Welcome!

Welcome to our blog, which will serve as a record of our journey and way of communicating to our family and friends during our trip to China to adopt and bring our daughter home. As you might know, we have been waiting quite a while to find out just "who" our Coee Catherine is. We submitted our dossier on November 28, 2005. The dossier was a compilation of several hundred pages to include documents such as our home study, background checks, fingerprints, letters from Trey and Dillon's teachers, medical records, fire inspection of our home, confirmation of pet vaccinations, letters of recommendation, floor plans of our home; then everything notarized, and confirmation from the state that the notary is official, then confirmation from the U.S. Government that the state that confirmed that the notary is official, is also official. Whew! It took almost a year to get the dossier information completed and compiled.

After 22 months of waiting, we finally received the referral and picture of our daughter, who is waiting for us in China. Her name is Yi Ken Lan. She is currently waiting for us in the Yichun Social Welfare Institute in the Jiangxi Province of the Peoples Republic of China. Here is what we know about her at this time:

Date of birth: 12/31/06
Length at birth: 49 cm (19.3 inches)
Weight at birth: 3 kg (6.6 lbs.)
Her Development:
At 2 months: When the caregivers held her in upright position, she could keep her head straight up. She liked to smile and make some voices.
At 3 months: She could turn her body on side. She could make voices. She could turn her head to look for source of sound.
At 4 months: With a caregiver holding her body, she could sit up. She liked to put things into mouth. She could giggle loud. When she saw food, she would be excited.
At 5-6 months: With a caregiver holding her, she could stand up. She could turn her body over. She could hold toys with her hands. She could use her hands to take something. She could recognize the familiar persons from strangers.
At 7-8 months: She could crawl on the floor. She could sit by herself without any help. She could make some sounds. She could stand straight holding on to something. She could use her eyes to look for the toys.

The information we have been given on her schedule is that she gets up at 8:00 am, naps two hours in the morning and afternoon, and goes to bed at 9:00 pm. They say that she is a sound sleeper and likes to play outside.

Her main food is milk and rice powder, noodle, egg and vegetable soup. She eats four meals per day.

Her "current" height is 63 cm and weight is 6.5 kg. We believe this was as of July 24, the same day as the rest of her updated medicals.

We are so very excited to travel to China and finally have Coee in our family and hope that you will check back on us during our trip. We are currently scheduled to travel November 29 - December 13.

Michelle