Learning so many new things!

Harper is loving her new home!  She is becoming quite an active toddler very quickly.  She is nearly always laughing ..... except at bedtime :(  She's been struggling with jet lag (and wanting to play with her new toys) the past few nights and will fight sleep. She will go to sleep around 8pm and sleep until 2am.  She stays awake from 2-4am, and then after some fussing, will go back to sleep until 7am.  She was such a good sleeper when we were in China.  We are hoping to get her back on schedule soon.  We only gave her a 1 hour nap today, and bedtime was much easier tonight.  We are developing a routine of bath, story, bottle, then bedtime and it seems to be helping. 

Here is what everyone is waiting for............. more pictures!  I tried to narrow them down, but she is so darn cute that I can't resist posting them!  This is what we've been up to (in between napping) since leaving China.

First steps at the Detroit airport (after a 15 hour flight and a 

6 hour layover that included a lot of time in immigration)

Finally home and loving the memory foam bed!

Loving my bath fountain from Mommy's friend Alicia!

Playing with my new purse

Having a tea party

Learning to read

Playing with my iPad

Learning how to use my snack cup

My favorite toy is Daddy's iPhone.  There are so many pictures of me on it!

Little walker!

Today Harper decided to walk!  She has been walking nonstop for the past 2 hours!

Home!

We are home!!!  Harper was awake for 20 of the 24 hours that we were traveling but she was happy and playful.  We were all exhausted when we finally got home.  It was about 10pm, so we all went to sleep.  Staying awake for so long during travel may have helped with our jet lag.  We've been home for less than 24 hours, and Harper already seems to be adjusting to the new time zone.  China is 13 hours ahead of CST, so we basically had to flip flop her days and nights.  We slept until about 5am, then headed to Wal-Mart for milk, bread, formula, etc.
Harper is doing well with her car seat and even took a quick nap today when we went to drop off our recycling and go to the car wash.  She is loving her hew toys and really enjoys eating in her high chair!  She took her first steps (for us) in the Detroit airport.  We knew she could walk, because we had seen video of her doing it, but in China she always wanted to be carried.  She has been walking quite a bit since we got home!  I may not even need that new baby walker that I ordered from Amazon while we were in China!
We continue to be amazed by this baby girl!  We are in such awe that she could have lived through the losses she has already experienced, and come through it with such joy and happiness!  Her resilience is truly impressive.  We are beyond blessed to have her in our lives!

Last post from China

This will likely be our last post from China.  We leave Guangzhou tonight after Harper's visa has been processed.  I am not sure if we will have internet access at the Hong Kong hotel.

We leave Hong Kong on Friday morning.  If anyone wants to come meet sweet little Harper, we should be flying to KCI on Delta flight 1849 landing at 8:41pm on Friday night, August 24. We will be traveling for 22 hours, so we will probably be a mess but would love to see you all!

Momma, all these pictures make my eyes squinty!

Watch out United States, here I come!

 

Leaving Guangzhou

In a few short hours, we will take Chen Chao Ji from the only life she has known.  When we touch down on US soil Friday afternoon, she will become Harper Grace Scott.  We cannot believe how far she has come in such a short time.  We will do our best to give her the most fulfilling life she can have.  We will help her find her path, and will love her unconditionally.

It has been so wonderful here!  We start each day with an amazing breakfast buffet and we have someone who cleans our room.  That leaves the entire day to just play with Harper and get to know her.  It has been such a blessing to spend so much undivided time with her.

After yearning to get home so badly, I am now having mixed emotions about ending this part of the journey.  It is an end, but also a new beginning.

We are looking forward to starting our new life together.  We look forward to making memories every day and many first experiences.... first time seeing a dog, first time in a car seat, first time sleeping on a memory foam mattress,  first time playing in her new room.

Harper Grace, we thank God for bringing us together.  We are beyond blessed!

We want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support and prayers we have received during this long adoption process.  We love reading the comments you post on the blog or on Facebook.  Your words of encouragement mean the world to us.  I wish I had time to respond and thank each one of you personally.  We cannot express how much it means to us.  We feel so blessed, so honored, so loved!

Last full day in Guangzhou

Today was our last full day in Guangzhou.  Tomorrow at 4:00, Harper's visa will be ready and we will travel back to Hong Kong.  We will spend the night in a hotel, then begin our long journey back to the United States.

This morning, we took the Immigration Oath for Harper.  When we touch down on US soil on Friday afternoon, Harper will automatically become a US Citizen.

After the consulate, we had the rest of the day to play!

I tried out my new cell phone.

And I LOVE looking at myself in the mirror!

I played with some extra passport photos of Momma, Daddy, and Ashley.  Here's what I picked when I was asked, "Where is your Momma?"

Daddy wanted to wrestle.  Momma says Daddy is too rough when we wrestle, but I like it!

Tonight, I LOVED my bath!  Momma was in the tub with me so we don't have any pictures of that!  But we do have some video of me giggling tonight.  Everything was sooooo funny!

Another day in paradise!

Today was another free day!  During our play time,  I decided to sing Jesus Loves the Little Children with Harper.  Then, she surprised me with a little song of her own!  She started singing, "Ohhh Dah La, Ohhh Dah La" over and over.  At first, her song was a quiet lullaby.  As the day went on, it became louder and louder.  By dinnertime, she had become a regular chatterbox!

Still loving my MagnaDoodle

Still practicing to be a princess

Still loving my Daddy

Trying out the pool again

It might be fun to drop in just this one toy!

It might be OK if I just stick my feet in!

Throwing in my toys is kind of fun!

See toys, the pool is not so scary!

Finally brave enough to venture into deeper waters!

Dinner with some of my new friends is the perfect ending to another day in paradise!

A Day to Play!

We had a free day today while waiting on Harper's passport to be processed, so we played all day!

We found a Pleasant Goat hammer to play with. 

 Pleasant Goat is a very popular children's cartoon in China.

Bonking Daddy with the hammer is really fun!

We had time to go to the playroom.

They had a Magna Doodle just like mine!

Such a big girl!

We played some ball.

This is the look I gave Daddy when he bounced the ball off my head!

We played stacking cups!

And I fed myself Teddy Grahams with a spoon!

When I grow up, I'm going to be a princess.  I practice waving at people everywhere we go!

Such a good baby!

Today we toured the Xiangjiang Safari Park with two other families from our adoption agency.  It was 95 degrees and 86% humidity and we stayed for about 4 hours.  Harper was such a trooper!  She never complained at all.  I won't say the same thing about Daddy!

At the beginning, we rode a train through the safari area.  The animals were really close!

Later, we saw the pandas!

Harper was having a good time despite the heat!

Today, she decided that she is big enough to hold her own bottle.

After the safari, we cooled off at the hotel and played with our new safari animals.

We played with our purse and decided that talking on the cell phone was really fun!

We played some ball.  Harper loves to cheer for herself every time she throws the ball.

We played with our stacking cups.  Harper loves to put a couple of Teddy Grahams in one of the cups then transfer them back and forth between cups.  In the past, she would only eat them if I fed them to her.  Today, she decided to feed them to herself!

Tonight, we found a little Irish pub near our hotel.  The food was excellent!  While we waited for our food, Harper played with her MagnaDoodle.

Harper is such a good baby!  She just hangs out and has a good time, no matter what we are doing.  She only got in a 10 minute nap today, but was still happy and playing all the way until bedtime.  We are so incredibly blessed to have this little girl in our lives!

 

Happy Again!

Harper is back to her happy cheerful self!  She woke up giggling and has spent much of the day laughing (although it might not show in the pictures below)!

Today Harper had to pass a medical examination before she can be approved for immigration into the United States.  We had to move through 4 different stations -- picture taking, height and weight, ear nose and throat, and general examination.  Fortunately, we were one of the first families there so things moved quickly.  Before we finished, there were about 30 families waiting.  Harper does not particularly like it when people are in her space.  She also does not like anyone except Mommy and Daddy to hold her.  I thought she might like some of the Chinese ladies to hold her since they would look more familiar to her, but when anyone else tries to take her, she clings to us!  Of course we love that!

Checking height and weight

General medical exam-- this was the final step and she was definitely ready to go!

There was a bit of a holdup during her general exam, because the doctor could not understand why Harper is a listed as a special needs baby.  Currently, it is only possible to adopt Special Needs children from China.  "Special Needs" encompasses a wide variety of diagnoses.  (We have chosen to not publicly disclose Harper's particular special need for several reasons.  First, we feel that this is Harper's personal health information and if she chooses to share it at some time, then she can.  Second, we are relatively sure that her current diagnosis is incorrect.  Third, we don't want people to form expectations and stereotypes based on her diagnosis.  Finally, please be assured that she does not have a contagious disease of any kind.)   We were a bit worried as the doctor spoke in hurried Chinese to our guide.  Finally, we were allowed to leave.  After we got outside, I asked the guide what was going on.  She said the doctor was concerned that the diagnosis on the initial medical forms was wrong. We were relieved that she signed off on the papers and let us go.

Back at the hotel, playing with Daddy

First time playing with Magnadoodle.  Maybe a lefty?

Playing ball-- Harper learned to throw today!

On the way to blow bubbles.  The hotel has an 8 story waterfall!

First time eating pizza!  We found a great place called Oggi's Pizza near our hotel.  The pizza was some of the best I've ever had.  Now Shawn wants to every meal there!

Here is a video of us playing patty cake after a diaper change!