gates to Disneyland by 8am. I thought that was pretty darn good for new parents on our first trip! We made a beeline to Fantasyland and rode Dumbo, the carousel, the teacups, Alice in Wonderland, the storybook boats, and Small World. Lauren seemed to like them all, especially Dumbo (she called it "Bo"). We really expected her to fuss and cry on the rides, since she doesn't like the carousel at the zoo or train ride at the park. I'm chalking it up to that Disney magic!

After that we met up with Michelle. It was really nice to see her again. We met almost two years ago to the day on a bloggy friends trip to Disneyland. It's so hard to believe that two years has passed! We all had lunch together, visited with Pooh and Tigger, and rode the Winnie the Pooh ride. Michelle, thanks again for meeting up with us and for the adorable little bracelet you made for Lauren. I put it away until she's old enough to wear it without ripping it off her arm! ;)

As we were saying our good-byes to Michelle, Little Miss decided to catch some sleep in her stroller and gave us a nice break. We took advantage of it and took a nice rest while sipping on some Hagen-Dazs malts (yum) in the air conditioning of the Grand Californian Hotel lobby. After that, we headed back into Disneyland and did all the attractions in Toontown.

We ended our day with the new fireworks show, which was AMAZING. Kim, do not miss this show on your trip. Also, make sure you watch it from a spot where you can see the castle (center is best). The show is a medley of the music and sounds from the major Disney attractions. The images they reflect on the castle and the fireworks they display are totally in sync with the music. It was a 9:30 show and we noticed people already starting to sit for it at 7pm! We got into the circle area in the front of the castle at about 8:45 and still had a great spot. I was holding Lauren up to see everything during the show and the cutest part was when she pointed up to Tinkerbell, who was flying over the castle, and said "bird?"

On Sunday, we went to California Adventure. It was record breaking heat that day, which did put a little damper on things. I actually broke down and bought one of those stupid squirt bottles with the fan on it...that thing was my saving grace! Also, we kind of made a little vow to try to schedule future Disney trips in the fall.

Oh, about the pink, puppy dog harness...there were TONS of kids with these stuffed animal harnesses on at Disney. We saw the monkeys and bears mostly, but no other pink puppies. No one gave us a second look. We used it every time Lauren was out of the stroller in a crowded place. She loved it and wanted to wear it. Also, when she had it on, she insisted that the "tail" be held. It worked out great and gave us peace of mind.

The Safety Tat also worked out great, but this is what it looked like after the wear and tear of 1.5 days at Disney. Next time, I will remove it each night and apply a new one each morning. We got several comments on it while in lines...all positive.

It was so great watching Lauren experience Disney for the first time! It was awesome seeing the look on her face when she saw the characters...especially during the parade. Besides the car rides, she was a real trooper and hung right in there all day thanks to her stroller power naps.

Here's a compilation of our photos. You parents will definitely recognize the music from Playhouse Disney (gotta love Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and My Friends Tigger and Pooh)...

Mickey, here we come...

2009-04-16T21:05:00.003-07:00

We take off for Disneyland on Saturday. I'm getting a little worried about having Little Miss in the carseat for that long (about 7 hours). We are planning on leaving in the afternoon and stopping about 3 hours in for dinner. After dinner, I'm hoping that she will crash out for most of the rest of the drive. I'm planning on bringing some kind of neck pillow to prop up her head a little bit while she's sleeping, since she always looks so uncomfortable. I'm also going to bring along a few inexpensive new toys that she hasn't seen yet.

We'll be doing Disneyland on Sunday and California Adventure on Monday. Joe gets in free on Monday for his birthday. If you haven't registered yet for your free day, head over here to register. It's great if your birthday falls during a nice weather time of the year. Mine is in July and you would have to pay me to go then!

More stuff from the weekend and drop-ins anyone?

2009-04-14T17:55:00.006-07:00

Here's Little Miss on Saturday all ready to go to Ava's 3rd birthday party...

Can you believe that Michele made this beautiful Dora cake herself? We were all quite impressed.

It was a really nice party and the kids had a great time. On the way home, Lauren finally decided she would hold hands with her friend Lily, which is a major milestone for Lauren. Lily is always trying to hold hands or sneak in a hug and Lauren just won't have it. They got a big kick out of me spying on them from the passenger seat mirror, so I had them say "cheeseburger" and took a pic. They thought it was pretty funny. Here's a scrapbook page of the pics (click to enlarge)...

Completely off topic...are there any local friends out there who use (or will use) Playtex drop-ins? I have two 8oz bottles and one 4oz bottle plus about 150 8oz drop-ins and some 4oz drop-ins. We only used bottles in China and gave them up for sippys when we got home. If you can use them let me know and you're welcome to them!

Easter fun...

2009-04-12T21:12:00.005-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday! We spent the day with my mom and my brother and his family. Lauren had a great time playing with her cousins.

Here's a couple of pages for Lauren's scrapbook (click to enlarge)...

Picture book...

2009-04-10T09:41:00.005-07:00

Here's a little video of Lauren "reading" her picture book with Baba. She can't really identify the pictures yet, but she loves to repeat the words as we read them. Some of the words like "apple", "juice", "shoes", and "milk" she's been saying a lot lately, but others she is learning from her book...

Spring has sprung...

2009-04-08T16:02:00.004-07:00

Today we had a great day at the park. Lauren's friend Lily and her mom and dad, Ann and Mark, hosted a Spring has Sprung party complete with Easter crafts, an egg hunt, cupcakes, and the bunny hop. Little Miss had a ball gathering up her eggs and checking out the surprises inside.

Here's a couple of pages I did for Lauren's scrapbook (click to enlarge)...

Ann, thank you SO much for hosting this adorable party. You were the hostess with the mostest and had every detail covered right down to the bunny ears! We all had a great time and memories that will last a lifetime!

Harness part II and tattoos too...

2009-04-07T20:56:00.010-07:00

After all your advice on using a harness and a call from my bloggy friend, Shannon (mom to twin boys), I decided to open up both harnesses and try them out. Shannon said her boys loved their monkey backpacks, so I decided to open the pink doggy first. As you can see it was a hit with Little Miss...

She loved having the doggie strapped on and when I tried to take it off to try the other harness it just wasn't happening. I guess we'll give the other one a try tomorrow.

Shannon also told me about temporary tattoos you can order so your child has ID on their body. I know I'm a crazed new momma, but I found SafetyTat and had to order some for Disney. They are really cute, as you can see here...

and if Lauren happens to get separated from us somehow our cell phone number will be printed on it. I know I'm being an over protective momma bear, but I just can't help it.

Oh, and I had to post a couple of pics today since I think she looks so cute in these colors (hey, I just noticed that I ordered the tattoos in the same colors)...

Momma, I can't take even one more picture...ok, here comes the whining...

To harness or not to harness...

2009-04-06T21:07:00.006-07:00

that is the question of the day. We have been thinking of our Disney trip and how much Lauren likes to be out of the stroller. The idea of Little Miss walking around among Disney sized crowds makes me cringe. You moms know that even if you glance away for a second at a mall play center, they disappear behind play equipment and out of your sight.

I used to tease my mom relentlessly about putting me on a "leash" as a child and how I'll be forever scarred from it. In reality I only know she used a harness from photos...I don't even remember it. Mom, the truth is out now and I guess the teasing is over!

I never really liked the idea of using a harness, but that's before I was a parent. Now that I see first hand how quickly Little Miss can disappear, it may be more of a necessity and less of a choice.

Here's the two harnesses I found. This one is from WallyWorld and can be used as a standard harness or on the wrist...

This one is from Tarjay and is disguised as a cute puppy dog backpack...

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with either of these and how they worked out for you. I bought both and I think I'll try them on her and see which one fits better. Based on that and any advice I get here, one of these will be going to Disney with us.

I'll leave you all with a few pics from last week. Lauren and I joined a friend for a tour and lunch at a local olive mill. They harvest olives and bottle their own extra virgin olive oil.

Look at me...

2009-04-03T14:14:00.006-07:00

I can slide all by myself now! I think watching my friend, Lily, slide gave me the courage to try it without holding momma's hand...

2009-03-30T20:03:00.009-07:00

Gosh, I don't know where the time goes anymore! Since I've been home on leave I hardly know what day of the week it is or what date it is on the calendar. The days have a way of all running together and the weeks are just flying by.

We've been busy with fun stuff like Gymboree play classes, story time at the book store, play dates, the park, mornings at the zoo, the mall play centers, shopping, etc. This fun, carefree life all goes away on May 11th when I go back to work full-time. At that point I will definitely know what day of the week it is, because I'll be counting the days until the weekend!

I'm just now starting my quest for daycare, since Joe just got a temporary job through June. All along the plan was to have him stay home with Lauren until he found a permanent job, so I feel like I'm getting a late start on this. Today I checked out a Chinese daycare we have close by and I have an appointment with Tutor Time on Thursday. I'm going to check out Kindercare next week and we also have a few locally owned centers I'd like to check into.

For the month of April, my focus will be on getting Lauren ready to be separated from us during the day. Up until now, she has always been with one of us (mostly me) so this is going to be a challenge. I'm going to start by leaving her with family for very short periods of time and building up the time slowly. Also, the center we select needs to work with us by letting me leave her for short periods of time several times before she's there for the whole day. I'm not sure who this will be harder on...her or me. I'm betting me!

Well, here's some pics from the past week...

Momma, stickers are fun...do you want one?

They have fun stuff to play with at Gymboree...

Warm chocolate chip cookies are yummy...

I had fun holding hands with Aunt Stephanie and Emily at the Arts Festival...

Josh gave me a horsey-back ride...

and he likes to pick me up and carry me...

he takes good care of me...

Also, I tried my hand at making some fun hair clippies. They aren't perfect or fancy, but I think they turned out kinda cute. Look, Stephe, they actually have a little bit of bling...are you proud?

In April we are taking Lauren to Disneyland as our last hurrah before I go back to work. Before you say it...I know she's too young, but the trip is honestly more for us than for her anyway. I've been waiting a gazillion years to take a Disney trip with our own child and I'm not waiting any longer! ;) I made these hair clippies with our trip in mind...

Happy Birthday, baby!

2009-03-25T00:00:00.002-07:00

You have brought us more joy than we ever imagined and we are so grateful to have you in our lives.

We had a little get together over the weekend for Little Missy's birthday (click images to enlarge)...

2009-03-23T17:44:00.008-07:00

Hmmm...what's that momma?

Oh goodie, it's the Target ad. Let's see what's on sale this week...

You said we can go, momma? Yay!

Momma and I picked out these two swimsuit ensembles, each on sale for $9.99. Will it be the bright patterned bodysuit...

or the three piece one with the board shorts?

Or maybe keep both?

After an exhausting morning of shopping, it's a hotdog, macaroni and cottage cheese for me...

Look momma...all done!

Update: Here's Little Missy modeling the suits. The body suit is a keeper...

The other suit is darn cute too, but the pants are a little big and the top rides up a bit. For a skinny minnie she is getting quite the tummy.

Practice makes perfect...

2009-03-23T00:26:00.004-07:00

Here's a video of Little Miss practicing some names and words with Grandma yesterday. You'll have to excuse the noise in the background, as I'm cooking and using the salt and pepper grinders. I think her cousins will be happy that she is starting to say their names now!

2009-03-21T12:43:00.006-07:00

The front of our house appears to be a friendly enough place with flowers (ok, some weeds too)...

and other cute things...

But wait...what's that sign up there on the left?

What? Don't ring the bell? Well, after Little Miss was awaken from a restful nap more than a few times, a momma has to take drastic action.

Once time is spent getting her into this condition...

I decided that nothing is going to wake her anymore! Ha!

2009-03-19T23:24:00.003-07:00

Lauren is finally done with her 10 day course of antibiotics and her MRSA boil is gone. The pediatrician said this is the best case scenario since the boil never got worse and no other symptoms developed. Let's keep our fingers crossed that no other boils surface in the near future! It was SO nice to put her to bed tonight without the struggle to get the medication down!

I have no pics today, but I wish I had my camera out earlier today. Lauren was so smiley and happy when we were playing this afternoon. It's so great to see her personality develop. I think my mom described it the best by saying she's like a beautiful flower and as she blossoms her petals open up to reveal her true self. I like that and it seems so true. Those of you who are still waiting will find out for yourself someday...I just wish it was sooner for you all rather than later! :)

Thank you and random facts...

2009-03-15T20:10:00.013-07:00

Thank you for all the great tips on giving Lauren her medicine. Today we have found that laying her down on Joe's lap with her head hanging over a bit and me squirting small amounts from the dropper WAY back against her check and then pressing her checks together into a pucker has been working pretty well. Something about having her mouth puckered doesn't allow her to gargle the medicine out. As soon as she swallows, I go in for the next squirt.

Here are some random facts about Little Miss:

When I'm sitting she pats me on the arm and says "momma" to get my attention. The first time she did this my heart just melted.

She says "bye-bye" all the time in the sweetest voice I've ever heard.

She waves and blows kisses.

When I'm holding her she sometimes leans in and puckers her lips a little bit for kisses.

When I'm carrying her on the way out of the house, she loves to get a treat for furbaby Lucy and feed it to her. She always waves at Lucy and says "bye-bye" before we leave.

When she's in the car seat and I turn the radio on, she starts swaying back and forth to the music and sometimes claps her hands too.

After her bath, she needs to be wrapped up in her towel and held for about 10 minutues before putting her diaper and PJ's on.

She loves to get a squirt of lotion on her hands and rub them together.

Her favorite food right now is broccoli and she will almost always pick that off her plate first.

She's a very good eater and eats way more than you think she could based on her size.

Now that we have her on a good sleeping schedule, she's usually out within 10 minutes of putting her down in her crib.

She can point to and say two body parts so far..."nose" and "tummy".

She doesn't like hair clips and will pull them out as soon as she's aware they are in.

She will finally let us rock her to sleep and hold her for more than a few minutes when we are sitting. This really shows how comfortable she is getting with us.

She likes to be carried around a lot and we gladly comply.

If Joe takes her in the stroller when he walks Lucy in the evening and I'm here on the computer, she will run in to find me with the biggest smile on her face.

She sucks her thumb a lot and if her cousins ask if they can have some, she pops her thumb out and offers it up.

She calls grandma "ma".

Sometimes when she plays with Joe's cell phone, she chatters away and then cracks herself up so much she tosses her head back with her hands on her face. It's really cute.

When I hold her she loves to touch the skin on my neck, face and chest and press her face against mine. It's the sweetest thing ever and it just makes me melt.

It's been a crazy week...

2009-03-14T21:07:00.015-07:00

Over the past week, my dad and step-mom have been in town from NY. It was SO great to see them and REALLY nice to have them staying with us and getting to know Lauren. I've learned quickly though, that nothing goes as planned when you have a little one.

The Friday morning my dad got in, I noticed something that looked a bit more serious than diaper rash on Lauren's bottom. After some advice from a friend and suspecting that it may be a boil infected with MRSA, which is an antibiotic resistant strain of staph infection, I made an appointment with the pediatrician. She took a sample of the fluid from the boil, sent it off to the lab, and prescribed two different antibiotics to try and fight off the infection. It took me all afternoon and trips to four different pharmacies to finally make it home with the meds. After two days on those meds and a fever scare, I got a call back with the test results. Yup, it's a strain of MRSA and the pediatrician had to call the infectious disease specialist at the hospital to figure out how to treat it. It turns out there is only one antibiotic that can fight it and Lauren has been on it for four days now.

The struggle to get her to take this med is absolutely heartbreaking. After the first day of trying to get her to take it and trying to think of every possible food or drink item to disguise it in, it's come down to having to literally hold her down and forcing the dropper into the back of her mouth. It's takes every bit of me and Joe to hold and dose her. The trouble we are running into is that once I drop a little of the med into the back of her mouth, she won't swallow and gargles it until it comes out. Even if we spill a little water into her mouth after each little bit, she manages to gargle some of it out. Getting her to swallow is nearly impossible. We have been laying her down flat with her head on a small pillow. Joe holds her body, while I hold her head and squeeze med from the dropper into the back of her mouth as she is screaming on top of her lungs. Any suggestions or ideas would be MUCH appreciated, as we have six more days of three doses a day and it's emotionally draining on all of us!

On the positive side, she seems to be feeling good and is eating and drinking normally. She has been having a great time with the family since my dad has been here. Here are a few layouts of my favorite pics with her cousins that I did for her scrapbook (click to enlarge)...

Here are some of my other favorite pics from the week...

Well, my dad and step-mom flew back this morning and all is now quite at the house again. It will be nice to get Lauren back on her regular schedule, but it's so sad to say good-bye not knowing when we'll see them again. We had a great visit and it was so much fun to watch Lauren with my dad and laughing and playing with her cousins all week.

Asian baby doll...

2009-03-05T08:11:00.008-07:00

A couple of you asked about the doll in my last post. Yes, it's Playful Patti by the Berenguer doll company. We received her as a gift while we were waiting.

She is a really cute doll and I'm sure Lauren will have fun styling her hair when she gets into that. If you search the dolls name, you'll find lots of sites that sell the different styles...seems the price ranges from $12.99 to $16. This place is closing them out for only $9.95 and you can see the different styles here.

Happy shopping!

My favorite time of day...

2009-03-02T21:55:00.009-07:00

is when Lauren just gets up in the morning or after her nap. That's when she lets me hold her close and snuggle. It's such a wonderful feeling to have her in my arms. I think about how far she has come since our China trip and how very lucky we are to have been matched with this incredible little girl. She has been doing this thing lately when I hold her...she touches my neck or lays her hand on my chest around the neckline of my shirts. I think it's a comfort thing for her, as she is usually sucking her thumb when she does it.

I'm half way through my maternity leave right now and the reality of heading back to work full-time is starting to creep into my thoughts. Since Joe hasn't found a new job yet, he will be home with Lauren for a while until he finds something. Knowing that she probably won't need to head to daycare yet makes me feel better about going back to work, although it's still going to be hard. I'll definitely be missing out on my favorite time of day during the week, so I'm cherishing every moment I get right now.

Lauren is changing and coming out of her shell more and more each day. At the mall play center she used to just stand back and watch the other kids, but now she gets right in there. She loves play cars and steering wheels.

She also loves to walk her little baby stroller around the house and backyard...

although half the time the baby ends up kicked to the curb...

Just over the past week she has learned to rock her baby dolls and feed them with a bottle. Today she started giving her baby a hug and kiss too. It's so cute to watch her do new things.

On Saturday morning Grandma and I took her in for her first hair-cut. I wanted to get those long pointy side burns trimmed and just shape it up a bit. She hated every minute of it and screamed from the time he started spraying her hair down until she got out of the chair. My poor baby!!

BabyHawk anyone?

2009-02-26T18:29:00.010-07:00

We have two BabyHawk carriers that we got before we received our referral. One we purchased and one was a gift. We took one of them to China with us, but never even used it. I think if Lauren was younger, we would have gotten some use out of it.

I thought I'd post them here and see if anyone is interested before I list them on Ebay.

They both have the espresso colored straps in the extra long size. Here's the first one, it has this fabric design on one size...

The second one has this fabric design on one side...

and this design on the other...

It also has a toy ring...

You can check out the BabyHawk carriers at their website here. The single sided one with the extra long straps retails for $85 and the double sided one with the extra long straps and toy ring retails for $100. If anyone is interested, I'd sell the single sided one for $50 and the double sided one for $65 (I'll cover the shipping cost). Please e-mail me through my Blog Profile or leave a comment here.

UPDATE: They are both gone...thank you so much!

Keeping busy...

2009-02-23T21:40:00.005-07:00

Thank you all for the compliments on our travel video. I'm going to tuck a copy away in Lauren's box of goodies from our trip along with a CD of all our travel photos.

Today we met a friend at Gymboree for some play-time. I think Lauren enjoyed it, so I signed us up for a month. It's a combination of structured and unstructured play and I think it will be really good for her.

Tomorrow we have an appointment for a developmental specialist and I'm hoping that she will give us a referral to our state program so they can come out to our home for an assessment. I would like to get a jump start on anything we need to work on. I know that language is something we definitely will need help with. I think it's great that Lauren tries to repeat a lot of words we say and does have a small English vocabulary already. She's added "bye-bye" and "juice" to the other words she was saying.

Here's a little scrapbook layout in the infamous "Brown eyed girl" t-shirt. She looked so darn cute and even left her clippie in for half the day before she yanked it out.

On Monday we assembled the Radio Flyer red wagon we bought while Black Friday shopping and took for a spin at the park. It was a big hit! It's so much fun watching Lauren use the items we bought for her when she was still just a dream to us!

Our travel video...

2009-02-21T23:24:00.003-07:00

I finished our travel video but was having some trouble uploading it. It's 15 minutes long and YouTube has a 10 minute limit. Also, the file size is too large for most of the other popular web hosting sites. After hunting around on the internet, I found a hosting site called Viddler which allows large file upload. I'm so glad I found it because the picture quality seems to be light years better than YouTube, which I find to be grainy and pixelated during video transitions.

So, when you have a spare 15 minutes take a peek at our video. It's a combination of photos and video clips taken on our trip. What I like best about how it turned out is that you can totally see Lauren's transition over the two week period as she starts to show her true personality.

Attention mommies to be...

2009-02-20T15:20:00.004-07:00

I hate to burst your bubble, but you might as well give up your fantasy now of outfits with those cute little matching headbands like these...

NO WAY, mommy, I'm NOT wearing this thing...

But I'll live with this little clip, but only for a little while...ok?

Some pics...

2009-02-17T21:58:00.007-07:00

Just time for a quick post with some pictures today. I need to start getting to bed at a reasonable hour. I've been staying up way too late after Lauren is asleep and it's starting to take it's toll on me. I've been working on a China travel video and that's been sucking up some time. It's done and I'll be posting it soon.

Lately, I've noticed that Little Miss seems to be a multi-tasker of sorts. She likes to Swiffer while walking her baby...

double-fisted hair brusher...

and likes to walk her doggie and crocodile together...

and then takes them up on the sofa to rest together...

I finally found a park with baby swings...

and as you can tell, she loved it...

A lot of fun...

2009-02-14T16:04:00.009-07:00

We are having so much fun with Lauren and she is doing so well. She's been slowly warming up to Gramma and had lots of smiles and a high five for her last night...

Thanks to my local bloggy friend, Jeanette, I found out about an English/Chinese story time at one of the libraries nearby. We went yesterday and it was really nice. They sung songs and read books in both English and Mandarin and had playtime at the end. I think she enjoyed playtime the most. She really liked climbing through the long tube. Here's a couple of pics of that in the cutest shirt I picked up off the Gymboree sale rack. It says...100% sweet - made of pure sugar. I think that just about says it all!

Today we went to a Valentine's Day party hosted by our friends, Laura and Dan, and their beautiful son Dominic. There were lots of kids there adopted from both China and Guatemala. It was so wonderful to see the happy faces of all the kids with their forever families...it's so heartwarming to think that these kids, including Lauren, were dreamed of for so long and now loved so much...

So, can you tell we are having lots of fun being parents? We just love her to pieces! I'm just now finally feeling like I'm getting the knack of being a mommy. I think now that we have a routine going during the day, everything flows a lot smoother. Lauren is definitely everything I ever dreamed of and more!

Thanks...

2009-02-10T22:57:00.007-07:00

Thank you for all your kind words about not looking like a grandma! I always thought I looked younger than my age, but as the years creep away I think I'm losing that a bit. I know I technically can be a grandma, but I guess it just bugs me that people just jump to that conclusion without thinking. That's the key...people feel the need to open their mouths without thinking. I guess I'd better get real used to it.

Here's my little shopper at it again. If she sees me with a bag, she grabs it and wants to carry it on the side of the stroller. She carried this one all the way to the car and kept it the entire time while in her car seat.

What's funny is she doesn't even pull anything out of it...she just wants to hold it.

This evening she thought it was funny to walk around with momma's slippers on...

and then she loved her horsey-back ride with baba...

and then some snuggling time...

The dreaded question...

2009-02-08T14:46:00.010-07:00

Here's the scene...we are at the children's play area at a nearby mall and the women sitting next to me leaned over and asked..."is that your granddaughter?" Ughh...dagger right through the heart! I was expecting my first question to be "is she adopted?" or some other equally nosy question...but this one caught me off guard. After she left, the young mom on the other side of me said she overheard her and couldn't believe she asked me that. Ahhhh...that made me feel much better! I know I'm an older mom, but I just wasn't expecting this and I hope it's not a frequently asked question when we go out...I don't think I look THAT old!

Yesterday we took Lauren to Toys R Us to find some kind of push toy she can ride on. We got this cute little FisherPrice horse with a little basket in front to carry stuff along for the ride. She didn't know how to push her self at first, but it only took a couple of minutes for her to figure it out...

This evening we spent some time at my brother's place and Lauren actually warmed up to everyone and played with her cousins for the very first time. It was so much fun to watch!

First trip to the Zoo...

2009-02-05T19:58:00.004-07:00

Today we went to the zoo with a couple we meet through the FCC when we first started the wait. They have a beautiful daughter named Lily who will be three years old this month. Lauren did very well with them even though this was her first time meeting them. I think Lily went a long way towards breaking the ice for her.

Here's some pics from the day (click to enlarge)...

And here's a little video...

Just an update...

2009-02-04T20:49:00.011-07:00

I went into work yesterday morning for a meeting and found this sign on my office door. Theresa has been filling in for me and changing the number of days each morning. Ha! It's nice to be missed.

Here's Lauren's new ride...

After hunching over to push around that little stroller in China, this one is a dream and I love it. It's a Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Stroller in French Roast. It's very smooth, turns on a dime, folds up very easily, and has a huge basket for bags.

Speaking of bags, I think I have a little shopper on my hands...

Oh, and by the way...I didn't realize that motherhood meant never going to the bathroom along again...

Now there's two in there with me!

For an update on our Little Miss, she seems to be adjusted to the time here now. She's been napping by 1pm each day for about 1.5 hours and we've had her to bed by 9:30pm for the past five or so days. We are hoping to creep her bed-time up slowly until she's to bed by about 8pm. We'll see how that goes.

She's been letting us put her in the crib while awake now, but we need to stay in the room until she is asleep. If one of us tries to leave, there is hell to pay! I think at this point, we're just so happy with her progress so far that this is fine with us for now.

Blowing kisses...

2009-02-01T21:37:00.004-07:00

Lauren has learned how to blow kisses and she's stealing Grandma's heart in this little video clip...

Our Arizona Cardinals may not have won the big game, but we still had a very nice day. We started at my brother's place for some great food and to introduce Lauren to my sister-in-law's family. Lauren played shy most of the time because there were lots of new people there, but came out of her shell a little bit for Grandma when she blew those kisses. Next it was off to our friend Linda Marie's house for the rest of the game. It took Lauren a good hour and a half, but she finally warmed up to Linda and Christine and was soon running around playing and laughing.

Our baby is definitely very shy and it takes her quite a while to show her true personality...but when she does she is so much fun. We've only been home a little over a week and she's doing incredibly well. On the way home tonight she fell asleep in her car seat and we were able to get her straight into the crib for the night. Ahhh...this is the earliest so far.

Celebrate small successes....

2009-01-31T14:20:00.008-07:00

Yes, we got Lauren down for a nap in her crib at 1:15pm today!! This may sound like a little thing, but it's a BIG success at our house today. She has been so off on her sleeping since we've been home that she won't nap until she crashes at about 5pm and then won't go to bed for the night until WAY late.

Also, last night our bed time routine went very well...bath, PJ's, reading and lullaby music and then she actually went into the crib awake with her blankie and was asleep within 15 minutes! It was late (about 10:30pm) because she napped late, but it was a drama free bedtime and I'll take that anytime. Eventually, we'll get her into bed earlier and earlier.

Oh, by the way, don't I look cute today in my panda outfit with the little panda face on my bum...

Also, for Rebecca...I saw her comment about having some questions, but I don't have your e-mail address. Please e-mail me at suzieq1@cox.net...looking forward to hearing from you!

This and that...

2009-01-26T17:59:00.023-07:00

I've been reflecting back a lot about our trip once Lauren is tucked into her crib at night. I look at her sleeping and it just seems unreal that we've been there and back and our wait is actually over. I thought the trip would drag on with almost all our time spent in Guangzhou, but it actually went by in a flash. They had us running here and there for appointments and tours every day...there was never a dull moment. We had an amazing guide and a great group of families to spend our time with.

China is an amazing country filled with such wonderful history and beautiful old buildings maintained for generations to enjoy. There were so many things that impressed me about China and I can't wait to take Lauren back there someday for a heritage tour. We feel she needs to experience her birthplace. A couple of the things that impressed me about the Chinese culture is that people seem to take a lot of pride in what they do and that families seem to be very close. Every evening when we would take walks in the park areas, there would be families out playing together...badminton, hacky-sack, etc. It was very heart-warming to see families having so much fun together.

For those of you still waiting, please know that everyone's experience is different based on the child's age, physical condition, personality, etc. There are no two families who have the exact same experience. I can also say that this journey is not for the faint of heart, but for those of us who are determined to bring our child home no matter what it takes. We had the added degree of difficultly with Lauren's age (21 months) and her deep attachment to her caregivers and life at the orphanage. That first week was harder than I had ever imagined. All the books, videos, seminars and stories from other families prepared me to know what to expect, but until you are actually in the situation you don't realize how hard it will be...both physically and mentally. Also, the fact that we are new parents who went from zero to toddler in disress in a blink of an eye didn't help matters.

I'm happy to report that Lauren's transition over the past 2.5 weeks is nothing short of amazing. She is a smart, happy, healthy little girl who seems to pick up on things very quickly and repeats lots of basic words that we say. So far I've heard her say "uh oh", "yeah", "doggie", "baba" and "mama" (although she doesn't direct those at us yet) "good", and "all gone". She eats like a champ and especially likes strawberry yogurt, scrambled eggs, mandarin oranges, watermelon and graham crackers...oh, and of course her rice crackers from China.

We went to the pediatrician for her well-baby visit this morning and the poor baby had to get six vacinnations, a TB skin test and lots of blood work. She was not a happy camper and I was close to tears watching her scream. The doctor said to give her Tylonel and watch her for a fever tonight. It was just too much trauma for one day!

I wanted to give those still waiting some tips on items we brought with us and didn't use and items we used daily. Also some info on how many of certain items we brought...so here it goes...

Items we took and didn't use:

Small funnel for transfering the powdered formula from the travel dispenser to the bottle...worked fine without the funnel.
Cherrios...Lauren didn't want anything to do with them.
Disposable wash clothes...no need since we used hotel washcloth while in the room and diaper wipes when out and about.
Disposable diaper changing pads...just used the real thing from our diaper bag.
Toothbrush and toothpaste for Lauren...there was no way we were approaching that trauma on top of everything else.
Disposable razor for me...time to shave...ha, what was I thinking.
Jewelry...you can just use what you wear over there...this is no fashion show.
Travel shopping bag...every shop owner we encountered gave us a bag. Even Carefour (the Walmart equivalent in Guangzhou) had cheap re-usable grocery bags to buy at the registers.
Travel tiolet paper...the two times that there wasn't toilet paper, I left the darn travel roll outside with Joe in the diaper bag so I never got to use it anyway.
Stuffed bunny rabbit toy for Lauren...she wouldn't even give it a second look.
Instant soup, granola bars and beef jerky...there is plenty to eat in Guangzhou
Since Lauren wasn't sick, we didn't even touch the well stocked bag of over the counter meds or antibiotic we brought for her.

Items we took that I couldn't live without:

Scented diaper disposable bags for the poopie diapers.
Plastic baby spoons in a cool travel container (thanks Kim & Scott)...Lauren used them at every meal.
Gerber baby prunes...got the plumbing working right away.
Travel formula dispenser.
Playtex drop-in bottles...they were SOOO convenient and work like a charm.
Diaper pins for cinching Lauren's waistbands on her pants (Nancy, thanks for the tip)...otherwise several outfits we brought would not have worked for her.
Tights for her to wear with dresses and pants that rode up...kept the local clothing police away...God for bid a babies legs show in China! ;)
Long johns if traveling to Beijing in the winter!
Thermos for keeping hot water for baby bottles...used this daily.
Stacking cups...Lauren loved them (tip...get the ones with little holes in the bottom so it can "rain" in the bathtub).
Shoe box sized rubbermaid container for cleaning the bottles, nipples, sippy cups and plastic spoons every day in the room.
Dish liquid and plastic tongs for doing the dishes.
Travel packets of Tide detergent for cleaning clothes with stains you can't trust to the laundry. Lauren had sticky lollipop stains all over her coat a couple of times and Tide came to the rescue.
Laptop computer and headset for making phone calls on Skype...this was my only connection to friends and family and I don't think I would have made it without this stuff. /li>

How many did we take?

Playtex drop-in liners - 200. We used about 125 including the 40 or 50 we gave to another family who ran out. We used them for formula, water and juice bottles.
Diapers - 20 Huggies Over-nights. We bought Pampers in China and they worked out fine for day-time use. We used the Huggies over-nights each night and saved about 6 for the flights home. We bought two packages of Pampers in China and brought about 10 home.
Diaper wipes - 2 refill packs of Pampers Sensitive Skin wipes. By the time we got home we used every one of them, but we used them a lot as multi-purpose wipes when we ate out.
Spending money - $4,500. We used about $2,500 on souveniers, Chinese outfits and shoes for Lauren, pearls, gifts, meals that weren't included and a couple of minor adoption expenses that popped up along the way.

Oh, and one more thing that I didn't realize before we went...they don't use napkins as we know them in restaurants in China. They have a tiny pop-up box of what we would consider to be tissues at the table...or sometimes they would have a couple of packets of what we would consider travel size Kleenex. When you are dealing with a messy baby, these are no help whatsoever. Plan on using diaper wipes or antibacterial wipes a lot while you are out eating. Only a few times did we encounter restaurants that actually give you a cloth napkin. Even Lucy's with it's westernized menu only gives you one tiny paper triangle shaped napkin per person.

Well, it's time to get dinner started, so that's all for now. If anyone still waiting has any questions about our trip, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. You can find an e-mail link on my Blogger profile.

Here's a few digital scrap pages I wanted to share and below is a little video snippet of Lauren's first meetings with Lucy (our furbaby)...

We're home!

2009-01-26T02:00:00.006-07:00

Just a short post with some pics since I'm exhausted! Lauren's internal clock is totally out of whack and her sleeping is all off...I feel a little like a zombie right now.

We spent the last day in China finishing up our packing and relaxing a bit before taking the oath at the U.S. Consulate. Here's a couple of my favorite pics from that day...

We got home on Friday at 4:30pm Phoenix time (1:30am China time) and had such a fantastic greeting from friends and family! After two weeks living out of a hotel room with a brand new toddler in a foreign country, I was NEVER so glad to be home!!

I promise to post much more later, but it's 2am and I finally got Lauren to sleep about a half hour ago. If I don't hit the sack now and get some sleep while she is out, I'll be S O L (so out of luck)!

Last full day in Guangzhou

2009-01-21T06:43:00.009-07:00

Yup, it's hard to believe that tonight will be our last sleep in Lauren's home province. This trip has gone by SO fast.

Today one parent from each family had to go to the U.S. Consulate and re-do the vaccination affidavit form. It turns out that the consulate changed the form and didn't let the agencies know, so pretty much all families here in Guangzhou right now had to make a special trip to re-do the form. Joe went to the consulate early this morning with our group and Lauren and I had breakfast, shopped, and hung our on the Starbucks patio for a while. Thank goodness that everything is ok and we are still on track to take our swearing in oath tomorrow.

Looks like our girl likes Starbucks just like mama...

Once Joe got back from the consulate, we had lunch and then packed for our long journey back home. We had to buy a new suitcase and got a nice, big rolling one for about $25 at one of the shops. I didn't realize how much stuff I bought until I gathered everything up on the bed for packing. I stuffed all three big check-in bags and we'll have our carry-ons stuffed two. Luckily, one of the families has a digital luggage scale and we got to weigh our check-in items...we are under 44lbs on each one, so we should have no problems at the airport.

We had our last group dinner tonight and afterwards we had a birthday party for Isabella, who turned one year old today...

The cakes came in such beautiful boxes...

and were so pretty...

The cakes tasted a lot different than the sweet ones we have at home. They were more like sponge cake with whip cream instead of frosting...they were very good and Lauren ate a whole piece by herself...

Tomorrow we will spend the morning finishing our packing and then we'll be heading to the U.S. Consulate at 2:30pm for Lauren's swearing in ceremony and to get her Visa and passport. After that, we go onto the Guangzhou airport to fly back to Beijing at 8pm. We'll be spending the night in Beijing and then flying back to the U.S. at 1:40pm on Friday. We'll fly to San Francisco and then onto Phoenix arriving at 4:11pm on Friday. To us it will feel like 7am on Saturday morning, so it will be a BIG adjustment to get back on U.S. time...especially for Lauren.

I'm not sure if we'll be posting again from Beijing before we leave, so this may be our last post from China. Although we are SO very happy about coming home, it's going to be very sad to leave Lauren's birthplace. We have had such a positive experience here in China and have such a respect for this country and it's people.

I'll definitely post again as soon as we get home and get some sleep. Joe is battling a bad head cold and I'm at the tail end of it. There are quite a few of us in the group who have had upper respiratory problems on the trip and several of the guys were down for a day or so with the stomach flu.

We are concerned about entertaining Lauren for the LONG flight home...I guess tomorrow's shorter flight will be a test for what's to come on Friday. We got a seat for her all the way home on all three flights. Please say a prayer for things to go well and for us to get home safely. Good night all!

Not many photos today, but you have see them here.

Red Couch Photo Day

2009-01-20T05:32:00.014-07:00

I think today was the first morning we didn't need to get up for an appointment. We were free until 2:30pm today for our travel group and red couch photos. We did a little shopping, had lunch and then it was off to dress the babies for the photos.

Here's Lauren in her cute little outfit. I had to distract her to get her hair clip in. If she knows it's there, then out it goes!

Lauren and Julia are the only two in our group from the same orphanage. Julia is the sweetest little baby...she's so laid back.

This picture is funny...all the babies are looking every which way, but Lauren is looking straight ahead ready for the picture.

This one cracks me up...Giorgia stole one of Lauren's stacking cups and she just won't give it up...she won't take her hand off of it. Eventually she just gives it up without a fight though.

Here's the baby paparazzi...it was quite a sight!

One of my favorite things to shop for has been shoes for Lauren. I got some really cute leather squeaky shoes at Sherry's Place and I also got some non-squeaky shoes for later on...some at Sherry's Place and some at a mall in Guangzhou. They have the most adorable kids shoes here.

I'm not a huge fan of brocade fabric and most of the Asian style outfits are made out of it. I did buy a few of them, but also managed to find a couple of cute cotton outfits as well...here's my favorite...

Well, I'm exhausted again today (hmmmm...I've said that every night now), so I'm heading off to get ready for bed. I'll leave you with this little video from earlier today...

You can see all our photos from the day here.

Pearl shopping...

2009-01-19T08:18:00.005-07:00

Today, we went shopping for pearls and I made my contribution to the local economy...ouch! ;)

Lauren is learning to trust us and she's letting her guard down more and more each day. She is playing, smiling, laughing and showing us her true personality. She is such a sweet and good-natured little girl...and we are so blessed to have her in our lives. Here's a little video snippet from our walk this evening...

Tomorrow afternoon we are heading to the White Swan lobby for a big group photo and a red couch photo of the kids.

You can see our photos from the day here.

Great day...

2009-01-18T06:33:00.008-07:00

Today our whole group went to a Chinese and English speaking church service at a cute little church here on Shamian Island. It seemed most of the locals who attend this service speak both Cantonese and English, since there were a couple of songs sung in each language and there were lots of people singing. The pastor only spoke Cantonese, so they had an English interpreter. I really enjoyed attending this service. Joe and I don't attend services regularly, but we would like to start attending to have Lauren involved in church activities.

After church we took a walk and then boarded the bus for the Guangzhou Zoo. This zoo is nothing special, although they do have lots of greenery and the grounds are pretty. The animals are in cement cages...nothing remotely close to a natural habitat. I would say that if you're heading to China soon and the zoo is optional you can easily skip it unless you are antsy to get out for a change of scenery.

After the zoo, it was a group dinner...my least favorite dinner so far, although it wasn't too bad. Our guide does a great job at ordering items off the menu that us westerners would eat. There's usually a sweet and sour chicken or pork, rice, broccoli, a couple of beef dishes, green beans, and a chicken dish...nothing strange or unusual. So far Lauren is partial to any green veggies and little pieces of beef. Oh, and she loves her congee.

After dinner we stopped at Starbucks for hot tea...we both have sore throats...and headed up to the room to get little Miss Lauren settled in for the night. We got her to sleep tonight with only a short meltdown, which is either luck or a big improvement. We think it was luck, but we'll see tomorrow.

She was SOOO good today and actually sat through the church service with no problem. The local family in front of us had stopped and picked up rolls for their kids and Lauren was watching them hand them out. The grandma broke off a piece and gave it to Lauren...it was very sweet.

She is such a trooper dealing with this crazy schedule and constantly running here and there. We got LOTS of smiles today and laughter too. Of course, it's hard to catch this stuff on video. I do have a clip here especially for Grandma so she can see Lauren's smile and hear her sweet voice...

You can see our photos from the day here.

Good day, hard night...

2009-01-17T15:08:00.014-07:00

Sorry for posting later than usual. I passed out on the bed last night before I had a chance to post, so I'm up early this morning updating the blog. Mom, I know you've probably been hitting the refresh button on your computer ALL day!

Today we had Lauren's visa photo taken and her medical exam done. Last week our group was seven families, but now the families who traveled to other provinces have joined us and now we have twelve plus families in our group. It was pretty chaotic at the medical place, as you will see from my photos, and the exam is obviously just a formality. The hearing test cracks me up...if the doctor squeezes a squeaky toy and the baby turns her head, the hearing is good. All the staff there were very soft spoken and sweet with the babies and make things as easy as could be.

After the medical exam we were on our own until the group dinner, so off we went to Lucy's for some American comfort food. Grilled cheese and fries...

Lauren had some congee and mashed potatoes. Congee is basically super boiled down an mushy rice and they usually add chicken, beef or pork and sometimes corn or green onion. Lauren loves her congee...

Between lunch and dinner we walked around the island, had some tea at Starbucks and then back to the room for some play time. We got lots of smiles today and some giggles and laughter too. It was SO nice to see her opening up.

After our group dinner tonight, some of the guys got together for a pick-up hacky-sack game in front of one of the shops. They started this last night and I have a feeling there will be more to come. It's been a fun way to end the evening and lots of laughs...

Our biggest problem still is when she gets tired. This is the time when she starts to cry and then it turns into that inconsolable screaming and throwing her body down on the floor. This happened once today for about 15 minutes before she fell asleep for an hour nap and at bed time. She was all smiles and playing once we got back to the room after dinner, but as soon as she was tired for bed she went into a full blown inconsolable mode. I'll scoop her up and walk with her while holding her tight and she'll be screaming on top of her lungs and kicking and pushing me away with her arms. If I sit down with her (because my back is breaking), she will stiffen up her body until she slides down. Once she's on the floor, she will thrash around kicking and screaming and when I touch her or move in to pick her up she freaks out. We had two hours of this before we could get her down tonight and it's exhausting. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? It's heartbreaking to watch her go through this.

Today (Sunday) we go to a church here on the island for service and then to the Guangzhou Zoo.

Oh, here's a little video of the one baby wrecking crew in action...

You can check out all our photos from the day here.

Challenging, but good day...

2009-01-16T07:57:00.006-07:00

This is going to be really short because I'm exhausted tonight. It's 11pm here on Friday night and I'm ready to drop. Today we switched it up a bit and I took care of Lauren and Joe played assistant. Lauren had a couple of major meltdowns, but we also had some really good moments. Joe left the room for about an hour or so to run some errands and Lauren and I stayed in the room to play. She was smiling and even laughed a few times. I definitely got a glimpse of the sweet girl she is underneath all her grief.

We went out this evening with a couple of other families and had a great dinner and a nice walk along the water. I'll post more about our day later on. You can see our photos from the day here.

By the way, for OziMom, the weather here in Gaungzhou is GREAT. It's cold in the morning (coat and hat for the babies and a jacket for us) and by the afternoon it's perfect...mid 70's. I really don't think we could have picked a better time to come.

Chinese New Year starts on January 25th and the decorations have been going up all

Breakthrough today!

2009-01-15T05:59:00.010-07:00

Today we visited the Family Chen's Temple, which is the oldest temple in Guangzhou, and it was amazing. The elaborate carvings all around the roof tops were so impressive. Here are a couple of my favorite photos...

After that, it was off to the Yuntai Botanical Garden. This place is absolutely beautiful. The flowers, gardens and perfectly pruned trees are set off by a backdrop of green rolling hills. We only had an hour there, but could have spent much longer just strolling the grounds...

Ok, I saved the best part for last...Lauren only had two major meltdowns today and they were shorter than they have been. Also, she actually walked about the hotel room today and played with toys AND let me play with her for about 15 minutes on the bed...

She also let us put her in the stroller for a walk around the gardens. This was the first time we could put her in the stroller while she was awake. The last time she was sleeping and only stayed in for a short time once she woke up. Most of the time Joe is carrying her in the Baby Hawk...she seems to have a preference to Baba (Daddy) right now and I'm playing assistant. We were so proud of ourselves today when we actually figured out what she wanted a few times...that's a BIG thing!

Here's a few things about our girl...

She has beautiful eyes...they are piercingly dark with long eye lashes
She has an adorable smile when she flashes it
She doesn't like taking baths yet
She likes to have her bottle immediately when she wakes up and she's not patient about it
She spoon feeds herself and loves congee and green beans
If she's tired she can be rocked to sleep quickly, but getting her down in the crib is another story!
She sucks her thumb when she sleeps and isn't always quite about it
She likes to be bundled up with a coat, blanket and hat
She seems to have really good dexterity when she's playing with her toys

I want to thank everyone for all the sweet comments you all left for us. Last night we were both teetering on the edge and reading all your comments definitely made us feel a LOT better. Catherine, thank you for all the prayers...they mean the world to me. Jeanette, I found the round crackers like the ones you gave us from LeeLee at a little shop by the hotel. When I opened them up to give a package to Lauren she recognized them right away. They helped us quite a bit today when she was fussy...I'm so glad I knew that your daughter liked them and tried them here!

The food here has been great! We haven't tried anything unusual...when we go out as a group our guide pre-orders for everyone and she knows what us westerners like. I'm so glad that Joe and I learned to use chopsticks ahead of time so we can eat without asking for a fork. All the restaurants here on Shamain Island have forks, but I'd rather eat the local way with chopsticks.

Some random observations while here...

I'm surprised how few Caucasians we see here. I guess I'm used to the USA being a melting pot of different cultures. It's not like that here.
The local people like to stare and it's not just a glance or two it's full on staring for long periods of time and it's very uncomfortable. It's not only because we have a Chinese baby...we were getting stared at in Beijing before we had Lauren.
The shop owners here on Shamain Island remember everyone's names. I'm not sure how they do it when they see so many people each day, but they do.
The pollution problem in Guangzhou is pretty bad, but it's not as bad as I had imagined.
The local people spend a lot of time outdoors in the park exercising, biking, skating, and playing games with friends like badminton & hackysack. It seems like they take time to relax and de-stress...we could definitely learn from this.
Women friends walk arm in arm down the street while talking and laughing...it's very sweet.
Restaurants don't give you napkins. If you're lucky, there is a little box on the table with what we would consider tissues.

Well, that's it for today...it's a little after 10pm on Thursday night and I'm REALLY tired. Good-night! You can see all our pics from today here.

Still hanging in there, but barely...

2009-01-14T07:23:00.003-07:00

Well, it's 10:30pm on Thursday night here in China and Lauren has been asleep since about 8:30pm. Since she's been down we got the room cleaned up, the dishes washed, our paperwork filed and now we are ready to collapse. I didn't want to go to bed without a really quick post.

Lauren is still having a really hard time. We had about 4 short spurts of time when she was awake and not in meltdown mode...the pictures today are from those times. The rest of the pics are from around Shamian Island...it is really pretty right around the Victory Hotel. Huge trees, cool old buildings, and a nice park area. There are also some pics of the Victory's breakfast room...for those of you who may be staying here soon.

Please keep us in your prayers as we try and get through these next couple of days. Even Joe, who has the patience of a saint, is getting VERY frustrated...I would definitely say that this is the hardest thing we've EVER done and blue skies don't look like they are in our immediate future.

She's officially ours today!

2009-01-13T05:36:00.008-07:00

Today we went back to the Civil Affairs Office to have our interview in the registration office and see the notary. For those about to leave for China, don't be nervous about this at all. It's strictly a formality. There is no intimidating official asking you customized questions for your family. It's just a form with three or four basic questions and that's it...the women asking us the questions was very sweet. Soon we will be receiving a certificate stating that she is officially ours. It's so hard to believe that after SO long, we are finally parents!!!

Well, I know everyone always seems to say that each day gets a little easier, but today was worse than yesterday for SURE! I think it's really sinking in for Lauren that she may not be going back to the orphanage and everything she knows. This little girl is really giving us a run for the money and putting us through the ringer. We are holding our own and trying to do our very best, but it's been a VERY hard day.

Lauren slept well last night...from 9pm until we had to wake her to get dressed for our appointments this morning. We woke her up slowly and entertained her with some stacking cups, then she had her first meltdown, then into the bath, another meltdown, then we got her dressed and off we went for a super quick stop at the breakfast buffet and then onto the bus for our appointment. She was very upset most of the time at Civil Affairs Office and had a MAJOR meltdown right before we got ready to leave...screaming, kicking, pinching, arching her back...everything she could think of to get her frustration out. We finally got her downstairs and to the bus where she crashed from exhaustion.

She had a hard time most of the rest of the day too. The highlight was when Joe went out to run an errand...we were playing with the stacking cups one minute and the next minute she was kicking and convulsing her body so hard that she ended up on the floor arching her back and thrashing around while screaming on the top of her lungs for her "ayee" (phonetic spelling for nanny in Chinese). Nothing I did would console her, so all I could do was stop her from hurting herself on the furniture. It was SO hard to watch her go through this...I can't begin to describe how bad I felt. By the time Joe got back, she was doing a little better and I was able to sneak off for a meltdown of my own in the bathroom.

We did have a few sweet moments and smiles throughout the day and you can see those in the photos here. We are trying our absolute hardest to get through this, and we will. Thank goodness we have friends along on this trip and our guide, Alison, has been SO amazingly supportive.

Please say a little prayer for us tonight that things will start to turn around soon. As for me, Lauren and Joe are both sleeping and I seriously need to crash...good-night.

Oh, one more thing...I love this photo and wanted to post it. Don't mind the food around her mouth that we didn't get off in the bathtub. She was struggling and it looks like we didn't get the full job done!

Just can't sleep...

2009-01-12T13:17:00.005-07:00

I think I may have nodded off for a couple of hours, but at 2:30am my eyes popped open and I couldn't get back to sleep. It's now 4:15am and I'm still awake but Qing Qing is still sleeping peacefully. I'm wide awake because I'm anticipating her waking up and me not being able to comfort her. She will wake up and realize that she is still not at home with her nannies at the orphanage. I'm gearing up for a long, hard day but hoping that she has less and less sadness and more and more smiles as the day goes on.

Thank you all so much for all the wonderful comments...I read them all with tears rolling down my face. Your support means the world to me and gives me so much comfort in a place so very far from home.

Mom, these video snippets are just for you. This first one is in the room where we got her and I got the first little smiles...

This one is at the restaurant just shortly after we left the Civil Affairs Office. I brought some Gerber baby prune puree and she really like it. I wanted to get a jump start at clearing out that plumbing! ;)

Well, I'm going to try and get a little rest since our wake up call comes at 6am.

We have her!

2009-01-12T06:51:00.011-07:00

What a day it was today! Our "gotcha" moment was pretty tuff...screaming, arching back, kicking...the whole nine yards.

She loves her caregivers and wanted them so badly it broke my heart. We stuck with it and after a while (a long while) she calmed down and we actually had some smiles!

When we left the building to board the bus she had a major meltdown while I was carrying her out...it was quite the scene. We're in the middle of the busy Guangzhou street waiting for the bus and here I am, an American, holding a Chinese baby who is screaming on top of her lungs while kicking me and trying to push me away. I could barely keep hold of her...I just held on as tight as possible and finally the bus showed up. On the way back to the hotel, she feel asleep from sheer exhaustion.

Once at the hotel, we had just enough time to change her diaper before we had to go to dinner. She was screaming and kicking her legs uncontrollaby, which made the diaper change quite interesting. She had a great appetite at dinner and we got lots of smiles.

Once back in the room, she was quite upset again. She is just very confused and doesn't understand what's going on. She was brought to a strange building, handed off to strangers and everything she knew was gone in a flash. I can see her frustration when she's crying. She doesn't know what to do...she's both pushed me to get away, but when I put her down she's grabbing on. She's SO confused and upset...it's very hard to watch. You feel like someone is ripping your heart out because you can't just fix this for her.

Right now she is sleeping...she's been down for over an hour. She's just so peaceful and sucking her thumb.

You can check out all our pics here.

It's Family Day today!!!

2009-01-11T19:36:00.004-07:00

I did actually get some sleep last night on and off due to sheer exhaustion. This morning I got up and thought...this is it...I'll be a momma today!

We started out with a little breakfast at the buffet and then headed over to Starbucks for a little taste of home...

Joe, Karen and I sat on the patio and sipped on our drinks overlooking the little park area. It's so quiet and peaceful here on Shamian Island. Right across the very short bridge it's total chaos, but the Island is a little paradise with big weeping trees and parks. The locals are jogging, walking, biking and doing Thai-chi. We saw a women walking backwards and every so often she would glance behind her to make sure she wasn't running into anything...not sure what that was all about, but it was quite a sight. I think the Starbucks patio will be a regular morning hang-out for us.

Joe and I are now up in the room to get our diaper bag together and go through our money to see how much we need to exchange. We are going to shop around a little for a stroller if we have time before we leave to get Lauren. We are heading out for the Civil Affairs Office in three hours! I still feel like I'm walking around in a dream or something...hard to describe. I think when we get off the bus and up to Civil Affairs it's going to hit us hard that this is the day and the tears will be flowing. I can't wait to get that very first glance of Lauren...ok, I'm tearing up now!

Gotta go get ready!

We're in Guangzhou!

2009-01-11T08:13:00.005-07:00

Today we flew from Beijing to Guangzhou (GZ), where we will finally meet Lauren. It was an emotional day right from the start. After breakfast in Beijing, we boarded the bus to the airport and said good-bye to Susan (our Beijing guide) and met Alison (our GZ guide). Alison is incredibly passionate about helping children find their forever families. She started off by reading a Bible verse about caring for orphans and as she started to read she got choked up and had to take a moment to collect herself. Right about then, there wasn't a dry eye on the bus and then as she continued to speak the tears started flowing. Right at that point, we all knew she was the exact right person to see us through this journey!

Once at the airport, we had to say good-bye to part of our travel group since some families are heading off to other provinces. They will meet up with us in GZ in about a week.

The flight to GZ was only about 3 hours (hey, after a 12 hour stint this sounds short), but it seemed much longer and it was so uncomfortable. We flew China Southern and it was warm on the plane, no air circulation and I swear the seats were at least an inch narrower than our American seats! I think I got off the plane with the impression of the video controls permanently tattooed on the side of my leg. ;)

We landed about 3:45pm and headed to the Victory Hotel on Shamian Island. The Victory is much smaller than the White Swan, but our room is perfect for a two week stay. There is a large bathroom, a sleeping area and a separate seating area. We are very close to the White Swan and plan on heading over there to check it out and take photos.

Christine, guess what's right around the corner from the Victory's front door?? Yup, Starbucks...I plan on having one tomorrow morning!

By the way, look what was waiting for us in the room...

It's rickety and old, but it's a crib none the less and when I saw it I stopped in my tracks and thought...oh my God, this really is it!

After we checked into the hotel, the group headed over with Alison to the infamous Lucy's for dinner. After dinner some of us were feeling VERY adventurous and took a taxi off the island into GZ to a store called Care Four (sp?). Joe, Karen and I shared a taxi over and had quite an adventure! This place is a Chinese grocery store on steroids. It has three floors and flat escalators for taking your carts up and down the floors. It's packed with everything imaginable and about a million people grabbing at items like it's the last shopping day on earth! I've never seen anything like it. We were the absolute only Caucasians in the building and it was quite obvious by all the staring. It was funny...I think everyone who past us by looked at us since we stuck out like a needle in a haystack. Some people would literally just stop right next to us and stare at us and then look down at our cart to what we were buying. I think we were the entertainment for the evening!

We didn't get back to the room until about 10pm and then unpacked. Poor Joe collapsed in the bed about a half hour ago. I figured I'd catch up on e-mail and get this post out and then try and get some sleep. It's midnight here now and it's only 14 hours until we leave to meet Lauren! I can't believe after all this time tomorrow is our day!!! My head is spinning with SO many questions about Lauren...I can't imagine getting any sleep, but I need to lay down and see if I pass out from pure exhaustion. I won't be any good tomorrow if I don't get at least a few hours of sleep. With that...I'll say good-night!

Not many photos today since it was basically a travel day, but you can check out our hotel room photos here.

What an amazing day!

2009-01-10T06:59:00.006-07:00

I can't describe how surreal it was to see Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City, the Olympic Park and the Great Wall! It was an amazing day of touring today and the weather was perfect. It was cold, but not freezing cold, clear skies and almost no wind...our guide said we couldn't have planned better weather.

I'm dog tired, so I'm going to make this a quick post...

Our first stop today was Tian An Men Square & the Forbidden City. This place is enormous and right smack in the middle of the city. It seems to go on and on forever. The buildings were SO impressive and the architecture is amazing...

Then it was off to the Olympic Park and then the Great Wall. Everyone says how steep the Great Wall is, but until you see it for yourself it's hard to imagine. It's basically straight up and each step is a different size from the next. For those of us with short legs, sometimes it feels like you're crawling up instead of climbing. I was proud that I at least made it half way to the 1st guardhouse, considering how out of shape I am. I wasn't going to get here and not "climb" the wall.
We bought a lock, with a little red ribbon, and had our family name etched on it. Joe and I locked it to the long string of locks along the wall.

I am dog tired and need to get some sleep. We get up early to fly to Guangzhou tomorrow morning. Only ONE MORE DAY until we meet our little girl!!! Stephe, Karen and I keep pinching ourselves to see if this is real.

I uploaded all our pics from today to my Shutterfly site and you can see them here.

We made it!

2009-01-09T03:53:00.006-07:00

I can't believe we are in Beijing! We got from Phx to San Francisco just in time for a potty stop and then right on to the gate where they had already started boarding. It couldn't have worked out any better. We got in a couple of hours ago and the long flight was basically uneventful, except for a few series of turbulence. Christine, you would have been climbing the walls on the plane trying to sit still for 12 hours! They have movies running the entire flight expect for when they stop to feed you. Susan, I remembered what you said about the infamous noodle bowl...not good! All the other food was good and the flight attendents were very friendly.

It's only 7pm on Friday night here, but we are dog tired since our bodies think it's 4am on Friday morning. I think we are going to get something to eat and then crash for the night.

Here's a couple pics of the room...small, but nice.

and here's a lovely self portriat after a full day of traveling...

This is it...

2009-01-07T20:05:00.003-07:00

We're off to China in the morning...catch you all on the flip side!
Sleep...yeah, right!

A little freak out...

2009-01-06T20:09:00.005-07:00

It's been a bit of an emotional day today. For some reason I woke up and it hit me...oh my God, we leave for China on Thursday!! I've been fairly calm up until now, which isn't normal for me since I don't like to fly, so I guess a freak out was to be expected.

I had myself all worked up with all kinds of random thoughts...

will we oversleep on Thursday morning?
will our flights get in safe?
did I forget to pack something important?
will we know what to do with Lauren?
what if she doesn't like us?
what if she cries all night and we can't calm her down?
what if she's sick and we don't know what to do?
what if one of us gets sick?
what the heck are we doing flying all the way to China to adopt a baby?

Then I took a deep breath and e-mailed one of my Yahoo Groups and several of my friends who have been to China and back talked me off the edge. They said that this is perfectly normal and they all had their freak out moments before they left. I can't tell you how much better I felt after that...thank God for them...talk about a life line!

Can you believe it's only...

2009-01-04T18:42:00.010-07:00

Although I'm not an eloquent writer, I've been wanting to write an open letter to family and friends. The time is right, so here it goes...

Dear Family and Friends,

I would like to thank you all for your support over the past several years. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine it would take this long to get our referral to Lauren. There have been so many ups and downs during this time and your support has meant everything to us.

I would like to take this chance to share a little bit of what I know about attachment and bonding in adoption and our plans for when we bring Lauren home.

To start off you need to understand that Lauren has been in an orphanage since birth and has spent her first 21 months under the care of multiple nannies. At this point, the orphanage is home, her nannies are her "parents" and the other children are her "brothers" and "sisters". She has never known anything different.

One week from today, Lauren will take a long ride with one or two of her nannies to a strange building filled with strange people and babies. The room will be very noisy with babies crying and lots of strange voices. At some point, her nanny will hand her off to Joe and me...two people she's never seen before (unless the nannies showed her the photos we sent). There will be lots of camera flashes and video taping. Then we will take a ride back to the hotel and she will be alone in a room with us...we look strange, sound strange and smell strange. At this point, her little world has been rocked in ways that would scare just about anyone.

We have no idea at this point how she will react to all this. She will be grieving for her home and everything she knows. She may shut down, she may cry inconsolably, she may be silent...whatever it is, we will handle it as best we can.

We are hoping that she will start to slowly trust us once she understands that we are there to care for her and take care of all her needs. A healthy attachment won't start to form until she learns to trust us. This is why once we are home, Joe and I need to continue to be her primary caregivers for all her basic needs. This includes feeding, diapering, bathing, holding, consoling, etc. Slowly, once an attachment starts to develop, you all will be able to help out with these things.

There are also some special things to consider since Lauren is a toddler. Typically as a child approaches the age of two, she starts to show some independence...breaking away a little bit from the parents (the terrible two's). In Lauren's case she may need to regress a little bit since we need to help her form a strong bond with us before she can move forward. It's important for her future well being that she doesn't skip the "attachment" phase before moving on to some independence. Because of this it may seem like we are spoiling her or doting over her.

With all this being said, I'm hoping that it helps you all to understand our goals and why we feel we need to do the things we'll be doing once we get home.

Busy Saturday...

2009-01-03T21:44:00.007-07:00

It was a busy day today. First up, 9am appointment to get my hair color in shape for the trip...my grays were out of control. Then a trip to Target (hopefully my last, but I have a feeling it won't be), then off to Babies-r-Us for a couple of small items I couldn't find at Target. Then back home to work on packing again.

I finally have ALL of Lauren's stuff packed! This includes her clothes, PJ's, accessories (a girl has to have cute clippies), blankets, feeding stuff, baby care stuff, meds, Baby Hawk carrier, toys, and right down to the all important Cheerios. I probably have way too many clothes packed for her, but I don't care. I seem to have plenty of room left for our stuff still...

Both check in pages have one side empty and only weight about 23 lbs each so far...

and both rolling carry-on bags are pretty much empty still...

(notice the bag of M&M's waiting to be packed...do they have these in China?... cause I need my chocolate)

A few of you suggested I take a backpack or diaper bag as my personal item on the plane instead of a purse, so I picked this diaper bag up at Target. I think it's pretty darn cute for $25 and it has a long strap to go across the body...just my style.

I also picked up this journal at Target so I can have something to write in every night of the trip. I want to remember ALL the details of everyday. I get goosebumps thinking that by Jan 23rd this book will be filled up with all our memories!

By the way, we are in the single digits now...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T16:55:00.006-07:00

2009 will be a very big year for many of us here in Blogville, as we receive referrals and start our new families. For us, this is not only the beginning of a new year but the beginning of a brand new and exciting chapter in our lives. We have been trying for parenthood for over 10 years now and our dream has finally come true! We have been blessed with a daughter who we feel is the perfect fit for us!

Today, after watching the Tournament of Roses Parade (a tradition for me) we officially started packing. Wow, talk about overwhelming!! Even with our list in hand, it is really intimidating sitting there surrounded by all the stuff that somehow has to go into our very limited luggage and make it across the world.

Since we are taking a domestic flight in China, we are each restricted to one 44lb check-in bag, one carry-on, and one personal item. Joe is taking a check-in, rolling carry-on and a backpack and I have a check-in, rolling carry-on and a purse. Another decision is what gets packed in the checked bags and what goes in the carry-ons and what's the smartest way to distribute everything. So far this is what I have in mind (any suggestions would be appreciated)...

Joe's back-pack will hold the laptop and camera along with their accessories (batteries, memory cards, power cords, etc) and our document holder with the adoption paperwork.
One of our rolling carry-ons is going to hold our 1st day Beijing outfits, long johns, hats, scarves, gloves...this way if our luggage is lost for a day we are at least covered for our touring day. This bag will also hold a copy of our adoption paperwork.
Prescription meds in my purse (in their original bottles)
Waist wallets will hold cash, passports and driver's licenses
We are carrying on our coats, which can double as a pillow/blanket in a pinch.
We are going to split Lauren's clothes up into two large ziplocks...one for each checked bag. I figure then if one is lost, we at least have some clothes for her. I'm thinking we should do this with our clothes too.
All the non-prescription meds fit into a gallon sized ziplock (I took them all out of the packages and attached the instructions with a rubber band if they weren't already on the tube/bottle). This ziplock, along with some other baby care items is in a shoebox sized rubber-maid container that will be used for washing small items. I'm bringing light weight plastic tongs for fishing items out of the hot water.
I'm questioning whether all our non-prescription stuff should be packed in the same bag...if it's lost then we have none of it. I wonder if I should split this up too.

There's just SO much to think about when you're new parents traveling around the world and taking care of a little child out of a hotel room for two weeks! I'm not freaking out, but it is a little bit scary. Please let me know if you have any tips on packing that might help.

I do have one tip regarding the non-prescription meds if you want to take them out of the boxes...many of them have the instructions on the tube/bottle, but it's in teeny-tiny writing. Our baby nail clippers have a little magnifying glass on them for baby's tiny nails. It works perfect for reading the med instructions! ;)

Updated photo...

2008-12-29T16:16:00.005-07:00

Our agency surprised us with an updated photo and measurements this morning. What a nice way to start off the week! Look how great she looks...clean, healthy and well cared for...
Age: 21 months
Height: 32.3"
Weight: 20.9lbs
Number of Teeth: 16!

Living in the moment...

2008-12-28T19:07:00.004-07:00

is something we haven't done much of over the past several years. Driving home from work on Christmas Eve, I got to thinking about how great next Christmas will be once we have Lauren home. Then I started thinking about all the times I've had that same thought. It seems that since we filed our adoption paperwork back on August 8, 2005, our time has been spent looking forward at what's ahead instead of living in the moment. This crazy long wait kind of robs you of the present and puts your thoughts to the future.

It dawned on me during my ride home, that starting on January 8th when we take off for our journey we will need to switch gears and learn to live in the moment again. I'm thinking that changing gears after all this time may be a little easier said than done. I'm pretty sure though, that once we meet Lauren and can hold her and love her we will be planted firmly in the moment from that point forward. This is what I am hoping for.

On another note, we have just about everything we need for our trip. Everything is in bins and bags and scatttered all over the nursery and playroom right now. We are both home on New Years day, so we are going to organize everything and start packing. My last day at work for a while is this coming Friday. I hope to have everything packed and ready to go by Monday so we can relax for a few days before we leave.

We have our itinerary...

2008-12-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

Thursday, Jan. 8th
8:20am - Depart from Phoenix to San Francisco (2 hrs, 19 min)
11am - Depart from San Francisco to Beijing (12 hrs, 35 min)

Friday, Jan. 9th
3:35pm - Arrive in Beijing - stay at the Beijing Traders Hotel

Saturday, Jan. 10th
8am - Tian An Men Square, Forbidden City, Olympic Park and Great Wall

Sunday, Jan. 11th
8:45am - Depart from Beijing to Guangzhou (2 hrs, 50 min)
Stay at the Victory Hotel

Monday, Jan. 12th
2pm - Bus to civil affairs office to MEET LAUREN!!! Oh my God, we're parents!!! (Phoenix time: Sunday, 11pm)

Tuesday, Jan. 13th
8:30am - Bus to civil affairs office to do registration and notary

Wednesday, Jan. 14th
Apply for Lauren's passport

Thursday, Jan. 15th
9:30am - Family Chen's Temple and Yuntai Botanical Garden

Friday, Jan. 16th
9:30am - King Yue's Museum

Saturday, Jan. 17th
9:30am - Lauren's visa photo and medical checkup, complete consulate forms

Sunday, Jan. 18th
10:30am - Sunday sermon at a nearby church and visit the Guangzhou Zoo

Monday, Jan. 19th
9:30am - Shopping at pearl and jade wholesale market

Tuesday, Jan. 20th
3pm - Red couch group photo

Wednesday, Jan. 21st
9:30am - Agency guide goes to U.S. Consulate to send visa documents

Thursday, Jan. 22nd
2:45pm - Take oath at U.S. Consulate
8pm - Depart from Guangzhou to Beijing (2 hrs, 55 min)
Spend the night at the Beijin Rosedale Hotel

Friday, Jan. 23rd
1:40pm - Depart from Beijing to San Francisco (11 hrs, 24 min)
1:10pm - Depart from San Francisco to Phoenix (2 hrs)

Arrive home on Friday, Jan. 23rd at 4:11pm, United flight UA0500, Terminal 2

Bathroom done...

2008-12-21T14:44:00.003-07:00

Just a super quick post to show some pics of the bathroom (click collage to enlarge)...

Oh, and...

2008-12-20T13:50:00.005-07:00

Thanks, everyone, for all the great advice on our packing list! We went to Walmart this morning to pick up a few items that were suggested. We got a powder formula dispenser, plastic tongs for removing items from hot water when cleaning, travel squeeze bottle for liquid dish soap, Gerber baby prunes and apple/prune juice, and one 4 oz bottle for juice. We will also added ziplocs and a syringe for medicine dispensing to our list. Oh, and we'll only take enough diapers and a travel size wipes for the 1st day and the trip back...we'll buy diapers and wipes there.

We're going to work on decorating the bath room today. I'll post a picture later on.

Packing list...

2008-12-17T22:44:00.004-07:00

I've been working on our packing list this evening. How in the world we're going to fit all this stuff into two 40 lb suitcases and two backpacks I have NO clue at the moment!

I would really appreciate it if those who have already traveled could take a quick look at my list and let me know if there is something missing or something on the list that we don't need. There are three pages below. This is just my first crack at it, so I know it's not finished yet.

Oh, and only...

Travel approval...

2008-12-16T19:38:00.005-07:00

Yesterday we got our official approval from the CCAA to travel to China to adopt our daughter! My eyes filled with tears when I pulled the document out of the Fed-ex envelope, saw Lauren's picture on it and read the words: "...we agreed that the child, Nan Qi Qing be placed with you for adoption." This document has been a LONG time coming...

Be the way, there are...

All I have to say today is...

2008-12-15T20:03:00.003-07:00

Yeah! I'll be counting down the number of nights left until we leave to get our sweet girl! There's been 1,030 nights so far since our LID, so I think I can do the last 24 standing on my head. No problem!

Playroom...

2008-12-14T17:32:00.006-07:00

We finished Lauren's playroom and I promised some pictures. Pretty much everything but the toys are from IKEA. We went with a really bright color, because her nursery colors are so soft. I wanted her playroom to be bright and fun. I think it all ties together very well. What do you think?

2008-12-11T11:44:00.019-07:00

Where do I start...so much going on since I posted last week. Well, we've been really busy getting ready to travel. Joe worked SO hard getting the playroom ready and we're almost there. I'll post photos as soon as we're done. We did some shopping over the weekend for the basic essentials that we didn't have yet...diapers, wipes, bottles, medications for the trip, highchair, car seat, cabinet latches, outlet covers, etc.

My sister-in-law, Stephanie, hosted a fabulous shower for me this past Sunday. The buffet table setting was so pretty with red table cloths, Chinese fans, chopsticks, and special adoption poems printed and mounted on beautiful Asian themed paper. The poems were displayed on little easels on the tables. My friend, Jennifer, made the most beautiful coasters from tiles. She hand-stamped each one with panda and bamboo images using a special stamp pad then baked them in the oven to set the ink. Everyone received one as a favor and I got a whole set! I love them. We played games, ate great food and had a really nice time.

On Tuesday we booked our flights! We are leaving on Thursday, January 8th and coming home on Friday, January 23rd. Any of our local friends are more than welcome to greet us at the airport when we come in. We will be dog tired, but SO happy to see all the familiar faces after two weeks away. Here's the info on our return flight: United Flight 500 from San Francisco to Phx arriving in Terminal 2 at 4:11pm. If there are any changes and I can still access my blog, I'll be sure to post. The entire trip is 6,550 miles...when I saw the mileage it really hit me just how far away Lauren is!

Now we are waiting for our agency to pull together our in-China flights, hotel rooms, etc. It won't be long now before we have our entire trip itinerary and we'll find out exactly when we'll meet Lauren. I'm thinking it will be the afternoon of January 11th, but I'm not sure yet.

A sweet surprise...

2008-12-05T09:46:00.003-07:00

Thanks to our friend, Catherine, Lauren has her very own pretty little taggie blanket! It was such a nice surprise to receive another package addressed to Miss Lauren.

Catherine used the prettiest grosgrain ribbons in the softest pinks and greens. I absolutely love it and it's coming to China with us in hopes of giving Lauren some much needed comfort in those first few days with us.

Catherine, thanks again for such a sweet surprise! You have one of the biggest hearts in Blogville!

Look at her now!

2008-12-02T18:45:00.005-07:00

We have updated photos of our daughter thanks to Ann at Red Thread China! Click on image to enlarge.

Doesn't she look like the sweetest little girl? Part of me wants to just scoop her up and bring her home to the family who is waiting so patiently for her and part of me feels so guilty for what we are about to put her through. This may sound strange for those of you still waiting for your referrals, but once you know who your daughter is and can stare endlessly at her photos you start to feel sad about turning her little life upside down. I know that she will have a much better life with a family of her own who will love her unconditionally, but right now at the age of 20 months she thinks the orphanage is home and the nannies are her caregivers. The idea of what she will have to go through those first couple of weeks with us in China grieving for her home and caregivers tears my heart out. I wish there was a way for her to transition more slowly to our family without all the heart ache.

It's amazing to see how much Lauren has changed from her first photo to the one we just got. It's wonderful to see her looking so healthy and cared for in all her photos.

2008-12-01T18:57:00.008-07:00

Yes, this is the word from our agency today! For friends and family who aren't familiar with adoption lingo, this means that the CCAA has approved us to travel to China to get our daughter. Now our agency can request our appointment with the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou to complete Lauren's immigration paperwork and obtain her visa. Once that appointment is scheduled, our flights can be booked!! According to our agency we are still on target to travel on January 8th.

Next month...

2008-12-01T05:44:00.003-07:00

our lives will change forever. I can't believe that it is already December and we can say that we are bringing Lauren home NEXT MONTH!! It felt that we would never get to this point, but we finally have. It's actually starting to sink in that next month I will meet the sweet little girl that will eventually call me "mommy". It's exciting and scary all mixed into one BIG emotion!

Yesterday Joe and I did some Target shopping for some of the non-prescription medical items that our international adoption (IA) doctor has recommended we bring to China. We have more items to get, plus we have a prescription for an antibiotic and scabies medication to fill. I'm so glad we'll be able to take these prescription meds with us for a little peace of mind. Also, part of our IA doc's service includes a phone number to reach her 24/7 while we are traveling...this really makes me feel good since we are clueless, first time parents!

On Saturday we were out for a while and when we got home there were two big bags at our front door. The bags were filled with all kinds of toys from Kim & Scott. They are friends of ours from our FCC waiting families group who have been home with their twin girls for about two years now. These are all toys that the twins are done playing with and now they will be a very welcome addition to Lauren's new playroom!

Thank you so much Kim, Scott, Jenna and Jadyn! These toys are appreciated more than you know!

Joe and I are serious Black Friday shoppers and we got the booty below at the Kohl's 50% off all toys sale at 4am...

I know you may think we're crazy, but we actually have fun battling the crowds for those great Black Friday deals! Oh, also...while we were in the toy department there was a women who kept looking at me kind of funny. Finally she said "is that your referral photo?" while pointing to the pendant that Julie gave me of Lauren. I burst out in a huge smile and say "yes it is...it's our daughter in China waiting for us". It turns out she has also adopted, but from Korea. She went on to congratulate us and gush about the happy times we have ahead of us. It made me feel really good. :)

I KNOW we have too many clothes as it is, but these two dresses jumped right off the clearance rack at Naartjie and into my hands as I was walking through the store. They are even in Lauren's size...imagine that...and they are WAY too cute! ;) I love Naartjie...they are one of my favorites!

This Thursday Joe has the day off work and we are both off on Friday, so this is our chance to get the junk room cleared out and start working on the playroom. Now that we have toys and the stuff we bought at IKEA, I'm really excited to get started on that.

Also, I still need to convert our guest bathroom into a girly bathroom for Lauren...it's right across the hall from her bedroom. Here's the stuff I've gathered, some of which I've had for a couple of years now!

So much to do and SO little time now! Hey, can you tell I'm getting excited?? HA!

This and that...

2008-11-24T20:32:00.009-07:00

This past Saturday Joe and I headed over to IKEA to pick up some fun stuff to turn our spare bedroom (aka...junk room) into a play room for Lauren and a place to store her toys. This pile will help turn the room into a bright, fun place for her to be creative and play...

We are going to use IKEA's Trofast system for toy storage. I like the idea of pulling the bins out to carry into other rooms and then being able to put the mess away and tuck the bins back into place.

We got flower and ladybug lights that mount on the wall and a couple of these big leaves to hang on the wall as a canopy.

Joe has a few use or loose vacation days that need to be taken in December, so he is going to clear out the junk and paint the walls. I'm really excited about this project and can't wait to see it done. I'm looking forward to hours of playing with Lauren in that room while I'm on maternity leave.

On another note, I finally ordered a KozyPal. I had ordered one a while back, but had a change of heart on the fabric and cancelled the order. By the time I finally decided to place an order, they had closed down their custom order site for the holidays. They have new fabric choices coming in January, but since they had a special on in-stock, pre-made cart covers with free shipping I decided to order now and save a little money. Here's the one I got...there will be no chance of missing us in a store!

I like the way the cover rolls up and the safety belt is used as a handle to sling it over your shoulder.

One last picture for today since I couldn't help but snap this picture of Lucy all curled up on her bed...

Care package...

2008-11-19T20:54:00.004-07:00

This evening Joe and I went shopping for Lauren's care package. I will be packing the items up and sending my box to Ann at Red Thread China. She is going to translate our letter to the orphanage staff and mail our box to Lauren's orphanage.

I love the soft, baby photo album we found at Target. It even has Chinese characters on the front and a spot for Lauren's picture so they will remember who's album it is. Thanks, Michele, those extra little photos you gave me came in really handy for this! We filled the album with family photos and a picture of our furbaby, Lucy (click to enlarge)...

I also love the Discovery Ladybug. We received two as gifts, so I'm sending one in the package. It makes crinkly noises when you touch the ladybug wings and the bottom is a soft book with fun little things to touch and play with...

We are also including a nice soft blanket, two disposable cameras and a couple packages of Jelly Belly candies for the nannies. It was so much fun picking out the items and putting this package together. I'll be sending it off to Ann early next week. I still need to write a letter to the orphanage staff for her to translate.

Ann is also going to help us try to get updated photos of Lauren and measurements. She will contact the orphanage and see if they will agree to this. I can't wait to find out if we'll get updated pictures! I was on the phone with our friend, Karen (from our travel group), when her updated pictures of Kaelie came through. Oh my gosh, it was SO exciting. Karen, my ears are still ringing! Ha! ;)

Great weekend...

2008-11-16T18:37:00.013-07:00

I'm sitting here thinking about how very lucky we are to have such good friends. We have a small group of local waiting families who have shared this wait with us for so long. Several families in our group have brought their children home and now it's finally our turn! Michele and Ava hosted a shower for us this afternoon and it was such a nice time.

Check out these great favors she had for everyone. Dipped pretzel rods and fortune cookies, little framed pictures of Lauren and aprons in a great ladybug print. Michele, you are so creative and sweet to do all this!
Here we are with the cake...

Michele embroidered Lauren's name on this totally adorable outfit. I can't wait to see her in this...

Lauren now has her very own little kitchen to play with (thanks Nancy, Brian and Lily). It has lots of little buttons to press with fun sights and sounds.

We got some great bibs, including this "Bumkins" bib (thanks Kim, Scott and kids) which is super big to cover up the whole shirt. It should help out a lot if Lauren is a messy eater!

Michele, thank you SO much for hosting our shower...you are the perfect hostess and we had a great time visiting with everyone.

I received a special gift this past week. Julie and Tess sent me this beautiful pendant of Lauren's photo. I LOVE it and have gotten quite a few compliments on it already! I can keep Lauren close while we wait these final weeks.
We also received a special package addressed to Lauren from Lisa. It's a beautiful hand-made bear and he's wearing a red thread bracelet for Lauren...

Lisa, I LOVE this bear and the bracelet. I'm bringing the bracelet to China for Lauren to wear, but the bear will be safely tucked away in her crib waiting for us to get home. It goes great with the nursery colors. Thank you SO much!

There are only 7 more full weeks until we leave to get Lauren! Oh my God, I guess it's time to get ready! Ha!

Any resemblance?

2008-11-12T19:53:00.004-07:00

A while back we were chatting on my Yahoo group about how they match the babies and we were talking about them matching to our passport photos. We challenged each other to post our passport photos with our referral photo to see if there is any resemblance. Keep in mind that our photos were taken back in August 2005 and I've packed on 20 stress pounds since then and now...sad, but true.

So, do you see any resemblance? Click on image to enlarge.

Referral day and video...

2008-11-10T22:33:00.014-07:00

Several people have asked where Lauren's province is in China. You can see on this map, where the Guangdong province is and where Maoming is.

Here are some recent photos I found of her social welfare institute...

Last week, when the call came in it felt like it was out of nowhere. That morning there were rumors that referrals were starting to arrive in Europe, so I figured our call would come the next day. I got off work at 12n and stopped to pick up some lunch. By the time I got home and turned the laptop on it was about 1pm. The first message I saw was from Stephe saying that she just got her call!! Since she's with our agency, I knew this was it. After running around for a few minutes thinking...OMG, OMG, OMG...I called Joe...no answer...called mom...no answer. OMG, am I going to get the call all alone?? What the heck...they are supposed to be on red alert! Finally, I get my mom on the phone and all I had to say was "Stephe got her call...get over here". She was here in a flash. I finally got Joe on the phone and said "this is it, you've got to get home". About 10 minutes later, the phone rings and the caller ID is the agency!! OMG, this is it!!! I picked up the phone and mom started the video. My agency was able to conference Joe in on his cell while he was on the way home. As soon as our agency rep said "you have a daughter", everything after that was a blur! It was so surreal and thank goodness I have my notes and the video so I actually know what he said after that.

Once he was done with the details he had, he said "I just e-mailed you photos"...OMG, OMG, OMG...photos of our daughter and Joe isn't here yet! Luckily, by this time he was only about 5 minutes from home. As soon as he walked in the door, I was pulling up the e-mail and mom had the video rolling...

After we stared at the photos for a little while, I started making phone calls. My brother and his family came over and my sister-in-law brought everything to make dinner for us. My nieces and nephew brought a gift for Lauren...a panda they made at Build-a-Bear named Precious Joy. My niece, Emily, brought me a special gift she had been waiting to give me. It's the Angel of Patience from Willow Tree. We placed it in the nursery watching over a photo of Lauren.

It was such an amazing day that I will never forget! We feel so blessed to have been matched with Nan Qi Qing and can't wait to hold her in our arms.

Weekend stuff...

2008-11-09T22:36:00.006-07:00

Well, this weekend Joe and I signed the letter officially accepting Lauren as our daughter! I'm overnighting that, along with some other paperwork, back to our agency tomorrow morning. The next step is our travel conference call on Monday the 17th. We should find out lots of details about our trip at that point. All I really know at this point is that we are traveling with 8 or 9 other families including our friends Stephe and Karen.

Joe and I went on a little shopping spree for cold weather clothes in Lauren's size. We think that while we're in China she will be about 32" tall and weigh about 20lbs. We bought everything in 12-18 month size. Check out the shirt and matching pants with the panda face on the back. How cute is that!

I ended up clearing some things out of Lauren's closet...all the items smaller than 12 months. Luckily, it didn't put that big a dent in her clothes selection...I've had LOTS of fun shopping over the past three years! I still have lots of 12/18 month clothes in the closet, but we didn't have any cold weather stuff yet.

We are still on cloud 9 and I haven't quite come down to earth yet. I still can't believe we have a daughter and are traveling to China in 2 months!!! It was so much more fun to shop for her today with the image of her sweet face in my head. With all the things we still need to do and the holidays, the time is going to fly by!

2008-11-06T14:29:00.004-07:00

It's been a whirlwind since we received our referral! I'll be updating with more details later. I took off today to wait for the "stork" and he finally landed about 11:30. Here's the sign he was greeted with at the door...

My mom caught a glimpse of him through the window while I scrambled for the camera and she saw him snickering. Here he is...

He was really funny and didn't mind the photo one bit. He said he's been called many things, but never the stork!!! I bet he has a good story for his wife tonight!

Here's all the photos we received with our referral...for your viewing pleasure. Double click on the image to enlarge it.

I can't stop staring at her pictures! I went out to lunch today and even took her along! ;)

HERE SHE IS...

2008-11-05T15:19:00.006-07:00

Oh my God, my heart is beating out of my chest right now and I'm still shaking. We have a daughter!!!! I can't believe I just typed that!

Here's the info:

Name: Nan Qi Qing
Age: 19 months
Province: Guangdong (a southern gal)
City: Maoming
Orphange: Maonan District
Height: 30.7"
Weight: 18.9 lbs

And I didn't mention yet, that she's BEAUTIFUL!!!! We fell in love at first sight!

As you can see, I'm going to work on changing up my blog. I had all this done last week, but I still need to finish up my sidebar.

Oh my God...we have a daughter!!! After three plus years our dreams have come true. Oh, and did I mention that she's beautiful? ;)

No stork in sight...

2008-11-03T20:50:00.004-07:00

Looks like our stork is walking all the way from China!!!

Ok, stork, I'm running out of patience here...flap those wings and get your feathered self up in the air and headed this way!

It's Monday night and not a juicy rumor to be found out there. If Rumor Queen isn't reporting some good news by tomorrow, I may start loosing hope for this week and I really don't want to go there. Come on CCAA, get those referrals in the air!

Next week!

2008-11-01T12:10:00.009-07:00

I feel like I'm totally watching the clock today waiting for next week to come. These last days before referral are brutal!

This weekend Joe and I need to decide how we are going to handle it when the call comes in. We really want to be together and at home if possible. This is hard since the call will come out of the blue and we both work. We are debating between two options right now and can use some advice from those who have BTDT. Assuming the call comes to me at work:

Option 1 - Take the call and conference Joe in; put the call on speaker phone; have a co-worker do the video taping; and have our agency e-mail the photo to both of us at work so we can see it separately, but at the same time.

Option 2 - Take the call and tell our agency that we'll call them back; both of us head come and have my mom meet us there; call the agency back and take the call together with my mom video taping.

I want to go with Option 2, but it hinges on Joe being able to leave work at a moments notice (not likely) and what time the call comes in. If it comes in later in the day, the agency may not be opened still by the time we get home (there's a two hour time difference). Those of you who have been through the call...can you give me your opinion on this?

So, here I sit waiting for Monday to come and hoping for a rumor that referrals are on the way!! I'm getting SOOO anxious! How old is she, what does she look like, is she healthy, where is she now? I have a million questions running through my mind. I feel like I can't concentrate on anything else until I get these answers.

Well, onto another subject...we dressed up in a 60's theme at work this year and decorated the office complete with beaded curtains in our office doorways. Here we are (I'm the hippie in the skirt)...

We have been dressing up every year. Here we are last year. We try to have fun and laugh whenever possible...if we didn't loosen up once in a while we'd probably snap!

It's looking like next week...

2008-10-29T19:50:00.004-07:00

I've been on pins and needles all week checking Rumor Queen just about every couple of hours. I know, but I just can't help it!

I've updated our phone info on file at our agency so they can get a hold of us and I've printed out Stephe's infamous call sheet (you can find this on her sidebar). I also have the camera battery all charged up and ready to go!

I need to contact our agency again and find out what the best day is for us to both take off work. We both want to see Lauren's photo together at the same time. If we have a head's up on the call and they e-mail a photo when they call, we would like to be home on that day. If they just call out of the blue, then we want to be home the next day for the Fed-Ex package. I need to see if they can tell me how it usually plays out. I know this is a silly thing to worry about, but after waiting so long and anticipating the moment we see our daughter I want it to be as perfect as it can be. For you BTDT's, how did it all play out for you? I would love to hear about it.

Will this be the week?

2008-10-26T16:28:00.004-07:00

It's hard to believe that this month is almost over and our referral will actually be on it's way soon.

I'm wondering if we'll get the call this coming week or next. Either way, our lives are about to change forever in ways I probably can't even imagine right now. We've been trying to become a family of three since 1996 and now 12 years later, that dream is about to come true. Everyone is saying that we should savor these final days of anticipation and take advantage of being a party of two before we travel to China. We definitely intend to do that!

It's going to be a heck of week waiting to hear when the stork will fly! I have a feeling my brain will be mush...should be an interesting week at the office. ;)

First offical rumor...

2008-10-22T21:26:00.005-07:00

According to Rumor Queen today...

Matching?
October 22nd, 2008
An agency is reporting that matching has begun. Just one agency reporting it so far.

It may be only one agency reporting this right now, but I really do think that matching has begun. It gives me goosebumps to think that our agency's stack is sitting on someone's desk right now waiting to be matched!

Joe and I went to Pei Wei's for lunch on Sunday and check out what my fortune said for the Chinese vocabulary word...

I guess it's travel in January...don't ya think?

On another note, I want to send a BIG thank you to Fuzz and Fuzzlet for asking Kim to send their prize to me for Lauren!!! Check out these adorable little clippies and clip holder. All the shopping I've done and I don't have one of these holders...I love it! THANK YOU!

2008-10-20T09:12:00.002-07:00

Online Surveys & Market Research

32nd LIDversary and baby calendar...

2008-10-18T19:07:00.014-07:00

Yesterday was our 32nd LIDversary, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. As each day of October goes by that light gets brighter and brighter.

Last week I was ordering some 2009 calendars and couldn't pass this one up...

I know that we won't have Lauren for most of her first year, but I'm going to use this calendar to record all her firsts with us as a family.

This calendar has adorable graphics and comes with lots of little stickers to mark important dates and milestones. It's a blank calendar, so you can start it whenever you want.

I especially like how each month has a spot for a photo and space to write new things Lauren can do and make special notes about the month. I think this will become a special scrapbook type keepsake to put away for her.

Brain fog and fish tacos...

2008-10-14T20:33:00.006-07:00

Tonight we had one of our favorite weeknight dinners courtesy of Costco. We get the frozen, breaded talapia and cut each piece into three strips once it's baked. We have it with flour or corn tortillas, shredded cheese, home-made salsa and shredded cabbage. Quick and yummy fish tacos! Gotta love Costco.

Well, so far this week I feel like I'm walking around in a fog. Is this a normal feeling for the weeks before referral? It's getting harder and harder to concentrate on any one thing for any period of time. My mind keeps wandering off to so many things:

Is our file sitting on someones desk just waiting to be matched?
What will Lauren look like?
How old will she be?
What province is she in?
Is she healthy?
Is she in an orphanage or with foster parents?
Is she being taken care of?
Did she have any of the tainted formula?
Is she getting enough to eat?
Is someone playing with her and caring for her?
Where was she left and was there a note?
Will she accept us as her parents?
How will she adjust to her new life?

The list goes on and on and it's getting harder and harder to focus at work and on anything that's not adoption related for that matter. Is this normal or is this just me?

Baby carrier has arrived...

2008-10-12T16:34:00.006-07:00

Here we are already heading into mid-October and I'm SO hoping that referrals come out before the end of the month and that ours is in the batch! I'm getting so excited! We may only have a few short weeks left until we see our daughter. I keep asking myself if this is really happening after all this time...someone pinch me!

Last week we got our Baby Hawk baby carrier in the mail. We picked out a dark espresso brown for the trim with this fun fabric on the front. Joe is modeling it with our new baby, little Miss. Idaho. She's 10 lbs and tastes delicious with a little butter and sour cream...

Here's what the back looks like...

Joe says it's pretty comfortable for him and distributes the weight pretty evenly. I'm a bad judge of baby carriers because I have a bad back and have daily trouble with low back pain. I'm going to have to pump myself full of meds and suck it up on the China trip because I want to carry Lauren as much as she'll let me while in China.

***Attention Target Shoppers***

If you like ladybug things for the nursery, I just picked up this adorable changing pad cover today. It's very soft and oh so cute! It seems to be a brand made for Target since there is a whole line of items that match. It's called tiddliwinks and was $12.99.

Projections are out...

2008-10-06T18:58:00.009-07:00

Wow, our LID (2/17) finally made it to the top line of the Rumor Queen projection chart!!

For family and friends not familiar with her projections, referrals for the last year have fallen on her "Horrid Case" date, her "Spring 2008 Small" date or something in between. We can't be 100% sure we are in for the next batch, but I'm feeling pretty darn good about it. I would say I'm feeling about 95% sure. Over the past year, referrals have only fallen below the "Spring 2008 Small" projected date twice. I think I'll take those odds! ;)

Ok, now it's poll time to see which province you think Lauren will be from. Here's a map of the provinces...

and here's a graphic from the FCC website on most referrals by province...

and now it's time to vote...

Online Surveys & Market Research

We are...

2008-09-30T20:52:00.008-07:00

I was SOOOO excited on Monday morning to see that referrals got through 2/15! Yes, this means that we are finally next! We should see Lauren's sweet face by mid-November at the latest, but probably earlier.

I feel like I have lots of things to do now that we KNOW it won't be long. There are still things we wanted to get done before our referral. Gosh, where has the past three years gone? Life on hold...yup. I need to kick it into high gear now!

By the way, check out my sidebar countdown calendar...doesn't it look great with all those days marked off?

The cookie knows...

2008-09-28T21:51:00.002-07:00

I was at Costco on Friday night and they had these chocolate covered fortune cookies packaged up so cute in this red box...

This morning I opened up the box, reached down in there and pulled out a cookie. Check out what my fortune says...

Now if it could only tell me if the seeds will blossom in October or November!!! I'm thinking it will be November, but we'll know for sure in a few days.

Special gift for myself...

2008-09-26T22:53:00.006-07:00

I got my order from Lisa Leonard Designs today and as soon as I opened the boxes the tears started flowing (I told you I've been emotional lately). I LOVE the necklaces I ordered!

I've been wanting to order a personalized piece of jewelry to start wearing when we get our referral. I found Lisa's website and love her hand-stamped, sterling silver jewelry...

I fell in love with this personalized family tree necklace with a freshwater pearl charm (double click to enlarge)...

and I also couldn't help but order this silver necklace with gold flower, also personalized...

I can't wait until I can start wearing these...I'll be so proud to finally be Lauren's momma!

On another note, thank you for all your kind words on my post from Wednesday. I think you all have talked me off the edge and now I'm looking forward to next week when we should know how far they get with referrals. We will finally see our daughter's face either next week or in another five weeks. It doesn't even seem real that we are actually this close.