One week home

I feel like we have been home much longer than one week. It seems like the babies (I may call them babies forever) have been with us for years. They are doing really really well given the huge transition they have gone through over the past month.

Ayla

She is still the boss lady. She is not afraid to tell you what she thinks or what she wants.

She is branching out in the foods she is eating but they still must be soft and very small bites.

She is not sleeping as well as we would like. She often, really often, wakes up at night to check on us. If we are there, she will go back to sleep most of the time.

She is still pretty attached to me but is really warming up to Jake. In the middle of the night she only wants me. That makes one tired momma since she is waking up ALOT.

She is gaining weight!


Isaac

He has a hysterical little scream he does when he is happy, excited, wants to get your attention or fussing at his sister.

He loves the water. We went a splash pad yesterday and he loved it.

He definitely has preferred foods and would like to eat only those. I don't blame him. I am the same way.

He sleeps like a champ.

He is starting to play with his sister more and even tries to give her kisses before bed time. With that said, he also likes to throw stuff into her crib because it makes her mad. Then he laughs. It's rather funny.




They are both playing together more, following each other around and must be doing the same thing at the same time. So we thought that the babies needed a night light. I didn't realize that all night lights now complete 47 functions. The night light lasted one night. Of course it projects a solar system onto the ceiling while playing music. Ayla stands in her crib to point at the stars while Isaac stands in his crib to dance to the music. Not exactly the impact we were hoping for.

I am so happy and grateful that we are both off for the summer. I can't imagine doing this with Jake at work. Our days are great. They are filled with wagon rides, stroller rides, playing in the pool, swinging on the new swing set, playing in the playroom...it's nice because we can be as relaxed as we need.

Love these babies.

Tomorrow is the meet and greet. The weather should be great. If there is a little rain we have a very large pavilion to stay dry! Hope to see you there!

We are HOME!

Most photos are from our first few days home with a few from the end of our trip sprinkled in. Enjoy!

Meet and Greet for A & I

To all who have followed us in this journey we are happy to finally present our children to you! On Saturday June 29th we will have a casual meet and greet at Beckley Creek Park to introduce Ayla and Isaac to our family and friends. We are so grateful for your support over the years and wish to share this time with you over cake and refreshments on (hopefully) a beautiful day at the park! Open house style, drop in for a minute or stay for a while!


We will be in the PWC Pavilion from 11am - 2 pm. There is a great park with a splash pad, walking track and Floyds Fork Creek. This park is really nice.

DIRECTIONS TO PWC PAVILION:
SCENIC ROUTE THROUGH THE PARK
• Take I-64 East to exit 19B to merge onto I-265N/Gene Snyder Fwy
• Take exit 27 for US-60/Shelbyville Rd toward Middletown/Eastwood
• Turn right off the exit onto US-60 E/Shelbyville Rd
• Drive approximately 1.5 miles and enter the park on the right across from Valhalla Golf Course
• Follow Beckley Creek Parkway approximately 1.5 miles past William F. Miles Lakes, around the Egg Lawn to Creekside Center
• Follow signs to Creekside Center
ALTERNATE ROUTE
• Take I-64 East to exit 19B to merge onto I-265N/Gene Snyder Fwy
• Take exit 27 for US-60/Shelbyville Rd toward Middletown/Eastwood
• Go right off the exit onto US-60 E/Shelbyville Rd
• Take a right onto S. Beckley Station Rd
• Travel about1 mile to park entrance on left
• Follow signs to Creekside Center

Hope to see you there!!

We are coming HOME!!

We are packing up RIGHT NOW to head home. We will be leaving the hotel at 5:45am tomorrow/Wednesday (5:45 pm Tuesday at home) to head for the airport. We will head to Beijing, 5 hour layover, to Detroit and then HOME. Our flights have stayed the same so we should be in Louisville shortly after 11pm Wednesday night after 30 hours of traveling. I am sure we will look beautiful and well rested :) but we will be happy to be home and see our friends and family. Everyone is welcome at the airport. We will also have our "Welcome Home" party June 29th from 11am-2pm (I will double check the time but that sounds right). I will post more details when we get home but I think they are in a post below. Once again, everyone is welcome to come meet the babies. It will be open house style to drop in for a few minutes or stay a while and enjoy the park.

Everyone posts a lovely long post about what will happen once we are home and how that impacts our family and friends. I am not sure I have it in me right now to write a long post but here is the short version. These babies are wonderful and we deeply appreciate that everyone wants to meet them, snuggle them and shower them with love. This will have to happen in doses and when they are ready. Everyone is welcome at the airport and the welcome home party but we will have to lay low for a while. Children that are born by birth have so many opportunities to learn who mom and dad are, what they do and that their needs will be met by mom and dad (vs strangers or random people). Children that are adopted need time to learn this too. Adoption has it's beginning in loss. Loss of a biological family, caregivers, foster family, culture, language....this is a huge transition and we all have to respect that it will take time. For now we will need to be the only people to hold them, feed them, comfort them when they cry and meet any need that they have. This will help them learn that we are going to take care of them, love them and meet every need they have. We would appreciate it if you would help us to help them learn this. We also will not have visitors are our home for now. This will help them to establish that it is their home, that we live there and other people do not/will not. We hope to be out for short visits in the near future but really don't know how much at this time. We will be sure to keep everyone informed of how they are doing and when we will be able to have more visitors. Taking this time now to help them understand that we are a family, that we are permanent and that we will meet their needs is critical for our family to bond as a unit.

We are so excited to be home and can't wait for everyone to meet the newest members of our family!!

Finally, it's uploaded!!

Yesterday we went to the Pearl Market with our lovely guide Jocelyn. Previously it was an open air market but is now a mall type thing. It was very different than I thought it would be. It was a 6 floor building with many many little shops (about 15ft by 15ft each) that were PACKED wall to wall, floor to ceiling. Jocelyn was able to tell us which pearls were quality, what stores we could trust and who sold fake pearls and jade. It was a neat experience. After the Pearl Market we went to Shamian Island for a little shopping and walking around. Jake and the littles stayed at the hotel so we went back today. Below are photos from the last two days. Tomorrow we are going to a park (I think).

We went to the Safari Park today. The first part was a driving section and the other part was on foot. We enjoyed it and the kids didn't seem to mind too much. No melt downs so I consider it a success! We were able to feed the giraffes which we all thought was pretty cool.

Ayla - she has decided that she wants to wear bows in her hair. She has decided that she can drink from a sippy cup. She continues to throw everything out of her crib. Isaac likes to throw things in her crib and she will then toss them out. She needs her own space at night to sleep and does much better with no one touching her. She continues to be the itty bitty boss lady.

Isaac - He is becoming more vocal but it may be because Ayla is pretty loud. He still prefers Jake over me. At night he wants to snuggle and sleep in the bed. He will stand up, call for Jake and do a little smiling dance until he comes to get him. He will fall asleep as soon as Jake gets him. In the other hotel he would reach his little hands through the crib to grab his toes, smile and ask him to pick him up. He also LOVES the snack drawer. He will stand at the draw, select a few items to eat and slowly close it back up. He is very careful not to crush his fingers.

They both love the water and had a blast playing in the hotel pond/fountain thing the other day. Isaac has no fear and almost went head first into the water.

Tomorrow we will go shopping!