Sunday, December 11, 2011
Charlotte's 2nd birthday and first with us
1 year ago on Charlotte's birthday we got a phone call in the morning from our adoption agency telling us of a little girl that we had been match with. The lady (her name is Judy) said, oh look today is her birthday! That is really special. I don't think I have seen that too many times before, getting matched on the baby's birthday.
We saw her pictures and now, 1 year later we are celebrating her 2nd birthday and her first with us. Since her sister's birthday was only 1 week before, she got the idea of opening gifts down pretty good. She liked that.
We ate spaghetti for dinner since she like those noodles a lot! She had a yellow cake that we made into a flower. She ate a ton of it. She has a major sweet tooth!
Our kind neighbor gave us hand me downs from their daughter so we acquired another stroller, which we really needed to settle fights. She still isn't talking much, but she is trying harder now. She is a ton of energy and loves everything her sister loves. She follows every move her sister makes and tries all the same screams. Charlotte's favorite are shoes. If we can't find our shoes we know she has been wearing them around. She loves to eat food too. The sweeter the better for her.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Update on Charlotte
We have been so crazy busy, it was impossible to post! The older kids are back in school and have been for over a month.Charlotte and her sis are into everything! They love to climb, and open every door and drawer they possibly can. Charlotte has grown a lot! She has gained 4 pounds and her feet have increased by 2 sizes at least. She is finally getting some hair too! She says lots of sign and is starting to say dada, but is sounds more like nana. When we took her in to our county assesment for speech we found out that she couldn't chew, or move the food around in her mouth. I thought it was a texture thing, so I had been giving her some baby food and blended up food to make sure she got lots of nutrients. She in reality though was sucking everything and not getting very much. So, we have a speech therapist who comes weekly to help with her speech, but also to help with her chewing. she is also a food therapist! So that has been very helpful. She is chewing all kinds of food now!
Charlotte loves I repeat loves to get into everything. She loves to tease and be teased and wrestle with her brothers. Her sis isn't much of a wrestler, but she loves to play with her. They are really cute together. I will post a picture of the two giving each other lovies as we call them. They hug giggle and fall over. It is cute.
It is very busy with these guys, and sometimes I wonder what I got myself into, but I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. It is so nice to read other blogs with kids like us to hear that they have crazy times too. It makes me feel grateful to be able to know that we all crazy times too.
The other favorite here is to dress up. We have a monkey costume that looks so adorable on Charlotte, she loves to wear it too. This is a picture of 3 of the kids dressed up and ready to play.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
We are home!
I will post pictures soon, but I just wanted to say we are home and so much more comfy! Charlotte did great on the airplane rides. She slept a little, but cried less. We slept very little also of course.
All the kids so far get a long great. Charlotte follows her big sister around all day and tries to copy everything she does. If I pick up one, the other immediately wants to be held also. If one looks at a book, the other has to sit close and look at the book also. They both want to drink the same time and eat the same time also. It is funny! I would say that one of the only hard things is sleeping. Both of us came home with a cold, put that with jet lag and trying to get back into work, school, activities, church, and really active babies we are quite exhausted. The Grandparents left Sunday and another set came on Tuesday. That is nice. We are so thankful to both for all their help and so thankful for my parents who took care of 3 crazy kids for 15 days. They did such a good job and comforted them so well when they had nightmares, and double ear infections and other things that came up.
All the kids so far get a long great. Charlotte follows her big sister around all day and tries to copy everything she does. If I pick up one, the other immediately wants to be held also. If one looks at a book, the other has to sit close and look at the book also. They both want to drink the same time and eat the same time also. It is funny! I would say that one of the only hard things is sleeping. Both of us came home with a cold, put that with jet lag and trying to get back into work, school, activities, church, and really active babies we are quite exhausted. The Grandparents left Sunday and another set came on Tuesday. That is nice. We are so thankful to both for all their help and so thankful for my parents who took care of 3 crazy kids for 15 days. They did such a good job and comforted them so well when they had nightmares, and double ear infections and other things that came up.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Shamian island park
Absolutely beautiful park street through the middle of Samian island along the Pearl river. Former trade center for British and French merchants. |
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Video calls
We've really enjoyed keeping in touch over video conference calls with our kids, almost everyday. Today we prayed together over the video call before they went to bed and we had pizza delivered for lunch! |
US consulate
Yeah! We took the oath on behalf of Charlotte and finished the paperwork at the US consulate today! The lady over the adoption process didn't know Marc, but we asked and talked with her for a while. |
Emily and Charlotte
Emily and Charlotte were room mates at Maria's big house and are both from the Anyang orphanage. We were the only ones in our group to be from the same orphanage, which is really awesome. Notice Emily's hand on Charlotte's knee. Emily will be growing up where she'll get a great southern accent :) Y'all keep in touch! |
Found
Charlotte was found just a few days after she was born at the gate of the old cultural center in Linzhou, just outside of Anyang. The police took her to the Anyang orphanage. We'll never know why her parents couldn't keep her. Maybe it was the best that her birth parents could do with a daughter with cleft lip and palate. Maybe they couldn't afford the treatments and thought someone else might be able to help. I'm glad we get a chance to be her forever parents. Isn't her smile now beautiful? |
Comfort
Charlotte has the funniest comfort method. Putting her lips to her sleeve. It doesn't matter if it's long, short (more difficult), or actually someone elses. |
Guangzhou
Yeah! We're on the last stage of our journey. We flew Tuesday from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou and are staying at the White Swan hotel which caters to adoptive families. It is really pretty. I like firm mattresses, but these hotels take it to a new level. We were told, the nicer the hotel, the harder the beds. Next time I'll need to bring my camping air matress! Consulate appointment tomorrow. We'll post more pictures then. |
Kung Fu Capital
We can't find the Henan museum photos, so we'll need to get them from some others in our group. We went to the Buddhist temple where Kung Fu started, Shaolin in Henan with a few families from our group. The best part was the Kung Fu show by the Kung Fu students. We saw thousands practicing as we drove and walked in the city. The show had over 100 kids. Probably started at age 8 on up to maybe 18. Great tricks, coordination, strength, and composition. They accept kids in the boarding school as young as 3. It was really hot. Though Charlotte was good most of the time, she did have a breakdown a few times and only wanted her mom. A lot of people would take really long stares at us... I mean really really long. Wonder what we were doing. Try to talk to us. Sometimes take pictures of us. Awkward. |
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Easter chocolate display in the hotel lobby
I think our kids could eat all of these. Heard they finished their Easter candy quick! |
Easter
| There is one Christian church in Zhengzhou and our rep, Yisha, didn't know where it was. We had our own Easter devotional by reading the New Testament, trying to teach Charlott how to say "amen", watching a video about Christ on our Church web site (www.lds.org), and listening to President Monson testify of Christ. We also joined the other families to tour the Henan provincial museum of history. It was facinating. Charlotte's home area of Anyang was an ancient capital of China during the Shang dynasty about 3,600 years ago and was the location of the oldest Chinese characters ever found. So, it probably was the starting location for writing in China (on turtle shells and "oracle" bones). |
Monday, April 25, 2011
Outside Maria's big house of hope
I believe the staff and sponsors of Maria's Big House of Hope literally saved Charlotte's life. They enabled her to develop during a critical time in her life, showed her love, and prepared her to be adopted by us. The same doctor that did her cleft surgery is coming back in May to do 12+ others. Her lip cleft was large, probably more than half of her lip. We are so thankfull! |
Waving good-bye to Charlotte
All the 2nd floor nannies and kids waved good-bye out the windows and on the porch to Charlotte as we walked out of the door to the car. We could tell how much they really cared and were happy for her. |
Floor 2
Charlotte spent most of her time on floor 2 with 2 nurses from the Philipines, Lilly and Jonna. |
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Maria's Big House of Hope - Charlotte's home for 14 months
I've heard that God listens to our prayers but it is usually through another person that He answers them. The answer to our prayers and the prayers for the many many orphaned children were answered at Maria's Big House of Hope, a special needs medical center for orphans in Luoyang. The Chinese government calls it a "foster home" but it's really a special care orphanage. Charlotte lived there from 2 1/2 months old until a couple weeks before we adopted her (about 14 months total). We assume her first couple of months were at the Anyang orphanage. We know her last 2 weeks were at the Anyang orphanage to finalize the paperwork. The nannies and nurses were so happy to see her when we visited on Saturday. We'll need to write a lot more words to capture the experience of visiting, but I wanted to put up a few pictures. http://www.showhope.org/OrphanCare/SpecialCareCenters.aspx |
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Zijingshan Park in Zhengzhou
We walked to the park this morning. It is located where Ao city stood, the capital of the Shang dynasty over 3,600 years ago. It was great weather and a lot of people. Fishermen, kid parties, traditional fiddle players, horn player, roller skaters in business suits, etc. |
It's official
| With a signature and a finger print stamp, it's official, as of yesterday, Charlotte is our new daughter. I liked that the government officials took pictures together with us with their cameras. Yesterday the orphanage people took pictures with their cameras too. Charlotte has some nasty snot and a cough, so we started giving her the anti-biotics that we brought. As the saying goes... better safe than sorry... The alternative is to get the traditional Chinese herbal medicine delivered to the hotel. According to our neighbors it is black, thick, smells bad, and tastes bad. Maybe it would help, but I think we'll go the modern route for now. |
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
We finally met our Charlotte!!
After waiting for soooo long! The moment arrived. All the babies kept coming into the building except for the Anyang babies and one other little girl that would meet her new mom and dad at the hotel. We all were taking pictures of all the kids when Charlotte and her little friend came. Charlotte's nanny wanted to quickly change her diaper so she did, way fast. Then they handed her to her mommy when she didn't want to come! I took her and kissed her and she was crying like crazy! Understandable for sure! After a few min, of trying to console her the nanny came and helped us understand that she hadn't eaten yet and was really hungry. She showed Charlotte that the food we had for her was good. She loved it...she wouldn't let it out of her sight or hands after that. We feed her some Gerber sweet potato puffs. She stopped crying. She loves for her dad to hold her! We came back to the hotel with her chowing on her sweet potato puffs and she had a bath and a bottle and feel asleep. She is sleeping right now. While she was crying when we first met her we noticed that her palate was repaired! We didn't know that! We asked about it and found out that she had actually been living not in the orphanage but in a special hospital for babies that need surgeries and such. It is called Show Hope, in Louyang. She had only been in the orphanage for a couple of weeks (when we got our travel approval). She has lots of mosquito bites all over her face. She looks really healthy though, she has dimples on the knuckles of her hands, and her cheeks are round. She feels like she weighs as much as her sister! She loves her books so far and the teddy bear we brought as well as touched the doll that one of her Grandma made for her. Here is a picture with Charlotte and some Anyang orphanage workers (not sure of their roles). The one in the middle helps us calm down Charlotte so it seemed like she had taken care of her before. She is adorable and we are so happy that she is ours! I will post some more pics! |
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