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!