Before and After -- Six Months With Jianna

Six months is an important milestone in adoption especially if the bonding gets off to a rocky start.

We have reached our six month mark with Jianna and I am so happy to report that things are going very well. Just three weeks ago we saw a dramatic switch in her. The turning point came at the swimming pool of all places where Jianna finally started to swim. After months of battling us on almost everything she accomplished something and with it, a change took place. She was proud of herself and realized that she CAN do these new things we are asking her to do. And she realized that all this time we are spending with her and the things we are teaching her is for her benefit. It was very sweet hearing her yell, "Watch me Mommy! Watch me Daddy!" Then she came to me to tell me, "I want to listen to you Mama."

True to her word, we have seen an attitude of cooperation and life has suddenly been much easier. Gone is the obstinate set of her jaw when I ask her to do something. She no longer resists when I hug her. She's stopped trying to provoke us. I understand there may be setbacks but I am enjoying this wonderful time of peace and progress.

At six months in the USA Jianna is in love with American TV. Her favorite show is Special Agent Oso. She likes Pizza and Poptarts and so many different kinds of food. She loves to go shopping and out to eat and is enthralled with the prizes in kid's meals. She still loves pretty clothes. Her favorite color is orange. She likes to sing along with the radio. She wants girlfriends and is so excited about starting school. She likes the dogs and cats and tries to make the foster kittens her personal baby dolls. She LOVES her brother.

She was finally cooperative enough to get portraits taken and she was beautiful. I am so proud of all she has accomplished and how well she is doing. I am loving her more than ever.

My amazing little girl! July 2011

A Letter From Jianna's Orphanage!

"Pei's parents and family love: You are good!
You have sent the photos I have received. First of all thank you to adopt Fuai Pei, gave her a warm family. Pei love you more and more under the care of their health pretty well, and could see her life very happy, we are very pleased, thank you! We hope to receive your pictures frequently, often to keep in touch, thanks!

& nb sp; Social Welfare Institute Fuling District of Chongqing City Huang Yan"

Easter Pictures!

This was Jianna's first Easter. She looked at me like I was crazy when I was dying the eggs. Then she realized that Easter comes with candy and new clothes so she was very enthusiastic about it.



We had a crazy-busy Easter weekend. I took the days off and we were all able to be together. We got to do a lot of fun things. We went to the police egg hunt and had family over for Easter lunch and then had dinner with Vickey and Gerald. It was tiring but so much fun!

March 2011 The Panda Incident

April 11 Jianna tries a lemon

Spring Is Here!

I'm so glad to have the warm weather! These kids are ready to get out and burn off some of that energy!

Jianna has decided that she likes American food and wants to eat everything that comes across her path. Ron mentioned the other day that she is getting a spare tire around her middle. He’s right and maybe it’s time to reign the girl in a bit. Truthfully, I’m glad she is finding so many things to enjoy. My concern with adopting an older child was mostly that she just wouldn’t like it here because it would be so strange and different than her home country. She seems to genuinely enjoy all the new places we go and the things we do. She still gets excited over Chinese food – even the nasty stuff from mall food courts.
We have found her a new bed for her room but it is still on backorder. It was a frustrating experiencing trying to get her to pick a new bed because she said she like every one of them on one visit and then didn’t like any on the other. With the help of my Chinese neighbor we finally got it worked out. I am excited to get to put the new Pottery Barn quilt in her room and get it set up. We have had a queen sized bed in there and she loves playing on it but it is taking up all of her space. I want to get her a little table and chair set and there is no room for it now. She loves having little tea parties with her dolls. We are all getting tired of Nathan sneaking into her room to bounce on the bed.
It is time to redecorate Nathan’s room and do away with all the precious lambs and bunnies from his nursery decor. He has been saying for a month that he wants a purple bedroom because that is his favorite color. I’ve been at a loss to find a motif to fit that color. I wanted to go Dr Suess but he said he didn’t like that. Then I thought a solar system would work but that was also nixed. The jungle is out. I can’t talk him into an underwater theme either. This week he decided he wants an “airport” bedroom. That might be doable. The trick is finding something that he can enjoy for five years before we have to paint again.
Jianna has decided that she likes all of the dogs except for Liberty. Poor Liberty loves children and is always trying to greet her and kiss her. Jianna scolds her in Chinese and pushes her away which hurts her little doggy feelings. Then Ji-Ji chases around our old dog who wants nothing to do with her and tries to give him hugs so he growls and fusses and Liberty tries to come to the rescue. I am forever breaking up these little altercations. I end up telling Jianna to go play with the cats and get the sarcastic “Thanks Mom” look from them.
Nathan and Jianna are playing more together now and are getting into more squabbles. His latest thing is to pester her while she is in the bathtub. He brings her toys to play with and then chucks them at her like she is an arcade game. She still follows him around making sure he is not getting any treats or privileges that she might want and it annoys him to no end. She has learned a new phrase, “Nathan bother me!” It sounds like “Nathan bahboh me” when she says it but we know what she means. She got it from Nathan coming down the stairs every day to make the complaint on her on her. More and more these days I am talking to the ceiling, “Don’t make me come up there!”
I let the kids help me cook lately which means a lot of extra dishes but still it is fun. Jianna can make a mean jello salad let me tell you. We made muffins last week and they waited all day for Daddy to come home and taste them so they could see which one he like the best. I’ve been teaching Nathan to help me chop vegetables to make salads. Ron makes the funniest faces watching him handle a knife but Nathan does well. I was hoping he might like vegetables if he helped to prepare them. He was really proud of all his nicely chopped veggies but he pronounced them “too horrible”when it came time to eat them.

Spring reminds me that no matter how hard the winter is, there are brighter days to follow. Life is full of seasons.

Two Months Home with Jianna

With all the ups and downs of the past two months, I am happy to report that the "ups" have won out!

Life with these two kiddos is such an adventure! Jianna has decided that she likes us now and has become a velcro child. She is also jealous so she and Nathan compete with each other over every little thing. I've never been so popular. Apart from the slap fights and occasional pelting with small toys, it hasn't deteriorated into violence. Thankfully, they each have their own room or I don't know what would happen!

Jia likes going places and is happiest when we are on the move. It's so interesting the difference between the two children. Nathan talks to everyone about everything but minds pretty well. Jianna is very quiet but touches everything.

The hardest part so far is giving each child the time and attention that he or she wants. There doesn't seem to be enough time in the day and I find myself wondering how people with four or six kids do this. I am starting to learn little tricks for making life easier. For instance, if I try to get two kids ready at once, it doesn't work because they are too easily distracted by what the other is doing. However, if I get only one child dressed, the other is driven by jealousy to get dressed quickly lest he or she miss out on what the other is doing.

Some really good news is that Jianna has been to daycare four times now and really loves it. Starting tomorrow she and Nathan will go for four days. My FMLA is offically over. Maybe she will pick up more language and basic skills while she is there.

We are pleased with how well Jianna is doing. We didn't expect Nathan to struggle so much with the adjustment but little man is working through it. We've had some fun family days. Here are some pictures from our zoo trip on St Patrick's Day.

Picures from our Together Day with Jianna

An Article About Us!

This was part of a series of articles on Officers in Ron's city.

First Day at Daycare

This past weekend, Ron was working and I had military duty. Nathan and Jianna went to daycare on Saturday. Nathan was so happy to see Ms Tanya again. I got off early and picked them up and they were having a great time running wild.

Sunday, Jianna and Nathan spent the day with Nana. She took them to church where, Jianna didn't want to go into the girl's class but wanted to go with Nathan and the boys. Nathan resisted but then I heard he took "excellent care of his sister." They spent the afternoon with Nana and weren't ready to come home when I picked them up. Jianna was so happy to be out and about.

They were both so exhausted that they went to bed at 6:45pm! As I tucked in Jianna, I told her, "I love you." This time she answered back,"I lah foo, Mama!"Then she had to shout it to Daddy and to Nathan. Nathan responded by running to tell her "night night". What a sweet ending to a busy weekend!

Pictures From The Forbidden City

One Month with Jianna

This post is a little late but we have had Jianna for a month now. What a difference time makes! Most of the time she is quite happy and content. She enjoys being in our family. She loves going places. She loves all this good food. Most of all she loves American TV and her new pretty clothes. She is such a girly-girl!

Here are some photos of her since we have been home.






Nathan and Jianna are truly brother and sister. I have had to break up a few squabbles but, for the most part, they get along well. Nathan is having to deal with a lot of jealousy since he was used to being the only child and having all the attention. He likes being able to show her how to do things and will take her by the hand saying, "Come on Jianna!" She seems to like him quite a bit. I think she is impressed that he knows his way around this strange environment so well.

I cannot believe how much more difficult it is to get somewhere with two children! When I send them to do a task they distract each other and, instead of it taking twice as long to do something, it takes three times as long. Then they both jockey for position next to me so I am tripping over them.

It's definitely an adjustment but the first month is over and I'm sure that will be the hardest. I look at this beautiful little girl and find it so amazing and strange that she is my daughter. I am sure she still finds her surroundings strange and surreal.

I look forward to the time when I can hear what she is thinking.

Jianna's First Snow

She couldn't seem to figure out why we would want to go out and play in this stuff. She wasn't thrilled with the experience but enjoyed herself at times.

Nathan was having so much fun and didn't want to come back in. As always we played with the dogs and they love the snow.

One Week Home

We have been home for one week although it feels like much longer! We have enjoyed relaxing with our new daughter but this weekend will take us back to work. One of us will be home all the time for a couple of months.

It's going well with Jianna. She already seems very comfortable in her new home. She can't wait to see what I'm going to give her at mealtime. She doesn't much like American food but will try anything. There is always Ramen noodles and rice and she loves the fresh fruit.

Today saw Jianna's first snow. We didn't go out and play in it because of the howling wind but maybe tomorrow we will.

Nathan and Jianna have started competing with each other so there have been some ups and downs in that area but nothing too bad. Fortunately, their taste in toys is different and that helps quite a bit. Nathan is quite willing to give her toys of his. She hoards them in her room and doesn't like anyone touching them. She will relax when she realizes no one is going to take them away from her.

It appears she loves being part of a family and is starting to like us a bit more. She wants to play and seems happy most of the time. We did not expect her to transition so quickly so this is a real blessing.

The language issue has really been pretty minor. The only real challenge has been when she doesn't understand why she is not allowed to do some things. She also doesn't understand why Mommy keeps bringing these annoying flash cards out to work on learning colors in English. She had no interest until I brought out gummy bears as a reward for getting the answers right. Hopefully she will become motivated to learn since she starts kindergarten in the fall.

She also got to meet our friends who have daughters her age who are from China. She was so intimidated by these girls who look familiar but sound so strange. I'm sure they will all be great friends.

My two amazing kids are learning what it is to have a sibling. I know this will be so good for both of them as they grow.

Photos From Our Day at Disneyland

Kids and Dogs

When we first came home Jianna screamed and cried and ran from the dogs. They were so confused.

Things are going better now. She thinks Cadence is sweet and calls her "Mei Mei Gou" (little sister dog). Ranger takes off when she gets near so he is no threat. Liberty "Jie-Jie Gou" (big sister dog) is the only one who makes her squeal because she wants to kiss her and Jianna does NOT want doggy kisses.

I don't think the girl has ever been on wooden floors before. She stomps around like an elephant and I have to constantly remind her to walk softly. She grins and shushes back at me. In the video you can hear her stomping up the stairs.

Of all the dogs she has decided that grouchy old Sergeant Major is the one she needs to pet. [eye roll] She calls him "Baba Gou" (Daddy Dog) He is patient with her and wags his tail while she strokes him but growls to let everyone know that he is still manly and isn't enjoying it.

I've had to rescue the cats from her since she thinks it is funny to pull their tails and make them meow. She likes carrying Mulan around.

I wish I could ask her if she has ever been around cats or dogs before. I'm guessing "no" on the dogs since she was so afraid of my fluffy little Shelties.

Second Day Home

We arrived home on Tueday and we've been so tired I'm just now getting some updates. Things are going great! Jianna and Nathan have gone from tolerating each other's presence to playing together. Nathan has really enjoyed showing her around the house. It's so sweet how they grab each other's hands and arms. He is sharing his toys and letting her play in his room which is something unexpected.

Photos From The Social Welfare Institute

The front of the children's portion of the SWI.

Beautiful children at the primary school.

Security for the primary school.

Pei Pei shows where she slept.

This little boy loved Ron.

Pei-Pei with her Nannies.

The kids like Ron's stubble.

Serving Lunch


With the Social Welfare Institute Director and the SWI doctor.
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