Sophia's first birthday

One difference in adopting an older infant is that the first birthday creeps up on you quickly. With a newborn you have a whole year to anticipate the big event, but in adoption everything is speeded up. In China, one of the families we were with celebrated their daughter's birthday two days after Gotcha. We at least had a month or so to get ready! With both sets of Grandparents out of the country, our celebration was relatively quiet, but we still marked the date with friends and of course, cake and ice cream! Sophia didn't really understand all the fuss, but she definitely likes cake! I've attached photos as evidence. In the short time she has been with us, we already see changes. She is still a butterball, but is beginning to sidle around on her belly to get toys or see something interesting. She would like to pull up but cannot get past her knees at this point. She is much less content in amusing herself and would like constant attention--who doesn't! She has also firmly established her bond with us, preferring us to all others. She cries when the babysitter comes, and lays her head on my shoulder anytime anyone gets up close as if to say--this is my mommy--I belong to her!

September 14--Getting Settled In

I haven't posted in a couple weeks mainly because we've been busy trying to get settled back into our usual fall routine. It hasn't been easy as I ended up getting a really awful cold/sinus infection just as I was getting over the jet lag. Michael, too, caught it just as he was getting over his stomach bug, and I'm thrilled to say that now Nicholas has caught both at the same time. Poor thing--he tries to be so stoic but ends up being fairly pathetic. Is it awful to enjoy your normally rambunctious sick toddler wanting nothing other than to cuddle on your lap? So far, Sophia is staying healthy, although we've had some difficulty with naps lately that I think is due to her front teeth being about to push through on top. She has made friends with three babysitters and the workers in the church nursery. She is starting to be pretty sad when I drop her off, which I think is a good thing--that means she prefers to be with us and not other people. But she is also fairly social, so usually warms up to people quickly. As far as her development goes, she has learned to roll over, which she practices repeatedly, and has learned several new games, including peek-a-boo. She is no longer stationary, although she hasn't yet figured out how to crawl. Right now she just scoots herself along the ground army-style--or like a snake--whichever analogy you prefer. The fall schedule is busier than ever, and I'm learning to pick and choose what things I can do--Michael is so great about stepping in to give me a little time out with friends once a week or so. He has become very adept at bathing two kids at once--and he and Nicholas are having lots of fun playing trains while I give Sophia her nighttime bottle and put her down. I finally uploaded all of our photos from the trip--here is a sampler for you!

August 31--At Home in Knoxville

We are slowly settling in, although I think it is going to take awhile to feel organized and back in the groove. We are all incredibly jet-lagged. Sophie is sleeping a lot, probably also due to the stress of travel and being in a new place. That's great because Michael and I aren't sleeping much at all, and Nicholas is wanting to play, play, play. Poor Michael has been hit with traveler's indigestion so is really not feeling great. Hopefully it will work through his system before returning to work Tuesday. Nicholas seems to be infatuated with Sophia and wants to hug her, kiss her, play with her, and help feed her. Right now, Sophia is a little scared of Nicholas, but ultimately, I know they will be great pals. I have been so proud of how gentle he is (mostly) with her, and how much he likes her. Hopefully this won't wear off when the novelty does! I made it to church today by myself, and it was good to be a part of that community again. Nicholas and I also went to a barbecue with our play group at my friend Tanya's house last night, and it was great to just hang out with friends and be "normal" after two weeks in a foreign country. Hopefully tomorrow we can make it to the pool one last time before it closes for the season, and then it is back to work and school next week for Nicholas and Michael. This fall is shaping up to be really busy so we have lots to look forward to. I am excited about having Sophia as an errand buddy--she seems to like being out and about--and will be starting Kindermusik with her in another couple weeks. I have missed the baby class!

August 29--Return Home!!!

I can't believe we are finally coming home after 2 weeks in China. The oath-taking ceremony was quick and a huge relief as we also received Sophia's visa to travel to the U.S. When we go through immigration in Detroit she will officially be a U.S. citizen. We went back to the Italian restaurant to celebrate our last dinner in China and tried to get to sleep early as we knew it would be a long day the next day. We had our bags out of the room at 5 a.m. and woke Sophie just before we went downstairs to meet the bus at 5:50. We made it to the airport and made one last-ditch effort to upgrade to business class but it didn't happen. C'est la vie. Fortunately, Sophia picked this day to be a real trouper in the travel department. She managed to sleep a little on each flight (including 6 hours on the flight to Detroit!) and was generally pretty happy sitting in her own seat on the plane. Our first flight (to Tokyo) departed about 8:30 and we arrived about 5 hours later after a brief delay. This meant that we had about 45 minutes to clear immigration and security in Japan and traverse the airport to our next gate. Fortunately, the Detroit flight was waiting for us and had strategically placed Northwest reps at several points along the way to keep us on the right path. Then it was on to Detroit--11 1 /2 hours of sheer torture, mainly due to the fact that it was a packed flight and there was absolutely nowhere to stretch your legs and both Michael and I found it impossible to sleep. By the time we made it to Detroit we were running on fumes and once again had a very short layover to clear customs/immigration, recheck our bags and dash to the commuter terminal for the last leg to Knoxville. Fortunately, we made all our connections and arrived back in Knoxville on schedule about 5 p.m. (5 a.m. China time--yes, we've been awake and traveling for 24 hours). All of our parents and Nicholas were there to greet us, and I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life. Sophia was not excited about the ride home in the car, and she crashed hard once we arrived--no worries about not liking the crib! :-) Michael's parents are staying until Sunday and my Mom and Dad will come back mid-week to help get us over the hump of jet lag. We are so grateful to be home!!!

August 27--At "Home" in Guangzhou

We have been at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou since Saturday afternoon, and, unbelievably, we will be on our way home in less than 48 hours. This leg of the journey has been so easy and relaxing compared to the earlier steps. The White Swan, also known as the "Stork" hotel, is situated on Shamian Island, which has a decidedly European feel to its architecture and is relatively small in size (you can walk around the whole island in about 20 minutes). In addition, there are many parks and plazas, not much traffic, and TONS of things for babies and foreign travelers, especially western-style food. It is a little like walking the boardwalk at Ocean City or the main drag in Gatlinburg, only in addition to all the China trinkets, you can buy all kinds of baby things as well. If you drop off your laundry at any of the dozens of local businesses, you will probably also walk out with a free stroller rental and any number of "free" gifts designed to get you to actually buy something there. We actually had fantastic Italian food the other night, which was better than most Italian restaurants I've eaten at in the U.S. People here do not look at you as strangely as they did in Hubei, and more people speak at least enough English to communicate over a sale or to order a meal. Once again, our CCAI representatives have been wonderful--they help us with everything from getting around to holding our babies when they are fussy, and of course, navigating the remainder of the paperwork and government red tape to get our babies out of China. We have done a fair amount of sightseeing here, as we have not had much to do prior to our all-important Consulate appointment (and we don't even go to that--Grace and Kathy handle the appointment for all CCAI families in their group). We had the babies' medical appointments and visa photo on Monday, but nothing else until all the families travel to the US Consulate on Thursday to take the "Oath" before returning home on Friday. We already know that the trip home is going to be miserable. First, Sophia does not relish traveling of any kind--she always gets fussy on our bus trips and cried bitterly for 20 minutes before falling asleep on the flight from Wuhan. Second, it sounds like most of the families will be traveling with us from China to Japan and many will be continuing with us to Detroit. This is not just the Hubei families, but most of the adopting families here right now--and there are dozens of us. So even if Sophie is a peach, I'm sure many of the other babies will not! I told Michael we should just prepare for the worst day of our life and we'll probably be fine.....

Anyway, we are very ready to get home and get on with our lives. It's been great to have this time to bond with Sophia with very few other responsibilities, and we have enjoyed getting to know the other families in our group, but we miss Nicholas like crazy, and just miss our regular routine. We are so grateful to our parents for making it possible for both of us to experience this incredible journey, but now we are ready for it to be over!

August 19--Registration Appointment

Today is the day that we offically adopt our babies! Traffic was much heavier this morning and it took forever (so it seemed) to reach the office. We met in the same conference room and each family had a brief interview so that the registrar could determine that we would make good parents and that we could be entrusted with the care of a Chinese child. We had one last opportunity to meet with the orphanage director, who gave us the latest medical info. on Sophie, a copy of the abandonment notice in the local paper, and a beautiful jade pendant engraved with a boar--the animal under whose sign Sophie was born. This afternoon is the big expedition to Wal-Mart and the next two days we will be able to do some group sightseeing while we wait for the babies' documents to be finalized. Our final registration appointment is on Friday.

In our "free time" we have been watching lots of Olympic coverage. It seems like whereas the Americans like to watch swimming and gymnastics in primetime, the Chinese prefer ping pong and badminton. Who even knew these were Olympic sports? But we have been able to see the former, and a number of other events as well. Thank goodness sports are pretty self-explanatory, as all the commentary is in Chinese. The only American channels in the hotel are CNN, HBO, and Discovery network.

We have been really blessed to be able to communicate with our parents and Nicholas back home by webcam. Nicholas seems to be having a blast with his grandparents and they don't appear to be too exhuasted yet. Nicholas was really eager to see Sophie this morning and told her he would show her Papa's boat when she gets home. He also did his Knees Up Mother Brown dance for her. I am sooo missing him, but it really helps to be able to see him when we talk.

August 18--Gotcha Day!

This morning our group met up in the lobby at 8:30 a.m. for the ride through rush-hour traffic to the registration office where we will meet our babies. Everyone is so excited!!! After a breakfast buffet (stomach too queasy to eat much this a.m.!) we were off. At the registration office, we met in the conference room to wait for the babies. Sophia was one of the first in the room. I recognized her from her photo of course, but was also delighted that the orphanage nannies had dressed her in the outfit I had sent in her care package--a gift from Aunt Susan Milano. She went to us both right away but started to cry when she looked at our faces. Basically as long as she could just cling on to us without having to look at us, she was fine. I was able to speak with the director briefly about Sophie. She seemed genuinely interested in her welfare and concerned about whether Michael and I would care for her. She was also much younger than I had anticipated. She very thoughtfully left us with a photo album of pictures from the orphange and shots of Sophia from the time she arrived at the orphange until just last week. Anyway, after the melee of the transfer, we were excited to get back on the bus for home. We will be back tomorrow for the official adoption appointment. Once back at the hotel, we were encouraged to spend the day/evening in our room getting to know our babies. Sophie was glad to get a bottle and down for a nap and, after waking, she seemed more curious about Michael and me, and we even got a few smiles before bedtime. The pediatrician who stopped by this afternoon told us she felt that Sophia was calcium deficient, but otherwise healthy. I'm sure we can rectify that when we get home with some Yo-baby and better formula. Michael and I were still knotted up and not feeling like eating much and were so exhausted that we pretty much went to bed just after Sophie. Of course, that meant that we were wide awake sometime in the middle of the night and starving. Tomorrow I am determined that we will find some peanut butter or something since we have yet to find something really satisfying to eat here. How could I have not thought to pack this???

August 17--Arrive in Hubei Province

Well, after all the drama of the day before, we arrived in Wuhan without incident. We have begun to meet the other families in our group (there are 12, which is a very large group), and there are two others from Tennessee--one from near Nashville and the other from Cookeville. How neat! Joanna, our CCAI rep. met us all at the airport and transported us to the Jin Jiang Hotel, which is a lovely highrise on a lake. Unfortunately, no group dinner was prepared, leaving us to fend for ourselves not knowing where anything was and with a very limited timeframe for eating as our group meeting was at 6:30. Michael and I wandered across the street to McDonalds, where most other families ended up. Unfortunately, although the signs look like the same food as at home, in reality it is very different. Hopefully we won't have to eat many meals here! Our group meeting went well. We filled out our adoption papers, and found out what would happen the rest of the week. We both took an Ambien last night to hopefully be well-rested for Gotcha day tomorrow!

August 14--Leave for China!

I can't believe this day has finally arrived. After waiting more than 4 years, we are finally off to meet our daughter and bring her home to our family. We are nervous, excited, and mainly just ready to get this over with! Michael's Dad dropped us off at the airport after Michael crunched his Dad's bumper pulling out of the garage. What an auspicious way to begin our trip...

We encountered no problems on the first leg of our trip and even arrived in Detroit about 30 minutes early. While eating lunch, I checked my messages and discovered that our updated I-171H arrived in Guangzhou overnight, another bonus. Now we will not be stuck in China without a visa for Sophia. Unfortunately, when I called CCAI to thank them for this information about 5 minutes before boarding our flight to Tokyo, Bernice informed me that they had just discovered that our connection to Guangzhou had been canceled. We and several other families (none from the Hubei group) would arrive too late in Tokyo to make another flight. Fortunately, the Detroit gate agent said that she would communicate with Northwest in Tokyo to sort things out for us. But in the course of rebooking us (only Michael and me--she was planning to reroute the other families once our flight departed because it was last call for our flight), she canceled my reservation altogether and another agent gave away my seat to a standby passenger before she could correct the problem. Believe it or not, after a moment of panic, she let us know that she had rebooked us into business class. Wow--knowing that to book this ourselves would have cost several thousand dollars extra, we were extremely grateful and lucky. Let me tell you, business class nearly made the flight enjoyable (in fact, let me just say it actually did!). We were seated in the upper deck of the 747, just where I have always wanted to sit! I was surprised at the number of American kids in business class--they seemed to be a few families whose daddies must work in Japan--they were all headed back to start school. Anyway, we felt very pampered on the 13-hour flight. And, when we landed in Tokyo, indeed the Northwest folks had taken care of everything--even booking us all into a really nice hotel by the airport, free dinner, and free breakfast, plus transfers to and from the airport. So, now we can say we have spent time in Japan, even if we never really left the city of Narita, where the airport is located. The next morning, we arrived in Guangzhou on a Japan Airlines flight, were met by CCAI staff, and transported to the White Swan. I was pleasantly surprised to find that our room was very nice after reading several negative reviews on Trip Advisor. Either we were on a renovated floor or there are some very picky people writing the reviews. Tonight we will have a group dinner at a local Thai restaurant and tomorrow morning, it is back to the airport for the flight to Wuhan.

Week Five--Everything Falls Into Place

Well, we are less than a week away from our big trip, and everything finally seems to be falling into place. We made the marathon back and forth trip to Nashville last Saturday for our fingerprints and discovered early last week that our fingerprints had cleared the FBI the same day. The Memphis USCIS graciously expedited the processing of our updated I-171H and forwarded that info. on to the National Visa Center for them in turn to send on to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. According to our senator's office, that only takes a couple of days, so we will not be left stranded in China without a visa for our child to return to the US. Yay! We also participated in the final travel call with our CCAI travel group and learned that we will receive our children on Monday, August 18--Gotcha Day! We have rounded up most of the stuff we need to take with us and at this point, it looks like we will have plenty of space (what am I forgetting!!!) for what we need. Michael has finished fine-tuning the webcam with his Dad so that we can (hopefully!) communicate with everyone back home while we are in China--especially Nicholas. I am really not worried that he will miss us with all the spoiling he is sure to receive while we are gone, but WE are going to miss him like crazy! We had a busy weekend spoiling him ourselves. Nicholas and I went to Dollywood on Friday (we had a blast!) while Michael was working, and yesterday our whole family went to the zoo for another fun-filled day. Now we just need to finish everything before we depart on Thursday morning. Wish us luck!

Week Four: China Here We Come!

We received the exciting news yesterday that our consulate appointment has been scheduled in Guangzhou for 8/27 with the oath-taking happening on 8/28. That means that our group will arrive in China on 8/15 and depart for Wuhan, Hubei Province on Sunday, 8/17. Likely we will meet our daughters for the first time on Monday, though we haven't been told that officially. All of the little ones will be brought to Wuhan from wherever they have been living in the province, and they will stay with us the rest of the time that we are in China. Michael and I have made our flight arrangements to get to China, and CCAI takes care of the rest. Thank goodness worrying about logistics will be one thing we can avoid as their representatives take care of everything so that we can concentrate on our child. Michael's parents will be arriving on the 13th to take care of Nicholas, and my parents will drive over on the 16th as they will just be getting back from visiting Carl and his family in Montana on the 15th. Thank goodness we have such wonderful families to help out at home while we are away! The other exciting thing that has happened this week is the receipt of updated information on Sophia Cai. As of last week she was 27 1/2 inches tall and almost 20 pounds. Looks like those 12 mo. clothes I have been piling up are going to work out great! We also have new photos, which are posted, too. Isn't she cute!

Week Three--And the Baby's Name Is...

Well, I'm happy to report that our baby has a name. After much discussion and perusal of our Baby Name book, we are planning to call our little girl Sophia Cai . Sophia is Greek for "wisdom" and Cai is Chinese for "full of color." Nicholas already knows her name and will tell you if you ask him what it is. I think he is a little sad that we nixed his choices--but really, donkey, horsey, and tic tac just were not cutting it.

Bureaucratically speaking, we learned this week that our visa applications arrived safely in Washington, and we should have our visas by the end of this week. We also just received today our fingerprint appointment letter, so we can make the 6-hour roundtrip to Nashville knowing that we really will be fingerprinted when we get there. And we received our travel approval from China saying that we can officially make the trip to pick up little Sophia Cai. Now we are waiting to learn when our consulate appointment has been scheduled so that we can find out when we can travel. CCAI has told us they would like for us to be in China by 8/15 but that is dependent on the consulate appointment.

For now, we continue to stockpile "stuff" for the journey. I've spoken with a high school friend who made the adoption trip to China the summer we originally planned to go (2005), and she has been very helpful about what to bring. There is so much to consider--I think we'll just pack it all in and then revisit once we see how overloaded the suitcases are (there is a 44-lb. weight limit in China and you can only check one bag).

And, I'm happy to report that Nicholas has successfully spent the night in his "big boy" bed and claims to "love it!" Hopefully we will be blessed with an easy transition from crib to bed and he will not fight Sophia for the crib once she gets home! :-)

Week Two--Things Are Falling Into Place

What a difference a week can make. We have been so busy trying to chase down another round of paperwork and prepare not only for our trip but also for Baby Cai's arrival at our home. We've made a lot of progress, especially with the paperwork. Thankfully, I was able to learn yesterday that we've been scheduled for re-fingerprinting on 8/2, and CCAI seems to think that will allow us to travel with our group, although we may have to do some extra legwork before we leave and in China to ensure that the clearances arrive at the US Embassy. We've also sent in our visa applications and had all the CCAI documentation notarized and sent in, along with our orphanage fee. Our first travel call was Wed., and although they can't confirm anything, at this point, they believe we will be traveling in mid-late August, meaning we'll be in China during the Olympics. Even so, we will likely not be anywhere near any of the Olympic venues during our stay. On another note, we've ordered a new car seat and booster chair and are working on a double stroller and new bedroom furniture for Nicholas so Baby Cai can have the crib. I hate to move Nicholas out of the crib when he is so content, but realistically, he can't stay in the crib much longer anyway. At over 3 feet, he is almost touching the ends of the mattress when he is stretched out straight! We've had lots of good wishes from family and friends and we are so thankful for all of your support and prayers. Please keep them coming! :-)

Big Brother Nicholas

I couldn't stop for the day without commenting on our darling son, Nicholas's, reaction to being a big brother. We've asked him occasionally in the last several months whether or not he'd like to have a baby brother or sister and his response depends on his mood. Sometimes he says yes, and at others we receive an emphatic "NO!" Now that Baby Cai's arrival is imminent and he has seen her picture, he seems relatively intrigued by the idea. He has said he will share his toys (but not Pearl Kitty), and will help with her diapers and bottles. He also plans to teach her to jump and will play with her in the bathtub. We've asked him for help in naming Baby Cai. So far his entries include, "Donkey," "Horsey," "Dora," and "Tic Tac." I think we'll keep searching...

Countdown to Travel--Week 1

As I mentioned earlier, once we received the exciting news about our referral, a flurry of communications followed. Being Belmonts, we can never do things easily. Although our paperwork allowing us to travel will not expire until November, our fingerprints expire next week. You would think that once fingerprinted you would be good to go, but apparently this must be repeated every 15 months in case your fingerprints change??!! And although the fingerprints are cleared by the FBI, you cannot trot down to your local FBI office to have this done. Instead you must travel to a USCIS fingerprint center, the closest of which, for us, is in Nashville. And--no longer do they accept walk-ins, you must first have an appointment. And, you have no choice about when this appointment will be, nor do you have much control over how long it will take to be given an appointment. Needless to say, this stresses Michael out to no end, as he will have to cancel patients and/or surgeries at the very last minute and may have to talk to another ENT about covering call as his partner is leaving for vacation in 2 weeks. Not to mention, if we don't receive an appointment soon, our travel to China may be delayed. Anyway, we have a few options still left to us--such as contacting our US Senator--and hopefully something will break through next week. Other than that, I have been busy reading up on what to pack, what money we need to bring, what gifts we need to have ready for all those providing assistance in China, and trying to make sure that we are ready to welcome a second child into our home! Oh--and of course, we sent back our acceptance letter agreeing to adopt Baby Cai!

Baby Zhong Cai

What can I tell you about our darling daughter in China?

Her name is Zhong Cai (when combined together, this means "to win the lottery"). Her birth date is given as October 5, 2007, making her nine months old. Incidentally, this is 2 days after our 9th wedding anniversary! She was found abandoned in Hubei province on November 5, 2007 and has spent the last 8 months living in Jingzhou City Welfare Institute. Her last physical exam was at 7 months and according to the report everything is "up to standards." Her caregivers label her as quiet, a deep sleeper, enjoys music, sometimes impatient, happy. I've since discovered that other babies are labeled thus as well, making me think that perhaps the orphanage workers like to report what adoptive parents want to hear! But wouldn't it be great if she really is a deep sleeper!
She was nearly 26 inches long at 7 months and about 17.5 pounds. I checked Nicholas's baby book and this is about what he was measuring at 6 months. So she is obviously well fed! We are still trying to decide on an American name for this beautiful girl as well as whether to put the American name first or second. Hope you enjoy her smiling photo!

Match Day--July 8, 2008

Today started out like any other summer day in the Belmont household. Michael left for work before 7 a.m., and I was looking forward to some "me" time as this is the day Nicholas's babysitter, Susan, comes for a few hours. After picking blueberries at a farm just up the road, I met my friend, Niki, whom I haven't seen in awhile, for lunch. Among the topics of conversation was the latest in our adoption quest. While telling her about our pessimism that we would be matched before our paperwork expired a second time, my phone rang. Noting the Denver area code, I assumed it was my sis-in-law and decided to call her back later. Who would believe that it was actually CCAI calling me with news of our match! When I returned home and checked my messages, I could hardly believe it! What has followed since has been a flurry of phone calls and emails and express mail to make sure that all is in order so that we can travel on time! More on our beautiful little girl in my next post!