Our evening routine...

While Jesse takes his shower each evening, Claire gets her bath. Afterwards, he sits in her room with her & plays with her, all while she's "brushing her teeth". Actually, I think the toothbrush feels good to her gums, but good habit to start now, don't ya think?

Jesse has become the best big brother & really enjoys helping out with Claire & playing with her while I clean up the kitchen & house before bedtime. Such a good boy...he can't wait til summer vacation!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Claire!!!

Claire celebrated her 1st birthday this weekend surrounded by a house full of family & friends! She enjoyed every minute of it! She enjoyed her polka dotted cakes & had her first taste of sugar!!


Claire getting a birthday kiss from big brother Jesse!

Can you tell Claire loves cake???

As usual with kids, Claire enjoyed the paper & bows as much as the gfts. Thanks for the gifts everyone!! We are so greatful to have so many wonderful friends & family close to celebrate Claire's special day with us!!

We love you all!

I'll post again soon, as we are all much better around here in the Hollingsworth household.....

Birthday Parties & Field Trips.....

Claire & I have been under the weather for the past week, so sorry about the lack of pictures. Jesse had his 6th Birthday Party last weekend & had a blast. The kids did cosmic bowling & had so much fun! It was Claire's 1st Birthday Party to attend, & she just took it all in!
Look at the handsome birthday boy!!
Towards the end of the party, she couldn't hold her little eyes open any longer.

Jesse at the zoo for his 1st field trip as a kindergartener!

More pictures to come this week!! Thanks to everyone for continuing to follow the blog!

Love, Gretchen

Happy Birthday & Happy Easter!!

We finished up a fun week last week with Jesse's 6th Birthday on April 6th & we went to Jackson, MS for Easter Weekend, where both of the kids had lots of Easter fun. Lance's sister, Tracey, threw Jesse an impromptu birthday party complete with gifts & a huge Birthday cookie, which Jesse loved!
Jesse after hunting Easter Eggs. He won the prize egg in his age group this year!!
Claire enjoying banging the empty eggs together. If only she was always this easily amused......

Showing the camera her finds!!!

Hope everyone hd a great Easter & will write again soon!

Back to normal....

Well, the wedding has passed, & all is back to relatively normal here in the Hollingsworth household. Jesse & Claire love each other to pieces! Claire is eating like a horse & doing new things every day. She enjoyed seeing all her new family members at the wedding! Claire with her cousins Dylan & Patrick at the rehearsal!
Jesse receiving his engraved harmonica from Ryan for being the ringbearer.
Claire being her normal, happy self!
Jesse with Claire Big Hair after school!

Well, I'll post soon...hopefully with sme great Easter pictures!

Our first full week at home!

Well, life is starting to have some kind of order around here now. Monday Jesse went back to school after spring break , & all his friends & teachers just loved Jesse's "I'm the big brother" shirt! We took Claire to lunch on Monday with Jesse & everyone was smitten!
We are getting Claire on a schedule revolved around Jesse's school hours, ect. She is so resilient!

Claire went to the doctor Friday & was re-immunized & had blood drawn. She was a champ..She is definitely 10 months old stated the doctor due to her social & mental abilities. She, however, is behind physically & will catch up in no time. We are blessed to be a family of four & continue to thank everyone for all the visits, calls, meals, & posts! We love you all!
Claire enjoying some play time!
Claire about to go to her first doctor appointment. She did not look this cute when it was over, though!!
Go Tigers! Unfortunately, this outfit was not good luck on Saturday.......

I hope to post soon, but bear with me, as Jenny (Lance's sister) gets married Saturday This week will be crazy! I'll do my best though!

Love,
Gretchen

Adjusting to home life....

All is well here! Jesse is adjusting wonderfully to his little sister. He is feeding her, playing with her, & holding her often. Claire loves her new home & has has a TON of visitors! She is getting on a schedule a little better every day! She had lunch with Jesse at school today & laughed & smiled the entire time!




Claire loves her high chair & loves all the different foods introduced to her. She is doing more things every day & is sitting up better, grasping objects, & very interested in her toys, especially the ones that make music! I guess that's why her middle name is Song!! I will post as I take more pictures this week!

Thanks for all your letters, e-mails, visits, & prayers!
Love, Gretchen

Home Sweet Home!

We are home! After almost 30 hours of travel, we are home safely! Claire did fabulously onher long flight, as she slept 8 hours. We never heard a peep from her! When when finally landed in Memphis, we were met by a crowd of family & friends & Claire just smiled & babbled for each of them.. She was greeted by Jesse first, & she was just mesmerized by him! We are vry tired, but each day I'm sure this will get better! I will continue to post at least each week, so thanks to everyone for following the blog. We are just tickled by all the following our blog has generated!
Jesse seeing Claire for the first time! Such a great big brother. We think he grew about 2 inches since we saw him last!


Family of four finally!

Will post again soon!
Love, Gretchen

Home Here We Come!!!

Today was our last day in China & a very memorable one. We had our swearing in at the US Consulate & were forbidden to take pictures. It was great & Claire got her visa & Chinese passport. We will miss China terribly but are so ready to return home to Jesse, our family, & a host of wonderful friends! We are also ready to return home to Memphis water, ice, soft beds, & Diet Dr.Pepper! We are currently packing & about to shut down the computer, so I just wanted to say one more time thanks to everyone for all the posts, e-mails, & prayers for us on this journey. Pleas keep us in your prayers as we travel for over 24 hours over the next day. We are due in Memphis Wednesday night 9:52 pm.
This is a girl I met whose baby is youner than Claire (by 2 weeks) & From the same province (Hunan) & her baby weighs 26 pounds! (Claire is 14 lbs) I call her Budda but her name is Elizabeth. They are from Seattle!
We have 2 women on guard on our floor 24/7. They are at your beck & call. They rush to the elevator when you get on & off & will do anything for you. THis is one of the ladies who was there much of the time & fell in love with Claire!
Mad Scientist hair after her last bath in China! Maybe she will have big hair like her mom after all.......
This is all we could get a picture of from the US Consulate. Claire's steps to becomeing a US Citizen!

Thanks to everyone & I will post when we get home & then try to post at least once weekly, so please keep checking the blog when you get a chance! Can't wait for you all to meet Claire!!

PS....Jesse, we will see you very soon! Claire has been saving lots of kisses for you! We can't wait to give you lots of hugs & kisses!
Love,
Mom & Dad

Free Day!!

Today was a day entirely dedicated to shopping! We were just getting warmed up in the picture below. We had the negotiating down to an artform. Lance felt wierd about the whole thing & when the deal was done, he'd just hand the money over. It has never really warmed up here, so we are still waiting for this 80 degree temp we've been told we'd have! Tomorrow is a busy & important day, as we go the the US Consulate. I'm told we're not able to take pics at the consulate tomorrow, but we'll see!
This is a school we passed while shopping & they all practiced their English on Lance. They were so cute!
This is also on our way to so more shopping. Military in training......
This is typical of menus here. You get the animal much like this....I have been a vegetarian on this trip!
Claire playing with her sunglasses. The bow ususally is on for a minute or two a day....trying to get her used to bows & hats!


Jesse, we hope you have a great Spring Break & fun at Grandma & Grandpa's! Everyone has been telling us what a great , sweet, & well behaved boy you've been! We love you very much & will see you in just a few days!!!

PS...We think Claire said MaMa on purpose today, but we'll see if she does it again! Well, off to dinner & I'll post soon when I get more pictures!
Love,
Gretchen

Sunday in Guangzhou

Today we went to church which was a very cool & moving experience. The church was a Christian church which is one of the few governent permitted Christian churches. The service was half English & half Chinese. We then had reservations for some fancy Thai restaurant which Lance & Claire decided to forgo. I'm glad I tried it, but not again. We then had some shopping time & I'm getting good at negotiating. There are many gifts to be had upon our return. Can you actually believe I bought a diaper bag? We took lots of pictures in our hotel, which is beautiful. Tomorrow our guides go to the US consulate to drop off our final adoption paperwork, so we are to stay in the room in case the consulate has questions. Tuesday we actually go to the consulate & get sworn in as her parents! Wednesday, it's on our way to Memphis!
Jesse, I hope you are having a great weekend & just a few more days until we come home with your sister! We love you very, very, much! Dad got you something very cool today......You'll have to wait & see what it is!

Love, Gretchen

The Day We Got Claire

(Click on the picture to get the bigger version.)

I was looking through the pictures that we've taken since we got here and saw this one I took when Gretchen first got to hold Claire. I'm sure she didn't post it because she is so modest. However, you can see the love and emotions in her eyes. This moment was not like going through child birth... but it was just like going through child birth. Claire might just have gotten a bigger present in Gretchen being her mom than we got in her being our daughter. -Lance

On the Way to Church...

We're Safe & Sound in Guangzhou!

Well, Claire made it through her 1st plain ride without a fuss. We were stuck in the airport for about 6 1/2 hours & not a peep. We got to the White Swan at 1:30am & were up at 6:30 am. The White Swan is of course gorgeous & all the shops around here are great. This city reminds me a lot of Savannah, GA. with spanish moss trees & all the french influenced architecture. We had a busy day today, starting off with Claire's medical exam. She passed with flying colors, but the doctor kept saying "small baby" & that she was very small for her age. We'll see what our pediatrician says about this when we get back to Memphis.

We went to a tebetian temple & a jade factory today after the exams & then to a tea house that all the moms tried all these different kind of teas. Someone is getting a really cool gift from there!! Tomorrow we go to a Christian Church (translated in English I believe) & then I have no idea what. I'm beginning to lose track of days. We found a restaurant called Lucy's that Lance loves because they have great hamburgers & rice, ect.....

The pediatrician in our group gave Claire an exam tonight & said all is well, but it appears that Claire spent a lot of time on her back. We are changing that of course! She found her mongolian spot on her lowere back ( normal for asian babies), found her birthnark, & said that everything else is fine. She said to see what Claire is doing in 6 weeks & then take her to our pediatrician to ee if he should change her birthdate.


Claire's 1st plane ride! Jesse, Claire saved you her chinese snack!
In front of a Tibetan Temple. Very neat & full of incense & people offering fruits to the budda.
This is Claire being held by Whitney, 10,who is here with her dad to get her sister (5 year old Lainey from Bejing)
These were some of the Budda's. They were enormous, as you can see by the size of the monks below!
I will post more tomorrow. Amy, sorry, but I haven't found any tofu yet......
Jesse, have a great weekend & have fun at t-ball practice. We love you very much & Claire sends lots of slobbery kisses! To Jenny, just 3 weeks! Wooo hoooo!!!

To everyone else, thanks for all the great e-mails & posts! We love you & miss you all!