Was it Only Last Week?

So much has happened in the 8 days since Alex joined our family. I can't believe it's only been a week. Life changes dramatically the moment a baby joins a family, and I'm not finding much time for the usual activities. Once we got home, there were suitcases to unpack, and the floor to find after suitcases were unpacked; there was mail to go through; attempts had to be made to childproof; there were the details of beginning the process to add Alex to our health insurance (he's already had to go to the doctor. What looked like a mosquito bite when we picked him up turned into a large abcess above his ear--OUCH!) And of course all the things you have to do just to keep a household running and get the older children to school and their activities. The best time to get anything done is when Alex is sleeping, because he wants to be carried around most of the day. But by the time Alex is asleep, I'm too tired to do all that needs to be done. It's at those moments I have to stop and say, "But it's only been a week!"

We have come so far in this first week. Alex still doesn't respond to his name, but he does now like to hear us talking to him. He'll laugh and smile when we play with him. He's sleeping better. He will still go to anyone, but he is definitely showing a preference for Mom and Dad. He gets a huge smile when Dad walks in the door after work. He also is having fun with his sisters, and they do a good job of keeping him occupied while Mom heats up the frozen pizza for dinner (Hey, I'm keeping it as simple as possible as long as I can). Soon enough, life will feel "normal" again.

The Blessing of Friends and Family

My dad picked us up at the airport Saturday morning, and we drove the 45 minutes to their home, where our girls were staying. It was so wonderful to have the girls meet their brother. They were so excited. My mom fixed us lunch and sent us with some food for dinner. We drove the 90 minutes to our own home, where we found banners and balloons and bags and boxes of clothes for Alex and food for the rest of us. One family had left gifts for our girls, in addition to the gifts for Alex, so they wouldn't feel left out. Another friend brought by milk, ham, cheese, and frozen pizzas so we wouldn't have to make a trip to the store. Leigh's mother, who lives in town, had been checking on our house, and she had taken our towels and washed and folded them, so they'd all be clean when we returned. It makes me want to cry when I think of how blessed we are to have so many good people who love us.

And now we begin our adjustment period. I keep reminding myself to be patient. It is going to take awhile for everyone to get used to our new circumstances. It's going to take awhile for Alex to get on the right time schedule so we can all sleep at night. I'm going to have to get used to doing things with just one arm, while Alex is in the other. And it's going to have too be okay that some things don't get done the way they used to. And eventually, we'll get into a comfortable routine. Thank heaven for the blessing of good friends and family to help during the transition.

Have Visa, Will Travel

We picked up Alex's visa at AIT today.  We're ready to go home!  We're guarding that paperwork as if it were gold, because in fact, it's worth a lot more.

We also went to the Taiwan Handicraft Market to pick up a few mementos.  We are so excited, because we found some things from Alex's aboriginal tribe--some headscarves and some symbols embroidered on little coin purses.  

And we went to Taipei 101.  It was a cloudy, hazy day, but it was still neat to look over the city from nearly 400 meters up.  We didn't do any shopping there-- a little too ritzy for common country folk like us.  

As for the rest of the sights we might like to have seen, they'll have to wait for the day we come back to visit.  It's nice to see the country and learn more about where our son comes from, but adoption trips are definitely not conducive to sightseeing.  We'll be leaving the hotel in just a few hours.  USA, here we come!

Some Gotcha Day Video

Leigh had to edit this video so it would be small enough to post.  Unfortunately, Leigh is behind the camera instead of in the picture, but at least we get to hear the correct pronunciation of Alex's Chinese name and his cute little nickname.   More later.

Taiwan--Day 4 (He Does Cry)

Today we went for our interview at the consular offices to get Alex's visa so we can take him home.  There were a few glitches--Like, even though I woke up every hour during the night to make sure I didn't oversleep, we were running behind this morning, our taxi arrived late, and rush-hour traffic  had me worried we would miss our appointment altogether (I was planning out the phone call to tell our girls the bad news).  Leigh had accidentally left our travel alarm clock in his bag with our paperwork, and he got busted.  Actually, security didn't care when they found out it was just a clock, but cell phones and cameras are strictly prohibited.  Then we went to the wrong floor, and Alex got impatient while we waited for our turn.  I had to hold him and walk in circles around the room to keep him happy.  But somehow it all worked out, and they told us we can pick up Alex's visa at 11:30 tomorrow.  Now, we'd better not be late.

After our appointment, we went chasing rainbows.  From the consular offices (American Institute in Taiwan) you can see Taipei 101, the world's tallest building.  It looks so close.  We decided we could walk.  We really like just walking along the streets here.  But we walked and walked and walked.  Sometimes, we couldn't see our goal because of all the buildings around.  But then we'd see it rising above the skyscrapers, and it always looked the same distance away-just like when you see a rainbow that looks close enough to touch, but you never quite reach it.  We did finally reach it, but we didn't have our cameras, so we decided to wait to pay the admission to go to the observation area.  We'll go back tomorrow.  Leigh thinks we can walk from AIT again after we get Alex's visa.  It was a nice walk, but I'm going to push for a taxi next time.

We then went to a store to get diapers and something else big enough for Alex to wear.  By the time we got back to the hotel, it was past Alex's naptime.  He threw a screaming fit.  At first, he just wanted to be held, but after awhile, even being held wasn't good enough.  I was so relieved when he fell asleep.  Leigh and I got some rest too.  

Tonight we're going to try out the famous Fang's restaurant for dinner.  We've heard they have fabulous dumplings.

An Amazing Day!

Just before we left the hotel to go to the orphanage, we were told that the agency had been trying to contact us to let us know Alex's birth family was going to be at the orphanage to meet us.  It's probably lucky I didn't know ahead of time.  I was nervous enough as it was.

We waited on the couch in the meeting room for quite awhile, and then I could see a face I recognized through the window.  I gasped softly.  There he was--our baby.  He is called Hsiang-Hsiang at the orphanage, or a nickname that means "big eyes."

He stared at us with those big eyes, but he never cried.  He fussed a little when his favorite nanny played with him for a moment, then left the room, but she said she told him he had to be a good boy and go with his new family.  She said he is very smart and understands what she says.

Alex's birth mom is a delightful young lady who loves to sing, dance, and run. She sang a song for us, and she has a beautiful voice.  She brought us a gift--a scrapbook she had created to tell us about herself, and she brought a push-along toy for Alex.  That will be handy, because he started walking a week ago.

Alex was the 4th oldest baby in the nursery, but he was the biggest.  He just turned one 2 weeks ago, but I think he's ready for 24-month size clothes.  Nothing we brought fits him very well.  They said he was king of the nursery, and he did move around the room like he owned it.  He played music on the cupboards, found toys stashed in an unused crib.  He really got around.

We are going to have our hands full.  He is strong.  He is mobile, and he loves to get into everything.  He's tall enough to reach up on the table.  He gave himself quite a shock when he grabbed my paper cup of cold water and doused himself while my back was turned.  So um, if you don't hear or see much of me, know that I am pretty busy.

Right now he's sleeping sweetly in his crib.  He didn't get a very long nap today, so he went to bed early. Already we've gotten him off the perfect schedule the orphanage had him on.  I'm sure that five years from now, we'll have it worked out better.

Tomorrow we go for our visa interview.  I hope it goes smoothly.

Today's the Day!

Four hours from now we'll be at St. Lucy's.  I am really nervous.  I know that this will be so difficult for Alex, and it makes me feel sad for him.  We have to make adjustments, but at least we understand what is going on.

The good news is that our quest to find Snow formula ended successfully.  The back of the guide book we are carrying around has some words in English with the Chinese characters next to them.  We found one for baby milk.  First we asked at the hotel desk, and they directed us to all the places we had already tried, but they gave us a map. Then we carried our book into every store and pointed at the characters.  All the shopkeepers held up their hands or shook their heads.  Finally, at the Mitsukoshi Dept. Store, a woman who had tried to help us earlier in the day, went out of her way to call someone who spoke English.  This woman asked us what we needed, then told a clerk to write down the name of a grocery store for us to give a taxi driver.  The first woman marked the location on our map.  We were ready for an adventure, so we decided to walk.  The type of shops changed a lot as we moved farther from the hotel.  Tainan really comes alive after dark, and there were scooters everywhere.  We were about 2 blocks from our destination when Leigh saw a shop that sold "everything for mother and baby."  It's called Woodpecker, and they truly had about everything we could need.  

So now let's hope today goes at least half as smoothly, and we'll be set.

Taiwan--Day 2

We're down to about 16 hours.  It still just doesn't seem real.

We've had an incredible day in Tainan.  I would encourage anyone adopting from St. Lucy's to spend a day here.  It is hotter than Taipei, and it's harder to find people who speak English, but we've gotten around pretty well.

We visited AnPing Castle--the old Dutch Fort.  We saw lots of schoolchildren on tour there, and Americans are enough of a novelty that they wanted to take pictures with us.  I loved just walking around the old ruins and reading the few signs that were in English.  We bought a book about Tainan at the gift shop--written in both Chinese and English.  Next door to the old fort is a Matsu Temple that supposedly has the oldest statue of Matsu in Taiwan.  We picked up a bag of "safe rice" that is supposed to keep our family safe.

Next we went to the Anping Tree House.  It's like an old abandoned warehouse that was taken over by a banyan tree.  It was fascinating to see this enormous tree growing along the walls, through the roof, and all around this building.  We also walked along the Market streets.

Finally, we went to Chikan Towers.  We met some very nice people there who are from Taiwan, but now live in the US.  They translated some information about the significance of the Towers as presented by their non-English-speaking friend.  The whole thing was very fascinating

Through it all, we've been on a search for baby formula.  We had hoped to pick up some of the kind Alex is used to.  The truth is we can't find any formula of any brand at all.  Perhaps if we could communicate better.  

About 3:00, we gave out.  Jet lag was taking over.  I would have liked to have seen more of the city, but we did enough for one day.  I'm sure we'll be sorry for our nap when we can't sleep a few hours from now at bedtime.  Now it's time to find something for dinner.  We already missed lunch.

Hopefully, we'll be able to post photos of our big day tomorrow.  We forgot we were supposed to find an adapter for Leigh's computer.

Taiwan--Day 1

We have less than 38 hours until we meet Alex.  We are getting so close!

We made it to Taiwan!  There were times during the flight from LA that I wasn't sure we would.  We ate dinner at 3:00 in the morning, and they turned the lights out for everyone to sleep.  It seemed like hours must have passed as I slept.  My knees ached.  My bottom hurt from sitting, and it was only 4:30--Ten more hours to go.  We arrived at 6:45 AM Taipei time.

Our agency had arranged for a driver, Danny to pick us up and take us to a hotel so we could freshen up before our train ride to Tainan.  He was really looking out for us.  Before he left us, he made certain we knew what time our train left (our agency had bought our tickets and left them at the hotel desk) and what time we would need to get a taxi.

As it turned out, our tickets were for 4:30 PM, which meant we had to kill the whole day.  We walked around a bit, ate lunch at Subway, then decided to be tourists.  We took a taxi to the National Palace Museum and spent a few hours looking around at the incredible handcrafted pieces that date back thousands of years.

The high speed train ride to Tainan takes about 2 hours.  It was fun to see the countryside, but we could barely keep our eyes open.  At home, it would have been the middle of the night.  The good news is that we didn't sleep through our stop.  A man outside the exit very excitedly found a taxi for us to deliver us to the Tainan Hotel.  

A note about taxis--we are from a small town.  We know nothing about taxis--how to hail them, how much to tip a driver...But we've learned one thing very quickly from our few taxi rides today.  The cost sure adds up.  The nice part is that they deliver you right where you need to go.  I'm not sure I'm up to figuring out a bus schedule in Chinese!

Once in Tainan, we went in search of dinner.  We ate at Wan Ke Lou Restaurant.  We chose it, because it was very clean, very crowded, and besides, it was one of the few places that had English terms on its menu.  It's nice to know what you're getting.  

And now we are back in the room figuring out the computer.  Leigh discovered one problem.  His computer uses a 3-prong plug, and all the outlets here just have 2.  He found a way to make it work with an extension cord they have for the TV here, but unless we can find an adaptor, we might lose our ability to use the computer when we leave this hotel.

And We're Off

Time to turn off the computer, put the suitcases in the car, and get moving.
First stop, Grandpa and Grandma's house. They're watching the girls for the week.
We'll arrive in Taipei on Monday morning--that's Sunday night for our girls.

We're going to spend a day in Tainan and then pick up Alex on Wednesday. He's almost ours!

Less Than a Week

Shortly after giving birth, a friend once told me, "It seems like when something wonderful happens, life should slow down so you can just enjoy it." In truth, it seems like wonderful events bring a lot of extra busy-ness with them.

So here I am 8 3/4 months "pregnant," preparing to take a trip halfway around the world, and how am I spending my days? In addition to the usual housekeeping, motherhood responsibilities and trying to get ready for this major event in my life, I have had a few other things going on:

Monday--Drive for a field trip to a space camp. Coordinate the pick up and drop off of 2 children I've never met before.
Tuesday--Help out in Laura's classroom; shopping; taxi Callie to the eye doctor, piano lessons and a hair cut appointment after school.
Wednesday--Grandpa and Grandma deliver our crib that's been on loan to my brother. They spend the afternoon to celebrate Laura's birthday. I make 4 trips to the school picking up and delivering children and forgotten homework (and my kids are bus students!). Make a birthday cake and throw together activities for Thursday's events.
Thursday--Babysit in the morning; Throw a birthday party for Laura and 8 friends in the afternoon. "Other" Grandpa and Grandma come by to celebrate in the evening. Cake anyone?

Meanwhile, I still have to pack and get ready to leave in two days. My house is a mess and I am so tired that I don't even care. Things will either get done or they won't. As long as I catch my flight and remember my passport, I guess we'll be okay.

We finally got another update with pictures taken the end of February and early March. Alex looks so grown up, and he's added a whole month to his age since these were taken. They didn't send us any measurements. I wonder how much he weighs.

A Day of Miracles

You can probably tell from my last few posts how completely stressed out I have been, but I'm sure my words could not even begin to convey how worried I have been. But after many sleepless nights and a lot of ulcer-causing days, I am thrilled to report I have had a day of miracles!

I had rescheduled our infopass appointment with USCIS for today, and fortunately, our homestudy update arrived in yesterday's mail (and it came with a little miracle too. Our social worker reduced her fee to just $30 to do this for us)!

I decided to fast and pray today that everything would go well. Then I set out on the 60-mile journey with Amy in the backseat.

Miracle 1: Despite crazy traffic, we arrived safely in plenty of time for the appointment.

Problem: As I sat waiting to be called, I saw a sign that said no personal checks would be accepted. I had triple-checked the instructions for the form I had to file, and it said I could use a personal check. But this field office won't accept them. What was I going to do? I had no cash on me, and I was 60 miles from the small credit union where I have my main account.

Just then I got called back for my appointment, and I explained my problem. They sent me out to solve it. I'll spare you the details of my first failed ideas, but they included trying a debit card that I'd never used before. It might have worked if I could have remembered my PIN.

Miracle 2: I remembered that a second credit union I belong to from the tiny town where I grew up had opened a branch somewhere in the city.
But how would I find it?

Miracle 3: I, who never uses a cell phone , actually had a cell phone on me today. I called my parents, and...

Miracle 4: They were home.
If I'd called 3 minutes later, I would have missed them. They were able to find out the address and call me back within 5 minutes. The branch was 80 blocks from where I was.

Miracle 5: I had sufficient funds in my account to get a money order!
The staff was very helpful. I rushed back to USCIS. Forty-five minutes had passed since my original appointment time, but I only had to wait a few moments to be helped.

Miracle 6: The clerk took my application back to the adoption officer, who processed it while I waited! Wow! Now we have our amended I-171H in hand.

Miracle 7: Even with my delays, I arrived home just as the kindergarten bus was dropping Laura off in front of our house.

What a day. I am so relieved I feel like I am walking in clouds. There are still some hurdles to cross, but we've made it over this biggest one. We'll have Alex in less than 2 weeks. We still haven't gotten those updated photos I was hoping for. How much has he changed since January? Will I recognize him.

Alex's Birthday

We ate cake and ice cream. We sang to Alex. We unboxed his presents, removed the twist ties, and assembled the pieces so that his new toys will be ready for him to enjoy when he gets home. The girls had to try everything out--to the point that I finally had to hide it all away. It would be nice to have those new toys still new when he arrives.

Before the party, I spent my day in worry mode. I was waiting for our homestudy to arrive in the mail so I could send it off with our packet of visa documents to AIT. When the homestudy didn't come, I asked my agency whether it was better to wait or get things sent off. Because of recent problems with families needing state certification at the last minute, they want our documents at AIT as soon as possible so they can be reviewed before we travel. They wanted us to send what we had off immediately. That meant leaving dinner preparations half done and a half-frosted cake and rushing off to the nearest Fed-Ex drop station. We made it!

It kind of reminded me of Laura's birthday last year. We'd received our USCIS fingerprint notice 4 days into our appointment week, and Laura's birthday was our last chance to be fingerprinted. We had her birthday party, rushed the guests out the door, then made the hour-long trek to the USCIS substation. Laura spent the rest of her birthday sitting in a waiting room. You know, I don't think we are very fun people!

Meanwhile, no April Fool's joke, we still have not gotten our homestudy update, even though it was mailed at the end of last week. I had to cancel my appointment for tomorrow with USCIS to turn it in. I called our social worker, and she said if it doesn't come tomorrow, she'll get new copies notarized and meet me at USCIS on Thursday. Talk about taking things right to the wire. Are we really going to be able to fly out of here a week from Saturday? And more importantly, are they going to let us fly back with Alex on schedule a week later?

I believe in miracles. I have faith that things will work out somehow, even if it's not quite as we have planned.