First Doctor's Appointment

It has been a very busy week. I have not been able to check my email as much as I would like- so I apologize to everybody who I have not gotten back to. I was beyond exhausted last week and both Garrett and Caelan had end of the year activities. I think that we are settling in finally, and I no longer fall asleep at 7:30pm.

Lia is still doing very well. She sleeps every night for 12-13 hours straight. The only exception was on Thursday night because she came down with another cold/cough and had a fever. This is so different from the older two. Garrett used to wake up 10+ times a night (no exaggeration) until he was close to two, and then it was more like 3-4 times. He still wakes up 3-4 times a week in the middle of the night... When we first came home, she was a little resistant to being put in her crib, but after a couple of days, she actually points to the crib when she is sleepy. At nap time, I lay in Caelan's bed while she is falling asleep and she sits in her crib, straightens out her blankets, looks around the bedroom and smiles. She is so full of happiness. I guess I expected that she would be angrier at us.

She had her first doctor's appointment today and I am bringing her in to the lab tomorrow morning for her many, many blood tests. She has a very large bump on the back of her head that I was a bit concerned about. The doctors at the clinic in Guangzhou called it a cyst, but my pediatrician said it is just a gland. A little larger than usual, but she is not concerned at all. She also didn't seem to be very concerned about her size. She is not on the American growth chart, but after three weeks with us, she is now at nearly the 10th% on the Chinese girls growth chart at a whopping 19 lbs, 8 ounces! She is a much pickier eater than she was in China. She loves bananas and yogurt, and the veggie soup I made tonight was a hit. I am going to try to stop offering food to her every time she seems nervous or upset, as I feel like she is feeling quite comfortable with us now and I am worried that I am going to create some bad habits.

On another note we have had three girls added to our family in the past three weeks. My brother Partick and his wife's baby girl born on May 15th- they ended up naming her Grace Bridgette. My cousin Molly had her baby girl yesterday- Caitlin Mulligan. And Lia. I am so excited to meet all of the new babies.

Here are some pictures, most that I took yesterday. Lia LOVES to be outside, which is so funny because last week she was terrified of the grass, now she is all over the place.

Home:)

We are home. Yeah!!!!!! After a long but surprisingly smooth flight we are back in Michigan. Both Garrett and Lia were wonderful on the flight. Lia didn't much care for the standing in lines at security and customs, but neither did Bob. Hee hee!

Lia is all over the place, not the quiet, calm baby that we saw that first week. She is busy checking everything out. She has slowed down in her eating. I think that she is realizing that the food will be there when she is hungry.

She slept horribly last night and so did Garrett, I am hoping that tonight will be a better night, because we are all exhausted.

We made it to Caelan's recital today.

Thanks to all of you for your comments during the trip and I have gotten quite a few emails that I will respond to when I feel that I can form a coherent thought. Goodnight!

Last Day

Well, I just got word that Patrick and Stephanie had their baby- a girl, who will share her birthday with Bob:) She is 7 lbs, 15 oz. and 22 inches long. I don't think they have a name yet, maybe Charlotte or Molly. I guess everybody is doing well and she was born 20 minutes after they got to the hospital.

We are packing up, our flight leaves in the morning, so this will be our last China post. We went to the zoo this morning and will go to the US Consulate for the oath in the afternoon. Wish us luck, we are pretty nervous about our long flights. Lia is still doing great. She had a couple of major meltdowns yesterday, but I think that she is not used to being awake for such long stretches and she was just over tired.

Wish us luck on that long flight!

May 14

Well, Caelan and my parents made it safely back to Michigan. Have I already said that I wish we were with them? Thankfully they made it in time to be in town for Patrick and Stephanie's new baby- Stephanie was due yesterday. No baby yet.

Lia is still doing very well. She is really starting to try to communicate, fortunately, I do speak "grunt." The only word that we have heard her say is "bye, bye." But that is an easy one because it is the same in Cantonese. She is exploring quite a bit and really giggling a lot. For the start that she had, she sure is a happy baby. She loves the swimming pool and wanted to try to swim by herself today. She is slowing down a bit with her eating but I am sure that she is getting pretty used to her shrimp wontons at breakfast. She will be a bit disappointed with the Jansen family standby- cold cereal.

We haven't taken many pictures, but here are a couple.

Quick note

Just a quick note to let you know that we are fine and the earthquake was quite a way away from Guangzhou. My parents and Caelan left this morning and will return to Michigan at 3:15pm Michigan time on Tuesday. We are so ready to be home and wish that we were joining them.

Lia's size

I keep forgetting to post this, and while she is taking a nap, and I am thinking of it, I just wanted to let you all know that she fits pretty well into size 12month clothes. It seems like she is wearing size 4 shoes. Though at the rate she has been eating, she and Garrett may be in the same size by the time we get back from China:) Also, we aren't sure what the problem is, but she leaks out of all the diapers. We have both American and Chinese pampers and as of right now we put the small size on her first and put a medium over the small size, but there are still leaks. It is a mystery. I was teasing yesterday and said to Bob, "maybe she is peeing out of her belly button." In his feverish state, he thought I was serious, and asked this morning if we should get her belly button checked out. Hee hee! I think that her little legs are so tiny that we just can't manage to get the diaper tight enough. That, and it seems that she is ready for some potty training, as she can go for quite a while between changing.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to everybody:) We woke up this morning and ate breakfast at the legendary White Swan buffet. Yummy! I am pretty excited that we have 5 more mornings of that spread.

We went to the pearl Market this morning, though Bob and Garrett stayed here. Bob is sick, we are not sure with what, but he has a fever and has been in bed all day. Caelan and my parents have only one day left. We are all ready to come home, and I wish that we were going with them.

Lia is becoming more comfortable with us every day. She has done very well the whole time that we have had her, but she will often tune us out. Like she knows that we are there, but doesn't interact. I feel like today she was "tuned in" the entire day. She has also had a few tantrums. They rank in intensity to Garrett's top performances, but for Lia, as long as you give her a cracker or a bottle, the tantrum lasts no longer than 2 seconds.

She is still eating a lot and always has to have a cracker or something in her hand. If she doesn't, she gets very upset. She is actually smiling a lot, but we are having trouble capturing it on the camera.

May 10

We are now at the White Swan. So far this morning we just ate breakfast, packed up and came over here. Lia is taking a nap. We are going to take a Red Couch Photo this afternoon, so I will try to post it tonight or tomorrow.

Lia is really opening up. The first couple of days, she was so quiet, not even crying or anything. She went to sleep easily, Bob even remarked once"How long before we mess this up?" Hee hee- as neither Caelan nor Garrett did much sleeping. Well, I think we messed it up:) She is sleeping in a crib right now, but I think that she has taken the last two naps on Bob's chest. She will cry when we lay her down and last night she even woke a few times. She is also letting us know when she is unhappy about something. Our quiet, relaxed girl can get pretty loud and mad. She is certainly showing a preference still for Bob and I, but I am pretty sure she would select a person with a cracker before either of us. She slowed down her eating a bit yesterday, but is now back up to eating quite a bit.

May 9th

I am posting early today because we are done with our tours and will not be doing much more today. Tomorrow we are switching over to the White Swan Hotel. Right now there are very few families staying here and it would be nice to connect with some other families, also the kids really need a change of scenery and I am exctited to have a nicer pool.

Lia tends to be a little nervous and quiet in the morning but then she really opens up in the afternoon. She interacts more with the kids than she does Bob and I, but when she wants to be comforted, she wants Bob or I. Or Grammy. Or Pop.

She is slowing down a bit with her eating. She must be stuffed. She is still sleeping wonderfully. last night she did wake up once and sat up and cried. I picked her up for all of three seconds, gave her a hug and laid her back down and then she was fine. She sleeps for 12 hours and then takes a 2 hour or longer nap.

Today we went to a Buddist Temple for a family blessing. We then went to an Art Museum and then an Arts and Crafts shop. We were able to pick up a few things, though Garrett isn't very fond of shopping, I think we will leave him at the hotel for the trip to the pearl market on Sunday.

May 8th

This morning we woke up and my parents, Caelan, Lia and I went to the Guangzhou Department store. It was interesting to see, though not much different than a US department store, though it had nine floors complete with a grocery store. We picked up a few toys for Lia, she seems to like hard rattle type toys best, though she had a lot of fun with her little Groovy Girl doll this evening.

We played at the playground for a while while Lia took a nap. She came over with Bob and went down the slide a few times on Caelan's lap. She looked very worried when she started going down, but once she made it to the bottom, she laughed.


We also finally went to an authentic Chinese restaurant. We have been to a few places on Shamain Island, but many of them also serve Western food. It was quite an experience, as we weren't really sure what we were eating:) It was pretty good, though. Lia eats everything, so I ordered her some type of egg dish and it had something questionable in the middle. Some type of fish? I really have no idea, but it was pretty tasty and she really liked it.

When we got back, Lia walked down the hallway back and forth, walking by herself. She is pretty wobbly, but we weren't even sure if she could get up on her own, but she definately can. She LOVES the squeaky shoes.



Here she is, taking a bath in the sink. She loves to look at herself in the mirror, so this is working out much better than the big bathtub.







Playing with the new toys.

Playing a game with Caelan.

Picking out dinner- our first true authentic Chinese meal the entire trip:)

May 7th

We had Lia's physical exam today. Everything looks fine, her cough is nothing more than a cold, but they gave me some cold medicine and it has really helped. The surprising thing is that she is actually 19.1 pounds!! She is 30.5 inches long. So she has grown a good amount since her last medical exam. I suspect that she has gained a pound or two in the last two days:) She really is eating non-stop, though today we've tried to limit her feedings to only one bottle at a time, because yesterday she was polishing off a bottle and a half and I think she was getting uncomfortably full. She loves to look at herself in the mirror, and still loves to be outside. She is still doing pretty well, though today she seemed a bit nervous and gets very upset if the words "bye, bye" are uttered, or if anybody leaves the room. She also is becoming less agreeable when getting her diaper changed, but LOVES wearing shoes and gets upset when we take off her shoes. This is a bit of a change from yesterday.

This afternoon, we went to apply for her passport. Tomorrow we are going to the Guangzhou Department store. On Friday, we have a tour of a Buddist Temple and an Arts Market. We might change hotels on Saturday as there is much more for the kids to do in the other hotel. They are doing great, but are getting a bit restless as there is not much to do on the island. We are thinking of seeing if Garrett can shadow one of the hotel maintenance employees, hee hee, if you know Garrett- he loves to do work. In fact as we speak, he is pushing a stroller. pretending he is mowing...

I have no pictures to load today. I am tired, but will try to load new pictures tomorrow.

May 6th

Well, Lia continues to be the most laid back baby. She slept for nearly 13 hours last night, not waking at all. Of course, Bob and I were up every 15 minutes to peek on her. I am exhausted, only because I was so worried that she would wake up and not cry, and I wouldn't know that she was awake, but she truly slept like a log.

She woke up and was all smiles. I got her dressed, putting on a hat and she kept looking at herself in the mirror, smiling. She and Caelan kept playing this "high-five" game and she giggled and giggled. She devours her bottles, eats congee and loves bananas. She can walk, though prefers to be carried. We got her a pair of squeaky shoes, and she had a lot of fun walking down the hotel hallway wearing those:)

The adoption paperwork was a breeze. She has a pretty nasty sounding cough, though it doesn't seem to bother her at all. Tomorrow we will apply for her passport and our guide is going to try to get us in to the clinic for her physical. Yesterday, she seemed a little shocked and unsure what was going on, but she is more relaxed today. She loves to be outside and looks around at everything. She seems very content, and the only thing that has upset her so far was when her bottle ran out, and when she thought that Caelan was trying to take her cracker. We gave her a toy rattle this morning and she held on to it all day, even during her nap.

She is so sweet and we are all so excited. Oh, and Carrie, yes we are staying at the Victory. The birds keep us up during the night. What kind of birds are those, anyway?

LIA DAY!!

We have our girl!! What a day. After no sleep and an anxiety ridden morning, we finally drove to the Provincial Affairs Office at 2pm. Although we originally planned for just Bob and I to go to the office, at the last minute we all went. Lia's bus was late, so our guide ushered us to a private room, where we waited about 15 minutes for her to arrive. We saw her nanny walk her in to the lobby, as Bob and I were huddled by the door. They brought her into the play room and then quickly brought her out to us. She was wearing one of the outfits that we sent in our first care package. She was handed to us, and didn't make a sound. She kept looking us all over, but didn't cry at all. We asked some questions about her to her nanny and then exchanged gifts to the SWI director and nanny. She is certainly in shock, and I am not sure what she thinks of her day, but she held on to both Bob and I tightly. She whimpered a bit when the nanny left the room, but no tears.

She was all smiles when we left the building, it actually sounded like she was singing. Her little legs were kicking and she still kept looking around at everybody. She was quiet on the van ride, and just looked around. When we got back to the hotel room, we had to do some paperwork with our guide, Jason, and then I fed her a bottle. She drank it slowly, and kept stopping to look us over. Bob held her after her bottle and then she fell fast asleep.

It is so hard to believe that she is here. We are thrilled and can't believe how smooth the day went. Tomorrow we go to the same office to finalize the adoption. She will officially be Lia Xiang Wan Jansen tomorrow by 11:30am!

Today is the Day!

Just a quick note to let you know that Lia will arrive this afternoon at 2:30, after a five and a half hour bus ride. Poor girl has probably never left the SWI before. She is in for a huge change today. The kids are very excited. We are leaving the hotel at 2pm, and should arrive back at the hotel by 4pm. I think we have more paperwork at the hotel and then I should be able to post something soon after! I could hardly sleep last night, but after a big breakfast and 3 cups of coffee I am ready to meet our girl!

Hong Kong, Day 2 and 3, Disneyland

We have been having a great time at Disneyland. The park is a little much for Garrett, but he has gone on a few rides. I think he is still adjusting to the time change, as he has been waking up at 4am ready to go, and has not been very agreeable... Caelan is having a great time, she even went on Space Mountain, which was a pretty fast roller coaster. We are staying at the Disney Hollywood Hotel. We will be going to the fireworks tonight and then to bed early as tomorrow morning we are going to Guangzhou.