Adoption Blog

Comment Feature Turned Off

Hi, I just wanted to let everyone know that due to an uncontrollable amount of comment spam, I had to turn off comments on all posts. I will be switching to a new blog tool soon and hopefully that will fix the problem. Thanks!

Locks of Love

Naomi decided to donate her hair to Locks of Love - a non-profit organization that uses the hair for children who suffer from medical hair loss. Isn't Omi the coolest.... :-)

New Blog & Gallery Tool

I just upgraded the www.ChinaAdoptionForums.com and I added a new Blog tool and a Photo Gallery. You will see the link to each one at the top of the site under the forum logo.

The blog tool is free for all members. And it's super easy to use. Drop by and check it out!

Happy New Year!

2006 * H A P P Y - N E W - Y E A R * 2006

Have you checked out the www.ChinaAdoptionForums.com yet? If not, please do so.

I started the China Adoption Forums 6 months ago. So far we have 215 registered members and over 7,000 posts on topics like: home study, names, travel, finger prints, books, fund raising, referrals, dieting, scrapbooking, blogs, infertility, passports, I-171H, dossier, agencies, CCAA, waiting, famous adoptions, etc...

Please come and join the fun!

2006 * H A P P Y - N E W - Y E A R * 2006

Merry Christmas!

Shoes!

Kaylee loves her shoes! The best shoes we've found so far (besides squeaky shoes) are Robeez!

She has the Pink Flower & White Ladybug.

Here's a link to All of their Shoes.

Just wanted to let everyone know about Robeez. We love 'em!

Adoption Blog - 2 Years Old

On October 20th 2003, I started this blog. Below is a copy of the very first post.

--------------------------------------
First Post!
Well, this is the first post for the Adoption Blog. I'm still working on the site a little, but at least I can begin to document our progress as we move forward in our quest to adopt a baby girl from China.

For us the journey has just begun...

--------------------------------------

Wow, time just flys on by. Our journey had a new beginning on January 24th, 2005 - Gotcha Day!

DD: Kaylee
Chinese Name: You Mei Xiang
DOB: April 12th 2004
Province: Hunan
Gotcha Day: January 24, 2005
DTC: June 18th, 2004
Agency: CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International)

If anyone wants to read about our journey while we were in China, just click on the link titled "Letters from China" in the upper left margin.

I'd like to say thank you to all of the people who have left comments on this site (over 500 of them) over the years. You have helped to make this journey more enjoyable and you have provided helpful information along the way. THANK YOU!

I will continue to post updates on the little Kaylee girl.

CAF

Have you checked out the www.ChinaAdoptionForums.com yet?

The site was launched on June 18th and we already have 120 members and 2,055 posts!

If you are considering adopting from China, in the process of adopting from China, or if you have already adopted from China, you should definitely check it out!

F.C.C. Dinner Tonight

We finally hooked up with our local chapter of F.C.C. (Families with Children from China). It was GREAT! We met at a restaurant called "35 Chinese." The food was great. I think it just became my new favorite Chinese restaurant. :-)

We got to see a family that we traveled to China with (hi Glenn, Melanie, & Nena). And we got to meet some new families that live in our area.

If you haven't checked out your local F.C.C. I would encourage you to do so! Don't wait as long as we did. Get plugged in today! You will be happy you did.

China Adoption Forums!

I am very excited to announce my newest project/site:

China Adoption Forums

This is a brand new (launched today) message board site designed to do the following:

- Assist others in their journey to adopt from China
- Create an enjoyable community for those who have completed the journey
- And to provide an environment where we can share stories, make friends, and have a little fun

But first I need some people (YOU) to help me get it started. :-) Here is how you can help:

- First, register a user name (become a member) - it's simple and quick.
- Next, post some messages.
- Tell your friends about us.
- If you have your own web site, please put a link to us on it.

It's going to take some time and some work but I know we can get this thing going.

Please help me out by joining. It's simple & quick to register. And most importantly, you will be helping to create a site that can assist others in their journey to adopt from China!

www.ChinaAdoptionForums.com

Thank you!

Sign Language for Infants & Toddlers

Has anyone taught their infant or toddler sign language?

We recently purchased 3 DVDs from Signing Time - Volume 1 My First Signs, Volume 2 Playtime Signs, and Volume 5 ABC Signs.

We are excited about the idea of teaching Kaylee to sign. Hopefully, one day soon, Kaylee will be able to sign that she wants her bottle instead of crying!

We have been playing the Signing Time DVD's over and over. And we absolutely love them. Rachel, the co-creator and host of the DVD's, is fantastic. I walk around the house singing the songs all the time. And I am already becoming a pro. Haha... In just a few days I have already learned a lot of signs.

Naomi has experience signing. She took ASL as a second language in college. And she's still pretty good.

We will let everyone know how Kaylee progresses with her signs!

Back from Hawaii

Here are some pictures from Hawaii.

Here is a list of the people and some of the places that are in the pictures:

- Kaylee
- Naomi
- Matt (Naomi's Brother)
- Ann Marie (Naomi's Sister)
- Jason (Ann Marie's Boy)
- Abby (Ann Marie's Girl)
- Lexi (Matt's Girl)
- Terri (Friend's house that we stayed at)

- Kualoa Beach Park
- Chinaman's Hat (Island)
- Kaneohe (city on Oahu where we stayed)
- Brand New Starbucks in Kaneohe (Yum!)
- Aloha Tower (Market Place)

Hawaii Bound

Tomorrow we fly to Hawaii. Unfortunately this time it is not a planned vacation. Naomi's grandmother passed away so we are going to attend the funeral.

Her grandmother was wonderful. She always treated me with kindness. And she made the best sweet potato tempura in the world!

We are blessed to be able to travel to Hawaii to share this time with Naomi's family. And... we might just be able to show off little Kaylee girl while we are there. :-)

Recall of Hip Hammock

Playtex is recalling all of their Hip Hammock baby carriers! Here is another link from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

We have one and we love it. We used it on our trip to China. No problems at all. I guess I should send ours in for an exchange.

Baby Names

Happy New Year!

Can you believe we haven't selected a name yet? We talked about it a little over the past year, but we are now just putting a list together. We plan on keeping her Chinese name, You Mei Xiang, as her middle name.

Here's a cool site that looks at popularity and naming trends - Baby Names

This is a list of names that we are currently considering. It doesn't necessarily mean we will use one of these names. But here's the current list.

• Emiko (im ee ko)
• Keiko (kay ko)
• Keila (kay la)
• Lilianna (lili anna)
• Malana (ma lana)
• Mele (me le)
• Nalani (na lah nee)
• Noelani (no eh lah nee)
• Pualani (poo ah lah nee)

Any thoughts or opinions? :-)

Merry Christmas

Mele Kalikimaka and a Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

BlogExplosion

Do you have a blog? If so, you should check out BlogExplosion. It's a site you can use that will help drive traffic to your blog. I used it for one of my other sites and had over 500 visitors the first week. Pretty cool, eh?

If you join BlogExplosion, please click on the link above when you register. It will sign you up as a referral site for me and I will get extra visits. Thanks!

Guestbook & Comments

Psssst. Have You Signed the Guestbook? If not, look to the left and you will see it.

Also, you will see the word Comments listed under every post. If you want to comment on the post, please do. That's what makes blogging so much fun.

Chinese Video's & DVD's

We went to our small group meeting tonight and came home with a list of chinese video/dvd resources. So I thought I'd share them and post a link to them.

Follow Jade
Mei Mei & Me
Ni Hao Little Friends

If you have any other suggestions for Chinese Videos/DVD's, let us know! We'd also like to know if anyone has any suggestions for Chinese Lullaby/Music CD's.

Adoption Language

I know I just posted about Laura Christianson's Blog, but she has a great post that you should read. It's called Respectful Adoption Language.

Good stuff...

The Skinny Mouse, Inc.

The Skinny Mouse is a web hosting business that my friend Mike and I run. It's perfect for bloggers, small business, personal/family sites, and online communities. In fact, if you are into blogging, our control panel has a one-click, auto-install feature for WordPress.

You can use your own domain. Or you can use one of our subdomains. We offer the following subdomains:

http://yourname.coffeeblogs.com
http://yourname.techblogging.com
http://yourname.politicalblogging.com
http://yourname.christianblogging.com

You select the name you want to use and replace the 'yourname' part with it.

The cost is $19.95 per year for our subdomain accounts.

Sorry about the commercial. :-) We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...

We Bought A Camcorder

We finally got around to buying a camcorder. We went with the Sony DCR-HC20. Best Buy had it for $379. This is our first camcorder so we decided not to go overboard. I'm charging the battery right now so tomorrow I'll get a chance to play around with it.

How to Prepare for the Baby

We just started to get the baby's room together. And we're starting to buy a few things that we think we'll need. We're looking for suggestions. Does anyone have any advice on what we should buy?

+ Do we need a diaper genie?
+ Should we get a changing table or just the changing pads?
+ What about crib pads?
+ Glider?
+ Bouncer?

Any thoughts? Recommendations? What else do we need?

Adoption - Small Group Meeting

At our church, we have an adoption small group that meets once a month. It's sort of a support group for those going through adoption. And it's an informational group for those considering adoption.

Last night we met and one of the families showed their home video of their journey to China. It was GREAT! We got to see some of the sites, the hotels they stayed in, and the offices where they did their paper work. But the most exciting part was watching them when they received their baby. That was awesome!

We're still a few months away from traveling to China but we're starting to get excited!

New Email Address

I was having trouble with my old email address, so I changed it. You can find the new one in the margin on the right. If you have my old email saved, please update it with the new one. And if you have emailed me recently and you did not get a reply from me, please send it again to my new address. Thanks!

Add A Caption

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post. I guess I sort of unplugged for a while after we completed the paper chase. But I'm going to start posting on a more regular schedule.

Well, I just got back from a long week of sales meetings out in San Francisco. I had the opportunity to visit Fisherman's Wharf & Pier 39 and I took a few pictures. Below is a photo of the Sea Lions at Pier 39.

I thought it would be fun to post the picture, and then ask you to come up with a caption for it. So if you can come up with a funny one, post it in the comments!

Digital Camcorders

Does anyone out there own a digital camcorder? We plan to buy one before we go to China, but when I look at all the different types I'm a bit lost. Should we get MiniDV, Digital8, Digital DVD, etc... Amazon has a pretty cool little format guide. But I was hoping to get some feedback from some people who have digital camcorders and find out what they like and don't like about them.

Any feedback?

China's Lost Girls

China's Lost Girls
Airs June 20, Sunday, 8 p.m. ET
MSNBC TV

In “China’s Lost Girls,” National Geographic Ultimate Explorer host Lisa Ling examines the consequences of China’s two-decade-old, one-child policy.

Today, more than one quarter of all babies adopted from abroad by American families come from China — and nearly all are girls. Ling joins some of these families as they travel to China to meet their new daughters for the first time.

UPDATE (Jan 10th, 2005): Here are a few links where you can buy the video: Thanks Natalee for the link to National Geographic!

National Geographic - $19.95

Amazon - $13.99

Barnes & Noble - $15.98

A Nice Long Weekend

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. In fact, I'm only working a half day tomorrow and so I'll get an early start to a nice long 3 day weekend. We don't really have any plans to go anywhere.

We might do a little...

car shopping. Yuck. I hate buying cars. But Naomi's car is ready to roll over and die. It's a 1992 Nissan Sentra. Yeah, we usually drive our cars until the wheels fall off.

I was just reading on Clark Howard's site that if you keep your cars for at least 10 years, you will save enough money to retire 5 years earlier. Interesting. Anyway, we're looking at Toyota Camry's, Honda Accord's, and Nissan Altima's. Sorry, but we're not buying into the hype that we have to buy a huge SUV or minivan just because we're going to have a child. :-)

Other than doing a little car shopping I'll probably spend most of my time on the computer. My friend, Mike, & I are about to open up a Web Hosting business. We've been working on it for over a year now. We both work full-time jobs so this has been our side project. We're almost ready to open up for business. This weekend I'll spend a lot of time working on it.

I might try to make it out to the pool once or twice. It's time to get a little sun. It was a brutal winter and my pale skin makes me feel unhealthy. I need some color!

So that's about it. I'm sure it will be a busy weekend for us but I also think I'll have some time to relax. Maybe do a little reading.

How about you? Any plans for the weekend?

A Beautiful Weekend

We had a beautiful weekend here in Raleigh, NC. The temperature was in the 80's. Yesterday, I wore my favorite set of clothes - flip-flops, shorts, and a T-shirt! It actually felt like summer. I can't tell you how happy that made me feel.

Where do you live and how was your weekend?

100 Comments!

We just received our 100th comment for this site! Thanks to everyone who has left a comment. We love seeing your thoughts and feedback.

The comments really make blogging more enjoyable. They add interaction. And they make this site more conversational instead of it just being a forum for me to post my thoughts.

BTW, thanks to Tray for leaving the 100th comment!

Guestbook

This post will serve as our Guestbook. You can sign it by just saying hello, or you can answer some of these questions:

• Are you adopting or have you already adopted:
• Which adoption agency are you using:
• How far along in the adoption process are you:
• What country are you adopting from:
• If you've already adopted, tell us about your experience:
• If you're not adopting but you still visit the adoption blog, please let us know a little bit about you:
• Do you have any words of wisdom for all of us involved in the world of adoption:
• Do you have a web site:
• How did you find my site:
• Anything else...

Thanks!

Pictures From Hawaii

Here's some of our Pictures From Hawaii.

If you have questions about any of the pictures, just post a comment about it. Please include the second part of the picture name found in the upper left hand corner.

Hope you like them. Please let me know what you think! And which picture is your favorite?

Missing Naomi...

I'm running out the door to pick Naomi up from the airport. It's been a long week here w/out her. I never really get used to her long trips to Hawaii. She usually goes for 3 weeks and I go for 1. That means I've got 2 weeks w/out her. This time she left almost a week before me and returns a week after me. I sure do miss her when she's gone...

Here's one of my favorite pictures that we took in Hawaii. This was on the beach outside of our hotel. I'll try to post a bunch of them later today if I get time!

Back From Hawaii

I'm back from Hawaii. Dealing with a little jet lag. I was laying in bed last night at 3:00am with my eyes wide open thinking it's only 10:00pm in Hawaii. But, my alarm clock went off at 6:15am. What an awful sound...

Anyway, it was a great trip. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get a chance.

Aloha From Hawaii

Well, what can I say. I'm in Hawaii. Life is good...

We've been spending a lot of time with family and friends. And the hotel we're in is unbelievable. It's one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in. It's called the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa at Ko Olina. Absolutely unbelievable. The only negative thing I can say about Hawaii (Oahu to be specific) is the traffic. It's aweful. Some of the worst I've ever seen and that's coming from someone who has driven in Los Angeles, New York, & New Jersey. So you know it's bad! But hey, it's still one of the most beautiful places on the planet!

Oh well, when we return we'll be ready to complete the paper-chase and get that long awaited DTC date!

Pic's of Omi & I

I just added pictures of Naomi and I to the Our Story page. The 3rd photo is a picture of Hanauma Bay in Hawaii. Naomi's from Hawaii so we try to get out there ever two years or so. And we just happen to be scheduled to fly there in a few days. Can't wait!

Cold Pizza!

Yum.... I'm eating left over pizza from last night. COLD! Anybody want a slice?

Happy New Year!

2004 is going to be an awesome year!

If you're chasing paper I hope you get DTC ASAP! If you're waiting I hope you get matched soon! And if you've returned home with new family members I pray that you are blessed beyond your wildest dreams!

Happy New Year!

Greetings, Thanks, Hi, & Welcome!

I just wanted to take a moment and say thanks to everyone who has contacted us since we started this blog site. We've received a lot of really nice emails from people offering their advice, and congratulating us on our decision.

One thing that amazed me right from the begining was the willingness of people to offer advice and to share their personal experiences. There's a clear bond between all of the families out there. And that's awesome!

Merry Christmas

Mele Kalikimaka and a Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

Godiva Chocolate

Naomi & I were at Hallmark this evening picking out some Birthday and New Years cards. After we left and got in our car Naomi handed me two pieces of chocolate. She said that Hallmark gives you chocolate when you shop there. So I started to eat one of the pieces when it occurred to me that she didn't keep any for herself. Naturally I was a bit puzzled. So I asked her why she didn't want one. She looked right at me, smiled and said, "Because it isn't Godiva!"

She cracks me up. The scary part is I think she was serious...

Rock'n Christmas!

My favorite Christmas Tree Ornament. (I added some more pictures of our Christmas Tree!)

The Smell of Christmas

One of the big disadantages of having an artificial Christmas Tree is that they don't have the Christmas Tree smell. Well, Naomi found a solution. She stopped by Yankee Candle and bought a Mistletoe Candle.

We Need a Traffic Light!

What a morning. I was pulling out of my subdivision and witnessed an awful accident. One SUV was hit so hard it traveled 30+ feet right at me. I had to brace for impact. It stopped about 5 feet away from me. I jumped out of my car...

...and approached the first vehicle to check on the driver. She was okay. I ran over to the other vehicle and checked on them. The driver was okay but the passenger was in bad shape. His head was bleeding, he said his back was hurt and he couldn't move. I spoke with 911, relayed information back and forth from the injured person to the 911 operator, and then we waited for the emergency vehicles to show up.

I hate this type of stuff. I usually won't even look at an accident when I drive by. I just don't like to see injured people.

They really need to put up a traffic light at that intersection!

What a morning...

Pictures of our Christmas Tree

Here's some pictures of our Christmas Tree!

Christmas Tree

Naomi and I have been married for six years and this is the first time we've had a Christmas Tree. It's not like we don't like Christmas. We both love Christmas. But it just seems like we're always traveling for Christmas so we've never had a tree.

But this year is different...

Not only are we not traveling but Naomi's mom will be flying up to spend Christmas with us. So we decided to buy a tree. And it actually worked out great because when my parents found out that we were buying a tree they offered to pay for it as an early Christmas present for us. Cool, yeah?

So we went out and bought our first tree. It's an artificial tree. It looks awesome. It's 7 feet tall but it's what I'd call a medium sized tree. It's not one of those huge trees and yet it's not totally thin either.

We've been collecting ornaments over the past few years so we've got a few things on the tree. I have to admit that my favorites so far are my Jingle Bell Rock Ornaments from Restoration Hardware! They were a Christmas gift from my parents last year.

Has anyone else put their tree up yet? Is it a real tree or artificial?

I'll try to post some pictures of our tree when I get a chance.

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to say Happy Turkey Day to everyone. I hope you have a fantastic holiday!

Ugh... Winter Is Here

This will probably be the first of many posts where I simply complain about the weather. It's currently 48 degrees here in NC and we don't like it. I grew up in Florida and Naomi grew up in Hawaii. All I can say is these NC Winters kill us. I know, I know, go ahead and call us wimps. We know it. But to us, happiness is being able to wear shorts and a t-shirt year round.

Welcome!

I'm about to send an email out to all of our family and friends to let them know about this site. Most of our family and friends know about our decision to adopt but I haven't told them about this site yet. I'll also post a message on the cabana and I'll probably let the awesome group of people over at APC (Yahoo! Group - Adoptive Parents China) know as well. The folks over at APC have really been helpful during the early stages of this journey.

Anyway, that's all. I just wanted to say welcome to anyone who takes the time to visit my blog and I hope you enjoy it.

First Post!

Well, this is the first post for the Adoption Blog. I'm still working on the site a little, but at least I can begin to document our progress as we move forward in our quest to adopt a baby girl from China.

I will use this site to keep our family and friends updated on our progress. And to perhaps even assist those that might be thinking about adopting or those that are going through the journey themselves.

For us the journey has just begun...