Sorry it's been 3 months since I updated!!!!

Hi... thanks for checking back in with us. Sorry I haven't updated in 3 months, I can't believe it's been 3 months!!! Laila is perfect, we are enjoying every second with her, she's an absolute dream. We do have her palate repair surgery scheduled for November 11th but are still trying to get her into Shriner's Hospital in LA. I've had some medical issues and had major surgery. I then had quite a few complications and have been out of commission for 6 weeks. I'm now finally feeling better and have had alot of people ask for updated pictures of out little missy. I will update more frequently (I promise) but in the meantime, enjoy!!!

We're back part 2!!

More pictures since Laila's been home. Above is mommy and Laila looking at a puzzle at the Children's Museum. She had a great time!!

Happy little girl!!! We love her so much, we are so blessed!!

Not sure what she's looking at but she sure is interested.

Nema and Papa with Laila at the park by our house. (Scott's parents) They came out the day before we got home and met their newest grandchild. We were so happy to see them!!

Laila loved the swing but we were afraid she would fall thru the leg hole!! She's so little!! My friend Jami sent me clothes from her daughter and Kate's gone thru all her stuff of Gabs for small sizes. Laila is wearing 6-9 month clothes and the smallest sizes I had was 12 month. Anything 12 month has to be safety pinned to stay on.

Here's Grandpa (my dad) with Laila. He's so excited to have Laila home. He's staying at our house alot, wants Laila to know him. He lives downtown, about a 20 minute drive, but has been staying with us since we got home. He went to his place for 2 nights and is back here spending time with Laila. She walks into the guest room (Grandpa's room now) and brings him toys, it's so cute to watch them together.

Kate and my MIL decorated our house for our return. I LOVED it!! It was so fun to come home to balloons, streamers, signs and other decorations!!!

More decorations!!

The sign posted over our garage so we saw it as soon as we got home. Thank you Kate and Norma, we love it!!!

Laila meeting her family. From the right is Scott's dad, our nephew Nick, Scott's mom, my dad, Laila and daddy. Kate made shirts that they all wore with our 1st family picture and it said Laila JeanneLi Van Gieson, Gotcha Day, May 4, 2009. It was a nice surprise and very touching.

Here's Laila checking out Papa and cousin Nick.

Laila and daddy heading down the concourse at DIA, heading for the train to meet our family. It was so nice to be home!!! Laila is doing so good. She's very loving, wants lots of hugs and kisses and will give them to us willingly. We are loving every second of our beautiful daughter, life couldn't be any better!!!

We're back!!!

This post isn't going to be in any order but it should work. I still don't understand blogger and why I can't put pictures where I want so they are scattered so I apologize. The above picture and the following 4 were taken in the last few days. The above picture was taken last night at Kate's house. After dinner we had strawberry shortcake and gave Laila some of the cool whip. She was in heaven. When she first tasted it off my spoon she got this look of pure bliss, so cute!! Then I couldn't keep up with her so I put a spoon full in her bowl and the fun began. She had cool whip in her hair, all over her face and hands and was having a great time. It was so cute!!

Another picture of little miss with her cool whip.

Aunt Kate with her 2 favorite girls. Gabs has been so sweet with Laila. She had her mom call us the other day so she could ask if Laila could come play. She really loves her new cousin and Laila loves Gabs. Laila will walk up to Gabs and wrap her arms around her and lay her head on Gabs stomach, it's so sweet. We're really enjoying watching them interact and think they will be great friends.

Here's Gabs, I was testing out the camera and she smiled for me so I had to post the picture, she's a cutie!!

Here's Gabs giving Laila little bites of her cookie while the pugs hope for a crumb or 2 to be dropped on the floor.

Here's Laila in the playroom at the White Swan. (I told you the pictures were out of order!!) She loved this ball and we found a red one and bought it. She's had a great time with it at home.
Here she is on her little rocker zebra. She loved this toy also and it played music. When we got home I was able to find the exact same thing here so we bought it and now she has it in the living room and plays on it ALOT!!!
Just a cute picture of my daughter.
Laila in the bathtub, she loves her baths!!!

We're home!!!

We made it!!!! We got home yesterday afternoon around 4pm. Laila did well on all the flights, her sleep pattern was a little messed up so she didn't sleep as well as we would've hoped but that may help us get her adjusted to the time change easier. When we landed in Denver we changed Laila into a cute little outfit and got on the train to the main concourse, we were SOOOOOOO excited to see our family. My dad, Scott's parent's, Scott's sister and her 2 kids met us at the airport. They had t-shirts made with our 1st family picture and it said... Laila JeanneLi Van Gieson, Gotcha Day, May 4, 2009. It was really nice. Some people from our flight that got to the concourse before us told them that we were on the way, they recongized us from the t-shirt pictures. When we saw our family, tears just flowed. We did it!! We were back home with our daughter and family, it's the best!! I'm laying in bed with my daughter now, life doesn't get any better. I will post again in a few days, wanted to let you all know we're home. I will add pictures on the next post. Love, Scott, Joanna and Laila

Our last day in China!!!

Well, the time has come for us to pack our bags and leave our daughter's home. We are anxious to get to our home and start our lives as a family. It's bitter-sweet to leave. We are so ready to go home, we miss so many things we always took for granted. No humidity!! Drinking tap water!! A home cooked meal!! Our comfy beds!! Our family and friends!! At the same time we will miss China. China gave us the ultimate gift, one of their little girls for us to raise and love and we are eternally grateful. What a wonderful daughter we have been blessed with, she's beautiful, smart, lively, funny, strong-willed, stubborn and absolutely perfect. We will never be able to let Laila's birth mother know what a wonderful life she will have, how cherished, wanted and loved she is by us and so many others. We are thankful that Laila's birth mother left her somewhere she knew Laila would be found quickly, that this beautiful baby wouldn't be alone for long. My heart aches for this woman, as a mother I can only imagine the heartache and pain she felt, I could never imagine doing what she felt she had too do. So where ever you are, from one mother to another mother, thank you from the bottom of my heart. We will cherish this little girl forever. We love her unconditionally and will give her everything to make her life as fulfilled as possible. I pray you have found peace.

We've had a great past few days. Laila is feeling better. A couple travelling with us had some Amoxicillin they didn't need and that's what Laila would've received had we been home. I had my sister in law call our pediatrician and he said to give her the amoxicillin and stop taking the other meds we got here. She seems to be doing really good. A few nights ago we took a dinner boat cruise on the Pearl River. We could've passed on the dinner, deep fried minnows, fried fish skin, rocky mountain oysters, fish balls (didn't know fish had balls and that they are huge and yellow) and some other crazy things. We ate the rice and noodles, I know, living on the edge!! We had Laila's adoptive physical. Interesting that they told us her ears look great and later that day she had double ear infections. Not very through!! Anyway, our girl is all of 16.6lbs and 27 in. tall at 15 months. Just a little peanut. She loves her baths now, loves to play and splash. We had the consulate appointment yesterday and received Laila's visa so she can come into the US. Since both Scott and I came here for the adoption, once we land in San Francisco, Laila will be a US citizen!! For those of you still getting ready to travel here, make sure you visit the play room at the White Swan. It's great, especially for kids about 3 and under. Very cool!! On the way to dinner the other night we ran into 2 wedding parties having their pictures taken. They do weddings every day of the week here and they are happy to let American's take pictures. I took a picture of each bride and groom. There's also a picture of a tree. They all grow like this, lots of roots on top of the ground, maybe because it's so wet and humid they don't need to be down in the ground. Anyway, they just look really cool so I took a pircute. Tomorrow morning, we get on a plane to Hong Kong, have a 3 hour lay over and then get on our plane for the 12 hour trip to San Francisco, have a 4 hour lay-over there and then a 2 1/2 hour flight home to Denver. We can't wait!! Thank you all for your prayers and wishes sent our way on our journey to Laila, it's been a priceless journey, one we will never forget!! Hope you enjoy our last pictures from China. Love, Scott, Joanna and Laila

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Double ear infections!!!

Sorry folks, no pictures this time. I know, I know, but our baby is sick!!! She's been pulling at her ears, had lots of yellow snot and a little cough so we took her to the doctor they have here at the White Swan. He looked at her ears and said, yuck infection. So we have double ear infections!!! She's on an antibiotic we mix with an expectorant and benedryl as well as some ear drops. I've called our guide twice and asked her to double check with the doctor, it seems like alot of medicine we're giving her but they both assure me it's normal and will be fine. We've already given her the dose for tonight and besides being pissed that we had to hold her down to give her the medicine she's fine. Playing, laughing, acting like her normal self, she's so happy!! We're so happy we found it now instead of during one of the 3 plane trips coming up on Friday, that would've been BAD!!!! Anyway, we're going to try and get our little one to sleep, she's full of energy so wish us luck. If you feel so inclined, keep Laila in your prayers that she start to feel much better by our trip back home!!! Thanks and I promise to add pictures with the next post. Love, Scott, Joanna and Laila