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!