Thursday, November 19, 2009

GOTCHA DAY!!!

Okay, here are the photo's!!! The drive to Taichung was very uneventful and in fact we had to waste time at the rest stop because we were about an hour ahead of schedule!!! Mr. Yeh picked us up a little bit earlier than originally planned because he thought there would be traffic on the highway due to the rainy weather, but there was absolutely no traffic!!!

So we arrived at TWCA (the Taiwan Agency/Facilitator) and met with Samantha for a few moments. We then drove over to the foster mom's house and this is when we were told that Emily had been living with the same foster mom that Brady had!!! We were SO SO happy to hear this!!! Not only is it a link for Brady and Emily, but we think Brady has turned out just wonderful (so far LOL) so we figured she must know what she's doing!!! (as an aside, all of the kids I know that have stayed with Ms Liao seem to have the least amount of transitional "issues" and most, if not all of them are very good sleepers and eaters!!) We were "warned" that Emily is shy and that she would probably cry!!! Alan and I both greeted Ms. Liao with a hug!!! We went into her house and Emily was on the floor playing as she had just finished her bottle and was getting ready to take a nap. We knelt down and talked to her and then I just went in for the scoop!!! She didn't cry at all either!!! In fact she is mostly quiet, unless she is crying, and that only happens when we're doing something wrong!! LOL. At 6 1/2 months old she is sitting up, rolling over, and FAST, pulling herself up to sit and pulling herself up to a STAND!!!! YIKES!!!! Ms. Liao said she was also walking along her couches!!! So much for me thinking I'd have at least a month of "easy baby parenting"!!! LOL She is a busy little girl that's for sure!!!

Okay, so after we left Ms. Liao's house we went back to TWCA to meet with the birth mom and her sister!! Wow, was that emotional!!! I won't tell the whole story of what happened and I won't post any pictures, but I'll give a glimpse as to what happened. We exchanged gifts and talked a little bit. Emily's mom was looking through the Virginia book we gave her and she came to a picture of snow and asked if it was snowing now. We explained that we usually don't get snow until January and/or February. We told her that we do plan to come back to Taiwan someday with both kids and she said she would be open to meeting us at that time, which is totally fine with us. We talked a lot about Brady too and that Emily would have a big brother. Of course the most important thing we got was all of the pictures!! Oh and her mom made us a CD of pictures that includes the pregnancy and sonogram pictures!!

Once we were finished visiting with them we headed downstairs to sign paperwork and then we headed back to Taipei, but first we stopped by Emily's birth city and were able to take a picture of the hospital she was born in!!!

We got back to the hotel a bit later than we thought so Emily was a bit behind on her schedule so last night was a bit trying. After a couple of hours we finally got her settled down enough to fall asleep and once she was asleep she did great!!! All in all, it was a great day!!!

Emily was playing when we got there. Apparently she loves this Patrick balloon, so Ms. Liao gave it to us!! LOL

the "handoff"

Our first picture with Emily!!! (funny, this is about the exact same pose as our first picture with Brady!!)


she likes to be held up in the air!

Mommy and Emily at the baby store!

Daddy and Emily in the car!!

13 comments:

Karin and Rob said...

Congratulations, Beth and Alan!!! Emily is so precious -- and *tiny*! And how awesome that she lived with Mrs. Liao. So, so happy for you!!

Rydley said...

How thrilling that you got Ms. Liao again and that you met Emily's birthmom! And that she gave you photos is a total treasure. Glad you got Emily settled too!

Debberoo said...

Oh wow!! Emily is so, so sweet! How wonderful that Mrs Liao is her foster mother. What a gift for all of you that you were able to meet with Emily's birth mother and family but I'm sure emotionally it must have been a lot for all of you.

So glad you had a good night, Emily is so, so sweet, did I say that already, well she is!!!

Lori said...

Oh Beth!!!! I'm sooo excited for all of you! What a wonderful connection to have with Brady and to have the opportunity talk with Emily's birthmom is just amazing! She is absolutely beautiful! Congratulations - we are so HAPPY for all of you!!!!!!
Lori

Amy said...

How absolutely precious! That's amazing and wonderful about the connection with Brady and Emily, and I'm so happy that you were able to meet the birth mom and get such amazing pictures (sonogram!!).

Congratulations on becoming a family of four! She is so beautiful!!

michelle said...

Came home after dropping my daughter at school to sign-on to see if you had posted. On the yahoo group the opening pg. said 2 instead of 1 new photo - just knew it would be you and Alan w/ little Emily. Oh my, Oh my words I have not for how sweet she is in your arms. Can't wait to see Brady holding his little sister, too. Safe travels home!
Michelle (lynne)

Proud Mama and Papa said...

She is gorgeous and she looks so tiny! Congrats - it sounds like Ms Liao is wonderful.

Maybe our baby will be next to stay with her....

Robin said...

What an exciting day. I am so happy that you had the same foster mother again and that you had a great meeting with Emily's birthmother. What an amazing gift of photo's to recieve. Congratulations on your family of 4!!! So happy for you.
Robin

Katie said...

How wonderful to have the same foster mom and to get to meet the birth mom! You will treasure that always. She is soo cute!

Katie

Michelle said...

Woohooo!!!! Congratulations!!! How cool that Brady and Emily had the same foster mom...that's awesome!!

Kathy said...

Beautiful!!!! This made me tear up, just remember what an amazing moment it really is. Congrats to you all, and I can't wait to meet her in person!!!

Kathy

NDM 130 said...

Congrats!!! I am sooo happy for you all!! And just a forewarning, girls are much quicker than boys :)

Megan said...

Just found your blog. Congratulations on your beautiful daughter. I know she is still adjusting and hoping it is going smooth. We are waiting to hear about #2 soon.
Megan