She Walks!

On our third month anniversary of Gotcha Day ~October 22nd~ our little peanut decided she would quit messing around with scooting and sliding and decided to boldly step out and WALK. When I picked her up from the babysitter yesterday afternoon, Brielle walked all the way across the living room to me with a "Hi Mom" look on her face! I loved it. I had only seen her take a few shuffle plop steps before this. It was amazing to see how much balance she had. Her next demonstration was toddling over to her Dad who was at the opposite end of our kitchen. She kept it up to get the applause and I can say she slept so well last night that I had a hard time to wake her this morning . It is so fun to see the changes she experiences every day! I can't believe it has already been three months since she was placed in my arms.

It's Already October!

I'm sorry we haven't posted anything in so long...

What a totally incredible Summer this has been. God is so amazing! Talk about miracles ~ We experienced many throughout this adoption process and most recently our trip. One thing is for certain.. He keeps His promises, and Brielle is a living testament to that my friends!

I've been simply stunned at how many people we had reading our blog while we were in China! People I do not even know have told us they followed our blog. Now that we have been home for 10 weeks, I can reflect on our journey with great joy. We looked at our trip photos for the first time the other night. Rob's mom and stepdad were here visiting from NY and got to meet Brielle for the first time. Telling people of our journey seems so amazing to me now that the psychotic rollercoaster of emotion is out of the picture! And now that we have bonded as a family so much more so than when we were in China, reflecting on that time there has taken on a whole new meaning for me.

Brielle has brought so much joy to our family and friends in the short time she has been with us... If I would have had a glimpse of what a complete blessing she was going to be to us the three year wait would have been much more difficult than it was! Does that make any sense??
Anyway we LOVE every little chinese inch of her!

She is finally starting to fill out a bit and her hair is growing! Just within the past few days Brie is actually letting me put bows in her hair. She now has 14 teeth... maybe more I'm afraid to feel around back there for fear of getting bitten! She knows the concept of brushing her teeth; however, it's NOT her favorite thing to do. She is very good about going potty tho! Believe it or not I started sitting her on the big potty with a training seat as soon as we got home only because I knew she was used to "going" on those chairs at the orphanage. Low and behold... she goes! 1 & 2!! Now.. I dont force the issue, and it may be a while before she can tell me..but she's well ahead of the curve. Brie has taken three or four steps on her own. She is still doing the "Lt. Dan" scoot as Rob calls it vs. crawling! That's awful isn't it? But she moves pretty quickly.

Brielle had a great time with Olivia and Emma on her first visit to a pumpkin patch. She found a pumpkin and wouldn't let go of it! Too cute. Enjoy some updated pictures.

Life is good.

We made it home!!

Wow.. i think we were in airplanes for 1.5 days...can I tell you how many times our bags were searched and passports were shown to get out of China??? Tooooooo many. Brielle was a very good girl. She wasn't the wormy screecher I was dreading she would be. She actually slept as much time as she was awake. We flew from Gz to Beijing and had a 4 hour layover..I now know why so much time is needed between flights. Tip to those who plan to leave very soon.... go with the flow and don't let things bother you ! We then had 13+ hours in the air to NJ and another layover which ended up being 2.5 hours longer than we anticipated. NO baby food or liquid is allowed through so we could only carry formula powder... so Ihad to find fuit Sat night at the airport to feed Brie. Anyway ... we survived!

We had an awesome greeting after midnight at the Charleston airport by a big crowd of family and friends! We didn't get home until 1:30 am and talked until 3 am with Kris and Whitney. Brie fell asleep and so did we and we all slept until 12:30PM TODAY! It was wonderful. A comfy bed! Another tip to nexters... bring a pillow or at least pillow cases to have something from home to help you sleep. Pillows are terrible at White Swan and beds are rock hard no exaggeration!

I'll post pics tomorrow as Olivia is spending the night tonight and she keeps begging me to go to bed!

Love to all,
L, R & B

Hello one last time from China........

Well we have had one beautiful last day in Guangzhou. First, Brie slept well last night as did Rob. I was up all night (anxious about this long journey ahead of us with Screech :) but...we had a wonderful breakfast and time at the pool with our friends. Then we went one last time to Lucy's for burgahs and fries and back to the hotel to pack whilst little one snoozed. At 2:30pm we had to meet the gang in the lobby to pack on a huge bus with a couple of other adoption groups to go to the American Consulate to swear in and get the babies passports. It was intersting to hear where everyone was from and the different occupations of the families. Many were first time adoptees many for their second or third child and two families were adopting their 5th child!! wow is all i can say. My hats off to them. There were many teachers, a pediatrician, surgeon, aerospace engineer (our group) even a rock star! :) Each morning when we went to breakfast the place was filled with families from all over with their children.. We've talked to many people this week, very interesting. We met three couples from RI! All over the USA and abroad.

After the swearing in, we received all of Brielle's documents and passport and when we touch the ground in NJ, she will be a US citizen!! She is now offically Brielle Tian Meade.

When we returned we freshened up a bit and walked down the river to a great Italien restaurant. We sat and enjoyed a fabulous last meal together, drank wine and laughed alot. Outside of the restaurant, Kerry and I had the girls in their strollers and this guy and his girlfriend walked by and asked where we were from. He continued to chat with us for some time. What a hoot! He is from Las Vegas and told us he was also here to get his China Doll. She was hanging on his arm - many years younger than him. He told us all about the website he met her through and how he's been to China 5 times this year to try out girls to be his wife! 79 years old. I posted a pic. She did not understand one word he was telling us. It sort of capped the evening!

We have washed Brie and Daddy put her down for nighty noodles. She's spawled out on my side of the bed! :)

I'm going to post a few pics and we are going to finish packing and jump on the brickpile. Literally all the beds we've slept in from Beijing, Nanchang and here are so stinking hard it hurts your bones. Can't wait to get in our bed!!

Thanks for being with us on the wonderful journey to our little girl. From your sweet comments, you've felt my joy & blood, sweat and tears as there have been many peaks and valleys over these two weeks. I would do it all again. China has been fascinating and heart breaking all at the same time. And we've made some terrific forever family friends in the process.

We love you all ~ we'v e missed you..& we've even missed work if you can believe that.
We're on our way home in a few short hours!!

G'nite from Gz,

The Meades
L, R & B

Star Bucks saves the day...

Hi gang,

We found a Starbucks as we were walking the streets yesterday and stuck our head in to find they have wireless internet. We were so full so we didn't stay yesterday...but today has been a real test of patience so Rob decided to send me here to get out of his hair for a few minutes. Plus the internet is free here and expensive at the hotel...China ain't cheap. And the White Swan is very expensive. A cheeseburger is over $20! and the lunch and dinner buffet is like $40 - $60 pp. Needless to say the cashola is running low.

Brielle has been very whiny today..she has this little screach when she is trying to communicate what she wants.. and after being cooped up in a hotel room for two weeks we are on the verge of being totally batty... so ready to come home!! I bought an extra suit case today for us to pack our little souvenirs in. I think we've probably been in 50 stores here... some places have better prices on some things and higher on others. They don't really bargain as much as I would have liked. But you know me the bargain queen! I have only bought one thing for me - A Beijing ballcap to wear when I get off the stinking plane after travelling a zillion hours. The water here is so bad you never really feel clean even after taking a shower and it does a number on your hair! No control. ;)

We've not taken any video or pictures today. I think we're photoed out. I do have some from last night but I didn't download them because my battery was dead. Sorry. I'll download tonight and post tomorrow.

I think we are going to an Italien

Fun time in Gz!!

Today we went on a sightseeing tour to another temple and the most awesome pearl and jewelry factory that makes jewelry and ships it all over the world. Laura Fail would have thought she died and went to heaven! We tried to get pictures, but once again we just couldn't capture it! unbelieveable...everywhere you looked were piles and piles of any kind of stone, turquois, coral, gems, pearls in heaping bags everywhere!! We did not have the time to really search all the vendors. The tour guide only took us to one vendor, and I felt very rushed and overwhelmed. But anyway it was loads of fun! Then we bought Brie her first hapy meal! Sorry Sher, you and the girls can buy her the next one. She loves McNuggets! Tonight the Breshears and we had the most awesome dinner on earth. We ate outside by the river and enjoyed everything from beef and fish and pork,all kinds of fish, mussles, oysters, you name it ~ it was a smorgasborg of everything... we enjoyed the meal over a couple of hours...then topped it off with ice cream sundaes. Yes!!!! I've gained weight now for sure. Guangzhou is terrific. Two more days and then we start our journey home. We have paperwork to do frist thing in the morning and then we may journey up and down more of the side streets here..We have enjoyed the gorgeous pool here for the pat two afternoons. Those pics tomorrow. :)

Time to get little one to bed. She didn't have a nap this afternoon. Hope all is well back home. Love the Meades

We made it & Guangzhou is wonderful!

We are at the White Swan hotel and it is beautiful here!! We are on the 12th floor and the view is great. The hotel is on a river and when we got here last night music was piped into every floor...the same music that was playing outside to the laser light show from the buildings across the river. I will shoot some video tonight. We got here around 8:30pm. The girls did very well on the flight here. We lucked out as there was no one in the wondow seat so we were able to put Brie in between us and she had a geat time...well she snacked the whole time so that was fun for her. They all get so antsy. The guys ran back out as soon as we got into our rooms to get take out from Lucy's! American cheeseburgers and french fries with real ketchup!! They were wonderful. Brielle had a long night which means sodid mom and dad.. Her tummy was upset and her rash was really bothering her. The crib is very small and narrow. The first time she flops around it wakes her up. Thankfully we swapped rooms with another single girl who got a king sized bed so it is big enough for Brie to get in the middle.

This morning we went to get their medical exams. Brie weighs 15.6 pounds. She's the tiniest of all the girls. The each of the rest weighs between 18 and 21 pounds. They've been eatng up a storm since we got them so in no time they'll be good to go. We did get a prescription cream for Brie's rash. Hopefully that will help her tonight.

Brie is taking a nap now and Rob is with the rest of the Dads filling out required forms for the Consulate appointment tomorrow.

We saw alot of wonderful things this morning. I will try to quickly post a few pics. We have to pay dearly for internet here, so unfortunately, I do not know how many more times we'll be blogging. We wanted everyone to know we made it here ok and that Gz is clean and pretty from what we've seen so far.

After breakfast which was so delicious we walked down to a photo shop where they took headshots of the girls for their clinic paperwork. Then we went to a hospital of sorts for the exams. It didn't involve a whole lot...weight, measurements, overall body check, temperature, etc. no bloodwork or shots or anything really. I was glad to get her rash checked out but they just keep saying it is heat rash.

On our way to the clinic, there were a few nannies taking a class of children to the park. I think they were maybe 3 and 4 years old. They were all holding on to a long strip of material to keep them in line. Dressed in beautiful red outfits, they stopped and the children waived and said "Hollow" !! It was adorable. Then we saw alot of adults playing something like badmitten?? LOL ! however you spell it.. with their feet! They play in groups of four. Many were exercising - tai chi and using like playground equipment for adults!

I think we paid alot more for the few things we did buy in Beijing and Nanchang. There are several shops right across the street from the White Swan that we checked out on our way back to the hotel. We bought a stroller because the carrier gets so so hot in the afternoon. It was 155 yen which is about $23 and then we got two pairs of squeaky shoes and one outfit for Brie. I will have to go back when I can "barter" more aggressively and also when I have money. Rob had left me with only 6 yen when he left to do the paperwork so I only looked. It's probably a good thing because then I can compare more places before making decisions on things.

Ok I"m going to stop here and post some photos. Hugs to everyone back home and other faithful blog readers. Life is wonderful with Brielle and we can't wait for you all to meet her.