From Shi Yao to the Shangri-la

We have her! The hand off was delayed by 2 hours. After the hand off we changed hotels. It is now 4:15 pm. She has done great only a small whimper at first. After that she began eating puff treats and playing with cups as Hannah and MaCayla played with her. Of course, Deann held her for a long time before that and she let me hold her.

She is active. She is adorable. She is sweet. She is quiet (so far). She is enjoying lots of attention. She has taken her first bottle and is now napping. She stands easily, but does not walk on her own. She bites...ask Hannah. She has 16 teeth. Her hair is longer than we thought and very fine. She has babbled. She says mamma, papa and Go Dawgs! Maybe I exaggerate a little, but it won't be long. Here are some pictures. They do not do her justice. She is gorgeous. Oh, and by the way, it was snowing when we got her.

I am going to try to post video soon.

We Made it to Harbin

We are here and we pick up Chloe tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. She will be traveling about two hours from Daqing. Daqing is pronounced "Da Chin".

Our Holt guide met us at the airport with a driver and brought us to our hotel. We were not happy with the room we were taken to and refused to stay there. It smelled of smoke way too bad to be in there with the girls,  much less a new baby! We had to call our travel agency and get it worked out. After a long ordeal they offered us another room and we accepted. To make matters worst our Holt guide does not speak English very well. She is very sweet, but is struggling to understand us. For some reason she is staying at another hotel.

After arriving at our room Deann found her coffee so things are looking up. Our apologies to the TSA.

12 1/2 hours to Chloe Grace!

Right after I posted this the first time we heard explosions outside out hotel window. Someone was shooting off fireworks right outside our window! I mean close... really close. The big kind. The fourth of July kind at Heritage Park. We are already shell shocked enough. We don't need any fireworks. Apparently, they found out we had arrived! The Chinese are so hospitable.

Forbidden Photos

Bye Bye Beijing, Hello Harbin

It is 12:45 AM here and I cannot sleep. I woke up and read MaCayla's blog from yesterday. She is a prolific writer. Check it our here http://macaylacook.blogspot.com. Lots of thoughts going through my head. Almost all about Chloe Grace. We are so close!!!!

We celebrated Hannah's birthday yesterday and had a cake made for the orientation feast. The cake was chocolate and raspberry (I think).

We leave for Harbin at noon tomorrow. We arrive at 5:00 pm.

We had a great day at orientation, The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square yesterday.

We were very tired at the end of the day and Hannah feel asleep at Dinner. She missed her pizza.

Hannah has been great. She says she loves China.

I wish we had more time in Beijing, but not at the expense of seeing Chloe Grace.

Things are different here (duh). For instance our bus driver made a T turn on one of the busiest streets in Beijing in front of our hotel so we good depart the bus on the correct side of the street. It would have sparked road rage in the U.S. It seemed common place here. His license would have been revoked in Georgia. You just have to see it to believe it.

China is not the sleeping dragon anymore. It is obvious in Beijing that China will be the dominant economic force in the world very soon. Five years ago the streets were full of bikes. Now they are full of cars. They bring a new meaning to the phrase "traffic jam". LA and Atlanta traffic seems small compared to here.

The masses of people on the streets is overwhelming.

I will post some pictures tomorrow. I need some sleep.

Patrick

We Have an Updated Photo-As you can see they shaved her head :(

The Tooth Fairy Missed the Plane

Hannah lost her first tooth at school on Wednesday (Thanks Shelly!). Because we were getting on the plane that night Hannah brought her tooth with her, but she forgot to put it under her pillow on the plane. Hence, the Tooth Fairy missed the flight. No worries she found Hannah last night and exchange her tooth for some cool Chinese coins.

We Miss You Elizabeth

A Magic Teapot & More

Whoa!!!

Major jet lag set in for us starting about noon on Friday. Our strategy was to stay awake as long as possible. We went walking, out to eat (we found a McDonald's), and swimming. We made it until about 4:30 pm. We are now showering and getting ready for bed. Hannah is fine and acting normal. The rest of us only had cat naps on the plane and apparently that is not enough. Tomorrow we have an Orientation Meeting and a Tour of Tiananmen Square (I hope I spelled that correctly) and the Forbidden City. For Chloe's sake I hope we recover quickly. Not feeling too good right now. Things will be better with some sleep.

We knew Angie had it tough getting Ruthie the within the first few hours she was here. That is unimaginable the way we feel right now. Monday is the scheduled "Gotcha Day". Weather.com says it may be snowing in Harbin (that is where we will get Chloe Grace) on Monday. That should be interesting!

Upside Down

We are sitting in the Seoul airport about to have a stroke if the coffee shops don't open soon. This place is empty this early. None of the early workers speak English so I can't find out when the stores open. Hannah did great on the looong flight. She fell asleep in the Atlanta airport, was carried onto the plane and slept for about 7-8 hrs straight. Needless to say, she feels great and is looking at all of us like we're a trio of traveling whimps!! Nothing a little coffee can't fix. Becky, we have our coffee packets handy. However, with no hot water, we may resort to coffee sprinkles!!!

We Are In Seoul-Hannah Slept Most of the Way

We're Off!

Countdown to Chloe!

We leave for the airport Wednesday night and arrive in Beijing on Friday Morning which will be Thursday night in the States. Gotcha Day is the following Monday morning October 25th. That is one week from tonight as it is already Monday Morning in China. ONE WEEK!!!

TWO WEEKS from today!!

As you all can see from our previous picture - the packing has begun!!  We leave in exactly 2 weeks for China!  It's hard to believe this journey has finally gotten down to such a  short time.  We are excited, anxious to get Chloe Grace and trying to do last minute planning.  I know I will overpack but I hate to not feel prepared.  The next 13 days should be very interesting to say the least!

Getting Ready!!! 17 more Days

Travel Approval!

We got word from our agency today that we have received our travel approval from China.

This means that we can officially go to China to get our little girl.  We have to wait for confirmation on dates but it is looking really good for late October travel.  We are very excited to finally see some light at the end of the tunnel in this process to get Chloe Grace. I (Deann) have started packing and have been gathering things for weeks now.  I can't wait to hold her in my arms and see that she is OK.  The neat part about our travel (if we get the dates we are hoping for) is that our Hannah will have her 6th birthday in China.  She turned one in China without us and now we can all celebrate her birthday in China together!  How cool is it to get a baby sister for your birthday?!?!?  We will post our final travel plans when we know them.

MaCayla turns 12!!! and we are still waiting!

Today is MaCayla's 12th birthday!  Where did all of those years go?  We all got up and got ready for our day earlier than normal.  We told the girls that we could go to Chick-fil-A for Mac's bday.  That was a huge motivation as the girls  were ready before Mama or Daddy!  We did make it and enjoyed a little time before the girls had to be at school. 

We have received our I-800 Provisional Approval and our NVC letter. So, as of  Monday, everything is in Holt's Beijing office waiting to be sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China.  Come on Article 5 and TA!!!  Holt did tell us we could maybe expect to be in China near the end of October.  I've told Hannah it would be cool if she turned 6 in China.  We are all very anxious to get our hands on Chloe Grace!

Questions

We often think about Chloe Grace and what she could be doing. Like right now it is 7:45 pm here and in China it is tomorrow morning. Is she waking up? Drinking a bottle? Crawling around? Can she walk? How many children share a room or even a crib with her? Does she get enough hugs? Is she ever hungry? Can she talk? She is getting older by the minute. We sent her a photo album. Do her Nannies show her pictures of our family so she at least knows something about us?

We are being as patient as we can be. It is not easy. We are ready to have her with us. The process can be frustrating. Things are not under our control. We are relying on governmental bureaucracy to do its job swiftly. So, we wait and hope that all the things that need to happen for us to go to China can happen quickly.

Kindergarten, Here I Come!!!

More Update Pics of Chloe Grace!

Update Photo!

LOA is Signed, Sealed and Delivered!!!

Preparing for Chloe Grace

Chloe Grace Shiyao Cook

Announcing Chloe Grace Shiyao Cook. She currently resides in the City of Daqing in the Province of Heilongjiang in The People's Republic of China. Soon to be a resident of Georgia with her forever family, but not soon enough. Hopefully, if all goes well we will be traveling to the Manchurian area of China to bring Chloe Shiyao home very soon. The Cook Family is very excited to share this news with all our friends and family. Thanks to everyone for your support as we have waited for this news over the past three years.

The red dot on Chloe's forehead can represent a caregivers affection for her, beauty or a good luck symbol. The pictures seem to show a well taken care of baby girl and for that we are grateful.

Hannah & Shea Play Dressup

Perfectly Polished 2010

Notice the Painting in the background. MaCayla was 3 in that painting.

Another Light House Picture

Captain Hannah!

Dolphin Tour

Dolphin tour at Tybee in the South Channel

Light house near Fort Pulaski

Love

The secret to life...

Text messaging to blog...awesome

Long Weekend

We are in the process for international adoption from China, again. As a matter of fact we have been in process for over three yea

More Beach Fun

MaCayla's Shells

MaCayla has been busy collecting shells while on vacation. Here are a few of her favorites.

Sister Sister

MaCayla is the best Big Sister ever. She is so patient and gentle with Hannah. She never seems irritated or frustrated with Hannah and she always has time to play with her. She is learning her boundaries as far as being "the mommy" and no one can make Hannah laugh like MaCayla. Hannah has a deep belly laugh.

Hannah continues to smile often, but she has lost the squinted eyes and underbite smile that was so prevelant in China. It was a fake smile anyway, but it was very cute. She is not obsessed with food anymore. She can actually fill up now. No more bottomless pit. She loves "meat sticks". Don't ask me what they are I don't want to have to find out. They look like Vienna Sausage is all I'll say.

Yikes

For six days straight last week Hannah vomitted. With no medical history we were scared something serious may be wrong. After a few doctors visits and one hospital visit we found out she has reflux. When we got her in China she had a serious ear infection. After three different antibiotics she still has the ear infection, which contributes to the reflux because of the congestion and drainage.

The only thing that really upsets Hannah is not feeding her. No food, no peace. For six days we would feed her and she would vomit. She would immediately ask to be fed again, but we would stop feeding her until the next meal because we didn't know what was going on. On top of that, we really could not feed her a regular meal (clear liquids, etc.). This child eats like there is no tommorrow and we were putting her to bed hungry :( We did not feel like we had a choice.

She is better now and eating a regular diet. We will see an ENT sometime soon.

Despite the hunger Hannah was still an amazingly delightful child and her big Sister, MaCayla is showing she has a compassionate and loving heart towards her little Sister.

Oh, Hannah is drinking milk now. Yippee!

Joy! Joy!

The past three weeks have been the best I can ever remember. Deann is so happy spending all her time with MaCayla and Hannah. MaCayla is having a hard time concentrating on school, because she wants to be with Hannah so much. I am joyful to see my family so happy. Hannah is a delight. It's as if she lives to smile at everyone. If it all ended right now I would still be grateful to God for the past three weeks.

Sadly, I think I have been missing out on God's blessings from previous doubt and questioning God's plan in my life. Note to self-God is in control.

Potty Trained?

So many people have commented about my blog I would like to thank you all. Originally, this blog started out as a journal in a simple spiral notebook as a way to record my thoughts , feelings and emotions about our adoption of Hannah. After I transferred my journal to this blog I thought it would be a good way of keeping family and friends updated about our experiences in China as we traveled to bring Hannah home. I never expected the response I have received from so many people. Are you all just being nice? Anyway, I have no idea where this blog will go from here. I want to continue to write about my family, but I have a lot of opinions about other things too...Although they are usually trivial about my perspective on life.

I failed to write about one very funny thing that happened to Deann right after we received Hannah. The foster mother very clearly told us she goes to the toilet after breakfast. Little did we know she literally meant toilet. Evidently, at thirteen months old Hannah was potty trained. Deann was holding Hannah as she changed her clothes on the bed when Deann began making whistling noises at Hannah. Hannah abruptly stopped smiling and looked at Deann with her head half cocked as if to say "are you sure?". What happened next can only be described as "yuck". We had read where the Chinese potty train very young children by holding them over the toilet (squatty potty) and whistling to signal them to start "going". Deann can confirm that the Chinese do in fact practice this method of potty training. Needless to say, we have since abandoned whistling when Hannah is present :)