Merry Christmas and Good-Bye to 2007!

And what a wonderful 2007 it has been!

First, we want to apologize for not keeping up our blog with updates and pictures over these last few months. We know how much everyone has enjoyed following our journey to China and back, and especially to our family and friends who live so far away and don't get the chance to see Michael. During this past few months, we have spent our time living our dream with Michael in our lives. It has been an amazing time, and although there have been some challenging days, overall, we could not be happier than we are today.

I won't bore you with all the details of the last four months. But Michael has grown taller and has gained almost 5 pounds since coming home. He is very healthy, except for a few colds, which we can thank daycare for. Oh yes, he started daycare in October and loves being there. He only goes three days per week, and he already has a girlfriend! (Brian says "that's my boy!"). He has been to the doctor only a few times, mainly to update his shots (which were just as painful for Mommy to watch as it was for Michael to get!). We traveled out to Pennsylvania in early October to see family and friends which was a wonderful trip, thanks to the heartfelt reception we got when we arrived. He was a great looking Dracula for Halloween, enjoyed his first Thanksgiving, got his first haircut, and has now met Santa and has seen snow for the first time.

He is adding daily to his vocabulary, and can now say "hot", "wow", "how are you", "thank you", and the best of all...."I love you".

And with Christmas only a couple days away, we realize that we have THE best gift in the entire world. Nothing that could be wrapped in a box or delivered by Santa could be better than the gift we were given. Not a day has gone by since Michael joined our family on July 30th that we have not said "wow, are we so lucky to have him". And, we cannot believe how perfect he is for our family. A perfect match! Just his sense of humor alone and wonderful, funny facial expressions has kept us laughing each and every day.

And as we approach the end of 2007, we cannot believe how much our lives have changed. Not only for us, but for our entire family.

So to all of you from our family, Merry Christmas and Happy, Happy New Year! We hope all of YOUR wishes come true! And thanks for being patient......here are some new photos.

Mommy, can I have them all?

Me and my Mommy.....

And, me and Daddy

BOO!

I'm so glad I don't know how to rake leaves yet!

E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!

I have been a good boy!

My first haircut

Santa's coming!

A Month at Home

So hard to believe that we have already been home with Michael for one month as of this weekend. In fact, we have had Michael in our lives now for over a month since Gotcha Day on July 30th! The time has gone by so quickly.

Michael is doing so well. We had our first post-placement visit this week with our social worker, who came here to our house to visit and see Michael. We received a great compliment from her, as she commented that it seems like Michael has been with us so much longer than just a month, as he seems so well adjusted and happy. He really is a happy child (except for those waking hours at 2:00am. He's not very happy then, but we have new molars breaking through to thank for that!!). Michael's personality is so wonderful, and he loves attention. He is so very social too, not being afraid to meet anyone.

In the past few days, he has been "talking" alot. We sure wish we knew what he was saying! We continue to talk with him and have a feeling that one day he will all of a sudden start saying more words. He does know Ma Ma, Da Da, and bye-bye. He also has learned how to blow kisses. It is so cute. And just last week, we were in the car listening to music and I was snapping my fingers to the music. The other day when I was changing Michael's diaper, he started to try and snap his fingers. It was so funny. He loves to imitate!

And last week, he turned 17-months old!!!

We had a busy Labor Day weekend, visiting with family and friends. And we are making plans to take our first trip out to Philadelphia to see our family and friends there and introduce Michael to all of them.

We have caught some great new pictures of Michael....enjoy!!!

Checking out this week's news.......

Say cheese!

And sneaking in a cup of coffee with my Sunday paper.....

This is fun!

Check it out! I have my own chair!

Like my hat?!?

Me and my Daddy!

Two Weeks Have Flown By!

It is truly hard to believe that we have already been home from China with Michael for 2 weeks! It is 2 weeks today that we traveled home to begin our new life as a family.

First, I am sorry to have taken so long to get back on here and post a message. Since we have arrived home, we have been so busy with just trying to get Michael settled and SLEEPING! Needless to say, our first week home was quite a challenge. Michael had quite a difficult time with adjusting to the time difference. Our day was his night, and his night was our day. So for the first week, Michael would not sleep much at night, only sleeping 2 hours or so at a time. He would then consistently wake up around 2:00am, ready to play! This happened almost the entire first week home. We were all so very tired. Then finally, this past weekend, after 9 long nights, we finally reached a routine! YEAHHHH!!! Over this past weekend, Michael began to sleep through most of the night, only waking every once in a while. He will cry for only a bit, but then will put himself back to sleep. We are all in much better moods! It was such a challenge for us all, and we certainly had no idea how hard that part of the transition was going to be. But even with thunderstorms coming through last night, Michael has slept the whole time.

We are all adjusting well. Michael is a very happy child, aside from a few meltdowns (which I am sure are just a part of being a 16-month old). Brian has started back at work, and Michael and I are spending our days together. He has been to the park, and swimming with our friends next door. We even had the chance to visit my work and introduce him to everyone there. The house is also almost back to normal too, with most things put away from our trip, and suitcases finally back in storage.

Michael also had his first doctor's visit last week, and we are happy to say that he is healthy from head to toe. He needs to gain a little weight, as he is only 20.6 pounds, and the doctor would like him to be at around 24 pounds. But the way he eats, it will be no time at all that he will catch up. He LOVES to eat, and just about anything!

We are enjoying this time with Michael, as we learn and grow together as a family. This week, Michael has learned to say "bye-bye" while waving goodbye. And he has had wonderful visits from his Grandma and Grandpa, and his "aunt" Theresa.

By the way, today is Brian's birthday. Michael gave him a wonderful picture frame that says "Daddy & Me" with a great picture of the two of them. It made Daddy's day!

Here are some recent pictures of Michael. And I will try to keep posting when I can with updates. Thanks for all of your patience as we try to get back to a more normal routine! I will tell you, SLEEP definitely has helped! Bye for now!

Chillin' after a swim in the hotel pool.

Daddy & Me!

Saying Bye Bye to China.

Ready for a swim!

Peek- A -Boo!

I love Aunt Theresa's chocolate chip cookies!

It's Good to be Home!

Hello everyone....I am happy to say that we are home, safe and sound, from China. We left the White Swan Hotel very early yesterday morning (5:45am China time, on Thursday) and took our first flight to Hong Kong, from Guangzhou. The flight was a quick one, and we landed in Hong Kong in not so pleasant weather. Remnants of a typhoon had just passed through Hong Kong that morning.
After a three hour layover in Hong Kong, we left to come home. The flight went well, and Michael was a very good boy, considering the flight was a solid 14 hours. He ended up sleeping for the last 6 1/2 hours of the trip. Most of the flight was smooth, so we were all able to get a little sleep.
We arrived at O'Hare, and after waiting for what seemed like forever to get our luggage, we went through customs and processed Michael's paperwork. He is officially a US citizen!
We were greeted by family and friends at the airport, and arrived home where Grandma and Grandpa were anxiously waiting. It was a long day, but we were so happy to have arrived home.
Our first night home was a rough one, because jet lag for Michael is difficult. It probably didn't help that he slept so long during the flight. Last night at 12:00 midnight, he thought it was time to get up, because on his clock it was the middle of the day. We did get him to sleep a little more, but only after being up for about 2 hours. We will try today to get him back to a regular schedule, and a full nights rest tonight!
Once we get settled, I'll get some more pictures posted and give you a final recap on our last days in China. Again, thank you all for your tremendous support and messages throughout our journey in China. It really kept us going, and we really appreciate it!
Now off to rest.....talk to you later!

Red couches and potato chips

Two funny stories to share from our last 24 hours. Yesterday was the infamous red couch photos here at the White Swan. It is the day when we try to get all the new babies together for a picture on one of the red couches on the 2nd floor. What a task that was! I am proud to say that out of all the babies there, Michael was the only one that did not cry! He sat there and looked around smiling, as if to say to all of the others, "why are you crying? this isn't so bad!" It was so cute. Then all of the families got together for a photo, mommies and daddies included.

Here are the photos:

Look at my new outfit!

The Red Couch Photo.

Our travel group.

Michael with his girlfriend, Kaylee.

Now to potato chips. A couple of nights ago, Michael did not sleep well, getting up at 2:15am, wanting to play. Overall I think we only got about 5 hours of sleep. So last night, we all really needed to sleep. We got Michael calmed around 8:30pm, and to sleep shortly after. Brian and I were hungry after having an early dinner. We had bought Lays potato chips while in Nanjing, and still hadn't opened them. Yum, real potato chips! Now the dilemma. How to open a very loud bag, and cans of soda, without waking a sleeping little boy. We didn't want to leave the room and sit in the hall in case he woke up. So, there we were in the bathroom, sitting on the side of the bathtub, eating chips and drinking soda. Wow, I guess we really are parents now!

We had a good laugh over it.

Thanks for all the messages of support. We really appreciate it! We are looking forward to coming home in a couple of days and introducing Michael to his new family!

Bye bye for now!

Wonderful times in China

It is Sunday afternoon, and we are in the final week of our trip here in China. Today it is very hot, so a quick stroll in the park this morning after breakfast was our trip outdoors for the day. Later we will find the playroom here at the hotel.

Wanted to share some more pictures! Enjoy!!!

This hotel is fun!

I LOVE to take baths!

Enjoying music in the park with Daddy.

Waterfall at the hotel.

Look at those cool fishies!

Michael LOVES music and LOVES to dance!

Our last leg of our "amazing race"

We are in the homestretch of our journey, arriving in Guangzhou, China earlier this evening. It is Friday night, and we arrived at the White Swan Hotel shortly after 6:00pm. After a short 2 hour plane ride, we arrived here to complete our final leg of our visit to China.

Michael did very well on his first airplane ride. We did have to play with the tray table ALOT and the window shade ALOT, but it was enough to keep him busy, in between a short nap. I am a little nervous about the14 hour plane ride home, but this was a good test today.

We already really like being here. Guangzhou has a different feel to it than Nanjing did, and we definitely like this hotel much better than our last one. Our room is on the 26th floor, overlooking the Pearl River and the city of Guangzhou. The river, and the surrounding hotels/shops/bridges are all lit up at night. And the boats too on the river are all lit up. Our room has a big window so the view is perfect.

The lobby of our hotel is very nice, too. Lots of greenery, waterfalls, and ponds full of fish. And because this is an often used hotel for adoptive parent groups, we have already seen alot of Americans walking the hotel with Chinese babies. Tomorrow we meet back up with some of the couples we met in Beijing. We are glad to be here for the final and longest leg of our "amazing race". We will be here until the 9th, when we finally get to come home. Most of the next several days will be spent getting U.S. paperwork done and visas filed. We will venture out of the hotel to area parks, and of course, shopping! Michael will enjoy getting out of the hotel.

After a busy travel day, Michael sleeps soundly. He seems to be doing well, and adjusting, although we have had some moments where he has had meltdowns. We are learning what he needs, and he is learning about us too. It is still so unbelievable to us that we are his mommy and daddy now. I don't think it has quite sunk in for us. And we really cannot wait to bring him home and have him meet his new family and friends.

So goodnight from Guangzhou. And here are some new pictures of our last couple of days!

A tired little boy.

Hi Everyone!

Who needs toys....I have an empty water bottle that makes me happy!

I am too cute!

Helping Mommy at the airport.

Our View in Guangzhou.

Michael is officially ours!

On Tuesday morning, we returned to the Civil Affairs office to complete the adoption registration and paperwork for Michael. It was a little scary for the kids to go back to this place, as this was where they were given to us so I think it brought back some scary memories for them. But overall, they all did well. We had to sign a bunch of paperwork, which was all in Chinese. We just followed what our guide said and signed away. For all we know, we just acquired a piece of land in China!

Seriously, though, the paperwork we signed made it official with the Chinese government that our adoption of Michael is final. We received a beautiful certificate, with our first family portrait attached. Now, we just have to get through the U.S. paperwork, and we can come home!!

Here are a few more pictures of our past couple of days:

Michael loves his Daddy!

It's official!

Michael's new girlfriend, Kaylee.

The director from Michael's orphanage.

Our happy little boy!

Today, we went to a local supermarket and did a little shopping. Wow, was that nice to be able to get some things that reminded us of home. We never thought a bag of M & M's would taste soooo good!

We are here in Nanjing just a couple more days, then it is off to Guangzhou to take care of the US side of the paperwork. In about one week we prepare to come home. Michael is looking forward to meeting all of his new family and friends!

GOTCHA!!

We are thrilled to announce that we are OFFICIALLY parents, to a beautiful little boy!!! We received Michael at around 10:15am this morning (Monday morning China time) at the Civil Affairs office in Nanjing.

It was quite a site to see as all of the families in our group received their babies. We knew who Michael was the first minute we saw him. This round-faced little boy came in to the room, and in to our hearts! Here are some first pictures....check out the look in the first one that Michael is giving Brian!

Michael does not look very happy in these pictures, as it was a scary morning for him. But by the end of the day today, he was laughing, showing his wonderful personality, and imitating everything Brian was doing. He is quite a character, and was very popular down in the hotel lobby. We have been matched with the perfect child to join our lives. He is just like his Daddy!

It has been an exhausting but very rewarding day. We are tired, and so is Michael, as he is now sleeping soundly. We hope he is dreaming sweet dreams of his new life. Our dream has already come true!