Christmas Pics From Edmond

All of the following pictures were taken the weekend before Christmas at my parent's home in Edmond. Here's a pic of me and Alyssa playing.





Here's a picture of Alyssa getting a bath in the sink. Shawn likes to give her a mohawk when she washes her hair.





Here's a picture of Alyssa being her happy self. (probably because we're in the middle of opening Christmas gifts)





Alyssa had about as much fun playing with the bows and the gift bags as she did with all of her new toys. Here's a picture of her with a bow.





And, here's a picture of her playing with a gift bag.





And, one more picture playing with a bow.





My last picture is Alyssa in her Christmas dress with her grandma.

Ice Storm

For that last several days, we've been without electricity due to an ice storm. I've been trying to update the blog with several pictures that I've accumulated over the past week or two. Despite the power outage, staying in a hotel and all, this post should have me up-to-date.

I took a number of pictures in our neighborhood and thought I'd include a link to them here.

Ice Storm Pics

Vickie's Pictures

The Following pictures were all taken by Shawn's sister Vickie. The first pic was snapped before we went to a Christmas Dinner for Shawn's work. This was her first time to wear her Christmas dress.





The next two pictures were taken at a Christmas parade held in Wagoner, OK. It was pretty cold that night, but we had Alyssa bundled in a pink snow suit that she got for her first birthday. Here's a picture of all three of us.





And here's a picture of just Alyssa.

More Pictures

Here's a picture we took during our Thanksgiving visit to my parents house. My dad gave her a bottle and she fell asleep. My dad fell asleep too, and we snapped this pic.





In this picture, Alyssa is waering a santa hat at a party with some of Shawn's co-workers.





This picture is Alyssa wearing the Christmas dress we bought her before going to a Christmas party.

Video Of Alyssa Walking

click here

Alyssa's "Second" Birthday Party

On Saturday morning we drove back home so we could have another birthday party for Shawn's family. Alyssa's "second" party was held at Incrdible Pizza in Tulsa. Having the party at Incrdible Pizza made it much easier on us. We picked up a cake we ordered from Sam's and just showed up with the birthday girl. The birthday package we purchased included the all you can eat buffet for everyone and a game card that allowed everyone to play all the games they wanted for an hour.





This picture is Alyssa with her cousins. (L-R Rhianon, Erica, Lilly, & Gwen)





After everybody ate, we opened gifts. Most of the bows ended up being worn by Alyssa on her head, as you can see in the next picture.





Then we cut the cake and ate it with some ice cream from the buffet. This cake had strawberry filling and was very tasty.





After eating cake, we all went to the game room to play. Everyone had a good time playing, including me and Shawn.

Alyssa's "First" Birthday Party

Alyssa's first birthday fell on the Friday after Thanksgiving and most of our relatives who came to my parent's house for Thanksgiving, stayed for the birthday party on Friday. Shawn bought about every first birthday item that could be found for the occaision. Alyssa had a first birthday bib, a first birthday sippy cup, and a first birthday hat. Her highchair was decorated, including a plastic mat for the floor and helium filled balloons. There were balloons tied to the backs of all the chairs. Her cake was made at Sam's with a printed top that included a picture of Alyssa that we took while we were in China. The cake also had a birthday candle that we bought in Chongqing, as well. We had first birthday, plates, cups, and napkins. There was even a first birthday party sign in the front yard!


Shawn dressed Alyssa in a purple outfit that we bought in China and Alyssa showed-off to everyone by showing how she can walk.








Then Shawn helped her open all of her presents in the living room. I have to say that she got a lot of really great stuff, too.





Next, we lit the candles on her cake. The candle we bought in Chongqing is more like a firework, since it starts out by shooting sparks straight up from the middle. This lights all the candles on the petals of a lotus blossom that opens up as the whole thing rotates and plays the Happy Birthday tune.








We stripped Alyssa down to her diaper and bib before putting her in the highchair and turning her loose with a piece of cake. The cake started out on a plate, but she turned it upside-down, dumping the piece of cake onto the tray. She also drank milk from her sippy cup and enjoyed some homemade ice cream. She didn't get real messy at first, but after the ice cream, spilling her milk and coaxing from others, she got pretty messy.








As soon as we took her out of the highchair, she got a bath in the kitchen sink. The party went very well and it was great having so many family members there to celebrate it with us.

New Pictures

Alyssa has been doing great. I have a couple of new pictures of her to post. We still haven't had much luch getting good pics of her, so I think we're going to try to take some on our own. This first picture was taken with the santa at the mall. She's not smiling, but at least she's not screaming bloody murder.





This next picture was taken at a local store. This print was included with the sitting fee, but the additional pages were unbelievably expensive, and again, she wasn't really smiling in any of them. We liked all the props, but she was in a strange place with lots of strangers around and had had about all she could take before it was over.





We bought a few items to take pictures with and hopefully in the next couple of week can get some good pictures of Alyssa. Alyssa is still very very close to walking, but hasn't taken off yet. We're hoping to get some video of her when she does. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.

Swinging & Walking (almost)

Last weekend we took Alyssa to the playground at Lake Keystone to let her play a little and to get some pictures of her. We've tried taking her to get some pictures at the mall, but you can never get in without an appointment and making an appointment never works because you never know what kind of mood she'll be in when the appointment rolls around.


Alyssa really enjoyed the swings here. That's not really surprising, since she loves being turned upside down and swung around at home. They have a material that appears to be shredded tires on the ground under the swings which was very soft to walk on. Alyssa didn't want to touch it at all. She's not crazy about touching grass or leaves, either. I'm sure she will in time.








We also let her try the slide. It's too big to let her slide all the way down, so we started her in the middle and kept our arms around her so she wouldn't fall backwards. Her shoes kept catching on the slide and once we took them off, it went much better.


Next, we put her in the middle of a jungle gym, which yeilded a few good pictures. She loved having something to hold onto to stand with. If the bars weren't so far apart for her, she probably would have climbed to the top of it, since she climbs on every box and suitcase that happens to get in her way at home. I even got on it with her and hung upside down in the middle of it. She thought that was pretty funny. When everything started to fall out of my pockets and I was barely able to get myself back up without falling, I decided that was enough for me.








Alyssa has been getting more and more confident with her balance and standing without holding on to anything. Earlier this week, she took a few steps toward Shawn's neice and we've been working with her to teach her to walk every night since then. She can usually put 3 or 4 steps together at one time, but I'm not quite ready to say that she's walking. It's only a matter of days now, before she'll be getting into everything. It been a lot of fun watching her do this.

Halloween Costumes

Having a new baby at home has made it a lot harder to post to my blog regularly, exercise, and a few other things, but I'm not complaining. Alyssa has been such a joy and a blessing to us. When she's happy and being such a sweetie, it's the best feeling ever.


I was planning on posting these photos last week, but I guess it's better late than never. These photos were taken the weekend before last when we went to Edmond to visit my parents. They were having a Halloween party at their church and we dressed Alyssa as a ladybug for it. She was wearing a black, short-sleeved onsie, with black tights under her costume. We thought she looked like a ninja before the costume went on. When it started to get hot in her costume, we took it off and she became the ninja and we said the ladybug was just one of the ninja's many disguises.


Here's a picture of Alyssa as a ladybug:





Here's a picture of Alyssa as a ninja:





Here's one more picture of Alyssa just being her cute self:

We're Home!

My plan was to update our adoption website, while we were in China, and then to resume blogging here, when we returned. Well, we've been home for about 3 weeks now, and I'm finally adding a new post. My home PC has contracted a virus that I've been trying to get rid of, and have not had much luck. It's affected part of the operating system, and it looks like I'm going to have to reformat the drive and start over. I won a free computer at the Tulsa Tech Fest, so I'm moving files to it now and will let it replace my other machine, which I'll redo later.

A lot has happened since we've returned. I've learned that people are more interested in seeing pictures of the baby than hearing about me, so I'm going to post lots of pictures on this posting. My first set of pictures are from our airport party. These were all taken by our friend Melissa. The girl in the last picture is Melissa's daughter who is about 1 month older than Alyssa.









In the next set of pictures, we are swimming at a hotel pool with Alyssa's older brother, Greg.





The next set of pictures is of Alyssa and me taking a dip in the hot tub, just before bedtime. Alyssa really enjoys pools and hot tubs. We don't keep our hot tub as hot as most people do.





The last set of pictures are of Alyssa taking a bath in her rubber duckie shaped baby tub.





Hopefully, I'll be able to start blogging here on a more regular basis.

Flights Booked; Partial Itenerary

Shawn worked very hard at getting all our flights booked for our international travel. I'm glad she took charge of this because frankly, I would have messed them all up. Also, she's the best bargain shopper I've ever met, hands down. She made sure our longest flights, from LAX to PEK and HKG to LAX were on EVA Air's Elite Class, which is comparable to business economy class. I'm 6'3" tall, and would not have been able to handle the REALLY LONG flights in coach.

I'm posting a partial itenerary for us below. It still has a few holes to fill, but if I waited until it was finished, I probably wouldn't get it up before we left. We've been keeping really busy trying to get ready for the trip. Things have moved really fast since we got our CA. It's a little hard to believe that we're leaving in just 5 days and will have Alyssa as part of our family in 11 days. I'm looking forward to the trip and will be glad when all the preparation is over.

09/16/2007 13:30 - Arrive CKG - Flight 3U8830

09/16/2007 - Hotel - Holiday Inn Yangtze Chongqing (+8623 62808888)

09/17/2007 14:30 - Meet Alyssa! - Civil Affairs/Notary/Police Bureau for paperwork

09/18/2007 14:00 - Paperwork - More Paperwork

09/19/2007 09:00 - Shopping - Shopping for babies

09/20/2007 09:30 - Chongqing - Tour CiqiKou Ancient Architecture Street

09/21/2007 09:00 - Chongqing - Tour to E'Ling Park

09/21/2007 16:00 - Chongqing - Get Alyssa's Passport

09/22/2007 07:40 - Depart CKG - Flight 3U8741

09/22/2007 09:25 - Arrive CAN - Flight 3U8741

09/22/2007 - Hotel - Holiday Inn Shifu ()

09/23/2007 09:00 - Guangzhou - Tour to Chen Family Temple

09/24/2007 10:00 - Guangzhou - Shopping for babies

09/25/2007 09:00 - Guangzhou - Alyssa's Visa Photo & Medical Exam

09/26/2007 10:00 - Guangzhou - Tour to Yuntai Park

09/27/2007 10:00 - Guangzhou - Consulate Appointment

09/28/2007 15:00 - Guangzhou - Interview & Pickup Visa at American Consulate

09/29/2007 09:40 - Depart CAN - Train to Hong Kong

09/29/2007 ??:?? - Arrive HKG - Train to Hong Kong

10/02/2007 21:00 - Depart HKG - Flight 858 EVA Air

10/02/2007 22:40 - Arrive TPE - Flight 858 EVA Air

10/02/2007 23:55 - Depart TPE - Flight 16 EVA Air

10/02/2007 20:50 - Arrive LAX - Flight 16 EVA Air

10/03/2007 10:15 - Depart LAX - Flight 324 Southwest Airlines

10/03/2007 11:30 - Arrive PHX - Flight 324 Southwest Airlines

10/03/2007 13:15 - Depart PHX - Flight 1131 Southwest Airlines

10/03/2007 17:30 - Arrive TUL - Flight 1131 Southwest Airlines




Key to Airport Codes:
---------------------
LAX = Los Angeles International Airport
TPE = Taoyuan International Airport (Taipei, Taiwan)
HKG = Hong Kong International Airport
PEK = Beijing Capital Airport
CKG = Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport
CAN = New Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou (Canton)
PHX = Sky Harbor International Airport (Pheonix)
TUL = Tulsa International Airport
DEN = Denver International Airport

Our TA Is Here !

Our agency received our TA (travel approval) today! Now they can schedule our consulate appointment (CA) and we will know the exact dates of our travel and can book our flights to and from China. Right now it lookds like we'll be leaving Sept. 11th and returning about the 27th. That means we could be holding Alyssa in our arms in just 3 weeks! (How awesome is that???)

Now it seems like we'll have to really rush to get everything done before we travel. We've been putting the finishing touches on Alyssa's room. Hanging things on the wall and organizing her closet. We put the new matress in the crib and washed the sheets and crib set.

I'm starting to create a packing list for us. Fortunately, there have been a lot of families who went through this before us, and I can use their lists as a starting point for ours. When we started this process, I thought it was funny when I heard people talk about practicing their packing for thier trip. I thought that they must be really "anal" people. Now, I'm thinking it's not such a bad idea when you consider the tight luggage restrictions on international flights and the 44 pound limit on our checked bags. Combine this with the fact that most people want to take just about everything they might possibly need to care for their child in China, and the idea sounds even better. I'm sure the list will need to be "tweeked" several times with intermittent discussions about what can and can't go. (I'm sure my personal stuff will be the first things to be cut from the list.)

When you add all the other things that need to done around the house like cleaning the garage, baby-proofing the living room and kitchen, Gathering all our adoption documents, mowing, booking our airfare, etc., it seems like we're no where near ready for all of this. I know we'll get it all done, because we've got a beautiful baby in China depending on us. I'm focusing on the bright side of all this. Once we get on the first plane, and our journey begins, we'll be able to relax and treat the whole trip like a big vacation. And when we finally get to hold Alyssa for the first time, it will all seem worth it.

Our Daughter Turns 9 Months Old Today!

It's funny how things change once you receive your referral and have pictures and medical information about your child. It seems more real to you when you can put a face and other details to your adoption. Before the referral, I'd have occaisional thoughts about if she's been born yet, or where in China she might be, why she was given up by her mother, etc. Now, I think about her everyday and it all seems so much more real to us. Today Alyssa turns 9 months old and we expect to have her with us before she turns 10 months old. I hope she has an extra special day today, or maybe our care package we sent for her will arrive for her.

I finally got the shelves hung in her room the other night. Shawn and her sister organized the closet after the baby shower and the room is almost complete. Yesterday Shawn got the cash we need to complete the adoption and we rented a safe deposit box at the bank to keep it in. She was able to get most of it (at least the part for the orphange donation and our miscellaneous adoption fees) in new money. The rest was in very good condition, but as picky about their money as the Chinese people are, we may exchange some of the circulated money for some that is in even better shape. Our next big challenge will be with making a packing list for our trip and making sure we can keep our bags withing the 44 pound weight limit.

Some agencies have received travel approvals already, so we expect ours tomorrow or Monday. We've been told as long as it gets here by the end of the month, we should still be able to travel in September.

Baby Shower!!!

On Saturday, Shawn's sister Vickie and her good friend Melissa, who also adopted a girl from Chongqing, hosted a baby shower for us. They really did a fantastic job of planning all the details of the party. Vickie made us a diaper cake with lots of diapers that we'll put to good use very soon. Melissa made a Ladybug cake that we all ate, and it tasted as good as it looked! They did a great job planning all the details from the tasty lunch, down to all the decorations and games. The turnout was great, and we really filled up the room nicely.

My mom and sister-in-law drove up from Oklahoma City to attend, and so many of our friend from the local FCC came, and we felt so blessed to have so many great friends who have helped us through this very long wait. There were lots of adopted girls from China there, which we love to see. They give us a little glimpse of the joy Alyssa will bring to our lives very soon.

Shawn got a little emotional at the party thinking about how nice the shower was that Melissa and Vickie planned. And also, thinking about all the great friends we've made among the local families who've also adopted from China.

Here's a picture of the cake that Melissa made. Not only did it look like it was made by a professional, it had a layer of strawberry filling inside and was one of the best cakes I've ever eaten.


Next is a picture of the diaper cake that Shawn's sister Vickie made. It looked great and I'm sure she spent a lot of time making it.


Here's a picture of Shawn holding the cake. The picture also includes Melissa, who made the cake, and Meghan and Rachael, who helped retrieve gifts for Shawn to open.


This is Shawn holding the blanket that her mom crocheted for Alyssa. We love it!


The last picture was taken at home and has all of our gifts in it. It took a bit of arranging to get everything where it could be seen in one picture. We wanted to have a picture we could show Alyssa one day. All the great gifts we recieved were truly amazing.


My mom bought us a matress for the crib that we still needed. We got an autograph frame that everyone signed at the shower, which will have a nice picture of Alyssa in it very soon. There are seveal books, especially ones specifically related to adoption. Lots of great clothes and toys that Alyssa will put to good use. We now, need to get busy writing thank you notes to everyone.

Care Package

I mailed a care package that we put together to send to Alyssa's orphanage today. We filled it with a photo album we bought and filled with pictures of us, our dogs, our house, etc. It's made of plastic to protect the pictures, but made for a baby to hold. The handle is also a teething ring. We also sent her a blanket and a teddy bear. We put 2 disposable flash cameras for them to take pictures with. Most of the other families that adopted children from the same orphanage, and who sent cameras, got a lot of good pictures taken with them. I hope we have the same luck and get several good pictures of her and the orphanage she's living in. They'll be nice to show her when she's older. We put a couple of bags of candy for the nannies. (nothing that will melt, it is August after all) We also put some clothes and socks they can use to put on all the babies. The postage is a bit shocking, though. Our little box, that weighed less than 5 1/2 pounds, cost us $41.60 to mail to China.

I also have a new picture of our nursery to post. We finally finished our letters and got them on the wall.

The FedEx Stork Arrived

Our FedEx package finally arrived. It was almost an hour after the guaranteed 10:30 delivery time that our agency paid for. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who gets pissed off about things that are late like this. Walmart is like this with their 1 hour photos sometimes too. Do they give you a break on the price when it's late??? I've never seen it happen. When they don't deliver on their promises, they should reduce the price to the next level of service. I'll get off my soapbox now.

I'm just glad that we finally have it. We've pretty much decided that we're signing and returning it immediately rather that taking it to be looked at by the doctor first. There's no way he'd talk us out of keeping this referral anyhow.