2 year anniversary

Happy Anniversary!

It's been an interesting year. As I have said so many times before - Halle continues to grow and flourish. We are so fortunate. I look back at her referral pictures and see such a sad little girl. I'm happy to report that she is now a very happy girl, especially as we head into the last quarter as a 3 year old. (Whoever said terrible twos are the worst definitely didn't have a three year old at the time ;)

We continue to go to Chinese classes twice a month. We also belong to a play group that meets at least once a month. I'm not sure how much Halle is actually getting out of the class but it is nice that she gets to interact so much with other little girls and boys that are just like her. I think that can only be helpful as she grows older. It has also been very nice for me to make new friends and to be able to share the trials and tribulations of international adoption.

This fall has brought several changes for Halle. The most significant is that her "Cher" went off to college. I think that Halle actually faired a little better than Sami at the beginning. But boy we sure do miss her. We have been able to Skype several times although I'm not really sure Halle grasps the concept. The other big changes for Halle is that she started preschool and is also taking a pre-ballet class. She goes to preschool 2 mornings a week. She is doing fairly well at school. The last few sessions have brought a few tears but she promises me that she isn't going to cry anymore. She will cry for a few minutes when I leave but then is usually happily coloring before I leave the building. The pre-ballet class has been great. She LOVES to dance. I must say that is one of the highlights to my week. There are 6-10 little 3-5 year olds dancing around the room. She really loves it. Halle is also going to our friend's house again this year for one day a week. She gets to spend some time to play with her friends from last year and I get some work done.

As I mentioned earlier Sami is away at college now. She is at Ohio Northern University majoring in nursing. She seems to really love it although the thing she loves most now is soccer, not so much the classes! She has done an amazing job as a freshman on the field. She is the leading scorer for not only her team but for the whole conference! Her regular season is done with only the OAC tournament yet this week. Go Polar Bears.

Jacob is a sophomore in high school this year. He is also excelling in both his school work and on the soccer field. He was also one of the top scorers for his team. One of the exciting things for him at school this year is that he is taking Chinese. While he is struggling through it I think that it is going to be great if he can stick with it. He just changed into a different section where one of his friends who is Chinese is in the class and is helping him. The class is Chinese only with no English spoken. I know that is a successful way to teach in elementary but I'm not convinced it is the same with high school kids. He is also currently taking his driver's training classes so he will soon be able to drive himself to basketball practice when it starts next week!

Paul & I continue to merrily chase the kids around. It was lots of soccer this fall and I'm sure the same will be said for the upcoming basketball season. We celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary last month and feel very fortunate to not only have each other but 3 great kids as well. Life is good.

One year annivesary

One year ago today we became a family of 5. It's hard to believe how quickly the year has gone although on the other hand it's hard to remember what life was like without Halle. She is definitely the center of our household.

Halle continues to grow and thrive. She has lost much of her baby fat rolls and is getting much taller. Luckily she continues to be quite healthy so she hasn't been to the doctor to get measured. The last check she was in the 75th percentile for her height and weight which is huge for an asian baby. Most of the girls I have seen or read about are lucky to even hit the American growth charts.

Halle's vocabulary is unbelievable. She is still having problems pronouncing more than the first sylable but we can usually underestand what she is saying. She is stringing more and more words together too. And it's hard to remember the last time she didn't understand something we were trying to tell her.

We are currently going to Chinese school a couple of times a month. She seems to really enjoy it. There are 6-7 other little kids in the class. The class lasts for 35 minutes and consists of singing and dancing to Chinese nursery rhymems. The instructor gave us 2 CDs with the music on and we often play it while driving. At the end of the class in June will be a recital. I'm so looking forward to that. As she gets older she will be able to participate in more of the classes. They have dance and language and writing.

Halle started to go to daycare at one of our friends house 3 mornings a week. It is working out so well. I thought it would be a real struggle at the beginning but she didn't have any transition problems at all. She just went with the flow, as she ususally does. It gives me a nice break and helps me get some work done.

The big kids continue to be great with Halle. Sami, or Cher as Halle continues to call her, is still like a second mommy to her. They share quite a bond. I'm sure it will be a struggle for everyone when Sami goes away to college next year. Jacob has made great strides with Halle. They no longer have the love/hate relationship that they had when we came home last year. Halle's early interaction with Jacob was throwing blocks at him and running him over with the stroller. I think she thought she was supposed to beat up on him every time she saw him. Now they can play together very nicely. She loves to jump on the trampoline with Jacob. For awhile Jacob was the bath man too. I still can't convince him to put a diaper on her though:)

School is going very well for the big kids. Jacob is have a MUCH better year. He even brought home a report card with all A's, the first time since elementary! Sami's grades continue to be very good also. The big kids just completed fall soccer at school. They both did really well. Jacob made the JV A team and did a great job with the team. He was even selected to dress with the varsity during tournament time. He got to play in 2 of the games and was the sacrifical body drawing 2 red cards and a yellow card in the last game. Sami's highlight of a very difficult season was scoring the winning goal in the tournament game against Davidson. She also made first time all conference and 2nd team for the division. She was also in a 3 way tie for player of the year for her conference. While she didn't win, I think that is quite an accomplishment!

Foster mom

One of our travel mates found a person that lives in China that helps adoptive parents locate their child's foster mom. I thought it would be a good idea to get the information for Halle for when she is older.

The person that was written on the information we received from the SWI was incorrect. Bruce, through the help of his friend at the SWI, was able to find the correct person. I was a little leary but they did provide a picture of the foster mom holding Halle when she was about 9 months old.

The biggest question that we had was why Halle went back to the orphanage so much earlier than the other babies (April). The news that we got from the FM was that she didn't go back that early, she didn't go back until November. While I would like to believe that is true my instincts tell me it isn't. Halle is way too possessive of toys (she likes to sit on them when other kids are around). She also showed almost no emotion after being hurt. She could have a hard fall and jump right up like nothing happened. Now she has to have it kissed, medicine put on (usually pretend) and then she kisses it herself:)

We also received several pictures of the foster mom, her house and some of the city she lived in. Most of the answers we received were somewhat generic but I'm hopeful that all of this will be helpful to Halle when she gets older. One thing that was included was Halle's nickname. It is Zhi-Zhi. I'm probably pronouncing it wrong but when I say it to Halle she totally responds to it. She just started calling herself "Halla". But when I say Zhi-Zhi she immediately turns around and points to herself like she does when we say Halle. I'm reading an adoption book now that says it is very important to not wait until the children are older but to talk to them about their lives prior to the adoption as much as possible. I usually do it when I am rocking her with her bottle. She hasn't shown much interest in anything else I say but she definitely recognizes her name. The book also recommends having a group of 3 pictures (referral picture, first meeting and later at home) to use to talk to the kids about. I'm still working on that part - of course :)

6 months today!

I'm not sure what happened to month 5 or how I've let 2 months slip by since last posting!

But, today is our 6 month anniversary of receiving Halle. I know I must sound like a broken record but I must say she is an amazing little girl. Other than a few bad dreams and of course a few 2 year old temper tantrums she has transitioned, dare I say, perfectly. Her language skills continue to astound me. She is still having trouble pronouncing the whole word she knows which words to use and when. And she continues to pick up new words every day. It has been so fun to watch her little personality come to life.

One of our travel mates from our China trip recently found a person who was able to look up their child's foster mother. He was able to get a whole bunch of questions answered from the foster mom - first words, first teeth, favorite foods, other family members, as well as pictures of the family, their house and their village. I just contacted that person myself and he said that he has located Halle's foster mom. I'm very excited to be able to help find a few of the missing puzzle pieces that I'm sure will be quite important to Halle as she gets older.

We had our 6 month check up with our social worker this week. It went well. She thought that Halle was doing very well. Of course, I already knew that but it was nice to get it confirmed :) We are required by China to do a 6 month check up and a one year check up. The social worker asked a bunch of questions about Halle's transition and health. We also had to supply her with 4 pictures of Halle and one of the whole family.

Halle continues having a very strong bond with Sami. They still take a "tubtub" together almost every night. Their new activity is bouncing on the big trampoline in the backyard. You can hear them giggling a few houses away. Jacob is also developing a much stronger bond with Halle. It took awhile but it is definitely there. She gets upset when Jacob isn't around in the evening to give her a kiss goodnight. She has a ritual of kissing everyone goodnight while I make her bottle. She definitely notices if someone isn't there.

We just got back from Sami's friend's house. We were taking pictures of them for prom. She looked so grown up! Sami is continuing with her college search. She has 2 coaches that seem very interested in her. Unfortunately they are both smaller D3 schools so they are quite expensive. She is looking at Ohio Northern and Capital. Her first choice was Ohio Northern until we visited Capital. She thinks that her favorite will continue to be the one that she has visited last so Paul is looking for a cheap school to send her to for her last visit! While I would like her to go a little farther than Capital it sure would be nice to have her so close so I can watch her soccer games. She went to a tournament last weekend and it was very hard sending her off with a friend. As of now it looks like Sami will pursue nursing in college. She went on a field trip this week to a hospital and really enjoyed it.

Jacob is anxious to finish off this school year! Classes seem to be going a little better but this hasn't been his best year. Jacob is excelling in his sporting activities. He is currently playing 3 sports, more times that not 2 on the same day. He is playing volleyball for his school, club soccer and also subbing for a basketball team. Needless to say he doesn't have much downtime.

Paul's school kids took the OAT last week so hopefully the rest of the school year will be a little easier. They put so much pressure on the teachers to teach to that stupid test. He is held accountable for kids who don't care about it as well as their parents. There was a great analogy in the paper a year or so ago that I wish I would have kept. It likened it to a dentist being responsible for his patients cavities. He kept saying that he can't control the amount of sugar the kids eat or how often they brush their teeth. Same principles in my opinion.

My work is starting to pick up. It has been pretty slim pickings for many months. It's been nice having so much spare time with Halle but with our new "used" van payment and college looming in the not too distant future it has definitely been on my mind. Luckily one of the fringe benefits of getting Halle is that we're getting a HUGE income tax refund. We are using a majority of it to fund my IRA but hopefully we can finally get our kitchen finished with the rest of it. We haven't had any tile on our walls since before our China trip and the floor is starting to peel up. It is definitely time for a remodel.

I'm hoping to publish new pictures soon. We just bought a new camera that Sami took to prom tonight. I'll wait for those pictures.

4 months today

Today marks our 4 month anniversary of being a family of 5. My how our lives have changed - upside down, inside out and everything in between! I keep saying that I can't believe how time is flying by but the details of China seem to be getting fuzzier as the days pass. I've at least managed to put the bad details out of the forefront. I can finally say we've completely recovered from our various diseases - even Paul - finally!

Halle continues to thrive. She is quite the character. Her personality continues to evolve. She seems very happy to be a part of our family. I often wonder how much she remembers or thinks about her life before us. She doesn't seem to do as much jibber-jabbering in Chinese as she used to. I'm not sure if it because she is able to express herself in English or she is starting to forget her Chinese. It is probably a combination. It still makes me sad that she won't have any memory of her early life. We have 2 pictures of her from when she was a baby but that's not much. I've been reading articles written by adult adoptees and they often were quite troubled by their missing holes or missing branches from their family trees. I'm so thankful that Halle is doing so wonderfully now but I'm trying to be cautions and keeping an eye out for any attachment/abandonment issues.

Okay, on to the happier issues. Halle's vocabulary is great. I'm assuming she has close to 100 words now. Her favorite at the moment are "mine" and "no" courtesy of her favorite big brother. Can't blame that on the Whites like we did with Sami ;) She knows many body parts and animals. I've been working with her on colors but we haven't been to successful yet. She knows "O" and "H" as far as letters but that is it.

We bought her a cute little bike this weekend. It's a little too cold outside to use it much but Paul has taken her out a few times. She seems to like it. She is also starting to use the trampoline a little more now too - I guess we just had to take down the protective netting to get her interested in it!

February was a blur for me. I had 2 really big projects to work on. While it was nice to be working (and earning) it was a little more than I would prefer. Luckily Grandma was available and helped out with Halle a ton! Halle has really taken to Grandma and didn't seem bothered in the least when I had to go work.

Sami continues working hard toward her goal of playing soccer in college. She is practicing with her team twice a week and lifting several days a week at the Y. She just got her first ACT test scores back and is pleased with a 25. She has some kind of soccer preview this weekend where coaches are coming from around the state to watch girls scrimmage. We're not sure what to expect from this. Her exciting thing is her first official college visit next weekend. We are going to Ohio Northern. We will be meeting with the financial aid people, someone from the school of nursing and the soccer coach. She is very interested in this college but unfortunately it is VERY expensive. Bottom line is that the soccer coach is going to have to dig very deep with scholarship money in order for her to attend there.

Jacob is between sports now. He finished his club volleyball yesterday - thank goodness! We learned our lesson about making him do something that he doesn't want to do. He starts club soccer and school volleyball next week; not too much of a break. School doesn't seem to be his favorite thing this year. He is already counting the days/weeks until school is out for the summer.

Happy Birthday Halle - part 2

I've got to learn to post when I write these and not wait until I have time to upload the pictures. Here is a post I wrote a ways back. Sorry it is so late getting posted. Luckily I've had several work projects that have been keeping me busier than I would like but I'm not complaining about that now! Anyway, enjoy the old news. I'll post new info and pictures next week when I get a minute.

We kept Halle's birthday pretty low key this year. For one thing she really doesn't understand it. On top of that we had a major snow/ice storm so the schools were closed on her birthday and the next day. And the final blow was that Paul broke is toe the day before. We had planned on taking her to Chuckie Cheese for the first time. Instead we got take out Chinese food. That way we took care of the Chinese New Year too :) We blew up a few balloons that she enjoyed playing with. We also had a cake with 2 candles. She seemed to understand about blowing out the candles and she was able to with a little help from Mommy & Sami.

With all the snow we received everyone has had fun times playing in it. Keisha still loves it the most though. Kitty even likes to go out and play. Halle is outside now playing with Grandma. It's a nice sunny day here, although it is still chilly. She doesn't seem to mind the cold too much. I'm sure it corresponds to her high tolerance of pain - unless she is really uncomfortable she just goes with the flow. Grandma and I took Halle to the park yesterday. Halle really enjoys the swings. She likes to put her head back and look up at the sky. She also enjoys trying to get/kick me when she swings up. She will get a great big belly laugh when I act like she pushed me. I guess that sick Atkinson humor has already rubbed off on her.

Halle had her 2 year check up on Friday. The doctor said she is doing remarkably well. She is in the 69% percentile for height and 71% for weight. She's a big girl. Just ask my back muscles! The doctor wanted to give her 8 shots. I thought that was a little much. We decided on 4 shots that day and 3 shots next month. She did really well. I think the nurse did a great job. I thought she had just done one when she said she had already done all of them. Similar to the big kids, I had to fight back my own tears. It is such a helpless feeling. Halle did great and only cried for a minute. After that we ran errands. She fell asleep after the bank and slept through getting in and out of her car seat at 3 other stops.

The doctor asked how her language was progressing. I guessed that she was saying 30-40 words. He thought that was great and said that 2 1/2 years old most kids will say that many with the parents understanding 50% of them. For kicks Grandma & I started a list of her words to see how many she actually had. We are past 40 now. Yes, I'm going to list them all to have a permanent record!

We went to the gym at the community center again this morning. She really seemed to have fun. She seems to be doing a little better about not hoarding all the toys. There are only a few other kids around so it is a good chance to get just a little interaction but not overwhelming or intense.

Jacob had another volleyball tournament in Dayton on Sunday that I took him to. We had to leave at 5:50am. Way too early in my book! While Jacob isn't too thrilled with it all he seemed to have fun and his skills are really improving.

Sami is working hard conditioning for soccer. She is going to the Y almost every day after school lifting weights. She also has conditioning with her club team 2 days a week and usually an indoor game once a week too. She is taking the ACT for the first time this weekend so she is going to review sessions at school. Hopefully she can earn some scholarship money through her academics and sports considering her 401b plan lost about a third of its value last check and I'm sure it is even more now!

Happy Birthday Halle - part 1

Okay - I started this post last week. So I don't have to completely start over I'll just make it into 2 separate posts...

I can't believe it has been a whole month since my last post and next week will mark our 3 month anniversary of having Halle. Time sure is flying!

All the holidays/time off school are behind us. Halle and I are finally starting to get into a routine. Good news/bad news on my work - good news is that it has been pretty sparse so Halle and I are getting to spend lots of time together. Bad news is that I'm not doing much to contribute to the family's bank account. This is typically my slow period so I'm trying not to get too worried about what the economy is doing to my livelihood at this point. I'm hoping that the t-shirt end of things will be picking up shortly with the upcoming school spring sports. And luckily Paul has one of the most stable jobs in the country right now.

So, Halle and I are trying to keep busy. We went to the library story time last week and plan to make it a weekly event. It was the second time we went. This time was much better. It was for toddlers. The first one we went to was for preschoolers and she was a little overwhelmed. There is singing, story telling and book reading. I think she spent more time looking around at the other kids to see what they were doing than she did participating with the leader. Today we went to open gym at our community center. They had mats out, a few riding cars, blocks, tunnels and lots of balls. She seemed to enjoy it. She is still anxious when other kids get near the toys she "was" playing with. Once she touches something, it's hers. It seems to be getting better but there is still the orphanage mentality that it's mine and you can't have it. I'm hoping that these two activities will get her more exposure to other kids and help elevate those fears.

I'm trying to put off finding permanent day care until after spring break. At first it was after the holidays but with my work being slow I'm thankful to have the extra time with her now. I'm still not sure what we are going to do yet. Best case scenario would probably be a few mornings a week. That would give me time to get a few hours of work done in the morning and then she could come home for lunch and a nap. I guess I'll put that on my list of things to worry about tomorrow :0

Halle's vocabulary continues to increase daily. She's got so many words I can't count them now. Her best pronounced word is Keisha and it is usually done in a yell. Mirrored behavior?? She still hasn't given a name to Sami yet and she won't say her name either. She usually calls herself baby if she sees a picture of herself or looks in the mirror.

Monday was Chinese New Year. We didn't do anything to celebrate it this year. I'm sure we will do something next year when she can understand some of it.

Happy Holidays!

We had a great Christmas day yesterday. It was nice to be home and not traveling on Christmas. While we missed seeing our extended family it was very nice to have a quiet first Christmas home with Halle. I don't think she realized anything was too different from an ordinary day. She got a Dora kitchen set that she saw first and didn't really get into the other presents. She helped open a few but I still don't think she got it. We didn't try to introduce her to Santa partly due to time, not wanting to mess with the crowds at the mall and mostly because I think she would have been terrified. She was saying ho, ho, ho when she saw pictures of him and trying to say Merry Christmas but I think only a loving parent would be able to recognize it :) Halle also received a miniature trampoline that Paul & Jacob set up in the basement. She seems to be enjoying it. The weight limit is 100 pounds so none of us can demonstrate it for her! The big kids did fairly well considering it was supposed to be a smaller Christmas due to the trip to China. I'm afraid Jacob was a little less than thrilled with all the clothes he received. He is growing so fast that he is outgrowing everything. He and Paul are going to see the Buckeye's basketball game tomorrow so hopefully that will make up for the socks and at least I didn't buy him any underwear!

Halle's vocabulary continues to increase every day. She is starting to put together simple sentences now. She says good girl to herself and the dog quite a bit. Yesterday she didn't really take a normal nap so around 4:30 she was tired. She was trying to tell me something but I couldn't tell if she wanted to go to the bathroom or she wanted a bottle. We walked into the kitchen and an old bottle was sitting there. She pointed to it and said - there it is!

Her favorite activity continues to be dancing. She knows how to turn the radio on and will start waving her hands. Now she has added a pretty cute bottom wiggle too :) She's still not too interested in books I'm afraid. I'm trying to get her to look at them when she is sitting on the potty - a very long process sometimes so I've got a captive audience! She loves her cartoons. The Noggin Channel is very good. They have lots of singing and dancing. Most of them are above her level but she definitely gets her groove on with some of them. They even have a new cartoon out about a little Chinese girl. The show incorporates words in Chinese. I've only seen it a few times. I hope it catches on more.

We are hoping to get to the zoo to see all the lights. Unfortunately it has been too cold. Today it has finally warmed up but now we are getting a ton of rain. It was even thundering today much to Keisha's dismay.

We are heading to Elyria for a late Christmas dinner with Paul's siblings. It will be nice to see everyone and introduce them to Halle. With all the cousins it should be quite a gathering. I wish we lived closer to everyone so we could see them more often.

Home for a month

Hi,

It's been so long since I posted and so much has happened I don't know where to begin. We've been home for a little over a month. It is amazing how far Halle has come. She is starting to settle into a semi routine sleep wise. She is only taking one nap a day for a little over an hour. When I'm lucky and catch her right when she is waking up I can usually rock her back to sleep for about half an hour more. Luckily she has an early bed time. We get in the "tub tub" around 7:15 and she is usually asleep by 8:00. We've started with a lotion rub down after her bath due to her very dry skin. She seems to really enjoy that and her skin seems much better.

We went to Children's International Adoption Clinic on Friday and Monday. So far she has gotten great reports. We met with a doctor, nutritionist, physical therapist, audiologist, psychologist and had blood drawn and gave 2 lovely stool samples. All the doctors think she is doing great. I have to agree. Her vocabulary is increasing daily. But what amazes me is how much she comprehends.
Last week was a struggle. Paul's first week back to work and I had a big work project and a sweats order. Grandma Sue came for a few days to help out. She and Halle did great for the first hour or so and then she only wanted Mommy. I'm finally becoming the preferred one although whenever Sami or Paul spend time with her it's all them - love the one your with is her philosophy. It was a struggle to try to get all the work done. Luckily I had a very understanding client and a great big kid. Sami gets home from school a little after 1:00. I don't know what I'd do without her help! Everyone said that sometimes "the wait" was because the perfect child wasn't ready for our family yet. While I tend to agree that Halle is the perfect child for us, what I think now is that the wait was necessary for Sami & Jacob to grow up. If we would have gotten Halle 3 years ago Sami & Jake would be 3 years younger and in much more need of mommy time. They wouldn't have gone with us to China which would have been a travesty. I keep saying it was an amazing adventure but that of course is an understatement. It is hard to describe it. Now it seems almost like a dream. I feel bad that I'm not spending as much time with the big kids but Halle takes up so much time. I get to see Sami more because she is home more in the afternoon. It's Jacob that I worry about most. We talked briefly about it the other day but I'm sure he feels left out. Hopefully we can have some good quality family time together over Christmas break.

Jacob has his first basketball game on Saturday. He is playing in the community recreation league. It seems funny that both kids aren't at basketball practice and/or games every day. It has been great for me that it means I'm not running every where every day with Halle in tow but we do miss the games, especially Paul. Jacob is also playing on a club volleyball team. They practice twice a week and have tournaments. I think that will be kicking into full swing in January. Sami has her soccer practice twice a week and she is hopeful to play on an indoor team in January. I think January is going to be a blur.

We had a very nice visit with Paul's sister and nephew and his family (Linda, Johnny, Erin and Lauren). Lauren just turned one year old last month. Halle was definitely territorial with her toys, especially the stuffed dog they brought her. She put all of her toy's on her lap or behind me. When the baby came near she would cry and try to gather all the toys. I'm guessing she had to fight for what was hers in the orphanage. That makes me so sad to think about. By the end of the visit she was offering her toys to Lauren so it seems she is starting to understand the sharing phenomena.

Last weekend we went to Westlake for Christmas with my whole family. My dad and step mom flew up from Florida for the gathering so almost all the gang was there. The only one missing was my nephew Gary who lives in California. I think that made 27 in total. It was a nice chance for most of my family to met Halle. We had planned for her to nap on the trip up. Unfortunately she had other plans and decided to fall asleep 2 minutes from home when she was coming home from shopping with Paul & Sami. We couldn't wake her up until just before we left. She did pretty well on the trip, just a few minutes of all out screaming. Paul has taught her that gummy bears come out of her ear and that seems to be her best treat that helps settle her down. Halle did amazingly well considering so many new faces were so eager to meet her. She had a good time rolling around the floor with her cousin Blake that had just turned 10 the day before. She loved the swimming pool. It was so warm that I even got in and enjoyed it. Halle had fun swimming with many of the teenage cousins.

It has been an incredible month. Never a dull moment in our household any more and I wouldn't change a thing! I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful family.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We have so much to be thankful for this year! It is still hard to believe we are a family of 5 now. I keep thinking that maybe all this has just been a dream. It does seem like a dream in a way. Halle is doing wonderfully. Sure, we have some rough times but all in all she is doing great. She is such a character she just makes me smile so much. She has the best belly laugh and little personality that is to die for.

She is spreading out her affection to the whole family now. Sami is probably still The Chosen One but Daddy is the only one that can put her down for a nap. She and I have had some good play times together at the park. She likes the slide and the swings. Jacob's time with her is when she is taking a bath. She is starting to call for him now when she goes in.

Halle's English is picking up a little. She has added kitty and goodbye to her vocabulary the last few days. When we went on a walk today she waved at every car that went by and said goodbye. She continues to pick up new words every day. She still does a lot of Chinese jibber jabbering through.

She loves to dance. Whenever there is any music on TV or the radio she is up swinging her hands and tapping her feet. We may need to do that for exercise purposes if she continues to eat the way she has been. We call her our little Buddha Baby due to her quite large tummy. She eats almost everything in sight. I'm a little concerned about it. I've heard lots of stories about adopted kids hording their food. We have our big work up with the International Adoption clinic at Children's Hospital on the 12th so hopefully they can give us some answers.

Halle's pediatrician said it would take about 13 days to recover from the jet lag. Today is day 13! I feel like we are all pretty much back to normal. We still haven't gotten into any type of routine yet. The last 2 days she has only taken 1 nap but she has gone down for the night at 8:00 so I think I could live with that. Again, we are just trying to figure things out on the fly. It's hard to remember what kind of nap schedule the big kids were on because it was sooo long ago :) It's past my bedtime now so I'll wrap it up now. I hope to have all the pictures transferred over to the PC this weekend so I'll post new pictures then.

We are so thankful for all our friends and family. We couldn't have done this without you!

Settling in

I can't believe we have been home for 10 days already! Things are going remarkably well. When Halle walked in our front door she just walked in like she had always lived here. She wasn't at all afraid of Keisha. Keisha is a little jealous but also doing well. She has discovered the treats that Halle leaves in her highchair when she is done eating. The cats don't have it quite as good. Halle likes to pull their tails! Needless to say they have been lying low.

I'm happy to report that we are all pretty much healthy now. Paul still has a cold. Halle is finishing up her antibiotics and I am over my stomach crud, just trying to regain my strength now. We are all also adjusting to the time change. The big kids really had it rough last week. They were getting up between 12-2am, doing homework and then going to a full day of school. It was a good chance to catch up on some of their homework but I'm sure they would have preferred to do it during daylight hours!

The Chosen One is loosing some of her status because of school. I became The Acceptable One the first few days but I too am moving down the list. Paul and Halle are starting to bond nicely now. As I start doing more work Paul has become The Go To Guy. He is enjoying spending time with Halle down the basement. They like to play air hockey together. Our neighbors just gave us a big plastic slide that we have down there now too that Halle plays on. Jacob, while remaining nameless, still gets a huge smile from Halle when he comes into the room, especially when he gets home from school.

Grandma Sue came down for the second time. She has been a great help shopping, cooking and doing a gazillion loads of laundry. She is planning on coming back in December when Paul needs to go back to work and I have a big project coming.

We are starting to get the chance to introduce Halle to our friends/neighbors. After being couped up in the house from sickness and jet lag it is nice to get the chance to see some familiar faces. We took Halle for a walk yesterday. It was cold but the sun was shining and it was nice to be outside. We saw several neighbors. I took Jacob to a volleyball practice and then Halle & I went to visit the Culley's. Halle is doing great with the car seat. I was worried it would be a struggle but she doesn't seem to mind it too much. She even sat in it with no one sitting next to her. I just put the mirror down and we played peek-a-boo on the way home.

Cousin Cassie came down to Columbus to see some friends and stopped over for a visit. Halle warmed up to her very quickly. So much in fact that when she bumped her head she didn't want me or Sami, she wanted Cassie! Aunt Kathy & Uncle Gary also came down to watch the OSU vs. MU game - go BUCKS - and had a nice visit.

I'm sorry to say that we don't have any school basketball games to go to this year. Sami has decided not to play and to focus on soccer instead. She is in a tournament next weekend, yes outdoors! The coach from Kent State is coming to watch her so we are pretty excited about that. It is a showcase for college coaches so I'm hopeful others will be watching too. Kent is high on her list right now because they have their own bathrooms :) Jacob is going to play in the community basketball league this year. He may also be playing on a travel volleyball team. We are trying to work out those details now.

We made it

After 30+ hours we made it home. Halle did well. She had about a 2 hour nap earlier in the flight and then sleep the last almost 6 hours of the long leg. I stood in the bathroom on the plane to get her to sleep. I felt bad having her scream while others were trying to sleep so we just hung out in the port-a-potty :)

Our flight from Newark to Columbus was cancelled so we had to wait almost 4 hours until the next flight. We got in around midnight. Grandma Sue made scrambled eggs for us. My first real food in 3 days. It sure tasted good. The scrambled eggs there weren't so good in China.

Sami & Paul are at the doctors. Paul for strep and Sami may have pink eye. Jacob is headed to a friends to watch the Buckeyes. I'm hopeful that Halle and I can have a nice long nap. She didn't have a very good first night. We didn't go to bed until after 2:00 and then she didn't want to sleep in the crib. I was so tired I brought her in bed with me twice.

Thanks for all the comments. We enjoyed having a little news from home. Can't wait to see everyone.

Final days

Hi, sorry I'm behind in posting. The stomach crud really got to me and I was down and out today. We had a great trip to the zoo yesterday and took our oath at the US Consulate today. We leave at 5:50am tomorrow so I'm trying to get everything organized.

I'll add details of the last 2 days when we get home. Wish us luck on our final journey home. I'm afraid it is going to be a doozie!

Happy birthday to Becky & belated birthday to Tommy.

Love to all. Can't wait to see everyone.

Guangzhou-11/11

Today was a turning point for Halle I think. She is really starting to open up to us, even to those lower on the totem pole. She would run to us and give us hugs. She is starting to give kisses. She is also getting much more vocal. She babbles a lot in Chinese. I wish I knew what she was saying, maybe it is just baby talk, we'll never know. She also sings at times. She is starting to mimic English words now too. She has said Mama, Daddy, I see, thank you and goodbye (after hearing it when we sign off from AOL :)

Today we had Halle's physical exam. Nothing too complicated. The ENT doctor played a note on a toy keyboard. She turned her head to see it so that means her hearing is fine. They tried to look into her mouth but I don't think they got a good look because she just bit down - hard - on the tongue depressor. The doctor even laughed. They also weighed her, measured her height and looked at her body. As I said, nothing too advanced. We'll save all the fun stuff for home.

We also went to the pearl market. We took taxis. That was an adventure. Paul tipped the driver $5 US for getting us there alive. To get to the market we had to walk through a 6 story mall. It was huge. I would have liked to spend more time there but we just headed for the pearls. The area was very busy with lots of people around. When we first got to the square there were 3 other families in our group. People stood around us and were just staring. They sort of circled us. It was a weird feeling. Now I know what the zoo animals feel like! Our guide said we were starting to cause too much attention and moved us on.

After shopping we went to McDonald's. Jacob was very excited to get a quarter-pounder. Halle & I shared an ice cream cone. As you can see she enjoyed it. When we got home we took Halle to the play room again. She is opening up more with the other babies too, although it looks like she is going to be the brute. She is much bigger than all the other babies in our group. She will give another baby a block and then another one and then want the first one back :)

We went for a walk around the island at night. It is so beautiful here. The weather has been perfect. Halle fell asleep while we were walking so I was afraid she would be up all night but she did fine. She even let me put her to bed when Sami was in the same room. As I said earlier, it was a good day!

Guangzhou - 11/10

Today we went on an optional trip that included vi sting the Six Banyan Pagoda. It is a Buddhist temple. At the entrance there was there was a statue that you try to throw money through a hole. If you get it in and then go around and touch the 6 dragon's heads it will bring you good fortune. Jacob and I are going to be very fortunate this year (hopefully :) Inside there were 3 bronze Buddhas that were 6 meters tall. They were huge! We were blessed then by a monk. There were several other Buddhas in other buildings too.

We then went to the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum. It had some beautiful pieces of art work. My favorites were the carvings in ivory and camel bones. The detail is incredible. From there we went to a government run shopping center so no bargaining there. The prices weren't very good so we didn't buy much there. We did watch a young man create some really neat pictures using different parts of his hand. We bought two bookmarks of his work.

For dinner Jacob, Halle & I went for the American food again and went to Lucy's. Paul and Sami went with several of the other group members to a Thai restaurant and had a really good meal.

Guangzhou - 11/9

We are very happy to be in Guangzhou! The sun is shining and it is a much "cleaner" area and they have American food! The hotel is beautiful. There is a 2-story high waterfall on the first floor with lots of coy fish swimming through a beautiful fountain/pond area. The rooms are nice. We even have adjoining rooms with the kids now. It is much more convenient than walking down the hallway. My only complaint is the bed. It is so hard and the pillows aren't much better. I woke up today with a very sore neck. I'm not sure if it is because of that or because I am finally able to hold/carry Halle when The Chosen One isn't around :)

Halle had a really good day - all but an hour or so she was great. Jacob & I had a great time with her pushing her stroller around the hotel hallways. She was pushing the stroller, barely able to see over the top of it and running into Jacob. Jacob would act like she hit him and fall down. Halle was laughing and squealing like you would not believe. Several people came out to the hallway to see what was going on. Two of the younger brothers of another family in our group took part in the fun.

Paul took lots of walks yesterday - one with Sami, one with Jacob and one with all of us. He saw several people doing Tai Chi. He also saw some older people playing a hackie-sack type game and said they were really good.

One of the places we walked to was a nice little courtyard/play area for an elementary school. Again, it is a beautiful place. We saw probably 6-7 brides getting their picture taken in the park. Paul keeps saying they must hide the ugly people in China because everyone we see is so good looking.

I had to fill out all of our American paperwork to get Halle's visa. That took over an hour. I think we are finally about done with that though.

We had a low key evening. Paul fell asleep before dinner. Halle had a melt down around 5:00 so after Sami finally got her to sleep Jacob and I went to Lucy's for take out. After dinner Jacob & I took Halle down to the playroom. It was really nice. It is sponsored by Mattel. There were several push toys and riding toys that Halle liked.

Halle's first plane ride...

and she slept right through it. We are definitely hoping that is a good sign for our long, long, long ride home :) She was sitting on Sami's lap, of course. She was trying to look out the window as we were taxiing. When the engines flared up she just leaned back against Sami and didn't make a peep. She fell asleep quickly after that and slept until we landed.

We were very excited to see the sun when we landed in Guangzhou. We haven't seen it for 8 days now! We got to the hotel around 5:00 and ordered Papa John's pizza for dinner. It wasn't the same but it sure was a nice change of pace. I've been having some stomach problems and am glad I brought along 5 boxes of Pepto :) I should have just started eating them after every meal as orginially planned. I'll probably start that now. I'm sure (hopeful at least) that I've lost quite a bit of weight.

After dinner we went for a walk around the hotel to do a little exporing and to get some snacks and water. There is a 7-11 across the street! The scenery is just beautiful here. We are on an island so the view from our hotel room is looking down to the river. Everything is lit up with all different colors of lights. There were a ton of boats that look like cruise ships. I'm hopeful we can do something like that. They also have some very nice gardens along the river by our hotel.

Nanchang 11/7

Another rainy day. I need to start apologizing to my fellow group members about bringing the Atkinson/Ely/White vacation curse along with me! It has been so gloomy here and on top of the depressed living conditions and being trapped in a small hotel room we sure are ready for a change.

We went to the porcelain market today. We saw lots of beautiful pieces of artwork. Too bad we have to worry about things breaking otherwise I would be bringing a ton of it home. We had to skip the zoo due to the weather. We had another group dinner. Jacob is amazing with the chop sticks. He and one of the other dads had a contest to see who could eat the entire dinner with using only the chop sticks. They both did it! They also both ate peppers thinking they were green beans. I guess they were pretty hot as you could see by their red faces.

Sami continues to be The Chosen One although I feel I am making good progress. As long as Sami isn't around Halle is doing well with me. She's got the cutest/devilest squeal you have ever heard. The big kids can really get her going.

We leave for Guangzhou in the morning. We are definitely looking for a change of scenery and the weather is supposed to be much nicer.

Nanchang 11/6

Finally a day with no rain :) Halle woke up without much of a fuse and seemed pretty happy. We had a nice big breakfast. We started putting Halle in a highchair and she is basically feeding herself. It can get a little messy when she eats her congee (rice & water). She has started to feed all of us too - lots of ABC food - but they say it is a good sign towards bonding.

We had a great visit to the Prince Teng Pavilion. It was an awesome sight. The temple is 6 stories high and is spectacular. There are several other buildings and nice grounds surrounding it with lots of bronze art pieces. You'd love it mom! We started at 6th floor with a short show. It had singing, fan dancing and a musical instruments piece. Halle was mesmerized with it. She even stopped eating her Cheerios which is significant. We put them in a little red purse to make it a game. She likes to dig them out. Her fine motor skills are much better than I had expected them to be.

We continued down the Pavilion stopping at every floor to see the different art work. Each floor had little shops with souvenirs. We bought a couple things. The guide said we should haggle/barter over the price but Jacob didn't think we should. On the bus ride over they told us how much the average person living in Nanchang makes - about 1150 RMB or about 170 US dollars a month. He said it didn't seem fair to ask them to sell their things for less when it only amounted to a dollar or so to us. Aunt Kathy will be glad to know that she will have something in common with her niece - she was born in the year of the pig!

Sami continues to be the Chosen One of the day. She definitely received her workout for the day climbing all the steps while carrying Halle.

After the Pavilion we walked over to have another family style lunch with all the food on a big lazy Susan in the middle. We all really enjoyed the lunch. When we were leaving the restaurant there were lots of big tanks with live fish, crabs and shrimp in them that you could pick out for your meal. I'm glad our lunch was picked for us and not currently in the "living state" when we arrived.

We didn't do too much in the evening. We mainly hung out in the room and went up to the 11th floor for a little while for Halle to run around. I had everyone leave the room while I gave Halle a bath and put her to bed. We did well.

Today is a trip to the zoo and a porcelain market. We are looking forward to that. Take care everyone. We miss you!

Nanchang - 11/5

Yea to the election results!!!!

Today was another rainy day. We have yet to see the sun since we left Columbus. It rained most of the day and we are getting cabin fever. We went for a short walk and even crossed the street! We just got in the middle of a group of people and dodged the oncoming traffic with them. There are lots of bakeries, produce and flower shops. We saw the first chicken feet in a deli sort of shop. It was hard to determine what the other meats were. It's amazing people can earn a living in their little shops. We were out in the afternoon so we saw lots of children. Most of them said hello. We continue to get lots of stares. Paul was told he was very handsome today. After that and the free beer at the buffet he said he may not want to leave here. Seriously though, we are all ready to come home and we still have over a week left. We are hopeful that the next city will have more to do close to the hotel.

We tried to take Halle swimming today but she didn't like it. I wouldn't have blamed her because the water was really cold. Instead she sat on the side and played with her stacking cups like she does in the bath tub. She also had fun with the Cowen "miracle" bubbles :)

We found out that they have western food at the restaurant downstairs. We were pretty excited. We feel like we haven't had a full satisfying meal yet. The kids got cheeseburgers. I had a Hawaiian chicken salad and Paul got the Chinese buffet. Gail - he tried the octopus and wasn't too thrilled with it. It was on a stick. You could see the tentacles on it! I was going to get a chef salad until I saw that it was served with ox tongue ;)

We took Halle to the 11th floor again where there is a play area for the kids. Halle decided she has a new best friend and wouldn't leave Sami's side. She wouldn't even go to Paul. Sami gave her a bath again and put her to bed. I'm still hoping she will come around to me eventually. It is getting better. She will let me hold her if she is in the mood and she only pushed me away a few times today. I'm trying to give her space. It's just hard. There are several others in our group that are experiencing the same thing. From what others have said we definitely don't have it the worst. I'm just grateful that she has started to bond with at least one of us. Halle is the oldest of the 14 babies in our group. I'm sure it is harder for her. I think it would be easier if we could communicate using the same language but that too will get easier I'm sure. She said daddy today and Sami thinks she said ball too.