We're still keeping busy (part 2)

Ting Ting is feeling right at home. Here are some shots taken since we returned from China (some are quite old, but better late than never, right?)

She celebrated her first Christmas with her new family! From left, cousin Casey, big brother Brandon, cousins Amber, Nik, Candace and Sarah, big sister Lauren and Ting Ting.


Hanging out with her big sister, Lauren.

This photo was taken at Brandon's band concert.

Hanging out with big sister AND big brother (and Mya and Cyrus).



Oh yeah, that cat.

Sharing her love of technology with Cyrus.

Showing Grace how the ball popper works.


Attending a reunion party at the end of January with some of our travel mates. Here are Jacquie with Tabitha, Tamara with Linnea, Tamara's mother Barbara.




Ting Ting is in red, too (she's standing in my lap). To the right is Dani, daughter of Chuck and Lynette. And to the left is Dani's older sister, Alexa, holding Bella, daughter of our hosts, Jeff and Judy.

Notice all of the kids have fingers in their mouth? Teething time!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Happy New Year, everyone! This year is the Year of the Pig in the Chinese zodiak, and we celebrated at the Sunny Ridge event again this year. It was our family's third Chinese New Year celebration, but the first with Ting Ting, so it was extra special.

We saw some of our travel mates while we were there. Here Ting Ting and I are visiting with Frances and her daughter Chloe. Frances is wearing a beautiful top she bought in China, and both girls are decked out in their New Year attire. It was fun for Ting Ting to see some friends from the old country.


Lauren and Brandon wore their silk jackets as well. Their cousins Casey (pictured) and Candace and Aunt Chris attended with us again this year.

I injured my back last week, so I can't yet sit here very long, so I'll just attach a couple more photos. Look for more in a few days!

Ting Ting chilling out with her brother and sister.


She loves books, and Lauren reads with her often.

And so does Mom!

Cute story of the week: Sometimes when she's playing by herself she'll pick up a book, open it and say, "blah, blah blah," pointing to the lefthand page, then the right. Then she turns the page and repeats. Irresistable!

Baptism celebration

Some photos of Rachel Shu-Ting's baptism day Feb. 11 (Thanks, Gloria -- I knew you would come through).

Ting Ting wore a white silk dress and matching shoes that we bought her in China. The dress has a cherry blossom design on it. We added a white headband shortly before the actual baptism, and she looked beautiful.

I'm wearing red because in China it symbolizes good luck and happiness. Lance wore a red tie to match (with pandas on it, from guess where). I also wore a necklace with the Chinese characters for "mother" and "daughter" on it.

Dad and Mom are next to me in this photo, taken before the church service began.



Here's the whole family: Susan, Lance, Brandon, Lauren and Rachel.











Lance, Ting Ting and I with her grandparents after the service.








We had the family over afterwards for lunch. Here a more casually dressed Ting Ting enjoys playing with her grandfather.

You'll notice she has her fingers in her mouth -- she's teething up a storm!


She also enjoyed playing with her cousins Amber, Candace and Sarah.




She and Daddy enjoyed lunch with Aunt Gloria and her grandson, cousin Nik.


Nik also enjoyed a little quiet time with his Mom.


And here is Ting Ting with her Daddy -- you can see some of the results of all that teething activity!

And there's more!

When it rains, it pours. Here are some more cute photos of Ting Ting, courtesy of my Dad:

My parents taught her to snap her fingers (well, she tries, anyway!).

Those are her new super-warm flannel-lined jeans. And, yes, they DO make her butt look big.



Putting cheese in her mouth instead of her hair.

In her swing, with her special buddy, Cyrus. I'm convinced that "Cyrus" is going to be her first word.



Always playing to the crowd.


And here are both of Lance's daughters. Ting Ting is wearing her beautiful white silk dress and shoes we bought in China for her baptism, which was Sunday morning. My parents were in town for that.

She was absolutely adorable in that dress, but do I have a photo of her in it? Not one (Note to Gloria: HELP!).

By the way, I have a new haircut and I've lost more than 15 pounds since Ting Ting entered our lives. Not that you would notice, since no one takes my photo anymore . . . I guess this is my new phase of life, huh? From now on, I'm just the person accompanying Rachel Shu-Ting. Not that there's anything wrong with THAT gig -- after all, I waited a long time to be someone's mommy!

We're keeping busy

Here are some of the things we've been doing during Mommy's maternity leave:



Meeting Auntie Debi (hooray!!!)


















Eating grits.





("You talkin' to me?")














It's nice to share.























Once more, with eggs!























Visiting Mommy's office.





Waiting for Lauren and Brandon to arrive.


















Visiting Dr. Ochs.

And growing hair -- this photo was taken in December. Look at the difference compared to the first photo!













Meeting new friends like Grace and Nancy.






Admiring Cyrus.




Taking a spin in the Cozy Coupe (complete with pink cell phone -- thanks, Auntie Debi!)







Helping clean up the place.






A woman's work is never done.








Maybe the mop would do a better job.

The FAQs

In honor of her first birthday (which was today!) here are some answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about our new daughter:

So, are you going to keep calling her Ting Ting?

Probably, at least for awhile. Ting Ting was her nickname in China, so it made sense to use it when we first met her. And because we kept her Chinese name, Shu-Ting, as her middle name, it still is technically part of her name. Besides, we just think it's cute.

I am starting to call her by both names, though, so she'll learn that she is also Rachel.

And her big sister Lauren calls her Squidget.

Is she sleeping through the night?

. . . I'm sorry, what was that? I must have dozed off.

Just kidding -- we're finally having success in that area. She often wakes up about two hours after she initally goes to bed, but she is learning to go right back to sleep. And she's even taking a regular nap now. Hallelujah!

How big is she?

SOOOOOO big . . . sorry, toddler mom humor. On Tuesday, she weighed in at 19 pounds, 2 ounces, an increase of 2 pounds, 2 ounces since her first checkup just four weeks earlier. Her doctor is pleased with her growth (also in height and head circumference) and says she is thriving.

She's starting to outgrow her size 6 months clothes, but we mostly had 9 months clothes for her anyway.

Even so, she really is a tiny little squidget.

Why doesn't she grow some hair already?

(Actually, this is the question her father most frequently asks her).

Her hair is growing; it's both longer and thicker. Her doctor says it was so thin because of a lack of protein in her diet; that has changed in the last six weeks.

Does she have any more than those two teeth we keep seeing?

She has three teeth on top (and another breaking through) right now. The two you see in her photos are the two bottom teeth. For awhile I thought she might be in need of major orthodontia, but soon we realized that she is jutting out her jaw when she laughs or grins. And she sticks out those teeth when she's concentrating on doing something, too.

What does she eat?

The real question is what doesn't she eat! She's still on formula (her doctor approves) and takes several bottles a day. AND she eats several meals a day. She loves noodles, as you've seen, but she's enjoyed grits, too. And she has eggs for breakfast nearly every day. She eats chicken or ham, and tonight she had macaroni and cheese. She'll eat just about anything -- except baby food.

Is she walking yet?

She took her first steps this weekend, for Lauren on Friday night and for me on Saturday. Her legs are quite strong (must be all the dancing), and she seems to have a good sense of balance. The walking is still a bit tentative, though.

Heaven help us when she gets that down.

Can she talk yet?

No, but she can sign! So far I've taught her to sign "more" and "eat" and "milk." We're starting to work on "hurt" and "help." She's not making the signs perfectly, but she's consistent, and we know what she means. (That's a big reason she all of a sudden has gained so much weight -- she asks to eat all day long!)

Can you tell us a cute story?

Well, OK, since you asked.

I took her to Costco the other afternoon. They had food samples all over the place, and apparently it was nearing the end of sample time, because they were handing out BIG portions. For example, they gave me an entire cereal bar instead of just a nibble. I took the cereal bar and figured I would feed her a little as an afternoon snack and then get the rest -- nope, she ate the entire thing, signaling "more" every time she swallowed a bite. Then she ate a sample of pasta. Then she ate a good-sized helping of yogurt. When we checked out, she was laughing and playing with the man loading my cart. I told him she was in a good mood because she had just cleaned out all their samples. Then he asked, "what does this mean?" and I saw she was making the "more" sign again.

When we got out to the van, I ripped open the huge package of goldfish so the poor thing wouldn't starve on the trip home.

That was a great story! Don't you have another one?

Well, OK, just one more -- she has these lift-the-flap books that she just loves. Her favorite is one about the zoo. On one page, they're teaching counting, so you'll see an animal out front, then when you lift the flap, you'll see three or six or eight of them. She kept flipping open the flap that went from one penguin to 10. Then she started playing peek-a-boo with the penguins.

What do Lauren and Brandon think of her?

They absolutely love her. They play with her when they're here and help us care for her. We're so grateful to see how much they enjoy her -- and she loves them.

What about Cyrus the cat?

She feeds him from her booster seat and has learned to pet him gently. She has really cool toys in her room that he can swipe. And she squeals with delight everytime she sees him -- what's not to like?

What are her favorite toys?

She likes to look at books, and she has a toy cell phone that she likes. She likes anything that makes music or has lights. And, of course, nothing beats a real telephone or the remote control. (If I hadn't promised to limit the stories, I'd tell you about how she has called our neighbor and her aunt and uncle).

Could you possibly love her more?

Nope.

How blessed do you feel to have her home?

SOOOOOO blessed.

Class of 2027?

Thanks for the sweatshirt, Margaret! I think we definitely have a Searcy Hall prospect here.

(Oh, and Aunt Kay, she loves the slippers)

Yes, it was the merriest

What a Christmas!



Ting Ting's big brother and sister were both excited to get to know her. They came over separately to meet her, which made it a little nicer for them and for her.

Brandon was thrilled to see how well she dances. He did a little dancing for her, too.











He watched her answer her toy cell phone.






And he got her started on the video games . . . well, on watching him play them, anyway.










Lauren was thrilled to see the etching we had made of her with her new little sister. Artists in China created it from her school photo and a new photo of Ting Ting.
We had two made, one for Lauren and one for us. They really were nicely done.

(Lauren is wearing the silk pajamas we brought her.)
We had some other visitors early on, too. Pastor Kim from my church came out for a visit and brought her young daughter. Rachel enjoyed sharing her ball popper toy with her new friend.


Ting Ting loves to look at family portraits, so even when they aren't around she can feel close to Lauren and Brandon.

Of cats and kids

When we were in China, Lance bought this golden waving cat.


I wasn't that thrilled about the cat, but he was quite proud of it.




Way back in aught five, shortly after Lance and I completed our adoption dossier, we visited San Francisco. All the shops in Chinatown had these cats waving away. We thought it was a bit creepy.




But when we got to China, there they were again, waving at shoppers. A shopkeeper in Guangzhou said they symbolized good fortune.



Lance decided we had to have one. And Rachel Shu-Ting just loves the cat.






Truthfully, after seeing her expression, how could I not love it, too?