Lauren Ling Day

Just have time for one picture for now; sorry! It is late (9:30) and Aidan just went to sleep. Lauren is amazing. She smiles and laughs but seems pretty scared and she screams if we put her down, even just to change her diaper. We just tried to put her down in her crib for 5 minutes and we won't be trying that again anytime soon! She loves Aidan and he did so wonderfully today, we are very proud of him. She doesn't have any teeth yet but is drooling all over the place and putting everything in her mouth. She isn't crawling and is very tiny--it's hard to tell how small she is from the pictures. I'll try and post more tomorrow. Happy 4th Birthday to Hannah in Oregon! Love to everyone.

Sunday in Taipei

Today was great! We had our breakfast buffet again (we all tried some new foods; there is a huge selection of both Western and Asian choices and I tried a white fruit with black seeds) and then took the MRT (the subway...very easy to use and very clean) to the zoo. Today was the first day that we attracted a lot of attention. Aidan got stared at a lot (he doesn't mind) and even had his picture taken with a gaggle of very excited, giggling teenagers who picked him up and stood him on a train for a picture! They kept calling him bao, which sounded like a term of endearment...Kevin and I-Chwen, do you know? He is impressing everyone with saying "ni hao" (hello), "zai jian" (goodbye) and "xie xie" (thank you). They usually smile and respond in English. In the late afternoon, we walked over to Taipei 101 and took the world's fastest elevator to the observation area (89th floor). It was cloudy but we could still see quite a bit.

Please keep Aidan in your thoughts/prayers tomorrow as we all travel to meet Lauren. He has been numero uno in a big way for the last nearly four years and we are worried about how this transition will go for him. He did wake up this morning saying "let's go get Lauren," which was really sweet. We keep trying to emphasize that she'll be staying at our hotel with us and then coming home on the plane with us, to try and help him understand. And of course please send out good thoughts that Lauren can have an easy transition into our care.

Ryan and Aidan in the lemur area at the zoo:



Aidan and me watching the Chinese otter (his favorite):



Aidan's other favorite: the water pump. You can tell how into it he is by how his hair is flying!:



Our hotel from Taipei 101 (it's the L-shaped building to the left of the building with the pool on the roof):



Aidan checks out the view from the world's tallest building:

First day in Taipei

Saturday we did some sightseeing with Mei-Ru (the guide from our adoption agency). She drove us to the Martyrs' Shrine, lunch and then to the Shihlin residence and gardens. It was very hot on Saturday and Aidan had a bit of a tough time with the sightseeing. He was much happier when we got back to our hotel and went swimming. He napped from 8:30 to 10:30 in the morning, and we all managed to stay awake until 7:00 p.m. He and Ryan slept until 5:30 Sunday morning and I slept until 3:00--a big improvement! We are thinking Lauren will probably want to stay up later than we do. Here are the pictures from Saturday!

Family at the Martyrs' Shrine:


Aidan saying "I want to go out of this place!":

Detail of Martyrs' Shrine:

Aidan and Grandma Bev at the Shihlin gardens:

Pigs made of flowers! There are a lot of pigs around since the Chinese New Year celebration (the year of the pig) just ended. Aidan loved watching a woman watering the pigs.

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.