We had a blast this Christmas. Mun Mun learned that ripping wrapping paper was a whole lot of fun. Mun Mun's toys have officially taken over the living room......and she's officially been spoiled (with all the fun she's been having with family this time of the year - especially with Uncle Jay and Auntie Joyce!)
Here are some pictures from Christmas:

Julianne and Pearl grew up together during the first days of their lives. We are fortunate to have Pearl live close by and able to have play dates - hopefully grow up together!

Here are some pictures of the two gems:

Mun Mun got a new rocking horse for her birthday (thank you) and she's loving it!

Enjoy he video!

Julianne just turned ONE! Can you believe it!

We had a blast at her birthday party with lots of friend, family, food, and fun! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day

Auntie Joyce was making banana cream pie and whip cream in the morning - Julianne was the first to taste the whip! It was delicious!

From 2008 - 11 30 Julianne's bday party

Mun Mun got SO excited to turn ONE. . .

From 2008 - 11 30 Julianne's bday party

We finally got enough hair from our little Julianne to wear a hair clip! Thank goodness for the no slippy hair clippys!

From 2008 - 11 30 Julianne's bday party

Happy Birthday Mun Mun!

From 2008 - 11 30 Julianne's bday party

Her own birthday cake! At first she did not know what to do, but she's no dummy! She figured it out in no time!

From 2008 - 11 30 Julianne's bday party

Present time....and boy was she pooped!

From 2008 - 11 30 Julianne's bday party

She's growing up right in front of our eyes! In the last two months she's learned how to sit up on her own, crawl and grab onto something and stand up!

This week was the Manchester Marathon and Jacky and Joanne (cousins) invited to a marathon of their own. We had a great time especially because Jacky came in 2nd place and Joanne came in 3rd place.

Though we didn't get all dressed up this year for Halloween, we did try to celebrate by taking some pictures with the pumpkins (yeah, they weighed almost as much as Julianne). Julianne even go blown away with the wind! It was pretty funny!!!!

Enjoy pictures - we also went on the merry-go-round for the first time at the mall the other day.

Julianne got a pink Red Sox baseball cap - we had fun with it today!
My friend Nicole let me borrow an activity center and Julianne was able to watch grandpa clean up the garden today while spending some time in the sun! It was so much fun....

My Uncle Jay came all the way from California to visit me! I am so excited to see him! He brought me lots of USC stuff! I'm having so much fun with him....

love,
Jules (that's what Uncle Jay call me)

It feels like we've been home for much longer than 2 weeks... Julianne has adjusted very well, sleeping through the night and is even more active than before!

The doctor called with results her her lab work and everything turned out normal. The only shot that she needed to redo is the Polio immunization so we're heading back on Tuesday to get that done. The kidneys are fine so that's a relief!

Enjoy the pics!

Love,
KJJ

It's been a week now since we've returned home and things are becoming somewhat normal. Julianne is sleeping through the night again like she was doing in HK/China. Last night she went to bed at 730 and woke up at 7am! She did great!

We've had lots of visitors throughout the week and we're loving it. Julianne puts on a show for our visitors when they come and keep them entertained. It's like she's knows that she's the star of the show....it's kinda funny!

I'll keep everyone posted on how things are going....but so far so good!

Enjoy the pictures!

KJJ

We did well. Her weight stayed the same as when we were in Guangzhou but she probably had a wet diaper on and the clothes weighed an ounce or so. Either way, she's still 15.2 lbs. That's 3 percentile of children her age - she's a peanut! Here's a few pictures of Julianne at the doctors... but lots of other pictures of us hanging out with Auntie Joycie, Grandma, Grandpa, and family!

We're finally home! It's soooooooooooooooooooo good to be home!

The journey home was loooooong but we made it. Julianne was once again a trooper! We had to wake her up way early to get to the airport... she didn't fuss on the take off (actually slept through it after her bottle). Julianne slept for 8 out of the 15 hours on the flight. Dad had a really bad cough so they slept together. When she was awake, I ended up playing with her so Kit can continue to sleep. During the layover in Newark, our flight was delayed by 2+ hours so it ended up being a 9+ hour layover! She slept for about 4 hours and honestly, I have no idea how we made it through the 9+ hours. We made it home FINALLY 1am Monday morning!

Day 20 was an extremely busy day. Friends and family are all egar to have breakfast, lunch or dinner with Julianne before we leave for USA... I think we had 5 meals today so that we can accomodate everyone.

Julianne, Kit & I had a blast today though. We were able to see our closest family and friends before we go. Tommorrow, we leave for the airport bright and early to catch a 10am flight. We should arrive in Manchester around 10PM Sunday night - yes a 24 hour trip. Let's pray that Julianne does as well as she has in the past 20 days!!!!!

Here's a slide show one last time from HK.

We're almost there! 2 more days before we COME HOME! Yeah!!!!!

Today, Mommy and Daddy went shopping with out me so I didn't have to smile for the camera as much! (Oh, thank goodness! - that flash just gets to me sometimes!) I spent about 3 hours at Grand-Auntie's house and she let me be a little terrior! Yup, I had a blast!

Look what I can do - I can stick out my tongue. Mommy says that I am a smart cookie and learned how to do this on my own!
I love to play with Grand-Auntie. I love to see her every day when Mommy and Daddy bring me to Dim Sum.
This is one of my Auntie. She lets me do what I want! I love that!
Looke at my very long lashes - aren't they beautiful
There's the tongue again! I'm getting really good at it and making a rain forest when I blow out!

Hello everyone!

Julianne is adjusting extremly well and has been a real trooper with all the changes that she's been through - new people, new places, traveling on planes, trains, automobiles, buses, taxis, mini buses in HK, walking etc.

She's so adorable and gives us her signature smile every day! She has her moments too - like when she doesn't like to be put into her crib and wants to play. She loves to play! She had her first fall today and cried when she hit her head on the ground (she was sitting on the ground so she didn't have far to fall). She only cried because Kit jumped immediately to pick her up (yes, she has us wrapped around her tiny little fingers!)

I went photo happy today - enjoy!

KJJ

This is her signature smile!

Well, today I was a slacker on the picture front. The fam slept in late this AM - Julianne got up as usual at 7am for her bottle but she decided to let mom and dad sleep in so went back to sleep until 9ish.

Today was mega hot and I tried taking pictures of the daddy/daughter alikes - they both sweat like crazy! (first few pictures)

Tonight again we had dinner with a few of Kit's friend. Unfortuately, I was only able to take picture of one of them!

I will try to take more pictures tomorrow. I've also been unsucessful with uploading more videos so if I can do it, I'll upload some older videos of Julianne for your viewing pleasure!

Good night from HK!

KJJ

Day 14 was family day with Kit's Auntie and Uncle and cousins.
Enjoy!

Day 13 was very very hectic. We had dim-sum with Kit's Auntie and Uncle in the AM. Aftewards we went to a temple in HK to scope the place out for Kit's ancestors. After a short nap back in the room, Julianne & I spend about 7 hours with Kit's friends at dinner. They rented a room within a restaurant and spent hours laughing, screaming, and talking about the good ole days! We didn't get back to the room until after midnight! Julianne took 3 naps and fell asleep right away!

Julianne got sick yesterday - probably from a combination of many things:
- change of formula (yes she was on suspecious forumla so we stopped her cold turkey)
- 1st time in AC (prob didn't have any of that in orphange)
- lots of hussle since we've been in HK

She has the sniffles and has been coughing. No fever - thank goodness!

Here are some pictures:

I just realized that I didn't put up pictures yesterday.... sorry family & friends!

Julianne took the train, light rail, mini bus, and double decker bus for the first time in the last couple of days. She's such a trooper!

Day 2 in HK - just as hectic. Kit has so many things to do and so many people to see. I'm told that after Monday, it will be less frantic and I'll be able to get some shopping in! Can't wait!

See you all soon!

Jen, Kit, Julianne

We finally made it to HK around 9:30pm and then took a short taxi ride to Kit's Auntie's house for late dinner. Julianne ate a whole bowl of congee! I cannot believe her tummy has all that room for it! Way to go girl!

Love,
Kit, Jen, Julianne

tomorrow is a big day for us............we swear in at the Ameican Consulate & get our baby's VISA. Yeah! Then it's a travel day to Hong Kong. So I cannot guarentee that there will be a post or pictures (just a warning so I don't get the call for pictures tomorrow ) :-)

Today we met on the second floor for the famous Red Couch Photo opp! I jsut went snap happy with the camera today - enjoy!

I don't really have many pictures yet but thought I put this one up... we have a king size bed in the room and she makes sures that she covers every inch of space on the bed..... good thing that cribs have railings or else..... :)

These pics are for the Nelson family:

I posted a photo a couple days ago and here's the video of her doing her thing. It's always in the high chair.... hopefully she'll be able to do the same when she uses the high chair at home! Hee Hee Hee

We went to get our visa photos and physical exam today at the American Consulate. Julianne was not a happy camper with the doctors in the white robes...she started crying immediately We got the clean bill of health! Yeah! One step closer.

Here are her measurements:

Weight: 7.0 kg (15.4 lbs)
Height: 68 cm
Head: 42 cm


We're back in the room and Daddy is sleeping with Julianne while I try to upload some pictures and start packing AGAIN!

Enjoy pictures for now. I think we're going swimming later so we'll have some more pics and probably another video to come! Stay tuned.

--- a BIG HI to Pearl's family in New Hamsphire --- (I'll do my best to post some photos of the family for you! :-))

Julianne learned how to wave Bye Bye. We taught her how to do that the other day and she used it last night with Jacky's Aunties and Uncles. She's so smart!

Today was another hectic day as well. We went to the local temple of 2000+ years to have all the babies blessed by the monk inside the temple. But because today was the 15th of the month and Chinese Holiday (Moon Festival), there were a gozillion people at the temple - and everywhere else we went for that matter. As you can tell by the pictures, it was a crazy busy day in Guangzhou.

There are alot of picutres today because I've decided not to edit them and only show Julianne pictures. There are some pictures of the temple and pictures of the other children we are traveling with. There are some pictures with Jacky's and Joanne's aunts and uncles as well! Julianne was the star of the show, of course. She kept them all entertained!

Enjoy the pictures!

Tummy time!

This was our first day in Guangzhou and it was a LONG day! We got up around 7am (which is our usual wake up time with Julianne as our alarm clock). Finished breakfast around 8:30am and headed out for our LONG journey to Shenzhen to visit Kit's 80 year old aunt. We had to take the hotel shuttle to the train station (30 min ride); then 1 hour train ride from GZ to Shenzhen; then 1.5 hour taxi ride from train station to his aunt's place! The whole time, the taxi driver was complaining about how far he had to drive to bring us there and to return to the city with an empty cab - I feared for life! That was just the beginning - on hour way home, Kit's cousin told us it would be so much faster to take the bus from their rural town back to Guangzhou. Again, I fear for our lives. The bus driver was driving like a maniac; I almost got sick from it! The girl next to us did get sick and they actually have vomit bags hanging from the top rack of the bus! (Scary). Once we got off, we had to wait 30 minutes for a taxi to make it back to the White Swan. Just riding on train and car was about 6 hours today. Julianne is such a trooper. She only got figity a few times, and sleep most of the way there and most of the way back.

This is not of Julianne crying - she's barely done that - but of her taking care of her business. There's no mistaking when she does - and it happens in her high chair of all places. As soon as we sit down for dinner, she will put her feet up and take care of business.... It's the funniest thing!

I'm not sure if this is going to work but I took this video today and thought I would put it up for you to hear and see Mun Mun play!

Today we went to a temple local to Nanchang - built from the Ming dynasty. It was a nice day and it was nice to be tourists for the day. It was hot and tiring but was only a 1/2 day event so it was nice.

She's definitely a handful but we're so blessed to have her!

XOXOX from Nanchang

So it's now 8:52pm and she's sound asleep for the night. The afternoon was fun for Ms. Mun-Mun (we're trying to stick to calling her by her Chinese name for now) - there's a Children's Fun Land so we got to go and hang out there for a while. Tomorrow we're having play dates with the other girls and Kai (18 month old adopted boy from our group) after our trip to the temple so that all the babies can be blessed.

Here are some pictures from this afternoon and evening.

Enjoy!

Today was a mellow day. We had the opportunity to go to the orphanage (3 hour drive there and back) but we decided that it was not a good idea for the family to go. So we stayed behind to spend some quality time with Julianne.

She did great last night. She slept from 9pm and woke up once at 4am to take a bottle. Went back to sleep until about 7am. We did not hear a peep from her when she woke up... only when daddy got up to go to the bathroom did he see that she was awake and playing with the toys in her crib!

That's my sweetie!


It's 3:15pm and Julianne is napping. She just loves to play and will not sleep today! She finally feel asleep in daddy's arm and I am able to break away to write a few words and upload a few pictures for you early risers - I want to make sure that there's fresh stuff every day for you guys :)

She's such an angel when she's sleeping!


Can't wait to see everyone!
Jen, Kit, Julianne

(Click View Album to see photos)

Good Morning from Hong Kong! It's 6:50 A.M.

Kit and I made it into HK last night around 6:37 P.M. (which was Saturday morning your you guys in the US). We had a very busy night last night.... after we got our 4 gigantic pieces of luggage, we checked into the hotel (which they upgraded us because, I think, they saw how many pieces of suitcase we had! :)), then we went to Sum Gang to get BBQ Goose (very famous place for goose), and finally we went to visit Kit's Auntie. By the time we made it back to our hotel room it was around midnight.

You would think after a 15 hour flight and 20+ hours of travel, Kit and I would have a great night sleep....and to make sure we get some sleep before we pick up Julianne.... WRONG! The both of us couldn't sleep last night - I think it's a combo of jet lag and excitement...............13 hours to Julianne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More posts and pictures to come....

Jen & Kit

I'm getting really excited - things are slowly coming together. August seems to be flying by but at the same time seem to be going so slow! The nursery is just about done... here's what I've done with the nursery so far....

I cannot believe that 2 weeks from today I'll be on an airplane traveling to China, to Julianne! Packing has been a huge challenge because travel within China only allows us 1 luggage per person at 44 lbs. (So I can get to HK with 2 pieces pp but then we'll need to leave a couple of luggages with Kit's auntie!) Typically this should not be a problem, since we can purchase clothes while we're there; but the BIG problem is that I'm not sure if there's a wide selection of clothes in my size! So I need to pack with that in mind.

Michelle had suggested that I pack by rolling all the clothes so I have tried that and it seems to be working. I've taking lots of suggestions from people, like packing with ziploc bags and taking all things out of the box if possible. I hope that I can successfully pack for the occassion!

2008 - 08 10 Julianne's Baby Shower

(Click picture to view all the photos)

Thanks to Joyce, Michelle, and Roz for putting together such a great time for all of us in such a short time!

Thanks to all my friends and family for being there and sharing in our special day! Julianne cannot wait to meet mommy and daddy's friends and all of her relatives!

Love,
Julianne, Jen & Kit

Friday - 5th Day 1: Fly To Hong Kong

Saturday - 6th Day 2: Arrive in Hong Kong. Stay overnight.

Sunday - 7th Day 3: Fly to Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. Check in to Gloria Hotel.

Monday - 8th Day 4: Meet Julianne!!!! Paperwork.

Tuesday - 9th Day 5: Go to Adoption Center, Notary Office, and Public Security Departement.

Wednesday - 10th Day 6: Sightseeing.

Thursday - 11th Day 7: Sightseeing. Receive notary papers.

Friday - 12th Day 8: Do more paperwork. Receive Julianne's passport. Fly to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and check-in to the White Swan Hotel.

Saturday - 13th Day 9: Physical exam for Julianne.

Sunday - 14th Day 10: Sightseeing. (Maybe visit Kit's Aunt in Shenzhen, China)

Monday - 15th Day 11: More Sightseeing...

Tuesday - 16th Day 12: Visa interview at U.S. Consulate.

Wednesday - 17th Day 13: Take an Oath and receive Visa and drive to Hong Kong

Thursday - 18th - 27th Day 14 - 22: Visit with Kit's friends and family.

Saturday - 28th Day 23: COME HOME!!!

We purchased tickets today! So we're leaving Friday, September 5, 2008 and returning to Manchester on Sunday, September 28th. Yeah!!!! It'll be pretty hectic but I'm sure the three of us will manage - here's what our travel looks like:

Friday, September 5th - Manchester to Newark
Friday, September 5th - Newark to Hong Kong (16 hour flight - arriving Sat. Sept 6th - Yikes!)
Sunda, September 7th - we leave for Nanchang, China
Monday, September 8th - GOTCHA DAY!!!!
Friday, September 12th - travel by airplane to Guangzhou, China
Wednesday, September 17th - travel to Hong Kong by train
Sunday, September 28th - return to US (we have a 7 hour layover in Newark on the return trip! . . . . . . . . . . .

I'm hoping that I'll have internet access in all of the above locations so that I can at least post pictures. We just got a camcorder as well so I will try to post some videos of us -

Oh my gosh, it's getting really close! I'm so excited....

Love,

Jen & Kit

Got the email today. We're one step closer to leaving for China!
We got the email today saying that we're approved for travel by China. Next steps is to get our Visas done through a contracted travel agency in NYC. Hopefully CAWLI will have scheduled an appointment with the American Consulate in Guangzhou so that we can finalize our tickets & hotel arrangements.

It's been about a week since I last posted and I still have not received our TA. We are anxiously waiting for the approval and for the China Visa to be approved. Someone in our travel group got word from our agency that we should receive our TA next week and we're still on target for 9/6 travel date - which means we meet Julianne on 9/8.

In the meantime, I'm preparing the nursery and making sure I have all my ducks in a row. There's a new Baby's R Us opening in Manchester so I might go pick up some letters tomorrow J-U-L-I-A-N-N-E to be exact to hang in the nursery. I haven't decided if that's what I want to do since her name is so long. Maybe I just hang J-A-T instead? Thoughts anyone?

I spoke with CAWLI today and they are guestimating that Kit and I will be traveling around Sept 4th - with Monday, Sept. 8th as our "Gotcha" day. Gotcha day is the day we become our forever family... :-)


Kit and I will probably skip the Beijing portion of the trip (most families head to Beijing and visit for a couple of days before they go to the province to pick up their child) and head right into Nanchang, about 3 hours away from the Poyang County SWI. The nannies will bring the children from the orphanage to the hotel early in the morning and will meet Julianne around 9am!!!!! We will be in Nanchang from Sunday night through Friday evening, heading to Guangzhou on Friday night. Julianne will officially become a US Citizen in Guangzhou at the American Consulate... at that point, we'll be ready to come home.


Not quit yet though... sorry ;-) We've decided that we're going to stay in HK for about 2 additional weeks so we'll probably be home by the last week of September.


Can you see where Jiangxi province? That's where Julianne is right now. . .

Today I sent Julianne a care package... hopefully we'll get our items back on Gotcha day along with the cameras loaded with pictures of Julianne over the next couple of months with her nannies (Ah yees) and playmates. We're hoping that if we get the camera back that I will go and get the film developed in Nanchang.

Julianne got measured today at her orphanage and here's her update:

HT: 67cm
WT: 7kg
Head: 42cm
Chest: 43cm

So from March 08 to July 08 she gained 1.2 kg which is about 2.6 lbs. She now weighs 15.4 lbs.
Good girl - growing nicely!

曾文敏

Tsang Mun-Mun

This is a name given by grandpa!

Kit and I first knew we wanted to adopt in May 2006. After submitting our application to our agency, CAWLI (China Adoption with Love Inc.), we started our paper chasing. Such paperwork included medical clearance, Financial Reports, Home Studies, Photos, Birth certificates, letters of reference, and the list goes on. All official documents had to be notarized, certified and authenticated for accuracy and truth. We finally finished gathering all documents by November 2003. Our paperwork got mailed and logged in on December 13, 2006.


Then the wait began for a referral. . . . . month after month after month. . . 19 months to be exact. A referral is the photo and paper documentation of the child matched with a family for adoption.


We are finally at a point where Kit and I have accepted our match and we wait (yes we wait again) for our approval to travel from China. Stay tuned. . . .

Kit visited the doc today to review Julianne's medical records - and, thank God, everything turned out to be normal! Yes, we can finally signed the "Letter of Acceptance" so that CAWLI (our adoption agency called China Adoption with Love Inc.) can send our acceptance to China in return for a Letter of Approval (approval to travel to China).

We are excited to introduce to you Julianne Ava Tsang born December 2, 2007. We received "the referral call" from our agency on Monday, July 7, 2008. The wonderful part is that Kit and I were together in the car with Mom and Dad driving to NYC. It was a beautiful moment and Kit and I were able to share it with Mom and Dad at the same time. Good thing it was Kit driving.... :-)

Julianne is at the Poyang Social Welfare Institute (aka orphanage) in Poyang County, Jiangxi Province. Julianne's Chinese name from the orphanage is Bo Ji - Bo means "waves" and Ji means "lucky".



The photos here were taken when Julianne was about 4 months old. According to her paperwork, Julianne loves to smile often and loves to play with her friends. She's already a social butterfly! :)


Check back for more updates, as we go back to the begining on how this got started. We will be bringing our precious girl home soon... We are proud parents!