My Big Girl

Last weekend was the Miss Helen's fashion show which is an annual event that is so much fun for the girls. Molly looked beautiful and very grown up in her pink dress. I have posted a couple of pictures of Miss Molly at the fashion show as well as my girl with her missing front teeth.

I have been meaning to take pictures of her with her missing teeth. She is very proud of the way she looks which is so sweet and is the only time in her life that she will be proud of having no front teeth. I never want to forget how she looked at this age of 7 with no teeth - so innocent and full of life. OMG how I cherish this little girl and how proud I am to be her mommy....

Random Photos - Keep Scrolling Down

Hi everyone, I just posted a few random photos of our girls at the zoo. They are so much fun and our life is so sweet. Hello to all our family over in Ireland. Nana Rosie, the girls send you lots of kisses as well as all their aunties, uncles and cousins. We cannot wait to see everyone later in the year.

UPDATES

Hi everyone, just a couple of updates. We are all doing well. Maggie recently had a bout with pneumonia which was really scary but she sailed through it with a heavy antibiotic and breathing treatments. We are all well and very busy with soccer, cheerleading, birthday parties, work - you name it and the Gilmartin family seems to do it. Maggie is happy, very attached to me, Paul and Molly. In fact, she loves Molly and hugs and kisses her on a regular basis. She is still a bit anxiously attached and does not like me out of her site for very long. She wants to be held constantly but I prefer that over the opposite. She is defintely a snuggler. Maggie is a jokester and a bit mischievious. She will smile at you and run the other way or turn her head when you are trying to feed her and then smile and take the food. She has a cute sense of humor. Her hair has gotten so so so long and that seems to be about the only thing growing. I think she is growing a bit taller but not much. I just think she is going to be very tiny. All that matters is she is healthy and extremely happy. I am posting a couple of pics. Molly recently went on a Daddy/Daughter date. Her daddy brought her some flowers and took her to the outback. She got all dressed up and had a blast. I have also posted a couple of pictures of Maggie - she is so precious...

Happy New Year!!!!!!

Well, I cannot believe it is 2010, I think 2009 was the quickest year I can remember in a long time. Paul officially started his career as a nurse in January, 2009 and we were pretty sure we would be matched with a baby this year but we did not know when. Then happily on 8/24/09, we were matched with the most adorable baby girl, Maggie and we traveled in October to pick her up. She has been with her new family for 2.5 months and it feels like she has been with us forever, we love her so. Our two girls, Molly and Maggie bring so many smiles to our faces every single day and we feel like the luckiest people in the world to be able to be their parents. We are excited to see what 2010 will bring to our family. Paul will be continuing his education and we are definitely going to Ireland so all the Gilmartins can meet Maggie and see Molly (long overdue). Maggie has started talking (Hi, Bye Bye, MaMa and DaDa). I feel like her talking is about to explode. Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

AMAZED!!!

We are completely amazed at little Maggie's adjustment to her new family. She sleeps through the night, eats everything you give her, plays, cuddles, is getting braver and braver each day and is so so so happy. We do not see any attachment issues yet but are definitely on high alert. The only problem is her tantrums and temper, not to mention her new game of biting. If I am holding her and put her down, she proceeds to throw a huge and I mean HUGE tantrum. Anytime she does not like the way something is going, she will let you know about it. Right now, we are just trying to avoid putting her in that situation and ignoring the tantrums as much as possible. That is all I really know to do. We are not sure she has a grasp of what NO means yet so we are trying to be patient with the biting and keep telling her NO and diverting her attention to something else. However, my bite wounds are hurting. Otherwise, she is absolutely perfection and we are so so so IN LOVE!!!!!! Here are a few pics of our precious new addition..

Home

Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know that we arrived home safely last night around 7:30pm. There was a huge group of friends to meet us at the airport which really mean't a lot to us after traveling for so long it is a great feeling to see familiar faces.

We are actually feeling very good in spite of the long journey home. We think staying in LAX on Wednesday night was a good idea. Last night we got to bed about 11:00pm and slept straight until 4:00am. We will try to stay up all day and evening today and hopefully sleep through the night tonight.

Thanks for everyone's sweet comments, we are so thrilled with our new edition and she is doing fantastic.

Last Post from China:

It is Tuesday night and we are busy trying to pack everything up which is hard considering we have bought so much. We know it will be a very long time before we are back and therefore, we bought the things we really wanted this time around.

Yesterday was our consulate appointment and much to our surprise, they were kicking off the November National Adoption Month and therefore had a special guest do the oath ceremony. It was the recently appointed U.S. Ambassador to China, Tom Huntsman. It was very emotional and even he cried because he had adopted a little girl from China 10 years ago so he went through this exact process. Paul and I cried as we promised to forever love and take care of Maggie.

After that, we were very happy because everything was done and it is 100% official. We have some very important paperwork that will need to be opened by immigration at our first port city which will be Los Angeles, however Maggie will automatically become a U.S. Citizen when the plane lands on U.S. soil. We will clap when the plane lands.....

Today, we took it easy and did a little more shopping and packing. Late this afternoon, we had a group dinner to say goodbye to everyone in our travel group. We have made some good friends here and will stay in touch for a long time.

One of the pictures we are posting is of our two CCAI (our adoption agency) guides who have been with us the entire time. They have done everything for us and really taken care of all of our needs and paperwork. Their names are Grace and Kathy and as you can tell, they help out a lot with the babies. Maggie was hungry and we were all eating so they decided to take her and feed her - Maggie cannot go without a meal (hee hee).

Also, there is a picture of two of the little girls that were here that Molly became friends with and their baby sisters. The one picture of the three of them is cute but the one where they are standing behind their baby sisters is the cutest.

Although, we are very anxious to go home, it has been a nice trip and we are so thankful to have our sweet Maggie safe and sound with us. We will see some of you on Thursday night at the airport and many of you soon thereafter. Take care everyone and thanks for following along. Love, Steph

A Very Important Day:

Well, today is Sunday, and tomorrow is our big final important day: our consulate appointment where we will take an oath to always take care of Maggie and never abandon her. When I hear these words, I have tears in my eyes as I think about the parents that gave her up and abandoned her. I think about Molly and the parents that gave her up and abandoned her also.

How did Paul and I get so lucky to be the parents of these two beautiful, fabulous, smart, incredible, delightful, precious, joyful little girls? What did we do so right in our life to be their parents? When we look at these two little girls, my heart melts and we cannot imagine our life without them.

When Maggie wakes up in the morning and the first thing she does when she sees me is grin from ear to ear, I think how could we ever abandon this child when we already love her so much that we could not live without her? Paul and I will love them forever and ever and ever and they have and will make our world a better world. We cannot describe the love we have for these children, it is not possible to put into words.

These very long four years have seemed like an eternity but now that we have this precious child in our arms, it seems like it was only yesterday that we started the process, she has been so WORTH THE WAIT!!!! Thank you again for everyone's support and love and we are dying for you to meet this little bundle of happiness. Here are some random pics taken over the last few days as we have enjoyed being together as a family - enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!! xoxoxo

Maggie, Fun with Cookies..

Here are two videos of Maggie & Mom playing with cookies...

Our Baby is a Sick Little Girl..

Hi everyone, first and foremost, Maggie is not feeling well at all. She woke up again with a fever this morning which we have been battling all day. We are hoping the antibiotic will start kicking in by tomorrow so she will be feeling a bit better, however she threw it up tonight.

She does not like taking medicine and is a little fighter. She will lock her lips together until she has to cry and then we quickly get it in there. We hope she keeps it down tomorrow and things start looking up. It is scary to be in a foreign country with a new baby that you are just getting to know who is sick and you have to wait to see what happens. We have done everything we can and hope she is better by tomorrow or Sunday, we will keep everyone posted.

Today was Maggie's US immigration physical which took about 15 minutes. I am not even sure if these people were doctors and they did not speak english. She passed although she is obviously not feeling well. Then our group went to the famous White Swan hotel and took pictures of our babies on the famous red couch. Since we are not staying at the White Swan this trip, we made the trip over because it is important to some people to have that photo.

We also got a photo of our entire travel group which is also attached. After we got home and Maggie's fever broke, her personality came back which is obvious in the video above, of she and I playing a game with a bag of teething cookies. I am sure you will agree, it is hard not to smile when you see this baby smile and laugh.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. Again, keep your comments coming, although I cannot post or see the blog, my brother is cutting and pasting some of them and we will be able to see them all when we get home. Counting the minutes until we get home. Love, Steph

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.