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.

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.

Charlotte with her new big sister and big brothers

Welcome Home!

Picked up by Grandpa at the airport

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.

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.

Chinese medicine street market - dried everything

Alvin and the chipmunks for sale at the pet street market

Guangzhou shopping - crystal store

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.

Koi fish in the hotel pond

Travel group kids

7 from Henan.  Charlotte wouldn't sit down!

Famous red couch picture in the White Swan lobby

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?

Hotel waterfall

She didn't like the weight check

Medical check