Finally An Update!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update the blog.  I have been really enjoying watching Tia explore her new world. 

She is doing so many new things!  She sits up, crawls, pulls herself up and shakes her head "No".  The two top front teeth are coming in.  That was not fun!  I think she may even be getting a molar now and that really is not fun. She gets a little cranky and we can't blame her for that.  She loves her pool and can spend hours in it.  She puts her toys in and out of it.  It is so cute!

Here are some videos and pictures to keep everyone smiling!

Coco loves having Tia around.  So many soft blankets to sleep on!

Father's Day

Steve had his first official Father's Day!  It was a great day!  Tia gave him a picture of the two of them for his desk and a gift certificate for golf!  Daddy's favorite thing!  Then we had a nice dinner with Nanny and Poppy and

she got to meet two more cousin's!

They brought her a wonderful toy that she has played non-stop with since Sunday!

She is teething like crazy!  She is chewing on everything!  She gets a little fussy ,but overall is really good.  I just wish those teeth would come in and not hurt her so much.

Excercising Her Legs

Here are two videos of Tia exercising her legs.  One is from when we were in China and the other home.  Check-out how much she has grown already!!!  I think she is determined to walk not crawl! 

This one is from in China

This one is once we are home.

I cannot believe the growth in her already.  She has become so much stronger in such a short period of time.  It is absolutely amazing!

Changes and Adjustments

First I want to say thank you to everyone for calling, texting or emailing us their good wishes. I am sorry that I have not gotten back to everyone but we are experiencing a lot of changes and adjustments. Our clocks are still off and Tia, doing well all things considered, is still not completely in this time zone. So when Tia naps, we all nap since we are up during the night.

We know everyone wants to see her, but we are all still adjusting. Her more than us. You have to remember that she is nine months old and knows she is not where she was. Everything is so new to her. You watch her and you can see her processing everyone she meets and everything she sees. There are a lot of changes happening for her. Sights, smells, sounds and even her food. Overall she is adapting well.

So, here are some pictures of her trying her first taste of bananas. As you can see,she loved them!

Friday

We are finally home!  It was a long trip but a good trip.  We are exhausted and in desperate need of sleep.  So when we wake up and can actually think, I will post more on how Tia did on the plane and how she is doing at home.

Thanks!

Wednesday

Today we had our appointment at the Consulate and I have to say I was pretty surprised at how well it went. For some reason I thought we would be there for awhile and the people would be sort of uptight. Not at all. We were all in and out in about an hour and everyone could not have been nicer. We all took our oath for our children, they reviewed our paperwork and said our visas would be ready tomorrow afternoon. Once we receive them we will be leaving for Hong Kong and meeting an old friend of ours at our hotel there. It will be nice to see Tim as we have not seen him in a few years. He used to work with me but now works and lives in Hong Kong.

The rest of the day we walked through some shops near the hotel and hung out in our room playing with Tia. She loves to play on the floor or bed with us. It is amazing how much she has grown in only a week and a half.

We had dinner with John, Stacy, Grace and Conrad. We went to Sabah which we have gotten take-out from several times. It serves Malaysian cuisine which was very good. We decided to eat there instead of take it back to the hotel. It was quite nice.

This may be the last post until we get home. Thanks for following our journey and I will post when we get home!

Tuesday

Today we went to the Guangzhou Zoo. We had a very nice day there. The three families that are here together from our agency figured out the subway and we headed to the zoo! I have to say I was pretty nervous to begin with but the only thing we did wrong was on the way back we came up the "B" side which put us across the highway from the hotel. We went back down and then came up the "A" side which put us right in front of our hotel. It was very nice to spend the day with our group and go at our own pace. Tia slept through the beginning but woke up just in time to see the pandas. She enjoyed watching everyone and everything. She is so curious about everything.

We came back to the hotel hoping Tia would take a nap but that lasted about five minutes. She of course fell asleep about a half hour before we were supposed to go to dinner. Surprisingly she woke up happy when I picked her up to put her in the stroller. I couldn't have her sleep too late or she would not go to sleep tonight. We have our consulate appointment first thing in the morning so we have to be up, showered, fed, dressed and ready to go by 7:45 AM. She had to go to bed on time for that to happen!