Will and Addie, the blog...

Update

2011-04-10T22:59:00.009+08:00

This is a long overdue update. I can blame it on having 2 kids now, work schedules, getting ready to move to the US- (in June) but really it might be because I joined facebook. It took me forever but I decided I might be the last person under 40 not on it. Anyway- how do you balance facebook and a blog? hmmm .

Here's some photos of our last couple months.

At the park

Spring flowers in our apartment complex
Will and his good friend Ryan
Daddy and his kids!

Will and his good friend Vera
Will got some fish! (2 of which died in 24 hours- good bye Jelly and Whale... what can I say we hardly knew you)

But our dear fish Shark has been holding on. In fact many mornings Will tells me "hey mommy, Shark not die" Yes, my boy that is quite amazing. :)

Rapper Will

2011-02-22T21:41:00.004+08:00

Ok I have to share these photos. This fall we were out at a park in SuZhou China and Will told us he wanted to take some solo silly pictures- and this is what came out. (we did not tell him to lift his shirt- though he does have great abs)

He looks like he is taking photos for his future music CD. Its funny because people have told us that he looks like a famous Taiwanese rapper/singer Zhou Jay Lun. They call him Xiao Jay (means little Jay).

Pictures from Dennis phone- back in time

2011-02-22T21:16:00.012+08:00

I am taking advantage of the fast internet connection (amazing-- I could totally live like this)- and wanted to post some pictures from Dennis' phone. Its kind of a quick look back over the last year for us.

Here we are at one of our favorite places in Shanghai :) though I think the donuts aren't quite as good as the US establishment . Don't you think they would make a cute ad campaign :)
Love this pic of Addie in She Shan- over Chinese new year. What a beauty we got :)
chilling on the bed in the hotel- we went to a hotel outside the city to escape a night of crazy fireworks.
on the subway... Addelyn on an important call
Why did we get the kids a doctor's kit for Christmas??? ha ha

Will's soccer team this year.
I kind of forget what this is- I think this is will testing out a massage chair in the mall. Obviously he needs the kids version.
One of the last family pictures of 3 we took before Addie came..

I don't know what is happening here- but it makes me laugh :) What a silly boy
A daddy and Will construction company creation.

A quick hello- Will school birthday

2011-02-16T22:43:00.004+08:00

Hi friends- yikes yikes yikes! It has been so so long since I have posted! Ah- it just feels like I never have time to wait for my ridiculously slow internet to load my photos. So much to update- Christmas, Will's birthday, Dennis's mom visit- so I will update more later. But for now- I had these on my computer so I thought I would share.

Will attends a Chinese pre school half day- and on his birthday they did the "typical" birthday celebration that they do for each kid. His teacher took pictures and video and gave them to me. I just have to share. It just cracks me up to watch this. I love love my Will but this has to be the most unenthusiastic birthday song rendition I have heard. I mean the kids in his class are really just mailing this one in (see video). Is that girl next to Will yawning??? And why is Will not smiling? Did they tell him this was a serious affair? Funny thing is Will loves to watch this video over and over.

Some Christmas season pictures

2010-12-30T21:43:00.012+08:00

Well I haven't gotten around to uploading the Christmas morning pictures- (will have to do that soon ) but this whole Christmas season has been a little busier lately with our latest addition. :) So here are a few pictures from our Christmas season.

Our good friend Gabe Ting took these first 3 photos of our family- we are so grateful- cause we NEVER would have gotten around to going to a studio to take such professional looking pictures- but he just took these on the fly at a Christmas party. (the theme was Christmas morning- hence us in our pajamas) Thanks Gabe!

And here is where the photo quality goes down- I am behind the camera now. Here is our quickie Christmas cookie making session (we did this while Addie was napping). Will still got to do his favorite thing- eating the cookie decorations.

and lastly me and my two precious kiddos- I am so thankful!

Christmas is coming...

2010-12-17T20:58:00.008+08:00

Been pretty busy here not necessarily with Christmas stuff - but we did manage to squeeze in putting up the tree. Will is so excited about Christmas and asks every day how many night nights is Christmas. We have managed to snap a few pictures of our new family of 4 getting ready for Christmas.

Will's Prayers

2010-12-15T21:27:00.002+08:00

Will's prayers generally follow this pattern

"Lord thank you for food

*Insert observations from the surrounding room*

Amen Chi Ba (Chi ba means lets eat in chinese)"

Often times the observations are about the food on the table which is appropriate but sometimes its about other things. Here is Will's dinner prayer a couple weeks ago. (fyi Addie had started eating)

"Lord thank you for food. Food on the table. Broccoli on Addie's nose. Now mommy laughing. Amen Chi ba."

*****Speaking of prayers: please do pray for Addie she has bronchiolitis- kinda like bronchitis- but viral so can't take meds- she is so uncomfortable and not a lot of sleep happening here- Thanks!

The 11th thing about Addie....

2010-12-05T20:21:00.003+08:00

....she has a healthy heart!!!!! We adopted Addie from the special needs list with China- she was diagnosed with an ASD in her heart (a small hole in her heart) BUT we just took her to the pediatric cardiologist and did another ultrasound of her heart (which she screamed all the way through)- and found that the hole had closed!! We are so so thankful and thrilled that God healed her heart. She is a perfectly healthy ACTIVE 1 year old. :)

10 Things about Addie

2010-12-04T20:35:00.006+08:00

1. Don't I repeat don't mess with her bottle!

- this is something we learned early on- she has to hold her bottle herself- this is how she did it before so its not something we have fought- we do try to hold and snuggle as much as we can while she has her bottle

2. Addie is active! She loves to move and clap and throw her hands in the air, and laugh.

3. Adding onto the above- she likes to climb ON things- chairs, toys, even a 5 by 5 inch cube she is trying to get her feet on it

4. She def prefers Chinese dishes to American food (I mean to be expected) with one exception.. Cheese!

5. She is just learning to walk....she toddles everywhere- and is so determined- she may fall flat on her face but she just gets up and goes again. (When she first joined our family she could stand, but not really crawl- now she has gone from crawling to walking in 3 weeks).

6. We definitely know how Addie is feeling. She is either squealing with joy or crying with frustration. High highs and low lows.

7. She loves her big brother. She loves to watch Will jump around, run around, do silly dances or whatever- he makes her smile :) (and I love that)

8. Addie likes to dance- turn on music and she is standing (kinda doing a sumo squat) smiling and clapping her hands

9. We think she's pretty smart- she loves to mimic and copy us. I handed her socks the other day and she put them towards her feet like she was trying to put them on.

10. She's a cutie!!! (see pictures :) )

More Pictures

2010-11-24T21:25:00.010+08:00

Here are a few more pictures of our new life with Addie :) Some are from NanChang and some are here at home in Shanghai. Wish I could make some more comments but it is getting late and Addie wakes up 5-6 times each night....got to get to bed!

More to come soon....

2010-11-22T22:41:00.003+08:00

I have so meant to post more pictures- just like I mean to clean up the kitchen, do a little work, and finish un packing. But some things are just falling to the wayside as we adjust to life with 2 kids (one being a very cute and active 1 year old). We are doing well- today was my first day with Dennis back at work and I had both kids all day. It was tough getting all three of us fed, dressed, shoes on and out the door by 8:30am to walk to Will's pre- school. I was exhausted- but I kept thinking this isn't like 1 hard day- this is my new NORMAL! Whoa baby. So I will post some more pictures soon of our 2 cuties... before I clean up my kitchen. :)

Finally- a post of our new family!

2010-11-16T20:51:00.014+08:00

Hi all! So sorry we haven't posted yet. I thought we would be able to post more- but adjusting to life with 2 in a hotel room is just tiring. Here is our girl! Addelyn. I will write more later- but just had to get some pictures up.

This is that first afternoon after they brought her to our room. She cried at first and then Will had the idea to feed her those kid puffs- she loved it! Way to go Will. Bonding over eating- it calmed her down. :) Isn't she a cutie?

Let me back up- a few cute pictures from our train ride to Nanchang- Will LOVED it- here he is with our picnic lunch on the train.

Will is liking writing letter lately- here he is writing him and Addie's name on the train- so sweet.
Our first family picture as a family of 4. Taken moments after she joined our family.

She really does love to laugh and play. We have seen already that she is very active and very determined- if she doesn't like something she lets us know. :)
Taken at the Civil affairs office on day2. Here the adoption is official! Addie is a Baker!

On the way to visit Addie's orphanage in the van.- Super Dad!!:)
A picture outside the sign of the ZhangShu Orphanage.

With the orphanage director, our guide, head of the children's department.

Ok many more pictures to post- we head back to Shanghai tomorrow- so hopefully I can post more then! Thanks for thinking of us and praying for us! We are so happy to finally be together!

Mommy & Will Date

2010-11-12T22:28:00.010+08:00

I thought since we are going to be a family of 4 soon and knowing that I am going to be busy with a little one that is getting used to her new family, I thought I should take Will on a little date. So on thursday I picked him up from preschool and surprised him with a date.

Here are a few pictures from the day (gosh I love that little guy!)

We started with lunch at Ajisen (a Will and Mommy favorite) its a chain japanese food restaurant. We also get fried rice and an extra bowl of Miso soup. (Will loves eating the tofu out of the soup. And since I love him so much I like to give him all the tofu :) )
We then went to the Museum of Science and Technology (we have a year pass) and got to visit his favorite exhibits. (They opened a new kids area a couple months ago- but 2 months later half the stuff is BROKEN!!! UGH! Good thing a 3 year old didn't notice. Here are some pics from there)
Playing with the wheelbarrel in the building area.
Will's favorite thing of the day was the mirror maze. He would bonk his face right into the mirrors - thinking it was the path and just laugh (it was actually pretty funny- thanks mom for that sick sense of humor :) ).
It also made for some pretty cool pictures....
Whoa what if I had 6 Wills?! He's a great kid- but I think I'll stick with the 1 I have. He's pretty awesome. :)
And of course every good date should end with ice cream- KFC chocolate sundae

And then we rode home from the subway on a motorized rickshaw (Will loves taking these.....ok I do too.)

Love you Will! You are going to be an awesome big brother- and you will always always be my baby boy (even though you're getting to be a pretty big kid :))

Changes coming :)

2010-11-11T11:26:00.002+08:00

Well hopefully you have noticed the changes on our blog. I just thought it would be appropriate as we get ready to add our precious daughter to the family.....this sunday!!! That's right- in a few days we will be a family of 4!

It has been a whirlwind week- we just got it confirmed yesterday that all of our appointments are in place and we can travel to Jiangxi province and go get her. SO this morning I just bought 3 train tickets to Nanchang and 4 plane tickets back to Shanghai! (a nice benefit of living in the country you are adopting from is that you can just go quickly). So in 48 hours we will be on a 5 1/2 hour train to go meet our daughter.

I have also changed the blog so people can make comments- so if you want to say how adorable Addie looks or how tired we look- ha ha- you can.

As we travel I will try to be good about posting pics- especially for the grandparents.

AHHH we are so excited!!!

Addelyn getting bigger- updated photos

2010-10-21T20:19:00.001+08:00

Here are two updated photos we were emailed of our little Addie- who is getting so much bigger!! She will turn 1 next thursday OCt 28th- and we were so hoping to be with her on that day but looks like its not going to happen.... sad. She looks good though- she has thinned out a little and they have given her quite a hair chop. In china they like to shave heads when the kids are younger- they think it makes hair grow in better and fuller and also its tough for girls in orphanages to have long hair - a lot of work for aiyis to have to comb and brush out the tangles. But this mama here can't wait to brush out her tangles!! She is standing in the picture- they tell us she can stand but not yet walk. (Oh I hope she waits until we get there- I want to see her learn to walk).

Also that little butterfly toy she is holding is from the care package we sent her so we are so happy to see that she got it. Now we just need to get to Jiangxi!! Please pray our paperwork would move quickly- I gotta go get my baby girl!!

More Summer Pics

2010-10-11T12:26:00.008+08:00

More pics from this summer. This is the Grandma and Grandpa Baker edition. :) Every morning we were at the Bakers Will started his morning with a homemade smoothie from his grandma and his choice of video. He loooved it :) as you can see from the smile on his face.

Playing grocery store at the children's museum (such a cool place) with Grandma Baker.

We also went to a place called Tweetsie Railroad- I had never heard of this place but it was so cute. And set in the mountains- really pretty to us city folk living in a big kinda dirty city.

Tweetsie had lots of rides andWill definitely loves rides now- though not so much on his own- he likes riding with someone. Is there anything better than seeing that little face of glee as he goes round and round?

Driving the cars with Daddy

Though it may not look like it- Will loved the ferris wheel- he still says every once in a while "Lets go on ferris wheel today" as if they are just down the street or so easy to get to :)

And the big draw of Tweetsie Railroad- the thomas- like steam engine. Will loved the train but didn't love (a big understatement) the gun show that you watched as you traveled along. But getting his picture taken with a thomas- like train- ranks way up there for him :) Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Baker!
Reading before bed- I love will stealing a glance to the camera here :)

Summer Pics #1

2010-09-27T13:28:00.009+08:00

So its almost October and here are the updates on us from the summer (better late than never). I am trying to promise myself I will be better at blogging for Addelyn's sake (I don't want her to the un documented second child- I will do my best!!) I will update in a few installments- we had a GREAT time with family this summer. Here is our beach trip we took with my parents to Myrtle Beach- it was so much fun- when you live in a mega city its so nice to be out in wide open spaces where no-one is bumping into you. Thanks mom and dad for a great vacation!

Family photo- soon there will be another little cutie in our family pics.
My cute parents- don't they look great!
Digging in the sand- Will didn't love getting sand on him (which is a problem when playing in the sand)
Will is into doing the opposite of what you ask him to do- so here is one of the faces we get when we say "Smile Will!"
And another.....
And Another.

Look! The grandparents caught a Will! Will had so much fun with his Grandma and Grandpa Rowe- who basically never said "no" ha ha

Meet Addie

2010-09-15T09:30:00.003+08:00

Introducing : Addelyn (Addie) Elizabeth ManShi Baker

We would like to introduce you to the littlest Baker- our precious and adorable daughter Addie! We were matched with her this summer but were waiting to get some official papers from China before we posted her pictures. But not we have them and are waiting on US immigration and visa center services for the next step. Addie is about 5 months old in these picture but she is almost 11 months old now! Her birthday is Oct 28th and we are just praying we could go get her before her first birthday. She is from Jiangxi province which is about an hour plane ride from us. She has a congenital heart defect- a small ASD- which means she has a little hole in her heart. Once we are able to go get her we will take her to a cardiologist to see what we need to do. Like I said we still have some paperwork that needs to be processed before we go get her- so please pray it would move quickly.

Will is very excited to be a big brother and we talk of Addie often. One day I was out shopping and when I came back he asked me what I had been doing. I told him that I was shopping- he said "Were you buying toys for me and baby Addie???"- I love that he is already putting him and Addie together- that's his little sister that he is going to be looking out for!

Ok I'll be better about posting updates on our process!

Daniel and Jessica Visit

2010-08-23T08:21:00.010+08:00

Better late than never.. here are some pictures from Dennis' brother, Daniel, and his wife Jessica's trip to China. It was SOOOO Awesome to have them here- and they were real troopers and very adventurous- definitely a good attitude to have when you come here :)

Below are pics from our trip to Beijing with them- we took the overnight train there! Will absolutely loved it, Daniel and Jessica well.... I think that may be a once in a lifetime experience for them. :)

At the Temple of Heaven
Going up in a cable car to the Great Wall

And sliding down from the top- Will's favorite part

"I play soccer myself"

2010-06-28T18:01:00.001+08:00

You have know idea what a big deal that statement is "I play soccer myself". See we decided to start Will in a little 3-5 year old soccer league. He hasn't started school yet but we thought it would be good for him and he would enjoy a new activity. Well we show up the first time and there are lots of tears - poor guy that big field and a coach and lots of little ones running around playing a game I have never bothered to introduce to him was a little too chaotic for him. For the next three weeks we continued to go and there was usually some tears and resulted in either Den or I holding his hand and running around the field doing all the drills and playing the soccer game. (I feel bad cause I mowed down a couple of 3 year olds while Will and I were hand in hand playing the game one week). By week 4 he told us "I want play soccer myself"- and he actually began to do the drills without holding our hand but us nearby (like 2 feet away) cheering him on. Hand in hand still at the games but by week 5 he played everything by himself- the drills and the game. I cannot tell you how PROUD I was of him! And it made him feel so good about himself that he had conquered that fear. Oh my heart melted when we said confidently "I play soccer myself". Now he doesn't quite understand the sense of urgency in the game of soccer- he is content to just run around wave at us and run over for hugs... but that's ok I like it and truthfully I'm not ready for him to be too independent yet. Here are some pics taken post week 5 :) The season is over and he is already anticipating the start of the next season. :)

2010-06-28T17:51:00.001+08:00

A few more shots of our little soccer player- so cute! And below the official Team picture :) and our after soccer picnic in the field. We decided it is easy to stay and have dinner there in the field since soccer ends at 5:30pm- Will loves the picnics- (I do too)- but that does mean PB &J once a week for dinner.

2010-06-28T17:47:00.001+08:00

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-24T22:13:00.001+08:00

Happy Father's Day! (a little late for the blog) But Will wanted to send his official wishes to the best Daddy ever!!

Here are some questions I asked Will

What do you like about Daddy?

"He tickles" - tickle time is a daily if not thrice daily event for Will and Daddy :)

"I like to sleep with Mommy, Daddy" He is referring to the 5 am hour when he comes into our bed and rolls around like a chinchilla for an hour- :) but it is sweet to have him there

What do you like to do with Daddy?

"I like to go to park and playgound and swing HIGH!" Daddy does push extra high

"I like playing cars, like playing trucks" self explanatory :)

What would you like to say to Daddy on Father's Day?

"Happy Birthday Daddy!" Still getting our holidays straightened out :)

Happy Birthday er Father's Day Den!

Now there are 3........

2010-06-17T12:46:00.001+08:00

As many of you know we are in the process to adopt a little girl from China. We are getting closer and closer to getting our match (which means we will know her name and see her little face!). We have been the Baker family of 3 for so long. but we are ready to be the Baker family of 4. This is the family picture we took to send over with our dossier. Hopefully before too long we will be 4!

Will is definitely ready to meet his mei mei (little sister in Chinese) and talks about her often. He makes up different names to call her. The latest one is "Dizzy" (that is a character from Bob the Builder) - we'll take it into consideration buddy. :)

Anyway stay tuned here because as soon as we get any other info we will post!!

Will and his cars

2010-06-08T21:43:00.001+08:00

Will loves his cars- I mean don't all boys feel this way? Its crazy how little boys just love them. And we live in a good place for this- we see all kinds of cars, trucks, construction vehicles (so close we can touch them- dangerous perhaps?) Anyway, we have this big bucket of cars and multiple times a day he goes and dumps the whole box on the floor to play with them. I always think he has too many cars but he plays with ALL of them- lines them up, remembers his favorites, my favorites, tells me what they are doing etc. Here in this picture; I walk up and he tells me "Shh mommy cars are sleeping". Its funny girls do this with their baby dolls and I guess boys do this with their cars. HA HA!

Dreaming of Vacation

2010-05-27T15:24:00.001+08:00

Den is about a month away from wrapping up his first year as a teacher- and it has been a lot of work and he has done a great job but we are definitely ready for a break and are looking forward to a little R &R with our family this summer. Here are a couple of pictures from our time in Thailand this past february- don't we like nice and relaxed? I guess its the hard work that makes the rest time so sweet.

Parents Visit

2010-05-13T15:16:00.001+08:00

As I mentioned earlier, my parents came to visit and it was so much fun. Especially for Will who had two people at his beckon call. Will loved having grandma and grandpa here to read, play cars, play candy land (again and again), go outside, play playdough... you get the idea. My parents are such good sports and traveled with us a few times. My mom even went with me on a homestudy visit to a small city out west. As we were riding in a rickety old van to the city my mom said sweetly (without a hint of complaining) "This is the most uncomfortable seat I have ever sat in"- she was right, it was pretty bad. She really got off the tourist path this time. Ha Ha

Anyway, we loved having them here. Here are a couple sweet pictures from their time here. More pictures to post (but I need to upload first).

Thanks mom and dad!

Big Boy Bed

2010-04-27T13:12:00.001+08:00

Well, he made it till a little over 3 in the crib but thought it was time to move to a big boy bed. So, when my parents were in town (more on their visit later) they bought him his own bed from Ikea- so cute. He looks like such a mini-grown up in it- I have been used to the crib for so long. He has made the transition great. Gets up each morning comes into our room and lays on top of either Dennis or I (not next to us- but directly on top :) ) until one of us gets up. The bed and long alligator (to prevent head bumps on the wall) are from Ikea- and to get to and from the store we use the light rail (elevated train). Den and my dad brought the stuff back and Den loved the sight of my dad cradling this over grown Alligator on the train. (As if we don't already stick out enough). :) Thanks again for the bed guys!

Uncle Daniel and Aunt Jessica's Wedding

2010-03-14T20:29:00.001+08:00

In my attempt to get caught up I realized I never posted pictures of Daniel (Den's brother) and Jessica's wedding back in October. This was a major event for the family because after 7 years of dating they got married (finally :) ) which made Aunt Jessica officially Aunt Jessica. It was an great wedding, no hitches, no high maintenance bride- just lots of fun. Jessica looked beautiful as always- oh yes and you too looked nice Daniel. :) Here are some photos from the big event. As you can see we took a lot of Will in his cute mini tux! Just loved it- he looked like a mini James Bond. (though I don't think JB ever ate a lollipop- not good for his image). Anyway, congratulations again Daniel and Jessica!! Love you guys!

2010-03-14T20:24:00.001+08:00

2010-03-14T20:21:00.000+08:00

2010-03-14T20:19:00.001+08:00

W I L L

2010-03-12T22:27:00.001+08:00

Will turned 3!.......two months ago

2010-03-11T16:51:00.001+08:00

So now that I have discovered this new way to post I can get a little caught up. Here are some pictures from Will's 3 year birthday party back in January. We rented a van (the party wagon as we called it) and then all rode to this new play area. The kids played for awhile and then it was cake and presents. I wanted to keep the numbers down since Will can get overwhelmed in big crowds so only 4 friends were invited. But I forgot that that means adults too- so when it was time for the cake and birthday song he had lots of people looking. When we sang the birthday song Will shut his eyes tight (I think all the attention was a little too much) and didn't want to blow out the candles. (note: he did blow out birthday candles a couple days later on his actual birthday with Den and I). It was pretty cute though. Then he opened his presents and the kids went back to play. Then we went home to a mess free home... ahh. It was a good day. He is getting so big and cuter each day.

This could revolutionalize my blogging

2010-03-10T16:07:00.001+08:00

So, I noticed the other day my last blog was Christmas!! Yikes o rama! We have not been lying dormant since then- its just... (yes all my friends are rolling their eyes as if to say- another excuse) that it is such a pain to get on blogger and upload my pictures onto my blog with our turtle like moving internet connection. BUT on vacation with some friends recently they told me how I can email a post to my blog. Wow- email?! So here is my test run, lets see if this works.

Here is Will at the latest western restaurant to come our way here- Krispy Kreme! yum

Christmas season in review

2010-01-11T15:39:00.014+08:00

Ok so for those of you that accuse me of never posting and then all of sudden posting a super long post......well this is me living up to that. Here is our Christmas season in review quickly through some pictures. Grandparents wish you could have been here, but hopefully this will give you a picture of Will enjoying the holiday.

(Wouldn't you know I posted these in the wrong order- so scroll to the bottom and scroll up for the Christmas season in chronological order)
my cutie
Getting ready to go to a Christmas brunch with friends
Train shirt from Grandma Baker
playing with some toys on Christmas morning while breakfast is made
Will's loot. He ran out to see it and was so stunned, I guess, he stood there motionless for like 30 seconds
Christmas Morning- our tree :)
3 year olds are pretty counter productive to gingerbread house making- they are more into the destruction than construction- but here is a picture of Will actually putting something on the house (picture totally staged)
Christmas Eve: We made gingerbread houses with our good Chinese friends Robert and Jane and their son Richard

And Rob- who loves to throw Will around- obviously a big hit with Will :)
Will with his fellow Taiwanese American friend- Eva. so cute

Rowe Family Christmas (that's S'more making where I grew up) Had some friends over for this tradition and a little 30 Rock viewing. We had to use candles to roast the marshmellows

Dennis' school Christmas party mid december- a visit from a very youthful santa claus. Will waited patiently for his turn- a little fear but there was a present on the line so he was willing to chance it
Start Here: Early December: putting up the Christmas tree- Will got into this more than last year- he wanted to put all the ornaments in a cluster on one branch- a little Christmas squirrel

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T17:11:00.002+08:00

More Christmas pictures to come but here is our little Christmas greeting for now :)

Okay this really is overkill- last song :)

2009-11-19T17:47:00.002+08:00

It works! Will singing again

2009-11-19T17:10:00.003+08:00

Ok I never ever ever ever ever ever ever get videos to work on this blog so this may be overkill but here is Will singing another song. I love when little kids sing- so cute. How the sing every third word sometimes or just sing the intonation not the correct word.

Will is very into singing lately. :)

Will Singing- lets see if this works...

2009-11-19T16:53:00.002+08:00

Winter has arrived

2009-11-17T09:51:00.004+08:00

So it is officially winter here. Really just showed up one day. So I put our electric blanket pad on our bed, turned on our heater units (you have to each room separately), pulled out our warm slippers, got out the winter gear and now we're in long underwear. For the record, this is not my favorite season here. But here are a couple of cute pics of our family getting ready for the cold.

I made Den take this picture before he headed off to work one day- I think he has 4 layers on up top and maybe 2-3 on the bottom. Those funny looking things on his ears are ear cuffs. He rides his bike to work and when its in the 40s you have to dress warm. Way to be tough honey!

A couple of recent pics

2009-11-12T08:12:00.003+08:00

So I am going to try and do better with posting pictures so here a couple. Below is Will doing his best impressions of Elmo. I think its pretty dead on. :) Also, here is Will with his favorite monthly publication- the Car Movie Magazine! Isn't that cool that they do that here? Each month they feature a different character- this month its Filmore. Only problem is - its all in chinese and I am not so good at reading chinese characters- but we have some local friends to help and of course there's lots of pictures too. So we anxiously await the 23rd of each month. :)

Happy Halloween :)

2009-11-03T11:29:00.012+08:00

Happy Halloween! Ok so we're back after a couple month hiatus. Its been a busy couple months to put it lightly but I promise more pics now (sorry grandparents). On Halloween we celebrated with other little friends in the neighborhood- it was wild but fun. Will took advantage of the chaos to eat as much candy as possible (he woke up at 230am that night- I think that would be the exact time the sugar crash happened). As usual when I haven't posted for a while I will suddenly post a ton of pictures- so here goes...

what do you think he is??? (answer to come)

We started off the day with what might be a new tradition for us.. making caramel apples. There aren't traditional pumpkins here to carve so I brought caramels from the US for this halloween activity. It was fun (again Will participated mostly by eating. :))

yum caramel spoon.......
Here we are getting ready- Will getting on his whiskers and nose...

Any idea what we are? (its ok if you don't know- I don't think anyone got it). We are three blind mice. (as Will says "fee bind mice") And we thought we were so clever..... (by the way I am imitating Will's face)

2 mice walking to the party (we got some looks in the elevators)

party fun and chaos!!!

cutey kids
Hope you all had a great halloween too!

What we did this summer #5

2009-09-04T13:06:00.009+08:00

This summer....we went to the beach!

It was so so much fun to be at the North Carolina beach- had been awhile since we had been. And Will has never been to the NC beach. He loved it- well not so much the actual ocean/beach part (digging in the sand was fun)- but the salt water he could do without. Instead he preferred to spend his time, in the pools, lazy river, eating, and playing with grandma and grandpa Rowe. But his favorite outdoor activity was surprisingly the hot tub. He didn't want anything to do with the kiddy pool, too cold. Instead after swimming for awhile he would get out and say "hot tubby" and head over. (Don't worry I didn't let him stay in for that long). It was a lot of fun for Den and I too. So relaxing.... here are some pics from that time.

What we did this summer #4

2009-08-26T12:02:00.006+08:00

This summer... Will played with his grandparents. Ok was really spoiled by his grandparents :) But hey that is what they are for - who else would let you watch Thomas the Train all day long, give you ice cream at 10am or play with you puzzle after puzzle after puzzle. There are lots of pictures but here are a few.At the beach with Grandma and Grandpa Rowe
Reading a book with Grandpa Rowe
Laughing with Grandma Baker
At the ice cream shop with Grandma and Grandpa Baker and Great Grandma

One more donut picture

2009-08-24T15:30:00.002+08:00

I forgot about this one- so add this to the previous post. We should try and get some sponsorship from KK with a kid this cute :) (that's the last thing we need- more donuts!)

What we did this summer #3

2009-08-19T14:39:00.003+08:00

This summer... Will discovered a love of Krispy Kreme Donuts.

(I mean c'mon how can you not love them). He was first introduced at the children's museum where he got to work in a pretend donut shop (how cute!) So then of course we had to drive across town to let him try the real thing. That was it.. donut is now a new member of his vocabulary.

What we did this summer #2

2009-08-17T06:28:00.005+08:00

This summer: Will celebrated his first ever 4th of July in the USA!!

So I made sure he was wearing his american shirt and got plenty of photos with American flags. We spend a lot of time talking about his Taiwanese/Chinese heritage but its also important to me that he knows that he is also an American- that is part of his heritage too. So we did up the 4th good- we went to a parade and then to a little 4th of July festival. It was great- by the end of the day Will was asleep in the car and Den and I were sunburned (how American of us).

What we did this summer

2009-08-15T16:59:00.002+08:00

So, we haven't posted in awhile- mostly because we have been busy but also because of my lack of wanting to try and figure out how to get my camera to work on someone else's computer. We spent the summer in the states with family and friends and did lots of traveling. I feel like I am writing an essay like I did in grade school- what I did this summer. So as long as the internet cooperates here (we are back in China now) I will try to do a post every couple days with a different snippet of what we did this summer.

Here is the first: This summer Will ate lots of popsicles. We have a new obsession now- he asks for them all the time.

Yea Taipei!

2009-05-30T17:19:00.012+08:00

At the beginning of the month we got the chance to return to Taipei, Will's birth city. Before we went we talked up the trip a lot to Will- we taught him to say "Yea Taipei and put his hands in the air" (we have been back a month and he still says it). We were so looking forward to the trip and getting to do lots of things with Will there that we weren't able to do when we were there a year and a half ago meeting Will for the first time. (Basically we were sleep deprived and overwhelmed and didn't get out that much). So I planned some jam packed days of sight seeing and culture learning. Here are a few pics from our time there.

This is Taipei 101 the world's tallest standing building (for now). And it is by far the tallest building in Taipei- I think by some 50 0r 60 stories.

This is Will flying high at the Chiang Kai Shek memorial.

Taipei has an amazing zoo- I think that was Will's favorite part.

These paintings were done by a local artist- so pretty- we bought a few.
This is will eating Taiwanese beef noodle soup. These noodle shops are everywhere!
Taipei is famous for their night markets which have all kinds of food and drinks to sample and shopping. They are all over the city. This is at the Shilin night market, probably the most famous one in Taipei. Here we are with our friend Grace (she was in Taipei at the same time too). Will is drinking a watermelon shake (barely put it down). I have stinky tofu in my chopsticks (another Taiwanese specialty)- Will and I both tried it- and lets just say the name really says it all- so stinky we could both only eat one bite. But hey we tried it right?
It got so crowded at the market so this was the best way to move Will through the crowds.

It was a great trip (we have plenty more pictures- but I'll spare you). Will sometimes still points out the window and says questioningly "Taipei? I think he had a great time. :)

Look at my big boy :)

2009-05-15T15:54:00.004+08:00

Will is getting so big I can't believe it!

But he will still always be my little boy..............

This is How Will prefers to be carried these days...

2009-05-06T16:21:00.001+08:00

even if he is just going to the bathroom to get his teeth brushed he says up pe de (upside down)

GO Heels!

2009-04-20T09:11:00.010+08:00

Well this is a little late to post- but the excitement of winning the national championship has still not worn off here. We were so excited that we got to watch the game live streamed through the internet. Thank you March Madness on Demand! We had our fellow Carolina family here, the Swems, over all of us dressed in our Carolina blue. It was a great! Not sure the kids understood what was going on but they loved the excitement, and the cake.

I made this cake the last time we played and won the national championship so the carolina cake has become a tradition now.
Jenny and Vera with Will and I. Aren't they cute carolina kids ? :)
Family pic (a rarity it seems for us to take a picture together). Will too busy with the cake.
Cake for breakfast... he loved it! (remember the game aired at 9am our time).

Dennis had the idea to proudly hang our carolina flag (blanket) - we were hoping that people might ask- hey what's with the blanket and we could boast of our tarheels, but......
Here is what the blanket looks like from the ground. Doesn't have the same affect when you live in a 30 story apartment building that is one of many. Further complicating our plan is that everyone hangs laundry to dry- so it didn't look like anything special- but we knew the real reason. :)

Hope you Carolina fans all had a great time!

Happy Easter

2009-04-16T21:16:00.009+08:00

A little late in posting but hope you had a great Easter celebration. Here are a couple of pictures from our Easter weekend festivities.

On Saturday night we our good friends over- Robert and Jane and their son Richard. I wanted to cook a traditional Easter dinner which I believe is ham, but after scouring the city we decided that steak was in fact more traditional (and available). They loved the food- esp the green bean casserole.

Robert has always wanted to try apple pie because he has heard the phrase "As american as apple pie" and it piqued his interest. Here he is digging into the apple pie I made. This is the first pie I have made in our 5+ years of marriage- it may be another 5 before I attempt it again- it takes a long time to make!
On Sunday we gathered with other families and did an easter egg hunt. It was really fun to see all the kids running around. Will kinda got it- we had to point out the eggs to him but once he figured out there was candy inside he caught on.

Most of the kid crew for the easter egg hunt- there are a few wanderers that didn't make the picture. After the hunt we all had dinner together- papa john's pizza- a real treat here- how's that for traditional.
This Easter we are thankful for so many good gifts. Hope you had a wonderful day!

P.S. I have a ton of pictures to post- so I promise to post more frequently- ok I said it now I am committed.

Making Pizza

2009-03-28T23:36:00.006+08:00

We love pizza and have tried many different pizza restaurants in the city. Papa John's is here but too expensive. And this little pizza place hello pizza was decent but we were outraged to learn they one day up and doubled the cost of their little pepperoni pizza. How could they? So we have been making our own at home- a lot easier than I would have thought and its great fun. Here are a few shots from out last pizza making. As you can see Will's favorite part by far is eating the toppings as he goes. I could hardly get him to look up at the camera.

This is the face he gave me when I asked him to smile.

The latest on Will

2009-03-16T08:33:00.009+08:00

Hi all, so as usual its been awhile since I've posted so I wanted to give you the latest on Will (cause I assume that's mostly why you check this blog :) ). Anyway, he is doing great- and growing quite the sense of humor (I love seeing what 2 year old find funny). A couple of recent shots of him below.

Will is still in his crib but I am thinking of moving him to a toddler bed- so I have been trying him out with a pillow and comforter in his crib and he loves it! (se pics below)- or course this is really just play time- during the night he is all over the place. I guess we all at one point learned to stay put while sleeping- how does that happen when we are unconscious?

Also- Will loves to eat vegetables! I know this is a lucky thing that I am sure will not last his whole childhood so that is why I am documenting him eating green veggies. So, when he is 8 and complaining I can show him the pictures of how much he loved them. (note. I am not really expecting this will work with an 8 year old but its worth a try)

Also, I am trying to do more arts and crafts projects with Will. But it seems his favorite part is not the actual creation of the art but showing everyone over and over his completed works. His attention span for art is like 5-15 minutes and then he's done. But he can show Daddy, me and anyone else who comes over his artwork- he points proudly to everything we have displayed. Our little narcissist. :)

Will the model :)

2009-02-22T22:10:00.013+08:00

Ok I am embarrassed that it has been so long since I've blogged. This is why I won't get a facebook- I just can't keep up online! All my friends blogs are so good and up to date with posting about the lives of their kids but I can't compare- I will just have to put up with posting snipets here and there.

So, anyway our friend Carol who is Taiwanese (yea Taiwan!) started this amazing company called Shokay www.shokay.com (check it out!). They use yak wool (really warm and super soft) to make all kinds of products and they work directly with the Tibetan herders to buy the yak wool so they can make a sustainable living and seek to give back to the community there. Really cool and socially conscious business model. Carol asked if Will wanted to be a model for some of their new children's clothes line- I said YES!! In a land where white skinned babies are fawned over I jumped at the chance to show how cute my little asian boy is. The modeling sessions (2 of them) were so fun and as payment we get the stuff he modeled. Thanks Carol! At first he didn't get it but then with us jumping around to make him look a certain direction and showing him the pictures afterwards he got the idea and enjoyed it.

Here I am a proud mama so here are his photos :)

He is supposed to be a yak- how cute!

At this shoot we had to bribe Will with a cookie to keep him focused :)

I stuffed his hands in his pockets just before the photo- ha ha

So I don't think I will be running out to sign him up for every modeling opportunity but it was really fun.

Ridiculously long Christmas Post

2009-01-04T10:59:00.019+08:00

As per the title this is a ridiculously long post, so I assume it may only be grandparents that make it to the end. But since we celebrate Christmas so far away from family and friends in the States we thought we would well document the day. So here goes...

We started out Christmas Eve with a great party with some of our local friends here. It was so fun to celebrate Christmas with them. Unfortunately Will missed the whole thing as he was fast asleep... but he would need the energy for the next day.
This is first thing Christmas morning...Will right away went for was this plastic giraffe and Bob the Builder video in his stocking- he wanted to watch it so we let him watch ten minutes of it. Little did he know how much more Bob was awaiting him...
Here we are at Christmas breakfast.
A favorite gift was this HaiBao doll(see earlier post for explanation) that his friend Winston gave him. Here he is feeding HaiBao a piece of granola bar.
One of the new toys. :)

Unwrapping a gift- Will REALLY got into the unwrapping gifts thing- in fact he opened most of Den and I's too.

Here he is opening one of Den's.
Merry Christmas.
And helping Mommy with one of her gifts.
Lest you think we never take pictures of just the two of us anymore.
Self taken Christmas family portrait.
Will taking a close look at the Bob videos he received from Grandma and Grampa Baker.
Getting ready to head out to Christmas brunch with friends.
Our friends Russ dressed up as Santa at our Christmas brunch- Will wasn't phased at all. This guy gives me presents...why be scared?
A picture of all the kids at our Christmas brunch. A Christmas miracle to get them to all be still for a second.

We definitely missed being with our families but it was a great day- we have been blessed so much.

Christmas Music Class

2008-12-29T16:24:00.006+08:00

Every week Will and I go to a music class for toddlers. I love it and so does Will- its our special mommy and Will outing. It so cute they play instruments, sing songs with motions, read a story, and play with a parachute. Around Christmas the teacher did a special Christmas music class and Dads were able to come because it was on a Saturday. Here are a couple shots from the morning.

Running from the bubble "snowflakes" and having a great time.
Dads were enlisted to be reindeer for the sleigh ride. It was so funny. This room with like 15 Dads with antlers pulling kids in plastic tubs.

Fun with instruments.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T15:49:00.003+08:00

Lots of pictures to update from the last couple weeks but for now we will leave you with a Merry Christmas greeting from Will. :)

Our favorite blue guy

2008-12-03T20:44:00.002+08:00

This might look like blue gumby to you but to us here this is HaiBao (Hi-bow (like bow wow) ). He is the mascot for the upcoming world expo and he is EVERYWHERE. We see him on subways, tv, parks, supermarkets, elevators, you get the idea. Well they must have done some market research because the kids love this guy- and our Will is included- every time he sees him he excitedly says "Rai Row!" (that's Haibao in his language) One time we were having some friends over for dinner and when they rang up from downstairs I looked at Will and asked "Who do you think is here?"- "Rai Row" was his answer. Not sure this guy makes house calls, but there will be a miniature version of him under the tree this year, so Will can play with him anytime. :)

Will is doing much better!...so we put up the tree.

2008-11-25T07:05:00.008+08:00

I realize that I need to update from my last post lest you think Will is still sitting on the couch all lethargic like my last post. He recovered in a few days but was still contagious so we had to keep him quarantined (he did pass it to a few friends I'm afraid- sorry Monica and Gina). SO Will was feeling much better but we were stuck inside so... we put up the Christmas tree! Before Thanksgiving I know I know but let's be honest its a little depressing on Dec 26 after Christmas and so this way we can enjoy it longer. Here are a few shots from the event. :)

When we took the tree out Will was really not into the tree at all. This shot was taken by me telling Will- "Will just touch the tree. Touch the tree." So definitely posed.

This is what Will asked to do for most of the time the tree was going up- "uh uh" he says as he makes the sign for eating.

This was taken to show you how very far from the tree action he was- he even had his back turned- ha ha.

However.... as the ornaments started to go up he suddenly got very interested and wanted to help. So cute.... and lasted for about 9 minutes before returning to snacks, but here are some shots from that brief window of interest.
So we have the apartment all decorated and haven't even made my Thanksgiving dishes yet- its great! You should all try it. :)

Here We Go Again....

2008-11-15T20:32:00.004+08:00

Many of you may know that our family has had a surprising number of random medical issues this past year. (Seriously two of us have met our deductible). But anyway, as you can see from the picture- it is Will who has fallen ill with hand, foot, mouth disease- yes that's correct you read it right. I thought that this was common everywhere but I think maybe only those of us who live in asia are more familiar with it. I'll spare you the details but it involves painful blisters in the mouth, hand, and yes feet you guessed it. Today he seems to have turned a corner so we're hoping that it won't be long until he's feeling like this again.............................

(sorry Will- your father thinks I'm horrible for posting this picture- but I couldn't help it)

A Quick Getaway

2008-11-05T15:14:00.008+08:00

Last weekend we went for a quick getaway to our favorite city in China- Hangzhou. It has this beautiful Lake in the middle and that's where we spend most of our time. There aren't many places here that I would say oh I love being outside- but Hangzhou is definitely one of them. We rented bikes and rode around the lake and paid the equivalent of 25 cents to rent them- crazy! Anyway- we aren't the best picture takers- I often defer to others with cameras when I'm in groups and say- oh send me a copy (like that ever happens)- or I just don't want to stop what I'm doing to take a picture- however this time we were really good about taking pictures. So here a bunch of pictures from the weekend (too many maybe?). :)

Halloween

2008-11-01T08:21:00.006+08:00

Ok, can anyone seriously deny that this is the cutest Lion they've ever seen?

Ok, so just incase you're not convinced yet, here is compelling evidence: a video, where he roars the cutest lion roar you've ever heard. Sadly, I (Den), like an idiot, filmed the video sideways (I had just been taking several vertical photos to try to get his whole costume). So please either flip your computer screen on it's side, or kindly tilt your head 90 degrees to the left, and enjoy the show...

Happy 1 Year Homecoming Will!

2008-10-26T08:21:00.006+08:00

We celebrated one year with our precious little boy. (We are a little late posting it but better late than never). On October 1st 2007 we first met Will in a little conference room in an orphanage in TaiPei Taiwan. I can still remember so clearly how nervous I was when I saw his little face. I had read lots about adoption but didn't know anything about being a mom (I think I called my mother that first week and asked how much should a nine month old be eating!) The start of our time together was many sleepless nights (lots of night wakings) but slowly he trusted us more, slept better, and smiled and laughed with greater frequency. I can't believe how much he has changed in just a year. He loves life, laughing, giving snuggles and kisses, playing with his friends, jumping, dancing(well rocking side to side), roaring like lion, whew.. he keeps us moving. We are so thankful for the amazing gift of him- we simply cannot imagine life without him. So Will- happy 1st Homecoming Day- we love you!

The first moment meeting Will.

So little!

Now here is our little string bean today- look at those long legs!
We had a little homecoming day celebration with some friends at our favorite Taiwanese restaurant here- so yummy and yes a little crazy as the picture looks. Can you find Will?

New Raincoat (well first one ever) Isn't he cute?!

2008-10-24T14:29:00.004+08:00

My Minivan

2008-10-13T22:09:00.003+08:00

As a mom living here I can sometimes lament that I don't have a minivan where I can strap Will in and he will just sit contentedly as I travel to lets say the grocery store then afterwards strap him in again while I load the groceries in the trunk. Now I know in reality its probably not as simple as that but when you are traveling home on the subway or the bus or a taxi with squiggly kid and tons of groceries the idea of having a minivan sounds SO nice. Well, when I set out to buy a new bike I had this in mind- let me introduce you to my china minivan. Will actually sits very contentedly in his bike seat pointing out the cranes he sees (he's very into these and with all the construction going on in this city- they are everywhere). And I bought the biggest basket I could find to load my groceries in my front "trunk". Seriously compared to other regular bikes on the street mine looks like a minivan- its huge. :)

Doesn't Will look cute in his chicken coop helmet. He HATED the helmet at first- would scream whenever I put it on him. (People would look at me like "What are you doing to that child!" mind you most kids here don't wear helmets) But I am happy to say Will has made his peace with the helmet and will wear it without tears.

Day at the Park

2008-10-13T21:27:00.009+08:00

A couple weekends ago we rode our bikes to a nearby park and spent the morning there. It was so so fun! The weather was beautiful. There is something about the seasons changing from summer to fall that just puts me in the best mood. This is definitely my favorite time of year- we get to be outside a lot and use our bikes, the bugs are leaving (so tired of finding them in my food in my cabinets!), and the holidays are just around the corner. Here are some pictures from our day out.

Bubbles- usually a hit with the kids- as you can see here Will is asking for another cracker and ignoring the bubble. Basically these days his world revolves around the consumption of crackers and baby einstein videos. He starts asking as soon as he gets up in the morning.

They had these little motor boats (without an once of power steering- it was like bumper boats out there) you could rent in the park. Here is Will and Den driving the boat.

GRASS!! I love when we get to be in the grass- living in a big concrete city this can be a rare occurrence.

Of course this park has its share of little kid rides. Will really wanted to go on this merry go round but of course once on it we couldn't get a good smile picture (the constant revolutions

adds a degree of difficulty)

We weren't sure how Will would do with a picnic- he usually needs to be in a high chair to focus on eating- but he LOVED it. He loved the variety of food and loved getting to run off between bites and then come back for more.

Believe it or not this is actually Will smiling. He thinks smiling is synonimous with squinting his eyes. (sorry couldn't rotate picture)

Me and my cutie!

Grandparents!

2008-09-17T19:46:00.007+08:00

We certainly have been blessed to have both sets of grandparents visit in the last couple of months. Will is sooo spoiled now (thanks a lot :) hee hee) Den's parents left last friday and he is still asking us to pick things up for him that are 6 inches in front of him (this is a common thing that grandparents will do for a grandchild). Thanks again to Grandma and Bampa, Grandmama and Granddaddy who traveled so far to see little ole us- we love you guys and so does the Will! We miss you. Here are some more recent pics.

This picture may seem random but Will is very into sitting on everything- be it a toy or your face- seriously consider it love if he walks up to you and sits on your face while you are reclining.

Baby Yoda.

Some new additions

2008-09-10T21:29:00.006+08:00

Lately we have some new additions around here- with the grandparents in town- here are a few pictures.

The rocking horse (Den's parents bought this for Will and he loves it!) - he rocks so hard the horse moves backwards as he goes.

Another thing is as he rocks he like to have his milk and blankets- but this does impede the rocking a little.

FISH! We went to the aquarium and Will loved it- everything on his level. We didn't bring any fish home though- as many of you know me and pets don't mix well together.

This may be difficult to see- but the scar on his nose is a new addition- Will had a nasty fall and so has his first scar at 19 months- sniff sniff.
Will's blankets: All of a sudden Will has decided to bond with two blankets- he carries them around all day- dragging them behind him. Its so cute but of course he gets upset when they can't go outside or in the high chair or in the bath with him. I know life is tough for a one year old :).

A Will Snuggle

2008-09-04T22:12:00.002+08:00

A Will snuggle: scrunch your legs up as far as you can on mom and lean in so as to get as close as possible. I love it :)

Bathtime w/ friends

2008-09-04T22:05:00.002+08:00

I have written before about these required childhood photos that every child must endure and well here is another one for Will- we don't want him to miss one. :) This is the quintessential bath with other kids of the opposite sex- so cute and this age- weird and inappropriate 10 years from now. (Why do we do this?) Anyway Wendy, Vera and Will so love the bath together and as you can see were in constant motion splashing. And now of course its documented online so he can be embarrassed years from now- aren't we great parents? :)

Feeding Himself

2008-08-20T22:16:00.002+08:00

I think I'm ready for this- Will loves feeding himself. You give him a spoon and a bowl and he is happy- problem is he is definitely a novice at this (we are still working on getting the spoon upright- he flips it over so only sticky food works for now). So as you can see its kind of a mess and somedays I think oh so cute and other days I think, ugh can I just feed you? He literally will disgustedly wave off some food that I offer to feed him, but then if I put it in his bowl and let him eat it himself he will happily spill ...I mean eat it himself.

Our Little Patient

2008-08-20T22:08:00.002+08:00

Sadly this is an image we have seen a lot over the last month. This is Will in the hospital - he is sitting with Dennis watching a Baby Einstein (totally a lifesaver in the hospital) while he gets his antibiotic. Let me just say - tethering a one year old to an IV pole is a little challenging (big understatement). During our first hospitalization he had to keep his IV in 24/7- I had to keep unwrapping him at night while he "slept" (there was not much sleeping done by any of us). But I should also say I am thankful for the care he received. Living internationally we can worry about medical care- but it was great.

I didn't take many pictures- I wasn't sure if this was something I should document but I did snap this picture- he looked so cute in his hospital pjs.

We're Still Here!

2008-08-15T20:30:00.002+08:00

I know many of you may have given up hope on this blog- goodness knows I almost did too. Its been 2 months since I posted- wow! Well a lot has happened. Let's see- we went to Thailand, Will got pneumonia and was in the hospital for 3 days then we came home, my parents came (yea woo hoo- so much fun- see pic), we started our move to a new apartment, Will got sick again (cabbing to the hospital with a cold cloth over his head trying to bring his 103-104 fever down- ah!) then a 4 day hospital stay (I will write more about these later), then back to our new apartment to continue moving, (meanwhile our landlord continues to try and squeeze as much money out of us- he's like a cartoon villian- you know not that scary but annoying), then I got a cold, and now we are all finally healthy and almost settled. Phew! Oh and somehow during the move we lost our camera memory card AND the cord that connects it to the computer to load pictures. AIYO! (as they say here- aka: Oh MY!) So for now the only pics I can post are the ones taken with the computer camera (hence the above picture) but we will prevail and get more pics up here somehow, someway. Don't give up on us....

Will and Vera

2008-06-08T07:26:00.002+08:00

Will has a couple of little girlfriends here and Vera is one of his favorite friends. They both are very active and love to climb and get into EVERYTHING! When they play together (or should I say next to each other) they are in constant motion. Here they are riding together in a double stroller- Vera's mom Jenny had a meeting so I was watching the two of them and took them on a walk together. Now I usually get lots of questions when its just me and Will out (i.e. He looks Chinese? Is his father Chinese? etc.) but the sight of me pushing these two cute kids just left many speechless. Though some did ask about our relationship. Basically these two together made quite a scene- I mean of course they would- look at those beautiful faces!

Having a snack...

Our little Will is growing

2008-05-30T20:19:00.004+08:00

I don't know what it is (maybe its the big boy shoes-so cute) but lately Will is seeming more like a little boy. He is walking and loves to walk everywhere- explore every room, climb on things, pull things out- he has a very busy schedule- really just packed from morning till night. Den and I just LOVE to watch him- it is so addicting. Here are a couple of recent shots.

One of the words that Will understands is the word "snuggle". As soon as we say that he plunges his head onto our shoulder or into our chest- the best feeling. Or if Den is holding him on his shoulders he gives him a head snuggle- as pictured above. :)
Here is Will at Toys R Us. Its the first time we took him there and they had this little play area and he just loved it. Doesn't he look SO big sitting on this bike?
Here is Will after a bath- again showing off the snuggle :). After bath he loves being wrapped up like in a cocoon and being sung to.

De Ja Vous

2008-05-20T23:25:00.005+08:00

The other day we were in a taxi and Den was holding Will and I all of the sudden realized it was the same exact image I remember seeing a little over 7 months ago the second day we met Will (and luckily I had my camera nearby). I got a little emotional just thinking about how much has changed in such a short amount of time. It has been amazing to see his little personality blossom and hear his laugh (it took us a few months to get those good belly laughs) and just see our hearts burst with love for this amazing precious little gift. Here are the two pictures..

Here is Will and Den in Taiwan on the way back from the hospital back in October.

And here they are last week coming home from lunch together in the taxi- isn't that the best smile?

Mother's Day Photos

2008-05-20T19:52:00.007+08:00

Our Little Ham

2008-04-18T23:26:00.002+08:00

More Pics of our Cutie

2008-04-18T23:09:00.005+08:00

I am desperately trying to catch up to real time with this blog- meaning I want to post pictures of Will that are current or at least only a few weeks old- and I'm getting close. But for now here are a few from back in March.

This is something I see a lot- Will with my cell phone in his hand. He loves to press all the buttons like its his own little baby video game system. He has even called people by accident- whoops. But for some reason it is so entertaining to him and well there are certain times during the day that having a self entertained 1 year old is priceless.

This is taken from the window seat of Will's bedroom. Baby in a basket- its just cute. And doesn't he look great in a hood? (Something that I cannot say about myself)
This is actually from our time in Thailand also- I bought that monkey for Will and it makes this really strange monkey-ish sound when you squeeze it. We call Will our little monkey cause he is tall and skinny with long legs. And he loves to climb up on the couch and on us. Here they are- our little monkey and strange Thailand monkey hanging together in the stroller.

Photo Archives 2

2008-04-04T16:55:00.006+08:00

Here is my second installment of old photos- these are a few of us in Thailand in February. A couple of family beach shots.

This is the beach hat that I bought for Will. Only problem is that they only had girl hats at the store- so I bought this blue one- cut off the bow and turned in inside out to hide the lace- Dennis didn't like Will wearing it but hey we Bakers are all for sun protection so he gave in.

And of course every family has the mandatory kid wearing sunglasses photo- and well here is ours. Cute huh?

Photo Archives

2008-03-30T23:16:00.005+08:00

So I may have figured out how to better upload pictures to the blog- yea! I have to shrink them and then (well it doesn't really matter does it) So, as I look back I have found some older photos that I meant to post. Hopefully in the next week I will catch up to real time, but for now here is are a few photos pulled from the archives of the last few months. (We have had Will for 6 months now- can you believe it? :) )

This is the ergo carrier- expensive but worth it and its how I carry Will around. This is his favorite position- on the side so he can he see front and back. Here we are all decked out in winter gear.
I love this picture on Daddy's shoulders. This is Will's favorite way to be carried on Daddy- he just bops around town waving to everyone from his lofty position. (He is really in to the wave- waves at everyone on the street, on the subway, everywhere)
Now this photo is back from when we were in Washington DC getting his passport. Well it was a little colder than I thought and as we walked around that night I realized that will was maybe a little cold- so we had to make do- those are my pink gloves on his web looking feet. All these other parents had their kids so cutely dressed and matching, but not our boy- I am the mom that didn't plan ahead (but he's still pretty cute huh?)

Hollywood

2008-03-13T09:44:00.003+08:00

This is a shirt my sister Maggie gave to Will- doesn't he look like a star? I mean how cute is he? And can you see that molar that came in on his right side- oh my that was a lot of pain- and he still has three more coming. And can you see his haircut- that was done by Den and myself. Our helper who comes twice a week told me when she saw the haircut "Oh let me help you fix it." I was a little offended- ok he does look a little like Moe from the three stooges but only a mother can say that right?

*** Also just wanted to say that our internet has been soooo slow and this is the first picture I have been able to upload in a long time! So sorry for the lack of post- but I have been trying. Hopefully it will get better*****

By the Pool

2008-02-14T20:57:00.007+08:00

A few more pics from vacation- Will hanging by the pool. Sorry I couldn't get the photos to rotate (I need Den's computer for that) but just turn your head to the right and you can see. Babies in just a diaper are so cute!
More later.....

We're back!

2008-02-12T14:34:00.000+08:00

Hello! Sorry we have been a little out of commission- but we were AGAIN traveling- (our last one for awhile- yea!) We are settling back into our cold apartment here and I promise more pictures or our sweet boy. He just keeps getting cuter and cuter! I have lots of pictures to show from our vacation down south- so I am going to try and post a few every day. Here are a few from Will's first beach experience. As you can see it took some time to get used to but he liked it eventually.

Ok, so no birthday video...

2008-01-18T12:27:00.000+08:00

Will turned the big 1.0 last week! It was fun, lots of friends came, and we even made Will a big cupcake, complete with chocolate frosting, and HE ATE THE WHOLE THING! Here's the problem though: in all the excitement, neither of us took a single picture of the event. Our little boy's first birthday passed by without a single still photo as evidence that we actually celebrated it. We did take video; but due to the length of the video (and our technological limitations), we're unable to post it to the blog. SORRY! You'll just have to take our word for it that his methodical, and eventually, quite messy disassembling of the cupcake was really, really cute. (Especially the part where he raised his messy hands in triumph when he was done.)

So, in lieu of the birthday video, we were about to post another charming video, this time of him checking himself out in the mirror, but apparently that one's too big too. We might be on to something here... maybe the videos aren't too big, but maybe our internet is too slow! Hmmm... Maybe all hope isn't lost on ever getting to see him eat that cupcake. Here's hopefully looking to faster connections in the near future... Oh well, in the meantime enjoy these pictures of Will meeting our social worker and friend Lisa, who helped us bring him into our family:

Long Time No Post .....and the crawl

2008-01-09T20:02:00.000+08:00

Well yes I have done it again and waited forever to post again-but I am going to get better. We just made it back to China and are re settling in and working on baby jetlag- very different than adult jet lag- takes twice as long! Den has been nice and has been taking the "graveyard shift" when Will wakes up in the middle of the night ready to play. It is getting better and I know its one of those time to apply that ever so popular phrase...this too shall pass. I just wish the phrase was, this too shall pass, quickly!!

I have been wanting to post this video for awhile. Will crawling. Den thinks when he's in the buff crawling that he looks like Gollam (that "my precious" character from Lord of the Rings). WE love it- always makes us laugh. Will is pulling up and almost standing on his own so it looks like he will be moving on from the crawl soon.

more later..

Fun with Friends

2007-12-01T09:03:00.001+08:00

In my last post I was recapping our last 4-6 weeks and I accidentally left out our fun visit with Eva and John -sorry! So here are a few pictures from our fabulous lunch together, which was at Panera- oh those bagels are so good-Message to Panera: Franchise in Asia...puhlease!
Eva and Will having fun together!

Will meeting John.
Don't you love his hairstyle?

Another Epic Post

2007-11-27T10:54:00.001+08:00

Ok so I'm not too good at regular posts- so I guess these epic long posts will have to do. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to. I really don't know where the time goes... oh I know lots of rocking to sleep, but the sleep situation is getting better. :)

I just love this picture of Will in his hood- he looks like a cute little gnome. He has had a cold so I am always concerned about him staying warm- this should do it. :)

Last month my old college roommates, Heather Kelly and Maria threw Dennis and I shower for Will. It was so great to see so many old friends (that was the best part). It was a book shower so we got lots of great books to read to Will. Here he is enjoying one of the them.

Then my sister flew all the way from LA to meet her new nephew. It was so great to see her and she found lots of new ways to make Will laugh. Gosh I wish I could see her more.

Then my other "sister" Sumi (we grew up together) came to visit with her boyfriend John. Here are some photos of us in Chapel hill (UNC campus) and at my parents place- we gave them a real taste of the south- their first time to eat southern bbq. yum!

So I found this cute onesie at a garage sale and wanted to get a cute photo of Will in it- this is like picture #58- Will would not stay still!

And here it is - Will's first Thanksgiving. He had quite an audience my parents, Den's parents, uncle Daniel , his girlfriend Jessica and of course us. At first Will was a little bit fussy (feed me faster Mommy!), but once he realized that he had everyone's attention he was happy to show off his clapping , smiling, squinting, and blowing rasberry skills.
Here is Will checking out all the after Thanksgiving sales.... is that a hint Will? ;)
And finally I thought I would close with a precious photo of our boy sleeping...and I mean precious- we love seeing this!! Sweet dreams.

Pumpkin

2007-11-08T22:27:00.000+08:00

This is as close as I'll get to an Anne Geddes photo (sometimes I think they are a little creepy). Its a little cheesy with the pumpkin and pumpkin costume but he sure is cute! :)

Both of these costumes we got second hand- and we ended up going with the pooh bear costume for halloween night- though we didn't go trick or treating- it was just an excuse to put him in a cute bear costume.
We got this bib awhile ago and it basically says it all- we have a new boss in our lives. :) In fact our nickname for him in Chinese is laoban- which means boss- or boss man as we say in English.

We're Still Here

2007-10-26T08:44:00.000+08:00

We are still here! Sorry for the 2 week hiatus. Its been quite busy packing up, getting all of Will's documents and flying 26 hours all the way from Taipei to North Carolina. As we have been transitioning Will has had some trouble sleeping at night- so we have been really TIRED (that's our excuse)- but things are getting better. Here are some pics from the last couple weeks. Thanks for following our journey to our sweet little boy- everyday we fall more and more in love with him.

This is a picture I love from one of our last days in Taipei.

Here is our happy little new immigrant! (This was at the San Fran airport)

The other day we got to go to UNC's campus (my parents live nearby) and of course we bought him some essential tarheel attire. He looks great in Carolina blue!
This is one of my old college roomates and dear friends Heather and her sweet little boy Drew. Den and I had lunch with her Tripp and Drew- it was so good to be with old friends- and so weird that we both have a kid!

The car seat has been a new experience for Will (he is not used to being strapped into moving vehicles). But he loves the camera so Den was taking pictures of him to make him smile when he got upset.......................

...................but the appeal of the camera can only last so long.

We have discovered that Will LOVES the bath- he loves splashing around in the water and getting us all wet. Here are a couple bath time shots :)

Whew! Kudos to you if you made it through this looooooooooooooooong blog post. I'll try to post more frequently now... we'll see. This new mom stuff is hard. :)

Will is 9 months today!

2007-10-12T13:40:00.000+08:00

Happy 9 month birthday Will!! He turned the big .75 today!!

Sorry we have not posted- let's just say that its been a little busy and crazy and down right tiring this past week. We actually moved out of our one room apartment into a suite at a hotel (best money we ever spent :)) so that Will can nap in the other room and we don't have to tiptoe and chew our lunch quietly. The apartment was very nicely set up for us by our agency and we were so appreciative but as first time parents we needed a little extra space.

Also- in other news- things here have progressed rather quickly- we got the final ruling and just had our appointment at the embassy here to apply for his visa to the US. So... it looks like we will be heading back to the states earlies than we thought- looks like Tuesday. Which is actually a huge blessing- it will be great to be around our moms and be able to have doctors nearby to answer all of my first time mother questions.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days. Again- busy active child= less time for pictures- sorry.

Lunch on the go! The stroller just swallows him.

Chillin with Baba (Daddy)

Homecoming

2007-10-06T20:24:00.001+08:00

Sorry for our lack of posts yesterday- we did indeed get to bring Will home. YEA!!! It was so sweet the orphanage gave us a picture book of photos of his time at the orphanage and they even put some of them to music on a dvd (totally bawled it was so sweet). Here is a shot of us leaving the orphanage. Will looks a little stunned.

So the past 36 hours has been strange. It has felt a little like living on Noah's ark (minus the animals)- there has been a typhoon that has been here since friday afternoon when we brought Will home- so we haven't been able to leave! That's 2 adults, and 1 nine month old teething child in a 11 by 11 foot room. And our room doesn't have regular windows (two very small 1 foot windows at the top of the main room and in the bathroom). We can hear the storm raging outside but can't see it. Hopefully we can get out tomorrow. It has been a good (though tiring) time of bonding for us though- so we are thankful for the time we have had with our little Will getting to know each other better and responding to his needs.

Now this shot of us playing on the floor has not been the norm. Since we have been home Will wants to be held about 90% of his waking time. Of course we love the hugs but our backs are sore (we take turns- while the other lays on the bed to give a back break). He is teething so I'm not sure if he wants to be held due to that or that its just a strange new environment and he needs the reassurance. He sure is a sweetie.

Speaking of sweeties- look at our precious boy here.
Rice cereal! Yum! Will is a good eater- I don't think he has refused anything yet which makes me wonder are we feeding him enough?? (Wait he didn't like pear juice) He is skinny but the orphanage told us he has a sensitive stomach and not to feed him too much. But if he's hungry.....I am giving him more than they said. Being a mom is already hard!
Floor time pictures....this was a rare occurrence today but there was some play time on the floor. Don't you just love kids in just a diaper? :)

This was taken just before bedtime. We have this sleeper that came with a hat and it was too cute I had to try it on. Doesn't he look like a little pea in a pod? We just love him!!

Fun Time in the Conference Room

2007-10-04T21:51:00.000+08:00

Yes it was a fun time in the conference room. That is where the orphanage sets up most of our meetings with Will. Its not the most conducive place for a baby to play but we make it work. He gets held and rocked and bounced most of the time (cause he can't play on the floor) and there are chairs that roll so that is fun. We have lots of peekaboo interaction and playing with toys. Today we had him up on the table standing (with support of course) and crawling between our arms.

After all that playing today Will got tuckered out and fell asleep on my shoulder. It was so sweet-I loved it. But it was SO hard to hand him back today (I cried). But we got confirmation that tomorrow is the day- we will bring him home tomorrow morning!

So, bye bye conference room-we are on to bigger spaces! (Well slightly bigger we haven't shown you pictures of our apartment yet :) )

Third Visit....

2007-10-03T22:11:00.000+08:00

Today we had our third visit to the orphanage to see our baby, and though it felt really really quick, overall it was really good too. First we actually met his current girlfriend, Han Han (in the background). She seemed very nice, but we didn't get the impression from Will that it's anything too serious.

We also got to feed him again, which went well, and we bathed him too. Wish we could say the bath went well, but hey, it was our first try--I'm sure we'll get better at it. We also had some really fun time of getting to play with him on the floor, which was nice because we hadn't gotten to do that yet. He really can crawl! Here's actually our first attempt at video on our blog. It's Will showing off how well he can stand with some help. He shows off some of bouncing skills at the end too.

As our time came to a close, we did get to put him down for a nap, and that was really sweet too. We got to pat and rub his back until he fell asleep. It was so hard leaving him looking so cute asleep! We also got both some good and not-so-good news before we left today. We were hoping to be able to take him fully into our care tomorrow (Thursday), and they said that we couldn't do that quite yet. On the plus side, however, they did say that on Friday we'd be able to take him with us when we left! So as hard as it is to add one more day, it appears that this Friday will be it!

Going to the Doctor

2007-10-02T16:34:00.000+08:00

We arrived at the orphanage 15 minutes early today (we were so excited to see Will again) and they brought him down early! Who knows maybe we will arrive 30 minutes early tomorrow :). Today Will had a doctor's appointment so we got to accompany him there along with his social worker who did all the paperwork. It was great- lots of time waiting (for once I was more than happy to wait in a doctor's office b/c it meant more time with Will) and when we finally saw the doctor he just listened to Will's heart and that was it- so no shots today. We think we saw some first smiles today when playing peekaboo and had some sweet time with him while giving him a bottle. Here are a few shots from today's visit.The following shots are while we were in the taxi returning from the doctors office. Will is a curious baby and is always looking around - up at the lights, at the car outside, doors opening and closing etc. - but there are times when he relaxes and kind of snuggles in and takes a break from all the exploring- here is one of those times with Den- it was really sweet.
Tomorrow we are going to get to see a little bit more of his routine in the orphanage. They have told us that we can give him a bath tomorrow. We'll be ready with the camera to capture some more "firsts" with us. We're hoping that on Thursday we can bring him home for good. We'll ask tomorrow about this- be thinking and praying about this for us - thanks!

The day finally came...

2007-10-01T21:32:00.000+08:00

Today, October 1, 2007 around 10:00 am, we finally met our son.

He was so big!!! So much bigger than the last picture we had seen of him! And check out the feet on this kid—they’re huge! I think he’s going to pretty tall. All the sweet people at the orphanage told us that he’s already really long for his age. We brought shoes for him, but we’re absolutely certain that they’ll never fit.

It was definitely a mixture of emotions getting to see him—we were so excited, and scared at the same time. He, understandably, was also a little scared. And it probably didn’t help for him or us that there were five other people in the room all taking pictures and observing. So while we had an unexpected audience for our first meeting, it was still so sweet to finally get to hold him in our arms. He was so soft, and we loved his hair!

The orphanage wanted to gradually transition him from their care to ours, so it was really difficult, but after meeting him today we actually had to leave him. We were scheduled to get an hour with him, and ended up getting two and a half, so we’re grateful. We’ll go back tomorrow, and the next day, and hopefully we’ll be able to bring him back with us on Thursday (we’d appreciate your prayers for that!).

So the time was sweet. He’s an active little guy, and while he was a little nervous around us at first, he seemed to grow more comfortable with us as the time passed. It was so hard leaving him, but soon we won’t have to do that anymore.

Here’s just a bunch of photos from our short time with him—we’ll write more soon.

Arriving in Taiwan

2007-09-30T13:02:00.001+08:00

Here are a couple of pictures from our arrival into Taiwan (and one from HK). We have been out and about setting up our little room and preparing for Will to come. I'll post some pictures of our apartment later.

This is the first site we saw as we got off the plane into HK- Krispy Kreme! We couldn't believe it (Krispy Kreme was born in Den's hometown of Winston-Salem). The other thing we couldn't believe is that after doing some quick conversations we realized we had just spent a little over $8 on half a dozen donuts!- yikes- but they were good.

We came across this add as we were getting off the plane into Taiwan.

This is our JOH (Journeys of the Heart- our adoption agency) representative that met us at the airport and took us to our apartment. She is so sweet and we are soo thankful for her.