Labor Day Camping

We took Ella on her first "camping" trip last weekend. I use the term camping loosely...I'm sure some of you wouldn't call staying in a 27 foot camper that sleeps 7, has a fridge, microwave, stove, toilet, shower and tub camping! But it was a change from the cottage, and we were in a campground, so I'm calling it camping. This is the second Labor Day weekend camping trip we've taken with the same group. We borrowed the camper from some good friends...the sister of Ella's godfather.

The group we went with included 14 adults, 11 kids and 3 dogs. The kids ranged in age from 21 months (Ella) to 14 years old. Most of them fell in the 5 to 8 year old range. The campground was totally geared towards children, with plenty of activities. There was a bouncy-pillow, playground, plenty of strange-looking bikes of all sorts, mini-golf, swimming pool and swimming/fishing pond with inflatable obstacles. The kids participated in t-shirt decorating, a glow party and parade, magician's show and play-dough making. One of the dad's in the group organized a great scavenger hunt one evening that was a total hit.

Ella did awesome - better than I was expecting. She was laid-back and easy-going. She had a ton of fun (especially in the pool). She was a hit with all in the group, but I must say, the dogs won the popularity contest with all the little girls! The 8 girls were constantly walking the 3 dogs around the campground...to the point of exhaustion for our 12 & 14 year-old Springer Spaniels.

It was a great weekend, the weather was absolutely perfect for the first time this summer. The friends we went with were tons of fun, and all the kids got along wonderfully. We've already agreed to doing it again next Labor Day!

Mini-Reunion

We spent last weekend with Jason, Jen and Addison - our extended "China Family". Little Addison was Ella's orphanage "sister", and our families really enjoyed each others' company during our trip to China. We each had a free weekend, and decided to drive across our respective states and meet at a hotel. The setting was quite beautiful, along the Mississippi River, with cliffs and rolling hills everywhere. Unfortunately it rained the entire time we were there! So we didn't get to take advantage of the beautiful outdoors as much as we would have liked. Yup, being stuck in a hotel was definately reminiscent of our 2 weeks in China!

The girls were wonderful. Ella greeted Addison as she does other babies: a hug and either a kiss or on her way to a bite (I don't wait long enough to find out!). I don't think the girls remembered each other in case you are wondering. It was amazing to see how much each of them has grown in the 5 months we've been home: Addison has grown 4 inches, but not a lot of weight; Ella has grown 3 inches and 3 lbs.

Considering both girls had almost the same background for their first months of life, I would have thought they'd have very similar traits. But they are truly their own persons, and couldn't be further from opposite in many ways: one girl loves to look at books, the other only to eat them; one girl is wary of strangers, the other is a social butterfly; one is loud with random noises, the other is quiet but can definately communicate her wants; one girl is always on the move to destinations unknown, while the other contemplates her route with quiet determination.

There were some similarities between the two though: the girls are awesome eaters, both in quantity and variety; both have very laid-back personalities and are able to go along with any situation as long as Mom & Dad are there with them; and both are as cute as two girls can be!!!

It was wonderful being able to visit with our dear friends and see how the girls are progressing. We have plans to get together in the fall and then again for Chinese New Year. I can't wait...I wish we lived closer to each other!

5 Months Home

We brought Ella home 5 months ago today. It feels like she's been part of our family for years. We've been quite busy this summer, thus the lapse in posts here on our blog for 2 months! Ian has been busy with tee-ball, golf lessons, and now has started soccer. He is growing like a weed this summer and I'm betting that none of his jeans will fit him when school starts again!

Ella is also growing. As of last week's pediatrician appointment, she was 24 lbs 10 oz, and 31.25 inches tall. She just turned 20 months old. She is almost running when she's in a hurry to get someplace (the dog food and water dish are always favorites). Ella loves to swing. Any given day, you will probably find us out on our home swingset.

Every weekend, we head to the family cottage. Ella took a few weekends to get used to the idea of spending time at another place, but now she is so comfortable that she is just at ease at the cottage as she is at home. She is starting to understand that wherever we go, we always come back home. That has taken about 4 months for her to understand. She still gets excited when we pull into our driveway at home...jumping up and down in her car seat and giggling.

As you can see by this picture, Ella is just at home at the cottage swing. So much so that Bill and my brother rigged a pully system so we don't have to stand there and push her - we just sit on the big swing and and pull the rope and like magic, Ella is swinging too!!! Yes, it is the lazy way out, but it frees up a hand for the necessary weekend beverage, and hey, all are happy and that's all that matters!



I have to give credit to my sister-in-law for most of the pictures. She has camera in hand as much as I have Ella in my arms. It's been quite an adjustment for us having to watch someone so closely again. The other day I heard Ella babbling away and after looking all over the house...finally found her at the top of the stairs! She was so proud of herself, and I didn't even know she could climb one stair as she'd shown no interest in the stairs up until then. Needless to say, the baby gate is always closed now!

I hope you enjoy the great pictures below. And stay tuned...this weekend we are meeting with one of Ella's "China sisters" in La Crosse for a couple of days. It will be wonderful to see our friends again and have our families together! I'll make sure to post pictures soon...

18 Months Old

Ella was 18 months old on 5/27. What a milestone! Considering that 3 months ago, she'd basically just sit in one position on the floor and not crawl or venture anywhere, here is a list of things she now does:

• She is now walking (almost running!) everywhere
• She has totally mastered using her fingers to put things into her mouth
• She eats every type of solid food we put in front of her
• She has gone from 5 bottles a day down to just 1 before bed
• She hums all the time (when that girl does start talking, she won't stop!)
• She recognizes our house when driving down the street (she bounces in her car seat and giggles when she sees our house!)
• She knows what both the toothbrush and comb are for and will grab them from me to do it herself

Ella has done pretty good at adapting to our busy life. Ian has swim lessons, flag football, and now tee-ball. Ella is on the sidelines cheering him on (ok, she's actually trying to eat the grass!) at every event. Now that summer is on its way, we've started spending weekends at the family cottage. This was our second weekend overnight and she's definately becoming more comfortable with the surroundings. Although the water is still quite cold, she enjoys dangling her feet in off the dock, and swinging on the porch swing with Bill. But I think she likes the company of all her cousins most of all.

Below are some pictures taken over the last few weeks. She was baptized at the end of April. We went swimming at an indoor water park in April.

One Month Ago Today....

....Ella was placed in our arms for the first time. It definately feels longer than a month ago. Ella has come so far in such little time. Her personality comes out a little more each day. She is turning into a giggly, smiley little girl.

She is soooo close to walking! She moves around rooms by holding onto furniture or walls to balance herself, and will even venture to take a couple steps to be able to reach something. For the first week, she mostly stayed confined to the living room with her toys. But now she is venturing around the house. I'm finding out quick the things that need to be baby-proofed!

And the girl can eat! As much as an adult at some meals. She eats all soft table food that we eat (she doesn't have any molars yet). And we have yet to find something she doesn't like, which works for me!

Ian is an awesome big brother. He wants to feed, hold, play, walk and cuddle with Ella. "Everything but the dirty diapers", as he tells me! He is just smitten with her. I think her favorite activity is when Ian lays down and Ella crawls all over him.

It's amazing how our family has fell into a routine. It's kind of like we've been a family for longer than just one month. Ella fits our family perfectly and we can't imagine life without her!

Enjoy some of pictures of our happy kids!

We're Home!!!

Sorry for not posting sooner....the jet lag is kicking our butts!

Our trip home was long but uneventful, thankfully. Ella slept most of the ride from China to Chicago. Unfortunately, neither Bill nor I slept due to a circus of misbehaving kids across the aisle. I was just waiting for the toddlers to give up, and after 9 hours of flying they finally did!

We made it through customs and immigration (Ella became a U.S. citizen when we passed through immigration) and walked out into the arrival hall. Bill's mom and sister had brought Ian down to meet us at Chicago! It's a good thing Ella was strapped to me in the baby carrier, because I dropped all my bags onto Bill when I saw Ian and ran (or rather waddled with a 22 lbs baby hanging from me!) over to him. I didn't realize how much I missed him until I saw him. I was so happy to finally have both my children with me that I started sobbing. Of course Ian got embarassed and asked me to stop crying - he's becoming such a little man. The others in our adoption group were standing there witnessing it all, and all the women had tears in their eyes also. Although we were so happy to finally be home, it was kind of sad to think that we won't be seeing this group of people whom we've grown close to over the last 2 weeks. We did plan to have a reunion in the summer of 2010 in Memphis (Graceland, here we come!), so that our daughters can keep ties with each other as they are 'sisters' from the orphanage.

Unfortunately the transition home has been hard. Bill and I have experienced jet lag...waking up in the wee hours of the morning because our bodies are still on China time. Bill even gave up trying to sleep and went into work at 4am last Thursday and Friday. It was Sunday before I felt like my old self. But Ella is still on China time. She's been waking up at 2am and wanting to stay awake until 6 or 7am. Then she wants to sleep all day. We've been trying to limit the napping during the day, with hopes of her sleeping more at night. Last night I was so excited because she made it to 3am before waking. Then I realized that with Daylight Savings time it was still 2am! Oh well, a girl can dream about sleep! Friday was the first of many 39th birthdays to come for me, and for my gift I asked Bill to let me take a Tylenol PM and sleep through the night in my own bed. He took care of the baby duty for the night. Best gift I've ever received!

Ian is one excited big brother. He loves to play with Ella (or rather reacquaint himself with all the baby toys he used to play with!). The only thing he's not interested in is diapers and feeding, as "that is just gross, Mom"!!! He always wants to give Ella a bottle, burp her and hold and snuggle her. And he's such a good helper for me. And he had the house decorated with Welcome Home signs and balloons.

We can't thank enough all the friends and family that have supported and prayed for us. We couldn't have done this without you.

Goodbye China

Here we are on Day 13 already. We leave at 5:45am tomorrow. Today we had the famous "Red Couch" picture. For all adoptive families that stay at the White Swan, it has become a tradition to take a picture on the red couches that are in the lobby. All the girls wore traditional Chinese silk dresses. (I'm bringing a whole suitcase of them home - they are only about $5 each!!!)

After the picture, we all loaded onto a bus and headed over to the American Consulate. It was a welcoming sign to see the U.S. flag. We were handed our daughter's passport with a visa stamp inside. This visa indicates that the moment she steps foot on American soil, she will be a citizen of the U.S. The administrator at the Consulate told us that they have processed over 70,000 adoption visas for U.S. families that have adopted from China, making that Consulate the busiest in the world for adoption visas. All the families had to raise their right hands and take an oath stating that all information that has been provided to the government is correct and that we intend on being the new parents of our daughter. Unfortunately they did not allow cameras so there are no pictures.

Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day. On one hand, our daughter will become a U.S. citizen. On the other, Ella is leaving her home country, its heritage, and the only 'sisters' she's ever known. Tomorrow also marks the one year anniversary of the death of my grandfather. He would have wanted so much to see another great-grandchild of his. I'm sure he would have been tickled to meet Ella and see her personality.

We have made some wonderful friends on this trip. We hope to stay in touch for years to come, with annual reunions and periodic updates of how the 'sisters' are doing. It's been amazing to see the progression in each of the girls just since a week ago when they were handed to us. I can't imagine what a month at home will do!
















We can't wait to get home and see Ian - we have missed him very much. Thanks to all who have emailed and posted well-wishes to us....we love to read them! We just can't wait to get home and start the next part of our life together as a family with our new daughter!















If you would like to view more pictures from our last day in Guangzhou, click on the More Pictures link at the top right of this page. Then choose the folder called Day 13 - Tuesday.