AVA'S NEW RIDE

QUESTIONS ANSWERED BULLET STYLE

I've had several questions asked of me and I apologize that I haven't answered. I'm FINALLY feeling better.....My sinus infection is almost gone and I'm actually feeling somewhat caught up with sleeping. I slept like CRAPOLA in China....Not sure if it was because of the MUCH firmer mattress or just that my body never got used to China time, but I didn't sleep well while there at all. Then with the jet lag after returning home on top of that....I've felt like a walking zombie until probably yesterday. Alrighty, enough about me, here comes the answers to questions I've received:

• I was asked about Ava's silver bracelet that she was wearing in most of the pics in China. I bought it for her at a little shop near the White Swan Hotel. From what the shop owner told me, the silver bracelet with bells is very popular with Chinese babies. The bells will let you know where the baby is. Ava's bracelet has Chinese writing on it that says clever and loyal. Ava loved her bracelet in China, but now when you put it on her...She wants it off. She does the same thing when I put a hair clip in her hair. You can try and get her mind off the clip, but she ALWAYS reaches around until she pulls it out. When I got her dressed this morning, she reached up into her hair searching for a hair clip....I hadn't put one on her, but she was just checking to be sure. ;)



• We used the Babyhawk sling in China. We had decided to not do the stroller thing while we were there and went with a baby carrier instead. We really liked the Babyhawk (it's very comfortable), but it was so HOT in China that it was so uncomfortable to wear her in the carrier. It was easier just to carry her without a carrier. I would still recommend the Babyhawk....It's easy to use and it comes in many sassy colors!! ;) It took me FOREVER to final pick out the one I wanted.


• The agency that we used was Great*Wall*China*Adoption. I had been a bit upset with them, because I thought they were a little slow in getting us to China, but once they got us there.....Everything was wonderful. I don't know how much of that is because of the agency or because of our guide, but everything went smoothly. Veronica was on top of everything there and everything was so well organized. I had always heard that GW*CA shines during the China trip and for us, that was true. Veronica was the BEST!


• Ava is almost walking. She can pull herself up to stand (without assistance) and will walk while holding on to our hand. She also loves to walk behind her baby stroller. I'm quite certain in the next month she will have the walking thing down.


• Ava went to the doctor today for her first visit. She is 22 pounds and is almost 32 inches tall. The doctor thought she was very healthy and said she looked like she was well taken care of in China. My poor baby did have to have 3 shots today. The doctor has decided to re-do all the vaccinations that she had in China. Many times the vaccinations are watered down and he felt that it was best to re-do everything. =(


• Ava is back to sleeping 11 hours at night and taking a nap during the day! I can usually lay her down in her crib and she might cry for a minute or two and then she falls asleep. She will suck on her wrist when she is tired. She always wakes up with a smile on her face in the morning! I did blow up a aero bed mattress on her floor in case I needed to sleep in there with her, but so far she has been fine to sleep alone in her room.


• Ava is charming each and everyone that she meets. It takes her a bit to warm up to you, but when she does.....She has a smile that will melt your heart.
  

My girl just woke up from her nap. If anyone has any other questions, just leave me a comment and I'll answer them just as soon as I can. I'm happy to answer any travel questions too!!

AS PER YOUR REQUEST...

I heard SEVERAL complaints today, "Hey, you haven't posted anymore pics since those pool pictures...When are you going to post new ones??" =) I thought I better make Ava's fan club happy......Here are some new pics of Miss Ava taken today. Enjoy!!

IT'S LIKE SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN HERE...

Ava is doing well.....REALLY well! I'm almost afraid that I'm going to jinx things because she is doing so well. Her sleeping was better last night, but she is still somewhat on China time. While in China she would go to bed about 7 PM and get up about 6 AM without waking up during the night. Here, she is waking up in the middle of the night for a couple of hours and then wants to go back to sleep around 6 AM for a few more hours. I hope it won't take long to get back into her other routine. J and I are STILL exhausted. For me, it doesn't help that my sinus infection is getting worse and I'm probably going to call the doctor in morning. I don't think the over the counter stuff is going to cut it with this one. I don't think I've ever felt THIS tired in my life. Jet lag bites. Big. Time.

Ava has done really well with meeting all of our animals. She was a little worried at first, but it wasn't long that she was pointing to them and laughing. The dogs all LOVE her because she is constantly dropping food out of her high chair. They follow her everywhere hoping that she will toss a cheerio their way.




I'm thinking my Daddy looks a little tired, eh?

Ian is THRILLED his baby sister is home! He told me the first night we were home that he was scared he would go to bed and he would wake up and Ava being here would have been just a dream.

Ava's first swim in the pool. As you can see.....She loved it!!

Our happy girl!! We're so blessed.

HOME SWEET HOME

We're home!! I'll leave your with just pictures for now.....Jet lag along with a sinus infection bites big time! Other than that....Life IS good!!!

WELCOME HOME, BABY AVA! WELCOME HOME!

To all of you who have been following this blog -- Ava is finally on her way home, where she belongs -- this is the last post from the Blog Administrator (which I really did not have to do, thanks to the technical L & J who blogged from China) Ava is about to join her family, in the USA, where she will find more love than any body could EVER dream of -- Welcome Home, Baby Ava! Welcome Home!

LAST POST FROM CHINA

It's hard to believe that our time in China has already come to an end.  So much of our adoption journey was difficult, but how wonderful it was, that once we FINALLY got here....Everything has gone very smoothly.  I realize we still have our flights home and I'm really hoping that I haven't just jinxed myself! ;)  We leave tonight for Shanghai where we will spend the night. We will be without our guide when we leave tonight and we have to take a 40 minute taxi ride to our hotel.  The airport we leave from is close to the hotel....It should be interesting. ;) At least we will be traveling with another family from our group. We then take a morning flight to Tokyo  and then a flight from Tokyo home. Hoping and praying we make it past all the temperature scans along the way. Fingers crossed. We then have about a 3 hour drive home from the airport...I'm quite certain we will be pretty exhausted!! We're so looking forward to seeing the kids and for Ava to meet her sister and two brothers!    We have truly enjoyed our time here in China. We plan on coming back again someday when Ava is older, to show her this beautiful country. We're so incredibly grateful to the People's Republic of China for entrusting us with one of their beautiful children and also to that unknown person....The employee at the CCAA that made the most perfect match for our family. This child is more wonderful that I could have ever imagined in my sweetest of dreams and I can't believe she is really ours and we get to take her home!  I had always felt for a long time that there was a part of me that was missing....Someone that was supposed to be here, but wasn't. Finally, the missing piece has been found....We have our Ava.  My heart now feels whole....Our family is complete.  Farewell from China!

LAST MINUTE SHOPPY

We had a ball shopping on the Island.  We were told that you should only pay about 50% of what price you're first given.  I for one, STINK at bargaining when I already find the prices to be dirt cheap.  J on the other hand was out of control!  He managed to pay the least amount for just about everything.  We would play good cop/bad cop and I would always tell them I had to ask my husband's permission before I bought anything.  Anyone that knows me even a tiny bit knows....THAT is soooooo NOT me!!!  It was pretty funny.   We posed with a couple of our favorite sales people that we did business with.  The bottom photo is of Jack at Jessica's Place.....I seriously love Jack!  If I could take him home....I would! He was so much fun to bargain with and I would crack up everytime he would call either J or I "my friend"....He was a riot!

RED COUCH

The last photo just cracks me up!  Ava was thinking that Jade was invading her personal space!  As you can see.....She doesn't look pleased.

BEAUTIFUL BABIES ON THE RED COUCH

RED COUCH

We had our red couch and our travel group photos taken today.  The first photo is of Ava and I with our awesome guide, Veronica.  I can't say it enough....This woman was AMAZING!!  Veronica came to our room last night and translated Ava's memory book for us.  J and I were both in tears when we heard about her first B-day and how much the nanny/teacher loved "her La La."    We also had the camera developed that was in Ava's care package.  They took such sweet photos of Ava.  We're forever grateful to the Fuzhou SWI, Mr. Joe and her special nanny for taking such wonderful care of our daughter for the first 15 months of her life.