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???