Five months at home

     Wow--Lily Kate has been a part of our family for five months now.  We are amazed at all the changes in her (and us as a family) since we first met her in China in early July.  She is such a sweet, vivacious, lively, happy, and beautiful little girl.  She fits into our family perfectly and we love watching her grow everyday.
     At the end of September, she had surgery to repair her cleft palette.  It was a huge surgery and we were thrilled with how little pain she had in the days after the surgery.  The biggest difficulty we all faced was that she could not eat any solids for three and a half weeks.  She could only eat what could fit into a syringe.  That was a very tough time for all of us but we made it through.  Basically--nobody ate in front of her.  Luckily, all the sacrifice was worth it because the palette healed great and she is beginning to talk, even in short phrases.  Her favorite thing to do is yell at the dog.  It was hard for her to form words prior to surgery because of the hole in the roof of her mouth.
     For Halloween, she was Little Red Riding Hood.  Drew was supposed to be the Wolf but whenever he put on his costume, Lily Kate cried.  It did not go over well.  She did, however, love the concept of Halloween.  She loved getting lots of candy!!!
    For Thanksgiving, we took Lily Kate on her first cruise.  She is beginning to get a little bossy and she thought she was in charge of the entire ship.  Her favorite thing to do was be in charge of the elevator doors, pressing the open and close buttons constantly, in between her six meals a day, of course-LOL.  All joking aside, she had a great time.  She even kissed a dolphin.
     We look forward to our first Christmas as a "party of five."  This past weekend we took her to see Santa.  She was so excited about the candy canes that she "forgot" to cry.  We could not ask for a better gift this year than our new daughter.  We look forward to seeing Christmas through her eyes.   Merry Christmas to all!!!!

New photos of Lily Kate her first month at home

I am finally updating!!!!!

     We have been home for about six weeks now and Lily Kate is definitely an Americanized little girl. She has adjusted extremely well and we definitely know that we got the best little girl China had to offer--LOL.    She is absolutely perfect.  She initially slept in a crib but after a few weeks she wanted to transition into her twin bed.  She had some trouble falling asleep initially and seemed to experience some night terrors.  She is doing much better now although she still is not a fan of going to bed.  She loves to eat and has gained 5 pounds since we got her.  She is beginning to get pickier as she gets more and more used to sugary American junk food.  She is still very tiny for her age--in about the 5th percentile but is beginning to catch up quickly.  She is a very friendly little girl.  She says hi and waves to everyone she sees.  She also loves to give everyone hugs and kisses.  We are afraid of how she may react when she is no longer the center of the universe.  We quickly got back into the routine of life when returning home. Most of you know how we travel so we quickly went on Lily Kate's first vacation.  It was to North Carolina where she met two aunts and uncles.   I went back to teaching at the start of the school year and she started in day care.  She has done great and really enjoys going to daycare.   On September 27th she will have her surgery to repair her cleft palate.  We are nervous about the surgery because she can't eat solids for 2-3 weeks after the surgery.  We are just praying it is a success.  She has a fairly large opening in her palette.  Thank you for all the cards, gifts,  and well wishes that have come our way the past month and a half.  We are so lucky to have all of you in our lives.  

Not easy getting home but we made it

    After we have had challenges on all of our flights this trip, we should have known that getting home would not be any easier.  Going to Beijing, we sat on the plane for over 3 hours before having to get off, switch planes and then finally begin our journey about 6 hours late.  Then our two in-China flights were delayed by several hours. SOOOO---when we took off on time from Hong Kong, I should have known things were too good to be true.  Lily Kate actually did fabulous all 16 hours on the plane, although she only slept for one hour.  There was too much to see and do.  She also kept anxiously waiting for her next meal to arrive.  She loves her food!!!!  We knew we had a 7 hour layover in Detroit but after 6 hours the Delta Representative said the plane was in the hangar and we would be delayed about an hour.  Remember--at this point none of us have slept in 25 hours.  The next announcement says it will be delayed an additional hour.  It is 9:00pm at this point (9:00 am China time) so our patience is shot.  Lily Kate is screaming because she wants to sleep.  We asked about a morning flight and found out a few seats were available on the morning flight.  We rushed to the "help" desk and got some of the last seats on the flight.  We then found a hotel and left the airport.  Thank goodness we did--the flight took off at 2:00AM and arrived in Tampa at 4:30AM.  Long story short, we got home yesterday afternoon and will spend today unwinding and unpacking.  Both sets of parents met us at the airport.  Thank you to those of you who left posters, signs and balloons for our homecoming.  We were SOOOOOO touched.  Now that we are home, I am finally able to read the blog.  China limits media greatly.  Thank you for so much support.   WE are extremely thankful to be home.  Please feel free to come and visit anytime.  We plan to be home a lot this week getting Lily into the swing of being home.  Also, she hates the carseat (stroller too) so we need to avoid it as much as possible right away.

Last China Post

Our journey to China is coming to a close.  We have felt so blessed--the six years of waiting have been so worth it.  We never would have dreamed that Abigail would be a teenager when we actually began our paperwork for this adoption in 2006.  A few years ago we somewhat nixed the idea because the wait was so long.  We now know that we were destined for Lily Kate!!!!!!  She is perfect for our family and we look forward to giving her a bright and happy future.  We do not look forward to the 15 hour plane ride from Hong Kong to Detroit though--yikes.........

      Yesterday, Lily Kate had all of her necessary paperwork in order for her US Consulate appointment (with a little help from mom and dad.)  Today we will get her visa and then she will have clearance to travel to the United States.  We took a group picture yesterday of all the children and their family members in the lobby of the hotel.  It was "great fun" trying to keep all the children focused while our reps tried to take pictures with 20 different cameras.  We then attempted a picture of just the children sitting on the step.  It was hysterical watching them.  Some (like Lily Kate) just sat on the step and watched all the screaming and commotion around them while others tried to run up and down the stairs.  It made for some great and memorable pictures. Several of us bought the authentic Chinese outfits and put them in for the pictures.  She will probably never wear it again but it was very cute.  

 

Last night we took Lily Kate swimming for the first time and she seemed to really enjoy it.  Last night after I brushed her teeth, I told Lily to show daddy her clean teeth.  Instead of walking to the bed where Dave was, she tried to open the hotel room door.  I opened it for her and she pressed the elevator button (we are right by the elevator.)  I laughed because we forget that as many times a day as we drill our names into her head, Chinese is still her language and most of what we say is jibberish to her.  Poor thing--she was pointing to her teeth and wanting to go down the elevator to go show someone her teeth.  She always smiles at us so we hope that  MAYBE she is understanding a word or two here or there.  LOL

  Tonight we take a van to Hong Kong.  It will take 3-5 hours, depending on traffic.  Then tomorrow we will begin our 24 hours of flying home.   Hong Kong is supposed

 to be an awesome city.  I am not sure how much of it we will get to see because we are only there for one night.  No biggie--we have been gone almost a month and are just ready to get home!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, this is funny.  We just checked into our flight and they changed Lily Kate's seat.  She is no longer sitting with the four of us but is several rows behind us.  She is traveling on her Chinese passport so her name is different.  The airline must have thought it was a person traveling alone because her name was different than the four of ours.  We will fix it at the airport but we thought it was funny.  Have a great day everyone!!!!!!!!!

In My Defense..........

According to Lily Kate's blog the other day, she told me to boil the water longer for the noodles.  That is not entirely true.  The pot actually whistled signaling that the water was boiled...apparently it went off prematurely.   I was SOOOOO sick for the past two and a half days but have returned to life now.  With a toddler--it is hard to be sick.  Probably half of those who come to China catch some type of stomach bug.  It is hard to avoid getting sick.

   

     It is really fun here in Guangzhou. Yesterday, we went shopping at a Pearl Market (yes-I just took lots of medicine) and went on a really fun dinner cruise down the Pearl River.  There was a man swimming in the river.  It reminded Dave and me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer goes swimming in the East River.  All the buildings along the river are lit up in beautiful colors at night.   Today we went to the zoo and went shopping on a local island.  Lily Kate loved feeding the giraffes.  It was a great day.

    

  Lily Kate is slowly getting used to us.  She is definitely going to rule the roost.  She is very defiant when she wants to be and will not give in when she does not want to do something.   It is cute to see her throw her little fits.  It is so hard to establish routine while in hotels so we cannot wait to get home and get her on a normal schedule.

    

 

 Speaking of home--tomorrow we have our US Consulate appointment to apply for her visa.  We receive her visa on Thursday and then leave Thursday for Hong Kong.  As long as everything goes as planned, we should be home with our little China doll on Saturday.  

     

As I have said before, I am so sorry we cannot respond to blog comments while here in China due to media restrictions.  Thank you to all of you for keeping our family in your thoughts.  We are enjoying our journey here but are ready to get home.  We cannot wait to sleep in our own beds!!!!!!

 

Lily's Turn To Blog

July 15, 2012
Good morning USA. Today I (Lily) have to write the blog for my mommy. I told her to boil the water longer on the noodles, but she would not listen to me. So somebody has to keep this blog going because she is sick. Today I had to get out of bed (not as easy as it looks) and go to breakfast. After breakfast I found more of these round objects on the counter (m&m's). I put one in my mouth and I had to keep going. Why was my mommy not giving these to me earlier in the week?

After my completion of these round objects I decided these people needed a tour of the town Guangzhou. It was bright out side so I had to put my shades on (picture). 

We started off going to a buddhist temple, not my favorite place to go (as the picture shows). This temple, I was told was very old (about 1450 years old). After the temple, we went to the house of Chen. The house of Chen was very hot. I asked mommy why they spent so much money to build a house without ac? Mommy and Daddy said the house had lots of interesting architecture (like what does that mean?). So after the hot house we finally went to a place with ac. This place with ac had lots of things to buy, So mommy got these slips and gave them to daddy. These slips did not seem to make daddy so happy because he had to stand in line and get this card out that looks like the room key. 

After this place with ac we returned to the hotel were I got my 3 hour nap. When I got up from my nap, I did not see mommy (Daddy tells me she was under the covers). Daddy, Abby, and Drew took me to McD's. I got my second hamburger this week. I am sure going to miss this place when I go to the USA. It is about time for me to go to bed so I hope mommy feels better tomorrow so she can take  over this blog again.