I’m going to have to start posting more often, if I want to show all the fun photos of the girls.

A weekend ago, we went to visit family in Portland and also to attend our adoption agency’s annual regional picnic.  The girls did remarkably well in the car.  Naps always help.

As you saw from the last post, the girls had fun at the picnic.  You just can’t beat playing and making friends.

Of course we parents also enjoyed meeting/reacquainting ourselves with other AWAA adoptive parents.  It’s nice to spend time with others who share the same experiences, the same life perspective, and who know many of the same people.

It was also great for Ami to meet cousin Natalie and more of her relatives.  Today marks one month home, and she is settling in well.

Thank you Nana and Papa for always taking such good care of us.  (Miah told me the other night that she wanted to visit Nana and Papa again this weekend.)

]]> http://www.davis2china.com/?feed=rss2&p=2825 1 http://www.davis2china.com/?p=2815 http://www.davis2china.com/?p=2815#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:05:45 +0000 Merrie http://www.davis2china.com/?p=2815

Oh, the freedom of swinging…

The joy of flying through the air…

These two big sisters, made their little sisters very happy!

And they got their turn, too.

Monday this little one melted my heart.  I was sitting on the porch watching the girls play in the yard.  Suddenly Ami came up beside me and said “I wuhwoo” and wanted a hug.  She’s been repeating our “I love you’s” when we say good-night, but the spontaneous ones mean so much more!  Notice she has the hug down, too.↓

My big girl barely turned 4.  No matter where she goes, everyone is asking her if she’s ready for school.  Yes, I know she looks older, but the poor kid isn’t ready to grow up quite so fast.  I just tell people we’ll be doing pre-school at home.  I don’t have an official curriculum planned for the year, but, being a teacher by trade, I’m not too worried.  Miah already knows more than a lot of kindergarteners I’ve observed.

Now that we’ve been home for a while, life is slowly returning to normal – the new normal.  After pretty much staying home the first two weeks, (except for doctors appointments and Grandma’s house), we’ve now taken Ami to the park, grocery shopping, and for walks with the stroller.  She is totally comfortable at home now, lots of animation and “talking”, loves to play outdoors.  So when we go out?  Very quiet and serious.  She’s just taking it all in, similar to our first days with her in China.  Miah was happy to show her how to “drive” the kid-friendly shopping carts.  At the park (thankfully not a very busy one) she would stop and stare instead of play.  Warren said, it’s because they’re staring at her.  No, she’s doing a lot more staring than they are.  She’s just not used to seeing white kids!  She did enjoy the playground, but much more-so after the other people left.   We couldn’t get Ami to look at the camera.  She was too busy watching the kids on the playground.  So much is new to her.

Results from the doctors are all good.  Praise the Lord both our girls are healthy!  Oh, and Miah got two shots.  No tears.  She even wanted to watch.  We may have a medical professional in the making!  We should hear back soon when Ami’s lip surgery will be scheduled.

Ami Mei has definitely spiced up the Davis household.  This little ball of energy just go go goes, with laughs and smiles all the way.  In our first three weeks together, we’ve seen so much progress.  Now when we pick her up, there is muscle resistance to make it easier (instead of her arms being all flop, like a rag doll, from not being picked up very much).

Her pediatrician said the muscle tone in her arms will improve with exercise, and that we don’t need to worry about her legs either.  She can walk and run with the best of them.  And climb.

We had to demonstrate/teach her how to climb up and down stairs (thank you, Miah), because with no past experience, she tried to walk up and down like she sees us do – thankfully we have always been there to catch her, as those short little legs are not yet ready to conquer that skill.

Notice she has removed the shoes.  (She actually enjoys wearing her squeaky shoes, and puts them on and off several times a day.)  The first few days she didn’t like walking in the grass (another new experience), and if she fell, she avoided touching her hands on the grass to stand back up.  Now it is not an issue.  Even barefoot.

We’ve also found that this little one likes Chocolate pudding!  And pretty much all fruits and vegetables along with most things we eat.  Yesterday as I was preparing dinner, she wanted to try the (raw) onion I was dicing.  She ate 3 or 4 pieces before having enough.  But she doesn’t like cheese, spaghetti sauce, or grape juice – yet!

She LOVES to eat, and gets very excited when she sees food.  Over time, she has been learning (sometimes) not to wail loudly and stamp her feet in impatience while waiting for us to prepare her bottle or get the food to the table.  The first several days we said the blessing amidst her crying.  Then on our third night home she silently covered her eyes with her hands and waited like the rest of us!  She’s done it ever since.  In fact, she does it as soon as she’s in her seat, maybe as a hint, “Let’s get to the eating, please!”

By the time we arrived home, Ami was already eating pretty well with a fork and spoon, though she often resorts to fingers.  Not bad for less than two weeks!  It’s been fun to watch her experiment and master the tool.  The chopsticks were a little trickier, so we haven’t continued their use.  They usually ended up on the floor.

A photo from the disposable camera we sent the orphanage while we waited.

As far as communication, Ami is understanding a lot of English already, and is trying to repeat many of our words.  She tries to talk quite a bit, but unfortunately with her open palate she is mostly unintelligible.  (That’s probably why she resorts to crying or screaming to get attention or to get her way.)  Even in Mandarin she only had a handful of words.  Thank goodness for signs.  She is picking them up quickly, and would have a lot more if only we knew more to teach her.

Miah, of course, is a proud big sister who would like to be the one to take care of her “mei mei’s” every need.  Finally, please don’t let these cute pictures fool you.  We are a normal family, and neither of the girls are exempt from selfishness and jealousy.  Warren was sweet enough to come home for lunch today and give me a little relief.  He said I looked frazzled.  I think he was being polite.

These sisters are blessed with two wonderful Grandmothers!  Nana, thanks for the beautiful matching dresses for Ami & Miah!  And Grandma, thanks for taking two hours of your day to help us out at Doctor appointments!  We really appreciate you both!

Ride ‘em Cowgirls!

Admiring new dolls from Auntie Tisha, from her Alaska cruise.

It’s HOT out, but they want to be outside to play.  Dirt… gravel… water…

they don’t fight over these like they do the toys inside…

Being silly is a lot more fun when you have a sister to share it with.

This ↑ was a hard photo to get… the rest of them ↓ were a blur…  (Ami is teaching Miah to be more spontaneous – even if it is flinging yourself back-and-forth in a rocking chair.)

And Miah is teaching Ami to be a good helper.  If these girls keep it up, my life may actually get easier someday – I’ll turn all the cooking and cleaning over to them!

We’ve now been home a week, and the jet-lag is subsiding (but not totally resolved).  I think we were all asleep by 11:00 last night, with no sleep-interruptions until 4-ish, then up at 6:00.  It’s been crazy with all four of us adjusting to our time-zone at different rates.

We were happy to have Nana and Papa visit us over the weekend, and took the opportunity to get some fresh peaches from Nancy and Alex.

I think Ami is going to like visiting their farm/orchard as much as Miah does!

The girls were also happy to receive gifts (belated birthday).  Thank you so much Nana & Papa, and Wes & Joanie.  They’ve been having a lot of fun with them.  (Thank you for the fabric and wishes also!)

Ami is just thrilled with so many toys to play with.  My concerns about sensory overload for this little dynamo were moot.  She’s very bright, and learns quickly by watching (so much like her big sister!) – more on that in another post…

Can you tell that life around here has just gotten louder?

Once we got Ami’s visa from the Consulate, we took a van to Hong Kong Wed. evening.  This was significantly less expensive than flying home from Guangzhou.

We drove for about three hours, and all we saw was city and “suburbs” consisting of high-rise apartment buildings.  We anticipated we might see some of the countryside, but three hours of highway driving, and solid population…

With a couple rivers to cross,

and the cargo on passing trucks.

Unlike our trip for Miah, we don’t have photos of Ami’s first plane ride, or the welcoming committee at our final destination.  But THANK-YOU Ruben, Ashley, Katie, and Nancy for meeting us at the airport, and for bringing our car.  It’s definitely a lot harder traveling with two youngsters. And 25 plus hours in airplanes and airports isn’t easy for anyone!  Thankfully the longest of our three flights went fairly smoothly.  Unfortunately, they both totally lost it at security in Seattle, then Miah got another big nose-bleed to add to the fun.  But God provides grace when we need it, and everyone around us was accommodating.  In all my travels, I don’t think it’s ever felt so good to be home.  And Ami seems quite happy to be here, too.  When we asked Miah what her one favorite part of our China trip was, her response was, “Ami!”

Today we went to the US Consulate for the Oath taking Ceremony.  They verified our faces matched our passports, and we swore that all the paperwork we’ve completed and signed is accurate.  So we’re done!  Tomorrow afternoon, as soon as Ami’s visa is picked up, we’ll be out of here (bus to Hong Kong, overnight there, and flight home Thursday morning).

Other families were one or two days later than us in their consulate appointments, so we all depart at different times.  We gathered as many families as we could for photos today on the hotel lobby stairs.  This is 5 of the 6 families we spent two weeks with – all adopting in Guangdong province.  New friendships that will last a lifetime.

Over 20 newly adopted children, with a few of the moms and dads.  We had really wanted to travel two weeks earlier, but there were no CAs left.  In hindsight we see that if we had, we wouldn’t have met any of these families, rather an entirely different group.  Among our new friends are two families from WA state, one from OR, (so nice to meet other NW families) and another family who are close friends with the Walls, who we traveled with when adopting Miah.

Our AWAA guides helped take our group photos.  Their daughter is a budding photographer herself!  Amy and Lineker also helped us through Miah’s adoption.  They are amazing, keeping all of us, and our paperwork in order.

You may notice the mischievous twinkle in Ami’s eyes.  I’ll just say we have a strong-willed child.

Our trip heading home starts tomorrow afternoon .. Leave for Hong Kong by Mini buss then spend the night there and head home the next am.. We leave at 9:40 am on the 5th and get in to wenatchee at 5:10 Pm Thru Aug 5… That is after flying almost 15 hr.. Pray for us…

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