The Surridge Family

9421 Words

2011-11-23T17:26:00.012-05:00

Has it really been 7 weeks since I last updated the blog. Eeek. Time really gets away from you when you have a two year old.

Hannah continues to love all things animals. She loves singing "The Wheels on the Bus" with various animals being on the bus ("the cows on the bus go moo moo moo..."). We met Aunt Marf at the zoo in October which was a lot of fun.

("HEEELLLLLLOOOO FISH!!")

The last week of October also brought snow to Virginia. Because, why not? It was enough snow to stick a little on the grass, freeze our pumpkins so that they couldn't be carved for jack-o-lanterns, and provide a lot of entertainment for Hannah. The wet snow also made it so that Hannah had her first cup of hot chocolate. She's a fan. We felt a little bad when she woke up the next morning asking to play in the snow again, and having to tell her it could be a couple of months before it snows again.

Just two days after the snow was Halloween. Hannah was thrilled to be a flying fairy again this year. There was a Halloween parade at school, and then we trick-or-treated with Emily.

How much did Hannah like Halloween? Well, she has worn her wings and tutu nearly every day since the holiday. I have to give it to her - a tutu and wings DO make chores more fun...

(yes, she's also wearing her hat and 2 different mittens. Isn't this how everyone mops?)

The first week of November was Bubbie's birthday. Check out the cake that Hannah expertly decorated.

Hannah continues to LOVE school. She talks about Mrs. B and Miss Mary ALL the time and would go 7 days a week if she could. I spent the day with her (she goes to a co-op) and I can see why she has so much fun.

We've also been rocking out at the kids concert series in Fairfax City. We've seen Mr. Skip a few times and this week met a couple of our friends from gymnastics class to see a one man band.

We're in the last few weeks of gymnastics class, or, as Hannah calls it, her monkey class. (because they swing on the bars like monkeys) She is really quite good at it - she walked a few steps on the balance beam this week all by herself, can roll down the mats on her own, and LOVES to warm up by running on the mats

Fall Fun

2011-10-01T20:17:00.009-04:00

As much fun as we had at the pool and spray park this summer, I'm pretty happy that fall is here. The weather is starting to get cooler and fall brings with it so many fun fall activities in our area. Every weekend we've had something fun to do - fall festivals, Cox Farms, and apple picking have kept us busy all month. My favorite part? Looking at the pictures of Hannah from each activity last year along with the ones I've just taken. It takes my breath away to see how much she has grown and changed. Sure, last September she was dealing with what we like to call "the unfortunate hair cut." And there were a lot more smiles then the pictures show (she's finally starting to figure out the whole idea of stopping and smiling for the camera). But she's not a baby anymore. She is most certainly 2. (ps - I think that if you click on the collages you can see them much larger)

The first weekend of fall was the Burke Centre festival. Last year Hannah really liked the little kids area; this year the highlight was the puppet show. Hannah LOVES puppets. She still talks about the dog puppet show we saw in June (also known as the worst puppet show Mara has ever seen); she was SO excited to see this one. She sat in the sun for the entire 40 minute show, clapping along and thrilled to be a part of it.The next weekend we went to Cox Farms. This was one of the highlights of our fall last summer, and we had even more fun this year. This year we went on the hayride (which we didn't even try last year) and Hannah was able to go down some of the big slides by herself. She also was able to eat the apples this year - three apples to be exact. It turns out that someone likes apples.

The next weekend we had a first - apple picking! We met up with three of Mara's sorority sisters and their families and had BLAST. Hannah ate FIVE apples and was upset every time we had her put an apple in the bag instead of in her mouth. And there was the wonderfulness of spending time with our friends. This collage is just of this year, though I do have a picture of six of the eight adults on a date in college. :)

This weekend we went to the Fairfax KidsFest. This is a really great festival for young kids at the government center. Last year it was hot - today it was cold and rainy - but we had a great time. Looking back at the pictures, I had forgotten that Hannah really just sat in the stroller last year and looked at everything. This year? She spent a LOT of time on the firetrucks, went into the petting zoo, and made a couple of craft projects (because we clearly do not have enough paper crowns in our house). SO much fun.

First Day of School

2011-09-17T20:52:00.003-04:00

After talking about it all summer, Friday was finally Hannah's first day of school. There are approximately 4,000 preschools in our area, all with an application process and waitlist that rivaled getting into college, but we found one that was a perfect fit for our family. (and were thrilled to get off of the wait list in May)She is going 1 morning a week at a parent run co-op that is near our house and has a nice mix of diversity. Hannah has been VERY excited to start school. After all, she watches Abby Caddaby go to Flying Fairy School every day (for those of you who are not so up on Sesame Street, "Abby's Flying Fairy School" is a segment on Sesame Street, and usually Hannah's favorite part of the show) and she wanted her turn too.

How excited was she? She wore her backpack all morning in anticipation. Her panda lunch bag with her snack? Carried around for 45 minutes before we left.

Thankfully, school lived up to all the hype. So much that she didn't want to leave. Her recap of the day? "Potty. Hands. Soap. All Clean. Clean Up." To fill in some gaps, she went to the potty (first time...apparently seeing the other girls go made her want to go too...seriously...), got all clean when she washed her hands with soap, and then she helped clean up. She also explained to me that her panda bag had grapes, apple juice, and cheese in it. And then, after a celebratory lunch of Elmo soup, she took a 3 hour nap. What a great start to the school year.

A Summer of Memories

2011-09-11T17:51:00.009-04:00

Today was the first day of Sunday School for me - after a summer of spending Sunday mornings in my pajamas, it was time to go back and greet a new group of sixth graders. And, just like the kids, lots of people stopped me to ask how my summer was and what we did. I had a great summer; REALLY great, actually. But I couldn't answer what we did. Because outside of the four days we spent in Wisconsin, we didn't really do anything at all. Yet, somehow, we managed to stay busy each and every day all summer long. We went to the pool. A lot. And to the new spray park. A LOT. And we took advantage of all of the free concerts and shows for kids that were spread out through the summer. We went to the Jammin' Beach Party at the library, danced with the area's top children's performers, and sat through what I can only describe as the worst puppet show I have ever since. (this, by the way, was one of Hannah's favorite things we did all summer - we saw it in June and she is STILL talking about the dog puppets) Sure, we also took our first family vacation - a quick trip to Wisconsin for Uncle Matthew & Auntie Emily's wedding and much fun with her cousins - and experienced an earthquake, hurricane, and flood all in the span of two weeks. But the lasting memories of the summer will be of kicking in the pool, the "coming water" (random fountains) at the spray park, learning to blow bubbles, and swinging like a monkey.

There are lots of changes coming here. Hannah starts preschool on Friday and with the pool closed (and our twice weekly Borders storytime sadly a thing of the past) we'll be looking for new activities to fill our days. Thank goodness we had enough fun all summer to keep us happy until summer comes again.

iPhone Fun

2011-07-18T21:22:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, Chris and I celebrated our anniversary with the traditional present for 11 years - iPhones. We were both using really old phones (so old that Chris's did not have a camera) so this was a huge treat for us. But you know who was the most excited? Hannah. First, she inherited both of our old phones. So now she has TWO phones to make all of her very important calls. Mostly she calls Bubbe & Zaide, but she's on an unlimited calls to Sesame Street plan as well. Even bigger though is her new found fascination with pictures and videos of herself. Lots and lots of videos and pictures of Hannah. She simply can not get enough of Hannah. She is constantly shouting "MORE HANNAH!!". And when we don't move fast enough she just shouts "MORE NAH!!!". Louder and louder until we give her what she wants - more Hannah.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

2011-07-05T15:08:00.008-04:00

It's hard to believe that Hannah is two. The year has flown by - it really does seem like just yesterday that we were celebrating her turning one. We didn't have a huge party - just a few friends over for pizza and cupcakes. Hannah talked about the fact that she was having an Elmo party with Elmo cupcakes all week. Thankfully, the cupcakes lived up to all of the hype.

(how cute are all the kiddos sitting in their portable chairs? Picnic on the floor in the chairs will have to happen again before her next birthday)

Hannah was unsure about the whole birthday candle thing. After she tried to touch it and everyone screamed "No! Hot!" she has been talking about the hot two. Every time you ask her how old she is she replies "two...hot...". So there's that. We put a candle in a plain cupcake first, since it seemed odd to stick a candle in Elmo's face. It was quickly switched out for the much anticipated Elmo cupcake. Elmo cupcakes with your best friends is really the perfect way to celebrate. (and yes, I still marvel when I look at her and Henry together - it really was just over a year ago that we were all in China together...wow...)

We celebrated Hannah's actual birthday as a family. Chris made her birthday waffles (after much discussion of what makes a waffle a birthday waffle....a birthday candle...that's it...) and then we headed to the spray park and out to lunch. Then (after a certain birthday girl decided there was too much fun to be had to be bothered with a nap) we had a birthday dinner with Bubbe & Zaide. All Hannah really wanted for her birthday was a Bert doll...the extreme joy when she opened her very own Bert from her cousins was almost too much to take. And what did Hannah want for her birthday dinner? Steak and noodles and zucchini. Yes, really. :)
(love the look on Hannah's face in this picture...pretty clear that we are keeping her from her cupcake...)

Who Wore It Better?

2011-06-16T19:39:00.004-04:00

It's a tough call. Hannah is pretty adorable, but Bob is rocking the pink sunglasses.

Why, Hello Summer...

2011-05-30T21:04:00.006-04:00

Welcome Back Summer

2011-05-26T20:00:00.008-04:00

After what seemed like a never ending winter (ok, it wasn't even that bad, but I don't like cold weather and being stuck inside with a toddler) we're all happy for the return of summer. It got hot fast - it was 90 already today - and Hannah is happy to be outside soaking up the sunshine.
This is what happens when Bubbe & Zaide are over to play the day the ice cream man makes his first appearance of the summer. Somehow when Chris and my dad went to go get ice cream they came back with a frog for Hannah. I tasted it. I would rather lick a real frog. But she liked it.

We went to the Zoo for Mother's Day. It was crowded but lots of fun to say hello to the animals. My favorite part was Hannah looking at the elephants and screaming "HELLLLOOOO!!!!" to them. Also the look on her face when she touched a cow. This is her dancing with her giraffe Reginald - there was an Asian Family Festival at the Zoo while we were there, and Hannah loved the Chinese dancers.

We met up with some other adoptive families at Frying Pan Park last weekend for a playdate. Hannah loved feeding the baby lambs and getting a chance to drive the tractor.

We also found out last weekend how much Hannah loves watermelon. This is at the temple picnic where she ate FOUR pieces. Seriously. Let's just say that four pieces of watermelon is too many...there were some unfortunate side effects the next day.

The last Music Together at the library of the year was yesterday. Shaking the scarves was Hannah's favorite part - at one point she was shaking them so hard that she fell over. She popped right back up and started shaking again, and didn't even seem to notice that Mommy was laughing so hard I cried a little.

Our new favorite activity is our sand and water table. Henry came over to play with her on Monday, and here she is playing in it yesterday with Bubbe and Zaide. It's fun to splash in the water and dig in the sand, and even more fun to get rinsed off with the hose afterwards. Of course, if anyone has a way to get less sand in the house, I would love to hear it. Even after hosing her off, our living room floor is starting to take on a distinctly beach house crunch.

Time Flies

2011-04-30T16:34:00.012-04:00

I can't believe that tomorrow is May. The month flew by, which sort of explains why this is the first post to the blog in a month. Turns out that taking care of an extraordinarily active toddler really wears a person out. Thank goodness for coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

So, let's see...what have we been up to...

We finished off March by celebrating our very first Family Day. Chris took the day off of work, and we spent the day doing all of Hannah's favorite things - saying hello to animals (we went to the zoo), watching Elmo, eating noodles, and playing with bubbles. Such a great day.

(roaring at the lions in the zoo)

At the beginning of April we celebrated my birthday. Last year we were in China on my birthday and I was super sick, so it was extra nice to be home and have cake. Turns out that while Hannah usually would rather have fruit instead of dessert, she is a fan of chocolate frosting.

April also brought the start of a new class - art! It's a fun class - they learn about a different artist or style each week and get to make a project that's geared to 2 year olds. Here we're tearing pieces of tissue paper and gluing them down to make a background for a shadow picture. The pat-pat-patting down of the paper was her favorite part.

In the middle of April we celebrated Passover. Technically Hannah celebrated Passover with us last year, but since we were in Kunming, this was her first real celebration of the holiday. We had her first ever seder at Bubbe & Zaide's. The frog was a Passover gift (really, an excuse for Bubbe to sing the Frog Song) and Hannah and Froggy were inseparable for the entire holiday. She wasn't too sure about matzah, but she loved charoset - enough that she ate it for dinner every night of Passover.

The second night of Passover we celebrated with just the three of us. Well, the three of us and Froggy and Moose. Hannah insisted that they come to the seder too.

Hannah did a great job with the holiday and kept Passover the entire time. Of course, she was just as excited as Mommy for the triumphant return of oatmeal, noodles, and bread when it was over. :)

The weather has gotten warm, and we have been spending a lot of time outside. Hannah loves to play outside and go to the playground - we have our favorite parks that we alternate every day. At the end of Passover we went to Burke Lake, and Hannah took her first trip on the Burke Lake Railroad. She wasn't too sure about it at first, but she is still talking about how she went on the train.

We also have been lucky enough to share our love of the playground with Hannah's two best friends, Emily and Henry. Chris calls them her cronies - Hannah loves her two friends so much and they are so cute together.

(sharing a Passover snack with Emily at the park)

(playing animals with Henry)

We finished off the month with Hannah's first Take Your Daughter to Work Day. She went to work with Chris and worked hard with him for the first hour of the day. :)

Opening Day

2011-04-01T17:35:00.003-04:00

It's Opening Day for the Red Sox - my yearly birthday present from Bud Selig. Hannah was very excited to wear her Red Sox shirt today (and I am excited that it still fits!) and let me watch two whole innings before the game was relegated to my laptop so she could watch Elmo. If the Sox would just draft Super Grover we would be all set. But she keeps walking over to check on the game and she loves clapping for the players just as much as she did last year.

Opening Day last year was our last morning in Kunming. The Red Sox opened on Sunday night last year, which was Monday morning in China. We ate breakfast, got all of our stuff packed up, and watched the first few innings in our hotel room. It was Hannah's first glimpse at baseball (and one of her first at television - it was clear that she had never seen tv before she joined us a few days earlier) and she was hooked. We watched it on the ESPN Asia feed - the pregame was the direct feed from the US in English, but the game itself was broadcast by ESPN Asia in Japanese? Chinese? Korean? We have no idea.... But we do know that "back to back home runs" and "Pesky's Pole" are not phrases that get translated. :)

Happy Hannah Day

2011-03-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

One year. One year ago we were too excited to sleep. We were the first people at breakfast in the Kunming Hotel, nervously watching the sunrise over the city of Kunming. One year ago Xiulan started banging on our door a full 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave, hurrying us along and rushing us out the door of the hotel. One year ago we piled into a van and drove across Kunming, not knowing where we were going, but realizing that this was the exact ride we had been waiting to take for nearly five years. One year ago we sat in the Civil Affairs Office in Kunming, showing our IDs, looking over the last bits of paperwork, and trying to contain our nerves and excitement. One year ago I caught a glimpse of Hannah as she was being brought into the office and started to cry. One year ago Hannah was placed into our arms and we became a family.

It's hard to believe it's been a year. It feels like just yesterday that we were in Kunming. I get choked up thinking of those first few hours and how scared we all were. And then I think of the first smiles we saw back in our hotel room and knowing that this was where we were all supposed to be.

Looking at Hannah today it's hard to believe she's the same kid. She's so full of life and energy and joy. In fact, she's attempting to tickle my toes as I type this. Being her parent is a million times harder and a million times better than we ever could have imagined. Happy Hannah Day to everyone.

This photo collage generated with Smilebox

One Year Ago

2011-03-23T18:05:00.015-04:00

One year ago we were on a plane to China. As much as we were prepared - we did have four years to wait after all - China was nothing at all like we expected. And today? I am a mess of feelings. Who would have thought that I would be so emotional a full week before we actually celebrate our very first Hannah Day? (ok, who am I kidding. EVERYONE knew I would be emotional...) I spent a chunk of naptime today looking back at our blog posts from Beijing and the pictures we took. It's sort of interesting how little we wrote. The Beijing leg of our trip - the only leg without Hannah - is something that I'm still processing a year later.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we went to Beijing. But we were glad to leave, and not just because it meant we were finally going to get Hannah. While we were in China I kept saying that I would write more later about our trip. I guess that today is later. (forgive me in advance for the length of this post)

From the moment we landed in Beijing, there was no question that we were in China. The military presence in the airport alone lets you know that you're not in the States. And our introduction to Beijing traffic and pollution was immediate. We have never (and hope to never again) seen anything like it. Admittedly Beijing had been plagued with sandstorms right before we went, so some of the pollution was sand. But I don't think that makes it that much better. And there is always the sense that the government is keeping tabs on you.

We had booked our Beijing trip in advance and it included a tour guide and a driver. This is not how we like to travel, but it's what was recommended (and looking at the tourists around us, what the vast majority of travelers in China do). Our guide was a talker, and chatted (mostly with Chris) all the way through Beijing. Non-stop. Being a tour guide for Americans is a good job - he was university educated and told us that he and his wife were able to afford a small apartment in a good part of the city. Our first day started in Tienanmen Square. Other than the fact that we were cold (I almost bought a plush panda hat from a street vendor) it was impressive. Far bigger than I would have ever imagined it to be. The most impressive part was the line to see Mao's tomb. Hours and hours of waiting. We did not.

The Forbidden City was much like Tienanmen Square - way bigger than I had ever imagined it. We were there for a couple of hours and we only saw a fraction of it. Our guide tried to explain things as we looked at them, but I wish that I had brought my own guide book so I could read more as we walked. I also had the overwhelming sense that world history was an area where public education failed me. As much as I liked my world history teacher in high school, I learned remarkably little. We were also struck by the difference in world view between us and our guide. He constantly wanted to talk politics and religion (which, along with our adoption, were the main topics we were told in advance to avoid), and as much as we tried to change the subject, it was interesting to see what he knew of US history and the filtered view of current events that is presented in China.

Our last stop on day 1 was at the Temple of Heaven. Yet another place that was stunningly beautiful and far larger than I had ever imagined it. The main building - the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests - is what you see on the postcards, but there are other buildings and a huge park surrounding the Temple with locals playing cards and doing tai chi. Definitely a place I wish we had spent more time at. You'll also notice that the color of the sky has significantly changed from the morning pictures - it's not clouds, but pollution rolling in.

Our second day was a side trip to the Great Wall. The Great Wall is not in Beijing - the section we went to was 3 1/2 hours from our hotel (though 2 hours back with a more direct route and slightly less traffic). We went to the Mutinayu section - less toursity than the Badaling section (the section closest to Beijing, and the one you've probably seen in pictures) and much steeper. The Great Wall really is impressive - it's high up in the mountains and is unbelievably steep. We took a chair lift up - one of the scariest things I have ever done - and hiked along a few sections. It doesn't matter what picture I post - no picture can possibly do it justice. And, in an unexpected but of fun, we took the toboggan down. Yes, I SLID down the Great Wall of China.

Along with the Great Wall, we spent some time on day 2 in what Chris called "the machine". Tourism is regulated by the government. Each of the restaurants we went to were government run places specifically for tour groups. Don't get me wrong - the lunches we ate in Beijing were probably our favorite of the trip. There was a chicken and cucumber dish on the first day that I still think about, and the guide specially ordered kung pao chicken for Chris on day 3 that he still talks about. But they are very clearly part of the deal. We also stopped on our way to the Wall at a government run jade factory and on our way back at a government run cloisonne factory. Again, it was interesting to see how jade is carved and cloisonne is made, but we clearly had a length of time we had to spend there, and we bought a few little pieces of jewelry at each for Hannah which was sort of our ticket out.

Our last day we crammed the most stuff in. We started at the Summer Palace, which was a really nice little oasis. It was on the lake, which made the air quality a little better. I could imagine that in the summer all of the paddle boats are full and it's the perfect place to spend an afternoon. On the day we were there? Still shady spots with snow.

From the Summer Palace we headed to the most anticipated stop for me in Beijing - the Olympic sites. I am an Olympics addict, and our guide was sort of stunned by my knowledge of the stadium and the Beijing Olympics. I don't think he was expecting me to be pointing things out to HIM. Like everything else in Beijing, the Bird's Nest was much larger and much more impressive in person. And it was interesting to see how they had made the stadium into a paid attraction - very different from Centennial Park in Atlanta.

From the Bird's Nest we headed to the Lama Temple. This is home to the world's largest wooden Buddah. And yes - it was huge. It was fascinating to see the prayer wheels and watch (and smell) people burn incense. The glimpse into how others pray is not one that I will soon forget. We didn't take very many pictures out of respect for those who were praying there, but I couldn't help but take this one. People throw coins and try to get them to land for good luck, directly in front of the sign telling them to not throw coins. (can you see all the coins that have been thrown?)

Our last stop in Beijing was a tour of the hutong, the small traditional residences in Beijing. Definitely the oddest part of our trip - we were handed over to our hutong guide, loaded onto a rickshaw, and driven through the hutong. We even were taken into a family's living room where they poured us tea and encouraged us to ask questions. While it was beyond strange, we loved our little tour guide - Jenna Tau - who followed us along on her bicycle and Chris deemed to be "pocket sized." Interesting fact - we noticed the raised doorways throughout Beijing, which she explained was to keep the ghosts out. How does it keep the ghosts out? Because ghosts don't have knees. It's the one fact I have retained from trip.

Would I ever go back to Beijing? Probably not. The places we visited were amazing. And it was nice for us to have those last few days alone as a couple. But the city itself? Not a fan. The pollution was horrific, as was the traffic. Chris kept joking that everyone smokes for the fresh air. He was also convinced by the end of day 2 that he was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. I brought every allergy and asthma medicine I own and still got sick. I don't know how people live in it every day. We were so done with it by the last day that we asked to go to the airport extra early, just to sit in the filtered air. The lack of diversity also bothered me, but it bothered me throughout our trip. It makes me proud to be an American, regardless of whatever nonsense is going on in politics.

The Amazing Race in Kunming

2011-03-21T14:41:00.007-04:00

Last night The Amazing Race was in Kunming. After four days straight watching basketball, it was great to watch one of our favorite shows in "our" city in China.

A quick side note about the show, especially for those who watched it only because it was in Kunming (and I told you to). While we were thrilled to see Kunming, this was a pretty lame episode of the show. That's somewhat important to know. Give it another chance - it really is one of our favorites.

The leg started at one of the many flower markets in Kunming. Kunming is known for its flowers - we were told before we went that some ridiculously high percentage of the flowers sold in China are grown in Kunming. (and a lot of them get sent to neighboring countries) This is not the flower market we visited, but we did get to go to the Bird and Flower market where we wished we could bring the beautiful plants home. Next they went to the Golden Horse and Jade Rooster arch. This is when Chris and I started to get excited. The arch is in a really beautiful area of the city - walking distance from our hotel. There were lots of arches surrounding this one, and the whole area was beautiful. Definitely a place we had hoped to go back and explore some more. Here is the gate that they visited, as well as a smaller arch that was next to it (and had some sort of meaning that was explained to us and promptly forgotten...) We had hoped that they would go to the Bird and Flower market for a task, especially since it's only a few blocks down the road from the arches, but I guess since they were already at a flower market, that was enough. And, as an aside...the McDonald's that several teams ended up at? We ate lunch there. Once. It was the only time we ate "American" food during our trip. It was delicious. :)
The next few stops on the Race were not places we had been to. They had to assemble solar water heaters, which Chris was excited about, since we saw them on every building in Kunming. They were EVERYWHERE. And while we heard how amazing the Stone Forest was, we didn't make the trip out there. Of course, it was pretty great to watch the teams drive around Kunming. We recognized the skyline immediately, and the streets just looked familiar. And, of course, there were the taxis. Oh the taxis. Chris spent more time in them than I did, as every time Xiulan took us anywhere, DeeDee, Henry, Jonathan, Hannah, and I would pile in the back of her car, and George and Chris would get sent behind us in the taxi. Apparently Kunming taxis are no place for women and children (because, yes, Xiulan really did say to us "women and children with me").Finally, this leg of the race ended in Green Lake Park. What a beautiful place. We spent several beautiful hours walking around the park on our last full day in Kunming, and we wished that we had spent more time there. We knew exactly where Phil was standing at the pit stop, and hopefully they will show more footage of the park at the start of next week's episode (and maybe they found the monkey sock that we lost in the park??).

Chag Sameach!

2011-03-20T17:41:00.007-04:00

In our year of firsts, Hannah celebrated her first Purim this weekend. I love Purim - you get to dress up and be noisy, which is right up Hannah's alley. We started on Friday and made Hamentaschen with Bubbe & Zaide. No real surprise - Hannah liked the peach filling better than the cookies. In fact, when we ate them with Chris Friday afternoon, Hannah sucked the peaches off and handed the pre-licked cookies to him to finish. :)Friday night we went to Tot Shabbat Purim services. Hannah was thrilled to get to dress up like a flying fairy and shook her wand instead of a grogger with glee. :)Today was even more fun. Hannah went to her very first Cradle Roll with Chris (basically a parent-and-me Sunday School program for little ones) and had a blast at the Purim Carnival. (she did wear her flying fairy costume again, but it got taken off for the moon bounce and never put back on). She loved playing the carnival games with Emily - especially the one where you were supposed to throw discs into a tube. She very carefully walked up and placed each one in. And trading in her tickets for new bead necklaces? Well, it was the perfect end to the fun. :)

The Hannah Show

2011-03-15T21:51:00.002-04:00

Hannah and Chris having some fun with video...

The Amazing Race

2011-03-13T21:14:00.004-04:00

Tonight's episode of The Amazing Race was in Yunnan, China - Hannah's province, and where we spent 8 days of our trip to China. We love the show, and I have been so excited that they would be traveling to Yunnan.

The leg started with the teams flying to Kunming - the city where Hannah is from. While they were only there for a few minutes before leaving for Lijiang, the glimpses of the Kunming Airport were enough to bring back a flood of memories. It was the one airport that the language barrier was really an issue. We had to check our stroller (ever been through an airport with a 9 month old without a stroller? I don't recommend it...) and we had a lot of problems getting through security with our carseat. Seeing the last team get on a China Eastern plane directly from the ground...well, we've been there and done that. I will spare you the picture of me and DeeDee in the Kunming airport and leave you with one that looks a lot like what you saw on the race.
The leg itself was beautiful. Yunnan is a beautiful place - very very different from the big cities of Beijing and Guangzhou. I liked the tasks with the Chinese zodiac - for us, the zodiac signs were always what you figured out at a Chinese restaurant while you were waiting for your food. But so much in China revolves around the signs. Hannah is an Ox, and we bought lots of Ox items for her while we were there. I also liked the prayer wheel. The prayer wheels we saw in China were spectacular, and we really liked the glimpse into how other religions pray.

One of the things that is always an issue on the show is the language barrier, which will be interesting for the rest of their time in Yunnan. While we found plenty of people in Beijing and Guangzhou who spoke English, very few people in Kunming did. And Kunming is the "big city" - up in Lijiang I would imagine there are even fewer. It's also a different dialect of Mandarin that is spoken there - Chris's Mandarin lessons didn't help us out nearly as much as we had hoped they would. The other thing we really related to was the altitude. Lijiang is much higher up in the mountains than Kunming, but we definitely felt the effects of the altitude in Kunming as well. The good news was that the air was so much cleaner than it was in Beijing, but we definitely could feel it as we climbed the stairs in order to cross the streets.

Next week the teams are in Kunming. Watching the previews for next week, all we could focus on were the cabs. The traffic in Kunming and riding in the back of those cabs is going to break a few teams down. We can't wait to see their view of "our" city.

Wheeee!!!!

2011-03-05T19:42:00.007-05:00

For Hannah, there is no better way to spend an afternoon then by going down a slide. She's always been quite the daredevil, and over the summer we had a lot of fun taking her down the slides over and over and over again. In the fall we took her down the big slides at Cox Farms. And now that the weather is nice, she has rekindled her love of slides. She's figured out how to climb up and go down them by herself, and for Hannah, the bigger the slide the better. She'll bypass the smaller ones for tallest slide at the park every time. This week she learned to say "wheee!" as she goes down, and she was so proud to show Chris how she could go down the biggest slide at the park all by herself today.

Year of the Rabbit

2011-02-14T14:15:00.012-05:00

Gōng xǐ fā cái! Xīn nián kuài lè! Happy Chinese New Year! We had a low key celebration this year. We started out by celebrating with three of our adoption friends - we met for storytime at Barnes & Noble and lunch at Nordstrom's Cafe. (it's never too early to learn about the joys of lunch with your girlfriends at Nordstrom's!) All four girls were adopted from China and Mara met each of their moms online during the wait.

And while we didn't make it downtown for the Chinese New Year parade this year (Hannah and Chris were too busy cheering on the Packers in the Super Bowl!), we did go to the celebration at Fair Oaks Mall over the weekend. Hannah LOVED watching the dragon & lion dances - she kept pointing at them to make sure we were watching too, blowing kisses to the dragon, and was the most enthusiastic clapper in the crowd!

One Year

2011-02-01T17:25:00.003-05:00

One year ago today, Mara got the call from our adoption agency. Even though we weren't expecting it for another few months, they had our referral. Xi Xue Li from Kunming, Yunnan, China. Chris came home (while Mara started calling everyone with the news) and we drove right over to our agency. And, there in the lobby, we saw her face for the first time. She was beautiful. And all of a sudden, after four years of waiting, we were about to really be parents. FINALLY.

Today? Today we made Knuffle Bunny ears at Borders storytime. Life is very very good.

Snow Days

2011-02-01T16:56:00.005-05:00

After last year's record snow storms, it's hard to believe that it took until last week to get our first big snow of the year. And, by last year's standards, it's hard to even count 7 inches of snow as a big storm. But it made national news because of the timing (lots of our friends had 6+ hour commutes home...luckily, Chris came home at lunch so he was good, but many of our friends who spent 10 or 11 hours on their normally 20 minute commute didn't fare as well) and it was Hannah's first chance to go sledding. Her verdict? Not such a fan. I take that back - she liked the middle part of sledding. Being pulled (or, in the case of when Mommy took her, pushed) up the hill in her sled? Sort of boring. The end part, where she landed face first in the snow every time? DEFINITELY not a fan. But the middle part - the two seconds of the hill where she was going down - that was fine. And because we're GREAT parents we tried it more than once. We will spare you the video - needless to say they all end the same way - with a toddler ending up face down in the snow and one parent scooping her up while the other attempted to simultaneously avoid swearing and turn off the camera so we could help.

But you know what she did like? Snowballs. Snowballs are really fun. And catching snowflakes. And the snowman that Mommy made for her, including the addition of a face and buttons by someone in our neighborhood (that's right, the snowman was made on Thursday with no face, and when we went outside on Friday it had a face and buttons. Really.).

Grandpa's Chair

2011-01-17T17:51:00.006-05:00

Even though it's been in our basement the whole time, Hannah has recently discovered a new favorite place to sit and watch Sesame Street - my Grandpa's chair. The chair is one of my favorite places to sit too - it was my Grandpa's favorite chair, and has always been one of my favorite places to take a nap (when I was little I used to love napping sideways in it with my legs over the arm of the chair...I "may" still do that sometimes...). Hannah has decided that it is now one of her favorite places too. And what makes it even more special? She snuggles up on it with the afghan that my great-grandmother made. They would be so proud.Me (on the left) and my sister with Grandpa in the chair...sometime in the late 80s...oh, love the short shorts...

Hannah enjoying Sesame Street in the chair (now in our basement), first week of 2011. That's her Flying Fairy wand for the day. You have to have a Flying Fairy wand.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T17:48:00.003-05:00

Happy 2011! We rang in the new year with our traditional pajama party with friends (though, the girls only made it till 9:30) and Hannah and Emily sported their matching pajamas. It was the perfect way to end an amazing year. Here's to even more wonderful memories in 2011!

Magic

2010-12-30T19:36:00.008-05:00

For months, Chris and I have been looking forward to today. Not just because it's Hannah's 18 month birthday. But it's what many adoptive parents call the "magic birthday." Magic because today is the day when Hannah has been with us longer than she wasn't. She spent a day shy of 9 months in China, bouncing between the orphanage and foster care (and who knows how many foster families). And she has spent 9 months and a day with us. Her family. I can't believe it. It's a very strange feeling. At the same time it feels like she has always been a part of our lives and that it was just yesterday we were in China. I am constantly amazed at how far she has come. She was so teeny tiny when we got her - I remember freaking out a little bit the first time I dressed her at how big the 6-9 month onesies and pants were on her. And she couldn't sit up on her own or feed herself. She was happy to be with us - relieved, almost - but still unsure. Today? Today she is a funny funny kid. She is full of personality - she loves to tease us, laugh, joke, tickle, "sneak up" on us, play hide-and-seek and tag, and laugh some more. She's much bigger now - her 18 month clothes fit her perfectly (if not starting to get a little small...one thing that has not changed is that she LOVES to eat).

How did we spend the day? Chris took a few days off this week (combining 3 days of leave with the holidays has meant nearly 1 1/2 weeks home) and we met the Sauters for lunch. The Sauters (or, as some of you know them, Henry's family) are the family we traveled to China with 9 months ago. Even though Hannah and Henry have regular playdates, it's been awhile since all 7 of us have been together. It is such a blessing that they live close by, and they are so much more than friends. Henry and Hannah ate their weight in french fries, fed themselves lunch, and were very excited to get balloons on the way out. And when we spotted a red bench outside of the restaurant, we knew we had to take a picture. Love how Hannah has a look on her face like she's saying to Henry "dude...I think they're going to do this for the rest of our lives". Yup. :)

(December 30 in Virginia)
(April 8 in Guangzhou, China)

First Snow

2010-12-16T19:34:00.009-05:00

Even though we spent most of last winter digging out from record storms, Hannah had never seen snow before. Kunming is in southwest China and is known for being the "city of eternal spring" - it's warm and sunny year-round. So this is Hannah's first winter, and she is not pleased. We've had record setting low temperatures the past two weeks, and while she normally begs to go play outside, even when it's raining, she decided this week that it was just too cold. But today? Today there was snow. She didn't really know what to make of it. She watched it snow from the warmth of our living room for awhile, and when Chris got home (because yes, in Northern Virginia, 2 inches of snow is cause to come home early and work from home...) we all got bundled up to go outside and play. It was so much fun watching her walk in the snow and play with her Hannah-sized shovel (she really liked helping us shovel the walk, and because the snow was so light and fluffy she could actually move the snow herself!). She wouldn't wear her mittens at first...until she picked up a handful of snow and gave me a look to say "ok, I'm ready for those mittens now Mommy!". Walking was also a lot of fun , even though she was a giant puffball in her snowsuit. And yes, it took me longer to get her dressed to go outside than we spent out in the snow! :)

Happy Hanukkah!

2010-12-08T16:33:00.004-05:00

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Happy Hanukkah! We have had a wonderful time celebrating Hannah's first Hanukkah. She started slow...the first few nights she liked helping us light the candles but was very upset that she wasn't allowed to touch the lit candles. By the weekend she was still annoyed, but starting to accept, and last night she didn't even ask. :) She also has her own stuffed menorah that she puts a new little stuffed candle in every night that she really likes. It was also great to be able to light candles with Bubbe and Zaide for three of the nights and celebrating with friends over the weekend.

Opening presents did not get off to a slow start. Hannah LOVES to tear the off the wrapping paper (handing it to us in teeny tiny pieces) - she unwrapped everyone's presents this year. She probably likes opening presents more than the presents themselves - it's supposed to be horribly cold next week, so perhaps one of our activities will be wrapping and opening all of her books. Presents aren't the focus of the holiday, but she is pretty pleased with all of her new books and stuffed animals. She especially loves the Fisher Price Barnyard from Bubbe & Zaide and Barkers the Dog from Grandmother and Grandfather.

The other Hanukkah traditions have been fun to share with Hannah too. Bubbe made latkes on Thursday, and our friend Marcie made them on Saturday - Hannah is not a huge fan (though Mommy was more than happy to eat Hannah's!) - we think that they are too greasy for her. (if it were up to her, she would eat cheese and fruit at every meal!) And Hannah's favorite part is playing dreidel. She laughs every time we spin one for her - she now has four, including one from Israel. It's so funny to watch her try to spin her dreidel herself - she can't quite figure out why they don't spin when she throws them on the floor.

So Very Thankful

2010-11-27T09:31:00.007-05:00

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. There is something so perfect about a holiday where we get together with family and friends, eat way too much, and give thanks for all the blessings in our lives. There's no fighting (well, unless you count the annual arguments over the charades rules), no presents, no commercialism, no tv (in our family) - just time spent together. I officially start counting down to Thanksgiving right after the pools close for the summer. Unofficially? There are 363 days until next year's celebration.

This year's Thanksgiving was maybe the best one ever, because we finally had Hannah to celebrate it with. It was five years ago when we were working on our application and the four celebrations after that had a few moments of "what is happening with your adoption?" updates. But this year? This year we had Hannah. We weren't sure how she would handle the holiday. She gets overwhelmed easily, and with so many new people (there were 19 of us at my cousin's house this year!), we were prepared to only stay for a little bit. But once Hannah settled in, she decided that she likes Thanksgiving almost as much as her Mommy. The highlight for her was Valentine - our friends' chocolate lab puppy. Hannah loves dogs, and she spent most of the day saying hello to Valentine, playing with Valentine, helping to take Valentine for a walk, and letting us all know that there was a dog out on the porch. Watching Valentine eat treats out of Hannah's hand was pretty amazing.
Another highlight? Watching her play the piano with my cousin Steve. Steve is a musician and a music teacher and Hannah had never seen a piano before. The two of them playing together made it very hard for me not to break down in happy tears. Such a beautiful perfect moment.

And, of course, there was the food. No real surprise that Hannah liked Thanksgiving food. (I mean, it is one of the reasons it's my favorite holiday - no holiday has better food!) But the amount that she ate? Wow. After she polished off her turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, and green beans, she started in on mine. Mashed potatoes and gravy, especially when they are Mommy's, are very yummy.

We even made it to charades. Our tradition is to play charades in between dinner and dessert. We've been playing for years (decades?), it's men vs. women, and it's hard core. There is trash talking. There is a rules committee. There are medals. It's phenomenal. The men won this year, and while Hannah didn't really understand what was going on, she loved clapping for each performance. (by the second round, she was running around in the kitchen while we played, but had to come back to clap every time she heard the applause). And, of course, she wore Daddy's medal proudly - even the next day.

Countdown to Turkey

2010-11-20T20:54:00.006-05:00

It's November, which, in our house, means we start the official countdown to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is absolutely my favorite holiday (which always confuses my students...how could my favorite holiday be one without presents?) and we have so much to be thankful for this year. Sharing all of our wacky Thanksgiving traditions (what, you don't have a collection of Thanksgiving charades medals?) with Hannah is going to be amazing.

Along with counting down to turkey day, the big development here is that Hannah has really figured out the walking thing. In typical Hannah fashion, now that she can walk she doesn't really stop. She loves to be able to get around outside on her own. The playground has become a lot more fun and we've spent the last two days running around in the leaves at Bubbe & Zaide's house. Hannah also went to her first Bar Mitzvah a couple of weeks ago - our cousin Robert's - and was a party animal. Between cousins to dance with, the light show from the DJ, and a glow stick, she was in heaven. We literally could not get her off of the dance floor.

grab your wand...bring your wings...

2010-11-01T19:57:00.009-04:00

Happy Halloween! Hannah's first Halloween was quite the success. She started the day by helping Daddy to carve jack-o-lanterns out of the pumpkins she picked out last month at Cox Farms.She had her own spoon to help clean them out, which, of course, meant that she had her own spoon to eat the pumpkins with. Apparently raw pumpkin tastes pretty good...she ate quite a bit.
After a nap (eating all that pumpkin can wear you out), we went for trick-or-treating part 1 at Mara's parents' house. Hannah loves "Abby's Flying Fairy School", one of the segments on Sesame Street. She will grab whatever is nearby to wave along as they sing "grab your wand, bring your wings..." so she was THRILLED when she saw her very own set of fairy wings and a magic wand. A tutu rounded out her costume - thank goodness for Etsy! (did you know that during the first week of October, Target had NO fairy accessories but two aisles of Christmas stuff?) She wasn't too sure about what trick-or-treating was, but she was ready to wave her wand and fly next door.We also had an impromptu party with Dylan and Jordan. Mara grew up with their parents (they are cousins) - they had just as much fun playing as we used to on Halloween!Next, it was home for dinner and round two. Hannah was still unsure about the whole trick-or-treating thing, but it was fun to be outside at night with her wings and wand. She did a great job picking out a piece of candy and putting it in her pumpkin. She also picked out several leaves. You can probably guess which one she actually ate.
After trick-or-treating next door (yes, her first trick-or-treating consisted of three houses on Mara's parents' court and two houses on our street) Hannah helped to hand out candy to the big kids before heading to bed. What a great day!

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

2010-10-31T15:50:00.006-04:00

We're big fans of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert here. We've been watching The Daily Show since the Craig Kilborn days (wow, that makes us sound old), and it's by far one of our absolute favorites. We used to never miss it - now, we're often asleep before the end (ok, more Mara than Chris), so we tivo it every day. And when The Colbert Report started (remember when it was a joke promo when Colbert was a Daily Show correspondent?) we added that to our daily routine too. So when Jon Stewart announced plans for the Rally to Restore Sanity, there really was no question that we would go. And it seemed like the perfect way to introduce Hannah, a proud American citizen, to politics before she helps Mommy and Daddy vote on Tuesday.

We knew that we wouldn't be able to stay for the entire Rally - Hannah gets overwhelmed easily, and she's not as into the satire as her parents. So we got down to the Mall just as the Mythbusters were doing their human experiments. (a highlight for Chris, as Mythbusters is one of his other favorites) I can't remember ever being on the Mall with so many people before. They are estimating the crowd somewhere between 215,000 and 250,000 - far more than the 60,000 they expected. We retreated back towards the Smithsonian Castle to give Hannah a little breathing room, though it was still packed all that way back. It was hard to hear, and we could barely see the screens, let alone the stage, but it didn't matter. As someone near us said, it was more about being there and taking in the crowd than anything else. And for a crowd of that size, people were remarkably nice and well behaved. Even when we were stuck in the middle of the crowd, everyone was nice, no one pushed, and most people stopped to say hello to Hannah. She enjoyed the music, ate her lunch on the Mall, and generally had a good time.

Yes, we fully appreciate the irony of restoring sanity by bringing a toddler to a rally on the Mall. But it was fun, and the message was an important one.

We're Going to the Zoo

2010-10-28T19:48:00.006-04:00

Hannah is fascinated lately with animals. She loves looking at them in books, waves to them on television, and really loves to see them in person. She is totally in love with Colt, the puppy of two of our softball teammates, and she knows where all the dogs and cats live on our street (so that she can stop and wave hello as we're out on our daily walks). At the Fairfax Fall Festival she spent a lot of time saying hello to the animals in the petting zoo - in fact, she greeted each of the baby chicks individually. Since it was a beautiful day on Saturday, we took Hannah for her first trip to the National Zoo. No surprise - she LOVED it.
As soon as we walked into the zoo, she started excitedly pointing at the signs with pictures of the pandas. She LOVES bears, and we spent awhile watching the pandas enjoy their snack (plastic milk crates covered in honey).We then spent some time saying hello to the elephants. She kept waving at them and then turning to us as if to say "did you know that there are REAL ELEPHANTS there?!?". We said hello to the other animals on the Asia Trail as well...greeting animals is a lot of work.We finished our day with lunch. Hannah was not that excited about her sandwich, but was thrilled at all the birds who joined us for lunch.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2010-09-30T19:49:00.011-04:00

Yes, I know I haven't blogged this month. It's been busy. :) But a picture is worth a thousand words...

The weather at the beginning of September was beautiful - perfect for going to the park. We've discovered lots of parks and playgrounds near our house, including two great parks in Fairfax City. Hannah loves climbing on the playground and watching the other kids. It is also, apparently, essential to collect your acorns.

Hannah celebrated her first High Holidays this month. She did a great job at services for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. She was in awe of the shofar and sat through all of the Yom Kippur service to see the Torahs and hear the shofar blown again. And, of course, she loved our annual break fast at Auntie Shana & Uncle Stephen's house - so much that she got to stay up WAY past her bedtime!

Even though it was in the low 90s, we made our first trip to Cox Farms. They have a HUGE fall festival - so huge that we only got to see a small fraction of it. Hannah had to wave hello to all of the cows and she insisted on going down the huge slides over and over and over...

The end of September brought back the summer heat - lots of 90 degree days and more time to spend inside. Even though we missed going to the playground, we still had fun inside (especially when our diapers arrived last week in a huge box!)

It was so hot last week that Hannah got a few more chances to go for a swim - both in her pool in our backyard and in her pool at Bubbe & Zaide's house. She also discovered how much fun it is to play with the hose!

Over the weekend Hannah went to her first concert ever. She had lots of fun dancing with Emily as we rocked out to Rick Recht at temple.

September also means the return of music class! And yesterday we went to a music program at the library in Vienna - Hannah loved when the teacher played the ukulele and passed out ribbons to shake!

Goodbye Summer...

2010-09-06T19:46:00.002-04:00

Five Months

2010-08-29T19:56:00.006-04:00

It is hard to believe that five months ago today Hannah was placed in our arms. It seems like she has always been with us - I can't even remember what life was like without her. And it's amazing how far she has come. Five months ago she was a scared little bundle of tears, wrapped up in four layers (including a sweater and a fleece jacket, even though it was in the 70s).And today she is full of energy - always on the move, growing like a weed, and making our lives just wonderful. :)(Yes, she is sporting a new haircut. And her squeeky shoes from China. Nothing makes practicing walking better than the ability to be noisy while doing it.)

Bracha Chanah

2010-08-16T18:24:00.003-04:00

You know how there are days you dream about? Saturday was one of those. I've been dreaming about Hannah's baby naming since we sent our paperwork to China four years ago. On Saturday, we celebrated Hannah's baby naming. Our amazing rabbis gave our family the gift of a beautiful service as they gave her the Hebrew name Bracha Chanah and officially welcomed her to Judaism. She shares her Hebrew name with Mara's grandmothers - Bracha was my grandma's Hebrew name and Chanah was my Nana's Hebrew name (which is why she is Hannah in English). I only cried a little (which is a pretty big feat) and we were lucky enough to celebrate surrounded by family and close friends. Hannah did a great job with the ceremony and discovered that she loves Bubbe's kugel (made with Grandma's recipe) just as much as her mommy does. :)
We only got a couple of pictures of the day, but we were lucky enough to have our first set of family portraits taken a few days before. The photographer is a college friend and sorority sister of Mara's, and she did a fantastic job of capturing Hannah's personality. She has a few pictures featured on her blog here. Enjoy the adorableness!

It's Hard Out Here for a Penguin

2010-08-08T19:50:00.003-04:00

One of Hannah's favorite toys is Penguin Bowling. It was a birthday gift, and it's adorable - 6 plush penguins (wearing bowling shirts, of course) and a ball to knock them over with. That is, of course, unless you are Hannah. She loves it when I set the penguins up for her, but when I show her how to roll the ball towards the penguins, she always gives me the same look. "Silly Mommy, I can knock them over way faster myself." She then giggles and takes off towards the penguins. Whap. Whap. Whap. Penguins everywhere. She also likes to throw them. Or some good penguin on penguin violence (when she knocks the penguins down using another penguin). We are constantly finding penguins strewn about the house.

She also uses the penguins to help her walk. With a penguin in each hand, she can take three or four steps on her own. It's pretty incredible to watch her, especially since just a few months ago she couldn't even sit up on her own.

Do We Really Miss the Snow?

2010-07-22T19:53:00.012-04:00

The Washington DC area averages 37 90+ degree days a year. It's July 22 and we have had 39. And it's supposed to hit triple digits again this weekend. With the daily heat advisories we have been spending most of our days inside. So what have we been doing?

We usually start the day by taking out every toy we own....
We have been to the play area at the mall...

We play inside with Bubbe & Zaide...

But the most fun has been our music class each week!(trying to figure out the bells...this was Hannah's second choice for her musical instrument this week. Her first choice? ONE cymbal.)

(singing along)

(her favorite part of each class - the parachute!)

4th of July

2010-07-05T18:24:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful time celebrating Hannah's first 4th of July. We started the weekend with Hannah's first trip to the "big" pool (you know, the pool that has more than 4 inches of water in it). She LOVED it. Watch out Northern Virginia - Hannah will be beating your swim team in a few years (and your head lifeguard in 2028!). Of course, playing in the wading pool in our backyard is no longer as impressive, but that's ok. As soon as the heat breaks (got to love reading the weather forecast for the week in today's paper...100...100...100...100...going to be a week with lots of time inside!) we'll be back for more fun!

For the actual holiday we went to Mara's parents' house for their annual court picnic. We've been having picnics in the court since we moved to Virginia, and it was a lot of fun to celebrate with the next generation of court kids. Hannah loved playing with Nathaniel and Dylan (hard to believe that Mara babysat for Dylan's dad and aunts when they were little!)...so much so that she had to get back in the pool with them after she ate her dinner! She stayed up way past her bedtime, but not quite late enough to see fireworks - she fell asleep on the way home and slept through all of the fireworks that went off in our neighborhood last night. It's ok - we watched the Boston Pops celebration on the DVR this afternoon.

They Say It's Your Birthday...

2010-07-02T19:51:00.006-04:00

What a week it has been! Hannah turned one on Wednesday and we have been celebrating all week. Mara even made a Sesame Street cake (hard to believe that it's been 4 years since Bridget and I took the cake decorating class so we could make birthday cakes for our girls!!). We had all four grandparents in town to celebrate, along with a few friends. It was total munchkin mayhem and totally wonderful. She got lots of cool new toys (and had plenty of friends to help her open them) - we are having so much fun playing with them this week.Hannah liked her first taste of cake, but she really liked playing with the icing. :)

In true party girl fashion, Hannah kept the party going with an "after-party" - Henry and Emily stayed to go for a swim in the pool. Even with the 100 degree temps, it was blissful to sit outside and watch the kids play.We've had a busy week as well. Monday we went to a retirement luncheon for Bubbe, and on Tuesday, Hannah and Emily had their first music class. Hannah wasn't really sure what to make of the class, but she really like clapping along with the songs and checking out all of the other kids. Grandmother & Grandfather Surridge came over to play on Wednesday (and Hannah got to have another piece of birthday cake since it was her actual birthday!). And we had dinner with both sets of grandparents on Thursday! No wonder Hannah hasn't slept through the night all week - way too much excitement!

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-21T17:35:00.004-04:00

Happy Father's Day! We had a great weekend and celebrated Chris's first Father's Day with two pool parties. One at Bubbe & Zaide's on Saturday and one in our backyard on Sunday. Hannah loves the pool - splashing is so much fun - and since it's in the 90s here in Virginia, we all had fun splashing along with her. In addition to celebrating Father's Day with the best Daddy & Zaide, Hannah also discovered the joy that is Bubbe's pancakes - she ate three pancakes for lunch!

these are a few of my favorite things...

2010-06-15T18:10:00.009-04:00

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens have nothing on Hannah's favorite things...

Standing at the back door and saying hello to the backyard every morning after breakfast.
Singing and dancing along with the songs on Sesame Street (current favorite is this version of 1 2 3 4 by Feist...the chickens make her laugh every time. :))
Elmo
The book Fifteen Animals, also known in our house as "the Bob book." It's a book about a boy who has 15 animals, each with a special name...14 of them are named Bob. We read it over and over and over again. If you start to read a different book while the Bob book is nearby, she will crawl out of your lap to retrieve the correct book. Hannah loves to help turn the pages and say "Bob" along with us.
Food that she can eat on her own, especially peas, black beans, and melon. Grapes, pasta, and blueberries are yummy too. It's hard to believe as I watch her stuff food in her mouth that two months ago she couldn't feed herself at all.
Standing up. Especially while holding onto the coffee table, her lights and sounds table (thanks Schreibmans for the best hand-me-down toys ever!), and Mommy & Daddy's knees.
Playing in her "boat" (aka a large cardboard box). Today she was reading a book to her giraffe, Reginald, in there. Can't get much better than that.
Playing with Bubbe & Zaide
Getting into everything that she is not supposed to be in. And she is FAST. This morning, she was happily on one side of the living room, playing with her blocks, so I walked the six steps into the kitchen to turn on the radio. Quickly. By the time I walked the six steps back, she had crawled across the living room, pulled herself up on the coffee table, and had her hand on my coffee mug. 12 steps. So fast.
Flirting with everyone. It takes us forever to grocery shop because everyone at Wegmans wants to talk to her.
Splashing in her pool
Shopping with Auntie Shana & Emily. The girls babbled at each other all the way through Fair Oaks Mall last week. Loudly. They apparently had a lot to discuss...politics, sports, the oil spill, Elmo...couldn't have been more adorable.
Singing along with her CDs in the car. Our current rotation includes children's CDs by the Barenaked Ladies and They Might Be Giants, along with a Sesame Street greatest hits CD. She claps and sings along whenever the music is on (and Mommy now knows all the words to some very silly songs).
Making Mommy & Daddy laugh. :)

Happy Memorial Day!

2010-05-31T20:01:00.001-04:00

Frying Pan Park

2010-05-19T17:19:00.007-04:00

We had a beautiful weekend here in Northern Virginia, so Saturday we all went to Frying Pan Park. Frying Pan is a demonstration farm, and Hannah loved the opportunity to say hello to all of the new baby animals. Her favorites were the baby cows and the baby chicks! Well, that and the other kids - she REALLY loved looking at the other kids, especially the ones who were feeding the baby cows out of their hands! She also got to go to her first playground. She wasn't too sure about the slide, but she would giggle each time she got to the bottom!

Monday we had lunch with our new friend Clara. Clara was adopted from China a week after Hannah. Mara has become close with Clara's mother (along with a couple of other girls) over the course of the wait, and it was wonderful to go out with our girls in tow (and we just need the last of the April referrals to arrive so that ALL of our April friends will have their munchkins the next time we play!). The girls were so cute together - they liked talking and holding hands as we ate.

Hannah has also become much more mobile in the past few days. She is doing a modified crawl where she pulls herself with one elbow and propels herself with one foot (sort of like a modified military crawl). It's pretty impressive how fast she can move across a room, especially if she spots a cord to pull or a tiny bit of paper (or, a tiny bit of anything for that matter) to put in her mouth. (amazingly small, actually...getting her eyes tested is on our to-do list, but it hardly seems necessary...) Just how fast is she? She's crawled across the room (and been put back amongst her toys) four times since I started typing this paragraph. :)

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-11T10:16:00.006-04:00

We hope that you had as wonderful a Mother's Day as we did. I joked with Chris the week before that I have waited so long to be a mom that my first Mother's Day should be celebrated with a parade. No parade, but even more wonderful. Chris brought Hannah to temple for the Mother's Day service and to meet my Sunday School class, and we had a nice lunch with Mara's parents. And, after a much needed nap for all of us (since what Hannah thought I needed for Mother's Day was 4 am playtime) Hannah came with us to her first softball game (yes, we're still playing this season, but alternating weeks we play so that someone can stay with her). Best. Mother's Day. Ever. :)

Hannah is continuing to amaze us. She started clapping on her own today, and is working on both crawling and pulling herself up. She loves to pull herself up by holding our hands and bracing her feet on ours. And today we had a playdate with Henry - Hannah's orphanage-mate in China. It's amazing to see how much the kids have grown in the past month. They had so much fun playing together, and they are both far too active to get a picture of them both looking at us AND smiling. But you can see just how much they are both thriving in their new homes! (check them out a month ago in China here)

What a difference a month makes

2010-05-01T17:47:00.004-04:00

It's hard to believe that one month ago we were in China, just having met Hannah. It's still sort of surreal - even after a month, it's hard to believe sometimes that she is all ours. It's amazing to look at the pictures from a month ago and realize just how far she has come in a month. When we got her, she couldn't sit up on her own, couldn't feed herself, couldn't reach her own toes, and couldn't fall asleep unless we sang to her and sat with her. Today she can sit up on her own - in fact, she is sitting up and enjoying Sesame Street with us right now (no real surprise that she loves it, considering how much Mommy & Daddy love Sesame Street, or that she is fascinated by Cookie Monster, considering how she eats!). She can also roll anywhere she wants (and VERY quickly...Mommy looked down for a moment yesterday and all of a sudden Hannah was under the dining room table!), and is very close to crawling - she gets herself up on one knee and rocks back and forth. Hannah still loves food, and can now feed herself (and is getting much better with the accuracy - she likes to grab food and just smush it against her face!). She is getting better with the sleeping, and likes to listen to her CDs while she talks to her taggie blanket as she falls asleep. She amazes us every day.
She's also quite a trooper. It's a huge transition for her, and she is handling it really well. She spent the first 9 months of her life with no real home...she was brought to the police station when she was first found, then at the orphanage for a few months, then in foster care (and perhaps in several foster homes - we don't know anything from this time), then back in the orphanage, then with us in two different hotels, then finally home. All the travel was hard on us as adults - it's amazing how well she is doing with all of the changes. We've been trying to keep a consistent schedule and keep our activities as "boring" as possible. The International Adoption doctor (who was fantastic) told us to try to limit ourselves to one outing/visitor a day for the next few months. And she's not too cranky about all of the doctor's appointments and bloodwork. (but please don't tell her that we've got three more this week!) Thankfully, the waiting room at the International Adoption Clinic (part of the Children's Hospital Specialty Center - a really great place!) has phenomenal toys (check out the cool wooden thing Hannah played with this past week!). And even though I have been horrible about taking pictures, Hannah has LOVED her playdates with all of her new friends!
Thank you for all of the kind words/emails/notes. I know I have not been great about replying to anyone in a timely fashion. With 540 new emails in my inbox (yes, seriously), it's taking me awhile. :) Oh yeah - we're still looking for the sender of the Red Sox Mrs. Potato Head...did you send it? Please email Mara - it arrived with no note, packing slip, or even a return address!

Diversity

2010-04-23T16:25:00.003-04:00

Things here in the Surridge house are good. Hannah has slept through the night two nights in a row - this is totally a cause for a small celebration. Small, mind you, because with a full-night's sleep has come a total refusal to nap. But a full night's sleep has made us much happier adults, so that's a start. I am settling into my life as a SAHM (stay-at-home mom) nicely. Still trying to get the hang of things (ok, seriously - I have no idea how moms get anything at all done during the day - am I missing some sort of way to bend the space-time continuum? Did I miss the spot where they were handing out the flux capacitors?), but it gets better each and every day, which is all we can really hope for. The truth is that the most trying day at home with Hannah is better than any day I ever had at work, so I am still pretty darn happy. :) Yes, even after I took that picture...whoever taught her to stick out her bottom lip and go "ppbbbttt" better steer clear of me for awhile.

Being home (and having some sleep), I am starting to be able to reflect more on our trip and our experiences in China. One of the things that really struck me was diversity, or, the total lack of diversity. We're lucky to live in a place where diversity is just how it is - our neighborhood is full of people from a wide variety of countries and cultures, and schools proudly display the flags of all the countries that their students are from. We can drive less than 10 minutes and have Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, Egyptian, Korean, Lebanese, Greek, Thai, or even American food. Hannah isn't the only adopted kid on the block or at our temple - she won't even be the only adopted kid in her class. Our world is one where families don't all look the same - not only is it ok, but we love it. China wasn't like that at all.

I noticed it right away. Everyone looked the same. Outside from the tour groups (which weren't even all that different - some groups of American & Europeans, but mostly groups from other places in China), everyone is Chinese. Even in Beijing, when it was just me and Chris, everyone started at us; many pointed and laughed. It was harder for our travel partners; their 8 year old son was mobbed everywhere he went - people wanting to touch him and take his picture at all times. It's unsettling. One afternoon on our way back to the hotel, Chris was talking to our tour guide about cars (one of the few safe topics we found with him!). They were discussing how so many of the cars on the road were the exact same cars we have in the US, but they have different names. We passed one with a particularly unique name, and Chris told him that at home, that's a Fiesta. When he asked what Fiesta meant, Chris answered, and was immediately asked if he spoke Spanish. We tried to explain to him that we know lots of words and phrases in other languages, and he was stunned with our knowledge of other cultures.

In Kunming, we were even more of a sight - now we were toting a baby in a city with very few non-Chinese people. People continued to stare and point everywhere we went. All of us were stopped for pictures, even with our guide there to shoo them away. It makes me laugh a little to think that there are people in China with pictures of us in their scrapbooks, but it was still strange. Chris noticed that if he looked people in the eye and gave them a look, they would stop, but that didn't work for me. It was unsettling enough that we didn't explore Kunming as much as I would have liked. Don't get me wrong - we met some really wonderful people while we were there. I loved the man in the tea shop, who put down his bowl of lunch to serve us cup after cup of tea so we could try each one before choosing what to buy. And the waitresses across the street at Mama Fu's (yes, we ate several times at a cute little restaurant called Mama Fu's) could not have been nicer. I wish I spoke Chinese to tell them how much their kindness meant to me. But I don't think I ever need to go back.

People have asked me why I loved Guangzhou so much. After all, it was the end of our trip (so we were tired, home-sick, and ready to come home), there was construction everywhere, and we didn't see sunshine the entire week we were there. It wasn't that I loved Guangzhou - it was that on Shamian Island we weren't the only adoptive families, so no one pointed, no one stared, no one even seemed to notice. The shop owners cater to adoptive families - each shop is named for the person who owns it (Sherry's Place, Susan's Place, etc.), and they all love to coo over the babies. They want to know where they are from, and many gave us little gifts for Hannah to thank us for coming into their shop (the plastic rattle from the art shop is still one of her favorites). The restaurants all had high chairs and many had "baby food" sections on their menus (our favorite was a little place called Lucy's - so much so that we ate lunch or dinner there every day!). We could stop being so overprotective and just start being a family.

Now that we are home I appreciate the diversity so much more. Walking through the mall on Wednesday (yes, Hannah had her first trip to the mall with Auntie Shana & Emily - the girls had such a good time!) and through the grocery store on Thursday I loved that no one seemed to really even notice us. Yes, a few people stopped to comment on how beautiful she was (like I don't know that!) and Hannah flirted with the woman at the deli counter and the man waiting in line (so much that I know his name was Kevin). But no one has pointed at us and laughed since we have been home. So much of it is cultural - we teach our kids that everyone is different and that we celebrate that, while it seemed ok in China for people to stare and point. (and, for the most part, it was adults doing the staring and pointing...the kids just looked at Hannah like she was one of them, and the babies all gave her a look of jealously that she was being allowed outside without 4 sweaters) I admit, it turned me off a bit to China. But it made me even more thankful to live here in our corner of the melting pot.

One Week

2010-04-18T20:08:00.006-04:00

It's hard to believe that we've been home a week. It's even harder to believe that a month ago, we were running all of our last minute errands, buying an extra suitcase, and packing to leave for China. Our lives have totally changed, but totally for the better.

Hannah is such a happy kid. She still loves to eat, though thankfully she has slowed down a little and is starting to understand that there will always be food here if she wants it. We have only found one thing that she didn't like (Gerber Yogurt Melts - our neighbor offered her one, and it's the only thing she has eaten in the past three weeks that she didn't like!) - you can make all the jokes you want about her fitting right in with Mara's family! :) We haven't got much of a routine down yet, though she has done a great job running errands (turns out she loved to ride in the cart at Wegmans) and looks forward to our daily walk down to the lake. (though she was more of a fan when it was warmer during the week - it was pretty cold today!) And we're sort of figuring out the sleeping thing. She slept for a straight 7 hours last night...only 2 short naps today, but still - we'll take progress wherever we can get it. :)

Jet Lag

2010-04-15T19:06:00.005-04:00

I'm not going to lie - jet lag is kicking our butts. Big time. They say that it takes one day for every time zone you travel through to get back to normal, and it appears that we will need each and every one of those 12 days to get ourselves back on track. It's worst for Hannah - she has to transition to an entirely new life on top of the time change. Other than not sleeping (we're lucky to get 2 3-hour stretches of sleep at night, and maybe an hour or two nap a day...that's it...it stinks...), she's adjusting to being home quite nicely. She is such a happy kid, and loves playing with her new toys, making Mommy & Daddy laugh, trying new foods, playing with Bubbe & Zaide, giggling uncontrollably while in the jumperoo (THANK YOU Emmy for letting us borrow it!) and generally making life wonderful. She is unconvinced of just how much more fun it will be if she got some sleep, but hopefully she will figure it out soon. Otherwise, watching tv with Mommy at 3:30 am will continue for the foreseeable future!

For those who are close by and have asked when they can come by...we'll be ready for visitors in the next couple of days. Just call/email first so you don't catch us asleep. Also, if you were the wonderful person who sent Hannah a Red Sox Mrs. Potato Head...THANK YOU, but please email Mara - it arrived with no packing slip/note/return address!

Here's hoping for some sleep tonight...:)

Home at LAST!!

2010-04-11T05:58:00.001-04:00

Nearly three weeks after we set off for China, we are finally HOME! I don't think I could be any happier about it! :) Our trip was fine...long, but fine. Hannah was a great traveler again - way better than her parents. On the flight from Guangzhou to Beijing she was a little fussy, but slept most of the way home on the long flight from Beijing to DC. Not so much for me and Chris - he picked up some sort of a nasty cold (he's sleeping right now, anxiously waiting for the Walk-In Care by us to be open) and I had an unfortunate combination of eating something iffy and airsickness (a bumpy flight for someone who already gets motion-sickness...well...it wasn't good...). But we are home and that is all that matters.

Hannah seems to be settling in already. She was so happy to be able to sit on the floor and play with Bubbie and Zaide last night (it was fun having a welcoming committee at the airport, even if I forgot to take pictures!). And she is in awe of our house...she keeps looking around like she can't believe she is here. The stairs are taking some getting used to - she holds on so tightly when I carry her up and down - but she is happily rolling around in her crib right now as I sit on the floor next to her with my laptop. Hopefully we will all take a nap soon...I have had 3 hours of sleep in the last 49 hours, so a nap would be very very good. :)

Pictures at home soon...

Homeward Bound

2010-04-09T03:22:00.001-04:00

Finally. After nearly three weeks in China, tomorrow is finally the day
that we get to come home. As much as this has truly been the trip of a
lifetime, I could not be more ready to get on that plane in the morning
(and that's really saying something, considering I am both a bad
traveler and not a morning person). We leave the hotel at 7 am
(hopefully haven eaten breakfast first, since eating at the airport is
not as much of an option as it is at home), take a 3 hour flight to
Beijing, enjoy a lovely 5 1/2 hour layover in Beijing (though we do have
to get our luggage, check back in for our flight home, and go through
customs with Hannah), and take a 13 1/2 hour flight back over the polar
ice-caps to Dulles. When all is said and done we will have flown 18,150
miles - far more than anyone needs to go in less than three weeks. We'll
arrive home Saturday night DC-time...about 26 hours after we leave the
hotel here in Guangzhou. It won't really matter - it will be just so
good to be home.

This has really been an interesting trip, and I will write more about
the culture shock, visiting the orphanage, and how I don't know if I can
ever come back later. It was worth every second of it though - I am
watching Hannah nap right now while Chris is off with Lee getting her
visa so we can actually get home - and I would go through it all again
just to get to her. We are truly blessed. I will never take for granted
clean air and clean water again - I hear that there are record pollen
counts at home, but it's safe to breathe and I don't have to boil the
water before I can brush my teeth. And, as I said to Chris this morning,
two hours of sleep in my own bed will be way better than the six or
seven I have been getting on my bright orange air mattress here. :)

Watch out Virginia...here we come...

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Celebratory Cheerios

2010-04-08T08:07:00.000-04:00

At 2:15 today, we met our guide in the hotel, and boarded tour buses
with all of the other adoptive families that are staying at the White
Swan to go to the US Consulate. Three full tour buses full - 45 families
in all - made the trek across Guangzhou together. It was quite an
experience. We all waited in line to have our passports checked, go
through airport-style security (complete with taking off our shoes and
checking our electronics), and sit in a waiting area for them to call
our name. "Would the parents of Xi Xue Li please come to counter 21" was
rather exciting. We all had our passports checked again to make sure we
were all who we said we were, and waited some more. (side note - Mara
took a trip to the bathroom, which has signs reminding visitors to "put
your feet on the floor, not on the seat" - clearly, most Chinese are not
used to Western-style toilets - "squatty pottys" are far more the norm
here!) Around 4 pm, an consulate officer came out and talked to us a bit
about the US Consulate in Guangzhou, the rest of the process, and wished
happy birthday to the two children in our group with April birthdays.
Then Chris and I stood, raised our right hand, and took the oath of
citizenship on behalf of Hannah. It was a very special moment, marked
with celebratory Cheerios all around. :)

Hannah looked great in her special dress, though she was very happy to
be back in her play clothes when we got home. She is clearly her
mother's daughter. We also took the traditional pictures on the red
couch (a long-standing tradition of adoptive families). Hannah and Henry
looked so wonderful together in their outfits!

One more day in Guangzhou then we are homeward bound!!

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Noodles

2010-04-07T07:59:00.001-04:00

Hello from the tropical rainforest that is Guangzhou! We had a
relatively quiet day today. Our Consulate Appointment was this morning,
and Lee (our fantastic guide in this city) took our paperwork over this
morning and took care of everything for us. We waited by the phone until
she called around noon to let us know that everything went smoothly and
there were no questions. We all go to the Consulate tomorrow afternoon
at 2:15 for Hannah's swearing-in ceremony! We bought a special silk
dress today just for the occasion!

This afternoon Lee took us shopping at the Pearl Market. I don't know
quite how to describe it - like a giant shopping mall (many many levels)
and on each level are row after row of wholesale jewelery stores. Lots
of stores with pearls, along with many other strands of various
beads/stones/jewels. Anything round, really. Chris says "imagine an
endless maze of the same store over and over and over...imagine if the
Williamsburg Pottery only carried one thing and you stacked twelve of
them on top of each other." He clearly had fun. :) The prices were good,
though if you wanted the strands that were clearly higher quality, you
had to be willing to pay (we were not) - more than I wanted to spend,
but much less than if you bought at a store in the U.S. I did bargain
for a few strands of low-quality pearls and a funky strand of
probably-not-real-jade beads, which was fun. Quite the experience!

Hannah's favorite part of the day was clearly dinner. We went to the
highly recommended Cow and Bridge Restaurant (Thai food) where she got
her very own order of rice noodles. (I love that this is the second
restaurant on the island with a "baby" section on the menu!). Enjoy the
adorableness! :)

Exploring the Island

2010-04-06T09:03:00.000-04:00

We had quite a day here in Guangzhou. We started the morning with Hannah's medical exam - the final hurdle before we can apply for her visa to come home. It was a very cursory exam - really just making sure that she is healthy enough to leave China and come into the US.

We also spent some more time exploring Shamian Island and our hotel. The White Swan is on Shamian Island, and it's a cute little area, even totally under construction. We have been window shopping - real shopping tomorrow, since we want to get some squeeky shoes and a Chinese dress for Hannah, as well as some gifts to put away for special occasions. This afternoon we had a playdate with two new friends - the girl in the middle Mara met online four years ago when we started the wait, and we have been emailing the whole time. They live in Florida, but she is Australian and her husband is from the Boston area. It was great to finally meet (though pretty funny that we came all the way to China to do it!) and have our girls play together! All three of us are in the same online adoption group. :) (you can also see more of the playroom here - it's a big hit with Hannah!) Oh yes - the picture of us in front of the waterfall is INSIDE the hotel. I wasn't joking about it being fancy! And, of course, I have to share a post-bath picture. She likes her baths, but will like them even more when we get home and we can play more in the water. You can't drink the water in China without boiling it first so bathtime is a bit tricky!

We miss you all so much - just a few more days and we come home! :)

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Hello from Guangzhou!

2010-04-05T08:39:00.001-04:00

Well, we are here in Guangzhou - our last city on our nearly three week
trip! We are SO happy to be here! Getting through the airport in Kunming
was tough, but Hannah's first plane ride was a total success. She had a
bottle as we were waiting to take off, fell asleep as we were taxiing to
the runway, and didn't wake up until after we had landed in Guangzhou.
She's already a much better traveler than her Mommy (who was not too
happy about all the turbulence, but pretty pleased that on our 1 3/4
hour trip they served us a full lunch). Guangzhou is beautiful - very
hot and extremely humid. It's also completely under construction for the
Asian Games in the fall, but we really don't care - we're just so happy
to be here.

We are staying on Shamain Island in Guangzhou at the famous White Swan
Hotel. It's clearly a five star hotel - definitely the fanciest place I
have ever stayed at! There is a full waterfall in the lobby...pictures
to come - Hannah was far too interested in looking at the waterfall and
the giant fish that live in it to look up for a picture! :) This is the
hotel where most American families stay who are adopting from China, and
we are suddenly not such an oddity. There are families that look like
ours everywhere, and we have already met people from across the US. The
island clearly caters to adoptive parents, and we even located a
Starbucks about a block from the hotel (Mara hasn't had coffee since
Beijing, so this was a HUGE discovery!). There is a huge playroom here
that is sponsored by Mattel - Hannah had a great time with all the new
toys and meeting other kids. (the second picture is of her playing
there...assuming they are posting in the order I think they are!)

While we were in the playroom, some of the other moms recommended a
place for dinner that was phenomenal. Only a block away, high chairs for
the kids (the first we have seen anywhere in China) and an actual baby
food section on the menu. Her congee with chicken was a HUGE hit (though
we probably should have ordered TWO bowls of the stuff the way she
eats!). It was also the best dinner that Mara has eaten in China - a
noodle dish that tasted exactly like the noodles I used to eat when we
went with my grandparents for Chinese lunch growing up. SO delicious - I
think I could eat there every night while we are here!

We go for Hannah's medical exam in the morning - one more hurdle to jump
through before our consulate appointment on the 7th!

Goodbye Kunming

2010-04-04T04:52:00.001-04:00

It's our last day in Kunming, and while it's a beautiful city, we are
ready to go. One more city to go before we are finally home. We spent
our last day pondering why Hannah has decided that naps are no longer
necessary. She just wants nothing to do with sleeping at all - she would
much rather be up and playing with us. We're taking it as a compliment.
:) Not even a walk through Green Lake Park today put her out - there was
far too much to see, and lots of other babies to look at. (Because
everyone here bundles their kids up in many layers, we keep joking that
the other babies are looking at Hannah with insane jealousy that she
gets to only be covered in one!)

We also continue to ponder how such a little girl can eat oh so very
much. It's truly impressive. Xiulan said today that her insatiable
appetite will probably last for about three months - until she learns
that food will always be available. It's so heartbreaking to realize
that for the first nine months of her life it wasn't. Good thing that
Mommy was already buying Cheerios in bulk at Costco. Chris keeps joking
that she is going to eat us out of house and home, but that's ok. I just
can't wait to get home and feed her in her high chair. We haven't seen a
high chair anywhere in Kunming. Seriously. And since she's a messy eater
to begin with (and wants food shoveled into her mouth at a breakneck
pace), it's been tricky. The picture of her all messy is after a
container of yogurt. And that was a relatively clean snack. (oh yes, she
at an entire container of yogurt, along with a handful of Gerber puffs
and a handful of Cheerios as a SNACK) It's also fun that she likes to
wipe her mouth with her bib as she eats. :) She's also not figured out
yet how to feed herself. The picture of her looking at her hands is of
her trying her first cookie - Xiulan keeps handing us packages of the
things, and at the tea shop this morning, she finally convinced me to
hand Hannah one. None of it ended up in her mouth, but it was a great
toy while we sampled teas.

See you in Guangzhou...

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Yunnan Nationalities Village

2010-04-03T03:40:00.001-04:00

Today we spent went to the Yunnan Nationalities Village, just outside of
Kunming. How do I describe it? There are 26 minority nations in Yunnan,
and it's essentially a theme park with an area to showcase each one.
Yes, you read that right. It's very beautiful, but you can't escape that
you are at a theme park. No rides, but each village (each nationality
has a village) has things to look at, little shops, and shows. There are
people walking around to take your pictures, and places to stop and eat.
It's very Busch Gardens (though, a bit more racist...). The whole thing
was very surreal. We enjoyed looking around, and many of the villages
were so beautiful, with spots to stop and sit by the water (manmade
lakes) and amazing views of the stone cliffs (real). Hannah liked
walking around, and only slept through the last two villages we visited
(we didn't go to all of them - way too many to see with a sleepy 9 month
old, though I could see where you could easily spend an entire day
walking around and enjoying the shows). We were impressed both with how
many of my noodles she ate at lunch today (we got huge bowls of rice
noodles in broth for 6 RMB each...just under a dollar...and she ate more
than half of mine!) and how she managed to sleep through the dance show
that was unbelievably loud. I have video that I will upload when we get
home - the internet speed isn't good enough to do it from here!

Thank you, too, for all the birthday wishes and kind words. We are both
on the mend, and very thankful that we packed enough antibiotics to get
us through the rest of the trip. We'll celebrate my birthday for real
when we get home - I already have the best present anyone could ever ask
for.

All Giggles

2010-04-02T00:48:00.001-04:00

Well, the good news is that Hannah is all smiles. She loves playing with
her toys, and she laughs all the time at whatever silliness we give her
(in the picture in the stroller she is laughing because I am blowing on
her forehead!). The even better news is what a trooper she is. Chris and
I are both sick...sick enough that we are on our second day of just
relaxing/sleeping in the room, and so thankful that we packed a full
course of antibiotics for each of us. It hasn't fazed Hannah at all that
only one of us has been playing with her/taking care of her at any time
so that the other can nap. In fact, she took two two-hour naps for us
yesterday which we both slept soundly during as well. Right now she is
very focused on playing with Mortimer Moose - they seem to be having a
wonderful time. :) Hopefully we're on the upswing so that we can see a
little more of Kunming over the weekend.

For those that have asked - we are in Kunming until Monday. We should
get Hannah's Chinese passport this afternoon, and we are here through
the weekend because of a Chinese holiday (Tomb Sweeping Day). On Monday
we fly to Guangzhou, where the US Consulate is located. There she will
have a medical exam, our appointment at the US Consulate, and complete
all of the paperwork needed to bring her home and make her a US Citizen.
We fly out of Guangzhou to Beijing on the morning of April 10, and fly
from Beijing to DC that evening. Our flight to Dulles is direct, and
with the time changes and trip back over the International Date Line it
will still be April 10 when we land that evening. Hopefully we will all
sleep on the plane!

Much love to everyone - we are very very ready to be home!

Kunming

2010-03-31T08:42:00.001-04:00

As much as this trip has been nothing like we had expected, Kunming is a
really nice little city. The weather is nice, the air is so much cleaner
than Beijing, and we feel able to walk along the streets. Sure, everyone
points and stares at us, but most are very nice. I have been yelled at
by both our guide Xiulan and several of the women in the market today
that I am not dressing Hannah warmly enough. It's beautiful here - warm
enough that I am wearing short sleeves (and I am always cold) - yet the
babies are dressed in many many layers. We noticed, actually, that
everyone here dresses really warmly - the only people we saw in short
sleeves today were the other family we are traveling with and two groups
of American college students. Chris is never going to get to wear the
shorts he packed, as much as he wants to. Yesterday Hannah had her first
ever playdate with Henry, and while they entertained themselves silly by
banging stacking cups together, the adults joked how scandalized Xiulan
would be if she realized they were playing in short sleeves and no socks!

Today we walked from our hotel to the Bird & Flower Market. The walk
over was really nice, though Hannah fell asleep about halfway there and
slept through the entire shopping expedition. The market was a neat
place - full of tiny alleys stuffed with little shops. We didn't go into
many - Xiulan likes to move at a pace far faster than we normally go -
but we did manage to buy a few little pieces of jade for Hannah as gifts
for when she is older and get a chop (a Chinese name stamp) made for
her. We're hoping to have time to walk back on our own in the next few
days and explore a bit more.

One bit of culture that makes us laugh every time - there are street
sweepers that patrol the streets of Kunming. They sweep and wash the
street (which is strange, since this province is having one of the worst
droughts in history, though considering people spit and pee on the
streets, it's probably necessary), and the truck plays a song to warn
people on bikes and electric motorcycles (which are everywhere) to get
out of the way. The song? "Happy Birthday." Up and down our street all
day - Happy Birthday to You. We still haven't stopped laughing at it. Oh
yeah - the police cars have a siren that sounds exactly like the chimes
on an ice cream truck at home. We get excited every time, only to
realize the ice cream man is no where to be found. :)

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Visit to Walmart and the Orphanage

2010-03-30T01:50:00.001-04:00

It's been just about 30 hours since Hannah was placed in our arms, and
we are starting to settle in to life as a family. She is getting
comfortable with us, and likes to be able to see us both at all times.
She is maybe the most active child I have ever seen - constantly in
motion and always squriming. So much that she managed to stick her
entire leg out of the crib last night and kick me awake. :) They told us
she is very smart and we tend to agree - yesterday she managed to figure
out how to unhook the plastic links on her stroller!

Yesterday we walked to Walmart - quite an experience, as everyone stares
at us everywhere we go. Walking through Walmart with two families, two
carts, and two strollers - people were coming out of the aisles to take
a look. Walmart here is huge, and it's interesting what American
products they do and do not sell. We found Pampers & Huggies and every
product Johnson & Johnson makes, but not one bottle of Tylenol or cough
syrup. And, of course, the tanks of live fish and butchers cutting up
some sort of meat in front of you was a change as well!

Today we got to go to the orphanage. Hannah was in foster care since
October, but was there when she was first found and back there the last
few days waiting for us. They were very nice to us - they gave us lunch
to feed the babies (congee mixed with eggs, some sort of green vegetable
that we think was kale, and ground pork), gave us a book about the
orphanage, and thanked both families for adopting our children. We
walked around a bit and saw the facilities. It was not what I expected
it to be - very clean but very sad. It was hard to tell if Hannah
recognized it, but she didn't seem very comfortable. There was one nanny
that she smiled at and seemed to be happy to see, so maybe that is one
who helped care for her. I am posting a picture of us there (since I
can't see the blog, I don't know where the pictures are in this post!!)
- it's the picture of Hannah with Henry, the little boy that the family
we are traveling with adopted. They like playing with each other, and in
the background you can see a bit of one of the rooms with babies in
bouncy seats.

We're attempting to take a nap now...she is such a squirmer that it is
taking us awhile to get the hang of getting her to sleep. Thank you so
much for all the wonderful comments and emails. Please know that even
though I can't respond, we are reading them and they mean so much to us!
We can't wait to get home and introduce her to everyone in person!

Introducing Hannah

2010-03-29T01:53:00.001-04:00

It's been a long day, so I won't write much - we know that all you
really want is pictures of Hannah! She is all ours and she is perfect.
More later...

Last Day in Beijing

2010-03-27T06:42:00.000-04:00

One last day of sightseeing in Beijing, and we crammed a whole lot into
it. We started at the Summer Palace, which was really beautiful. It was
also nice to be on the lake for a little while - the air seemed a little
bit better there. From there, we went to see the Olympic venues - the
Birds Nest, the Water Cube, and the Olympic Green. Mara is a huge fan of
the Olympics - the entire time the Beijing games were going on, we kept
watching and talking about how someday we would get to go there - today
was the day! It was really spectacular.

After the Olympic sites, we got back in the car with our guide (who
we've nicknamed "Chatty Cathy") and our driver (who we've nicknamed
"Wrong Way Roger")...of course, we got lost again. Every time. It's
almost impressive. Almost. We had lunch at an actual restaurant today -
not a tour guide stop - but lunch was still ordered for us. We also
toured the Lama Temple (very interesting) and rode a rickshaw through
Hutong Lane (one of the oddest things we have ever done).

I'm glad that we decided to visit Beijing, but we're ready to leave. We
fly to Kunming tomorrow (it's about a 3 1/2 hour flight) - Hannah, here
we come!

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Great Wall!

2010-03-26T05:33:00.000-04:00

More adventures in Beijing today...all around our trip to the Great
Wall. Other than the fact that I didn't realize how afraid of heights I
really am until I was on the chair lift to the top, the Wall was
amazing. The pictures don't really do it justice. We went to the
Mutianyu section - supposedly less toursity, but still very cool. It was
a LONG drive out there - we are fairly certain that our driver drove us
in a giant circle, as it took 3 1/2 hours to get there (seriously), but
only 2 hours to get back after I asked if there was a more direct route.
We hiked along one section (it's a tough hike - lots of steep stairs as
the Wall winds around the mountain), and then took the toboggan down.
Yes, you can actually sled down the Great Wall - very very cool. :)
While we are having a good time in Beijing, we are very ready to move on
to Kunming. Beijing is so crowded and polluted. I don't know how anyone
lives here.

Lots of Love from China, Mara & Chris

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Hello from Beijing!

2010-03-25T05:19:00.000-04:00

As you can see (hopefully...) we're off to a great start in Beijing. Our
guide is really nice (odd little guy, but really nice), and we're
managing the jet lag reasonably well. We went to Tiannamen Square and
the Forbidden City this morning - quite impressive, and way bigger than
I expected. After lunch at a restaurant that we're fairly certain is
just for tour groups, we went to the Temple of Heaven, and now back at
our hotel. Only four days till Hannah...

We're in Beijing!

2010-03-24T20:40:00.001-04:00

Hi! Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are safe and sound in
Beijing. The flight was fine...LONG, but fine. I don't think I really
understood how long a 14 hour flight was until I experienced it! But, a
mere 26 hours after we left our house, we checked into our hotel in
Beijing. The hotel is nice, and our friends and travel partners (they
are adopting a son from the same orphanage that Hannah is at) are here
too (it was great all being on the same flights yesterday - navigating
the Beijing airport is something best accomplished in a group!). We just
had breakfast (so great for me, since I don't eat breakfast foods...yes,
I had stir-fry mushrooms & bok choy and noodles for breakfast!) and are
off in about an hour to go tour Tiannamen Square & the Forbidden City.
Much more to follow...miss everyone at home already!!

(FYI - I cannot access facebook or blogger right now...so...if you send
me an email through either, I can read it but not reply!)

We're Off!

2010-03-22T19:21:00.001-04:00

Well, ready or not, we're off. Bags are packed, airplane tickets printed, taxi reservation made (thank you to everyone who offered us a ride to the airport, but a 5:45 am pickup is too much to ask of even the best of friends!). China, here we come! :)

The Countdown is On!

2010-03-19T18:06:00.003-04:00

That's right...we're a mere FOUR days from being on a plane to China! It has been a ridiculously busy week, and we know that the weekend will be even busier, but it will be SO worth it! We leave for China on Tuesday morning! We will be in Beijing for a few days to do some sight-seeing and adjust to the 12-hour time difference. We have booked a private tour for the three days we are there (ooh...so fancy!), and we will get to see all of the major sites. Then we are off on flight #2 (well, really flight #3 as we have to fly though Chicago to get to Beijing on Tuesday) to Kunming, the city where Hannah is! We'll arrive the evening of March 28, and we are scheduled to get Hannah around noon on March 29 - exactly four years to the day after we sent our paperwork to China! We will be spending a week in Kunming, finalizing the adoption, getting Hannah's passport, and soaking in the sights and sounds of her city. We're excited to have a few extra days here before flying to Guangzhou, the city where the US Consulate is. In Guangzhou we'll be getting Hannah's visa and taking care of all of the paperwork to ensure that the moment we set foot on US soil, she will become a US citizen! We'll be taking the oath at the US Consulate and flying home on April 10. It's a long trip - longer than we had anticipated, due to a few weekends and a minor holiday thrown into the mix (Tomb Sweeping Day anyone?), but I'm sure it will be wonderful. Anyone who knows us knows that Chris is a super traveler and Mara isn't at all (prescription-strength Dramamine = packed!), but it will all be well worth it. And my mantra is that 15 hours in coach is better than 15 hours in labor! :)

This all also means that we will be celebrating Passover in China. Mara has been saying all along that we would be in China for Passover...sure, we thought Passover 2007, but still...Passover. :) "My First Passover" bibs from Auntie Shana, Passover picture books, and a box of matzah are packed. Not really how I anticipated celebrating her first Passover, but Passover in China with Hannah is way better than Passover at home without her.

We're mostly ready to go here. Her room is ready for her, and we are starting to get packed. Sure, the house isn't as clean as I would like (my plan of getting all of the carpets steam cleaned will just have to wait until we get home!), but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that in just over a week, Hannah will be in our arms.

TA!

2010-03-15T14:54:00.003-04:00

Six weeks after seeing Hannah's face for the first time, we got great news - our TA arrived! That means that we have our approval to travel to
China, and our agency can go ahead and make all of our appointments for
us! They are targeting April 5 for our appointment at the US Consulate,
which means that we would be in Kunming to get Hannah on March 28 (give
or take a day, depending on the appointments/orphanage/etc.). We're
planning on going a few days early to Beijing to see the Great Wall and
get adjusted to the time difference, so it looks like we will be leaving
for China NEXT WEEK!! Oh my goodness! Thankfully, we spent the entire
weekend running errands and buying everything we need, so we can get
stuff together and start packing this weekend! And yes, I know that I
still need to take some pictures of Hannah's room to share...I will do
that this week, I promise!

Also, for those that asked - we will have email access while we are in
China, and should have access to Skype as well. Blogger and facebook
often are blocked, but I have it set up to post via email (we'll see if
this works...I am emailing this post to the blog from my couch to test
it out!), and it set to post my blog posts to facebook as well! (so, if
you're reading this on my facebook page, it's all set up correctly!) :)

Visas in hand...one step closer to Hannah!

2010-03-02T19:28:00.002-05:00

It has been a CRAZY month! It is hard to believe that one month ago we had just seen our baby's face for the first time. As you might imagine, I haven't slept much since we received our referral! Sure, I'm exhausted, but it's good practice (and good to know that I can function on much less sleep than I usually get!). So, what have we been up to? Well, other than being in full-blown panic mode (which Mara has been in for most of the past month), we are trying very hard to get everything ready for Hannah! We had NOTHING ready at all. We have used Hannah's room for storage for nearly 10 years. This was not a great idea. :) So we have cleaned everything out, made many many trips to the thrift store and the dump, and are down to the last few boxes (which have now been moved to our basement!). We ordered her furniture (thanks Bubbie & Zaide!) two weeks ago, and this past weekend painted the walls a beautiful princess pink! Mara will be steam cleaning the carpet tomorrow (that DOES sound like fun, right?), and the furniture arrives on Thursday! Just need to go and buy a mattress, some bedding (we picked out this set), and a bookcase and the room will be ready (well, ready enough) for Hannah! Sure, we don't have a lot of clothes (or anything else yet!), but it doesn't really matter, does it?

We've also been working on lots of paperwork. Mara went to the Chinese Embassy today with DeeDee & George, our new friends and travel partners (they received a referral for an ADORABLE little boy the same day as us from the same orphanage - we will be traveling to Kunming together) and got our Chinese Visas! The visa office for the Embassy is quite an experience, but the people who work there might be some of the nicest people we have dealt with through the entire process. If everyone in China is as nice as the women we dealt with today, we may never come home! :) Now we just wait for our TAs...our Approval to Travel to China. Once we receive our TA, our agency can make our appointments at the US Consulate, we can book our airplane tickets, and we can go get Hannah! I have no idea when this will happen. Our agency thinks it may be another few weeks, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that they are wrong and we will receive them this week (other families with other agencies who received their referrals on the same day as us have been told that their TAs are on their way...hopefully ours are too!). We will travel 1-3 weeks after we receive our TA, so keep your fingers crossed that they are in the mail!! :)

A big thank you again to everyone for all the kind wishes. I haven't been able to email or call everyone back, but please know how much it means to us. This has been a VERY long journey (ugh...whenever a contestant on a reality show says that, Chris rolls his eyes and says "Don't Stop BELIEVING!!"), but it is amazing to know how much Hannah is loved. I cannot wait to tell her how many people were waiting for her!

Thank You!

2010-02-04T22:08:00.002-05:00

It's been a few days since we first saw our little peanut's face, and it's still hard to believe it's real. I don't think I can even begin to describe how overwhelmed we are with all of the messages and calls of love we have received in the past few days. I cannot wait to tell our daughter how many people were waiting for her and were so excited for her to be coming home. She might be on the other side of the world from us, but I think she might be the most loved little girl in the whole world.

We have decided to name her Hannah Christine (since "peanut" isn't going to be great for a teenager!). She's named for her great-grandmothers, who we know would be over the moon with love with her. We now know that she was a preemie - she weighed just under 4 pounds when she arrived at the orphanage (she was found on July 3, just a few days after she was born). She is still tiny - at the end of October she was 24" long and weighed just under 12 1/2 pounds. The health records look pretty good, though I am going to have my doctor take a look at them next week (we're expecting a massive snowstorm starting tomorrow, so it'll be a couple of days before we can get out of the house!). In Kunming, where Hannah is, most of the children spend time in foster care, so it is highly likely that she is with a foster family right now, though we don't know for sure. All we know is that we are ready to have her home now! :)

Introducing Our Daughter!!!

2010-02-01T22:11:00.005-05:00

We are so excited to share pictures of our little girl with everyone!! Our paperwork is all dated at the end of October, so I'm assuming that that's when these were taken, but she's such a tiny little thing! (She's sitting in one of those bouncy seats...makes it easier to realize how tiny she is!!).

All of our paperwork is in Chinese - it will be translated for us this week - but some of it we can figure out. But as of the end of October, the report is that she is a deep sleeper (yay!), can hold her head up while lying on her stomach, visually follows moving toys, follows you with moving head from one side to the other, is active, fond of imitating, fond of playing with toys, and fond of playing games! Hopefully we will get the rest of the report translated soon - I'm so curious to learn more about her!!

To answer a few questions...no, we haven't picked a name yet. Even though we have been waiting for four years, this was really out of the blue! When the phone rang this afternoon, I was worried that our agency was going to tell us that something was wrong or that we needed to get a new piece of paperwork done! It has been a few hours and I am still shaking with excitement! :) We don't know when we will travel, but it will likely be at the end of March/beginning of April. In 4-5 weeks we'll receive our approval to travel from China; that's when our agency can go ahead and make our appointments at the US Consulate and we'll find out when we actually travel!

It's insane to think that we've waited for four years, and now everything is happening at once, but it's very very exciting. I'll be digging out all of the "things to do after you get your referral" papers tomorrow, and we'll start doing some baby shopping this weekend! And, of course, I'll continue to post updates here! :)

HUGE News!!

2010-02-01T19:31:00.003-05:00

After nearly four years, we have the most exciting news...this afternoon we received our referral from China!! Her Chinese name is Xi Xue Li and she was born on June 30, 2009. We have several pictures...I will post them later tonight! :)

This was a complete and total surprise...we have been told all along that our Log In Date is April 17, 2006, and the referrals that landed today only covered through April 5. BUT...ours was included!! We had sent our dossier to China at the end of March 2006, so it looks like we had been given the wrong LID, and in our favor! :)

She is in the Kunming CWI (the orphanage) in the Yunnan Province of China. We have a huge packet of information on her...unfortunately, most of it is in Chinese! :) Our agency is getting it translated for us, but they thought we would want to come and get her picture today! We hope to travel at the end of March/beginning of April...Mara has felt all along that we would be in China for Passover, and now it looks like that might come true!! :) This was truly out of the blue - we hadn't expected a referral for another 5 or 6 months - and we feel so very blessed! More to follow soon...

No News...Still...

2010-01-30T17:37:00.002-05:00

Yes, that's right - we still have no news. It's been over a month, and not only has there not been another batch of referrals, there hasn't even been a single rumor. A few agencies think that we may see something next week, and one agency said this week that they are "preparing for matches" (whatever that means), but who knows. With the Chinese New Year coming up, I would guess we will see a batch right before they close for the holiday. I believe that they close for a week...a few days before and a few days after the holiday so that employees can travel home. In the past, the CCAA sends out a batch right before they leave, which looks like what will happen again this year. Traditionally, they like to "clear off their desks" before the New Year (cleaning for the New Year is part of the culture), so they get that last batch out the day before they leave so that they will come back to a clean desk and fresh start. Sometimes the batch before CNY is a little bigger, but not always. I would hope that they would cover at least 2 or 3 days of LIDs, but, once again, who knows.

With the first few days of April LIDs receiving their referrals in December, we've started to think about baby stuff for the first time. Chris and I went to Baby 2 Teen (a ginormous baby super store) last weekend to look at cribs, and I am going to go to Buy Buy Baby with an adoption friend to get some advice next week. It's all so overwhelming...if you have advice on what to buy (or what NOT to buy), I would love to hear it! :) Over MLK Weekend we saw my favorite band Eddie from Ohio in concert with our friends Josh & Annie - an amazing show, made better by the absurd opening band who didn't realize we were laughing at them not with them (truly one of the unintentionally funniest moments in a long long time!) Last weekend we also said goodbye to Chris's sister Martha, who is off to Swaziland for a year. (it's a landlocked country inside of South Africa) She'll be doing conservation research, which sounds really cool, though I can't even begin to imagine living in a tent for a year! (since I won't even stay at an EconoLodge!) And this weekend we are enjoying an unexpected snow storm! Thankfully this time it is all really light and fluffy snow, so even though we have had to shovel twice already, it was a much easier time than last month's snowpocolypse!

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T15:26:00.004-05:00

It's nearly 2010 - so hard to believe that it was 2005 when we first started this journey. And, of course, each and every year I have said "this is our year!". This one just has to be ours, right? It's looking good for 2010...this week the very first April 2006 referrals arrived! It was only three days worth (April 1-3), and only 1 business day in there, but some of our April friends have seen their daughters' faces, which is super exciting. And even though it was a super small batch, it came relatively quickly, which gives me some hope that they will be back to doing a batch every month. Hooray! It also means that we will need to start thinking about decorating the nursery! We long ago decided that once the CCAA got started on April, we would get started on the room, so here we are! I have looked at a few cute bedding sets at Babies R Us, and am looking forward to transforming our spare bedroom from "black-hole-storage-space" to adorable nursery!

One more piece of hopefulness...Rumor Queen (my favorite adoption blog, and the source for all things China adoption news...as well as the message board where I "hang out" with all my fellow April '06 LID friends!) posted today that more than one agency has heard that the CCAA plans to have April '06 done by June. THAT means with an April 17 LID, we will have our daughter by JUNE. Let me say that one more time so I can believe it. JUNE. :) Sure, this means that we'll likely have to renew our paperwork one last time, and will make attending the 2 weddings and 1 Bat Mitzvah at the end of May and beginning of June tricky, but who cares. Rob & Anne, Goldie, and Arielle & Steve will understand - that's what makes friends and family so great. :)

Not much else is happening here. December brought one of the biggest snowstorms ever for the DC area, and our house was blanketed with over 2 feet of snow. We stayed home for the holidays this year, as we are hoping to make a much bigger trip soon (and airline prices were ridiculously expensive...$595 per person PER DIRECTION to fly to Milwaukee??? What are they doing on that plane??). And we will be celebrating New Year's Eve tonight with our traditional pajama party and game night with friends. It's crazy to think that 10 years ago tonight we were at a Y2K party, planning our wedding, and hoping that the world wouldn't end. :) 2009 has been a good year for us - we hope that 2010 will be the best yet.

Bye Bye March!

2009-12-02T16:41:00.003-05:00

It only took a year , but China has finally finished referring March 2006 LIDs. Referrals through March 31, 2006 landed today, and I could not be happier. Polls showed that March 2006 was one of the biggest on record, and there were rumors last year that it could take a full year to get through. I didn't believe it when I heard it, but, here we are. March 2006 is done, don't let the door hit you on the way out. :)

So, there are 17 LIDs to go. Some of those are weekends (April 1 &2, 8&9, and 15&16 were weekends in 2006), so there are 11 business days between us and a referral. If they could just do 4 business days a month (which, since April seems to be a smaller month, might actually be doable), we'll see our baby's face by my birthday. Keep your fingers crossed.

We had a wonderful wonderful Thanksgiving. The women won the annual charades tournament, and the pie-to-people ratio was fabulous. We ate and laughed and ate and laughed some more. The perfect holiday, really. I just wish we didn't have to wait a whole year to do it again. Chris had a few days off of work, so we also did a lot of sleeping in. And I finished my novel - yes, I am a NaNoWriMo winner! I have another few chapters to add to the end, then I'll start to revise. I wrote some sections out of order, so fixing that is priority #1! I have never written so much in such a short period of time before (50,060 words in 29 days - I finished a day early!), and it's a pretty cool feeling of accomplishment. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-28T17:36:00.004-05:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We hope that you had a wonderful holiday, full of family and friends, wonderful food, and a double overtime sudden-death charades win! :)

A No-News Update (again)

2009-11-19T16:19:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's nearly Thanksgiving and we have nothing to report. Our agency emailed us to let us know that they think we will receive our referral in mid-March (though, they're just doing math - they have no actual information). There were all sorts of rumors swirling around earlier in the month, but still, no referrals have landed. The latest is that an agency in Europe reported today that there will be no referrals in November, due to the new director of the CCAA getting "up to speed." There is all sorts of speculation about this, especially with the already rampant speculation that things are going to stop all together because of H1N1. Just when we thought we were so close, right?

In non-adoption news, I am writing a novel for NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. It's basically just what it says - the goal is to write a short novel (at least 50,000 words) over the month of November. You can read more about it on the official website. It's much harder than I thought (and, as Chris says, writing a novel sounds pretty hard!), but I'm writing writing writing - I passed the 30,000 word mark today, so I am well on my way. It's crazy to look at what I've written and realize I've written 70 pages in 19 days! I'm also writing on a new laptop! All of our electronics decided to die at once, so I am the proud owner of a new laptop - the clear benefit of dead electronics. (we also have a new printer and DirecTV DVR, with a DVD player, camera, and dryer to be purchased soon...really) We're also really looking forward to Thanksgiving next week. Even with our adoption wait getting close to the four year mark, we have a whole lot to be thankful for.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T22:25:00.003-04:00

No real question who carved which pumpkin, is there? Happy Halloween! :)

A Long Overdue Update

2009-10-12T18:08:00.003-04:00

I know, it's been awhile. And to be honest, none of us can really be surprised. :) But I have the tiniest bit of news to report, so a new blog post it is. Referrals landed today in Europe (I think they probably landed here as well, it's just that everything is closed for Columbus Day), and they cover through March 28, 2006. It's a bummer for a few reasons. First, there were rumors that these referrals would go through at least March 29 - in fact, several agencies told their March 29th families that they were in. I haven't heard from anyone who had this happen, but I hope that their agencies give them a good explanation. It's hard enough to be waiting this long, but it's a million times worse to think you're in when you're not. Going through March 29 would have not just meant an extra day, but meant a much larger batch numbers-wise - the polls show that a large number of families were logged in on the 29th. It's also been a long time between batches - the last batch was posted on August 21 - that's nearly 2 months ago. The CCAA was closed for the first week of October, but most people thought that the referrals would be sent before they left. No such luck.

So, what does this mean for us? Well, I wish I knew. No one knows what the CCAA will do next. They could send another batch in 2 weeks or 2 months. They could refer two days or twenty two days. I have long since given up trying to guess, since I am almost always wrong. I do know that we are 20 LIDs away from our LID. That includes some weekends in there, and the polling data shows that there are a lot fewer April LIDs then March. There is also the whole attrition thing - people who have dropped out or switched programs. That polling data is running at about 44%. Yes, you read that right - nearly 44% attrition rate, and we're still moving this slowly. And if you just want to look at number of days referred, in the past year the CCAA has matched 41 days of LIDs. (I know, it's shocking to see it written out like that to me too) So if they kept their pace about the same, regardless of the lower number of families remaining, we would have 6 months left. Hopefully it will be less - much less - but at least we are in the home stretch, right?

Is That a Light?

2009-08-27T18:30:00.003-04:00

It's faint, but I think that we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Referrals for August arrived at the beginning of the week, and while they covered a measly two days of LIDs, they were big days (a lot of families logged in). Even with the two day batch, however, it is looking like we could see a referral in December or January. The projections are just that - projections. They are NOT in any way based on information from the CCAA. They're based on how many days of LIDs have been processed over the past few years and poll data on Rumor Queen (the best China adoption site ever). Keep your fingers crossed that the CCAA can keep up their current pace (number of referrals, not number of days), or, even better, that they can pick up the pace. When we started this process we thought we would be home with our little girl at the beginning of 2007...now, getting home at the beginning of 2010 sounds heavenly.

In other non-adoption news, we were so lucky to celebrate the naming of my Goddaughter Emily over the weekend. She is so beautiful, and her Hebrew name fits her perfectly. Now, I know that I'm a little biased, but isn't she the cutest ever? :) Also this week, our niece Caroline started kindergarten! It's so hard to believe that she's already in school - it seems like just yesterday that she was born! And last week Chris wrapped up our insane home improvement project - our floor is finally complete! It looks AMAZING! I am working on putting the first floor back together, and will take some pictures when I finally get it done.

It's July...

2009-07-30T13:54:00.005-04:00

Yup, it's the end of July, and we still have no real news. Referrals landed last week - they covered a measly two days of LIDs. Blech. The good news is that they were big days (lots of dossiers logged in), so if they keep up the pace of number of referrals, we'll see more days in the coming batches. It's hard to believe that I have been doing this for three and a half years now - each month trying to figure out how the tiny batch isn't as bad as it looks. I still think we will see a referral in December or January, but you never know.

We've been keeping busy...TOO busy. Our softball team made it to the playoffs, so we spent a weekend playing softball - we came in third place in the tournament! We celebrated Chris's birthday with a surprise visit from his brother Jonathan (who had the best timed surprise 1 day business trip to the east coast ever). And we have taken on far more in the world of home improvement than we shoud have. We finally are pulling up the old carpet & lineoleum on our first floor and installing laminate. In a stunning display of us overestimating both our skills and speed, we thought that I could paint the kitchen on Saturday while Chris installed the dining room floor, and then he could do the kitchen on Sunday. Well...the floor takes MUCH more time then you would think to install. And the kitchen took two days to paint - two days, two coats of ceiling paint, 2+ coats of primer, and 2 coats of green paint. Not sure what was on our walls before, but it ate the paint. Our little townhouse kitchen ate nearly 4 cans of paint and primer. Really. It looks PHENOMENAL though. Chris has been working on the floor every day after work and the kitchen is pretty much done. Hopefully he will have some time this weekend to finish up the dining room and start the living room. And hopefully the new floor will be in by September! :)

A few steps closer...

2009-06-30T21:11:00.003-04:00

It looks like China is not going to "catch up" from that batch they send in the middle of May. Remember, it got sent a few weeks late because of the swine flu scare. We were hoping that they would catch up...send a batch at the beginning of June and get back to sending them at the beginning the month. But the last batch arrived the third week of June, so it's looking like this might be the new normal. Referrals went through March 20, 2006. Ever so slowly, we are moving closer to our date. Our agency keeps telling us that our LID is 4-17-06, and hopefully they are right. I think (hope?) for the first time in this ridiculous wait that we are about 6 months away.

We've been really busy lately. Well, busier than usual. The Red Sox came to town last week for three games against the Nationals and we were, of course, there for all three games. It was so much fun seeing the Red Sox in our "home" stadium though I think we're both feeling the effects of the heat & three nights of eating Five Guys cheeseburgers! (yes, the same Five Guys that Obama went to on the Dateline special...Chris is not pleased about that since it made the line twice as long!) I spent Friday and Saturday at the Great American Scrapbook Convention, an annual tradition for me! And tomorrow we're heading up to Baltimore for, you guessed it, another Red Sox game! Chris is taking a few days off of work, so it will be nice to have some time to catch up on sleep and relax at the pool!

Cancun!

2009-06-04T18:11:00.006-04:00

Hello! We are back, tan, and relaxed from an amazing week in Cancun. I am so glad that we went, in spite of fears about the swine flu. Other than the fact that there have been exactly the same number of cases of swine flu in Cancun as there have been in our house (zero), the fear that caused nearly everyone else to cancel was our gain. Our flights in and out of Cancun weren't even half full (love the extra space!) and the resort was no more than 20% full. The weather was perfect and it truly felt like we had the place to ourselves. As we walked around the resort, we kept noticing how many chairs there were - all empty. I imagine that during busy times every single one is full. Not for us. We had a "busy" trip...HA! We stayed at an all-inclusive resort, and barely left the property! We ate breakfast on the terrace each day looking out over the ocean. (I know, rough life...) Then we picked out the perfect lounge chairs to spend the day on (on the deck of the pool looking out at the ocean)...laid in the sun, drank way too much (we would order a drink, and once they saw that we were getting close to finishing it, a new one would appear!), swam in the pool, swam in the ocean, played a LOT of pool volleyball, and lounged on the edge of the infinity pools (made to look like they go on out into the ocean - they had a ledge you could sit on that overlooked the ocean...it was AMAZING!). We ate way too much too - the food was amazing and ridiculously plentiful. And everyone we met was so nice - from the staff (we LOVED the activity staff & bartenders!) to the other guests. I have more pics posted on my facebook page, or you can email me for the link! :)

As for adoption news...well...not much to report. Referrals did come in while we were away - they covered through March 14, 2006. It's a strange sort of situation...we're so close, but we have no idea when referrals will come again, and how many days they will do at a time. I really do think we'll see a referral in 2009, but who knows. The other good news is that we finally got our USCIS approval - third time's a charm, right? The best part of it, though, was the form letter we got with it. The letter states "congratulations on completing the first step of your international adoption..." HA!! If only they knew! :) Hopefully I will have some good news to share soon!

Swine Flu? Really?

2009-05-15T12:24:00.002-04:00

Well, I certainly didn't see this coming. If someone had told me three years ago that we would still be waiting for our daughter, I would have been shocked. But if someone had told me that we would be impacted by swine flu? Well...I can't say that I would have believed them. But here we are. No referrals were mailed this month (the last set of referrals went through 3-8-06 and were sent at the beginning of April), and every agency has a different explanation. Some agencies are just saying that they are late this month, and that the swine flu won't impact anything. Other agencies are saying that the CCAA has told them that they will be holding referrals for 20-30 days. Still others are saying that the CCAA is holding things until June. And yet another sent out an email yesterday saying that no referrals will be sent until September. Yes, you read that right.

So where does that leave us? Well, aside from the stress of not knowing anything (and the ridiculousness of the worldwide reaction to the sniffles), I am hoping that we won't really be impacted. The precedence that the CCAA has set from the SARS scare is promising. During that time, all referrals stopped, but the CCAA continued to make matches. Once all of the travel restrictions were lifted, they sent out huge batches of referrals (and more than one batch a month) to "catch up." We weren't going to get a referral this month anyways, so if they send out a larger batch next month, we would be in the same place. But I don't know. The not knowing is horrible, and the number of agencies that say that they have talked to someone at CCAA and have wildly different information is absurd. As Chris often says, we are adopting from a country that doesn't give out information, but this stinks.

As for the two of us, we are laughing in the face of swine flu, and flying to Mexico for our vacation on Monday. Really. Even after United cancelled our flights (would you believe that United has canceled nearly every flight to Mexico until JULY??), we have rebooked and are planning on spending a blissful few days on the beach in Cancun. No internet (so no monitoring the referral situation) will be a good thing. And hopefully we will come home to some good news.

Hope

2009-03-24T21:22:00.008-04:00

It's been a crazy crazy month. REALLY crazy. First, no real adoption news. But we do have quite a bit of hope for the future. While the last month had the CCAA only refer 4 days worth of LIDs (so we're now up to 3/6/06...our LID is 4/17/06...), many agencies are saying that things will start to pick up in the next few months. The biggest reason that they are giving is the increase in the required orphanage donation. A few months ago, the donation was raised from $3000 to about $5000 (the new donation amount is in RMB, so it fluctuates a bit with the economy). That's a huge incentive for orphanage directors to get paperwork submitted. More paperwork means more babies available for international adoption and more referrals. So many agencies are reporting this that I am allowing myself some hope that we will finally see a speed-up and a 2009 referral.

In other craziness, we are redoing our kitchen. So it has been construction (and dust) central. A few weeks ago the KraftMaid cabinet truck pulled up to our house (the same truck that delivers to the houses on Extreme Makeover:Home Edition!) and we now have brand new cabinets and countertops! Our kitchen isn't quite put back together yet, but it is amazing to have beautiful new cabinets that aren't falling apart! :)

In even BIGGER news though, two of our closest friends, Shana & Stephen, had a baby at the end of February, and I became a godmother!!! Emily Talia is simply perfect (even those people who aren't her godmother think so!), and I was lucky enough to hold her when she was only 10 hours old! I am in awe of her, and so thankful that we live close enough that I can get my Emmy fix whenever I want!! :)

Other than that (which is quite a bit!), I have been super busy with work - I am working for a CPA during tax season (the same CPA I worked for last year). I really like the people I work with (and the office dog, Harley), but between that and teaching Sunday & Hebrew school...well...you get the idea! And Chris has been working long late hours a lot lately as well. We're also getting ready for softball season to start, as well as Opening Day.

No News...Just More Paperwork

2009-02-11T20:49:00.002-05:00

Well, no news. Not even any rumors about the next cut off date. What a bummer, right? :) The upside is that there have been a few rumors about the wait and process as a whole. More than a few agencies are reporting that the mood is good at the CCAA, and several are reporting that things will pick up in the next few months. So while we're cautious about any rumors, we're cautiously optimistic about this one.

The other interesting thing is the website chinadoptionforecast.com. I've played with it some for awhile now, but there are a lot of reports that it's been extremely accurate lately. If we truly are close enough now for the site to make an accurate prediction, then 2009 truly will be our year. It's predicting a September referral, which would mean we would travel before the holidays. I'm hoping that it's wrong - that we'll travel before then, but anytime in 2009 is good enough for me at this point!

On the home front, we're been working hard at renewing all of our paperwork. We meet with the social worker tomorrow for our home study update - once that is done and sent to USCIS, we will have to be fingerprinted again as well. But at least we're in the home stretch of this set of paperwork (it took a LONG time to put it together again). We're enjoying the nice weather while it lasts (it was freezing here at this time last week, and today was in the 70s...supposed to be back down to the 30s by Friday...it's a wonder we're not more sick!). I'm excited to be heading to NFTY Convention on Monday as part of the Youth Workers Conference. And, of course, I couldn't be happier that spring training officially gets under way tomorrow! AND the Red Sox play the Nats for three games here in DC in June - I am ECSTATIC to see my team in my home town!!

Hope and Change

2009-01-22T20:57:00.005-05:00

Tuesday was an amazing day. Sitting on my couch, a mere 16 miles from the Capital (yes, that's right, I live 16 miles away, but stayed in my toasty warm pjs!) we witnessed history. There are no words to describe the feeling of watching our 44th president be sworn in. I keep thinking of how our daughter will live in a country where the color of her skin will not be a barrier to her dreams. And I am full of optimism for our country. It truly is cool to be an American again.

In the midst of the unbelievable joy of the Inauguration, it's been a tough week in the world of our adoption wait. Our USCIS (immigration) paperwork has to be renewed AGAIN, and we have to re-do our homestudy (and all its parts...medical reviews, abuse clearances, fingerprints, financial reviews, etc.) a third time as well. It's tough - it's a huge time suck, as well as another rather large and unplanned expense. If all this money was going towards helping kids I would feel better about it. But it's going to our government and our agency. In short, it stinks. And the wait is not getting any shorter. Referrals for this month came out today, and after rumors of a speed-up, this batch covered two measly days. March 1 & 2, 2006. That's it. The rumor that spirits are high at CCAA is still out there, and it's possible that when they come back from the Chinese New Year holiday they could do another batch, but who knows. I continue to hope, but it's getting harder and harder.

I'm still sticking with Project 365...these are the next 9 days of our lives. And we are completely re-doing our kitchen. I thought that would make the universe laugh enough to speed things up (because it would be pretty funny to come home to a completely torn apart kitchen, right?). So our new stove arrived Saturday - our 1970s double oven is no more. And we picked out new cabinets and a new counter on Sunday. It'll be a month or two before they are installed, but we'll do the floor after that. Home improvement has never been so much fun. :)

Project 365

2009-01-09T18:28:00.004-05:00

One of my New Year's resolutions for 2009 is to complete Project 365. What is Project 365? It's pretty simple, actually. Take a picture every day for a year. The idea is to capture every day moments - the stuff that I never usually take pictures of. My goal is to become a much better photographer, as well as documenting what a year in our lives look like. I'm hoping that this will be a big year for us, so to see it all the way through will be pretty cool. And I want to be a good enough photographer that I can capture all of our daughter's moments on film (disc?). I will be scrapbooking the pictures as well (hopefully using a Project 365 kit to make it simple), so that we will be able to look at the year for many years to come. As I've been taking pictures, I keep thinking how neat it would be to have pictures like this from my grandparents (I LOVE old pictures - my grandparents' pictures are all over our house!), so I'm hoping that this will be something that our children and grandchildren enjoy. Our first 9 days have been pretty boring. I came back from California with a nasty cold and picked up a stomach bug a few days later, so you can tell I spent a lot of time at home! And yes - those pictures at the top are the past 9 days. My favorite one is day 4 - that's Chris cooking latkes for our annual Chanukah celebration with our friends. That's right - of the 8 of us, the 1 non-Jew is the one who cooks the latkes each year! :)

(a key for those who are interested...1/1 - playing Scrabble with Chris, 1/2 - watching tv in my favorite pjs, 1/3 - Chris playing with Shana & Stephen's dogs, 1/4 - Chris making latkes at the Langels, 1/5 - folding laundry, 1/6 - a beautiful cardinal in the midst of all the rain, 1/7 - 2 cranky rabbits, 1/8 - our backyard in the midst of a 15 minute snow storm, 1/9 - doing dishes in our kitchen)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T18:31:00.021-05:00

Happy 2009! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday. We traveled to California to celebrate with all of the Surridges. We were a little slowed down by a nasty cold that worked its way through the entire family, but we still had a wonderful time. We perfected our skills at Candy Land, learned a lot about trains, read some good books, and truly enjoyed being an aunt & uncle! We had a VERY low-key New Year's celebration, as I am still getting over the Christmas cold, and Chris is working really hard to not let it take over his body. We saw "Marley & Me" and went out for Chinese food with Shana & Stephen, then welcomed 2009 in bed! (we did manage to stay awake until midnight, but just barely!)

On the adoption front, referrals landed just before the calendar switched to 2009. China finished February 2006 - exactly 47 days of LIDs to go. March 2006 is rumored to be a monster month, and we have heard rumors of both an expected speed up for 2009 and of it taking all of 2009 just to get through March 2006 LIDs. Hopefully the speed-up will be the correct rumor, but I truly believe that 2009 is our year. Of course, we said that in 2007 and 2008, but the third time is a charm, right? :) I think that the next few months will be telling...the batch before and after Chinese New Year (at the end of January). And, of course, we need to start re-doing our home study and Immigration paperwork AGAIN in a few weeks. Three times, three ginormous checks to the US Govt...this is the fun part, right? :)

Happy Holidays 2008

2008-12-13T19:22:00.001-05:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

It's All About the Numbers

2008-12-08T22:13:00.003-05:00

Like many of my friends who are waiting to adopt, playing around with the numbers has become quite the hobby. It's all about how many days are referred and how many days are left in front of us in line. Right now, we have 60 days ahead of us. So, if they were to refer 5 days a month from here on out (not totally likely, since last month was only 2 days worth, and March 2006 is rumored to be a monster of a month in terms of numbers), we have exactly a year to go. There's also the math of weekdays referred...there are 40 weekdays ahead of us (because, of course, no dossiers are logged in on the weekends). So if they could just manage to refer FOUR weekdays a month, we will be home with our little one in 2009. Sigh...what crazy math this is. Referrals haven't yet arrived for December, but it looks like they will go through February 23, 2006. 6 days/4 weekdays. By my math, that keeps us on pace for 2009.

Speaking of numbers, many agencies announced today that the orphanage donation (a mandatory part of the adoption) will increase starting in 2009. The donation has been $3000, and apparently has been so for over a decade. It is now going to be 35,000 yuan, which is just below $5,100 at today’s exchange rates. This, of course, means that not only do we now need to find an additional $2100 to complete our adoption, but because the donation/fee will now be in yuan, it could fluctuate quite a bit depending on the exchange rate. Great. The one upside to this, though, is that because the orphanages will be receiving more money per adoption, they may be more motivated to get babies "paper-ready." In order for a baby to be adopted, the orphanage has a pile of paper-work to do that gets sent to the CCAA. There are many stories of orphanage directors who say that the compensation for getting the paperwork together is not worth it - so babies sit in orphanages. If that's the case, maybe this will help.

In non-adoption news, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. In our annual charades tournament, the men won. I would post a photo from the medal ceremony (yes, I said medal ceremony...we take our charades REALLY seriously!) but it might go to their heads. :) And in two weeks we'll be flying out to California to spend Christmas with entire Surridge clan. 3 kids + 2 aunts + 2 uncles + 2 parents + 2 grandparents = lots of family fun. Be prepared for many pictures of our excessively adorable niece and nephews when we get home. :) And, as you probably noticed, I'm attempting to make our blog look a little nicer. If you know how to fix the strange spacing and the title, please let me know! :)

A Busy Month

2008-11-19T22:08:00.002-05:00

Doesn't it seem like every month I have some sort of reason for not blogging more often? Now that we are knocking on the three year mark of when we started this journey (don't stop believing...), it's pretty impressive that I come up with a new reason every month, isn't it? :) This month's excuse? Teenagers. Lots and lots of teenagers. If you don't know, I'm the youth committee chair at our temple. It's not as exciting as you would think (and it doesn't even sound very exciting, does it?), but I'm really proud to do it - we are members of the temple I grew up at, and when I was in high school I was a founding member of our youth group (and it's first president!). It sounds cheesy, but it's really cool to give back to the youth group that gave me so much. And I got to really give back, as our temple hosted NFTY-MAR Fall Kallah a few weeks ago. It's a regional youth group event - from Delaware to North Carolina - and I attended as a high schooler (and LOVED them). We had 210 teenagers attend...so, as you can imagine, I have been very very busy! The weekend was AMAZING - I am SO unbelievably proud of our kids and the weekend they planned!

After sleeping for a week (and trying to get over the really nasty cold that I got), I have been catching up around the house, continuing to scrapbook pictures from our Paris trip (yes, I'm still working on the pictures from 2006...we took 880 pictures...I'll be scrapbooking for awhile...), and FINALLY working on our quilt! After several unsuccessful attempts to sign up for quilting classes (seriously, why won't any of these people take my money??), I really thought I could do it myself (but not totally sure...have you seen how clumsy I am?). Thankfully, Shannon (a friend of a friend) stepped in and showed me how to get it all assembled. I have some "practice" fabric that I bought over a year ago, and she helped me get it all cut into squares! I laid it out tonight, and tomorrow I'm going to actually start to sew! Holy cow! So if you still want to send me a square for the "real" quilt (PLEASE do - I am short a few squares!!), now is the time! :)

Oh yes - you probably want some adoption news, right? Well, I have very little to report. The CCAA did 2 days worth of referrals in November, which is like doing nothing at all. This brings them to February 17, 2006, and brings us to exactly 2 months of LIDs ahead of us. It's all about how fast the CCAA works...it's hard, since when we started this journey (don't stop believing...), we saw them referring full months at a time. So even though we haven't seen more than a week in a LONG time, I know that they can do it. Hopefully they will soon.

Shana Tovah!

2008-10-13T21:31:00.002-04:00

Happy 5769! We had a wonderful Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We had nice dinners with my parents, and enjoyed break fast after Yom Kippur with friends. Holidays always make me a little sad that we don't have our little girl, but thankful that we have such wonderful family and friends. Hopefully 5769 is the last year we spend without kids!

In the middle of the holidays, China did send a batch of referrals - they got through February 15, 2006. So, a little movement forward. And there were some random referrals sent last week for February 16 (but not every agency got them). Hopefully next month will bring a huge batch, but if this pace keeps up we have less than a year of wait ahead of us. Some basic math...if each of the next referral batches (all the way up to ours) is only 6 days, we would get our referral at the end of August 2009. If they slowed down to 5 days a month, we would be at the end of October. But if they did 7 days a month it would be the end of June! Hopefully they can do at least a week of LIDs a month, and we can travel before Sherri & Ira leave Shanghai! :)

Not much else going on with us. I have been very busy working on Fall Kallah, a big regional youth group event that our temple is hosting at the end of the month. I am the chair of the youth committee, and it turns out that planning an event for 225 teenagers is more work than I thought! I'm really excited about it though, since I went to these events when I was in high school! We are also having a great season in softball. Our team is 7-3, and Chris has made a couple of spectacular plays in center field this season (and we are both hitting much better!). And, of course, I am losing sleep with the Red Sox in the playoffs! (TOTALLY worth it though!)

Tropical Storm Hanna

2008-09-07T14:19:00.006-04:00

Well, the good news is that we are dry. The bad news? Tropical Storm Hanna hit our neighborhood hard. There is nothing quite like seeing your street on the news, or hearing that the news of what happened in your neighborhood was broadcast around the country. We are lucky enough to live by a lake. Lake Royal is a man-made lake that was created by a flood control dam. It's really lovely - a couple of miles around - and is a nice part of our neighborhood. Well, yesterday's storm (and over 7 inches of rain) was more than it could handle. The lake flooded, the dam didn't totally hold, and the county rushed in and created emergency spillways which saved the bottom part of our neighborhood. There was a voluntary evacuation of the bottom section (we live at the top of the hill), but the country spokesman said on the news that they were very close to a mandatory evacuation, which may have included us. What an adventure! Chris and I went for a walk today to see what it looks like, and it was incredible. I'm posting some of the pictures below, along with a screenshot of an aerial image of our neighborhood from google maps (with some labels from me) to give you some perspective. It's very very strange to see the fitness trail and path that I like to walk on under several feet of water. But we are dry and thankful to be so.A view of the new waterline from the path in our neighborhood (the old waterline used to be beyond the trees):The "big tree" (see the map above to see where it is!):

And see where the old spillway and the tractor is on the map? This is the spillway now - full of water!

9 Days

2008-09-04T22:46:00.002-04:00

Well, in what seems to be record time, the CCAA has sent out another batch of referrals! And...they cover 9 days of LIDS! Now, before you go jumping out of your seats, it's really only 4 business days, but I'm pretty pleased. I was worried that there would be no referrals at all this month, as the CCAA was closed for at least a day or two because of the Olympics (and work was likely slowed for more than that). The speed with which they arrived is also encouraging - 22 days in between batches means that even if they continue with small batches, an extra batch or two for the year would be a bit of a speed-up. And 4 business days certainly isn't the smallest batch we've seen. So, not such horrible news.

Other than worrying a little if they would impact our already slow adoption process, I loved every second of the Olympics. Chris and I stayed up way too late to watch the live events the first week (yes, it was 2 am before I went to bed more than one night!). And thanks to the magic of tivo (and a day of temping at an office that had MSNBC on next to my desk all day), I watched it ALL the time. I saw nearly every sport, watched every preliminary heat of the swimming events, and am still humming the music they played while they handed out the medals. (a side note - did you notice how the girls holding the medals looked the same at every site? They practiced for SIX months to look like that!) I was fascinated by the fact that Michael Phelps was front page news here every day while he was swimming, but in China he was a secondary news story. (and yes, I became an even bigger "Phelps Phan" than I was before!) It was amazing to see the different venues in China, and it was really nice for me to see the beauty of China without thinking about the excruciatingly long wait. (especially during the road races - I can't wait to see all those sites!) I'm sad that they are over, but glad to be getting back to a normal sleep schedule, and hope that the CCAA gets back to normal too.

Happy August!

2008-08-21T16:02:00.004-04:00

Well, after much struggling with blogger, I am back in the blogging world. Not quite sure what made blogger think that an occasionally updated blog about the trials and tribulations of our adoption was spam, but maybe it is just as frustrated with the wait as we are.

Speaking of the wait...we are a whopping 5 steps closer this month. The CCAA referred through January 31, 2006. To put it in perspective, when we sent our dossier to China at the end of March 2006, they were working on referrals for March 2005. So in nearly 2 1/2 years, they have gotten through 10 months of dossiers. Crazy, isn't it? To give you a sense of how things have been going, take a look at this chart:

When referrals were released	Dossier registration dates of families that received referrals	Total time covered by the group of referrals
August, 2008	1/26/06 through 1/31/06	5 days (4 business days)
July, 2008	1/21/06 through 1/25/06	5 days (3 business days)
June, 2008	1/13/06 through 1/20/06	8 days (6 business days)
May, 2008	1/10/06 through 1/12/06	3 days (3 business days)
April, 2008	1/5/06 through 1/9/06	5 days (3 business days)
March, 2008	12/28/05 through 1/4/06	8 days (5 business days)
February, 2008	12/20/05 through 12/27/05	8 days (6 business days)
January, 2008	12/15/05 through 12/19/05	5 days (3 business days)
December, 2007	12/9/05 through 12/14/05	6 days (4 business days)
November, 2007	12/1/05 through 12/8/05	8 days (6 business days)
October, 2007	11/26/05 through 11/30/05	6 days (3 business days)
September, 2007	11/22/05 through 11/25/05	4 days (4 business days)

(taken from the Pearl S. Buck newsletter)

The good news is that there was a batch at all - there were some who worried that there wouldn't be an August batch because of the Olympics. And I think that the September batch will be equally small for the same reason. But who knows. Things could stay at the snail's pace that we've become accustomed to, or they could speed up at any time. Just keep your fingers crossed for the speed up.

Other than not-very-patiently waiting, we've been doing well. I am a HUGE fan of the Olympics, so I haven't slept much since they started. How can you not stay up till 2 in the morning to watch Michael Phelps and live gymnastics finals? Ok, I guess you could just go to sleep, but what's the fun in that? :) We didn't go on a big vacation this year. We were hoping to go see my family in Boston, but we have postponed the trip for awhile since things are crazy at work for Chris. And in July we went to Williamsburg for three days for our anniversary. Sure, it rained the entire day we were at Busch Gardens, but a rainy day at the amusement park beats a sunny day at home! :) The biggest news of all is that we have a new nephew - Evan Christopher - who was born last month. Anyone who knows us knows that being an aunt & uncle is one of our favorite things in the world, so a new nephew is phenomenal! We can't wait to go to California to meet him!

Am I back?

2008-08-05T16:23:00.000-04:00

This is really just a test-post. Blogger flagged our blog as possible spam, and I've been locked out for awhile. Hopefully this works, and I can post our latest "we have no news" update later...:)

Well, That's Strange...

2008-06-27T17:51:00.002-04:00

So, I've clearly had a LOT of time on my hands while we've been waiting. As I sometimes joke, it's a good thing I didn't quit my job...oh...wait... Anyways, one of the many things I've tried to fill my time is writing. I did some freelance work last year (writing web content), I've been doing some shorter freelance stuff lately, and took the big plunge today sending out a manuscript for my first picture book to six unsuspecting publishers. Does this make me a writer? Who knows. But this little discovery might - I started to search for some of the articles I've written in the past year, and I actually found a couple. I'm not credited on any of them - the basic idea of the company I was writing for is that someone contracts them to provide them the writing for their website, and they, in turn, contract it out to their writers. I think that somewhere in my contract it might have even stated that I would receive no credit. I don't work for them anymore, so I don't think I'm violating anything by sharing these links. Anyways, some not so exciting articles that I wrote...
Finding a Beautiful Wedding Gown
Helicopter Skiing - The Ultimate Adventure Sport
The Best Scrapbooking Supplies (not really sure why they went with this title - oh well)
The Look of Modern Interior Design Are Clean Lines
Hopefully I'm not too far away from the day when I'll actually have my own bylines!

Yes, We're Still Here...Sort of...:)

2008-06-10T19:10:00.007-04:00

It should really come as a surprise to no one that I have been such a slacker in blogging. It's hard to keep writing that we know nothing. We still know nothing, but it seems as if there is a little teeny tiny bit of movement forward. Referrals for June landed this week, and they seem to cover till January 20, 2006. (though a couple of agencies think they go through January 22...it's really an inconsequential difference in number of referrals, though it would be nice to cross 2 more days off). So we know they got through at least 8 more days. If they continue to do 8 days a month (which they may or may not...things could stop in August for the Olympics, and will seem to speed up a little when they get to the February 2006 LIDs since there was a week with no LIDs due to Chinese New Year) we will see a referral in May 2009. Yikes. (though that's less than a year away - the first time we've seen that in awhile)

The good news is that we have been busy. Very busy. Probably too busy. But we've been having fun. We've been to a bunch of baseball games - a few at the new Nationals Stadium (pretty stadium, horrible to get to) and three in Baltimore to see the Red Sox. And we were lucky enough to be in Baltimore to see Manny Ramirez hit home run #500 (and #501 the next day!). Chris had the camera (since I knew I would be too excited) and got some great pictures of the event. We attended my dad's retirement reception which was really nice, and did Race for the Cure over the weekend in spite of the crazy heat. And we've been playing lots of softball too - our team is actually in first place right now (though who knows for how long!).

Some Cool Non-Adoption News

2008-05-02T14:35:00.003-04:00

So, for those of you who don't know, I LOVE to scrapbook. I'm a member of a couple of scrapbook groups, and my goal for this year is to be a published scrapbooker. Well, I'm pretty close! I was published this month on www.pagemaps.com - an extremely popular site for scrapbookers. It features sketches (or Page Maps) to help you plan your pages, and I created one of the samples this month. I'm pasting the screen shot below, but you can see the actual page at http://www.pagemaps.com/may08sidemaps.htm (scroll down...mine is the 6th one) or in the May newsletter (click on "May Newsletter" on the home page). I'm super excited about it, especially about the picture I used. It's of my grandma, my mom, me, and my sister, and it's one of my favorite pictures in years. (it was taken in 2004 at my sister's engagement party)

Two Years

2008-04-06T17:20:00.002-04:00

That's right - we have been waiting nearly two years. We sent our paperwork to China over two years ago (March 29, 2006) and we were logged in nearly two years ago on April 17, 2006. Never in a million years did I think we would still be waiting - in fact, I thought by this time we would be getting ready to send in the paperwork for a little sister.

There is a little bit of news - and I do mean a little. Referrals have started to arrive for April, so there are families who are starting to see their child's face for the first time - that's wonderful news. The not-so-wonderful news is that it looks like the cut-off date was January 9, 2006...4 measly days of LIDs. They're moving forward, and this batch is traditionally the smallest of the year, but still...it stinks. There are agencies who are saying that it will continue like this until the Olympics. This doesn't surprise me at all; I have felt for a long time that once we get past the Olympics things will get better. Hearing it from sources that are more "in the know" doesn't make it better, but it confirms my gut feelings. Hopefully the "post-Olympic" speed-up will be a big one.

In other news, I had a nice birthday. Chris took me out for Japanese food (YUM!) on my birthday, and my mom made me spaghetti & meatballs and a strawberry pie (my favorites!!) on Friday. And I got the most wonderful pictures from my niece Caroline! Last weekend we went into DC to see the Cherry Blossoms - I completely underestimated how crowded it would be, but it was BEAUTIFUL. And, of course, baseball season has started! The Nationals have a beautiful new park (which we will hopefully go to in the next week or two) and the Red Sox are defending World Champs - life is good! :)