Two months home!

Hard to imagine that it has been only two months since we have been home, I feel like we have been together all ten months of her life. Things have been going swimmingly, except last weekend when she had a very high fever and double ear infection. She is on the mend now, and mommy and daddy actually had their first date night last night at Octoberfest. Today she got to meet Sammi, the first beautiful girl in our Families with Chinese Children group. We also had a fun evening at our friend Joyce, Castor and Alex's house with our other FCC friends. Enjoy the pics!

The newest member of the Berry/Fiori clan

I took Amelie up to the DC area this weekend to meet my mom, stepdad, grandma, brothers, sister in laws, cousins, nephews and neice. I feel truly blessed to have a family who loves her and welcomed her with huge open arms. I know many fellow adoptive parents who just don't have that in their lives. Sadly, and oddly to me, some people just don't get adoption. Luckily Amelie's new, giant family loves her to pieces! Enjoy the pics of our visit!

One more...couldn't resist

Week 5 and 6

Where do the hours go? I am jealous of people who write daily in their blogs, and who write more than a sentence of two. Well I guess a picture tells 1000 words right? Amelie is still doing great, I have never felt so complete. Wow, that sounded cheesey as all get-up.

Did I mention that D and I adopted three more kids this week? Alright fine, these are from Ana and Ron's, Amelie's friends Gigi, Brea and Alex are her fellow FCC buddies. This picture of Amelie on Gigi's daddy's back, and Gigi on Amelie's daddy's back is just too cute for words. She loves her new friends. She also, clearly, loves her fur-sisters.

Week 4 Pics

It is unbeleivable how good things are going. She is still sleeping soundly at night, still potty trained, still easy going. I almost feel guilty because I know that we are lucky. Alot of adoptive parents go through many sleep issues, eating issues, attachement issues, sensory issues and thus far (knock on wood), everything seems to be going well. I was worried about overstimulating her in the beginning, but if we have a play date or two, still sleeps very well. She is a very happy, smiley little gal. Today we had a play date with her new friend, 7 month old Sarah, and then stopped by to see her new fur-friend, 4 month old Mastiff Lily.

Just a few pics from this week....enjoy!

Week 3

Amelie seems to be doing well and adjusting nicely. She is still sleeping well and eats like a piggy, David calls her his little hippo. We have been getting out quite a bit and so far she doesn't seem to be overstimulated. Man, I can't imagine life without her.

Week 2

A picture tells a thousand words and as you can see all is going well. A few sleep issues but she is a happy girl who loves meeting new people and adores her fur-sisters!

It's been a week already?

I can't believe we have been home a week already. Still a little jet-lagged, but we are all doing ok. Amelie sleeps like such a champ still, so we are counting our blessings, and our sheep too. She is also doing great with the potty training, I have cleaned a poopy diaper in 5 days. Pretty cool for only 8 months. Should we ever have a bio kid, I will train them early too. Finally got her an exersaucer so I can put her down for a few minutes at a time because man does 19 pounds get heavy! The pups adore her, and she them.

Signing off for the evening, going to go settle down with my O magazine and new 800 thread count sheets.....

Home at Last!

I am happy to announce that the de la Rosa family is finally home. Not the de la Rosa couple, the de la Rosa-party of 3-FAMILY. Amelie was an absolute trooper on the long journey home. I think I whined more than she did. Our trip home started with a bus ride to the Guangzhou airport where the 4 families who left on Friday encountered the oh-so-fun immigration counter stops and multiple security checks to get out of China. I swear, the next time I have to flash my passport so many times, it better get some stamps that say "Tahiti" and "Ireland". We boarded a quick flight to Hong Kong which got in past midnight. We got to the hotel at 1 am and our wake up call was at 6 am....yeah, that was a fun call. So up we went back to the Hong Kong airport to board the 16 hour flight back to JFK. Amelie slept almost the entire time. We were amazed. We tried to sleep, but when it's 50 degrees on the plane and people are coughing and sneezing all around you (oh, and I was one of them), it's kind of hard to dooze off in the upright position holding a sack of Chinese potatoes. I did get to watch The Hangover again though so there is a plus. Bradley Cooper, you fine! We touched down at JFK airport around 2 pm, or maybe am depending on which time zone your body is still on. Went through immigration again, where they super-friendly officers (eye roll) announced that baby girl is a US Citizen. We got some soup and a turkey sub (was craving those since in China they don't really do sandwiches or ministrone soup) and went to the gate for our flight to WPB and all three of us passed right out for a good hour. The three hour flight home was a breeze. We sat next to a fresh faced Delta Gamma sorority gal who entertained Amelie the entire time. Amelie sat on my lap and played with her new friend Molly and never once cried.

We had probably 30 people greet us at the airport, which we were pleasantly surprised to see. Amelie loved the attention, she is very curious about other people and had on a big grin. It was so wonderful to finally be home. Our amazing friends stuffed our freezer and fridge with delicious foods and Amy put a ton of welcome home signs all over. The three of us passed out around 11:30 and McStinky slept til almost 6 am, even though she did nothing but sleep on the plane ride back to the US. We all took a 5 hour nap on Sunday, which was probably dumb, but the three of us had no problems sleeping through the night that night either.

I did want to mention that my biggest concern was our giant dogs, and if they would like each other. We found out the next day when they were licking her that she loves them. She giggles when they kiss on her and she is always reaching out to grab them. Somehow, knock on wood, things are great so far.

Thank you once again to all who have supported us on this journey!

Headed home tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!

TGIF has a whole new meaning. Although we dread the three change of planes, long layovers and twenty hours of flight time we are so ready to start our new life as a family back home. I can't wait for you all to meet AJ. I am getting a little teary eyed thinking of leaving her home country and am thinking tonight of her biological mother. In just twenty four hours she will be an American citizen but I know a part of her heart, and mine, will always be here in China.

See you all soon!

She is getting a little better each day. Still a mama's girl, but she was flirting with her daddy for a good hour tonight on the bed, she would reach over and grab his nose, then turn her head and hide and giggle. She has the biggest smile I have ever seen. So freakin cute. But holy temper. HATES diaper and clothes changes. You would think we are pouring boiling water on her!

Everyone at the White Swan has the famous "red couch" pics with all the babies in their group. I thought for sure Amelie would have the "ugly face" but she did well! She is the third one on top. The second pic is with her buddy Emilin. The last pic is with our travel group. I have to say, you would think with 11 different families stuck together for this long there would be people on each others nerves but this group has been great. Everyone is so helpful and very sweet. A bunch of them live in ski areas, so we look forward to visiting them. Well, Amelie is finally asleep, two hours late tonight, so I am headed to bed now too....

More Photos