Family pictures...

Here are the results of our gallant effort to have a family portrait taken. I had forgotten that toddlers have invisible springs on their bottoms when it comes to getting pictures taken. Throw in an insufficient nap and a 45 minute wait for the folks ahead of us and you have the photo shoot from you-know-where. We did get a precious few shots of her. Meagan on the other hand wowed the photographer by posing and tilting her head just so. She just LOVES getting her picture taken!

Welcome Baby

The baby shower this past Suday was loads of fun, complete with Chinese music, decor and even treats from the local Chinese store. Thanks to my good friends for working so hard to make it special! Even Meagan got some pretty cool big sister gifts. After all, being a big sister is really hard work. Alina is beside herself with all the the new toys and clothes. Sunday evening she got up from a much needed nap and sat down on the floor in the middle of all her new stuff, unsure of what to play with first. It was so fun to watch her try things out. Chris thinks that I am far too excited about the Bristle Blocks...like I may enjoy playing with them much more than what is normal for someone my age. Well, isn't that one reason why we have kids...so we can still play with cool stuff under the guise of spending 'quality time' with the children? Seriously, we wanted to express our thanks for all of the very special gifts and more importantly for your support and love for our family. Especially since I was told I am NOT ALLOWED to send thank you notes...that I should spend the extra time with the girls. Yes, a good idea, but a challenge nonetheless. I have already caught myself scheming a way to match up cards with gift bags. I'll stop now.

In other news, both of the girls are becoming quite the little swimmers. I don't have photographic evidence, but Meagan recently jumped off the diving board into 12 foot deep water and swam to the side of the pool. And this from a girl who, 2 summers ago, was too afraid to put her face in the water! Even Alina has really taken to the water. I set up a wading pool in the backyard and she is acting like a wild child...throwing herself in face first. I think her true personality is coming out a little more each day.

Corn Queen

Here in Indiana, we grow 'em big....with corn! Pigs, chickens, even babies. Alina had her first experience with corn on the cob. It starts out pretty normal. Picking off a kernel here and there, licking a little butter, even SHARING some corn. Let's just say things got pretty ugly by the time it was all over. Corn pieces flying, butter smeared in the hair, and you could just forget about anyone else at the table getting a bite of her corn cob (not that we really wanted a bite after all of that...pretty juicy if you know what I mean) Well, just look at the pictures!

Home Sweet Home

It's great to be home! I have been meaning to post something sooner, but the adjustment from one to two children has been a little more than what I anticipated. Not to mention the fact that our living room carpet was not visible due to unpacking, toys and the miscelaneous JUNK that covered the floor for most of the week. Alina is doing great apart from recovering from multiple illnesses. We took her to the doctor on Tuesday and found out that she had Roseola and a sinus infection on top of that. Her lymps nodes in her head (I didn't even know we HAD lymph nodes in our head. Neck, yeah, but I'm talking about above the ears and at the base of the skull...wierd) are swollen due to her body fighting infection from the bug bites she got at the orphanage. She's now on the second course of antibiotics and is starting to feel better. We have an appointment at Riley on July 13th to have blood tests and the whole work up to check on immunizations, anemia and other stuff. Until then we're keeping her on formula to help her catch up a little nutritionally. She seems small to me but is still on the charts with her weight (19 lbs.) I still have a hard time finding 'bottoms' to fit because her legs are so short and her waist small...the 9 month pants seem to fit ok. Later we'll have a consultation with the craniofacial team at Riley. She does have one small hole in her palate that we know of so far. She'll also need a lot of work on her mouth/ teeth as some of them are decayed or have come throuh in strange places. The bonding is going suprisingly well...lots of cuddling and eye contact on her part and she definitely is showing stranger anxiety. She doesn't yet know what to think of sharing mommy and daddy with Meagan...and let's just say the feeling is mutual for Meagan. It has been a HUGE adjustment for her. The other day she said, "Mom, I don't just FEEL left out. I AM left out!" I have no idea where she learned to be so melodramatic (Well, she is learning from one of the pros). It sounds like Alina is done with sleeping for now. Here are some pictures from this week.

Farewell China

Today is our last day in Guangzhou and boy are we ready to go home. Chris and I both have cabin fever (yes, I mean we're getting on eachother's last nerve), I am sick and Alina is sicker. We're looking forward to a memorable plane ride. She woke up yesterday morning with another fever. There do not seem to be any western medicine doctors around here and all of the Chinese advise we've been getting is "Make soup for baby". Hmmmm... green runny nose, barky cough and a temp of 103. Something tells me that she needs more than Chinese soup. Call me crazy, but I am going for the Zythromax that we smuggled into the country. Don't get me wrong, Eastern medicine and herbal remedies have their place, I'm sure, but we're not feeling up to exploring those options right now. My thoughts are drifting to more important matters, like what I'm going to order for dinner when we get back in the states. Hmmm.... a steak? No, maybe a big salad (we have not eaten any fresh veggies in 2 weeks) How about some water straight from the tap with no worries of repercussions in the bathroom an hour later! All joking aside, we are so thrilled to have completed all of the paperwork and appointments and to know that Alina is officially ours! As soon as we walk through the immigration line with her at the airport in LA, she immediately becomes a US citizen. Pretty cool, huh. We can't wait for all of you to meet her. We'll be seeing you soon!

Making Progress

Sorry for the delinquency in blogging. The past few days have been so busy it's hard to know where to begin. You should be able to view two separate slide shows...one of misc. shots of us and the other from the orphanage visit. First of all, Alina is doing great and is totally coming out of her shell. We are getting smiles and giggles all the time now. She actually seems to have a pretty strong will as we have witnessed some fit throwing (looking at that sweet face, it's hard to believe, I know) On Sunday we suprised Chris with a Father's Day t-shirt with both of the girls' hand prints on it. We also visited a Christian church on the island. Many of the young people in China are interested in Christianity and it was very encouraging to see standing room only for the church service. On Monday we flew to Shantou city to visit Alina's orphanage. It was an exhausting day for all of us with the travel to and from in the same day, but very much worth it. Her orphanage is not really an orphanage, but a welfare institute that houses about 400 residents including homeless elderly and children ranging in age from 0-24 (95% of them with special needs) The staff were very loving and seem to do the best with what they have which isn't much. It was so heartbreaking for see the kids. There was one little boy that struck me so much...if we had another $20,000 at our disposal I would adopt him in a heartbeat. Quite a few of them grow up in the institution and then become caretakers for the babies. Chris said a silent prayer for all of the kids that they would find loving families. For some reason, this orphanage only sees about 20-30 adoptions each year. More later... I'm having trouble again with the picture thing so I may have to try to post again later.