Gracie's Baptism

Gracie's Baptism
Originally uploaded by mc10672

We are back from Oklahoma and had a great time visiting with David's family. This picture sort of reflects how things went, although upon reviewing the video, Gracie didn't cry the entire time, just most of the time and wiggled throughout the rest. There are more photos (just click on the photos link or on the photo above). Other than spending lots of time with Grammy, and telling her to answer her phone when it rang, and re-programming ring tones on Aunt Liz's cell phone, Gracie had a great time playing with her cousins Vinnie, Cosmo, Damian and Carmine, and meeting her older cousins Anna, Gabrielle, Asa, Chad, Justin, and Alison. Another highlight was visiting the fire station, where she got to see the big trucks and got a red fire hat. On our final night in Krebs, Fenyi buddy, Natalie came to visit, along with her parents, Jubal and Stephanie (who drove 2 hours each way!) to enjoy some pasta at Roseanna's and of course, pose for pictures with Gracie. We got Gracie dressed in her new OU threads just for the occasion. Flight home was great, with Gracie nodding off for a nap before takeoff and waking up as we were landing (It was a "Navy" landing so parents clutching on to her probably woke her up.) We are home now, with a huge extra suitcase loaded with clothes and other gifts from her fabulous family in Oklahoma. We all hope they can come out to see us soon in Las Vegas!

Whoops, forgot the camera cables

dog
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Gracie had her baptism at St. Josephs and, well, she screamed and kicked through the entire thing, but they say that's they way you can tell it sticks, so it stuck good. Aunt Liz helped out by providing a cell phone for Gracie to play with, but it was the cool beads that finally did the trick, and it was soon over. All Gracie wanted to do is climb on the altar and play with the bas-relief of the last supper, which her cousins Carmine, Vinnie and Cosmo and Damian helped her do afterward. Then everyone, including Father Leo, trooped over to the house for pasta from Roseanna's. We found we forgot the cables to the camera, so it will be a day or two before photos are posted. Today we are relaxing with long naps, as Gracie had a restless night from all the excitement. In the meantime, enjoy this photo from home with Gracie and Sunny.

Ciao Krebs, OK?

OK, we are in Oklahoma,its supposed to warm up to 32 degrees or something, and its clear but cold. This afternoon is Gracie's Baptism. She has met Gramy, Aunt Louise, Uncle Michael, Aunt Liz, Uncle Peter, Uncle Paul, Uncle Vincent, Aunt Clare, UNcles Matthew and Jason, UNcle Glen, Cousins Cosmo and Damian, Cousin Asa, Cousin Chad. Tonight, we meet Aunt Felicia and Aunt Emily, and even more cousins. Gracie enjoyed the gnocchi at Roseanna's and has been busy playing and meeting everyone. Right now she is taking the last 1/2 hour of her nap, then we put her in her fabulous baptism outfit, wrestle with the hair, then off the the church we go. Pictures soon! http://www.roseannas.com/

Preparing for Oklahoma

pasta
Originally uploaded by mc10672

We are off to Oklahoma next week, and Gracie is busy preparing for the pounds of pasta and love that awaits her there. She just loves spaghetti--bow ties, noodles, spaghetti Ohs--are OK, (no pun intended) nothing compared to the real stringy stuff, as demostrated here.

Peek-A-Boo!

Peek-A-Boo!
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Grace went to the doctors today and she is weighing in a 16.10 lbs, and 28 1/2 inches tall at 15 months. Looks like she gained 3/4 of an inch since we came home and she is doing "great!". The cute thing she did today: Sunny was asleep (or pretending to be) on her back. Gracie then placed her stacking cubes on her belly. Sunny just lay there. These two are conspirators. Gracie knows how to ask for graham crackers and Cheerios, then she gives them to Sunny. Sunny, in turn, shares her milk bones with Gracie, who crawls under the table to grab the pieces Sunny leaves for her. They must taste just fine, because Gracie just laughed as I tired to pry them from her mouth. This photo. Gracie loves playing Peek a Book around the back door. The new songs she loves now are "Row Row Your Boat" and My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean and actually tries to sing the "Bring back" part..by singing "Bay-Bee-Bay-Bee." Humm. We better start saving for those music lessons

December 23, 2007

December 23, 2007
Originally uploaded by mc10672

We were trying out the new camera and caught this photo of our girl who was helping us clean up the backyard in preparation for our Christmas Eve party. Its been almost two months since we got our Grace and she is growing so fast!

Orphanage Days

We have pictures from the orphanage in Fenyi. That's our Grace, in the lower corner, clutching her teddy bear and in her walker. She has her little Pebbles top-knot hair do. We have photos from the orphanage as well, but these amazingly clear ones came from our friends Danielle and Michael, so we are sharing them with you. Next to Grace is her buddy Charlie, who Grace grabbed on the last day in an embrace, or just trying to get to Charlie's mom, who is also named Grace. Then there is Danielle and Michaels beautiful little Surae next to her. I don't recognize the fourth girl, toward the back. From the orphanage photos, we can tell the Grace spent alot of her time in her walker, and all the kids wore split pants, which is what we suspected when he got her. Grace's favorite stuffed animal (this week at least) is a winnie the pooh bear, which looks very similar to the one she is holding.

Grace is walking up a storm and runs as well. The weather has been really cold lately, and Grace just loves it, and wants to go out, she seems to like it especially when the wind is blowing in her face. She is growing a 5th tooth on top, and I think a few more are waiting to pop out. She is doing very well, continues to sleep through the night, and right after Christmas, we get her "legalized" in the state of Nevada, no 6 home visits needed.

We are winding down the blog, but we will continue to post some pictures on flickr. Our faithful Olympus camera, has disappeared, I think somewhere in this very room. I think it heard us talking about us purchasing a new one and disappeared. We do want to harvest its memory cards, and thank it for a job well done, as we purchased it for preparing our dossier 2.5 years ago and it took great photos. But the black spot that appeared in Nanchang never went away, and it was time for another one. Since we are thanking inanimate objects, I'd like to thank Bunny, the stuffed pink bunny by Carters that I bought at Target-- that was made in China, sent to China in Grace's care package, so Grace was holding Bunny when we got her--and then returned back to the US. During our travels in China, there was nothing that Bunny couldn't solve, and Bunny always accompanied Grace to sleep. She slept with Bunny on the way home, so cute in her Korean Air bassinet--people would stop by to coo over her. But Bunny now resides in the corner of Grace's crib, and she now favors Alphabet the Horse, and Winne the Pooh, followed by Woodstock and Peter Rabbit, and a few others. So Bunny will probably end up in the memory box, but it was Bunny who always seems to comfort Grace just at the right time.

Christmas is around the corner! We are expecting 42 for Christmas eve - sort of a repeat of Thanksgiving, except is potluck, featuring Mom & Dad's lasanga and we do a wild and loud gift exchange, with excuiatingly detailed rules dictated by my brother Frank, who in the photo at the very beginning of the blog, (see August) chowing down spaghetti. Photos to follow!

Settling In

It's been over two weeks since we arrived back home in Las Vegas and Gracie is settling in to a routine. One of the activities she enjoys the most is her daily walks in the stroller. We always go out around 10:30 in the morning after it has warmed up some and take at least a 25 minute walk and of course Sunny, our dog goes along as well. Gracie of course has to bring a toy with her and it ranges anywhere from a Lisa Simpson action figure to a a plush Woodstock. We hope during these long walks that Gracie falls asleep for her morning nap but the last couple of days she has enjoyed the scenery too much to do that. During one part of the walk through the green belt there are dogs in the backyard of some of the houses that usually bark but on the days they don't Gracie starts making barking sounds and Marie and I get a big kick out of it. Gracie has also had many visitors and we can't thank those enough who have come by with dinner for us or toys for Gracie, the company is great to have also. Gracie is sleeping well at night but her naps are few and far between lately, but Marie works her magic and seems to get Gracie to sleep anyway. Gracie also loves going out into the backyard and look at the roses or somedays just sit with Dad as he types away on his computer or surfs the net. It's hard to not go onto the Babies R Us website and order everything they have for her but pretty soon I will be putting in a big order for Christmas(can't wait, I feel like I'm five years old again). Gracie also loves playing with all her plush stuffed animals and she always gives them a big kiss saying "MMMMAAAAHHHH!"(too cute). I've got to get to work on planning that trip to Oklahoma, real soon I promise(all you Oklahoma relatives) and I can't wait. Well gotta go. I have to get back to the Babies R Us website. Ciao!

First Thanksgiving

First Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Thanksgiving -40 plus relatives and friends and G'ma and Grandpas house. It was an all carb meal for Gracie - stuffing, yams and potatoes. We were having so much fun we forgot to try pumpkin pie. Some of you may wonder how 40 people can cram into Mom & Dads house -- we use the patio too and even have a TV set up for the football fans.

We started to count the relatives - not counting spouses--and as a baseline number-- Gracie has 8 Uncles and Six Aunts, 21 first cousins, three Grandparents, at least 8 or 9 2nd and 3rd cousins-- (currently living in Las Vegas) --and this gets tricky because I keep forgetting whether a cousin is once removed or 2nd cousin--and several great aunts and uncles, and well, we stopped counting. I think it will be fun to do a formal count a bit later and we'll let you know the total. That's just the relatives!

My bangs are straight!

My bangs are straight!
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Rest easy- Grace went to salon to get "Chaddad" and Chadda is a miracle worker. A few snips at the wiggling child- and Tah-Dah! Straight bangs and trimmed tresses. Wonderful! Thank you Chadda!

Patio seating please!

happy gracie
Originally uploaded by mc10672

For all you fans of the site, I know it's been a while but we're back. Sorry for the time away but spending time with Gracie is just too much fun. We found out one thing...Gracie likes sitting outside as much as we do. Doesn't that lunch look yummy!! The weather here in Vegas has been great so we have spent a lot of time outside. From walks to lunch and supper it has been outside for us and Gracie absolutely loves it. Sunny loves it too because now Gracie knows that whatever she throws from her tray of her highchair, Sunny gets to eat it and Sunny looks to have gained a few pounds. She won't eat her dog food we give her (that's Sunny I'm speaking of) because she knows that once we feed Gracie she can have something better.
Today Gracie had Matzo Balls which, Tyotya Karen made for us and Gracie loved them(as did Mama and Daddy), they were delicious!
Gracie also seems to notice and hear all that goes on around her. One day she saw me talking on the phone and saying "hello" when I answered it. The next morning she picked up the TV remote, which looks somewhat like a phone and put it to her ear and said "hello" and began carrying on a conversation, she was so serious I had to laugh.
I am now an expert on putting car seats, sorry, Child Restraints in cars now. One, the Britax was very easy to install the other, Eddie Bauer, well let's just say I had a few choice words for it I can't mention on this blog. But they are both in and Gracie will be safe no matter which of our vehicles she rides.
We found out something else, don't always trust your human resources department at work to know how getting someone on your insurance works, but that's another story. Let's just say we have an appointement with a representative for our insurance tomorrow morning.
Gracie also knows how to say and wave "bye bye" and she likes to feed herself and sometimes hold her own bottle. Cheerios has been dethroned as her favorite snack, the new king is Graham Crackers. We now own stock in Nabisco as well as General Mills. Spaghettios is also on Gracie's list of favorites, which is a starter food for all children of Italian parents. She also loves when you hold her and do daily things around the house, whether it's making coffee in the morning or loading the dishwasher she watches intently and seems to ask questions of what you are doing.
Life with Gracie is great!! Can't wait to get her to Oklahoma though. I keep telling her about Oklahoma and she can actually sing most of the State song.
Well that's all for today, we gotta make a grocery store run. Ciao everybody!

Visit to the doctors

Visit to the doctors
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Today Grace went to the doctors --- and doc says she looks healthy and seems very "with it" for an newly adopted Chinese child. Didn't have any recommendations for feeding even though --- (rim shot here)-- she only weighs 14.6 lbs. That's right on 14.6 lbs. Now in G-town, during the medical examination, it was in Kilos, which I don't remember, and I glanced at the chart for conversions and said, gosh my child weighs only 14 lbs, and walked away, then I had someone re-check the chart, and they reported 17 lbs. Which sounded more logical because she supposedly weighed over 15 lbs at 9 months. So either they weighed her with their thumb on the scale or with all their clothes on (most likely). I did expect her to weigh more- she's a good eater, but Doc didn't seemed concerned. Gracie was pretty calm throughout the whole thing, then the nurse came in and she got 4 shots, and wailed (as I did during shots until I was 35) but she recovered fairly quickly with the help of a graham cracker, then headed downstairs for the blood draw, which seemed to hurt less but still freaked her out with four people holding her down. So the rest of the day was an "all Grace day." We stayed in and got her in her sleeper right away and played. We tried out the banana cookies. Naps were optional--but she took one anyway (late) and so did Dad, who still has his "Nanchang Cold." Then we tried out something new at dinner - Gerber pasta wheels with Chicken (big hit), and watermelon. Showed off her walking skills (3-4 steps at a time, with a "catcher" at each end) to some visitors. So she went to sleep at around 8:30 and although she is restless--crying and fussing in her sleep a bit - I was expecting a rough night due to reactions to the shots- she hasn't woken up yet.


We've been home almost a week, and I can't say we've been very productive. We eat alot. We are still unpacking. We try out new toys and new books. We go for walks or to the store. We try to take naps. We do laundry. We have not yet installed the second car seat, cleaned the backyard, make appointments to get Grace re-adopted for state of Nevada (which needs the extra income or something). We've been vegging out. Next week, we'll try to get back to reality.

Worlds Second Most Photographed Child

PB130044
Originally uploaded by mc10672

The honor of the most-photographed child goes to our nephew Vinnie, who I believe is still the all time record holder.

The folks at Great Wall recommend that we don't overwhelm our new citizen with family and friends and actually recommends trying to avoid large gatherings so it is up to Mom and Dad to hold, feed, and play with her. This is so she begins to realize that we are her parents, and not just attentive hotel staff. So we are trying to have brief visits by small groups of family and friends over the next few weeks so everyone can say hello. Don't worry, we will be at Thanksgiving! And, by the time she gets to Oklahoma to meet Davids family and her 10.5 Uncles and Aunts, numerous cousins and of course, Grandma Rose we think she'll realize she is stuck with us, her family.

Jet Lag Stories: First on the list, was to catch up on sleep, so the first night, Gracie fell asleep early, woke up at 11:00 and played til 4 am. Pretty much same the second night, and we've been keeping naps short so last night her final bedtime was at 1 am. Today we woke her at 8:30, and she had a short nap (in the carseat), lots of outdoor activity for sunlight. We put her to bed at 6:30 pm (Poor thing was so tired she was about to drop, and didn't even complain about the bath). She was up again an hour later, but we got her sleeping again by 8 pm. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

By request, we posted David's truck crash photo on flickr. We've posted more Grace photos there was well. Expect more.

Looking good in red

Looking good in red
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Hi, Mom and Dad are asleep now, so I wanted to show you my cool appropriately red sweater outfit from China along with my favorite squeaky shoes, which I really love, but I'm still learning to walk, so it will be a while before I can really show my stuff, like my friend Natalie. I kept Mom and Dad awake til 4 am this morning, so today they played with me, took me for a walk in my stroller, and we had all sorts of visitors, some had TOYS and books for me. So far, this hotel has just been great, and I even have my own high chair. No buffet, but room service is very prompt with a wide selection of menu items. So, its back to playing for me, sleeping for Mom and Dad.
--Ciao.
Gracie

You need a chew toy, not stuffed bear

You need a chew toy, not stuffed bear
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Yep, last night Gracie fell asleep but awoke at 8:45 pm and didn't go back to sleep until close to 4 am---then she slept until 2:45 pm. Sunny was delivered to us around 11am, while Gracie was asleep so we had time to get reunited before Gracie woke up. They are getting along fine and Sunny positioned herself on the floor belly up when Grace was being changed. Gracie took to a little Penn State bear but Sunny thinks she should upgrade to a chew toy. However, when I was changing Gracie Sunny walked in with the Penn State bear in mouth.So dog and child getting along great, except that Sunny is eyeing those squeaky shoes as one of those annoying squeaky chew toys she loves to get a hold of and remove those out annoying squeaky devices.

Anyway, we have been eating up a storm, well supplied and attended to by family and friends. We have homemade pumpkin pie, banana bread, quiche, loads of watermelon. So far Gracie's favorite has been chicken stew with rice.

Its almost 2 am now and we are all up and busy. Tomorrow when we are caught up on sleep we'll start trying to adjust to the time change.

A picture is worth a Thousand words

We are home
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Hong Kong Airport

Hong Kong Airport
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Bassinet Class - Korean Airlines

In flight =Bassinett Class
Originally uploaded by mc10672

We're Home and We're Happy

We arrived at 2:30 pm, November 9fth about 24 hours after leaving G-town at 8:30 am on November 9th, arriving Hong Kong; Hong Kong to Seoul; Seoul to Las Vegas. We had a warm reception at home, ate eggs at Grampa and Grandma's, before heading home....now Gracie and David are crashed out (It's 7:30 pm) and I am soon to follow. Gracie did well - was a bit grumpy in Korea, waitiing for the connection but on the long flight, (10 hours) charmed the wonderful stewardess at Korean Air. We had bulkhead seats, with an empty in between but took turns watching over Gracie in her bassinett, because it was so shallow Gracie just would roll out. Still the Korean Airline staff cooed and watched over us. They are getting a letter of appreciation from us. Now my sister Lisa is watching over us tonight. We are a bit punchy with the lack of sleep so no pictures till tomorrow. I hope my fellow Jiangxi travelers had pleasant trips and are all at home safe tonight.

Ciao China

Ciao China
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Our luggage has to be out in the hallway by 4:30 am, and we are headed to G-town airport with 80% of our group, headed to Hong Kong (70 miles away, we could've taken a train) but the cool thing is we can check our luggage all the way through to home at our first stop. We can take 2 (two) 50 lbs pieces of luggage back to us. (Gracie doesn't get an allowance) which is OK, because we are coming back with only 3.

Today we tried to spend the rest of our Yuan, even indulging in Starbucks (about the price of a entree at at good restuarant). We got so busy, we didn't have lunch (Gracie had left over rice noodles and rice and formula). Finally made it to the American Consulate (AC for short, ,I have to pack). It was 40 minutes away, and looked like it was a part of a office building/mall. The "interview" was handing in a piece of paper and getting our picture taken (took all of 10 seconds), then we had a cheerful naturalization officer had us swear that our paperwork was correct, and then we got Gracies Chinese passport to leave the country, and hopefully, her American passport is in the sealed envelope they gave us. They made us repeat that we go to immigration "non-US residents" counter upon arrival (in Las Vegas) and they'll open the packet then. (Hopefully, there isn't a spelling error or comma splice on page 47 otherwise I'd fear we have to start all over again. ) She'll be "citizen" upon arrival. But we did hear today she can have dual Chinese citizenship, but the Immigration officer highly recommended that she travels always on her US passport.

Fun facts about China in case I forget:

Pappa John's does deliver - we stayed in and had pizza tonight.

The soda cans still have flip-tops.

All of our electrical appliances work fine in China, you just need adapters to fit in the the variety of plugs.

There seems to be a fast food chain named after Bruce Lee, or have his likeness on it.

The locals here call you "Madame" in sort of a French-Colonial way.

We had one nurse practitoner and one nurse in our group.

Sometime last week, we all had the feeling that we had moved to China. We've been here that long.

Hopefully, the next entry will be from home, but you may hear from us while in Korea. Wi-fi in the airport.

Thanks.


Just a P.S. to Marie's entry...
While shopping at Susan's, a store we bought many souvenirs from and had our laundry done while here in Guangzhou, I overheard a conversation between Susan, the store owner and two very heavyset angry looking Australian women looking for Chinese clothing. The Australian women were talking about visiting China 5 times and Susan asked if they were adopting and one of the Australian women made the remark that "No I would never do that. I don't understand these people, coming over to adopt and taking these children from their homeland." Susan replied, "Have you never seen what happens to children in these orphanages and how they have to live?" So the Australian woman says,"Well they should just donate money then." I looked directly at the Australian woman and shook my head and told Marie what I had just overheard. So as Marie and I were finishing our shopping and the two Australian women were standing there I said very loudly, "Well my wife and I are going to take our beautiful adopted Chinese child home to the United States of America and raise her in our beautiful home. Donating money to orphanages isn't good enough for us we wanted a child from the orpahanage." Of course the angry Australian woman didn't like this and just looked at me and walked out. Hey angry Australian lady, good luck in finding clothing here, for that matter anywhere, in your size.