Grandma Betty Sugar Cookies

Today is a lay low kinda day so we decided to make Grandma Betty Sugar Cookies.  Folks, these are the best sugar cookies around.  I'm talking melt in your mouth yumminess.  I have already eaten six this morning!  I cannot stop...

Secret Family Recipe

Mia Goes Ice Skating

Mia had a field trip with her first grade class on Friday to the Kendall Ice Arena.  This was the first time she had ever tried ice skating!  Unfortunately, Jon and I were working so we couldn't chaperone this trip.  Luckily, my friend took a short video clip of Mia trying to do spins in the middle of the rink.  She is wearing pink pants and a puffy purple jacket!  

P.S.  She ended up with a little bruise on her tailbone, but she had lots of fun!  

We plan to go as a family and try it out.

My Friend (and China Travel Buddy!)

I am so fortunate to have a best friend like Cari.  We have known each other since high school and have seen one another through many life changes.  She is a wonderful, beautiful person and I am honored to call her my friend.  

Yesterday I received a very special gift from my best friend- an amazing Lisa Leonard necklace (my favorite jewelry!).  The charm contains all THREE of my children's names and is truly magnificent.  Thank you for thinking of me.  

And the other super news... Cari is going to be my travel buddy in China.  We are looking forward to this grand adventure and to the time we will have to talk!

Here is my awesome necklace:

Ady Mae Update

Finally!  I have been going crazy waiting for an updated photo and more information on our beautiful, baby girl.  Today my prayers were answered!  We received two new photos, updated measurements, and a paragraph telling more about our daughter.  The biggest news was that she has been in foster care for the past 3 1/2 months- we had no clue about this fact!  She is living with her foster parents and an older sister- another child from the orphanage.  I am hoping this will help ease the transition of having a new brother and sister when she arrives home.  The other information to note... she has severe stranger danger.  Should make for a very eventful "gotcha day" for us!

More information... they call her Niu Niu, she weighs 24 pounds, is 29.5 inches tall, and has 16 teeth.  According to the records, she has gained four pounds in the past month so I am assuming they weighed her with the bundles of clothes she is wearing!

Here is the paragraph we received:

Currently, Qiu Yan is living well with a foster family. At the same time, in her foster home, she also lives with another little girl from the orphanage. That girl is relatively older than Qiu Yan, and she is like a very good older sister to her. She helps their foster mother take care of Qiu Yan. If she has something tasty to eat or fun to play with, she lets Qiu Yan have it first. Qiu Yan is extremely intelligent. Currently, she can freely sit on her own in the baby walker and slide all around. She can also grab little breads, crackers, and other snacks to feed herself. Currently, Qiu Yan is relatively afraid of strangers. When she encounters a stranger, she is scared, cries and fusses, etc. She even more dislikes when a stranger holds her. If a stranger gives her something to eat, she will not take it. To sum up, she is a beautiful little princess, and currently, in her foster home, she is living well. Please tell her adoptive family that they can rest easy – Qiu Yan is eager for her Baba and Mama to soon come to bring her home.

Now bring on the photos...

Logan's Eyes

Had an eye exam with Dr. Warman at Miami Children's Hospital today.  Logan's eyes are getting better with his glasses and eye patching, but there is still some deviation in his left eye.  Thus, we are increasing our time spent patching the good eye from two to four hours a day.  We will go to see the doctor again in June and review the results.  I am hoping this works as the next step may possibly be surgery and I am not keen on that idea.

After the very long eye exam, we went out to lunch at Panera Bread per Mia's request.  She loves the chicken noodle soup in the bread bowl!  It was a delicious lunch followed by... shopping of course!  I need to go back to work because all I have done this weekend is eat and shop!  I did get lots of good deals today including a travel adaptor, mini neck pillow, laptop sleeve, blankie and snuggle toy for Ady, and lots of good trinkets for my kiddos while I am in China.  I have told them that they will get to open one present every day that I am in China and when they get to the last present... Mommy and Ady Mae will be home!

Panera Bread Bowl & Chicken Noodle Soup

Shopping and Pizza Night

Took the kids and did some shopping for Ady Mae today!  We had lots of fun and got some great stuff.  Mia chose an awesome cell phone toy which I will bring to China.  Also found some cute little outfits on super sale.  Gotta love it!
Tonight we decided to make homemade pizza.  Mia's was a pretty heart!  It all tasted delicious.  We watched Shrek Forever After and chowed down.  Off to bed now as Logan has an eye exam early tomorrow morning at Miami Children's Hospital.  Night!

Family Day on the Boat

Yesterday, we had a lazy morning.  Made homemade waffles and bacon for breakfast and watched cartoons.  It was a beautiful day so we decided to go for a boat ride.  Stopped off at Worldwide Sportsman to buy Logan a new visor and Mia a new life jacket.  Saw the employees feed the store's fish and climbed Ernest Hemmingway's boat.  Then we ordered food to go from Islamorada Fish Company and ate a picnic lunch on the boat.  Saw a stingray and some tarpon rolling.  It was a lovely day!

NVC cable today!

 Hip Hip Hooray- our NVC (National Visa Center) cable came today!  One more thing done!  Our agency said that our paperwork will be delivered to the US Embassy on Tuesday and then it will take two weeks to receive our Article 5.  Once that is picked up by our China rep, it will be delivered directly to the CCCWA for Travel Approval (TA)!

After we receive TA (about 3-4 weeks), we will begin to make our hotel and flight reservations.  Approximately two weeks later, I will be on a long airplane journey to bring our baby girl home.  

Cannot wait!

PA Today!

I got home from a long day of teaching today to find our I-800 Provisional Approval (PA) in the mail.  Yippee!  Next we wait for the National Visa Center (NVC) to enter our information into their computer system.  They will cable our file to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China.  This is the approval of our visa petition.  So bring on the NVC letter... the next piece of paper we will be waiting for in the mail!

Tonight we celebrated with a homemade chocolate cream pie!

Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park

Today was a chilly, windy day for us here in the Keys.  We decided to go walk the trails of Windley Key State Park.  The four of us met up with some friends and off we went.  The children loved exploring the trails and being outside on such a cool day.  Mia loved climbing the large rocks while Logan was content with the huge sticks he found on the ground.  Some background on the park... this land was sold to the Florida East Coast Railroad which used the stone to build Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad in the early 1900s. After the railroad was built, the quarry was used until the 1960s to produce exquisite pieces of decorative stone called Keystone.  


After running around the park, our family went out to lunch at Midway Cafe, a quaint little restaurant in Islamorada.  Daddy ate a BLT, I had a portabella mushroom sandwich, and the kids had cheese pizza.  When we got home, we made homemade playdough and watched Rio.  


It was a wonderful weekend!

Chinese New Year Picnic

Yesterday the kids and I spent the day at the FCC (Families with Children from China) Chinese New Year Picnic in Tamarac (unfortunately, Daddy had to work).  It was a windy, cloudy, cool day filled with fun.  There were all the essentials of a great party... a bounce house, covered playground, balloon artist, grilled lunch, and lion dancers to welcome in the year of the dragon.  We enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones.  Mia became fast friends with a new pal named Emma.  They ran and played together all day long... it was lovely to watch this new relationship blossom.  Logan had a wonderful time on the playground with his balloon sword.  He was not so found of the lion dancers!  Mia was the lucky recipient of a penguin balloon sculpture which she proudly carried around all afternoon.  Although it was a very long drive for us, it was well worth the effort!  

I-800 Receipt

We received our Notice of Action in the mail today saying that our immigration paperwork was received by the USCIS and forwarded to the Hague Adoption Unit located at the National Benefits Center in Missouri.  What does all this mean?  We are one step closer to bringing Ady Mae home!  When  we receive our official I-800 approval (in the next few weeks), we move onto the National Visa Center part and then the Article 5 stage and then Travel Approval and then finally, I am off to China!

Miami Zoo Day

So today was a partly cloudy, windy day... decided to drive on up to the Miami Zoo.  We rented a four seater bike and rode all over the zoo.  Logan's favorite animals were the zebras, Mia liked the Asian birds, and Mommy and Daddy loved the one month old baby rhino.  A fun day was had by all.

my old blog

I thought I had started a blog way back when so I typed in what I thought the address was and up it popped!  It chronicled when I had traveled to Guatemala to bring our son home.  What fun it was to read through.  If you are interested in checking it out, here it is: http://milchman.blogspot.com/
It made me realize that this blogging thing is pretty cool and maybe I will try to keep up with it a little more!  I am going to continue using this blog as I feel that we have so much to celebrate.

A little background

Many have asked about our process so here is a very abbreviated version:
We put our paperwork in to adopt our second daughter a year after bringing home our first daughter from China (per China's requirements).  We have a LID of November 2006.  Yes, folks- over five years ago!  As many of you know, China's adoption process slowed down to a crawl at this time.  We let our paperwork ride for years and adopted our son from Guatemala in the meantime.  (Thank goodness it did slow down because we cannot imagine our life without our Boo Boo Boy!)  Last April, I turned in a medical checklist after talking to many people who had adopted amazing children from the Waiting Child Program.  Then we updated all of our paperwork over the summer.  Then we waited and waited some more.  We received one referral from the shared list a couple of months ago, but she was not meant to be our daughter as her heart condition was too complex.  (On a side note, I have connected with the family that is bringing her home and they are wonderful!)  After so much waiting, I said in my mind that if it didn't happen by the end of 2011, we were done with it all and pulling our file.  Low and behold, CCAI called us with a referral right before the New Year with Ady Mae!  At first glance, I thought she was adorable and I noticed that her referral photos were taken on my husband's birthday and her immunizations were given to her on my birthday.  Pretty neat.  We researched, got doctor reviews, discussed, and then discussed some more, and now we wait to bring our daughter home!  We are truly a lucky family.  

Names Part 2

So my family says no way to any other name, but Adyson Mae Milchman.  She has been that name for so long that they feel it just cannot be changed!
And there you have it...
Adyson (Ady) Mae Milchman!
P.S.  I still love Adylina.