Getting to know each other

Our two little angels and their slipping halos were pretty nice to each other today.  We've had a little bit of jealousy between the two since our initial moment of loving and sharing.  The last couple of days we are seeing them warm up again and precious moments throughout each day of sweetness toward one another.  Today Wyatt was patting his sister on the head but when it came time for her to play with his blocks, he wasn't terribly enthusiastic.  Then we caught the two of them grinning at each other during dinner as Wyatt tossed food, he apparently didn't want onto Hadley's tray.  They are learning quickly!  


Tomorrow Hadley has her appointment at Riley for her IA visit and we know that's going to be difficult for her.  Since having to spend several days in the hospital in China, the clinic for vaccines in China and then the Pediatrician her first day home, we have seen her panic when it comes time to even have her heart listened to.  It's so sad because we know she has every right to be fearful and is just learning to trust us and while I know it's necessary, I'm sad for her that she has to go.  On the bright side we are looking forward to getting some additional follow up on her infection from when she was in China.  


This picture is of our mommy and daughter time while Wyatt and Brandon went out hunting...Just kidding, they went out for some male bonding :)

Brother and sister

                                     WE LOVE OUR WALKS!!

Wyatt- "Yay mom!  Here we go!"    Hadley- "It's past my nap time and I'm falling asleep, lets get this show on the road."

Wyatt- "Can I hold your hand, sis?"

Hadley- "I like you Wyatt but not right now...I'm still a little upset about you taking away the ball earlier.  You need to learn to share a little better"  Wyatt- "Ok sis but remember it's MY ball and I love you even if you won't hold my hand"

The day Aunt Jill left

Wyatt was sleeping when I took Jill to the airport but we were able to get a few more photos of Aunt Jill with Hadley...

Our exciting adventures to Costco!

Since coming home last Thursday we've taken two very exciting trips out and about...One was to Costco and Buy Buy Baby with Aunt Jill and the other was a second trip to Costco for DIAPERS!  Woo-Hoo!  The Leese family is full of excitement these days, as you'll see (wink-wink)!!
                                          

                 Apparently Hadley was thrilled to go to Costco!

Looks like Wyatt got the same memo!

The next Bridget Sloan...She is so stinkin flexible

Why are you so happy??!! We are at COSTCO not Disney!

Priceless

Yesterday Wyatt came home with Auntie Jill and met his sister for the first time!  The moments were precious and priceless.  It's truly heart warming to see the two of them together and to see the changes in Hadley in only two weeks.  The two of them are keeping us busy and laughing non-stop

Peak-a-boo

Today was our last full day of just the three of us and tomorrow we will all be together as a family of four!!!  Aunt Jilly is bringing Wyatt solo now because grandma got hurt while we were in China, so she's not able to fly and grandpa's going to stay home to take care of her.  They're so sad that they can't be here to see brother and sister meet but I've promised to take lots of pictures and video :)  Daddy and Hadley have gone to bed so I thought I'd post some pictures from this evenings session of peak-a-boo...Hadley's favorite!!  She belly laughs so hard when you play it with her and tonight she even used the baby gate to hide behind and pull open to join in the fun on her own.

Her latest accomplishment is to grab onto our fingers and pull herself up to stand!  Her legs are still weak and wobbly but she is so determined!!  She gets up and we say, "BIG GIRL- big girl!!" and then she looks down at her little feet and then back up at us with a huge smile as if to say...I'm so proud of myself! :)

WE ARE HOME!!!!!!!

We arrived home in Indy today at 5A.M!!  I can't describe the feeling to get back and begin getting little Miss Hadley settled and introduce her to her big brother this Saturday!  When we landed at our connection in LA and we saw the sign in customs that said, "Welcome to the United States of America" it was overwhelming!  We touched Hadley's tiny little feet on the ground and just like that, it was official...She's a U.S. Citizen! :)  The journey to Hadley has been so emotional, mind boggling, spiritual, and full of Gods fingerprints! While we were in China, I bought a little book to journal the things that I wasn't prepared to post at that time but wanted to get down on paper, so I wouldn't forget as time went on.  Each day was filled with proof, over and over again that no matter how difficult a situation was or is, no matter how many unknowns there are, no matter how huge something appears to be, to us...God walks it with us and HE shows us He's right there along side us in the sweetest and most gentle ways.  I would actually sit and sob over how he kept revealing His love for all of us, His guidance and His plan!  I said it earlier on while we were in China...I knew with all certainty that none of what was accomplished was our doing. So many things that we encountered, we couldn't have endured without Christ...We were tested over and over our entire trip, it never stopped. That's not to say it was easy but it was amazing to feel the super natural comfort we could only have felt from a loving God.  One evening I had woken up in the middle of the night and been praying and feeling sad, scared, overwhelmed and it clearly occurred to me that this was all about not trusting what any MAN could do, or would do to help us in our time of need but instead TRUST fully that He would provide everything we needed, everyday.  Even the days when I'd get mad and throw my hands up in the air and say to Brandon..."Are you serious? What else is going to get thrown at us?"   I got my answer...It didn't matter what was thrown at us because HE was in control and that's where we needed to rest.  I struggled with that as the days went on and He, of course remained faithful.  As rough as it was some days...I realized how blessed we are and were to have gone on this journey, that really only just began in China.


Since we've gotten home this morning, Hadley has acted like this was where she was suppose to be.  We couldn't get over how all day today she just seemed so relaxed, comfortable and the happiest by far we've seen her.  We expected it to be scary and for her to be nervous with all of the new smells and the new surroundings but instead its been the opposite.  We were a little nervous about introducing her to our dogs so quickly but the timing seemed right and she didn't even flinch!  She just checked them out and studied them.  My guess is, she's probably never seen a dog before today. She's not a big fan of Remmie licking her toes and she gives her a scowl and a shout but overall, so far, so good! :)  


We also took Hadley to the Dr today to get checked out from her infection and she is going to continue to need antibiotics because some of the infection appears to be resurfacing.  It was a doozy, so we expected some residual when we got back home.  She's a tiny little peanut, weighing in at a whopping 18lbs, 11oz. and 29 1/2 inches. The Dr suspects she's likely 12-14 months rather than what we originally thought based on her fontanel.  We suspected she was younger when we met her so it was interesting to hear her Dr's perspective.  We'll get further clarification when she visits the IA Dr. at Riley in the next couple of weeks.  So happy to have her home and can't wait to see Wyatt on Saturday!!!!!!  We are ready!!!!  We thought life was busy before...I think we're going to see what the best kind of busy really is! :)


Thank you again for all of the encouraging emails and prayer while we were away!  It was so amazing to have the love and support of friends when we were so far away from home.


Hugs,
Robin

Oath taking ceremony and more misc photos (Yesterday and Today)

Today was our last full day in Guangzhou and tomorrow evening we fly out for home.  Yesterday we spent the day doing a little site seeing and shopping.  We went to the pearl market, shopped for Jade, porcelain and other misc items.  We got our fix of squeaky shoes for Hadley and Wyatt, which are the big thing here!  I thought I'd start Hadley off right with a healthy shoe fetish :)  It was a great day of getting out and about and seeing a little more of Guangzhou.

Today was the Oath taking ceremony for Hadley's Visa at the US Consulate here in Guangzhou.  Tomorrow we'll receive Hadley's Visa and be ready to plant her little feet on American soil, where the second they touch, she'll become an American Citizen!!! YAY!!!  After our appt we went and took the traditional "red couch" picture at the White Swan, where we are staying with the other family we have been traveling with and then we all went out to our last dinner.  It was a very nice way to end our time in Guangzhou.

Below are a mish-mash of photos from both yesterday and today....

Mommy and me

I LOVE NOODLES!!!

Snoozing on the way to the U.S. Consulate

 

Daddy carrying me into the Consulate

We have taken the Oath!!

Our pretty little princess on the red couch

Monday the 16th in Guangzhou and Misc photos

It's early Monday morning in Guangzhou and only a few more days until we head back home.   We're both missing our little man so much but have been Skyping with him and my family regularly so we get a quick Wyatt fix about once a day or so! :)  Can't wait to get home and love on him!!  Little does he know we are bringing him quite the special souvenir!! :)

We had Hadley's Medical exam and vaccines on Saturday and all went very well.  Her fever remained down and they were able to vaccinate her.  Our poor baby has been stuck so many times since we've arrived in China that I couldn't hold her for this round.  I asked Brandon to be the bad guy.  Now that the Medical portion of our exam is over, we're feeling a huge sigh of relief.  Today is our Consulate appt and after that we're going to go do shopping and walking around.  

We've had a camera debacle....Actually the debacle is called, no more camera....We've lost it.  We'll just add that to the list!  I haven't included all of the things that have happened since we've arrived because we've been so focused on Hadley but lets just say when we realized it was gone we both were unphased and not at all surprised.  The good news is I still have my camera phone, so I wanted to show the prettiest smiling face I've seen this entire trip!!! :)

Missing everyone very much!! Sending love and hugs....

Robin, Brandon and Hadley

Also, I've been meaning to share....The reason you haven't seen any video from Gotcha day is because we set our video camera up to record and hit record but the second the door opened to our hotel room, the camera shut off and we never knew until we tried to play it back and had a quick 1 minute shot of the door :,-(  Another one of the those "moments" I was mentioning above. It broke our hearts because it's such a precious moment and we can't ever get it back but the good news is that B took a few pics from my camera phone, so I'll include them below.  We knew pretty quickly she was a sick lil peanut...

We have arrived in Guangzhou

We arrived in Guangzhou late last night where we'll be spending the remainder of our trip.  We're few steps closer to home.  Hadley's fever is gone and she is doing very well...continuing to see improvements in her daily.  Its so exciting to see the changes in her...When she first came to us she was very limp and could barely sit up.  Now she has learned to push herself up to sit on her own and is beginning to pull her legs under her and scoot.  It warms our hearts to see her progress, the trust building, the smiles, the belly laughs, her reach out for us, leaning into us, cuddling, saying mama and dada!  Brandon and just melt!!  She's such a special little girl and I'm so glad she's with us!!  She's our little "Jiangxi Jewel", as the locals in Jiangxi would say :)  We thought we new the meaning of her Chinese name and we had it half right....Her name means Precious (Wei) explosion (Lou-which also can mean flower but we like the explosion because it fits!  We could not stop laughing when we heard it because Brandon had already nick named her, Tobasco.  She's a spunky little thing, just like her mama.


I'm including some photos from our last day out in Nanchang, Jiangxi.  Karen (our guide) took us to a porcelein shop and the park for a walk and we all had a ball!  We are with another couple from the Carolinas who have a little girl as well.
                                                                        Park photos

A man in the park practicing caligraphy...He wrote, "welcome Americans from your beautiful country" :

Chinese chess in the park

Tea house

                                                                        couple we are traveling with- Mary Jane, Todd and Harper

Last but not least...The porcelein shop where we went broke!  Look at poor Brandon...A deer in headlights

Today is our Medical exam day/vaccines and our the girls Visas...

Day 5 in China

Today has been the best day yet!  Our little Miss slept throughout most of the night almost 13 hours!!!  She woke up this morning and it was obvious she was feeling worlds better than even yesterday when she looked great.  The infection that has been visible throughout her body looked amazingly better today.  I genuinely believe that todays visit to the hospital may be our last.

A couple of major milestones are that shes started belly laughing today when we tickle her, she doesn't want us out of her sight and last but the most amazing, she said Da Da which I have on a video that I'm posting!  She's one tough little cookie and she continues to show us that everyday.  She may give her brother a run for his money when we get home!

So to date we've spent pretty much the majority of our trip in the hospital or the hotel room, to allow Hadley to heal. We did venture out one day to Walmart here in Nanchang with another family we are traveling with, their daughter and our amazing guide, who has been such a blessing!!  So below are some pics from our play in the bedroom after breakfast today and then the other pictures are of our one big outing to Walmart..Which was pretty stinkin cool!  Much different that the U.S. They have four levels with a movie theatre on the top floor.  Also, you won't be able to tell from the photos but an outing in Nanchang, crossing the street or riding in a vehicle feels much like you are in a real life game of Frogger or bumper cars.

Walmart outing...look, KFC...

The above picture is the instant noodle isle which has been my primary diet since we've arrived :)  Brandon is much more daring and even ate the squid at the hotel buffet!