The Lake

Love the hair!

Check out my boo boo

Stop taking my picture

Finally an update!

I know many people have been waiting for an update, so here it is:) I had stopped posting to the 'Journey to Me' site while in China because 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all' and I was in such a state that I had run out of 'nice'. I thought we were prepared for anything that a toddler adoption would entail but it was much harder than I ever imagined. It was so bad in China that I was quite depressed. The first few weeks home I disconnected from the world and didn't answer the phone or even turn on the computer. It didn't help that I was sick most of the first 2 weeks back. Once we were on our own turf, we we able to start teaching Brady what was acceptable behavior and what wasn't. He caught on quickly. We would have a few good days and then a *really* bad one. The bad days sent me right back to my doom and gloom place and thinking life would never be 'normal' again. Slowly but surely things started to get better and now I can't even remember the last time Brady had an entire day that was bad or the last time he had a rage. Even the fits (the in the floor ones) are very rare these days. He's still as strong willed and hot tempered and definitely lets you know what he wants, but I am amazed at how far he has come in such a short time. He's starting to understand so much of what we say which blows our minds because we could never pick up Chinese this fast! His first English word was 'more' and it was, of course, regarding food (food issues account for about 75% or more of his fits). He's been to the lake a few times and to the doctor's office (he's gained 2 pounds since China!) and last week I decided it was time to attempt a public outing. He did very well. He and I went out again today and he would say his version of 'hi' to every person we passed at the grocery store and wave at them. If they didn't respond he would start screaming at them. He is a very loud child and with his cleft palate uses alot of grunting and other various noises. I am sure the other patrons at Kroger were thrilled to have him there. LOL He absolutely ADORES his daddy. We joke that Jeff is like a rock star because when he comes home, everything stops and Brady runs to him squealing. Brady and daddy rough house a lot which makes mommy nervous. Poor kid finds plenty of ways to injure himself without the extra help! When we were first home Brady really attached to his older brothers and actually preferred them to me but 'the brothers' went out of town Brady's second week home and he decided mom was okay. He loves playing with his sisters, especially AnnaClaire. They have gotten into quite a few messes together (and let me tell you that the boy is not afraid to wear a little makeup). He's very rough with her and we are constantly having to tell him to 'be soft'. If he wants a toy she has, she now hands it over. I think she discovered that she got praise for being good about sharing and now willingly gives him anything he wants so that we will tell her that was nice. We are going to have to work on that. I don't want her to be a pushover and I don't want him running over her...and he is definitely smart enough to figure out how to manipulate her. AnnaClaire has had a hard time adjusting to having Brady around and has done quite a bit of whining and crying. Lately I have noticed that they are playing together more and more and even caught them coming down the steps holding hands the other day but before you say 'ahhhh', I have to tell you that 2 days later he tried to push her down the same stairs and if she didn't have a death grip on the railing he would have been successful. Allie's had a bit of trouble too. At first she was having some 'accidents' but that seems to have gone away. She is having some meltdowns over things that I think are really not the issue as much as her adjustment to a new sibling. Even still, Brady can be wreaking havoc all around and Allie will look at me and say, 'I am so glad Brady's home'. And he is...home. Wild and crazy as it is around here, he's a part of us now. Sometimes he smiles at me and it just melts my heart, or he'll come running full force to give me a hug and about break my jaw with his head or knock me over backwards (did I mention he was rough?). Now if I could only teach him that mommy is way cooler than daddy...

I have to thank all those who called and emailed because you were worried about us. Your support really got us through. THANK YOU!

More Birthday Pics

MeeAll holds Brady for the first time.

The boys and their new Rubik's cubes, also part of MeeAll's 'No Child Left Behind' act.

Brady's crazy parents

Brady shares his cake with Aunt Yoyo.

AnnaClaire loves Brady's new rocker.

Grandpa and Mason

Birthday Pics

Popaw's girl



Brady with Uncle Ronnie

Gifts for the girls. Part of MeeAll's 'No Child Left Behind' Act.




Grandma and Cousin Mason


Left handed just like Mommy and Daddy

Happy Birthday Brady!

We'll have his party with cake and presents on Saturday, but we had cupcakes after dinner tonight to celebrate Brady's big day.

Brady's Journey To Me Site

I reactivated Brady's Journey To Me site. The username and password are both 'tiger'. There is also a direct link on the Righthand side of thise blog. I will probably be posting from here and there while in China. I will have to see what works best.

Brady's Shower

Some very dear friends gave us a shower for Brady today. It's so wonderful to know that others are as excited as we are about our newest addition. My friend Bonnie was there even though she leaves TOMORROW to go get her sweet Anna Reese LeHua. What a great friend! It was my dream from the start of our paperchase that we would be in China together with our Shantou babes. God has once again blessed me and my dream is coming true. Not only that, but my dear friend Tonya who I have talked to on the phone almost daily for as long as I can remember but have never met in person will be there with her sweet Ayla. God is so good!

We received so many wonderful things at the shower. Brady's room is Monkey themed so we got lots of monkey stuff that is so adorable. He also received some toys which is wonderful because I haven't bought many for him yet. There were some adorable outfits too and I CAN'T WAIT to see him in them. Won't be long! :) I want to say THANK YOU! to my awesome friends for the wonderful shower. While I am thanking people, I also want to say to Gina that I honestly couldn't do it without you. You are a gift from God. The girls will be with Gina and her husband Daniel while we are gone and while I will miss them INCREDIBLY, I will not worry about them one bit because I know that they are in great hands and will be LOVED, LOVED, LOVED while we are gone.


Bonnie and Me. I hope to post one of us with Anna Reese LeHua and Brady Daniel LeQiang very soon. Here they are together last October.

More Disney Pics

How many days?

Earlier I realized that it is already Wednesday in China, so really we are just 7 days away from holding Brady and not 8. How's that for cool? Off to change my ticker to China time...

Our trip to Florida with MeAll and Aunt Yoyo (Lori in AnnaClaire speak)

More to come!

Two Weeks!

Two weeks until we hold Brady in our arms! Tickets are here, visas are here, we are ready! But first is our trip to Disney. The girls and I leave tomorrow morning, swing by Atlanta to pick up Aunt Lori and head down to Orlando. We'll be picking up mom at the airport the next morning (guess she didn't want to spend an entire day in the car with a 4 & 2 year old:)). Friday we will be at the Magic Kingdom! Allie wants to leave today. She's ready.

We survived our trip to Miami. We had been on the plane for about 3 minutes when I noticed Jeff had glitter on his face. He said, 'that's from AnnaClaire' and then came my tears. If I can't handle 3 days, how am I going to handle 18??? When we got to our hotel, we no longer had a room. They lied about why and then took us down the street to a sister hotel and gave us a room on the 2nd floor overlooking Ocean Blvd directly over the nightclub that you had to walk through to get to the elevator to go to our room. Music was blasting and people were partying until 4:00am. Jeff is Mr.'Go With the Flow' and even he was livid. We are getting ready to go to China people...WE NEED OUR SLEEP! Then when we arrived back home, we were at baggage claim and my friend Yvette asks, 'have you ever had any of your luggage lost?' Little did I know that the answer was 'yes, TODAY!' I was doing a mental inventory of what all was in the suitcase and getting more ill by the minute. Thankfully, it was located and delivered to our house the next day.

Brady's room is a work in progress. We got his letters this week but haven't hung them yet. I had centered all the decor in his room around his quilt and then we decided to use the crib for him so I am just going to hang the quilt on the wall. Hopefully we can do that tonight. The girls and I get back from Florida on Monday night and then Jeff leaves Monday morning. He'll be back Thursday and then it is just 3 days until we leave, so we need to do as much as we can tonight. Whew!