Not long after we got back from China, we started to work on Aaron's treehouse. He had been asking for one forever, but we never had the time before. As with everything, this project grew in size until we wound up with a guest cottage in the trees. We rushed to get it done in time for Aaron's birthday so he could have his spy themed birthday party with his friends.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Our semi annual blog update
Not long after we got back from China, we started to work on Aaron's treehouse. He had been asking for one forever, but we never had the time before. As with everything, this project grew in size until we wound up with a guest cottage in the trees. We rushed to get it done in time for Aaron's birthday so he could have his spy themed birthday party with his friends.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Our 1 Month (almost) Update



Becci's Sister in Law, Sheri put together a great shower for Aubrey and Becci. It was fun for all of the Aunts and Cousins to meet Aubrey, and she did great. I think she likes getting presents..not sure, but it's a hunch.






She and Aaron have been doing some more bonding lately. Aaron has been trying more to engage her in play and they've had some really funny sessions together.


Bits of English are starting to come out more and more each day. Some of her favorite words are Yogurt (big surprise), Drake, later, up, shopping, yuck (from her favorite book, Yummy/Yucky), "there you go" (a personal favorite), "it's OK" (she says OTAY), and the occasional "More Please".
Besides what she can say, she can understand a lot of what we say and has also become quite the actress, acting out scenes from the day. She also loves to dance and sing. She has been singing along with the hymns at church, and sometimes by herself during the sermon. ("Aubrey! shhhhhh!) For dancing, though, she prefers loud and funky.
Here are some more random cute photos:







Saturday, March 14, 2009
Update: Our First Week Home

Aubrey meets her snowsuit
Last Sunday, we took Aubrey to Church for the first time. She did extremely well, making it through the entire service, playing quietly with a few books and doodling on the program. Everyone at Church was excited to meet her we were beaming with pride to introduce her.
Even with May's help, for which we can't thank her enough, Aubrey's appointment was rough. She did alright until we had to lay her down on the table for Dr. Ahmed to examine her. That's when she went into full defense mode and flipped out. Dr. Ahmed did his best to examine her, but we eventually had to take her to a different exam room to calm her down. The good news is she is very healthy, and the Dr. has determined that "She's a fighter!"
Aaron returned to school on Monday and was treated to some wonderful surprises. His class threw a party to celebrate his return and there were cards and presents for both him and Aubrey. We all walked over to the school to pick Aaron up on Monday and when the kids saw Aubrey it was mass chaos. She handled all the attention pretty well, but had a meltdown after a few minutes. She's weirded out on us at the school pretty much everyday, but Becci is timing it so she gets there just in time to meet Aaron then scoots right out and she seems to be doing better with it.

Score! leftover cupcakes from Aaron's party

Her pretty dress from Sister Anne and Aaron's class that she had to try on immediately
By midweek though, Aubrey started to level out some. She's had good days all along, but her breakdowns were more frequent and severe earlier. Now she seems much more willing to let things go without a fight and is exhibiting more typical levels of toddler disagreeability (my word). She will still throw knock down tantrums, but further between incidents, Thursday was completely tantrum free, and seems to recover much quicker.
Her vocabulary is growing, too. She's been starting to call me Daddy occassionally, we're getting sporadic Thank you's and Your Welcomes, she's working on ABC and 123. Every now and then she'll pick up a word that she seems to like and use it a lot for a while, like "later" or "No, no, no", today I got a super clear "stop it" and after playing a DVD bingo game, she said Bingo a bunch of times. We are also hearing "Apple", "up", "down", "Grandpa" and "Dow Jones Industrial Average" (not really)
Becci has been very busy altering Aubrey's clothes, and has developed the technique for shortening her left sleeve. Most mornings, Becci will dress her, then take out a pair of scissors and cut the left sleeve off of her shirt, which Aubrey thinks is the funniest thing ever. She seems to really enjoy watching Becci sew and seems very happy to have shirts that don't impede her arm from being out. She's also discovered that she loves pigtails. We had a few nice visits this week. Our good friends Jodi and Tom stopped by. Wendy and Tammy from the studio and Tammy's son Chris came over for a while last weekend and got the full debriefing on our trip. We also received a wonderful visit from my Grandfather, Pop Pop as Aaron and Aubrey know him, and my Aunt Joan. They brought some great presents for the kids, including a handmade doll crib along with the doll and some beautiful hand made outfits for the doll that Joan crocheted herself. Aubrey is smitten with the doll and squeals everytime the doll opens it's eyes.


Saturday, March 7, 2009
We're Home!

Finally it was time to board and we got settled in for the long flight. Luckily, we were on a flight that was 75% empty, so everyone got to stretch out. We used the entire center aisle for Becci and the kids and the two side seats for me, so we had bunches of room. The flight was 13 hours long and the kids were able to sleep for more than half of it. We also flew back through 13 time zones, so we actually landed in D.C. at the same time we took of from Beijing. In D.C. we cleared customs and Aubrey became a U.S. Citizen, then on for one more 1.5 hour flight to Binghamton.
Hello U.S.A.
Becci's parents met us at the airport and Aubrey made it clear immediatley that she was going to be Grandpa's girl. She immediately let him hold her and spent the next few days on his lap. We headed back to Becci's parents house and started loading in the needed luggage. Without thinking, I put Aubrey down on the floor where she was quickly greeted by a big kiss from Star, Becci's parent's Golden Retriever. She wasn't expecting anything like that to say the least and she freaked out. We had never seen her so scared and were concerned that she may have a serious aversion to all dogs forever. Luckily, after a good nights sleep and some cautious interactions, she seems to have no fear of the dogs now.
Before bed, Aubrey enjoyed a bath and let Grandma read her a story. We spent the whole day Thursday at Becci's Parents place. We love spending time there (we actually like to call the place our favorite Bed and Breakfast), and Aubrey seems to love it there as well.

Grandpa doing Bolioliolio Tickles



Friday morning after breakfast, we pried Aubrey off of Granpadpa and headed home. We couldn't wait to put our travels behind us and get settled in. Upon our arrival home we were greeted by some very thoughtful gifts and well wishes from our amazing friends at the studio.

Our awesome welcome home banner by Wendy
Aubrey had a good exploration of the house and got to see her room for the first time. She immediately fell in love with one of the Chinese outfits given to her by some friends at Becci's work, and had to have them on. Then the tea parties started...
Drink this

other tea party guests


So far, so good. We're trying to get on some kind of a schedule and are starting to try for naps. She took one today after an epic battle, but she needed it badly. We are sooooo happy to be home and look forward to getting around to see everyone. Thanks to all of you who followed along and sent messages. We'll continue to post stuff here as time allows, but mostly we'll be busy raising two wild children.
We'll see you soon!