6 months!

April 1st, 2013 Guangzhou, China

Yep - Kian has been part of our family for SIX months! I know, I know, we can not believe it either....

He has grown 2 inches and packed on a "few" pounds. He has caught up in all developmental areas except speech - but he is progressing with speech therapy and can say about 30 words.  He understands everything spoken to him - except "can you help clean up?"

October 1st, 2013 USA

Kian loves playing with whatever his brother has and trucks, trains or anything with wheels. He also cooks up a mean burger in the play kitchen. He has a tricycle but has not figured out how to pedal yet! When he came home he could not do a puzzle at all - now he can do 4-6 piece puzzles no problem. He has started going to Sunday school at our church and has stayed a few times in the nursery without to much fuss. He is very active and loves to play outside.

3 Months!

We met Kian 3 months ago today.... unbelievable. He was made for our family. From the beginning we knew a bit of his personality as our agency had met him in person and told us he was outgoing, active and social. All of these are understatements!

Kian loves being around people and has quickly warmed up to our dog Hoover.

His favorite person ever is his brother..... he would cry every morning when he left for daycare!

Having a big brother has really helped Kian adjust and try new things with only minimal hesitation.  He  follows him to a fault (hence the broken arm!). D is adjusting really well and (most) of the time enjoys having a little brother.

The past 3 months have been full of doctors appointments, evaluations and general trust building with us and Kian. We feel he is really starting to understand the "family" concept. If you have never adopted or read about adoption you might not think that is such a big deal - but it really is. We have a little guy who was born into our family and loved every minute of watching him discover, learn and develop. He has known since day 1 who mama and baba are (yes D refers to us as that now!) We also have a little guy who until 3 months ago lived in a different country, spoke a different language, ate different food and did not know us - he has been a blessing also! Watching him develop family, language and a new culture has been nothing short of amazing!

Sorry for delay on posts! We are home majorly jet-lagged... like getting up at 3 am jet lagged :( Steve & I are ok - it is a bit easier when you regulate with caffeine! Declan & Kian on the other hand.... well let's just say it is not pretty. Hopefully they will be back on a normal wake up time sooner rather than later. Also on our last night in Hong Kong Kian broke his arm. The boys were jumping on the bed and Kian did not make the jump from one bed to the next. It is a small break but it requires a cast for the next 3 weeks. All is well (as can be), he is not in pain and is still adjusting well to our family and to his new home.

First flight - the excitement was overwhelming!

Woke up for lunch....

Could you get any closer?

Passed out on landing.

Toyko layover.

3 am breakfast!

Poor guy - got a Phillies red cast though.... 

Disney Hong Kong

 While planning our trip to we decided to leave through Hong Kong as the flight options were easier and cheaper. Hong Kong is located about 2.5 hours south of where we stayed so we rented a van and driver to give us a ride as soon as we received Kian's travel visa. While reading some info online I discovered some families visit Hong Kong Disney at the end of the trip.... well Declan has never been to Disney and we knew he would love it :) kind of a reward for being dragged around looking at all the stuff we wanted to see not to mention becoming a big brother! Through our adoption agency we knew that Kian was an active, extroverted and playful little boy so we figured he would like it also.... if not the plan was one of us would stay at the hotel with him and chill out. Luckily we felt he was up for the experience - good thing we ended up there for almost 11 hours! We all had a great time and it did turn out to be the perfect end cap to the trip.

Can you guess where we are headed?

Someone's new best friend.

You thought food was expensive at Disney World?! (this is in Hong Kong dollars)

Toy Story land. We spent a loooong time here!

Consulate Appointment

On Thursday we had our Consulate appointment to complete Kian's paperwork for entry into the USA. It is a very business like atmosphere but quick and painless! His VISA for entry was processed and were able to leave the next day.  My dad and Declan stayed back at the hotel because it was raining (again) very hard and we had to leave early in the morning for our appointment. Since Declan was on VACATION he doesn't like to get moving that quickly..... good to know he is relaxing :)

 After our appointment we went to a HUGE bookstore - of course most of the books are written Chinese but we browsed the children's section and got a few English/Chinese books for Kian and Declan.

To celebrate we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant - it still cracks us up that some of the best food we had in China was Mexican!

Steve.... slowly losing his mind....

 This dish was an appetizer that we ordered for all of us... somehow it ended up on Kian's side of the table! Normally he will share any food he has with no problem - I was almost stabbed by that fork when I went in for some for the rest of us. He really liked it so I guess I will need to make some french fry nachos soon!

Helping mama and baba pack to go home. 

Kian seems to be settling into our family quite well. His personality is very easy going unless you take something away that he wants- then watch out! He puts any kid I have seen to shame with the howling, tears and DRAMA! We could chalk it up to being out of his element ect - however his foster mom told us that is how he is..... He loves to be outside, be active and is pretty social. He will not go to anyone other than me, Steve or my dad but that is a good thing - it is what we want at this point of the process!

Enjoy those chips buddy, we do not have Mexican tomato chicken flavor  at home.... 

There have been a few tears, tantrums, some biting and pinching but these things are to be expected when you are handed off to a bunch of people you don't know and do not speak your language! Overall he likes being carried in the Ergo and waving to people. Oh and did we mention he like to eat? When we asked what his favorite food was we were told food. They were not kidding :) His favorites so far seem to be bananas, yogurt, rice, pork and of course noodles! We have not found anything he flat out refuses to eat.... he is also a good sharer - he will bring you food and toys.

We met Kian's foster mother & foster sister :) She really loved him  & it shows :) 

Pop-pop kept the troops entertained at the orphanage while we toured around the facility.

Bye-bye orphanage..... one less.

I find it the height of irony that we had to prove six ways to Sunday we are good parents and decent enough people.... yet we can drive all around China without carseats! Yes, the car is in motion.

Mexican in China? Um ok..... it was really good! We will go back before the week is over :)

Kian getting used to his carseat - in the room - not the car!

Shopping trip with a few other families. The guy in blue is our guide Richard. He takes us around everywhere and also helps with our adoption appointments and paperwork. 

We had "chops" made with the boys names. It is a hand-carved stamp that Declan had to try out as soon as we got back to the hotel.