My sister's wedding

This past Saturday my sister was married in Annapolis, Maryland. On Saturday morning, we all had some free time, so all of us plus my dad went and explored around the waterfront. Chloe had an amazing time. She enjoyed looking at the birds and ducks and being free to walk around. Then, we had to head back to get ready. My sister had bought Chloe a dress to wear to the wedding. It was very fancy and she looked soooo cute!! And the boys looked very handsome!

On Sunday, Mother's Day, our church had baby dedication. We dedicated that we would raise Chloe in a God-centered house and to help her know and love Jesus.

And, here are some pictures from our trip to the waterfront as well as our trip with Papa to Burger King. She actually played in the play place including going to the top and sliding down:)) I guess she has got to keep up with the boys -- GOOD LUCK with that!!

New pictures

Kale walking with Chloe outside.

I'm a thinking kind of girl.

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First ride in the shopping cart

First bath at home

First visit to Chick-Fil-a (although she has become a regular since then).

She played away in the play place with her friends.

Chloe is enjoying riding her bus!

Keegan helping Chloe ride the bus. He LOVES his sister!!

Daddy and Chloe bonding over some ball.

Chloe enjoys playing with balls and since we have soooo many, she's a happy camper.

Chloe adores her biggest brother, Cody. She lights up when she sees him.

All things anew. . .

Well, we are adjusting back to being home and Chloe is adjusting to pretty much everything. Carseat, high chairs, shopping carts, outside, lots and lots of people, and pretty much everything else. She has been a really happy camper this week after being sick over the weekend with a sinus infection.

My dad, Papa, arrived today and we went to Burger King this afternoon for milkshakes. Chloe enjoyed it and then even played in the playland. She went (with help) all the way to the top and slid down the slide. She was smiling from ear to ear. She continues to do very well sleeping and even woke up this morning without crying for me. On the way to taking the boys to school, she happily enjoys her Applejacks and is thrilled when she sees the bag. She starts screaming happily!!

She has made some BIG steps with daddy this week. She played ball with him (as long as I was beside her) and even let him help feed her. Of course it helps that he choose to feed her pudding and I was feeding her applesauce:) She will play with him in the room. So, she is making progress with this and daddy is quite happy since he was able to steal a kiss while she was all happy with him.

All in all she has adjusted much better than we would have expected. It is so much fun watching her experience all the new things in her life. She loves her brothers and lights up when we pick them up from school. The boys in turn will do anything she wants and are enjoying spending time with her. Wow, who knew what adding a special little girl could do to all those involved!!

Life at home

Well, we are home and enjoying being here. Chloe is a very different person here. Last night, I put her to bed about 6 and she slept until almost 5. Tonight, we will try to keep her up until 7. She slept very well all night. We originally planned to put her in pack and play to sleep, but she slept in a twin bed at the hotel, so we decided to keep her in her bed here. After getting up this morning, she sat with me for awhile and the ate. After that, she got down on the floor and played and played. She crawled all over the house and even walked around. She will sit there and laugh and laugh at either herself or the boys. It is really funny. It is good to know she is getting more comfy around here and all of us.

Right now, the boys are outside playing. The back door is open. At first, I had it blocked so she could not go out it. Now, it is not, but she will not go out. She will sit right at the door and watch the boys play and laugh at them. It is cute!! I know that her sitting at the door will not last long; she will soon be going right out it. So, for now, I will enjoy having the door open and having her not escape.

Well, tomorrow the boys will go back to school after being out for almost 2 weeks. Cody and Kale are very ready to go back. Keegan is confused about the whole process. He apparently thought he was done for the year. Then we explained he still needed to go back and finish. Well, he was still confused about why I would not be there with him, so we are not sure what tomorrow will hold for him. He did get excited when I said I would bring Chloe in for everyone to meet her, so we hope that will help him.

Devoted Mom

Well we've finally made it home after about 20 hours of travel. We left Taiwan at midnight on Friday and arrived back in Dulles on Saturday morning about 7:30. Needless to say we were and are exhausted. Chloe did amazing on the trip from Taiwan to Los Angeles. We weren't sure how she would do since we left during the time that she would be sleeping but she did really well. However, like the rest of us, she was not in the mood to get on another plane for 5 more hours. The last two hours for her were very difficult to say the least. Since she won't have much to do with me, Jenn had to endure the whole 20 hours with Chloe. For those that have kids you know how difficult it can be holding a kid for an hour let along 20. Every time Jenn had to move or adjust Chloe had to move and adjust and vice versa. Jenn was amazing however. The last two hours were the most difficult as Chloe was nearing her wits end and I'm sure Jen was as well. But her strength through the whole process was inspiring to say the least of how devoted a mother she is.

Jenn will post more about our arrival home, but I wanted to share how thankful I am of her as a devoted wife and mom. Love ya hon.

Almost time to go

Well, we leave Taiwan tomorrow at midnight. It is going to be a LONG plane ride. Chloe has decided for the past 2 days she wants NO ONE (except Asian ladies) unless it is mommy!! This is good but also makes it hard. She screams whenever Jonathan comes around her and will not have much to do with the boys either. It is really funny since she was fine with all of us on Tuesday. While we were out today she tried to go to several Asian women and since our flight home will probably be full of these ladies, it will be very interesting!!

Anyway, I wanted to add some more pictures from our journeys yesterday and today. We have learned she likes lots of sleep. We are not sure if this is because she slept lots at SLC or if she just needs that much, but when she is ready to sleep -- WATCH OUT!! She gets very cranky and will scream and scream. She has taken a nap after breakfast and a long afternoon nap is then up for a short amount of time and goes back to sleep for the night around 7 and sleeps until 7. So you will see several pictures of our sleeping princess. Enjoy and we will update more once we are home. We have enjoyed reading everyone's comments!!

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Pictures from Gotcha day

At last. . .

Well, just so you know, I tried to blog yesterday and got booted off. Sorry!! But, it is good in some ways because today as you will see has been much better. So read on. . .

Yesterday was the long awaited gotcha day. Sally met us in the lobby of our hotel at 9:45am. We then took 3 taxis to SLC. Upon arrival we met Spring Peach, Chloe's adored nanny. Then we went upstairs. They came in and we gave them two different outfits to put on Chloe. A little while later we could hear them coming up the stairs with Chloe. Finally no more waiting. . . it was time to meet our baby girl!! We had been warned that she would have a very difficult time. Let's just say they hit the nail on the head. She would have nothing to do with any of us. She did finally go to Jonathan but that only lasted a few seconds before she went to screaming. We eventually went out into the courtyard and stayed out there for awhile. Chloe went back and forth from screaming and crying to trying to figure out who these crazy people were who had her. Finally, we went upstairs to get ready to go. We went over information about Chloe and her schedule. Her birthmother had left her some gifts with her Chinese name on them. We did ask about her birthmother and she has visited a few times. As we were leaving we were given her pacifier and imagine our surprise when we gave it to her and she stopped crying. We left for the airport. Chloe, Cody, and myself rode in one taxi. Chloe slept the entire way there. We then flew to Taipei.

After arriving at our hotel, she screamed and cried. She was very tired and hungry, but would not eat. She did finally go to sleep with some help. Cody and Keegan laid on the bed with her and patted and rubbed her back. Also, she beats her head to put herself to sleep. Now this is really funny since this is something Cody also does. He thought that was really neat! She slept for a few hours then woke up screaming. Again, we tried to feed her, but she still would not eat. We changed her and put on some pj's. She again put herself to sleep and slept until about 6:30 this morning on a comfy twin bed. She woke up crying, but we had to be at our visa appointment so we were in a hurry. We dressed her and fixed her hair and then went downstairs for breakfast. Remember she had not eaten since lunch the day before. I offered her some bread and she started eating. Jonathan gave her the bottle and she started drinking. Since then everything has been great!!

We went to our visa appointment and she played on the floor with the boys in the toy area. Matt, Molly, and Malone were also there. On the way to the appointment she rode in the front of the taxi with Jonathan. The window was open and she loved it. Everything went fine with the visa. Jon will go back tomorrow to pick up her passport.

We then took a taxi to Taipei 101. This is the tallest building in the world. We found a Starbucks and grabbed some coffee and muffins. Chloe enjoyed eating these. Then we walked around and she chased the boys. She pulls them everywhere she wants to go and they go where ever she wants. Then, we rode up to the top which was the 89th floor. It was a very fast elevator. The view was amazing and we walked around the whole top floor with the windows. Chloe slept in the Ergo carrier (thanks Amanda and Jennifer) and it was such a blessing. She is heavy!! The only thing is she likes to move so you can't stay still. Then we went downstairs and ate KFC. She enjoyed some FF and we all enjoyed some real food. Next, we were off to the grocery store.

We bought snack items, breakfast items, water, and some other stuff. Since we all keep waking up around 3:00ish in the morning we will now have some food to eat. We are now back in our room and Chloe is sleeping. She took a very short amount of time to get herself to sleep. She is doing very well sleeping on the bed.

Today has been wonderful. Yesterday was extremely difficult on all of us especially Chloe. It has been nice to see such a change today. She is a very happy little girl and has a smile that will melt your heart. She loves her brothers and wants them to do everything with her. They are eating up spending time with her and helping her. Jon and I are still in amazement that we actually have not only our 3 wonderful boys but now we have a beautiful little girl.