One year!

For the last week I've been trying to come up with a one year home post that somehow communicates what the last 365 days as a family have been like. I wanted this post to be eloquent, funny, meaningful and beautifully communicate to the world how our little family of three is doing. But can we be honest? We are working parents of a 2 year old and ain't nobody got time for that! So here's my best effort! 

Looking back at this last year, the biggest thing that has stuck out to me is how normal our life has become. The memories that jumped into my mind weren't adoption milestone related, but the small joys that a child brings. The look on his face when he sees a train (or a bus or an airplane..pretty much anything transportation related), how much he loves taking baths, the warm fuzzy feeling of reading him stories before bed.

I realized that somewhere along the way we have gone from being new adoptive parents who were obsessed with trying to do the "right" thing and comparing every move Milo made with toddler adoption books to parents who most of the time forget that Milo doesn't look like us and hasn't been with us forever. Nowadays if Milo is happy, ate something somewhat nutritious throughout the day and falls asleep in under 30 minutes, we are pretty proud of ourselves! 

Do you remember this post? The one where I encouraged you to clean your baseboards and I cleaned every inch of my house for fear that our social worker would see a stray pet hair and say NO BABY FOR YOU!  We had our one year post adoption visit with our social worker a few weeks ago and I think that I *maybe* brushed some of the cat hair off the couch before she came over. Let's all agree to not ever talk about cleaning baseboards again and shake our heads at naive pre-baby Kim.

It is pretty remarkable and worth reflecting on how Milo has grown from a scared, grieving and confused baby to an energetic, brave and hilarious toddler. He has gone from screaming with fear at daycare drop off to giving us a quick hug and saying bye mama! bye daddy! He has grown 7 inches and gained 8 pounds. He has shown incredible resiliency as he turned 2, changed to the older toddler classroom, moved houses, graduated to a toddler bed and dealt with an injury to Brian that changed our routine tremendously. He has gone from no words to 10-15 words to over 400 words. He was barely able to walk when we got him and had very little muscle tone. Today the kid can run circles around us and be ready for more.

 Thank you to everyone who has supported us. We have felt a crazy amount of love throughout this year and feel so blessed.

 Milo Stephen Yang, thank you for being you. Thank you for loving us and forgiving us when we have struggled as new parents. Your laughter fills our home and your smile fills our hearts. You are our world and the best thing that has ever happened to us. We are humbled that we get the honor of calling you our son.

Every family has a story and they are all beautifully messy. I will forever be grateful and humbled that our family's story began 6000 miles and a day away! 

Six month fam-versary!

It's been six months since we became a family of three. Six months!!! Sometimes it feels like we just got home and other times we can't remember what life was like before Milo (although I do still remember what it felt like to sleep through the night...I miss sleep!). 

It amazes us to look back at our family day pictures. Reading this post really brings me back to how terrified all three of us were those first few days. Milo because he didn't know who the heck we were and us because we had no idea what we were doing!

Somehow we all worked our way through it and here we are six months later!

In these six months Milo has:

-Learned English! Milo's first words were mama, da, bark bark and meow and he stuck with those for several months after coming home. This summer his language exploded (we think mostly thanks to spending time with his chatty Alaska cousins!) He now has about 40 words that he uses consistently and we feel like every day he picks up something new. He often repeats us (whether we want him to or not!) and is starting to learn his ABCs (he's particularly good at O and Z).
-Started daycare/school! At first it was awful, he cried at drop off and cried when we picked him up (we think because he was so relieved we actually came back). However, as of last week he is no longer crying at drop off or pick up! It is such a huge improvement and we are so proud of him. He goes 3 days a week and we know that the socialization and activities are really helping him catch up to other kids his age. He also gets to hang out with his grandparents once a week and we think that one on one time is so special and important. We are so thankful to live close to both sets of grandparents (and great grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!) and have even enjoyed a few afternoons out thanks to these always willing babysitters!
-Learned to run! Milo's motor skills have improved amazingly. Milo's muscles were so weak and he was so regressed those first few days in China that he couldn't walk or crawl. Now he is RUNNING and thinks being chased is hilarious. He's even climbing into his highchair on his own, which is both impressive and scary!

-Developed personality! The best part about Milo becoming more comfortable with us is getting to know his personality. He's still a little quiet in new situations or around strangers and prefers to sit back and observe before joining in or getting to know someone new. He is incredibly sweet and loving. He LOVES to give kisses to us, the pets, his toys, basically anything that will sit still long enough. He loves to dance and jump around to any music, but especially the songs in Sesame Street (we all actually enjoy Sesame Street, such a good show!). He's trying to learn to pedal his tricycle, but really likes to drive around in his Bronco-mobile. He always stops dead in his tracks when he hears an airplane or a train and wants to find where they are. He loves being read to and can't sleep without being snuggled and rocked, which we sigh about sometimes but deep down we both enjoy because we know this stage will go by so fast.

-Gained 6 pounds, grown 4 inches and 2 shoe sizes!
-Got a tooth! We were shocked one day to see a tooth coming in where his alveolar cleft is! That is great news as it means that there will most likely be an adult tooth that grows in after his bone graft and he won't have to have an implant.
-Traveled to the San Juan Islands, Washington and Glenwood Springs and Estes Park, Colorado! Milo was a rock star on the flights to and from Washington and he loved meeting his Alaska family and throwing rocks into the ocean.




And so much more.....













Let me tell you guys, this kid? He's amazing. We are constantly humbled by the fact that we were lucky enough chosen to be his parents. Yesterday we celebrated 7 years of marriage and we can honestly say this was one of the toughest and best years we have had yet.
We can't wait to see what the future holds for our little family!

More pictures!

Brian posted more of our China pictures on his art blog, so hop over there to see more pictures from our trip!

Wind River Art

Also I can't make a blog post without some cute Milo pictures, so here are some from his first Fourth of July as an American citizen!

A little confused by our new bike trailer

Nothing says Welcome to America like red white and blue sprinkled donuts!

The long journey home

Our flight home left bright and early on Friday, so we were up at 5 am to get ourselves, a sleepy kiddo and our many bags to the airport.
Our first leg was from Guangzhou to Beijing and it was a relatively quick flight at about 2 hours. While waiting for our flight at the Guangzhou airport, I came across one of the famous Chinese squatty potties. I had felt really lucky that I had avoided them up to that point and I'll just say it was an experience!
The first flight was really easy! It really gave us (false) hope for the rest of the trip. Milo and I slept for most of it, which was awesome! One weird thing about in country flights in China is that you don't board or disembark the plane on a jetway like we are used to in the US. You have to take a bus to and from the airport to the plane, which is really inconvenient with a toddler, 4 carry ons and the lack of personal space that was common in China.

Yay sleeping toddler!

We had a 4 hour layover at the Beijing airport. This turned out to be a good thing because (for some odd reason) we had to collect our checked bags and recheck them for the flight to Seattle. We actually ended up having to collect our checked bags at all of our stops along the way, which really got old!
We passed the time in Beijing by having lunch and playing at a little play area in the airport. Also Milo thought pushing the suitcase was a lot of fun, so that was a good way to burn off some energy! 

The flight from Beijing to Seattle was 10.5 hours. We were most worried about this flight as we had never had to entertain a toddler on a long flight before, much less one we had just met two weeks ago! We had decided to buy Milo his own seat for our trip and that turned out to be one of the best decisions we could have made. I can't imagine what we would have done if there had been a stranger sitting next to us through this flight!

Who doesn't love shrimp fried rice at 9:00am??

Milo really did amazing on this flight. He didn't have much of an attention span for the TV, so we did our best to entertain him with toys and walking up and down the aisles when we could. The only time he had a meltdown was in the last few hours of the trip when Brian and I were just done and couldn't think of any new ways to keep him busy. Unfortunately none of us slept very much on this flight, which lead to a not so pleasant layover in Seattle.
I really love Seattle, but the Seattle airport, especially customs, was a horrible experience for us. We only had a 2 hour layover, but we were assured multiple times that we would have plenty of time to go through customs and find our gate. Yeah that was a lie.
We were pointed to the immigration line vs. the US citizen line as Milo had to have his US citizenship paperwork (remember the super secret envelope?) processed. The immigration line was VERY long and slow and I have to say that we were less than impressed by how the folks trying to come into the US were being treated. For anyone who doesn't know (I'm looking at you customs officers), you can't get someone who only speaks Mandarin to understand you by increasing the volume that you are speaking English. Apparently this is not a universally known fact. We couldn't believe there weren't any translators to help these poor people.
We watched time tick by as we waited and waited. Milo was less than impressed by standing still in this line and I only kind of tried to quiet him as I hoped a crying baby would speed things up a little! (it didn't)
We were then put into a different line to finalize his citizenship. We kept telling people that we had a tight connection to catch and it really didn't phase anyone. My grandmother (yes you Granner!) could have processed paperwork faster than these people.
After 14 hours of travel and 2 more to go, this mama was ready to throw a major tantrum of her own if they made us miss our flight. They finally finished our paperwork and we RAN to get our bags, recheck them and find our gate. By some miracle, we made it to gate JUST as they were doing the last call for boarding.
Thankfully Milo slept for a good portion of this flight and the other portion played with the guy across the aisle from us. Thank you mister, whoever you are, for noticing that these 2 very tired new parents needed a breather!

Looking tired, but grateful to be on the last flight and for a sleeping toddler

After close to 10,000 miles flown, 16 hours in the air and 7 hours of layovers, we made it home. Due to our quick layover in Seattle, our bags didn't make it until the next day, but at that point we barely cared. 

It really sunk in as soon as we landed how loved we were and how anxious our family was to have us and our little Milo home. From Brian's parents graciously picking us up at the airport, to my parents hosting a party for our family to see us and then understanding when we only spent a few minutes there because we were bone tired (I still don't really remember much from that evening!) to getting home to a clean house stocked with groceries. 

The first week was really such a blur and I don't think we would have eaten at all had it not been for the family and friends insisting on bringing us food every day. 

We can't thank everyone enough for your kindness and grace during that time!

Xiexie (Thank you) China

On our last night in China I posted the following on Facebook. I wanted to share it here so I can remember how I felt that night and someday explain to Milo how blessed we felt that night. 


As I sit here among our half packed bags, listening to Brian rock Milo to sleep, I'm feeling so humbled and thankful. 

Thank you to the country of China and its people. Thank you for the kind smiles and patience with us crazy Americans. Thank you to our guides who made everything so easy. Most importantly thank you for blessing us with one of your treasured children. We will keep our promise that we made last week to always love Milo and protect him. We can't wait to return someday to show him his amazing birth country. 

Thank you to Milo's birth parents, wherever and whoever you are. Thank you for choosing life for this little one and for trusting the Hengyang orphanage to help him get the care he needed. Thank you International China Concern and the Hengyang orphanage for doing the paperwork for Milo to be available for international adoption, knowing we were out there somewhere waiting for him.

Thank you to our family and friends who cared for our home and pets and gave us so much support these two weeks. We can't explain how important it was to still feel connected to home.

Thank you to my amazing husband. I thought I couldn't love you more and then I see you hugging our son and my heart explodes. I couldn't have chosen a better partner for this journey. 

Finally thank you Yang Long Kang, Milo Stephen Yang, for slowly opening up to us and trusting us to keep you safe. Your smile fills a place in my heart I didn't even know was empty. We look forward to the weeks, months and years to come. Our family is blessed because you have joined it. 

Shamian Island and our last days in Guangzhou

Tuesday through Friday were essentially free days for us in Guangzhou. 

On Tuesday we stayed around the hotel and enjoyed taking our time at breakfast and playing on the playground that was in our hotel. In the afternoon our guide delivered Milo's visa paperwork to us. His citizenship paperwork came in a brown envelope with strict instructions to guard it with our lives and not to open it.  It felt really good to be done with the official parts of our trip and to know that all the paperwork we had slaved over for the last 18 months was correct! 

On Wednesday our guide took us shopping and to Shamian Island. Another adoptive dad and his son who were also using our guide joined us as well. Spending time with other adoptive families was one of the best parts of our trip!
Shamian Island has a really interesting history. Until recently, the US consulate was located there and it is still the location of the Polish consulate. It also used to be where almost all Americans adopting children would stay. I have read so much about Shamian Island while researching Chinese adoption, it was amazing to finally be there! I've heard many people say it feels like New Orleans and having recently been to New Orleans ourselves, we had to agree! It was very peaceful and felt like a different world compared to downtown Guangzhou.

Shamian Island is a very popular location for weddings and fashion photo shoots

For lunch our guide and driver took us to a traditional Cantonese restaurant on the island and it was easily the best meal we had on this trip. It was really delicious and included a chicken dish, a seafood dish with tiny whole shrimp, noodles, a broccolini dish and steamed egg for Milo. Brian also got to enjoy a Chinese beer!

Thursday was our last day in Guangzhou. This was a tough day for Brian and I. We were missing our pets, family and friends at home, but we both agreed that we weren't ready to leave China. We knew this was a once in a lifetime experience and we weren't ready to see it end. So, we decided to explore as much as possible and really make the most out of our last day. 
In the morning we went to Yuexiu park, which was right down the street from our hotel. We were really lucky that both cities we visited had amazing parks with tons of trees and walking paths. Yuexiu park is located on 212 acres and has a lake, amusement park and is also home to the Five Ram sculpture. As CSU Ram fans we knew we couldn't miss that! The sculpture has a lot of history behind it, click on this link to learn more about the legend of the Five Ram sculpture. 

We think that people make wishes on those red cloths and throw them into the tree. It looked even more amazing in person!

That afternoon we took a taxi to a different part of Guangzhou where the Garden Hotel is located. Many adoptive families stay at the Garden for it's great location, so we decided to check it out. We stopped by a Target like store called Aeon and spent a lot of time checking out the cool and different products. We would have bought a lot more if we weren't already panicking about how heavy our suitcases were going to be. 

Our long trip home started bright and early on Friday morning. More on that to come!