California Trip

Having a hard time keeping the blog updated these days! At the beginning of October, Lauren and I flew down to the Bay Area for my dear friend Shalene's wedding. It was hard to leave Aidan and Ryan at home, but they had a great time together and did cute things like bike rides, haircuts together, etc. I've known Shalene since elementary school and it was so wonderful to be able to see so many people I was best friends with growing up. There is absolutely nothing quite like spending time with old friends. We even got to stay with my best friends frcm college, Leslie and Sam (who started dating right when we got to college--13 years ago now, eeek--and have been married for 8 years) and meet their new baby and see their 4-year-old again. We had tons of fun getting a manicure and pedicure with the bridal party (Lauren sat on my lap), watching the rehearsal at the beautiful Berkeley Botanical Garden, driving around, getting stuck in traffic on the Bay Bridge, shopping at some awesome stores in Walnut Creek that we don't have here, and eating dinners and talking with Les and Sam.



Lauren and me with Les and sweet baby Maren



In Les and Sam's back yard before Lauren and I left for the wedding



Babies together! It was funny to have Lauren be the bigger kid...she is always the little one around here!



Getting our nails done at the salon, with Lauren on my lap. My beautiful friend Hilary, whom I lived with in Santa Cruz along with our friend Amy, is the one standing up. Hilary and Amy were the maids of honor in Shalene's wedding.



Cutie pie Lauren at the reception in Oakland

Brother & Sister

Just a quick post for now with pictures of some of the cuteness that's been going on around here in between the squabbles over toy cars. I'll post soon with pictures from Lauren's and my eventful girls' trip to California last weekend. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the fall.



Napping together (I can't believe how huge Aidan looks in this picture!)



Snacking together



Walking together



It only makes us a teensy bit nervous when Aidan helps her walk



Playing together!

One Year Ago Today!

A year ago today, we had just switched from our adoption agency's China program to their new Taiwan program. We had had our homestudy update visit six days earlier and really didn't know what to expect in terms of the wait for a referral. I had gone for a walk to the library (Ryan was at work and my mom and Aidan were at a friend's house) and when I was done, I checked my cell phone to see what time it was and saw that I had missed a call from our agency. When I called back and Allison asked me where I was and if I was "OK standing," I knew there must be news. There was a bunch of construction going on around me and also someone using a leaf blower, so I frantically rushed around trying to find a quiet spot to talk to her. I didn't even have paper or a pen with me, so I just tried to memorize everything she was saying...Chen Yueh-Ling, 2 1/2 months old, born 7/2/06, healthy, 5 1/2 pounds at birth, some details about her birthmother. Then she told me she was emailing the baby's pictures over right then.

I have never raced home so quickly! I called Ryan, my mom and my dear friend Jessica on the way home and finally made it to the front door. I raced into my office, opened the email, and there that little bunny was. I thought I would cry when I saw her pictures, but instead I had a combination of breathlessness and joyous laughter, plus a strong recognition of her as our daughter. Seeing those little pictures really was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Emotionally, that was the high point until we met her in March of this year, for sure. Once we officially accepted the referral, there was still busy-ness--paperwork to do and we still had to work on photo pages to send to Taiwan, as well as our agency's service plan. There was money to wire to Taiwan and a care package to assemble, and I went into early-nesting mode, which for me involved making and freezing lots of food. Another initial high came when we learned that our hearing (first step of the Taiwan court process) happened really quickly. Then came a long, quiet time of not hearing anything at all about the court process; four sets of monthly updates in which Lauren, although clearly growing and healthy, didn't smile in a single picture or video; and a lot of yucky feelings of intense worry about her well-being, anxiety, totally unconstructive jealousy of other adoptive parents with quicker judges than us, and just a general funk.

Like everyone says, most of that negative stuff just melted away when we met our baby girl on March 5th. We were so happy to see her smiling at her foster mother's house and then for us later that day. She is actually very happy and smiley...we'll never know why she was so somber in all of her updates. I don't believe in the concept that she was "waiting for us," but I hope and believe that being with us and having us do our best to consistently meet her needs has brought her a sense of security that was previously unknown to her.

It is wonderful to watch her grow and get more comfortable expressing her very definite opinions about her likes and dislikes. It is really neat to see how even though she is friendly with other people, she always looks for Ryan or me and checks in with us. We are still settling in, I feel, but with improvements every day. And it took me a while, but I have mostly worked through all of those bad feelings I had last winter and am starting to feel like myself again (albeit a tired version of myself).

Lauren is so beautiful and has so much personality that we often say going out with her is like having a supermodel with us. She gets SO much attention and I am constantly trying to make sure Aidan doesn't feel left out by it. The most common scenario is that someone is grinning at her and asks me how old she is, and I say "Lauren's 1 and Aidan is 4," or something along those lines. He definitely does notice all the interest in her.

Finally, here are some pictures of Lauren with her referral photo, which I've seen on a few blogs, most recently Jia's. Thanks to my fellow bloggers for the great idea! We plan to take a picture of Lauren with her referral photo on this day every year.






Thank you to our former neighbors Kathleen, Hazel and Grace for this beautiful dress and sweater! We miss you so much!

Be Still My Heart

Our Halloween skeleton PJs arrived last night. Aidan was so excited to have them and also to have matching ones with Lauren. They glow in the dark, too!

Family Time

Despite the cold and rainy weather, we had a fun week in Wisconsin visiting my grandparents (and my aunt, uncle and cousins from Illinois and great aunt and uncle from Door County, all of whom came while we were there). Both kids traveled well, and Lauren was a huge hit (of course). She really took a shine to my grandpa and he held her several times--quite a feat, since she usually doesn't hold still! Aidan did so great on the flights--he spent most of them watching "Cars" on Ryan's laptop. That left Ryan and me free to turn our attention to Miss Crazypants and try to keep her entertained with snacks, the armrest, snacks, toys, more snacks...you get the idea. Enjoy the pictures.


Lauren loving up Papa on our first night in Wisconsin.
Aidan at Bond Falls in Michigan. My Uncle Kevin, Aunt Karen, cousins Quinn and Logan took us up there on Sunday and it was the nicest weather of the trip! We also drove through Watersmeet, home of the Nimrods (the high school mascot).



Aidan and Logan with our family's catch at a trout farm. I was the only one who did not a catch a fish in a pond stocked with trout...what can I say.
Great Auntie Nancy and Uncle Fred (who came up from Door County) with the kids.





Aidan and Great Grandma Audrey fishing in the cold. This lake is right in their back yard. Aidan loved to play on their dock and boat.

Beautiful Girl

My favorite picture of Lauren at 13 months, eating blueberries in the sink.

Parade and Fun

We had a great visit with Jessica and her girls a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pictures from our town's children's parade and other festivites that took place that weekend. Enjoy!


Ladybug Hannah and Superman-on-bike Aidan ready for the parade to start.



Sleepy Superbaby with Mama.


Aidan checks out the activities in the Children's Village.


Miss one-tooth Lauren (I call her Uni-dent.)


Mom and cuties on the shuttle--a highlight for Aidan.

Tagged

Lucia, who is a great writer, cool person and a mom to two kids close in age to mine, tagged me--my first tagging experience! I am going to just follow the rules partially and respond but not tag others. Hopefully I won't be struck down by lightning or hit by a car because of it.

So, here are eight random facts about Amy:

1) I have been working for the same magazine for eight years. I started there as an intern (Ryan and I moved to Colorado for my internship in the summer of 1999), then got hired on as assistant editor, then associate editor, and finally editor. It is funny to me and most of my nearest and dearest that I have been doing basically the same job since I was 23.

2) Ryan and I have been together for more than nine years (married for six), and the only time we have taken a traditional vacation was when we'd been dating for two months. (We went to Mexico after he graduated from college.)

3) My parents were never married. They separated when I was 2 and remained good friends, even spending holidays together, until my dad's death last year. He even lived with my mom for the last 1 1/2 years of his life and passed away at her house.

4) Ryan and I unsuccesfully attempted in vitro fertilization at Stanford in 2002. When I first had to give myself shots with the fertility drugs, I literally couldn't do it. I sat there with a needle in my fist trying to work up the courage to jab it into my thigh, and my brain was saying "why would you jab a needle into your thigh?" and not letting my arm move. It was the strangest feeling!

5) I won a "Best in Class" award for poetry at the Santa Cruz County Fair when I was in sixth grade and a red ribbon (second place) for table setting.

6) I threw up on the plane to Taiwan when we were landing and had to use one of those barf bags for the first time ever. It was the smell of the "Chinese-style" breakfast--I still have the menu, it was "Stir-Fried Napa Cabbage with Dried Shrimp" and "Savory Porridge with Baby Seafood"--the man next to me was eating that finally did me in.

7) We kept our adoption paperwork in China (LID 8/1/06) while we made sure all went well with Lauren's adoption. I recently had to write a letter withdrawing the paperwork and it was way, way harder than I expected. I think two children is the right number for us, but still...

8) Growing up, we did not have a television until I was around 10 or so. Consequently, I don't get a lot of the TV references that people often make.

Thanks, Lucia! That was fun.

Some New Pictures

Just a quick update...the magazine I edit is going to press so I've been really busy, but I've been feeling guilty for not updating in so long! These pictures are all from around the beginning of the month. We went to Roseburg for a wedding this past weekend, and the kids were a hit. Aidan rocked the dance floor solo in his little Guatemalan shirt, and Lauren got tons of attention in her adorable cherry dress that was handed down from our neighbors. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures at the wedding. My wonderful friend Jessica arrives tomorrow (along with her two girls, ages 4 years and 18 months) for a weekend of fun and craziness. I'll try to post some pictures next week. Hope everyone is great! Congratulations to Karin and Rob, who just arrived home from Taiwan with their cutie pie baby Ryan.



Aidan wearing his pajamas from Taiwan at a party on the 4th of July.



Our family, even though I look totally goofy.



Running Aidan through a sprinkler on a walk through the university to downtown, when our friends David and Molly were visiting for the day from Austin.



Lauren loves facing out in the Bjorn!

She fell asleep in the back-carry position of the Ergo carrier for the first time--so funny with her head falling back so far! (Don't worry, we took her out right away.)

Birthday Girl

Our little Lauren turned 1 today...amazing! We had a fun birthday dinner with family friends on Friday, and then had a small party this evening with cupcakes, strawberries and peach-raspberry cobbler. She had a great day and we're so proud of her. She crawls fast, stands for a few moments without support, cruises all around, waves, claps, kisses, and says mama, dada, ge ge (older brother in Mandarin), kitty, thank you, uh oh, and hi. She has more energy than we can even explain. We are so lucky to get to be her parents and watch her grow up! Lots of love to Lauren's birthmom today, as this must have been such a difficult day for her.

Checking out the frosting...

Post-cupcake face. Standing in her highchair is one of Lauren's favorite things to do. We actually just switched her to Aidan's old booster so she can sit at the table with us and be strapped in.

Our adorable neighbor Grace with the birthday girl.

Lauren giving me one of her famous open-mouth smooches.

Another favorite pasttime--handing things to people. Here she is giving Ryan her binky. If you are holding her, she will often just pop her drooly binky right in your mouth.