Charlotte's Song

I was in the attic the other day, pulling down some of the baby things we had stored that we are going to use again. I had a stack of baby CD's that when I started looking at, I couldn't wait to play. It  made me think of feeding Connor in the kitchen, sitting in his high chair. I would play this CD over and over, more to calm me than Connor. I would rush home from work, pick him up from daycare and dinner and bath time was just our time. Peter used to work so many late nights back then and travel so much, it was just Connor and I many nights during the week. I listened to it again the other night and started to read the liner notes and the name of the songs. I swear, I never knew #3 was Charlotte's song.  One more crazy coincidence.

Finding Ad

We received Charlotte's finding ad in the mail today along with a copy of the China Daily newspaper where the ad was placed.It was published in March of last year. She is probably around 6 weeks old in this picture. The ads are done before a child can be placed for international adoption. It will be a part of her story, her journey to us.  This will probably be the youngest picture that we will ever have of Charlotte. What a precious photo. I just love that little face!!!

Ladies Who Do Brunch

I mentioned that I met  a bunch of wonderful Mom's who have/will be adopting from China. Yesterday was my turn to be celebrated with an amazing brunch and some adorable , thoughtful gifts. Chili Ladies rock. How did we ever make do without chips? With cake. Thank you again!!

I'd Like To Thank......

I'd like to thank the academy. Here goes my speech. There are so many people I want to thank. In the frenzy of getting ready for China, I don't want to forget to say thank you to so many people who have helped us during this long wait. Our families have supported us from day one. In five years, my family has never said give up, this will never happen, your too old! Our sisters are as excited to be Aunts again as we are to be parents again. All my nieces and nephews are ready to add one more.   So many of my friends have listened and let me complain endlessly for years about everything from the wait to what her name would be, (and there were many!). Thank you , thank you for supporting us. Thank you for always asking for updates and letting me ramble on and on. Thank you for being a part of our story for Charlotte.

If you got to my blog by way of interest in China adoption, I would say run as fast as you can to a local Families With Children from China, (fwcc.org) meeting. It was the best decision I ever made when we were looking to adopt. There is so much to learn, so much help that is so gladly shared. When you come home with your child, it is a place to be where families share something special, and just get what you could be going thru in terms of adoption issues or just raising kids issues. I have met so many kind and wonderful people. There are a group of us who started as waiting families who now meet monthly for dinner.  Over lots of chips and salsa,  we share lots of laughs , commiserate how hard this can all be, and support each other. With only two of us left to go to China to bring our daughters home, and we both will be traveling in February, this is a bond we share for a lifetime.  Oh, the play dates we will have......

Happy First Birthday Charlotte

Our little girl is turning one today, (well, with the time zone, she is one and a day already) and I am finding it bittersweet.  Missing this milestone in her life is hard, but I can't let myself get sad about it today. Today I want to celebrate her life. I want to reflect on her birth mother who gave her life, and made a difficult decision for reason's we will probably never know , to bring her to an orphanage so that someone may parent her child.  We will be forever blessed for the journey that led us to Charlotte.

Yet, on her second birthday, we are going to be throwing one awesome, pink filled, balloon crazy, giggle inducing , tiara wearing  birthday party!!

Happy Birthday Charlotte Lorraine !!!!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXO

WE GOT TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!

We don't know any dates yet. Our agency will be letting us know soon. Hopefully this week we should know when we are leaving for China, flights, hotels, and most importantly, the day we meet Charlotte!!!

Lullabies

We are just about done with Charlotte's nursery. Just need the finishing touches, night light and matching switch plate installed. I hope she has many wonderful dreams in this room for years to come.....it was a joy to do.  I love to just walk by her room now and picture her sleeping , playing. I don't expect to get much sleep for the first year she is home. We are prepared to have different kinds of sleep issues and we are going to promote attachment parenting as much as possible. We have a twin bed in her room for either Peter and I to sleep in, but I really think our bed is going to be the place to be. That's OK with us. I'd say 5 nights out of 7 we all don't wake up in the bed that we went to sleep in. Snoring, bad dreams, potty breaks, sometimes more action happens around here at night than the middle of the day. We'll work it out together, what ever works as they say. There is always plenty of under eye concealer and coffee for me, and hopefully Charlotte will like to nap?? A Mom could hope! 

Too Cute

I am not a big collector, but I do have some Precious Moments Christmas ornaments. I have the first Christmas together, baby boy, and now I needed the 2010 baby girl ornament for the tree. I was at the card store after Christmas and saw this one on the shelf. It is the Adoption Precious Moment. How could I resist?

I didn't. It is sitting on Charlotte's shelf.

Cherish

We are so lucky and so happy Ann at Red Thread was able to get updated pictures of Charlotte for us. We could not believe we have 4 new pictures to gaze at, including three pictures of her foster mother. These pictures are so precious and will be so important to Charlotte as well. She is so adorable. I love her hat and her layers and layers of clothes. This is an unbelievable gift today!! Amazingly, Ann said these pictures were taken yesterday. We absolutely will cherish these photos.

Bunny Pajamas !!

Ann at Red Thread is a service you can use to send care packages and gifts to children and caretakers in China. I have wanted to do this ever since I saw another adoptive family send a package many years ago. I told Ann a little about Charlotte, where she was, and sent her an email of recent pictures of us. She put together these items for Charlotte and she should have them in a few days. It includes a camera which we would love to get back full of recent pictures, but that is hard to get. It is so exciting to think she is going to see our pictures for the first time. It also includes a translated letter telling a little bit about us, candy for her caretakers and a blanket.  At 11 months, she might just want to throw the pictures in the air, maybe even rip them, chew on them, who cares. We are that much closer to her. It's funny, Connor has that one stuffed animal, his "sleeping buddy" that is a bunny that has been with him for six years. I was so happy that Ann chose another bunny!