Pictures from our trip here

Ryan figured out how to make the blog work! More sleep=greater brainpower. Here are some pictures from our trip here:

Aidan on the moving walkway at the Portland Airport:



Our plane arrives in San Francisco:

Aidan's little sleeping nest on our flight! He slept great on the plane; they turn all the lights off and it's pretty quiet, so he did really well.

Watching the traffic outside our hotel:

Taipei 101:

Two-Carseat Family

We installed Lauren's carseat when Ryan got home this afternoon. It is pretty exciting to see a rear-facing seat in our car again. I will be squeezing between the two seats on our way to and home from the airport, since my mom is taking us in our car.

We are almost all packed and are SO ready to go! I may have to start counting down the hours pretty soon here. Ryan and I are both feeling so excited and very nervous. Even Aidan told me he was ready to go on our trip today after telling us at breakfast last weekend, "I am thinking that we should NOT go to Taiwan and NOT go get Lauren." I am hoping he'll be a trouper.

Getting Ready

12 more days until we leave for Taiwan! Lauren's crib is getting fuller by the day. Here's how it looks after this morning's shopping trip. There is more stuff on the floor by the crib, plus a pile of my clothes on the changing table. Ryan seems a bit skeptical about how we're going to carry all this stuff. The wrapping paper is for wrapping all the little toys I've bought for Aidan to help distract him from the fact that he'll be on a plane for 14 hours.

We finally have our plane tickets in hand and have booked a hotel. Thanks to a fellow adoptive parent's recommendation, we've chosen to stay at the Agora Garden Hotel. It looks lovely and has an indoor pool and outdoor waterfall, which Aidan should really enjoy.

And Now, How About Some Good News?

So, never mind the post below! I got a call from Tien at our adoption agency this morning, and we are officially Lauren's parents! Our final ruling was issued today. It looks like we will be leaving on March 1st, meeting Lauren on the 5th, and our AIT appointment (to get her passport and visa) will be on the 6th. We will be arriving in Taiwan on March 2nd, Lauren's eight-month birthday and our six-year wedding anniversary. Basically, we could not be any more excited and are ready to get going on travel plans, packing, etc.

Thank you so much to those who have supported us through this crazy process, especially Jessica, who has been emotionally on my side through every last detail...from a China adoption we began a year ago and orginally thought we'd complete this spring but actually would have taken years, to the decision to switch to our agency's brand-new Taiwan program. Everyone should have a friend who screams with excitement and bursts into happy tears when you call them with good news. Jessica is awesome.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We are just thrilled to be able to share this news with all of you!

Setback

We learned yesterday that our adoption agency doesn't expect us to have our final ruling and travel dates for several more weeks. Apparently, people (court clerks) go on vacation in advance of the Chinese New Year closure, which we weren't expecting. So, instead of the normal four-week wait between first ruling and final ruling, we are looking at an eight-week wait. We'll hopefully be traveling in mid-March, but it feels very up in the air at this point. We are very disappointed and even considered going ahead and traveling anyway (you are allowed to foster your baby in Taiwan if you choose), but we decided that was not the best thing for Aidan and our finances. So, that's the update for now. Hope to post better news soon.

Lauren's Room

Ryan and I have been hard at work on Lauren's little room. Her room, which is accessed through Aidan's room, used to have a tile floor and brown walls. It is just about ready now, complete with a crib filled with stuff we'll take with us on our trip. We are ready, Taiwan judge, whenever you want to go ahead and issue that final ruling!

Baby Shower

On January 13th, Jessica, Margaret and Jenn gave me a wonderful baby shower at Margaret's house. Everything was perfect: beautiful Asian decor, creative games (thought up by Jenn), delicious food like homemade shiitake wontons (by Margaret and Lily), adorable party favors (Jessica's doing), even homemade fortune cookies with inspiring fortunes found by my mom. It was really important for me to welcome Lauren with a shower since I did not feel comfortable having one with Aidan (because of the nature of domestic adoption). It was a great celebration and thanks to everyone who drove from Portland and Grants Pass to be there! And a big thank you for all the wonderful gifts, too.

I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few and I hope to post more when I receive them from the picture takers.

News News News!

Yahoo! We received the email we've been waiting for today, letting us know that our first ruling happened yesterday, January 8th. In approximately two weeks, the birthmother's rights should be terminated (please keep your fingers crossed that she signs off on the final paperwork). In four or so weeks (hopefully less!), we should receive our final ruling. Then some other paperwork has to happen on the Taiwan agency's end, and then travel plans can be made. We think we will likely be delayed by Chinese New Year on February 18th (the country basically shuts down for one week), but hopefully we'll be traveling by early March! Great news!

January Update

Happy New Year! We received another update on Lauren today. She is 15 pounds now and is dressed in my favorite kind of terrycloth sleeper! Chubby babies are my favorite, and she looks scrumptious! Still no court news to be had...BLAH, as Toad in Aidan's "Frog and Toad" books would say. So we wait...hope to back with another post soon!

Her Older Brother is Pretty Great, Too

I've made this blog all about Lauren, but since I don't have anything to report in that department, I wanted to share some great photos of her gege ("older brother," pronounced guh-guh), whom we love so much! Aidan James is 3 1/2 and seems excited to be a big brother. He is still my baby in a lot of ways, so we are curious to see how the transition will go for him. But he talks about Lauren a lot and seems to be starting to understand that she will be living at our house.

The first photo was taken at the Christmas tree farm we went to in December; the second is on the ride home from the farm; the third is of Aidan enjoying playing with the wrapped presents the week before Christmas.