Happy Birthday Care Package

April 28, 2008 our daughter was born. So how does today feel being her 1st birthday? Her being there and us being here? The tears are flowing for many reasons. HAPPY TEARS: Still on cloud 900, smiling from ear to ear just so overjoyed that we have a daughter and we are closer than ever to becoming a family. SAD TEARS: We of course wish we could hug her, tell her how much we love her, sing to her, read to her, hold her hand and oh this list goes on and on. TEARS OF GRATITUDE: Personally today I cry thinking about how grateful I am to a women who I will never know. I know her in my heart. I carried this baby in my heart for so so so long. Today I take a moment to shed a tear for the birth-mother who gave me the chance to be a mother. I am here crying missing my baby, I can only imagine how difficult this was for the birth-mother and today I shed tears of gratitude.
Now lets put a smile on! Care package # 2 has arrived and this is so cool ............ a birthday cake from a bakery in China has been delivered to the orphanage!!! The care package had a letter from us (translated into Chinese of course), A panda stuffed animal with a Chinese shirt on. A disposable camera (which in the letter I practically beg them to take pictures of Laney with her birthday cake and give us the camera when we get there). Oh and some more treats for the nannies. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANEY YAN GE MAMA & POPPY LOVE YOU. ENJOY THE BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Update on our baby girl

We have an update on our baby girl!!!! (You can click on to make the photo bigger). These two new pictures & measurements were taken on 04-10-09. The original pictures and measurements were taken on 1-12-09. On 1-12-09: 27.56 inches & 19.8 lbs with 6 teeth
On 4-10-09: 28.3 inches & 24.2 lbs with 8 teeth. She is sitting, she is standing, she is not walking or speaking.

HALF THE SKY HAPPY SMILE

Laney resides in a Half the Sky orphanage in China. Half the Sky is an organization that works to help children in orphanages in China. They have programs that they put into orphanages - a baby sisters program, a little sisters program, a big sisters program, and a foster village program. For example; The Baby Sisters program is an infant nurture program that provides play time for the baby almost every day. The babies are carried to the playroom once a day to play with their Half the Sky nanny - she plays with them, interacts with them, talks to them, and watches over them as they explore their world and play. The infant nurture centers (playrooms) are painted in soft colors. The floors are carpeted and half the room is padded with play mats. There are rocking chairs and mirrors and pull-up bars and lots of developmental toys. The core of the program is the one-on-one nurture that the babies receive. Until we can hold our precious girl THANK YOU HALF THE SKY (I gotta go get my tissue - sniff sniff).

Care Package # 1

On Monday, April 13, 2009 we mailed a care package for our precious daughter Laney waiting in The Fuzhou City Social Welfare Institute in Jiangxi, China. (if you click on a photo you can see it larger)

The memory book in the care package has an exact duplicate that is being kept here at home. We hope Laney & her Nannies will enjoy looking through this book & seeing Laney’s Momma, Poppy, nursery, playroom, clothes, toys & of course pictures of her beautiful self. Also in her care package was a letter to the Orphanage Director & Nannies, our acceptance letter, Jelly Belly Beans & Ghirardelli Chocolates for her Nannies. Also 2 disposable cameras with her Chinese name & a small picture of her taped to them, a pink bear blanket & musical keys with inserted pictures of Momma & Poppy in each key. We love you Laney Yan Ge! Thank you Terry for spending 10 hours with me on April 10, 2009 creating 2 amazing books.

Some Gifts, Congrats and Well wishes

We have amazing people in our lives. Gifts, Congrats and Well wishes have been pouring in for years. I have not taken pictures of everything (I am not that organized) but sporadically I have remembered to snap photos. We thank everyone for everything and think the people that surround us in our lives just ROCK! Here are a few snap shots.

The B family - OHHHHHH how sweet! Thank you!

The K family - OHHHHH Thank you so much!

The H family! WOW - Thank you!!!

The L family! LOVE IT!

The T family! AWESOME. Thank you!

The C family! YAHOO. Let's play!

Guess what - WE HAVE A BABY

We are shaking with excitement posting on the blog (scroll down to see 3 pictures).

Blogging/e-mail seems to be the best way in this day and age to shout from the rooftops! So here we go………we are shouting……………………….…..WE ARE GLADLY CHANGING OUR NAMES TO MAMA AND POPPY! WE FINALLY HAVE NEWS ON US BECOMING PARENTS!
WE HAVE A DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We did not expect our call until Monday but we got a big surprise when the phone rang and Beth said “IT’S A GIRL”. So Friday night, April 03, 2009 we got news of our baby.

Currently living: In Fuzhou City Welfare Institute which is an orphanage.
Where in China: The Jiangxi Province in southeastern China.
Her date of birth: April 28, 2008 (she is 11 ½ months old).

This info was taken on January 12, 2009 (when she was 8 ½ months):
Inches: 27.5
Weight: 19.8 lbs (we wonder how many pounds of clothes she has on)?

Other cute facts:
Laughs out loud (Poppy was thrilled with this one)
Likes games w/ adults
Close to caregiver
Loves to imitate
Loves music

Given name:
Fu (last name given to all babies in that orphanage)
Yan (first name - means = Beautiful)
Ge (middle name – means = Song)
Fu Yan Ge
Soon to be Laney Yan Ge which means Laney Beautiful – LOVE IT!!!

We are head over heels in love,our dreams are coming true.

Stork Alert (thanks Kristin)

Hush little Laney….I am flying as fast as my wings can go!! Your Mommy and Daddy are going to be soooo HAPPY!!!