Certificate of Citizenship

We got Ana Kate's Certificate of Citizenship in the mail today....as of July 1st she was a citizen of the United States of America!! We were so happy to finally get that paper. Now we can begin the process of changing her name and applying for a birth certificate from our state.

We had a busy week. I had lunch with some friends on Tuesday and they threw me a surprise baby shower for Ana Kate. It was so thoughtful of them and we had a great time. It was the first time they met Ana Kate and she was 'Miss Personality' as usual.

Ana Kate also had her first doctor's appointment and immunizations this week. She is already 19 pounds and 6 ounces and is in very good health. Her doctor was quite impressed with her. She cried when she got her shots, but after giving her a bottle she fell asleep. When she woke up she was her normal happy self again.

We were out of town for most of this week visiting family and friends. We had a great time and everyone loved baby girl. I've included some pictures from our trip.


Ana Kate with Papa


DeAnn making Ana Kate laugh


Cousin Brad hiding from Ana Kate

Our sweet baby girl...

More Pictures

We're still trying to get into a normal routine here, but everything is going pretty good. Today I bought Ana Kate a little pool and she tried it out. She loves getting in the water no matter how cold the water is. She had a great time and we both got very wet. She was also trying out her new tennis shoes this morning speeding all over the house. Thanks for the shoes Lena...she loves them.

Settling In....

Well we're finally settling in and getting into a routine somewhat. We had family in over the holiday and are just now getting a chance to get back to normal. Ana Kate is doing great, she is such a wonderful baby girl. We feel so lucky and blessed to have her. She is walking all the time now without crawling and if she falls she just gets right back up. It seems like she does something new every day. She mimics just about everything and is quite a little character. We love her SO much! Whitney adores her little sister and thinks she's the cutest thing ever. I can't wait for the rest of our family and friends to meet her.

She still does not sleep through the night without waking 4-5 times and she takes VERY short naps. I'm hoping that she'll get better as we get on a more structured schedule. We've been pretty busy since we've been home and I'd say our biggest challenge has been the car seat. Ana Kate doesn't like to be confined and the car seat is just torture for her. We try to distract her and talk to her and that seems to help. I've taken her out a few times by myself and she did ok...but anything more than 30 minutes and baby girl shows her temper. We have her first doctor's appointment at the end of the month and will start her immunizations then.

We saw Marvin and Carol this weekend and they finally got to meet Ana Kate in person. They were so happy for us and delighted to see another baby home from Vietnam. Ana Kate and Quynh played together while we talked and it was so much fun to watch them. They are only a couple of months apart in age and they were just adorable together. I forgot my camera, but I will try to take some pictures of them together the next time we see them.

We don't have much planned for this week and hopefully I'll be better about updating the blog. Enjoy the pictures.


One of our first days back home.


Ana Kate with Grandpa M.


Ana Kate and Michelle.


Baby girl fell asleep during lunch.

Ana Kate helping Grandma M. load the dishwasher:

We finally made it home!!!!

After 40 hours of travel we finally made it home yesterday around 11:00am. Our flight out of Hong Kong was delayed due to electrical problems and we arrived in LA about an hour later than scheduled. Then after the extra time spent going through customs we missed our connection. So....rather than spend the night in LA and get home Tuesday night, we opted to take the red eye to Chicago, then a 9am flight from Chicago to Arkansas. So, we made it back home yesterday before noon....and we were SO tired. Ana Kate did very well considering the circumstances. She slept for most of the short flights and slept on and off on the long flight. She only had one crying spell on the long flight, but it didn't last too long. Doug was able to sleep most of yesterday and last night, but I'm still trying to catch up. Ana Kate took several naps yeterday, but managed to sleep most of the night (of course I has to give her a bottle 5 or 6 times during the night)....but I think she is adjusting to the time zone change already. She was up and ready to go around 7:30 this morning. I will try to take some pictures today and post them later.

Day 16 - We're Going Home!!

We are checking out of the hotel after breakfast and heading for the airport. The next time we post, we'll be at home! Yeah!!

We'll try to takes pictures of the trip home and I'll post them as soon as I can.

Day 15 - Visa Appointment

After breakfast this morning we were playing with Ana Kate in our room and I decided to put her in the stroller again. She cried for a second, but when I put toys in with her and started pushing it, she seemed happy. So we pushed her up and down the hallway about 5 or 6 times, then went down to the lobby and back up to our room. By midway through she was kicking her legs and bouncing...she actually liked it!! Yeah!! After that we went with Laura and the kids to walk around the lake behind the hotel...it was a nice walk, but very hot. We all met around 1:30 to head to the embassy for our visa interview. Everything went fine and everyone was very nice. They told us to come back at 4:00 for the visa.

So....Doug and Randy decided to walk to the embassy to pick up the visas and they left around 3:30....I still hadn't heard anything at 5:00. So I called Laura to see if they had called and she said apparently they were waiting because there was an issue with the printer. So long story short around 5:40 Doug and Randy showed up at the hotel with the visas!! Yeah!! So, we are coming home tomorrow!! We can't wait!

We didn't take many pictures...but here are the stroller pics of Ana Kate.

Ana Kate happy in her stroller: