Our Gift~

Our family received a special gift from a dear friend of mine, a photog friend.  My sweet friend, Daisy, came over to our house the morning the boys came home from Cincinnati with my parents to meet Sophie for the first time. She stood in the background snapping away, capturing the moments as they were happening...not posed pictures.  I love and will always treasure this gift.  These moments were special, the beginning of my kid's relationship with each other.  Sophie was a bit shy at first, but we began to see her open up when the boys were being goofy!  She now is very, very comfortable with the boys ;)

Thank you, Daisy, for capturing such great memories.  I can't wait to share these with Sophie! When she's older, these moments will mean so much to her...the first time meeting her ge ge's ( brothers in Mandarin )!

Warning **** This post is especially picture heavy! I had so many favorites! ****

Night Night~

The first week after getting home from China was rough, sleep-wise.  We were all jet lagged.  Thank goodness my parents were here to get up and take care of the boys.  I tell you, it was about a week to normalize to Phoenix time again.  

Nap and bedtime are a bit different with adopted children.  We have to be in the room with Sophie when she falls asleep, to ensure positive attachment.  This was very hard for me initially. How am I to leave the boys alone to put Sophie to sleep when they are so attached to me and we have been apart for so long??  Over the first few days alone ( without my parents ) we worked out the kinks and the boys are able to watch a DVD, Netflix, or have quite time when I get Sophie to bed.  It takes Sophie about an hour each time to finally fall asleep.  That's quite a long time for a 3.5 year old brother to wait, let me tell ya!  Anyhow, it's getting easier at naptime, but Hayden is still having a hard time at bed.  He can't understand why I can't lay with him each night to fall asleep.  Poor thing.  We need a mommy and me date soon ;)

I have to say, Sophie is really funny as we lay in bed, trying to get her to sleep.  She cuddles, tells me stories followed by laughing at whatever she has said, sings with hand motions....awe, I just have to laugh ;)  Then, after her "playtime," I tell her it's time to lay down, close your eyes, and go ni-night.  I then sing to her, and she begins to cry! Not sure if she is crying at my singing, or if she realizes that its really time to sleep. So.Darn.Funny. The other funny thing Sophie does is kiss me every time I tell her ni-night. Melt.My.Heart. Then I tell her "I love you" in Mandarin, and she just giggles ;)

Overall, Sophie is adjusting so, so well.  She understands everything we say in English...everything we ask her to do, she does.  She also repeats us in English all the time.  She's a little sponge and it's so amazing. She is so smart and she is loving exploring her new home!

Welcome Home, Sophie!

It's been a while since we've talked....on Thursday, May 8th, we got Sophie's immigrant Visa and we were off to Hong Kong.  We took a private van, and the ride was about an hour longer than expected ( 3 hours total ) due to a bad rain storm.  To enter Hong Kong, we had to go thru customs...and finally we arrived at our hotel located in the airport. The Hong Kong airport is huge!

And so our journey home began.  16 total hours in air, with a lay over in Tokyo and San Francisco.  Sophie was very good on the plane, considering the situation. Hour 15, from San Francisco to Phoenix, Sophie just lost it on the plane.  Full on tantrum, inconsolable, exhausted, screaming- I don't blame her, in fact, I wish I could have joined her!

Our neighbor, Damien, picked us up from the Phoenix airport.  We warned him ahead of time to bring noise cancelling headphones...this was going to be Sophie's first carseat ride.  And it was not fun.  Not for Sophie, not for mommy.  She screamed pretty much the entire way home and continued to look at me as she was crying, reaching out her arms for me to save her from that seat.  God love her.

Once home, it was such a great feeling! HOME! Sophie roamed our house, we showed her her new room, and she was as comfortable as can be. Her favorite room: the pantry! She was in and out of the pantry a million times, bringing out snacks, snacks and more snacks!  She can eat more that both my boys combined, so it was only natural this was her favorite room.

Our stay in China was great, and it was a little sad leaving Sophie's home country.  However, we will be back with Sophie when the timing is right.  Getting home was such a great feeling.  *There's no place like home!*

Tomorrow the boys arrive home with my parents.  We are dying to see them!

US Consulate Day~

Today was our scheduled meeting at the US Consulate.  Jack took us, and a packet of paperwork on Sophie, to the Consulate this morning.  It was quick and easy, as there was a line for US citizens and an area for adoptive families.  We took as oath on behalf of Sophie and gave the documents to the Consulate needed for her Immigrant Visa.  This will allow her to leave China with her Chinese passport, enter the US as an immigrant and become a US citizen as we enter San Francisco on Friday. Yay!!  We are super excited this journey is coming to an end and that she will soon be a US citizen ;)

Shamian Island~

Today was a fun day!  We headed to Shamian Island after breakfast.  This island was owned by both the French and the British in years past, and the architecture proves it.  It is nothing like any other of the buildings in China.  It was such a beautiful place, although a bit cloudy today.  The pace was slower~ the retired elderly playing in the park, wedding and engagement pictures were being taken,  and families enjoying walks and much shopping.  The gardens here are so beautiful and they have bronze statues everywhere!  Here are Scott and I having some fun with the statues ;)

The shopping was cheap here.  We bought lots of gifts for Sophie, to give her over the next several years. So much, that Scott also bought another suitcase to take all of our stuff back home!  We bought her traditional Chinese dresses, a handmade quilted blanket, a stamp with her English and Chinese name carved onto the bottom, shirts for the boys, a mahjong game, jade and pearl chop sticks, her name in calligraphy...the list goes on!

Here we are watching the artist carve Sophie's name onto the stamp we bought~

To end our day on the island, we ate at Lucy's.  It was so good.  We sat outside with Jack and watched the locals playing hackey sack.  Scott actually bought 3 of these for the kids from the locals.  He even played with one of the ladies!

Today was also great in that we have started to meet some other families adopting.  In our last hotel, we met 2 families on our last day.  Here, there are many more families, all with their new children, playing in the hotel.  It makes it nice to talk and let the kids run around.

Hello, Guangzhou!

It is so great to be in Guangzhou! It's very Americanized, that's for sure.  There's even a Starbucks, open 24 hours, across the street.  I am singing with joy! Hahaha

Today was our medical appointments for Sophie's visa and we had to get her picture taken for the visa to process as well. She did NOT cooperate to have to picture taken. I ended up holding her over my shoulder, staining my neck out of the way, so that they could get just her! Somehow, it worked. She's not smiling, but we got the picture! After that, we waited for her name to be called for her exam. The doctor examining her said that he heard the sound of a NO heart murmur. He said she is strong, her heart sounds great, and she is very healthy. With just one layer of clothes on, her weight is 10.3 kg (11.1 kg it was with 3 layers on). Sophie got a clean bill of health. Amen!  

Waiting for her exam ...

She didn't like to be examined...

On the other hand, Scott got our LAST bill to be paid...he yelled, AMEN!

After the medical exam, we came back to our beautiful hotel to play around before nap. This hotel is amazing. It takes your breath away when you walk into the lobby, and the junior suite is so nice to have so much space.  There are many shops, restaurants, a waterfall and pond, beautiful design work all over this place.  It's probably one of the nicest places we have ever stayed.

Out and About~

Today was another free day, and we went grocery shopping!  One of Sophie's favorites ;)  However, this little girl was not so happy at the grocery store today.  Although she ate a pretty big breakfast, she was hungry and did NOT want to wait to pay before we ate the food...as you can see! She did, however, LOVE sitting in the front of the cart.  We could tell that she has done this many, many times in the past!

Later, we were walking around the lake in front of our hotel, headed for home.  This lake is so big, and this weekend there were tons on boats out due to the holiday.  It really is so pretty along the lake here.  This is also the same lake that has a wooden walkway all the way around it, with parks and restaurants and places to just hang out.  

Along the way, Sophie wanted to peek in the bag to find some treats.  It was too cute.  She rummaged around until she found what she wanted...waffles!  Awe, life is good ;)

Tonight we are headed to our favorite local restaurant one last time.  We leave tomorrow for Guangzhou, where we will complete the American side of our adoption. This restaurant is so, so good!  No one speaks any English, so we wrote down in our notebook what we wanted to order and our guide, Maggie, translated. So, when we go in and sit down, we just whip out our notebook for them and viola!  It's like magic!