New Pictures!

Here is Owen drying off from a bath....all 17 pounds 7 ounces and 27 inches of him! He just got his four month check-up and is doing great! He's in the 90 and 97 percentile for weight and height, respectively.

Grandma and Papa got Owen his first Bama outfit and many more after that! He didn't actually say "Roll Tide", but we had to add the cheer to the picture for fun.

Owen's first food!

Owen got his first taste of solids...rice cereal mixed with formula...yum.
Below is a clip from his "first supper"!

Owen Laughing!

Owen is now 4 months old and starting to laugh, which makes our hearts just burst! He's also clicking his tongue now and both of us didn't teach him that so it definitely surprised us and Bryan called me in the room to witness it when it first happened. Below is a video of him enjoying a bath, laughing.

New Pictures!

We haven't taken Owen to get professional pictures, but we've been trying to take many at home. Here are some pictures of Owen on one of his blankets. He's now 9 weeks old! Time is flying! He's already into 3-6 month clothing. He has a budda belly and dimples on his elbows and knees now. It's too cute!

Amusing Owen...

Owen can now socially smile! I'll do anything for his amusement. I'll even make embarrassing high-pitched noises as evidenced in the clip!

Proudly Announcing our New Son Owen!

Bryan and I are happy to announce the adoption of our new son Owen! A picture of him at 5 weeks old is shown above. He was born in February and we were lucky to take care of him since birth. Since we've been waiting for our daughter from China for almost 2 years now, we've been wanting to pursue a concurrent adoption for some time now. Our agency finally allowed concurrent adoptions as of Dec 2007 so Bryan and I got very busy when the policy was issued. We met with an attorney on Dec 27 and we were so fortunate to be chosen and placed with a child so fast. We just passed the final hurdle in adoption land by finalizing the adoption in court this month. We never have felt so much love in our lives.

Needless to say, we haven't been busy posting due to holidays and our efforts spent in pursuing Owen. I hope to post more going forward!

Thank-you Destiny and Richard

Bryan and I went to Destiny's and Richard's wedding recently and had a blast! Destiny is a beautiful bride! They make a wonderful couple. Below are some of my pictures from the wedding.

Second Annual Pumpkin Carving

It's been a long time since I last posted. I'm studying for my last professional certification test and basically have no spare time. I will update our blog more frequently after Nov 14.

Unfortunately, the China adoption program has slowed down further. Bryan and I are very disappointed, but we still believe China is the right place for us to adopt. Thank-you to all our friends and family for supporting us during this difficult wait. I will post more details about our adoption after my test.

Last night, Bryan and I went over to Sandra and Chad's house for the Second Annual Pumpkin Carving! We had yummy food, including our traditional roasted pumpkin seeds, and the lasagna that Chad and Bryan made was yummy and funny at the same time. Let's just say they got creative with the quantities and layering technique. Below are some pictures of the carvings.

Drum Roll Please....

I can't believe it, but China has already finished reviewing adoption applications in our log-in date group of June 2006.

Bryan and I got passed the review stage with no questions asked. Phew!

This is a great way to start the weekend!

Minneapolis!

I was in Minneapolis last week on business. I saw my first Minnesota Twins game in the famous Metrodome that is shared with the Vikings. I think this was my first in door baseball game. Unfortunately, the Twins lost and there were many disappointed fans, but I had a blast just enjoying my surroundings. Of course, I went shopping too! Many locals think that the Mall of America is overrated, but I absolutely love it. I had not been shopping for awhile so I had bottled energy that exploded. I shut down the mall one night and had to go back to my car twice with all the goodies. I got the famous brown bag from Bloomingdales.

Above are pictures from the Twins game and a Spam castle at the Mall of America (of course I had to get a picture of the Spam castle).

Wow! Police Renunion Tour Unbelievable!

Bryan and I saw the Police last night and they were better than ever!! They played around 20 songs and came back on stage 3 times for encores. They physically look amazing and pretty much the same as the 80's, maybe with the exception of Summers who gained a few pounds.

I never got to see the Police in concert since they broke-up when I was young, but I have seen Sting in concert and I've never been disappointed.

The first picture from the concert is borrowed from someone and the second picture is from my camera phone from our seats.

Favorite songs: King of Pain, Wrapped around your Finger, Message in a Bottle

May 2006 out of the Review Room!

We just received notice that adoption dossiers with log-in dates through May 2006 are out of the review room in China. That means that our personal adoption documents (dated 6/14/2006) that we worked on for three entire months that contain every detail of our past and present life are finally being scrutinized by China. No pressure!

What does the review room mean? From what I’ve learned, each agency has a dedicated review person so each agency is already familiar with what their reviewer likes to see. So hopefully, our U.S. agency has tailored our documents accordingly.

If the reviewer finds something that is questionable or in need of clarification, they will send questions to the adoptive parent’s agency and the agency will notify the parents. This is where it gets scary. I’ve heard of cases where the parents received questions and even though the questions were cleared successfully, the parents experienced a delay in receiving their child because their paperwork was not placed back in the same log-in date order. This can be very devastating for parents that have already waited eons for their children.

Once China has reviewed an entire month of dossiers, they will show that a month is complete. Please cross your fingers and toes with us that we successfully get out of the review room with no questions! I will let you know when we are in the clear.

One Year Anniversary

As evidenced by the ticker on the right side-bar of my blog, Bryan and I have officially experienced 1 year of waiting since being logged-in with China’s adoption program.

I’ve been thinking about today’s arrival for the past 2 months with dread. This one-year anniversary just represents the time we have waited after being logged-in. There was also the paperchase time, years of trying to conceive, and a couple instances of domestic adoption that were never realized for various reasons. I hate feeling sorry for myself, but I must allow myself to be sad sometimes.

I have to repeatedly remind myself that I will become a mom, no matter how hard it is to believe. One day, Bryan and I will travel to China and finally become parents. I believe in fate and believe we’re already connected to a particular child. I'll wait forever (if I must) to welcome that child into our lives.

Vacation at Last

Bryan and I just got back last night from a week cruising the Caribbean. It was the ultimate lazy vacation. I highly recommend Royal Caribbean to everyone. I still have my sea legs and am hoping to adjust soon.

Here are some of the highlights from the trip:
-I slept 12 1/2 hours the first night on the cruise and generally 9 hours each subsequent night
-We saw a mongoose and many iguanas in the wild
-We received $800 in airplane vouchers, meal vouchers and first class upgrades on our subsequent flight home for voluntarily accepting a bump due to overbooking...totally worth the wait.
-We played a 9-hole miniature golf course on the cruise ship
-We went zip lining under the canapy of trees in the jungle. One of the zip lines was a free fall with a counter balance at the bottom and one of the zip lines was 600 feet long. It was amazing even though we looked like geeks with our helmets.
-We went hiking in the forests around the Mayan ruins

I checked my work email halfway through the trip, but it still didn't prepare me for the backlog of work today. I felt hunger today for the first time in a week. I forgot what that felt like with the round-the-clock food on the cruise. Back to reality!

Japan

I just got back from a business trip to Osaka, Japan. Unfortunately, I was in meetings the entire visit so I couldn't tour the sites. It was a great experience though since it was my first time in Japan. I learned a great deal about their business etiquette and culture. Flying to and back from Japan in the same week does a number on your body. I'm hoping to go back to Japan in the fall for more than a week and hopefully Bryan will be able to join me.

By the way, being allergic to seafood is a bad idea if you're visiting Japan.
I'm already anticipating potential food issues when we travel to China to pick up our daughter. Thankfully, I know a few Chinese people that can make me allergy cards in advance of our trip.

Kelly, John and Johnny's Visit

I visited with my sister, nephew and brother-in-law last weekend. I miss my nephew, Johnny, already. He just turned 4 and I coached him on ping-pong and he can already serve! Below are some pictures from the visit.

Mother's Day

Someone sent me a Mother's Day card today. It melted my heart. I wasn't expecting any cards, but it was so nice to be recognized as a waiting mother. Happy Mother's Day to everyone, including those who are waiting for their adopted children.

San Juan Trip

I just got back last night from a business trip to San Juan. I had one partial afternoon free when I was there so I got to see some sites. My company was nice enough to book a hotel on the beach for me, but it was torture seeing everyone in their bathing suits headed for tours while I was headed to work with my laptop.

Above are beach pictures from my hotel, some pictures of goverment buildings including the governer's house, pictures of residences in Old San Juan, and a picture of a WWII natzi war prize ship now commissioned by the US Coast Guard.

Planet Earth

Has anyone been watching the HD Discovery Channel Planet Earth series? They are by far the best earth documentaries I've ever seen. There are 11 episodes and I didn't catch the first runs. I am now desperately trying to DVR whatever I can. They must have spent a ga-zillion dollars producing it, visiting 62 countries for filming. There are a few animals eating other animals scenes where I have to do a partial-eye watching from behind my hands and knees, but overall it is the most beautiful footage of our planet. Sigourney Weaver narrates the series in the US-run versions and there was a funny bit where a parasite was protruding out of an ant and she described it using an alien reference.

Tacky Shirt!

Someone on an adoption chatgroup posted a link to an adoption t-shirt that a major retailer is selling. I have copied the picture from their website to this post. Some people thought it was funny. I personally think it's extremely tacky. Someone said that the retailer took it down after receiving many complaints, but I heard the t-shirts are still on their store shelves.