My Aunt's Visit

E and I cooking up a storm.....

Hi all, I know its been a while since I've posted.

Z is going great. He is walking across the room now. Just amazing.

Last weekend, my Aunt visited. We had a great time visiting the zoo and just hanging out. Here are some pictures from the visit. We had a great time visiting the animals, having a picnic lunch by the refleting pool which was outfitted with about 75 pumpkins and riding the carousel. Emily got to touch a snake and a pancake turtle. It was a great day.

My Son's First Word

is Uh-Oh. Z has started to say Uh-Oh the past few days when he drops something.

When you adopt a child from another country, "they" all tell you that when you get him, he will be developmentally delayed (compared US standards). I can't tell you the tremendous relief it is to have Z developmentally where he needs to be (walking etc.) and also speaking his first words (after only being exposed to English for 3 months!).

It makes us even more than very happy.

Here is what happens to Z when he has a late night out at parents night out, followed up by a day with only one nap.....he falls asleep at dinner and easily transfers to the floor!

My Daughter's (Pre-Conceived) Conceptions

On Sunday we had a baby shower for a dear friend, C, who is due to have a baby shortly. E saw some of the decorations and after I explained to her what they were for I casually asked her if she knew how the baby got in C's tummy. We had previously had a one sentence discussion about where babies come from when she asked how the baby got in C's tummy a few weeks ago.

Emily's response was this: "Well, first you sleep with God a bit. And then the baby falls into a parachute and falls into the mommy's tummy". I thought this was hysterical. I don't know where the first part comes from, but I'm pretty sure the second part comes from the movie Dumbo, where the stork delivers the babies and they float down from the sky.

Here is E and our dog S, who grew by 40% while we were on vacation.

My Son's Readoption

Last Thursday, we drove to Fort Worth to readopt Zachary. This was our first car trip in quite some time. The kids did well and we arrived into FW around 9:30pm. Z's adoption was final in China. However, readopting in the US allows the courts to formally recognize the international adoption, so no one can question it. It also gives us a TX birth certificate, which makes it a lot easier for enrolling in school etc.

Friday, the next day, was quite a fun one. We didn't have to be in family court until about noon so we took the morning to visit the headquarters of our adoption agency. It was a very nice visit and we learned a lot about the history of our agency (they have be around for over 100 years). Emily had a great time playing in the play area of the lobby.

While walking around and reading about the history of our agency in the lobby, we came across this picture of Z's Social Welfare Institute (SWI) (orphanage). After a flood, our agency had helped put a new roof on the building. We had known that our agency had helped the SWI after a flood, but it was nice to learn this new piece of information.

Then it was time to grab a quick bite to eat and off to family court. The C family, who traveled with us in China and was with us in Z's province was also readopting that day (it was a group adoption day, so there were about 18 families readopting that day). It was good to see the C family and their daughter M, who shared a room with Z at the SWI.

E and Z wore their silk from China.

The courtroom was filled with over 50 stuffed animals (lambs and bears) and balloons. It was a very festive time.

We were the second to last family to be called up. Once we were up there, our lawyer asked us a bunch of simple questions. We were able to give our camera and video camera to the court staff and they all took pictures for us (everyone was so nice). Here we are with our lawyer (in red). The judge is hiding behind Z.

After we gave our testimony the judge signed the readoption petition and we were allowed to go up on her bench and take some photos. The judge held Z and E got to sit on her desk. The children then each got a stuffed animal and we enjoyed cookies and punch in the jury room!

Here is a shot of E, Z and M playing on the floor while we wait our turn.

The judge said how nice it it to do the group adoption days....both for her and for us. Had we picked a non group day, we would have been on the docket with some unhappy issues that are often dealt with in family court.

My Prima Ballerina

Here is our little ballerina! She just started ballet lessons last week. She loves her leotard and ballet shoes. She couldn't stop dancing when we tried them on in the store. There are 7 other little girls in her class....all dressed in pink. Very very cute. I wish I could take a video of her doing her ballet moves. She does love to dance!

My Family's Big Summer Vacation

You've probably been wondering where we've been since I haven't posted in quite some time. We've been on vacation. We went up to the northeast for two weeks. We visited T's family in Westport and our friends the E's and T's brother's family in NJ. Here are some of the over 450 pictures that we took over the past few weeks.

First, over labor day weekend, my mother came to visit and we went to the children's museum. I painted E's face and we had a great time playing. The museum was quite empty so we had it virtually to ourselves.

The first week in Westport was lovely. We were able to go to the beach and really have some very nice family bonding time. T and I discovered that it isn't really a vacation if you take your kids with you! Normally we go to Westport in August, but we were attending the wedding of D&L on 9/15, so we planned our trip around their wedding. D and T are friends from childhood.

We went fishing for crabs with baloney, wearing our fishing hats....

We went to see battleship cove on a rainy day......

And Z got his first haircut with us.... and survived

Z took his first steps on the beach!

We visited the topiary animal gardens.

And E practiced her lime juggling!

When the weather got cold during our second week, we walked on the beach and looked for shells (my favorite past time). On one of our walks we saw a starfish (!) and a large crab buried in the sand and many other small sea creatures.

We visited our friends the E's. Their daughter K and our daughter E are about 9 months apart, so they get along wonderfully.

We spent a night at Grandma's and Poppa's house....

Then we went to NJ and visited T's brother, C and his wife Tr and our nephew J, who all just had a baby boy M! He is very cute and we got to see him when he was only 7 days old. J and E are about 18 months apart, so they play very well together.

While in NJ, we took the train in NYC to see our adoption agency who has an office there. The social worker that we worked with during our adoption is named G and we got to visit with her and the rest of the office and had lunch with them. It was a wonderful opportunity to visit with then and show off Z as they had never seen him before.

My labor day weekend

Here are some photos of our labor day weekend. E getting dressed up in her princess dresses



Z with his cowboy hat on.

And us having french toast for breakfast. E is talking to her cousin J on the phone. J's mom is expecting a baby any minute. We were calling to see if the new baby had arrived yet. It hadn't.