He weighs in at 21.9 pounds.... a lot lighter than I thought!!
He's about 28 inches long.....
And, his head is off the growth chart still!!! Let's hope those big brains do something great in the future!!!!!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Harry 9 month stats......
He weighs in at 21.9 pounds.... a lot lighter than I thought!!
He's about 28 inches long.....
And, his head is off the growth chart still!!! Let's hope those big brains do something great in the future!!!!!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
AppleWorks 2009
After coming home today, we headed out for apples and fun at a local orchard called "Appleworks". As you can see, it was a good time (though it's nearly 8:00pm and the girls are still suffering from being sugared up on apple dumplings).
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Our Group's five year reunion...
....we hosted several families yesterday on what was our five year anniversary of receiving Lucy into our arms. The families attending also adopted children at the same time and we traveled together (for the most part) as a group. Though all 42 families were unable to attend, we still enjoyed the day!!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
China posts #6
I'm kicking myself because I trooped all the way over here from the
hotel to post some pictures and do some more shopping, only to find
that I left the USB cable back in the room. So for now I will just
post. We have some time this afternoon free, and Andy Crosby told me
about another place a block from here that has a faster internet
connection. So stay tuned. (I keep coming back here to Blenz because
it's a coffeehouse and the caffe lattes are pretty good.)
We took Lucy out for her first stroller ride last night! There is a
lovely riverside park area along the hotel, and we took our free
loaner stroller from Sherry's Place (those of you who've been here
know where this is probably) and went for a nice walk. Lucy loved
it. She was goggle-eyed at everything. She fussed a little at first
but realized that (a) it was someting that moves, which she likes
and (b) lets her take in more of the world around her, which she
also likes. We went to some stores and bought gifts for ourselves
and for family members. The locals love Lucy - all they can do is
talk about how pretty she is and how big her eyes are.
One of the things we've learned about here is how to communicate
with people without using a lot of English. The locals do speak a
little English because so many Americans and Europeans come here to
adopt. But for the most part there is very little overlap in
language. But somehow we get it done between pointing at things,
makign hand gestures, and using very simple language in our
sentences. Our group is joking (but how much of a joke?) about how
we're going to probably continue to talk like this once we are back
home. I know Cathy and I have already fallen into this because it's
how we talk when Lucy is asleep.
We're still a little concerned about Lucy's cold - it's not bad by
any means but it's persistent. In the last 12 hours she's started to
have stuff come out her nose, but in talking to some other parents
that's apparently good. We thought of taking her to the hotel clinic
but since we're coming how tomorrow (which is the day after tomorrow
for most of you reading this) we're thinking we can wait until our
pediatrician appointment on Tuesday.
We gave Lucy her first bath last night too. She liked it - she liked
to splash the water around and make a mess. Unfortunately she is
having a little bit of a skin rash this morning, which might be a
reaction to the soap we used. But it might also be reaction to the
heat, or something else. We're not panicking, even though we are
noticing every little thing that happens!
Unfortunately we put Lucy to bed too early last night - around 8 PM -
and she woke up at 3:00 AM in a playful mood. So we're a little
sleep deprived right now. (Hence my caffe latte.)
Today is a big day for everybody here. At some point this afternoon
we will walk a couple of blocks away to the US consulate and take an
oath that will seal the deal and make Lucy officially our daughter.
I sort of explained this in last night's post and what it means. One
thing I didn't mention is that after the oath, Lucy will officially
be named "Lucy" rather than Hai Yi. So there's no pressue with any
of this but it's kind of the culmination of the entire process that
has taken so long. All the paperwork, all the money, all the
waiting.... it caps off in this simple ceremony this afternoon.
It's a lovely day here in Guangzhou - the humidity has (thankfully)
been cut out of the air and it's only aout 85 degrees. ("only"?) I'm
checking my Franklin College email (finally - all 120-something
messages) and posting this, about to go hit some more of the stores
for shopping and then back to the hotel room by aroudn 11:30 or
12:00.
Congratulations to our friends Curtis and Michelle McGill, who just
had their baby Noel on the 20th, a day after we got Lucy. If you
know the crowd at Grace Church you know there are babies coming out
of the woodwork! Keep them in mind too during this exciting time.
I'm actually not sure how much time I'll have after today to post. I
hope to get out one more time to post up some new pictures. But if
not, here's the schedule for the next couple of days. This afternoon
is the consulate appointment. Tomorrow we're going on a bus tour of
the city (it's a huge sprawling place, and as much as we've been on
busses in the last few days we're only seen a fraction of it) and
then checking out of the hotel. We fly out of Guangzhou for LA at
9:00 PM local time, arrive in LA at 9:00 PM local time (yeah, that's
wierd) and then we're back in Indy around 3:30 AM, which will feel
like 4:30 PM for us. Or maybe we'll just all feel like we've been up
for 36 hours straight like we did on the plane ride over. We're just
giong to take it one moment at a time.
So, signing off for now. Look for more pictures before we head home.
When we get home it will be an avalanche of pictures! And we have
about 3 hours of video to edit through. It's all good though. Enjoy-
-robert
hotel to post some pictures and do some more shopping, only to find
that I left the USB cable back in the room. So for now I will just
post. We have some time this afternoon free, and Andy Crosby told me
about another place a block from here that has a faster internet
connection. So stay tuned. (I keep coming back here to Blenz because
it's a coffeehouse and the caffe lattes are pretty good.)
We took Lucy out for her first stroller ride last night! There is a
lovely riverside park area along the hotel, and we took our free
loaner stroller from Sherry's Place (those of you who've been here
know where this is probably) and went for a nice walk. Lucy loved
it. She was goggle-eyed at everything. She fussed a little at first
but realized that (a) it was someting that moves, which she likes
and (b) lets her take in more of the world around her, which she
also likes. We went to some stores and bought gifts for ourselves
and for family members. The locals love Lucy - all they can do is
talk about how pretty she is and how big her eyes are.
One of the things we've learned about here is how to communicate
with people without using a lot of English. The locals do speak a
little English because so many Americans and Europeans come here to
adopt. But for the most part there is very little overlap in
language. But somehow we get it done between pointing at things,
makign hand gestures, and using very simple language in our
sentences. Our group is joking (but how much of a joke?) about how
we're going to probably continue to talk like this once we are back
home. I know Cathy and I have already fallen into this because it's
how we talk when Lucy is asleep.
We're still a little concerned about Lucy's cold - it's not bad by
any means but it's persistent. In the last 12 hours she's started to
have stuff come out her nose, but in talking to some other parents
that's apparently good. We thought of taking her to the hotel clinic
but since we're coming how tomorrow (which is the day after tomorrow
for most of you reading this) we're thinking we can wait until our
pediatrician appointment on Tuesday.
We gave Lucy her first bath last night too. She liked it - she liked
to splash the water around and make a mess. Unfortunately she is
having a little bit of a skin rash this morning, which might be a
reaction to the soap we used. But it might also be reaction to the
heat, or something else. We're not panicking, even though we are
noticing every little thing that happens!
Unfortunately we put Lucy to bed too early last night - around 8 PM -
and she woke up at 3:00 AM in a playful mood. So we're a little
sleep deprived right now. (Hence my caffe latte.)
Today is a big day for everybody here. At some point this afternoon
we will walk a couple of blocks away to the US consulate and take an
oath that will seal the deal and make Lucy officially our daughter.
I sort of explained this in last night's post and what it means. One
thing I didn't mention is that after the oath, Lucy will officially
be named "Lucy" rather than Hai Yi. So there's no pressue with any
of this but it's kind of the culmination of the entire process that
has taken so long. All the paperwork, all the money, all the
waiting.... it caps off in this simple ceremony this afternoon.
It's a lovely day here in Guangzhou - the humidity has (thankfully)
been cut out of the air and it's only aout 85 degrees. ("only"?) I'm
checking my Franklin College email (finally - all 120-something
messages) and posting this, about to go hit some more of the stores
for shopping and then back to the hotel room by aroudn 11:30 or
12:00.
Congratulations to our friends Curtis and Michelle McGill, who just
had their baby Noel on the 20th, a day after we got Lucy. If you
know the crowd at Grace Church you know there are babies coming out
of the woodwork! Keep them in mind too during this exciting time.
I'm actually not sure how much time I'll have after today to post. I
hope to get out one more time to post up some new pictures. But if
not, here's the schedule for the next couple of days. This afternoon
is the consulate appointment. Tomorrow we're going on a bus tour of
the city (it's a huge sprawling place, and as much as we've been on
busses in the last few days we're only seen a fraction of it) and
then checking out of the hotel. We fly out of Guangzhou for LA at
9:00 PM local time, arrive in LA at 9:00 PM local time (yeah, that's
wierd) and then we're back in Indy around 3:30 AM, which will feel
like 4:30 PM for us. Or maybe we'll just all feel like we've been up
for 36 hours straight like we did on the plane ride over. We're just
giong to take it one moment at a time.
So, signing off for now. Look for more pictures before we head home.
When we get home it will be an avalanche of pictures! And we have
about 3 hours of video to edit through. It's all good though. Enjoy-
-robert
China posts #5
Hi everybody,
Things are a little slower here at the internet cafe, so maybe I can
put some more photos up after I post. I wish we could post some of
the video we've shot because it is just too precious, funny,
delightful, etc. for words. We'll arrange some sort of viewing when
we get back.
The last 36 hours have seen Lucy really come out of her shell. At
first she was as serious and quiet as her pictures make her out to
be. Now - at least when she's awake and has a full belly and a clean
diaper on - she is making pre-speech noises, trading off blowing
raspberries with me (lots of fun when she has oatmeal in her mouth),
and smiling. We were hanging out with another couple last night and
she was hamming it up with them too. So she is not all seriousness.
But she is all about studying things. We've been doing the breakfast
buffet at the White Swan and the dining room is right on the Pearl
River, and she will just look around and around at the people, the
boats, the water, everything... God gave her such big eyes because
she needs them to take in all the sights that she wants to.
She's been sleeping from about 8:30 to 4:30, and the last two
mornings she's woken up all smiles and wanting to play. I think she
is getting the idea that this whole "new parents" thing is going to
be OK.
In fact we have been working hard, not always successfully, on
attachment. It doesn't look like work - just sitting around the
hotel room and playing and things like that - but it's a vitally
important part of adopting to build trust between the child and the
parents. These first few days can be make-or-break for the parent-
chidl relationship and we've been doing all we can to convince her
that we love her, are caring for her, are in fact going to continue
to care for her and not leave her or just move on to another baby in
the room when it looks like she's reasonably happy.
As I said, it's not been all successful. It's interesting to see the
progression, though, as Lucy moves from having fun with these
strangers (= us) to realizing that these are her parents. For
example, we picked up from the orphanage caretaker that her nickname
was "Yi Yi" (her given name is/was just "Yi"). So we called her that
too. The first couple of days this brought out a huge smile and
happy noises from her and I think that went a long way to building
her trust. But I tried that yesterday and she exploded into crying.
We were using "Baba", which is the Chinese for "daddy", until this
morning when *that* started to make her cry. The good thing is that
Lucy is expert in letting us know what she needs. We're getting it,
and she's giving us the benefit of the doubt.
She has attached to Cathy very strongly, and she's working on
attaching to me. This is a little unusual, since the orphanage
babies have been around only women and so men usually fascinate
them. I chalk this up to Cathy's stepping up and becoming a great
mom. It doesn't surprise me that she is able to care for Lucy so
well. She has been preparing herself for the role, mainly by working
in the church nursery every week for a year. I have to admit that
there is something within me that wants Lucy to attach to me the
same way and with the same speed. But this will come, and the less I
worry about it the less of a problem it's going to be. (For the
record, Cathy and I are taking turns doing "nap duty" while the
other goes out and shops or whatever; when Lucy woke up with me
there, the first thing she did was smile big and blow me a nice fat
raspberry.)
Her cold is about the same as yesterday - still some raspy breathing
at times, but we're not sure whether that's congestion or a by
product of the stuff she is drinking. The formula is kind of thick
and we've been experimenting with apple juice. (Which causes bowel
movements, which is something we actually want her to do at this
stage.) We've cut back the tylenol to bedtime only (has the added
benefit of knocking her out for the night). But we are looking
forward to going to the pediatrician on Tuesday after we get back,
just to have an American doctor's opinion.
We ended up not going to the orphanage today.
Instead, we went with some other families to an upscale kindergarten
here in Guangzhou. It was a riot. There are 300 kids living (yes,
it's a boarding school kindergarten!) at this place and they all put
on one kind of show or another for the visiting Americans. Kids are
kids no matter where they are, I suppose. They hammed it up and
played and sang their hearts out for us. We have some great video of
all this. Lucy was a little unsure of it all, but she did like the
music and the dancing.
We got back from that around lunchtime, and since then we've been
doing the rotating nap duty thing. Obviously I am the one off duty
right now. My other mission is to buy some gifts for all the people
helping us out back in the states. Cathy got some of the gifts
earlier. I'm going to hit some more streetside places in search of
clothing, jewelry, and other loot. I also have to get Diet Coke for
Cathy -- yes, I did mean to say "have to".
Later today we will get our notarized paperwork back -- can all the
paperwork really be done?! -- to get ready to go to the US consulate
down the street tomorrow. Then we will take an oath and Lucy will
officially become our daughter. Right now the adoption is finalized
from China's standpoint. Now it has to be finalized from the US's
standpoint. That's what will happen when we take the oath.
We are looking forward to getting back home. We leave jsut in a
couple of more days. We've enjoyed our time here in China - this
place is special beyond words for us. It is a beautiful country in
many ways. Guangzhou, despite the heat and humidity, is especially
lovely because of all the flowers and greenery that are in bloom
practically year-round because of the southern latitude it is on.
The poverty here is really acute, too - it's very expensive to live
in Guangzhou, with the ratio of cost of living to annual income
being about the same as maybe Baltimore or San Francisco. But there
is a lot of natural beauty too. Still, we're getting a little
homesick and we're anxious to get back home and settle into a
routine. (Right now there's no point in putting Lucy on any kind of
feeding or sleeping schedule when we're going to screw it up
completely when we fly back home. To give you a sense of how
disorientign that's goign to be, we are leaving Guangzhou for Los
Angeles on Friday at 9 PM. We are arriving in Los Angeles at...
Friday at 9 PM.)
If I manage to get some pictures posted this afternoon, I'll post a
message and say so. Otherwise we'll check in with you all tomorrow.
-robert
Things are a little slower here at the internet cafe, so maybe I can
put some more photos up after I post. I wish we could post some of
the video we've shot because it is just too precious, funny,
delightful, etc. for words. We'll arrange some sort of viewing when
we get back.
The last 36 hours have seen Lucy really come out of her shell. At
first she was as serious and quiet as her pictures make her out to
be. Now - at least when she's awake and has a full belly and a clean
diaper on - she is making pre-speech noises, trading off blowing
raspberries with me (lots of fun when she has oatmeal in her mouth),
and smiling. We were hanging out with another couple last night and
she was hamming it up with them too. So she is not all seriousness.
But she is all about studying things. We've been doing the breakfast
buffet at the White Swan and the dining room is right on the Pearl
River, and she will just look around and around at the people, the
boats, the water, everything... God gave her such big eyes because
she needs them to take in all the sights that she wants to.
She's been sleeping from about 8:30 to 4:30, and the last two
mornings she's woken up all smiles and wanting to play. I think she
is getting the idea that this whole "new parents" thing is going to
be OK.
In fact we have been working hard, not always successfully, on
attachment. It doesn't look like work - just sitting around the
hotel room and playing and things like that - but it's a vitally
important part of adopting to build trust between the child and the
parents. These first few days can be make-or-break for the parent-
chidl relationship and we've been doing all we can to convince her
that we love her, are caring for her, are in fact going to continue
to care for her and not leave her or just move on to another baby in
the room when it looks like she's reasonably happy.
As I said, it's not been all successful. It's interesting to see the
progression, though, as Lucy moves from having fun with these
strangers (= us) to realizing that these are her parents. For
example, we picked up from the orphanage caretaker that her nickname
was "Yi Yi" (her given name is/was just "Yi"). So we called her that
too. The first couple of days this brought out a huge smile and
happy noises from her and I think that went a long way to building
her trust. But I tried that yesterday and she exploded into crying.
We were using "Baba", which is the Chinese for "daddy", until this
morning when *that* started to make her cry. The good thing is that
Lucy is expert in letting us know what she needs. We're getting it,
and she's giving us the benefit of the doubt.
She has attached to Cathy very strongly, and she's working on
attaching to me. This is a little unusual, since the orphanage
babies have been around only women and so men usually fascinate
them. I chalk this up to Cathy's stepping up and becoming a great
mom. It doesn't surprise me that she is able to care for Lucy so
well. She has been preparing herself for the role, mainly by working
in the church nursery every week for a year. I have to admit that
there is something within me that wants Lucy to attach to me the
same way and with the same speed. But this will come, and the less I
worry about it the less of a problem it's going to be. (For the
record, Cathy and I are taking turns doing "nap duty" while the
other goes out and shops or whatever; when Lucy woke up with me
there, the first thing she did was smile big and blow me a nice fat
raspberry.)
Her cold is about the same as yesterday - still some raspy breathing
at times, but we're not sure whether that's congestion or a by
product of the stuff she is drinking. The formula is kind of thick
and we've been experimenting with apple juice. (Which causes bowel
movements, which is something we actually want her to do at this
stage.) We've cut back the tylenol to bedtime only (has the added
benefit of knocking her out for the night). But we are looking
forward to going to the pediatrician on Tuesday after we get back,
just to have an American doctor's opinion.
We ended up not going to the orphanage today.
Instead, we went with some other families to an upscale kindergarten
here in Guangzhou. It was a riot. There are 300 kids living (yes,
it's a boarding school kindergarten!) at this place and they all put
on one kind of show or another for the visiting Americans. Kids are
kids no matter where they are, I suppose. They hammed it up and
played and sang their hearts out for us. We have some great video of
all this. Lucy was a little unsure of it all, but she did like the
music and the dancing.
We got back from that around lunchtime, and since then we've been
doing the rotating nap duty thing. Obviously I am the one off duty
right now. My other mission is to buy some gifts for all the people
helping us out back in the states. Cathy got some of the gifts
earlier. I'm going to hit some more streetside places in search of
clothing, jewelry, and other loot. I also have to get Diet Coke for
Cathy -- yes, I did mean to say "have to".
Later today we will get our notarized paperwork back -- can all the
paperwork really be done?! -- to get ready to go to the US consulate
down the street tomorrow. Then we will take an oath and Lucy will
officially become our daughter. Right now the adoption is finalized
from China's standpoint. Now it has to be finalized from the US's
standpoint. That's what will happen when we take the oath.
We are looking forward to getting back home. We leave jsut in a
couple of more days. We've enjoyed our time here in China - this
place is special beyond words for us. It is a beautiful country in
many ways. Guangzhou, despite the heat and humidity, is especially
lovely because of all the flowers and greenery that are in bloom
practically year-round because of the southern latitude it is on.
The poverty here is really acute, too - it's very expensive to live
in Guangzhou, with the ratio of cost of living to annual income
being about the same as maybe Baltimore or San Francisco. But there
is a lot of natural beauty too. Still, we're getting a little
homesick and we're anxious to get back home and settle into a
routine. (Right now there's no point in putting Lucy on any kind of
feeding or sleeping schedule when we're going to screw it up
completely when we fly back home. To give you a sense of how
disorientign that's goign to be, we are leaving Guangzhou for Los
Angeles on Friday at 9 PM. We are arriving in Los Angeles at...
Friday at 9 PM.)
If I manage to get some pictures posted this afternoon, I'll post a
message and say so. Otherwise we'll check in with you all tomorrow.
-robert
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