Baskets of Babies

The girls LOVE sitting inside their toy baskets.

Reading the Papers

Happy Birthday, Aunt Debbie!

My plan was to get a simple photo of the girls holding Debbie's 'birthday card', but they had other plans. Daddy stepped in to help (but note that the signs were backwards). I think at this age video is the way to go! In any case, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBBIE! We love you.

Happy Birthday, Auntie Deb!

Happy, happy birthday, Debbie. Have a wonderful day and enjoy the next 40 as much as the first. We love you!

MVI 5306

Just a fun Saturday

In search of a cool place to have lunch and walk around, we took the girls to the mall in Bethesda. Success! The girls ate lunch (as you can see from the video and photos below) walked around the mall and even ran around Build a Bear. It was a complete pleasure. Even John had fun - and he used to be terrified of malls!

Legoland

Molly says 'Hi'

Approaching Normal

I could name EVERY post 'Long Overdue Update', huh? Free time is the hardest thing to find here at the Toddler Ranch, but otherwise things are great. The girls have both adjusted to one another, Molly is making huge progress on a daily basis, we got up to CT to see our family for a whirlwind last-minute trip, and John didn't travel this week! Life is good.

Fantastic Weekend

Here are a few photos from a fun, fun afternoon with our wonderful neighbors, the Frank family. The kids were so happy - and slept soooooooo well that night (so all of the parents were too!).

A long overdue update

Wow - our last post was FROM China?!?!?!? On one hand, I cannot believe we have been so remiss! On the other hand... To say that the past 2 months have been 'busy' would be a drastic understatement. Words like 'overwhelming', 'life-changing' and even 'scary' would probably be more accurate. Where to begin?

On the night of 5 March, we landed back in the US with our Molly. We were tired, anxious - and ecstatic to be home. The first month was, frankly, brutal! Molly was confused to say the least, and Anna was also very upset with us for leaving and not too sure what we had done to her formerly ordered life. Understandably it also took Molly a long time to conquer jetlag, so sleep was a long forgotten luxury for the first couple of months. Happily, we've figured out some strategies to get a little more sleep and the girls are getting along wonderfully - there is NO other sound like the two of them giggling together.

Since our arrival back home we've been sick almost straight through. The kids had a really rough time - on top of a terrible flu (we really think we have had the infamous Swine Flu) Anna had her first run of ear infections and Molly had walking pneumonia. She just 'graduated' from the nebulizer and is finally healthy. Best of all, she seems HAPPY and you can imagine how good that makes us feel.

We still have a lot of settling in to do, but this is the GOOD part - we are all feeling HOME at last!

We will make a serious effort to keep the blog and photos more up to date now that we are getting a handle on things - but even as I type that the girls are giving me a hard time for trying to take 10 minutes on the computer! It has taken me over a week to write these few lines - so bear with us! We'll catch up. In the meantime, here are a few recent photos. Thanks everyone for your support and love - we can't tell you how much it has meant to us.

One of Molly's Chenzhou cousins

Becky - is this Cai Yun? Lindee? I hope so!

Leaving for Guanzhou - another step closer to home!

It is 4:30 am here, and in about 12 hours we will be in Guangzhou where we visit the American Consulate and finalize our paperwork so that we can GO HOME! Yesterday we received Molly's Chinese passport so that she can travel - what a keepsake that will be for her in years to come. Along with a number of families here, we also commissioned a local artist to create a calligraphy painting of her name, birthday and adoption day. I'm especially attached to her Chinese name now that we have had it translated locally (since every dialect can be so different) and am so glad that we kept it as her middle. The loose translation of Xidi means 'sunny little girl' - how sweet and appropriate! We are seeing more and more of that sunny personality - every day brings monumental improvement. When we first met our Molly, diaper changes were cause for total meltdown and we didn't even consider a bath for 2 days. Fast forward to her rolling around the bed and giggling during her diaper change and pj time on Thursday night and actually enjoying her tub Friday morning! Progress, progress. More photos on the next post, promise.

As John mentioned in his last post, the families we have met here have been amazing. All of the kids are thriving, all of the parents are ecstatic (and tired and homesick!) and the feeling we get from being part of this community is unlike anything I have experienced before. To top that off, they are fun to be around! When you go through such intense times with people, you bond so quickly - we will truly miss a lot of our new friends and look forward to keeping in touch for years and years to come.

Sometimes you get reminded just how great people can be ...

OK, so we have our first set of pictures up and Katharine has already updated everyone about how Molly is doing.  Her progress really can't be overstated.  Physically she's gained so much strength just because we have her running all over the place.  Monday night she couldn't sit up on her own - now she can pull herself up with the help of a chair or the bed.  And disposition wise she is hysterical!  If I pick her up to my eye level, she laughs.  If I'm holding her and I 'dip' her she laughs.  She still starts out fussy when we change her diaper but after a few minutes - you guessed it - she laughs!  The kid that just two days ago would lose it if she were laid down before she was completely asleep was rolling around tonight on the bed challenging me to tickle her!  She's even started showing us her mischevious side - she loves to hand us things - as all toddlers do - and now she's playing games with me where she'll pull her hand back at the last minute and giggle.  Today was an absolute joy.  Katharine and I took two hours each to be completely alone with her to start to bond - she and I played for almost two hours and then she fell asleep on me.

Back to the subject of my post.  As we've mentioned earlier it was a really tough week.  The airline lost our luggage with all of Molly's clothes, toys, etc. in it.  However there are something like a dozen other families here from other agencies who miraculously did not lose their luggage.  Once word got around people we ad never met before were coming up to us and offering to share anything that they had.  Medicine, clothes, toys - everyone offered something.  It's been this little micro-bazaar here this week with one couple offering extra benydryl while we were able to give another couple some of the onesies and clothes we have (Molly is so much taller than we expected!).  Whatever one couple forgot someone else offered to help out with.  It's the kind of thing that really makes us feel good to see how much all these folks rallied for us and for each other.  I hope we have time to thank each one before we go.

More to come - we're having fun now and are only one week from home!

John

What a difference a day makes...

It is Thursday evening here in Changsha. Molly is currently doing everything a toddler SHOULD do - tearing the room apart, unpacking suitcases, eating cheerios, etc. Best of all, she is also smiling, giggling, hugging and is even starting to give kisses. The difference in just a few short days has been astonishing. Today she sat in a highchair to eat her noodles, rice, cheerios, toast and eggs - plus the pound cake that she can't get enough of (yeah, we'll impose better eating habits when we get home!).   She is drinking from a variety of sippy cups and seems to be entirely done with the bottle - we are donating the formula that we bought with us to a local orphanage. She is so tall! Very few of the clothes we bought are long enough. John and I are very happy - and utterly exhausted! Molly has been a generally great sleeper, so we are hoping for a repeat of that tonight so that we can all wake up feeling more energetic in the morning. We are counting the days until we get home so that we can really settle in, but until then we are trying to document the area in photos for Molly so that she will have an idea of her birth country. Tomorrow (Friday) is our last day in Changsha. We leave for Guangzhou on Saturday where we finalize the adoption and from there we fly home on Thursday. We'll keep posting as much as we can.  In the meantime, here are a few more photos for your viewing pleasure. We are excited to share Molly's beautiful smile with you all - we are thrilled every time we see it!

Here she is!

What a day! I don't think an hour (minute?) passed today without one of us using words like 'finally', 'can't believe it' and 'surreal'. But this surreal day finally came - and we still can't believe it! We'll post more details and fill in the blanks about our trip so far (lost luggage, retail challenges, new friends) but for tonight we just want to let you wonderful people all know that at about 4pm today, Monday 23 February 2009, Margaret Xidi Curtin - Molly - finally came into our lives. She did a of crying at first. It was actually fairly traumatic for all of us, even though her reaction was expected. Imagine how confusing and scary it was for her to be handed away from her beloved nanny and into the arms of these funny looking strangers, especially at her more 'advanced' age (thanks Hague, etc). She expressed this opinion long and loud for about an hour, but after some hugs, songs and some time she started to cuddle with both of us. In fact - John earned a few giggles by the time we got back to the room. She was exhausted - fell asleep on Katharine and is now snoring away in the crib. We hope she will sleep for at least a few hours - partly so that we can (John is also snoring away - we are so behind on sleep!) and partly because she seems to have a chest cold that we look forward to curing. Our wonderful adoption agency has already contacted us and will arrange for a doctor's visit tomorrow. We tried to feed her congee, milk, bottles - but because none were as appealing as sleep, we expect to get a request for food before morning. On the way home from the long and dramatic 'gotcha' meeting, we had to stop at a local store for baby supplies since our luggage was still missing. But within less than an hour of being back in our hotel room we received a call to say that our luggage has been found and will be delivered to the hotel this evening! I've never been so relieved... SO - that is the update for now. There will be MUCH more to come as we get to know this little girl and as she gets used to us. We hope to see many more smiles in the days, weeks, months and years ahead - and we look forward to sharing them with you.

Finally!

We leave for China THIS Friday - the day after tomorrow! We expect to meet our Molly on Monday 23 February and we will be home in Maryland by 6 March. Katharine's mom is taking care of Anna while we are gone. Molly's room is ready and waiting for her - and we are packing like crazy people. After THREE years of waiting, you'd think we'd have been ready to go, but it just doesn't seem to work that way...

I can’t believe it is finally happening. While we are in China we will post updates on Facebook and will try to update our blog. Can’t wait to share the experience with you all. We REALLY can’t wait to get this baby home!

Thank you so much for your love and support. We are so lucky to have you all in our lives.

Good news?!?!?!?!?!?

Have you ever waited SO long for specific good news that when you finally got it, you couldn't believe it and were afraid to let your guard down? That would be me today! Here is the fantastic news – we got our I800A approval and have submitted the last of the paperwork in this phase (paperwork just seems to generate more paperwork!). We hope to have a new consulate appointment by the end of next week – and we should leave for China within about 3 weeks once that is in place. Of course, since nothing has been easy in this process (!) we have to factor in Chinese New Year on 26 January. The country essentially closes down that week, so we’d either be going before or, more likely, immediately after.

I thought I’d feel relieved and elated. Instead, after SO many years of waiting and worry, I am afraid to relax and enjoy! It seems inevitable that there will be another delay somewhere along the road after everything we’ve been through – hopefully not. So I am just throwing myself into the planning (setting up her room, packing…) and trying to let it sink in gently.

So much more to come – but I wanted to make sure that you all heard the news right away! Thank you ALL so much for your support. We are the luckiest people in the world to have you in our lives.

Feeling that Christmas spirit!

At last something good to say!

Good news!

After all these months of calling, writing, waiting we finally got a call from the agent who is handling our I800A petition. And get this – she was a kind, efficient, compassionate, proactive person! It seems that for some reason I will never understand (and will work to change) the USCIS holds I800A applications for approximately 90 days before anyone reviews them. No exceptions. Within hours of receiving our file, our agent had emailed me with an initial update, contacted our adoption agency to discuss the minor modifications they need to make and called me personally to tell me that it is her goal to get us our I800A approval by my birthday – 22 December! I am hesitant to get too excited because we have faced so many delays and disappointments along the way, but I feel better knowing that something is finally happening.
I am hesitant to get too excited because we have faced so many delays and disappointments along the way, but I feel better knowing that something is finally happening.

Thank you all so much for your continued support. I’m convinced that the many letters you have all written have helped in ways that we will never know – can’t ever thank you enough. We will keep updating you!! Keep your fingers crossed – we are hoping to have her home in January/February…

Update of sorts

You know how your mother taught you that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all? Well, apart from our appreciation of all of the work SO many of our wonderful loved ones have done for us, we haven't had much to report about our wait for Molly that was uplifting. I'll also admit that I get a little anxious right now about publically expressing my dissatisfaction with the USCIS since they hold our future in their hands in so many ways right now. I assume/hope that is unwarranted, but...

SO – here is some GOOD news! Sort of. Our Congressman in Maryland is Chris Van Hollen. Lillian Cruz in his office has been remarkable. Not only has she tried to help us track down information, she has even called to follow up. We’ve been pleasantly surprised and very grateful. We do have a bit of an update. Apparently, like everyone we’ve heard from so far, we are going to be asked for additional information. Ridiculous considering how much we have already provided AND infuriating that we had to wait 3 months to be asked, but I am trying to remain positive and see this as a step in the right direction. So we are waiting for them to send the next round of forms and as you know we will break records to get them completely asap. And as you also know, we will keep you posted on any additional developments.

Thank you so much for thinking of our Molly and sending your love and support to all of us. It helps keep her close to us in a strange way. We have you all to thank for helping us feel the presence of our child even now when we miss her so much.

Thank you all!

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much to those of you have responded and supported our cause - and our daughter, Molly! We can't tell you all how much it means to us to have your help in this critical matter. There is no question in my mind that your letters will have a HUGE impact on this case and the situation of so many other families.

According to the USCIS, as of September 15, 2008, of the 794 I-800 A applications received since April, only 107 cases have been approved and 687 are pending. I don't know about you, but if I was returning odds like that in my job, I would have lost it long ago!

We still cannot get anyone at the USCIS to give us information. We did get a 'new' phone number today and are optimistic, but the office hours are only 10-noon daily and although I called nonstop during that 2-hour window today, I only got through to a voice mail message. We will stay on it. Fingers remained crossed.

I also want to share with you our appreciation to Governor O'Malley's office. I was contacted by a representative yesterday.

Thank you, thank you. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and such a loving family.

Anna's Winter Hat

Pumpkin Sunday

Anna wasn't at all sure what to think about pumpkins when she was initially introduced, but she warmed up to the idea! Later she got to watch a few minutes of football with daddy.

The Joannas

Anna adores her Grammy. Katharine is pretty crazy about Anna's Grammy, too!

Anna's Grandad

Katharine's mom and dad both visited last week. It is always a lot of fun to watch Anna's interaction. Here she is examing Grandad's 'tie'.

Anna's Chair

One of Anna's birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy came a week later in the mail - a little chair of her very own. Here are photos from the first time they 'met'.

Zoe's Birthday

We were excited about our relocation to Maryland for a lot of reasons - we love our new house, John's short commute and the fact that we are still relatively close to our CT-NYC home-base. Being close to Deborah, James and Zoe is another huge bonus. Here are Anna and Zoe at Zoe's first birthday party. It is so much fun to watch the girls grow up together.

Anna Turns One - October 6

Happy Birthday sweet girl! Anna had MORE presents to open today - she was truly exhausted when she was done. She only examined her birthday cake (still our fussy eater!), but she really enjoyed showing off her new drinking-out-of-the-cup trick.

Anna's First Birthday Party

Anna's first birthday party was so much fun. Her other 1 year old buddies, Zoe and Alison, came to play. Anna can be very shy, but right out of the gate she was thrilled to see the girls and was very outgoing! It was a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday, Molly!

Anna

So when your college roomie the professional photographer comes to visit, WITH her camera, and decides to take a few shots of your adored baby, do you say, "No, no - you do that all day. Take a break!" Nope - you make her lunch while she shoots away and you get to enjoy the photos forever! Here are just a few. Thanks for these LN - love them!

Frustration...

FROM KATHARINE

We haven't posted updates about Molly lately because we have been stuck in a paperwork nightmare. It is too long a story to go into, but between the new Hague requirements, expiration of the initial papers we filed (after all, we have been waiting 3 years!) and the move, we had to redo EVERYTHING and are probably going to miss our September trip. We are hoping for a miracle and we will jump and run the minute we are allowed to. I'm very anxious about her being there in the cold weather - at the very least I will be sending tons of blankets and warm clothes for Molly and her friends! They were without electricity for 8 days last winter and a lot of the babies were hospitalized, so I can't help being a little anxious. BUT, I am trying to concentrate on the fact that she WILL be home soon and believe that she will be ok.

Thanks so much everyone who has been asking for updates - and for the support of those of you who have been watching this struggle!

Much more to follow...

Photos of Anna pulling herself up BY herself on the exersaucer for the first time. Her faces are so funny - from total concentration to total annoyance!

Anna's latest trick - pulling up and standing practice

This is a new development since we moved in. Anna is pulling up on anything that will hold her - and things that won't.











She's not always entirely sure if she likes it - and her expressions aren't hard to read!












The floor looks far away.













Down she goes...











But not for long!

On the homefront

Since we are so behind, here are just a few random photos from our first couple of weeks in the new house.

Moving Day. On June 24, we drove from CT to MD. We'll make this trip back and forth a LOT.

Boxes, boxes and more boxes - and this was just the beginning! We are still digging out...

On the 4th of July we found out that we have a perfect view of the fireworks from our deck! A very nice welcome...

Anna, thinking, in the blue playroom.

Anna in her bath. I can't believe the difference in bath time from the 'early days' - she loves it now!

Daddy and Anna out on the deck after going to church on his 42nd birthday. We had a wonderful family weekend and our first dinner party in the new house!

Anna in her new upstairs playroom - we figured this room would probably get a lot more use as a playroom than a formal living room right now! John gets the credit for that one - great idea.

Anna in the stroller Grammy (Katharine's mom) got for her. It was supposed to stay in CT but somehow found its way to MD. Thanks, Mom!!

Anna in the family room chasing the rattling maracas from baby-expert Amy - a great favorite.

So very many more photos, updates and stories to come! We are all so happy in our new home and look forward to lots of visits. xo

A very long overdue catch up!

Well, I can tell you this. I swear that we have really great reasons for being such terrible blog updaters! After consulting on a project with them, John was offered a job with FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Agency), located in Rockville, MD. The job is perfect for him and the timing was great, so we spent the next 2 months racing around trying to find a new house, pack up the old one - while still trying to keep Anna on somewhat of a schedule. On 20 June we closed on a great house in Boyds, MD, and we moved the following week. Although we still have a lot of boxes to dig through, we are generally settled. John now has a 15 minute commute - a far cry from his former 4 hours a day on the train and subway. Not only does he get home in time for dinner most nights, he also gets time to play with Anna and help with bed and bath time - so much better than only seeing her on the weekends! We are very happy.

Anna is thriving. She has a great new room - and she settled in very quickly, sleeping through the night as soon as her crib was set up. She is enjoying her playroom, especially now that she is so mobile! She is pulling up on everything - a new trick that keeps her very busy. She makes the funniest faces - she seems to have a lot on her mind! We can't wait to watch both of our girls get to know each other.

We have lots of room for guests - come see us!

It's a girl!!

At long, long last – after 4 years of paperwork, and 3 years of the ‘official’ wait – we are so proud and happy to share this news. We have finally received our referral for our daughter who we plan to name Margaret Xi Di (or Xidi - still learning about that) Curtin, and call Molly. Anna has a sister!! Molly is currently residing at the Chenzhou orphanage in China. She was born in the Hunan province on 24 September 2007, so she is about 2 weeks older than Anna. Perfect! Our virtual twins – and the lights of our lives.

We are so happy.

There is MUCH more news to come. We will get a translation of her referral papers soon, so we will share information as we learn more.

We hope to travel in late August/early September – China will dictate the date. We are also feverishly running around completing the Maryland paperwork as a result of our move – but it is so worth it!

Thank you all so much for your love and support in this LONG process. We can’t wait for you all to meet her!

PS - Yes, I owe a lot more in terms of Curtin family info updates, but this news was too special to add to an email about anything else. More to come!

Uncle Chris

FROM KATHARINE
Anna got to meet her wonderful Uncle Chris a few weeks ago (yes, I am still THAT behind on the blog...). She had a great time and Uncle Chris was a complete baby pro - probably because he has done such a great job raising his own three kids, Anna's cousins! She also got to see her godmother Auntie Debbie again (the TRUE baby pro!) - it was a great day!

Toys

FROM KATHARINE

Here are some photos of Anna with some of her favorite toys. We're not sure who has more fun - her playing with them, or us watching! Actually, I think we win on that one...


My feet are my very favorite new toy.


I want both of these thing in my mouth at the same time... (We had to retire her little gym - she is outgrowing everything!)


I love my doggy...


...and Princess Froggy...

...and my dinosaur.


I love to read my 'Hey Diddle Diddle' book. I also love to chew on it...


...and shake it around!

I'm having fun being a baby.

Catching up

FROM KATHARINE

It has been brought to my attention - and rightfully so - that we are woefully behind on our blog updates. I have no excuse. I'd say that between new momhood and my job, time is just too tight, but that rings very hollow when I see the continually updated blogs of my 'new mom' buddies and follow the daily activities of my best friend, Amy, who does more in a day than most of us accomplish in a week - with TWO kids under TWO! So I'll cut right to the chase - things are great! We get lots of giggles these days - what a fantastic reward for everything else that goes into the daily (but welcomed) grind of parenting. She is happy, healthy and growing by leaps and bounds. Her SIX MONTH (!) check up is only a few weeks ago and we'll post her stats. More to come - and in a more timely fashion. I promise.

Go Giants! Beat Green Bay! Cause Anna Says So

Ok folks, now that I've had a week to recover from the amazing defeat the Giants handed the New England Patriots I thought I would share with you pictures of the New York Giant's newest fan! Some of you may not know this but when growing up my Uncles and my father would always yell 'Go Giants! Beat Green Bay!' This was always a little confusing since the Giants usually weren't playing Green Bay at the time, they didn't seem nearly as hateable as the team whose name can only be uttered if preceded by an expletive - hint, they have a star on their helmet. It wasn't until this playoff season that I finally learned about the '62 and '63 championship games that Green Bay and the Giants played way back then. You learn something new every day ...

Ein schönes Geschenk von Kiel!!!! (A Beautiful Gift From Kiel!)

This weekend Anna received a beautiful gift from her Aunt Birgit in Kiel - a beautiful hand made quilt for her to play on! It's her favorite new spot for 'tummy time' and has a prominent position in our living room for Anna to play on. The detail is amazing and it looks so nice next to Anna's favorite doggy outfit. Vielen Dank Tante Birgit!!!

Bathtime - redemption!

It took some doing and lots of practice, but although she is still a little suspicious of the whole thing, Anna is starting to like her little tub! In fact, she found out last night that if she kicks her feet she can soak Mom and Dad... Uh oh... Her Grammy took these cute photos.

Tummy time!

Kissing frogs

Anna loves her activity map. Her favorite toy at the moment is the frog. Doesn't it look like she is kissing his foot? She's actually chewing on it - it is still early for teeth, but they are just around the corner!

The Kicker

Anna loves to kick her animals - it was time to move the mattress down so she didn't pull the whole mobile into the crib!

She still loves to play with her animals in her crib with the lower mattress - she just can't reach them anymore - yet!

Winston!

FROM KATHARINE

Here is Anna with her BIGGEST new friend, Winston. Winston was a Christmas present from Uncle Chris, Aunt Debbie and her cousins Meghan, Courtney and Christopher. This is part of a longstanding Curtin family tradition that started when Meghan's uncles (John and Pat) began showering their new niece with HUGE animals - despite the protests of her parents. After all, how many huge stuffed friends can one family fit in their home? Essentially - this is payback! We look forward to watching Anna continue to interact with Winston as she becomes more and more aware of her environment! And we love our Atlanta family. xoxo

Our fun loving happy little girl!

FROM KATHARINE

Here is Anna practising her grasp. Doesn't she look proud of herself??? We certainly are...

Cousins!

FROM KATHARINE

On New Years Eve, Anna got to meet her cousins - Meghan, Courtney and Christopher - and her Godmother, Debbie. It was a great visit!

Since she is an only child her house is relatively quiet. Anna was completely overwhelmed by the noise and commotion - especially by Christopher's healthy active toddler interests, such as pot banging and door slamming! I'm sure he will be teaching her a lot of tricks in the future...

Christopher also loved his shades - how cute is he in his glasses?

It was wonderful so see all 4 of the Curtin grandkids together. Notice that we TRIED hard to get a good photo, but Christopher doesn't like to sit still! It was so funny to watch.

I know that Anna is making a terrible face in her photo with Debbie, but she loved her Auntie Deb and even took a nap in her arms - that is a rarity! Debbie is clearly a pro - and how anyone can look so young and pretty with kids ranging from toddler to teen? If it is in the Atlanta water I am going to ask her to bottle and ship it!