He's Here!

It's amazing what a difference a little boy makes.  :)  Last night we arrived to Shanghai around 11 p.m., exhausted, hungry, tired, and I'll admit a little bit grumpy.  Driving through China in the dark, it's charms were not visible and I was beginning to have some serious doubts about what I had gotten us into.  But now that we have held our little son in our arms and kissed his cheeks, all doubts are gone and we are just absolutely, completely, 100% in love with him.

Our guide, Sophie, an adorable woman who has been very reassuring and helpful, met us this morning at 8:30 after we'd gotten a pretty good night's sleep, a hot shower, and a full breakfast of Chinese and American foods.  We were driven to the Shanghai Children's Welfare Institute, where little Sheng Shi (we are calling him by his Chinese name for now) has been living for the past 20 months.  It is a beautiful and very large facility.  They said there are about 600 children there now.  It claims to be the best orphanage in all of China (I wonder if the other orphanages would claim the same?).  The grounds were well maintained and inviting and the staff that we met were friendly.  We did not have a chance to tour the orphanage.  I guess that privilege is rarely granted.

We were taken to a conference style room where two other families were also sitting.  We each had to complete some paperwork - forms saying that we will love and take care of Sheng Shi, mostly - and then after a few minutes, we turned around and they were bringing babies in!

We recognized Sheng Shi immediately, and his nanny brought him to meet us.  It was love at first sight for me.  He is cuter in person than in his pictures (oh my gosh - his ears!!!) and his little serious, pouty face just melts my heart.  He doesn't feel the same about us yet - but soon he will find out that we belong to him and I know he will come around!  

When he first met us, he clung to the nanny for dear life, completely uninterested in us, but after we gave him a little baseball we had brought and some puff snacks, he started to at least acknowledge our presence.  I was able to hold him after a while of warming up (me warming, him not so much), though he cried for a little bit until Caolon brought him more puff snacks.  He is very fond of the snacks and definitely attaching to Caolon.  

Caolon is such a natural daddy.  He held Sheng Shi in the van on the way back to the hotel and kissed his head (yes - he has broken his own "don't kiss the baby rule" MANY times already!) while we drove back to the hotel.  We took a little time to let him familiarize himself with the hotel room (mostly accepting more snacks from daddy and clutching his little ball).  Grammie brought out a truck book that she brought for him that has moving wheels.  That was a hit, and soon his little hands were full, grasping his two toys and letting Mommy and Daddy take turns giving him snacks and sips of water from the sippy cup.  Soon, however, both Caolon and Sheng Shi were tired and decided it was time for a little nap.  They are upstairs cuddling and snoozing while I type up this post.

It's no wonder that Sheng Shi is so interested in his daddy.  They have a lot in common - a similar fashion style, a fondness for snacking and napping, and also Sheng Shi has a quirky little foot tapping habbit that foreshadows some drum lessons in his future! :)

We are all very smitten with our little boy and we are looking forward to these next few days of getting to know his personality a little better.

Love you all and thank you for the prayers!

Erin    

 

       

The Adventure Begins!

 I can't believe we are finally to this moment!  After a year of paper processing, praying, and dreaming, we are finally on our way to get little Leo.  At the moment, we are in the Seattle airport and so far the trip is off to a good start!  Not really looking forward to the looooong flight ahead of us, but the end result will be worth it!

We are supposed to arrive in Shanghai at 9:30 Sunday night, China time.  Then the next day we get to go meet and pick up Leo.  I am a bit nervous for that first meeting.  I have read enough blogs and adoption books to know that there is a wide variety of ways he might react to us and to being taken away from the orphanage, which is the only home he's known the past two years.  Please pray for all of us - pray that Caolon and I will have the intuition to know how we can best support him in his transition and pray that Leo will feel some kind of peace in meeting and coming with us.

 

I will update again from China! :)

I can almost hear that pitter patter...

...of slippered feet on the hardwood floors! 

We spent this weekend getting ready - and though I am sure I will not at any point really feel "ready," I do feel like we are in a great spot after the past two days.

Yesterday, my sweet friends, Tricia and Pauline from STRIDE hosted a lovely babies shower for me.  A few of my mom's friends joined with some of my friends and family and we celebrated the new additions to Caolon's and my little family.  It was such a nice time and we got several things that we have been feeling we needed - a car seat to bring Leo home from Colorado in, bath supplies, diapers, toddler dishes, etc.  We also got quite a few extra things I didn't even know existed - including this adorable little electronic puppy that talks and says my son's name!  (He's the green guy sitting on the dresser in the picture here.)  Kid toys have come a long way since I was little!

The best part of the weekend, however, was having my very talented second-mama, Kathy (Leo's Nana), and my dad (Leo's Pops) from Colorado stay for the night.  Kathy has been working hard at her sewing machine for our little guy.  She made him a beautiful quilt and curtains for his nursery.  Then she and my dad spent the evening yesterday, helping us organize and decorate Leo's nursery.  Guys, you have no idea how helpful this was!  Prior to yesterday, I had been piling anything Leo-related into the room in boxes and bags and closing the door.  It has been giving me anxiety as I really had no clue where to even begin organizing everything.  And the curtain issue is also stressful - I just couldn't decide what I needed or how to start looking or anything.  I am SO thankful to dad and Kathy.  They really worked their magic and Leo's nursery looks so cozy and inviting now.  I have been going in there repeatedly throughout the day to sit in his rocking chair and just soak it all in.  Where I had previously been feeling overwhelmed with all that needed to be done, now I'm still feeling overwhelmed, but it's with gratitude towards everyone who has given us a gift or a hand.  We have so much support and so many great people in our lives.  Little, Leo, you are going to be so loved.

 

We have a date! :)

We got great news this week!  Our travel approval and confirmed dates!  We will be meeting and picking up our son in just about 3 weeks!  Of course this news has thrown me and my hyper-sensitive pregnant emotions into a frenzy.  On the one hand I'm so thrilled to finally be at this step and on the other I'm thinking of the hundreds of things we still need to do before we can leave for China!

But despite the anxiety, I think I will just, for now, focus on the fact that very soon I will be snuggling with this little guy:

 

 

Our travel itinerary is still in process, but what I do know is that we will be leaving from Denver on November 10th and (after a couple layovers - Seattle and Tokyo) arriving in Shanghai on November 11th.  We will get our guy on the 12th and spend a few days sightseeing and completing adoption process stuff in Shanghai.  Then we will fly to Guangzhuo where we will do a little more sightseeing and complete steps to obtain Leo's passport so he can fly home.  We will spend one night in Hong Kong (though, sadly, with no time to see any of the things we love of that city) and then fly home November 21st.  We have two more layovers on the way home (Tokyo and Minneapolis - why Minneapolis?!?!?  Who knows!) and then land in Denver the afternoon on the 21st.  We will then spend a couple of days in Colorado with Nana and Pops so that Mom and Dad (that's Caolon and I - how cool is that?!?) can get a little rest and try to recover a bit from the crazy jetlag that accompanies any trip from China (but I'm guessing even more so when that trip involves a nervous toddler).

So there is a lot for us to think and dream about now.  Here's hoping the next three weeks go by fast!

And then a surprise...

The week after Tennessee, we found ourselves on Casper Mountain chaperoning youth at the Summit Youth Group retreat.  One week of sleeping in a cabin full of teenage girls always leaves me feeling run down, but this week it felt even more so.  Each day I found myself feeling more and more tired and toward the end of the week, I was also feeling shakey, queasy, and just overall...not quite right.  It wasn't like the flu or a cold or anything else I have ever experienced, so by midweek, I started to get a little nervous.  Wednesday morning, halfway through camp, I managed to find some alone time with Caolon and I told him I thought I might be pregnant.  Of course, there was nothing we could do from there, and he told me to try not to think about it too much, but I think we both knew it was true.

Saturday evening, once we'd gotten home and sent all the youth back to their parents, we went to the store for a test.  I couldn't wait until the morning (as recommended by the package) to take the test.  But it turns out, I didn't have to...

Well...obviously this was shocking news.  We had been "not preventing" and trying to conceive for several years and now that we had decided to pursue adoption and fallen in love with our son, we become pregnant?  Does God think He's being funny?  How can this be the right timing?

We took the test to Caolon's parents to share the news with them and after a nice long panicky meltdown on my part, we finally started to accept the idea that not only were we going to become parents, but we would become parents of two children within five months of each other.  Eep!!!

Tennessee

Three weeks, one headcold (for Caolon), and some very lazy/loungy afternoons at home later, we were back in an airplane and on our way to Tennessee.  My stepsister lives there and we were accompanying my DisneyDad on a trip to see her.  This trip was great fun and the best part was meeting my sweet little niece, Ariana.  Soon her Poppa will have a little Leo grandson to spoil, too!



Best Vacation Ever!

Two weeks after becoming Leo's pre-approved parents, we were on a plane to Hawaii with my awesome Colorado family!  The trip had been a dream of my dad's and we were finally getting to go!

The ten days we spent on Oahu, staying at Disney's amazing Aulani Resort, were some of the best days of my life.  Our days were spent soaking in the sun, splashing around in the ocean, lounging in the lazy river at our resort, eating massive quantities of shave ice and drinking tastey tropical cocktails, and sightseeing around the island.  The entire time, I couldn't help but dreaming about what it would be like to have Leo with us.  I'm pretty sure "Nana," "Pops," Auntie Heather, and Auntie Hols were thinking the same thing!



The view from our room.  Aulani was breathtaking!

Us feeling closer to Leo on the map at Pearl Harbor.

Nana and Leo next to Leo's name in the Olelo room.

Our group by Spitting Cave.

All of us showing our true colors.  :)