The Sweetest Thing

Bedtime for Anna Kathryn with Nana.

Asleep in Pop-Pop's arms.

Anna Kathryn's first trip to Sonny's.  Aunt Hillary was so proud of her BBQ eating efforts!

Playing peekaboo with daddy at dinnertime.

Go Panthers!! (Mark picked out the cheerleader outfit)

One month and one day ago Anna Kathryn was placed into my arms in the doorway of a hotel room in Nanchang, China.  Mark took a bunch of pictures, and then it was his turn to hold her.  

Four and a half hours later, we had completed the adoption proceedings.  Anna Kathryn was ours forever!  The long wait for her was finally over.

And my life changed forever.  

I love love love being Anna Kathryn's mom!!

So much, that I've really enjoyed being unplugged from the computer for the past few weeks... to an extent.  I do check my Google Reader and e-mail daily.  Gotta stay in touch with the outside world, ya know.  But, I honestly was focused on our family, and adjusting to life at home with a baby, and just didn't feel like blogging.  

Right now, I'm on maternity leave from my job until December 1.  I get to spend my days with my baby, and so far I cannot even bring myself to think about "Black Monday."  It's not always easy being at home with her, but it is always good.  We have settled into a bit of a routine, and I enjoy our quiet mornings, lots of playtime, and a daily outing (to the library for storytime or to lunch with a friend or mochas with Allison and Maggie (highlight of the week) or --of course- Target.  We go at least twice a week.).  

Her naptimes are getting easier, although she tends to go down during a "window" of time rather than a set time, and the length is unpredictable.  In the grand tradition of moms everywhere, I am always conflicted as to what to do during naptime:  should I tackle the to-do list, or enjoy some R & R?  I try to do a little of both.  She is sleeping through the night again (hallelujah!!) so I get plenty of sleep, for which I am truly grateful.  (Maybe God knew I just wouldn't do so well with the whole newborn sleep deprivation thing.  Definitely an advantage to adopting a 10 month old!!)

Anna Kathryn is so playful; her favorites are peek-a-boo, tickle monster, sliding down the side of the bed into our arms, and looking at herself in the mirror.  She continues to add new skills almost daily.  This week she figured out how to roll form her tummy into a sitting position, pull herself up into a standing position, and she is becoming a pretty speedy crawler.  She crawls really well with some motivation set in front of her, like the remote, a magazine, or one of the cats.  

Life is really, really good.  It's been a long time coming, too.  Mark used to pray that one day, when we had our baby, that our house would again be filled with laughter and singing.  And it is.  Every day.  Although the singing is rather off-key.   

I never did post about our last 2 days in China-- we were too busy.  Here's a little recap.  The next to last day (Thursday) was a little rough-- I was in a weird mood and got all stressed out trying to complete our shopping list on Shamian Island.  We ate dinner at a restaurant with good food but a loud atmosphere, and honestly, I was just done for the day.  

Our last full day, Friday,  we met the other families in our travel group for a photo session.  Then, Mark, Anna Kathryn and I headed back to Shamian Island on our own to complete our shopping.  We had a really fun time shopping, found some lovely things for family and AK, I got a Starbucks mocha (bliss), and I even captured some cool shots of bridal couples posing for their portraits and models at a shoot (lots of ads and commercials are shot on the Island because it has a very European feel, having once been the site for most of the Consulates).  In the afternoon, we trucked over to the consulate for the swearing in ceremony, where we swore that all of the info we put in our paperwork was true.  That was it.  Hard to believe all the build-up was for that.  Plus we got the all-important brown envelope with AK's immigration and citizenship documents.  That night we went out to the Chinese Restaurant in our hotel for dinner with three other families.  It was a bit of a circus, but lots of fun.  We had some language barrier challenges with ordering, but the food we ended up getting was delicious.  My favorite was a dish of sauteed green beans with pork.  SO good.  My mouth waters just thinking of it.  One of the guys, Tim, ordered something with a name like "Essence of Frog with Snow Crab."  It looked like tapioca pudding mixed with white jello.  I sampled it, and the taste wasn't bad, but the texture... ew.  Guess who loved it though?? Go here to find out!  (This is my first attempt at using Flickr, so the pictures are out of order.  Frog Jello pics are on page 3).

So, I'm back in the bloggy world now.  It's good to be back!  But better to be home with Little Miss Sunshine.