Another Picture

Jonni's Template

Jonni over at Journey to Sofia and Samantha created a template that I downloaded.  Here's my take on it! 

 

Outside Girl!

Baby T loves to be outside.  If we go out and don't take her she'll stand at the door, point her little finger, and yell at us!  It's so cute!  Big T was out mowing the lawn pulling Baby T behind him in the wagon while KaCee our dog was following them around the yard.  It was too funny so I quick grabbed the camera and took some pictures.

On Saturday we went to the beach and introduced her to the Ocean.  She was scared at first until I took her in and then look out!!  She loved it.  She would laugh each time a wave came and she would stick her little face right in the water.  I took some pictures and will get them up in the next few days.

                    

Bus ride to the Hotel

After they brought Baby T out to us we sat on the floor and tried to comfort her.  Again, no tears, no struggles, just the scared look.  We watched other families try to calm down their babies while just holding her.  Finally we all got up and went down to the bus to go back to the hotel and do more paperwork.  Baby T didn't care what we did with her as long as I held her or was right next to her.  Even if I wasn't holding her she would just look around and then make sure I was right there.  On the bus she let her big brother hold her and looked at him as he talked quietly to her. 

 

Playing with Photoshop

This is a picture of L and beautiful Sofia!  I was looking at some masks tutorials and decided to try one.  I think it came out great!

 

Sweet Baby T

First Glimpse of Baby T

When they brought her out of the little room in the back I started crying.  Well, actually I started the minute I heard the babies!!  Shoot, I'm crying now!  You can see by these pictures and the ones that will follow in the next few days how scared she was.  When I watched the video with Big T I watched her.  She would NOT look at me.  I think it took 10 minutes for her to finally look at me.  Big T said he caught her a few times giving me a sideways glance but she wouldn't look in my eyes.  The poor little thing was scared and confused.  I don't blame her - I was scared and confused too!  Our travel mates had cookies with them and gave one to her.  That helped and she finally started to look around more.  L was amazed, I was crying and laughing, and smiling and J, she was videoing the entire thing for us.  I don't know what I would have done with her! 

                     

Where is it??

During my class today I noticed that Baby T kept running in and out of my room.  Later in the day L asked me if I knew what she did with his remote.  We looked around the house, in his room, in the garbage, and in the toilet.  It was no where to be found.  That's funny I thought, we couldn't find some other items either, like her sippy cup and some sandals.  Finally after searching for another hour I asked Baby T where her sippy cup was.  She immediately ran into my room and headed for the laundry basket.  When she lifted the top she pointed and said "ah".  Didn't I feel stupid??  There was her sippy cup, the remote control, sandals, toys and a few other items.  She just looked at me and smiled.  This kid is a trip!!

 

Water Fun

Baby T loves the water!  When I tell her its bath time she gets all excited and heads to the kitchen!  She gets her baths in the sink for now.  When we go swimming in the pool she becomes a little fish!  She will put her face right in the water and just laugh.  We are teaching her how to swim and she is just soaking it up. 

 

 

On another note, before T left for West Virginia he stayed with us for a few days.  Baby T loves Baby H to death and every time she sees her she just wants to touch and hold her.  We decided to see what she would do if we sat her on the couch and put the baby on her lap.  Here are the results!

 

1 month Family Forever Day!!

Oh my...I can't believe I missed that!  My bff called me yesterday and asked if I knew what day it was.  I laughed and said yes, Wednesday, and she said no - it's been one month since we got Baby T!!  Where is my brain?  Well, to celebrate we took her to the cardiologist and he gave her a CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH!!  They did an ultrasound and said everything looked great, no follow-up needed.  Isn't that just awesome??  We are so pleased.  During her ultrasound the tech sang to her.  Keep in mind that this took about 45 minutes to do and they want her to sit still.  Baby T did just that!  She watched the monitor, would look at me to make sure I was still there, then look at the tech, and then back to the monitor.  Such a good girl! 

August 5th some people will come to the house, evaluate her some more for early intervention, and then formulate a plan for her.  She's making different sounds now, like mamama, bababa,  yayaya, ruffruff, etc.  We've been told to copy the sounds she makes and have her copy sounds we make.  It's a fun game to play with her. 

Question on poop - sorry!!  Baby T's poop stinks - I mean REALLY stinks.  Neither of the boys had poop that smelled this bad.  I'm not sure if its because of her system getting used to American food or what but holy cow - she makes a grown man cry!!  Any suggestions?

Here are some pictures to enjoy.  She loves playing with her brother!

 

 

At the Park

Tonight I took Baby T to the park while the boys watched the all star game. I don't think she's felt sand before and was very interested in the texture. The swing scared her the first time I put her in it but after a while she wanted to go again and that time she just laughed. She loves those bouncy horse things and going up and down the play center. She also wasn't sure about the slide but did try it a few times. When we went back to the car she kept going "ah,ah" and pointing to her shoes. Whoops! Baby T had a bunch of sand in them and was trying to tell me! On another topic, I'm using Windows Live Writer to write this post and I LOVE IT! It's so much easier that blogger and I'm able to insert pictures where I want them and how I want them. If you haven't tried this yet its very easy to install on your pc. Here's the link Windows Live Writer! Here's a page I made of her park adventure.

 

 

My Oldest has moved out!!

Today was a sad day.  T&T have moved to West Virginia.  AND they had the audacity to take their daughter H with them!!  I'm very sad about this yet I'm excited to see him start a new chapter in his life.  We will go up and visit him next month to check out where he's living and the college he will be attending.

Here's a picture of the 2 boys and T&H.  Too funny - they were wearing the same dress!!

 

I had this picture blown up to an 8X10.  Isn't it sweet?!!

Little T (or Baby T as she is now called) is doing great.  She continues to show us her little personality every day.  She is also becoming more verbal, no words but just different sounds.  CSAD came yesterday and talked with us.  This was just a first contact type of interview.  She watched how Baby T interacted with us, the dogs, and her brothers.  How she showed us what she wanted by using sign language we've taught her.  She also saw how her imagination is in full swing!!  She loves to play with her baby dolls, feeding them, and taking off/putting on their clothes.  She also loves to color and pretend to cook and feed us.  Like I've said - she is a smart cookie, just not talking or chewing yet!  Today I've got to take her to get some blood work done and tomorrow is her cardio appointment.

Here are some additional pictures for your enjoyment!! 

At baseball:

4th of July

Waiting for Daddy to come in

At a friends house enjoying a pig pickin'!!  I love this little smirk she gives us. 

Doctor update

Little T went to the doctors on Monday, got 4 shots, a tb test, and a finger prick! Poor little thing. She weighs in at 20lbs5oz and is in the 0 percentile for weight and height and in the 5th for head circumference. I think I'll start calling her peanut!

Next week we go to cardiologist so they can do their thing and CSAD (child services and development) is coming on Monday to evaluate her for some speech therapy and some occupational therapy. She's not talking at all, does not chew her food and is just now sucking on her bottle. Yes, I said bottle. She has 1 bottle at bedtime. The eye contact and me feeding her and filling that need for her is very good for attachment. Anyway, I think the therapy will be very good for her. Little T is adjusting well to her new family and we are completely overjoyed!!

Side note - while in NY we stopped by a good friends house. She also blogs and has a beautiful daughter Sofia. You can check out her blog by clicking on the Sofia link in my sidebar. I have some wonderful pictures to share from that visit and will get them up soon!!

This post is for Amy and Buster!

I'm not sure if you are reading the blog or not and I'll call you later tonight - but here is the blog I was talking to Buster about. This young lady went through a double lung transplant and I think it would be a great inspiration for Buster to read it.

Love you guys!!

Here's the link Confessions of a CF husband

Quick Picture

We are home and all is well

Sorry I haven't posted. We have been so busy with visits and travel. We flew into Syracuse on Friday June 27th, visited with relatives and friends and then drove home to NC on Monday, June 30th. Big T brought my son, his fiancee and little H with him. It was so good to see everyone and to be back home.

The flight from China went very well. Little T is a trooper and did just great. We played, ate, walked the aisle, talked and slept. The only bad moment was at the Newark airport. We had sat her atop of our luggage and didn't realize that there was a slope in the hall we were in. Poor Little T decided to try gymnastics a bit early and did a few flips and fell to the floor. I cried more than she did! She was fine and only had a scratch on her little head.

Jet lag has not been an issue at all. We stayed at the Hilton while in NY while the boys stayed with Big T's sister. We have kept the same schedule as we had in China. Little T gets up around 7:30 or 8, eats, plays, poops (hehe - sorry!!), eats lunch around 12:30, takes a nap around 1 until 2:30 or 3, plays some more, eats dinner, gets her bath and is ready for bed around 8:30 or 9. She is so amazing and we are enjoying watching her blossom every day. L, J, or I did not have any issues either. I'm not sure why we didn't. From everything I read it was supposed to be pretty bad but we all just went about our business like we hadn't travelled for 24 hours.

I'll post some pictures soon. Paulette over at Together Forever is traveling to China on July 11 with her gotcha day set for July 17! I'm so excited for her and her little angel!!! Make sure you check her out and follow along in her journey to her beautiful daughter!

Pictures

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. I asked Little T to throw her diaper away and she threw it in the toliet - hence the diaper in the toliet picture. We'll have to remember to keep the toliet lids closed.

Visa Picture, Medical exam and Red Couch

Yesterday was busy with the visa picture and medical exams. Little T did fine until they laid her down to be measured and weighed. She didn't like that one bit. She also didn't like it when they tried to stick a tongue depressor in her mouth. Notice I said tried! She clenched down her teeth and wouldn't let anything in her mouth. She does that when I brush her teeth too! She weighed in at around 20 pounds. We also took our group pictures on the red couch. Our travel mates little girl is just precious and when we sat them together she took Little T's hand.

She is starting to sound a little better - still congested though in her chest. She's also becoming a little bit more vocal - no words yet though. Her little smile will brighten up the room and her laughter is just too precious. We are so in love with this little munchkin!!

Last night we ate at the Cow and Bridge again. I had fried rice with pork and L had some dish that was very spicy. He ate most of it and I tried some too. The other day when we went to the pearl market we also went to a Chinese restaurant. It was pretty interesting. L tried everything and Little T ate everything I gave her. When we finished L asked if we could stop by McD's. hehe - he tried everything but didn't like much. I did too but ended up going pretty hungry!!

Today we are going to a park and then meeting some friends at Lucy's for dinner. L isn't going - he said today is a "free day" and he wants to sleep in.

Blogger is giving me a hard time posting pictures - I'll try again later.

Amusement Park and Pearl market

Yesterday we decided to be brave and go to the amusement park Chimelong paradise. We had to ride 45 minutes in a taxi which was fun in of itself! Very interesting to watch the people drive. Where there are 2 lanes they will make 4 lanes! Bikes, motor scooters, cars, and people all share the same road.

We got to the ausement park around 12 and it was very busy. L had to wait an hour for the most popular ride - a roller coaster that inverts 10 different times! After that we walked around and rode quite a few more rides. People came up to us and would ask about Little T and say that she looked Chinese! We also had our picture taken quite a bit. I have a card that I wear around my neck that explains that we are Americans here to adopt Little T and that she is from Dongguan City. Once they read that they understand. We were just about the only Americans there. Oh - one more thing, while waiting in line it was not unusual for the kids to try to get ahead of us. J and L went on a water ride and said that about 10 people got ahead of them when they let 1 person go. When I was in line with L I didn't let anyone get ahead of us.

Little T enjoyed the park also. A parade went by and towards the end they put a ton of little streamers in the air. Little T would grab these off the ground after they fell and put them in the trash can. This occupied her for at least an hour! She's very neat and knows to wipe her face and hands after eating.

The park started to close around 7 pm (on a Saturday!) so we headed to the exit. We got a taxi again but this time he wanted to charge us almost twice as much as it cost to get there. We paid 80 yuan to get there and he wanted 150 to get back. I told him no and he says 120 and again I told him no and started to walk away. He then yelled out the window 100 and I said fine. The trip back was just as interesting as going with the cars and all.

Today we went to the Pearl market where I bought 3 strands, one for me, one for T and one for our granddaughter. I'll give T hers either when she gets married or turns 18, I'm not sure yet. I also had to fill out some more paperwork for the adoption today.

Little T is really starting to show her little personality. When she doesn't get her way she'll cry and she loves to laugh. She has such a sweet laugh and her little cry just breaks my heart. When she puts that pout face on she can have anything she wants!! She's already spoiled!!

City Tour

This is the bed they used to sleep in 100's of years ago. The mattress was wood and the pillows were made of porcelain!!




This is our travel mates little girl!



Today we went on the city tour. We visited the Chen house where I got some paintings, another temple with a pagoda, and a shopping area. At the shopping area I got a beautiful hand painted tea set, a bottle with 100 children painted on the inside and a beautiful marble screen with the 4 lucky ladies of China hand painted on it. Sorry Big T - I just couldn't help myself. They were beautiful. I could have spent more than I did but L kept telling me we are broke!!

After we got back Little T took an hour nap and then we went swimming. The little 2 piece swimsuit I put on her is too big and she kept showing her little crack to everyone, just like her daddy!! She loved the water, kicking her feet and putting her face in it. I hope Big T got the pool fixed because it looks like we'll be using it quite a bit this summer.

Little T has not cried today at all. She is very happy as long as I hold her or she can see me. If someone else picks her up she will start to cry. Last night I went potty and shut the door. She sat right down and cried those big alligator tears! Poor baby!

We leave in one week. We can't wait and wish we were leaving tomorrow! Today's weather was beautiful and I hope it is nice tomorrow too - we've seen enough rain!