first time

Today was Micah's first time to play with her food. She had broccoli, chicken and rice up to her elbows and beyond. We had ECI out to evaluate her and they found her to be at a 5-6 month old. One of the questions they asked was does she know the word 'no'? I said she doesn't because if she is touching anything, we are excited and encouraging her to do it over and over. She is also sitting up a great deal with out me having to be so close to her. She has only fallen once or twice.
On the hand, Sarah is now a cowgirl again. She found a bandanna and wears a headband under her hat. The hat is Russ' but she now thinks it is hers. She walks around with her gun in her pant loops and yells Yee Haw!

Micah's Welcome party

What a wonderful day and weekend it was. It started with Zadie, Aunt Marcy and Uncle Jim coming in. Aunt Marcy set up a beauty parlor to paint toes and nails for the party that was going to take place on Saturday.
Saturday we got up and washed Sarah's hair for the first time since the surgery. We laid her on the counter and washed her hair like she was at the beauty parlor again. The party was at the Gee's house and the Gee's and Fourier's were the hostesses. Quite a few of our family and friends came out to welcome Micah to the family. I don't have near the pictures I should have. Aunt Marcy has more and hopefully I will be getting those soon so they can be posted also. Wendy and Darlene had wonderful food out for everyone to munch on, a scavenger hunt for the kids that ended in bubbles by the pool and a wonderful cake. I think everyone had a wonderful time. Micah was a bit overwhelmed but she was a trooper. We got some wonderful clothes and I think Micah will never have to wear the same thing twice. I love all my friends and family and can't thank them enough for all that they have done to help make this a fabulous time in the Richter's life.

Micah's first bath with no tears

Since becoming a family on March 8th, Micah has cried every time we put her in the tub. She also becomes very wiggly. But that all changed last night when Sarah and Micah got in the tub. Micah actually kicked her legs and splashed with her arms a very tiny bit. She watched Sarah pour water and sink toys and seemed to have a good time. It is a small step in Micah loving her new family and life!!

Micah sits up

On Friday April 16th Micah sat up by herself for the first time. I had to take pictures of it.

Sarah has surgery

Sarah had to have ear surgery last Wednesday. The hole in her ear from the tubes she had put in her ears last year, never closed. SO this past Wednesday, she had a form of Tympanoplasty, where they take a patch of fascia (skin) and place it under and over the hole in her ear drum. This should close the hole so that her hearing improves. It will never be normal but it will help. She was a trooper.
The night before we kept her up late so that she could have a snack because she couldn't eat after midnight. She got up very early and we gave her a bath and washed her hair. Now I am not sure why we washed it as they put a lot of goop in her hair to push it away from the area behind her ear. Sarah never complained about being hungry or scared. The actual surgery took about 1 1/2 hours and then we got to see and hold her. She got to have Icee Popsicles and then we got to take her home. The pictures are of her at home eating more Popsicles.

Bluebonnet festival

We had a wonderful day at the Bluebonnet Festival in Chappelle Hill Tx. It is about 1 hour from here and we walked around and saw lots of wonderful things. I wish I had an endless supply of money so that I might be able to buy everything I loved. This was the first time I had been to this festival.
We stopped along the way and took pictures in the bluebonnets. It was a lovely drive out there and back.

Our guides

These are our tour guides and life support in China. Lily, Rebecca and Alex. They helped us with everything from getting from the airport to paperwork and sight seeing to getting back to the airport and through security. They did a fabulous job with everything. We saw more of Guangzhou this time then we ever did in 2005. Rebecca liked to keep us busy during the day so that she could have the nights to herself.

Miscellaneous Pictures of Guangzhou and Russ eating

These are pictures of us in Guangzhou having a blast. We went shopping, ate lots of food and saw many different things. Russ tried everything that was placed in front of him and I was much more cautious. Sarah got to spend time with new friends, the Mitchell's from the Dallas area, and old friends, Samantha Lalich from League City. (Sam and Sarah were crib mates and were adopted at the same time in 2005.) We saw many children in split pants and Russ took a picture so we would be able to share with others the concept of training without underware. It was amazing.

NanJing, Cloud Brocade and City Wall

We visited the Nanjing City wall in the morning. This is a wall that was built around the city to protect it from attacks from enemies. Each brick was made by hand and the maker had to write his name on it so that if the Emperor wasn't satisfied, the worker and brick would be destroyed. That seems very harsh but the wall is still standing after over 200 years.






Later in the day, we went to the Cloud Brocade factory. I thought I might be able to find a new table cloth for the table at home but found different things there. We took a tour of the factory and found out that the Emperor of the country had his robes made there. We also found out that it takes 8 hours to make 2 1/2 inches of silk. It was amazing to see how the silk was made. We bought a few things there.