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6/27/2009 Ella's Adventures in ChinaWell, Ella is back in China but this time to get a baby brother, Aiden! We arrived in Beijing on Thursday afternoon and she has been quite a trooper. She has been to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall (which she climbed a little bit of), the Olympic Village, a jade and silk factory, a Chinese Acrobat show, and already made 3 new friends. There are 8 families total in our travel group along with 4 little girls including Ella. The little girls are Mya (2), Lily (3), Olivia (4), and of course Ms. Ella (3).
I'll post some pics tomorrow showing Ella's adventures thus far............................
She meets her new little brother on Monday morning!
1/26/2009 Gung Hay Fat Choy!Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year! It is now 2009, the Year of the Ox. It is our 3rd CNY with Ella. We had a huge celebration on Saturday with our local FCC group. My parents came to visit and Randy's parents came as well. Ella loved all the attention and as always we had a great time.
Randy was the head of the dragon this year and Ella loved seeing her daddy as part of the dragon. I have posted pictures of our great time on Saturday. Seeing all the little girls and boys grow each year is more emotional than words can say. It is hard to believe that Aiden will be with us at next year's Chinese New Year celebration. We cannot wait to celebrate with both our little ones. Happy New Year! Merry Christmas and Happy New YearWell, here we are, another year with our dear Ella Grace Aiping! It's hard to believe that we've already celebrated 2 holiday seasons with her a part of our family. We just got back from Chicago where we were authenticating our last documents for Aidan's adoption. We spent sometime in the American Girl store and couldn't believe what a difference a year makes with a little girl growing up and wanting a $100 doll. She ended up getting the Ivy Ling doll along with a Chinese New Year outfit that matches a silk dress we got Ella when we were there in 2006.10/30/2008 Happy 3rd Birthday Ella!Happy 3rd Birthday Ella! Well, the day began with waking up to a cupcake with a candle in it for her to blow out. Then we got ready for school and went out for breakfast. We took cupcakes, juice, and treat bags in for all her friends at school. She was really excited about turning 3 today. She did get bit at school today by a playmate though. 9/21/2008 2 yr. Gotcha Day AnniversaryWOW, what a difference two years can make in a person's life! I remember about 3 1/2 years ago, filling out an online application to an agency called AWAA for a little girl that we desperately waiting for. Without thinking we started planning away,decorating a room in girly colors, buying clothes like they were going out of style (I did that), and telling everyone we knew that we were having a baby. Of course, that all changed on a HOT HUMID day in Michigan on July 31, 2006 at 1:18 pm when I got a call that changed my world forever! We had a daughter and her name was Feng Ai Ping and she was in Jiangxi China. Of course, it all goes downhill from that moment........... Here we are, two years later and that bundle of joy that stuck her tongue out at me when they handed her in arms on September 18th, 2006. I cannot think of a finer day in my entire life and cannot imagine a more ecstatic and over-joyed woman who had struggled with infertility for almost 15 years and finally, finally had a baby. She was tiny, sweet, hardly cried, and smiled at me within the first 10 minutes of being handed to us. Yes, I sometimes inadvertently say I or me since Randy was just a bystander to my joy even though inside he was bursting with pride and love. Now, two years later, we are a family and working feverishly to add another little girl to our family. Ella Grace Aiping has changed me in ways I never knew could be possible. One look into her gorgeous brown eyes tells me that the world is right and that I have found heaven. One smile from her petite little face tells me that God blessed me more than I'd ever been blessed before. One laugh or giggle tells me that filling out that online application was THE best decision we made. This anniversary of our Forever Family Day teaches me just how much we are all blessed and how much we love all of you for being there with us to witness each other's special, special day and to have you also to share it with this year and the years to come. Love to you all, The Cuares Family Randy, Teresa, Ella 8/7/2008 Home Study Approved Finally!We found out today that our home study has finally been approved after almost a 5 month wait for it to be typed up correctly to meet the new Hague requirements for adoption from China. We are ecstatic to finally have this leg of the journey complete. More to come ............ 7/27/2008 Long time, no hear from!!Well, I cannot believe that it has been 5 months since I have updated this blog. I am so sorry Ella for not keeping up with your blog with stories and pictures of you. So much has changed over the last 5 months so I'll try to catch up as much as I can. First of all, Ella is even closer to being 3 now than ever before. She has grown up a lot over the summer and we cannot believe how smart she is. She is ONE amazing little girl!
Anyway, we've been busy with vacations since the last time I logged on. In April, we went to Florida again. It seems to be our annual Spring Break destination. This time, however, we went to Sea World then went to Disney for a day. We also went to visit Randy's friend Dan and his wife Jen in St. Augustine (see the pictures in the photo section). In May we went for our annual trip to Kentucky for Memorial Day to visit Granny (she's 100 years old). This time though, Teresa's aunt Rosie was getting married and Ella was a flower girl. Too bad, the day of the wedding was a fiasco and Ella ended up falling asleep right before her debut down the aisle. She was conked out but she looked adorable anyway.
In June, Teresa started her long awaited summer vacation. She really enjoys the time off to reconnect with stressless days, sleeping in, and not having to do anything but lay by the pool. At the end of June (28th), Teresa and Randy celebrated their 5th Wedding Anniversary. It was really cool having Ella along to celebrate with us evern though she had no idea what an "ersary" was! We celebrated by going to a Detroit Tigers game and sitting in the 3rd row back from first base. There were fireworks after the game and Ella loved seeing all the bright colors. She was more fascinated that Teresa covered her ears so she didn't have to hear how loud the fireworks were.
Fourth of July was fun with Nanay and Tatay (Randy's parents) over for a cookout. I enjoyed seeing Ella play with them in the driveway with her bike showing them how she can pedal on her own. 2/24/2008 We're approved!We found out on Friday evening as we were going out of town that we've been approved to adopt daughter #2! We applied to CCAI just last week and they had an answer for us on Friday. Now, we start the journey to China all over again but this time for a mei mei (sister) for Ella. Of course, she wants her sister's name to be Zoe or Rosita but we are not to keen about those names at the moment. We do, after all, hear those names many times a day so you can understand our reluctance.
Please stay tuned to our continued journey to add yet another angel to our home!
Teresa, Randy, and Ella 2/20/2008 Year of the RatWell, we celebrated Chinese New Year, Year of the Rat, in style this year as always. This is our 3rd celebration but our 2nd with Ella Bella with us. Our local FCC chapter always does a nice celebration so we joined them again this year. However, this year was different as both Randy and my parents joined us. I think they had a good time. We had a great lunch with chicken, rice, dumplings, orange slices and some Dragon cake. I think there are pics of it to come. Ella liked going through the Dragon Parade as well. She wanted to wear the dragon head though.
One of the best things about the whole event is at the end, when they put bubble wrap on the floor with tape and let the kids jump on it. It is supposed to imitate real fireworks and Ella loved it! She loved it last year too but last year I had to hold her and jump on it myself. There are some pics of Ella having a great time. I wish I could add the video that we took of her jumping so you could get the whole effect. Anyway, Ella took a nap on the way home and didn't wake for nearly 3 hours she was so tired. She also loved the puppet show that some of the older girls put on. I can't believe she sat through the whole thing but she did. Ella loved seeing all the other little girls and some boys that we've seen over the last 2 years. Randy and I have seen some of these kids now for 4 years and it's so amazing to see how they have changed before our eyes. Makes us realize how Ella will be changing soon as well.
So far, she has remained our little baby even though she's now 28 months old. Now that we have begun the process for adopting a sister for Ms. Ella, we are keenly aware that soon we will have to say goodbye to our baby and say hello to our little girl. She is a toddler but since she's our only one, we still treat like a baby in many ways. She talks up a storm, in almost complete sentences, and in times in one of three languages. It's sometimes hard to understand her as Randy and I only speak one. Nonetheless, it's great to see this little bundle of energy blooming right before us. She's certainly not the little one we received back in Sept. 2006. We pulled out video from our trip to China and the first few weeks back home, and OH My God, how she is changed. She even has more hair which Mama never thought would grow.
Well, I will leave for now and hopefully update some pics on here as well.
~Teresa
12/17/2007 Happy HolidaysHappy Holidays from the Cuares family!
As I opened up this site I realized that it's been 3 months since I last updated it with a blog. I have updated pictures since then but never seem to find the time to write a little ditty about our little angel. Well, we are now 2 (going on 12) and life is good. Thanksgiving came and went and we are ever so thankful for the family that we have and what all we have. There are so many jobs being lost in Michigan so we are grateful to both have a job and income coming in. There are also thousands of foreclosed homes around us which is why we have not been able to put our house on the market to build a new one. We are hoping that the spring will bring some better news.
The holidays are such a wonderful time of the year to share fond memories and stories of past holidays. We are looking forward to making new memories this year to add to those from last year, our first year with Ella Grace home with us. It seems like a lifetime ago that we were waiting and waiting for her referral to come with news of a baby girl waiting for us. When we look at her now and hear her talking and laughing, it's hard to believe that she hasn't been here all along. Of course, those who know me know that she was here with us, just not physically. I talked to her, read to her, sang to her, and went shopping with her LONGGGGGGGGGGG before that phone call July 31, 2006 that told us we had a daughter.
Ella is amazing! Of course we are biased being her parents and all but she is! There is not one day that goes by that she doesn't do something new and genius that makes us laugh and ponder just how lucky we are. Now that she is talking in 3 and 4 word sentences and her vocabulary in 2 languages) sometimes 3 we are exhausted at the end of the day just trying to keep up with her. The energy comes from somewhere, I just don't know where yet. After working all day, we both sink into bed at night after cleaning up dolls, plastic food, plastic dishes, musical toys, ELMO dolls, and yes, sippy cups, we go to sleep dreaming about how amazing she is. From the first moment we saw Ella, she has had us transfixed on her every move. She is our universe and we cannot imagine or fathom her with ANY other family. Whoever matched us with this little wonder knew that it was perfect. Whether that was divine intervention or just fate, we are blessed beyond all realm of imagination.
I am going to try to keep up better with blog entries even though I probably will be better at adding pics rather than finding the time to write about our daily adventures. Right now, she is helping Daddy with his homework and eating lime Jell-O so I am finding the time to have some Mommy time. We had the day off today because we got about 10" of snow over the weekend so Mama got a snow day today from school. We went shopping and saw Santa (from afar) and thought about sitting on his lap but then adamantly changed our mind at the last minute. Ella is terrified of the real Santa for some reason. She loves seeing Santa figurines and seeing him from afar but when he reached out to touch her or gets close she backs away usually saying, "no, no, no way." We'll try again this year before Christmas but I think we'll have to wait for awhile on the Santa pics unless we PhotoShop him in. Some of my students have told me that they were afraid of Santa till they were like 4 so ........... Mama can hope! We got a picture from another family that adopted with us today and she is screaming sitting on Santa’s lap. It was so funny and reminded me of Ella and the Santa mall ordeal.
That will have to do for now since someone is needing to sit on the potty before bedtime. Take care all and have the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest of New Year's (Year of the Rat).
Love,
Teresa, Randy, Ella, Jake, and Maggie
9/18/2007 A Year Ago Today.............WOW, how time flies! A year ago today, we were handed the most amazing little girl that we could ever ask for. On September 18, 2006, we became the proud parents of Feng Ai Ping aka Ella Grace Aiping. She was born on October 30, 2005 and was almost 11 months old. From the first moment we saw her with her tongue sticking out looking a little confused and wondering who the heck we were, we fell in love! Over the last year, our lives have been enriched beyond our wildest dreams. I teacher I work with asked me today, "I bet you can't imagine what you did before she came along, can you?" You know, she's right........... I can't even begin to remember how amazing my life was before we got the news that we had a daughter waiting for us halfway around the world in a place called FengCheng, Jiangxi, China. My god, it's amazing how those feelings come rushing back and the way that it makes me feel.
9/15/2007 One Year AgoWOW, it's hard to believe that one year ago today we landed in Beijing to adopt our daughter Ella. We landed at 2am EST, 2 pm Beijing time but I was fast asleep at 2am and didn't get to log on at the exact time of landing. Anyway, the last year has went by soooooooooo fast and we cannot believe from day to day just how blessed we are with this angel in our family. Ella has been the most amazing part of our lives for the last 11 months and 27 days. Our gotcha day isn't until the 18th but we are celebrating today with all our family by taking them out to P.F. Chang's restaurant and then to watch videos and pictures of our last year as a family. We are so excited to be able to share this joy with them and see how much they love and care for her. Ella is one amazing child and we couldn't have asked for a better fit for Randy and I. She has taken on a little bit of Randy and a lot of me but that is what makes her so amazing. She is so smart and loving and we fall more in love with her every single moment of every day.
Well, that's my ditty on our year anniversary of landing in Beijing waiting for the day we got Ella Grace Aiping!
~Teresa (Mama) 9/3/2007 Visit with a friend in MississippiWe flew to Tupelo, MS on August 23rd to visit the Culps who adopted with us from China. We were in the same travel group together and our little girls are from the same orphanage in Jiangxi. We had a blast and after a few days of the girls adjusting to each other, the visit turned out to be the best thing we did all summer. The girls who are about 2 weeks apart with Ella being the oldest, got quite a few stares when we were out and about. The first pics are from our visit to the mall for lunch. I love the one where Ella is walking next to Hannah and they are holding hands. Too cute for words! No wonder everyone stared wherever we went! 8/7/2007 What a difference a year makes!Well, here we are....... a year ago (well actaully a year ago on the 1st) we were staring at three pictures of an angel. This angel was our daughter, Feng Ai Ping, who was 9 mos. old and waiting for us in Jiangxi, China. We were smitten and that hasn't changed one bit over the last year. In fact, we are more in love with Ella (aka PingPing) as each day passes. This little bundle of joy that we brought home on September 28, 2006 is now 21 mos. old running everywhere and talking up a storm. Her favorite word at the moment is "no" or "stop". As she toddles around the house doing as she pleases, I am amazed at this amazing, intelligent child. I am more amazed that she is mine and she calls me "mama".
The other day she wanted to watch an Elmo DVD so she took it out of the case, opened the glass doors on the entertainment center, and shoved the DVD in between the space of the DVD player and the cable box. Then she stood there waiting for it to come on and got extremely frustrated when it didn't. She matter of factly walked up to dada, handed him the remote, and pointed to the TV and said, "Elmo." We knew at that moment that we were in for a lifetime of surprises and enjoyment. As she now is carrying the camera case into dada who just got home, I am overjoyed to be this little girl's mother and can't wait for the next year and what that brings.
Teresa 6/18/2007 Nine months since Gotcha Day!Wow, nine months ago today, we became parents to the most awesome little girl ever! This day just a mere 9 mos. ago I was handed this small petite little one with her tongue sticking out at me and all I could do was cry. Since that day, our lives have been changed in so many ways, all for the better and we would not change one thing about the process or our decision to adopt for ALL the money in the world. IF someone had told me that I would fall in love instantly with a stranger I'd never met and only seen in pictures, I would have thought them nuts. BUT, 9 months ago today that exact thing happened to Randy and I. We fell in total and complete love with this creature that God had set aside for us to love and care for, to call our daughter.
I cannot believe it has been 6 months since I updated this site with news of Ella. We've been so busy just enjoying every moment with her that we haven't thought about updating the site with news and recent pics of her. Ella is now 19 mos. old and will be 20 mos. on the 30th of this month. She has changed so much over the last 9 months. She is still a tiny thing weighing barely 20 lbs. and still wearing 9-12 mo. clothing. She has some hair but not much and it is so fine. I keep waiting for it to grow so I can put barrettes and pigtails in but no dice just yet. She did get her ears pierced back in the winter because I was tired of hearing what a cute boy she was or being asked how old he was. She is absolutely adorable and we wouldn't change one thing about her. She continues to amaze us both on a daily basis with her talking, singing, and how quick she is to learn new things such as potty training, climbing up the slide, running, and how affectionate she is.
We are now in the process of adopting a mei mei for her and we are hearing it will take approx. 2-3 years for us to get a referral but we are prepared for the wait ahead. After all, we waited 19 mos. for our angel, we can wait that long and more for another angel to come along. I will update more in the days to come with updated pics as well but wanted to say something since it was our Gotcha Day anniversary.
Take care and God Bless,
Teresa 12/27/2006 Merry Christmas and Happy New YearI am so sorry that I have not added a blog to this site since September. I cannot believe it's been 3 months already since we got Ella in China. Life has been crazy in the most wonderful way possible for us since that day. Randy and I cherish every day and spend all our time with Ella so that is why there have been no updates. I apologize to you all and to Ella since I started this site for her journey to us. Since we've been home, Ella is in daycare and loves it. We love that she loves being there since it makes it easier to leave her every day and go to work. Of course, I leave school every day earlier than in years past just to go pick her up. We go shopping a few times a week for clothes or things that she really doesn't need but it's so much fun having her with me now when I viist the mall. She likes being out with us and loves seeing people and saying "Hi" to them as well.
In early December, Ella got sick with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized for dehydration. Luckily, we only had to stay 2 days before Randy and I decided she would be better at home without IV's in both hands restricting her from playing and such. Other than that bout of sickness, Ella has been healthy and continues to eat anything and everything we feed her except carrots and peas. She takes after us in that way. 9/23/2006 What a wonderful world!Today is our 6th day with our amazing beautiful daughter and we couldn't be happier. She is the best baby and I am not just saying that as her mother, we hear that from everyone, Chinese and American. What a difference from other babies I have known and been around. She is happy almost all the time except when she wants a bottle and we don't bring it fast enough, when her diaper is being changed, or when I am changing her clothes. She is just a tiny thing (to us) and is wearing 6-9 mos. clothes. I thought she'd be a lot bigger so I only brought bigger clothes so it gave me an excuse to go shopping for more clothes while we've been here. Randy just lets me go as usual and doesn't say anything.
Ella has enriched our lives tremendously over these last few days and we cannot wait to see what the future holds for our family with her a part of it. We have been blessed beyond any belief. I cannot imagine having a better baby than our Ella Bella. Anyway, enough bragging, we are now in Guangzhou and this is our 2nd day here. We are staying at the China Hotel/Marriott and we have an apartment/suite which has a kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a living room. We also have a washer/dryer which has saved us on laundry costs. Of course, it takes about 3 hours to dry a 1/6 of a load at home but at least we don't have to pay for it. Not that we have spent that much on laundry anyway but it's been nice to be able to wash Ella's things without sending them out.
Guangzhou is really nice compared to Beijing and Nanchang where we got Ella. Nanchang was boring and not much to see. It was nice seeing her finding place, where she was abandoned on October 30th, 2005. The paperwork we got even told us the name of the person that found her and took her to the orphanage (SWI). It was a very emotional experience but after we left I had a peace about it all knowing that her birth mother made a huge sacrifice that day so I could become a mother. I prayed and thought about her birth mother alot that afternoon hoping that she knows that her baby will be loved and taken care of. I cannot imagine laying that precious angel at the foot of a sculpture and walking away but she did that and now I have a beautiful daughter that we cherish more than anything.
Ella has been such a delight to us. She LOVES looking in the mirror and seeing herself, she smiles real big and even giggles a little. I think she just loves showing off her 8 teeth (4 top, 4 bottom) but nonetheless, we get a real kick out of it. She loves anything that makes noise and LOVES to eat. She takes a bottle when she is sleepy or when she first wakes up in the morning but she is eating everything we do practically. Yesterday, at her physical exam, she weighed 18.4 lbs. but I think she's more like 15-16. She has gotten a little Buddha belly since being with us, probably from all the food she's taking in. I'm sure she only got formula and rice congee (porridge made with rice) before we came along but now she is eating whatever I put in her mouth or on the spoon. She loves bananas and oatmeal so she is definitely a mama's girl.
I'll post more later but I must get a shower before we go sightseeing in a few hours. The time seems to go by soooooooooo slow here but we are managing.
Teresa (Mama) 9/19/2006 So far so good....So far so good over here in Nanchang! Nanchang is the capital city of Ella's home province, Jiangxi. The air quality isn't as bad as Beijing, although there still is a bit of haziness in the air. Our hotel is nice on the outside and in the lobby. But our room isn't as nice as the one in Beijing. I got to watch some REAL football!! Our room gets ESPN so I get to see what's going on sportswise in the States. The food here isn't that bad. The buffet dinners that the hotel provides have a huge variety. From frog legs, osterich, fried goose, and fish heads to baked pork spare ribs, french fries, and pizza. Yesterday we went to Kentucky Fried Chicken......and man that was good!! We bought a bucket and wolfed it down like it was the last meal we had on earth. We really miss American food! We also did some shopping yesterday at Wal-Mart. It was kinda' crazy in there but what Wal-Mart isn't? Lots of exotic foods at Wal-Mart.....I saw pig snout, chicken feet, whole duck (neck and head), and lots of seafood.
Ella is a really good baby.....she eats well, sleeps well, and she hardly ever cries. I guess you can't ask for more when you're first time parents. She took to us very well from the start. We were told that she only poops once a day......since we got her, it has changed.....more like 3 times a day! She loves to look at herself in the mirror and play with the toys that we've given her. Oh and that smile of hers.....what a cutie!! Today we go to see her orphanage, her finding place where she was abandoned, and her hometown. It'll be very emotional for us and we'll take lots of pictures. We'll see how it goes.
Until next time!
-Randy and Teresa My daughterElla Grace Aiping Cuares.........every time I hear or see her name I just can't get over the fact that I'm her father. She has made my life complete, even more so since Teresa and I were married. I've always wanted to start a family of my own and now......I have it!! It's a wonderful feeling knowing that a lifelong goal has been accomplished. I know I haven't been a religous person but I do believe that she is a gift from God himself. He's blessed Teresa and I with this wonderful, precious, beautiful, baby girl! Ella will always be my little girl....and I will always be her ever caring father.
With all my love to you Ella,
-Daddy (aka Baba) |
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