Friday Photos

Belated Wishes

I have forgotten something. Something sacred. I am ashamed. I must repent that I have gotten off focus lately and things (me) have not been quite as normal as usual. I am normally very thoughtful and kind. I've been slacking. I normally love to write. That too has lost interest for me. I know I have issues and I'm going to get seen by a professional soon (June 11th) but until then I am trying to muddle through.

My life is so full of blessings that I cannot fathom why I am not bursting with joy every minute of my day. I dug back through some of my past posts and came across this mothers day wish from last year. http://kleinsingermany.blogspot.com/2006/05/tribute-to-special-mother.html

I need to dig deep and come up with something appropriate. This child is more than I could have ever dreamed of. Her beauty comes from within and outshines the sun. Mother's Day is a special day to reflect on all the special women in our lives. Without them where would we be?

This comes on the heels of an argument with my mom on the phone just this morning. She wants me to visit her and is trying to get me to let the kids come stay with her this summer but with gas prices the way they are, it is just too costly to drive that far twice in one summer. My brother is getting married on July 4th and I would like to attend (he lives in the same town). I don't want the kids to stay with her for a month, they are still getting settled here and have not made friends yet - going away is not going to help that. I am being selfish in that I would like my mom to come visit me. She is retired but has a farm, garden etc that takes up all her time. I feel like sometimes I am on the bottom of her priority list.

I hope I do not ever make my children feel second place to any "thing" that may be a part of my life. I love them with all my heart and they are the air that I breathe. I cannot imagine my life without them. Bearing the title of Mommy is the greatest gift life has given to me. I wish that every mother's heart could overflow with the joy of life that children bring.

My wish this year is that every mother that has ever longed for a child will be filled with joy and laughter, a life abundant and overflowing, hope eternal and love everlasting. If your arms are empty, may there be peace in your heart that provides you with fullfillment, knowing that at just the right moment your arms will overflow and your life will be blessed.

For Jaiden's biological mother,

I will never know her address, to send her photos or cards, but somewhere in the small village of Tonggu, deep in the heart of China there is a mother with empty arms. She placed her daughter at the orphanage gate on a cold December day and somehow managed to walk away. I know her heart must have shattered into pieces and I cry to think of the anguish she went through. I wish her to know somehow in her heart the joy that her life has brought to me. She has given such a precious piece of herself to me and I will always treasure her. I wish I had a name to call her, a face to visualize when I pray for her. That's all I know to give in return for what she has given me. Beloved one. May each task be made lighter, each dawn a little brighter and each day a new reminder that she has given the most precious of gift a life. A chance to grow and become all that she was meant to be. This most precious child will always know love, always know comfort and always be a joy to behold. We will watch her grow and know that she is a part of someone we may never meet but will always treasure. May God bless her beyond measure and give her peace and wisdom that her child is growing in His Grace.

Sugar and Spice

Sugar and spice
and everything nice
that's what little girls are made of

Sunshine and rainbows
and ribbons for hair bows
that's what little girls are made of

Tea parties, laces
and baby doll faces
that's what little girls are made of


*Jaiden is deciding which she likes better, the cake mix or the spagetti - she chose both!

Happy Mothers Day!

I am a day late on posting this but yesterday was such a BEAUTIFUL day that it was spent mostly outdoors and I didn't touch the computer all weekend.

First thing, Jared tried out his new kite that he got for his birthday. He looked like a pro in just 5 minutes - I was VERY impressed! Jaiden "helped" me to weed the tulips - big brother took the photo (hair all in the face) The kids and daddy took me to CULVERS for lunch :) and I had a cheeseburger and FROZEN CUSTARD (it is sooooo good!) stopped by a greenhouse and picked out some new flowers for my garden, came home, put the babes down for naps and dad and I went back out - found some pots for my new flowers, came home and got them all settled in. Lovely day!

Thank You

Just wanted to say hi to all my blog buds out there. Thank YOU for all the sweet comments this past week. I really needed the "cyber support" and each one of you holds a special place in my heart. I love hearing from you all and love to read your real life moments too. Life can't always be sunshine and roses and it's the rain that makes us so much stronger and more beautiful on the inside where it counts.

If it takes a lifetime

Child of my heart,
Before I knew you,
someone held your hand
Before I knew you,
someone made you smile
Before I knew you,
someone gave you love
Before I knew you,
someone answered your call
Before I knew you,
someone taught you songs
Before I knew you,
someone taught you dance
Before I knew you,
someone comforted your cries

nine months before I knew you
someone gave you life
someone carried you
someone nurtured you
someone worried for you
someone nourished you
someone dreamed of you
someone gave you a chance

I know this someone is very special to you. I don't ever want to take this person away from your heart. This person is responsible for you being here today and I will always be grateful. I will try to remember this when I see your anger and I feel your pain. I will try to hold this love in my heart that I feel for you every moment until you are ready for it to be yours. I hope that when you need me the most I can be patient, and kind. I hope to be the mother that you deserve. I know it seems we've taken you from this life that was just right. You had it all - a mom, a dad, a sister and maybe even a brother. You have come into our lives and adapted to our strange ways very quickly. You've learned to eat our strange foods, to sleep in our strange beds, to speak our strange language, to smell our strange smells. You have mastered them and made each your own. You are a very strong and brave little girl with a sweet disposition and a loving heart. You make the world around you a happier place to be.

So many changes have come your way in such a short time of just 7 months.

Your birth mother carried you for 9

Your foster mother nurtured you for 9

It is an honor for me to love you and give everything I have to give. I have dreamed of you my entire life and now that you are real, I am overwhelmed. I'm sorry if I get frustrated at times when it seems that we don't see things eye to eye. I know you are missing those things that brought you comfort, although I don't know what they are. I wish I knew what you think at those moments when you are so frustrated and can't tell me your needs. Looking into your soft face while you dream, I can only imagine what your thoughts must be. When you search my eyes upon waking and cry for me to hold you I wonder who you are really looking to find. Will it ever be me that you look for? I can/will/do promise to love you forever and give you all the time you need to adapt to me being your new Mom. I know it will take some time. All my life is yours now and you can trust in me to never go away.

Love You Baby!

Yours Forever,
Mommy

Where's momma?

This post is sad and it really breaks my heart to send this out because so many of you will decide that I am not worthy of this beautiful child but I need to release this somehow.

Jaiden has been able to say "momma" for as long as we have known her (7 months now) she said it when we first met her but seemed to catch herself and stopped. Well today I decided to play a game of "where's momma?" with her just to see what she would do. I said to her "Where's momma?" tapped on my chest and said "momma?" "where's momma?" she looked at me quizzily and did the "i don't know" gesture, with hands uplifted in the air. I said "did momma go bye-bye?" and she walked away looking for her. It just broke me into pieces to watch her walk away. Now she is walking around the house and looking out the window saying "momma".

When I try to get her to come to me she gets angry and throws a fit. I don't know how to get through this right now. I know it will take a long time for us to bond but it has been months and I am nothing to her but a caregiver. she likes me ok when I am giving her what she wants but that quickly changes when I come too close or do something she doesn't like. I wish I knew what she was thinking and feeling right now. Is she unhappy here? does she wish she were still with her foster mom? I know I do things a lot differently and she was very well cared for in her foster home. I wonder if the unconditional love will ever come to be a part of her emotions but right now it doesn't seem like it and I feel like such a failure as a mom. Sure I can make her laugh and smile, she will let anyone do that, but when will she really want me? to hold her and rock her, to cuddle away her tears, to soothe her when she is tired and grumpy, to make her feel safe and secure. How do you know when your adoptive child has bonded? Is there a sign? A look? A word? When she hugs me it is with open arms and hands; she rather lays into my arms. When she kisses - she gives me her forehead or cheek. When I try to hold her - she pushes away if I'm not taking her to her chosen destination. Why doesn't she love me? She is such a sweet child and she likes everyone; but her affection is not bias. I guess that is what adoption is all about; loving someone so completely even when they turn away. This is how God loves us even when we turn away and want nothing to do with his love. And when we turn to this love, we find it has been there all along. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to discover the obvious.

This weeks photos

Can I please have some chocolate with that?

Today has been a very whiney day. It is cold and rainy out so we are all cooped up for the next 3 days alone. Dad took Cody to the Twins/Redsocks game and we are...just hangin.

It's been a kinda rough day. Today Jaiden discovered the toilet paper sometime during the 3 minutes that I must have been making a lunch or taking the puppy pee. She managed to pull nearly the entire roll off and string it around the bathroom and stuff most down the toilet. She was just caught fishing in the toilet last night so I thought she would not be returning to the scene of that crime anytime soon...wrong! The girl has guts - I know she is a smart one and remembers EVERYTHING but she doesn't seem to get that no-no means no and if I've said it a dozen times then its not going to suddenly change if she tries it 13 times. Guess that is just part of being a child but she is a lot more persistant with pushing the same buttons so we tend to have our moments. A large part of her orneryness is teething pain so I try to be patient with her at these times when nothing is making her happy...but when we are both crabby it makes for a really touchy day.

I think we could both use a double decker fudge sundae topped with ooey gooey marshmallow sauce and hunks of chocolate!

When the south wind blows...

it stirs up the sassy. yesterday the wind was blowing from the north, today from the south. the wind is ALWAYS blowing here - my hubby just told me a JOKE OMG soooo funny - hope I don't get my blog deleted if I share it here. I'll try to change the wording a bit...nope can't do it - I chickened out. But if you'd like to hear it let me know and I'll post it somehow.

anyway, today was a nice day out sunny and warm but gosh was the wind ever chilly and yesterday wasn't too bad but the south wind blows cold??? that's weird huh. I think I am windburned. My face feels like I've been through a sandstorm.

anywho, I wanted to post videos of my two sassy girls. See they are cute even when they are sassy :)


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We had just returned from dropping the boys off at school and it was naptime. See what she does when I say "nap nap" but she wasn't interested at all in sleeping once she lay down. Full of sassy today :)

Do you understand Goble-e-Gook???

Jaiden was in a very talkative mood yesterday. She talked in the car on the way to school, she talked at the bank to the tellers, she talked as she eagerly watched the guy changing our oil at Jiffylube, she talked at lunch with daddy and when he introduced us all around his office, she continued to jibber jabber all through the thrift store and had all the ladies smiling at her trying to figure out what she was saying, she kept jabbering all throughout the commissary as we were getting food, it started getting more like annoyed wails when I wouldn't give up the grapes though...and then she fell sound asleep in the car on the way home.

Once home and the groceries were unpacked...she woke up so we went outside to play. It was a very windy day and a bit chilly. Check out the videos and let me know what you think she is saying :) At times it sounded a bit like chickerish (like on Chicken Little) so daddy and I decided that her new nickname will be "Chickawa"


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This is what she says when she's Hungry


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Photo Challenge

For the month of May 3 Dumplings is having a challenge for anyone interested in participating. I've volunteered Jared as my subject of choice for the month of photos since this is his birthday month. He turns 6 on May 9th. Go over to my other blog and check it out! :)

*Jared made a wrench out of his toast - he's got the "tools" in his genes!

Friday Photos

Rotten Milk

How do rid the smell of rotten milk from your auto? It appears daddy found one of Jaiden's bottles in the backseat yesterday...a time bomb just waiting to explode. And boy did it ever! It smells like we hid a body in the trunk...except it's an SUV and we don't have a trunk. Daddy removed the bottle and all remnants of any spilled milk, and I vaccuumed the carpet, sprayed resolve and febreeze until the carpet is soaked and now have all the windows open with it sitting in the sun trying to air out. Please wish us luck on removing the odor or we may have to seek professionals to come in and fumigate.

Nap Nap Time

This is so cute I just had to blog it before I forget...

Our morning routine is this:

0730 we take the boys to school

0800 Play time

0900 Nap Nap time/Blog time for Mommy :) - well this morning I was on the phone with my Mom and at 0850 as Jaiden was playing with a plastic Easter egg she suddenly squealed and flopped herself down on the floor in a mini fit. My mom said "What happened?" I said "oh something didn't work right with her egg" *the mommy alert that a nap is in the near future...so I go to get her bottle ready and before I get it poured she's alread found her blankie, has her binkie and leads me to her room; where she climbed up into her bed by herself! (She has a toddler bed now that we moved into our new house and converted her crib into Jared's bed since it was originally his crib) This is the first time she has initiated nap nap - she's always been a good napper and doesn't ever complain when it's time but she has never actually gotten into bed on her own. My baby girl is growing up!

Tommorrow she will be 16 months. I can't believe how fast time has gone by! Last night she had a tough time sleeping because she's got two (or four?) new teeth coming through - back molars and they are giving her lots of pain. I've been trying ice, lot's of baby ambasol, teething tablets, rubbing her gums etc...but last night nothing was comforting except laying against my shoulder and having her back rubbed.

This is another first since she hardly ever wants to be held at night and will scream bloody murder if I try to rock or cradle her in my arms. It was a very special time and I think at moments like these that she may be actually warming up to me...something I've wondered still since she usually pushes me away (when I try to hug her) and still hasn't said "Mommy". I know when she does it will be a special gift and I know she has a lot to work out in her mind that she is still adjusting to our new life together. She doesn't like me to be out of her sight and gets very jealous when her big brother Jared climbs into my lap or hugs me so I know there is some sort of territorial feelings there...which hopefully will grow into unconditional love and she will want and need me just as much as I've always wanted and needed her.

How she gets clean...

Jaiden LOVES to take a bath! This is how much she loves bubbles. She dunks her whole head face first into the bubbles and takes a big bite!

This week in photos

Adoption Day

7 Month Gotcha Anniversary

It's so hard to believe that it's been only 7 months since Jaiden was placed into our arms. The wait was endless and we didn't think it was ever going to be our turn and then almost overnight our lives were changed forever. I'll never forget the moment we first looked into those deep chocolate eyes and felt her warmth. The smell of her was pungent and very wholesome - kinda like a field of wheat after a rain. She never cried and she fit into our lives like she's always been here. Our little miracle of life that amazes us every day with her smile and her deep gutteral laugh. We aren't always sure of how to handle the temper streak that runs so deep and we can't quite figure out how she can go from screaming like a banshee to laughing hysterically in the same moment. But each moment is a treasure and she is our shining jewel. More precious than all the jewels on Earth. Happy 7 months Group 117B!!!

Introducing... Chloe Elizabeth!

5 min at the docs office...

is just sheer exhaustion...now I remember why I avoid that place as much as possible but today I had to take Jared in for the gosh awful erruptions on his face. He developed a crusty yucky eye infection during our road trip across America last week (Minnesota to Louisiana and back in one week) we had Scott's Dads funeral and then a family reunion to attend so the kids were exposed to hundreds of gazillions of strange things so no telling where the infection came from. We thought it was pink eye but his eye started getting better, then he developed a nasty red blot on his undernose area which since he had a slight running nose thought was due to that but then it started crusting up - yucky yellow crust. Then he developed little pimples around his cheeks and then they started getting crusty too so I broke down and took him to the doctor today...

Not only is it in the teens here but the wind is blowing like crazy so getting two kids into a SUV and to the doc is one thing but once we got there Jaiden wanted nothing to do with sitting in the reception area or getting her hair done for the umpteenth time this morning so she wiggled and squirmed until I let her down and she headed off to the nearest lady she could find...an elderly woman who just couldn't wait to get ahold of her and what was I supposed to say "uh no lady you are in a clinic - how do I know - you might be contagious or something" she was a sweet lady and we were on a military base so the lady held her for about 2 seconds...then they called our name to go and I snatched her up and ran out of the room quickly. Then when we got to the room and got Jared settled into the chair, she wanted to go to the med tech girl who was checking him in...so there she was typing all his info in with one hand will Jaiden sat like a little angel on her lap. Then the doctor walks in...and Jaiden couldn't wait to go to her either. It's starting to feel a bit like the new has worn off the Mamma and Jaiden is ready for a replacement. She is such a happy girl and never meets a stranger. I worry sometimes that she may not be bonding well with me but then she will lay her her against me and make kissy noises that sure melt my heart.

Anyway...turns out that Jared has infantigo so I will have to give him antibiotics 4x a day and rub antibiotic cream on the lesions. He's a trooper and has not complained or itched them at all. He told the doctor "I looked in the mirror and saw my face and said *Big Eyes and open mouth* Uuuuuuh (deep indrawn breath)" the doctor was very impressed with his explanation and the drama he used to point out the effect it had on him

New photos of Jaiden

6 months and 7 days

That is how long Jaiden has been a part of our lives and yet it seems like she's been here forever. She is the sunshine of our days and brings so much life into our dull routines.

The past 3 months have been just absolutely crazy. We arrived in Grand Forks on 11 Jan and have been locked tight ever since - no internet, no home, not much of anything but snow and more snow. The temps and the wind kept us inside yearning to be outside. Jaiden took her first steps in TLF (temporary living facility) and has grown so much in dialogue since leaving Germany. I would love to share some of her babbling but I swear she's speaking Chinese. She's gotten a pattern down now though - babble, babble, babble SCREAM babble, babble, babble SCREAM it's the funniest thing (the screams are a bit like a squeal but if it's possible to have a happy scream that would be what she's doing) She's certainly found her voice and seems to like it :)

I will try to post photos to update you. Jaiden was baptized this Sunday - in the room with her Granpa Klein who is about to go home soon. He has lung cancer and he's ready to go. It was an emotionally spent weekend to see him off and spend time with relatives we haven't seen in years. Jaiden just loved all the attention - except for Jared and cousin Casey who are both 5. She seems to have developed an allergic reaction to 5 year old boys. Everytime they would come close or touch her she squeals at them.

We now have a new house (closed on it last Monday) and have painted some of the rooms. Jaidens is now lime sherbert green - it looked more sage on the paint chip but the color is light and refreshing and stepping into her room will be like stepping into a spring day...which may not come here for a while. The temps dipped down to 7 degrees yesterday! Brrrr....the cold and the wind never let up here.

Jaiden's First Steps

I don't know if I can get a video going or not just yet (we still don't have interenet yet) but just wanted to share that Jaiden is taking her first steps!!! She gets stronger and braver every day! Won't be long until she is running all over the place :)

Ok, I can't seem to be able to load photos right now and I have been in the library for about 3 hours so I need to get back to the kiddos. Thanks for visiting!

Birthday Slide Show

Busy Weekend

Jaiden's passport arrived just in time Friday morning for them to get to the airport and make their flight home. I picked them up at 6:30 Sat morning and we have been in a non stop whirlwind ever since.

Jaiden got a little upset tummy on the plane right before landing, so Daddy had a mess to clean up on the plane in the dark - just glad there wasn't anyone sitting next to him. Jaiden had her own seat going and coming home!

In addition to being smelly, she was in a bit of a trance when they rolled out. She had little tremors like she was cold and I think she was in a bit of shock to finally be home. After we got her home and fed, bathed and a little nap she was back to her usual perkiness.

The sun was trying to shine when we got home so Cody was finally able to mow the grass and then we had our followup homestudy visit (2 hours of more questions and paperwork)
then a run to the commissary to pick up a cake since I wasn't sure if Jaiden would be coming home or not so I didn't actually order a cake...we found a really cute one already made! Then we had to get the house clean and straightened...so by the time we finally went to bed we were all pretty exhausted.

Jaiden woke about ever hour through the night but she slept pretty well and woke around 8. It wasn't the greatest night of sleep but she seems to be slipping back into her routine very nicely and not too cranky when she stays up all day.

Sunday
Jaiden's Birthday Party! It was a fun day. Jaiden ate a banana and some scrambled egg and then took a nice nap. Woke had lunch...took another nap and then it was party time! She was a very good girl and never once got cranky. We had the Slater family, the Markowski family and the Sanders family join us for cake and ice cream to celebrate her special day. The house got a bit busy at times but it did seem to faze her one bit. She really enjoyed all the children and all the extra attention.

Getting the toys out of their boxes kept me pretty much "tied down" for the rest of the evening! I've never seen so much wiring!!! There's no fear of those toys ever falling out of their boxes if they suddenly get the wild urge to run...

Jared's quote of the day "I'm so glad I have a baby sister" :) aaaawwww isn't that sweet! He also likes that she comes equipped with some cool new toys - he enjoys playing with them almost as much as she does! I have to constantly remind him whose toy it is when she wants to play too. They are some pretty cool toys once you get them out of the box...

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Thank you all for praying for our family and Praise the Lord that they were answered!

Much Love,
Kim

Sigh of relief...

The passport is in the mail - Seattle sent it out on Wednesday hopefully it will arrive on Thursday (today) so they can fly out tomorrow (Friday) Being in a time zone warp is crazy when you are trying to get very important things done. I am 7 hours difference from Jaiden and Seattle is 2 hours difference from them...I just can't wait till she's back in my arms. I've got lots and lots of kisses and cuddles stored up with her name on em'!

You gotta be kidding me!!!

Last night Scott tells me that he contacted the passport office to check on Jaiden's passport - it was supposed to have been ready on Monday but he was in Grand Forks...well it seems that whoever took the application didn't know the process much and neglected to inform us of one very MAJOR detail - they will not process a passport for her until they get a notarized letter from me! WHAT?!!! You tell us this NOW - just two days before they are supposed to come home!! If Jaiden doesn't have a passport by Friday, Daddy has to come back to Germany without her! We may miss her First Birthday and Christmas!!! This cannot be happening!!!

I faxed them a notarized letter this morning - I hope they can get it together and fix this - I will be one very angry Momma if they won't let my baby come home! Grrrr! I'm about ready to fly over on my broom and get her right now. It was one hellova day yesterday and this news came just before I gave up and went to bed...praying that the day was just a really bad dream that I would wake from and everything would be better.

Today, we are still waiting to see what tommorow brings...and praying for a miracle to come and bring our baby her passport so she can come home. I miss her so much!!!

You complete me

Jaiden has been gone a week now - and it's just miserable here without her! I didn't know I'd miss her so much but the house is too quiet and I am having baby withdrawals...I hope next week goes by quickly! They'll be home on Saturday!!!

Little Miss America

Jaiden flew out today to become an American citizen! She is on her way to Minnesota with her Daddy heading right into what has become the first big snow storm of the year and shutting down airports from Dallas to Chicago. They are scheduled to arrive in Chicago on time (although their flight out this morning was delayed due to the plane being delayed coming from Chicago) but their flight to MN has been cancelled so looks like they will be spending the night. Jaiden's first night as an American will be spent in a snow lock. Good thing we packed her snow suit! Looks like she's gonna need it.

kisses

OK ya'll - before you start thinkin Jaiden really don't like us I'd better update. Friday night was a ladies night and the girls were on fire - Jaiden was burning up with fever and so we were up together most of the night keeping the flames at bay with motrin and a cool cloth. She is cutting her top toothies and they are giving her heck but she never did cry she just fussed a bit. She didn't even want her binkie because her throat was too sore to suck on it...so we just cuddled and rocked the night away.

We had a lazy weekend just being good and lazy. Never getting out of our jammas and veggin in front of the tv all weekend.

Sunday night Jaiden made this sound with her tongue - a kiss sound I had to go run and get the camera to get it but I will have to somehow magnify her and cut me trying to get her to repeat it over and over. It's the cutest sound and I don't know how she does it - kinda clucks with her tongue and upper lip but it sounds like a pucker kiss. It's soooo cute! So it's not quite my first kiss but it will do. It seems that she is growing attached after all and she definitely likes having me around even when I make her mad sometimes. Sometimes she just gets a little overwhelmed with it all and I need to let her take it all in at her pace. She has been adjusting so well to us and it melts my heart every day when her face lights up in an ear to ear smile and she gives a happy squeal when I walk through the door.

Three steps forward...Four steps back

Somedays I wonder if Jaiden wants to go back to her old life. Yesterday was one of those days. She wouldn't look at me and I could tell she didn't feel good but when I tried to hold her and comfort her she just pushed me away and the more I held her the madder she got. Somedays I wonder if she will ever really accept me as her mother. I know it is not something to be taken for granted - when it happens she will love me unconditionally but right now I don't think she can stand the sight of me. She loves to be held but she doesn't want to look at me - maybe she is not ready to accept me yet, not really sure. It doesn't help that I leave her every day and go to work but we can't afford for me to stay home. I try to snuggle with her and play games with her to interact and stimulate eye to eye contact and she is for the most part adjusting very well - it's just moments like yesterday that make me wonder just how tightly she is clinging to her old self...and when will she let go and really love us as much as we love her.

Cute as a bug

Smile in this getup - You're kidding me right?

Much better without the hat but still can't move in this thing - get me outta here!


We finally got around to getting photos of Jaiden in her caterpillar costume - she was none too amused!

2 months ago today Jaiden was placed into our arms. She has grown so much in such a short time and we can't believe it's only been 2 months - it seems like she has always been a part of our lives. I don't know how we ever got along without her.

We are gearing up for winter - Friday went to Trier and got winter caps, gloves and leggings. Still not really ready for the cold to come but at least we have the gear.

Check out family updates at this link

Update

I posted a long update last week but blogger wasn't working so it didn't post so I'm not sure what I wrote about anymore.

Highlights of the week:
Jaiden has 2 teeth (1.5 actually)
Jaiden is starting to crawl!
Jaiden can feed herself (HUGE accomplishment)
Stands longer and longer and is starting to "cruise"
Can say MommmMommmmMommmmm - almost a "Mommy" :)

Sleep? Well she does sleep all night but usually wakes several times needing to be covered or her binky put back into her mouth. Must teach her to reach over and grab it herself ;)

She's eating well - LOVES Daddy's chili!

And just yesterday as I was leaving Ms Suzy's she showed signs of sadness and apprehension - so I think she is starting to miss me! This is a huge move since she hasn't seemed to care who took care of her and was happy with everyone...not that this is bad but just made me wonder if she was bonding with us or not. She gives me the biggest smiles each day when I come to pick her up and gets all excited and bouncy so I think maybe she likes me :)

The Halloween that wasn't

*The cute costume that arrived two days too late...
I know, I know - this is where the cute first photo of halloween is supposed to be with the kids all dressed up in their cute costumes but welllll....it just didn't happen that way this year.

First of all, we were waiting for Dad to come home and hoping he had been able to go to the post office (Jaiden's costume hasn't arrived yet) Jared tried his batman costume on about 5 times and at 5 oclock still no sign of Dad...by then it had gotten dark as a cauldron and the temps dropped into the low 40s and it was starting to rain. Jaiden already had a cold so I decided not to get her out in the weather and Dad could watch her while I ran Jared around to trick or treat on base. Well Dad rolled in around 6 and he looked and sounded horrible! I drugged him up and sent him straight to bed - Cody and I went on base a while later (he wanted to go to the haunted house) but the line was like 45 min long so we decided against that too.

so we're just a bunch of fuddy duddy's this year. Jared is mad - keeps asking when it's going to be halloween (yeah he keeps rubbing it in) and I do feel really bad but life goes on. There's always next year.

So while I can barely run a household, I'm really impressed with Pres Bush being able to find time in between running the country to hand out candy to kids at Robins AFB. That is so cool! I could use some of his time management skills :)

I've seen better days

(that is the song that is running through my head this morning)as I prepare to get up and take the plunge into another week. It was a weekend spent going back and forth to the hospital, Cody should be coming home today around noon we hope. He is bored to tears but it is still better for him to be there than at home should anything go wrong again. Seeing a puddle of your childs blood is something no mother should ever have to endure...that's the gore - it was much worse but I will spare you the details unless you are into that kind of thing. If so, imagine the grossest and scariest thing you've ever seen and multiply that times 10. We had some "real" halloween decor that was not intentional by our door.

Anyway I will try to post a new photo of Jaiden - she is still nuki nose but is feeling better and eating now so she must be getting over the cold a little bit.
Having two kids sick on a weekend really bites...thought I'd throw in some holiday terminology ;) lol

We are hoping that Jaiden's costume arrives today - if not it is a surprise to us all as to what she will be this year.

a photo for you

Ok bloggy buddies I will try to post a photo here as I download more photos onto Dropshots and see which loads the fastest :) Here goes....

Wooo Hoo!!! It only took a few seconds! Blogger is back in business!

This photo is taken just a few minutes ago and shows Jaiden not feeling so good. She has a bit of a runny nose and is just feeling icky. Don't you just want to give her a kiss and make it all better?

I wrapped her in my favorite jacket and she's lying in the moonchair looking up at me as I blog since she doesn't want to be held right now.

Jaiden's special day

We had a Homecoming Celebration yesterday with just a few close friends to introduce our daughter and thank everyone for being a part of our adoption experience. It went very well but I now know why parents shouldn't do their own baby showers.

We had about 27 all together with 16 adults and 11 kids - starting from 2 on to around 8 pm. Jaiden LOVED all the attention and couldn't get enough of being held. She was in her groove all smiles and laughter the whole evening.

This morning getting ready for school she had a major meltdown when I had to put her in the exersaucer and help Jared get ready for school. After an entire day of being Miss Center of the Universe she was none too happy to go back to her everyday routine toys - ooooh no! She wanted to be held - soon as I picked her up the tears stopped and her smile returned. She's rotten to the core! Pampered Princess thru and thru. I love to hold her but there is no getting anything done when I do because it takes two hands to hold all that floppsiness and energy. She is quite a workout! I've got to find a way to get her better aclimated to playing with her toys and let mommy not be the jungle gym for a while. It's exhausting but in a good way :) I've been dreaming of this for too many years to complain! I'm just glad that the only quirk in this sweet sweet child is that she was loved a bit too much. I think we can live with that :)

First visit to the pool

We took Jaiden for her first visit to the pool last night (Jared and I) and the way she just floated along clutching her floatie makes me think that "hey, she's done this before!" I expected her to want to cling to me and get a bit freaked out by moving water *we were in a circular pool with current but she just laid her head back in the water or leaned forward into the floatie and drifted along as cool as a cucumber. There is a waterfall that you float by and she got big eyes when the water splashed all over her face but she showed no signs of apprehension...the girl is a natural born aquifer! (I don't know what an aquifer is but it sounded right)

Now we are preparing for her Homecoming Celebration being held this afternoon. So much to do yet and I have no idea why I decided to do this...I hope Jaiden is not overwhelmed.

Jaiden is 10 Months!!!

This is a belated post - Jaiden hit 10 months yesterday!!! We are going through so many milestones together and it is just such a joy to watch as she grows. Here are some of her progresses since we've been home:

- First tooth has emerged!

- Second tooth is coming through!

- Her happy, smiling personality is coming back now that she doesn't have as much pain from the teeth

- She gets stronger every day and can almost pull herself up by herself and cannot crawl but scoots backwards if placed on her belly

- still working on the grasping technique of cheerios but she is getting there - if she grabs a whole handful and tries to stuff them in,usually one will stick to her lips and she can get it in.

- She doesn't like to be confined so the car seat is very challenging - she scoots her body down over the belt clip so I have to scoot her back up, dig around for the clip (which never stays in place) and then get all the hooks in place while she wiggles and squirms her way out of the harness and screams at me for being so mean as to make her sit bound to a seat that doesn't move.

- Her sleep has gotten more and more disruptive, not sure if it's because of the break in schedule from her in childcare or whether it's just the teeth waking her in the night but we often find her flipped completely around and sometimes even on her belly in her crib at night. We usually get up several times a night just to relocate the binky and cover her back up.

First Days in Daycare...

Well, everyone is wondering why I haven't been writing I'm sure ;) it's been a week now since I've returned to work and things are going fairly well.... We are having some adjustment issues with the new "rules" plus Jaiden is teething and they hurt her terribly so she is not such a happy girl this week.

The new "rules" of being in care under the Family Childcare Center (FCC)

- cannot have cereal mixed in bottle this is a HUGE issue because if you remember from our meager beginnings it took a while to find a bottle and mix that Jaiden would accept and finally we found she likes room temperature milk shakes (nice THICK pudding consistency milk)so needless to say she is not taking to the puny runny stuff too well.

- cannot be in separate room to sleep...and no crib ANOTHER huge issue because she cannot sleep without a dark and quiet room so she is totally exhausted when I pick her up at 5 - meaning she wants to sleep and we don't get much time to interact with her unless we want to stay up into the wee hours of the night...so this is not going so well.

She's been eating good and Ms Susy is nice so maybe in another day or so we will adjust into some sort of a routine...until then we are not digging this new situation very much.

One month ago...was Adoption Day!!!

Exactly one month ago today Jaiden was placed into our arms and adopted into our family forever. Cody made a special video today (unknowing that it was a special anniversary) here it is. Hope you enjoy! Please post comments for Cody (he did a great job didn't he?) You may have to hit the play button (arrow) twice to get the video to play. Let me know if it's not working.

Hair Help!

(Before Photo) Help! I just can't stand it anymore - my hair that is. It is a thick wad of brownish red funky horse tail hanging around my face and I don't know what to do with it! I am going in for a haircut tommorrow (Friday the 13th) and I need some suggestions. When I made the appt and the lady made the comment "oh it's on Friday the 13th I accidentally popped out with "oh I hope I don't look too scary when I leave here" luckily the guy that is cutting my hair has a great sense of humor (and is a great stylist)...he laughed! I really would like to try something different. My hair right now is LONG and permed - it is naturally straight, thick and blah! I hate it to be straight so I would like a curly layered look that is low maintenance.



(After Photo) I lost 10 lbs!!! It felt like I was floating :)

1st day in daycare

Today Daddy returned to work and Jaiden went to play at Ms Suzy's for a while. Dad is still not feeling 100% like himself yet but he's doing much better after the 4 day Migraine.

Ms Suzy is really nice and we think she will take good care of our ladybug. Daddy works nights so she is only in care for 3 hours a day usually. Today it was 5 hrs and she was a bit overstimulated by all the children but she did really well.

In sickness and in health...

I couldn't decide where to put this update since it doesn't revolve around Jaiden but since she was such a good sport and went along with me and kept me very entertained - as well as all the patients and doctors, then I will highlight our last two days events here. What day is it anyway? I seem to have lost track. If today is Tuesday it is the day that I was planning on returning to work. But instead I had a reprive of sorts and got one extra special day to spend with my family. This is how it went down:

Sunday: Beautiful warm and sunny day so we decided to get out and enjoy it so we took the kids for a walk to the park. Then we took a walk to the walkplatz where everyone (and their brother) was out and walking the walkplatz and even the street (the street was blocked off so that people could walk on it but habit kept me drifting back onto the sidewalk) shops were actually open on a Sunday (it was awesome!!!) I've not seen that many stores open on the walkplatz ever and I kept saying "Wow, I didn't know that store was there" amazing what you can find out when the stores stay open during American shopping hours :) *Usually stores close at around 2pm on Saturday here - I'm just getting warmed up by that time on a Saturday!

Anyway, the boys didn't want to shop so we took them home and Scott, Jaiden and I headed back to the platz to shop. Didn't realize it would be to Scott's demise. He had a slight headache but thought nothing much of it, but by the time we got back home his head was throbbing and he was starting to feel a migraine coming on. He hadn't had one in about 20 years but used to get them really bad as a teen. He popped some meds and went to bed hoping to sleep it off.

The next day (Monday) Columbus Day we had another beautiful day. I finally had some motivation to paint our entry table which has gone unfinished for way long enough (3 years) I went to the store for supplies and left Dad couched with the kids. They had more fun watching cartoons than being dragged around a hardware store. I returned to find him feeling much worse by late evening he was begging to go to the ER and he doesn't normally go to see a doc unless he is on his last leg so this was pretty serious. So the boys stayed home and Jaiden and I hauled Daddy over to the ER for some help. 2.5 hours later I left Daddy at ER, took Jaiden home to her crib and then headed back to ER. Dad had been pumped full of fluids and drugs but he was sicker than I've ever seen him. The doc let him go home hoping he would sleep it off but he was sick most of the night and got up every hour so he didn;t get much rest. By morning he was much worse so I got him an early morning appt with our family doc and spent the morning rehydrating. By noon he still didn't feel any better so we got a refferal for a cat scan at a local hospital...which was quite an adventure in itself. We finished there and headed back to see our base doc with the results on disk - nothing was wrong which is a huge relief but he still didn't feel any better so he got a shot of something no one in the clinic had ever administered and had been sitting on the shelf for about 10 years - it made him puke but a few minutes later the throbbing in the head had minimized YAY!!! He still feels like poo and will need a re-evaluation in the am but for now we seem to have cleared migraine mountain and are making our way down the other side.

*Ok now the part about Jaiden...she did GREAT in the waiting room! She kept us all entertained bouncing in her squeaky shoes and smiling at everyone. She still loves to be flipped and held up "flying" and our new game is "stretch and tickle" it's so cute - I'll have to try to catch it on video somehow. While she's laying in my lap facing me, I stretch her legs out towards me and she stretches her arms out above her head while she dangles over my knees and then I tickle her armpits...she loves it! Mommy got quite a workout today!

Side note - we have been spending entirely too much time in doctors offices in the past two weeks. What is going on??? I feel like I have a sign hanging over my head saying "You're next!" So I have not gone back to work yet - tommorrow we have a morning followup and hopefully Daddy will be back to his normal self again. I really miss him. When he is sick he is a big baby so it has been like having another child to take care of. Ok I hear Jaiden calling - gotta go!

14 Days!

Wow! I can't believe that we have been home for 14 days already!!! It seems just moments ago we were still waiting for our referral...and now our daughter is here!

Were oh were has the time gone? I will be returning to work on Tuesday...:( and I am so going to miss those little moments spent being just a Mommy.

We have discovered that Jaiden is quite the little gymnist wanna be! She loves to be twirled - yes twirled around and around in the air! I can only do two flips before she wears me out but she will be squealing for more when I'm done - she is going to love gymnastics, roller coasters and high flying adventure! She LOVES to go, go, go!

She seems to be getting stronger and more balanced every day and very soon she will have the courage to let our fingers go and take those precocious first steps. I am amazed by this little child and her spunk to embrace the challenges in her path. I know she is destined for great things when I observe her observing everything around her with keen interest and reaching out to touch and feel it as well. She is very inquisitive about everything around her and doesn't want to miss a thing.

Jared and Cody continue to be doting big brothers too, amazing me every day with the way they rush to take care of their sis when she needs something. She adores them too, even when they get a bit smotherly and overwhelming. She has been sleeping very well and is starting to get over her chest cold. All the kids have been sick with various bugs since we've been back and they are all starting to work it out of their systems. Jared still has a cough but it seems to be getting better.

Jaiden attended her first birthday party today and did great with all the other babies and it was fun to get a hands on review of all the cool new toys on the market - this kid had them all! We had planned to do a homecoming celebration for Jaiden next weekend but had to cancel - it seems someone's baby shower was scheduled for that same date and time. Never mind that our adoption took years to complete and no one will ever throw Jaiden a shower to celebrate her birth...Could I please rescedule? Uh, no I don't think so - sorry if our being in existance interferes with your life. Yes, I am still a bit annoyed about it and yesterday I had a hard time with it and even got me to wondering if I even have any real friends but I'm doing a little better today after my all day pity party. Yes it would be nice to have one true friend but a party is nothing but mandantory fun if people don't want to be there...and I'm not about to force or coerce someone into coming to anything else since they obviously have much better things to do. Jaiden really doesn't need "stuff" and superficial friends are only temporary anyway so it really doesn't matter. We have the greatest gift ever and nothing is going to take that happiness away.

Photo of the week

Cutie Pie! (Favorite toys - empty bottles and chip clips)

I have to applaud stay at home moms

Today was an initiation into the life of a Professional Mom. The day began at 0430 am when Jared woke with a tummy ache. After some milk, french toast sticks, a dose of pepto, a trip to the potty and an episode of Barney he is feeling better but I have a splitting headache, and would love to fall back to sleep for another hour. But it's time to prepare a lunch, finish homework and check on Cody who came home at midnight last night from having emergency surgery on his throat. He is doing much better but the doc recommends that his wisdom teeth be removed...he will be out of school for two weeks. Spend some time with hubby who braved the thunderstorm and rain late in the night to take Cody to the doctor an hour away since we have no decent medical facility in our military community (We live 2 min from a German hospital but can only use this facility in a dire emergency)Then is time to take Jared to kindergarten, gather together all books and school parafinalia, locate shoes etc. pull out the winter jackets since it has turned winter in Germany, and head out. Maneuver between the mulitude of minivans in the parking lot and squeeze in between two - gosh I don't miss the minivan a bit right about now! Hurry Jared inside and watch him put away all his things in their proper areas without even having to be told a dozen times where they go (now why can't he do that at home?)
Head home to play with baby, she is in a very good mood after a full nights sleep (didn't wake up until 0730 and was asleep by 7:30 pm) Go to MOPS with my friend Heather (a 2 hr spill your guts session with lots of much younger super moms and their screaming babies - I don't spill my guts out loud so this was awkward for me) Came home, had lunch (or rather fed baby my lunch)and then got ready to pick Jared up from school, took Jaiden to a doctor's appt (went all the way to the other base (15 miles) only to find out that the appt was at Bitburg)luckily I was way early so we make it to the other side in time to find the way to the reception desk blocked by a little girl sprawled out on the floor screaming in pain because she had thrown herself on the floor and dislocated her elbow (her parent's were like "oh no worries she's done this before" well could she have her little self abusive tantrum somewhere other than the front desk of Pediatrics? Gosh! So Jared watches his sis out in the hallway while I scoot past the little girl and check in...amist her screams...not so much of pain but of I want my Mommy to pay attention to me. While the whole entire clinic has her attention the Mom is trying not to play into her little overblown drama bit while still being concerned about the elbow which is grossly disfigured. We get all checked in and directed to the quiet zone...the waiting area and see the little girl come out of the docs office with her dad in tow - perfectly fine and her dad says "you ready to go to ballet class? and she says "uh huh" oh my gosh! What the heck did we just witness? I guess throwing her arm out is a normal everyday occurance. I just shake my head and wonder sometimes. It's finally Jaiden's turn and we get to go do the strip and weigh the naked baby routine in a much too cold room. This is going to work wonders on the cold Jaiden has had since the day we met her. I ask the doc about it and all he says is "oh just keep her on the stuff you're already giving her" like dude - it's freakin not workin! He doesn't seem to hear me - maybe I just imagined saying that. Her lungs sound fine he says "Never mind the rumbling in her chest" I reply - "oh yeah that just sounds like she's a bit congested" the doc replies I'd like to say "Where'd you get your certification - the back of a band aids box?" I refrain and politely ask "is there anything you can give or recommend for that?" "No just give her some Robotussin" he says After a while we are finally done and given a clear bill of health - have to get blood drawn at the lab to make sure she doesn't have Hepatitis and take some x-rays to make sure she doesn't have typhoid disease but gosh golly we've got ourselves a healthy Asian baby. Yes, it felt a bit like we were being run through the gammet for bringing a foreigner into our world. It was oh such a bit annoying. It gave me a short burst of perverse pleasure when Jared jacked up his chair on the way out :)

*By the way - what is a simplified answer to a 5 year olds question of what the stirrups are used for on an examining table? I think Jared examined every moving object in the examination room today and that was one item that just fascinated him. I told him people put their feet in the stirrups for the exam and he said "so the doctor could examine their FEET?" Uh, not exactly sweetie...we'll talk about that another time.

On to the lab, where we had blood taken - it came from Jaiden but you could have said we all felt the pain. She was doing great and they were poking and prodding her to find that tiny itty bitty vein but when they poked her and just held her arm down for about 20 min she'd had enough and it was all the two techs and I could do to keep her in place. It took forver to fill that massive tube and I thought they were about to drain her but they finally stopped and said they would ration what they had to get the tests done that they needed.

Then to X-rays - she smiled pretty for the camera. Guess she didn't realize it was a photo of her insides but I enjoyed it :) Jared sat nicely out in the waiting room...after trying to dance with the skeleton on display.

Finally we were done!!! We celebrated with McDonalds cheeseburgers and strawberry shakes! Num Num! Jaiden passed her first home medical exam with flying colors in the good attitude department and Jared won the best door opener award for helping Mommy to get around carring Jaiden on one hip and a baby carrier on the other...for some reason when the baby is in those contraptions they weigh 10x their weight! So it was just easier to carry one on each side.

Whew! It's been an exhausting day - oh and I forgot to mention that after I'd gotten the kiddos bathed and ready for bed, had given Jaiden her bottle and then picked her up to burp her and she unloaded on me, herself and Jared's playmat in his room...so it was back to square one - bathe, lotion, new jammies, bottle etc...for us both.

So I totally respect anyone that can take on the task on being a Professional Mom. It has got to be the toughest most grueling job on the entire planet - I am a Working Mom so I wear dual hats but I think my day is not nearly as draining as that of a full time Mom. It's also the most wonderful job I've ever had and I am gong to miss this so much when I have to go back to work next week - It's been such an extrordinary time to share with my children the joys and concerns of their days. I've so enjoyed just being there when they wake, being there when they head off to school, being there when they need me, being there when they don't and just watching them play, being there in the early afternoon before we all all too drained to think straight, being there to enjoy an afternoon snack, being there to enjoy a nice dinner together, being there to tuck them in to bed each night and not rush through it so that I can get to bed as soon as they are asleep, being able to blog about these moments...aaaaah it is a joyful time indeed.

Photos on Blogger

It worked!!! Mommy loaded a photo!!! Yay!!! She's been pulling her hair out all week trying to do this. Now she is so happy! Me too!
*Mommy could use some advice on what to do with my hair - it has split ends already! My bangs hang all the way to my nose and I love to scratch and pull at my hair when I am tired (thus the pebbles look is the only one I let stay in my hair)Mommy has a fun time wrestling with me and catching my head when she tries anything on the sides or in the back - I out maneuver her every time!

Thank You Connie!!!

Connie the Fridge DJ came today! It is an awesome toy! Jaiden has not been introduced yet (late here and don't want to get her all excited before bed) but our 5 year old has "tested" it out and found it "way cool!" He loves to play with it too - he had the leap karioke when he was 2 - I'm sure he will teach her how to use it well and it will be a mega hit for a long long time! Thank You so very much!

Settling In

We are happily home and starting to settle into a routine somewhat. Still not sleeping through the night (Mom or Jaiden)our sleeping pattern is all out of whack! We slept so good in China! Not sure what is going on there. Jaiden is starting to get into her normal sleeping patter again (9pm -6am, 9am-10, 1pm-2pm)She's a good sleeper when she does sleep but she's grump when she's tired! (Just like her Momma!)

Thought I'd add some interesting tidbits we've learned about Jaiden thus far:

Within minutes after referral we found out she sweats profusely when tired and will tear at her hair, ripping out barrettes and mangling her beautiful hair into a wild mane! Explains why her hair is such a mess in the referral photo!

She is very curious; love to touch and "feel" everything
Very observant; she watches everyone and everything and will snap her body around to find the source of a sound.

She has a ready smile - and for some reason when I go "Pop" with my mouth it makes her laugh hysterically (only me, Scott can't get the same response)

She is very tickelish - her back is the most tickelish (again just like her Momma)

She can be quite ornery when tired (again like her Momma?)

She likes music and toys with motion - her favorite toy is a strobe light that vibrates and plays music. She holds it to her mouth and lets it massage her gums.

She has no teeth yet but has a swollen spot on her lower gums, can't feel a tooth yet but it is pretty swollen up so hopefully one will push through soon. It's giving her a lot of misery right now.

She is very vivacious - her energy level is EXTREMELY HIGH - we put her in the jumparoo and she about goes nuts bouncing and squealing. She has great potential to be a Cheer captain someday! She prefers to jump in our arms though but it is very hard to hang on to such a wiggly squirmy little thang!

In the first days, she would get so excited her whole body would vibrate and wiggle...wish I'd captured that on camera.

She's got an amazing deep laugh that is very contagious and we haven't unleashed the belly laughs yet but we continue to try :)

Jaiden is such an amazing sweet child and we are so blessed to call her our daughter. Each day is a new gift and the memories we are making are priceless.

Home at Last!!!

Our journey to China is complete. Jaiden is now home and fitting into our everyday family life like she has always been here. It is amazing to watch the kids together and see how well they have bonded in such a short time. She has quickly become very spoiled too with all the attention and constant holding. She doesn't care to be out of anyone's arms for more than lunch. So that makes blogging a bit difficult ;) Right now she is sitting right beside me in her exersaucer loudly complaining at me that I am not holding her and being her jungle gym. There are worse ways to spend a day but not much gets done when you are carrying around a 17.5 pound flopsy doll. She has no body strength other than her legs so I can only assume that she was carried around a lot. She hates being on her stomach and topples over when she sits for very long. Developementally she is a little behind on some things but is very smart and knows how to maneuver the soft spots with Mommy and Daddy. Life is glorious and we are so very happy with our sweet baby girl. You can read all about the story of our journey to China or view photos of our daily life.

Our Day in Tonggu

We had the most amazing day today! I will tell all about it in the a.m. We just got in and it is late - we've had a very full day! Check out the photos.

I've really loved reading the comments about the photos, it gives me a lift each day when I log on and can see someone has visited us :)

Jaiden is just amazing!!!

This child has been sent to us straight from heaven! Our day has been awesome beyond words. Please view our photos at the link below.

Photos of our trip....?

Ok, blogger just isn't going to cut it - I can't seem to load photos on this site so I will load them onto Jaiden's website and just follow along from there - I will try to put together a slideshow in the meantime...

Ok, it's late and we have a BIG day tommorrow and then I need to write an update for Jaiden's journey so I am off to bed now. I am trying to add photos but nothing seems to be working tonight. Try this link hopefully it will work with some photos for ya.

We made it!!!

Hello from CHINA!!!! After two days of travel (I think we lost a day in there somewhere) we are finally at our hotel in Nanchang, China. We are staying at the Lakeview and oh is it ever awesome!!! The poor photos I was able to take of the view doesn't come close to doing it justice. It is HUGE! We are on the 14th floor and we are not even close to the top! It gives me shivers to look down because everything down there is sooo tiny. We are right on the lake and if today wasn't rainy I'm sure it would be really an awesome site.

Where do I begin to explain this place? China is amazing! Unlike anything I could have ever imagined. I had heard about the driving but until we experienced it - I could not fathom it. Bikers, buses, autos, walkers and mopeds all zoom around in the same space like crazy and they don't use turn signals they use their horns! Actually our driver had his blinker on most of the way from the airport to the hotel but I don't think he ever realized it and I didn't want to say it and be the bad American backseat driver.

Right now we have a MAJOR party going on in the middle of our hotel - the ballroom. I suppose it is a prom or something but they are JAMMIN and it is about 8pm here so I'm hoping they will call it a night soon because we have been traveling for two days and would like to sleep before we see our daughter at 11 am tommorrow!!! It is still amazing that we are going to have a daughter! I have an empty crib sitting right here in the corner that will be full of baby in just a few more hours!

Scott and I had an awesome dinner in the hotel dining room. We have breakfast and dinner buffet included in the cost of the room, as well as internet and lots of other perks we haven't discovered yet :) We've never stayed in a 5 star hotel before so tipping is a new concept for us - we've learned to always be prepared and have some urumbie? on us at all times.

The most exciting part of our two day trip to get here was the lady in front of me at Frankfurt (an elderly gramma) had a kitchen knife in her purse - that was kinda weird and a lady had an inflight emergency when we were flying over Russia and we were all getting worried that we may have to divert. The lady was sick to her stomach and I guess they must have gotten her over it somehow because we didn't divert and made it to Shanghai around 10:00 am China time. The air on the plane was extremely dry and we were all dehydrated by the time we got off the plane so I wasn't feeling so great either but we made it to our connecting airport and had a nice lunch (soup & tea for me) rice and veggies for Scott. Not sure what all we ate for dinner from the buffet but it was really good! I had steak, fish, veggies, and two kinds of cake w/coffee - guess my appetite is returning already!

Well, it has been quite a day x2? And we see our baby girl first thing in the morning so we have some homework to do getting prepared. I will try to post more as soon as I can but after today things may get a bit busy around here.

I will try to post some photos too and see if they work or not

We're on our way!

We are seeing the boys off to school today and then heading to the airport. We are finally on our way Jaiden!

0712 - Cody is off (first tears, it is really hard to see the boys go when they should be coming with us)

Next is Jared - my baby boy - I will be a wreck! We are taking him to school today.

Ok, this is the last post for a while - we are packing up the computer now.

Thank You Blog friends for following our journey!!! I don't know if I'll be able to blog from China or not but we have a website that will have photos updated daily (the moderator is in our group) Please follow along at this link:

Oh, and please keep us in your prayers! Thank You! Thank You!!! We'll "see ya" on the other side!

We're really going to CHINA!

It's still sinking in that we are indeed traveling to China to bring our daughter home! I was sitting out in my sunroom this morning looking out at the tomatos and thinking to myself "before those green ones ripen, we are going to have a daughter!" OH MY!!! I'm getting very emotional already, just thinking about leaving the boys behind brings on tears. It is my first time away from Jared for this long and I know I'm leaving one baby to bring another home but my heart wants them both to be there with me. I know the boys will enjoy their time at the Slaters and they will be great SIM parents in our absence but I am going to miss them so much!

Here's our itenerary:
11 Sept 5 pm - CHINA here we come!!!
12 Sept 9 am - arrive in Shanghai
12 Sept - fly to Nanchang
13 Sept - Nanchang
14 Sept - We MEET OUR DAUGHTER!!!!
15 Sept - Nanchang
16 Sept - Orphanage Visit (tentative)
17 Sept - local sightseeing
18 Sept - Nanchang
19 Sept - Go to Guangzhou
20 Sept - Consulate appt 10:00
21 Sept - Guangzhou
22 Sept - Homecoming Day!!!

We finally have confirmation of travel...

I don't think I will breathe again until they place Jaiden into my arms, but for now we seem to be on track to go get her.

As of late, late last night (Germany time) we STILL didn't have tickets confirmed. Why? Because it takes 24-48 hrs for the airline to process the tickets and our bank, well it seems that no matter what we say to them to authorize the payment, they can't seem to get it right. So after multiple calls back and forth between our bank and the airline we FINALLY got them to process our ticket and take the money from our account. I just don't understand why you can't just tell your bank that you want x amount of money to go to a company and have it done no matter how long it takes for the company to process your request. This 24 hr window almost killed us with the time changes between our countries...So word of advice for anyone doing this in the future - make sure your bank will authorize the funds! I understand they are trying to protect us from theft (wish they'd had this feature when someone stole our credit card and cleared out our bank account a few years ago) but I wish that you could have more flexibility over your own finances in times like these - we didn't really need the added stress of not being able to purchase tickets!

So now we're off to figure out how to pack everything into under 44 lbs! That is all the weight we are authorized each on this trip...and we have more than that in baby gear! So I guess any shopping done we will be eliminating clothing and other items as we go...or maybe just take one change of clothes and shop there! :) Ok, that may get pretty old wearing the same jeans day after day - maybe I can do laundry in the room and dry with a hairdryer??? Oh, this is going to get interesting...

Falling back into place

We have new (e-tickets) to Shanghai

FedEx is coming today with our passports

Our money is being wired to China

Our TA is being sent ahead to China

Paperwork should be finished today *Notarized docs

Maybe we will even get a day to spend with the boys before we go! The past two days have been chaotic and they have not seen much of me other than racing around the house like a crazed person trying to make all the calls that had to be made. I'm so thankful that everything is starting to come together again and the small heart attach yesterday cleared the fog and now I am focused on what lies ahead :) Our beautiful baby girl awaits!

*Thank You for your prayers and encouraging words during this time - knowing that we are surrounded in prayer is the greatest gift a person could ever recieve!

What a day!!!

Just when we think it's all coming together...

- We find out our tickets were not confirmed because we need to contact the bank and increase our limit - it seems they will only allow so much of OUR money to be spent at a time without their permission :(

- We get our fingerprints update today :)

- We get our employment letters notarized :)

at 1205 - We find out that FEDeX has our passports on their truck and on their way to our house :)

- We are not at our house and no one is home :( so Scott races home only to have missed the truck by about 5 minutes...:(

- We contact the bank and they extend our withdrawal amount so we can purchase tickets only to find that Air China needs a paper ticket and there is no time to get it mailed to us before we travel so we need to make a 4 hour drive to the airport to purchase the ticket before the hold expires...but someone has to be here when FedEx arrives tommorrow :(

- Our agency calls and tells us we cannot travel without TA - which they have not sent to us yet and will get it in the mail today and it would arrive MAYBE on Monday (the day we scheduled to travel) and also we cannot wire money at this time because it takes up to 3 weeks to wire funds to China!

So we have no tickets, we have no money, we have no TA and we have no passports!

*and my little world that was once spinning like a top came to a complete and totally devestating crush point just now so I feel broken into pieces and don't know what to do. Can we still make it to China this week? Will we meet our daughter? Please pray with us that everything that has fallen apart will fall back into place again. Miracles happen! We truly need one right about now.

We're going to CHINA!!!

In just 4 days we are going to CHINA!!! I can hardly type this...I was up till midnight booking tickets so I don't know how I will function the rest of the week :) With a big dopey grin on my face I'm sure!!!

We're going to China in 4 days!!!

*Almost forgot - our passports were in New Jersey as of 0730 am yesterday and should arrive to our house TODAY :)

Thank God!!! Everything is falling into place!

5 days!!!

In 5 days I will have a daughter!!!

I feel quite drunk and dizzy...is the Earth spinning or is it just my mind? Dusty emailed me today and said she'd gotten a midnight email from her agency and we have finally recieved our CA!!!!

Our CA is 20 Sept!!!

This is going to be a whirlwind trip for sure - we return on 22 Sept!

So much to process and do in such a short time - where are our passports??? Must go find out where they are...

The latest news

It seems that TAs are here and Adam is working our CAs this week (all this info comes from the grapevine not our agency) From what I hear we (our group) could get our CA on Friday and leave on Sat or Monday!

Since we do not have passports or visas yet (they should have left Virginia on Tues) and FedEx normally takes around 4 days - we are not going to be ready to travel when our group is ready to go...this is very depressing news and my stomach is all in knots now waiting for everything to fall into place. I still can't believe we are so close and yet so far from knowing a single thing about our trip...

By the Grace of God we will survive this and someday (soon maybe?) we will have a beautiful daughter in our lives and all this emotion will be forgotten. We will see that we worried for nothing and everything was falling into place before us all along, all I really had to do was Let Go

Playing around with movie maker

Hope this works! I am working on a video for Jaiden while we wait for CA/TA to arrive. Bear with me, the videos are only 2 min each so they may cut off instead of fading away but I am only an amatuer...this is my practice session :)



Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Where is our CA????

"wanp wanp wanp wanp - wanp wanp wanp wanp"

I hear the news but I just don't understand it....We STILL don't have our Consulate Appts and they are now closed until Tuesday!!!!! URGH!!!!

How long does it frickin take to make an appt??? I can't believe I used that word, but I am very very annoyed and frustrated right now!!!!