Sunday, June 25, 2006

After the Birthday party, we came home and Audrey finally sat down long enough to have some cake !








Happy Birthday Audrey !!!!

Today we had Audrey's birthday party at our neighborhood pool with some of her best friends. Audrey turned 3 on June 16th but we had all been sick the week before so we planned her party for today. There was rain/thunderstorms in the forecast all weekend but amazingly we were spared any storms and just had alot of clouds with a few sprinkles until the end of the party. This was Audrey's first official birthday party and it was wonderful. She and her friends had a great time; They thoroughly enjoyed and wore themselves out ;-) Oh, and mommy wore herself and daddy out lol ! Thank you so much Faith for helping get everything ready and Virginia for the wonderful cake and cupcakes. The picture of the gang in the mini-van is one of my favorites and was taken when we were trying to get the kids loaded up to go home. They just did not want the fun to end !

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Travel Date Changed

Yesterday after I posted we were leaving July 6th, I spoke to our travel agent who proceeded to tell me that all flights were booked for July 6th so we would have to leave July 7th. The good news is that we have great flights and only one layover in Chicago so our travel time is going to be minimal compared to our travel time when we brought home Audrey. We have already purchased our tickets over the phone and should have them in hand in a day or two. We will be returning on 7/19/06 as far as I know right now.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

We are leaving for China July 6th !!!

We received an email from our agency this morning that our consulate appointment is 7/17/06 and that we are leaving 7/6/06. We are just waiting to hear from the travel agent who will reserve our airline tickets. After such a long and uncertain wait, it is still hard for us to believe that we will be holding our precious Rachel in a little over 2 weeks !!!
As soon as we have more information regarding our travel arrangements we will post. We don't expect to receive our in-country itinerary until next week.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Our TA is Here, Woohoo !!!!

About 10:30 am I received an email from our travel coordinator Brian and he says he has our TAs in hand and has faxed a request for Consulate appointments to China. He says if we get one of the appointments he requested which were July 17-20, we could leave for China anywhere between July 6-10. It usually takes a couple of days to get the actual consulate appointment so we are hoping to hear something by Wednesday. Once we have our consulate appointment, I'll post our travel dates. We are so excited that our trip to bring home Rachel is now fast approaching !!!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Latest update on Rachel

Yesterday we received an unexpected update on our new daughter Rachel. We knew from her referral information that she was going to be a big girl, but wow is she a big girl ;-) I am now thinking she must be related in some way to Yao Ming ! At just under 9 months, we are being told our daughter is 30 inches and 23 lbs. What does this mean? Well it means that I spent yesterday returning all the 12 months clothes I had already bought for her and replacing them with 18 months. She also has 2 bottom teeth and they are still feeding her every 4 hours including through the night, yikes. They are adding rice cereal for each feeding and 1/2 egg yolks to her bottle once a day but are not giving her anything else currently. It really is good to know all these things before we travel. I've heard from other families that have adopted from Xiushan SWI that the nannies will also show us how they are mixing her bottles so we can at least give her some consistency while in China.

Developmentally, it sounds like Rachel is doing very well but still hasn't had the opportunity to crawl or walk. It does say she sits up by herself and can roll over. It also says she can hold toys in her hand.

She is described as quiet but with many facial expressions. Our first daughter Audrey is rarely ever quiet so I think their personalities will compliment each other ;-) It also says she looks for dropped toys and follows the sound they make. She is now sliding in her Go-kart, aka walker.

We haven't heard any word yet on when to expect TAs but we are hoping we might hear by the end of next week. Our hearts are really aching now to meet her and bring her home. Please keep us in your prayers.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006




The Sale

Lesson to be learned.... Never go to a half off sale on baby/toddler clothes right after you receive your referral ;-) I really did get an awesome deal on the matching dresses though !
Last Sunday before Church
Summer Colds, Yuck !

Starting Sunday, Alex told me he felt like he was coming down with a cold and by Monday it was obvious he had a bad one. I felt bad for him and thought it was really weird that he came down with such a nasty cold the first week of June. Because it is June I just assumed that I would be fine and probably not pick it up since I've had way more than my share already this year. Nope, I started coming down with it yesterday morning and have went downhill ever since. To make life even more interesting, Audrey also has it but so far has been a real trooper and in great spirits. Tomorrow our whole cold stricken crue is making the 2.5 hour trip up to Nashville to be refingerprinted. Alex had already asked off work to do it, so it would have been a real pain to reschedule. We will be so relieved to have that overwith !