LOTS TO TALK ABOUT!!!

Well first and foremost, we are posting a few pics of our sweet Molly. She has been so fantastic on this trip and such a wonderful big sister to Maggie and so we wanted to post some photos of Molly enjoying herself. She is sending a big hello to all of her friends at Miss Helen's and misses school very much. Hello, Miss Pam and Miss Christi, Molly sends a big hug to both of you.

Yesterday, we had to do some paperwork and we went to Shamian Island and did some shopping. Last night, we took a dinner cruise along the pearl river which was really nice. Today Paul and Molly went to the zoo and had lots of fun inspite of the heat. Unfortunately, I had to stay home with our sick little girl, Maggie. She awakened this morning with a fever and she was not her normal smiley self. We tried all day to get her fever under control and nothing was working. By late afternoon, her fever was pretty high and we decided to take her to the doctor.

One of the families in our group had gotten the name of an American doctor off another adoption website so we called him and he could see Maggie. Well, let me tell you that our little peanut is a fighter - she was so so so mad at that doctor and was not going to give in. After some tests, it was decided that she had an inner ear infection so we have started her on antibiotics.

She was much better tonight and is currently curled up sleeping with her blanket. Did I say how IN LOVE we are with this sweet little precious gift? Tomorrow, poor Molly has to get an immigration physical, boy is she going to be happy about that considering her day today and then more shopping. We are counting down the days until we start our journey home - 6 days to go and 7 until we arrive in Tulsa.

We are trying to upload a video of Maggie, walking, so once we get it done, we will upload it. Stay tuned. Love, Steph.

Random Cuteness..

There is not really much to report from China. The last few days have been uneventful. We have had lots of quality time together to go to the park, shop (boy have we shopped), eat, drink and soak up China. Molly is having a great time and loving Maggie so much as we all are. It is very easy to love this little peanut. She wakes up and starts grinning from ear to ear and cooing. She is very easy going and content until she gets tired and then watch out. Once she is asleep, she is out for the count for 10-12 hours. She always sleeps with her hands behind her head as one of the pictures shows. We feel so incredibly blessed to be given the opportunity to be the mother and father of these two wonderful little girls, Molly and Maggie. Paul and I pinch ourselves sometimes and think, there is no way, life could be sweeter. We cannot wait to introduce Maggie to everyone when we get home. We will leave China one week from tomorrow and travel to LA where we will spend the night and travel back home on Thursday the 29th. We will look forward to seeing all of our friends and family at the airport. We are posting just some random pictures of our cute girls.

Maggie's First Bath!

Here is a video of Maggie's first bath...

Amazing Experiences:

We have had two great days here in China. Yesterday, we decided to go to a local park about 15 minutes away from the hotel. It was absolutely beautiful and was packed full of people since it was Saturday. They were doing all different types of activities and exercises and they were all really good inspite of some of them being quite elderly. We came across a group of people playing a game similar to "Hackisack". Well Paul, being the boy that he is, jumped in to play with them. Needless to say, I am quite sure it was the first time a 6'7" Irish man had ever played with these people. He was fantastic at the game and therefore, he became quite the celebrity among the locals, it was so much fun to watch, they loved him. Also, we were quite an eyeful for the locals. The more they stared, the bigger our smiles were to them. We were surrounded several times by people curious about Molly and Maggie.

In every single situation, the people were so incredibly nice to us and always gave us the thumbs up when they realized our girls were adopted, it was so sweet. Today, we traveled to a Buddhist Temple where Maggie got a special Buddhist Blessing from the head monk - it was beautiful and touching.

The big news is our sweet little baby had her very first bath ever tonight and boy did she have fun. We decided to wait to give her a bath and to let her adjust for a few days. She is pure joy and so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!.

I have not been able to read the comments on our blog so my brother was kind enough to cut and paste them and sent them via email to me. Thank you so very much to everyone for your sweet and touching comments. Please keep them coming so we can read them, it makes us feel good since we are already a bit home sick. Love to all, Steph

IT IS OFFICIAL!

Yesterday was a very busy day. We spent all morning at the Civil Affairs office being interviewed by different officials, etc. to finalize the adoption. Maggie is now officially a Gilmartin. Today, Saturday is a free day and we are getting ready to go to a local park to play and get some sunshine. Maggie is doing well overall and in spite of a few meltdowns (wow does this little peanut have a temper), she is adjusting well to her new family. Molly is also doing well except when Maggie has a meltdown, Molly is not very happy. She does not understand that Maggie is trying to tell us something and because this is all new, we have not been able to figure it out at times. All in all, things could not be going any better. We are enjoying our time but know that it will not be too long before we are ready to come home. We have attached some more pictures taken yesterday, a few with Paul and Maggie - what an incredible dad he is, so so so great!!!!!!

Maggie!

Well, we finally have our Maggie! We just got back to our hotel from the adoption affairs bureau here in Guangzhou. Maggie was very upset to begin with which in turn made Molly very upset. It took a little while but with Steph holding her close she soon calmed and eventually showed us her beautiful smile. As I write she is playing on the bed, having a blast, with her Momma and big sissy! We are absolutely delighted and thrilled. Our long, long, long wait is finally over. Welcome to our family Maggie! Much more to follow but for now here are some pictures of our first few moments and hours with Maggie!

We have arrived!

Well after a very smooth LONG flight to Hong Kong and a very LONG day and bus ride today, we are in Guangzhou (Maggie's province). Tomorrow morning, we will start with a meeting at 10:00am and then about noon, travel to the civil affairs office where Maggie will arrive at approximately 2:00pm. After that, we will spend the rest of the day and evening letting Maggie settle down and adjust. We will post the all important GOTCHA DAY photos tomorrow so stay tuned. Thanks to my brother Jason for helping us with these updates, we are unable to access our blog so he is posting for us. Less than 24 hours to Maggie and we are all very very excited.