Friday evening

We saw Dr. Ochs today and all looks pretty good. He is pleased with what he saw and read. She is in the 25th percentile for height and weight which I guess is pretty good. He wanted to do a blood test, but when we were done in the office, the lab had closed for lunch for a half  hour. No problem...since we were just a few blocks away, we paid a quick visit to Mr. Pollock's studio. Anyssa got to meet her "Uncle Jim" who was VERY excited to meet her. I had been talking to Jim about doing "birth announcements" about 5 years ago so he's been aware of the entire adoption journey for quite some time. We hung out until the lab opened, then walked back to the hospital. There is a blood test for adoptees that is pretty intense...they drew 5 viles of blood from her little arm! She whimpered a bit, but didn't cry...she's a brave little girl.



Me & Laura in the Forbidden City



After the doctor, we passed by Wrigley Field to see the park painted purple for the NW/UI game tomorrow. Being a Sox fan, I still have to admit that I like Wrigley Field and it looked pretty cool in the new colors! Once we were back in the burbs, we stopped by to give Anyssa her first tast of McDonalds. One happy meal, please. She seemd to enjoy the cheesburger and when it came to soft drinks, she preferred water. After that, we stopped at American Sales which, for those of you who don't know, is one of those seasonal stores that has pools, patio furniture and swing sets in the summer and switches over to Christmas in the fall. As soon as she saw the giant inflatable Santa outside, her eyes bugged out of her head! She had a blast looking at pretty much EVERYTHING in the store. I actually experienced something that I had thought of during the adoption consideration process years ago...viewing and reliving things that I considered mundane through the eyes of a child. It was amazing to look at the lit up trees and the little animated houses and ornaments and lights and wreaths and everyhting that I had grown accustomed to seeing and see them as I hadn't for many, many years. I don't want to think of it as reliving my youth through Anyssa, but rather to use her as an excuse to stop, take a breath, open my eyes and look around for a few minutes. I know there will be challenges ahead but so far, I can say that I am enjoying this trip known as parenthood.

I wish we had new pictures to share, but truth be told, we simply aren't snapping them as much as when we were in China. I will go ahead and post a few from the trip and hopefully you can enjoy those until we get a few new ones.



Anyssa in the airplane home!