We Have Updated Photos!!!

As you may have read, we sent a care package to Gwyndolin a couple weeks ago.  Well we had email notice that it arrived last night.  Today, I went to check email and I had the most wonderful surprise...  Updated photos or our daughter!!!  Boy do we think she is CUTE!!!  She has a ton of hair - gonna have to figure out what to do with it.  She looks hot in all these clothes - poor baby can barely put her arms down.  It is very common to bundle babies in China.  We feel very confident that her nannies are taking very good care of her.  We just can't wait to go and get her...  Enjoy!

Gwyndolin's Room

O.K., so doing Gwyndolin's room has definitely been a labor of love.  Todd calls this "my super bowl."  I actually dream about flowers and things pink...  I have had so much fun creating her room.  Finally, we are done.  Here are pictures of us from the painting stage all the way through the finish...  ENJOY!

Here I am all grimey painting...

More painting!

And yet, more painging...

Shopping for shelving.  So, I couldn't reach the box I needed, so I lifted Deklan onto the shelf and told him to climb back and get it.  Bad mom, I know...  We didn't get caught though!!!

Deklan helping Daddy put the shelving together.  Deklan was very "into" helping get his baby sister's room ready!

Deklan helping Daddy.

The shelving is getting there.

Almost done!

The room!  The blanket hanging over the crib, I crocheted to coordinate with her room. (Can't wait for our next door neighbor's to move!  All the cars you see out the window are theirs.   There are cars constantly spilling of their drive way and into the neighborhood.  They move next week!  Yippie!)

The "playing house" area...  kitchen, table and baby doll cradle to the left.

The dresser area.  I found some darling flower knobs for the dresser.

You can see Gwyndolin's  Bai Jia Bei (100 wishes quilt) on the chair ready to snuggle up and read with Mama and Daddy.

It is hard to see, but that lamp is a ballerina lamp - and it is SO cute!

This is the baby doll cradle.  My dad made this cradle for me when I was a little girl.  I gave it a fresh coat of paint and made a little mattress and blanket for it.  An Asian baby doll finishes it off!  I'm so happy to have a daughter to pass all of my special things down to!!!!

A little bucket for hair bows and such as well as a place to put some of her cute shoes.  You don't even want to know how many pairs of shoes she has already!!! 

Flower hooks and her back pack.  My parents gave Gwyndolin this back pack back in 2006 - I've been waiting years to put it out and now I finally can!

The little flower wreath that hangs over her dresser.

My mom, my neice, my sister, and me.  They came to see Gwyndolin's finished room.  My mom said, "Now this is the way I remember you being Keely - very girly."

The Car Seat!!!!

O.K., so it's the little things that really make things REAL like going and getting a car seat.  A couple days ago, I went down to Goore's and bought a car seat and a stroller...  So, now I am driving around with an extra car seat in the car for a BABY!!!  I smile every time I get in the car.  AND, I was excited to buy a car seat and stroller!  I got a very nice jogger stroller that works well around the mall too.  So, at Goore's they install the car seats for you which is great.  Walt is the guy that installed Gwyndolin's car seat and he TOTALLY humored me and let me take his picture while he was installing the car seat.  I had to explain to him that this was extremely exciting for me as we have waited over 5 years...  He was a swell sport!  Here is Walt...

Walt installing Gwyndolin's car seat.

The Magical Referral Day/Evening!!!

Words can not describe the feeling of this day!  After I received our phone call, I went and pulled the boys out of school and rounded up Todd.  We all drove to Orinda to get our file and sign our letter of acceptance.  The Letter of Acceptance simply tells China that we accept this precious child they have referred us.  After we took care of our agency business, we went to dinner at a cute little Chinese restaurant in down town Orinda.  Here are some  photos of that day...

Todd doing the official signing.

Keely dong the official signing.  I think Todd is making sure I do it right...  Hee Hee.

Absolutely infinity % we accept our daughter Gan Fu Shuang!

Celebrating at dinner.

The little Chinese Restaurant we ate at.  I tried to take a picture of the waiter who read our referral for us, but he was too shy and didn't want his picture taken.  We will never forget him.  He was the first to tell us that our daughter's name means "delightful" and that her medical exam deems her perfectly healthy.  :-)

A Care Package for Gwyndolin

After we received our referral, we decided it would be nice to send Gwyndolin a little care package.  We sent her a little lamb "lovie," a colorful butterfly toy that "crinkles," a mini photo album with pictures of our family in it (and the cats,) as well as 2 disposable cameras that we are hoping the nannies at her orphanage will use to take photos of her for us.  We hope to get these cameras back when we travel to China.  For the other children in the orphanage, we sent some socks and warm winter hats and tootsie pops.  For the nannies and orphanage director, we sent a bunch of Jelly Bellys as well as some lavender sachets.  The package should be arriving any day now in China!!!

Gwyndolin's Quilt is FINISHED!!!

This is Dianne and she is the one that sewed the 100 squares together to make Gwyndolin's Bai Jia Bei (100 Good Wishes Quilt.)  Every square represents a wish someone has written for her.  We hope this quilt will turn into a family heirloom.  We think it turned out fabulously!

Our Silly Boys!

Deklan and Kallen playing tea party in Gwyndolin's room.

Look at that happy boy!

The boys playing dress up.  They tried to put EVERYTHING on in the dress up box.  I see a little pirate, a little Buzz Lightyear, a little Santa Clause, a little sailor man, a little cow boy......  It's amazing what happens when you turn off your cable and don't let them play video games!!!!

Deklan acting cool in his dress up garb.

Deklan fell asleep on his way to hip hop.  Love the foot.  "Go ahead, make yourself comfortable there!"

Well, I guess silliness runs in the family.  I have a balloon under my shirt - pretending to be pregers...

Gosh, I LOVE our boys!  They are simply the neatest kids around!  I love to watch them play together and be silly!  They are just the best of friends too!  Here are some photos of our boys being silly...

A Baby Shower

My sweet sweet friends Sheri and Susan threw me a baby shower!!!  I can't even begin to tell you all how special this is to me.  It was so thoughtful of them to do this for me.  We know each other through swim team and over the years, while we waited, they were always so supportive!  The shower was so nice.  I had a lot of friends there.  The food was delicious, the cup cakes were so beautiful I didn't want to eat them, but once I did, I wanted to eat 10 of them!  They put a Chinese twist on things which was just perfect!  They had egg rolls, chop sticks, and Chinese lanterns.  They also made chocolate dipped fortune cookies!!!  Here is the amazing thing...they took the regular fortunes out and put in their own "fortunes" like "sugar and spice and everything nice," "thank heaven for little girls," "Mommy's angel," "Daddy's little girl."  How sweet is that!!!!  It was just an amazingly magical day that I can't wait to tell Gwyndolin all about when she is old enough to understand.  Here are a couple pictures...

The yummy food!

Some of my friends

Some of my friends (Karye, Me, Heather, and Brenda)

Me with all of Gwyndolin's gifts.

After the shower I realized that I didn't take nearly enough pictures...  But, here are some of the DARLING chocolate dipped fortune cookies.  Notice the little hearts!!