Home.

What a whirlwind. We are home, safe and somewhat sound. We got back yesterday morning after LilyJoy decided that 3:30am was a good time to wake up in LA. I looked at Steve and said, let's just get to the airport and put ourselves on standby for an earlier flight. We got to LAX, were told we'd have no problem getting on the 6am flight and were on our way before we knew what was happening! We surprised my parents and the boys who were expecting us later in the afternoon. It was precious to see all of their faces-- I wish I had the camera. Isn't it funny how much older your kids seem to you when you've left them for a time? I've been so proud of S and T and how they have handled having LilyJoy around. They really are doting big brothers, albeit a little rough sometimes! It is very sweet to watch.

As for LilyJoy, I sort of faded out of the blogging world a bit toward the end there. I'm thinking it was kind of a defense mechanism, actually. I mentioned before that she really is velcro baby to Steve and she hasn't changed a whole lot in that respect when she is tired, hungry, needs comforting or is just feeling insecure. It has been one of the hardest things that I have ever had to deal with. She just doesn't want me. I am so nervous for when Steve goes back to work. We have a while, though, so I need to just take it one step at a time. Easier said than done, but I'm trying. I'll tell you what, though, I have NEVER appreciated my boys as much as I have during these days. I hug and kiss them and love all over them as much as possible because they LET ME! :)

Anyway, the jet lag is brutal! I'm trying some melatonin tonight, but the problem is that Lily is still confused. OY! I can't win! I will try and post some pictures as soon as we get them off of the Noteb**k we used in China. Thanks for all your support and prayers on our journey! I love this blogging community.

Picture post con't

 

CURSE YOU, Hague Plague!!

Today hasn't been all bad, but BOY was I mad at the medical exam today.  LilyJoy has shots up-to-date, no problem there, but she's due for SIX!!  That's right, not only do we have to PAY for these (a couple hundred USD), but poor little Dragon Princess has to be subjected to them.  Thank the GOOD LORD that they allowed us to split them up into two different days and also allowed me to skeedadle from the room so I wouldn't be associated with them.  Our guide, Ann, is just about the best thing that we've seen here in China.  I cannot say enough good things about her.  She was very sympathetic about the whole Hague thing and really shed some perspective that it is not only we Americans that curse the Hague Plague.  She totally understood about me not wanting to be in the room and she stood right next to Steve while Dragon Princess screamed her head off-- it just about broke a mama's heart.  Shameless Plug-- if you have NOT contacted one of the reps who is on the judiciary committee to change the Hague immunization requirements, I highly recommend that you do so right NOW.  I can't tell you how this felt today.  And again on Monday.
 
Otherwise, little one did quite well if I do say so myself.  She was tired, but relatively cooperative.  She is a whopping 19 lbs!  But our guide said that she and another guide were discussing how she looked and thought for an 18 month old, she looked great!  Yikes, I can't imagine a peanut much smaller, but I guess I'm glad to hear that she looks good.
 
On another note, the doctor who examined her eyes says that she believes whatever plagues her left eye, also plagues her right.  So, I guess we need some serious prayers for whatever ails her.  We will find out more about it when we get home as they really don't have the equipment to even make a diagnosis during this rudimentary exam.  I had a wave of panic that she could lose sight in both her eyes-- perhaps not the end of the world, but she is our child now and we love her so much that we want her to have everything.
 
After all the madness of the morning, we took it easy and she has been very happy this afternoon.  We played and played and then she pretty much laid down on the floor and fell asleep.  So far, the shots don't seem to have bothered her too much.  We'll see-- she just woke up from her nap and I'm sure the Tylenol is about to wear off.

Headed for Guangzhou

We're halfway through!!!   I cannot tell you how happy this makes me!  Not onlythat, but Princess SLEPT last night-- actually, she is still sleeping (and we're hungry!).  We had a funny incident yesterday while I was packing up our stuff.  We had gotten some formula at the store the day before we got her, just in case she still needed it.  When we got her, though, we were told that they stopped giving her formula about 2 months ago.  Well, I picked up the bag, she saw it and it was VERY CLEAR that she knew exactly what was in that bag.  She squealed and pointed and got excited.  I still had a bottle made up in the refrigerator and thought I'd try and see if she wanted it-- cold, mind you.  She sucked that thing down like she hadn't eaten in DAYS!  Needless to say, we have been giving her a little formula since then and we believe that may be part of why she slept so well last night, 11 hours in total. 
 
She had a great day yesterday, although, when I took her down to the lobby to "play," there was a male hotel staff member who wanted to hold her.  I allowed it for just a minute and then he set her down.  Well, as soon as he did that, she wanted nothing to do with and only wanted him.  Of course, I picked her up and took her away saying, "wave bye bye!  Bye bye!"  and we promptly left.  She wasn't happy with me.  We will need to be careful of this, I think.  I know it will get better, we do take baby steps, but sometimes it feels like one step forward, two steps back.
 
Anyway, we're headed to Guangzhou today and I couldn't be happier to get a change of scene.  I hope she does well on the plane.  Prayers please :)

A Better Day

I think I alluded to this a little in my last few entries, but yesterday was very hard for me.  I think maybe it was combo of jet lag, stress of the situation, and pure homesickness, but whatever the reason, I broke down.  You just have no idea what that first "rejection" is going to feel like and the nurturing person that I am was just sad that I couldn't take away my baby's pain-- not to mention even look at her!  Timothy asked Steve where I was when we were skyping yesterday and I just had to remove myself because I couldn't hold the tears back.  I wanted a big fat Timothy hug so badly.  As amazing and long-awaited this trip has been, I just want to go home.  We're almost halfway through, though, and I'm guessing that Guangzhou will be very different with all the other adoptive families around.  We have met a few here that are wonderful.  One couple is from New York, but they have very strong Irish accents.  I think I wouldn't know where I would be without the encouraging words from the lady, Bridget.  It is nice to have other folks at the very same stage as us around.
 
But today was like night and day.  Little Miss started to really show off her personality.  I think she'll fit right in with our crazy family!  She still wants Steve, but in the middle of the night, when she couldn't find Steve, she crawled right over to me and allowed me to cuddle her and comfort her.  That was huge.  Then today, she gave me a few more smiles, giggles and would play with me with her toys.  All these things need to be done within about 2 feet of Steve, but I am trying to be the only one who feeds her and plays with toys with her.  Slowly but surely, I want her get to know I'm not so bad :)  A few times, she did venture away from Steve for a bit, but she always checks back in.  We had MUCH less crying today, so more pleasant for all of us.  Tomorrow is our last full day in Nanchang and I am READY to move on!!  I've enjoyed it here, but I just don't think this is the most ideal time for siteseeing.  The food is amazing.  The weather is HOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!
 
Anyway, Dragon Princess is sleeping, so I have a little time to go through pictures and I'll leave you with a few... enjoy (these are all from today)!
 
p.s. have I told you how much I LOVE dressing this little Dragon Princess??????
 
p.p.s.  I was told the link on the other blog didn't work... try http://stevencocoj.livejournal.com.  Let me know if it works.

update

Okay, first of all, I know that I have a million comments and I thank you all for them!  I can only get about half of them for whatever reason and i think I will have to see the rest at home.  I love hearing from you all out there in blogland.
 
Secondly, I have had so many requests for pictures and just haven't had time to deal with them, so I am going to direct you to a journal that Steve started for just such a purpose.  Keep in mind, all pictures of Ping Ping playing and having fun are with STEVE ONLY :)  I'll write more later, just wanted to give a quick update.  Slowly but surely, it seems that LilyJoy is coming out of her shell.  I wish you could see her walk-- we call her FrankenPing.  Anyway, if you want pictures visit www.stevencocoj.livejournal.com.
 
Love you all!

The Sweetest little Joy

To all of my captive audience of three people who are reading this :), I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update you!  We got LilyJoy yesterday afternoon at around 4pm.  We had the guy in charge of the orphanage and about 4 other ladies with him and our guide all squished in our hotel room for our first introduction.  We were the only family with a baby from FenYi SWI, so we got to take a few minutes to ask some questions.  The first and BEST thing we found out is that she has been in foster care since she was about 3 months old!  This is wonderful news to me as I have been very worried about her ability to attach and bond with a caregiver.  Hopefully, her experience in that foster situation will help-- it also means that she is really grieving.  She had bursts of crying yesterday from the moment we got her until she fell asleep.  She slept all night, but woke up this morning completely panicked and crying again.  I don't blame her, poor little thing!
 
As for LilyJoy herself, she is TINY!!  We have met about 5 other families here at the Gloria Plaza Hotel who also received their little ones yesterday.  Their babies are mostly like 12-14 months, being non-special needs babies.  They are all PLUMP and round!  So cute!  Our little Lily is also very cute, but she is skinny!  I brought one little 3-6 mo outfit, just because I thought it was adorable and had to at least try-- well, she fits just fine in it, thank you very much!  It's a little short, but it's a dress, so no biggie. 
 
Most of today, she has wanted VERY LITTLE to do with me.  If Steve tries to hand her over, she cries and screams and does a little tantrum dance.  He did get a quick shower in this morning, but we were standing in the bathroom waiting :)  Right now, she is sleeping right on top of Steve, having a little nap.  She did a little better this afternoon and I got her smile while Steve was holding (of course).  She has such a cute little smile!
 
We did all of our provincial paperwork and formalities, so in the eyes of China, little Ping Ping is OURS!
 
Okay, Ping Ping just woke up and Steve's arm is about to fall off, so more later...

The Longest Hour

We meet LilyJoy in one hour.  My stomach is not happy right now.  Oh my gosh, is this really happening??

We're OFFICIALLY here :)

I knew it when we got off of our plane after 33 hours of travel because I went to use the restroom and there, on the floor-- my very first squatty potty!  WOOHOO!  We're in China!  We landed in Nanchang, Jiangxi to VERY heavy rain and lightening, which was a little disconcerting.  But, when we found out from our guide that the flights landing 2-3 hours prior to ours all had to be re-routed to neighboring cities, we were SO relieved to have landed.  Our route was so circuitous that we flew on 5 different planes.  Luckily, when we come home, that will be much more broken up and spread out.  I don't know how we could have done that trip here with little Ping Ping in tow.
 
Speaking of Ping Ping, we meet her tomorrow!  I have to say, my body is still so weired out by this whole traveling thing that I am still not as excited about meeting her as I had thought.  I can't believe I am saying that, but I have this strange mix of emotions about it.  It doesn't help that one of the last times that we skyped with my family at home, little Timothy started crying and saying that he wanted us to come home now.  If there was ever a way to relieve the pain of home sickness, Skype is THE way to go.  I think tomorrow that I will be a mess of nerves again and it will not be easy getting through the day, anticipating our meeting.  Please pray for me!  Pray for LilyJoy and her transition.  Pray for all of us as a family and that bonding happens.
 
I'll try and get some pictures as soon as I can!

Greetings from Taipei!

We made it this far! Only three more plane rides to go... Ay yi yi! We are well, tired, but well :) We couldn't see much over Taiwan because it was about 5am local time when we landed, but everything seems to be business as usual. I don't know what I was expecting, but we just pray for all those here dealing with weather aftermath.

We still have a long day ahead of us. Pray for strength.

Trying this out

I'm putting our blog on email mode and need to try it out before we leave... bear with me.

The countdown is most definitely on!  We have one more "sleep" until we leave and the paper chain that S and T made has only one more link on it.  This whole thing is so surreal that I can't even describe the feeling.  I don't think my heart rate has gone below 100 beats per minute in the past three days.  Fortunately, when I've been sleeping, I really do sleep... we'll see about tonight!

I also forgot to mention that Ping Ping turned 18 months old yesterday!!  Happy Birthday little one!  May this be the last one you spend by yourself.  We can't wait to meet you!

Itinerary Revisions

This is probably more for me than any who actually read this blog, but I have a little more info about where and when...

8/14-Arrive in HK
8/14-Leave for Nanchang and arrive around 5pm
8/17-Meet LilyJoy
8/18-Registration appointment
8/22-Leave for Guangzhou
8/22 or 24?-Medical appointment
8/25-Consulate appointment
8/27-Take a train to HK and leave HK for LAX

WOOOHOOO!!

Dates confirmed!

We have flights! Here's the plan as far as we are responsible. Our agency arranges all in-China flights and transfers, so we have to wait till this week to hear about the rest of the details.

August 12
Leave Seatac Airport to LAX at 8pm-ish.
Leave LAX at 1:30am-ish (blech!)
Arrive in Taipei in the morning with a short layover
Arrive in Hong Kong around 10:45am on Aug 14th.
*At this point, we will fly to Nanchang, Jiangxi and that is where we will get LilyJoy.

August 16th
Family Day!! Meet LilyJoy.

A few days later
Leave Nanchang, arrive in Guangzhou

August 27th
Leave Guangzhou for HK
HK to Taipei
Taipei to LAX and, unfortunately, we have to stay overnight in LA due to our flight getting in later than hoped. Oh well, at least we won't be freaked out that we will miss our flight trying to get through immigration!

August 28th
Leave LAX at 10:30-ish
HOME at 1pm-ish!!!!

We were SO BLESSED to be able to take advantage of our credit card travel points. We basically only had to pay for our Seattle-LAX round trip, so that is a HUGE expense (we put everything on our credit and faithfully pay it off every month for just such a purpose). The layovers are not too bad, enough time to get from place to place comfortably, but not too much time that we go stir-crazy. I can't believe this is actually happening...