Holy Moly, Has it been a year!!!

I am so sorry to those of you who are not friends on Facebook! I seem to update and keep more in touch there. Wow have things been busy busy busy with twin two year olds. As they say pictures are worth thousands of words so...

Christmas came and Went!

This Christmas was an interesting one to say the least. Here we are brand new parents of twin 15 month olds!!! WOW!!! Need I say more! We tried the traditions that we have kept in years past and quickly needed to adapt them to be more age appropriate. We decided to host our annual Christmas day dinner, despite my panic about it the night before, and it was OK but perhaps a mistake to take that on too. Thankfully we have loving family members who are seasoned parents and have been there and done that. Wish this parenting thing came with a handbook. Live and learn. Luckily we have time off together until after the new year and we are just relaxing and enjoying our home and new love.

The love we have for our precious daughters is indescribable. They have brought us more joy in these past few months that we could have ever imagined. They are like little sponges, learning so many new things every day. Both Anna and Serra are walking and trying their best at talking. Cat seems to be their favorite word, much to our cats' dismay. They love their cousins Rowan and Charley Rose. Papa and Uncle George seem to be Anna's favorites. Serra loves her mama and is beginning to welcome the snuggles of others! We are teaching them sign language and their repertoire is growing daily. It is amazing how this has helped them communicate their needs to us with only a few signs!!! They had their 15 month checkup yesterday and all is well and on target developmentally. Hated the shots and fevers that followed but the girls are healthy and in great care with our doctor.

Much Love and Peace in the New Year! Karin

December is Here Already!?!?

Sorry I have not posted in a while... life has been busy to say the least. Serra Jie and Anna Mei are amazing. They are so smart and are hitting all their developmental milestones and then some. They are like little sponges and love to copy our actions and tones. They both say hi, dada, baba and papa. They also say mama but it is usually when they are crying, I don't mind. We are teaching them sign language and their signs are coming along. They can say more, eat, mama, dada, all done, thank you and hat. They are beginning to use the sign for more for not just food. I was playing with Anna the other day and she said more! Love it. They love to read books and play all day. They also love music, we often put the music channel on the TV and dance. It is so amazing how they can keep a beat, very musically inclined! Scott plays the guitar and sings with them every day and they sing along in such a soft sweet tone! Anna started taking steps while we were in China and now is walking around all the time. Serra is taking her time with it but tonight walked across the living room! Mommy and Daddy are better than ever! We are so in love with each other and our girls. I cannot express in words the new found love and happiness. Scott is an amazing Dad and the girls love him! I started back to work last Monday and was pretty sad. Having an amazing spouse that takes such loving care of everything has made this transition easier! The pictures are just a few of life since we have been home and the video is my favorite so far, hysterical! My goal is to get back on a regular monthly posting routine again!!!! We are so looking forward to Christmas next week and all the love of having family celebrate with us! Much Love!!!!

We Are Home!

We got home October 25th after 30 hours of travelling and layovers, exhausted and jet lagged but happier than we have ever been. Our family and best friends met us at the airport with a huge celebration, posters, presents, hugs and lots of love. It was very emotional and much needed after the long trip. I will post about the trip later, still adjusting to life with twin 1 year olds but for those of you about to travel a few tips...

Bring pleanty of fever reducer 2 bottles of baby motrin and tylenol (if you need it you will be thankful and if you don't loan some to someone that does) and MAKE SURE YOUR TICKETS FOR YOUR CHILDREN ARE IN THEIR CHINESE NAMES! Their passports will be in their Chinese names and it will be very difficult to travel when the tickets dont match the passports!!! Trust me, I know! Some families had medicines for their children with them, we did not and the hospitals were interesting to say the least. I brought a zpak and ended up taking it when I caught what the girls had, Scott was perscribed medicine there that made him sick in other ways so I wish we had brought 2 zpacks.
That all for now! We are happy to be home!

Still more pictures from Ghuangzhou

More Pictures from Ghuangzhou

Pictures from Ghuangzhou

Karin sent many photos today!

Karin writes: "Today was a good day. We walked to our medical appointment and the girls are happy and healthy! We took a long walk back and through the park. It is so beautiful and family oriented. Old and young playing hacky sack (Scott joined in a game), playing cards, taking singing lessons, dance lessons, tai chi. It was really nice to watch. Of course the girls were the center of attention as always. People really believe that twins are lucky and they swarm us. If the girls happen to smile or laugh at someone they are thrilled. People are always reaching their hands to the girls with hope they will send them luck by reaching back. How cool to have two little movie stars. We went downtown and visited a Temple of 500 Faces of Buddah! It was very cool. On the way back we went through a market for all sorts of fried delicacies on a stick. Huge black scorpions, enormous beetles and all sorts of creepy crawlie things. No takers in our group!
The girls are talking up a storm...baby talk and of course saying dadadada which is thrilling Scott.
Love, Karin"

A few more photos from the last day in Nanchang

Scott and Karin both write today!

Scott writes: "Today was hopefully my final day in the hospital. I think Karin mentioned the experience she had in a prior blog, but I am glad she went on the best day. She might have lost it completely if she saw what I have seen. Today was no better. A couple of missed veins, blood everywhere, person walking on the flimsy roof overhead sending down dust, a fluorescent light bulb and exposed wires from a light fixture and a whole list of other things. But now I have mentioned the bad stuff, I do want to talk about the amazing part of the trip to the hospital, because good things have been hard to come by.
For some reason today I was very much the center of attention because I was a American with a Chinese baby. I have had this attenenion before, but it was usually when I was getting chastised for not putting enough clothes on the girls.
An elderly grandmotherly woman was among a group of 10 or so mothers who all came over in a rush once they noticed I had a translator. They had so many questions and every one was happy for us. The "grandmother" read Serra's hand and noticed her knuckles had a slight indent and she said that was a sign of good luck. She also said that since the baby has such good luck, it must be meant to be that her path crossed with mine. She said we will be very lucky in the future. Once the excitement wound down, all of the women went back to their families. The grandmother, however, came back when everybody left me, including Cobe our translator. She grabbed Serra's hand and stared at her for a moment. She then said something to me in Chinese in a very heartfelt tone and started to cry. She did her best to smile, gave me a thumbs up and went on her way. Although we have commented on many of the crazy things we have seen and done, I wanted to make sure that people realize that MOST, if not ALL of the people we have encountered have been amazingly caring and sincerely happy to see Karin and I with our new family. They make me feel blessed for this opportunity and proud to have China as a part of my life, through my daughters, forever."-Scott

Karin writes: "So our last day in Nanchang didn't suck. The girls are under 100 degrees without fever reducer. Anna started to play and be a really happy girl and Serra, although had to get an IV today and was a little cranky was a trooper. While they napped Coby and I went and did a little shopping. I got some cute things for Rowan and Charley Rose and some material for Anne to make dresses for Christmas with. When we got back we had a calligrapher come to our room and make these amazing 6ft scrolls with the girls names where they are from and well wishes for their lives! very pretty! We then took a walk in this huge outdoor mall that was nice. Coby got a private room in a restaurant and treated us to an amazing meal. It was a really great day. While we were walking through the mall we kept getting stopped by hoards of people admiring the girls and wishing us well. It is so funny how people just love us and think twins are just the coolest thing and amazing blessing!!! Of course we do too! We leave here tomorrow morning for Guangzhou. I hope they are good travellers. They really like to be snuggled into their carriers, thank goodness for that. It might be a day or so before I figure out the whole Internet thing in our new place, I will try to do so quickly." - :o) Karin