Happy Holidays

It's been a great week with Alisha. She is such a JOY and we are having the best time getting to know more and more about her. Its been a busy week with a bunch of our family and friends stopping by to meet Alisha. She enjoyed all the visits and has made a few new friends (aren't they cute!).

Christmas was very special this year and our best ever. We started off the holiday by sharing Christmas Eve dinner with Pete, Annie, Melanie and Rob. Alisha attended her first dinner party and really had a good time eating her potato and making everyone laugh. We woke up Christmas morning and Jerry made a big breakfast (YUMM... Pancakes) and then we opened gifts. Alisha has received so many gifts since she has been home that she has become a pro at pulling off the wrapping paper. Later in the day, we went to Grandma Pat's for Christmas dinner. Dinner was great, especially the banana pudding and Alisha really liked meeting her aunts, uncles and cousins.

UPDATE: we took Alisha to the doctors for our post adoption evaluation. She did great and he doctor was really happy with her progress. Good news is that her finger was never broken....her tendons are restricted. We did her x-ray after the doctor visit, so we will find out more on how to treat it at our next visit early in January. Before the x-ray, we had to go to the lab for some blood work. Since, we can not be sure of her past medical information, the doctor requested alot of tests. They took about 6 viles from our little one, YIKES!

Every day is a wonderful blessing. We are enjoying every minute and are looking forward to a lifetime of smile, giggles and love with our little girl.

Home at Last

We are FINALLY home. Our trip was rather easy but lengthy almost 24 hours of traveling. When we arrrived in DC, I felt such a relief come over me. We were HOME! We did as instructed by the US consulate and went in the non-US customs line. We were toward the end since we took our time getting off the plane and stopped for a bathroom run. We were not in a hurray as we had plenty of time to make our connection. When we finally got to the Officer, he told us we were on the wrong line. Whatever, he still took our paperwork. It was exciting to realize that not only was Alisha our daughter, turned one but also a US citizen (something we all take for granted). After a slight delay in DC, we finally landed in Philly where Lance and Cathy were waiting for us. It was so wonderful having our friends finally meet Alisha. After getting home and showing Alisha her home, we all were so happy to get into bed together as a family and slept in the next morning.

Unfortunately, the last few days have been hard on her. She is getting over jet lag, time change a new house (that looks and smells different) and I think she started teething. So much to take in for such a little girl. Thankfully, she seemed back to our happy little girl today. If you visited before today, please come back and meet the "real" Alisha.




Grandma Joan arrived the day after we got home to help out and spend some time getting to know her new granddaughter. Mom has been great helping around the house but understands that Jerry and I have to be her sole providers right now. Alisha needs to understand that we are now her parents and will always be here for her. The bonding process will take a while but we are in no rush. We will continue each day to show her all the love we have in our hearts for her.



Since we traveled on Alisha's birthday, we celebrated with a nice dinner with both of her grandmas on Saturday night. Grandma Pat prepared a great dinner and made Alisha a beautiful birthday cake. Alisha really enjoyed it (Can't you tell!)!! She is still confused on presents but loved the gift wrapping paper and tissue paper.



We are having sleep issues. Alisha goes down pretty easy and sleeps well during nap times. But at night, she has been sleeping about 4-5 hours and then wakes up crying. Unfortunately, no matter what we do, she will not go back in her crib. Jerry and I really want to avoid her sleeping with us, but there is no other way to get her back to sleep. We are hoping its just an adjustment thing and she will be back to sleeping all night like she did in China. Wish us luck!




I was going to stop the blog after our trip to China, but have decided to keep it up, so everyone can keep up with Alisha. No promises but keep stopping by for updates.

Happy Birthday Our Darling Daughter

What an exciting day for Alisha.... she turns 1 today and also will become a US citizen.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY ALISHA!!!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

We're Coming Home

We had a nice last day in Guangzhou. After spending the morning having a leisurely breakfast, we hit our after breakfast treat ...... Starbucks. We walked over to the park next to the hotel for a morning stroll on the River and were surprised to see it full of people. Groups of people doing Chinese dance, ballroom dance, yoga (or some form of it) and hackisack game . It was hard getting Alisha's stroller around all the groups.

We gave Alisha a long late morning nap and then got her ready for the Swearing in Ceremony at the US Consulate. Our hotel arranges for all the families to go over by bus. There had to be 100 of us. Upon entering the Consulate, you have to hand in any electronic equipment including your camera. Then everyone gets in line and a gentlemen verified that the copies of our passport picture matched who was in the room. Our coordinator then gets our Visa package while a gentlemen stands in the middle of the room and goes over what is taking place. At the end all of the families stand together with our right hand raised and swear that all of the information we gave during this process was true and accurate. And then its done.... we can now bring Alisha into the US. YAHOO!!!

After the ceremony, we met up with a couple we met in Wuhan, Paul and Vicky who were adopting their 3rd child from China after raising 4 of their own. The are a great couple and their kids were so sweet. There daughter Kate was having the best time playing with Alisha and she was laughing and smiling the whole time.

Today, was another wonderful day of getting to know Alisha. She loves to laugh and giggle and especially loves to laugh at something she just has done. She is so funny! We are enjoying every second of her. Even her "moments" are getting fewer and shorter. What a relief!

I just finished packing for our long trip home. We are going to miss China and it will always be special in our hearts. It is Alisha's home country, her history and the place she lived for a year. We look forward to returning here with her as a young adult and let her see her home country together as a family.

Jerry, Alisha and I are so looking forward to seeing everyone. We miss all of our family and friends. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives and we want to thank everyone for sharing this wonderful journey with us. We look forward to you all getting to know our little girl.

See ya in the US!!!

One Week Anniversary

It is our one week anniversary with Alisha today. We couldn't be happier or prouder to call her our daughter. She is amazing and we just adore her. Her personality is really starting to come out. She is a pretty happy most of the time, loves to talk to herself and laughs at herself.

Once again, its 9pm and our angel is no closer to bed then she was an hour ago. It's play time with Daddy again tonight. There are tons of laughs coming from her bed, they are having a GREAT time.

The consulate appointment went well. We received the okay from our guide about 11:30 that paperwork was complete and we would be receiving Alisha's visa on Tuesday. Since it was another warm day in Guangzhou we had lunch outside at our favorite cafe, Lucys. We did a bit more outside time and tried to get Alisha to nap by the pool, so Jerry and I could continue to enjoy the nice weather. Miss Busy Body was too busy checking it all out, so we finally came back to the room for her afternoon nap.

After nap time, we took the famous red couch picture. Most adoptive families staying at the White Swan dress their little ones up in Chinese dresses and take pictures on the red couch. Alisha was not too happy to pose, but we think she looks adorable.

After dinner, we did the last of our shopping. There are a ton of stores around the Hotel that sell all sorts of trinkets and baby items. We have only bought things that we thought Alisha would like as she gets older. Alot of the stuff they sell, can be found in any Chinatown, USA. Some of her special items is a "chop" with her name on it (its what the Chinese use to sign their name on official papers), a silk blanket we were able to design ourselves and a picture of her name in pictures and a beautiful embroidery piece that we can frame for her room.

Enjoy the pictures.... one last day and we are coming home!

Sunday in Guangzhou with No Football

Today was such a relaxing day... No Appointments!

We had a leisurely breakfast and after Alisha's morning nap we did some shopping. We went into the city of Guangzhou where they have a Jade & Pearl Market. The markets are huge with store after store of Pearl and Jade items. We were a bit overwhelmed and then we found a store that other US families were purchasing items and the staff spoke English (Bonus!).

After tiring Jerry out with some shopping, we head back to our hotel for lunch. There is a restaurant nearby called Lucy's which has quasi "American" food. It was a warm but overcast day but nice enough to eat outside. We did more shopping and went back to the hotel playroom for more fun time. We had a great time playing with Alisha and even had her walking back and forth between Jerry and I . We are really trying to get her stronger.

We found out from another family that you can get Papa Johns Pizza to deliver to the hotel. So tonight for dinner we had good old US Pizza. Okay, not quite but close. Alisha loved the crust (see pic above). Its amazing how much she loves to eat. It may just be my ignorance on how much little one can eat but I was getting scared we were giving her too much food. Since she is so skinny, it can't hurt. I figure once we get back to the states, we can work with her doctor on her diet. I know I keep talking about her eating but I did not think she would eat so much. Her stomach is a bottomless pit.

She continues to fall more and more in love with her Daddy. We are making great strides in our relationship but still is not to happy just being with me.

We do think they fibbed a bit on her schedule. No matter how tired our little girl is, she thinks bed time starts out with 2 hours of playing with her Daddy. I finally got her down to sleep tonight which is good and bad. Good that I can get her to sleep.... Bad that she doesn't want to play with me but would rather sleep.

Tomorrow is our consulate appointment. However, we don't actually go to the consulate. Our guide submits our paperwork and then will contact us once everything is processed. Just in case they are missing something, we must stay in our room from 10-1. 3 hours is a long time to entertain a 12 month old in a hotel room. Wish us luck!

BTW - Alisha received her first present from her Daddy today. Doesn't she look pretty in her pink hat.

PS - Jerry is going through Football withdrawal but I am enjoying 2 Football free Sundays!

Guangzhou

It's so nice to be in Guangzhou. Many of the US adoptive families stay at our hotel (the White Swan). It is really nice to be around other adoptive families and meeting all of the kids. They are all gorgeous and its wonderful to see so many new families.

We started the day with the breakfast buffet. Everyone talks about the buffet on the blogs and know we know why. It is huge and the food is very good. Probably won't need to eat too much of a lunch after all of this food.

On the airplane to Beijing, we were sitting in front of a couple also on their way to adopt. We ran into them this morning and had breakfast with them and their son Luke. We were also able to meet a few other families that were sitting around us. So much LOVE in the room.

We had another early appointment for Alisha's medical exam. I thought it would be pretty simple, but they did a complete check up. She was doing great until they had us take off her clothes. She freaked as usual. We are not sure what bothers her so much about changing her, but she lets us know each time how unhappy she is. After the exam, we put her down for her nap and Michael came by to complete the USCIS paperwork. There were several forms to complete all with the same information. That's the US govt. for ya.

Afterwards, we went for a walk around the Island. The White Swan in located on Shamian Island which sits on the Pearl River outside the city of Guanzhou. It is a beautiful place and very island like. Not too many cars, beautiful squares and quant stores that really caters to the US adoptive families. We were able to borrow an umbrella stroller from one of the stores for our stay. We don't think she ever had been in a stroller before but seemed to really like it and gives us a break from walking her around in the snugglie.

After her afternoon nap, we headed down to the hotel playroom. She likes watching the other kids, but we did find a few toys for her to play with. Her favorite seemed to be ball. We are having so much fun learning about our little one. Some new fun facts:

• She has a tickle spot on her belly.
• Her laugh is the sweetest sound
• She is the best eater and we haven't found anything she doesn't like.
• She has started to feed herself Cheerios and a banana.

We are so excited, tomorrow is our first and only day with no appointments. I think we may do some shopping.

PS - the last picture is Alisha's first visit to Starbucks!

Last Day in Wuhan

Not much to say about yesterday except that we spent alot of time in the airport. Due to the trip to the orphanage, Alisha was so tired yesterday morning, that after we woke her, got her ready, she was ready to go back to sleep. I stayed in the room with her and Jerry and Michael headed to the notary and back to Civil Affairs Office for her passport. Unfortunately, Alisha's passport had a mistake on it but the correction was made quickly and we were set to go.

Upon arriving at the airport, we found a ton of delays due to early morning fog. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:30 and we finally left about 7pm. At this airport, they will not let you check in until they know your plane is coming. So we sat in the cold front part of the airport for about 4 hours with all of our baggage. CRAZY! Finally, they let us check in and we could go upstairs to our gate. Once up at the gate, they don't have times up at the gates. They call your plane and everyone runs to the gate to get on the bus that takes you to the plane. I was walking Alisha around the airport to keep her busy and we almost missed the bus.

The delay was long and hard on all of us but Alisha did GREAT! We were so proud of her. She spent a lot of time in her snugglie and I did a ton of laps around the airport. Jerry tried to get her to sleep for a nap but all she took was a half hour power nap. She did another power nap on the plane, but our little girl wants to check it all out. She doesn't miss a thing. That being said, she was good on the plane. We are hoping that she will continue to be a good traveler as we still have our marathon flight home with her on Wednesday.

We finally got checked in to the White Swan Hotel around 9:30. We thought she would go straight to sleep, but she had other ideas and it was play time. Finally around 11 she fell asleep and Jerry and I did too.

We have her medical exam this morning and then we will check out the hotel and town. We decided to do our own thing today instead of scheduling anything, so we can try and get Alisha back on her schedule.

Alisha's Orphanage

We were out the door bright and early this morning to travel to Qichun to visit Alisha's orphanage. It was a 3 hour ride from Wuhan. Alisha did great. Remember, there are no car seats in China, so she played on our laps and even napped a bit. Of course, the Cheerios and Gerbers are still a big hit!

Once we got off the highway, we started to see a different China than the other 2 cities. We were on dirt roads through a lot of farming communities. We even saw a farmer using an Ox to pull a tractor and to Jerry's surprise he was talking on a cell phone while working.

After being with Alisha for a few days, I was torn about taking Alisha away from the only family she has known, her home, country and culture. Once I saw the Qichun village, I realized that we truly are doing what is best for her. The village itself is very small with a school, some buildings and a few stores. Everything seemed very old and not very structurally sound (if you know what I mean).

We arrived at the orphanage and met the orphanage director, the director of children and the head nanny. They were very nice and told us the history of the orphanage. It was established in the 1950's. Presently 40 children are connected to the orphanage but all of them live with foster families. All of the foster families work for the orphanage. They have a working farm which grows mostly vegatables to feed the children and the foster families. Most of the children are adopted internationally and the few that remain have severe disabilities and will stay with their foster families for most of their lives.

They showed us around the complex which consisted of a few baby rooms, a medical clinic and offices. It was very chilly and the complex has no heat. They were concerned that Alisha was cold. Of course she was cold, we all were cold.

After the tour, we headed to Alisha's finding spot. For me, this was the hardest part of our trip. But Jerry and I knew this was something we needed to do. Alisha was left at the gate of a middle school not far from the orphanage. The nanny said there are some small hospitals in the area where she probably gave birth. I stood there for a long time taking it all in. I wanted to always remember that spot so that we could share our feelings with Alisha when she gets older.

Upon our return to the orphanage, they had a lunch prepared in their dining room. Each day the orphanage workers have lunch together. The meal was good and it consisted of many vegetables they grow on their land. They had a special egg made for Alisha which she loved.

We headed back to Wuhan and before coming back to the hotel we stopped at the Civil Affairs Office to pick up our official Adoption Certificate. Although, we already know Alisha is our little girl, it was overwhelming to see it in print including her new name. All that needs to be done tomorrow is to get Alisha's passport and we are headed to Guangzhou to fulfill our final US requirements (yes, more paperwork).

It was an emotional day for all of us. We are thankful to the person who found Alisha, the orphanage staff for taking her in and her wonderful foster family for loving her and taking such amazing care of her this past year. We also want to send a BIG thank you to Diana at Madison Adoption Agency who was our guiding angel through this journey.

Thank you to everyone who has posted comments. This journey has taken us far away from all of our friends and family. It helps to know you are all following along with us. Keep the comments coming!

Another Day in Wuhan

We are really enjoying our little girl. She is showing more of her personality everyday. Today was a great day, as we really bonded with her. We started off the morning by going back to the Civil Affairs Office to confirm that information on the Adoption Certificate was correct. It was a very brief visit since the other families were coming later, we did not have to go to the notary as planned. We planned on going to visit a park today but the weather got cold and overcast. So we spent the day, getting to know Alisha better and trying to get her back on her schedule. After sleeping for over 12 hours last night, she still took both of her naps.

After her morning nap we grabbed lunch and then took her shopping . To Jerry's dismay she loved it! I will finally have a shopping partner in our family. She loves being out and about and checks everything out. However, getting back to the room is another story. As soon as we walk into our room, she has a meltdown. They are getting a bit shorter, but she really likes to tell us how she feels.

Tonight, we took her out to her first real restaurant. She was GREAT! She sat in the high chair and loved playing with her food. She likes almost everything we gave her but her favorite are the noodles (as you can see from the picture). I call her my little bird. Whenever, we have food for her, she opens her mouth like a baby bird to be fed. It makes me laugh every time.

She has already fallen in love with her Daddy. She will come to me but she prefers her Daddy when she is scared and crying. I am hopeful that each day will get easier and she will learn to let us be there for her. Who can blame her, her whole world changed in an instant. It is a process and we can take each day as it comes.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We are headed out early to visit the orphanage and see her finding spot. Friday, we will have all of our paperwork completed and will be headed to Guangzhou for the final leg of our journey.

Adoption Day

Today, we headed back to the Civil Affairs Office to complete the paperwork to adopt Alisha. The process is pretty simple; after taking our family picture they asked us several questions including do we still want to adopt Alisha. Before we were finished, we had to put our fingerprint in red over our signature on the papers and we had to have Alisha put her footprint in red on the paperwork also. Kind of cool that we have a copy of that to bring home with us. After the paperwork, Jerry went to the bank to deposit our adoption fee. Because we are giving them US Dollars, this part takes awhile. While I waited for him back at the office, I was able to talk to the other 3 families that were also adopting special needs children. They are all amazing families and each has their own story to tell.

With all the stress of yesterday and going to sleep so late last night (Jerry finally got her to sleep around 10pm), Alisha was exhausted. I got her to nap in my arms for about 1/2 hour at the Civil Affairs office.

After lunch, she took a long nap and we were off to see the famous Yellow Crane Tower. It was beautiful and Alisha seemed to be the star of the day. There was a bunch of Chinese tourist who kept trying to talk to us and even asked for a picture of them with Jerry and Alisha.

Upon getting back from the tower, Alisha took a long nap. She is now up with Jerry in bed eating Cheerios. She still clings to Jerry more when she is crying. He seems to have the special touch.

Our little girl is amazing and we are learning more about her such as:

• She doesn't like it when we change her clothes or her diaper and lets us know about it.


• Her favorite toys are the lids to her bottles or the blue Gerber Graduate canister


• She scrunches up her face before she cries, smiles or laughs


• She loves her binky and won't let it out of her sight. The Nanny told us that she uses her binky to comfort herself and they even tied a string around it for her. Just in case, I am headed to the store tomorrow to buy a duplicate. We want to keep her as content as possible while we are in China.

I spoke to soon... Alisha is having a meltdown and we are not having a lot of success calming her down. Hopefully, she is just tired and Jerry can get her to sleep soon.

We had a hard time posting pictures today, hopefully more tomorrow.

Alisha Day

What an amazing day. We have finally met our little girl and she is breathtaking beautiful!!

The day started early for me as I could not sleep and was up at 3:30am. We left the hotel at 9:30 and as soon as we got to the Civil Affairs Office she was there waiting for us. I just stood there and stared at her until her Nanny finally handed her to me. Usually, the children are in another room until after you complete your paperwork. (Yes, more paperwork!!!) So unfortunatley, the Nanny took Alisha back until we finished up. Alisha is temporarily given to us overnight and we come back tomorrow for the final adoption process and officially become a family.

Alisha was brought to Wuhan from her village with the head Nanny from her orphanage, so we did not meet her foster parents. The Nanny shared a few tidbits about our little one. They also gave us a photo album of pictures of Alisha from her first year. Since we will never know much about her life in China, this book is a true treasure to us and someday to Alisha.

Unfortunately, Alisha is having a hard day. She is so off her schedule. They woke her at 4am this morning to make the journey to Wuhan, which is over 3 hours from her home. So, you can only imagine how scared she is right now. Another thing we found is that our little girl has a BIG set of lungs. Jerry has been the true champ today and has the golden touch. He has been able to calm her down and if that doesn't work she loves Cheerios and Gerber Graduates.

After arriving back at the hotel and getting her out of her travel clothes, we went for a short walk to McD's for lunch. We assume this was her first taste of fast food and LOVED the fries (who doesn't). After lunch we realized we needed more supplies and made another trip out to the supermarket. Alisha loved the walks and her snugglie and she takes everything in and loves touching and checking everything out.

We wanted to play with her back at the hotel, but she totally lost it when we got back to the room. We finally got her down to sleep (once again, Jerry has the golden touch). Not sure how long her yelling spells will last, but we will take it as it comes.

We are just so overjoyed and in love with our little girl. She is gorgeous and such a little one. Her updated medical information says she is 9kg or 19lbs but I doubt that is true. Her finger doesn't seem so bad, but we will wait and see what the doctors have to say about it when we get home.

Wuhan

We left Beijing this morning and took our first Chinese flight to Wuhan Thankfully it was a short flight, because the seats are very tight. I think if Jerry was any bigger he would not have fit in the plane seat. We were amazed how crammed you were on the airplane. Talk about a cattle car.

Upon arriving in Wuhan we met up with our facilitator Michael at the airport. After a long drive from the airport, we finally got to our hotel. Hard to believe but traffic in China may be worse than NY traffic. We got settled into our room and walked around a bit. Wuhan is a big city (about 5 million people) but much different from Beijing. Beijing is very cosmopolitian and Wuhan is more of an Industrial city. I don't think they get alot of Americian visitors. We get stared out no matter where we go. So far, we have not met alot of people who speak English. Then again its only our first afternoon in the city.

The good news is we meet Alisha at 10am tomorrow morning (that's Sunday at 9pm in Delaware). We also found out that they have arranged for us to go to her Orphanage on Thursday. We are not sure if we will meet her foster parents but it will be nice to see where she has been living. I am going to see if we can also go to her finding place. All memories, Jerry and I want to be able to share with Alisha when she gets older.

Can't wait to meet our little girl tomorrow. Our dream is only a day away!

Another Day in Beijing

Another great day in Beijing. We decided to sleep in this morning and try and get over some of our jet lag. Although there is so much we want to see in Beijing, we really want to get on China time before we meet Alisha.

After a leisurely morning, we went down the street to the Forbidden City and Tannimen Square. Forbidden City was beautiful and so full of history. We walked through some beautiful gardens and walked around the square. After our long afternoon checking out the sights, we had some relaxing time at the hotel pool. It is in the basement of the hotel and its like you are on a tropical island. So relaxing, that Jerry and I both took a quick nap before dinner.

We wish we could have seen more of this wonderful city but we are off tomorrow to Wuhan and finally meet Alisha on Monday.