Cuddles, Chaos and Christmas all in week 1!

So sorry no crazy posts lately - life here is somewhat crazy as miss sophia still has her days and nights mixed up - we are on day 7 of up from 11:30 ish to 5:00ish each night - I truly thought we'd be on a routine already - how naive - what there is not a magic mommy wand that you just wave and voila a routine - ahhhhhh us first time moms really do have messed up view of reality huh? Oh yesand the days of shopping for christmas and sophia and I would go out everyday and get a little done - - yeah right huh? LOL

Really things are great - sophia is doing wonderfully and she has truly bonded to us. Me the most but is really coming along to Daddy - especiallysince daddy has had to be up with her a few nights to give mommy a break :) SHe laughs, cries, screams VERY LOUD, says momma/dadda, sings and talks in her own little language, waves, gives high fives, crazwls all over and took her walked 5 steps unassisted yesterday!!!!! I think by christmas we will have a walker - watch out!

She has discovered the pug - oh yes poor mr winston already has his world rocked as this little lady is not going away like the others ususally do and he cannot get all of his sleep in :) Gotta say I'm with the pug on this one - we are allll sleep deprived.

Those who know me - I'm never up early - well Showers have become such a luxury that I woke upat 5:30 this AM showered, took the dog out, packed the diaper bag for our first outing to themall today, fed the dog, had a cup of tea, did a load of laundry, a pot of coffee and it's only 7:40, Amazing - Whew time for nap and miss sophia will be up any minute!!! And then the day really starts! LOL

We have the most wonderful friends and family who have taken care of us - gone grocery shopping, made us meals, brought us dinners, came to visit, cards, flowers, calls - we love you all so much and could not have survived this first week without you!

Well we're doing great and hoping to get a in a routine soon, we are all so very sleep deprvied - although sophia ia 1 she is like a newborn in the respect that she is experiencing all of these things for the first time - she has new foods, cars, car seats, new stroller, new toys, new crib - new clothes (that actually fit), barrettes, a dog, crazy parents, people smoothering her with kisses, visitors,m gifts, decorations, chrsitmas tree, you name it. It's all so very cool to see her discover everything, it has been great to waatch her take it all in!!!

Here are some pics for all of you :) fI'm so sorry to all my blogger and email friends - I totally promise next week I'll be back in full force to keep up with all of your jouney's in the meantime - email me privately and I'll send you my phone number if you want to chat :)

Love to all - -
Tiffany, Chris and Sophia

Hello U. S. of A!!! (happy thanksgiving too!)

Okay so pics are out of order but I wanted to be sure I got some posted today - sophia is doing great here is her first meal at home in a high chair - not to bad...easy mac!

My mom and sophia and I. Please excuse my appearance in these photos as I had been on a plane, taxi or in line for over 24 hours with no freshen up opportunites but sophie steals the show anyway :)

First time in my new room - i LOVED it -

Family of 3 - HOME AT LAST!

Look at all these welcome home decorations! It was awesome,,,sophia loved them and i'm sure she's thinks she's joining the party house!

Fresh off the plane to meet Grammy, Grandpa and uncle bo

One of my favorite pictures - captures her sweetness, we'll keep this for when she is a teenager and just has to have that coach bag huh? LOL.

Grand Hyatt Taipei Lobby - absolutely gorgeous, raining again hence the rolled up pant legs but our little cutie patootie had a picutre opp she just could not resist!

She loves to Head Butt - and it HURTS!!!

Daddy and baby takin a snooze

Right after my first bath

Happy Thanksgiving! Okay so it's a day late but Thanksgiving for us took on a whole new meaning as we welcomed Sophia to the US! For us it was an entire day of taxis, airports, immigration and well our Thanksgiving meal consisted of chicken and noodles :) It will be a Thanksgiving we will never forget. We are thankful for this experience, especially for Sophia and for all our friends (bloggers too :)) and family who have supported us throughout this entire journey. All of your thoughts and prayers for us have been answered. We breezed through the visa process (AIT), had no issues with her passport or immigration, and we are home free! It's never felt so good to be home!!!! It truly feels like a home now :)

We had a wonderful homecoming - my girlfriends and sister came inside while we were away and decorated the house in a sea of pink with balloons, decorations , presents, food and FOOD! Love you guys - it was such a surprise and to come home at 2:00 am and see the whole house decorated, was so awessome - once again you have left us speechless. We love you so much and thank you, thank you I'm leaving these up as long as possible - they may still be up in january for her party - LOL :)

Sophia is doing AWESOME. She has done a complete 180! She is so sweet and a lot of fun - our last day in taipei we went to the park with the beach ball we took (we had 2 hours after checkout until we had to leave for the airport) and she was so happy and wanted to throw the ball and play and this was a good bonding time for her and chris - she even slept on daddy! She loves the attention and is bonding nicely. She know takes her bottle from a new US bottle which is a big step in th right direction she also loves the new pacifier we have too so it looks like we may be moviing form the SLC pacifier soon. She did great on the plane - the first 12 hour flight was she only up 2 hours and slept the rest of the time. The last leg - was another 5 hours and she was up for a lot fo this one which proved a little challenging as her new game is to the throw things and have us pick them up (yeah I know a 1 year old crowd favorite!) but on an airplane with a seatbelt on well that's another story. The poor man behind us got a few things thrown his way too! It helped there were 5 other babies on the plane so there was always some sort of commotion and everyone was understanding.

Sophia is really coming around! the first few days she wanted to be touched only by me and looked at only by me - if anyone else looked her way she would cry and if anyone else touched her the same reaction - she still takes a while to warm up but she is really coming around to our families which is so nice to see - she's always an arm length away from me though :)

Last night she met my mom, dad and uncle bo and although a little shy at first by the time we all got home and she was on the couch playing, she was no longer a shy girl and really came out of her shell - laughing, smiling, and doing all of her previous tricks. She also started playing with all the great toys I had packed for her on the trip - LOL better late than never that's what I always say...haha Today she met cousin Madeline and really liked watching her play and started to play with her - this is a HUGE step as she was a little more than an arms length away and SHE TOOK HER FIRST STEPS WITHOUT HOLDING ON - now I'm not sure if she has done this before but for us it was a first amd we arer excited!. She also met Chris's parents and Great Nannie tonight too and she did really well wtih all of them. Chris and I were worried but she did GREAT and has slept in her crib the past few nights albeit a few hours at a time

Today Sophia met WINSTON THE PUG today also - let's just say both of them were less than thrilled with each other at the first meeting :) To say Winston warmed up a lot quicker due to dirty diaper would be an accurate statement but Sophia really did not want to be bothered - and then about 20 minutes later she got her first pug kiss and well she smiled and laughed and thought if was funny -- she watches him go everwhere. They will be bff's if no time :)

Chris is sleeping after figuring out what we did wrong with the baby monitors that just kept beepin g and beeping and beeping but he got it and still has time to snuggle with Winston.

Overall, life is good - every new day is a new experience forSophia and it just amazes me how she adapts and discovers things. I love it! We got home to a packet from the agency - MORE PAPERWORK this time is medcal report and our readoption papers for the State - - We will need to readopt her by May 20, 2008,

I'll post more tomorrow - we only had 4 hours of sleep last night - it's 1:30 pm and just put sophia down ...again! Looking forward to those full nights of sleep. I have awhile huh? :)

The last day of our adventure!

chiang kai shek memorial park

Our first eating out moment

She didn't like this outfit - Sarah (journeytohannahclaire.blogspot.com) you understand it's not Gymboree :) LOL!!! Actually I put her down to take this pic, not so happy with momma!

Snuggler

sleepy - do.

Well today is finally our last day of this taiwan adenture! Tomorrow we take the trek home and start the real adventure huh? This is Tiffany again today - yes, I have showered today, have both hubby and daughter down to bed and I finally have a spare minute to myself , I probably should not say that too loudly huh?LOL

We have had a great time with some naps, our first adventure to a restaurant for breakfast,a visit to AIT for her VISA and a trip to Chiang Kai Shek memorial and a pizza party with me, sophia and daddy - yeah pizza hut delivers to the hotel, (thanks for the tip Kelly!) and well we needed it :)

Today was better, she still loves her momma and needs to be held - which I don't mind I know she needs this attachment to properly bond - but I wish I would've lifted weights and prepared my back for all of this - y'all warned me but did I listen? Nah.

She's precious, she really is - we are very blessed. Thank you to all of you for all of your commens I cannot tell you how much we enjoy them and read them every morning when we wake up - while I'm feeding sophia Chris reads them all aloud and then I cry and then we start the day :) It just has really touched our hearts allof the love and support we have felt from each and everyone of you. Love to all - -

Rough Day Ends With a Little Comic Relief

This morning we had our appointment at the AIT and it went really smoothe considering we showed up 10 minutes late. That's okay since we were still there before the windows opened when we arrived at 8:10. It was really like a formality, he asked us a few questions and the whole thing took us 1:45 minutes.

That is the last time we left the Hotel today. We think the girl was sick. So we took her to the clinic in the hotel and the doctor gave her some medicine. Things are looking up and she finally ate for the first time since she had her rice cereal yesterday morning at St. Lucy's Center. Here is some video of her eating noodle soup that we picked up from the food court at Taipei 101 across from the hotel.

It was no doubt a harder day today than we thought is was going to be, but this makes it all worth it. There is a second video of Sophia sticking out her toungue. It was great to see her in a goos mood and playing around with us. That's all for now. If Tiffany can get her to bed, she will try to post later, but I think she'll opt for some sleep if she can.

Shout out to Winston!

ia

And now there are 3!!!!

It's hard to believe the day has come but we are now a family of 3!!!!

The day was one of the toughest, yet most rewarding of my life. It is a moment Chris and I will never forget as long as we live...how is it you can love this little miracle so much without ever meeting her and then truly feel there is no way you can love her more...until you see her face and hold her for the first time. I didn't shed a tear all day but as I'm typing this the emotions of this all are finally hitting me. It was nothing short of amazing.

Sophia has some adjusting to do. We saw our fair share of tears today and it broke our hearts - all we really want is for her to be happy. Mei Chun told us that her report for last night was not a lot of sleep and she didn't eat this morning - well at least all of her bottle, which is rare. They say the babies can sense a change and after today, I completely agree with that. She is also sick with a cold and saw the doctor on Friday so she is getting over this and then on top of it meeting us for the first time. She slowly warmed up to me but was unsure of Chris. Chris stayed really calm and would just inch closer - then the lip would go -- by the time we were home, this was over. Kids are amazing how quickly they adjust she slept on the cab to the train, slept for all but 30 min of the 2 hr train ride and slept on the cab ride to the Hyatt.

We changed her diaper, gave her medicine, and then tried to feed her a bottle and then not but 1 hour later , we got our first smile, our first laugh, two HUGE yawns, giggles and waves and blowing kisses - didn't want to leave go our fingers - loved Mom's glasses and couldn't get over the amount of BLING her mom actually had - both fingers, ears, and necklace and then now a PJ shirt - she was in heaven LOL :)

The day started with us getting on the train and me realizing I left the camera in the cab in Taipei! So my husband being the super man he is said - hey I was getting sick of that camera anyway, don't worry about it - as I'm fighting back tears. But we had the video camera all juiced up and ready to go. Taipei was cold and rainy - by the time we got to Tainan it was 20 degrees warmer and it was really really HOT!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. This was really a true taste of what you think Taiwan would be like - we have tons of video we will post some. it was really cool. We got to SLC at 10 and Jessica met us there.

I cannot say enough about SLC - they LOVE LOVE LOVE these children and you can tell this by each and everything they do and say and how thankful they are to us for adoption yu=chen and it was an amazing experience - Jessica used her digital camera to take most of the pics you see posted and saved them to disk for us so we had them when we left AND she called Hyatt to see if my camera was turned in and withint 2 hours we got a call back saying they had the camera - amazing, We received tons of pictures o miss sophia and we also received a book where the caregivers wrote messages and hand painted drawings on each page, we had much information on the birth mom and we got to see the nursery adn teh babies for like 5 minutes. Sophia wouldn't go to anyone but me (secretly smiling) and the children were either waking up.sleeping and there were some playing. So I did not get as much interaction as I would have liked but I did request and have a list of the babies I wanted to see and take pictures of if possible. I got to see Jeremiah, Zane, Samantha, and Eric. Lucy was sleeping and I tried to look for Odin and I think I finally got a pic of him but we'll have to wait to get the other film developed and I'll get it saved to disk to send these families

It is hard to see these children getting older as they do have knowledge and separation of the enviorment and people they have grown accostumed too - I believe SLC understands this. They were wonderful and very caring people made us feel at home the minute we walked in - Mei Chun gave us her cell phone number so we could call her with anyquestions...especially as first time parents - and that really made us feel better/

Sophia is doing wonderful. She is sleeping in her crib and has been for the last hour - daddy ran out to get McDonald's for us :)

We are so very happy and feel truly blessed that this day has finally come. Miss Sophia cannot wait to meet everyone - she truly has a personality like I've never seen before. She is definitely sassy and this name fit! The pictures do not do her justice or anyh of the babies - she is more precious in person if that is possible! She is still a little little baby in many ways and the way she gripped onto me and my shirt today proves that she still needs us very much and tons of cuddling - we defeinitely got a cuddlier on our hands - oh and a screamer too - wouldn't have it any other way - LOL

The little fam is adjusting and doing well - shoving down mcd's and hitting the bed it's been an emotional but fabulous day

Oh and since they found our camera - we found these two mug shots of the cab driver when we downloaded the photos - oh and by the way - we DID NOT TAKE THESE, hey wait a minute isn't that the guy from cash cab the gameshow...hilarious!

And we will leave you with this - LOL

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful comments - we feel so connected with everyone and feel like we have TONS of support - we love ya for it and we'll post more tomorrow or maybe even later tonight depending on how Sophia does tonight - please pray for us :)

Love to all :)

Tiffany, Chris and SOPHIA