Our Journies to Meg and Quincy

We're home safe and sound!

2009-03-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not updating the blog, but it's been a crazy few days.

We're all jet-lagged and tired and fighting nasty colds with little sleep. But we're home safe and sound.

We got in Thursday night after a fairly uneventful flight. It was long. The layover in Shanghai was 6 hours, but we went to the food court, hung out, played games, waited in line forever at ticketing, and made it through without too much incident. The kids slept most of the way home on the long flight, but mom and dad didn't. So when we got home, they didn't feel like sleeping, and we were exhausted. Other than that, things went relatively well.

Friday and the weekend were pretty long. Jason and I were exhausted, and the kids kept us up all night. If one of them was asleep, the other one was awake, and even though we took turns trying to take care of them, we didn't get much rest.   Now, on top of it, we all have colds, probably due in part to lack of sleep. Sunday and Monday nights were better, and we all got to sleep through the night finally. I feel almost human again.

Meg is doing pretty well, at least as well as can be expected.   She settled in at home right away. We've had a few breakdowns at home, but it seems that in the house, she feels pretty comfortable.. She's still stubborn and we've had our moments, but things are much better than in China.

We still haven't had much luck taking her out. She is just unpredictable and prone to throwing tantrums at unpredictable times. We've tried to limit the outings, but to be honest, we're going stir crazy trapped in the house...  The few small outings we've had (grandma's house, library, shoe store) were okay. The biggest problem seems to be getting her to leave anywhere...

Then today we went to the doctor, and it went reasonably well. She screamed when we asked her (and eventually helped her) take off her clothes, and then again when we asked her to put them back on, but the actual exam went fine.

Another appointment with the endocrinologist this afternoon... We'll see how that goes. Wish us luck!

Although it sounds like doom and gloom, we have a lot of happy moments too. She has a good sense of humor, and she frequently tries to bring us into her fun. I think once we're all settled in and she's more comfortable, she will fit right in with our silly, offbeat family. She is fascinated, but scared of our cats. She keeps taking the photos of the cats and showing them to the cats. Or taking a picture the cat and setting it near them, as if to show the cat that it is in the picture... Silly and funny. She made me come upstairs to show me that Moo was sleeping on our bed. And she told me that I should not let Moo sleep on the bed. It was mama and baba's bed...

It's been a rough start, but it IS getting better. She's just trying to establish her boundaries and frequently gets overwhelmed with everything and loses control. And since she's never been told no in her entire life, and hasn't ever had any boundaries or responsibilities, it's very frustrating for her. It's all compounded by our only very basic level of communication. Slowly but surely, it is getting better, and we are all settling in.

Peace, love and joy,
Bridget

Last night

2009-03-04T06:01:00.001-08:00

Well, here it is... the last official night in China before we head home. We went to the American Consulate today and swore our oath to raise Meg to the best of our abilities and the like. It was cool. There were about 30 other families there. Nearly every one had a baby in their arms. We were the only ones with a child as old as 10. The next oldest I think was near 4, as was Mister Q when we adopted him a year and a half ago.
Adopting an older child here is lonely. We were alone on the last trip and we were alone this trip. I know being by yourself has advantages, like being able to choose exactly what you do each day, but it also is very singular. Most of the couples there at the consulate were part of a group of at least 1 or 2 other families. It seemed like they had all formed bonds with the other couples and could lean on each other because they were going through the same stuff. I think I missed a bit of that. We could kind of talk to other families and we were all in the same general boat, but we definitely had our own level to ourselves. The one thing that we ALL had in common was that everyone looked like they were just dang tired. I know we are.
Today Meg was doing pretty well. She had her usual morning fit when we tried to get her dressed. She was asked to wear an outfit that she picked out in Kunming and wore 2 days in a row. Today she wanted to have nothing to do with it. Bridget got to stay up in the room this time while Q and I went to breakfast with Grandma. They made it down about 15mn later and everything seemed ok. She was wearing the outfit we set out... so we won that battle.
Meg did pretty well all morning. Mom and grandma went out after breakfast to do some shopping, then I went out when they came back. We left for the consulate about 2:45 and she was just fine. She still had some sniffles, but nothing like yesterday. I didn't get to read if Bridget posted anything about her sneezing and the product it left, but I will just say that, being the only parent she allows to touch her left my back pocket full of... well, I will say that if anyone tried to pick my back pocket, they would have gotten what they deserved. Anyway... back to the day. The swearing in went well. She mostly sat in the little area they had for kids, with some toys and such, and built a tower of Duplo blocks that was higher than she was. She seemed very proud, as she should have been. On the ride home, we were to stop at a few places to pick up a few last things, some DVDs and some books for the plane trip home. As we stopped for the DVDs, Quincy so tactfully pointed out that she was making a mess with her mouth. I looked over and she was staring forward and it looked like she had spit up a bit. I thought it was odd, but proceeded to get a napkin to wiper her off. As I did... whatever else had been bubbling up, made it's escape, all over the van and my towel and me and her. The van had stopped and I was getting out, thinking we were going to clean her up and get situated. Richard was talking to the driver and I had no idea what they were on about, but as I got out, the door closed and the van took off. Richard said they would head back to the hotel and we would just get the shopping done and cab it home. I was worried, but figured they would call if there was trouble. We got the DVDs and the books and headed home. Bridget said that Meg had let loose a few more times in the van, but she was apparently doing ok. When I opened the door she smiled and said hello as she always did. She had eaten some crackers and was looking fine. She had her blood sugar checked and was ok. I don't know if she had a bit of food poisoning, or what, but she went to bed in good spirits. I just hope she is well for the day of plane trips. I am NOT looking forward to the 6 hour lay over. Oh well...
Till next time, when we type from our own computer in the USA...

Jason, of the Laflin brood.

Last day in China

2009-03-03T17:40:00.001-08:00

First I want to thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, good wishes and emails. I'm so sorry I haven't had time to respond personally, but know that I truly appreciate them all.

Yesterday Jason took Quincy to a zoo with Richard and I stayed back at the hotel with Meg. She was pretty frosty for an hour or so, so I let her have some space. Then I started packing and asked her if she wanted to help. Which she did. So she helped me fold and pack clothes for a while. Then I got out a little craft kit that Jason had bought at Carrefour. We cut out paper and glued things together and had some bonding time. Her development in the skills of cutting, pasting, art project type stuff is about on par with Quincy, but it was a fun time anyway.

Then we went for a little walk around the hotel, since we were both feeling pretty cooped up in our stuffy room. It went well. She watched for cars (mostly) and even warned me when cars were coming a few times. When we got back to the hotel entrance, she really didn't want to go in, and melted down. Luckily Baba and QUincy pulled up a couple of minutes later and we got her inside fairly easily.

She has a bit of a cold, so I think that's affecting her mood as well. All in all, it was a good day though.

Today we had a meltdown about getting dressed. That's a daily occurrence. But I distracted her by testing her blood sugar and then she got dressed while I was getting her insulin shot ready...

Today we go to the consulate and finish some last minute shopping and tomorrow we leave early in the morning. Please keep us in your prayers for the long flight home. The lay-over in Shanghai is gonna be a rough 6 hours, I think.

Peace, love and happiness,
Bridget

Two steps forward, one step back...

2009-02-28T22:36:00.001-08:00

Sorry for not posting, but things have been pretty hectic. We are now in Guangzhou, and it hasn't been an easy couple of days. TianTian has ramped up the resistance and still won't have anything to do with me if Richard or Baba are anywhere within screaming distance. If they aren't around, she'll let me do things for her only if she ABSOLUTELY can't do them herself. We've had a few moments of true laughing and playing, but they are few and far between. It only seems to happen when she gets caught up in the moment and forgets that she's decided to hate me... Then suddenly she will remember and glare at me, and we start our little drama all over again.

This morning after two tantrums and 45 minutes of coercion, we got her down to breakfast. Then we went to Six Banyan (sp?) temple and she was blessed by one of the monks there. Then we went clothes shopping and jewelry shopping. I bought a few strings of pearls. Some for our kid's weddings, and one for myself, and a couple of gifts. I let TianTian get a little necklace (not pearls).  After she picked it out from the display, I took it off the hook to give it to her, and she snatched it out of my hand and glared at me.  Then after we bought clothes, she saw a pair of shoes that she wanted, and I wouldn't buy them for her, so she had a big tantrum...

I understand the resentment and fear and all that stuff, and intellectually I know it will take time and all of that, but it's much different to be in the middle of it. I feel really bad for Jason. He just can't take a break.  If we go anywhere together, she literally hangs all over him, and has a meltdown if he gets out of her sight. I think he's starting to lose his patience, so I'm going to try and get him out of the hotel today to do some shopping for himself, all alone. I think he needs some space.

It's really difficult to know how to react to her. How much space do we give her and how much do we push? Obviously some things NEED to be done. With her diabetes, she needs to get her blood sugar checked and insulin shots and she needs to eat on a regular basis.  When she runs into traffic, we need to stop her. But on the less necessary stuff, how much to we insist on? It's a fine line, and it's not easy to see it all the time. And if we let her get away with stuff, Quincy gets mad. He can't get away with that stuff, so why can she?

Obviously it will be different when we get home, but I have a feeling it's going to be a long 4 days until we get there. Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.

Peace, love, joy and more peace,
Bridget

Better... I think.

2009-02-25T23:31:00.000-08:00

Well, this is Baba posting today. I was able to pull myself away from our daughter, literally, for a moment. Today we went to the flower expo. We visited this place last time with Quincy, but we thought we would try again. The exhibit is essentially a bunch of flowers and nature stuff from the various places in China. It is cool, but impossible to really take in with a 5 and 10 year old, especially a 10 year old who screams any time Mama tries to touch, talk, or look at her. I know it is just a reaction to the situation, but it is hard for both Bridget and I. I have had a headache since we landed and today it peaked. I was nearly out this morning, but things improved enough for me to make the expo trip. Over all it was fun, but of course Meg continued to test her boundaries by running off, getting into places she shouldn't and trying to take everything hanging in the countless little stands filled with water and toy-junk.
Meg is definitely making improvements, but it is very hard to gauge which of her reactions are real and which are just trying to solicit a reaction from us. It is much like we have adopted a 4 year old again, but this time in a much bigger body that can't be thrown on my shoulders. One highlight at the expo was when Mama, Meg, Quincy and grandma all dressed up in "traditional costumes" for pictures. Attached are a few. Also the one of the TV is from Meg. She got a hold of the camera and apparently took about 35 blurry pictures of the tv.
Overall things are getting better, the meltdowns are getting further apart and the mad dashes for the door/street/water are letting up a bit too. We just can't wait to get home.

Peace to you all and keep us in your thoughts... the plane ride to Guangzhou is in 2 days... yikes.

For better (More pictures)

2009-02-24T22:11:00.001-08:00

Definitely better, not worse

2009-02-24T22:06:00.001-08:00

So, immediately after I posted yesterday, things started to improve. TianTian woke up from her nap and was in a much improved state of mind. We've had a few more meltdowns, but not as many, and not so severe as before.

We all went to the zoo, and she had a GREAT time. She especially liked the tigers and elephants. She and Quincy also went on a little kid roller coaster, and she had the time of her life. When she got off, she kept saying "too much fun". She still ran off a little, and was very upset when we wouldn't buy her every toy they had at the little carts in the zoo. At one point when I took away one of the toys, she jumped down a step and slipped and skinned her knee, but it was MUCH better than the previous day at the park.

Baba (daddy) has emerged as the clear favorite in this family. Mama is a bit more strict and in charge of necessary stuff like medicine, clothes, hair and such, but Baba is MUCH more fun, and she keeps running to him when Mama is too mean... Even when he makes her do the same thing that Mama was going to make her do, it seems to be easier coming from him. At this point, we'll take it. Quincy was the same way. As long as she's bonding with at least one of us, the rest will come in time. And at night, she still holds my hand and wants me to rub her back, so it's all good.

Today we went back to the orphanage for a visit. The "mean" older boy in the wheelchair who has obsessively occupied Quincy's thoughts was not there. He's in foster care now, so that was one thing Quincy didn't have to worry about. Quincy's other fear, the man in the glasses who would hit him, was there. But we just saw him from a distance, and everything was okay there too. No need for rescue helicopters or blowing up walls to escape, so all of Quincy's plans for rescuing Meg were unnecessary.

We had an amazing lunch with two women from the orphanage. We were supposed to have lunch with the director, but something emergent came up and she couldn't come. These two kids were definitely loved at the orphanage. The caregivers were so happy that the two kids have been reunited and have found their forever family. We feel the same way.

Peace, love, happiness,
Bridget

For Better or Worse...

2009-02-23T17:09:00.001-08:00

It's official. We have a daughter. Forever. Really. It's just sort of sinking in. It's hard to believe it's true and she's ours forever.

Yesterday was a rough day. This morning hasn't been much better. The honeymoon is definitely over, but at least it was over before we signed the adoption papers, so we can't say we weren't warned... :)

Yesterday started okay. We got dressed, she let me braid her hair. She ran around the breakfast buffet area, but it was more curiousity and excitement than anything. Then Richard came and we all went for a walk in the park. She continually ran away from us, not out of curiousity, but to test us. And when we caught her and prevented her from falling in the lake, getting hit by cars, or crashing into people, she would scream bloody murder and act like we were beating on her. I'm pretty sure all the Chinese people watching thought we were abducting her. It didn't bother me one bit that people were staring at me restraining a tantruming 10 year, but I was a little afraid someone would call the police. Jason was even more worried about it. People think worse of men in those situations. I'm glad Richard was there with us, so that people could overhear him talking to her in Chinese, and maybe get an idea of what was going on...

Then we went and completed the adoption. She ran around the room and caused trouble while we were completing paperwork. At one point, she locked herself in the little room where they take the photos... After that, we went back to the hotel and hung out and played there for the rest of the day. Bed time went okay, but both she and Quincy woke up about 2:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep. I sat with them until about 4:30 and then Jason took Quincy into our room, and I stayed with Meg until she fell asleep about 5.

This morning, she got dressed and when I tried to brush her hair, she threw another tantrum and wouldn't get off the bed. So, I stayed with her while everyone else went down to breakfast. She fell asleep again shortly after that, and then I went down and got some breakfast as well.

We were planning on going to the zoo today, but I don't know if it will happen. I don't know if she's ready for another outing yet. Jason and my mom might take Quincy and I'll stay here with her. Or maybe she'll be feeling a bit better after some more sleep. Who knows.

I have to say that Quincy has been amazing through this. It's like he's the big brother, and he's been taking good care of his sister, and helping Mama and Baba so much. He's such an amazing guy!

Keep us in your prayers.

Love, Peace and Happiness,
Bridget

Here's one more picture

2009-02-22T17:57:00.001-08:00

Additional Pic from our meeting with Meg

2009-02-22T17:56:00.001-08:00

I looked at the blog and realized I must have attached the wrong picture. Not sure how to delete it from here, but here's the one I meant to put in...

2009-02-22T17:53:00.001-08:00

We met Miss TianTian yesterday. We got to the office where we were going to meet our daughter and waited for a bit. (She got stuck in traffic.) We were all so excited and nervous. I think Quincy was literally bouncing off the walls at one point.

Then she walked in, looked around, and was told we were her mama and baba. She glanced at us truly couldn't have cared less... Then Quincy came up to her and she got very excited to see her Wu XinYan again. We gave her a wheelie backpack with a few toys in it, and she was very excited about the wheels on the backpack. Didn't really care about the toys... She and Quincy walked back and forth around the room, from the window to the telephone and back again about a hundred times. She didn't want to have anything to do with mama or baba yet... We didn't want to crowd her, so we just let the two kids get reacquainted. Within 5 minutes, Quincy was working hard to impress his big sister, and she was bossing him around. It was like they had never been separated, even though they don't speak the same language any more.

We got instructions on her medications from a very concerned caretaker, and signed some papers and were on our way. Today we complete the adoption formally!

At the hotel, it was like deja vu. She and Quincy are two peas in a pod. She acted almost exactly like Quincy did when we brought him here on his adoption day. She played constantly with the TV's, phones, DVD player, cameras and everything electronic. We took her down the street to buy some dress shoes and she tried running into traffic, and walked out of a store with a toy. She didn't realize we had to pay for it. She has no concept of the outside world, and her behavior is very young. She is very strong-willed and stubborn as well. We're going to have our hands full. That's for sure!

Mama has handled the blood sugar testing and the insulin injections by herself so far (with grandma's supervision). I am SO GLAD that mom came along. I would have been so intimidated to do all of that without her help. Baba gets to start learning soon.

TianTian (Meg) had a really hard time getting to sleep last night... It was pretty rough on all of us. But it did afford some bonding experience for Mama and TianTian. We cuddled, and she cried a let me rub her back and comfort her for a while. Up until that time she'd pretty much shied away from physical contact from the grown-ups. (She and Quincy were holding hands and hugging and wrestling...)

Overall, she seems to be taking it all very well, and was all smiles this morning... She let Mama brush and braid her hair (which is long, beautiful and amazingly thick). Now we're off to make her a permanant member of our family! We can't wait!\

Peace, love, and happiness,
Bridget (Proud parent of 2!!!)

We arrived

2009-02-21T19:08:00.001-08:00

Well, we arrived. We left Friday at 6am to get to the airport, boarded a plane at 10am and arrived in China at 11:30pm Saturday, Kunming time.
We are waiting this morning to go to meet Meg. We are very excited. We are all pretty much sleep deprived and crazed, but very excited. Quincy is bouncing off the walls. The 14 hour plane trip, then the 2, 2-hour trips pretty much did us all in.
Anticipation is high as is our anxiety, but we are here, and the end is near. Kuming is very much how we remember it. We took a walking trip to WalMart this morning to get some water and a few things, and is our tradition there, got totally lost trying to get out. However, we did get water, some noodles and a monkey for Meg. Not a real monkey, a stuffed one... not a REAL stuffed monkey, a fake one. Quincy wanted us to make sure we clarified that.

Ok, our next entry will be post Meg-Meeting... so wish us luck.

Peace to you all.

Jason

Proud parent of 2.

Finally we have approval to bring Meg TianTian home!!!

2009-01-05T17:09:00.001-08:00

We are overjoyed to announce that our request to adopt our daughter has been officially approved! I don't think we could be more excited.

Name: Pan TianTian (soon to be Meg TianTian Laflin)

Date of Birth: December 15, 1998 (age 10)

Anticipated adoption date: Late February 2009

A brief summary of our Journey to Meg:
When we adopted Quincy last August, we were allowed to tour the orphanage where he had been raised. On our tour, a little girl followed us around. We were told that she was Quincy's playmate and good friend, and found out her name. After we got home, TianTian seemed to be a very important part of Quincy's memories of the orphanage. He talked about her and asked about her often. After being home only a month or so, we set out to try to adopt her. Due to the extraordinary skills of our agency and the help of many amazing people in China, we were able to get our dossier connected with her referral. And now after about 17 months, we are finally allowed to bring home our daughter!!!

Quincy is very excited about his sister, and can't wait to go to China to get her! We expect that the three of us will travel to China in late February.

Thank you to all of you have supported us on this adventure. We are so blessed to have friends and family that are so willing to welcome our amazing children into their hearts! We truly couldn't have done this without each and every one of you. Please continue to send your thoughts, prayers, good wishes and positive energy in our direction. We are just beginning what we are sure will be a challenging and amazing adventure.

Pictures from Camie's birthday party

2008-01-18T08:57:00.001-08:00

These pictures were taken last week at Camie's birthday party (Thank you Cathy!!)

Isn't Quincy growing into a handsome young man?!?!?

Starting to remember the orphange...

2008-01-18T08:43:00.001-08:00

Over the last week or so, Quincy has started talking about the orphanage. This may be disjointed, but I want to list out all of the references, so that we can help him remember later, if he forgets...

While I was giving him a bath a couple of weeks ago, the drain was kind of slow and I said I would have to fix it, and he started miming snaking a drain and clearing out a clog. (Things he's never seen with us...) I asked him where he saw that, and he said "at his house before Mama and Baba".

We asked him one day about the day that we met, and if he remembered meeting Mama and Baba and he said he got in a black car with the ai yi and took his medicine and came to find Mama and Baba.

A few days ago, he asked Baba about TianTian, with no prompting and asked if she could come on the airplane.

Yesterday in the car, he started talking to Baba about how he had to say goodbye to all of the kids to come find Mama and Baba. He again talked about TianTian specifically.

It seems like the newness of his life in America is starting to wear off, and he's starting to remember, the "house before Mama and Baba with all of the kids". He also has a big enough vocabulary to be able to talk about it now... I really wish I knew how he felt about it all. We can't even tell him that we are working on adopting TianTian, because it may not be possible, and we can't get his hopes up. Even if it is possible, there is no telling how long the wait might be. And to him, the idea of a year is VERY long and pretty much incomprehensible...

Back to Blogging!

2008-01-04T14:39:00.001-08:00

Okay, so it's been a long time since we posted to the blog... I'm resolving to do better, and I will try to post at least every few weeks. I had pretty much resolved myself to leaving the blog where it is, as a journal of our trip to China. I wasn't planning to continue it until we go back again. Why the change, you ask? I looked at the blog today and realized that I'd already forgotten many of the things that were on it. I always had the idea that if things were important, I would remember. But I guess that's not necessarily true... So I'm going to attempt to keep an online journal. Also, any of you interested in the mundane lives of the Laflins can share in our continuing journey.

I can't really talk about ALL of the cute things that Quincy has done in the past 4 months. They're just too numerous to count. He's wonderful, and we're finally getting pretty adjusted to this parenthood thing. Settling into the rhythm has been harder than we expected, but it's totally worth it, and we are madly in love with this whirling dervish we call Quincy.

So I'm going to start with today. He thought of a new way to try and get his way this morning. I asked him to put his pants on when we were getting dressed, and he said "No." I told him to listen to Mama. He said, "No listen mama, listen grandma!" I told him that he had to listen to me, and eventually I did get him dressed. When my mom showed up to baby-sit this morning, I told her about it, and she said that yesterday she had a similar episode. She told Quincy to do something, and he said "No listen Grandma, listen Baba!". Since Baba was right there, he told Quincy to do the same thing that Grandma had told him. Then he said "No listen Baba, Listen Grandpa!" and went in to the other room to get Grandpa, in hopes that the results would be different. Unfortunately for him, the adults maintained a solid front, and he had no choice. But not for lack of trying. Maybe he'll be a lawyer one day... Finding loopholes like that seems pretty advanced for a 4 year old...

Bridget

Home for a week

2007-08-24T20:47:00.001-07:00

This week has gone by in a blur, but we are starting to settle into a routine. Quincy's finally starting to sleep through the night, although mama and baba are still having a hard time with our sleep schedules...

Top ten things we've learned about Quincy in the last three weeks.

1. Things are more fun if mama or baba (preferably both) is watching.
2. He doesn't like pistachio ice cream.
3. Cats are acceptable only if Quincy approaches them, NOT when they come up to him.
4. He REALLY doesn't like to get his blood drawn.
5. He is scared to be alone at night.
6. He loves yogurt.
7. He REALLY loves cars.
8. He loves playing in water and in sandboxes.
9. He's doesn't really know how to play with other kids yet. (He's not used to interacting with them as equals, so it's all kind of new.
10. We are madly in love with this little boy.

Things Quincy has learned:
1. If he says he has to go to the bathroom, he can get out of the current unpleasant activity for a moment. (Like going to bed, waiting in the boring doctor's office, etc.)
2. If he acts like he's going to cry, he is more likely to get his way. (Mama and Baba are working to correct that one...)
3. Pancakes are amazing. They turn from powder to liquid to solid, which is truly an amazing miracle of nature.
4. Playing in sprinklers is VERY cool.
5. Heaven exists (in the form of Toys R Us)
6. He can sometimes get out of disciplinary situations by using English words in his cute little accent and showing how much he's learned...
7. Watching himself on video is more fun than watching other movies or TV.
8. Picking and eating his own food from the garden (a cucumber) is really neat.
9. If he asks to watch movies (Cars or Piglet's Big Movie) for long enough, mama and baba will probably get tired and give in.
10. Mama and Baba will come running whenever he needs/wants them...

Home Sweet Home!

2007-08-20T08:45:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's already Monday morning. I've lived the last few days in a fog. Jet lag going TO China was almost non-existent. Jet lag coming home has reared it's ugly head in an unbelievably forceful way...

The flight home was what I have to consider my first true initiation into parenting. Quincy didn't sleep much at all. He dozed for about an hour on the 5 hour flight from Guangzhou to Tokyo, and was ready to be done traveling when we got to Tokyo. Before we left China, we had Richard explain to him that we were taking an airplane to America. But we forgot to have him explain the concept of a layover. When we were landing in Tokyo, Quincy kept saying "Mei Guo" (America). My Chinese isn't good enough to explain that we had to get on another airplane for 9 more hours before we would be in America. He was bitterly disappointed to have to get on another airplane.

He had his first breakdown about an hour into the flight from Tokyo to Seattle. He sobbed and cried for about half and hour and was inconsolable. The poor little guy was SO tired. I thought he would cry himself to sleep. I was wrong. He didn't fall asleep until a couple of hours before we landed. The first 7 hours of that flight were miserable for everyone involved, and no one was allowed to sleep.

Dan and Tracy and Emily (Bridget's cousin, his wife and their daughter) met us at the airport along with Grandma and Grandpa O'Connell. We came home and Quincy got his first taste of his new life. He loved the swing set in the back yard, and when we showed him his room, he promptly made several trips up and down the stairs, to bring ALL of the Tiggers down to the living room. I don't think he understands yet that everything in the bedroom is for him. Since all of the adults were hanging out downstairs, I think he felt like he had to bring everything down to show that he was claiming it or something...

He also met the cats. He seems intrigued by Moo and scared of Trumpet. Moo is old, and possibly the most sedintary cat in the universe. Trumpet is normally pretty skittish. Quincy seems curious about the cats, but only on his own terms. He wants to go up to them, and not the other way around. Trumpet jumped up onto Quincy's bed, to cuddle up at night, and Quincy was pretty scared by him. It's gonna take some time for him to get used to having animals around.

Quincy's sleep schedule is definitely hard wired into him, so he has NOT wanted to sleep at night here, since his biological clock says that it's daytime. We've been trying to keep him up during the day so he will sleep at night. So far, it hasn't really worked. I think he got about 3 hours of sleep last night, and daddy and I got about the same. Hopefully we'll all be so tired tonight that we just pass out for about 10-12 hours. :)

Love and peace,
Bridget

Our last day in China!!!

2007-08-16T17:49:00.001-07:00

Well, It's 8:30 AM here on Friday morning, and I just checked in online for our flight home tomorrow morning. We will spend the day doing last minute shopping, packing and going to the consulate to take our oath and make Quincy a US citizen. We are so glad to be going home. It's been real. It's been fun. But we're MORE than ready to come home. Our flight gets in to SeaTac at 8:45AM on Saturday. It's flight number NW 8 from Tokyo. People are welcome to meet us, but I can't promise that we will be in the best state of mind, if we have minds left at all after 17+ hours in airports and on airplanes... And I have no idea how long it may take to get through customs, so you may end up waiting a bit for us. But I think we'll be very excited to see everyone!

I've posted some more pics that have been typical of our journey here... Hope you enjoy them!

Bridget

2 days to go

2007-08-15T04:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it is Wed, 7:45pm in sticky Guangzhao. Bridget is upstairs watching Winnie with the boy hoping that he goes to sleep quickly tonight. We had a LONG day.
Yesterday we arrived here after a short and fairly painless flight. The boy was pretty good. He didn't cry or throw a fit. He mainly watched out the window till we were in the air. Then he figured out that the tray in front of him came down and went back up. That was a great game for him for most of the rest of the flight. He had a blast. I don't think the woman in front of him did, but...
After we got settled into the room here, we decided to take the boy swimming. He had apparently never been. We got his lil trunks on and his blow-up float ring and headed to the pool on the roof. He got to the roof, looked at the pool and promptly fell in. Luckily daddy was already 1/2 in when he slipped and he was shortly above water. He was a bit scared, but didn't cry to get out or anything. Just shivered a bit, but was shortly enjoying himself.
We had bought him some goggles to swim with, but he didn't seem to like them when in the water. Out of the water was a different story. He decided to wear them this morning when we were walking the 2 blocks from the hotel to the medical exam. We have no idea what he was thinking, but he sure seemed to have a blast. We just called him goggle boy for the day.
After the exam, we took him to the oldest temple in the city. We had him blessed by a monk there. It was pretty cool. He stood there quietly listening to him chant the prayer. It was actually pretty moving. We have video of it, but can't attach it here, so just email and we can send it if you want, or just come over to the video night I am sure we will have when we get home. Just think, crummy home movies of our memories shown in our theatre in the back yard. Heck we can annoy our friends on a 100inch screen! We totally rock!
The rest of the day was pretty much just hanging out at the hotel. We met another family that is from Kirkland, I think. They are a floor below us. They have just adopted a very cute, nearly 2 year old girl. We hope to hang with them again soon. Bridget and my mom and the boy went to the park behind the hotel where they played. He had fun going on the slide, from what I heard. I was off with Richard buying daddy some toys. Richard couldn't understand how I could spend so much money on dolls. Silly man, they aren't dolls, they are action figures!

Well, it is time to go up and see if mama got him to sleep or if Winnie is winning...

The Laflins.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2007-08-13T17:22:00.001-07:00

Well, it is 8:15am in Kunming. We are leaving here to go to the airport for the boy's 1st plane trip. It is, thankfully, a short one. Only 2hours. Plus we have Richard there to try and explain what is going on. We have the DVD player charged, and his Winnie dvd at the ready. We hope that he will eat, watch some "winnie" and then we will be there, in hot, sticky, Guangzhao.
Richard, our guide and amazing friend, has helped a lot with trying to explain things to Quincy. He does a great job of helping with that without being too involved in the bonding with us and Q. Richard says he has a hard time understanding the boy as well. he says that Q speaks a combo of Mandrin, the local dialect and now mixed in with some English... whoopie!
Ok, so, we are off to the airport, or at least to the room to try and convince the boy that once his toy goes into a bag, it will come out again. OOFDAH!

The Laflins

Our last day in Kunming

2007-08-12T22:24:00.001-07:00

Well, we definitely have a boy! We bought him some blocks (like Duplos) and the first thing he made, without any help, was a machine gun. Which he promptly used to shoot Mama, Grandma, and everything else in the room. Then Baba came into the room and he was shot as well. I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back, the machine gun had a clip and a sight added on to it. I have a feeling that the embellishments didn't come from Quincy's imagination... I'm betting that the pistol that Baba was using to shoot back with was made by bigger hands as well...

This morning Richard took us to the bronze palace. It was a palace that belonged to one of China's most famous traitors. That's about as much of the history lesson as I was able to absorb because I was chasing Quincy around to prevent him from falling down all of the steep steps and from jumping off the edges of the terraces down the side of the mountain. I think Jason and Jan may have actually had a chance to learn something... :)

Oh yeah, Baba also bought him a little wooden sword at the palace, which he tried to use as a gun... He'd point it at the woods and make shooting sounds. At first Quincy was saying that he would use the sword to kill the bad people. Later on after he tried to hit Mama and Baba with it a couple of times and learned that wasn't acceptable, he started to let it bang against his legs as we were walking. Richard asked why he was doing that, and he said that if he can't hit other people with it, he will just hit himself. I guess you can't argue with logic...

Overall Quincy's been great (as long as he gets his nap!) and we feel truly blessed to have this amazing boy in our lives.

We fly back to Guangzhou tomorrow morning and then home a few days after that... I have to say I'm very relieved. This hotel living is for the birds!!!! China is beautiful, but there really is no place like home. We're really looking forward to getting home and figuring out what our real life will be like with our son.

Love always,
Bridget

Sunday in Kunming

2007-08-12T05:42:00.001-07:00

Well, we haven't posted in a few days, so I figured I would head down to the business center and give it a try.
Saturday we went to a place called the "World expo-garden" or something of the like. It was basically a bunch of gardens from around China and some "typical" gardens from around the rest of the world. It was kinda neat for the adults, the boy... not as much. We did hire a tram car thing to drive us from site to site. That was the best idea of the day. Quincy LOVES being in a car, or on anything moving. I just hope that he likes being on an airplane. He will be on one for a LONG time soon. It is a good thing there is a small 2hr flight from Kunming to Guangzhao on tuesday. It will introduce the boy to flying, plus Richard will be there to translate if needed. Anyway, attached is a pic of a "huge bowl" we saw. If I can say one thing of the Chinese, they are literal. :)

The Expo trip was shortened because of rain. It began to rain around 11am and it was just in time, because the boy seemed to be loosing interest in flowers of the world, for some crazy reason. So, we packed it in and headed to a restaurant we had head of that was supposed to be known for their pizza and american food. I think it was called Wei's or something of the like, Bridget would know for sure if you are interested. We ordered pizza, noodles, rice and drinks. My mom seemed happy because she finally had a diet coke with some ice. We noticed only after leaving that they had a menu item consisting of "4 local bugs". Richard said that we could go back before we leave... I am excited, my mom, not as much.

Sunday we went to a park where we walked around more. It seems to be a theme here. I think that our guide is just trying to keep us out of trouble. Quincy seems to do ok for about an hour, but then starts to show he is bored. We left the park and drove to a "big lake" the name escapes me for the moment. It was fine, there were folks fishing, but I really don't think I would want to eat the fish they caught. The lake wasn't exactly pristine. They had bikes to rent, but with the boy being a bit antsy, we decided to pass. We then went to find some housing that was being built. Richard wanted to show us how the other half lives in Kunming. Apparently all the real estate out by the lake is where the rich folk live, or at least buy houses. We went into a typical condo. Apparently in China when you buy a house, it comes pretty much as bare as you can imagine. No floors, wall coverings, fixtures, bathroom stuff, nothing, literally nothing... The real estate person didn't view the condo with us, apparently it wasn't worth her time, so we just wandered around. After that we came back to the hotel and I went to get american food at the restraunt across the street from us, called the Blue Bird. This was no less than my 6th trip there since we came to Kunming. The food is decent, cheap and close. The girl at the front sees me coming and just looks at me and says "take away", I nod and she fetches a menu.

Ok, my time is short, the boy should be asleep by now and I have a hot game of cards waiting when I return. Hope ya'll are doing well, and sorry there are not more updates. It is hard to get away, and loading pictures on this computer takes FOREVER... I am now just killing time, waiting for the last one to load... Still loading... so, what's new? How's the weather in Seattle... How are the wife and kids... Ok, there it goes. Night all, and pleasant dreams from Kunming!

The Laflins

Friday Morning

2007-08-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

This morning Quincy talked to Grandma and Grandpa O'Connell on the phone. Being the technophile that he is, it was great fun. He babbled at them in Chinese, which none of us understood, but they got a kick out of hearing his voice, and he was pointing at their photos while he was talking to them, so I think he understood who he was talking to. When Grandpa said bye bye, Quincy repeated "bye bye".

He's actually responding to his new name already. He recognizes it, even if he doesn't use it. Sometimes when we say "Quincy", he will say "Quincy XinYan" or "Quincy Wu XinYan". He also recognizes "no" and "yes" and repeats lots of English words. He'll be fluent in no time! He's a genius, I'm telling you.

His current favorite "toy" is the portable DVD player. So far the only thing he's been able to watch are the DVDs to learn English that we got for him, but he's watching them OVER AND OVER. I will never be able to get those songs out of my head... Oh well, I guess it's better than Barney!

Today we went to visit the orphanage where Quincy grew up. It was a very clean place. It wasn't at all what might be expected when thinking of an orphanage. We got a tour from one of the lovely women who worked in the office there. She took us around to see all the places that Quincy would have been on a day to day basis. We saw where he slept, where he ate, and where he would have played. There were not very many children there when we went. The guide said that most of the children were out in foster care. Most of the children who actually stayed there were the ones with very acute special needs. They had several workers who were with the children, physical therapists and caretakers in general.

After that, we left and went to the hospital where Quincy was found. He was apparently there for quite some time after being abandoned. Apparently they were waiting for the parents to come back. It was a very busy place. There were children and parents everywhere. That is kind of how China is in general. It is a beautiful place, but being from a big open place like MN or SD, it seems like people are just everywhere you look. Anyway, the hospital was not a place where we wanted to stay for very long, so we took a few pictures and left.

The first 2 pictures are outside the orphanage, the 3rd is at the hospital and the final one is Quincy falling asleep next to mama on the ride between the 2. :)

All in all it has been a great trip. We are impressed over and over with Quincy's understanding of things he really shouldn't have any understanding of. He loves to fiddle with everything. I am surprised he has not taken apart our DVD player and converted it to HighDef yet. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Take care ya'll and we will post again soon, assuming the boy ever takes a nap. :)

The Laflins

Thursday morning

2007-08-08T20:23:00.001-07:00

Mama is not doing so well this AM. (If descriptions of physical illness upset you, skip to the next paragraph). I had diarrhea last night and took some Imodium, but I just couldn't eat this morning due to the nausea. No fever, just really upset stomach...

Baba and Nai Nai went with Quincy and Richard (our guide) to the notary office and a museum this morning and left mama to get some rest. I just woke up from a nap, and plan to take another one when Quincy goes down this afternoon. I'm feeling a bit better, and I'm sure I'll be fine, so don't worry about me. It's probably just mild food poisoning and lack of rest.

I wanted to post the most precious moments that come to mind, so far in our journey:

When we were at the zoo, he was playing bubbles with Baba and I was looking the other direction. He called out "Mama, look at XinYan and Baba!" Of course it was in Chinese, but I knew exactly what he meant... It's so cool that he wants us both to be involved in the fun. He really does seem to be taking to each of us equally. Mama's emerging as the disciplinarian, and Baba's definitely the more fun one. But we all play individually and alone, and it's been great. He will listen to me a bit better than Jason, because Jason's a bit of a pushover for that impish little grin...

Last night when I put him to bed, he didn't want to sleep in the little bed (mattress from Grandma's room that was moved to the floor in our room). He wanted to sleep in the big bed. So I let him sleep in the big bed. Jason decided not to move him and slept in the little bed, so Quincy and I were sleeping in the big bed together. This morning, when he was all groggy and just beginning to wake up, he rolled over into me and cuddled for about 15 minutes. It was SO AMAZING!!! He's taking to us far better than could be expected. We couldn't be happier.

Tomorrow, we're planning to see the orphanage and possibly the hospital where Quincy was found as a baby. Should be a BIG day!

Love always,
Bridget

Lots of firsts for Quincy!!!

2007-08-08T06:44:00.001-07:00

Well, Wednesday is almost officially over. I finally got Quincy to sleep. He took a long nap today, so wasn't too tired tonight at bedtime. He and baba are upstairs in bed, so I have some quiet time to actually post. No pictures tonight though. They take a long time to upload on this computer and I need to sleep at some point too.

We woke up this morning and had breakfast in the hotel dining room. In our hotel room, Quincy seemed hungry, but he was pretty intimidated by the restaurant and kept saying that he wasn't hungry anymore, so that we would not sit down at the table. Once we got him sitting down with food in front of him, he changed his tune and ate like a horse.   We just need to keep an eye on him so that he doesn't choke. He crams all of his food in his mouth, so that he can barely chew, rather than chewing one bite and swallowing it. He eats very fast, like the food will be taken away, and isn't picky at all. He pretty much eats whatever we put in front of him. He makes faces if he doesn't like the taste, but he'll still eat it... I'm sure all of that is the result of being in the orphanage with no food choices, and limited portions. He also drinks a LOT of water, which means he's peeing every 30 minutes or so, but he's really good about using the bathroom by himself, if he knows where it is, or letting us know that he needs to go, if he doesn't know where the bathroom is.   He slept through the night with no problems last night too.

We went to the zoo this morning, and the animals were interesting to him, but not nearly as cool as the little bubble gun we bought for him. It's one that runs on batteries. You dip it in soap bubbles, pull the trigger, and it blows bubbles. He went through almost the entire bottle of bubbles today. Luckily we have more. I'll need to get more batteries soon though. :)

This afternoon, we went shopping for shoes and clothes. Most of the clothes we brought were a little to big. He's a skinny boy, but with the way he's been eating around us, that will probably change soon... He got Spiderman tennis shoes and some sandals. Both light up when he steps on them. He loves the lights, and I'm afraid that he's going to run into things all the time now, since he just stares at his feet and doesn't watch where he's going when he walks.

Today was a much better day than yesterday. Quincy is already learning to trust us. He actually let baba carry his precious backpack while we were out today.  His backpack now has his medicine, photos, cars, book, bubble gun, bubbles, Kleenex and water. He won't go anywhere without his stuff.  I think his carry-on luggage is already packed! I think he's scared to lose his things and is always unsure if we will be coming back, so he feels like he has to take everything with him.

Overall, he's been great. He's very energetic and curious, but also pretty willing to listen when necessary. Even though we have VERY rudimentary language skills in Mandarin, and he speaks a mixture of the local dialect and Mandarin, we've been communicating pretty well. I wish I knew what he was saying when he is trying to tell me things, but we've got the basics figured out. Tonight when I was giving him his bath, he was just jabbering away about something, but I have no earthly idea what. We bought a DVD called "English Gifted Child", which is for teaching Chinese children English. He watched part of one of them, and was singing along to some of the songs, so I think he'll get it soon enough. He'll often repeat words after us, too, even though I'm pretty sure he has no idea what they mean... The only English word he's used independently so far is "yah". (as in the Minnesotan pronunciation of "yeah"). Thanks to Grandma Jan, Jason and I must have slipped back into our MN accents.  Oh well, I guess there are worse things. :)

Time for bed now. Tomorrow we plan to go to the notary office, a cultural museum of some sort, and the bookstore. Should be a fun busy day! Hopefully I'll have time to post again.

Love and peace,
Bridget

FW: Adoption Day!!!!

2007-08-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well, it is Wed morning here in Kunming. We made it through the 1st full day with our son.

Man, where to begin. We met him at 9am in some notary office. We arrived 1st, and sat at a big official looking table where we waited to hear the patter of little feet. Our guide, and an amazing person, Richard gave us the standard speech about what to expect, which was basically... expect anything. He had met Quincy several weeks before and he said that he was a shy lil guy. So, obviously, that is what we expected. Well, as is the Laflin luck... he was just about anything but. We were there at the big official table when Richard, looking out the window said... "Here they come, I can see his feet". Well, the butterflies turned to dragons and Bridget and I gripped each other's hands to the point of lack of circulation. We heard his little voice wafting up through the stairs coming up to the room. We finally saw him in the doorway. This perfect little boy, cute as a button, and with an angelic look on his face. He saw us, and his nanny said something we couldn't understand to him punctuated with the words we DID understand, mama and baba. Well, he saw us, and started over to us, guided by his nanny. It was love at first sight. He fell head over heels in love with the several cars we had sitting on the big scary table in front of us. He hopped up on a chair about 3X his size and began to play. I think I was the first to crash the cars with him, them mama had a turn, then mama and grandma, then me, then back again. He was having a great time. I don't think he fully knew what was going on, but heck, he had cars and a spiderman fanny pack to put them in. Oh, and he had his medication. He apparently had a bit of a cold. So, he came with the clothes on his back and a box of meds. He must have been told that these were VERY important, because he is still carrying them close to him this morning and he literally fell asleep with them clutched in his hands last night.
There is SO much to tell, but the computer is 1 yuan per minute, so some will have to wait. However, I can say that the boy is doing well. Yesterday was a bit of a task. Remember when I said above we were told that he was shy... well, he wasn't. He was anything but. He was a little whirlwind of energy. After we got all the official stuff over with, and then went to the police station to get his passport photos we finally made it back to the hotel. He was so interested in EVERYTHING electronic. I kid you not, he is a genius I think. He is not even 4 years old and he already can remove and replace a battery in a little flashing pin thing that grandma got. It has 2 small watch type batteries and will only blink if they are both stacked the right side up and pressed against the switch thingy. He totally had that figured out instantly. I didn't even figure it out that quickly. He tore up the room a bit exploring, but he seemed to be having fun.
One of his favorite things he has is those pictures. I don't know if he has ever seen his picture before, but he seemes to be very fond of it. He is carrying around the extra passport photos in a little back pack we bought him at Wal-Mart. He watched the video of himself we took when we 1st met. He was amazed. He kept watching it saying "that XinYan is stealing water" and "what is he doing" it was SO cute. I think we got some video of him watching himself. Man, it blows the mind...

Well, We are off to the zoo today so I will end this here. Sorry it is all over the place, but that is what 3 hours sleep 2 nights in a row will do. And William, I know, you told me so... rub it in as you like...

The Laflins/Wooten... OUT.

Countdown: 25 hours until we meet Quincy!

2007-08-05T17:32:00.001-07:00

So, we're still in Guangzhou (at least for another couple of hours). We've already done some fun stuff. On Saturday, we met up with a guide Jason met in his online action figure group, who took us to the Guangzhou wholesale toy district as well as several other places that sold action figures. I think it was Jason's nirvana.... Then we walked around the area near our hotel a little and got Thai food for dinner. It was excellent. I think it was the restaurant everyone told us about... I played a game with some people in the park behind the hotel. It was kind of like hackey sack. but the thing you kicked around has feathers on it, so it's more buoyant. Jason has it on video, but I don't know how to post that to the blog.

On Sunday Richard arranged for us to go to a tourist attraction in a city a couple of hours from Guangzhou. It was a couple of different theme parks that depicted China's different regions. Kind of like "It's a small world" but without the annoyingly repetitive song, and instead of different countries, it was different areas of China. They had replicas of the different minority houses, costumes, etc. And some shows and exhibits. It was beautiful, but VERY HOT. I bought an umbrella to shield me from the sun and drank like 6 bottles of water, but I still started to get sick from the heat after about 3 hours, so we didn't get through the whole park.

We were almost the only Westerner's at the park and lots of people stared and pointed and smiled. But overall, people were very friendly. We tried our Chinese, and they tried out their English. Lots of little kids would come up to us and say "hi" or "hello" and then laugh and run away... It was pretty fun. We also had our first "squatty potty" experience at the park, and I'm happy to say that we all survived with a minimum of trauma. Jan commented that she was going to have to start doing deep knee bends to practice getting up. It was definitely a cultural experience.

Well, pretty soon, we'll get on a plane to Kunming and my next post will almost definitely include pictures of our new family. We're thinking of all of you, and are so excited!!!

Bridget

We're in China!!!

2007-08-03T16:33:00.001-07:00

Well, we made it! I don't have much to post, but wanted you all to know that we are safe and sound in our hotel in Guangzhou. The Victory is beautiful. We have a business suite, which has a sitting room and a bed room. We got a rollaway for Jan in the sitting room area, so it's almost like we each have our own room. This computer is in room, so that's nice and convenient, and we have 1 1/2 bathrooms. That's 1/2 bath more than we have at home, so we're really living in luxury!

The flights were pretty uneventful. Just very long. But customs was a breeze, and there wasn't any traffic to speak of, so we were in our beds at the hotel by midnight.

We are meeting a guide at noon to go to the "toy street" where Jason can gaze at action figures to his heart's content... I don't think he'll buy any today, since we'll be back in Guangzhou at the end of our trip and he can buy them at that time. No sense in lugging all that stuff all over China, right?

Anyway, I'll post more when we have seen/done more. Hopefully I won't melt in the heat. (It was 90 degrees and HUMID when we arrived at 10PM last night, so I can't wait to see what the weather is like today.)

Bridget

Leaving for China TODAY!!!

2007-08-02T06:09:00.001-07:00

The primary reason for this post is so that you could all see the fabulous picture of Trumpet trying to hide out in our suitcase. I was re-packing last night and he kept hopping into the bag. Do you think he wants to come with us?

We are leaving this afternoon, and are pretty much out of our minds with excitement. I didn't go to bed until after midnight. Those of you who know me, know that is WAY past my bedtime... Then I woke up at 4:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. We don't leave until almost 3PM and Jason and Jan are still sleeping, so I have some time to kill. The result of this insomnia is several blog postings all at once, including a silly-cute cat picture! They better wake up soon, or I may end up posting even sillier pictures...

Bridget

Quincy's Room

2007-08-02T05:58:00.001-07:00

Some of you have asked for pictures of Quincy's room, so here ya go! This is the second of at least three entries on the same day, but I can't sleep and I have time to kill before we leave this afternoon, since we're all packed and ready to go. Besides, y'all need something to tide you over until you see pictures of us with Quincy!

The bed is really comfy. At least Moo seems to think so... :)

Bridget

Quincy Quilt (100 Good Wishes Quilt)

2007-08-02T05:53:00.001-07:00

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of

China

to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good Wishes Quilt." It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the family and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. In addition to the traditional squares of fabric, we also had everyone write a wish for Quincy, which we scanned into the computer and Kittie printed on fabric to become part of the quilt.

Brian's mom, Kittie, took a big pile of mismatched fabric pieces donated by our friends and family, and a CD-ROM filled with wishes and turned them into a fabulous quilt that is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

If any of you want to have quilts made, I strongly recommend giving her a call. She owns Cutting Edge Quiltworks in Chandler. AZ. The address is 1949 W. Ray Rd Chandler, AZ 85224. And her phone number is: 480-857-3443.

I tried to take some better pictures of the AMAZING quilt that you all helped me make, but the pictures just don't do it justice. It is an amazing piece of art, and it makes me get all misty eyed every time I start looking at it.

Thank you all for your help in creating this wonderful keepsake for our family. It means so much to us that you have been so supportive throughout this journey. We couldn't have gotten this far without you all and we are eternally grateful. I'm sure that Quincy will treasure the quilt and I can't wait to introduce him to all of the amazing people who helped to create it.

Bridget

Toddler Shower today

2007-07-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today Sara and Tracy threw me a fabulous baby, I mean, toddler shower. We got tons of great gifts, and got to see friends that I haven't seen in quite a while.

The cake was SO CUTE with little matchbox cars on it! Plus we played fun party games including Quincy Jeopardy. Brian and Sara worked hard on coming up with trivia questions in the categories of "Bridget and Jason", "Cartoons", "Toy R Us", "China", "Adoption" and "Q".

Among the gifts was our "100 Good Wishes Quilt", which Brian's mom was good enough to put together for us. She did a truly amazing job, and it's SO BEAUTIFUL!!! I will post more detailed pics of the quilt on a different post, so that all of you who contributed can see the beautiful end result of your contributions.

Thank you SO MUCH to all of our friends who have been with us on this journey. It means so much to us that you have been there for us and have been so supportive. We can't wait to get our little boy home and let you all meet him!

Bridget

TA!!!! We're coming Quincy!

2007-07-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

We received word from our adoption agency on Thursday that our TA (Travel Approval) was here. Then last night, we talked to Amy about our consulate appointment has been scheduled for August 16. So we will meet our beautiful son on August 7 and come home on August 18. We haven't booked our tickets yet, but it looks like we will leave on Thursday August 2 and come home Saturday August 18!

There's SO MUCH to do! This weekend is dedicated to finishing up all of the unfinished cleaning & projects in the house, and next weekend is my baby shower and packing. The weekdays are for shopping for last minute things, doctor's appointments, practicing Chinese, getting everything ready at work, and all of the other little travel details.

It's gonna be a very busy time, but we are up for it! WE CAN'T WAIT!!!

Bridget

Refingerprinting finished!

2007-07-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

This morning Jason and I went to the USCIS office to get our fingerprints redone. This is our last piece of paperwork we needed to do before we go to China. So we're officially ready. Hear that CCAA? WE ARE READY! Send our TA. We want to come get Quincy now!

Bridget
7-12-07

Quincy gets a visit from the Hopps!

2007-07-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

We got an email this morning that warmed my heart. I woke up at 4:30AM to check my email because Lisa had said they were going to get to meet Quincy at the orphanage. And they did!!!
I opened up my email and there was such wonderful news. They said he sits at the front of his class and seems very smart. He wanted to show them all of the toys and they played with cars for a while. They said he loves cars, so we'll have to bring some with us to break the ice.

Most importantly they found out that he has been told that he has a family. They are preparing him to be adopted, and he is excited to meet his new family. That eases SO many of my fears. Up until today, I was so scared that we wouldn't be ready and I was stressing about all of the little things. Now I just want to go get him. I miss him terribly and want my travel approval ASAP...

I'm finally getting excited again. The excitement had gotten hidden under all of the fear, but I'm ready now. I know that I can deal with whatever happens, whenever it happens, so I want it to happen NOW!!!

Bridget
7-12-07