4 Months

Hannah has been home for four months already, which is hard to believe! Time has this strange way of going by quickly, yet it feels like she's been a part of our family for much longer than four months. She is continuing to pick up on many words and starting to put words together. Some of the words we hear a lot around here are "no" and "mine." Since she has two big brothers, these words are quite necessary. :) She also started saying "I do it" recently! She's an independent little girl for sure, trying to do everything herself and only asking for help when absolutely necessary.

I continue to fall more in love with her every day. She's my princess & I am so blessed to have her as my daughter.

Fundraiser-Monkeys jumping on the bed!

Our friend, who is a professional photographer, is very graciously holding a fundraiser to help us cover our remaining adoption expenses. She is going to be doing a unique photo shoot this Saturday from 3-5. Expand the image to full size to get the details. If you're interested, you can email her directly to reserve your spot!

Two Months (a few days late!)

It's hard to believe that it's been two months since we met Hannah for the very first time. It's amazing how much she has changed since that night in the hotel room two months ago where she was throwing toys and screaming at the strangers who were now her parents. I can't blame how she reacted to us, we were perfect strangers to her, besides seeing our pictures, that was all she really knew of us. After only two months, the little girl who was saying less than five words in Chinese, her native language, is now repeating countless words in English. On her own she says over 20 words-I've lost track because she keeps learning new words every day. The same little girl who was afraid to let anyone touch her or get close to her, will now give hugs and kisses and high fives to people. She understands almost everything we say to her even though two months ago she hadn't heard any English before. She wants Mommy to kiss her when she gets hurt and runs to the door squealing with joy when Baba gets home from work. She jumps out of my arms to get to her brothers when we pick them up from school. Yes, this is the same little girl who not too long ago didn't know the stability of a forever family. We are amazed at how quickly she has become a natural part of our family. She fits in so well and adds so much joy to our home.

New Words

Hannah seems to be picking up on new words every day! I started writing down the words she knows, and I can think of at least 13. She says: mama, more, ge ge (Chinese for big brother), up, ni-ni (night night), shoe, bubble, no, uh-oh, go, bi ba (diaper), ear, nose. Isaiah sees me teaching Hannah different names for body parts, and then on his own I'll hear him teaching her them. I love it! With such great big brothers, she's going to learn English really quickly I'm sure!

Unknown History

I'm filling out a patient medical history form for Hannah's appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. I didn't know filling out a form could be so hard. I don't know my own daughter's birth weight, her family history, or even the exact date of her heart surgery. It's so sad to right the words "unknown" under all of these boxes. So much will always be unknown. If it's this hard for me, how hard will it be for her to not know anything about her biological history? My heart is sad for my little girl and all of the unanswered questions she will have someday. I pray that her security in God's love and our love will help her overcome these difficult realities.

One Month

Today marks the 1 month anniversary since Hannah joined our family. I can't say that every day is perfect, but for the most part, she is adjusting well. She definitely loves playing with her brothers! She still has quite a few tantrums (she is two after all), but most of them happen when she doesn't get her way, versus the ones in China where we had no clue what was causing them. We are still working on bedtime. She really struggles to fall asleep at night, but naps aren't a problem at all. She isn't talking much yet, but she gets her point across through pointing and some signs. We still hear a lot of grunting, but I'm hoping she picks up more on signing and words soon to ease the frustration. When you consider all she has been through, she is doing very well!

Update

Many people are asking how Hannah has been doing. I posted on our family blog today a little about her communication, but I wanted to include some details here as well. She is adjusting extremely well as far as we can tell. The past couple of nights we put her in the pack and play in our bedroom, and that seems to be working out really well. She is definitely attached to Mommy, and we know over time she'll attach more to Daddy as well. It's strange because in China she definitely preferred Daddy. We aren't sure exactly why she's changed to preferring me so much, but we do know she was constantly moved from orphanage to the foster family and back since January, so it's really hard for her to trust anyone. She probably thought for the first days or weeks with us that it was temporary, and that she would be sent back to the orphanage, since that's always what has happened in the past. She may have first attached to Jason in China because the women in her life haven't been very trustworthy (she's mostly been around women). But then over the couple weeks in China she began to trust me and then attached more to me, probably because she is more used to women. We do know that she was close to the foster dad, so maybe that loss was really hard for her, so she's struggling to attach to Jason. We'll never know for sure, but this is our reality right now. It is very painful to be the parent who is being rejected, so please pray for Jason during this time. We know it is only a matter of time, but it is still very hard to deal with day by day. Hannah certainly loves playing with Baba, and giggles so hard when they play together (as you can see from the video below)!

I've posted a picture of our happy girl below. She seems much happier now that we're home, and it's so great to see her face light up when we are able to understand what she wants! We are loving her smiles, giggles, and laughs. It's so nice to hear more giggles and less grunts as we are able to better communicate with each other!

First few days home

The first few days home have gone really well. I thought I would do one big post to cover the past four days and give a quick update. We are gradually getting Hannah on a schedule, and she is sleeping really well at night. We had to wake her up from naps for a few days because she wanted to sleep too long, but other than that, she has transitioned to IL time really well.

On Saturday we went swimming at the hotel where Gamma & Papa were staying. Hannah really loved the pool, especially when Daddy would throw her into the air!

The weather has been beautiful, and Hannah seems to love being outside. Yesterday we went to the park, and she had fun on the swing (going very low), and she loved going up and down the stairs (by herself, of course). She's enjoying getting to play with her brothers and exploring her new home.

I think I'll switch to the family blog from here on out now that we're home. If you want to continue to follow along, that site is http://mockworld.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for following along on our journey to Hannah!

First time in the pool

Having fun with Daddy

Playing with her kitchen

Exploring her new toys

Holding her new doll (she was not sure what to do with it at first)

Giving Papa high five

Going under Gamma's legs

The two big brothers (ge ge in Chinese)

Squirting Elijah (good distraction while Mommy does her hair)

The boys trying on their traditional Chinese outfits-so handsome!

Hannah's shirt says "mei mei"-little sister

Elijah taking Hannah for a walk

Look at all those bows & the adorable bow holder thanks to Erica and the bow-making crew!

Our neighbor Payton loves playing with Hannah

Enjoying the swing

Riding the dinosaur (this was the boys idea!)

Is something wrong with this picture?!

First s'more!

Traveling Home

We are back on US time, and are amazed at how quickly we were able to adjust. Hannah is actually slept until 8 AM yesterday morning, so we are very pleased. I'm slowly getting around to posting about our trip home. For some reason we've been a little busy the past few days. :)

Thursday morning was our last time on the island, so we did some last minute shopping and finished packing. We left around 2 to return to the US Consulate to pick up Hannah's visa. We had to wait there about an hour, then left for the train station, where we waited another 2 hours, and then took a two hour train ride to Hong Kong. We arrived at the hotel around 9, and Hannah fought falling asleep until 10:30, and we were up at 6 to catch our 9 AM flight. Thankfully the hotel was attached to the airport, so we had a few minute walk to get to the airport. We actually brought Hannah to the airport in her PJs, so we didn't have to wake her up any earlier. At the check-in gate, she started to have a meltdown. We were both really worried what the day ahead would be like at that point because we knew we had 20 hours of traveling ahead of us. But she actually did great after that. The flight went amazingly well. She slept for about 3 hours (and we slept a little too), and then she played for a long time. We were blessed to have the bulkhead seats, so we had extra leg room and there was a hallway right in front of our seats where Hannah had fun running and playing peekaboo with us. She probably spent 45 minutes peeling the backing off of foam stickers and putting them on paper. Her fine motor skills are amazing! When we started to descend, her ears really bothered her, and so she had a really hard time for about 45 minutes. We finally touched down in Detroit, at which time Hannah became a US citizen! We had a 2 hour layover and then boarded the next plane to take us to Bloomington. Hannah started to cry almost immediately when they turned on the engines (flashback to the previous plane), but I was able to calm her and she hardly cried at all going up or down, so we were really pleased. As soon as we touched down in Bloomington, where our family and friends were waiting, her eyes went shut. I guess we forgot to tell her to stay awake for the welcoming party! Thankfully she woke up a few minutes later happily, where her brothers and lots of family and friends were waiting to welcome her home. The boys actually got to see our plane land and watched us walk to the airport. Jason told me he could see them in the glass, and I wanted to run to them so badly. It was a wonderful reunion, as we had so many family members and some good friends waiting for us. Hannah seemed to recognize the boys immediately, and wanted to touch them and play with them right away. The boys were playing tag with their friends who were there, and Hannah was running along, chasing after them, having a great time. She was also playing peekaboo with her brothers under the chairs at the airport. She loves her brothers! When it was time for her to get in her car seat, she watched big brother Isaiah get in his, and then smiled when we put her in hers! We couldn't believe this was the same child who couldn't stand wearing a seat belt in China! She fell asleep around 6:30 while we were eating dinner and woke up briefly when we got home, but then slept until 5 AM the next morning! So the first night went really smoothly. It is so good to be home!

One last picture on the island

Train ride to Hong Kong

Jet that took us to the US

Ready for takeoff in Hong Kong

Playing with stickers on the plane

Enjoying some ice on the plane!

Big brothers watching our plane land

Together at last!

Boys giving Hannah the bear they made for her

So happy to meet her brothers

Hugging Isaiah

Big brothers with the sign that our friends made

Peekaboo with big brother Isaiah

Playing peekaboo with ElijahHappy girl at the airport

Playing with Grandpa

First time in car seat (they don't have car seats in China)

The moment Gamma has been waiting for!

Made it home!

We're finally home.  More details to follow of our last couple of days in China, once we get the chance...

China Day 13: Oath Taking Ceremony

It's hard to believe we are leaving Guangzhou tomorrow to begin the journey home.  We'll head to Hong Kong via train tomorrow night and leave early Friday morning on a long flight back to the US.  I have mixed feelings about leaving.  I am so anxious to see the boys and have our family all together!  And I can't wait to show off our little girl to everyone.  I'm also tired of living in a tiny hotel room (although I don't miss grocery shopping or cooking!).  But, going home means leaving our daughter's beautiful country.  We've come to really love China.  The people are so friendly, and you feel safe everywhere you go.  There are things I won't miss, like the people hacking on the street (this is quite common and acceptable here) or the extreme humidity, but overall, we love it here and are so happy we've been able to experience our daughter's culture. 

This afternoon we boarded a bus and took a 45 minute ride to the US Consulate where we had a "swearing in" ceremony.  Unfortunately we couldn't bring cameras in, so we don't have any pictures to document the event.  We joined a roomful of adoptive parents from many different agencies.  We all waited for our child's name to be called, then we went up one at a time and signed a document.  Once everyone did this (there were probably 50+ families), an official shared some statistics on adoption with us, thanked us for our care in adopting a Chinese child, and wished several kids a happy birthday, including our Hannah Liuxia.  Then we all stood up and raised our right hand and promised that all of the paperwork we submitted was true.  Then there were hugs and applause and tears, as this was the final step in our children being granted their visas.  The officer told us that everyone's visa has been processed, so we are good to go home on time!  Praise God!  All of the paperwork went so smoothly, and we are so thankful!  

After the swearing in ceremony, we decided to reattempt the red couch picture since we were at the White Swan.  Thankfully, Liuxia cooperated this time!  She was literally jumping on the couch, but we managed to get a couple sitting pictures as well.  So, now I feel like we can go home because we got our red couch photo! :)

Tonight we decided to eat at Lucy's, which is a restaurant on the island that serves American food.  It is very popular with adoptive families who are wanting some comfort food.  Jason and I really enjoyed having a hamburger and fries after two weeks of Chinese food.  Hannah had her first french fry, which she promptly chewed up and spit back out.  I'm sure she'll learn to love greasy American food soon enough, but we ordered Hannah's favorite at Lucy's-a bowl of noodles.

This will be our last post from China, as we'll have a short hotel stay in Hong Kong tomorrow night (and I don't know if we'll have internet there), and then we'll be heading home. We are so thankful for the way Hannah is attaching to us and are feeling really good about where we're at as we head home.  We are so excited for everyone to meet our spunky, beautiful little girl!  I am teary eyed as I write this, realizing that our long journey is finally coming to a close, and we'll finally be able to introduce her to everyone so soon. 

Photo captions
Jumping on the red couch!
Red couch photos
Not very ladylike on the red couch
Family picture-and Hannah is smiling!
White Swan hotel lobby
Hannah at Lucy's
First french fry
Daddy enjoying his cheeseburger!