One year together!

First photo of Anna



Gotcha Day, one year ago today!





This morning at school. Of course she wouldn't smile for the camera today!





Family photos by Belinda this weekend. I couldn't wait to get them color corrected, so here are my favorites.

I can't believe it was been a year since we first met Anna. I still vividly remember Mr. Yeh driving us to Taichung and counting down with his fingers: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 as we approached TWCA. We pulled up to Anna's foster mother's workplace only a few minutes later. Anna was in her foster mother's arms, watching us as we drove up. The next few hours seemed a blur, holding Anna for the first time, seeing her with Daddy, shopping at the baby store and the few papers we had to sign saying we received Anna. The drive back was the first time we were really able to enjoy some calm time with Anna. Having her fall asleep in my arms on the drive back to Taipei made me feel our family was finally complete. Funny, I didn't cry the day we got her, but watching the video and writing this gets me all teary.

The last year of my life has been the best I can remember. Even with the issues at work, fighting with the school district for Ryan and with Anna seeming to catch every cold within a 200-mile radius, things seemed "just right." Many people have asked us how the transition was. I tell them very honestly it feels like Anna had been part of the family from the first time we saw her photo. We were very fortunate and bonded quickly with Anna, just as Ryan bonded with her. Much of this is due to the monthly updates, photos and video we received from Taiwan. It seems that Anna just thinks we are Mom, Dad and Ryan. We are her family and that is that.

It is a little bittersweet that this has been the best year of my life. I feel guilty that the year of Ryan's birth was the worst of my life. Worse than becoming diabetic at 9, my dad dying at 20 or leaving my abusive first husband. Everyone says the birth of your child is the best thing in your life, but for me, it was by far the worst. I didn't realize until several years after his birth that I had "bonding issues" with Ryan due to both of our health issues. Funny, people think of bonding issues with an adopted child. You are not supposed to have them with a child you birthed. So, I have a big guilt streak, and I bonded so quickly with Anna and not Ryan.

I frequently wonder about Anna's birth mother, her family and occasionally the birth father. I wonder if they realize what a wonderful and easy baby Anna is and what they are missing. I know in my head that her birth mother would not have been able to raise Anna with the current values in Taiwan. But I still fantasize about hearing that they would like an update and photos of Anna. I would give almost anything for a picture of her birth mother and her family. I know she has an aunt and uncle and will likely have birth siblings and cousins later that she will probably never meet. But I guess you never know. Things changed significantly with respect to adoption in a very short time in the US, and this may occur in Taiwan.

We celebrated at our local Chinese restaurant (owned by a family from Taipei) and got a cake from DQ with a panda. Anna is always especially popular at the restaurant; both kids loved the cake. Anna's fortune said, "You have a good sense of humor and make people around you happy." This was certainly true as she laughed hysterically, pulling the straw out of her cup. She had the whole section smiling at her antics.

Anna has continued to do well since coming home. She is still not on the growth charts, but the doctors have finally admitted that she will just be small, even compared to other Asians. We started speech therapy last week. Anna is already signing and saying a few words, but they are difficult to understand. The therapist believes Anna will do very well and needs some help to get her started.

So, on we continue.

Love Tami

Anna's first baby doll

I ordered the doll online since there were no Asian baby dolls in the area. I picked this one from Corelle since it was for 18 month olds. She is the perfect size for Anna. Ryan decided the doll looked like she was from Taiwan, and he decided her name is Yu-Wen. I was going to name her Mei Mei which means little sister, not that original I guess. But we all agreed Yu-Wen it is.
At first Anna was more interested in a big puzzle, but now she likes pushing, pulling and draggin Yu-Wen around in her stroller. She called her "baby" tonight.

4th of July Weekend

We stayed home on July 4th. Actually Mommy worked since she missed work two days this week with appointments for the kids. On July 5th, we met Ralph and Susan, their son and daughter in law Yvonne and their baby Sopiha who they call Ya-Ya.

Yvonne is originally from Taiwan. Her father and step-mother are Paul and Yuan-Yuan, who took us around Taipei and had us to their home. We had a wonderful time eating and playing at the park.

And She's Off!

After taking only 5 steps at a time between furniture for the last six weeks or so, Anna decided that today was the day to walk. She literally stood up and walked across the entry way, which is no small feat. She is still crawling as her major form of locomotion, but has logged a pretty amazing number of steps today. Of course she is very proud of herself.
Anna is funny in that she will not do something until she is ready to do it well. She never sat or pulled up until she could get back down in a controlled manner. We never had the lumps and bumps stages, except for one fall in the pack and play onto a window seal at daycare.
Maybe hanging out with Tessa last week influenced her. Hopefully that's the only thing Anna learned, as Tessa is the Houdini of babies and can extricate herself from any constraints.

More Taiwanese in Texas

We are home after a great trip. We had an empty seat on the first flight for Anna to play in with a very nice woman from Guam who helped entertain Anna. We were squished on our second flight and the very nice flight attendant moved another traveler so we had an extra seat again. I couldn't thank her enough.

It was a wonderful trip. We saw parts of Austin, which was not what I expected. Lots of trees and some hills, but still pretty flat compared to home. The weather was hot and humid, but not as bad as I expected.

We ate tons of great food, both at Dena's and at local restaurants, and have several new favorites, especially the queso sauce. We all blew any semblance of healthy eating. I won't even mention the wine and beer!

The girls did great together. While they are not old enough to truly play with each other, they did lots of parallel play. The biggest problem was whatever one wanted, the other had to have. Of course there were a few baby slaps and bonking each other on the head, but a few seconds later Anna would be putting the binkie in Tessa's mouth, or Tessa would be giving Anna her sippy cup.

Most of the trip we spent just hanging out and chatting. I couldn't have asked for a better trip.


Shopping at the HEB store



Margaritas and my new favorite food, queso (aka Tex-Mex cheese sauce) at a local diner




The girls loved the queso also and made quite a mess




Tessa was upset after both Dena and Matt told her "No", so she crawled up in my lap. Of course Anna had to join the party.

Taiwanese in Texas

Anna and I are in Austin Texas visiting Dena, Matt and Tessa Steiner. While we have talked and emailed frequently but this is the first time we have seen each other since reutrning from Taiwan. I'll post more later, but I wanted to get some photos up.


I can't believe she can do this!


Eating out again. We won't fit in our clothes when we leave here.







Whatever one has, the other wants




The Girls out and about shopping.




Having High Tea.

Fast friends

It seems like they are always eating. They would rather have the food from the others tray than their own.

Shopping at the Domain, we bribed a few kids with pennies for the fountain to take pictures of us.

Ryan's Graduation

Ryan graduated from pre-school. He is very excited to be a "kindergardner" now. Sunflower had their traditional luau.

Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day at home and I cooked breakfast for us and Oma. Ryan picked me out a necklace and matching earrings. He was very insistent that I had the complete set. Guess I have raised him well!