Merry Christmas!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!! Things are going great here. Sloan is such a blessing and I am so thankful she is here. Mimi said the other day "what a blessing Sloan is to us and I hope we will be a blessing to her someday" we sure pray it's true! Sloan is crawling alot and picking up speed everyday, as well as pulling up to stand without much difficulty. She also likes to mimick sounds and is able to point to Mommy's nose. Her sleep is improving everyday and she LOVES pattycake especially Mimi's version. She also gained almost a pound in 2 weeks and is now on the US growth chart!



Sorry for the "Charlie Brown" Christmas Tree but I opted not to put up a big one for fear it would be too much stimulation and then disappear at the new year!



Sloan loves this creepy Santa...she points to it and smiles whenever we go buy him!

One week and a day...

What a difference a week makes!! Those first few days were rough let me tell you, then followed by MD visits on Tuesday and Thursday...brutal. The chest x-ray might have been the worst..what a terrible contraption. Our nights are much better, sweet Sloan goes to sleep much easier and last night slept through with only a diaper change. She feels more comfortable each day and her personality is a riot. I continue to use the Ergo as much a possible daily and we play a lot too. Mimi(we decided Nana didn't fit) and Papaw are still here and I think I might start charging rent...except they are earning their keep! Here are a few more photos!


Sloan with Mimi and Papaw..meeting Sadie close up.



Aunt Barb made this sock monkey years ago..Sloan thinks it is a hoot!



Standing tall!



This changing pad has been very handy...especially the few times Sloan forgot that she is no longer in split pants and let it go when open to air. Ha! Thx Aunt Mary!

We're home!!!!

After about 30 hours of travel we made it back to the USA!! Sloan was a trooper through it all. We were lucky to have an extra empty seat in both of our return flights, which was a lifesaver. Dad and I were both exhausted and are starting to feel like human beings again. ****Special thanks to Aunt Mary and Uncle Dwight who helped Mom deliver us from the airport!!**** We still have our days and nights mixed up but that is getting better each day. Thanks for all of the prayers! Here is a picture of our welcome home banner from Shari and Frannie, as well as a photo of Sloan in her stroller, strolling around the house because it is too cold outside per Nana!

Red couch photo at The White Swan

It is tradition that when in Guangzhou you have your child's picture taken on one of the red couches at The White Swan Hotel. My group is not staying at this particular hotel but it is legendary and we wouldn't miss the opportunity. So, we bought Sloan a pretty Chinese dress and here she is...Beautiful!!!

Lunch with Wai Gong (aka Grandpa)...

We took a cab to Shamian Island again today to have a good lunch at Lucy's and do a little more shopping. Sloan wanted to share her rice cake with Grandpa...but not really share, just pretend share. :-) Sloan has been doing great, her personality keeps evolving. She is doing great with going from belly to sitting and is pulling up. She is very strong in her upper body but legs and trunk are a bit like jello. She is not crawling the conventional way but she seems to "Moon" crawl..like Michael Jackson. She is really good at mimicking...she claps, waves and copies sounds. She is really smart! I'm not just saying that...:-) We have one full day tomorrow then Friday we are off on a 24 hour travel extravaganza. Please pray for us!!

Smiles..

Hello everyone! We are doing great. Just staying busy loving little Sloan. Here is another picture. She is smiling alot more. We went to the White Swan and had photos on the famous red couch last night and will post some pictures soon! Love to you all!!

Shamian Island and Squeaky Shoes

Well we visited the famous island today in search of squeaky shoes and lunch at Lucy's. It was great food and very much like home. We are already planning to go back. There was also a Christian church service going on at a chapel there and we stopped to listen as it was also spoken in English. Here are a few picks from the day. We started out with a bath today.
Sloan is so sweet, she is opening up a little more everyday. Many more giggles today and I am less stressed and easing into this motherhood role. She is VERY active. She was practically doing pull up on the crib this morning. She is very strong. Have to get to bed..sorry this is so random and not very deep. Love y'all!

First plane ride and medical exam...

We arreived in Guangzhou last night and the plane flight went pretty good. We did a bottle to help with her ears and she did fine. She did get fussy during the flight and cried for about 5 minutes which felt like 50 minutes. I was finally able to calm her down...still learning how to meet her needs. She is so sweet. We had a great night and we started the day with her medical exam. She weighs 15 lbs...which is much better than the 13 we had calculated on the scale in the hotel. Hopefully Grandma can fatten her up when we get home!!!

Let's Go Auburn!!! Beat Bama!!

More photos of the Peanut....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! We are doing well except I am having a hard time posting pictures again. :-( Sloan is doing well, I can tell sometimes that she is grieving but I have been able to see some signs of attachment. She had a harder time falling alseep last night but she is also teething, at least that is my 'expert' opinion. Ha! She is really small..9mos clothes are very roomy. We think she weighs about 13 lbs but will find out exactly on tuesday at the medical exam. She eats like a champ!!! We leave Nanchang today and head to Guangzhou were we will stay the rest of our time before coming home. I will continue to try and post pictures. Have a great day!!

Pictures from Tuesday....

A few more photos from the first day...

Finally a photo!!!

Sorry for the delay, not enough time to figure out the problem until now. Anyway,I will try to post a few more. Sloan has been a trooper..she sleeps really good... almost 10 hours each night. The first night she slept straight through and last night she woke up once due to a wet diaper but I was sleeping with one eye open and got right on it! She goes right back to sleep. She is also eating really well. Mostly bottles, steamed eggs and congee. She also likes bananas but not watermelon. Grandpa makes the best bottles! We had a little bit of a rough time yesterday when she had to pass a small "boulder" but much softer the second time yesterday and much better today. We went to the Notary yesterday then onto Walmart...yes, they have one her in Nanchang. It was an experience to shop but we have a big group so that made it easier. Today we toured the Palace and later walked to McDonalds which was really good. We each had a double cheeseburgers and shared fries and a coke...it cost less than the 8oz coffee we had at the Great Wall, funny. The town of Nanchang is really something to see people drive crazy...there are all of these shops and restaurants just like a big city in the states. I don't know what I really expecting but it is just facinating. Sloan is taking her afternoon nap and Grandpa is down in the lobby reading a book. I better go and prepare a bottle for the little Peanut Princess! Love you guys!!

I have Sloan!!

Today was a great day! We took a flight to Nanchang at 7:40am from Beijing. We arrived at our hotel and in 2 minutes I had Sloan in my arms! I knew it was her right away. It was the most surreal feeling to have her in my arms. She cried just a little bit but has not had a big breakdown yet. Almost had a smile but not a full one yet. She is making good eye contact with me and loves to be in the Ergo carrier. She is just beautiful..I still can't post a picture, sorry but I will keep trying. She ate really well with both bottles and congee with bananas. Grandpa has been alot of help but I think we wore him out, It is 7:30 here and I just put Sloan in the crib and Grandpa hit the bed at the same time but was asleep before Sloan. I am exhausted too!

Day 3

Today we started with a church service then on to Jade factory, Chinese lunch, Great Wall, Chinese dinner and the acrobats show. It was beautiful in Beijing today, with a brisk wind the smog was gone and clear sky! We leave early in the am to fly to Nanchang, Jiangxi Provience and meet babies around noon!!
I am having difficulty posting pictures but hope to be able to at our next hotel. Thanks for the comments!

Day 2 in China....

We slept pretty good last night, thankfully! It did require that I pull out the earplugs because someone snores really loud! We had a great day of touring..Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Chinese lunch, Pearl Market, Summer Palace, Silk Factory and Chinese dinner. I never thought I would be craving a McDonalds hamburger but I am looking forward to that! Our hotel is directly across from Starbucks and Haggen-daz ice cream shop.
I did get to see the famous chinese split pants in person today. Google it if you've never seen any...interesting.
Our travel group is great and we are having a good time!

Our room and Carrefour store

We made it...

Well, the flight was long but no too bad 12.5 hours for the Newark to Beijing portion. We had exit row seats so that helped. We made it to hotel and went to Carrefour-like Walmart- for some extra bottled water. That was an experience and I hope to post some pictures.

I started this post last night but after Dad's head hit the pillow he was out in 10 seconds and snoring wide open! So I thought I better get to sleep too! We both slept about 10 hours so we should be ready for the touring today! Thank you so much for the prayers. In 2 days I will meet sweet baby Sloan!!

On our way....

Well, not right now but at o'dark thirty we will be headed to the airport! How exciting! I feel completely blessed that this is finally going to happen. I'm coming baby Sloan...not long now!!

Also...thank you to everyone for the prayers this week! I have really felt them and many things have happened that I know are a result of your petition on Sloan's and my behalf!

Sloan's Shower

A couple weeks ago some of my dear friends gave me a shower for sweet baby Sloan. It was a surreal experience...I think I was still in a referral fog! I received wonderful gifts! I am going to use some of the lanterns in Sloan's room....I hope to post some nursery pics soon! I had a wonderful shower at work as well...Sloan is not even here and I feel like she has taken over my house! LOL...good feeling though!

I'm going to CHINA....

Well, I received my TA-travel approval on Monday and CA-Consulate appointment on Tuesday, then tuesday afternoon the flights were booked!! Off to China 3 weeks from tomorrow! I can't wait to hold sweet Sloan in my arms!! God is so good!!

This is my first attempt at posting via email.  I hope this way when I travel to China I can keep everyone updated.  I have a new photo of Sloan to share as well. :-)  Let's see how this works!

I can't stop looking at these photos...

.....I LOVE her sooo much!!!!

Beautiful baby....

Sorry for the low tech photo but more to come tomorrow!! She is so sweet!!

The Call!!

Received the call today at 2:20pm!!
Healthy baby girl
Bo Jia Guo
from Jiangxi Province
DOB 1/21/2010

Received photo and she is precious! Will post asap!

Referrals in the mail......??

Could it be true?? I guess tomorrow will tell. RQ has reports of referrals in the mail. I hope I can sleep tonight!!!

Fingerprints...

I am certain today was the last time I have to do this.....
My fingerprints are all over Homeland Security. I am looking forward to the next week and stalking RQ daily...who am I kidding, hourly. :-) I can't wait to see baby Sloan's face!!

It's been a long time......

Ok, so it has been over 3 years since my last post. What have I been doing?? Waiting, waiting, waiting....and I've moved, lost my dear sweet Molly girl and finally decided to get to work on Sloan's room. Last week my agency did the pre-referral conference call!! In my agency, my group is next for referrals. We are told 1 to 2 months! After all this time I actually feel like I am not ready. The bad thing is that I had to start another paperwork renewal process. UGH!!